Satanism

Dictionary: Sa·tan·ism (sāt'n-ĭz'əm) pronunciation

The worship of Satan characterized by a travesty of the Christian rites.
satanism Profound wickedness.

Satanist Sa'tan·ist n.

Search unanswered questions...

Browse: Unanswered questions | Most-recent questions | Reference library

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: satanism

Top

Worship of Satan, or the devil, the personality or principle regarded in the Judeo-Christian tradition as embodying absolute evil, in complete antithesis to God. Cults associated with satanism have been documented, however sketchily, back to the 17th century. Their central feature is the black mass, a corrupted and inverted rendition of the Christian Eucharist. Practices are said to include animal sacrifice and deviant sexual activity. Worship is motivated by the belief that Satan is more powerful than the forces of good, and so is more capable of bringing about the results sought by his adherents.

For more information on satanism, visit Britannica.com.

Columbia Encyclopedia: Satanism

Top

Satanism. The cult of Satan, or Satan worship, is in part a survival of the ancient worship of demons and in part a revolt against Christianity or the church. It rose about the 12th cent. in Europe and reached its culmination in the blasphemous ritual of the Black Mass, a desecration of the Christian rite. The history of early Satanism is obscure. It was revived in the reign of Louis XIV in France and is still practiced by various groups throughout the world, particularly in the United States. One of the largest and most influential Satanic groups is the Church of Satan (1966), founded by Anton LaVey in San Francisco. A splinter group, the Temple of Set (1975), was organized by Michael Aquino. Many Satanic groups, including the ones mentioned, attest that such worship does not necessarily imply evil intentions, but rather an alternative to the repressive morality of many other religious groups. Such groups see no harm in their indulgence in "worldly pleasures" that other religions forbid. Other, more severe brands of Satanism likely exist, although much of the activity pegged as "Satanic" has less to do with the religion than with various forms of sociopathy. Indeed, reliable research has found no evidence indicating the existence of alarming, large-scale Satanic phenomena. An unfortunate mistake is the unfounded-yet common-linkage of minority religious traditions, such as the African-derived voodoo and Santería, with Satanism. See also witchcraft.

Bibliography

See A. LaVey, Satanic Bible (1969); A. Lyons, The Second Coming (1970) and Satan Wants You! (1989); J. T. Richardson and D. Bromley, ed., The Satanism Scare (1991).

Occultism & Parapsychology Encyclopedia: Satanism

Top

The worship of Satan, the Christian devil. The idea that such a parody of Christian worship could and did exist emerged in several stages. Central to Satanism was the idea of magic and that extraordinary miracles, if not performed by God in answer to the prayer of one of his servants (i.e., a Christian), had to be accomplished by the devil in cooperation with someone who had made a pact with the devil. Once the idea of the pact became commonplace, it was but a short step to the notion of an organized community of devil-worshippers. Some substance was provided by the small pockets of paganism that had not succumbed to the church's evangelical efforts.

Before the fifteenth century, the magic practices (i.e, witchcraft) associated with paganism had been defined as unreal and pagan belief as disbelief. However, for several centuries the Roman Catholic Church had been engaged in a struggle to eliminate heresy, especially in southern France. That successful effort had left it with a large and efficient organization, the Inquisition, essentially bereft of a job. Thus the redefinition of witchcraft as Satanism served the purpose of providing work for those conducting the Inquisition. It transferred witchcraft from the realm of doubt to that of heresy and apostasy, and thus the concern of the Inquisition. Satanism implies the acceptance of Christianity and the subsequent transfer of allegiance to the Christian anti-God.

Immediately after the papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus, issued in 1484, which unleashed the Inquisition, two German Dominicans, Jakob Sprenger and Heinrich Kramer, wrote a massive text, Malleus Maleficarum (The Witches Hammer), which became the textbook for witch-hunters in understanding the evil of witchcraft and in locating and identifying witches. Witches were accused of sacrificing infants and of having sexual intercourse with the devil (most witches were women). Since the Bible affirmed the existence of witchcraft, to believe it did not exist was to be considered in itself a heresy, according to the inquisitors.

