The fanatical belief that wells within the rare Satanist who acts out his belief through murderous rituals or criminal activity has its roots in the fundamental Christian belief system, and is, therefore, more easily adopted by a disturbed individual as a belief system. Folkloric Satanism operates within the confines of Christianity; it is not atheism or the belief in a different god. The folkloric Satanist believes in the Christian God but seeks out Satan to reject that God and acquire power through evil. In essence, the folkloric Satanist desires evil and worships the Christian embodiment of evil. It is not a belief system that exists outside of the framework of Christianity, but rather, is a part of it. For this reason, we find that such satanic rites as practiced by folkloric Satanism are largely found in countries that are predominantly Christian; the United States has a history of such practices, as do Latin America, South America, Italy, Africa, and parts of Western Asia. It is the nations with predominate Christian beliefs that will, by their very nature, produce an adversarial element that seizes upon the established religions in an attempt to shock, horrify, and defy the beliefs of the majority as a means of expressing their antisocial sentiments and murderous desires. However, there does exist actual belief on the part of the folkloric Satanist, and this belief is fueled, in part, by the predominant Christian belief system of that individual’s community. Christianity is used as a fuel for the rites and practices that horrify and offend and, ultimately, lead to destruction.
The Black Mass is perhaps the most recognized, stereotypical, and feared rite of Satanism. Anton Szandor LaVey remarked in his Satanic Bible,
No other single device has been associated with Satanism as much as the black mass. To say that the most blasphemous of all religious ceremonies is nothing more than a literary invention is certainly a statement which needs qualifying—but nothing could be truer … No “decent” person could fail to side with the inquisitors when told of these blasphemies. The propagandists of the church did their job well, informing the public at one time or another of the heresies and heinous acts of the Pagans, Cathars, Bogomils, Templars and others who, because of their dualistic philosophies and sometimes Satanic logic, had to be eradicated.5
The Black Mass was and is meant to offend, not only Christian sensibilities, but the very essence of humanity. It has its origins in the folklore and rumors that were used against various religious and cultural groups throughout history including the Jews, pagans, Zoroastrians, and, ironically enough, the Christians. However, upon the acceptance of Christianity by the Roman Empire, the need to demonize nonbelievers and create converts led to a mythology built around some of the most heinous acts imaginable, such as child-eating, bestiality, and any number of other abominations. The Malleus Maleficarum began the codification of rumor and folklore into an institutionalized belief system near the dawn of the European witch-hunts, and it included much about infant devouring and murder. The preceding witch-hunts begat dark tales told by accused witches (under torture, of course) that described the sabbat. They included everything that would be vile and detestable and offensive in a society run by the church.
The Devil usually appeared in the shape of a goat, ugly and smelly, though at times he was said to arrive as a toad, crow, or black cat. He presided over the sabbat while sitting on a throne. The Devil turned into a foul-smelling goat, and the witches took off their clothes and paid homage to him by falling to their knees and kissing his anus … Unbaptized infants were offered up as sacrifices. New witches were initiated by signing the Devil’s Black Book in Blood, renouncing their Christianity, taking an oath and trampling on the cross … There followed a great feast, with much drinking and eating, although demonologists often noted that the food tasted vile, and that no salt was present, for nothing evil could abide salt.6
The idea of these Black Masses and rituals were carried down through the ages and were used to demonize Jews, the Gauls, and the “witches” during the witch craze. The mythology of a Black Mass continued through the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. Jeffrey Burton Russell cites the influence of the decadent Romantics at the turn of the century—an artistic and philosophical movement that “was characterized by estheticism, sensuality, and fascination with such psychosexual aberrations as incest, sadomasochism, bestiality, and prostitution.”7 Russell also cites the influence of media surrounding such figures as Madame Blavatsky and Aleister Crowley, who created their own cults such as the Theosophical Society and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. These figures and their secret societies took on mythological status in Christian and secular rumor mills. Aleister Crowley, in particular, was vocal about his philosophy “do what thou wilt” and seemed to take sport in using biblical mythology such as the number 666, the mark of the beast, as way to shock the masses into believing him to be the embodiment of evil. Russell also cites a particularly popular book in Europe entitled Là-Bas by J. K. Huysmans. “…his [Huysmans’s] initial plan was to write a novel based on the historical figure of Gilles de Rais, a fifteenth-century child molester and mass murderer whom the Decadents found fascinating. Interest in Gilles led Huysmans to medieval witchcraft and demonology, then to the black masses of the reign of Louis XIV, and finally to curiosity about contemporary Satanism.”8 Huysmans’s research brought him into contact with a disgraced priest named Boullan, who had actually sacrificed a child he had fathered with a nun. He sacrificed the child in a Black Mass that he later recorded in his journal, Cashier Rose. Boullan and another occultist named Louis van Hacke tutored Huysmans in the black rites, which he chronicled in his novel. The novel took on cult status and was very popular among the decadent Romantics; however, disgusted by what he had created, Huysmans converted to Catholicism and left the decadents. Here’s a taste of Là-Bas, otherwise known as The Damned.
