Spiritual Satanist

Celebrate Satanic Independence!

2011-07-04T12:23:00.004-05:00

Independence Day, the Most Satanic Holiday of ALL!

What holiday is most associated with Satanism? Is it Halloween, where witches and black cats decorate homes? Or, is it as LaVey suggested in the Satanic Bible, the birthday that should be the most Satanic Holiday of all?

It is neither, I say. Halloween is a commercialized event that is punctuated with the coming of fall, and it's significance in the Satanic world is overshadowed with accusations by Christians that it's whole purpose and intent is for Satan. As a satanist, I find this to be a ridiculous assertion, but when it comes to Christians who are willing to point the finger, they do it quickly at anything that may seem 'pagan' [and therefore, evil] to them. It is characterized by tacky decorations, candy grubbing and remains a childrens holiday as it has been for a long time now.

LaVey suggested that the most Satanic Holiday of all should be one's own birthday. While that does make sense from a Satanic perspective, a person's birthday isn't something that we can all celebrate at once. It only happens once a year and while the birthday is a special day indeed, it holds no special significance for all of Satanism. I think that Lavey suggested this birthday to contrast with Christmas, which is celebrated as the birthday of Jesus..So instead of the birthday of a christian god celebrated as a holiday [holy-day], one's own birthday is celebrated instead.

This seems like another inversion of christian values made into a satanic ruling that satanists to this day cling to as some day of special import. I think it's fine.. but I think also that we should focus on something that is more meaningful and relevant to all of us as Satanists, and that something is Independence Day!!

This summer on July 4th, I realised that Independence day celebrates all that it means to be independent. While historically it represents the celebration of independence from the British and it was first celebrated in 1776, this day of Independence can have a special meaning and important relevance for all of us as Satanists.

This holiday reminds us to cherish the freedoms that we hold dear here in America. The number one freedom

that made Satanism possible is of course, freedom of religion. The constitution of America guarantees us certain 'unalienable' rights, such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and what's more Satanic than that?

Aren't most of us as Satanists working towards finding that happiness everyday? Don't most of us enjoy pursuing the religious freedom that affords us the opportunity to use Satanism as something worthy and worthwhile? And the enjoyment of life as one sees fit, that is certainly a Satanic attribute.

So on this Independence Day, let us be reminded that we have the opportunity to not only celebrate the birth of our nation, we also have the opportunity to celebrate the freedoms that make satanism possible, and we additionally have the ability to enjoy life with Satanism in any way that we see fit.

As you enjoy your day today, think about what Independence means to you. I know what it means to me - it means that I am grateful to live in a great country that allows me to live the Satanic life that I cherish. I am proud to be independent, I am proud to be a satanist, and I am proud to live in America! Celebrate!

My Name Is Legion, For We Are Many

2011-06-09T03:42:00.000-05:00

Imagine being able to tell others about your own path in Satanism, published into a book filled with other contributor works that also provide personal stories and reflections on finding Satanism, living Satanism and creating Satanism? Now is your opportunity.

S J Reisner, a well-respected author who has written both fiction and non-fiction in the field of Demonolatry [the religion of Demonology] is putting together this project, named 'My Name Is Legion, For We Are Many'. This book will be a community effort by which we can all have the opportunity to get our own personal story about finding Satanism and the Left-Hand Path.

Visit the link at the end of this post so that you can find out how you can submit your own personal story into this book. I plan on having my submission in by the end of this month, but you also have an opportunity to submit your own story. Don't worry if you have no writing experience.. its personal experience that they want for this book, not technical expertise. A submission for this book will be easy if you break down your story into an outline and use that for writing.

What they are looking for is short personal stories, from 1,500 to 3,000 words. I am sure that they will do a preliminary edit, but before you submit, do take some time to spell check and pre-edit before publishing. Contributors receive a copy of the book, and while that's not cash in your pocket that's not the point. The idea is that we all have a story to tell so if you take the time to get your idea out there, you may help others who will read this book.

When this book is published, I would enjoy placing it in the storefront of my Satanism and Occult Writer's Group at Lulu, a group that I formed in 2009 to gather the best and brightest writers from LuLu who write about Satanism and the Occult, all under one roof.

But that's not all.. You also have the opportunity to contribute financially towards this project which will ensure that the proper editing and producing will be available. The book will be produced even if they do no meet their projected goal of 1, 5000 by October of this year.

Here is a breakdown of what could be on the table as far as publishing and editing expenses go if they meet the financial goal:

Compensation to Authors: $3,500
Contributor Copies: $100 (estimated - includes shipping).
Expanded Distribution & Proofing Fees: $50.
Editorial (for interior publication file creation and eBook formatting, may include additional artwork or compensation to contributors): $1000.
Cover Art: $500.

If you wish to financially contribute toward this project you can visit this url which takes you to their donation page where all of these details are revealed. You will receive compensation afterwards, including copies of the book, a beautiful Lucifer talisman and more. With proper funding this book could do well with sales, and it will likely be presented as a very professional project. This is the link -> Donations

Full details on this project can be located at SJ Reisner's wordpress site. This is the link:
My Name Is Legion, For We Are Many

Venus Satanas

Join my facebook fan page here! -> Venus Satanas on Facebook

Last Weekend's Chat (05/07/-05/08/2011) - Ritual Methods, History of Ritual in Satanism

2011-05-14T14:09:00.001-05:00

I'm posting this later than I wanted to, and labeled this Yesterday's chat even though it wasn't yesterday just to keep my facebook notes organized. - I actually started writing this on Monday but i got caught up in some business that I had to take care of, and so I wasn't able to post this until now... I want to discuss the last Video Chat that I hosted at my site now because love to review what happened and give you a preview of what is coming up for next weekend.

This last video chat that I hosted at spiritualsatanist.com was so much fun! The best part of it all was that my husband joined in and discussed his experiences in using ritual magic. The focus of our discussion was the use of ritual in Satanism, and many of us there had experiences that we shared with one another.

Ritual is used by many Satanists for a variety of purposes. It's used for worship and for magic. Ritual allows us to participate in Satanism in a personal and meaningful way. Ritual allows us to be closer to Satan, and it also allows us to manifest our dreams and our desires through symbolism and the use of magical tools.

We discussed the use of ritual tools last weekend, prior to this discussion on ritual methods. Ritual can be performed by anyone who has an interest in using those same ritual tools in the proper way to create results. I say proper because there are specific types of rituals that Satanists can do, and while these rituals are often personally created, some of us use prepared rituals that we may tailor to suit our individual needs or desires.

I discussed the historical aspects of ritual in Satanism as well, by describing how early Satanism represented the denial of the church through rituals of blasphemy. We talked about LaVey's black mass, a ritual that he created to mock the catholic church. Maybe LaVey didn't realize the impact of this ritual for Satanists who want to express their Satanism from the very start, because many Satanists have used it ever since to deny and break away from their former religion and enter into Satanism. The black mass has been used prior to LaVey's time as a way to mock the state religion of Rome, long before Romans had accepted Christianity as state religion. LaVey certainly didn't invent the use of this ritual because it had been in use centuries before his time - but he did modify a similar style of ritual to mock the catholic church.

This kind of ritual has been written about by authors for many centuries, who wanted to illustrate the fantasies of those who believed that there were people who would mock the Christian church in blasphemous rituals. An example of this can be found in the stories of LaVoisin, and the tales of Satanism and Witchcraft by Jules Michelet. Defrocked priests and nuns who were less than virtuous would participate together in these rituals, turning the cross upside down, pissing in the holy water, while the nun laid upon the altar in naked splendor. Robed participants would look on and keep guard over them, under the flickering light of candles made of the fat of newborn babies. These tales were meant to horrify, disgust and frighten those who read them.

Unfortunately, many believed these stories to be true, when in fact they were only literary representations of Satanism in society, tales that were used for sensationalism or for the purpose of spreading moral panic in society. Propaganda like this had been spread about in society for a long time, for centuries, and even to this day - the Satanic Panic an example of this type of storytelling that was meant to influence the public into believing that there were Satanists performing rituals of blasphemy. While no evidence of blasphemous rituals exist outside of literature, some to this day still believe that these rituals really occurred, including some Satanists who want to make these fictional tales a part of their own Satanic history.

Perhaps LaVey was amongst these people who thought those stories about Satanic Ritual were true, and whether he included stories like this in his books for the purpose of illustration or to provide history for Satanists, he wasn't the only one to believe that such stories were fact, instead of fiction or propaganda. Very few were able to comprehend how these stories were meant to be used by Christians against those who were not a part of Christianity, such as the Jewish, were ere often accused of performing rites like these, just as witches gathered at their ' sabbats'.

That was then, and this is now. Ritual for Satanists today are varied in their meaning, and have a meaningful purpose. Satanists use rituals of worship and admiration to profess their love for Satan. We also use rituals to symbolize what we want, so that we can manifest our magical desires. Even though we have rituals available for us to use today, it is unfortunate that many of these Satanic rituals are developed by religious leaders in Satanism, to function as useful tools for their cult members.This means that the variety of rituals that we have are really only useful to those who are a part of those organizations.

Despite this, I would like to provide the kinds of rituals that any Satanist from any path can use, and through this many Satanists would be able to have access to rituals that they can modify for their own purposes. Hopefully this will be better than those who seek to join an organization, just to have access to their documents and rituals that they create for the purpose of the promotion of their own cult.

Rituals aren't hard to create, and in our discussion this weekend, I described how to make them from a simple three step formula - Each ritual has an opening, the beginning, and a middle, where the offering or declaration is made, and a closing or ending, where the ritual ends or closes. So, with this formula, rituals are easier to understand and much faster to create.

I described the ritual that I created for Mars, which you can see at my website. I talked about the process that I used, where I researched the legends of Mars as a Roman god and as a planetary energy, which went on for five days, the last day of this where the ritual was performed. It was the kind of ritual that was very personal and very satisfying because of the results. I wanted to do this ritual because I am an Aries, and mars is aspected in my chart in some very nice ways, but beyond that, I wanted to get closer to one of the lovers of Venus; this was an adventure that brought me satisfaction and happiness and I learned things about my own nature within because of it

After ths ritual was released to my website, a youtube user [involved with a branch of the OTO, and Golden Dawn] contacted me and made a review of this ritual, where he tried it out and modified it for his own purposes, stating that it was an excellent ritual that brought effects almost immediately. I contacted him and thanked him for trying out this ritual, and thanked him for reviewing the experience at YouTube.

Unfortunately, Youtube is often a harsh environment where anything goes, and people will go out of their way to insult others, and to be very immature and rude, and so he had troubles with atheists and others who wanted to put him down for exposing his magical and occult interests. He removed this video review and closed his account. It's a shame but that's how it goes. Over the years I've learned to ignore the idiots there but not everyone is able to have strength in that way to just let it slide off their back like it does not matter. I do not have a copy of his review.

So, on Sunday, my sweet dear husband (his name is Bill) decided to join me on camera. We discussed our own personal adventure with ritual. We described how before we met, we both used ritual to get what we wanted through the use of magic - him with a very basic ritual under the moonlight and me with my adventures with Goetic demons.

We did a ritual the same week, and this is the ritual that brought us together. We met a week later, at where I work, and it was love at first sight. The goal with my ritual was to find a teacher who would guide me and direct me towards some resources where I could learn direct magic, meaning that it is magic without the use of ritual - and Bill's interest with his ritual was to find a friend, companion and lover, to come into his life because he felt that it was the right time to reach out 'to the universe' (as he calls it) to have this person come into his life.

Both of our rituals had a very meaningful impact because a week later we found each other. Bill has more than 30 years experience in direct magic, and he calls it 'mentalism', and he became my lover, friend, confidant and teacher. He taught me what he knew from his experiences in magic and since then I have become his protege. So our experiences are both an example of ritual in action, the kind of ritual that manifests something beautiful, real and true.

Maybe Bill will join us this weekend, we can only hope. Our discussion this weekend will be about "Living the Magical Life" - a discussion on what it is like to use ritual, and how ritual can work to change your life in good ways, and what it is like to live as a magician or witch. hope that you can join us, because as each weekend goes by, I am enjoying the live Video Chats that we have had.

I have had so many good discussions and 'I really enjoy communicating ideas on magic and Satanism with my friends and fans. There is nothing better than a face-to-face chat, live and in person. I know that many have learned from my writings and videos, and through this chat, I am afforded one more opportunity to reach out to others and share my knowledge.

Feel free to comment below, and add any suggestions or ideas on how to make this experience better. Your opinion is important, it matters and I would like to know. Thank you to all that visit. You make it all worthwhile!

Join us this Saturday and Sunday, starting at 7pm, in our chatroom. You can access the chat by following this link: http://www.spiritualsatanist.com/chatrooms.html - This same link will also take you to our IRC chat, where we can discuss Satanism and magic, every day of the week. IRC is a text chat and it is very easy to access. If you do visit the IRC channel, please keep in mind that I try to be present from 7am eastern time (USA) till 3-4am at night - and if I don't answer as soon as you pop in the chat, I may be AFK [away from keys] - so don't leave as soon as you enter if no one answers. We are present for most of the day and we try to answer you as soon as we become available.

My chatrooms are different than most chatrooms for Satanism. We stay on topic, so there is always a good discussion going on, and we do not participate in discussing random off topic things such as movies, music or anything that is mundane. Our IRC chat, and the video chat is and always will be a very calm and peaceful environment where you can learn, share and enjoy discussions on Satanism and the occult - there is no judgmentalism, no arguing, because we keep it very peaceful so that it can serve Satanists as a place to find knowledge. Thank you for participating, and I will see you there!

- Venus Satanas

HAIL SATAN!

Spiritual Satanist Chatroom - On Competition in Satanism

2011-04-25T11:04:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, in the Spiritual Satanist chat we discussed competition in Satanism. This discussion was about how Satanists compete with each other wherever Satanists congregate. They do this through thought word and deed, in forums online and in Satanist groups. Internet bullying and the act of harassing other Satanists has become common place. But, what does this competition do for Satanists? Does it build them up or tear them down?

Competition in Satanism seemed to have started in LaVey's church. In the 70's, back when Lavey split with Michael Aquino, the first feud in Satanism began and the rest is history. This feud was echoed throughout Satanism even to this day, as groups, cults and organizations in Satanism compete with each other. The people in these groups even compete with members in the same group. No one is immune to this as it is found in all areas of Satanism.

What does this competition accomplish? It serves as a temporary win to those who use their might to make right. These people who perpetrate internet bullying and fighting with others are seeking to fill that void in their life that is missing. maybe they do it to boost their ego and their self esteem. It's something that leads to the loss of respect amongst Satanists, and that's not right. Its not ok to be belligerent to other Satanists, because actions like that, while they bring temporary gain do nothing to serve the Satanist in the long term.

The Sharp Divide
Wherever Satanists gather there will be those who take the side of the atheists, and those who take the side of theists. This sharp divide in Satanism is what causes a lot of problems, in general. One side fights with the other, until there is nothing left.

Atheistic or materialistic Satanists appreciate Satan as something that is symbolic, and theistic Satanists recognize Satan as something that is spiritual and religions. It is something that divides Satanists, just as the religious are divided with atheists. People on both sides fight for various issues, but mainly it seems to be that those who are fighting are standing up for what they believe is the right thing, the right way.. true Satanism

There is no TRUE Satanism!

This idea of true Satanism is a myth, its a fantasy and it does not serve Satanism. There are several reasons for this. Since Satanism is made up of a decentralized social group, there is no central doctrine that we all should be adhering to. Additionally, there is no true Satanism that we all should be conforming to. Satanism is a personal journey, and it is for this reason, that Satanism can't be in a true form that we all should be following.

Its this true Satanism that so many people fight for. That is something that the religious will always fight for, and atheist Satanists do the same thing! they also fight for true Satanism almost as if their philosophy was also a religion. They practice hero worship which glorifies the ego, and they bash others which serve as a foundation for their own self righteousness.
Stratification in Satanism
In the chatroom tonight, I pointed out that Satanists, when they fight are participating in the stagnation of Satanism. they create stratification, just as LaVey and his church had intended. There are groups out there that do whatever they can to crush haters, and crush the competition. But what are they serving up to you, as a Satanist? What benefit will you find in a life where you continually have to serve loyalty to a Satanic leader while fulfilling out his (or her) wishes to bash any other group? Shouldn't those leaders be serving you with knowledge and information that you can use to better yourself? Shouldn't Satanists be focused on self-development instead of fighting a fight of self-righteousness?
I asked this of the folks in the chatroom.

I told them that as long as they participate in that kind of behaviour it will take away from their journey in Satanism. It will hinder growth within and it will cause a person to get sidetracked into a battle that never ends. But there are ways of combating this kind of behaviour. You don't have to participate in it, and once you know how to identify it, its easy to see where and when this kind of thing happens. And then with this knowledge, you can face this wherever it is found, and respond to it without having to get into a battle with other Satanists.

How to combat this competition

I suggested three things:
First of all, you should choose your battles wisely. You don't have to participate in every fight that comes your way. Try to have some maturity and composure, and realize that these fights don't allow you to grow spiritually. They only detract from your original goals and desires and dreams. Its a waste of time in the long run and you could run into some nasty individuals online.

Secondly, be aware of who you let into your social circle. There are those who would use you for your time and attention, and they are only out to gain whatever they can get from you. When you stop giving into them, they may oppose you. Any secrets or personal things that you have said to them, they may reveal to everyone else on the net.. or use that knowledge against you in some way. Be careful of who you associate with and follow your feelings..

Thirdly, set a good example for others. Find other Satanists that you can respect. Help other Satanists to find their own way. When you set a good example, others will follow. What is an example of this? Providing your help and expertise to another Satanist who is new to the path.. not rejecting them simply because they do not know what to do or where to go for knowledge. Help them and others will see that its is more mature and respectable to be polite and generous to others. You will benefit from this as well and perhaps have a better reputation for it, as well. when you help another to learn, you may also learn from the experience yourself.

Don't be aggressive just because some high priest of a church tells you that its the way to be because that's what Satanists do.. Life isn't a battle, its a journey. I know that its human nature to want to have an enemy, but just because something is in our nature does not mean that its the best thing to do, or even the right thing to do. When you act with conscience you will be doing something that may benefit you in the long term. Don't participate in this competition and you will see how much free time that you will have to pursue things that will benefit you.

This wave of vampirism and predatory behaviour in Satanism is something that people are falling in line with, without questioning it. Satanists learn to question whatever life brings them, so why are they congregating in groups, flocking to them, and then using that as a way to be predatory against other Satanists? Whats so free minded about that? When you are following another person's directions you are loosing out on making your own path in Satanism. If you are going to question everything you might as well question the way that your Satanic leaders are leading you. What are they showing you that is useful, knowledgeable and honorable? If the best that they can show you is how to put another person down then maybe its time to move on.

Did you know that a few years ago a church of Satan member published a book on how to insult others? It was a guide to insulting other Satanist and anyone who is in your path. This kind of aggression was bred within LaVey's group, and it has spread all throughout Satanism, to its farthest corners on both sides, meaning that it is found in religious Satanism and in symbolic Satanism!

This is where independent Satanists have the upper hand as they are not lead by the whims of a group and its leader. Even then you will find a certain kind of aggression in independent Satanism.

I also suggested that each one of you should make yourselves aware of local state laws regarding internet bullying. Where I live it is a misdemeanor. We have laws like this in most states in the USA. Some countries don't have laws like this unfortunately. But as time goes on, laws like these are being made because internet bullying has reached epic proportions, and it sometimes has a fatal ending such as in the case of several students (and especially gay people) who have taken their own lives because of cruel and incessant bullying online. Know your rights and exercise them if you want to do something about internet bullying where you find it online.

Overall, we as Satanists face a tough decision to not fight with each other. And, I am not suggesting some kind of unity, or even suggesting peace - but what i am suggesting is that each one of us has the opportunity to develop spiritually and mentally, and when you avoid these kinds of competitive battles in Satanism, then you have more time for yourself and for your own pursuits, whether they be spiritual, religious, magical or philosophical. Avoiding these fights will allow you to accomplish what you want in Satanism without having to sacrifice your time and attention to others who only want to fight online.

I also told the chatters that wherever I have my chats set up, wherever my fans will congregate, I will never allow that kind of bullying to go on. You can enjoy a stress free environment wherever you come to chat with me and with my friends, either in my video chat or at my IRC chat, and even on my own facebook page.

Next week's discussion in the Spiritual Satanist chatroom will be about Ritual Tools, what they are and how to use them, and how to arrange your altar. I will also be reading excerpts from my Satanic Witchcraft book. This will be a two-part series for Saturday and Sunday. You are welcome to visit. Just stop by the chatroom on Saturday or Sunday starting at 7pm Eastern Time. I will post a notice at my Facebook whenever I am in the chat. A big thank you to all who visited, it was a blast

Take some time to visit the Spiritual Satanist Chatrooms and book mark the video chatroom and don't forget to stop by next weekend!

Till next time - HAIL SATAN!!

Let Your Voice Be Heard: The Satan Census (Satan Survey 3)

2011-03-16T03:21:00.001-05:00

This is your opportunity to let your Satanic voice be heard! You can go fill out the Satan Census - this third version was recently released.

There are 67 questions in this Satanic Survey, created by James R. Lewis. Sociologists like Mr. Lewis compile this kind of information for research and for reporting. The questions in the Satan Survey relate to the current state of Satanism, including vital information like the average age of Satanists and their education, to their interests in Satanism and even their beliefs as satanists.

This survey is completely anonymous and it takes about 45 minutes to fill out. When giving additional information for a question, take your time to answer and be as detailed as you want. It might be helpful to review your questionnaire before you send it in so that you don't leave anything out.

I really respect Mr. Lewis' work because his work has been very beneficial for Satanism overall. Thanks to him and people like him we now have real and factual information about Satanism and the lives of Satanists. Mr. Lewis' work increases public knowledge and perception of Satanism and presents the facts, as they really are. His surveys have served Satanists in more ways than one, and that is why your participation is so important and vital.

Here is a blurb from the Satan Survey 3:

"I am conducting questionnaire research on contemporary Satanism. The current phase of my research builds on prior work that was published ten years ago as (link) Who Serves Satan? A Demographic and Ideological Profile found online at the Marburg Journal of Religion website..Initial findings from this questionnaire will be reported at the "Satanism in Western Culture" conference, to be held in Stockholm, 25-27 September 2011" - James R. Lewis

The Satan Survey as it is today was built on years of work, and in this work a decade of real information about Satanists have been gathered and analyzed and presented to the public, both in print and online. The impact of this information being made to the public has only benefited Satanism. It is because of this reporting that people are starting to realize that Satanism is real and that Satanists live far beyond whatever stereotypes that have been created for us in society.

This survey, and your experience filling it out will also give you an additional bonus – you can use it to analyze your own Satanism by carefully considering your answers while you fill out this form. It may help you to see where you are at, what your intersts are and whre you need work. And it may also give you additional information to research, new ideas to consider and a better understanding of your relation to Satanism, Satan and Self – VS.

see more at amazon.com

Here it is (link): The Satan Census (Satan Survey 3)

Also, see these books authored by James R. Lewis, at amazon.com
The Encyclopedic Sourcebook of Satanism
"The contributors first examine modern Satanism, a decentralized movement whose only coherence is based on certain themes that date back to the writings of Anton Szandor LaVey, especially his Satanic Bible. Among other factors, the authors discuss how the emergence of the Internet as a form of communication has created some coherence among disparate groups through cross-reference.

Satanism Today: An Encyclopedia Of Religion, Folklore and Popular Culture

see more at amazon.com

Proposing "to survey contemporary images of the Devil," this book examines not only "religious Satanism" but also various satanic organizations, traditions, and personalities. The general focus is on the Christian-Jewish-Islamic tradition of Satan, but there are articles discussing Buddhism and Taoism and their somewhat different demons and hells. Lewis also explores the contribution of Zoroastrianism to both Satan and the concept of hell in the three great monotheisms and the influence of Aleister Crowley and Anton LaVey on the modern satanist movement....

The book is in dictionary format. Articles range from a few sentences to several two-column pages in length. Most articles have see also references and a list of further reading, much of it recent. Where appropriate, Web sites are also listed, as many satanist organizations have considerable Internet activity.

Side Projects - My Beauty Blog, Squidoo

2011-02-24T06:52:00.002-05:00

There aren't too many women in Satanism.. A review of gender differences by the sociologist James R. Lewis in his 2001 Satan Survery revealed that women make up only about 30% of (known) Satanists worldwide. I am quite sure that number has grown over the years as the internet has made Satanism available to anyone who is interested in it.

So, just for fun and just for the ladies, I have created a side project that focuses on beauty and cosmetic reviews. It's been received well in the Satanic community and it's really fun to work on in my spare time. Writing reviews for cosmetics serves several purposes in my life: First of all, I would like to provide first hand knowledge to those who are searching for cosmetic reviews. And secondly, I know that women in Satanism will appreciate this project simply because some women really enjoy cosmetics. Also, it is relaxing and its a break from my usual writings on Satanism so it provides another creative and relaxing outlet for me to work on. And finally, I have been developing my own line of beauty, bath and cosmetic products for my Etsy Shop and for my Satanas Shop, too - so understanding the industry as a consumer is important for me especially since I would like to concentrate on the field of beauty now, and in the future.

For those of you who are interested in beauty and cosmetics. come and check out my Beauty Blog - its called Venus Beauty, and I post reviews of my favorite, and not-so-favorite beauty products. I have a passion for writing reviews of cosmetics, and I have been doing that for several years over at a place called Makeupalley.com.

I wanted to expand on that, and it's why I created my blog for beauty, and its also why I am writing reviews for cosmetics over at a place called Squidoo. I have enjoyed Squidoo writing for about 4 years now, but my Squidoo account for beauty reviews is focused solely on beauty, cosmetics, makeup reviews and things like that. You can come check out my beauty blog, my Squidoo pages for beauty and my YouTube channel for beauty reviews by following these links below:

The Venus Beauty Blog - Reviews of cosmetics and so much more!
My Squidoo Beauty and Cosmetic Reviews - A page that lists all of my Squidoo Lenses (pages)
My Venus Beauty Channel at Youtube - Video reviews of cosmetics, when blogging about them isn't enough!

And, for an update on my situation:
We are working hard to make sure that we get out of this house as quickly as possible. My husband has some cash comming in from several jobs that he's done in the past few weeks so we are looking forwad to getting a new place as soon as we can. And I've been working hard too.

I want to thank all of you who have wshed us well - it really made a difference and it helped us through this tough time. Now, I want to give something back, so I have been at my chatroom (At my Venus Satanas Live site!) and I have been doing live Video DANCES for those who want to see me dance and also, I've been doing TAROT READINGS for those who are interested in live video Tarot readings.

Dancing has been therapeutic for me, I really enjoy how it makes me feel and I would love to share that feeling with you, so if you are interested, follow this link below to meet with me in my chatroom so we can discuss the details on how you can purchase your own Dance session or Tarot reading session - or we can just chat about Satanism if you'd like, that's all right with me!

My pole is set up right in front of my altar - its absolutely amazing - and it will be here until the last day that we are here in this house - so I want to take advantage of this situation and offer my dances and tarot reads while I can. Thank you!

Here is the link to my chatroom - Venus Satanas Live Chatroom
Link to my beauty Blog - Venus Beauty
Link to my Squidoo Pages - My Lensography

Blessed Beast ~ Venus Satanas

The Continued Tragedy in Haiti - Revelations of The Modern Witch Hunt

2011-01-11T08:52:00.002-05:00

Last year, the Caribbean island nation of Haiti went from obscurity as a third-world country directly into the worldwide spotlight, when a massive earthquake hit 25 miles from Haiti's capital center Port Au Prince. In the devastation, an estimated 300,000 people were killed, and the earthquake left more than 1.5 million homeless. The whole world witnessed the tragedy almost as fast as it unfolded. The news of this event spread like lightning across the internet, and people and aid agencies immediately responded to help Haiti. Relief poured in just as fast as the call was put out, from all corners of the globe.

Unfortunately, all of the millions of dollars that have been pledged and donated has not helped their situation. The people of Haiti are still dealing with the economic aftershocks of the earthquake, because their society and government infrastructure in shambles. Currently, Haiti is without adequate housing, food, clothing, medical care and other necessities. Even though we arrive at the one-year anniversary of this tragedy, the people of Haiti still suffer in so many ways. Most of those that did survive the earthquake are living in temporary shelters. These are the tent camps and shanty towns that have been provided to them by humanitarian aid.

With very little clean water available to the population, a cholera outbreak spread throughout the island, with it's center located at the U.N. base in Meille. Cholera is a vicious intestinal disease that causes dehydration and could eventually lead to death if there is no medical intervention available. It is estimated that over 2,400 people have become ill so far, and this disease could affect another 600,000 or more people, in the near future.

