49961022 AA1 Hail Satan! GE BACKGROUND MATERIAL it is important to me, when beginning the discussion of the WS&OC:WW&WW booklet, that we include discussion about the historical background and possible motivations for CAW's continuing publication of this booklet over the years, inclusive of how much information has been available to the Editor of the publication and those of the Church of All Worlds. it does seem that the matter of 'Satanism and Neo-Paganism' came to a flux-point at or near the Summer of 1988, with articles within 'Green Egg' (GE) continuing a focus on this issue. the appended letters which were contained within GE describe more or less what FBI source Lanning has confirmed and illustrate the feeling and attitude of the Editor, even when provided with information which appears more clearly substantiated than may be obtained from Christian Scare Scams. ------------------------------------------------------------------- the text below is excerpted from the Beltane, 1989, Vol. XXII, issue (#85) of GE (the earliest issue I could find in my files -- far from complete -- that pertains to this debate in some way): Dear GREEN EGG; [not dated] The origin of the modern Satanic Child Abuse hysteria appears to be a book titled: _Michelle Remembers_, which purports to be the reminiscences of a woman, under hypnosis, who was raised in Victoria, BC, Canada. This woman claims to have been raised by a Satanic Cult, and to have suffered numerous atrocities at their hands. I have been unable to document any public appearance of Satanic Child Abuse Survivors prior to the publication of this book. The supposed proof of the truth of this woman's claims is a statement by Len Olsen, former "Satanist" and now a Fundamentalist Minister, that he and his wife were saved from Satanic sacrifice by the intervention of Christ, at a Coven meeting in Victoria. He goes on to claim that he therefore knows that there have been and continue to be Satanic Cults practicing human sacrifice in Victoria. The man named by Len Olsen as being the head of this "Satanic Cult," Lion Serpent Sun, successfully sued Olsen for slander and libel in 1987-8. Lion Serpent Sun was awarded $10,000 damages, plus court costs. Lion Serpent Sun says that he has never been a "Satanist," but is rather a Wiccan. The jury found that, as Sun admitted to being a Witch, and since the general public sees Witches and Satanists as being identical, that Sun was a Satanist. However, they also found that Olsen's claim that Sun and his covern attempted to sacrifice him and his wife was a total fabrication. Since the supposed "proof" of this book has now been proven in a court of law to be a total lie, the truth of any other aspect of the book is beyond serious consideration. *Re: The Sandi Gallant Interview:* [I'd like to see a copy of this - tn] Ms Gallant states: "...the children were very, very specific in alleging behaviour that to the investigators appeared to have Satanic overtones." The phrase "appeared to have Satanic overtones" is very revealing. Recently, an article appeared in my local paper saying: "Devil worship alleged in Medicine Hat, Alta." The article stated that local police were investigating two suicides that "appeared to have Satanic overtones." When I called them to ask what these "over- tones" were, I was told that -- in one case, a young man who apparently drove his care deliberately into a pole had been telling his friends that he was "possessed by devils." In the other case, a young woman -- found dead of a drug overdose, was found to be in possession of "Dungeons and Dragons" games and books on Witchcraft. Does this sound Satanic to you? _Michelle Remembers_ has been on library shelves for almost ten years. Therefore any testimony during this time must be considered possibly contaminated. Further, I have discovered some Fundamentalist propaganda dated 1922, which claims that various groups are kidnapping children and sacrificing them to Satan. As this slander has been circulating amongst these groups for so long, no person who is now a Fundamentalist and claims to have once been a Satanist or Satanic victim can be considered a reliable witness. As demonstrated by Len Olsen, Fundamentalists are prepared to lie about this topic, if they think that such lies will increase attendance at their church. Otter Zell asks if there have been substantiated convictions for crimes of ritual abuse. Ms Gallant assures him that there are, but she does not give the specific charges resulting in conviction in these cases. Is Ms Gallant suggesting that anyone in North America has been convicted of murdering an infant as part of a Satanic ceremony? If so, I challenge her to publish specifics of such a case in GE. There has never been such a conviction! Even in the clebrated McMartin case, the convictions were for sexual assault, with no reference to Satanic ceremonies. In fact, the allegations of a Satanic component in this case only surfaced *after* the convictions. In a recent (1988) publication in Canada, _Ritual Abuse_, a child custody case involving allegations of "Satanic Child Abuse" in Hamilton, Ontario is documented. The author, who attended all the hearings for 'The Globe and Mail' newspaper has since written to me stating that he thinks it very unlikely that