From "The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal"
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_SATAN AND SATANISM._ ...Satan was relatively unimportant during most
of the first thousand years of Christian history.... Most writers on
Satan and satanism frame their discussions within Christian theology
and folklore, hence an objective, comparative perspective on people's
conceptions of evil is often lacking in the literature. This article
addresses these concepts from the perspectives of ethnology and
history and shows that they are specific manifestations of universal
cultural beliefs.


_Satan in History_

_Meanings in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam._

All religious sytems have had to accommodate to the fact of evil in
the world. Satan is Christianity's response. The concept embodies
the opposite of God and Christ, conceptualized either as a principle
or as an actual being. With capital letter, "Satanism" has denoted
a religious system focusing on the active worship of Satan; in lower
case, the term refers generically and often vaguely to a host of
despised concepts and practices, often more imagined than real. As
adjectives, Satanic means things of Satan; "satanic" denotes anything
evil, forbidding, or evocative of images of Satanic lore. Popular
synonyms have included the Devil, from Greek *diabolos*, a slanderer
or tempter, in lower case a generic term referring to a spiritual
agent of Satan, or any demon or evil spirit; Lucifer, Latin light-
bearer, the morning star, in an early myth a rebellious angel of God
expelled from heaven; any of a number of non-Hebrew gods encountered
in the Old Testament, e.g., the Philistine Baal or Canaanite
Beelzebub; a personified negative value, such as Belial, from Hebrew
for "worthless"; sometimes Antichrist, although this label more often
referred to a human precursor of a cataclysmic end, perhaps an agent
of Satan or perhaps separate from Satan's influence (see McGinn 1994);
or, mainly, as a literary metaphor, Mephistopheles or Mephisto, from
the late medieval legend of Faust; any capitalized noun designating
an evil-minded being or power, the Enemy, the Adversary, the Wicked
One; or a variety of other labels drawn from Satanic lore, e.g., the
Prince of Darkness, the Dragon, the Horned One, etc.

The concept of Satan as a negative principle or being is found also
in Judaism and Islam but carries nothing like the importance the
concept has developed in Christianity. The English name comes from
the New Testament Greek (*Satanas*) rendering of the Hebrew biblical
word for "adversary," or "tempter." The Satan of early Judaism was
more a role than a special being. It is only in the book of Job
that Satan is a specific character, and here he is completely under
God's authority. There is no indication in the text that the
serpent in the Genesis story is Satan, but it was assumed in the
Revelation reference to "that ancient serpent" (12:9); and the Qu'ran,
set down in the seventh century C.E., is explicit that it was Satan
who tempted Adam and his wife (II:36). In Islam Shaitan or Shaytan,
also called Iblis (probably from Gr., *diabolos*), is a lesser spirit,
once an angel of Allah, but expelled from heaven for the cardinal sin
of pride -- specifically, for refusal to acknowledge Allah and Adam
as superior -- and installed in an earthly plane as tempter of people.
In Christianity, as God was master of Heaven, a carefree and blissful
afterworld for the souls of those who had followed God's laws, Satan
came to be the lord of Hell, a hierarchical underworld; a place of
horrible and eternal punishment for sinners. There was no counterpart
to this concept in Judaism, as *She'ol* is a place of waiting (for a
vaguely conceived future resurrection and judgment, not punishment.
A concept of hellfire and punishment for sin exists in Islam 
(*Jahannam*, a fiery ditch, or pit, from Hebrew *Gehinnom*...), and
aspects of its torments are described in the Qu'ran; but such
punishment is to be decreed after the Day of Judgement, and the
sinner has plenty of time for repentance and forgiveness. In 
Christian belief condemnation for the more serious sins was immediate
and absolute and by late medieval times Christian ideas of Satan and
Hell had become unique for their severity among all the world's
religions. Details of popular belief about Satan, however, developed
separately from those sections of Jewish and Christian scripture that
were accepted as canon, and they have changed radically and quickly
over time, responding to social change; so for a reconstruction of
beliefs in Satan the materials and methodology of anthropology and
folklore are necessary supplements to biblical and theological history.