Thus was initiated the era of the great witch-hunts. In spite of the Reformation, which split the church and commanded so much attention in the sixteenth century, the crusade against witches continued and was pursued by Protestants and Catholics alike. Confessions were obtained by torture and tended to conform to the image expected by the inquisitors after having read the Malleus Maleficarum.

There is no real evidence that a devil cult existed. Its description in the Malleus Maleficarum was the result of the imaginings of a group of people who had never seen what they described. The confessions were extracted from people informed as to the nature and content of what the inquisitor sought. Such has remained the case to the present. Even though some groups of Satanists emerged, they were always adult converts and created the organization de novo each generation. There was no Satanic organization to carry the tradition from generation to generation. Thus the imagination of Christian clergymen was necessary to inform each new group of Satanists as to the beliefs and activities of Satanism. Without the writings of Christian anti-Satanists, Satanism could not exist.

The anti-Satanist literature defined the practices proper to any self-respecting Satanist, including the Black Mass (a parody of the Roman Catholic Mass), the saying of the Lord's Prayer backwards, the destruction/profanation of sacred objects, the sacrifice of an infant, and the invocation of Satan for the purpose of working malevolent magic (sorcery). It was not until the late seventeenth century that something similar to the Satanism described in the Malleus Maleficarum came into being.

The Affair La Voisin

In the year 1679, King Louis XIV set up a secret court to deal with several cases of poisoning of the French nobility. The investigations and findings of the court centered around the activities of Catherine Deshayes, better known as La Voisin. La Voisin operated as an adviser and fortune-teller to ladies at the court. She supplied them with love potions, charms, and occasionally, poison. However, things turned in a more sinister direction in 1667.

In that year La Voisin was consulted by the Marquise de Montespan, Françoise-Athenais, who was ambitious in the extreme. She wanted to become the queen of France. Her goal was, through magic, to alienate Louis from both the queen and his current mistress. Reportedly, following a mass during which two doves were killed, she became Louis's mistress. Further masses were said to secure her position. Then in 1673, with the Abbé Guibourg officiating, a mass was said over Montespan's nude body, during which an infant was sacrificed and the blood used to create a host that was then added to the king's food.

These later masses seemed to have no effect, and Louis was perceived to be changing his affections to another. Finally, in 1879, she had a mass for the dead said for Louis, followed by an attempt to poison him. The plot was discovered. La Voisin was arrested and Montespan distanced from the king (though for the sake of appearances she was never publicly accused). The affair, as the extent of La Voisin's activities became known, threatened to bring down the monarchy if made public. It was handled with the utmost discretion. La Voisin was executed, but most of the people involved were merely banished.

Since the era of the affair, sporadic incidents of Satanism and ephemeral Satanic magic groups have appeared. Among the more renowned were those described in a fictionalized account in J. K. Huysman's novel La Bas in 1891. The groups that appeared were largely made of young people using Satanism as an expression of their youthful rebellion. They came and went with little sign of their existence except a desecrated graveyard or church. A few were discovered during a ceremony or soon afterward. The number of such groups seemed to rise in the years after World War II, though that may have been a result of better reporting and the correlation of the scattered accounts facilitated by improved communications. However, a new thrust developed in the 1960s.

The Church of Satan

A new era began on Walpurgis Night (May Eve), 1966. Anton LaVey announced the first day of the year of Satan (anno Satanas) marked by the founding of the Church of Satan. The very affront of such an organization in an ostensibly Christian nation was newsworthy, but LaVey, an old carnival performer, was able to make good use of publicity events—the first Satanic wedding and the first funeral—to have his picture on the front page of newspapers across the United States.

To some, the very appearance of the Church of Satan was all they needed to project it as a symbol of all that was wrong with contemporary society and to associate the new organization with every occult-related crime that was uncovered. The reality was more mundane. The Church of Satan was, in fact, a fairly small group (never more than a few thousand members), which affirmed some of the values that LaVey saw as dominant in secular society but counter to traditional values. People were trapped in a value system that affirmed mutually contradictory goals. He advocated indulgence of the senses, individual responsibility, selfishness, life in the present, and ego strength and assertion. He specifically denounced love for ingrates, turning the other cheek, and obscurantism.

