The Church of Satan (CoS) is a religious organization dedicated to the religion of Satanism as defined by Anton Szandor LaVey. Founded in San Francisco in 1966, by LaVey, it is considered the "oldest satanic religion in continual existence", and more importantly the most influential, inspiring "numerous imitator and breakaway groups".[2][Note 1] According to the Church, Satanism has been "codified" as "a religion and philosophy" by LaVey and his church.[4] Founded in an era when there was much public interest in the occult, witchcraft and Satanism, the church enjoyed a heyday for several years after its founding. Celebrities attended LaVey's satanic parties and he was invited on talk shows. His Satanic Bible sold nearly a million copies.[2][5]
LaVey was the church's High Priest until his death in 1997.[6] In 2001, Peter H. Gilmore was appointed to the position of high priest, and the church's headquarters were moved to Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York City. Members do not believe that Satan literally exists and do not worship him.[7] Instead, Satan is viewed as a positive archetype embracing the Hebrew root of the word "Satan" as "adversary", who represents pride, carnality, and enlightenment, humanity's natural instincts which Abrahamic faiths have wrongly suppressed. According to High Priest Peter H. Gilmore, Satan is "a name for the reservoir of power inside each human to be tapped at will" .[6] In LaVey's book, The Satanic Bible, the Satanist's concept of a God is described as the Satanist's true "self"— a projection of his or her own personality, not an external deity.[8] Satan is used as a representation of personal liberty and individualism.[9]
The Church dismisses the idea of a “Satanic Community” and does not share membership lists with its members, arguing members are "radical individualists" who "may share very little in common beyond" being Satanists.[10] The Church rejects the legitimacy of any other organizations who claim to be Satanists.[11][12] Scholars agree that there is no reliably documented case of Satanic continuity prior to the founding of the Church of Satan.[13] It was the first organized church in modern times to be devoted to the figure of Satan,[14] and according to Faxneld and Petersen, the Church represented "the first public, highly visible, and long-lasting organization which propounded a coherent satanic discourse".[15]
Beliefs
LaVey described his religion as "just Ayn Rand's philosophy with ceremony and ritual added";[16] similarly, sociologist of religion James R. Lewis described it as "a blend of Epicureanism and Ayn Rand's philosophy, flavored with a pinch of ritual magic."[17] There is no belief in or worship of the Devil or a Christian notion of Satan.[18] High priest Peter Gilmore describes its members as "skeptical atheists", indicating the Hebrew root of the word "Satan" as "adversary" or "opposer."[19] Gilmore rejects the legitimacy of theistic Satanists, who believe Satan to be a supernatural being or force that may be contacted or supplicated to, dubbing them "devil worshipers".[18] In an interview with David Shankbone, High Priest Peter Gilmore stated "My real feeling is that anybody who believes in supernatural entities on some level is insane. Whether they believe in the Devil or God, they are abdicating reason." He added, "Satanism begins with atheism. We begin with the universe and say, 'It’s indifferent. There’s no God, there’s no Devil. No one cares!'"[20] According to Gilmore,
We do not believe in the supernatural. To the Satanist, he is his own God. Satan is a symbol of Man living as his prideful, carnal nature dictates. Some Satanists extend this symbol to encompass the evolutionary "force" of entropy that permeates all of nature and provides the drive for survival and propagation inherent in all living things. To the Satanist, Satan is not a conscious entity to be worshiped, rather it is a name for the reservoir of power inside each human to be tapped at will .[6]
The church has stated its contention that they are the first formally organized religion to adopt the term "Satanism" and describes the term "Theistic Satanism" as "oxymoronic".[21]
LaVey's views on magic were ambiguous. He insisted Satanism was a "materialist philosophy" but also often talked of magic.[22] He included this rule in his "Rules of the Earth":[22]
Acknowledge the power of magic if you have employed it successfully to obtain your desires. If you deny the power of magic after having called upon it with success, you will lose all you have obtained.”[23]
LaVey also often talked of a "Satanic magical formula" of "nine parts respectability to one part outrageousness",[24] satanism requiring some element of sinisterness, but not so much as to put off potential congregants. The "Rules of the Earth" in LaVey's Satanic Bible specifically prohibited unwanted sexual advances and harming animals or children,[25][26] but the Church also "often featured a nude woman serving as an altar" in its black masses.[27]
Though not emphasizing social or political causes, like Ayn Rand, LaVey explicitly opposed egalitarianism and supported social stratification, calling for the end of the “myth of ‘equality’”, which only “supports the weak at the expense of the strong”.[28] But he also suggested that in loving themselves, hedonists developed the ability to love others. He was quoted as saying, “If Satanists didn’t care, they wouldn’t be so dark and pessimistic.”[29][24]
