Satanism
Satanism refers to a broad and internally diverse set of philosophical, religious, and Occult traditions that either venerate, invoke, or identify with the figure of Satan — whether understood as a literal supernatural being, a symbolic archetype, or a philosophical ideal. Far from being monolithic, Satanism encompasses organised religious movements, solitary practice, aesthetic identity, and — according to many researchers — an embedded worldview within secretive elite institutions. It intersects with Demonology, Luciferianism, ceremonial magic, and the broader Theology & Symbolism traditions documented throughout this wiki.
Historical Background
The figure of Satan has roots in the Hebrew ha-satan, meaning "the adversary" or "accuser" — originally a prosecutorial role in the divine court rather than a figure of absolute evil. Over centuries, through Christianity, Islam, and the broader Western esoteric tradition, Satan became identified with rebellion against divine authority, pride, carnal desire, and the rejection of moral law.
By the 19th century, Romantic and Occult movements had begun rehabilitating Satan as a symbol of intellectual freedom, defiance of tyranny, and the assertion of individual will. Writers such as William Blake and poets of the Romantic tradition portrayed Lucifer as a heroic rebel. This symbolic tradition laid the groundwork for organised Satanic movements in the 20th century.
LaVeyan Satanism and the Church of Satan
The most publicly visible Satanic organisation in the modern era is the Church of Satan, founded in San Francisco in 1966 by Anton Szandor LaVey. On Walpurgisnacht (30 April) of that year, LaVey declared the founding of the Church and announced the beginning of the "Age of Satan."
LaVey's theology, codified in The Satanic Bible (1969), is largely atheistic. Satan is treated not as a literal deity but as a symbol of:
- Individual sovereignty — the supremacy of personal will over collective moral authority
- Carnality — the embrace of physical, earthly existence rather than spiritual transcendence
- Rational self-interest — rejection of what LaVey called the "herd mentality" of conventional religion
- The adversarial principle — using the symbol of Satan to transgress, provoke, and reject mainstream moral frameworks
The Church of Satan continues to operate as an organisation, maintaining that it is an atheistic philosophy rather than a supernatural religion. It opposes crime, abuse, and illegal activity in its public statements, and distances itself from claims of ritual harm.
The Satanic Temple
A newer and more politically active organisation, The Satanic Temple (TST), was founded in 2013. Unlike LaVey's Church of Satan, TST is explicitly activist in orientation, using Satanic symbolism as a vehicle for:
- First Amendment challenges to religion in public life
- Opposition to corporal punishment and mandatory prayer in schools
- Reproductive rights advocacy
- Counter-programming to evangelical public displays
TST describes its beliefs as non-theistic and frames Satan as a "literary figure" representing rebellion and rational enquiry. Researchers within the Targeted Individual and alternative research communities view TST's rapid cultural mainstreaming with suspicion, suggesting it serves an agenda of normalising Satanic aesthetics within progressive and youth culture.
Theistic vs Atheistic Satanism
A fundamental distinction within Satanism is whether adherents believe in Satan as a literal, personal supernatural entity:
- Atheistic Satanism (LaVey, TST) — Satan as symbol, archetype, or philosophical device; no literal deity worship
- Theistic Satanism — genuine veneration of Satan or Lucifer as an actual being; sometimes overlapping with Luciferianism, demonology, and ceremonial magic traditions
Theistic Satanism is far more difficult to study, partly because serious practitioners rarely publicise their beliefs, and partly because the categories overlap with various occult orders. It is within theistic and ceremonial traditions that allegations of ritual abuse, blood sacrifice, and invocations documented in survivor testimony most commonly arise.
The Inversion Principle
One of the defining philosophical features of Satanic and Luciferian traditions — highlighted by researchers including Manly P Hall, William Cooper, and John Coleman — is the inversion principle: the deliberate reversal of moral, spiritual, and symbolic norms.
This manifests in several ways:
- Inverted crosses and pentagrams as symbolic reversals of Christian iconography
- The elevation of what conventional religion labels "sin" (pride, lust, wrath) as virtues
- Moral relativism: the rejection of absolute good and evil, often framing conventional morality as a tool of oppression
- Alchemical and Hermetic reversals (solve et coagula — dissolve and coagulate)
According to researchers in the New World Order tradition, the inversion principle is not merely symbolic but operative: those who understand that elites "invert" public moral messaging can decode their intentions by assuming the opposite of stated positions. Hidden in plain sight, the argument goes, are inverted symbols in corporate logos, public rituals, and the entertainment industry.
