When Satanism begins and ends as a fashion statement, when you have been a Satanist for decades and you still can’t shake the ‘Phase One’ mentality, when your ‘real world success’ is non existent sans-Satanism, YOU ARE NOT A SATANIST!
In The Church of Satan by Blanche Barton, Magistra Templi Rex shared our founder Anton Szandor LaVey’s thoughts on the then future direction of The Church of Satan. I found his thoughts about his reorganization of the church in 1975, on ‘Phase One’ Satanists being filtered out with the use of the Grotto system, enlightening. Which was itself phased out, at least formally, but we’ll get back to that in a minute. What truly interested me was his definition of ‘Phase One’ Satanists in that passage:
Satanists who were more interested in Group Rituals, blaspheming Christianity, etc.
No one can deny their initial Phase One attraction to Satanism, and yet there are groups of Satanists that use it as a social tool, a way to emotionally suck each other off, convincing themselves that they are truly powerful Satanists, at least to each other. To them, group ritual is a selfie opportunity. It allows them to show their ‘followers’ that they are just like our founder, posing for photos in ritual garb with nude women. Revealing their infantile use and understanding of Greater Magic ritual, all the while, completely ignorant to the irony of it.
You see, the Doktor stopped performing group rituals because he wanted Satanism to move beyond those trappings. He wanted to naturally phase those ‘Phase One’ types out of the Church of Satan. As Magistra Nadramia, the High Priestess of the Church of Satan wrote in her essay From the Church of Satan Archives:
[LaVey said] he was done with the Deviled Ham. He’d had five years of providing devil horns and tombstones for the general public, the Age of Outrage was drawing to a close, and Doktor wanted to show Satanists as they really were: ladies and gentlemen, accomplished, sophisticated, elegant and beautiful.
And just a little further reading in The Church of Satan, Magistra Barton writes:
Anton was incensed to see his creation degenerating into a Satan Fan Club, where the weakest, least innovative members were buoyed up with time and attention at the expense of the most productive, most Satanic members.
The Doktor wanted the Church of Satan to be filled with Satanists who were less focused on group think, communal gathering, creatively stagnant, Satan fans, and more represented by Satanists who USED Satanism as a tool to enrich and inform their REAL LIVES. Where their accomplishments were not in a ritual selfie, but a career promotion or the achieving of a personal goal. Being a Satanist isn’t your childish desire to idolize or emulate its founder, but rather it is a religion about being your own individual. You see the difference?
Unfortunately I know far too many Satanists who don’t. Or at least they act like they don’t. They treat Satanism like their own cult. Gathering thralls and commanding them, as if they had any actual authority or power. Treating Satanism like a Greek letter on top of their frat house. Instead of studying Satanism they are exploiting it. Rather than living and sharing inspired thought, it’s a competition with other Satanists with diatribes laden with dick and fart jokes.
Let us all take a moment and reflect on what we are truly doing with our lives as Satanists. Are we personifying its ideas in a positive, professional way that furthers our real world goals, or are we trying desperately to create the very community the religion has been against from the beginning? The answer will differ for each individual, but it is a question we must ask of ourselves. We need just refocus our efforts, our thoughts to ourselves and be less concerned with what others think. Remember, Satanism is about YOU. It’s about your REAL WORLD SUCCESS. It’s about individual accomplishment and action.
Get your infernal ass out there, set a goal and crush it!
Hail Satan!