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Satanism

★2019★

Brotherhood of the Ram

(Defunct)

Operating from the early 1960s into the 1970s, the Brotherhood of the Ram established a bookstore in Los Angeles. Satan was to this group a god of joy and pleasure. Some traditional aspects of Satanism, such as the "pact," were accepted. Members made a pact with Satan renouncing all other devotion and their Christian baptism, and then signed the pact with their own blood. Membership was confined to Southern California. As of the 1980s the store has been closed and the group reportedly disbanded.

★2020★

Church of Satan

Box 210666
San Francisco, CA 94121

One story repeated continually in the media through the 1970's was how Anton LaVey (1930-1997) shaved his head on Walpurgisnacht (April 30) in 1966, proclaimed the beginning of the Satanic era, and launched the Church of Satan. LaVey became a media event and the object of both features and front page newspaper articles. His early fame came from news coverage of such events as a Satanic funeral service for a Navy man killed in an accident at Treasure Island Navy Base, worship with a nude woman on the altar in his black house in San Francisco, the revelation of actress Jayne Mansfield's association with the church, and a bit part for LaVey in the movie "Rosemary's Baby" (as the Devil).

LaVey had been a former animal trainer and carnival organist. While with the carnival, he became intrigued by the psychic and gained a reputation as a ghosthunter. LaVey was the author of three books—The Satanic Bible, The Satanic Rituals, and The Compleat Witch released in 1989 as The Satanic Witch. Each contains the teachings of the Satanic Church.

The basic themes of LaVey's brand of Satanism are self-assertion, antiestablishmentarianism, and the gratification of man's physical or mental nature. Satan is a Promethean figure, representing indulgence, vital existence, undefiled wisdom, kindness to the deserving, vengeance, responsibility to the responsible, the notion that man is just another animal, and so-called sins which lead to physical or mental gratification. It is LaVey's opinion that Satan represents the source of these values. Rituals are conceived both as psychodramas and as magical acts that focus psychokinetic force, as in the ritual magick tradition.

Satanic philosophy is very close to the teachings of Aleister Crowley in The Book of the Law. Each person is seen as living according to his own set of rules. However, the Church of Satan opposes illegal acts at variance with laws established for the common good. Sex is viewed as the strongest instinct (next to self preservation) and natural. Drugs are viewed as escapist and contrary to the realistic view of life as preached by the church.

Ritually, the church celebrates three main holidays. For individuals, the most important day is their birthday. For the group, Walpurgisnacht and Halloween are the major days. Both have sexual implications as the spring rebirth of nature and the harvest festivals. Baptism is a ceremony of glorification of the one baptized. There are various rituals for different magical and celebratory purposes. The Enochian language, which first appeared in print in 1659 in a biography of John Dee (and was later used by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn) is employed in rituals. The text used for the traditional Black Mass ritual, "Le Messe Noir," is found in The Satanic Rituals (published in 1972). As performed by the church, it is meant to be not simply a blasphemous pageant against the Catholic church, but a purging ritual, making full use of psychodrama to rid individuals of the influence of any sacred cow.

Operating from the San Francisco headquarters, the Satanic Church spread to urban centers across the United States, surfacing in Miami, Florida; New Orleans, Louisiana; New York City; and throughout the Midwest. By 1977, one spokesperson claimed more than 10,000 members for the church (lifetime membership is available for a $100.00 donation). In the mid-1970s, administratively centralized grottos were deemed counterproductive and were disbanded. A more cabalistic underground structure was instituted and continues today. Over the years, groups have emerged which use LaVeyan ritual and philosophy, but which may or may not give LaVey credit or be affiliated in any way with the Church of Satan.

Lavey died in 1997, Blanche Barton has succeeded him as the Church's administrative head.

Membership: Not reported. Church membership statistics are considered confidential. Church membership is granted for life to new members, and there is no count on active members (estimated to be several thousand). Internationally, the church reports concentrations of members in England, Holland, and Sweden. The Satanic Bible has recently been translated into Danish, Swedish, and Spanish.

Periodicals: The Black Flame (officially endorsed). Send orders to PO Box 499, Radio City Station, New York, NY 10101-0499.• The Cloven Hoof, Send orders to Box 210666, San Francisco, CA 94121.

Sources:

Alfred, Randall H. "The Church of Satan." In The New Religious Consciousness, Edited by Charles Y. Glock and Robert N. Bellah. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1976.

Harrington, Walt. "The Devil in Anton LaVey." The Washington Post Magazine (February 23, 1986): 6-17.

LaVey, Anton Szandor. The Compleat Witch. New York: Lancer Books, 1971.

——. The Satanic Bible. New York: Avon, 1969.