The main holiday in the church was an individual's birthday. The primary ritual was the Black Mass, which served as a psychodrama for people, allowing them to overcome inhibitions and move ahead with their lives. He specifically eschewed any illegal activities and told members to pursue their goals, but to do so without harming others.

The Church of Satan gave Satanism a new respectability. Its scripture, The Satanic Bible, became a steady seller at newsstands, and LaVey attracted some celebrities to his organization. During the early 1970s, however, the church went through a period of turmoil and a number of splinter groups emerged. The most substantive of these (and the only one to survive the decade) was the Temple of Set. Founded by Michael Aquino and Lilith Sinclair, two prominent leaders in the Church of Satan, the temple became the home of a sophisticated Satanic theology developed from Egyptian thought.

Satanism in the 1980s

Satanism had plainly declined by the end of the 1970s; however, in the mid 1980s reports that it had merely gone underground began to surface. Claims of the existence of a massive Satanic underground emerged around a set of reports concerning ritual child abuse. Amid the heightened concern for child abuse generated during the era, children began to tell horrendous stories of having been abused as part of forced participation in Satanic rituals, both in homes and in day care centers. These stories were soon joined by an increasing number of stories of women, and a few men, mostly in their thirties, who told stories of having been abused as children and youth, and then having suppressed the memories until they were recalled twenty years later in sessions with counselors.

These two types of reports generated much attention in the press, a heated debate among psychological professionals, and a variety of court cases. In the end, little substance concerning Satanic activity emerged, though a core of childhood trauma was discovered at the heart of many of the reports. Some cases were discovered to be lies told to reclaim custody of children lost in a divorce settlement, and many were generated by psychological counselors using unprofessional techniques and practices. As the cases were investigated and no supporting evidence was discovered, the stories became increasingly conspiracy oriented. By the 1990s little support remained for the veracity of the accounts of widespread Satanism.

Sources:

Kelly, Henry Ansgar. The Devil, Demonology, and Witchcraft. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1974.

LaVey, Anton. The Satanic Bible. New York: Avon, 1969.

Lyons, Arthur. Satan Wants You. London: Rupert Hart-Davies, 1970.

Richardson, James T., Joel Best, and David G. Bromley. The Satanism Scare. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1991.

Robbins, Rossell Hope. The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology. New York: Crown Publishers, 1959.

Wikipedia: Satanism

Top

For other uses, see Satanism (disambiguation).

This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2009)

The downward-pointing pentagram is often used to represent Satanism.

Satanism comprises a number of related beliefs and social phenomena. They share the feature of symbolism, veneration or admiration of Satan (or similar figures). Satan first appeared in the Hebrew Bible and was an Angel who challenged the religious faith of humans. In the Book of Job he is called "the Satan" (meaning "the accuser") and acted as the prosecutor in God's court. A character named "Satan" was described as the cosmic enemy of the Lord and temptor of Jesus within many of the Gospels of early Christians. It was further developed in scope and power as the bringer of Armageddon and Apocalypse as featured within the Book of Revelation. Religions inspired by these texts (Jews, Christians and Muslims) typically regarded Satan as an adversary or enemy, but extensive popular redactions and recompositions of biblical tales inserted its presence and influence into every aspect of adversarial role back to the Creation and Fall. By Christians and Muslims especially, the figure of Satan was treated variously as a rebellious or jealous competitor to human beings, to Jesus, or to the Lord, and characterized as a fallen angel or demon ruling the penitential Underworld, chained in a deep pit, wandering the planet vying for souls or providing the impetus for all worldly travesty. At points during the development of the Christian religion, Satan became its outspoken enemy, and this served the interests of all those who would use this to their advantage, inclusive of those who fashioned or recomposed the mythos of Satanism. Additionally, particularly after the European Enlightenment, some works, such as Paradise Lost, were taken up by Romantics and described as presenting the Biblical Satan as an allegory representing a crisis of faith, individualism, free will, wisdom and enlightenment. Those works actually featuring Satan as a heroic character are fewer in number but do exist: George Bernard Shaw and Mark Twain being two authors whose works include this prior to the pen being taken up by religious Satanists.

Anti-witchcraft laws such as the British Witchcraft Act 1735 (not repealed until 1951), reflected strong public sentiment against witchcraft and Satanism. Religious Satanism began in 1966 with the founding of the Church of Satan.

