® ABOUT THE CHURCH OF SATAN

Quotation: "You cannot love everyone; it is ridiculous to think you can. If you love everyone and everything you lose your natural powers of selection and wind up being a pretty poor judge of character and quality. If anything is used too freely it loses its true meaning. Therefore, the Satanist believes you should love strongly and completely those who deserve your love, but never turn the other cheek to your enemy!" Anton LaVey

Overview: Religious Satanism is a valid religion, generally followed by adults. It is essentially unrelated to teen Satanic dabbling and to various other beliefs and practices that have been described as Satanism.

The largest of the many traditions within Religious Satanism is the Church of Satan (CoS), which many people believe was founded on Walpurgisnacht, 1966-APR-30, (I Anno Satanas) by Anton Szandor LaVey (1930-1997). It was actually founded later that year.

The beliefs, practices and rituals of the Church of Satan have few, if any, points of similarity with the Christian concept of Satan. The CoS' concept of Satan is pre-Christian, and derived from the Pagan image of power, virility, sexuality and sensuality. Satan is viewed as a force of nature, not a living quasi-deity. Their Satan has nothing to do with Hell, demons, pitchforks, sadistic torture, demonic possession, and profound evil. Its followers have occasionally engaged in a Black Mass for publicity purposes, in which the Roman Catholic Mass is ridiculed. But, otherwise, their rituals have no connection to those of Christianity.

Some of their beliefs and practices are:

• They do not worship a living deity.
• Major emphasis is placed on the power and authority of the individual Satanist, rather than on a god or goddess.
• They believe that "no redeemer liveth" - that each person is their own redeemer, fully responsible for the direction of their own life.
• "Satanism respects and exalts life. Children and animals are the purest expressions of that life force, and as such are held sacred and precious..." 2

There are probably fewer than 10,000 religious Satanists in North America. The best known Satanic organization is the Church of Satan. Associated with the CoS are many local grottos. CoS membership has never exceeded 300 individuals. 9 Many Satanists prefer to work alone as solitary practitioners.

Founding of the Church of Satan:

Many rumors have grown up about Anton Szandor LaVey's (1930-1997) life before he founded the Church of Satan: that he was a lion tamer, sideshow barker, police photographer, student of criminology, "official church organist", etc. It appears that none of this is true. The persistence of these rumors are a testimony to Anton's extensive publicity talents. 2,9

Religious Satanists existed in the 1950's, both in the United States and the UK. But they were little known to the public. Legends describe how modern Satanism burst into mass consciousness on Walpurgisnacht, April 30, 1966, (I Anno Satanas) when LaVey announced the creation of the Church of Satan. 2 In reality, LaVey was teaching weekly lectures on occult topics for $2.00 a person during the spring of 1966. A professional publicist, Edward Webber, suggested that he "would never make any money by lecturing on Friday nights for donations ... it would be better to form some sort of church and get a charter from the State of California ... I told Anton at the time that the press was going to flip out over all this and that we would get a lot of notoriety". Formation of the Church of Satan occurred much later in 1966; it was triggered by a newspaper article that referred to LaVey as the "priest of the Devil's church". 9

LaVey is widely believed to have been the technical advisor for the 1968 movie Rosemary's Baby. He claimed to have played the part of the Devil in that film. Apparently, his only involvement with the movie was that he was once asked by a theatre in San Francisco to make an promotional appearance when the film opened. 9 However, LaVey seems to have been involved as an advisor in a later movie The Devil's Rain which was released in 1975. He appeared in the movie as a Satanic priest. Some chants and symbols in the movie come from his writings.

LaVey wrote the Satanic Bible in 1969. This was followed by The Compleat Witch (1970) (later republished as The Satanic Witch). The Satanic Rituals was published in 1972. These are essentially the only readily available books on Satanism that can be found in most bookstores. Many additional publications have been written by other Satanic groups. However, they are not in wide distribution; one normally has to discover them through specialist publications or Satanic Web sites.

Anton LaVey died on 1997-OCT-29. Someone later forged the death certificate to read OCT-31 -- Halloween.

Its beliefs and practices:

The nine Satanic statements: These form the core of the Church of Satan beliefs. They were written by Anton LaVey. In abridged form, they state that Satan represents:

• Indulgence, not abstinence.
• Vital existence, not spiritual pipe dreams.
• Undefiled wisdom, not hypocritical self-deceit.
• Kindness to those deserving of it, not love wasted on ingrates.
• Vengeance, not turning the other cheek.
• Responsibility to the responsible, instead of concern for psychic vampires.
• Man as just another animal - the most vicious of all.
• Gratification of all ones desires.
• The best friend that the Christian Church has had as he has kept it in business for centuries.