——. The Satanic Rituals. Secaucus, NJ: University Books, 1972.

Wolff, Burton H. The Devil's Avenger. New York: Pyramid Books, 1974.

★2021★

Church of Satanic Brotherhood

(Defunct)

In the early 1970s, controversy began to develop among the Midwestern grottoes of the Church of Satan. Among those involved were Wayne West of Detroit and John de Haven of Dayton, Ohio. The dissolution of the Stygian Grotto of the Dayton area of the Church of Satan occurred on February 11, 1973. Anton LaVey had revoked the grotto's charter, accusing it of "having been acting in violation of the law." With members from Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, the Church of Satanic Brotherhood was formed in March 1973 by John de Haven, Joseph Daniels, Ronald E. Lanting, and Harry L. Booth.

The church followed the practices of the Church of Satan with several exceptions that grew out of the controversy. Only those people who "can get along with others" were allowed in the Brotherhood. The Satanic Rituals by LaVey was viewed as a collection of butchered rites as used in their original form at the Central Grotto. An intense polemic against LaVey was launched.

After its founding, the Brotherhood spread rapidly. Grottoes were established in St. Petersburg, Florida; Dayton-Centerville, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; Louisville, Kentucky; New York City; and Columbus, Ohio. A Council of the Churches was headed by the bishops (fourth degree). The priesthood made up its third degree. Each grotto was headed by a magister. A periodical, The True Grimoire, was published monthly.

The Church of Satanic Brotherhood lasted only a short period. In 1974 John de Haven publically renounced Satanism and proclaimed his conversion to Christianity. He made his announcement in the midst of a gathering of the Church in St. Petersburg during which he smashed many of the altar implements.

★2022★

First Church of Satan

PMB 172, 203 Washington St.
Salem, MA 01970

The First Church of Satan is one of several small Satanic groups to emerge in the 1990s as the Church of Satan experienced the shift of leadership from founder Anton LaVey (1930-1997) to Blanche Barton and the controversies accompanying that change. John Dewey Alle (b. 1951), publicly known as Lord Egan, had been a member of the church of Satan in the 1970s but turned to other pursuits in the 1980s. In the mid-1990s, he decided to reactivate his association with the milieu created by LaVey but quickly found himself in conflict with Barton. He charged the Church of Satan with having shifted its emphasis from a celebration of individualism (the primary message behind the Church of Satan's outward manifestation) into an assertion of elitism.

Unable to relate to the Church of Satan anymore, he founded the First Church of Satan as an instrument to champion the Satanic spiritual path. Satanism is a path for freethinkers and individualists who wish to pursue truth through self-exploration and spiritual stimulation. The church does not center upon a particular structure or belief system, but provides space where individuals can seek their own way in a self-chosen fashion. Within the church, there is great toleration for all spiritual paths, criticism being aimed at more the form of the search rather than the methods and conclusions. Thus a dogmatic cast to one's spiritual life is discouraged.

The church also discourages debate over the existence of Satan. Rather, images of Satan as the promoter of freedom are seen as valid metaphors of the spiritual aspiration, and the Satanic Bible (and the additional teachings offered by LaVey through the Church of Satan) as tools encouraging the individual to develop their personal spirituality.

The church encourages the creation of Satanic covens (groups), though such local groups are considered strictly autonomous. The First Church of Satan does not issue charters for covens, though it does provide material to facilitate their operation. Membership is open to anyone who makes a modest donation to the church.

Membership: Not reported. The LaVey movement organizationally was never large (numbering in the low thousands), though many people were influenced by The Satanic Bible, which has remained in print since its first publication in the 1960s. The First Church of Satan is a small organization (low hundreds) that seeks to influence people primarily through the Internet. There were, as of 2002, eight covens in the United States and two in Canada.

Sources:

First Church of Satan. http://www.churchofsatan.org/. 1 February 2002.

★2023★

First Satanic Church

PO Box 475177
San Francisco, CA 94147

The First Satanic Church is one of several small Satanic groups to emerge in the 1990s in the wake of the death of Anton LaVey (1930-1997), the founder of the Church of Satan, and the emergence of Blanche Barton to leadership. Karla LaVey, Anton LaVey's older daughter, did not accept Barton's leadership and in 1999 disaffiliated with the Church of Satan and founded the First Satanic Church in an attempt to recover what she saw had been lost in the 1990s. The church promotes and uses the writings of Anton LaVey.

The First Satanic Church sees itself as an elite organization designed to engage those few who wish to engage in a serious study of the occult realm and Satanism in particular. The new church differs from the present church of Satan in several aspects. Though sharing the teachings presented in the Satanic Bible and other writings of LaVey, the First Satanic Church does engage in the recruitment of members. Those who become aware of the church and wish to affiliate take the lead in making contact. While having several Internet sites, the church also does not see itself as a cyberspace organization and demands that prospective members make contact by more traditional means. Prospective members must go through a screening process.