the children were victims of a Satanic Cult. He feels it is much more likely that they were exploited by pornographers using Satanism as a theme. *Re: Joan Christianson and Satanic Abuse Survivors:* I do not wish to challenge Ms Christianson's sincerety. However, there are many explanations for this "Survivor" phenomenon. There are now hundreds of persons in North America claiming to have been kidnapped and operated on by UFO's, including the author Whitley Strieber. Many of these persons appear totally sincere. Does this mean that UFO abduction is therefore a *proven fact*? NO! Until there is objective and unbiased verification of these claims, they remain simply that. Similarly, unless there is objective and unbiased verification of Ms Christianson's claims, they remain simply that -- CLAIMS, and NOT proven fact. Ms Christianson, if used as a "breeder" as she claims, must have been old enough to remember exact addresses, names, and dates. Is she willing to publish, in GE, the exact street addresses where these atrocities took place? The full names and ages of the other participants? The exact dates of ritual sacrifices, and the locations of the infants' remains? If not, WHY NOT? Children are being abused all the time. The most massive case of Child Sexual Abuse ever recorded involves Native American communities in the Canadian north. Studies have shown that as many as 80-90% of the residents of these communities, male and female, have suffered sexual abuse as children. A definite link has been drawn with the Christian residential school system in these communities. Apparently, there was a massive "conspiracy" involving Priests, Nuns, and other Ministers, to sexually abuse these children over a 50-year period. One Priest has been charged with 650 counts of sodomy with young Native boys. (A CBC documentary on this case is available on VHS video by writing to me.) Does this mean that there exists an international conspiracy of Christian Ministers to commit 'Christian Ritual Abuse" of children? Of course not! Persons who sexually abuse children may be Christian, Moslem, Buddhist, Pagan or SATANIST. But there is no evidence of a causal link between someone's religious convictions and their sexually abberant behavior. [G. H.] [...] Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T5H-0X2 Dear GREEN EGG: 3/7/89 Enclosed is my completed reader survey. I thought that you might appreciate some more detailed feedback. What follows is [sic] mostly the reactions of people who have read/purchased your magazine in our store. ...[some comments positive and negative removed as unrelated] Negative comments: ... Very bad reaction to the pieces on Satanic child abuse and interview with Sandi Gallant. Several persons who at first appeared interested refused to buy the mags when they spotted this material. We have a somewhat different perspective on this up here, as some of our more prominent "Witch-Hunters" have recently been exposed as frauds and liars. People generally seem dismayed that you appear to endorse the claims of the "Anti-Satanist Witch-hunt" and appear to endorse J. Christianson and S. Gallant. I sent a couple of copies of issues #81, 82 and 83 to an outlet in Calgary. They were returned with a terse note stating: "We do not carry material which supports hysteria-mongering." I think that the article in *84 about Christian Minister abusers will help to redeem you for some of these people. I hope that the above is of use to you. "Blessed Be" [G.H.], Starfire Books [...] Alberta, Canada T6G 0S6 (*....[some removed in response to that omitted above]... However, I feel really weird about being accused of "hysteria- mongering." We are actively engaged in combatting this Witch-hunting hysteria that seems to be sweeping the continent. We're trying to report to our community what's going on around us, and what people are saying about us, and trying to work out an appropriate response. Denial that there is a problem does not address the issues. We do have solid evidence [third time I'll ask, please provide??? tn] that a great deal of religous abuse of children is occurring, and as near as we can discover, and as we are reporting, it seems to be mostly Christians who are the perpetrators. Even Satanists are still some kind of Christian heretics, as Satan is a Christian demon, not one of ours. What we are reporting is that certain people have been generating a great deal of sensationalistic publicity around this issue, and are reaching a lot of people with it, whipping up an hysterical public reaction which they are directing at us, the Pagan/Craft/Occult/Magickal community, whom they are identifying in the public eye as Satanic abusers and sacrificers of babies. This is not a thing we can afford to just ignore. We don't relish the thought of being dragged off into the night and burned at the stake because our neighbors think we are a threat to their children! Joan Christianson and Sandi Gallant can reach the same audience as the Witch-hunters are reaching. We cannot. We have made good, solid contacts [? is this still considered to be true? tn] with Joan and Sandi, among others, and they are now out there speaking up for us. By building bridges instead of walls into the camps of our opponents, we are working to save* all *our