Unfortunately, the religious leaders of Haiti have sought out a supernatural cause for this cholera outbreak, and they made the accusation that this disease was caused by the residents of Haiti and their religion - Voodoo. These same religious leaders, who influence the police and control of the government, have killed and tortured those people that they accuse of causing the recent deadly outbreak. The Associated Press recently reported that so far 45 people have died for allegedly using Voodoo and black magic to cause the recent outbreak of cholera, an infection that is caused by dirty water.

Religious folk magic is at the heart of the society of Haiti. The people of Haiti descended from slaves who were transported to Haiti by the French, in the 16th century. These African slaves brought their spiritual and magical Vodun tradition with them to the western world. Because they were slaves, they were forced into submission by accepting the beliefs and practices of their new Catholic culture. The practice of Haitian Voodoo developed when these slave descendants used their traditional magic along with the Catholic religion. It is estimated that today, 9.6 million people on the island of Haiti, are a part of the Haitian Voodoo religion.

Now the blood is on the hands of the religious leaders who are looking for a scapegoat to solve their problems. These religious leaders have used the cholera outbreak to target individuals whom they think are causing the fear and panic, and spreading the deadly disease. On the island, a local Voodoo priest, Max Beauvoir comments on the current state of affairs. "Most of the killings are occurring in the southern coastal town of Jeremie, where people are being lynched, set on fire and attacked with machetes." These same killings have also been reported in places like Cap Haitien and the Central Plateau.

In other reports that show the severity of this situation, Haiti's national police spokesman Frantz Lerebours said, "machete-wielding mobs had killed a dozen people accused of practicing witchcraft to spread cholera." The UN is aware of this activity but they are slow to respond. Local law enforcement does not step in to stop the killings, and many incidences remain unreported. This senseless violence affects all the residents of Haiti. This attack comes from their own religious leaders. These are the same people who should be providing spiritual relief and healing, and uniting them under one cause.

With archaic ignorance the Hatian religious officials make the claim that Voodoo and black magic is the source of this cholera epidemic. The nation of Haiti has suffered more than their share of loss, sadness and heartbreak in the past year alone, and now they have to live in fear due to their own government. As these religious leaders target and murder these innocent people who practice Voodoo, they cut deeply into the religious roots of the Haitians, destroying whatever remains of their culture and heritage, one group of people at a time.

This isn't the first time that black magic and Voodoo has been blamed on Haiti's recent woes. When the earthquake struck the island nation last year, it was Pat Robertson who made the judgment that the people of Haiti were affected by an earthquake because they deserved it. In this 700 Club interview, while they were soliciting donations for the people of Haiti during a televangelism fundraiser, Robertson spoke out against the people of Haiti, accusing them of colluding with the devil so they could gain their independence from the French.

As stated by Robertson, "..something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, 'We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.' True story. And so, the devil said, 'OK, it's a deal'. According to Robertson, the Haitians deserved what happened to them because they were cursed by (the Christian) god ever since they made that fateful deal with the devil.

This view was criticized by many, even within Christianity. A nationally known urban legend expert, Rich Buehler, stated that Roberston was incorrect "..on a variety of historical points, and (that he) propagated a common yet false claim that Vodou is Satanic in nature.

Robertson, host of the television series The 700 Club and outspoken Baptist minister, also blamed 9/11 on gay people in America. According to Robertson, in an interview after the tragedy in New York, he blamed '..the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays, and the lesbians who have helped the terror attacks of September 11th to happen'. When the people of America spoke up against Robertson for making this accusation, Robertson eventually apologized to everyone and to President Bush, and he retracted his statement.

Throughout all of the confusion in Haiti, one thing remains clear. Without raising awareness of the issues that these people are now facing, their future as a Voodoo culture looks uncertain. I wrote this article to help spread some of that awareness. Even in this modern-day society, while some are able to enjoy are supposed to be religious freedoms and rights, the ignorance of religious leaders endangers the lives of innocent people who have become the target of this most recent witch hunt. This new moral panic is a genocide of people who, according to these religious leaders, deserve to die for spreading fear and disease. The only intentional destruction of human life that is happening here, however, remains in the hands of these religious leaders.

- Venus Satanas

*****
References/Resources

Voodoo killings reportedly rise in Haiti epidemic: Dec 25, 2010 The Associated Press
http://www.aolnews.com/story/cholera-epidemic-spreads-in-haiti-nearly/1347181/?cid=12

Robertson's "true story": Haiti "swore a pact to the devil" to get "free from the French" and "ever since, they have been cursed": January 13, 2010, CBN, The 700 Club, video: (accessed 1/9/11)
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201001130024

Urban Legend Expert Debunks Haitian ‘Pact with the Devil‘, By Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service (accessed 1/9/11)
http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2010/s10010104.htm

Read about the history of Haiti, and their freedom from the French. This article is about a man, Dutty Boukman, Hatian Priest and leader of the Hatian Slave Revolution, and the man who brought freedom to the island nation of Haiti. (accessed 1/9/11)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutty_Boukman

Satanism and Spirituality - Not a Competition

2010-11-07T09:23:00.000-05:00

Some Things to Consider
In my many years of practicing Satanism I have seen an ongoing competition, almost everywhere you can go where Satanists are known to congregate. It is the competitive spirit of Satanism that causes Satanists to compete with each other. I think that this is a waste of time and effort, because spirituality and Satanism should not be a competition.

Sure, there are Satanists that believe that they should be ahead of the 'herd', to be leader of the pack, and to generally stand out from the multitudes. Those who do stand out are taking a chance that they will be ridiculed for thinking (and acting like) that they are better than the rest. Those who don't stand out are also ridiculed for being failures. It is a double standard and it makes me question the motivations of these spiritual seekers. I want to know why they do this, how it affects Satanism, and how things can change for the better.

I think that spirituality is not a competition. This is because you can not ever really compete with anyone else when it comes to your spirituality. Spirituality is the expression of the self in a divine and sacred way. In this journey of Satanism, spirituality is supposed to be a tool of self development that allows us to seek new things, experience new horizons. It allows us to achieve the things that we want to create.

Spirituality lets us explore the inner self and the world around us at the same time. Spirituality is personally experienced by those who seek to experience it. Since it is a personal journey, it can not be compared to the other seekers who are also on that same quest, that same path, because each of us are unique, individual and our spirituality is unique as well.

So, each one of us does the best that we can with what we have. To look at another and be sad for what we don't have, or to be jealous or suspicious of it, leads us nowhere. It leads us to that 'false heart' that we keep, that is planted as a seed, which continually grows until it takes over our complete perception of life, self and others around us. To say that "I'm better than you because..." is a moot point considering that each of us come from certain, unique and specific circumstances, and each of us will develop from that point onwards, with our own unique qualities. We are no better than we allow ourselves to be.

Our Role Models, Who are They?
Within this discussion on spiritual development here, it is important to see that in Satanism, we don't have any role models. Our competitive nature as Satanists prevents us from opening our heart and our minds to see how others around us can be inspiring in our own personal journey.

What is a good role model, then? A good role model is someone that can teach, and it is an experience that you can learn from. I believe that every Satanist should have the self as their first role model, and each of us should have at least one other person in our lives who inspire us to reach for the stars, to be the best that we can be, because we see that another human soul on this journey has achieved great things, and if we open our hearts and minds, we can learn from this experience. We will grow in spirit because we use another as a reflection of our own greatness that is within.

Satanism - a Competitive Path
Our Competitive Nature in Satanism is projected outwards, foisted upon others, mostly because we use this as a tool to compare our own greatness to that of another's. We don't create and give by doing this. It causes us to take it out in words that take away from another's divine spirit. We tear each other down in forums and on blogs where all we seek to do is to become a victor over meaningless, ego-filled battles. It is an empty victory because in the end, no one has learned from the experience. Perhaps the assailant has learned a new way of insulting others, or they learned how they can manipulate through harsh, cutting words. Maybe the victim learned not to cross another's path or they learned that they were weak when they should have been strong. But what good does that do, within? How does that help the spirit? How does that make things better? What kind of victory is it? Why should it matter?

Seeking to raise one's own self esteem through insults is the mark of one who has low self esteem. It shows through a person who has a weak, undeveloped spirit. Satanists struggle with self esteem just like everyone else - but in Satanism it is presented with a special challenge. We have trained ourselves to mask this inner pain and weakness by bearing our teeth and tearing each other apart through word and deed. Masking this self esteem issue is no way to develop the self in the long term, and these (hurtful) experiences offer no real, lasting lesson. Methods like this work against our own so-called goals of self development. They work against Satanism in general, and many of us are too selfish to see this!

Elitism - a Destructive Path

Providing an environment of 'elitism' as so many have in Satanism, makes it no better. We can see this environment in forums, blogs, websites - where Satanists actively compete against each other, where Satanic organizations compete against other organizations. The Church of Satan is a prime example of this, from which many organizations have taken an example from. From their book, 'The Satanic Scriptures' by Peter Gilmore, the author describes their version of Satanism as an arena of battle. He compares it to the arenas of the Roman Gladiators. Other competing organizations enter the arena one by one and they are destroyed by the might of the Church of Satan's overruling dictates and demands.

So what, I say! They don't own Satanism anymore than anyone else on this earth does, yet they will project that idea that they do, to feed the ego of those who are easily tempted by this 'elite' nature that the COS has bred amongst us. If those Satanists are busy fighting amongst each other, they could possibly miss the opportunity to fight the real battles in life that make each one of us a better person, through hard work and effort.

What Really Matters -
Those who believe that Satanism is a battle against other Satanists are missing the main point of Satanism as a path of self-development. It does not matter if you are atheist, symbolic, spiritual, religious or any other kind of Satanist.. The main goal behind any (or most) of these systems is the development of the self in a positive direction. But, who taught us these ways, that make us battle amongst each other? Was it our christian upbringing that made us believe that all others who are not the same are not worthy to be considered like us?

Was it the practice of exclusionary measures, and the demonizing of others through a religious upbringing that made us expect that Satanism would be the same way, and bring us the same result? Since when did that kind of prejudice matter, when the main goal of Satanism, in general, seems to be the development of the self? How can the Self develop if a person is making his or her self busy by attacking others and tearing others down for their own pleasure or satisfaction, or because they feel that they are expected to?

If Satanists would lay down their swords maybe they would see that the real battle in Satanism is within. This means the tearing down of the walls of false beliefs and false ideas that have done nothing but kept Satanism from progressing past it's christian roots. These same walls that are within, keep us reacting in the same way to the same situations that we face day to day in society.

Because Satanism is still in this infantile stage, we do not yet understand that the enemy is not within our own kind, but instead this enemy is found within our own spirit. This enemy is the various battles that we have to face within. To conquer this real enemy takes guts. It takes a certain kind of understanding that does not fall in line with what most of us are fed by our (well meaning!) Satanic organizations. And to emerge victorious from this kind of battle leaves us feeling so powerful and true to our own needs and desires. We become empowered by choosing the right battles and by having the courage to leave other battles alone, because we are spiritually mature and wise.

Inner Issues
Are we too egotistical, and that sets us up for seeing life as a battle? Are we too giving and kind, and so this makes us an easy target for those who would manipulate us? Where is our inner strength that shines from within? Where is our heart and our spirit? Does it lie within true self-deceit that robs us of our true spiritual, symbolic or philosophic life that we could be experiencing if we only laid down our weapons and started fighting that real battle from within?

These are important questions that I have faced along my own path in Satanism. And, throughout time, I have learned to stop seeing that enemy as an outer, invasive force. As I matured in heart and spirit, I started to see that enemy as my own desire, and guilt, and pleasure, and whatever else stood in the way of my own personal, spiritual self development. Along my own path, those battles needed to be faced from within, and as certain, special people entered into my life.. these people were sometimes a reflection of those inner battles. They had helped me to see my own faults and it enabled me to work on them, for my own good.

As long as I recognized this fact, it enabled me to not fight against those people, but to look within and find where my true spirit is, and to walk along that path that I was meant to walk, because it is my path, and my path alone. It can not compare to another's spiritual life journey, even though we can share our ideas and experiences along the way.

I am not suggesting a brotherhood, or a unity, but what I am suggesting is the fact that the battles that we have to face, and the competition that we perceive, is within our own mind and spirit. The real fight is within, not with others who are also on the same journey.

We will all reach our own personal destinations in our own way, so what does it really matter how others also make that journey? To fight with them is to be spiritually weak and ignorant, and it will leave you without that self empowerment that is found amongst those who are spiritually strong and wise. Satanism and spirituality is not a competition, because the only fight worth fighting is found within.

-Venus Satanas
Theistic Satanism and Magic - http://www.spiritualsatanist.com
[for the Satanic Ladies! the Satanic Beauty Blog - http://www.blogspot.com/SatanicBeauty]

NEW! Venus Satanas Live

2010-10-13T09:06:00.000-05:00

For those of you who have enjoyed my Pole Dance video at Youtube, now is your opportunity to experience something new and fun.

I am expanding my web presence with my new site, Venus Satanas Live - reaching out into the 'Venusian' aspects of myself - with VenusSatanasLive.com. Since I love to dance, this has been a great opportunity to meet with other Satanists and to pole dance to hardcore metal (and other types of music!). It's a dream come true!

Most of my projects have been academic, filled with research and knowledge, but with this project at Venus Satanas Live - I am presenting entertainment, in my own fun-filled world. Combining dance, metal and pole work is a great challenge but it could also be very fun. Show your love and support by joining this site today. The membership is free and so is the video chatroom. You'll also have an opportunity to join my new social network, just for the Venus Satanas Live site, and as a Member you will have access to exclusive content. VenusSatanasLive.com.

The Ooze August 7th

2010-08-06T09:15:00.003-05:00

THIS SATURDAY
August 7th

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/theooze/2010/08/07/character-and-history-of-satanism
(copy/paste this link)

Come and visit the Ooze radio show on BlotTalkRadio this Saturday. Nagasiva and I will be guest hosts, discussing the 'Character and History of Satan'. Listeners with an account are welcome to sign in and chat in the chatroom during the show.
You can also call in and talk with us, the call-in number is (347) 989-3471

HAIL SATAN!

Satan - Not My Father - or my Shepard

2010-06-26T18:50:00.008-05:00

Satan - Not My Father - or my Shepard

This blog post is about the trend in Satanism where some Satanists choose to relate to Satan as a 'father god', and how this trend originated from the practice of inverting Christian beliefs.

Some Satanists call Satan by the name of “Father”. This addresses the need for Satanists to relate to Satan as a Father God. I think this practice is most likely to be found amongst spiritual or theistic Satanists.

Why do Satanists need a 'father god'? Generally, there is no 'mother god' in their cosmology, so the idea of a 'father god' originating everything in this universe, including ourselves, does not make sense.

The need to have a father god, originates in the roots of many spiritual and theistic Satanists, when they abandoned their Christian path and continued on with Satanism. They inverted certain values, reused certain ideas, and abandoned other ideas as useless. The bottom line is, Satan as a father god is an inversion (and replacement) of the Christian god as a father figure. A (spiritual) foster father.

'Father Satan' is also a term that is used within Cult Satanism. In the practice of Cult Satanism, there is a need to unite all who participate under one way of thinking, that way usually being the teachings of the cult or the direction of the cult leader. By creating this kind of father-child relationship, it ensures that there is a solidarity of belief and that all who accept those beliefs are faithful to the idealism of their cult.

The use of 'father Satan' perhaps comes from the saying in Christianity, 'god the father, god the son, god the holy spirit', and other sayings like it. The Christian god as a father is a way for Christians to relate to their god as the creator and ruler of the universe.

It is the backdrop of their Christian mythologies of Jesus as the son of the Christian god. A general Internet search for 'god my father' brought up this quote which seems to reflect the sentiment of a lot of Christians – “The sovereign God of the universe is also my loving Father who watches and cares for me moment by moment.”

A verse like this says to me that the Christians have sought to make their god a spiritual father,
and by doing this their god becomes a source of guidance. This is the same trend that some Satanists use when they pray to Satan as a father god. They want to accept that Satan is the creator and ruler of the universe, and that their god, Satan is also their spiritual father who offers them benevolent protection and guidance.

This is at it's very foundation, again, an inversion of Christian beliefs.

Since I am examining why Satanists use their former beliefs in a new way in Satanism, it is interesting to me to see how that has been done over time. To me, it seems as if some spiritual and theistic Satanists have replaced the Christian god and inserted a Satanic one.

I am a spiritual Satanist, and I also am theistic. Yet, I was lucky not to have to be raised in a Christian environment. I have never had the need to address Satan as my father in any prayer or ritual that I have done. It goes against the basic ideas that I have about Satanism.

Satan, to me, is life, inspiration, direction and motivation. Satan, to me is not something to be entrapped by. Satan to me, is not commanding or demanding. I have my freedom to be able to be my own person, to live my life in my own way.

Satan, is not always benevolent and loving. I have had to find my own way, make my own mistakes and come to my own conclusions along the way. This allowed me to learn and to develop within Satanism. It benefited me. I do not need a father or a Shepard to live by. And, as a Satanist who is outside of Cult Satanism, I certainly have no use for Christian terminologies that are used in a Satanic way to mold my beliefs according to a cult leader's desire.

When Satanists are ready to break out of the cycle of inverting Christian values, they may find that there is so much more freedom, and opportunity to be self- expressive in a personal way. When Satanism can evolve beyond the issues that they seek to break free from, then perhaps Satan will no longer become a 'father'.

Instead Satan will be a force, a source of motivation, a reflection of desire, and a reason to live by one's own will. That is, after all, the goal of Satanism as a whole – to live according to one's own desires in the best possible way so that life can be enjoyed to its fullest. Under the leadership of Satan as a father god, a Satanist is participating in an archaic style of understanding, and promoting the idealism of Satanism (still in its infancy) trying to break free from its parentage of Christianity.

My goal in Satanism, after many years of living with it, is my need to be at Satan's side, as an ally. This precludes the need to be below Satan, as a 'spiritual child' or above Satan as a ruler. That is because I empathize with Satan in a spiritual way and I seek to be an ally towards (hir) cause.

I hope that someday, Satanists will realize their own power within, and they will abandon the father-child relationship. They will break free of this self-imposed dominating relation into a new form of willful self expression. And that they will develop into something unique, special, and worthy, with an inner power that does not need any other leadership but the Self behind it.

To do that it takes some desire to change, to leave behind the baggage and problems of their former religion, and to enter into Satanism through a new way of living. Of course, we all have to come to our own personal understanding in Satanism, but if that understanding comes from an unoriginal foundation then it might be worth examining it and deciding if the ways of old are still relevant and useful.

"Love" is Not a Four-Letter Word

2010-05-24T17:01:00.014-05:00

In Satanism, I have found that some Satanists treat the word 'Love" as if it were a four-letter word. They say the word with contempt, with disgust. They treat it as if it were not part of the Satanist's vocabulary. Almost as if it were something to be hated. As if it was a word not to be spoken.

Is it because some Satanists hold on to their past beliefs of Christianity, and in their struggle to let go of it, they treat all the concepts of Christianity with contempt? Words and concepts like 'compassion', 'forgiveness', and 'love' are seen as a condition of weakness and ignorance.

Perhaps LaVey had something to do with this contempt for love. Wasn't it LaVey who suggested that forgiveness was only to be given in a conditional way, to those who deserved it? Didn't he suggest that hatred for the hypocrisy of Christianity was righteous for Satanists? Do some Satanists, even though they are not LaVeyan, accept beliefs that LaVey introduced into Satanism through his own (hypocritical) philosophy?

Love is not a Christian concept. It is not owned by Christians. No religion has enough righteousness to own that word. That is because love is a human emotion, not a tool of the religious. Indeed, it has been used in that way - to change people's attitudes about each other and about life, through a spiritual perspective. But in the end, love is a human condition, and there is nothing more Human than the Satanist who is closest to the realities of life. Isn't that the 'Satanic Ideal'?

The Broken Past Lives On..
Treating the word 'love' with contempt is a social problem in Satanism. Some of us aren't prepared to live a life outside of Christianity, or to leave that zone of inverse-christian beliefs. So it is only natural for them to only see that word from a certain perspective. To them, it becomes a tool of the weak and the lowly, the end-product of manipulation and mind games.

It is a social problem because the word is treated with prejudice. If Satanists seek freedom and the ability to live life as they see fit, then why is love avoided or shunned? Wouldn't it make more sense to explore -why- love is important and how it can be used outside of a Christian perspective? I certainly think so. It's important to me.

I wrote this post today because I had asked a question on Facebook, and this question was about how Satanism has changed lives in a positive way. One person replied that he appreciated and enjoyed the love of Satan, and his comment erupted a firestorm of replies that 'love' didn't exist in Satanism.

I disagree with the idea that love does not exist in Satanism, because in a world filled with possibilities and a life that is truly free, there is room for love. A true kind of love that is not false or contrived, a love that is outside of moral ideals that belong to the religious. If Satanists are willing to deny that love is worthless or has no use in Satanism, then what kind of life would that be?

If Satanists refuse to change the ideas of the past that only serve to hold them back from enjoying life, then what kind of future will they have as Satanists? Aren't they just repeating the same mistakes of the past without creating a change that will improve their future? Satanists could be denying the opportunity to enjoy life and give up the worthless ideas and attitudes that don't work.

A Love for Satan
Many of us got into Satanism because we had a desire to experience Satan and Satanism in whatever form that it appeared to us.. and many of us do have a love for Satan who, (for some) has guided us along our path every day since we first began our journey.

I admit that I also love Satan, and this love is a deep spiritual love that comes from the heart. Satan has always been there for me, but I have always had the freedom to choose how I will live my life. A love for Satan is not a requirement to be a Satanist, but this love for Satan, and love from Satan has been experienced by many of us in a spiritual way. This love only came through time and experience.

Where Do you Stand?
What about Self-Love? This is not the same as being selfish - I think that Self-Love is the ability to be honest and true with ourselves, to take responsibility for our actions and to have a genuine interest in making one's life better each day. Selfish love destroys, but real and true spiritual Self-Love builds something so great that nothing can destroy it. Real and true love, from the heart, from the Will.

Maybe some Satanists lack that certain kind of confidence, and they do not love themselves. As long as they cling to the shards of their broken Christian past, and they proclaim that love is a four- letter-word, they may never get to experience one of the greatest joys in life that makes life complete.

The destructive nature of Satanism leaves many in the dark when it comes to love and the expression of emotions in a healthy and balanced way - and I can understand this. Satanism is not an easy path to be on. I think that it is one of the most difficult paths there is. It can build you up but it can also tear you down. When it all comes down to it where do you stand?

I do not think that Love is a Four-Letter word.

Satan Be With You,
Venus Satanas

Rtiuals: Simple or Complex?

2010-05-19T01:31:00.009-05:00

A question from a fan at facebook, about connecting with the force of Satan:

Hi Venus, Just writing to ask, what are the best ways that you have found to engage with the powers of Satan? I know that there are many ways best suitable for the individual personally, but do you feel that simple methods work better, or is it commonly necessary to practice a more so complex form of ritual magick for even the simplest of encounters with the presence of Satan? Can you be specific? Thank You.

There are many ways to connect with this force. The best way is the way that works for you. You may have to experiment to find out what this is. It takes time and practice to really know if something is working for you. In the meantime, it can't hurt to give it a try to see if its something that will work for you.

You asked about simple vs. complex rituals. I have found in my practices that as time went on, my rituals were very complex and involved, and throughout time, they became more simple and direct.

For example, my first rituals that I did, were planned to be performed on a certain day, and during that week everything was prepared for it. This helped me to be mentally prepared, too when the time came to do the ritual.

Also, I would use incantations or speeches that I wrote to use during the ritual, as a way to evoke Satan into my ritual space. Special clothing and music was used to heighten the mood and to enable my mind and spirit to be at one with what I was doing. I have always gotten results from rituals like this. Even if the result was the experience that came from doing it.

Outside of ritual there were other ways that I used to connect with Satan as well. Things like meditation, being in nature, or listening to certain music enabled me to feel 'in the spirit'. Reaching out to Satan is easy because that force is always there - you just have to take the time to reach out to it and connect with it whenever you are ready.

The rituals that I do now are very simple compared to what I have done in the past. I keep a simple altar. You can see the pictures of it at my shop. The rituals that I do now only include the lighting of a special candle, and the meditative focus on the image of the Baphomet. Satan is such an important part of my life that I dont fee taht I need to go 'overboard' in my expression, but I do feel the need to give recognition and respect to that force that has helped me in so many ways.

So my recommendation is to start out with rituals that enable you to reach out to that force. Over time you may feel that you need those same rituals less, or that you want to re-think your approach regarding ritual expression. Whatever you do, your ritual should be personalized, something that you create for your own needs. And don't be afraid to experiment or to let your ritual work evolve into something as simple or as complex as you need.

-VS
http://www.spiritualsatanist.com

The New Pet Rescue Shelter Stamps are Here!

2010-04-30T16:42:00.004-05:00

If you get the new pet rescue shelter stamps, you will be helping the shelters raise money. These shelters provide us a place to adopt wonderful pets. This is sponsored by Ellen DeGeneres

From the website: "In celebration of the new Animal Rescue: Adopt a Shelter Pet stamps, the Postal Service™, together with Ellen DeGeneres and Halo: Purely for Pets, is giving shelter pets around the country a First-Class Meal. During the launch of the stamps, Halo will be donating a million meals to animal shelters around the country."

The stamps are absolutely adorable!! I got my set already and you can get yours too through the official site: http://stampstotherescue.com/

Heres a sample of some of the stamps

Aliens and Demons

2010-03-30T06:46:00.001-05:00

This was a letter sent to me through my website - She is asking about a website that has some information on the demons of the goetia.

I am 24, from Birmingham, UK - I have been a seeker within the left-hand path for about six months now. I was christian, but the religion did not seem real to me, and I did not want to sacrifice who I was for a god I did not have a relationship with. After leaving christianity, I was sure that the occult would give me the answers and spiritual development I was searching for. I tried Wicca, but felt this wasn't my correct path, so to cut a long story short this is where I am now.

I have been reading a lot about the Goetia recently, but have no desire to practice evocations until I am more adept. However, I do want to practice it further down the line...I enjoyed reading of your experience with Belial, and something I have recently read on another web site could hold a few answers...

Please check out this link: http://perdurabo10.tripod.com/id232.html
The magician, Aaron, after summoning Belial for the purpose of remote viewing, was given the distinct impression that he was dead. I believe this is why your first image of him was of a skull and bones. There is also a possibility that a successor has taken his place... which could indicate why you were then shown a new form (although it is known spirits will change form at request). I may have just logically came to this assumption after reading both accounts, however something inexplicable makes me think this is no coincidence.

Apart from this comparison with Belial that I wanted to make you aware of, Aaron and James have a really interesting story to tell with all of the Goetic spirits. I wondered what your thoughts were on their findings?...Anne.

I have seen this website, years ago. Quite honestly to me it is ridiculous. Allow me to explain why.

It is a site devoted to an alien representation of the goetia. That's right! This guy believes (with all his heart, it seems) that the goetia demons are visitors from another world. That they were sent here to protect us from enslaving angelic forces.

His writings are a mix of conspiracy and new world order theory, combined with occult conspiracy theory. He also believes that aliens are here to commune with us under the guise of the occult.

I swear.. i saw something similar to this on a tv show, called "Stargate".. where the ancient gods like Apophis and Thor, were represented as Aliens! But, I do not think that this is where he got his ideas from.

On closer examination you can see that Aaron's web page name is 'perdurabo'. This was a name used by Aleister Crowley. Also, it was Crowley who claimed that his holy angelic guide was a being named LAM, who curiously looked like a 'gray alien.' See the picture to the right ->
Crowley and his associates also recorded many things from the grimoires to interpret their own version of the Goetia.

By putting all of this information together its quite easy to see the source of materials that he uses on his site. This source is from Crowley. The things that Aaron writes about are a mixed assortment of crowleyism combined with Nostradamus-like conspiracy theories, spiritual warfare (a christian belief) and extra-terrestrial 'saviours' from another world in the disguise of judeo-christian demons.

This kind of writing lacks dimension, and its not very useful..but it may entertain those who are new to the occult. It has no literary value nor does any of it even make sense. I suggest you get away from his site as fast as you can. Im sure his fans (?) are just as crazy as he is. The lesson to be learned here is this: if it sounds absolutely crazy, it most likely is.