The Church of Satan was established at the Black House in San Francisco, California, on Walpurgisnacht, April 30, 1966, by LaVey, who was the church's High Priest until his death in 1997.[6]
In the first year of its foundation, LaVey and the Church of Satan publicly performed a Satanic marriage of Judith Case and journalist John Raymond. The ceremony was attended by Joe Rosenthal. LaVey performed the first publicly recorded Satanic baptism in history for his youngest daughter Zeena, which garnered worldwide publicity and was originally recorded on The Satanic Mass LP.[34][35][36][37] A Satanic funeral for naval machinist-repairman, third-class Edward Olsen, was performed at the request of his wife, complete with an honor guard.[38]
The Church of Satan was the subject of a number of books, magazine and newspaper articles during the 1960s and 1970s. It is also the subject of a documentary, Satanis (1970). LaVey appeared in Kenneth Anger's film Invocation of My Demon Brother, acted as technical adviser on The Devil's Rain, which starred Ernest Borgnine, William Shatner, and introduced John Travolta. The Church of Satan was also featured in a segment of Luigi Scattini's film Angeli Bianchi, Angeli Neri, released in the United States as Witchcraft '70.[39]
One attempt to establish the church abroad was done in connection with Maarten Lamers of the Netherlands who read The Satanic Bible and in 1971 flew to San Francisco to meet LaVey. Back in Amsterdam, Lamers established the first CoS grotto outside the U.S. -- the Magistralis Grotto or the Kerk van Satan. The "Kerk" was in the Red Light District and connected to club called Walpurga Abbey where customers could paid by the minute to observe “monastic sisters” of the Abbey masturbate on stage. Lamers insisted that since the sisters were "performing religious acts of sexual magic", Walpurga Abbey was tax-exempt. The Dutch government disagreed and in 1987, "after a decade of police raids and legal battles", Lamers was compelled to pay 10 million guilders in back taxes.[40]
In 1972, LaVey stopped holding weekly rituals at the Black House and announced these would be done at the local grottos. Then on September 27, 1974, he declared the end of all regional organizations and that individual members and grottos should report to the Church's Central Grotto in San Francisco. LaVey called this move “Phase IV of his master plan”[40]
Schisms
Starting in the early 1970s, the Church faced internal dissent and a series of schisms. The first breakaway was by the Babylonian Grotto and its leader Wayne West, who LaVey excommunicated. A bigger schism happened with the excommunication of the Stygian Grotto, whose leader established the Church of Satanic Brotherhood in 1973 with units in Dayton, Indianapolis, Louisville, New York City, and St. Petersburg (FL). From the Church's Belphegor Grotto, another splinter group created the Order of the Black Goat, which was allegedly neo-Nazi in orientation, led by Michael Grumbowski. A later, more resilient offshoot was the World Church of Satanic Liberation, which ran from 1986 to 2011.[41]
In 1975, the Church of Satan underwent a significant fracture. Michael Angelo Aquino, the editor of the church newsletter and a fairly high level leader in the church, who disagreed with LaVey's changes, left to found the Temple of Set, taking a significant portion of the CoS leadership with him. This schism involved the largest Church branch, the Nineveh Grotto in NJ, and the Lilith Grotto in NY, among others. The Temple of Set reportedly had more than 500 members at its founding, although Anton LaVey claimed that only 29 people left.[42]
LaVey announced that the Temple of Set schism was not a setback but "Phase V" of his master plan,[40] however, according to author Amina Lap, from this point on Satanism became a "splintered and disorganized movement".[43]
Schisms from the Church were caused by several factors, according to sociologist Foertsch. He focused on differences in costliness or barriers to entry for members, disputes over authority and doctrine, and opportunities for niche development in the American counter-culture world of occultism, and persecution of alleged Satanists during the moral panic (described below) of the 1980s.[44]
The same year LaVey painted the Black House beige to lessen unwanted attention and "largely retired from public life".[45] (In 1986, the Black House was repainted black.) According to at least one critic, James R. Lewis, LaVey was not instituting "a Master Plan" but demonstrating that he “was not up to making the necessary personal sacrifices that being a founding prophet and leader required" because his motives for founding the Church were personal enrichment and self-aggrandizement, not spreading some religious truth.[46]
1980s, early 1990s, and "Satanic Panic"
In the 1980s a phenomenon that became known as the "Satanic Panic" arose and the media reported concerns of criminal conspiracies by the Church of Satan. According to a report released in 2020, LaVey indicated to FBI agents who interviewed him on October 31, 1980 that he had lost interest in the Church.
