from http://www.angelfire.com/ego2/traditionalsatanism/satanism.html (accessed 9/6/06) SATANISM Satanism, and Traditional Satanism in particular, is a serious, mature religion and a rich, empowering way of life. Satanism is almost the only religion which truly allows you to live free from all of the guilt ridden moral codes of conventional right hand path religions. The Satanist, unlike the Jew, Christian, Buddhist, or Muslim, seeks to live his life to the fullest and experience all of the joys and sensual pleasures that this life has to offer. For us, life isn't just some test to see if we deserve damnation or paradise after death. We are here on this earth to grow, experience, and learn, so that we may better ourselves and become something more. But, we do not seek to transcend above our current limitations by denying our physical body and seeking some great cosmic "one" or by any other new agey white light methods. In Satanism, the divine is reached not by abstaining from the flesh, but by indulging in it. Those who are closest to Satan are those who not only worship Him, but those who worship Him and follow the dictates of their own nature. Mankind is a spiritual being as well as a physical being though, and man must also learn to control his spiritual powers as well. This is where the practice of Magick comes in. Satanists have always been known as adepts in the Black Arts, since medieval times and perhaps before, and Satan has long been considered the Lord and source of magick itself. Many people are ignorant about the true religious nature of Satanism. Most think that we simply invert Christian values and worship Satan as a god of evil, chaos, and pain. But this is simply not true. To us Satan is the true god of this earth, and he is a just and wise god. We can't consider Satan the god of "evil," as good and evil are only descriptive words used differently by different people. What is "good" to one person may very well be "evil" to another. Actually, we feel that it is the Christians and their Jehovah who are wrong, bad, and in our view essentially "evil." Their moral code is in truth an inversion, an inversion of the laws of nature. The Christians have labeled many things which come naturally to man as sinful, because Jehovah knows that man can't change these instincts, so now we are forced to feel guilty about our own natural desires, just so Jehovah can get the worship he so craves. Satan is nothing like this. Satan encourages us to be ourselves, to live lustful and proud, not to hide our bodies in shame and crush our pride with pale morals and false hope. Alot of people have the misconception that Satanists don't believe that a "God" or Jehovah type entity exists, but, yes, Satanists do believe that the Christian God is a real, sentient being. We just hate him and everything he stands for. But just because we hate him, we do not underestimate him. Just look around you. Look at how many people despise Satan and curse his name. Look at the power that God's people have. Could these people really stand in Satan's way and ruin his earth for so long without any help from an immensely powerful spiritual being, one which is at least as strong as Satan? Jehovah is real, and he is twisted, cruel, and sadistic. And the only thing that stands between us and complete slavery at the hands of Jehovah is Satan. Satan has been worshiped on this earth since the dawn of time, when our earliest ancestors met him in the wilderness, and knew him as the ancient Horned God of hunting and fertility. He was worshiped by the Celts, Romans, Egyptians and the other pagan people of the anient world. He has gone by many names such as Set, Pan, Ahriman, Cernunnos, and many others. It wasn't until after the rise of Christianity, however, that he was consciously worshiped as Satan, the enemy of Jehovah. The earliest signs of his worship under his new guise appeared in the form of Gnostics who venerated the serpent instead of Christ in the early common era. A while later, in the 1100's, a sect known as the Luciferans was discovered in Germany. These people met at night in underground caverns and held wild orgies and believed that Satan had been unjustly cast from Heaven, and that one day he would overthrow the Christian God. During the same century, a group of devil worshipers in the middle east, the Yezidis, recieved a text from Satan known as the Al-Jilwah. This text has come to be the number one holy text for Traditional Satanists. The Yezidis worshiped Satan in the form of a brass peacock, the symbol of pride. The next major event in Satanism is of course the infamous witch hunts of Europe. Now, it is true that most of the people who were killed were ignorant peasants who had never so much as seen a witch. But, there was some truth to the stories, and scattered cults of Satan's worshipers did meet and hold Sabbats in secret places. They were all but destroyed. The Christians mercilessly slaughtered countless numbers of Satanists and destroyed their covens, effectively plunging much of our heritage into obscurity and myth. The 1700's and 1800's saw a slight resurgance in the ranks of Satanism, for several satanic chapels were discovered during this period, chapels decked out in much finery and gold, chapels fit for a Satanic Mass. But, once again, these were destroyed. Then in 1948, things started to change. A man named Herbert Sloane, born 1905, had seen Satan in a vision when he was three years old, but it wasn't until 1948 that he founded his coven, the first semi-public Satanic group in the U.S. It went by the name of "Our Lady of Endor Coven of the Ophite Cultus Satanas." It existed until Sloane's death in the mid 70's. The next major event came in 1966, when a man named Anton LaVey shaved his head and founded the Church of Satan. At first, the Church of Satan championed some pretty noble concepts, and LaVey's Satanic Bible does present the Satanic philosophy of life pretty accurately, except for the fact that LaVey started this whole nonsense about Satan being merely a symbol which Satanists admire, not a real spiritual being. This is essentilly the cause of the rift between Traditional Satanists and Modern Satanists. We may live the same basic lifestyle, but the similarities pretty much end there. Modern Satanists don't really worship or believe in Satan, so, really, they're just atheists. And now, after all of the death, presecution, and blood, after the drama and the scandals, we are still here. The only difference is that now we are protected and can practice our religion openly. Now we can write our books and preach our message to the world. And now, Traditional Satanism is on the rise. END