Resources on the Goetia
There are better places to look for information on the Goetia. Perhaps start with the Crowley version of the Goetia which you can get at amazon.com. While you are at it you might as well get a copy of the Book of Ceremonial Magic, written by AE Waite. This book is an overview of the various magical grimoires of the time. While it is lengthy it gives some interesting insight into Ceremonial Magic

Selected books:
The Goetia, Mathers and Crowley
The Goetia, Crowley
The Book of Ceremonial Magic

Poke Runyon: (from wiki) "He founded the Ordo Templi Astartes (O.T.A.) in 1969, and incorporated it in 1971. This "Order of the Temple of Astarte" is dedicated to the revived worship of the Canaanite goddess Astarte and her consort Baal."

He has released books, Cd's and also videos on Goetic Summoning. You can see a real goetia ritual being performed in some video clips available at youtube. He explains his own method of using the magic mirror and the triangle of the art. These are the devices of ceremonial summoning.

Goetia/Solomon Magick I (youtube.com)
Goetia/Solomon Magick II (youtube.com)
Goetia/Solomon Magick III (youtube.com)
Goetia/Solomon Magick IV (youtube.com)
Goetia/Solomon Magick V (youtube.com)

My Goetia Video Series
I also created a series of videos available at youtube, where I talk about my theories on the goetic demons, and I discuss methods of summoning.

The Goetia part 1 (youtube.com)
The Goetia part 2 (youtube.com)
The Goetia part 3 (youtube.com)

Demonolatry
This is the practice of summoning, and worshiping the demons of the Goetia (and demons from other sources as well). The OFS Demonolatry site began almost a decade ago, as a place for demonolators to meet online. What is so interesting about this practice is that they worship demons but they also use these forces to perform magic. The demons of this faith were developed from the studies of Richard Dukante, who created his own ritual system for working with these demons. Visit this link for more info:

OFS Demonolatry Site

My recommendation:
You should do your research and double check any information that you come across, in regards to any kind of occult practice. The more that you study, the more you will find writers and websites, just like Aaron's, that are sourced from other, much older references. These types of sites lack any kind of originality and insight, and they are not useful as occult references. You should seek out the classical sources and attempt to work with these things yourself, through practice and experimentation. Don't just accept what you read without using some discernment and some basic common sense.

Venus Satanas

Explain Satanism to Me?

2010-03-29T06:45:00.007-05:00

I got a letter from a fan who asked, 'Could you explain satanism to me?'.. Well, Satanism is complex, and because of this, I offered a very brief overview along with some useful links to various sources on Satanism.

Satanism as a social movement started in the late 60's with the creation of the Church of Satan by Anton LaVey, and it has developed into many other forms of Satanism since then. It is complex because it is so diverse, so I doubt that any one letter or post could possibly cover all the information that you need to understand it. Because of this, I am posting some links for you, where you can explore these concepts for yourself.

Subversion Ideology
To understand Satanism, it is important to see the difference between the christian subversion ideologies that have been used by the church for centuries, versus the social movement of Satanism that has only existed in society for the past 40 years.

Taking this into account, you can pretty much dismiss the many stories created by Christians that portray satanism to include anything from folks who are christian but are not from the same sect, to other groups and peoples who are not christian, yet they were labeled as 'satanic' by the church, all the way up to the many people who have died under christian accusations of satanism (including the witch trials and inquisitions, for example).

The Satanism Bibliography
There is a great bibliography on Satanism that you can find at the satanservice.org site. This bibliography includes many different sources on Satanism, arranged by subject. It includes some documents that can be viewed online. While you are there at the satanservice site, take some time to visit the 'Real Satanist' Page, to read about notable public figures in Satanism.

The Real Satanists Page (nocTifer)
The Satanism Bibliography (nocTifer)

The Satanic Bible
The Satanic Bible is a good starting point for understanding LaVeyan or philosophical Satanism, wherein Satan is recognized as a symbol for 'the dark forces of nature'. This book is generally regarded as a resource for members of the Church of Satan. The secondary book, "The Satanic Rituals" contains information on LaVeyan Satanic ritual. You can find a copy online at these sites:

The Satanic Bible, Underground Edition (pdf, Anton LaVey)
The Satanic Rituals (pdf, Anton LaVey)

Spiritual and Theistic Satanism
In spiritual or Theistic satanism, Satan is recognized as a force or entity that Satanists relate to in a favorable way. According to Diane Vera [of theisticsatanism.com], 'A theistic Satanist, also known as a 'traditional Satanist', 'Spiritual Satanist', or 'Devil Worshiper', is one who does believe in and worship Satan as a deity, or who at least is strongly inclined in that direction".

Some satanists of this variety (like me) are Independent and work alone without belonging to any groups or organizations, and others enjoy being in different Satanic Organizations where they can share common beliefs and practices. Overall, the beliefs of Satanists vary according to what interests them in the occult.

Here are some reliable resources on spiritual and theistic Satanism:
Diane Vera, theisticsatanism.com
My website, SpiritualSatanist.com

Conclusion:
Satanism is the focus on Satan through philosophical, spiritual or religious practices. What Satanists choose to believe in and associate with are varied and unique. Some of the common values that Satanists share is the need to be independent, free-thinkers, and a healthy promotion of the Ego.

Venus Satanas

The Healing Powers of Satan?

2010-03-26T06:02:00.005-05:00

This letter from a reader is addressing the question of using Satan as a path to healing.

"Hi. I require physical healing. I know Satan can heal me but I don't know how to communicate with him or his angels. Is it possible to get well through magic or some other way? If yes, please guide me."

The issue with satanism is a unique issue of inversion that isn't really found in other occult paths. First of all, satanists have inverted many different values and ideas to create a whole new way of belief. What I mean by this is that 'light' becomes 'dark', what is 'bad' is now considered to be 'good' by the satanist. It is the same with Satan, and the beliefs and attributes that Satanists have described about this spirit or force.

Some satanists expect Satan to act as a god that is benevolent, caring, healing.. but this just isn't the case. Attributing healing powers to a force that is dark and maleficent just does not fit. It just hasn't ever been the role of Satan to heal - that is, unless this satanist is trying to invert those values of christianity to ascribe what was once the role of the christian god as a healing [loving, forgiving, beneficial] god, projected onto Satan.

And to me it does not make sense to attribute anything healing to the force of Satan. Demons and gods of this type do not fit into this role. He may be seeking help from a source that can't help him in the way that he wants and perhaps that is why he has trouble communicating, and getting this to manifest. He could be asking the wrong source for help.

How many of us have done this? I know that I haven't. In all my years of satanic practice, I never tried to assume that Satan was a beneficial spirit - but to me this is just common sense.
I would not seek help from a spirit who's role or way of action isn't even related to what I am seeking to manifest. That is like going to a goddess of love to get help with a curse spell! Using a destructive spirit to try and rebuild or heal just wouldn't make sense to me. It isn't Satan's role to heal humans, or to heal anything for that matter.

What I've experienced as a satanist has been a good experience but this is mostly due to the way that i work with entities, and how I allow them to move through my life. What beneficial things have come my way have come to me through magic and other means, along with a careful and considerate use of certain entitles like Satan. If I needed help with things that I wanted to manifest, I would set about to do it for myself through magic and the occult, instead of trying to rely on Satan or any other entity for my welfare and happiness.

Unfortunately, in dealing with any entity, it seems that they can only do so much for us anyway. Gods, demons and spirits have limitations. That is why it is so useful to learn a magical skill. You may have more options if you knew how to use magic to aid you, and it could help you to be less dependent on Satan or whatever god you worship. These gods aren't our servants to do whatever we ask them to do, whenever we want it.

I suggest that this person should seek medical aid first. Then perhaps use magic on the side, to help boost whatever can be done medically. Even a basic use of energy healing could help in this case. I wouldn't advise waiting, hoping and praying for Satan or any other spirit or magic to replace what should be taken care of by a medical professional. I certainly can't tell this person how to live, but some things just make sense.

In the mean time, check out the Lucky Mojo Spell Archive for some HEALING magic that you can easily do for yourself -> Healing Magic

~Venus~
http://www.spiritualsatanist.com/

Is there a Satanic Tarot Reading?

2010-02-23T00:32:00.003-05:00

A fun letter from a subscriber at youtube:

"I remember reading something on one of your websites about tarot reading. You said you read tarot in a different way then most other occultists. Because your a satanist. So I was wondering if you could teach/tell me your method of reading tarot the satanic way. Also I was wondering, what do you think about the "Devil" card in tarot. What does it represent to you?"

The thing about tarot reading, or any other kind of divinatory method, is that it is not limited to one area of the occult. You could be a christian, a Wicca, a Buddhist, even a Satanist - and use the same tarot cards to basically give the same kind of reading.

The only thing that would really be affected is how the cards are read. Perhaps a wiccan would not want to read cards for people that were asking to know things that went against their Wiccan morals and ethics. Maybe a christian tarot reader, or one who only uses angel guides, would want to read the positive that they see in the cards, and withhold the negative. Their religion will color their experience with the tarot, perhaps giving an accurate reading but each would be from a different viewpoint.

The same is true for a Satanist reading tarot. As a Satanist, my goal is to use tarot in a non conventional way, just because I can. There are things in tarot readings that I WILL read, that other readers won't.. like gay or alternative relationship readings, secret lover readings, readings on 'the other woman'. Some tarotist wont read these clients either because its against their ethics or morals or because they choose not to use their cards for those purposes.

There are other ways to use the tarot as well. For instance, if you need advice on spell working and you want me to consult the tarot, your consultation could help you before you cast that spell so you know what to do and how to handle the situation. The reading will give you extra information to work with. It could give you insight after your spell is cast, too.

I know that this person might want me to say that a satanic tarot reading should be inspired by Satan and demons, but it's not. The tarot is like a tool, and when it is used by a satanist, it can be used for certain purposes, but the tarot (itself) is not satanic. There is no 'satanic' way to use the cards but there are satanists (like me) that use tarot for a variety of purposes.

As a satanist, the devil card does have a special significance for me. In the use of tarot, the devil card is often symbolized by imprisonment to physical desires, addiction, suffering, and wants. But, as a satanist it has a spiritual implication for me, so the appearance of the devil card in my own readings has at times symbolized my own path in satanism, and it has not been read or interpreted by me in a traditional way in my own personal readings. When I read for others, however, the Devil card is best interpreted in a traditional way, and I leave my own personal interpretations out of the reading because its not necessary to include it.

I would love to give a tarot class, perhaps in my IRC #tarot chatroom and with an online course and personal counseling on the side...If I did, I would teach the Rider Waite Smith deck only and it would be a 'traditional' kind of teaching. I learned how to read the tarot by studying and by practicing, and I've been reading tarot it since 2005. It took me about a year before I was totally comfortable with reading for myself and then I gradually started reading for others.

The History of Satanism

2010-01-31T04:20:00.022-05:00

The group, Satanickindred.org has written an article, called the 'History of Satanism'. Let me say at first, that the article itself has no references or source material with it, so I have to approach their writing largely as a matter of opinion instead of fact. What I do not accept is the history that they claim is real, and this history does quite a disservice to what Satanism really is, and what it was in the past.

What was most striking to me in this essay, was that the people who wrote it seemed to agree with the Christian notion of blood-cult sacrificing satanists! I know many satanists who personally would have nothing to do with anything like this, and it is my feeling that the author (Rev. R. Fairhall ? ) agrees with the ideas of the subversion ideology of Christianity.

This essay will be reproduced in part, as a means of analysis. Under the copyright law, essays and texts are legal to reproduce for the means of education or analysis or for the purpose of criticism. The original text will be in italics, along with my replies below the text in bold, along with credit and a link to the original article.

Replying to this essay is important to me, and it should be important to other satanists as well. The main goal of this analysis is to expose the common misconceptions that even some satanists believe about their own religion.

Original article can be read here:
http://www.satanic-kindred.org/history.htm
Author: Rev. R. Fairhall (?)

The worship of Satan, or the devil, the god of evil in christianity, during the renaissance, witches, along with heretics, were accused of worshiping the devil.

The Christians do not hold the belief that Satan is a god. Not only that, the witch-hunts began as early as the 1400's and continued until the 1950's when the witchcraft law was finally repealed in England.

Many confessed to it, probably coerced by torture. In popular lore, witches are still believed to have worshiped the devil. (In modern neo-paganism and witchcraft, or wicca, as it is often called, there is no belief nor worship of the devil.)

There is no 'probably' about it. The people who died were innocent, and most who were killed were eliminated so that the church could take their money and property. Along with this the Jewish people suffered as well, many of them being branded as 'evil'. This was where the Jewish caricature of Satan was developed (having a long nose, being greedy etc.), and Christians claimed that the Jewish attended 'sabbats' with the devil. We can read about this in the Malleus Mallefacarum, a text that was used as a manual for the persecution of so-called witches.

Satanism has been far less common throughout history than many would believe. The Inquisitors and witch hunters of earlier centuries tried to persuade the populace that devil worshipers were everywhere and posed a serious threat to their well being. For about 250 years, from the mid-15th century to the early 18th century, the height of the witch hunts, that argument worked. It is possible that some devil worship may have actually existed in those times, as an act of defiance among those who opposed the authority of the christian church.

The writer fails to take into account that there were NO satanists of the time, because the ruling class was Christian. There is absolutely no evidence of their existence, outside of Christian scare stories and witch trial material. Not only that, since the accusations were false, then why would the author agree with the Christians in believing that the people were so-called 'witches'?

Satanism as an organized activity did not exist much before the 17th century. As early as the 17th century, however, the catholic church was condemning priests who subverted the magical powers of the holy mass for evil purposes. The Grimoire of Honorious, a magical textbook first printed in the 17th century (but perhaps older), gave instructions for saying masses to conjour demons.

The grimorie of Honorious was written by a Christian, for use in Christian ritual magic. If the author bothered to read the book, or if the author had any knowledge of Grimoires, they would have known that ritual magic that was used by the Christians was developed from the church's need to use magic, and much of it was developed from Judaism, hence the Christian manuals of magic available from the 15^th ct. onward. And, since the Grimoire of Honorious was written by a Christian, it is not satanic, nor was it ever intended to be used in a so-called satanic context.

In the 17th century, satanic activities were conducted by christians who indulged in the magical/sexual rites of the black mass, presided over by defrocked or unscrupulous priests. The most notorious of these escapades took place in France during the reign of Louis XIV, engineered by the kings mistress, Madamme de Montespan, and led by an occultist named La Voisin and a 67 year old libertine priest, the Abbé Guiborg.

The author once again (without clear references) chooses to believe Christian subversion as fact. This story was a fiction designed to sensationalize the church at the time, and it had nothing to do with satanism. It is a Christian fiction.

There is no reliable evidence of satanic activity in the 18th century. In England, the Hellfire club, a society founded by Sir Francis Dashwood (1708-1781), has often been described as satanic, but in actuality it was little more than a club for adolescent-like men to indulge in drinking, sexual play with woman called "nuns" and outrageous behavior. The Hellfire club, or the "Medmenham monks" as they called themselves, met regularly between 1750 and 1762 in Dashwood's home, Medmenham Abbey. The members were said to conduct black masses, but it is doubtful that these were serious satanic activities. Similar groups were the brimstone boys and blue blazers of Ireland.

These so called satanic cults were little more than a social gathering of men who decided to enjoy their lives through drunkenness and revelry. They did it in secret because they could not enjoy these things within their repressed society. There is no written materials or records of rituals from them, nor is there any proof that they claimed to be satanists.

Perhaps the most famous Satanist in the 19th century was the Abbé Boullan of France, who became the head of an offshoot of the church of Carmel and allegedly practiced black magic and infant sacrifice. The church of Carmel was formed by Eugene Vintras, the foreman of a cardboard box factory Tillysur-Seulles. In 1839 Vintras said he received a letter from the archangel Michael, followed by visions, of the archangel, the holy ghost, St.Joseph and the virgin Mary. He was informed that he was the reincarnated prophet Elijah, and he was to found a new religious order and proclaim the coming of the age of the holy ghost. The true king of France, he was told, was one Charles Naundorf. Vintras went about the countryside preaching this news and acquiring followers, including priests. Masses were celebrated that included visions of empty chalices filled with blood stains on the Eucharist. By 1848 the church of Carmel, as the movement was known, was condemned by the pope. In 1851 Vintras was accused by a former disciple of conducting black masses in the nude, homosexuality and masturbating while praying at the alter. Shortly before his death in 1875, Vintras befriended Boullan, who formed a splinter group of the church of Carmel upon Vintras death. He ran the group for 18 years, until his death, outwardly maintaining pious practices but secretly conducting satanic rituals. Boullan seems to have been obsessed with Satanism and evel since the age of 29, when he took a nun named Adele Chevalier as his mistress. Chevalier left her convent, bore two bastard children and founded with Boullan The Society for the Reparation of Souls. Boullan specialized in exorcising demons by unconventional means, such as feeding possessed victims a mixture of human excrement and the Eucharist. He also performed black masses. On January 8, 1860, he had Chevalier reportedly conducted a black mass in which they sacrificed one of their children.....Boullan's group was infiltrated by two Rosicrucians, Oswald Wirth and Stanislasde Guaita, who wrote an exposé, The Temple of Satan. Boullan and de Guaita supposedly engaged in magical warfare. Boullan and his friend, the novelist J.K. Huysmans, claimed to be attacked by demons. When Boullan collapsed and died of a heart attack on January 3, 1893, Huysmans believed it was due to an evil spell cast by de Guaita, and said so in print. De Guaita challenged him to a duel, but Huysmans declined and apologized.

Once again, the author decides to take Christian conspiracy theories and weave them into the fake history that he purports is true. There is no evidence of these things happening historically, and to find reference to them outside of Christian literature is difficult if not impossible. This tells me that it is little more than a Christian tale, meant to slander the name of a man who did not fit the church's idyllic views of what a Christian should be, and at worst, it is only a fiction meant to entertain the morbid curiosity of a repressed culture. This tactic has been used for centuries, beginning with the gnostics who were labeled as heretics.

In his novel, La-bas, Huysmans included a black mass, which he said was based on his observations of one conducted by a satanic group in Paris, operating in the late 19th century. He said the mass was recited backwards, the crucifix was upside down, the Eucharist was defiled and the rite ended in a sexual orgy.

I find it humorous that this author believes the words of a man who openly admitted in his life that the story of LaBas was nothing but a fiction. It is sad, sad indeed when Satanists accept the Christian views and stories, and try to claim them as their own history, especially when the stories are nothing more than slander and propaganda.

By the early 20th century, Aleister Crowley (known as the black pope) was linked to Satanism. Although he called himself "the beast", used the words "life" "love" and "light" to describe Satan and once baptized and crucified a toad as Jesus, he was not a Satanist but a magician and occultist.

Crowley did not take the title of satanist but there were plenty of so-called satanic elements in his work. He lived in a repressed Victorian society and his hatred towards Christianity fueled much of his work. I would label him as a de-facto satanist with Thelemic interests, instead. Also, crowley never labeled himself as the 'black pope'. He called himself 'the great beast' after the stories of revelation from the bible.

The author then skips ahead many, many years later, until he reaches the era of LaVey, in the 1960s. He quotes a few things from LaVey's checkered past, which I find to be humorous, because LaVey embellished many of his life stories in order to seem more important and relevant. Regardless of the supposed history (That is clearly uncovered at the COS website), Satanism had no history until the advent of the church of Satan. It began as one of many social and religious movements in the era. To me, it makes sense, as there was a revival of the occult during this time.

Film director Roman Polanski hired LaVey for his film version of Ira Levin's Devil-worshipers, Rosemary's baby, released in 1968. LaVey portrayed Satan and advised Polanski on Satanic ritual details.

A friend of mine, (nagasiva, satanservice.org) brought to light the truth about this. Nowhere in the credits of this film is LaVey to be found, and I do not believe that he had anything to do with this film. His involvement was a lie, like many other things in his life that he lied about to take advantage of the gullibility of the members of his org. LaVey never worked for the circus, nor did he work as a crime scene photographer. His family knows the truth, and it is printed at the Church of Satan website.

A number of other Satanic groups formed in the united states in the 1970's were defunct by the 1980's. Nevertheless, Satanic activities remain widespread on both sides of the Atlantic; some experts say they were on the rise as of the 1980's. The extent of Satanism is impossible to gauge, because of the great secrecy of many orgonizations.

The spelling in this essay is unforgivable. Also, these are very vague comments that do not prove anything about the existence or the history of satanism. It would have been nice if the author did some research to show what orgs did exist during those decades, and why they were important to satanism. The 'secrecy' and size of Satanic organizations, as written by this author, reminds me of some of the christian material from the Panic era, where christian writers attempted to scare their readers into believing that Satanists were around every corner waiting to prey on innocent people.

There is evidence of small "family traditions" of Satanism, passed down from one generation to another. Some Satanists are associated with Neo-Nazi organizations or sex magic orders. Some Satanic cults are alleged to be involved in drug, prostitution and pornography trade and to have real estate holdings. Members are said to include white-collar professionals. These do not pertain to the modern day Satanists(LaVeyan)

I would ask, 'what evidence'? but I know that there isn't any. This material here seems to be the typical bs, that is spouted by the new-world order conspiracy theorists, who's christian aim is to show, to prove that there are satanists doing illegal activities all around the world for centuries, and also, who have their hands in the government. Again, I would ask for proof, but, alas, there is none to be found, except in the imaginations of paranoid conspiracy theorists. Whether the author agrees with these conspiracy theories is very unclear to me.

Michelle Remembers (1980), by Michelle Smith and Lawrence Pazder, M.D., recounts the terrors Smith experienced as a child of five in Satanic rituals in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1954-55. She said her mother yielded her to devil worshipers, who used her as a living pointer in rituals. She witnessed the ritual killings of animals and infants and was shut in coffins that were put into graves and into which were thrown dead animals. She also watched the cult members attempt to bring life to a white statue of a man with horns. She said she was tricked into defacating on the cross and was asked to renounce the christian god. Smith descibes instances in which during the rituals, she witnessed the devil emerge from the fire, a man animal with a whipping, snake-like tail that struck her on the neck and seared her flesh. Fire shot from his finger tips and filled his mouth. He had clawlike hands, steaming nostrils and odd toenails. His shape constantly changed, and he appeared to be apart of the fire. Smith was able to purge her memories in psychiatric therapy at age 28.

The author never takes into account that the story created by Michelle was later recanted as false, and that 'recovered memory syndrome' was the real issue at stake here. Recovered memory syndrome is a psychological impairment caused through hypnosis, most often through the use of suggestive counseling. She had a relationship with her counselor and they co-conspired to make a lot of money from the book sales that ensued. By the time she re-canted it was too late, as the 'satanic panic' had already fallen out of the limelight.

It disturbs me that the author here believes Michelle's false and misleading story to be true. It sets the tone for the rest of the essay..

Perhaps most dangerous of all are small cults whose members call themselves Satanists and practise ritual murder and animal mutilation. Such groups are said to kidnap runaway children and the homeless and use them as sacrificial victims, this is known as devil worship by LaVeyan followers. Ex-Satanic cult members have reported gruesome rituals in which hearts are cut out of living victims. Others report that victims are sexually abused before being killed; then their blood is drunk and their flesh is eaten. Women "breeders" produce babies for the "ultimate" and "ideal" human sacrifice. Former breeders report witnessing their babies being skinned alive, eaten, burned, poured in concrete and cut up and thrown in the ocean. Ritual tools are made from their bones.

Where this author gets his information I would like to know. Maybe I already do know. It was from satanic panic material. Just like his belief in the supposed witches and his agreement with Christians on the persecution of witches, he also (sadly) believes the stories of the Christians in this modern era – who would try to paint Satan and satanism as the enemy, even when there is not one SHRED of evidence to ever be found. Since there is no evidence that has ever been brought to trial, i wonder why this author thinks that it is valid and useful.

That is the thing with moral panics, they are incited by the hyper-religious who feel that there is some invisible forces in this world that use people as their puppets. It is truly sad when even satanists, such as this author, believe these lies.

In 1985 a ten year old boy in Bakersfield, Califonia, said that he and about two dozen other children were taken to a bad church by some 40 adults, who took off their clothes while chanting prayers to Satan. The children were forced to throw knives at a living baby, which was killed and dissmembered. The children were then forced to drink its blood. Then the boy said that the adults molested the children. Similar cases were reported throughout California, but the authorities found little evidence to support the claims. In 1987 a report issued by the Alberta Royal Canadian Mounted Police suggested that Satanism might be related to unsolved cases of missing children. Satanists where also believed to be responsable for some grave desecrations and robbings.

More satanic panic material, ripped from the headlines of christian right wing material, all of it lies.. The money that the Christians made from the panic was unbelievable, and the number of innocent people who were sent to jail and had their reputations ruined for the rest of their lives is unforgivable.

Many of the people who accused the innocent were untrained investigators, and they had a moralistic christian agenda, and many innocent people were put on trial for crimes that they did not commit. In trials, they pushed for conviction by coaching the children on what to say after they yanked them from their parent's arms.

Some people spent years behind bars, awaiting their cases to be brought to trial in kangaroo courts. A kangaroo court is a colloquial term for court proceedings that deny due process to those convicted in the name of expediency. Much of the innocent party's information was dismissed in court, while the judge and jury depended solely on the testimony of children who were coerced to saying what the prosecutors wanted to hear. The same thing happened in medieval times, during the witchcraft trials, where children made up testimonies and innocent people were burned alive (to save their souls, of course).

Satanism has been linked to certain oppresive heavy matal rock bands and teenage suicides and murders. Some troubled teens apparently turn to Satanism when they feel powerless and abandoned by thier families, the world and the christian god. They join cults that encourage, or require, them to carry out acts of violence to prove thier homage to Satan. Drug abuse is common. The ritual violence gives them a sence of power.

The accusation of heavy metal and satanism was another thing that gave the religionists a weapon to use in society, as they claimed that music, movies and comic books were poisoning the mind of the youth. Why this author agrees with this nonsense and tripe is beyond my understanding.

Author Maury Terry, in the Ultimate Evil (1987), asserts that David Berkowitz, the convicted "Son of Sam" killer who terrorized New York neighborhoodsin the late 1970's, was a member of a Satanic cult that operates in Westchester County and planned the Son of Sam murders. Terry states the cult is linked to a network of cults across the country, with a primary headquarters near Los Angeles, and that Charles Manson may have been involved with it. The cult is reportedly an offshoot of a Satanic group in England.

Maury Terry is a conspiracy theorist, not a historian, and not an investigator. Things that are written to sensationalize, accuse, and marginalize often sell, and its unfortunate that the public would rather consume these stories than to hear the truth. The truth is, Berkowitz was criminally insane, and judging him, or anyone else on the basis of religious belief is archaic at best, and at its worst, a shame on society and justice.

LaVeyan Satanists, Neo-pagan Witches and neo-pagans are wrongly blamed for devil worship activities. Several organizations carry on public relations and education programs for the media and members of the law-enforcement community to counteract such accusations

Unfortunately these lies are still believed to this day, even by some satanists such as this author. This author's research was very poor, full of conjecture and assumption, and does nothing to reveal the real history behind satanism and its impact on society.

Satanic religious organizations, such as the Church of Satan and Temple of Set, DO NOT condone the violent blood sacfifices of the cults and are not associated with them in any way. According to Aquino, the Temple of Set emphasizes "rational self interest" and taking responsibility for one's own intellectual and ethical decisions.

I would like to know if the author includes his OWN org into this definition? He seems to have left that out, and you would think that he would not want his own org. confused with this panic-material and falsehoods that he holds as the truth, as the history of satanism.

This article was depressing, maddening. It upset me because I didn't understand how a satanists would be so willing to accept the false accusations and ideas of Christians. I do not think that Christians have the right to tell us what our history was, nor should we accept their witch hunting materials either from the past or here in the present as some sort of history of satanism. I also have the feeling that the author skimmed through wikipedia to write this article.

I hope that my article has come to shed some light on a very dark subject.

Read the orignal here:

http://www.satanic-kindred.org/history.htm

My Archangel Michael Drawing

2010-01-26T08:13:00.009-05:00

A friend at facebook asked me about my drawing of Michael. This was a drawing created in 2006.

I created this drawing during a summoning of Belial. Back in '06 I was experimenting with Goetic Summoning, and Belial was one of the more influential spirits that I worked with.

Summoning Belial was an experiment in general. At the time, I was still working on my style of summoning. In summoning him, I created a ritual in which I wanted to evoke Belial through the element of fire. I felt that evoking Belial through that element was the best way to connect with his spirit and his essence.

So, I created a ritual where I evoked the element of fire, and then afterward I evoked the spirit of Belial. What was so interesting is that my cat Shadow joined in with me during the summoning. maybe he was curious as to what I was doing, or maybe not.. but I created a circle of astral fire around me, and then he sat outside of the circle and watched as I called out to Belial. I listened to certain songs during that week that would enable me to enter into the state of mind that I find necessary for interacting with demons. I think it was the Covenant album of Morbid Angel.