Modern Satanist groups (those which appeared after the 1960s) are widely diverse, but two major trends which can be seen are Theistic Satanism and Atheistic Satanism. Theistic Satanists venerate Satan as a supernatural deity. In contrast, Atheistic Satanists^[1] consider themselves atheists and regard Satan as merely symbolic of certain human traits. This categorization of Satanism (which could be categorized in other ways, for example "Traditional" versus "Modern"), is not necessarily adopted by Satanists themselves, who usually would not specify which type of Satanism they adhere to. Some Satanists believe in God in the sense of a Prime Mover but, like Atheistic Satanists, still worship themselves, due to the Deist belief that God plays no part in mortal lives.

Each "type" of Satanist will usually refer to themselves only as a "Satanist".

Theistic Satanism

Part of the seal of Lucifer from the Grimorium Verum, used as a symbol of Satan by some Satanists

Main article: Theistic Satanism

Theistic Satanism (also known as Spiritual or Traditional Satanism) is the worship or reverence of Satan as a deity. It comprises several viewpoints, and may include a belief in magic, which is manipulated through ritual. It may also include the usage of meditation and self expansion. Traditional Satanists will often find inspiration from older sources (preceding the Satanic Bible of the 1960s), such the 1862 book Satanism and Witchcraft.

Luciferianism

Main article: Luciferianism

Luciferianism can be understood best as a belief system that venerates the essential characteristics that are affixed to Lucifer.

Luciferianism is identified by some people as an auxiliary of Satanism, due to the popular identification of Lucifer with Satan. Some Luciferians accept this identification or consider Lucifer as the light bearer aspect of Satan, and thus could properly be called Satanists. Others reject it, arguing that Lucifer is a more positive ideal than Satan. They are inspired by the ancient myths of Egypt, Rome and Greece, Gnosticism and traditional Western occultism.

Palladists

Main article: Palladists

Palladists is a name for an alleged Theistic Satanism society or member of that society. The name Palladian comes from Pallas and refers to wisdom and learning. It is of no relation to the palladian style of Andrea Palladio.

Atheistic/Deistic Satanism

LaVeyan Satanism

Main article: LaVeyan Satanism

Anton LaVey founded the Church of Satan in 1966 and his writings were the foundation of LaVeyan Satanism.

LaVeyan Satanism is a religion founded in 1966 by Anton Szandor LaVey. Its teachings are based on individualism, self-indulgence, and "eye for an eye" morality. Unlike Theistic Satanists, LaVeyan Satanists are atheists, agnostics, and Deists who regard Satan as a symbol of man's inherent nature.^[2] According to religioustolerance.org, LaVeyan Satanism is a "small religious group that is unrelated to any other faith, and whose members feel free to satisfy their urges responsibly, exhibit kindness to their friends, and attack their enemies".^[3] Its beliefs were first detailed in The Satanic Bible and it is overseen by the Church of Satan.

Symbolic Satanism

Symbolic Satanism^[4]^[5] (sometimes called Modern Satanism) is the observance and practice of Satanic religious beliefs, philosophies and customs.^[6] In this interpretation of Satanism, the Satanist does not worship Satan in the theistic sense, but is an adversary to all spiritual creeds, espousing hedonism, materialism, Randian Objectivism, antinomianism, rational egoism, individualism, suitheism, Nietzschean and some Crowleyan philosophy and anti-theism.

Casual or adolescent satanism

In this context, adolescents use satanic symbols like the inverted pentagram, the trappings of the black mass, or demonic imagery to provide the impression of satanism. This is a liminal experience, intended to shock susceptible individuals and does not imply actual interest, or even belief, in the rites, symbolism, and philosophies of the various forms of satanist religious practice cited above. Arnold Markowitz suggests that these adolescents may have borderline personality disorder or related mental health problems, substance abuse difficulties, attention deficit disorder or other learning disabilities and may engage in self-harm.^[7]^[8]

Organizations

The Church of Satan

Main article: Church of Satan

The Church of Satan is an organization dedicated to the acceptance of the carnal self, as articulated in The Satanic Bible, written in 1969 by Anton Szandor LaVey.

