Online Encyclopedia
Satanism
Satanism is a religious or philosophical movement centered around Satan or another entity identified with Satan, or centered around the forces of nature, particularly human nature, represented by Satan as an archetype. Unlike many religions and philosophies, Satanism generally focuses upon the spiritual advancement of the self, rather than upon submission to a deity or a set of moral codes.
In an older sense, Satanism also refers to unorthodox practices within Abrahamic religions deemed by the orthodoxy to be in diametrical opposition to the Abrahamic God. For example, the earliest recorded instance of the word is in "A confutation of a booke (by Bp. Jewel) intituled An apologie of the Church of England", by Thomas Harding (1565):
- ll, ii, 42 b, "Meaning the time when Luther first brinced to Germanie the poisoned cuppe of his heresies, blasphemies, and Satanismes."
As Martin Luther himself would have denied any link between his teachings and Satan, this use of the term Satanism was primarily pejorative. Many Satanists find such use of the term offensive.
Modernly, a large number of Satanists eschew what might be considered traditional religious beliefs, attitudes and worship, in favor of more egoistic worldviews and practices such as magick.
There are various kinds of Satanists in modern society. The main trends can be (adequately but not completely) summarized into:
- Sat/Tan, the Dark Doctrines type Satanism
- Setian Satanism
- LaVeyan Satanism
- Other forms (e.g., The Imperial Satanic Order, some Gnostic sects, Order of Nine Angles, Order of Mars)
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Satanism in Traditional Theology
The term "Satan" originated with Judaism and was expanded upon by Christians and Muslims. This Judeo-Christian-Islamic view of Satan can be broken up as follows:
- Jewish. Satan, in Hebrew, means an adversary, and is also the name used for the agent of God who is sent to test believers.
- Islamic. The Arabic word for Satan, "al-Shaitaan," means transgressor, or adversary, as in Judaism. It is a title which is generally attributed to a being called Iblis, who is not a fallen angel, but a Jinn who disobeyed God.
- Christian. In many branches of Christianity, Satan, also called Lucifer, is a spiritual or physical being that is an enemy of God, Christians, and generally everything good.
Sat/Tan, the Dark Doctrines type Satanism
This Satanism is outside of God vs. Satan dualism. In this Satanism Satan is not a Deity, but a principle of Being and Becoming captured in a lingo made out of the eastern words "Sat" and "Tan". Sat: The one ever-present Reality in the infinite world; the divine essence which IS, but cannot be said to "exist" because it is Absoluteness, or Being-ness Itself. Satta: the One and Sole Existence. Sattva: Understanding; quiescence in divine knowledge; a Bodhisattva is a person that possesses this. Satya: Supreme Truth. Satya Yuga: the Golden Age of the age of truth, actually the first Yuga, but often equated with the Trita Yuga (last age). Tan means to "stretch forth" to "become." Words such as Tantra, Tanmatri have the root word "tan" in
This system is from an ancient tradition that is 1. genuinely Left-Hand Path, 2. has a Boundless Darkness as the Prime Force, 3. has a "flaming light" within the Darkness that flashes out and becomes all things due to the Urge of the Boundless Darkness, 4. has that Dark Flame as being within people, IF they let it flow. Only people with that Flame within can self actualize, if they choose to do that.
While the words Sat and Tan are used because of their meaning, it is highly possible that the Hebrews committed a cultural inversion on the word Sat, since they did have contact with Persians who definitely did invert all the ancient Sanskrit (Shivaite) concepts. The Hebrews did not invert the word Tan because the Tanaim, in Hebrew, are those who "know what the angels know." The Tanaim are the True Magi.
This type of Satanism includes the Pythagorean system on the pentagram (the pentalphas), which correspond to the Five Dharmas, and the pentamychos system, which corresponds to the fearsome or towo aspects that defend the Dharmas or Five Principles. The Five principles, as seen in nature, are parts of what the Dark Force in Nature does, as it permeates and motivates all of nature.
This type of Sat/Tan Dark Doctrines Satanism can be seen in various organizations that run in various ways, localized or loosely connected.
Setian Satanism
The Egyptian deity Set, to these Satanists, is the real Dark Lord behind the name Satan. They have their own concept of the Black Flame (see the above group, the Sat/Tan type).
This type of Satanism believes that the Hebrews ran into an adversary in Egypt who was the Pharaoh of the Seti Dynasty, when Set was the principal pharaonic Deity. After the Pharaoh expelled the Hebrews from Egypt, the Hebrew Bible scribes wrote "Exodus", demonstrating the enormity of this event to the Hebrew people. However, there are apparently no Egyptian records to back up any of the Hebrew claims except a passing mention of the Pharaoh kicking many foreigners out at that time — not just Hebrews. Even so, the impact of this expulsion was large enough to the Hebrews to warrant their calling Egypt and its Seti Pharaoh "ha stn", the adversary. Setian Satanists theorize that "Satan" is a wrong or slanderous label for a legitimate Egyptian God, the God Set.