During that week, I had several inner visions that caught my interest. As I chanted his name and focused on his essence, one particular image that came to my mind was striking. it was the image of a skull in the darkness, surrounded by old bones.. this image was strange and frightening to me, and at the same time I was angry for this, so I called out to Belial again, and I said to him, 'Show me a more pleasing form!' almost immediately the image faded into the sight of a majestic lion. To me the meditation experience was incredible.

But, most of my experience in evoking Belial did not come from the inner visions. it was how this spirit interacted with me that made me feel that he had imparted his influence in my life. This influence came through knowledge and through interactions with others in my life. It is hard to describe but when I was evoking the goetia they would bring to me certain situations as a test, or they would 'produce' fortunate situations, or allow things to come through for me. When I worked with them my main goal wasn't fulfillment of desires, it was the search for knowledge, and that is how much of it was experienced, through visions and inner knowing and through the experiences around me.

I studied the name of Belial - and there were many variations of his name. one of the more interesting variations was the word, 'be-liar' and the more that I focused on this aspect of his spirit the more that I doubted some of the knowledge that was presented to me. I didn't doubt that the knowledge was true or false, I just doubted whether the knowledge would be useful to me if I wasn't going to dedicate and worship Belial as a demon. It seemed that he was only willing to impart so much to me without some type of dedication. At that point, I felt lost and unsure.
In my research I discovered that there was some other source that I could turn to, to help me to interrogate the spirit of Belial. This spirit was Michael.

So, for several days I focused on Michael. the first vision of him that I had was the vision of a white horse. then I began to see two figures who were separated from each other, facing away from each other. Then I saw Michael at a gateway. These were symbolic and meaningful inner visions that I experienced in my mind during meditations. I asked Michael several times to help me, to reveal if the spirit of Belial was really 'be-liar'..

After some time I realized that Michael was not going to help me if I wasn't willing to dedicate my life to his god. He wouldnt reveal secrets to me without being one with my spirit.

During that time, I created the image of Michael to help me to focus on his evocation. I envisioned him as the keeper of secrets, guarding what could be known behind the veils of existence. I think the pose and the coloring of the drawing captured the essence of my experience with him.

In fact, drawing helps me to ease into a state of mind that is very receptive to creative thought. Music has a similar effect on me. But, it is how I used these states of mind that enabled me to experience the essence of these spirits. I found no kindness within my experience of michael, and I was not willing to worship Bel'yal to obtain deeper secrets and mysteries. For some time after, I kept the two drawings together by my altar.

My experiences were incredible and fulfilling and I wouldn't hesitate to work with Belial again if the opportunity presented itself.

About My Name - Venus Satanas

2010-01-15T02:00:00.009-05:00

A question from a friend at facebook the other day:

Just curious about your name. I daresay "Venus Satanas" is not your birth name, and you don't seem one to do anything that isn't very well thought through. "Satanas" is obvious, of course...but why "Venus?" It's quite a suggestive name.....

My name, is my magical name. It is a name that I gave to myself when i was re-initiated back into satanism in 2004. It was a name that I created from the associations and experiences that were in my life at that time. In order to understand this you would have to travel back in time with me to '04 to see how this happened.

It was the summer. I had just moved into my own place, a small apartment by the river where I could begin a new life from the one that i worked hard to leave behind. See, i spent 7 years in a bad relationship. the kind of relationship that was poison to my soul. the kind of relationship that made me feel that I wasted years of my time caring about a person who couldn't even care for himself. It was an abusive relationship. But i am a fighter. When i had enough, I walked out and i got my own place to live.

Part of my reason for leaving was that I really missed my communion with Satan. It was the one thing that was missing in my life, my spiritual path. I forgot how good it felt to be self empowered. Without that self empowering element in my life it was hard to be happy.

I got my own apartment that summer, and i was able to decorate it the way i wanted and I set up a ritual room in my bedroom with a complete altar. It took months to set up things the way that I wanted to. Along the way, I worked on meditations and I performed rituals for Satan. I was focused, more focused that I had ever been in my life. I also adopted my cat from the shelter, an adorable black kitty that I named Shadow. Once I had a stable place to stay and my life was in order, I was ready to bring him into my life.

Every time I came home to my place, i saw the single pink rose that was growing at my doorstep. It was so beautiful and it took a long time to grow. It reminded me of my new life, my new freedom. The rose was very symbolic to me in a very spiritual way. Just before it faded I gathered it for a ritual. In this ritual, I gave myself my magic name VENUS SATANAS, to associate with two of my favorite god-forces as a title and as a tribute. The rose was an offering to the goddess, my blood was an offering to Satan.

Some say that the name is related to Lucifer - but this was not my original intention. Venus has become a special goddess to me, and I was lucky enough to meet a devotee of her several years later after my naming. It was a special friendship that i formed with a co-worker named Bryon. He has been a devotee of the goddess for many years, and when he came into my life, his greatest gift to me has been his friendship.

Bryon is a neopagan with a deep interest in the gods of Rome, so we share a lot of commonalities when it comes to magic and working with gods. One of his desires is the return to the classical age of Rome, to worship the gods as they had been worshiped long ago. He is into Roman reconstructionism. Over the years he has become somewhat of a 'magical partner' to me as we have experimented with spells together with varied results, and we discuss our experiences in working with the Roman gods.

So, Venus has become a very important goddess in my life. While she is not 'satanic', her name is related to Lucifer as they share the same star. But behind the facade of christian myth, Lucifer was a god of ancient pre christian rome. There is a history of Lucifer as the companion to several goddess, including Diana (Diana Luciferi).

Venus has an independent and willful character, if she can be described as a goddess. She is the type of goddess that does whatever she wants, whenever she wants. In her stories she was not a demure, faithful lover. She had many partners and she caused a lot of mischief and trouble. She is never pictured as a child. She is always portrayed as a woman. Venus is the type of goddess who speaks through the heart, and it is through this understanding that I have come to begin to understand Satan with my heart. It is very spiritual to me.

A magical name is so much more than just a title. It is a role that you have to fulfil, a name that you give form to. When you choose a magical name you are born into the world of magic. The magician is self-created.

Venus Satanas

My Art Portfolio

2010-01-14T02:00:00.002-05:00

Greetings;
I have been drawing since '92.. and i have many drawings. I finally decided to upload them to my Facebook profile. These drawings are fantastic! So far there are 80 drawings in the collection and I will be adding more as time goes on. Please visit and leave a comment if you like my art. Here is a link to My Art Gallery.

5 Ways to Improve your Occult Practice Right Now

2009-12-24T19:40:00.010-05:00

Today, I would like to suggest five different ways that you can use to help you to focus on your occult practices.

1. Perform a Daily Ritual.
This is easy to do. you can perform a simple daily ritual that will enable you to stay grounded and focused. You can perform the ritual by focusing on anything that is important to you. For instance, I started doing a daily 10-minute ritual where I light a candle on my altar and i use that time to focus on my connection with the force of Satan. I use that time to meditate on my goals in Satanism.

I also use that time to give praise/recognition to the force and being of Satan. It is not a structured ritual, but within that 10 minute time, i am alone with the god-force that I choose to associate with. It has helped me to stay focused and it also has increased my awareness of my Self and my place in this world, and it strengthens my bond with the demon-god that I have a pact with. What could 10 minutes of simple ritual or mediation do for you?

2. Make a Goal, and Do it!
Ever hear of the "Armchair magician"? The Urban Dictionary (ha ha) defines this as:
1. armchair magician : A person who studies and discuses the arts of magic(k), treating themselves as an authority on both the practical applications as well as the histories behind the techniques, with very little (usually none) actual experience in its use...

The armchair magician might sound like he knows what he's talking about as he recites random facts from various authors, but in the end he has no practical experience of magic. He can not explain magic from a personal perspective. He can only parrot the teachings of others. When it all comes down to it the only journey he has had with magic is inside his head.

You can avoid this lowly condition by actually practicing something related to the occult, every day. There are many things you could try or practice until you are skilled with it. For instance, you could learn about a magical alphabet. Learn to read the Tarot, Study books but practice what is in them as well, learn how to experiment with magic in creative ways, learn to read the runes, evoke the elements, practice, practice practice!

In occultism, one thing leads to another. In time you will find the abilities and preferences that enable you to make educated choices when it comes to practices.. Life is not very long, and every day that goes by is one more day that you could have used to better yourself.

3. Keep a Magical Journal
Take some time each day to write one page in your magical journal. Writing enables you to cement the experience in your mind. No matter how good you think your memory is, you won't need to try and remember everything that's happened for you. Why even try to do that when you could have some kind of record to reference?

Your magical journal should be hand-written. Typing it out does not have the same effect. Any simple notebook or spiral book will do. this journal is for your eyes only, and it is a record of your explorations in magic, satanism and the occult. you should record your observations, desires, goals, and accomplishments into this book. It only takes a few minutes to fill a page. It will keep you inspired and focused.

4. Build an Altar
A magical altar is a great project to keep you inspired. An altar is a living thing - its decorated with the things that have value and meaning to you in your magical practice. its more than just a place to display your magical tools, its the workspace that you use as a magician.

Altars should be built slowly with consideration to everything that is in your sacred space. let nothing on your altar not have a personal meaning that will enhance your magical work. Items for your altar can be bought piece by piece from new findings, or you can also find ritual items that are used. What you put on your altar is a matter of personal preference. I do not mind using an item for my altar that was bought second-hand because I know that it was meant to find me and I was meant to use it as a tool of magic.

Maintaining an altar is not that difficult. I have found that sometimes, its necessary to re-arrange some items on my altar to make room for more items. I also have a simple ritual where i burn cinnamon, sage, or myrrh to charge the altar with magical force. The materials used for this type of ritual depend on the outcome that I want to achieve. There are many different ways to do a ritual like this, so if a renewing of energy or a recharge or re-focus or a cleansing is what you are interested in, research some methods on how to do that kind of ritual, then devise one of your own that you can customize according to your needs.

5. Don't Give up!
I've met a lot of people over the years who drifted into occultism only to find out months later that it wasn't what they expected. When things got difficult, and the 'beginners luck' and faith wore out due to unpleasant circumstances, they gave up on occultism and returned to their mundane lives. What really happened is that they gave up on themselves.

Maybe the x-box was more important. Or their social lives interrupted their study. Work or School was more important. They never learned how to integrate their occult study into their lives so that they could handle what life is like for magicians and occultists.

They never had the intention to be dedicated to Occult practice. When some find that there is actually work involved, its too much to take. When they get a sign of confirmation, it shatters their (supposed) reality and they are too frightened to return.

Mundane existence becomes a convenient lie to escape from what they could have been if they had chosen to live through their will. Some fall into the category of above, the 'armchair magician' (2) , who studies but has no practical knowledge. That can get boring after a while.

There are some who get 'burned out' from practice, as well. These types begin to feel that magic is failing them, and it creates a cycle where they get no results, because that is what they are projecting (frustration, and failure). Doing the same spells over and over may be fine, if you want to stay in a comfort zone.. but to really work with the potential of magic and occultism you should treat it like a craft. It is an art and it not only requires talent, but it requires innovation and the ability to be creative. So, get creative with your magic and use it in different ways.

You will never be bored again, once you realize the never-ending potential of the Occult.

Dualities of Belief

2009-12-22T21:50:00.007-05:00

A reply to a very touching letter sent by a fan, and a discussion on duality in satanism..This letter was not easy to reply to but this reader had a very serious issue. As she is new to satanism, I wanted to offer some of my advice to her.

..I have read a good bit on your website, and I have watched many of your videos. I am fascinated by satanism, and especially your ideas on independent satanism. But I am fairly new to all this. I became a Christian when I was very young. But in recent years I have become repulsed by Christians and the church. I see no value in associating myself with either. At the same time I find myself very much attracted to Satan.

Yet I still feel pulled in two directions. What I read about Jesus makes it hard for me to hate him. I don't see the same bullshit coming from him that I see coming from Christians and the church. So I would like to know if it is necessary for me to denounce Christianity, that is to denounce Jesus Christ, in order to practice Satanism.

I feel like I am falling in love with Satan. Yet I still respect the words of Christ. From some of my reading, it seems that most satanists really despise him. Any insight into my dilemma would be appreciated. Hail Satan.

I do not believe that you have to hate Jesus in order to be a satanist. Now, im waiting for the mail to pour in because of that statement, but allow me to explain.

The hatred of Christ in satanists has a long history. even before LaVey made his church and declared that satanism should be a practice and a religion, the Christians created a reputation for satanists that included rites that transversed christianity.

You can read stories like this in books such as 'LaBas' (Huysmans), and 'Satanism and Witchcraft' (Jules Michelet). Authors like this drew from the tales that were used during the witchcraft trials. They included morbid scenes of black masses where the (defrocked) priest would trample on the host, offer unholy sacraments and assist the priestess who was usually described as a street-whore or a former nun. Other rites included horrible things like using baby fat for candles In reading these tales you may think that there were some people who did some very morbid things in persuit of denying the church.

Why would the church make up horror stories like this? For authors like Huysmans it made them a lot of money through sensationalism. It enabled the Church to create an environment of fear, where they were able to gain control. It allowed for the witch trials to happen and many died. Their propaganda enabled them to have social control. The early church also did not want the competition from Jewish society. Many jews were killed, labeled as witches, their holy 'Sabbat' becoming the witch's unholy sabbath.. The tales the christian writers created were centered around these ideas. It worked for a very long time.

Even LaVey, who had the most social control over popular satanism, created an environment that focused on denying the christ-figure and embracing the ways of Satan. Much of that was influenced by anti-christian rhetoric of philosophers. It seems that since then, it has become almost traditional for satanists to behave in this way.

I take a different view. I accept that there are many gods in this world.

In my article, "My Advice on Leaving Christianity", I try to take a neutral view in suggesting how to leave that religion. I do not see a need to waste emotional energy on hate. That is why i suggest to this reader that if she wants to leave christianity, then she should, but its not required of her to hate anything.

In satanism, it is useful for some to mock or ridicule their former beliefs, as that enables them to subconsciously un-identify with the former beliefs of the past.

If she finds that the majority of her christian friends are actually hypocrites according to what they are supposed to be living by as Christians, then maybe she will be able to see that their way of life and their religion is a moral ideal, and that very few people in this life will ever achieve this perfected ideal.

I would not blame this on the god, but i would place the blame on the people within that religion who refuse to take responsibility for their own actions. Of course, i am not a christian so it is not my place to judge.

Satanism in general is more accepting of the human condition and that is why there is no need to restrict the self to moral conditioning. That is why as a satanist she may be able to see this 'hypocritical self deceit' that others continually choose to accept as a way of life. She may have to transition from an accepting and faithful way of life, to a more modern rationalist humanist approach. Some never make that transition and they merely invert the values of christianity. Even though the story is inverted, they never leave the sphere of christian influence.

Overall, her biggest issue is going to be the situation of duality.
Accepting Christ is fine but according to the christian tradition, there can not be room in one's heart for both god and Satan. There are generally no rules as to how satanists accept other gods, but generally from a satanists point of view the christian god would be either:
1. nonexistent
2. Denied, hated or reviled;
3. The eternal enemy of Satan
4. tolerated as the god of others who are christian.

wanting to love Jesus and Satan at the same time, while being dedicated to Satan is a noble thing to do. I do not think it would be easy. My suggestion to her that she examine her motives and sincerely explore whether she is ready to leave christianity or not. and if she is, then she is free to leave it behind without hating it. If that decision is too much to handle or her christian belief in Christ prevents her from doing it, then she would be better off returning to her god and praying for forgiveness for straying from the path of christian righteousness.

~Venus

Commentary on LaVey

2009-12-08T00:42:00.014-05:00

My apologies for my non blog posting lately. I have been working in other areas of interest in my life, catching up. Recently, nocTifer & I opened the new Facebook page for the Infernal Horde. (HISS at FB) . We are looking forward to networking and sharing ideas with all varieties of Satanists.

Satan's Chaplain, a regular reader of my blog, provided me with some really interesting insights and comments on my last post (Reply To Questions About LaVey). I am replying to these comments here in this post, perhaps adding to the conversation in a meaningful way. I am open to discussion on these subjects, so I welcome any replies that are thoughtful.

There are many issues within satanism in general, but how can we resolve this, or come to an understanding? It is difficult to do with Satanism, because of the diversity that satanism encompasses. But, I believe that open and thoughtful discussion helps others to be able to understand these issues, and this may eventually lead to intelligent solutions.

Satan's Chaplain contributed to my blog in comments, and he made some interesting points. His contribution to my blog comments are much appreciated. His words are in italics, below them my response.

"Thank you Venus Satanas for a great response. Kudos for your recognition of the true intent of the questioner. A typical nonsensical strategy employed by weak-minded critics. By attempting to denigrate the Satanic woman or man (in this case LaVey), they think it successfully denigrates the great ideology/philosophy/spirituality that is Satanism and all who call herself or himself a Satanist. Pure bunk. But I’m sure you’ve come to accept and expect the constant attempts to dismiss or ridicule. "

Of course, I could see his intention from a mile away. Perhaps he was a former satanist burned out on the ideologies of LaVeyan Satanism. Maybe he is an atheist that has a bone to pick with all other 'alternative' belief systems.

No matter. His letter was generic enough that I was able to use it to point out some very common misconceptions about satanism - effectively turning his ignorance of the subject into useful knowledge for all.

He hasn't written me back yet. meh..

" “I wont demonize him, but i wont make him a saint either. He was human and he had problems like all the rest of us do.” ~Venus

Very poignant. Yes, LaVey did some things that some Satanists and non-Satanists wouldn’t do, but as you said well, “So what? He had to deal with his own consequences.” I think following your example and learning everything one can about LaVey is key. The critic wanted to show LaVey as a hypocrite. From what I’ve learned, LaVey never pretended to be something he wasn't to any kind of extent even remotely close to the throngs of hypocritical, self-righteous monotheistic "leaders" and "advisers." He did practice what he preached. More importantly, didn’t he rightfully challenge the hypocrisy of Judeo-Christian ethos and mores while never claiming his alternative was anything to him but a freer and more honest recognition of man’s carnal nature, and not of a “higher” morality? "

You are right, and so was he.
Did LaVey live up to the standards that he professed? I dont believe that he did. It seems as if a lot of what he preached or taught were suggestions, never meant to be taken as a law.

In fact, his whole life has been exposed as being a series of untruths that he used to promote his ideals and to promote his image within Satanism.(please read about these in Aquino's Church of Satan) Does that make him a liar? Yes. On the other hand, it seems that within his method he encouraged the use of deception and appearance as a type of low, psychological magic. But perhaps that is reading a little to much into the situation. There is the real LaVey, and then there is the public's interpretation of him. Two different personas.

"I think it's correct to say that Satanists are and have always been skeptics. And one can be skeptical of the skeptic and LaVey was not infallible. Personally, I am comfortable with my strong appreciation for his contribution to modern Satanism. But you made an excellent point that we’ve had 3 generations of Satanists and that things are bound to change for the better and you are a perfect example of that with your ideas on Satanic spirituality and independence (not being invested in Satanism as a religion). Satanism isn’t static and we can always improve ourselves as Satanists. And that would include changing our stance on ideas that were once held by LaVey. "

Skeptical, or Rational? I would say that Satanism is a rational practice. I reserve the use of Skeptic to define someone who doubts, but a Rationalist will use their intelligence to come to a solution. It seems that within (laVeyan) satanism we are asked to think for ourselves in a rational way to end the fantasy of christian ideals.

And yes, The one thing that i can respect LaVey for, is for 'opening the floodgates' for satanists all over the world. The world is not the same as it was back then and things are changing very quickly thanks to our technologies. it seems that human nature takes a long time to evolve, though as many satanists are still willing to argue like religionists over who is the 'most satanic', 'most evil', who is the 'true' satanist, etc. There is also a clear dividing line between LaVeyans who do not want to be associated with the spiritual aspects of satanism, and at the other end are the hardcore religious satanists who despise the rational ways of the LaVeyans.

I choose not to take sides, and that is why I am interested in all of Satanism. This is why I am independent. I care about satanism in general, and i do not see a need to take sides. I see benefits in the rational and the spiritual. You could say that I am a spiritual Satanist who is also interested in the Material..I prefer not to single myself out as one or the other. Besides that, Satanism interests me, and I would like to see some positive changes.

You are right. Satanism isn't static. it is ever flowing and changing and we are a part of its current, directing its flow..

"Could one say, that as an independent Satanist: (1) no person in Satanism is recognized as an authority, only a contributor of certain degree? (2) one is logically precluded from revering any other person but one’s self firstly, and then only others that one recognizes within our close circle? This would certainly qualify LaVey as a great contributor only. One could still acknowledge disagreement with some of his ideas and personal behavior."

This is why i really enjoyed Satan's Chaplain's commentary. He brings up some interesting points.

re. Authority vs. Contributors. - Why not accept it as *both* instead of one or the other or consider the possibility that we are creators as well.

However, I dont see, at least not since LaVey's time, that there will be one singular doctrine, idea or belief that all of Satanism can agree with (or should agree with!). The only thing that could unite us is our understanding of Self. You say that in the second half of your comment above, that the Self is the source of experience and expression. According to what you are saying, LaVey was not a leader but a contributor to a new understanding of Satan and satanism. Agreed.

There are a lot of political figures that are known for their scandals yet still are able to maintain an image of popularity. Knowing those private things about his life do not disappoint me, they empower me. He is a good example of how not to be. Regardless, his ideas allowed many people to come to their own experience and realization of Satanism and the self. He was then, perhaps only the messenger of something much greater than himself.

Thank you for posting to my blog, Satan's Chaplain.

~Venus Satanas~
http://www.spiritualsatanist.com/

Reply to Questions about LaVey

2009-11-27T20:46:00.009-05:00

Here is a letter from someone who came to my site, and had some typical statements to make about LaVey and LaVeyan beliefs:

Not to be too critical, but it seems as though Lavey plagiarized much of the satanic bible, from Nietzsche and others. Also, it didn't seem to work for him, he died pretty much broke and the San Francisco 'black house' was in disrepair and eventually sold.
Lastly, everyone around him seemed to desert him, Aquino, his wives, children...
I wonder did Lavey practice what he preached?

I will reply to each statement as I go along:
Not to be too critical, but it seems as though Lavey plagiarized much of the satanic bible, from Nietzsche and others.

First of all, here is something that I have learned about the way that people write. When someone begins a statement with the words "I don't mean to be..", "Not to be critical, but.. " and statements like that, its a statement disguised with hidden intent. The hidden intent is to be critical and demeaning, but to apologize for it first so that the statement is softened into a commentary instead of a criticism. So, when this guy started his statement with 'Not to be too critical.." that's exactly what he intended to be!

Now, on to answer the questions. These questions like the ones that were asked here, could be misunderstood as the typical 'trollish' comments that satanists are given in forums and on the internet. These are the same criticisms that a lot of Satanists have had to hear from others. Alot of their criticism means nothing when you are able to reveal the sources of their misunderstandings.

"Lavey plagiarized much of the satanic bible"
Actually, he didn't start out that way. I have seen the early pre-1980's edition of the Satanic Bible that contained every reference that LaVey used in his book. Along with this is the reading list that is available at the Church of Satan website. Its a known fact what books that LaVey was inspired from, and he let it be known that these writers and philosophers were (in his view) proto-satanists.

The later versions of the Satanic Bible did not contain the Bibliography of his writings. Thus, many people think that the writings are plagiarized, when they are not. The SB's Book publisher, Avon, chose not to publish the list of books that LaVey referenced from the 80's onward.

"Also, it didn't seem to work for him, he died pretty much broke and the San Francisco 'black house' was in disrepair and eventually sold. "

I think everything he wanted worked for him. he wanted to create satanism and be the leader of the Satanic empire, and that is what he did. He is in the history books as being the founder of Satanism. The Black house was only important in the beginning of LaVey's career and after he left control of the COS to others, it no longer mattered to him or to the members of the COS.

His house and his personal affairs are discussed at the Church of Satan website. There is also a history of his life in the PDF by Aquino, "The Church of Satan".

For anyone interested in knowing the real story of who LaVey was, that is a good place to start.

I'm sure there's lots of people who 'died broke'. I doubt that in the last days of his life, money was an issue. His family owns the copyrights and ownership of the organization and it is alive and well today, and that is what matters.

"Lastly, everyone around him seemed to desert him, Aquino, his wives, children.."

His wife sued him for Palimony in the late 80's. He beat his children, his wife and his animals. He was an abusive man. Anyone who thinks differently is welcome to read the COS website or the COS book written by Aquino. LaVey wasn't perfect and so what? he had to deal with his own consequences. Its a case of do-as-i-say, not do-as-i-do, which is very typical for religious orgs. and cult leaders.

Aquno and 9 others of the original Church members, left because as time went on, they had lost the original spirit and ideals that LaVey had started the church with in the 60's. It happens frequently with occult orders. The Temple of Set was formed when Aquino and others carried on their work in a new tradition of occult practice. Called the Temple of Set, they worshiped the dark forces of Set and have a structured order of Magic.

LaVeyans were more focused on the physical attributes in life, and others involved with them were looking for a spiritual approach. If anything, it was an evolution of Satanism and a new avenue to explore for seekers of the LHP.

I am not Laveyan, but at the same time, the only thing that i CAN appreciate about LaVey and his life is that he made Satanism socially acceptable, and he is a historical figure. beyond that, i have no admiration for him personally, and no admiration of how he treated his family. I wont demonize him, but i wont make him a saint either. He was human and he had problems like all the rest of us do.

"I wonder did Lavey practice what he preached?"

If you mean, eye for an eye, selective compassion, and aggressiveness towards others, then yes.. he did. He had ideals that he shared with everyone that became the foundation of satanism. Whether those ideas are worthy to follow and emulate in your life is up to you to decide.

~Venus

Casting Spells Without Using Candles

2009-11-15T16:20:00.014-05:00

Some who want to use magic can not burn candles on their magical altar, either due to circumstances beyond their control, or even for health reasons like disability or impairment. For others, candles may be impractical, such as a situation where one is working outdoors or for those who use an altar that is deconstructed and kept to a minimum of items. Well, as nice as candles are to use in magic, their use is certainly not required to be able to cast a spell.

First, here is a brief discussion of how candles are used in spells.

COLOR - Candles are available in a wide variety of colors. Each color is representative of the desired result, ie. red = lust, desire .. green = money

SHAPE - The candle itself is a symbol, a model of the phallic image and it represents will, power and energy. When candles are used properly, they become the focus of the ritual or spellwork, effectively concentrating and moving energy in the desired direction, much like the magic wand or the athame of some magical traditions.

Candles are available in a variety of shapes as well. There are round candles, square candles and even candles that are shaped like figures (figural candles). Basic spells are cast that are centered around the shape of the candle. For instance, a lover's spell can be cast by using a pillar or taper candle (long and skinny candles), but, an added and more focused effect is created by using a figural candle that is shaped in a human figure.

SIZE - The size of the candle that is used is also a consideration. A quick spell can be put together and cast by using a mini-candle and taper candles, which usually burn for a few hours or less, depending on the size. Ongoing spells or candles used for devotion are best cast by using a larger candle that can be burned and re-lit several times. Candles like these may take more than a few days to burn down.

INGREDIENTS - The ingredients that are used in candles and on candles, such as oils, are meant to add an extra effect. Oils or herbs are placed into the candle at the time of creation, or alternatively, candles are anointed during spell casting or ritual for magical effect.

USE - Candles are placed on the altar in designated areas, that denote what the purpose is for. In my altar arrangement, I use a center candle to cast my spells, and to the left of the center candle is my Bast statue, where I also burn candles on occasion. The appropriate candle is chosen before the spell is started and before the ritual begins. the candle is also empowered with intent and/or anointed with oils before it is lit. In working with two candles, I will light the first candle, and then light the second candle with the flame of the first candle that was lit, symbolically passing the flame from one candle to the other.

So, as you can see there are many ways that candles can be chosen, prepared and used in magical ritual. Doing without candles is no great sacrifice if you understand that the tools you use are representative of the effect that you want to create. All it requires is the use of basic, natural ingredients and a little creativity. So here are some suggestions to get you started.

- Talismans and Sigils. Create a talisman or sigil from natural ingredients like clay or paper. Use this talisman or sigil as a focus during spell casting. Use colored inks or colored paper for an intended effect.. No candle burning required.

- Herb Magic. Use an offering dish to place herbs into. the herbs act in much the same way that oils and candles do, as a representative of the forces that you are working with. Make a ritual tea (from SAFE and ingestible herbs such as mint or catnip..not all herbs are meant to be taken internally and some interfere with medication, so please research thoroughly) and as you create your tea and sip it during your ritual, focus on your result.

