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LaVey is explicit in regard to where his religion fits into the occult tradi- tion: “Satanism is not a white light religion; it is a religion of the flesh, the mundane, the carnal—all of which are ruled by Satan, the personification of the Left Hand Path.”8 _{With the combined influence of LaVey and Crowley,}

use of the term has become widespread. Elements of LaVey’s understanding of magic are, however, different. He states that there is no difference between white and black forms, as the former’s selfless goals are based on the fallacy of altruism. “White magic is supposedly utilized only for good or unselfish purposes, and black magic, we are told, is used only for selfish or ‘evil’ rea- sons. Satanism draws no such dividing line. Magic is magic, be it used to help or hinder.”9 _{The target of this doctrine is most likely the rapid growth of}

the neo-pagan movement ( Wicca) at the time of modern Satanism’s estab- lishment. Based on the work of Gerald Gardner, particularly his 1954 work

theorizing of Crowley, and grimoires such as The Greater Key of Solomon. Be- yond this common heritage, the two diverge completely, with Wiccans re- garded by Satanists as travelers of the so-called Right Hand Path. Satanists, Wiccans counter, drag magical practices into disrepute with their unprinci- pled egoism. Christians, generally, consider them both agents of Satan.

Despite some doctrinal changes, LaVey’s definition of magic echoes Crow- ley’s closely. Magic, The Satanic Bible states, is “The change in situations or events in accordance with one’s will, which would, using normally accepted methods, be unchangeable.”10 _{Likewise, all forms of Satanism also maintain}

the traditional distinction between lesser and greater magic. Lesser magic is the most commonly employed form. As Temple of Set literature describes it, “Lesser black magic is the influencing of beings, processes, or objects in the objective universe by the application of obscure physical or behavioral laws.” It is a manipulative activity, whereby one achieves one’s will by surrep- titious means. “Lesser black magic is an impelling (encouraging, convincing, increasing of probability) measure, not a compelling (forcing, making inevi- table) one. The object is to make something happen without expending the time and energy to make it happen through direct cause-and-effect.”11 _Influ-

encing someone to do one’s bidding, for example, is viewed as an example of lesser black magic. Far less common, greater black magic is the act of actually causing change by willpower alone. As it is harder to predict and control, and the physical and mental demands are much more pronounced, it is used only in the most important circumstances. Satanists are, in general, far less likely to claim any substantial ability in greater black magic.

Magic is primarily used through ritual application. The Satanic Bible out- lines three ritual practices: lust, compassion, and destruction. In keeping with the modern occult renaissance, the emphasis is strongly focused on the psy- chological aspect of ritual practice. The setting for ritual practice is signifi- cantly detailed, with careful attention paid to aesthetics: the atmosphere and decoration of the room, the use of appropriate ritual apparatus, and clothing of the participants are all important. The location of Satanic ritual practice is described as a “intellectual decompression chamber,”12 _{which can be inter-}

preted as a purely psychological endeavor, with no supernatural factors. In LaVeyan Satanism, the ritual is simply a form of catharsis, with all signifi- cance purely subjective. LaVey’s magical theory is uniformly focused on the emotional experience of the practitioner. Rituals can be public or private, but the main criteria for success is intensity of the magician’s experience.

Despite remaining broadly in line with the occult tradition, Satanism makes some changes in specific areas. The Satanic Bible is explicitly opposed to drug use and animal sacrifice, injunctions that directly contradict the es- tablished occult tradition. Crowley, for example, indulged at times in animal sacrifice and almost continually in drug use—one widely repeated quote from

The Book of the Law is particularly unambiguous: “To worship me take wine

and strange drugs . . . they shall not harm ye at all.”13 _{The medieval grimoires}

(magical texts, literally “grammars”) often contain rites that involve the rit- ual slaughter of a goat or chicken, with occasional ambiguous references to human sacrifice. Blood was commonly believed to hold the animal’s life en- ergy and was therefore an important part of the ritual. The use of stimulants was also seen as a valid way to achieve higher spiritual consciousness and es- cape from material forms. Prohibiting these practices was no doubt necessary to launch an openly Satanic movement, but they are nonetheless indicative of the way LaVey diluted traditional occult doctrines. Though the use of alcohol was accepted, and is in fact a component of a number of rituals, the drug pro- hibition became official policy—of his church at least—justified as the need to be clear-headed. Outside the Church of Satan, these prohibitions are not necessarily followed.