First Satanic Church

Main article: First Satanic Church

The First Satanic Church was re-founded on October 31, 1999 by Karla LaVey to carry on the legacy of her father, Anton LaVey, author of The Satanic Bible. On Walpurgisnacht, April 30, 1966, Anton LaVey founded the "The Satanic Church" (which he would later rename "Church of Satan"). After his death in 1997 the Church of Satan was taken over by a new administration and its headquarters was moved to New York.

LaVey's daughter, the High Priestess Karla LaVey, felt this to be a disservice to her father's legacy. Ms. LaVey re-founded the Satanic Church and continues to run it out of San Francisco, California, much in the same way as her father had run the organization when he was alive.

Order of Nine Angles

Main article: Order of Nine Angles

The Order of Nine Angles (ONA) is a purported secretive Satanist organization which has been mentioned in books detailing fascist Satanism. They were initially formed in the United Kingdom and rose to public note during the 1980s and 1990s. Presently, the ONA is asserted to have "gone back to being totally underground, having completed their mission to spread their work."

Temple of Set

Main article: Temple of Set

The Temple of Set is an initiatory occult society claiming to be the world's leading left-hand path religious organization. It was established in 1975 by Michael A. Aquino and certain members of the priesthood of the Church of Satan,^[9] who left because of administrative and philosophical disagreements. The philosophy of the Temple of Set may be summed up as "enlightened individualism" – enhancement and improvement of oneself by personal education, experiment, and initiation. This process is necessarily different and distinctive for each individual. Some people who are not members of the Temple of Set find spiritual inspiration in the Egyptian god Set, and may share some beliefs with the organization. The belief system in general is referred to as Setianism.

Setianism, in theory, is similar to theistic Satanism. The principle adored deity of Setianism is the ancient Egyptian god Set, or Seth, the god of adversary. Set supposedly is the Dark Lord behind the Hebrew entity Satan. Set is worshipped by his followers through the ritual of the Black Flame.

Before modern Satanism

Historically, primarily in Christian European civilization over the centuries, but also in Muslim countries (for example, the Yezidis), some people or groups have been specifically described as worshipping Satan or the Devil, or of being devoted to the work of Satan. The widespread preponderance of these groups in European cultures is in part connected with the importance and meaning of Satan within Christianity. When viewing the historical development of the phenomenon of Satanism in the list below, it becomes evident that, while the earlier Christian examples may reflect the goals of the Catholic Church to overcome pagans and heretics (or to dispose of opponents, as was the case with Urbain Grandier), the later examples (at least from the time of de Sade onwards) clearly express an open hatred, to the point of sacrilege and blasphemy in some cases, towards Christianity, and the Roman Catholic Church in particular.

Some of the main personalities and groups that have stood out over the centuries, are:

In the Middle East

The Yezidis, a minority religion of the Middle East who worship the Melek Taus, are often referred to as Satan worshippers by some sectors of the dominant Muslim religion.^[10]

