#also let it be known i'm and atheistic satanist

[carry-on-my-wayward-gays]

Sausage sitting in a pew in his cathedral, hands clasped together tightly with a sunflower rosary between his palms.

He's not praying, not actively, but sitting in his church gives him comfort. There's actually no thoughts swimming around his mind for once. His head is an empty echo chamber with no sound to echo.

His eyes are wide and his whole body is shaking. He's crying as well, a steady stream of hot tears run down his cheeks and drip from his beard.

There's no way he just met Santa Pearla. His Saint Pearl. And she's a janitor?

The lady in a silky soft green dress - blooming with fresh sunflowers and vines - looked so much like her. Saint Pearl. But this lady from a foreign world insisted she was not a god. She said she handled trash all day, cleaned floors with a mop and a dirty pair of overalls.

Sausage sobbed, bowing his head behind his clasped hands.

Her name was Pearl though. Just not his Pearl. She looked so much like Santa Pearla, she sounds like her too. The resemblance was uncanny, terrifyingly so.

When she stood at the head of the church, in the sunlight, she looked beautiful. She was breathtaking with her crown of sunflowers catching the light and illuminating the petals like a halo, and the way her hair fell around her face and practically shimmered in the light.

Sausage had fallen to his knees and wept over her beauty - or maybe it was because he had convinced himself she was his god. That he was seeing his god in his church, speaking to her.

What a foolish thing to believe.

Sausage's hands fell. He curled in on himself in the pew. His rosary fell to the ground, around his feet.

Were his beliefs founded upon a false god? Had he somehow convinced himself such a woman was worth worshipping? Was everything a lie? Had he been praying to, believing in, raving about a lie? Was his church built for a lie?

He was going to puke if he didn't stop thinking. He needed a distraction he needed to talk to someone he-

He needed his religion. He needed his Saint. He couldn't lose his faith. What - or who - would he have left then?

Sausage leaned down and picked up his rosary, still shaking, and held it between his palms once again.

And he prayed.

[the-devils-library]

The Satanic Bible, by Anton LaVey

Title: The Satanic Bible

Author: Anton Szandor LaVey

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks

Publishing Date: December 1, 1969 (First Edition)

ISBN-10: ‎0380015390

ISBN-13: 978-0380015399

Alright, let's start with the elephant in the room. This little book is often the only thing people read on Satanism, and for good reason - it made quite a splash when it was published.

Considered the foundational text of the Church of Satan and their specific style of atheistic Satanism (often called LaVeyan Satanism), The Satanic Bible is part philosophy, part religious teaching, and part magical instruction. LaVey is well known for his stance that humanity does not need God, and that believing in God (or Satan, for that matter) as real entities serves only to hold back our potential. However, LaVey argues that humanity does need religion, and that religion requires dogma and ceremony. The dogma and ceremony LaVey offers to the reader is based on one's own happiness and self-satisfaction, as opposed to the Christian values of self-sacrifice for the greater good. His Nine Satanic Statements, Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth, and Nine Satanic Sins are easy to read and understand, and seem to be the inspiration for other Satanist's lists of values, such as The Satanic Temple's Seven Fundamental Tenants.

LaVey embraces sexuality and indulgence, framing sexual energy as the best and most potent source of power for magical workings. Magic is described not as an appeal to a higher power but a seizing of one's own fate, aiming for success and happiness through the manipulation of the world around oneself. The practices he recommends are rooted in ceremonial magic, especially Enochian magic.

The Satanic Bible has had multiple editions and translations since its original publication and is widely available through most online book retailers, as well as sometimes being stocked in magical and metaphysical shops.

[DISCLAIMER: The Devil's Library is not affiliated with any of the previously mentioned groups or authors. It is an independent project by a single Satanist. Do not mistake my mentioning of an author or group as endorsement for their beliefs and practices.]

Beneath the cut you'll find my personal review and opinions on this book.

I've said before on this blog that I am not LaVeyan, and that's still true. While I greatly respect the concept of a non-theistic religion and I lift my glass to all those who work hard to form such religions, I prefer a theistic view of the world. On top of that, LaVey's philosophy does little for me. In truth I consider LaVey's work to not be particularly revolutionary in terms of philosophy. He was a self-admitted fan of Ayn Rand and his brand of Satanic individualism has oft been compared to Randian philosophy with a coat of occult paint slapped on top - I think that evaluation holds true. His magical system also strikes me as unoriginal, given he simply reworked the Enocheon keys. My overall evaluation of the man was that he was a lazy philosopher and a lazy magician, but a skilled showman, and that's how he pulled in as many followers and critics as he did. People were rejecting God and practicing ceremonial magic long before LaVey came along. He just cultivated a compelling aesthetic around it.