- Crystals. Meditation and focus with crystals and using their energies makes for a great method of casting magic. All one has to do is be familiar with crystals and their properties and be aware of how they are used.

- Ritual Oils. Some oils are safe to use on the skin, especially if they are diluted with a carrier oil such as jojoba, olive oil, or sesame. Ritual anointing with oil is a great way to absorb the qualities of an oil into your being. Be aware that some oils should never be put on the skin as they can irritate (cedar oil, cinnamon, orange oil etc.), and unless an oil is known to be food-grade (like almond oil made and specifically labeled for cooking) it should not be ingested or taken internally!

-Herbal Baths. There are specially made preparations for ritual baths that are created with sea salts, oils and herbs that are used as a magical bath. When used in spellwork they are like being anointed with the qualities that the bath contains.

-Magic Bags. Called magic bags, mojo bags, etc. they are like sachets which contain certain herbs, powders, gemstones, and possibly magical charms (symbolic charms). Placed in certain areas or kept on the person, they cause a magical effect to take place. For an example, If I were to make a sachet for gambling luck, i would put dice in it, and also some mint and patchouli herb, along with my lucky 2 dollar bill! Shazaam!

So, as you can see there are plenty of ways to create magical effects without using candles. For many, candles are a convenient way to cast spells, and are a focus of magical work, and for others, these methods that I've mentioned here are also great ways of creating magical spells.

CANDLE SAFETY:
According to the National Candle Association, Candle safety is an important consideration. "More than 15,000 candle fires are reported annually. According to fire experts, the bulk of candle-fire incidents are due to consumer inattention to basic fire safety or to the misuse of candles."

Here are some important safety notices about candles. Many of these things seem like common sense but a reminder is always a good thing:

Always keep a burning candle within sight. Extinguish all candles when leaving a room or before going to sleep! Do not, under any circumstances, leave a candle unattended.

Never burn a candle on or near anything that can catch fire. Keep burning candles away from furniture, drapes, bedding, carpets, books, paper, flammable decorations, etc. Be very careful if you wear robes with sleeves during ritual.

Keep candles out of the reach of children and pets. Do not place lighted candles where they can be knocked over by children, pets or anyone else.

Trim candlewicks to ¼ inch each time before burning. Long or crooked wicks cause uneven burning and dripping. Trim your wick ONLY when the candle is extinguished.

Always use a candleholder specifically designed for candle use. The holder should be heat resistant, sturdy and large enough to contain any drips or melted wax.

Be sure the candleholder is placed on a stable, heat-resistant surface. This will also help prevent possible heat damage to counters and table surfaces and prevent glass containers from cracking or breaking.

Keep the wax pool free of wick trimmings, matches and debris at all times. These things can easily catch fire.

Keep burning candles away from drafts, vents, ceiling fans and air currents. This will help prevent rapid, uneven burning, and avoid flame flare-ups and sooting. Drafts can also blow lightweight curtains or papers into the flame where they could catch fire.

Always burn candles in a well-ventilated room. Don't burn too many candles in a small room or in a "tight" home where air exchange is limited.

Don't burn a candle all the way down. Extinguish the flame if it comes too close to the holder or container. For a margin of safety, discontinue burning a candle when 2 inches of wax remains or ½ inch if in a container.

Never touch a burning candle or move a votive or container candle when the wax is liquid. Wax is burning hot (especially dark colored waxes) and will burn you on contact.

Never use a knife or sharp object to remove wax drippings from a glass holder. It might scratch, weaken, or cause the glass to break upon subsequent use. You can easily crack your glass container which will make it unstable.

Place burning candles at least three inches apart from one another. This is to make sure they don't melt one another, or create their own drafts that will cause the candles to burn improperly.

Use a candle snuffer to extinguish a candle. It's the safest way to prevent hot wax from splattering.

Never extinguish candles with water. The water can cause the hot wax to splatter and might cause a glass container to break.

Make sure a candle is completely extinguished and the wick ember is no longer glowing before leaving the room.

Extinguish a candle if it smokes, flickers repeatedly, or the flame becomes too high. The candle isn't burning properly and the flame isn't controlled. Let the candle cool, trim the wick, then check for drafts before re-lighting.

~Venus Satanas~

Satanic Witchcraft - Questions

2009-11-11T15:09:00.005-05:00

Letter from a Youtube viewer

I've been watching your videos for a few days now and reading a bit on your website (which is awesome by the way), But I am a little confused about Witchcraft. Why is Satan symbolized with Earth and not fire? Also why do you symbolize Satan with east and not south? Also one more question....(sorry I'm quite new to satanism) who is Belial and Lilith? I know Satan and Lucifer already...Also why are they all associated with each other? Are they all the "Satanic god" in other cultures?

I would love to take this opportunity to make some things clear with this post. I am very grateful that this letter was sent to me, because Ive been busy working on my website and revising it, and at the same time, working on my book of Satanic Witchcraft. Answering this letter will help me to make some clarifications and also it will help me to put my project into perspective.

For the past few weeks, my website has been revised, rewritten, and given am updated, and more subtle look. I have edited several pages in the Satanism section, and that is the section that I will finish first, before I edit the Magick section.

I started the Satanic Witchcraft series almost a year ago. Since then, I have re-written most of the first few chapters of my Satanic Witchcraft book (but I haven't yet added the revised writing to my website).

I plan on making most of my book available online at my site so that anyone can use the knowledge that I am putting together. The book itself will have extra rituals, formulas for spells, and insights that will not be printed at my website, so either way there is something good for everyone.

This is why I was really glad to get this letter from a reader who wanted to know specifics about my system of Satanic witchcraft. Interestingly enough, the letter hit upon some key ideas that I have since explained within my book (but haven't published on my site yet).

The youtube viewer asks, 'why is Satan symbolized by the earth and not by fire?' Well, in the creation of my satanic witchcraft series, I wanted to do something that was different than all of the systems that are already present in Satanic Occultism. Satan associated with fire, was a concept that was made popular by LaVey in the Satanic bible. In that book, LaVey gives the four cardinal directions, and in doing so, he labeled Satan as the South, representing the element of Fire. LaVey did not create these associations on his own, but he used them in his book. Those associations came from the Book of Abramelin, a judeo-christian grimoire that was designed as a system of ritual to find one's own HGA (Holy Guardian Angel)

Since then, many satanists have accepted LaVey's associations and used them as their own. But it wasn't just Abramelin that labeled Satan as fire, it was also the Christian associations of Satan and the lake of fire that relate Satan to that element. In creating my own system, I chose not to associate with the same old, typical judeo-Christian associations. So, to me Satan represents the Earth, and all things physical, and the body (the Self).

The youtube viewer also asked me why I associate Satan with the east and not the south. The demon and their corresponding directionals are for the purpose of ritual, and in my system the south is indeed symbolized by Satan while the East is associated with Lucifer. To me it only makes sense, as the earth is below our feet, to the south, and the star of Venus/Lucifer is found in the east. On to the next question:

Also one more question....(sorry I'm quite new to satanism) who is Belial and Lilith? I know Satan and Lucifer already...Also why are they all associated with each other?

These demons are not directly associated with each other. They each come from different cultures and places in time. I have had personal experience with them. My main reason in including these demons and gods into my system of witchcraft is to represent the divine aspects of satanism. The one thing that they do have in common is that each of the demons represent satanic qualities.

In my series on Witchcraft, I wanted to build a simple system that anyone could use for their own needs. That is why the representations that I have given for satanic gods and demons is not required to use any of the magic in the book, but in using them, or demons and gods like them, you can add a new dimension to your magic. It is true that I do not call upon demons or Satan every time I cast a spell, as most times there is no need to have their influence. But, when I need their influence they are there.

In my book I encourage others to eventually find the gods or demons that they can relate to on a personal level. My spells were designed so that anyone can use them with or without a demonic influence. This was created out of a necessity to have a system that had a basic framework for magic that was not dependent on any kind of religion. Unlike some forms of neopagan magic, my system is not dependent on the worship of any gods and dedication to Satan or any other demon is not required. For those who want to experience working with the demonic in their magic, the option is there and the four demons that I have named to represent these aspects blend beautifully into my system of personal magic.

I wanted to share these insights with others as an example for learning. So, along with meditations on each demon there are rituals for each demon and a history of each demon to get you started in working with them. These particular demons are not required for all satanic magicians, and working with them is optional. My goal in writing the book is not only to teach others about magic, but to teach others to eventually build their own system of (eclectic) magic.

~Venus Satanas

Are Death Spells Real?

2009-10-31T23:11:00.001-05:00

There is a very basic spell of destruction in the Satanic Bible (LaVey). LaVey recommends that the 'sacrifice' is a willing victim, one who deserves retribution. There is an invocation to Satan and then a command to crush the enemy. lavey recommends burning a white candle during the cursing.

amusing as it seems, the LaVeyan method is considered to be only psychological, the practitioners do not consider it to be any kind of magic. its what is called a 'psychodrama' that releases any pain, guilt or bad feelings into one ritual that is supposed to have an effect.

I am sure that there are other types of death spells, as well. perhaps there are voodoo death spells where one uses a poppet and tortures the doll to represent the pain of the victim. The ancient Greeks and Romans had similar spells, that would call upon the gods and the fates to bring destruction to whomever was considered to be a foe.

A death spell need not be so..literal. one could use a black candle in a spell to symbolize the death of a relationship, to bring an ending, and to cause negation or breakdown. A literal death would be hard to produce unless the victim met a very unfortunate fate where they were caught in an accident or died of a disease. I don't think it is likely to have a spell that would cause instant death, but i also do not think it would be impossible if it were the right situation and the right timing and the right focus of energy.

VenusSatanas

Why I Like Being Independent

2009-10-28T03:13:00.003-05:00

These are four reasons why I love being an Independent Satanist.

1. I like being Independent because I can create my own rules. This does not simply mean 'do whatever I will' but it does mean that I have the right to make a conscious decision as to what is right for me Creating my own rules and boundaries has shown me what is useful and what is not useful in my life (as a Satanist)

2. I represent my Self, and nothing else besides that. Maybe others like to have doctrines given to them to guide their beliefs and ways of thinking, but I do not. I don't have to live by others ideals and teachings, for those things are only the tools and the devices of the religious and faithful. I am free to understand Satan in my own way on my terms, and i am also free to live the Satanists life according to my own way of belief.

3. I have the freedom to create my own rituals and methods of magic and style of Satanic worship. I am not chained to the dogmatic beliefs of organized satanism. i am not restricted to the teachings of just one book.

4. I create my own vision of who i am and what I want. I follow through with those ideas. I am self-made, and i am not molded from the beliefs of organized satanism. I can be myself, uninhibited by the rules and commands of others that would determine my path in satanism.

Non Serviam
V. S.

Cults and Cult Leaders

2009-10-19T12:39:00.004-05:00

At the Spiritual Satanist site, ive been reviewing and revising my writings for the past month..The latest article that I've re-created is my Cults and Cult Leaders Page. I added a lot of new information about Cult leaders and behaviour within cults. Cults can attract all types of people, and they can twist and distort a person's reality and destroy lives through emotional abuse and other means of control.

Also at this page is a review of the ABCDEF scale that was created by pagan author Isaac Bonewits. I think that even though he has had troubles and drama in dealing with Satanism in his past, Bonewits made some really good points on how to identify the dangerousness of cults and cult leaders. He gave a very insightful analysis of the different aspects of control that a cult leader could use on members of a group.

I think this is important information, so, I wrote a brief review of some of the aspects that he outlined in the scale. Hopefully this will give others the knowledge that they need to decide if their association with a group is safe and/or stable.

I am not against group Satanism, but I do think that within some groups there is a certain amount of control that the leader will try to assert, and this may not be beneficial, and it could possibly be dangerous. Cults are formed from all religions, as they divide into specialist groups that have certain interests. You may find this page to be really informative.

Satanism and the Afterlife

2009-10-11T05:07:00.006-05:00

I have been asked so many times, what i believe about Satanism and the Afterlife. People want to know what Satanists believe about hell, and eternal damnation. People also want to know if Satanists believe in the afterlife.

Answers to this will vary depending on who you ask. Not all satanists have the same beliefs.

The belief in the afterlife is a learned belief. it is something that is a part of many cultures. the Hebrews believed that after death the soul would go to a place called 'Sheol' (the grave). I don't recall them believing in hell or eternal punishment.

The Greeks had a place of eternal punishment, called Hades. By comparing the beliefs of the Greek and Christian afterlife, it is easy to see how they are similar. In the renaissance, some christinas also believed that there were different levels of hell where a person would be punished according to their sin. so beliefs about what the afterlife is, from a Christian perspective, have changed and evolved over the years.

This is a very simplistic view, that was created to keep people in line with the moral teachings of religion. of course religion will claim to have the keys to life and death and the manual of life to go along with it. What kind of religion would it be without those things? But the simple truth is, death and the afterlife is a mystery and it has been viewed in many different ways by many different cultures.

Who's idea is right? Are the Hindus right? do we all reincarnate into another life? where does the 'soul' go? Does the soul even exist? So many questions. no wonder people are confused about this. Still, people have some kind of general idea that we ALL go to heaven if we are good, or hell if we are bad. If only we were alloted this cosmic justice as a reward or punishment. For example, how could Hitler suffer the same fate as mother Theresa?

Believing in the afterlife is so much more than just a belief. It affects the way people live their lives too. There are two things to consider in this view point: 1. life is not worth living unless there is some reward involved and 2. one must spend their life pleasing whatever god is promising them this glorious existence in the afterlife.

This causes two things. First of all, many people have been influenced by this idea so they loose interest in this life by not caring about the earth, and others around them. What is promised afterwards seems more rewarding than what is offered in the present. It reminds me of a conversation I had in the chatroom, a Christian was talking about 2012, and how he believed the rapture was going to take him away, so he said that he didn't care if the earth was destroyed and everything died as long as he could be with his god. To me that does not even make sense. This is the only earth we have and we better do what we can to protect it.

Secondly, the promise of an afterlife is a 'conditional reward', meaning that a person is taught to believe that if they follow the rules of the religion they will get their divine reward or punishment. This afterlife promise becomes the tool of religion to direct and guide peoples lives for as long as they live. Christianity is not the only religion that has done this.

So, what do Satanists believe about hell, death and the afterlife? I made a video explaining my views on death and the afterlife a few weeks ago, to try and answer some of these views.

What satanists believe will vary according to their path in satanism. For instance, LaVeyans may accept that there is no afterlife at all, there is no heaven or hell. They may also try to live life and appreciate being in the here and now. It is a very materialistic view. Some spiritual satanists may believe that they will spend their afterlife with Satan, even fewer accept that they will go to a Christian hell.

I have a very different view. I have experienced ghosts and spirits. I can not explain their existence but I can say that when you are open to experiencing these kinds of things, they will become more apparent to you that they really do exist. What is also interesting to me is that ghost sightings have been happening all over the world for a very long time. Either it is some kind of mass hallucination or there really is a kind of realm of energy where these beings may exist.

There are theories on why ghosts exist. For instance, it is said that a person who dies in a violent or sudden way could end up haunting an area, either reliving their experience or making appearances. Assuming that ghosts are real, this idea makes sense because the shock of death or the need to settle a score or to get retribution may be enough energy to keep the spirit of a human manifested into the spirit world.

Also there are different types of hauntings. There are 'intelligent' hauntings, where the spirit attempts to communicate either through sounds or by moving things, or a signal, possibly related to the poltergeist. There is also the situational haunt which is where the spirit relives the same actions over and over, it becomes familiar to the energy of the area.

There are measurable ways of detecting spirits, through electronic devices. Its not necessary to use Ouija spirit boards to ghost hunt anymore. The most convincing evidence that I have found is the EVP recording, that records the voices of spirits.

All of this is very fascinating to me, and it almost provides a scientific explanation of what happens in the afterlife. My idea is that there is NO heaven or hell..and this is why so many spirits and ghosts are left behind to haunt the physical. After they pass away they are expecting to go to that afterlife but they are unprepared to spend their existence as a spirit. The energy of a person or animal is imprinted in the places where it resided during life. This energy is what allows the spirit to be sustained. The longer the energy stays there the more the spirit will manifest.

Maybe people also add to the energy of the spirit, by interacting with it and giving it energy, either mentally or emotionally. It all comes down to energy and how it manifests. I think there are reasons why spirits exist and there are reasons why they haunt certain places. There is a reason why there are so many spirits now, and these spirits are restless or in distress. Because there is no heaven. They didn't get what they were promised and they have no peace, no where to go.

Heaven is of course a convenient lie and it has left so many of these spirits stranded. I do not believe that this spirit afterlife is eternal. When a spirit goes 'towards the light' or is helped to the other side, it is dissipated and it no longer exists as a collective energy. The spirit is 'stuck' between worlds as it clings to the things that influenced the spirit during life.

Of course these are all just theories. The ghostly afterlife idea is more interesting to me, anyway.. and its something that can be seen, it is known all over the world. The ghost or spirit is an idea deeper than any religion can claim. What if it's true?

So, as far as what I believe about my Satanism and the afterlife:
No I do not accept the afterlife as promised by religion
No, I do not accept the religious idea of reincarnation.
No I do not expect to die and be with Satan for eternity.
No, I do not expect to be 'eternally punished in a lake of fire'. Generally, that is a Christian belief.

Yes I think that spirits/ghosts are real, or at least, real interesting ;-)
Yes, I focus on the here and now and life while I am living.

in any case, if I am completely wrong about the spirit/ghost afterlife, when the time comes, I have lost nothing by exploring this idea.

Dealing with Christian Family

2009-10-01T15:32:00.002-05:00

Greetings; This letter sent to me is from a LaVeyan Satanist, who is having troubles adjusting to life with christian relatives. not an uncommon problem in satanism. The correspondent's words are in italics.

[[ Im a laveyan satanist and i have been for a while. My family is sadly all christians and there always like youre bringing demons into our home and opening bad doorways lol! ]]

Yes, a lot of satanists come from a christian background and they have to learn how to make their way in a christianzed society. What you are going through is actually very common. unfortunately there are very few resources which tell you how to deal with an issue like this. Your friends and family who are still christian are going to have their christian beliefs and misconceptions about Satanism. Preaching to them or trying to convince them otherwise will only cause more harm than good. unfortunately, you are outnumbered.

[[ Well i dont believe in demons and all that junk. Im a good person and i just want them to realize that and they also make fun of me for believing in evolution..it's stupid really.. ]]

Yes, of course they have their own particular beliefs about creation and beliefs on how the world works. as it is you are awakening your mind to possibilities that are outside of their consciousness and so you are in areas that they are afraid of. they are afraid of the unknown and because of this they are suspicious of you, think you are evil, etc. What happens here largely depends on how you choose to react to their ideas, and how you choose to live your life.

[[ ..but i was a christian when i was a little girl because that's how i was raised but when i was about 11 i really started questioning things and that's when i realized that i am my own god and i am responsible for my own good and evil and so is everybody else.. ]]

Yes and since you are into LaVeyan Satanism, you probably accept the atheist ideas and philosophies of satanism. this is a view that is at odds with religion in general. Satanic philosophy is based on Rationalism, and religion is largely based on faith. They are very much the opposite, which means that you're going against all of what they know to be 'true' or 'right'. of course they see what they want to see through the lens of their own perceptions. which is why it is very good to remain low key and private about who you are and what you like, especially around those who you know it would upset or disturb.

i know the feeling you have - that satanism is a great philosophy that really makes sense and you want to be able to share that happiness with others - but we live in a world where the dark are considered to be evil; this is a right hand path label of the darkside that even some satanists choose to accept. but from a left hand path perspective there is only the SELF and the self is in the highest regard. like you said, its a matter of accepting responsibility into our lives instead of depending on divine intervention.

[[ and im not going to lie marilyn manson had alot to do with my religion changes.. ]]

Marylin, given high priest status in the Church of Satan. a wierd and shocking role model, known for taking things to the edge

[[ i wish my family would just accept me its not like i drink or have sex im a good girl lol.. and i believe in morals..but i have a good heart and good intentions also.. ]]

what they desire for you may be something that is hard to escape, depending on how close your family is. satanism is a solitary path, it is for those who are self aware, self sufficient, self loving, self serving. You can either put your feelings aside and hide your religion around those who love you so that you won't be making them worry about you and get into your business...or you could alternatively, decide to change your life in subtle ways so that you can have more independence, and break free from the rules and expectations of other people in your life. this may mean really becoming independent.

the idea is to be able to live with the least amount of effort and while you present these attitudes and ideas to your relatives, it causes them to come after you - i'm sure it is because they care about you and only want what they feel is best for you. at some point though, you will have to decide what is best for yourself.. do you stay and keep the peace, so you can have your peace? or do you fight the status quo and learn how to be more self-sufficient and stop caring how others judge your religion?

As a satanist of many years i can say that i had struggled with publicly identifying with satanism for a long time. I started getting into satanism back in '92, after the satanic panic had subsided.. my parents were not religious but my mother was spiritual, she believed in auras, astrology and other things like that. so when i started listening to 'dark' music and became reclusive she really didn't care what i was into. after a while i was on my own and able to do whatever I wanted, whenever i wanted. but it took a long time to get there. and instead of answering to my parents, i had to answer to society. a society who expected *everyone else* to be christian. Well, i was always just a bit different.

I have come out even more in the past 2 years, openly admitting to a few co workers that I am a witch, and some of my closest friends (offline) know that I am a Satanist. I also wore my pentagram at work for more than a year, every day. No one ever said a thing. But, i choose to be public about my satanism now because i have been into it for so long. i know how to reply to people who are curious, i know what to say and what not to say to control their curiosity. at some point, your spirituality (or lack thereof, LOL ) should be none of anyone's business.

Blessed Beast;
Venus Satanas

you may also find this video to be educational/entertaining:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAIpRRZvnJg
(Instruction Manual for Life)

Myths and Realities in Satanism pt 2

2009-09-28T10:11:00.004-05:00

MYTH: A Satanist has to believe in the Christian God to be a Satanist
REALITY: I ti s a myth that some who are not initiated into satanism tend to believe: that you cant have one without the other. But, Satanism is a Satanic belief, not a christian belief. If satanism were a christian belief, then Christians would accept satanism as part of their teachings, and of course they do not. the Christians have their own understanding of Satan, as reflected in their gospels and books, and satanists have their own understanding of Satan reflected in our Satanic writings and books.

you could say that satanism came from, or was influenced by christianity but it is not a christian belief or practice. Just like christianity was influenced by Judaism, it is not the same as Judaism. Just because something is similar does not mean that it is exactly alike.

once the beliefs of satanism are far removed from original christian ideas they cease to be 'christian' in origin, and become by a christian definition, 'Satanic'.

Because of this, not every satanist will agree on whether they care about the christian god or not and in the end it really does not matter. to a satanist, Satan is the main figure, the god of this world and does not need any other god to validate it's existence. what satanists believe about Satan varies but the belief in the christian god is not necessary for Satanic practice.

MYTH: Satanism is not a religion!
REALITY: Satanism is in fact a religion and within lawful practice like any other religion it is protected under the US constitution. the 1st amendment states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"(1). Also in April 1978 within the Army Chaplain's handbook is direction and instruction, written by Anton LaVey for the Church of Satan.(2) . Also in 1992, the chaplains handbook also included information on the Temple of Set. (3). The Temple of Set is not Satanic but they are Left Hand Path oriented. Both the COS and the TOS are legally tax exempt Religious organizations. It's about time that society recognized Satanism and has given it some respect in the regard to freedom of religion, but this is not always the case. For some satanists who were incarcerated for crimes, some have had to sue or appeal to get their Satanic Bible and other materials into their cell. Like the man who sued a Montana county jail last February for 10mil. because he was denied his first amendment right to practice Satanism.(4)

There is also measures put into place to suspend or stop Satan-worship in prison altogether in some places. (5), Whatever happens for it or against it in the media, it seems that Satanism is not an easy thing for society to accept. Just because some recognize it as a religion and others may not, this is used as a reason to claim that Satanism is not real. Satanism is real and its been 'real' for more than 30 years!

It does not matter if you only recognize Satanism as Symbolic or spiritual..the fact is, Satanism when lawfully practiced is protected under the freedom of religious expression in the US.

1. (1st Amendment) 9/28/09
http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am1

2. (1978 Army Chaplains Handbook) 9/28/09
http://www.churchofsatan.com/Pages/ChaplainsHandbook.html

3. (Chaplains Handbook, 1992) 9/28/09
http://alleeshadowtradition.com/pdf/army_chaplain_handbook.pdf

4. (2009 Lawsuit to Sue for Religious Freedom) http://www.onpointnews.com/NEWS/Will-Hell-Freeze-Over-if-Satanist-Inmate-Wins-Suit.html

5. (Attempts to stop Satanism in Kentucky Prisions)
http://abcnews.go.com/US/CrimeBlotter/story?id=91225&page=1

MYTH: The Satanic Lifestyle: Most Satanists Are goth, metalheads, wear black, and are frustrated and depressed!
REALITY: Satanists enjoy a diversified lifestyle. not all satanists enjoy wearing black. my personal preference is black, but that's because black matches anything and it looks svelte. I happen to enjoy black, and others may not. I think that these myths about satanic lifestyle come from the fact that many satanists begin exploring satanism through metal and through alternative 'dark' lifestyles. these avenues seem to be a source for satanism and satanic expression. the idea of satanism is individualism and these lifestyles are most likely to afford people the opportunity to be unique or individual, and self expressive.

A satanist should know that it is OK to like whatever they choose as far as lifestyle choices are concerned, including music, dress, and sexual preferences or orientation. There are no rules telling all satanists to think and act the same, like some religions have. Also, most satanists I know in person are not depressed. Many i know are very self motivated and focused. most of us eventually learn that life is for living and many of us enjoy our life in the here and now. it is through the satanic lifestyle that they find the freedom to be themselves.

At the other end of the spectrum are the Satanists who use Satanism for self destructive behaviors. This can be found in any religion, when it is used by people who are mentally unstable or who takes things to the extreme.

There are also those who identify with satanism just for the image or 'shock value' and are mostly mocked for their generic expressions by those who really are into Satanism.

More to come!!

Myths and Realities in Satanism

2009-09-24T09:47:00.011-05:00

This is a series that Ive put together over the past 2 weeks, about the myths and realities in satanism. they are the most common myths and misconceptions in satanism. hopefully this research will help others to understand the truths and disregard the hype that so often surrounds this practice.

MYTH: All Satanists worship the devil.

REALITY: Satanism is diverse and there are many different viewpoints and ideas in satanism. We can see this by understanding the christian idea of satanism first, and that usually involves the belief that all satanists worship the 'devil'.

Outside of christianity it can be understood that satanism began as a deist practice with the Church of Satan who eventually represented Satan as a symbol, not as a deity. After this came the spiritualists and theists who either worship the Christian aspects of Satan, or who have a uniquely spiritual view that maybe entirely interdependent of christian beliefs.

Either way, the amount of satanists that could be classified as devil worshipers are relatively small in number and make up a very small percentage of the varieties of modern satanic expression. An even fewer of this amount identify strictly with the Satan found within a purely christian context.

MYTH: Satanism is for Teenagers!
REALITY: It is a fact that there are teenagers that can be found in any religion - christianity, wicca, satanism, paganism. While there are teens that can be found in satanism, it seems that for the most part, teenage satanism is either a phase or a transitory practice that many abandon when it no longer suits their need. Many satanists who have a long term practice of satanism found it later in their lives, after their teens in their early 20's. James R. Lewis did an excellent survey of Satanists in 2001, where he recorded that most satanists that he interviewed were between the ages of 18- 30 years old, with more than 5 years average involvement time. So, no, Satanism is not just for teenagers - in fact, those that it appeals the most to are already away from their parents and living their own lives, able to make their own choices about what religion suits them best.

From the Lewis Survey of 2001:
"Does this phenomenon, however, exhaust the significance of religious Satanism? Are most Satanists, in other words, just angry teenagers who adopt diabolical trappings to express their alienation, only to renounce the Prince of Darkness as soon as they mature into adults? While many youthful Satanists undoubtedly fit this profile, I came to feel that this was, at best, only a partial picture. Instead, I reasoned, there must be a core of committed Satanists who--for whatever reasons they initially become involved--had come to appropriate Satanism as a mature religious option."

Also: "The average Satanist is 26 years old (ranging from 14 to 56) who has been a Satanist for eight years (ranging from less than a year to 44 years for an individual who claimed to have been raised in a Satanist household). This means that the average Satanist became involved at age 18"

- text selected from James R. Lewis, Who Serves Satan? A Demographic and Ideological Profile. Referenced from: http://www.uni-marburg.de/fb03/ivk/mjr/pdfs/2001/articles/lewis2001.pdf [accessed 9/24/09]

MYTH: All Satanists are Criminals.
REALITY: The Satanic Panic of the 80's, the same myth machine that perpetuated this lie, sustains this lie in the public view even to this day, even though not one shred of evidence has ever been found of secret satanic societies that are criminal! It was reported time and time again that these sensational stories of satanic criminals were the fodder of book publishers, counselors, preachers, news reporters and corporations who used these stories to sell books, interviews, tv airings, and counseling sessions.