“LAVEY STATED THAT HE IS WELL AWARE THAT MOST PEOPLE ASSOCIATED WITH THE CHURCH OF SATAN ARE IN FACT ‘FANATICS, CULTISTS, AND WEIRDOES.’ HE STATED HIS INTEREST IN THE CHURCH OF SATAN IS STRICTLY FROM A MONETARY POINT OF VIEW AND SPENDS HIS TIME FURNISHING INTERVIEWS, WRITING MATERIALS, AND LATELY HAS BECOME INTERESTED IN PHOTOGRAPHY.”[47][40]
(Kenneth Lanning, an FBI expert in investigating child sexual abuse,[48] produced a report on Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) in 1994 aimed at child protection authorities, in which wrote that despite hundreds of investigations, no corroboration of SRA had been found. Following this report, several convictions based on SRA allegations were overturned and the defendants released.)[49]
During the 1980s and 90s, LaVey was no longer interested in making media appearances, and began a "long period of silence", becoming "increasingly reclusive",[40] he began sending his daughter Zeena to represent the CoS. She appeared on television and radio broadcasts, (including The Phil Donahue Show, Nightline with Ted Koppel, Entertainment Tonight, The Late Show, Secrets & Mysteries and the Sally Jesse Raphael Show), [Note 2] in part to educate about the Church, and in part to debunk Satanic ritual abuse and any connection between it and true Satanism, and specifically the Church of Satan.[51] She also became a High Priestess in the Church during this time[52] and in 1988, married Nikolas Schreck, a prominent CoS member and changed her name to Zeena Schreck.[40]
In the 1980s and 1990s remaining members of the Church of Satan became active in media appearances to refute allegations of criminal activity. Members of the Church who were active in producing movies, music, films, and magazines devoted to Satanism include Adam Parfrey's Feral House publishing, the musician Boyd Rice, musician King Diamond, and the filmmaker Nick Bougas (a.k.a. A. Wyatt Mann).[53][54]
On Walpurgisnacht 30 April 1990, Zeena formally renounced any association with the Church or LaVey, whom she now called her “unfather.” She and her husband joined the Temple of Set for a time but in 2002 formed the Sethian Liberation Movement, their own occult left-hand path group. Not long after, Zeena testified against LaVey on behalf of her mother, Diane Hegarty. The court awarded Hegarty half of LaVey’s property, bankrupting him.[40]
After LaVey
After Anton Szandor LaVey's death on October 29, 1997, the role of High Priest was empty for some time. On November 7, 1997[55]Karla LaVey made a press release about continuing the church with fellow high priestess Blanche Barton. Barton eventually received ownership of the organization, which she held for 4 years. Karla LaVey ultimately left the Church of Satan and founded First Satanic Church. On October 16, 2001, the Black House, the original home of the Church, was demolished after a fundraising effort failed to raise enough to buy it.[56] (In 1992, LaVey had sold the house to a real estate developer to raise money to settle a divorce but the developer allowed LaVey to continue to live in the house for free.)[40]
In 2001, Blanche ceded her position to longtime members Peter H. Gilmore and Peggy Nadramia, the current High Priest and High Priestess and publishers of The Black Flame, the official magazine of The Church of Satan, who managed an active CoS group in New York. The Central Office of the Church of Satan has also moved from San Francisco to New York City's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, where the couple resides. The Church of Satan does not recognize any other organizations as holding legitimate claim to Satanism and its practice, though it does recognize that one need not be a member of the Church of Satan to be a Satanist.