_Early Ideas of Satan and Hell._ Modern scholarship has shown that
the development of Christian ideas of the activity of evil in the
world and the terrible punishment for those who succumb to it was
a complex process. Much of it coalesced during the so-called
Intertestamental period, the turbulent four centuries between the
end of the Old Testament and the time of Jesus; but it has been
expanding and contracting continually since. The series of four
works on the history of Satan by historian Jeffrey Burton Russell
(1977, 1981, 1984, 1986) are acknowledged as seminal; more recent
studies include Alan Bernstein (1993) on Hell, Norman Cohn (1993)
on early apocalyptic beliefs, and Bernard McGinn (1994) on the
Antichrist idea. The social importance of Satan is inextricably
linked to Christian eschatology; and further scholarly insight in
the near future is certain, as interest in the nature of apocalyptic
beliefs is intensifying with the coming close of the second millenium
of Christian history.

Over the last thousand years before the Christian era (B.C.E.), Jewish
culture was subjected to Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian Persian,
Greek, Syrian, and Roman influence, and all must be examined for a
complete picture of the development of later religious ideas. Jewish
susceptibility to new ideas was greatest during the period of
confusion following the Babylonian Exile under Nebuchadrezzar II [sic].
The Exile, or Babylonian Captivity, began in the sixth century,
culminated with the fall of Jerusalem in 586, and ended with the sack
of Babylon by the Persian king Cyrus the Great in 539. Cyrus aided
the Jews in their return, contributed to rebuilding the Temple, and
was hailed as the Messiah (see Isa. 45:1 and 2 Chron. 36:11-23).

The Jewish Bible (the Christian Old Testament) was largely ended by
this time, but from the wealth of apocryphal writings that is ever
increasing with new archaeological discoveries and more informed
sholarly interpretations, a detailed picture of radical cultural
changes is emerging. Persian culture became ennobled and exemplary
and was the major foreign influence as Judaism tried to reconstruct
itself. The sharp dualism of the Zoroastrian religion, and its
detailed apocalyptic tradition, is acknowledged as especially
influential on the development of ideas that formed the bases for
Chrstian theology and eschatology.

The influence of Zoroastrian religion and philosophy on the
development of Christianity (and later Judaism and Islam) cannot
be overstated. At least a summary of its dualistic and eschatological
tenets should precede further discussion of the development of
Christian ideas of Satan, hell, and the Millenium. In its early form,
developed by the sixth century B.C.E., good and evil originated in
choices made at the beginning of creation by the twin sons of Ahura
Mazda ("The Wise Lord"; later Ormazd), called Spenta Mainyu
("Bounteous Spirit") and Angra Mainyu ("Destructive Spirit"; later
Ahriman). Early Zoroastrianism predicted an imminent end to the world
in a great conflagration from which the followers of the good would
be reborn to share in a new creation. Until that time all souls would
cross a bridge that would lead the good to wait in heaven, the wicked
in hell. As the Persian Empire expanded and consolidated, Zoroastrian
cosmology became elaborated. Ormazd, the high god of goodness, light,
truth, and optimism, assisted by Mithra the Warrior and God of the
Sun, waged battle against demonic forces of evil, darkness, falsity,
and despair, led by Ahriman, lord of the underworld. The history of
the world became a vast drama divided into four periods of three
thousand years each. In the first period, Infinite Time, Ormazd
existed above in the light and Ahriman beneath, in darkness. After
three thousand years Ahriman attacked Ormazd, who foresaw a stalemate
and negotiated with Ahriman a finite period of time after which their
struggle would end; then by powerful words that became the most sacred
prayer of the religion, Ormazd cast Ahriman into the abyss for another
three thousand years. During this time Ormazd effected the first
creation, on spiritual and material levels, including Primeval Ox and
Primeval Man and the souls of later people; and Ahriman created demons
and an opposing material world, including Primeval Woman, the Whore.
At the end of the second period Ahriman, instigated by the Whore,
attacked and killed the Ox from whose body came plants and animals,
and Primeval Man whose body delivered people and metals. But in the
process Ahriman became trapped in the material world, thus sealing
his ultimate destruction. The development of the true religion, the
teachings of Zoroaster, marks the beginning of the fourth and final
period. This would be divided into three segments of one thousand
years, each to be heralded by a new savior, a successor to Zoroaster;
the final savior will end Finite Time and begin a whole new world.