In Christian cultures

Pagans celebrating Pan, Athena, Odin, Perkunas or other Pagan deities (claimed by the Catholic Church to be worshipping the Devil and his minions).^[11]
Witches (claimed by the Catholic Church to be servants of the Devil), resulting in the Witch trials in Early Modern Europe.^[11]
Gilles de Rais (1400s, France).^[11]
Johann Georg Faust (1500s, Germany)^[11]. Many instructions, in German and in Latin, for making a pact with the Devil were attributed to him. These were collected and published in Germany in a few of the volumes of Das Kloster (1845-1849).
Urbain Grandier (1600s, France). Although set up by the Catholic Church, a very famous document, in Latin, of a pact with the Devil which he allegedly wrote, has been preserved.^[11]
People involved in the Poison affair, such as Catherine Deshayes and Etienne Guibourg (1600s, France). The documentation from their trial is the principal Medieval source for information on the Black Mass.^[12]^[13]
The Marquis de Sade (1700s, France), described by some authors as being devoted to Satanism.^[14] His works graphically described blasphemy against the Catholic Church, such as an orgy resembling a Black Mass conducted by Pope Pius VI in the Vatican (in his novel Juliette ).
In 1865 the anti-Vatican Italian poet Giosuè Carducci, published his poem praising Satan as the god of reason and expressing hatred towards Christianity, Inno a Satana ("Hymn to Satan"). (Carducci's poem contains both Italian declinations of Satan: Satana and Satani).
Many adherents of the Decadent movement, such as the Polish author Stanisław Przybyszewski, the Belgian artist Félicien Rops, and the French poet Charles Baudelaire (who published his poem, Les Litanies de Satan, "The Litanies of Satan" in 1857) either called themselves Satanists, or created overtly satanist artwork and literature.^[15]
Some French movements widely described as being Satanist by French writers of the time (Late 1800s to early 1900s). The most well-known description available in English, is the 1891 novel Là-Bas, by Joris-Karl Huysmans. However, there were numerous other well-known personalities in France which were related to the circles Huysmans describes, such as Joseph-Antoine Boullan, Stanislas de Guaita, Henri Antoine Jules-Bois, and Joséphin Péladan, who either wrote about Satanism in France, or were accused of being Satanists themselves.^[16]^[17]
Freemasonry was described as being Satanist, also in France at the same time, by the elaborate, completely discredited Taxil hoax^[18]. It is true, however, that some personalities popularly associated with Satanism during that time (such as Félicien Rops), were also Freemasons.
At least two Satanic (or "Luciferian") sects existed in France in the 1930s. One was led by Maria de Naglowska, and had rituals dedicated to Satan and Lucifer.^[19] Another, led by a former Catholic priest, celebrated an inversion of the Latin Mass (a "Luciferian Mass"), which included the phrase "In nomine Domini Dei nostri Satanae Luciferi Excelsi" (a phrase which would re-appear 30 years later in Anton LaVey's Satanic Bible).^[20]
The Ophite Cultus Satanas ("the Ophite Cult of Satan"), a group founded in Ohio in 1948, said they worshipped the Ophite serpent, which they called Satanas (Satan).

Relationship to heavy metal music

Heavy metal music has often been connected with Satanism, in part to the lyrical content of several bands and their frequent use of imagery often tied to left hand path beliefs (such as the upside-down pentagram). As a result, members of several bands, including Slayer, Venom and Black Sabbath, have faced accusations of being Satanists. More often than not, such musicians say they do not believe in legitimate Satanic ideology and often profess to being atheists or, in some instances, followers of right hand path religions, while using that which appears to be "Satanic" for entertainment purposes and shock value^[21], such as Tom Araya of Slayer, who is a practicing Catholic.

Glen Benton, vocalist and bassist of the band Deicide, once openly claimed to be a practitioner of Theistic Satanism, and has spoken publicly on numerous occasions to profess staunch anti-Christian sentiment. Norwegian black metal artists such as Euronymous from Mayhem and Infernus from Gorgoroth have also identified themselves as Satanists and actively promoted their beliefs.^[22] Numerous burnings of churches that covered parts of Norway in the early 1990s were also attributed to youths involved in the black metal movement, which included people claiming to have theistic Satanic beliefs and strong "anti-LaVeyan" attitudes.^[23] However, the legitimacy of such actions as Satanic endeavors, rather than simply rebellious actions done for publicity, is something that has been doubted by even those who contribute to the genre.^[24]