In October 2004, the Royal Navy officially recognised its first registered Satanist, 24-year-old Chris Cranmer, as a technician aboard HMSCumberland.[57]
6/6/06 High Mass
On June 6, 2006, the Church of Satan held the first public ritual Satanic Mass in 40 years at the Steve Allen Theater in the Center for Inquiry in Los Angeles. The date corresponds to the number of the Beast, 666, from the biblical Book of Revelation. The ritual, based on the rites outlined in The Satanic Bible and The Satanic Rituals, was conducted by Reverend Bryan Moore and Priestess Heather Saenz.[58]
The event was by invitation only, and over one hundred members of the Church of Satan from around the world filled the theatre to capacity. Many members of the Church of Satan were interviewed by the BBC with permission.[59][60] The music for the mass was created and performed by Lustmord and was subsequently released on his album Rising.[61]
Example of law abidingness
In December 2007 the Associated Press reported on a story concerning the Church of Satan, in which a teenager had sent an email to High Priest Gilmore stating he wanted to "kill in the name of our unholy lord Satan". Gilmore then reported the message to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who informed local police, who arrested the teenager.[62]
Realm of Satan documentary
In January 2024, the film Realm of Satan was shown at the Sundance Film Festival. The film is similar to a documentary, though it consists primarily of scenes staged with members of the Church of Satan. One reviewer described it as "an 80-minute art installation in which Satanists are rendered—and deliberately render themselves—performative characters in a diabolical play of their own making."[63] The film is directed by Scott Cummings and it shows a variety of satanic rituals, which may have been performed for the film alone.[64]
Membership
The Church of Satan claims they do not solicit memberships nor proselytize. Individuals seeking membership must be legally defined as adults in their nation of residence. As of at least January 2023, no one "under the legal age of consent" may join the Church of Satan, with the exception those whose "parents or legal guardians are already members in good standing".[65]
Active Members begin at the First Degree. One must apply and be approved for an Active Membership, and this is subject to one's answers to a lengthy series of questions. One cannot apply for higher Degrees, and the requirements for each degree are not open to the public. Promotion to a higher degree is by invitation only. Members of the Third through Fifth degrees constitute the Priesthood and may be addressed as "Reverend" (although the titles of "Magister/Magistra" and "Magus/Maga" are more often used when referring to members of the Fourth and Fifth Degrees, respectively). Members of the Fifth degree may also be known as "Doctor", although "The Doctor" usually refers to LaVey. Memberships may be terminated at the discretion of the ruling body of the Church of Satan consisting of the High Priest, the High Priestess and the Council of Nine.[citation needed]
The church emphasizes that one does not have to join the organization to consider themselves a Satanist, and that one only needs to recognize themselves in The Satanic Bible and live according to the tenets outlined therein.[66]
As the Church of Satan does not publicly release membership information, it is not known how many members belong to the Church. However, according to an interview with the Church of Satan, "interest in the Church of Satan and Satanism is growing all the time if our mailboxes, answering and fax machines, and e-mail is any indication."[67] Another source (The Washington Post) states the church claimed to have "hundreds of thousands" of members.[68] However, according to Joseph Laycock, the Church grew rapidly in its first five years before declining, and had an estimated 250 members (according to one source). According to The Washington Post, up until at least 1998, Church membership was never totaled "more than 300".[68]
Hierarchy
The church follows a formulated system of degrees based on meritocracy. These degrees are not open to application or to request and are only awarded to those who demonstrate excellence in the understanding and communication of Satanic Theory coupled with personal achievements in the outside world.[69]
These degrees are:
Registered Member (no degree)
Active Member/Satanist (first degree)
Witch/Warlock (second degree)
Priestess/Priest (third degree)
Magistra/Magister (fourth degree)
Maga/Magus (fifth degree)
Agents of the Church of Satan are individuals who have been trained to serve as contacts for local media and other interested parties.[69]
Priesthood of Mendes and Council of Nine
Members of the Priesthood make up the Council of Nine, which is the ruling body of the Church of Satan, of which Magistra Templi Rex Blanche Barton is the chair-mistress. Individuals who are part of the priesthood are those who act as spokespersons of the Church of Satan. The priesthood is exclusive to third-, fourth-, and fifth-degree members. Members of the priesthood may be referred to as "reverend".[69] The High Priest and Priestess act as administrative chiefs and primary public representatives; each position (High Priest and High Priestess) is held by a single individual at a time. The current High Priest is Peter H. Gilmore,[70] the current High Priestess is Peggy Nadramia.[71]
The Church of Satan evaluates active members for the Priesthood by their accomplishment in society—mastered skills and peer recognition within a profession—rather than by mastery of irrelevant occult trivia. While expected to be experts in communicating the Satanic philosophy, members of the Priesthood are not required to speak on behalf of the Church of Satan and may even choose to keep their affiliation and rank secret in order to better serve their personal goals, as well as those of the organization. Membership in the Priesthood is by invitation only.
