Satanism Needs An Enema!
Ladies and Gentleman, the time has come to take off the kid gloves.
There is a disease, a cancer in the Satanic movement and it must be cut out! Let me be quite clear about this.
Satanism is not now, nor never shall be, truly threatened as a religious philosophy since Satanism is the path of reality, the way of the world. As such, those who succeed in the world, who are willing to acknowledge in their actions the truth about reality, will always be Satanists, no matter what other name they assume.
This problem actually involves not our unkillable foundation of truth, but the course of the modern movement of Satanism.
The movement is in danger. The danger is real. The danger can be stopped. I am writing this to put a stop to it!
From the beginning, the Church of Satan has made it explicitly clear that Satan is not an entity, conscious or preconscious. For example:
“In LaVey's view, the Devil was not [an anthropomorphic deity], but rather a dark, hidden force in nature responsible for the workings of earthly affairs, a force for which neither science nor religion had any explanation.”—Burton Wolfe, Introduction to The Satanic Bible.
Other quotes from Dr. LaVey's own pen in The Satanic Bible reiterate this theme:
“...the allegorical personage...” (page 29).
“...Satan, the personification of the Left Hand Path.” (page 52).
“Satan...merely represents a force of nature—the powers of darkness which have been named just that because no religion has taken these forces out of darkness.” “...this many faceted key to the unknown—which the Satanist chooses to call ‘Satan’.” (page 62).
Again and again the Church of Satan has patiently explained to all who would ask, read or listen that Satan is a symbol.
Yet how many times do we see people advocating a return to the superstitious nonsense of belief in a “god”? How often do we see so-called “Satanists” missing the most important single point of Satanism?
If we do not cut out from our midst this destructive, anti-Satanic theme of godism, if we do not return to our fundamentally atheistic roots, we shall cease to be a vital force, as a movement.
Currently, modern Satanism has been truly occult, dealing with the hidden side, the dark side, the controlling side of reality. If we permit this Satan-worship nonsense to continue under our name, we will degenerate to a mere cult. Our attackers falsely accuse us of “devil worship.” Real Satanists have usually responded with condescending smiles, but if we continue to tolerate the true believers in our midst, if we accept these lies through failure to speak out against Satan-deification, we will be lowering ourselves to the level of the masses.
What is it that the Satanist has in our modern movement that truly delineates “us” from “them”? It is not our endearment to the symbols and costuming, the theatre of the dark side. Heavy metal rock fans do this also. It is not our embracing of a philosophy based upon rational self-interest or the glorification of the human carnal elements of Man. The philosophies of Objectivism and Humanism also meet these criteria, respectively. It is not our practice of ritual magic that makes us unique. There are all too many Wiccans, Odinists, Crowleyites and others engaged in these practices. No, it is our total rejection of any external diety or dieties including Satan which makes our movement take a vital and unique place in the stream of current events.
Every time some would-be “Satanist” speaks up to endorse the idea that Satan is a “somebody” instead of a symbol, our position is degraded and our movement is retarded. The modern Satanic movement is ideas. The wrong ideas can kill what is truly Satanic in our efforts and leave us just another mindless cult. I used to see it differently. I used to think that those who were not against us were for us. I used to think that if anyone did anything in Satan's name, it was helping. I used to believe that the experiences of ritual magic could be harmlessly anthropomorphised.
I was wrong.
If we, as a movement, fall victim to encroaching theism and permit the deification of Satan, we will be no different in kind from the Christians who deified Jesus at the Council of Nicea. The result is the same: mystical nonsense and anti-human dogma.
If we end up with Satan as a person, we end up with an external God, and that means we end up without Satanism!
So what is the price? What needs to be done?
To paraphrase the Joker, “Satanism needs an enema!”
We need to correct every idiot out there who thinks that it it is enough to say, “I am a Satanist” while acting like a hallucinating psychotic.
We have a Bible. We have a pro-human dogma. We have a Church. We have a tradition. We have ceremonies and rituals. We have a High Priestess.
Now let's quit tolerating white light mystics who claim to be Satanists.
And if you feel, dear reader, that I am attacking you, then just ask yourself if you want to be an occult member or just a member of a cult. Do you believe in Satan or yourself? Are you a Satanist or not?
I am calling for a closing of the ranks and a throwing out of the heretics. I am asking for the Purge! I am asking for a reverse Inquisition. Let me be the first to put you to the question:
Are you a believer in the God “Satan” or are you a Satanist, a God in your own right?
Answer now!
This article first appeared in The Black Flame, Volume 2, #2, 1990 c.e.
It is copyrighted by Hell’s Kitchen Productions, Inc. and may not be reproduced without permission.
Nemo
Magister in the Church of Satan
