The religion, founded just over 50 years ago by US author and musician Anton Szandor LaVey has much more to do with atheism and libertarian ideals of the freedom to indulge, muddled together with a dash of Machiavellian pragmatism. Palmer spoke to The Independent about how Satanism affects his daily life, and why a Satanist's favourite holiday is their birthday.
How old are you, where are you based, and what is your role in the Church of Satan? I am a year-old entrepreneur living on the south-east coast of England with my wife and baby daughter. My role in the Church of Satan grew organically out of my passion for the philosophy, and pursuits pertinent to the propagation of Satanism as codified by its founder Anton Szandor LaVey.
These activities were recognised by High Priest Peter H. Gilmore as authentic and effective additions to our world view, and I was ordained a Priest out-of-the-blue due to these meritorious efforts. I publicly promulgate Satanic philosophy and aesthetics, but not all Priests speak on our behalf and may even choose to keep their affiliation secret if beneficial to do so. Machiavellian strategies are particularly prevalent in professional circles due to the manifold misconceptions surrounding Satanism.
When did you first find out about Satanism and how long have you been a committed Satanist? We both grew up listening to death and black metal and industrial music, and were naturally drawn to the bands that had anti-Christian lyrics and employed Satanic imagery.
Determined to learn of the origin and philosophy of Satanism, my brother delved through various books. My brother realised he had finally found the source of Satanism was thoroughly impressed with LaVey's philosophy, but as I was only 10 or 11 at the time, he made a point of letting me discover Satanism on my own, after I had expressed interest independently a couple of years later.
Do not take that which does not belong to you unless it is a burden to the other person and he cries out to be relieved.
Acknowledge the power of magic if you have employed it successfully to obtain your desires. If you deny the power of magic after having called upon it with success, you will lose all you have obtained. When walking in open territory, bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask him to stop. If he does not stop, destroy him. As a natural non-joiner I was initially sceptical of the Church of Satan and incorrectly assumed, as most do, that Satanists were members of a devil worshipping cult, and was therefore happy to remain an atheist with a penchant for Satanic aesthetics prior to reading any official literature.
At around the age of 13 I eventually read The Satanic Bible and considered myself a Satanist shortly after. I realised that genuine Satanism had nothing to do with the supernatural devil nonsense that I cringed at whilst reading death metal lyrics, but was instead a pragmatic and unusual carnal religion which perfectly complimented my own atheistic, sceptical, and rational world view.
A side of Las Vegas that few see. Inside Las Vegas' squatter problem. Nowhere to live in Las Vegas Story highlights On their websites, the Church of Satan and the Satanic Temple say Satan is a symbol, not a being The groups reject holy sites, gods and other things sacred to most religions, but they place a high value on symbolism and art They don't celebrate Jesus' birth, but on satanist says he spends time with family and "enjoy s the richness of life" on Christmas. But you might be surprised to learn that many satanists are a lot more interested in community activism and individual freedoms than heavy metal or performing bizarre rites.
Here are a few things you might not know about satanism:. Most satanists aren't devil worshipers. Surprisingly, most card-carrying satanists do not worship Satan or any other form of the devil -- they are actually atheists. The Church of Satan, founded in the mids, explains it this way on its website : "Satan to us is a symbol of pride, liberty and individualism, and it serves as an external metaphorical projection of our highest personal potential.
We do not believe in Satan as a being or person. Read More. The Church of Satan puts the individual at the center of the universe, what high priest Peter Gilmore describes as going from an "a-theist" to an "I-theist. The Satanic Temple , which formed in recent years to fight a perceived intrusion of Christian values on American politics, says, "we do not promote a belief in a personal Satan.
To embrace the name Satan is to embrace rational inquiry removed from supernaturalism and archaic tradition-based superstitions. They are OK with celebrating Christmas. Why would satanists be OK with celebrating the birth of Jesus? Because, the Church of Satan claims, "Christians stole this holiday from the pagans -- Santa Claus has come to signify indulgence, and he is a combination of Dionysos and Silenus from Roman and Greek myths. Michael Mars, a Detroit artist and member of the Satanic Temple, says he celebrates Christmas, but not as a day to commemorate Jesus' birth.
He, like other members of the Satanic Temple, has no problem with other religions' holidays. Satanist: 'Every voice has to be heard' You won't find a satanic church in your community.
The Church of Satan doesn't have actual church buildings, because "that would be against our individualist approach to living," its website says. For a short time, its founder Anton LaVey used his San Francisco home as the church's headquarters, where he performed rituals. Now, the church is based in New York, and its headquarters is not open to visitors.
The Church of Satan once had "grottos," or local chapters, but it disbanded those after deeming them "unnecessary. The Satanic Temple has chapters in at least a dozen locations in the United States, as well as Finland and Italy, but it also does not have permanent physical temples. I never have. But somehow these Satanists have managed to be joiners. You watch them and think, why would you invent a religious ritual that looks so strange from the outside? They all look weird from the outside.
But, I mean, it is weird. Honestly, when I was a kid growing up in an evangelical church, I thought Catholic masses looked weird. The universe of meaning that is encoded in those rituals, for the participants, is illegible to us. Why are they doing that? Why are they doing this thing with the upside down cross? What is this stuff? Because they do these rituals privately, and it has nothing to do with whether it offends you.
It has everything to do with what that experience means to them, and nothing to do with anyone else. For a while, I struggled with whether this was performative or authentic. I realized that religion is both. Experiential and spiritual and all those things. So, if Satanism is a religion, is the Satanic Temple a religion first and a political movement second, or is it the other way around? I think that might be what a lot of people wish all religious groups would do.
Satanism, as a religion, is growing and on the move. But what the Satanic Temple did that was so novel was bring the idea of activism into the idea of worship, and combine them. Get over it. It also depends who you ask. Some of the members are more politically motivated than others.
There are some of them for whom I think 90 percent of the appeal of this identity is a kind of outward-facing, trolling, provocation, political movement, and 10 percent of it is about something that feels like what we might call religious.
There are hundreds of thousands of members. How do you not become hierarchical and dogmatic? They would never carve their tenets in stone, quite literally, and that fact to them is an attempt to avoid dogma.
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Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email. Magnolia Pictures A documentary called Hail Satan? Members of the Satanic Temple at a protest in Hail Satan?
Magnolia Pictures Alissa Wilkinson This is quite a project. How did you end up making the film? Penny Lane By the time I heard of them, the Satanic Temple had gone from being kind of a joke to being a real thing. Penny Lane This is my role in life. A scene from Hail Satan? Penny Lane Absolutely. Penny Lane No. Lucien Greaves, spokesman and co-founder of the Satanic Temple, with the statue of Baphomet.
Magnolia Pictures Alissa Wilkinson Right.
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