The Grotto System
Within Satanism, a Grotto is a clandestine association or gathering of Satanists within geographical proximity for means of social, ritual, and special interest activities.[72] The Church of Satan no longer formally recognizes or charters grottos.[73] The primary reason for the end of the Grotto system is that only a small minority of members ever participated. This was further compounded by the fact that a publicly listed Grotto defeated the ability to remain secret and unknown to the larger populace. The Grotto system was in practice replaced by social media, private online forums, and other methods for members to interact with one another outside of the need for a so-called Grotto Master and annual reports to the central office of the Church of Satan.[73]
Related Research Articles
Satanism refers to a group of religious, ideological, and/or philosophical beliefs based on Satan—particularly his worship or veneration. Satan is associated with the Devil in Christianity, a fallen angel regarded as chief of the demons who tempt humans into sin. The phenomenon of Satanism shares "historical connections and family resemblances" with the Left Hand Path milieu of other occult figures such as Chaos, Hecate, Lilith, Lucifer, and Set. Self-identified Satanism is a relatively modern phenomenon, largely attributed to the 1966 founding of the Church of Satan by Anton LaVey in the United States—an atheistic group that does not believe in a supernatural Satan.
The Temple of Set is an occult initiatory order founded in 1975. A new religious movement and form of Western esotericism, the Temple espouses a religion known as Setianism, whose practitioners are called Setians. This is sometimes identified as a form of Satanism, although this term is not often embraced by Setians and is contested by some academics.
Anton Szandor LaVey was an American author, musician, and LaVeyan Satanist. He was the founder of the Church of Satan, the philosophy of LaVeyan Satanism, and the concept of Satanism. He authored several books, including The Satanic Bible, The Satanic Rituals, The Satanic Witch, The Devil's Notebook, and Satan Speaks! In addition, he released three albums, including The Satanic Mass, Satan Takes a Holiday, and Strange Music. He played a minor on-screen role and served as technical advisor for the 1975 film The Devil's Rain and served as host and narrator for Nick Bougas' 1989 mondo film Death Scenes.
A Black Mass is a ceremony celebrated by various Satanic groups. It has allegedly existed for centuries in different forms, and the modern form is intentionally a sacrilegious and blasphemous parody of a Catholic Mass.
The Satanic Bible is a collection of essays, observations, and rituals published by Anton LaVey in 1969. It is the central religious text of LaVeyan Satanism, and is considered the foundation of its philosophy and dogma. It has been described as the most important document to influence contemporary Satanism. Though The Satanic Bible is not considered to be sacred scripture in the way that the Christian Bible is to Christianity, LaVeyan Satanists regard it as an authoritative text as it is a contemporary text that has attained for them scriptural status. It extols the virtues of exploring one's nature and instincts. Believers have been described as "atheistic Satanists" because they believe that God and Satan are not external entities, but rather projections of an individual's personality—benevolent and stabilizing forces in their life. There have been thirty printings of The Satanic Bible, selling over a million copies.