In the Persian province of Media was a specialized group of magicians,
dream interpreters, astrologers, and general practitioners in occult
matters, called *Magi* (*magus*, sing.) in Latin. These were major
advisers to the king. Such practices were forbidden to the Jews (see
Deut. 18:9-13), but Cyrus was a good king, his kingdom was the largest
the world had ever known, and its influence was profound. Influenced
also by Hellenic and other sources there developed in Jewish culture
new aspects of beliefs in angels, the first beliefs in evil spirits
and possessing demons, and the establishment of Satan in his fiery
underworld realm. 

Variations on the story of a rebellion in Heaven and the expulsion of
Satan and other "fallen angels" developed at this time, but were
recorded in complete form only in the so-called First and Second Books
of Enoch. Much of what later was to be regarded as Christian folklore
is recorded in the many -- some very obscure -- writings set down by
various sects, cults, and isolated religoius communities that rose and 
fell during these turbulent times. Very few were accepted as canon.
(See Bernstein 1993 for discussion of the development and influence of
Enoch and other noncanonical writings.) By the time of Jesus beliefs
in demons, spirit possession and exorcism, Satan and Hell, and a
cataclysmic Apocalypse, all absent or sketchy in the Old Testment, are
firmly established; and by the end of the firsth century C.E. detailed,
if somewhat confused, ideas of the Millenium were central in Christian
eschatology, expressed in the canonical Revelation of John.

How the English word Hell, derived from an Anglo-Saxon term meaning
"conceal" or "cover," came to mean a place of torment by fire is not
yet satisfactorily explained. She'ol in Judaism and Hades in 
classical Greek religion were neutral places of waiting. In Zoro-
astrianism the souls of sinners fall into a dank, cold, foul-smelling
abyss. Early Zoroastrianism said the world would end in fire; other
religions variously conceive fire as destroyer or purifier. Fiery
lakes had been a feature of the Egyptian underworld. But it seems
not to have been until after the Babylonian Exile that Judaism
interpreted hell as a fiery place. Current scholarship assumes that
the idea of hell as a "fiery pit" or "ditch" in Christianity and Islam
seems to have derived from "Gehinnom" (*Gehenna*, Gr.; *Jahannam*,
Ar.), the Valley of Hinnom south and west of Jerusalem, reputedly the
place where in pre-exilic times chldren were burned in sacrifice to
the Ammonite god Moloch. After the exile Gehinnom became a refuse
dump and crematory for the corpses of outcasts, lepers, and executed
criminals. Fires were kept burning there to avoid infectino. God's
references to "the dead bodies of the people who have rebelled against
me" and the immortal worm and unquenchable fire at the very end of
the Book of Isaiah (66:24) seem to justify Gehinnom as the model for
Hell.