The money that they profited from telling these lies is beyond belief. Reports of Satanic crime were falsified, and testimonies from so-called SRA survivors were sold to the media and book publishers. Children were coached in how to act and what to say. It was a moral panic that society has not yet recovered from, as some still hold the belief that satanists are associated with crime. Jefferey S. Victor in his book "Satanic Panic" did a great job of exposing many of the people behind the 80-'s and early 90's panic. In his book he tracked the history of the moral panic, and the court cases that fell through because of lack of evidence. unfortunately there are still some people who are in jail from the trumped up charges of the satanic panic, more than a decade ago! Why? because no one bothers to revisit the cases, evidence is created or non existent making a real trial and acquittance impossible.

The fact is, that satanists represent a very minute portion of society as a whole, and as such, it is impossible to know what kind of crime, or lack thereof they produce. it is also a fact that the majority of people who are in prison for violent and non violent crimes are christian, come from christian families and are rehabilitated with christianity while in prision. And, its not just because Christians represent a majority of the population; it is because many of these people have problems living in society and abiding by societies rules. whether or not their christian background is a factor in this, i do not know. my belief is that people should abide by the laws of their own government, if only to keep the peace and so that we may live in a civil society.

..Then i will have a letter sent to me by some christian who gives me a news story about the 15 year old girl who set a church on fire in Canada. My opinion on that is that she is mentally disabled and needs emotional support and should be tried as an adult. while her crime seems to have been motivated by her 'satanistic' religion (as they called it) what really happened is that a mentally unbalanced girl lived a very unsupervised life and because of that she went out of control, committed a crime, and used religion as an outlet for it. A person should not be persecuted on the merit of what religion they believe in.

Thats what happened in the witch trials - people were murdered for being accused of being cohorts of the devil, a false charge that assumed immediate guilt by association instead of a fair and legal trial. Criminals should be tried for the crimes they commit regardless of what religion they claim to be. should we think any worse of the many religious criminals associated with christianity, and assume that all Christians are therefore evil because of a few people that used their religion as a scapegoat to crime? [see, List of Convicted Religious Criminals at wiki]

when people like Warren Jeffs [see Warren Jeffs, wiki] use christianity to commit crimes, its conveniently forgotten about and no one dares to ask, "Was what he did right? did christianity lead him to commit his crimes?" . In other words, no one ever consults with the pope when Christians commit a crime, but they certainly want to pursue satanists, wiccans, pagans and all others who are not christian once a mentally unbalanced person gets out of control and hurts themselves or other people. Its a double standard with no solution in sight.

In my view, any professional lawyer, social worker, or judge should leave religion out of the courtroom.

MYTH: All Satanists are Ignorant!
REALITY: This is obviously not true. There was an excellent survey found at Wikipedia which explained the IQ of people compared to religious beliefs. it was found that the majority of people who had a higher IQ were either spiritual or atheist, and that the more fundamental a person's beliefs, the lower the IQ seemed to be. You can explore it HERE [Study of IQ and Religiosity].

Mr Lewis, in his wonderful essay of 2001, surveyed 140 people and over 14% of those people had at least one year of college, 20% had 2 years of college, and 11% had their bachelors degree. many had professional jobs and had family lives. 23% of those surveyed were married.

"Satanists are employed in diverse occupations. Eighteen respondents were involved with computers and/or the internet. Forty were students. And eleven were writers or artists (fourteen if web writers are included). Otherwise, they ran the gamut from stripper to clinical psychologist, and from salesman to engineer."

- text selected from James R. Lewis, Who Serves Satan? A Demographic and Ideological Profile. Referenced from: http://www.uni-marburg.de/fb03/ivk/mjr/pdfs/2001/articles/lewis2001.pdf [accessed 9/24/09]

MORE TO COME!!

Venus Satanas

Ritual of Grief

2009-09-17T23:50:00.002-05:00

Today's post is very hard for me to write. On Sept. 17, 2009 at 9pm when Saturn, the Sun and the dark moon moved into the sign of Virgo, my 15yr old cat passed away from her long term illness. I could not stand to see her suffer any more, because she was very sick. My husband and I took her to the vets and she died in my arms there. I kissed her as she closed her eyes. Tomorrow in the morning there will be a solemn burial in a special place by the river.

Last night, I did a ritual to Bast the goddess of the cats. I poured lavender oil over her statues and i prayed that she would be in the arms of the Goddess. i poured Valerian at her feet. I cried and called out to her spirit to join the goddess as one. I kissed her statue. I lit a red candle and stayed at my altar while it burned. We live in a multi-cat household so the other cats will be grieving over the next few days as well. They were all very close. I know now that she is in a better place, a place without suffering, a place where the spirit of the Cat lives.

VenusSatanas

Compassion in Satanism

2009-09-15T03:56:00.002-05:00

This was a letter sent to me the other day, from a woman who wants to know the role of compassion in Satanism. I thought about this answer all week long before i finally replied to her. Here is her letter, and below, my reply:

""I was raised as a fundamental Christian, though I have never been baptized, fortunately. It took me a lot of trouble and soul searching to get rid of all the propaganda and baggage that was forced on me as a child. I say forced on me, but I must admit that there have been quite a few years I actually believed the bible to be true. I have always had a fascination for the occult, probably because it was forbidden. After all, that is the devils territory, according to Christianity.

After a mental and emotional battle to let go of Christianity and all that comes with it, I have been studying other religions, including Wicca. Also, I have learned a lot about new age and it's principals, but to me there is also a lot of denial to be found there, as is in Christianity. There seems to be only room for happy happy thoughts, and our darker side should be ignored, denied. After all, everything is about love and light.

I feel that good and evil resides in all of us and that developing and growing on a spiritual level is really about acknowledging that we are really dualistic by nature and integrating and accepting these two sides. Taking responsibility rather than playing the helpless victim, or the ever positive light worker.

These thoughts raised the question if there was any kind of religion or philosophy that would stimulate this kind of awareness.

That is how I came in touch with satanism. I looked into the LaVeyan satanism, but the idea that Satan would be no more than a symbol of our carnal nature, wasn't very appealing to me. When I found your website about Theistic satanism, that was very interesting.

There are however, still a lot of questions I haven't found answers for, so far. I'm now 38. A lot of information on the Internet about satanism is LaVeyan. For example, I wondered about charity. I have always had a soft spot for the weak, human or animal.

Now, according to modern satanism, the survival of the fittest is an satanic principle and we shouldn't attempt to help those who perish, but rather help them on their way. It may be obvious that I myself see it very differently, but I have no idea how theistic Satanism's views on things like this are.

I am very interested in your opinion on that matter. Since it seems Satan wants us to be independent thinkers, it occurs to me that he would leave it to us whether or not we decide it is good for us to help others, but I don't know.

Lydia from the Netherlands""

***********
Greetings, Lydia.
This is a very complicated issue with no easy answers. I can't speak for all of satanism, of course but I can give you my knowledge on this subject.

The beliefs of LaVeyan Satanists are as such : 'Do unto others before they do unto you', it is their modified golden rule. This is a very defensive attitude. A defensive person is not a strong person, in my view. They need something to hide their vulnerability and they do this by being selfish and hard-hearted, and acting hateful towards anyone that does not benefit their own selfish cause.

However, 'survival of the fittest' is not one of their rules, but it is easy to see why you would get that from reading their material. They have a selfish attitude that is meant to be in opposition to the golden rule(s) of Christianity. In many ways, any form of Satanism is about the self – including self-worship, and fulfillment of personal desires. In fulfilling personal desires, I see no conflict with your desire to help other people or animals with charity. In fact, I think that would be great.

But in the LaVeyan view, compassion comes at a price. Compassion to the LaVeyan is a selfish attribute. Compassion comes to those that deserve it, instead of 'love wasted on ingrates'. This is selfish, it is not true compassion because true compassion would help others regardless of whether they deserved it or not. Compassion comes from an open heart and an open heart is not selective and does not exclude others that are in need. The LaVeyans take this attitude to an extreme, in opposition to the Christian attitudes of forgiveness and kindness. It does not have to be like this, there can be a reasonable balance between compassion and personal strength.

And, who or what is deserving of compassion? As a Satanist, I have a strong belief that animals need our compassion. I take care of 3 cats that lived at my husband's house, who were abandoned and treated cruelly by their former owner (my husband's brother).

The former owner didn't feed them or give them water and they had to go to the neighbours house to beg for food. I was more than happy to open my heart to them when I moved in with my husband and I know that they love me for it. Their love in return is all that I need. My other cat was adopted from a shelter, and I most likely saved his life because shelter cats here do not live for very long, they are quickly euthanized because no one seems to really care about getting their animals fixed. The shelters here are always overflowing and are constantly low on funds. The shelter people couldn't thank me enough for taking in my cat. I love animals, and I know that they need our help.

If Satan is god of this world then we should be concerned with what is in this world, and how to take care of it..how we can take care of our own. Recently, I made a lifestyle change that I know will help the environment – I began recycling about 4 months ago because I read many, many reports on how plastic garbage ends up in the ocean, killing wildlife and poisoning the soil in landfills.

I know that I am just one person but at least I can do what I can to help. Others are not as willing to help. You don't hear other satanists talking about taking care of the earth, they just want to use what is here and then dispose of it like it never even mattered.

It breaks my heart to know that more and more species of animals die every day. Where I live there are less than 100 panthers that live in the wild, due to hunting, roadkills, and the ever-increasing need for humans to build large houses in wild places where these animals live.

We live in a poisoned world, brought about in part by our modern (mostly Christian) civilization that could care less about taking care of the earth. Its not surprising to me that some of these people don't care about the future because they are waiting for the 'rapture' or the destruction of the earth, and so they feel that the earth is doomed, and it's too late to care. But I don't think that is true. You mentioned responsibility. If each one of us took responsibility in our lives and stopped living wastefully, don't you think that we could make an impact? I think so.

Some (LaVeyans) may say that compassion is a weakness, but it is not, its a STRENGTH that few are able to possess. They equate it with weakness because they think that Christians use compassion within their religion. Its very easy to be weak, to hate others, to not care – that is taking the easy way out, and it is not taking personal responsibility. Above all, personal responsibility should be important in satanism, and along with that comes the strength to be compassionate for issues that need our care.

I've tried to take more responsibility in my life recently. I stopped drinking milk – because I discovered how horribly the cows are treated. They live their lives only to provide us with the temporary pleasure of having milk. And, what does not make sense to me is that their milk is meant for calves, not for adult humans. My husband is very addicted to milk, and he drinks almost a gallon a day. He drinks more milk than anyone I have ever met in my life. He won't listen to me though even after I showed him the many research papers showing how the animals are mistreated, poisoned with antibiotics and hormones to keep producing milk, and then destroyed after they are used.

To me it is horrifying to know how those animals are treated, and I can not, in good conscience keep using dairy products because of it. I won't take milk in my coffee any more, and I will switch to soy when I am able to afford it. My husband protested when I suggested that we both switch – he doesn't want to pay the extra cost to have soy even though we have discussed the healthy benefits of it (no fat, omega 3's). To have milk, ice cream, chocolate, and cheese may be a moment of temporary pleasure, but in the end another animal has to suffer for this, and what is more selfish than that? There are other alternatives available, and I like that.

Unfortunately, my husband does not even help with the recycling. I have to chase after him and pick up the things that belong in the recycling bin, too. But, to me its worth the little time and effort and our waste was cut by more than half! And I know that this helps.

So, have compassion for the earth, it is a living thing and like all living things, it needs help to live or it will die, and this is the only earth that we have. Volunteer your time at no-kill shelters or help them with funds, and know that you are helping to rescue animals that would not have had a chance to live.

If we all stop living wastefully we will see a difference. We all have an opportunity to be responsible for the lives that we live. As Satanists, as humans, shouldn't it be our responsibility to help the earth? We have the intelligence, the capacity to have compassion and the means to carry it through. Let's do it!

VenusSatanas

ps. last week, i posted a link to this site in my links section; maybe it will help to raise awareness of the needs of animals in our world:

The World Society for Protection of Animals

And: 10 Ways that you can Help Animals and the Environment we live in

And: How to Recycle Anything!!

And: 10 Ways to help your Local Shelter (ASPCA)

Guest Post - Does Voodoo Magic Really Work?

2009-09-10T06:52:00.001-05:00

Does Voodoo Magic Really Work?
by Adrienne Carlson

Now I’m neither an atheist nor a theist; truth is, I do believe in a supernatural power, one that most people call God. I’m not so sure however that I believe in the antithesis of God, or in other words, his evil counterpart Satan. Although I have heard that people do get involved in Satanist rites and negative prayers (to wish harm on their enemies or even family members), I have never given the idea more than a passing thought. So I was intrigued when a friend of mine suggested that my recent string of troubles and problems could be associated with voodoo magic and the occult.

I’ve seen my share of movies that featured voodoo dolls and evil sorcerers who stick pins into them in order to torture their enemies, so I was skeptical at first. But then, desperation drove me to investigate the idea further. I looked back to each incident that had gone wrong in my life and wondered about people who hated me so much that they would go to such extreme lengths in order to make me suffer. My friend took me to a shaman who conducted a séance and assured me that it was a relative who was the cause of all my trouble.

Although I did not openly show my incredulity, that was the last I allowed my friend to talk about this issue. I happen to believe that good triumphs over evil, and that if we are true to our conscience and lead a life filled with values, no evil force on earth can harm us. And that’s just what I decided to do about this voodoo mumbo jumbo – ignore it and hope that my troubles would go away with the passage of time as they usually do.

So do voodoo magic and other Satanist rituals really work? I’m sure most people have asked themselves and others this question more than once. Even the most diehard optimists and staunch religious believers know in their hearts that a tiny corner of their minds swings between believing and not believing the occult and its associated rituals. They may occasionally wonder if there is some truth behind all the stories that they hear, even though some of them are quite bizarre.

Perhaps we condition our minds to believe that they do work; or we think that they work through backward association – if such and such thing happened at such and such time, then your mind tries to figure out where so and so person was and what they were doing at the time. A small seed of suspicion is enough to develop into a full grown tree within a matter of minutes when it comes to believing what the mind wants to believe.

Voodoo, black magic, Satanism and talismans are all just beliefs in our minds, just like religion is. We believe what we want to, and whether it is good or bad is a choice we have to make.

By-line:

This guest article was written by Adrienne Carlson, who regularly writes on the topic of online christian colleges . Adrienne welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: adrienne.carlson83@yahoo.com.

Call to other Left Hand Path Spiritual Readers!

2009-09-08T18:30:00.000-05:00

Call to other Left Hand Path Spiritual Readers!

You can be featured on my new Tarot Reading website!

Qualifications: You must be a Left Hand Path reader, any branch of the LHP is fine with me. My goal is to create a portal for other LHP spiritual readers.

If you read tarot or do spiritual readings then you're invited to send me a link to your site so you can be featured on this page ->

http://venustarot.webs.com/links.html

Requirements: a small profile pic, and a brief blurb about your services. Contact me at mhudson665@yahoo.com if you are interested.

The Venus Satanas FAQ

2009-09-06T19:29:00.010-05:00

who got you interested in satanism? was there a defining moment when you thought "ok this is the path for me"?

You could say that Satanism found me.

I got myself into satanism in 1992, when I found a book in the library titled, "The Church of Satan" by Blanche Barton. It was unlike anything I had ever read before. At the time i was into a study of mythology and I ended up in the reference section where I found the book. The ideas and concepts in the book made me consider taking up satanism. the more i explored it the more it seemed like it was the right path for me.

I was 13 at the time. My parents were not overtly religious and they stressed that I could believe whatever I wanted in my life, and that my life would be shaped by those decisions. My mother was into Astrology and she had taught me the basic ideas behind astrology since i was a child.

For more information read my essay>
The Force of Satan

Do u believe in an afterlife? & if you do would you like to spend it with the devil? & last one,do you believe in hell?

No, I do not accept the christian beliefs of heaven and hell, divine punishment and reward. Such are the beliefs of the religious, and they have no place in my spiritual practices. What Christians choose to believe about their god, their bible, and their satan is their business. I am more interested in the here and now, the present, and what impact that I can make on this life today and in my future.

I also do not accept the religious belief of incarnation. If you choose to accept those beliefs, please understand that not *all* people share those same beliefs or ideas. I have to accept responsibility for my life in the here and now, instead of hoping for something better and giving up on this life in the process.

For more on my views of Heaven, hell, and Satanism please visit this video -
Are You Going to Heaven or Hell, A Satanist's View.

do you believe Jesus Christ is God?
Yes i know for a fact that the Christians believe that their god is Jesus Christ.

what about like the eastern gods? like shinto? or hindu gods
do you associate them into your magick and or meditation?

I'm not really sure. Eastern religion and mysticism is not my thing. I do accept that there are *many* gods in this world, but what those gods mean and who worships them I have no interest in, and as such they have nothing to do with me, or with my understanding of Satanism.

Google Skull & Bones, Illuminati, New World Order, CFR, Bilderbergers and the Bohemian Grove, David Icke, Von Daniken. etc.. are they satanic?

No, these are the ideas of extremist and fundamentalist Christians and conspiracy theorists. They know nothing about the culture of satanism today. They don't interview satanists, nor do they quote sources of LaVey or other satanic organizations. They haven't researched Satanism, past or present, but they expound on the ideas of the church which suggest that satan is everywhere causing trouble on this earth. The idea is very old, as old as christianity itself.

They choose to promote the propaganda that there is some kind of secret society controlling the world. I will leave those conspiracy theorists alone. their ideas are amusing, at best. At worst, they breed fear and moral panic, and make these authors a lot of money. it's a multi-million dollar industry fed by the public's curiosity in conspiracy. since the early days of christianity, beginning with the early church, the idea that the world was ruled by evil was common in christian society. That's how the witchcraft trials started, and many innocent people died from it.

Those people should instead focus on the real problems in this life, like world pollution, political corruption, the failure of our economy, and the rape of children within the catholic church. You know, the issues that *really matter* in everyday living. Unfortunately things like that aren't as sensational as some kind of reptilian alien conspiracy theory. The theorists don't have the guts for exposing the real, true crime in our society. It doesn't sell books and tv interviews, because the truth just doesn't sell. Its easier to blame the ills on the world on some uncontrolled, unknown secret power than to confront the actual source of the trouble and take responsibility. That is the true tragedy, unfortunately.

where can i get a satanic bible?

You can get this book online from amazon.com HERE for less than 5 dollars. Also, you can visit my Amazon Store, to see a variety of Satanic literature at LHP Books.

So, do you practice theistic satanism?
Yes, I have identified with theistic satanism since 2004. prior to that, I simply identified myself as 'satanist'

For more information read my essay >
What is Theistic Satanism?

As you are aware the ONA promote the idea of human sacrifice and several Scandinavian groups promote both the idea of animal and human sacrifice

Sure. Who hasn't seen those books? They are a danger to satanism, and to satanists. why anyone would accept their ideas as truth is beyond my understanding. I disregard people who follow the christian stereotype of 'mass murdering church burning animal killing satanists' as it was labeled in the 1980's panic.

Perhaps those people need to branch out and study more relevant, and realistic material than the ONA propagandist books, if they are interested in a real study of satanism. Outside groups will always use the ONA as a way to blame *all* satanists for the ills of society. It's a shame.

For more on this subject, see my video, Sacrifice in Satanism

so u believe in satan, does that mean you also believe in God.
If so why would u ally with the losing team??

The belief that "God" is good, and Satan is evil, is typically a christian view. I am not a christian, and i do not believe that a person has to be a christian or believe in the christian god to ally with satan. Some sects of satanism accept that Satan is the ONLY god. Some accept the self as god, and see satan as a symbolic force. Some are polytheist and recognize many gods. So my answer to you is that as satanist, we are not bargaining with the Satan that is associated with christianity.

I read in a website that someone wanted to become a demon so is it true that if you ask the devil for you to become a demon after you die but im not really sure because demons are non human spirits but is it possible?

Interesting idea, but a failed logic. humans will always have human dna and will never be anything more than human. However, it is possible to invoke the spirit of a demon so that you can gain a closer relationship. but in the end, you will always be human, from birth to death.

I would like to see some kind of documentation from a reliable source that proves otherwise.

How old do you think Satan is? And as you believe Satan exists do you also believe that God exists too?

Satan is as old as the religion of Christianity. Why is this? because it was the Christians who first identified with a spirit known as Satan. Yes there are other gods from other cultures who are similar, such as Set, or Ahriman, but they are not Satan. Each god has it's own unique characteristics from the culture that it came from. The Christians identified Satan as everything that is worldly. Yes the earth has been here for a very long time but it wasn't until Satan was identified with it, that it mattered to anyone, including Satanists.

Also, with the mention of 'God'. There are many gods, and many variants of this god within different sects of religions. It is not necessary to interact with the christian god in order to experience Satan.. but in the end your experiences may vary. I never found it to be necessary, or useful to deal with the christian god.

so what is your view of a demon and what are some things a satanist would have to be cautious about?

My view of a demon..is that it is a collection of spiritual energy. a demon can be identified as a 'genius spirit' an entity that is specifically identified with certain aspects of nature. A demon neither cares about your personal desires or wishes, nor does it feel obliged to be your servant. Those who are mentally imbalanced, and emotionally immature should be cautious in dealing with any kind of magic or spirituality.

Us Wiccans want our symbol back. Pentagrams and Satan Masses are unoriginal in thought. Why turn our symbols upside down??

Really? The ancient Sumerians want their pentacle back too.. :)
The satanic pentagram did not originate with the practice of wicca. Upon study and observation it is easy to see that the inverted or point down pentagram has been identified with the forces of darkness since the middle ages and by various writers throughout the centuries. the pentagram that is known to satanists today came from Maurice Bessy 'History of Witchcraft and the Supernatural", borrowed by LaVey where it entered into satanic mainstream culture after the 60's. The Gardinerian system of pentacles and pentagrams were inspired by Crowley and the Golden dawn and did not exist until after the 1950's. So as you can see, the satanic pentagram has been around for many centuries. in fact the satanic pentagram in Bessy's book from an even earlier version by eliphas levi in 'the history of magic'. some 200 years before Wicca was invented in the 1950s

Please read these essays to find out more.
History of the Satanic Pentagram and Wicca
Symbol of Satan - The Bessy Pentagram

How do i know that magic works? I have never tried it, could you show me something to prove to me it works?

magic is real and its been used for centuries by magicians. You can read many books that show you how it's done. the best way to understand magic is to actually do it. without actually trying it you're only theorizing and you won't see any effects from it. Even if someone could show you something that was magical you would never understand it because you lack the basic understanding of the principles of magic. Even if they could explain to you how it worked you would lack the understanding of how and why.

I suggest study, and practice if you want to see effects from real magic. If you're only curious then maybe its not for you. Magic is not a hobby, its a way of living. It requires study, and years of dedication. Magic is an art. An understanding of it doesn't happen overnight. And trying to prove it to you is not worth my time, or yours.

Who is Satan?

In the christian bible, satan is the force that opposes the christian god, accused of the downfall of humanity. To Satanists, Satan represents many different things. It depends on individual experience. Views and opinions on Satan vary within the practice of satanism.

*Satan is a force of nature that represents the earth and all that it contains
*Satan is a symbolic image that satanists identify with
*Satan is a demon or demonic force
*Satan is human nature
*Satan is a force of darkness or void
*Satan is the force of destruction
*Satan is the forces of wisdom and knowledge
*Satan is a god that opposes Jehova.. etc.

See this video: Define Satanism from a Satanic Perspective

How do I know that Satan exists?
You wont know the answer to this until you study the many ideas of what Satan is, and then see how this relates to your understanding of the world.

I watched your video briefly saying how you can make a pact with satan, can you give me a more detailed walkthrough? are candles really really needed ? thanks your the coolest(and hottest person on you tube.) :D

LOL! Thanks..
A ritual like this is something that you have to experience on your own. A ritual is a personal expression of what you want to create, and only you know what that may be. Candles aren't necessary but they are a part of traditional ritual equipment. First you have to know what you want and then you have to do the ritual to put those ideas into action.

I explained this quite thoroughly at my website -> A Pact with Satan

I need your help with certain rituals..
Great! Contact me at my tarot reading website so you can set up a counseling session with me. In a counseling session we can discuss the details of your ritual or spellwork, and make a plan of action. I can discuss ritual setup, items to use, techniques and methods, but i can NOT perform your spellwork or rituals on your behalf.

Can you summon a demon/god/satan for me and tell it something for me?
No. Your dealings with demons are on your own terms. I will not get involved in things like this, and I also don't claim to speak with Satan on others behalf, and I can not be your personal spiritual messenger, either. Like stated above, I am willing to give advice on rituals but I can not perform these rituals for you.

And no, I will not ask Satan what he thinks of you (YES I've been asked this before!) Your relationship with Satan is your own business. If you are wondering about things like this, you should perhaps seek to have a closer relationship with Satan, for yourself.

See my essay at the spiritualsatanist website -> The Force of Satan

More to Come....

Resources for Magic and Satanism

2009-09-03T01:00:00.001-05:00

Here is a question from one of my youtube viewers. he asks how he can begin in the occult and satanism, where to start and what to do. Here is his letter:

"The thing is that i feel that something is missing in my life. I tried to find it in other religious things but none of them satisfies me enough. I would like to know the basic stuff when once you were a beginner. Maybe you're kind enough to give me some information how to start?"

Maybe the thing that is missing in your life is direction? Your letter seems as if you do not know where to go or what to do, though you feel as if you should be doing something, but you do not know what that is.

If you have more than just a passing curiosity in occultism, you could find a specific type of practice, and learn about it as much as you can, put it's principles in action into your life, and use that practice to better yourself.

Since everyone is different, there is no overall place to 'start' or begin with Satanism. You have to know what you like, and go with those things that spark your interest. You may have little experience which leaves you to question what direction to go in. I suggest that you should divide your time between two areas, the first being study, and secondly, practice.

In order to understand Satanism as it is today you should start at the beginning, and go to the source. This simple primer on Satanism is the Satanic Bible. While not all Satanists agree with it's philosophies, it is a good book for beginners in satanism. It contains the ideas and philosophies of LaVey, and his methods of magic.

You can get this book for free HERE [PDF]. You can also purchase the book online from amazon.com HERE for less than 5 dollars. Without reading this book you will be missing out on the opportunity to understand why Satanists today have certain beliefs, attitudes and philosophies. You may also want to get the companion to the Satanic Bible, called The Satanic Rituals, also available for free HERE. And also available from amazon, HERE.

Along with this you should read the fine essays of James R. Lewis, a discussion on the influence of the satanic bible, and an overview of the beliefs of Satanists. e is one of the few academics who has given a very good overview of Satanism and it's role in society. Mr. Lewis covers the topic clearly and subjectively so you will be able to understand modern satanism. Some of his essays: "Who Serves Satan? A Demographic and Ideological Profile" , and his second essay, "Diabolical Authority: Anton LaVey, the Satanic Bible and the Satanist." and "The Satanic Bible: Quasi-Scripture / Counter-Scripture"

Also you will want to read these posts from my blog:
Occult Books, Where to Start
Good Books for Beginners
Building Your Research Materials

Visit my website for writings on Satanism.
About Theistic Satanism
Diabolatry, Diabolism, Devil Worship amongst Satanists
My Advice on Leaving Christianity, a Guide for Satanists
The Art of Satanic Witchcraft Series
Satanic Elemental Meditation Series

And you can visit the Venus Satanas LibraryThing to see my actual library of books that I own, and have read, for my own interests.

What Makes a Real Satanist?

2009-08-29T14:55:00.005-05:00

Here is a very important question sent to me by a Youtube viewer. He asked me about the path of satanism, and what qualifies a person as a satanist.

"ms. satanas...let me ask you,

at what point did you say or you knew without a doubt that you were a satanist? was it the completion of a certain ritual, or just a personal declaration to the principles, theories, and ideas of satanism, or what? i can read books, watch videos and listen to lectures, but that, i dont believe that would qualify me as a satanist. so i was just wondering, what is that point, that thing that makes one a satanist. "

What qualifies a person as a Satanist?
I do not think that there are any overall rules that allow for a satanist to be declared as a satanist. There are organizations that can take your money and give you a membership card, and through this you can declare yourself as a satanist. In my view that is not a reliable indication of Satanism, its only a declaration that you belong to a satanic social organization.