asses, including those of some Pagans who don't want to read or think about all this. And to be clear: we do not feel ourselves particularly threatened by "Satanists," whoever and wherever they may be. We are threatened by those who can convince our legislators, educators, police "Satanists," whoever and wherever they may be. We are threatened by those who can convince our legislators, educators, police and neighbors that we are evil minions of Satan who would murder their babies and abuse their children. This is the kind of stuff that gets innocent people killed, and this is the bomb we are trying to defuse. BB - OZ] pp. 34-5; #85 GE [all typos on these mine unless otherwise noted - nocT] --------------------------------------------------------------------- the following letters are taken from SUBSEQUENT ISSUES of GE, illustrating the social role and attitude toward Satanism taken by Neopagans who wrote into "The Legendary GREEN EGG Forum!" Samhain '89, Vol. XXII, #87 GE (pp. 29-30): [Timothy Rutt asked that his letter be taken off this page. See the original publication if you want to read his letter. nocT] ---------------------------------------------------------------- Beltane '90, Vol. XXIII, #89 GE (pp. 34-5): Hi gang! [no date] I feel that it is important to make it clear to the public and ourselves that Satanism is a cultural fantasy promulgated first by the Christian churches, then taken up by romantic novelists, lunatic political theorists and the sort of occultist that treasures notions of "black order." Like any powerful myth, Satanism draws the attention of a few unbalanced people, though no less so than Christianity itself [#s? Neopagan draw?? - nocT]. There is *no* historic evidence for organized Satanism of any sort, outside specific psychotic types. Christian propagandists are currently working very hard to revive the myth of Satanism. Many authors make no bones about including Wicca along with Satanic groups. Church of All Worlds heads the list of "community Satanists" in The New Age, the Occult & Lion Country! It seems to me that we must do our best to weaken and ground the Satanic thoughtform, and not accept or promote it ourselves. Nevertheless it is good to consider these matter in a Pagan magazine. Ian and Moira c/o Wyndham 1634 Coventry, Cleveland Hts. OH 44118 Hi! 1/7/90 Does anyone out there have any ideas on what I can do in my community to stop a Satanic group (calling themselves Witches) who are threatening kids and killing animals? They are all Jr. High & High School kids and so far the cops aren't taking it seriously & won't investigate. I *think* I'm the only witch in my area, so anything I do I have to do by myself as far as the Satanists or PR goes. Thanks! Kim Wildner 404 E. Market St., Greenville MI 48838 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Samhain '90, Vol. XXIII, #91 GE (pp. 36-7): Blessings. [no date] Recently received a letter from a Pagan correspondent who had been hearing lately that "Pagans are not Nature worshippers." I find this disturbing as Nature Worshipper is about all I can be defined as...Unlike you and many Neo-Pagans, I have no objection to Satanists calling themselves witches. From all I've learned the name 'witch' was universally used to designate an evil-doer -- including by our Pagan W. European ancestors. The highly disputed origin 'wik' is often translated 'weal. evil' or 'knowing'. "Starhawk's interpretation of 'wik' as bendable or shaping is rather spurious. As much as I admire her philosophy and as useful as I find her teachings I think her history is often way off. Anyway, it's a sure thing the word 'witch' was hung on stubborn old-believers to set them apart in the most negative way from Christianized peoples. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that the name was hung on Nature peoples in a derogatory manner by those opposed to them, was picked up and fits the average Satanist better than modern Nature peoples anyway. I'm all for scrapping the word myself. Christians will *still* call us witches but at least *we* would not be calling ourselves by a false name." [I have no idea why this single paragraph is set off in quotes -- nocT] Would be interested in your response to this. Personally, I have understood that "wiccan" means wise. Also that Satanism has nothing to do with Witchcraft, although I once got mail from a self-styled "Satanic Witch" who added a description as being a disciple of Gavin and Yvonne Frost. [!] ... [balance deleted as unrelated to Satanism] Regards, David M. Taylor (Duada Makalini) 907 E. Willow Dr., CA 9262 (*Duada, if there's one single concept I would use to define* Pagans, *I would say it is "Nature worshippers." And I strongly resent any association of the terms "Witch" and "Satanist" in the same breath. Witchcraft is, essentially, Pagan European shamanism. Satanism is a Christian heresy involving an inversion of all Christian symbology and mythology. The only reason Witches and Pagans have been linked with Satanists is that to the Fundys,* anything * not of their trad is, by their definition, of the devil, or "Satanic." BB -- OZ*) Editor: Police Marksman 5/18/90 6000 E. Shirley Ln, Montgomery, AL 36117 [huh?? -- nocT] In your March/April issue on Satanism, Cults and Ritualistic Crimes [someone care to quote some things from this?? -- nocT], on p. 34 you indicated statistics of "50,000" Ritual Murders per year. As you showed obvious religious prejudice and ignorance, I took the trouble to consult the FBI Bureau of Uniform Crime Statistics for the truth. There are approximately 18,000 murders total per year committed in the US, and, as you can see by your copy of their response, NOT ONE SINGLE MURDER HAS BEEN LISTED OR NOTED AS RITUALISTIC! You are supposed to be dedicated to the truth, facts, and non- discrimination; yet you pinned a bullseye on every non-Christian! Pagans do not believe in either Christ or Satan and have absolutely nothing to do with either! The Satanic Mass is a backwards Catholic Mass, indicated clearly in the odious _Malleus Maleficarum_ of the Dark Ages! If you claim to be a Law Enforcement publication, then you are required to be fair and unbiased, and have a duty not to print crap and propaganda dedicated solely to religious persecution! The laws of most states forbid the interference with any religious service. I intend to continue to worship the Goddess and any cop or anyone else who interferes [sic] with my worship, or slanders me in public will be subjected to legal consequences for conspiracy to deprive me of my First Amendment Rights. You may wish to retract portions of your story and advise law enforcement personnel of the legal consequences of persecution of religions with state and federal tax exemptions. Thank you. Respectfully, Travis Kenneth Bynum, I Rt. 1 Box 784, Jay FL 32565 Dear GREEN EGG: [no date] The March/April 'The Humanist' magazine cover story, 'Giving the Devil More Than His Due," is based on a three-year investigation by a research team under the auspices of the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion. The report concluded that there is NO vast, organized conspiracy of Satanists kidnapping, ritually abusing or sacrificing 50,000 to two million children a year. The article delves into the facts behind some of the "experts" who promote the Satanist hysteria. Some of the high points: *Dr. Rebecca Brown* appeared on "Geraldo," claiming to be a "Satanic cult detoxifier" who has rescued over 1000 Satanists. Her real name is Ruth Bailey, a former doctor in Indiana who lost her medical license for such offenses as misdiagnosing serious illnesses like brain tumors and leukemia as being caused by demons and devils, addicting her patients with narcotics, and injecting herself with Demerol several times a day. She fled to California and changed her name. _Michle Remembers_, the book that helped launch the current Satanic-conspiracy craze: Michelle Smith's "memories" of ritual abuse -- which do not include names or places -- surfaced *under hypnosis* during her second round of therapy. Her therapist, Dr. Lawrence Pazder, became sexually involved with her, and she divorced her husband and married him. He coauthored _Michelle Remembers_. Los Angeles-area Pagans might also want to check into a pamphlet, "Ritual Abuse," put out by the Los Angeles County Commission for Women, which is much in the vein of other Satanic-conspiracy literature. In its list of "Groups Identified with Satanism" it includes the Ordo Templi Orientis. Under "For Further Information," it lists such reliable resources as Maury Terry's _The Ultimate Evil_ (for which Terry was successfully sued by the O.T.O.), _Michelle Remembers_, and Lauren Stratford's _Satan's Underground_. When I confronted one of the Commission's members with the background of some of these books and their authors, she said, "Well, we don't exactly recommend them, they're just for further reading." She also admitted the pamphlet's material was based on five public hearings with alleged ritual abuse survivors, who were never questioned about the names, dates and locations involved with their abuse, and that she did not even know if any arrests or police investi- gations had been made in connection with the alleged abuse! Unfortunately, you'll have to send the Commission $5 to see this monstrosity for yourself. It can be ordered from: Los Angeles County Commission for Women, 383 Hall of Administration, 500 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. Their phone number is (213) 974-1455. My source stated they were making another edition of "Ritual Abuse," so they might be susceptible to public comment. Robin Weare 5654 Sidney Ave., Long Beach CA 90805 (Thank you for that information, Robin. Our own manual, "Witchcraft, Satanism and Ritual Crime: Who's Who and What's What," has completely sold out of 3,00. We are preparing a 3rd edition, expanded to 28 pages, and need paid-in-advance orders to cover printing costs: $3/copy; 10/$20; 25/$45; 50/$75; 75/$95; 100/$110. The State of California has also put out an excellent "Law Enforcement Primer" on "Occult Crime"* {Research Update, *special edition, Winter '89-'90; vol. I, no. 6}, which I recommend everyone obtain from: Office of Criminal Justice Planning, 1130 "K" St. Suite 300, Sacramento, CA 95814. Phone (916) 324-9100. It's not bad, and it clearly exonerates Witches and Pagans from any association with Satanism -- OZ) --------------------------------------------------------------------- tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com nocTifer