Satanism is considered by many to be a religion involving either the worship of Satan, or some other supreme being identified with Satan, or the directing of one's life based on inspirations gained from study of the archetype of Satan. 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."

The above quote is using the word to describe Martin Luther's teachings, although Luther himself would have denied either worshipping Satan or being inspired by the study of Satan.

However, many modern 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:

1. Sat/Tan, the Dark Doctrines type Satanism
2. Setian Satanism
3. LaVeyan Satanism
4. Other forms (e.g., some Gnostic sects, Order of Nine Angles, Order of Mars)

Contents

1 Satanism in Traditional Theology 2 Sat/Tan, the Dark Doctrines type Satanism 3 Setian Satanism 4 LaVeyan Satanism 5 Satanic cults 6 Other groups 7 See also 8 External links

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:

a. Jewish. There are good urges and bad urges; good tendencies, and bad tendencies in Judaism. These are nurtured within the person, by his own free choices in life. Jews do not believe in a devil. They might be seen, secularly, as using the word "Satanic" to mean anything that is opposed to LIFE, such as genocide.

b. Islamic. "THE Satan" is any adversary or enemy, be it a person, a leader, or a nation of people. Since 1979 when Ruhollah Khomeini called the United States "The Great Satan", some Muslims believe that the US is the enemy due to the its support of Israel and perceived actions against Islamic nations. In the Muslim sense, it means that which is, to Muslims, an "evil adversary".

c. Christian. In many sects 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 them.

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, where Set was a 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.

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
• Homepage fot the Temple of Set
• Religious (theistic) Satanist groups and resources
• Worldwide Church of Satan
• The Order of Nine Angles
• Islamic Concept of Satan with reference to Quran
• Muslims Comparing their Concept of Satan with other Relegiouns
• Maledictum Scavri Valentini
• Ecclesia Tenebrarum