Satanism is a group of ideological and philosophical beliefs based on Satan. Although several historical precedents exist, the contemporary religious practice of Satanism began with the founding of the atheistic Church of Satan by Anton LaVey in the United States in 1966. Prior to that time, Satanism existed primarily as the subject of accusations by various Christian groups toward perceived ideological opponents rather than a self-identity or expressed religious belief. Satanism, and the concept of Satan, has also been used by artists and entertainers for symbolic expression.
The Church of Satan is a religious organization dedicated to the religion of LaVeyan Satanism as codified in The Satanic Bible. The Church of Satan was established at the Black House in San Francisco, California, on Walpurgisnacht, April 30, 1966, by Anton Szandor LaVey, who was the church's High Priest until his death in 1997. 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.
Anton Szandor LaVey was an American author, musician, and Satanist. He was the founder of the Church of Satan and the religion 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 typically said to be celebrated by various Satanic groups. It has allegedly existed for centuries in different forms and is directly based on, and is intentionally a sacrilegious and blasphemous mockery 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 own 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 own personality—benevolent and stabilizing forces in their life. There have been thirty printings of The Satanic Bible, selling over a million copies.
Boyd Blake Rice is an American composer, performance artist, author and painter. A pioneer of industrial music, Rice was one of the first artists to use a sampler, as well as the second, after John Cage, to use a turntable as an instrument.
Answer Me! was a magazine edited by Jim Goad and Debbie Goad and published between 1991 and 1994. It focused on the social pathologies of interest to the Los Angeles–based couple.
LaVeyan Satanism is an atheist religion founded in 1966 by American occultist and author Anton LaVey. Scholars of religion have classified it as a new religious movement and a form of Western esotericism.
Satan Takes a Holiday is an album by Anton Szandor LaVey, released through Amarillo Records in 1995. The collection is an eclectic body of songs LaVey constructed using his synthesizer. A few of these songs are standards, and their composers well known. Nevertheless, LaVey chose all these songs to create deliberate modes of feeling and mood. His original treatments of many of these songs, and others similar to them in context and style, were performed on a variety of organs that he mastered over the course of his life. He performed many such songs in burlesque houses, various circuses, carnivals, and roadhouses.
Might Is RightorThe Survival of the Fittest is a book by pseudonymous author Ragnar Redbeard, generally believed to be a pen name of Arthur Desmond. First published in 1896, it advocates amorality, consequentialism and psychological hedonism.
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.
Theistic Satanism, otherwise referred to as religious Satanism, spiritual Satanism, or traditional 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 contact and convene with, in contrast to the atheistic archetype, metaphor, or symbol found in LaVeyan Satanism. Organizations who uphold theistic Satanist beliefs most often have few adherents, are loosely affiliated or constitute themselves as independent groups and cabals, which have largely self-marginalized. Another prominent characteristic of theistic Satanism is the use of various types of magic. Most theistic Satanist groups exist in relatively new models and ideologies, many of which are independent of the Abrahamic religions.
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 one's 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.
Speak of the devil is an English idiom.
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 Goddess Bunny is a 1994 American documentary film directed by Nick Bougas, which is about the life of a transgender woman named Sandie Crisp, also known as the Goddess Bunny.
Nick Bougas is an American documentary film director, illustrator and record producer. As a cartoonist, he has used the pen name A. Wyatt Mann to produce racist, antisemitic, antifeminist and homophobic cartoons.
Benjamin R. Garrison is an American right-wing political cartoonist and artist. Several of Garrison's cartoons have been controversial. Various critics in the media have called him sexist, racist, anti-feminist, xenophobic, anti-government, and conspiratorial. Garrison has also been accused of antisemitism by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). His cartoons often lionize American conservative figures and politicians, such as former President Donald Trump and Rand Paul, and demonize liberal, moderate, and Never Trump movement figures such as President Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton. Some alt-right activists and Internet trolls have edited Garrison's comics to incorporate further offensive content, including the antisemitic "Happy Merchant" caricature.
Groypers, sometimes called the Groyper Army, are a group of white nationalist and far-right activists, provocateurs and internet trolls who are notable for their attempts to introduce far-right politics into mainstream conservatism in the United States, their participation in the 2021 United States Capitol attack and the protests leading up to it, and their extremist views. They are known for targeting other conservative groups and individuals whose agendas they view as too moderate and insufficiently nationalist. The Groyper movement has been described as white nationalist, homophobic, nativist, fascist, sexist, antisemitic, and an attempt to rebrand the declining alt-right movement.
The Happy Merchant is a common name for an image that depicts an antisemitic caricature of a Jewish man. The Happy Merchant is common on imageboards such as 4chan where it is frequently used in a hateful or disparaging context.