And how Satan developed his specific attributes, and became the lord
of a fiery hell also needs further historical research. The New
Testament is not explicit. In Matt 25:41 Jesus prophesies that at
the final judgement the King "will say to those at his left hand,
'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire
prepared for the devil and his angels'" (NRSV). And by Jesus' claim
to have seen "Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning" 
(Luke 10:18) it might be assumed that the Enoch story of the expulsion
of the rebellious angels from heaven was known to New Testament
audiences. A popular equation of Satan with Lucifer, the fallen star
of morning (Isa. 14:12) might also be assumed; note Paul's warning in
2 Cor. 11:14, "even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light." In
the book of Revelation, written at the end of the first century, images
of hell are explicit. It is not sufficient simply to assume that a
sharply dualistic notion of the cosmos was appropriate for the troubled
times of the Intertestamental period, that Zoroastrianism formed the
principle model for the concept, and that Satan ws the only logical
being to assume the role of leader of an evil opposition to God and the
Messiah. Anthropological studies of religion and society universally
show strong correlations between social structures and sentiments and
the ways in which people conceptualize their cosmos. Cultural
restructuring in post-exilic times inevitably produced a hierarchical
sociopolitical system characterized by sharp inequalities; a correspon-
dingly hierarchical religious system with a clear idea of post-mortem
reward and punishment was the logical result. Berstein (1993) suggests
that the simple human desire for vengeance and retribution lay behind
the conceptualization of Hell.

_Satan and the Millenium._ The Revelation of John, the last book in
the Christian Bible, has been both extremely influential and the most
misunderstood book of either testament. Most of it was written near
the end of the first century C.E. by a Christian prophet (not the
Gospeler) in exile on the Aegean island of Patmos. Because of wide-
spread persecution of Christians, much of it is written in a code
understood by its intended audiences, but not understood by Christians
of later periods; and much of it, as its author clearly states, is the
recounting of a vision. It is like the ecstatic hallucinations that
have inspired religious movements throughout history. Biblical 
scholarship has shown that certain images taken as signs or forms of
Satan were in fact metaphors for the Roman oppressors, e.g., "The Beast"
with seven heads is Rome with her seven hills; "666," "the mark of the
beast" (Rev. 13ff.) is the numerical equivalent of the Hebrew letters
for Nero, the Roman Emperor (an early candidate for the Antichrist
because of his vigorous persecution of Christians). All the imagery of
Babylon the Whore (compare the Zoroastrian myth of the Primeval Woman),
her finery and commercial success and her downfall, is metaphor for the
decadence and ultimate destruction of Roman. "The Dragon" is explicitly
Satan, who inspires the Beast. A good annotated edition of a recent
translation of the Bible, such as an Oxford edition, will give currently
accepted meanings for the book's many images and metaphors.

Christian theology divided historic time into three periods of a
thousand years each: from Adam to Moses, to David, and to Christ, who
would usher in the final period of history. Revelation is the latest
and most complete canonical acopalypse literature -- indeed, by its
titl it is the most explicitly apocalyptic -- and it established many
popular images of Christian ideas of the Millenium, interpreted as
either the end of a thousand-year period when Christ would return and
preside over the final Judgement, or a post-Judgement thousand-year
reign of Christ. But, the millenial predictions in Revelation are
confusing. The most influential are in Chapter 20, much of which seems
directly influenced by the eschatology of Zoroastrianism. Revelation
said that Christ had defeated Satan "and bound him for a thousand years,
and threw him into the pit, and locked and sealed it over him, so that
he would deceive the nations no more" (20:2-3; NRSV). And it was
assumed that at the end of this period Christ would return and the
cataclysm and final judgement would take place.

Greek dualism and the rise of heretical Gnosticism in the first and
second centuries caused some concern, but Christians were relatively
comfortable about their options and about their defenses against any
threat from Satan throughout most of the first millenium C.E. Augustine
(354-430) asserted the reality of demons, but declared witchcraft a
delusion. From the sixth and seventh century on, with Christianity's
encounter with northern paganism, the development of Islam to the south
(Muhammad was another candidate for the role of Antichrist), and the
first threat of heresy in the form of the Byzantine dualist Paulician
movement, concerns about Satan and witches began to spread. The
"Canon Episcopi" of 906 declared witchcraft to be a real threat. The
end of the millenium, described by Richard Erdoes (1989), was a time of
great tension and anxiety.