LaVeyan Satanism is the name given to the form of Satanism promoted by American occultist and author Anton LaVey (1930–1997). LaVey founded the Church of Satan (CoS) in 1966 in San Francisco. Although LaVey is thought to have had more influence with his Satanic aesthetics of "colourful" rites and "scandalous" clothes that created a "gigantic media circus", he also promoted his ideas in writings, such as the popular Satanic Bible. LaVeyan Satanism has been classified as a new religious movement and a form of Western esotericism by scholars of religion. LaVey's ideas have been said to weave together an array of sometimes "contradictory" "thinkers and tropes", combining "humanism, hedonism, aspects of pop psychology and the human potential movement", along with "a lot of showmanship", His ideas were heavily influenced by the ideas and writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, Ayn Rand and Arthur Desmond.
The Church of Satan: A History of the World's Most Notorious Religion is a book by Blanche Barton, published on November 1, 1990 by Hell's Kitchen Productions.
Diane Hegarty, was an American religious leader who, along with longtime partner Anton LaVey, co-founded the Church of Satan.
Peter Howard Gilmore is an American writer and LaVeyan Satanist. He is the current High Priest of the Church of Satan. As a representative of the Church of Satan, Gilmore has been interviewed on numerous television and radio programs dealing with the topic of Satanism, including appearances on History, the BBC, Syfy, Point of Inquiry, and Bob Larson's Christian radio show.
Blanche Barton is an American religious leader who is Magistra Templi Rex within the Church of Satan, and is addressed by Satanists as Magistra Barton.
The Black House was a building that formerly stood at 6114 California Street in San Francisco, California, in the United States. The house was used by Anton LaVey as the headquarters of his Church of Satan, from 1966 until his death in 1997. It was a few blocks from the edge of the Presidio of San Francisco near the middle of the Richmond District.
The Satanic Rituals is a book by Anton Szandor LaVey published in 1972 by Avon Books as a companion volume to The Satanic Bible. The book outlines nine rituals and ceremonies intended for group performance, with an introductory essay to each. Some of the rites presented are inspired by other groups, such as the Yezidis, Freemasons, Knights Templar and Order of the Illuminati, and some inspired by fictional works.
Karla Maritza LaVey is the daughter and eldest child of Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey. She is an American radio host, former high priestess of her father's organization and founder and administrator of the First Satanic Church in San Francisco, California.
The First Satanic Church is an organization founded by Karla LaVey on October 31, 1999, in San Francisco, California. The church is dedicated to LaVeyan Satanism as codified by Anton LaVey in The Satanic Bible. The church's stated mission is to carry on the legacy of Anton LaVey through "the study of Satanism and the occult sciences". For over a decade the church operated The 600 Club, a now-defunct Internet forum dedicated to discussions of Satanism.
Theistic Satanism, otherwise referred to as traditional Satanism, religious Satanism, or spiritual Satanism, is an umbrella term for religious groups that consider Satan, the Devil, to objectively exist as a deity, supernatural entity, or spiritual being worthy of worship or reverence, whom individuals may believe in, contact, and convene with, in contrast to the atheistic archetype, metaphor, or symbol found in LaVeyan Satanism.
The Infernal Names is a compiled list of adversarial or antihero figures from mythology intended for use in Satanic ritual. The following names are as listed in The Satanic Bible (1969), written by Church of Satan founder Anton Szandor LaVey. When calling the names, all of them may be recited, or a given number of those most significant to the respective working may be chosen.
Greater and lesser magic, within LaVeyan Satanism, designate types of beliefs with the term greater magic applying to ritual practice meant as psychodramatic catharsis to focus ones emotions for a specific purpose and lesser magic applied to the practice of manipulation by means of applied psychology and glamour to bend an individual or situation to one's will.
Zeena Galatea Schreck, known professionally by her mononymous artist name ZEENA, is a Berlin-based American visual and musical artist, author and the spiritual leader of the Sethian Liberation Movement (SLM), which she founded in 2002.