Also, satanism does not have the same advantage as other neo-pagan or wiccan groups. satanist orgs. are isolated and most of them do not have physical places of worship. they can not offer an initiation to new members through ritual. many initiations into satanism are self-initiated because of this. I think this is proper, because satanism is an individual practice.

I suppose, to answer his question, I have to go back to 1992, when I did my first ritual. This ritual was a summoning and a pact with Satan. After making the pact, I felt that I was allied with Satan. It was a self-initiation into satanism as well. But I really couldn't call myself a satanist or feel that I was a satanist until I started putting satanic ideals into practice in my life. It was through living the philosophy of satanism that I was able to identify with Satan on a personal level and experience working with the satanic energy in my life.

That took a long time to achieve. Years of experimentation. It all comes down to how dedicated you are to what you want to manifest. That being said, I do believe that this type of dedication is what separates the curious satanist and the dabbler from the serious student of the dark arts and the ones that are fully dedicated to Satanism.

Reading about satanism and watching videos does not make one satanic. However, if you are able to learn and increase your knowledge and then apply that to your life in strategic ways, and results manifest for you, then you will know that you are living the satanic life. This is much more than just reading and following what others say; it involves a creative effort and determination to manifest your will according to what you want. You have to create a life built from satanic principles that you find to be true.

If satanism is only a hobby or passing interest then how can it be taken seriously or applied to a person's life in a meaningful way? Satanism is a religion, a philosophy and a spiritual way of life.
So I think that to answer his question, it comes down to sincerity and dedication, and that is true for any occult art.

Everyone wants to identify with something that is great. But identifying with satanism without study, dedication and practice only means that you are curious or using the label for entertainment value. It calls into question, who is a true satanist? can such a person be found if satanism is such a diverse practice?

I think its possible. A real satanist will be obviously identified by the works and the deeds in their life. they will be known by the measure of their success in whatever they do. the proof is found in the lives of people who identify with satanism. Any true indication of Satanism is reflected in the life of the Satanist.

Visit this site: REAL SATANISTS RANKED BY POPULARITY [nocTifer]

