The Satanic Bible

Following on from the last post, I came across ‘The Satanic Bible’ which was created by Anton LaVey in 1966 the founder of the Church of Satan, which started off as a group called Magic Circle. Today, however the ‘Church’ has various levels of membership and authority, this notion of authority and membership can yet again be comparable to institutionalised religions of today, which kind of defies the purpose of the so-called atheistic followers of the Church of Satan.

There is a website titled Church of Satan (how creative), dedicated to this particular sect of Devil worship.  I have come to find that the Church of Satan sect is the one that is most easily researched compared to other denominations.

On this website you can download applications to become an

 active member of the 'Church' of Satan. I was so tempted to join but you have to pay a registration fee of $200 and in return you get an embossed crimson card declaring you are a member (and before you ask, no it’s not made out of gold, not even plated with it). I’m not sure I’m quite ready to break the bank just yet to become a registered member of  the Church of Satan. There were also links which lead to forums where you could write letters to the devil, a bit like prayer requests forms on websites of Christian doctrine.

Satan Worship – The Satanic Bible

 Here are the foundation tenants laid out in this book:

1. Satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence.
2. Satan represents vital existence instead of spiritual pipe dreams.
3. Satan represents undefiled wisdom instead of hypocritical self-deceit.
4. Satan represents kindness to those who deserve it instead of love wasted on ingrates.
5. Satan represents vengeance instead of turning the other cheek.
6. Satan represents responsibility to the responsible instead of concern for psychic vampires.
7. Satan represents man as just another animal, sometimes better, more often worse than those that walk on all fours, because of his "divine spiritual and intellectual development," has become the most vicious animal of all.
8. Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification.
9. Satan has been the best friend the Church has ever had, as he has kept it in business all these years.

These tenants or ‘commandments’ as such confirm what I talked about in the last post about this atheistic form of Satanism being totally hedonistic.

Diabolatry

Hello readers, I am researching Devil worship and writing my third post. It is steadily getting dark outside as the day is reaching its close. Therefore I am effectively staring at the laptop screen in semi-darkness...and to top it off I am watching a clip on YouTube about Satanism. The clip starts with eerie music...then the clip just stops (with the resounding sound of the eerie drums in my ears) refusing to load up...OK that is enough to freak me out. Just thought I’d set the scene there.

Anyway enough of the ‘eerie-ness’. Carrying on with my search to finding out what Devil worship really is? I have found, like other religions such as Christianity and Islam, Devil worship also consists of different sects and denominations. A quote from All About The Occult website sums up quite well the varying beliefs throughout Satanism/Devil worship:  

“Beliefs of these Satanists vary; some accept Satan as a god, or as a demon. Some accept him as a father god, replacing the role of god with Satan and inverting the values of good and evil, light and dark. Some choose to believe that the Christian god does not exist and that Satan created the earth. Others believe that Satan was not the bringer of evil, but instead he was a bringer of enlightenment and knowledge."

Anton LeVay

The main Schools of devil worship are Theistic/Traditional Satanism otherwise known as Diabolatry (First century to present) and the Church of Satan (19^th century to present).
Both schools are distinctively different from one another. Diabolatry is the spiritual worship of the Christian Satan whereas the other is based on an atheistic view. The atheistic sect does not believe in God nor Satan but worships the notion of evil on its own merit, something which is disassociated from religion. In this school of Satanism hedonism is key. Ironically, one organisation of atheistic Satanism names itself; Church of Satan, a name which associates itself with being some form of religion.
When I came across the notion of two opposing views in devil worship, I instantly compared it with the Sunni and Shia sects in Islam. In the same way these two groups are seen as rivals, there is also a constant rift between both ‘schools’ of Satanism. Traditional Satanism arguing that LeVay the founder of the Church of Satan held the same views as them originally before turning to hedonism:
“As a Satanist he does believe in the God of the bible but he refused to worship him and made a conscious decision to worship Satan instead.” (sataniccults)

More information about different types of Devil worship or Satanism can be found on the website: The Description, Philosophies and Justification of Satanism. I shall leave you this time with a video of what can be be described as Modern or Philosophical Satanism which is all about ‘recognizing your sovereignty as an individual.’ The video at the same time criticizes the Church of Satan. I came across this Video on YouTube (it did work in the end) which attempts to explain Modern Satanism: A failed religion, by first talking about the ‘pecking order’ between hens. Yes you read that right, ‘hens’. Have a watch for yourself. I hope it does not confuse you too much.