But Christ did not return, and Europeans sought explanations. By the
late eleventh century it was generally believed that the Millenium
was measured not from the birth of Christ but from the completion of
the New Testament. The exact date was not certain -- it could occur
at any time. Revelation had indicated that it would happen at Jerusalem,
but the Holy City was in the hands of the Muslim infidel; it was clear
that the armies of Armageddon would be Christian and Muslim. A powerful
motivation for participation in any of the various Crusades was to 
assure one's place in Paradise by helping clear the way for Christ's
return.

Over subsequent centuries conditions in all cultural dimensions of
western Europe -- social, political, economic, and religious - became
increasingly stressful, and millenial expectations continued. An
understanding of religious resposnes to social conditions in late
medieval Europe, specifically as manifested in satanic explanations
for social problems, provides surprising bases for understanding what
has been happening in the late twentieth century. Today there is a
vast and increasing literature on conditions in late medieval Europe;
we can identify some representative factors that led to new ideas of
Satan and Hell.

Numerous new Christian dualist sects proliferated, most notably the
Bogomils, Averroists, Catharists/Albigensians, and Waldensians. Most
were inspired by renewed interest in Persian and Greek dualism, as
expressed now in Manichaeism. There were many local variants, but in
general dualist philosophies held that matter and spirit are immutably
separate and doctrines based in their conjoining are false. Some sects
preached an extreme view, that all things material are of Satan. Such
beliefs were a direct threat not only to the fundamental tenets of
Christianity, but also to the church's wealth and claims of divine
authority. The Papal Inquisition was launched by Gregory II in 1231
to deal with such heresies.

Aspects of late medieval times invite comparisons with social conditions
and perceptions in the late twentieth century. Emigration and
uncontrolled urbanization led to urban overcrowding, poor sanitation and
hygiene, high unemployment and inflation, the weakening of kinship and
other social networks, and a rapid increase in ethnic and cultural
heterogeneity. As the cities' needs for fuel and lumber grew, the
forests receded; with the decline of the rural labor force and the fuedal
system, agricultural productivity became insufficient to meet the food
needs of the cities. Wealth and power increasingly concentrated in the
hands of the few, and the rich grew richer and the poor, poorer and
more numerous. Corruption was rife. The church grew rich through
simony and sales of indulgences. The ordinary people felt increasingly
alienated from government, church, and the upper classes who indulged
themselves with internal squabbles, chivalry, and military ventures.
Urban life was dismal and depressing, and the use of psychoactive drugs
was widespread. Crime was rampant, life was cheap, and the problems
of day-to-day life were exacerbated by the increasingly brutal efforts
of the various Inquisitions to identify and ferret out heresy, in the
cities and throughout the countryside.

Pope Innocent IV authorized the use of torture by civil authorities in
1252, and from 1254 to 1261, Alexander IV authorized Inquisitors to use
torture. As the Inquisition became more powerful, suspicions and
accusations of heresy snowballed before it, and by the end of the
thirteenth century inquisitional attention had focussed on a new 
identity of the heretic, the witch, the earthly agent of Satan.

Popular notions of hell were elaborated by the publication of Dante's
"Inferno" in 1312 (with levels of hell and degrees of punishment that
correspond to the severity of one's earthly sins that are similar to
those in Zoroastrianism and Islam). And in 1348 came the most horrible
calamity the Western world has yet known, the Black Death. In just
three years 20 million people died, most in agonizing pain; and by the
end of the century fully one-third of the population of Europe had
died, most in agonizing pain; and by the end of the century fully
one-third of the population of Europe had died of the bubonic plague.
The social impact of the plague was tremendous. Its causes were
unknown. For most people, the only explanation for this and other
problems that had beset humanity was to be found in an alternate
reading of chapter 20 of Revelation, as contained in verses 7 and 8:
"When the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his
prison and will come out to deceive the nations at the four corners
of the earth... to gather them for battle" God had retreated; Satan
was consolidating his power on earth. And four centuries of witch
hunts were under way....