Durtal felt himself shudder. A whirlwind of hysteria shook the room. While the choir boys sprinkled holy water on the pontiff’s nakedness, women rushed upon the Eucharist and, groveling in front of the altar, clawed from the bread humid particles and drank and ate divine ordure. Another woman, curled up over a crucifix, emitted a rending laugh, then cried to Docre, “Father, father!” A crone tore her hair, leapt, whirled around and around as on a pivot and fell over beside a young girl who, huddled to the wall, was writhing in convulsions, frothing at the mouth, weeping, and spitting out frightful blasphemies. And Durtal, terrified, saw through the fog the red horns of Docre, who, seated now, frothing with rage, was chewing up sacramental wafers, taking them out of his mouth, wiping himself with them and distributing them to the women, who ground them underfoot, howling, or fell over each other struggling to get hold of them and violate them. The place was simply a madhouse, monstrous pandemonium of prostitutes and maniacs. Now, while the choir boys gave themselves to the men, and while the woman who owned the chapel, mounted the altar caught hold of the phallus of the Christ with one hand and with the other held a chalice between “His” naked legs, a little girl, who hitherto had not budged, suddenly bent over forward and howled like a dog.9
Another influential work in the continuity of the Black Mass myth was the novel Messes Noires (Black Masses) by Jehan Sylvius, published in 1929. The cover was an illustration of a Black Mass, complete with a sacrificial woman, pentagram, candles, and Satan himself in the form of a man with the head of a goat. There were also films that incorporated the Black Mass and ritualistic sacrifice. As early as 1922, Swedish director Benjamin Christiansen released the grotesque silent film, Haxan, which depicts witchcraft lore through the ages, acting out every rumored ceremony to the utter disdain of the audience.10 “In the 20th century, the Black Mass became a staple of Devil worship novels and films. One of the most influential fictions was the 1934 novel The Devil Rides Out by Dennis Wheatley, with a black magician character, Morcatta, modeled on Aleister Crowley. The novel was made into a film in 1968 by Hammer films of England during a time of occult revival and the birth of Witchcraft or Wicca, as a religion.”11 There was also the later influence of Rosemary’s
Baby and The Exorcist, which both, in their literary form, depicted Satanic ritual similar to the sabbat and the Black Mass.