When LaVey does discuss ritual human sacrifice he stresses that it is a symbolic act in the form of a curse or hex. To this end, the most important and commonly used Satanic ritual is The Satanic Bible’s destruction ritual, al- though its symbolic nature tends to become obscured in the hot winds of its author’s prose. The destruction ritual is performed by the focusing of one’s will and hatred on an effigy of the subject. The effigy can be a physical repre- sentation or simply their name written on paper. The target is selected with predictable Satanic arbitrariness. “The question arises, ‘Who, then, would be considered a fit and proper human sacrifice, and how is one qualified to pass judgment on such a person?’ The answer is brutally simple. Anyone who has unjustly wronged you.”14 _{For the typical Satanist, the ritual provides a satisfy-}

ing illusion of empowerment and control:

The main thing that I got from [ LaVey’s] philosophy was that it provided a healthy way for an individual to deal with and channel his hatred. Since I read this text, I have a very fun way to deal with all of these people who irk me. What I do is, I make effigies of them, and destroy them. And I think it’s a really healthy thing to do with your hate, [to] destroy the effigies of your enemies, and hopefully the same thing will happen to them.15

Most non-Satanists would argue that the continual focus on vengeance and hatred can hardly be healthy. Remorse, obviously, is not a Satanic option: “If your curse provokes their actual annihilation, rejoice that you have been instrumental in ridding the world of a pest!”16 _{LaVey’s only proviso was the}

prohibition of the ritual sacrifice of animals and children.

The most dramatic and notorious Satanic ritual is the Black Mass. The traditional Christian Mass is a highly ritualized affair that can be regarded as a form of ceremonial magic. In the medieval era, it was often performed with

the purpose of affecting the weather, crops, livestock, or health of the com- munity. On occasion, wayward priests inserted the name of a living man into the Mass for the dead, transforming it into a curse and prefiguring its occult use. The inversion of the Christian Mass, the Black Mass, is both a mockery and a transformation of the Christian custom. Christian symbols are inverted, the Mass is recited backwards, and the practitioners’ deity displaces God as the locus. The use of naked women as altars and the highly sexualized pro- ceedings mock traditional religious conservatism while promoting opposing values. Though its adoption by modern Satanism creates a link to the Hellfire clubs and the slanders blighting the Cathars and Templars, LaVey’s reinter- pretation denies that the Black Mass is a vehicle for mere blasphemy. Rather it is a psychodrama whose “prime purpose is to reduce or negate stigma ac- quired through past indoctrination. It is also a vehicle for retaliation against unjust acts perpetrated in the name of Christianity.”17 _{Once former followers}

have seen the ceremony so comprehensively disparaged, this rationale claims, they will no longer be affected by its traditional enactment.

The performance recorded for the documentary Satanis: The Devil’s Mass in 1970 now probably exceeds even the famed debauchery in Huysmans’ La

Bas as the most famous exemplar of the Black Mass. Despite its age, excerpts

from the Church of Satan performance feature in almost every documentary on Satanism, the devil, or the occult. In his expansive work Church of Satan, Aquino describes LaVey-led Black Masses from the same era ending in the traditional manner, with the insertion of the Eucharist into the vagina of the woman serving as a living altar—a detail inexplicably not included in Satanis. Church of Satan performances became less regular after LaVey stopped using the Black House for church purposes in the early 1970s, and the Temple of Set does not afford the Black Mass the same importance. The largest recent performance was a High Mass at the Church of Satan’s 40th anniversary cel- ebration in 2006. In keeping with the church’s current direction, it was pre- sented more as a theatrical event, including the media-friendly “all religion is showbiz and we’re the only religion that admits that” disclaimer from Magus Gilmore.18

With the focus on the subjective and psychological experience of ritual practice, aesthetics and symbolism are as important to Satanism as the rites themselves. Aesthetics are considered a form of lesser magic, a means of ma- nipulating other’s opinions, important enough that “Lack of Aesthetics” is listed as one of the Nine Satanic Sins.19 _{Accordingly, a considerable array of}

iconography has been developed and appropriated, including pagan, occult, and Nazi symbols. The most recognizable is unquestionably the pentagram. Though historically used by ancient Sumerians, Judaism, the Pythagoreans, Christianity, occultists, and Freemasons with no demonic connotations, the five-pointed star has undergone a radical shift in meaning. Its association with

the devil is a twentieth-century development, following its adoption by Lévi and Crowley. Yet even they used the more historically common pentagram, with one point at the top. The devil-worship notion is more a matter of bad reputation than practice.