_Satanic Witchcraft._ Explicit descriptions of the power and behavior
of witches were published, first in a series of bulls by Pope Eugenius
IV over the years 1431 to 1447, then in Innocent VIII's bull of 1484,
"Summis Desiderantes Affectibus"; then in 1486 in the infamous witch-
hunter's manual, "Malleus Maleficarum", by two Dominican Inquisitors,
Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger (Summers 1928). By 1600 the Malleus
had gone through twenty-eight editions and had been accepted by Catholics
and Protestants as the definitive guide to satanic witchcraft and
Christian defenses against it. With specific Christian trappings, e.g.,
the pact with the Devil (as embodied in the Faust legend), repudiation
of Christ, and desecration of the crucifix and sacraments, and a variety
of forms of folk magical practices, the specific details of medieval
European witch beliefs are identical to witchcraft beliefs documented
by anthropologists from nearly all cultures of the world. Most cultures
make a distinction among what anthropologists call sorcery, which is
evil magic, involving the use of verbal incantations and the manipula-
tion of symbolic objects; spirit invocation and command; and witchcraft.
Witches are people, either women or men, who carry a special power that
enables them to work harm directly, without the need for magic or the
invocation of spirits. (Today sorcery, spirit invocation and witchcraft
are popularly subsumed under the concept of "black magic".) In Christian
belief all such power comes from Satan, and following God's Old Testament
injunctions against any occult dabblings, late medieval witch hunters
sought any evidence for the practice of any forms of black magic. The
*Malleus* focused on the commandment of Exod. 22:18, "You shall not
permit a sorceress to live." In 1611 King James I of England authorized
translation of the Hebrew *mechashef*, sorcerer (a dabbler in any of the
practices forbidden in Deut. 18:9-13), as "witch."

Stevens (1995) has identified twelve components of witch beliefs from
world history and ethnology: (1) Witches are dedicated to social
subversion. In European beliefs, as the agents of Satan witches were
committed to countering the work of God and Christ and establishing a
kingdom for Satan on earth. (2) Witches are preferentially nocturnal.
(3) Witches can transform themselves into other human forms, or into
the forms of specific animals, or they can become invisible. (4) Witches
have an animal or spirit "familiar," a pet, which accompanies the witch
on his/her nocturnal business, or can act as an agent of the witch; in
Europe witch-animals were bats, owls, cats, or goats, or witches 
commanded spirit "imps." A host of folkloric monsters, especially
werewolves and vampires, display the "shape-shifting" attributes of the
witch and were instigated by Satan, as were later Wild People
(Bernheimer's 1952 study of the Wild Man is acknowledged as seminal by
subsequent writers on the topic). (5) Witches fly, on objects such as
brooms, or animals such as horses or goats, or under their own power.
(6) Witches spread disease. (7) The community's witches meet together
periodically, in the Sabbat, the name taken from the Jewish holy day.
(8) Witches steal children. (9) Witches engage in all forms of illicit
sexual behavior, especially incest, homosexuality, and bestiality.
(10) Witches engage in bloody ritual murder of their victims, a
manifestation of the apparently universal "blood libel" (see Dundes 
1991). (11) Witches are cannibals and vampires, eating the flesh and
drinking the blood of their victims. (12) Witches cause death and are
in other ways associated with death, e.g., the sabbat may be held in
a cemetery, where the witches rob graves and eat or make concoctions
from corpse material.

As the fantastic demonology developed, and the focus of the Inquisition
shifted from members of heretical religious groups to witches, social
patterns of suspicion and accusation mirrored those found in all 
societies experiencing stress, when people seek scapegoats. First
accused were the Jews, the "murderers of Christ," and European witchcraft
lore was elaborated by Christian anti-Semitism (see Trachtenberg 1943).
As the witch mania spread and reached its height in the seventeenth
century (paradoxically, also the period of the Enlightenment and the
beginnings of modern science), like all persecutory movements it
focused blame first on people so different from the mainstream that
allegations of conspiratorial intentions about them were credible; but
once the demonology was accepted, accusations might be made against
anyone. Thus over time accusations were levied, in rough order, against
Gypsies, homosexuals, eccentric widows or spinsters, bad-tempered or
immoral women, the mentally or physically disabled, ordinary peasants,
and any targets of envy or spite. Ultimately no person of any station
or social class was immune from suspicion. At least several hundreds
of thousands -- some say up to a million -- of people, the great 
majority women, were cruelly tortured and burned as agents of Satan
(hanged, in England and America, where witchcraft was a crime, not a
heresy; see Demos's excellent 1982 study of witchcraft in the context
of seventeenth-century New England culture).

