Satanists get a lot of questions. Do you worship the Devil? (No.) Do you sacrifice animals under the full moon? (It’s the new moon, and no.) Are you part of a global anti-democratic conspiracy of elites working with the shadow government of The Illuminati to guide world events towards a one world heretical government fueled by the blood of innocents to support the alien lizard people invasion? (Tuesdays only.) However, the most commonly asked is “why?”.
It’s a fair question, especially for myself. I am in fact an atheist, raised in a non-Christian home and educated in the public school system. My exposure to Christian institutions were either exercises in outright bigotry or honest care (while playing the “No True Scotsman” defense when the crimes of other denominations were raised). Why then attach myself to the Lightbringer and Adversary of God and not a local humanist or skeptics society? The answer here is complicated, but instead I want to address another question: why didn’t I become a Satanist until later in life? Here I can only point to the public image of Satanism that most people through the 90s and 00s were familiar with, the Church of Satan. As an organization of self-described Ayn Rand fans, their embrace of Libertarian ideology fundamentally repulsed me, keeping me from considering Satanic practice as a possibility. And yet the history of Satanic thought is richer than the writings of a midcentury San Francisco fabulist, and it is this tradition that would ultimately draw me in.
Satan as a figure is much more complicated than the American evangelical movement would have you believe. From the Hebrew notion of a debate partner to God, the Catharist notion of the Devil as King of the Earth, and our more familiar Lord of Lies, this character had even in pre-enlightenment Europe and the Middle-East a rich mythical tradition. Then in 1667 John Milton would publish Paradise Lost, casting Satan as the protagonist of an epic poem whose character continues to reverberate. Published following the English Civil War, the conflict between Satan and God takes on a decidedly political tone, reflecting the Parliamentarian/Royalist conflict of his time. This totalizing war that pitted ideals of both religious practice and political ideologies becomes an allegory where Milton presents Satan strikingly similar to himself as an advocate of revolution and gadfly to authority.
This avatar of rebellion would endure, and Milton’s Satan would be cited by supporters of the French Revolution amongst others as an inspiration for their cause, including the husband to Mary Wollstonecraft, William Godwin. Unsurprisingly this spirit would flourish during the Romantic era, with writers such as Mary and Percy Shelley, William Blake and George Gordon Byron taking the rebellious spirit further. More than just a political figure of rebellion, Satan had become one of culture, claiming a hedonistic spirit in contravention of contemporary demands.
These defenses/celebration of Satan would drive the spirit of radicals through the new century, and Satan would come to be associated with more esoteric practices as the Spiritualist movements took hold in Europe and America. Most notably Eliphas Levi, a French socialist and mystic most famous for his engraving of Baphomet, would inspire the practitioners of the Theosophy Society, as well as Aleister Crowley and his stridently anti-Christian Thelema movement. Here Satan deviates a bit from the Miltonian figure of righteous rebellion, but still serves as a potent symbol for people practicing on the margins of polite society.
Then in 1966, Anton LaVey (neé Levey) founded the Church of Satan. I can only speculate on his motivations; considering that much of his biography appears to be either exaggerated or outright fabricated, I’m inclined to believe it was an effort at self-aggrandizement and enrichment. Certainly the Church itself traffics in many self-stated radically individualistic philosophies, being explicitly informed by people like Ayn Rand and the implied Social Darwinism that comes with that. It should then be no surprise that the group has deeper associations with outright Fascists and Nazis, including James Mason, a man currently held as a spiritual leader for the violent right wing terrorist group Atomwaffen. This is no chance affiliation, and speaks to their shared fundamental ideals. The Satanic Bible itself is in part plagiarized (or “takes inspiration from”, as the rabidly online spokespeople from CoS will be quick to remind me) from a 19th century text called “Might is Right.” A virulently racist, anti-Semitic, misogynistic, and violent work. If that title sounds familiar its probably because it was cited by the Gilroy Garlic Festival mass shooter as an inspiration for his violent assault.
Following LaVey there would be other Satanic organizations, some elevating violent fascist politics as a focus of their theology. There would also be more justice minded groups such as The Satanic Temple. (At least in a forward facing capacity.) It was the vocally anti-LaVeyian position of the New York chapter of TST appealed to and gave me a framework to recontextualize my atheism and scientific ideology. Unfortunately I and several other TST members found ourselves in a fundamental disagreement with the leadership of the Temple, and while I will refrain from excoriating them in this piece, I encourage you to read my comrade Emma Story’s essay for a good introduction to our shared problems with the organization. In the aftermath, those of us that left founded LORE, specifically to renew the tradition of Romantic Satanism, to advance rebellion and liberation from oppressive rightwing thought and practices in our modern society.
With such a degree of diversity in Satanic Philosophy (not dissimilar to what can be found in other older religious traditions) LORE stands to present an antidote to the other, more regressive organizations. How then do we, as members of a “Satanic Justice” minded collective, confront the presence of violent fascist orders? The Church of Satan is quick to insist that these, and frankly, most Satanic orders are not real Satanists. Leaving aside the absurdity that a group that has advertised James Mason’s “Siege” for sale in their publications has no intellectual bond to these reactionary groups, this falls into a classic and tedious logical fallacy. No matter how much we feel the practices and philosophy of Anton LaVey’s church violate fundamental Satanic ideals, we cannot declare them to be “No True Blasphemer” if we are to remain an intellectually honest movement.
What then can we do? First is to make our movement the best form of Satanism possible: to deny fascism, racism, misogyny and bigotry. We need to be available to help educate people curious about Satanism, both those considering it as a practice, but also critics, to help them to understand the heterogeneity of the community, and the dangers present in the shittier organizations. Our principles must be manifested in action, providing spaces and rituals that only alienate the comfortable and unjustly empowered. Finally, we must be ready to directly denounce and call out other Satanic groups with the same fervor we have for mainstream religions. Setting blinkers to our own community will only give space to bad actors, and our guiding values demand we do better.