The nine Satanic sins are:

• Stupidity
• pretentiousness
• solipsism
• self-deceit
• herd conformity
• lack of perspective
• forgetfulness of past orthodoxies
• counterproductive pride
• and lack of aesthetics. 7

Theology of the CoS:

• People have created Gods in many forms; pick one that might be useful to you.
• Heaven and Hell do not exist.
• Satan is not closely related to the modern (post 1400 AD) concept of the Christian devil.
• Satanists view Satan as a pre-Christian life principle which represents the carnal, earthly, and mundane aspects of life.
• Satan is not a being, a living entity; he is a force of nature.
• Human life is held in sacred regard.
• "Satan...represents love, kindness and respect to those who deserve it."
• The highest of all Satanic holidays is the birthday of the individual Satanist. Of lesser importance are:
  • Walpurgisnacht (evening of April 30) and Halloween (evening of October 31),
  • Solstices in June and December,
  • Equinoxes in March and September,
  • Satanic Revels are held five to six weeks after each equinox and solstice
• Many Christian anti-Satanic hate literature lists other seasonal days of celebration. However, they appear to have been pulled out of thin air by the authors. They have no connection with reality.
• Black Masses (parodies of the Roman Catholic religious service) are not normally performed by Satanists (except on rare occasions for their entertainment or publicity value).

Rituals and ceremonies contain the following concepts:

• Names used include Satan, Lucifer, Belial and Leviathan.
• Ceremonies are pageants, which are used to celebrate a person or element of faith.

Magick rituals consist of three types:

• Sex magic (includes masturbation),
• Healing or happiness ritual, and
• Destruction ritual (may include sticking pins in a doll; drawing a picture or writing a description of the victim's death; delivering a soliloquy, etc.). Destruction rituals are best performed by a group. If a person targeted by a destruction ritual is not deserving of it, the ritual will not harm them.

Magick rituals garb:

• Male Satanists generally wear full length black robes, with or without a hood.
• Young women generally wear sexually suggestive clothing; older women wear all black.
• Many Satanists from different traditions wear amulets carrying the symbol of the Sigil of Baphomet.This is a goat's head, drawn within an inverted pentagram (5-pointed star with one point downward and two up). It is surrounded by a circle. Although there have been many similar symbols involving the head of a goat and an inverted pentagram in a circle, this particular configuration is a registered trade mark of the Church of Satan. 14

Other:

• The A.S. LaVey's book The Satanic Bible shows a symbol located over the Nine Satanic Statements. It is an infinity sign (a figure 8 on its side). A Roman cross is placed at the center of the figure with a second, longer cross piece added. This is not a Satanic symbol; it is an ancient alchemical symbol for brimstone.
• When the Satanic Bible was written (1969), a nude woman was customarily used as an altar, since Satanism is regarded as a religion of the flesh, not of the spirit. She reclined on an altar that was trapezoidal in shape, about 1 m high and 2 m long and placed against the West wall of the room. Her head pointed South. A live altar is now rarely used in the CoS.
• One white candle is placed to the right of the altar; it symbolizes the belief of Satanists in the hypocrisy of "White Magicians" and Wiccans because of the latter's insistence on avoiding doing harm to others. At least one black candle, representing the Powers of Darkness, is placed to the left of the altar. These powers are sources of energy which are currently unknown and hidden. Additional black candles are oriented as needed to provide sufficient illumination.
• The language used during magical ritual is Enochian, whose words variously sounds similar to Arabic, Hebrew or Latin. It was revealed to Dr. John Dee, court astrologer and metaphysician to Queen Elizabeth I, through his helper Edward Kelley. Kelley said that he was in contact with the Angels described in the Apocryphal book of Enoch.

Satanic ritual tools:

A simple Satanic ritual can be performed with a single candle and a Baphomet. However, more elaborate rituals may include the following:

• A bell which is rung nine times at the beginning and end of the ritual; the Satanic priest rotates counter-clockwise as he rings the bell
• A chalice, ideally made of silver; it may not be formed of gold because that is a metal that Satanists associate with Christianity and Neopagan religions. In fact, Wiccans and other Neopagans use chalices made of various metals, including silver, and other materials.
• Other ritual tools include a gong, sword, elixir (usually wine), phallus, and parchment. They and the chalice and bell are placed on a small table near the altar.