In light of twentieth-century interpretations of medieval folk beliefs
and practices it seems necessary to emphasize that witchcraft as
described above is a *belief* system; no aspect of it has ever been
demonstrated. Medieval -- and many modern -- Europeans believed in
and routinely practiced magic, and sometimes sorcery; but there is
absolutely no evidence for the existence of any medieval "witch cult"
as attested by Margaret Murray (1921); see Norman Cohn (1975) for a
thorough refutation of Murray's arguments. It should also be 
emphasized that whereas some people of high or favored position did,
or were rumored to, dabble in "occult" activities -- Gilles de Rais
(b. 1404, executed 1440), Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim
(1486-1535...), John Dee (1527-1608), and Edward Kelley (1555-1595)
are among the most frequently cited -- so risky was any such practice
and so severe the punishment, it is highly unlikely that any organized
"satanic" activity actually took place in medieval Europe.

_Images of Satan._ Satan has been variously depicted and described
in art and literature over the centuries. Earliest images of him
incorporate elements of the Greek satyr, with horns, goats' legs and
cloven hoofs [sic], and tail; and these elements persisted. 
Throughout the Middle Ages Satan appears as a goat, especially at the
Sabbat when new witches, male or female, were to have intercourse with
him. Horned animals are common symbols of power throughout the world.
The male goat is frequently regarded as sexually potent; it is also
unruly and smelly, and a fitting image of Satan or familiar for a
witch. Sometimes he is depicted with a face on his buttocks; another
requirement of initiation into witchcraft was "the obscene kiss" -- to
kiss Satan's anus -- and in art he may be pictured as able to return
the kiss. Satan also often has wings, from the fallen angel myth; and
presumably his long subterranean imprisonment is the reason for frequent
reptilian appearance. The image of the Dragon incorporates horns, wings,
reptilian scales, and a tail; and sometimes associated with fire and
smoke; and carnivorous appetite. He appears in folklore in a variety
of forms, both grotesque and alluring. Indeed, seduction is his chief
mode of operation, and of his male and female spirit assistants, the
medieval *incubi* and *succubi*. Satan is most often colored black; but
often his clothing is red, presumably denoting fire. In late medieval
art he is frequently depicted as an insatiable cannibal, gorging himself
on human body parts. We should note that there is no medieval satanic
association of the pentagram, the five-pointed star emblematic of
Renaissance humanism, later adopted by nineteenth-century occultists
and twentieth-century pagans.... See Russell (1984) for detailed
discussion of folklore images of Satan.



_SATAN AND SATANISM IN THE MODERN WORLD_

...

_Twentieth-Century Satanism._ ...

A variety of emblems were touted [by the early 1990s] as satanic and
ancient, mainly the pentagram, especially in its inverted form, and
the Baphomet of Eliphas Levi. But comparison of the two..., and
just a little research, shows that neither is ancient nor medieval
nor originally associated with Satan. The pentagram, the "pentacle"
suit of the tarot deck, was emblematic of Renaissance humanism and
it was in this spirit that it was adopted by modern paganism; the
Baphomet was similarly intended by its creator, and its pentagram,
as Levi stressed, has "one point ascendant." In fact, what is
probably the earliest example of the inverted pentagram is found on
the Devil card of the Rider Tarot deck commissioned by A.E. Waite,
drawn by an American member of the Order of the Golden Dawn, Pamela
Coleman Smith, and published in 1910 by Rider & Co. Waite's Devil
card is a simplified Baphomet. Anton LaVey, whose thinking is
obviously influenced by the nineteenth-century occultists,
popularized the inverted pentagram, with a goat's head superimposed,
as a Satanic emblem.

