Anton LaVey has, over the past twenty-five years, gradually refined the Church of Satan's role and goals. Following the pattern of development LaVey planned for his organization (outlined in a 1976 article), weekly public rituals in the Black House ceased in 1972. The tightly-regulated grotto system was dismantled in 1975, in recognition of Satanism's Fifth Phase -- Application. Many Satanists, however, who have come into the religion since 1975, find they have a deep desire to practice group rituals with others like themselves. Using the information in LaVey's books, they are forming their own groups, giving due homage to LaVey and the Church of Satan, and practicing the rituals of Satanism on their own. "If people want to practice rituals, that's great. They can do what we were doing 30 years ago -- especially those who weren't around then. There's a healthy need and desire to go through organized, ceremonial activities, just as everyone else did." The levels of growth LaVey described for his organization could just as well be applied to each Satanist's progress through levels of his own initiation. What LaVey calls his "first-level Satanist" echoes "Emergence," and has a strong need to declare his new-found faith in a ceremonial way. Through his books, LaVey intended to provide directions for formalized devotions, without being trapped into nonproductive activities and stifling bureaucracy. "One of our strengths is that we don't have to have big buildings. We have cells of activity all around the world, without being a forum that others can move in on and make money off of. The Church of Satan doesn't need to be governed or dictated by anything other than the guidelines in _The Satanic Bible_. That's one of the dangers of our religion.... The degree system within the Church of Satan, requiring Satanists to pass certain tasks and tests, was restructured along with the grottos. LaVey felt the strict adherence to different-colored Baphomet medallions designating different official standings was getting out of hand. He was distressed to see members only striving to gain degrees, placing more emphasis on a member's degree than on his actual achievement.... If you're a priest or priestess in the outside world already, we'll know. "The five degrees of Satanism are still valid but in a much more practical way, based on a Satanist's level of participation in the outside world. What I call 'Mainstream' or 'First Level' Satanists are the equivalent to what we used to call 'Apprentices.' They go to a 9-5 job, earn good money, wear acceptable clothes, have formal rituals, drive cars that look basically the same as everyone else's, watch television... yet agree with and apply Satanism in a positive way in their lives. At the other end of the spectrum, we still have practising Magisters and Magistras who divorce themselves from the mainstream as much as possible and arrange their lives to earn money at things that entail a minimal amount of contact with or input from the herd -- artists, directors, writers, performers, entrepreneurs of various kinds... But again, if you are a Magister, it's self- evident in your lifestyle -- you don't take a test to 'become' one. Either you are or you aren't. If you want to get titles and wear robes, this is not the organization for you. We want to apply Satanism for our own good in the outside world, not use it as a crutch to convey false achievement. ... "...From the feedback we've gotten over the years, our members appreciate not being spoon-fed, suckered into endless payments and hounded with activities they have to participate in to make them 'real' Satanists. First-level Satanists should be encouraged to get together in their black-walled ritual chambers and shout 'Hail Satan!' wholeheartedly. That's how people eventually matriculate to more advanced applications in secular Satanism. It's important to have that background. But we do it in our own private chambers, in our own way. "We have a group of non-joiners who are vitally involved with life and achievement. We are highly stratified and don't emphasize public performance of Satanism -- we live it. People who join us do so because they want to throw in their lot with the original, and feel they want to be part of an underground cabal of highly-evolved people who are focused on the same kinds of goals they are. We encourage the application of principles but I don't really care if people join the Church of Satan or not. I'm not trying to turn everyone into Satanists. We're not an evangelical movement. It's an elitist philosophy and members of the Church of Satan are the cream at the top." ... The Church of Satan has steadily grown less centralized from its beginning. There are now established satellites who take care of activities, a Satanic publication (*The Black Flame*), and merchandising, expanding to reach an increasingly wider audience. ... The progression one makes through the levels of magical initiation -- not artificially imposed degrees but actual diabolical growth -- is much like the circular progress of any learning experience. One can start at one point on the circle, then go all around, learn everything about a subject close up, and emerge at the same place they started, *but with much additional practical wisdom*. You may know the whys and wherefores now that you didn't know before. But you do have to go all the way around the circle, by yourself. No one else can teach you or tell you. You have to experience it firsthand. There's a difference between knowing something intellectually and knowing something emotionally, having experienced it yourself. _The Church of Satan_, by Blanche Barton, Hell's Kitchen Productions, 1990; pp. 119-31. ________________________________ EOF