Satanism has adopted the Baphomet with the inverted pentagram, a com- bination that first appeared in early twentieth-century Europe. The three points, now on the bottom, are said to symbolize the inversion of the holy trinity, a visual representation of the renunciation of Christian values. From an occult perspective, the inversion attracts evil forces and the two points at the top represent the horns of the Sabbat goat. The Sabbat goat inside the inverted pentagram—called the Sigil of Baphomet—is the primary symbol of the Church of Satan. The writing of the outer circle reads “Leviathan” in Hebrew, drawing a further association with Satan via the beast of Revela- tion. The pentagram’s appropriation by the Church of Satan in the 1960s cemented its change in meaning. With a legion of heavy metal bands fol- lowing suit, the symbol is now widely regarded as an ancient symbol for evil. The inverted pentagram is, however, not unprecedented, and not necessarily Satanic, though any chance for rehabilitation has assuredly long passed.

NAZI OCCULTISM AND NEO-PAGANISM

An equally important aspect of Satanic iconography comes from the more recent adoption of various pagan runes. The term rune means “secret,” and they have long been believed to harbor magical properties. Runes associated with pagan practices were repressed by medieval Christianity as devilish sym- bols. The most widely appropriated is the Wolfsangle, particularly popular within the Church of Satan. Represented by a single line with a sharp hook at each end, the Wolfsangle (or Wolf ’s Hook) has origins in Germanic folk leg- ends and is still used, usually in a vertical form, in various civic coats of arms in Germany. Though there are many different permutations of the design, the horizontal form the Church of Satan employs—with an extra vertical bar in the centre—is identical to that used by the Hitler Youth and a number of SS divisions. It is now widely adopted by neo-Nazi and white supremacist organizations. Although it is presented as a traditional Germanic rune, it is often used by Satanists in combination with the Totenkopf, or Death’s Head, another notorious symbol of the SS.

The adoption of SS symbols is unsurprising given Satanism’s sustained courtship with all aspects of Nazism. One recent work on modern Satanism, Gavin Baddeley’s Lucifer Rising, devotes an entire chapter to Nazi occultism and the origins of völkisch racism ( populist /folk racism), though with little explanation of the relevance of either to the topic at hand. Baddeley makes the redundant observation that Nazism wasn’t Satanic, but he fails to address

the issue of why Satanists are recurrently drawn to Nazism.20 _{LaVey claimed}

to have gone to Germany with his uncle in 1945 and come into contact with remnants of the Nazi occult mindset. There he watched Nazi Schauerfilmen ( horror films) at a Berlin command post. As no evidence exists in support of this story, and there is more than a little in opposition,21 _{it is best regarded as}

another questionable addition to the legend of the Black Pope. The Das Tier- drama ritual in The Satanic Rituals is supposedly an artifact of Nazi occultism based on this visit, though its error-strewn German indicates otherwise.

Nazi occultism has been an area of intense interest and research in the postwar era, although not just by historians, but by occultists and conspiracy theorists. Many theorists feel that occult forces can help account for the Nazi’s rapid rise to power and dramatic early war successes. The highly ceremonial nature of Nazi rallies gave them a quasi-religious aura, and the roots of their racialist doctrines can be traced, in part, to the various völkisch movements ( populist folklore /nationalist groups) that preceded the Nazi party. Hitler himself had great faith in astrology, and his mesmerizing public performances gave rise to whispers of secret occult influences. Key Nazi figures Rudolf Hess, Heinrich Himmler, and Alfred Rosenberg all shared a deep interest in the occult. Heavily contested rumors detail legends about the Holy Grail, the Spear of Destiny, the Tibetan roots of the Aryan race, and the lost city of Atlantis. Various highly speculative commentaries have been written on these topics, and the influence and importance of the occult on Nazism is easily, and frequently, overstated.22 _{As a result, “Nazi occult beliefs” more often de-}

notes occult beliefs about the Nazis than occult beliefs of the Nazis.