Rules of behavior:

• Prayer is useless; it distracts people from useful activity.
• Ritual killing (of humans or animals) violates Satanic principles. Blood drawn from a victim is useless. Victims are killed symbolically, not actually.
• Members enjoy indulgence instead of abstinence. They practice with joy all the seven deadly Christian sins (greed, pride, envy, anger, gluttony, lust and sloth)
• If a man smites you on one cheek, smash him on the other.
• Do unto others as they do onto you.
• Engage in sexual activity freely, in accordance with your needs (which may be best realized either through monogamy, or by having sex with many others; through heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality; using sexual fetishes as you wish; by yourself or with one or more consenting adults).
• The ideal is a monogamous relationship based on compatibility and commitment.
• Suicide is actively discouraged.
• The Satanist needs no elaborate, detailed list of rules of behavior.
• Membership in the CoS is limited to adults of legal age, unless a teenager obtains the written permission and attendance of their parent or legal guardian.

Political agenda:

• Termination of the myth of equality for all.
• Tax all churches.
• Remove any religious beliefs which have been incorporated in legislation.
• "Development and production of artificial human companions."
• The freedom for all to live within a total environment of their choice. 8

Organizational matters:

The Church of Satan is highly decentralized, believing that a strong central organization is not desirable. Each Satanist is expected to follow his/her own path.

As of 2001-APR-31, Magister Peter Gilmore is the High Priest of the Church of Satan; Blanche Barton is the High Priestess. 11

Local CoS groups of Satanists are generally called grottos.

Attitudes towards other religious groups:

Many Satanists feel that Wiccans are hypocrites, because the latter restrict their work to positive, healing activities. Satanists use Magick and other rituals to benefit themselves and their friends, but also are free to use these same rituals to harm their enemies -- persons who have hurt them. Some have incorporated some anti-Wiccan elements in their rituals.

Satanists have been described as conducting rituals that are specifically aimed at attacking Christian beliefs and practices. Many authors, almost all conservative Christians, have described alleged Satanic rituals in which religious Satanists recite the Lord's Prayer backwards, or desecrate and use the host and wine that they have stolen from a cathedral. This is pure fiction that can be traced back to books written during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance periods.

Satanists' are often highly critical of all other faiths. They are particularly opposed Christianity, because of its paramount position in Western society and the historical persecution by Christians of Satanists.

Satanism in Action 12 publishes a blacklist of people and groups who they feel are guilty of "spreading lies and misleading propaganda against Satanism." The blacklist recommends to "Smash on sight" any of the listed offenders. Most are conservative Christian authors, counter-cult groups and anti-cult groups. 13

Books by A.S. LaVey:

Dates shown are of the currently-available editions:

• "The Satanic Bible," Mass Market Paperback, (1989).
• "The Satanic Rituals," Mass Market Paperback, (1991)
• "The Satanic Witch," Feral House, (1989).
• "The Devil's Notebook," Feral House, (1992).
• "Satan Speaks!", (1998).

Also see the authorized biography of Anton Lavey:

• Blanche Barton, "Secret life of a Satanist," Feral House, (1992)

References

1. "Religious Requirements and Practices of Certain Selected Groups" Department of the Army, 1978-APR. The section on Satanism is available on line at:
2. The Church of Satan has an official home page at: http://www.churchofsatan.com They list web sites of Church of Satan Grottos, Satanic artists, musicians, members and publishers.
3. The Temple of Set is at: http://www.xeper.org/
4. "Not Like Most" is a "publication of Satanism in Action." They follow the traditions of the Church of Satan. See: http://www.purgingtalon.com/main.htm
5. A FAQ list for the Church of Satan is at: http://members.chello.at/herbert.paulis/CoS-FAQ.html
6. Noctuarium: The Pit, is a chat room run by a CoS member. See: http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Bistro/1368/chat.html
7. A.S. LaVey, "The nine Satanic sins," (1987). See: http://www.churchofsatan.com/Pages/Sins.html
8. A.S. LaVey, "Pentagonal revisionism: A five-point program," (1988) at: http://www.churchofsatan.com/Pages/PentRev.html
9. Zeena LaVey and Nikolas Schreck, "Anton LaVey: Legend and reality," at: http://www.churchofsatan.org/aslv.html
10. The First Church of Satan of Salem, MA has a web site at: http://www.churchofsatan.org/
11. Satanism101 supplies a "straightforward look at the Satanic religion." See: http://www.satanism101.com/
12. Satanism in Action publishes a periodical titled "Not Like Most," See: http://purgingtalon.com/nlm/
13. Satanism in Action's blacklist is at: http://www.purgingtalon.com/nlm/blacklist.htm
14. Peter H. Gilmore "The History of the Use of the Sigil of Baphomet in the Church of Satan," at: http://churchofsatan.com/Pages/BaphometSigil.html