References

^ Flowers, Stephen (1997). Lords of the Left-hand Path. Runa-Raven Press. ISBN 1-885972-08-3.
^ LaVey, Anton (1969). The Satanic Bible. Avon. p. 40. : "It is a common misconception that the Satanist does not believe in God...To the Satanist, "God" - by whatever name he is called, or by no name at all - is seen as a balancing factor..."
^ Satanism
^ Darkside Collective Ministry International
^ Modern Satanism
^ A'al, Jashan. Satanic Denominations - Modern Satanism
^ Moriarty, Anthony (1992). The Psychology of Adolescent Satanism. Westport, CT, USA: Praeger.
^ Markowitz, Arnold (2009). "The Extent of Satanism Amongst Adolescents". Cult Clinic. http://www.cultclinic.org/article-am1.html. Retrieved 2009-10-14.
^ Aquino, Michael (2002) (PDF). Church of Satan. San Francisco: Temple of Set. http://www.xeper.org/maquino/nm/COS.pdf.
^ “The Devil Worshipers of the Middle East : Their Beliefs & Sacred Books” Holmes Pub Group LLC (December 1993) ISBN 1558182314 ISBN 978-1558182318
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Robbins, Rossell Hope, The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology, 1959.
^ Extensively described in: Zacharias, Gerhard, Der dunkle Gott: Satanskult und Schwarze Messe, München (1964).
^ Original sources: Ravaisson, François Archives de la Bastille (Paris, 1866-1884, volumes IV, V, VI, VII)
^ Dr. Iwan Bloch, Marquis de Sade: His Life and Work, 1899: "The Marquis de Sade gave evidence in his novels of being a fanatic Satanist."
^ Jullian, Philippe, Esthétes et Magiciens, 1969; Dreamers of Decadence, 1971.
^ Bois, Jules, Le Satanisme et la Magie - avec une étude de J.-K. Huysmans, Paris, 1895.
^ Huysmans, J.-K., Là-Bas, 1891
^ Waite, A.E., Devil Worship in France, 1896.
^ Medway, Gareth, Lure of the Sinister: The Unnatural History of Satanism, 2001, page 18.
^ Messe Luciférienne, in Pierre Geyraud, Les Petites Églises de Paris, 1937.
^ Baddeley, Gavin. Raising Hell!: The Book of Satan and Rock 'n' Roll
^ Garry Sharpe-Young (2007). Metal: The Definitive Guide.
^ Grude, Torstein (Director).. Satan rir Media. [motion picture]. Norway: Grude, Torstein. http://home.no/metalra/reviews/videos/satan_rides_the_media.html.
^ Ihsahn Interview

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Satanism

Wikinews has related news: Satanism: An interview with Church of Satan High Priest Peter Gilmore

Church of Satan's official homepage
Sinagogue of Satan Manifesto
Theistic Satanism resource site
Religious Tolerance page on Satanism
First Satanic Church
The 600 Club
Modern Church of Satan
Modern Satanism
Description, Philosophies and Justification of Satanism
Satanism of All Types Both Fictional and Actual
Allee Shadow Tradition FAQ, by former Church of Satan member John Allee.
The Order of Phosphorus, by Left Hand Path author Michael Ford.
Satanism-Today's official homepage
Joy of Satan - Spiritual Satanism
Brotherhood of Satan FAQ

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Donate to Wikimedia

Translations: Satanism

Top

Dansk (Danish)
n. - satanisme

Nederlands (Dutch)
duivelsverering

Français (French)
n. - satanisme

Deutsch (German)
n. - Satanismus, Satanskult

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - σατανισμός, λατρεία του Σατανά

Italiano (Italian)
satanismo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - satanismo (m)

Русский (Russian)
культ сатаны, сатанизм

Español (Spanish)
n. - satanismo

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - satanism, satankult, djävulsdyrkan, sataniskhet, djävulskhet

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
恶魔崇拜, 恶魔般之性格

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 惡魔崇拜, 惡魔般之性格

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 악마주의, 극악, 악마 숭배

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 悪魔教, 悪魔崇拝, 悪魔主義, 悪魔的行為

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) ألشيطانيه, ألنزوع ألفطري ألى ألشر‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮פולחן השטן‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.

To select your translation preferences click here.

Learn More

	Revival of Evil (Horror Film)
	black mass
	Devil Worship: The Rise of Satanism (Spirituality & Philosophy Film)

	How do you battle Satan? Read answer...
	Who are the descendants of Satan? Read answer...
	What is the SS-18 Satan? Read answer...

Help us answer these

	Is Ben10 of satan?
	Where is satans ring?
	Is tool satanic?

Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:

Copyrights:

		Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more
		Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
		Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more
		Occultism & Parapsychology Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. Copyright © 2001 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
		Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Satanism". Read more
		Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more

Satanism

Contents

Theistic Satanism

Luciferianism

Palladists

Atheistic/Deistic Satanism

LaVeyan Satanism

Symbolic Satanism

Casual or adolescent satanism

Organizations

The Church of Satan

First Satanic Church

Order of Nine Angles

Temple of Set

Before modern Satanism

In the Middle East

In Christian cultures

Relationship to heavy metal music

See also

References

Further reading

External links