Satanism in Elite Institutional Culture
A significant body of research and testimony alleges that Satanic philosophy — particularly in its theistic or Luciferian form — is not marginal but embedded within the upper tiers of Western institutional power. Key figures in this tradition of research include:
- William Cooper (Behold a Pale Horse) — argued that the Illuminati and affiliated secret societies operated on a Luciferian religious framework, with Satan venerated as the "light-bringer" of secret knowledge
- John Coleman (The Committee of 300) — described elite organisations including the Committee of 300 and affiliated think tanks as operating under a philosophical system antithetical to Christian civilisation, characterised by a Satanic or Luciferian worldview
- Fritz Springmeier — extensively documented alleged Luciferian bloodline families and their ritual practices in the context of trauma-based mind control (see MK-Ultra)
- Malachi Martin — a former Jesuit priest who claimed that Satanic ritual had been performed at the Vatican and that Satanic influence had penetrated senior Catholic Church hierarchy
These claims are contested and unverified in mainstream academic and journalistic sources. However, they form a substantial and internally consistent body of alternative historical research that this wiki treats as a legitimate area of investigation.
Symbolism in Institutions
Researchers point to alleged Satanic or Luciferian symbolism embedded in:
- Architecture of government buildings (obelisks, inverted symbols, solar and Osirian motifs — see Theology & Symbolism)
- Corporate logos and entertainment industry imagery
- Ceremonies such as the Bohemian Grove's "Cremation of Care" ritual, which involves the symbolic burning of an effigy before a giant owl statue
- Award ceremonies, halftime shows, and other televised mass events interpreted as public occult rituals
Manly P Hall, in The Secret Teachings of All Ages, documented the esoteric symbolism of Western civilisation exhaustively. While Hall was not explicitly Satanic in orientation, his work is frequently cited by researchers seeking to decode institutional symbolism.
Ritual Abuse Allegations and MK-Ultra
Among the most serious and controversial claims connected to Satanism are allegations of Ritual Satanic Abuse (RSA) — the use of Satanic ritual as a vector for trauma in mind control and child abuse programmes.
Survivors of alleged CIA-linked mind control programmes (see MK-Ultra) have testified to:
- Ritualised abuse designed to fracture identity and create dissociative states
- The deliberate use of Satanic imagery, invocations, and theatrical ceremony as psychological terror tools
- "Handlers" operating within what survivors describe as generational Satanic cult structures
- Alleged connections between these programmes and prominent political and religious figures
Researchers including Cathy O'Brien, Brice Taylor, and others have published accounts detailing these allegations in detail. Mainstream psychology and law enforcement have largely dismissed RSA claims following controversies in the 1980s–90s ("Satanic Panic"), though critics argue that dismissal was itself part of an organised effort to discredit genuine survivors.
The use of ceremonial Satanic framing in trauma programming — regardless of whether perpetrators are "true believers" — is theorised to serve several functions:
- Creating memories too bizarre and stigmatised to be believed
- Instilling supernatural terror in victims
- Binding victims through perceived supernatural complicity
- Fragmenting personality through extreme dissociation (see Trauma Based Programming)
[[File:An encyclopaedia of Occultism a compendium of information on the Occult sciences, occult personalities, psychic science, magic, demonology, spiritism and mysticism.djvu|thumb|right|Occult ceremonial circle ritual]]
Connections to the Occult Tradition
Satanism does not exist in isolation but sits within a broader matrix of Western occult practice. Key connections include:
- Freemasons — Albert Pike's Morals and Dogma contains passages that, depending on interpretation, equate the Masonic "Great Architect" with Lucifer; researchers such as William Cooper and Texe Marrs argue that upper-degree Freemasonry is fundamentally Luciferian
- Illuminati — Adam Weishaupt's Bavarian Illuminati (1776) incorporated Luciferian symbolism and the goal of overturning religious and monarchical authority; its alleged successors are said to maintain this philosophical inheritance
- Thelema — Aleister Crowley's system of magick, with its motto "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law," is a significant influence on modern Satanism; Crowley's influence pervades the Church of Satan and many ceremonial magic traditions
- Demonology — the formal study and taxonomy of demonic entities, invoked in both theistic Satanism and in descriptions of alleged ritual abuse
- Kabbalah and Qliphoth — the "shadow" side of Kabbalistic cosmology, associated with the dark emanations (Qliphoth) sometimes worked with in left-hand path traditions
The Left-Hand Path
The term Left-Hand Path (LHP) is used in occultism to describe spiritual traditions that embrace the adversarial, transgressive, and self-deifying aspects of religious practice — in contrast to the "Right-Hand Path" traditions of submission to divine authority. Satanism, Luciferianism, Setian philosophy (as practised in the Temple of Set), and related currents all fall within the LHP category.
Key characteristics of LHP philosophy include:
- Self-deification: the practitioner becoming, or identifying with, a god
- Antinomianism: transgression of moral and social norms as a spiritual discipline
- Separation and individuation from the collective or "herd"
- Working with "dark" or adversarial energies rather than sublimating them
These principles, critics argue, map closely onto the operating philosophy of technocratic elites — the World Economic Forum's vision of a managed humanity governed by a self-selected "illuminated" class who operate beyond conventional moral constraints.