The First Satanic Church sees itself as the purveyor of individualism and self-interest. Satan is the symbol of opposition to the majority mind cast that seeks to mold the individual into its image. As such, Satanism is neither the inverse of Christianity (but another spiritual path) nor is it involved with illegal activities such as animal mutilation/sacrifice. The church has established a website using a cyber address that parodies The 700 Club, the television show of popular Christian televangelist Pat Robertson. The church has developed a radio outreach, The Voice of Satan. Karla LaVey holds an annual celebration of the Black Mass each year on Halloween.

Membership: Not reported. The church is less than one hundred people.

Sources:

First Satanic Church. http://www.the600club.net/church/. 1 February 2002.

★2024★

Luciferian Light Group

PO Box 7207
Tampa, FL 33673

The Luciferian Light Group is an organization founded in the early 1990s that is dedicated to bringing forth the ancient teachings of Lucifer and hastening the establishment of the Satanic Empire. The order is organized as a secret society with an inner circle that is called the Church of Luciferian Light.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: Onslaught.

★2025★

Order of Dionysus/Sabazios

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Order of Dionysus/Sabazios was founded in 1990 as the Church of Satanic Youthfulness by Joseph E. Aufricht. Originally enjoying a good relationship with the Church of Satan, whose perspective inspired Aufricht to start his separate work, the two groups have pulled apart over various disagreements on specific teachings.

The order is essentially atheistic in belief but allows a belief in the existence of spiritual entities by members. Aufricht has argued that if a supreme creator exists, the creator would be responsible for both good and evil. God would have created Satan with the ability to rebel, and being all-knowing, would have known that Satan would rebel. Aufricht believes the basic philosophy of the Christian Bible to be mere myth written by very fallible human beings for the purpose of controlling the masses in one form or another. The order stands staunchly against forms of social control and for the destruction of Christianity and other forms of spirituality.

The order basically follows the teachings presented by Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan, in his various books and writings. It differs primarily in its advocacy of the rights of teenagers, who currently exist in a state of "slavery" from parents and other authorities, according to the order. The order believes that teens are essentially adults and should be so treated. Members of the order assert that teenagers should have the same freedom of choice, especially in matters of sexuality, as legal adults and fight for legal changes that will allow such freedom to become operative. Included in the freedoms the order advocates is the freedom of teenagers to engage in sexual relationships with adults.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: Rejuvenation.

★2026★

Order of the Black Ram

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Order of the Black Ram is a Satanic organization based on the belief in Aryan racial superiority and closely associated with the National Renaissance Party, a neo-Nazi organization. Adherents believe that each race is the embodiment of a racial soul which is expressed in its culture and philosophy. Individuality is stressed. The Order of the Black Ram is eclectic, drawing on the writings of Anton LaVey (founder of the Church of Satan); Robert Heinlein's novel, Stranger in a Strange Land; and Neo-Paganism. It was headquartered in suburban Detroit, Michigan, where its grand magister, the Reverend Seth-Klippoth, resided. Liber Venifi-ca was an irregular periodical.

★2027★

Ordo Templi Satanas

(Defunct)

Closely associated with the Church of Satanic Brotherhood was the Ordo Templi Satanas (OTS). Some OTS members were former members of the Brotherhood. Practices, beliefs, and organization are similar. There were two temples of the OTS, one in Indianapolis, Indiana, and one in Louisville, Kentucky (headed by Clifford Amos). Leader of the OTS was Joseph Daniels, known as Apollonius, priest of Hermopolis. He was also one of the founders of the Brotherhood. This miniscule group disbanded after a few years.

★2028★

Our Lady of Endor Coven

(Defunct)

Existing for many years prior to the establishment of the Church of Satan was Our Lady of Endor Coven, the Ophite Cultus Satanas, founded by Herbert Arthur Sloane of Toledo, Ohio, in 1948. Satanas (the Horned God) appeared to him first when Sloane was a child. Later, Sloane saw him as the figure pictured on the dust jacket of Margaret Murray's The God of the Witches. (Murray is discussed in the introductory material to this volume.) The Lord Satanas appeared again when Sloane was twenty-five years old.

The system of Our Lady of Endor Coven was based heavily on Gnosticism; The Gnostic Religion by Hans Jonas was a highly recommended book. The Christian God, the creator, was identified with the Gnostic Demiurge. The Demiurge is the God beyond the creator God, an emanation of the transcendent God. Satanas is the messenger of the remote God who brought Eve the knowledge that there was a God beyond the God who created the cosmos. The God beyond takes no part of "this world," except as he is concerned with the return of his spirit, now entrapped in matter as the divine within humanity. The return of the divine within humanity to the God beyond is accomplished through Gnosis, occult knowledge which people can attain.