However, despite its popularity in collective fears of Christians, the Black Mass, in its definitive and formal manifestation, has rarely (if ever) been practiced, as it must be presided over by a defrocked priest. Anton LaVey even denied his ability to practice the Black Mass (and also denied that he would even if he could), though he did offer a vivid description in The Satanic Bible:
The popular concept of the black mass is thus: a defrocked priest stands before an altar consisting of a nude woman, her legs spread-eagled and vagina thrust open, each of her outstretched fists grasping a black candle made from the fat of unbaptized babies, and a chalice containing the urine of a prostitute (or blood) reposing on her belly. An inverted cross hangs above the altar, and triangular hosts of ergot-laden bread or black-stained turnip are methodically blessed as the priest dutifully slips them in and out of the altar lady’s labia. Then, we are told, an invocation to Satan and various demons is followed by an array of prayers and psalms chanted backwards or interspersed with obscenities … all performed within the confines of a “protective” pentagram drawn on the floor. If the Devil appears he is invariably in the form of a rather eager man wearing the head of a black goat upon his shoulders. Then follows a potpourri of flagellation, prayer, book burning, cunnilingus, fellatio, and general hindquarters kissing—all done to a background of ribald recitations from the Holy Bible, and audible expectorations on the cross! If a baby can be slaughtered during the ritual, so much the better; for as everyone knows, this is the favorite sport of the Satanist!12
LaVey writes this passage with deep sarcasm, as he regards the Black Mass as simply a tool used by the church during the Middle Ages to stir fear of the devil in the populace.
The Black Mass has become a catchall term for any perceived satanic rite, as it has been understood and feared through folklore and popular conception. The “satanic rites” that have resulted in murders throughout the years have not shown any cohesion of philosophy or dogma. Sean Sellers shot his parents and a store clerk in an effort to violate all the Ten Commandments; there was very little ritual about it. While the highlighted incidents in Italy and Russia were more ritualized in practice, they still only employed some of the peripheral practices of the Black Mass. The Black Mass has come to represent nearly any ritual done in worship to the devil as a means to embrace evil and blaspheme both life and the church and is embraced and utilized by individuals who have embraced a Christian belief system, but in the same way that Christianity is utilized as a motive for bombing a federal building or that Islam is used as motive for terrorism.
Just as there are those who reject life, for whatever rationale, through suicide, there are those that will reject a belief system through embracing its exact opposite. The Black Mass or any of the anomalous “satanic rites” that have been practiced throughout history is a form of suicide, as it rejects not only Christianity and goodness, but life itself. It is a celebration of murder, cannibalism, infanticide, sexual perversion, and the inversion of all things that society embraces. To say or suppose that it does not exist is a fallacy. There certainly does not exist an organized or cohesive belief system or cult that utilizes folkloric Satanism, but these rituals and beliefs do rear their ugly heads now and again. Folkloric Satanism is born out of a belief and acceptance of the Christian God, and within a very few select members of a given society, that very acceptance generates an adversary tendency toward rebellion, rejection, and, ultimately, suicide.
These satanic rites were born out of the dualistic nature of Christianity that posits both good and evil: for there to be good there must also be evil and vice versa. The folkloric origins of the sabbat and the Black Mass were conceived in the imaginations of people who believed that if there are rites that exist to celebrate God and goodness, there must ultimately be rites that celebrate its polar opposite. These rites are the manifestation of the darkest recesses of our psychology and our dualistic philosophy, passed down from generation to generation in the form of folklore and legend and acted out by those who reject society, God, and life. To deny its existence, or to posit that it is only the result of disturbed individuals finding a religious excuse to perpetrate crimes, is to ignore the power of belief and the depths of human psychology in relation to belief. Anyone can commit murder, and thousands do on a yearly basis, but murder as a part of the satanic ritual is a very rare and isolated incident. It is the result of belief systems, legends, folklore, and religion passed down through cultural ages. It is ritualized for a reason, and that reason is to make a formal statement of rejection and an offering of sacrifice to the darkest recesses of the mind, spirit, and body. It is suicide on a variety of different scales, and it is a path that ultimately leads to the destruction of the self. If we are to suppose that Satan is real, then this is his ultimate prize, the destruction of human life and instilling terror in humanity. Those who turn to Satan to find power through evil are ultimately deceived by the very deity they worship.