Aquino’s 1982 pilgrimage to the heart of Nazi Aryan spirituality at Himm- ler’s Wewelsburg Castle is another facet of Satanism’s fascination with the topic. Himmler was a devoted occultist who thought he was the reincarnation of medieval Ottonian King Henry I. He envisaged his Bavarian SS city as the center of the thousand-year Reich. The castle’s north tower, containing the ritual chamber and crypt, was to be the very center of the world. The Black Sun (Schwarze Sonne—a large sun wheel with twelve jagged spokes) symbol that adorned the marble floor in the north tower’s Gruppenführer hall has become the primary symbol of neo-Nazi esotericism. Its relative obscurity, to those unfamiliar with SS exotica, means it can be displayed without fear of its Nazi heritage being recognized, particularly in countries where the Swastika is outlawed. It is widely adopted by Satanists, presumably for similar reasons.

Nazi race theory, such as in the works included in the Temple of Set read- ing list, were also an important part of the regime’s occult beliefs. Rosen- berg’s racial theories, drawing from Madison Grant’s but more philosophical in nature (to compensate for his lack of scientific expertise), were central in the program to justify Nazi myths of racial purity and genealogy. These myths can ultimately be traced, via the völkisch Ariosophists, to the writings

of legendary occult fraud Madame Blavatsky. Her work The Secret Doctrine (1888), based on her purported discovery of a monastery hidden under a mountain in Tibet, established the idea of a race called the Aryans, the fifth of seven purported root-races. Blavatsky claimed that the Aryan race was over a million years old. It had descended from the Atlanteans, the fourth root-race, who had perished on their mid-Atlantic continent in a great flood. She as- sociated the Aryans with the Swastika, an ancient symbol of the sun and good fortune. The Nazi interpretation of Blavatsky’s mystical racism established the Aryans at the pinnacle of the world’s racial hierarchy, and forever dragged the Swastika into disrepute.

Closely related to the Satanists’ interest in Nazi occultism and racialism is the increasing engagement with the modern revival of Norse paganism. Germanic and Nordic beliefs were central to the nineteenth-century völkisch movement. They have resurged in America and Europe in the post–World War II era through the Ásatrú, Odinist, and Wotansvolk movements. While some of the numerous pagan cults are more concerned with explorations of spirituality and cultural identity, others are simply fronts for virulent racism, deeply entwined with extreme nationalism, neo-Nazism, and white suprem- acy. Historian of Nazi esotericism Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke characterizes the Odinist movement as a wholesale rejection of the Christian heritage of the West. “Regarding Christianity itself as a Jewish cultural product with its origins in the Middle East, the Odinist movement articulates an unabashed racial paganism, invoking the gods of the Norse and Teutonic pantheons.”23

Wotansvolk, for example, is also an explicitly racist religion propounded (or reestablished from older forms) by prominent American nationalists David and Katja Lane and Ron McVan. Wotan, an acronym for “Will of the Aryan Nation,” is adopted as an ancient archetype that represents the principal pre- Christian Germanic deity ( known as Odin in Scandinavia). It is regarded as a link to the collective unconscious of the Aryan race and tied directly to ideals of genetic superiority and purity. As David Lane writes, “Wotan awakens the racial soul and genetic memory. He stirs our blood.”24

The racialist theories of contemporary paganism are influenced by the thought of psychologist Carl Jung, especially his complementary notions of collective unconscious and archetypes. Jung theorized that people have pre- conscious psychic dispositions, a collective unconscious passed on from gen- eration to generation. “In addition to our immediate consciousness, which is of a thoroughly personal nature and which we believe to be the only empirical psyche . . . there exists a second psychic system of a collective, universal, and impersonal nature which is identical in all individuals.”25 _{One facet of this uni-}

versal unconscious are the archetypes, impersonal and universal patterns that structure our behavior and thoughts. “The concept of the archetype, which