The Satanic Mass: Recorded Live at the Church of Satan is the first released audio recording of a Satanic ritual by high priest Anton Szandor LaVey, recorded September 13, 1967 at Church of Satan headquarters, known as The Black House. The album was originally released as a vinyl LP in 1968, on LaVey's own label Murgenstrumm. It was reissued by Amarillo Records on June 21, 1995.
Within the Church of Satan, a Grotto is a clandestine association or gathering of Satanists within geographical proximity for means of social, ritual, and special interest activities. The Black House, the founding place and headquarters of the Church of Satan from 1966 to 1997, was effectively the first grotto, and was for a time referred to as the "Central Grotto". Grottos existed for a time in various parts of the United States; these included the Babylon Grotto in Detroit, the Stygian Grotto in Dayton, and the Lilith Grotto in New York. In 1975, LaVey disbanded all grottos, then reinstated them in the 1980s. The Church of Satan no longer formally recognizes or charters grottos.
References
Notes
↑ Religious studies scholar R. Van Luijk writes, “Genealogically speaking, every known Satanist group or organization in the world today derives directly or indirectly from LaVey’s 1966 Church of Satan, even if they are dismissive of LaVey or choose to emphasize other real or alleged forerunners of Satanism.”[3]
↑ She explained that she did this on behalf of her father while being interviewed alongside her husband by televangelist Bob Larson.[50]
↑ "Satanist Anton LaVey Baptising Daughter". San Francisco, California, USA: Bettmann/CORBIS. May 23, 1967. LaVey [...] said the mystic ceremony was the first such baptism in history.
↑ "Witchcraft '70 Original title: Angeli bianchi... angeli neri". IMDb. Retrieved January 7, 2024. A mondo style report of satanic rites from around the world. Includes devil worshipping, voodoo cults, church of satan, black magic, naked exorcism and pagan rituals.
↑ Foertsch, Steven. "An organizational analysis of the schismatic Church of Satan." Review of Religious Research 64, no. 1 (2022): 55-76.
↑ R. van Luijk, Children of Lucifer: The Origins of Modern Religious Satanism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), p. 363
↑ R. Lewis, Legitimating New Religions (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2003), p.111.
↑ Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Acts Release – Subject: Anton LaVey,” capitalization as in original. quoted in Joseph Laycock, Satanism, 2023
↑ Nathan, Debbie (1995). Satan's Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern American Witch Hunt. iUniverse (published January 1, 1995). p.230. ISBN9780595189557.
↑ "Church of Satan Youth Communiqué". Church of Satan. Retrieved January 7, 2024. So, we simply cannot allow anyone under the legal age of consent to join the Church of Satan. The only exception to this rule would be if your parents or legal guardians are already members in good standing.
↑ "Join the Church of Satan". Church of Satan. Retrieved January 7, 2024. ABOUT THE MEMBERSHIP FEE. We must emphasize that you don't have to join our organization to consider yourself a Satanist, you only need to recognize yourself in The Satanic Bible and live according to the tenets outlined therein. We don't proselytize, or otherwise campaign for people to join—that is your prerogative.
Cavaglion, Gabriel; Sela-Shayovitz, Revital (December 2005). "The Cultural Construction of Contemporary Satanic Legends in Israel". Folklore. 116 (3): 255–271. doi:10.1080/00155870500282701. S2CID161360139.
Lap, Amina Olander (2013). "Categorizing Modern Satanism: An Analysis of LaVey's Early Writings". In Per Faxneld; Jesper Aagaard Petersen (eds.). The Devil's Party: Satanism in Modernity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp.83–102. ISBN978-0-19-977924-6.
Laycock, Joseph P. (2023). Satanism. Elements in New Religious Movements (onlineed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN9781009057349.
Foertsch, Steven. "A Field Study Update on Organizational Satanism and Setianism in the United States." Review of Religious Research 64, no. 4 (2022): 981-996. https://philpapers.org/go.pl?aid=FOEAFS
Introvigne, Massimo. 2016. Satanism: A Social History. Leiden, NL: Koninklijke Brill.
Petersen, J. 2009. "Satanists and Nuts: The Role of Schisms in Modern Satanism." In Sacred Schisms: How Religions Divide, ed. J. Lewis and S. Lewis, 218–247. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