I think it's safe to say the book is a product of its time and creator. LaVey is both progressive and regressive, endorsing kink and queer sexuality while also objectifying women in his magical practice (LaVey is, as far as I can tell, the originator of the Satanic tradition of using a nude woman's body as an altar, and he makes a note that during ritual, men should wear robes, but women should dress scantily in order to titillate the men) and having some deep misunderstandings about asexuality. It's also not to be taken lightly that while as far as I'm aware, LaVey himself didn't profess to be a white supremacist, his fondness for Ayn Rand shows a fondness for fascism, he certainly rubbed elbows with white supremacists, and various individuals and groups that broke off from the original Church of Satan have been noted as having a range of Nazi-adjacent views and values, namely the Temple of Set. His list of "Satanic names" is also a very sloppily cobbled together list of names of any god, deity, or spirit who's ever been even slightly associated with negativity, utterly ripped from their cultural context and reduced to keywords that, I assume, LaVey expects the readers to either claim as names of their own or use in rituals. The list includes outright racist cultural appropriation, such as the inclusion of Kali's name, to ignorant misrepresentations of myth, such as calling Loki the "Teutonic devil." As always, I recommend referencing scholarly and culturally conscious resources when it comes to discussions of other religions and mythologies. Do not take a single writer with no credentials at face value.

That being said this is a book I generally recommend people read, with the added note that taking it entirely at face value and assuming it's the one true Satanic text is a mistake. The Satanic Bible is integral to our religious history at this point, but we need not cling to it as entirely or even mostly correct. It is also useful to be familiar with it when interacting with other Satanists, as it's possibly the most commonly read book in the entire religion, so like it or hate it, you probably should have some opinion on it.

[alephskoteinos]

So something, uh, interesting happened while I was asleep last night. At 3am GMT, the Facebook page of my blog, Aleph's Heretical Domain, was sent a message by a woman named Jennifer Mezzetta, otherwise known as Jennifer Crepuscolo, the apparent leader of the Union of Italian Satanists. It seems she saw my article about her organisation, and was none too happy about it. So she sent me this:

And just for posterity this is her:

This all started when Vice wrote an article covering the Union of Italian Satanists, see below:

And then I noticed Queer Satanic had a thread on that article in which they explored some content from the USI's website that the Vice article, for some reason, did not see fit to cover. Among those things is Jennifer's apparent support for National Socialism (Nazism) and the USI's belief in "the noble Gentile race" as the descendants of Satan.

This lead me to decide that I should do my own research and cover the subject in more depth in my own article, "Italian Nazis In Black: An analysis of the Union of Italian Satanists":

This is what Jennifer thinks is "dishonest" and could "lead to slander". The thing is, though, this is just on its face nonsensical. First of all, it looks like she's not even accusing me slander, rather she's accusing me of saying things that "could lead to slander". That is surely not a legal charge. And second, it's only "slander" if I made up what I wrote about and what I say is false.

You know, I would have assumed that someone like Jennifer Mezzetta Crepuscolo would be just fine with people exercising their freedom of speech, but I see that perhaps she and her circle aren't tough enough to handle criticism. Put it this way: they write about being persecuted by Christians. Now I would think that someone writing a blog post discussing things that they actually said on their website would be far less pressing than the ongoing persecution of Satanism.

And I may be unfamiliar with Italian law on the subject but I am very certain there is no case to be had here. It's only slander if I made it up and it's false. It is not. How would they prove otherwise? They'd have to prove in court that their website does not say what it says. And let me just show you some screenshots from their website from Queer Satanic's thread.

I doubt Jennifer is reading this post, but is the Union of Italian Satanists prepared to prove in court that these examples for instance are a mistranslation, or that the text itself was somehow manufactured by her critics? And that's not all. My article has discussed far more about their website than just these screenshots. Any serious case is going to have to hinge on Jennifer and her organisation proving that they did not write what we have seen them write. I also believe that this means that, if there is any case at all and it is performed to any degree of confidence, then it will probably devolve into an argument in court about Jennifer's political opinions, which means that she could be expected to justify her support for National Socialism, or forced to answer for any attempt to deny that support.

So, what do you think is more worthwhile for Jennifer: leaving some rando blogger be with his time writing about things, or being made to answer for her positive opinions about Nazism in public? At the moment I'm expecting nothing, but I want it known and on record that this is nothing more than a weak and obscure organisation going out of their way to try and intimidate Satanists into silence for criticizing their statements. I would very much like to see their efforts come to nothing and be shown for the petty repression of dissent that they are.

[casper-the-cooll]

I have a question and I hope this makes sense but what if I believe in god/Jesus but also hail Satan like I'm pretty much the opposite of an atheist cause I believe in both but I'm not gonna choose a side when I don't know the ful story and our only proof are book. Like is that a thing and is that allowed?

You don't have to answer if you feel uncomfortable but I'm just stuck tbh.

Great question! First of all, I would like to clarify that I am a nontheistic, or LaVeyan Satanist, which is different than theistic. I am by no means an expert, and mostly just follow what feels right for me. As a LaVeyan satanist, also known as rational or modern satanist, I don't believe in any supernatural beings. I believe in myself, and fighting for everyone to have power over themself, and their own body.

A theistic Satanist however, is defined as "umbrella term for religious groups that consider Satan, the Devil, or Lucifer 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."

I can't speak for theistic Satanism because I don't follow this religion, but I hope this clears things up! I suggest doing your own research.

Finally, I want to remind you that if no labels fit you, that's okay as well! Make your own religion! Spirituality should be a personal and happy journey for everyone. (Even if you decide not to go one it at all!)

IF I AM INCORRECT ABOUT ANYTHING PLEASE LET ME KNOW