...

_Explanations._

... The twentieth-century demonology of satanism is recognized by
anthropologists as a standard legend-type of the sort that becomes
credible during times of social stress, that identifies causes of
social problems, whether real or imagined, and that justifies social
action against the people perceived as responsible. It thus serves
the well-known cathartic and explantory functions of scapegoating,
which is found among all peoples and among some higher primates as
well. The demonology has been seen to correlate wth stressful social
and economic conditions and sociopolitical trends and, more
importantly, people's perceptions of such conditions and trends. It
has been noted that acceptance of the satanic folklore has been
strongly associated with Christian fundamentalism and suggests a
connection with millennial expectations.... Surveys and polls have
indicated a marked rise in beliefs in Satan and possessing demons,
but obviously supernatural beliefs cannot explain the extent of fears
of satanic cults; members of complex society today know that there
are dangerous and irrational people out there. Some explanations
have been sought in findings that the scares have been more a rural
than an urban phenomenon; and that they have developed in predominantly
white, middle-class communities. Explanations have been offered from
individual and social psychology. Most of those who declare fervently
that the satanism problem is real offer as evidence the argument that
so many people in so many different places are telling similar stories.
Some explanation have been based on the speed and efficiency of modern
communication, and the role of writers and filmmakers in spreading the
more sensational and titillating aspects of the folklore. The Black
Mass theme has a long history and is deeply embedded in Western
popular culture; modern satanism and repressed memory themes are spread
well. The demonology has been seen to correlate wth stressful social
and economic conditions and sociopolitical trends and, more
importantly, people's perceptions of such conditions and trends. It
has been noted that acceptance of the satanic folklore has been
strongly associated with Christian fundamentalism and suggests a
connection with millennial expectations.... Surveys and polls have
indicated a marked rise in beliefs in Satan and possessing demons,
but obviously supernatural beliefs cannot explain the extent of fears
of satanic cults; members of complex society today know that there
are dangerous and irrational people out there. Some explanations
have been sought in findings that the scares have been more a rural
than an urban phenomenon; and that they have developed in predominantly
white, middle-class communities. Explanations have been offered from
individual and social psychology. Most of those who declare fervently
that the satanism problem is real offer as evidence the argument that
so many people in so many different places are telling similar stories.
Some explanation have been based on the speed and efficiency of modern
communication, and the role of writers and filmmakers in spreading the
more sensational and titillating aspects of the folklore. The Black
Mass theme has a long history and is deeply embedded in Western
popular culture; modern satanism and repressed memory themes are spread
rapidly among various legal, therapeutic, and popular communication
networks.

But another explanation might be found in the anthropological
significance of cultural universals. It has been noted that satanists
are alleged to do nearly all those things that witches do in
traditional cultures. An anthropological perspective suggests that
some of the attributes of the witch/satanist, such as nocturnal
activity, child victimization, illicit sexual behavior, blood ritual
as expressed in the "blood libel," cannibalism and vampirism, and
an association with death, all of which are universal in demonologies
created by one group about another, might be explained as deep cultural
aversions rooted in the evolutionary biology of the species (see
Stevens 1995). Some variants of the demonology include torment of the
victims with snakes and spiders, which might be explained in terms of
universal revulsion toward these creatures. And Western, especially
American, versions expressed by or about children include obscene
rituals involving urine and feces; for an explanation of these elements
we might look into the shame and guilt about bodily functions that
develop in American children. In the modern demonology, as Stevens
(1991) pointed out, all of the attributes focus on children; and
explications of this strange and disturbing period in modern history
should consider all explanations offered, but must ultimately focus
on the social/cultural significance of children.

						Phillips Stevens, Jr.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

"The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal", edited by Gordon Stein,
 Prometheus Books, 1996; pp. 657-69.
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