Sean Sellers was executed on February 5, 1999, at the age of 30, after having tried numerous attempts to save his own life through appeals and pleas for redemption. He appeared on numerous talk shows to testify to the reality of Satanism during the satanic panic of the 1980s. He tried to obtain clemency based on his supposed religious conversion to Christianity and attempted to appeal the death sentence by claiming that he was suffering from multiple personality disorder. He attempted to appeal his case to the Supreme Court, but they denied him a hearing. In the end he was not believed by either the courts or his surviving stepsiblings and was given the lethal injection on February 5 in an Oklahoma state penitentiary.
ANTON SZANDOR LAVEY AND THE CHURCH OF SATAN
On April 30, 1966, the date of the pagan spring festival known as Walpurgisnacht, the Church of Satan was born in San Francisco, California. Its founder, Anton Szandor LaVey, became known as the Black Pope, an image that he relished and made frequent use of in promoting his new church and religion. LaVey was the consummate showman; having worked in the carnival business for many years, he knew how to entertain, mystify, and shock audiences, but he was also a surprisingly brilliant, creative, and well-read individual. The night he was to open his church, LaVey shaved his head—an homage to magical belief systems that believe the shaving of the head gives the magician greater power—and purposely altered his appearance, pointing his goatee and arching his eye brows, to give him a truly Mephistophelean visage. He dubbed the year 1966 as Anno Satanas—the first year of the reign of Satan on earth. “It has become necessary for a NEW religion, based on man’s natural instincts, to come forth. THEY have named it. It is called Satanism. It is that power condemned that has caused the religious controversy over birth control measures—a disgruntled admission that sexual activity, for fun, is here to stay.”13 The Church of Satan was a product of the times, and while the roots of its beliefs date back to pre-Christian antiquity, it was coalesced in the counterculture drama of the 1960s. As LaVey points out in his hugely popular Satanic Bible, the liberalization of both society and, in turn, the church, opened the doors for the Church of Satan to exist and take hold of popular imagination.
In recent years there has been an attempt to humanize the spiritual concept of Christianity. This has manifested itself in the most obvious non-spiritual means. Masses which had been said in Latin are now said in native languages—which only succeeds in making the nonsense easier to understand, and at the same time robs the ceremony of the esoteric nature which is consistent with the tenets of the dogma. It is much simpler to obtain an emotional reaction using words and phrases that cannot be understood than it is with statements which even the simplest mind will question when hearing them in an understandable language.14
The Church of Satan has probably been the most influential force in the world of Satanism; it has inspired numerous copycat religions, followers, dissenters, and, unfortunately, the occasional mo
nster than any other satanic undertaking in history. The time was right and so was the place. The counterculture-laden San Francisco was its birthplace, a city that had come to epitomize the rejection of traditional values and embrace a new world. The Church of Satan and The Satanic Bible have been widely misunderstood by those who have not read the book or investigated the religion. Part of this was LaVey’s intention—to inspire fear, disgust, and shock in the Christian community—and part of it was the tragedy of its name, the Church of Satan.
LaVey used the public shock and subsequent media coverage to grow his church, performing a live Black Mass, complete with nude female altar (minus the baby-eating), before the cameras in a mockery of the Christian faith, which was the subject of a documentary film called Satanis: The Devil’s Mass.15 LaVey’s notoriety also netted him limited Hollywood attention, playing the devil in Rosemary’s Baby and in Kenneth Anger’s Invocation of My Demon Brother, as well as in several European films. All of this was to great effect; LaVey shocked and outraged the moral majority. But after his initial media blitz in the late 1960s and early 1970s, according to the Church of Satan, LaVey wanted to “stop performing Satanism and start preaching it.”16 Thus, he began to curtail his media efforts, eliminated an element of membership that was not fully devoted to or understanding of his philosophy, and changed the administrative setup of the church. LaVey’s reaffirmation of the church’s beliefs actually caused some members to split off and form their own versions of satanic churches, but LaVey was undeterred in demanding commitment to the beliefs that he put forth in The Satanic Bible. According to the church’s website, “With his intensely elitist attitude, Anton was incensed to see his creation degenerating into a ‘Satan Fan Club,’ where the weakest, least innovative members were buoyed up with time and attention at the expense of the most productive, most Satanic members.”17
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