Venus Satanas
~~~
Venus Tarot Readings

Are you a Satanist in Public?

2009-08-27T15:59:00.000-05:00

Just some basic thoughts about public satanism, put into a question and answer format.

Do you do your thing regardless of what others may think?

Well, do you? are you able to be a Satanist in public? I think its difficult to live a lifestyle like that, but its not impossible. I've done it. Every day at my job I wore my pentagram, just to see what would happen, to test the waters. Luckily at my work there wasn't a strict dress code and I wasn't the only one who wore alternative religious jewelry.

I had a friend who was Wiccan and she always wore her Pentacle at work. She sold spell potions to her friends and she also read the Thoth tarot for them [at work, on breaks!]. She was known for years as being the 'house witch'! The one that others go to for spells and readings. So I was lucky in my situation that I didn't have to be the first to be public about witchcraft in the workplace. There were others before me. I have also introduced 2 other employees to the craft after they came to me for advice, they wanted to learn what it was about for themselves.

It helps if you have understanding friends and family who let you be yourself. many of us unfortunately do not, because of the christian backgrounds we have. For some being public about Satanism has caused them to be rejected by society, friends and family [and their family's god, too. LOL]. These types of people want you to conform, because you dont fit into their puzzle pieces, you arent the same as them. Im sure in many cases they only want what they feel is best for you, but it hurts, its selfish and its not fair to deny others their right to be themselves!

We as satanists arent the only ones to face these types of prejudice. wiccans and even people involved in freemasonry can have troubles in daily life due to the beliefs and suspicious reactions of a 'christian society'. Thus, why things of the occult need to be secret and hidden. Because they will not understand and they will do what they can to oppose you, crush your spirit, and make you conform to their beliefs.

Do you really have the religious freedom to do what you want?

At times i feel that we do not. none of us do. There are troubles even for the wiccan and pagan community. i just read an article that nagasiva showed me, about an organization for pagans and wiccans.. and in this report was a story of how a legitimate buisness was thrown out of town because the religious right discovered that it was a [wiccan] witchcraft shop. unfortunately, the city won and the witches were driven out of town. This happened in the early 90's. As i read the article i kept envisioning angry mobs of christian townspeople with pitchforks and torches ready to burn the witches and drive the evil from their town.

This happened ten years ago, in america. It's hard to believe that things like this happen, considering that we are supposed to have freedom of religion. This freedom is an ideal.

What does Religious freedom mean to you?

In this ideal world, religious freedom would be the ability to think, act, do say, and express one's self in a spiritual way without the fear of restriction and social condemnation.

Is this accurately reflected in society? Does this matter to you at all?

I know that in america it is not. i can imagine that it would be worse in other parts of the world, especially in europe. for instance, recently Italy tried to ban all satanic organizations, claiming that these people were 'conspiring against the church'. Witchcraft was still outlawed in many parts of the world by the 1900's.

Are you prepared to answer to others who want to know what your Religious beliefs are? What do you tell people when they ask you what your religion is? Why?

I have been asked about religion in social situations. Especially when i wear any kind of jewelry that does not look christian in origin. I have generic answers to give depending on the person, and what i feel they could handle for an answer.

At the very least I will identify as pagan, and when the curious christian asks, i will say that 'its a non christian, natural earth religion' or something like that. they usually dont ask any more questions after that. Giving a generic answer lets them show me how much they could know about occultism or how comfortable they could be with the answers.

Only a few of my personal friends know that I am a satanist. I will have an aquaintence, and if i feel the time is right i will tell them that i am a satanist. it is at that point that i usualy see a very suprised look on their face, a look of shock and fear like no other. like a deer caught in the headlights of a car.

Well this revelation will either deepen our friendship or cause a rift. and that is fine with me. If they arent willing to put their personal religious prejudice aside and relate to me on a personal and human level, then maybe they arent the right person to be associating with. i try to be fair and accomodate their beliefs, but if they cant do the same for me then im just not really interested in a deeper friendship.

And the ones that do, well they know me on a personal level, they know that I'm Venus Satanas, that 'satanist chick who's into metal' ;)

Are you a Satanist in public?

Satanic Christians!

2009-08-22T20:55:00.005-05:00

I discussed this idea with my nagasiva, friend and co-owner of the HISS. He asked me whats the difference between a satanic christian, and a christian satanist? I never got to answer him but I knew the question was important. So here is my theory on the matter:

What makes a Satanic Christian specifically, is one who uses traditional christian ideals while inverting their values and meanings. Their Satan is still dependent on the opposition to the christian god.

What makes a christian satanist, however can be different. they can accept the gnostic view that satan offered his help to humanity and that the christian god is the enemy of humankind or they can create their own myths about satan while using many aspects of christianity to identify with satan. The definitions really do depend on the degree of inversion and separation from the original christian beliefs. I discussed some of these ideas in my other post, "Satan: To Worship or not to Worship"

Maybe its just semantics.. but there are some satanists who have what could be described as 'traditional satanic' or even fundamental satanic beliefs. They wear inverted crosses. They blaspheme or use inverted prayers. They address Satan as "father" like Christians refer to their god as Father god. Some associate Lucifer with Satan which is a christian belief. Their prayerful worship of Satan is a kind of servitude, much as it would be between a christian and their god. They have a christian concept of Satan, the Devil.

Some may try to argue that there is no Satan outside of christianity. but as we know, this is not entirely true. The concept of Satan emerged in Judaism as ha-satan who acted as a mediator to Job. the Christians took this story and developed their own ideas and meanings to what Satan represented to them.

And so it is with satanists ..Satanists have a much different experience of Satan than the chrisitans seem to. Perahps our dark perspective on Satan is more enligtened than theirs..

Venus

Satan: To Worship or Not to Worship

2009-08-12T09:57:00.002-05:00

Does Satan like to be worshiped? Does he even care if you decide to worship him or not? While some that I have met have claimed that Satan does demand worship there are varying beliefs when it comes to Satan and Satan worship. This post will explore some of these ideas.

What is Satan Worship? To a Christian it could mean anything that is not christian that is being worshiped, including American Indian gods, Hindu gods..or even the Muslim or Jewish god! The christian belief is, of course that any god that is not christian is obviously, evil. Let them believe what they will, it's their views.

To a Satanist, 'Satan worship' can mean varying things. What most associate with this is the worship of the Christian Satan. Ive labeled it at my website as Diabolism, however others have called it 'traditional satanism', because it is closer to what they may feel are real satanic beliefs and practices. However, in reality, there was no real tradition of Satan worship prior to the last century..so those who use this label are most often referring to the idea that satanism is of an ancient or possibly a pre-christian origin.

Others of this kind may feel that traditional satanism represents the worship of the christian Satan. I refer to this as 'diabolism' to differentiate it from simple forms of inverse Christianity. This may all seem very complex but there are different 'layers' or methods of satanic belief and worship. Lets see a basic breakdown of these ideas..

Judeo-Christianity

Reverse, Inverse Christianity

Pre-Christian Traditional Satanism

Theistic Satanism

Atheistic Satanism
[Including Philosophical Satanism]

Category 1
Reverse, Inverse Christianity,
Pre-Christian Traditional Satanism
[Including Diabolism and Devil Worship]

There is reason why many have called these practices as original or 'true'. In its truest sense it is the worship of the Christian Satan, and a reversal of the god- Satan relationship. Some may include gnostic beliefs into this practice. There are some who feel that this Satan demands or deserves worship, and as they are often labeled, they worship the Christian Devil.

As in the case of Pre-christio-satanic beliefs, some believe that Satan existed prior to Christianity, had an ancient history and created the world. I discussed this idea in my other post - Satan as Creator of Humanity. These pre christian satanists often worship their Satan as well, engaging in ritual and using magic. Examples of this can be found in various satanic orgs. around the net.

Category 2:
Theistic Satanism, Spiritual Satanism

On the other hand, theistic Satanism is a general term for both of these types. but it could also include independent beliefs. Such as the belief that I hold, that Satan is not ancient but that he has become a separate entity from his christian roots in this day and age. Satan is both the forces of nature and a god to me, and this may be true for others as well. This Satan is recognized on a personal level, not as a personal saviour or god but as a means of self enlightenment, self realization and as a source of Satanic empowerment. Ive discussed my beliefs about this at my website with the article, The Force of Satan.

Category 3:
Atheistic, Symbolic and Philosophical
Atheistic Satanists and Philosophical Satanists have no need for worship as they recognize their Satan not as a deity but as a symbol. This does not mean that they are not genuine, but that they just have their own way of expressing their beliefs. To me they are a part of the Satanic landscape, adding their own reasoning and variety to what we know as Satanism today.

Along with this I want to define several different methods of Satanic Worship:

Subservient Worship
This type of worship is most often related to 'traditional satanism', inverse Christianity, and Diabolism. It is the outright, blatant worship of Satan. Some feel as if they are under his control or that they are to do what they feel Satan makes them do. To do Satan's bidding as it's known. To be his slave, while he is the father and master. some feel that they should worship in this way so that Satan will protect them and see to their needs. Worship of this type may include blasphemy or inverse christian rites and prayers. Some, like my online acquaintance ['traditional satanist'] Lianna Diabolique, worship in this way to gain self-empowerment through this type of subservient relationship. Serving is a position of empowerment, when you consider it..

Spiritual Worship
Spiritual Worship of Satan is similar to what I practice. IT is the recognition of Satanic forces without being indebted to subservience. Your experience with Satanism is as fulfilling as you want to make it - and I've found a lot of strength in not worshiping Satan but recognizing his force through simple rituals that involve praise and meditation. How is this different than subservient worship? I, and many others of our type have no interest in being the 'slave' of Satan. My will is too strong and independent to be like this, and that is why I created a pact - but I appreciate my relationship with Satan and on occasion I will let him know with a candle burning or simple ritual. It's all that I need to feel connected with his spirit. As you can see the experience of Satanic spirituality, while maintaining personal will, can be very empowering and beneficial.

Self Worship
Some have said that the worship of the self is by proxy the worship of Satan. This would be true if you considered yourself to be Satan! Most symbolic or atheist Satanists engage in these types of self-worshiping activities that satisfy personal desires. This is their method of recognizing the symbolic aspects of Satan, and living the Satanic life. This self worship also allows some satanists to recognize the god that is within, in a symbolic way. Self-worship is another means to self-empowerment, for ALL Satanists..What kind of Worship is right for you? Do you have the need to worship Satan?

"Satan Demands Study, Not Worship!" - ASL, the Satanic Bible

New Blog for My Online Shops

2009-08-12T08:51:00.005-05:00

So...What have I been up to for the past 10 days? First, my internet was out due to a lightning strike for about 3 days. Once that was over with and I was back online, Ive been focussing on my online stores where I have been selling my Satanic Merchandise. You can read about all of my online Shops at my new blog

- The Satanas Shop Blog -

Why did i open a blog for my Shop?? I have a lot 0f new merchandise and I want to share some background information and stories on my new designs. All of this deserved a blog of its own. I wanted a place to showcase my Satanic Artwork. Plus I want to keep you all up to date on where I am selling, and what I'm selling. It's going to be the place for you to find out about my new book releases. Also, youre going to want to read my blog to find out how to get discounts on my merchandise, and also so you can leave comments and contact me and discuss with me anything that you want to know about my designs and art.

In a few days this new Satanas Shop blog will be completely set up and functional.

Venus Satanas

Morbid Angel - Nothing is Not

2009-08-03T09:46:00.006-05:00

How can you defeat that which finds
Nourishment in your attack?
How can you kill that which
Finds sanctuary in your blade?
How can you hinder that which
Embraces the strategies against it?
You can take nothing from not

In My Being, Nothing Is
Nothing Becomes
Nothing is not
In your world, all things return to ME

I'm the Collector of Souls
For they're never past my control
I take of what is and nothing of that I give
I'm the Alpha Omega
My Way in Itself, complete
I Am The Continuum

Human, meagerness of purpose
Come feed Me what I please
My Spirit shan't be hindered
For It Knows no weakness
I dine on your pain
Your strength is only that of men
Human, why do you clutch your flesh so?

In My Being I AM
I Will
I Create
In your world all things return to ME

____________________
I used this song for meditation when I was working with goetic spirits in '05. In fact, it influenced me so much that 'I am, I Will, I create', the saying in this song, became my magic motto. This saying, is symbolic of manifestation. It is a threefold formula of the magic continuum as it is called. It relates to the ABZU, the sea of Wisdom, or the Sentient sea. I believe this definition of this concept is related to the cuthulu mythos, however.

Trey Atzagoth of Morbid Angel explains his use of this occult saying:

" I believe that is what we really are - all of us in our spirit. It is a stillness and it's nothing but the potential to manifest all things through design and will power and realization of ones imagination - the ability to act and make things happen. There are the steps to make things happen; I am, I will, I create. Ideas are just energy and we make them concrete through our reference points."

From: http://www.roughedge.com/features/morbidangel0701.htm

I have found this formula very useful in summoning situations. not only is it useful for manifesting a spirit, it is also useful for maintaining control and directing my interactions with spirits.

Why has it been a powerful formula for me? Because I was able to absorb the meaning of each phrase, into my consciousness by meditating on their meanings. Then i used this (subtle) knowledge as a tool to summon spirits. I AM, I Will, I Create.. is a three step formula that I relate to the Self, the Will, and the Result of the combination of these two things, which Creates magic, or more simply put, Results.

With Summoning, this formula used in meditation was helpful to me as a way to center myself and to focus on my objectives. Also this phrase which became a mantra of power for me was useful for banishing as a method of asserting absolute control of Self.

In this symbol i have drawn, to the right, it illustrates this concept. In the center is the triangle of manifestation, the source (or, continuum), the Magician. To the left is the self, the consciousness, to the right is the inner self, the subconscious and the will, together they manifest what we know and experience conscious reality. The square represents the physical, the four elements [at the center being Spirit, or Self] Encircling this is the Spiritual, the astral - the realm that is beyond the physical, the sea of the abyss, the unknown, the ALL. In this formula the magician is at the center of the universe...All of these things, these symbols when they are understood on a deeper more spiritual level, are absorbed into the consciousness of Self.

These symbols are also similar to the ones that are employed within the goetia - however, as symbols they are devoid of religious reference and they represent the most basic and powerful ideas behind this formula of Manifestation. The symbols are similar not just because of the shapes but of what they represent. In the Goetia, the circle is used as a container, and barrier, and the triangle manifests and 'traps' a spirit. Some disagree with the methods of the goetia (as I do) but the symbolism behind the religious references are what is important to understand.

Of course this is all just symbolism, my symbolism, that I have come to understand through using a formula like this. There are many other models of magic and the universe that have been created, available for you to study and learn from.

Venus Satanas

Satanic Witchcraft - Venus Satanas

2009-08-03T03:23:00.004-05:00

My method of Satanic witchcraft is something that I have developed from several years of practice and study on methods of magic. In my method of witchcraft there is no ancient tradition to follow, no god and goddess to worship, and the spells and formulas that Ive written can easily be used without any religious influence whatsoever. There is no mysticism required. The only thing that I present is practical knowledge of magic and witchcraft to my readers. This frees the practitioner to do what ever they want with the knowledge that I present to them.

What has worked for me and been successful may not work for others simply due to the fact that we each have our own individual experiences, goals and desires. Just like Satanism, Satanic magic is an individual practice. So, unlike other manuals on the subject of witchcraft I do not pour over personal experiences with my magic – Theory is great but practice is more beneficial for learning.

Instead, I recommend experimentation and practice with magic. I can show you the basics of witchcraft from my perspective, but you will have to build upon these ideas in your own way. Its not enough to cast spells successfully, Witchcraft should be done with personal style and with intent so that you can use magic as an Art for everyday living.

In this series are three main sections. The first section is for the history of magic in general, and some basic theories on elemental associations, and meditations for elemental energies. Included with the meditations are 5 elemental spells.

Then, in the section on Satanic Ritual Tools, I describe the use and meaning of the types of satanic ritual tools that can be used for magic, ritual and witchcraft. Included in this chapter is a Ritual for the Consecration of Satanic ritual tools.

After this is a section on planetary energies, their meanings and associations in magic. Also, there are rituals for each planetary energy, so you can absorb their meanings. After you have learned to invoke each element and planetary energy you will be able to use these associations for creating your own style of witchcraft.

I will offer spells for you to use but you also will have the information and knowledge to create your own. With this basic foundation, any type of spell can be cast, and you will have the knowledge to be able to create your own personal rituals and spells.

I am writing this series for my Satanic Witchcraft pages at spiritualsatanist.com. These articles will be used, along with many others in the book of Satanic Witchcraft that I am writing while I am constructing these pages, and adding them to my site. There is no definitive date as to when the book will be released, but as you may know good things take time to be created, and are worth the wait.

Learn about the Art of Satanic Witchcraft

Satan as Creator of Humanity?

2009-07-21T18:56:00.009-05:00

I read a very interesting statement on a website the other day:

"The "Devil" *not* the Judeo/Christian "God" was the creator of humanity."

Its a very interesting statement because it shows what some Christian Satanists, and Diabolists are willing to believe when it comes to Religion. They believe the opposite of what the bible teaches, that god created humans and that Satan is the enemy of man.

This is a very simple reversal of the christian tale of creation, that the 'devil' created us, instead of the Christian god. What is often times ridiculous is that this statement is expressed without any supplemental proof. It requires faith to believe and accept something like this, just like the belief that the Christian god created the earth, requires faith to accept.

The story of creation as told in the bible, is similar to many other creation tales that can be found in religions around the world, so why should a creation tale in Satanism be any different?

I have two things that i want you to consider.

First of all, if all of these creationist tales are true, according to the words of their religion, including paganism, Wicca and christianity, then which one is right?

Secondly, why do people have a need to believe that this earth was created by some divine force? Is it because they want the gods of their religion to be recognized for the creation and ownership of this earth? Does this so-called 'ownership' give them some kind of divine power and social authority?

Which one is True?
Lets look at the first question. There are many, many religions that are found all over the world. Each one of them has their own version of how the earth was created. Which one is true? Which religious myth is real? is it the one that is the most convincing or believable? Does the ancientness of a religious idea make it more reliable as a truth?

it does not make any logical sense to believe that they are all right. If any god had created this earth, what created that god? The Greeks and the Romans believed just as much in their own creation tales two-thousand years ago, as Christians and pagans believe in their own stories today.

The idea of creation through divine forces does not make sense to me. I feel that Satan is a *god of this earth* a god that represents earthly things, but I would never claim that he created this earth. The idea is ludicrous to me. What created this earth, nobody can answer. No one was there in the beginning to see it, to witness it. However, science may have some ideas on how planets are created, through their research..but much of this is theory for now.

In reality, no one has the final answer as to what created this earth. If we had the final answer it would be as obvious and as accepted as the fact that the earth is flat, or that the earth revolves around the sun.

It is more evident, however, that religions and the creation stories that accompany them, have developed over many centuries, each with their own story to tell. This is an obvious fact that can be proven through historical, archeological, and sociological research.

Ownership or Posession of the Earth
And that brings me to the second question, Ownership of the Earth. Religious Satanists, like the members of other religions, want to claim that their god owns this earth. By believing this, they can fit in with he other religions that make this same claim, therefore making themselves seem legitimate.

The most popular creation story of satanism is found in the Al-Jilwah. Through research, it has been proven that this document was created by a person who had little knowledge of the document's origins and meanings. It was written by a man who like others of his era, had strong religious prejudices against the peoples who first wrote the al-jilwah. Regardless of this fact, the story of the Al-Jilwah is accepted as a creation story in Satanism, only because LaVey introduced the story and made it popular to Satanists in the Satanic Rituals.

However, Satanists do not have to accept the same basic ideas that Christians, pagans, and all other religions preach, that their god[s] created the Earth and/or the universe. Satan is a *god of this earth* a god that represents earthly things, one of many gods of this earth that represent human needs and desires on a divine level.

You are not loosing anything by abandoning the religious idea that Satan created the earth. In fact, you are freeing yourself from the same trap that all religions try to teach, and that can be really liberating.

This is also why I gladly accept the fact that all gods were created by humans, as a means of religious and spiritual expression. This idea makes more sense to me than the self righteous, and faith-based ideas of the religious who, for many centuries, have tried to claim ownership of the earth and sometimes the entire universe, through their ideas of what their god represents.

What appeals to me is the recognition of Satan as a god of humans, reflecting our nature and our desires, and moving through the forces of nature itself, by means of Satanic expression.

Venus Satanas

Take The Satan Survey!

2009-07-16T20:31:00.009-05:00

Now is your opportunity to take the Satan Survey, brought to us by James R. Lewis, from the University of Wisconsin. The Satan Survey has many questions asking about your life and preferences as a Satanist. By filling out this Survey you are helping others to get a clear view on what Satanism is and how it relates to our society. When you fill out this survey, you can remain anonymous if you choose to. All types of Satanists are welcome to participate.

The Satan Survey link:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=OCv1VM6KjYFZ8RJlFV6tYQ_3d_3d

James R. Lewis is a sociologist and he studies and writes about New Religious Movements. You can read a bio about Mr. Lewis at Wiki. Some of his essays are online :

James R. Lewis,Diabolical Authority: Anton LaVey, The Satanic Bible and the Satanist.
Marburg Journal of Religion. September, 2002: Volume 7, No.1.
http://www.uni-marburg.de/fb03/ivk/mjr/pdfs/2002/articles/lewis2002.pdf

James R. Lewis.Who Serves Satan? A Demographic and Ideological Profile.
Marburg Journal of Religion. June, 2001: Volume 6, No. 2.
http://www.uni-marburg.de/fb03/ivk/mjr/pdfs/2001/articles/lewis2001.pdf

Venus Satanas

Satanism and Morality pt. 2

2009-07-09T21:59:00.005-05:00

This is a continuation of yesterday's posts. I am replying to the comment that was left..

Luke
Now let me make something clear, you say that (quote)-"what you feel is right for you should be your choice" meaning Satanists think that all morals are subjective, therefore morals don't exist at all.

You misunderstand your own statement. Subjective morals are self imposed morals, based on personal beliefs. Because they are subjective and personal, it does not mean that they do not exist.

Luke
For example if you try to blow the world up and I am a Satanist, I don't have any rights to say that that is good or bad, since every person has it's own goods and bads and I am OK with that even if other person's action may personally affect me, this goes nowhere.

This situation you provide for an example is really theoretical, I dont know how it would apply to any real life situations.

Luke
Example: I think that doing A is wrong, you think its fine.

Sure, do we all have to agree to what others feel is right? Or instead, as satanists can we decide to make that decision on our own, regardless of how others feel or judge according to their personal morals?

Luke
I am intending to do A and my deed will affect you and of course will come in conflict with your morals. What should you do? Should you make me stop? You can’t do that because you think whatever I am thinking is morally correct, is fine because you can’t judge my morals, you can’t judge them from your point of view because my morals are for me alone and yours are for you only.

Unfortunately, this is how it goes. We each have individual consciousness.

Luke
So should you interfere with my actions just because you think it’s wrong but at the same time you think that it’s all right for me? No. But you will do it anyway because your instincts tell you to, you won’t let anybody kill you even if you think that there is nothing wrong with that, meaning your morals and beliefs come in conflict with your instincts, your very being, which is nonsense.

If all you are doing is living according to your instincts then you're denying yourself the opportunity to use your intelligence. Intelligence is what separates us from the animals.

Luke
You see, basic Christian morals come in agreement with social laws of Christian countries, i personally believe that Christian morals are fine (well not entirely ofc), they are good for society and therefore for the individual himself, however i have to say that morality can't always be objective because there always may be some sort of special cases when one will meet a dilemma when individual and society in total will come in conflict.

Are these laws good for a society because they are christian? Should laws be based on some kind of value system more deeper, and permanent, like ethics?

Luke
Now imagine a country with satanistic religion and laws, something like "do whatever u want", which will be complete chaos. If you are a Satanist that means that you support chaos, which in turn means that you support everything that chaos may cause, imagine what would that be. I’m sorry but all your system crumbles like a house of cards.

I see no laws or orders in satanism that suggest, 'do whatever you want', to the detriment of self and others. There are many Satanists who don't even care about 'chaos', or any kind of social order. There are many civilizations before this modern one that thrived without the 'moral guidance' of christianity. Perhaps a look into a history book will give you some insight into that fact.

Venus Satanas

What is Satanism? What is Satanic Morality?

2009-07-03T22:21:00.007-05:00

Greetings! I got another very interesting question about morality in Satanism. This question comes from Youtube, and he told me that he does not speak very good English, so I have posted his question as-is, below:

He asks me:
"so what i want to know, what is Satanism? i've heard different silly things about it and just now set I down and decided to find out the truth. what is a difference between atheists and Satanist? let me answer first and you correct me. "

An atheist is a person who does not believe in or accept the concept of god(s) as real. They have no spiritual beliefs.

A satanist, is a person who either symbolically or spiritually identifies with Satan.

Some Satanists are atheist, and have a symbolic view of Satan, and they also accept satanic philosophy, created by LaVey, others, or even the self. A spiritual satanist [theistic Satanist] accepts a spiritual and metaphysical view of Satan. These beliefs vary.. 'Satanism' is a broad term covering many areas.

He continues on:
"If satanists don't believe in existence of Satan, then, basically, the Satanists just have their own morals, which does not match christianic morals. if this is true, then what exactly are those differences, are they in agreement with what's called "objective morality"? like killing is wrong, robbing is wrong, raping is wrong etc. the moral that is good for the society in general. "

Did you know the ten commandments were originally inspired by the Egyptian book of the Dead? They were not a christian invention, but what they did was improve on this old knowledge and create it into something useful for them. and wrote that into the bible.

There are many satanists who are law-abiding, who do not kill or commit crimes. there are also some who do. this happens in any area of the population, whether christian, satanist, wiccan, pagan etc. it is not just confined to Satanism. Obviously there are some things that do hurt society and that is why they are punishable by law.

I do not think that religious morality should have anything to do with these social problems, its just common sense. There is a religious morality, and an 'objective morality' as he has described, and these Christian morals are meant for the christian religion and nothing more.

I do speak of LaVey often, but it's obvious that he tried to set a precedent in what kinds of ethics that Satanists should have - and in the SB is mentioned parts about not killing or hurting an undeserved victim with what he called magic. In the end, what you feel is right for you should be your choice, and not based on the guilt that christian morality provides.

Along with this its wise to take into consideration the overall effect of your actions. You should be responsible for your choices, not out of fear of punishment from some divine being but because you know that you are responsible for your own destiny.

Satanic Sex!

2009-07-02T02:13:00.006-05:00

The title got your attention, eh?.. This post is about a Youtube viewer who asked me to give him some clarity on sexual motivation recommended in the Satanic Bible. Here is his question:

[Satanic Bible] Under the chapter of "satanic sex" it says "if you are aware of all the implications, advantages, and disadvantages, and you are certain your actions will hurt no one who does not wish or DESERVE to be hurt, you have no cause to suppress your sexual preference"

My question is, why does he add "deserve to be hurt?" I ask this question because it could be confuse for rape, etc..

This could very easily be confused for rape. but, i think it in some cases this describes those who actually enjoy pain, like with the practices of BDSM and bondage, bloodletting, etc. So if a person is willing to be the 'victim' then there really is no issue if they are deserving or not.

"..you are certain your actions will hurt no one who does not wish or DESERVE to be hurt"

LaVeys statement is very open-ended.. as who 'deserves' to be hurt? It begs the question, are there those that deserve to be hurt, and who are they? LaVey described the typical victim of the Satanist in the SB.. a deserving target is one who has antagonized you or hurt you in some way and does not respond to you when you ask him/her to stop, ie. "if he does not stop, destroy him". LaVey suggests that this be done through his destruction ritual. Technically in a situation of rape the attacker is not the victim of the crime getting revenge, and nobody is a deserving target of a crime like that.

And in LaVey's sentence, I see that he may refer to this type of activity as a method of retribution, to intentionally hurt a lover, to make them jealous, or to get revenge. I do not see in his statement, 'do whatever you want, regardless of the situation'. I see, instead in his statement his suggestion to be aware of your own motivations while pursuing activities like this. I say this because in the previous sentence he says to be aware of the possible consequences of your actions. Only with awareness of self can you act with a clear mind.

Then again, these are my interpretations of this statement, and I am not LaVeyan.

VenusSatanas

The Picture Book of Satan and Demons

2009-06-27T07:37:00.006-05:00

This is a new book! I created this book as a tribute to the forces of Satan. It contains 30 images of demons, devils, and Satan. Each page has a descriptive notation.

These are the classical images of Satan from the past centuries. Some of the illustrations are woodcuts, painting and drawings. All of them depict the violent, dark mysterious nature of Satan. Also, there are classical images of Azazel, Lucifer and other demons. There is no book like this, anywhere in the world! I created this book for Satanists so that they too can be inspired by these classical Satanic images.. This is a hardcover book, 30pgs. Please visit the Satanas Shop to find out how you can order.

The Satanas Shop, "Picture Book of Satan and Demons"

Venus Satanas

Baphomet Meditation

2009-06-22T21:19:00.015-05:00

For this meditation all you will need is the image of the Levi Baphomet, the best example is found in the Eliphas Levi book Histoire de la Magie [The History of Magic]. Levi was a former catholic, who most likely developed the image from the devil imagery of his time - from the tarot trumps that showed the 'devil' as a winged, chained half man, half beast. He also claimed that it was the idol of the Templars, but this information comes from torturous confessions during their assassination, and was likely never true. The templars were Christian money lenders, and between their friendly relations with the Islamic armies, and their practice of money-lending, they became targets of persecution and public humiliation. The story of idol goat-worship came after their death, to slander their name.

Some claim that the word Baphomet means 'mahomet', but the image itself does not have any Muslim attributes, and also, the Muslims have never been able to create images of their god. it is more likely that the association with Mohamed and Baphomet came about from the templar's relations with the Muslims. The name is also speculated to have come from 'abufihamet', a Sufi word meaning 'father of wisdom'. Others have said that the name of Baphomet, relates to the Latin meaning of 'baphe metis' absorption of knowledge, and even earlier from egypt – Ba of Mendes, a goat-like fertility god that throughout time has likely been the inspiration of the images of Baphomet.

Levi never intended for the Baphomet to represent Satanic forces as Satanists have represented it today. Regardless, Satanists the world over have adopted the Levi Baphomet as a symbol or image of Satan. This image beautifully illustrates the essence of Satan, and the earth, and focusing on it makes for a great meditative practice.

Meditation:

Look into the image of the Baphomet. It is a creature that is half animal and half human. The head is of an animal, the goat. The body is both male and female and illustrates their sexuality in union through the symbols of the intertwined snake. Through this union life is created and sustained.

The Baphomet is androgynous and represents both forces, just as Satan represents our animal and human natures. Look into the Baphomet's eyes. The Baphomet [as Satan] asks us to look inside to find our own wisdom and reasoning. Through this he/she is able to find the balance between the earth and the underworld, outside and within.

The Baphomet holds hir hands in the pose of benediction, to show that through this self enlightened wisdom, all things are possible. Upon the arms, reads the words 'solve et coagula', roughly translated it means to 'gather and dissolve', two great forces of movement that are universal and never ending. The Baphomet points to the two moons, showing how the darker forces of nature are in alignment with the lunar current. Meditate on the image of the Baphomet to calm and center yourself and to focus on the element of Earth as it relates to Satan. As you look the image over, think about what each aspect of the image could represent to you.

Baphometic Invocation: I call upon Baphomet! Father of Wisdom, Mother of Truth and Lie, Bringer of Day and Night! Gather and dissolve your Silent wisdom among us! As we look inside we will know, As within so Without, As above, So below! - Venus Satanas

Eliphas Levi, Baphomet

For a more complete history on Levi, the Templars and the Baphomet visit this site:
http://www.templarhistory.com/solved.html

Neo-Nazism in Satanism

2009-06-15T19:28:00.008-05:00

After reading the essay by Diane Vera titled "How can we effectively discourage neo-Nazism in the Satanist scene?" I wanted to respond to her essay in agreement and give my own views on neo-Nazism in Satanism. Please read her essay first, and then come back here for my commentary...

In this essay Diane gets to the issue of freedom of thought vs. discouragement of Neo-Nazism. I am in agreement with her statement that others have the rights to whatever they want to believe. but, when these beliefs become a public menace, and when religious beliefs are used for a political agenda, it makes me question why they should have rights to hurt others under freedom of speech with what they say and do.

Vera also makes the point that Satanists should care about Nazism in Satanism for several very important reasons. First of all, neo-Nazism and Satanism are not really compatible. The beliefs of 'traditional' neo-Nazis are by majority christian, while some identify with paganism or Asatru. Satanism is not generally associated with christian worship, or paganism [although some Satanists do have a pagan pantheon].

There will always be those that claim that these beliefs all belong together, Nazism, occult and satanism. typically, this beliefs is from a fundamentalist christian point of view. So when satanists agree that Nazism belongs together with satanism they are essentially agreeing with the 'religious right', that all things that could be questionable are in fact, evil, and therefore 'satanic'.

The solitary beliefs and practices of Satanists are in contrast with the political agenda of neo-Nazism. According to Vera, "The most extreme neo-Nazis want to kill whole large sectors of the population, including both Jews and gays, and they want to force vast numbers of other people to relocate." The things that attract Satanists to neo Nazism are the very things that make Satanists look bad. Segregation of society is a terrible thing, and it is un American in my view.

Diane Vera writes.."Admittedly, there have also been some very noisy Satanists who have tried to define Satanism as a political movement calling for changes that would be every bit as drastic. But, as far as I can tell, the vast majority of Satanists don't see Satanism that way." -Diane Vera

I am in agreement with this statement above. The few Satanists that I have seen that are involved with a political agenda are extremists. they do not care about the advancement of satanism or of the self. they want to wallow in hatred for humanity, an opposite view to those that see the human body as sacred, and for those who see Satan as god of this entire earth and all that is in it. There are devils and dark gods all over this world..

The neo-Nazi community with its strict christian fundamentalist beliefs, are not likely to accept satanism any time soon. So why some satanists choose to accept neo-Nazism, is because they are looking for an outlet for what they think will shock, enrage, empower. In my view this is a stereotypical reason for being involved in Satanism. Neo Nazi satanists choose to use Satanism as a soapbox for the same reactionary political agenda that fueled one of the most horrific tragedies of humanity.

Vera makes a very good point in her statement about neo-Nazism in Satanism causing alienation. Neo-Nazism is by its own nature a method of alienation. Satanism has been around for more than thirty years and it is becoming more socially accepted in different areas of paganism and alternative belief systems.

To accept the hatred-filled beliefs of neo-Nazism into Satanism is to deny our chance of expression - essentially its bad for Satanists who have had a hard enough time dealing with lies, accusations of the Satanic panic, created falsehoods, and now *racism*?

"If there are too many neo-Nazis in the Satanist scene and not enough Satanists who openly oppose neo-Nazism, then the neo-Nazis' presence has the potential to alienate Satanists in general from the very people who would otherwise be most inclined to tolerate us, and who would otherwise be our best potential allies in the event of another Satanic panic."-Diane Vera

Daine writes that there will be those who will object to this view, stating that Satanists would not care at all about how Satanism is perceived. They are entitled to their opinion, but I don't agree with it.

I personally think that Satanism should not be used for a political platform for radical and fundamental extremists. I personally oppose neo-Nazism and racism in Satanic practices. I can not identify with their beliefs because I have no need or desire to hate other human beings, based on race or gender. Satan is a god that encompasses all of humanity, not one 'chosen' part of it as satanic neo-Nazis may assume. thirdly, I oppose neo-Nazism in Satanism because I do not think that political beliefs belong in the same arena with spirituality, or religion.

I want people to know that as a Satanist, I am not hate filled - I have an interest in humanity. To me there is only one race, the Human race..I am not afraid to socialize with others who have different beliefs than I do, because I am secure and comfortable with my self, and who I am.

There are organizations and groups ready to point the finger at all neo Nazis and satanists, claiming that they are one in the same - when they are in fact, radically different.

And there is something that I would like to add. If the vast majority of neo-Nazis are christian, then why are they worshiping the man who was the King of the Jews?

Venus

Quotes in this post are taken from the essay "How can we effectively discourage neo-Nazism in the Satanist scene?" by Diane Vera

Incense for Satanic Ritual

2009-06-12T02:41:00.016-05:00

The other day a fan wrote to me and requested a blog post of me - about what incense to use in Satanic Ritual. His request came at an opportune time. Ive been creating more writings on the Elements in Satanic witchcraft, and this leads into the planetary associations, the ritual tools, the oils.. So creating this system of associations for Incense was something that I was going to develop along the way.

Well, Ive worked on this list for two days now. I researched the associations that Agrippa wrote about in his Books of Occult Philosophy. I wanted to see what he knew about the planets and their appropriate aromatic qualities. It was no surprise that when i looked at his list and used it for comparison of other author's lists [like Scott Cunningham Oils and Brews, for instance] that most of the associations for magical aromas has remained the same for centuries. That is why I like Agrippa's writings, because so many magicians have sourced their ideas from him.

While I was creating the list, i knew that I wanted to include a 7 planet system. So using Agripp's wording, i began creating the first basic list which included only five planets. Those were the planets that were known to Agrippa in his era.

I had not given this much consideration until recently. Ive used all of the aspects of these planets in my magic but I have not attempted to record this until now.

First, an illustration of the listing of planets and their order and numbers.

3 Saturn 3 Pluto
4 Jupiter 4 Neptune
5 Mars 5 Uranus
6 Sun 6 Saturn
7 Venus 7 Jup..
etc..

So as you can see the planets that Agrippa did not know about actually fit into this planetary cycle quite nicely. Problem solved..

Next is my list of Planetaries and the Incenses and Herbs associated with them - The first line is Agrippa's listing and below that is the types of Incenses that I would personally associate with each planet. Some are unique to my practices and methods, and are oils and incenses that I have used in my magic and rituals.

These are only my interpretations of the planetary energies and their demonic associations. Use them as you will.

1. Sun
2. Mercury
3. Venus
4. Mars
5. Jupiter
6. Saturn
7. Moon

EARTH (SATAN)
SATURN
_________
Patchouli (Satanic magic, Lust, spirituality, Focus, grounding, cursing)
Earth (grounding, focus)
Forest Pine (cleansing, Money Drawing)
Witch's Brew (spiritual and Earthy)
Basil (honesty, truth, commandment, Money)
Cypress (Limitations, Learning, causing loss)
Mother Earth (Renewal, stability, worship)
Evergreen (cleansing, Money Drawing)
Ivy (Cooperation, or discord)
Oak Moss (Drawing Money, gain)

AIR (LUCIFER)
MERCURY, JUPITER
_________
Vanilla (Luciferian Magic, Mental powers, Knowledge, Calming)
Sandalwood (spirituality, Calming, Clearing, Focus)
Egyptian Sandalwood (enlightenment, meditation)
Lemon (communication, clarity)
Lemon & Lime (communication, clarity)
Lavender (Protective, Healing, Attraction)
Garden Mint (Cleansing, Renewing, Money)
Lemongrass (Desire, Lust, the Mind)
Sage (Wisdom, knowledge, Clear mind)
Spiknard (Good Luck, Attraction)
Cedarwood (Money Drawing, Meditation, Fortune)
Absinthe: (Necromancy, if burnt with sandalwood as an incense)
Blueberry (aids in causing strife)

FIRE (BELIAL)
MARS, SUN
________
Cinnamon (Belial Magic, attack, force, fire, cleansing)
Clove (lust, Confusion, Benefit)
Dragon's Breath (protection)
Dragon's Blood (protection, force, spirituality)
Cinnamon Clove (desire, lust, manifestation)
Aloe Vera (soothing, spirituality)
Sunflower (happiness, pleasure)
Amber (focus, manifestation, attraction, trust)
Frankincense (spirituality, meditation, knowledge)
Musk (desire, lust, aphrodisiac)
Orange (clarity, knowing)
Juniper (force, protection)

WATER (LILITH)
VENUS, MOON
________
Jasmine (Lilith Magic, Love, attraction, distracting enemies)
Night Queen (romance, secrets, persuasion)
Forbidden Apple (desire, manifestation, discord)
Aphrodesia (attraction, unity, lust)
Rose (beauty, spirituality, truth, heartbreak)
Violet (temptation)
Myrrh (stability, focus, cleansing, renewing)
Kush (lust, sweetness, desire)
Honey (sweetening, increase, gain)
Cupid (love spells, attraction, harmony)

You can find this incense at the SATANAS SHOP -> Incense & Oils

About :LaVey's Correspondences....

People will read this and ask, 'Where is Leviathan?'. I ask, why use LaVey's works when you are not LaVeyan. Consider that what he presented in his book is meant to be symbolic, not spiritual or magical...I am creating my own system here, as any creative magician would.

Leviathan - that is LaVeys correspondence, chosen from the Book of Abramelin. Its actually Crowley's correspondence, and it had nothing to do with Satanism as we know it today. The book of Abramelin was not written for Satanic purposes. It was a book that allowed the magician to do certain rituals that lead them to find their Holy Guardian Angel! LaVey chose the four crown princes from that book, and unfortunately, Satanists accept it as truth, without doing the research.

Not only that, the four 'princes', have no feminine element, so they do not accurately reflect much at all when it comes to a realistic reflection of nature. Without the feminine element, there is no element of creation, emotion, heart, life, and the many other things that woman and the feminine represent.

If you notice, my correspondences align with planetary energies, and within a system like this, it accurately reflects the masculine and feminine, the receptive and the projective..

Acheron New CD Release

2009-06-09T06:42:00.003-05:00

After a long wait it is finally here! Acheron's new CD, "The final Conflict, the Last days of God".

I have rocked out to Acheron since the early 90's. In fact, I used their music during my first Satanic Ritual, from the album "Rites of the Black Mass". Their new CD promises to be all of that and even more.

Because Acheron is so underground they depend on the underground fans to support them and their artistic efforts. You have to write to Acheron to get their new CD.

Cost is 15.00 + postage.
To Order Write to: acheron@ameritech.net
OR visit Acheron's Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/vincentcrowley

Music in this video is used with permission.

"Evel" Pastel Drawing

2009-06-09T03:08:00.009-05:00

This is a pastel painting that I created in april of 2008. This scene depicts not the 'fall of man', but the rise of woman. The traditional mythology of eve and the serpent inspired me to create this work of art.

However, I wanted to show the true nature behind the event, from my own vision. So I created "Evel".

She is surrounded by the darkness but she herself is illuminated as she accepts the serpent's gift of wisdom. Her gaze is below, towards the earth; but she is not looking away from god, she is looking within. She is part animal, part human and she is radiantly soft and beautiful.

This painting was created with Windsor and Newton pastels.

The original is not for sale!
But, you can own a 12 x16 canvas print of this work of art. It is very detailed and the color is fantastic. This is printed with UV fade resistant artist ink, upon heavy canvas. Signed by the Artist!

Visit this page to find out how to get this work of art - "Evel" Canvas Print

A Response to Rev. Rebecca "Angelican Church" Part 2

2009-06-06T21:49:00.002-05:00

You can read the first of this two part series on my comments to Rev. Rebecca here [ Part One..]

This is part 2 about the internet essay "Why I am not a Satanist". I am posting the essay here, in response. The author's words are in italics and my reply is in regular type. I was searching online when i found this essay, and I had never read it before until today.

Please read this URL first -> Why I am not a Satanist [writ in 2001]
http://franciscan-anglican.com/Not_A_Satanist.htm

[From The Essay "Why I am not a Satanist"]
Like the Radical Protestants whose power and persuasion relied solely on the evils of Roman Catholicism and later died when the Roman Catholics got their act together, Satanism depends on the ignorance and stupidity of modern Christianity and other white light religions.

Satanism depends on the stupidity of Christianity? Seriously, how independent and rebellious is that, to depend on something stupid? I doubt that the beliefs of Satanist are based on the'idiocy' of christianity.

[From The Essay "Why I am not a Satanist"]
If you don t think Satanism is reactionary, just read a few Satanists websites. Many of the authors sound like enraged frustrated teenagers who need a target to pin their angst on and need one now. Satanism provides them an outlet. There are exceptions to this rule, but this is the general attitude I ve observed.

I seriously doubt that a few satanists websites would be enough to gauge how 'reactionary' satanists could be. And, to be polite but completely *honest*, i have seen many hateful christian websites who target any type of non Christians as worthless heathens, foul creations, damned to hell. I find it to be quite rude, and insulting and I ignore fools who are concerned with religious zealotry and hatred for all but their own.

If ther are exceptions to this supposed 'rule', it would be great if the author took the time to mention that, as well. But already Ive seen how one-sided this thesis really is.

[From The Essay "Why I am not a Satanist"]
2. Satanism is Mainly Rhetoric

Related to Satanism being reactionary, Satanism is philosophy light and rhetoric heavy. Anton LaVey s greatest skill was that of a rhetorician. Satanism, if one scratches much beyond the surface, proves to be intellectually shallow. There s just not a lot to it. My gut reaction to the SB was, It s Dale Carnegie s How to Win Friends and Influence People with an evil twist and a large dose of Friederich Nietzsche thrown in. Satanism gets people motivated, excited, and impassioned like all good rhetoric. But in the end, it s not intellectually satisfying as a philosophy in its own right.

What is humorous to me is that earlier in the essay, the author says that one of the good points about Satanism was that it is 'Ethical but not Dogmatic'. Here we have a contradiction.

The author's idea that Satanism is mostly rhetoric comes from the authors inexperience with the Satanic lifestyle. Most satanist writings that were written intelligently were not intended to persuade. It is said, especially in LaVeyan Satanism that they do not need to proselytize to gain members. In fact, if as the author has suggested that (laveyan) satanism is about free thought and non conformity, then why is the author suggesting the opposite in a negative way - by saying that the philosophies of satanism are shallow and intended to persuade others into a specific way of thinking?

If this is confusing then consider that LaVey does not provide the philosophy for all Satanists, and as such we have the free will to consider his words for whatever we feel they are worth to us. The inclusion of Nietzsche and other philosophers into the satanic bible is typical of the type of books that deal with philosophy, so why does the author consider this to be a criticism? They have not read many philosophy books, which tend to cite other authors for example or reference. This is a shallow interpretation of the philosophy of LaVey.

What is 'intellectually satisfying' is up to the reader to decide.

[From The Essay "Why I am not a Satanist"]
3. Satanism is too Dependent on Emotion and Human Ego

Just like Satanism s forerunners, existentialism and gnosticism, Satanism s main target is the human ego. Most people are drawn and remain committed to Satanism because it feeds their ego.

LaVeyan Satanism is not based on Existentialism or gnosticism. It is more closely related to humanism. The author never took the time to research why it is often labeled as a 'humanist' philosophy.

Humans are dependent on emotion and ego. again, this is not some frailty, its a fact of life. to paint it in a negative light such as this underscores the fact that humans are human and we will always be so.

[From The Essay "Why I am not a Satanist"]
If you re told that you re special or elite or some other warm fuzzy idea when you embrace a philosophy, then you re more apt to buy into it and be blind to its shortcomings.

Is satanism only something to 'buy into' for the self satisfaction of being called a Satanist? This again is a shallow interpretation that does not illustrate anything but the authors dislike of LaVeyan Satanism.

To truly embrace a personal philosophy is to reason with it, to study it, to learn it in a personal way. This requires thought and study. Understanding isn't something that is handed to you, it has to be experienced.

[From The Essay "Why I am not a Satanist"]
Satanists thrive on the idea that they re somehow the few, the brave, and the proud. In fact, Satanism uses the same rhetoric that the US Military and religious cults use to win and keep the loyalty of their followers.

"The Few, the Proud" is from the US Marines, not from the military.

I have never heard of Satanists calling themselves 'the few the brave and the proud'. I have, however, seen Christians who call themselves Christian Soldiers who wear the Armor of God and use the Word of God as their Sword, and the Bible as their shield. How's that for military heroes!

[From The Essay "Why I am not a Satanist"]
If your ego needs to be flattered and this need is met in Satanism, then your ability to be rational and have intellectual clarity has been short circuited on some level.

It takes a mighty shallow person to enjoy ego flattery and to consider that the height of Satanism. They couldn't be honest with themselves that they are enduring ego flattery. They would have no independent thought, relying on others to make them feel whole, they would conform to others needs and desires, and they would not be self-empowered in any way.

Oh, wait, those were the aspects that this author said were *good*, not bad. :-)

[From The Essay "Why I am not a Satanist"]
This is the problem with all feel-good philosophies and religions. Like a habit one can t give up, people become dependent on the stroking of their ego and critical thought is sacrificed.

Again, shallow people are the ones that enjoy this type of behaviour. I do not know if the majority of Satanists would endure something like that without having ulterior motives. Shallow, indeed.

[From The Essay "Why I am not a Satanist"]
4. Satanism Misunderstands Independence

People need people. Many of us wish it weren t so because people have let us down, but the fact is, no man is an island. Satanists claim of godhood denies this fact which is fundamental and necessary to humanity.

Many satanists are social people. we have personal lives, family and friends..loved ones.. LaVeyan Satanists, as the author is targeting are a group of like-minded individuals who purposely seek out each other's companionship. They like to socialise with each other. The author has no experience in 'satanic community', as fractioned as it may be.

[From The Essay "Why I am not a Satanist"]
This is one area where Satanists seem unable to face reality effectively.

Is there some kind of reality that everyone else has missed?? Do tell...

[From The Essay "Why I am not a Satanist"]
While individuals do in fact have much more power and potential than most ever acknowledge or realize, no one is independently god or independently powerful. In fact, you can only attain power if people give it to you.

People do not give you power. What gives you power is the will and desire to succeed. other people may play a role in fulfilling this, but the purpose remains the same - self interest.

The idea that one is a god, is an idea that is often misinterpreted. It is misinterpreted because people take it literally - as if one would not be human and have supernatural abilities to be omniscient, omnipresent - the idea is quite silly. To 'be a god' is to live through the will. there is nothing more or less that is needed for this. And i think this is quite possible. It is a contrast to typical religious thought that god is separate from the self, and the will belongs to some other deity instead of the self.

[From The Essay "Why I am not a Satanist"]
And when I say people need people, I don t just mean in terms of their usefulness, I mean people need the support and care of others. Babies will die if they receive no loving affection, and adults are no different. We all depend on others if we are going to be healthy and productive. Making independent claims of divinity, while it feels good, feeds one s ego, and has some self-empowering results, leads to a denial of that reality. And denying reality is always a pitfall; those that consistently deny reality will eventually find themselves powerless.

More of the same anti-satanist rhetoric with no basis in reality or fact.

[From The Essay "Why I am not a Satanist"]
5. Satan is an Unworthy Symbol

When Satanism was developed in the 1950 s and 1960 s in Christian America, calling it Satanism had more power and punch because people s image of Satan was more heterogeneous, ridiculous, and stereotypical.

How does the author arrive at this conclusion? Certainly not from careful research. Not all of America is, or was christian (consider American Indian culture, and so on) Not only that, the beliefs about satan within the religion of Christianity are as varied as the types of Christianity that exist.

[From The Essay "Why I am not a Satanist"]
Post the 1960 s hippie movement however, people are more clued in to what Satanists are saying and the title no longer carries the same impact on people (with the possible exception of Christian fundamentalists). That which is based on shock eventually becomes mundane.

I would like to point out the fact that earlier in the essay the author claims that the best philosophies never came from conflict.

[From The Essay "Why I am not a Satanist"]
The Black Mass, for example, has become expected and uninteresting no longer the subject of newspaper articles or scandal. Once again we see that Satanism, by being a purely reactionary philosophy, is dependent on the weaknesses of other systems of thought, or, in the case of the name, on the ridiculous stereotypes people hold of Satan.

The ridiculous stereotypes that people hold of Satan and Satanists are quite far removed from the actual culture of Satanism. The author never took the time or effort to observe this. For instance, descriptions of the black mass originated with the propaganda of the church, not from Satanism.

[From The Essay "Why I am not a Satanist"]
And here is where I hold sympathies for Satanists. When Satan no longer shocks, one of the most interesting aspects of Satanism is lost. Satanism actually needs to grow into larger boots. I think if Anton LaVey were alive today he d realize his short sightedness. Satanism needs to have the flexibility to change with the times. As our world grows more and more secular, Satanists will be left holding yet one more tired, reactionary philosophy.

Anton LaVey was only the first publically accepted Satanist. He and his church helped to establish Satanism as a religion, which gave Satanism a foundation in society. However, many years have passed since then, and Satanism has become a very diverse practice and philosophy. Satanism has grown, but many who have not studied it have no idea and remain clueless and lost in the past with LaVey and his ideas.

Satanism has changed a lot over the years in good ways and in negative ways, but i doubt that this author has any real insight into how that process came about or what the results may be in the coming years.

[From The Essay "Why I am not a Satanist"]
I would add that Satan has already been given a thorough definition by the world which is not entirely in accord with the Satanist s definition of Satan.

I would like to add, then, that their opinion is not from a Satanic point of view, and hardly matters in this discussion of Satanic philosophy and beliefs.

[From The Essay "Why I am not a Satanist"]
Rather than merely redefining and recreating a Satan to one s own liking as La Vey did, a more appropriate symbol should by chosen. Simple! Obvious!

Any suggestions, since the answer is so simple and obvious? Maybe defining Satanism from a Christian perspective is not as realistic as what this author thinks.

[From The Essay "Why I am not a Satanist"]
Sorry Anton, but I'm not buying what you're selling.

Laveyan Satanists tend not to proselytize.

I really hope, with all sincerity, that my readers are able to learn about the typical fallacies of anti-satanic rhetoric, through this writing. What is really hypocritical of this author's ideas is the way they presented the 'qualities' as shortcomings. its really quite underhanded and its a persuasive technique that holds no merit in analytical writing.

In the end, Im somewhat disappointed. When i first found this essay I expected it to be written by an ex-satanist, or someone who was disillusioned. Instead, the author mostly worked with opinion, because that's all they had to work with - and by doing this they left out a lot of facutal information, making it impossible to get a realistic view about satanism from this essay. However, as I said my readers would most likely enjoy this discussion on the common fallacies of anti-Satanism.

The author used deceptive language to say that what they thought were the positive qualities of Satanism were also the negative qualities. These ideas, such as free thought, autonomy, and living according to one's own ethics are cast into a negative light by someone who has no idea what these things really mean.

The rest of the essay is a longish rant on the 'ridiculousness' of the nine satanic Statements. While this author tried to make a case against satanism from the start, i got nothing but negativity from this writing, and that is why i was compelled to reply.. after analyzing it all, i do not think that this author is in any way qualified to instruct would-be satanists on the pitfalls and failures of Satanism.

To really analyze Satanism in its many diverse forms, it helps if one is actually a Satanist, to begin with. It is such an underground culture in general, that its ideal to be able to actually live it and be a part of it, to be able to give any real insight into what it is. Outside of this, there is always the opportunity for the author here to actually study what Satanism is, what other Satanists besides LaVey have accomplished, and what Satanists are really like through serious observation.

If we are free thinking, independent, autonomous, creative and self-assured, then that's not a shortcoming, in fact, its a great thing. Far greater than what 'most' people would want to achieve for themselves, it seems. but for humans who want to explore the possibility of living up to their potential, Satanism might be the path for them.