Satanism was believed to be the oldest religion, dating to the worship of the Horned God found in the prehistoric cave paintings in Europe. It differs from witchcraft in not turning the Horned God into a fertility god and thus retaining his spiritual significance. Organization followed a pattern similar to witchcraft, covens being the prime structure. The organization was headed by a priest but has no extra-coven structure.

There was but one coven led by Sloane. It dissolved after his death in the early 1980s.

Remarks: For a brief period of time Sloane was a member of the Church of Satan, but his membership did not visibly alter the coven he led.

★2029★

Temple of Set

PO Box 470307
San Francisco, CA 94147

The Temple of Set was founded in 1975 by members of the international priesthood of the Church of Satan who had resigned from that institution because of what they considered to be its over-commercialism. A senior initiate, Michael A. Aquino, invoked the Prince of Darkness in quest of a new mandate to preserve and enhance the more noble concepts which the Church of Satan had conceived. The mandate was given in the form of The Book of Coming Forth by Night, a statement by that entity in his most ancient semblance as Set. Set ordained the Temple of Set to succeed the Church of Satan. The temple describes itself as an initiatory institution dedicated to Set, an ancient Egyptian deity, the corrupted legends of whom became the basis for the Christian Satan.

Temple initiates do not consider Set an evil figure, nor do they consider the temple merely a refutation of conventional religion. According to temple philosophy, the universe is a nonconscious environment possessed of mechanical consistency. In contrast to the universe, and occasionally violating its laws, is Set. Set has, over a period of millennia, altered the genetic makeup of humans in order to create a species possessing an enhanced, nonnatural intelligence. The techniques and teachings of the temple are designed to identify and develop this higher evolutionary potential in appropriate individuals.

The temple is governed by the Council of Nine, which appoints the high priest of Set and the executive director. There are six initiatory degrees: Setian, Adept, Priest(ess) of Set, Master of the Temple, Magus, and Ipsissimus. The program is designed principally for individuals, although there are local Pylons of the Temple in several parts of the United States. International conclaves for the entire temple are held annually. The temple provides an annotated reading list containing material on a wide range of occult, scientific, and religious subjects. Topics covered include ancient Egypt, historical and contemporary occultism, psychology, ethics, and experimental science.

Membership: In 2002 the temple had approximately 500 members.

Periodicals: Scroll of Set.

Remarks: Among those who joined in the founding of the Temple of Set was Lilith Sinclair, leader of what had been known as the Spottswood (New Jersey) Grotto of the Church of Satan, the largest group of its kind on the East Coast.

Sources:

Aquino, Michael A. The Crystal Tablet of Set. San Francisco, VA: Temple of Set, 1985.

——. Temple of Set Reading List XIX. San Francisco, CA: Temple of Set, 1984.

Scott, Gini Graham. The Magicians. New York: Irvington Publishers, 1983.

★2030★

Thee Satanic Church

(Defunct)

In 1974 Thee Satanic Church of the Nethilum Rite divided, and a second organization was established by Dr. Evelyn Paglini, one of the original cofounders. Its belief and structure were identical to those of the parent church. The Satanic Church opened a book and occult supply store in a Chicago suburb and Paglini began an occult periodical, Psychic Standard, which did not carry any Satanic material. Paglini's group slowly dropped their Satanic trappings. In one of their last public actions, they gathered at Comiskey Park prior to a Chicago White Sox baseball game to do a magical ritual to aid the faltering team.

The Psychic Standard ceased publication in 1980. Shortly after that time Paglini moved away from Chicago.

★2031★

Thee Satanic Orthodox Church of Nethilum Rite

(Defunct)

Centered in Chicago was Thee Satanic Orthodox Church of Nethilum Rite headed by High Priest Terry Taylor. Headquarters were at the Occult Book Shop in Chicago. The Church went public in 1971. It was opposed to the Satanism of Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan. Members believed in God as the creator of the universe and in Satan as the creature of God. Satan is the apex of creation who possesses all the power and knowledge of the universe. Members tried to acquire as much of Satan's knowledge and power as possible. This acquisition was to be achieved through magical rituals and psychic development and through the elders, described as an "international group of high ministers in the private end of Thee Satanic Church." The Church disappeared in the mid-1970s.

Only one center, in Chicago, was ever established. It claimed 538 members in 1973. Weekly Saturday night meetings were held including songs, prayers, a ritualistic mass, and introduction of new members. Recruitment was through evening public discussion sessions, the store, and classes given by Taylor.