Their practices and theology are very oriented towards cultivating selfhood. They reject the dissolving of the individual into oneness with existence, and celebrate the separation of the individual self from the rest of the universe. Some followers believe in Set as a real theistic conscious being that appears in revelations and delivers messages, while others revere Set as a more of a principle. How historically correct their picture of Set is might be considered debatable.
This type of Set-Satanism is a legally tax-exempt religion in the United States.
LaVeyan Satanism
Main article: LaVeyan Satanism
This type of Satanism is based on the philosophy of Anton LaVey as outlined in The Satanic Bible and other works. Philosophically, it could be described as heavily influenced by the writings of Aleister Crowley, Niccolò Machiavelli, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ayn Rand, and a few others; "Satan" is appropriated as a positive symbol of this worldview, and is not considered to exist in a literal fashion. Theologically, each individual Satanist is viewed as his or her own god; its rituals are essentially magick in the original sense given by Crowley, with an eye towards furthering the Satanist's ends.
Satanic cults
Main article: Satanic ritual abuse
The existence of large networks of organized Satanists involved in illegal activities, murder, and child abuse is occasionally claimed, often by fundamentalist religious movements. Those claims have never been substantiated and are widely believed to be false. See conspiracy theories.
Other groups
In various Gnostic sects, the Serpent was praised as the giver of knowledge, sometimes also Satan with references to his name of Lucifer or "the light-bringer". Some Gnostics claimed that the being imagined as God by Christians and Jews, by the Gnostics known as the Demiurge, was in fact Satan. To some early Gnostic sects were attributed horrible acts (the Borborites and the followers of Carpocrates especially), along with instructions to commit all kind of evil acts to free themselves from the pains of this world, but such accounts are not generally credible, as they were mostly part of rhetorical attacks against these groups by such heresiological writers as Irenaeus.
The Order of Nine Angles has labeled itself Traditional Satanism and considers Satanism to be an individual quest which goes far beyond the gratification of the pleasure-principle and involves the arduous achievement of self-mastery, self-overcoming in a Nietzschean sense, and ultimately cosmic wisdom. Their conception of Satanism is practical, with an emphasis on individual growth into realms of darkness and danger through practical acts of prowess, endurance and the risk of life. In addition, the ONA seek to change, and disrupt, society itself, and espouse human sacrifice — the culling of "opfers" — who are chosen according to strict guidelines. The use of the term "traditional" by these Satanists (ONA) is viewed by some as improper because the ONA refuses to provide any evidence of an old tradition, and much of what they say is even counter to established history; it is felt that "Traditional Satanism" as a label applies better, or at least equally well, to parts of the gnostic movement and its modern remnants.
In early 2004, John L. Westbrook, a former Oklahoma politician told a Penthouse reporter that he has formed what he described as an "occult fraternity, to finish the work that the Temple of Set has previously botched." He then displayed a platinum medallion which he had commissioned that resembled a Mars planetary sigil. He has christened this neo-satanic fraternity The Order of Mars. He said membership in his "fraternity" is restricted to those whom he knows personally and that his group does not solicit memberships. He also stated that this "Order" is named in honor of the Roman god Mars, who he claims is closely aligned with Egyptian god Set.
See also The Satanic Order http://www.satanicorder.com
See also Process Church, Yezidis for groups that have been called Satanist but do not accept that label.
See also
- Baphomet
- Church of Satan
- demonic hierarchy
- demonolatry
- Devil
- Left-Hand Path
- list of Satanists
- list of religious topics
- Luciferians
- pentagram
- Sabbath (witchcraft)
External links
- Sat/Tan type Satanism http://apodion.com/vad/
- Homepage fot the Temple of Set http://www.xeper.org/
- Religious (theistic) Satanist groups and resources http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/dvera/other.html
- Worldwide Church of Satan http://geocities.com/WorldwideChurchofSatan
- The Order of Nine Angles http://ona.apoliteia.com/guide/
- Islamic Concept of Satan with reference to Quran http://www.submission.org/satan/
- Islamic Concept of Satan compared with Judaism and Christianity http://www.understanding-islam.org/related/text.asp?type=question&qid=291
- Maledictum Scavri Valentini http://www.maledictum.com/eng.htm
- Ecclesia Tenebrarum http://www.tenebrositas.org/