A Brief History Of Satanism by The Devil’s Diary

Writer: The Devil’s Diary

Subject: A Brief History Of Satanism

Link: Tumblr / 13.07.2024

Disclaimer: The Devil’s Library is not affiliated with any of the previously mentioned groups or authors. It is an independent project by a single Satanist. Do not mistake my mentioning of an author or group as an endorsement of their beliefs and practices.

Author’s Notes: Follow The Devil’s Library here on Tumblr for more posts like this, as well as book reviews in the future. Ave Satanas — to my fellow followers of Satan, and all others, I bid you good day.

A Brief History Of Satanism

I see quite a bit of misinformation circulated about Satanism’s historical origins, both online and in the pages of books, so I thought it may be worthwhile to give a breakdown of the truth as my research has shown it to me. I have no official credentials as a historian, but I’m a theistic Satanist who takes my religion and my research very seriously. I encourage all to read my words and respond with corrections if they notice a mistake in my work; that being said, I will likely demand sources if someone’s “correction” conflates with what my research has shown me.

First off, I’m going to disappoint many of my fellow theistic Satanists with this announcement: Satanism is not ancient. It’s not older than Christianity, it’s not even as old as Christianity, by a long shot. I suspect this need to insist that Satan and his followers are an ancient faith (or that they can somehow be found within other faiths, such as comparing Satan to Pan or Shiva) stems from Christianity. Christianity was once a very new religion in comparison to those that surrounded it, and to gain followers and create legitimacy for themselves, Christians had to insist that their religion was the only true one, that their god had been pulling the strings from the beginning, and that if you looked back in Jewish holy writings you’d find evidence of Jesus and his teachings. Let us Satanists not make the same mistake.

And secondly, to disappoint the atheists in the crowd: LaVey didn’t invent Satanism. Yes, he was very impactful on the Satanic scene, especially in the anglosphere, but he didn’t invent the entire religion.

All right, let’s start at the beginning.

Satan, and the concept of worshiping him, began in the minds of Christians. That may seem like a letdown to some people, but it’s the truth. Satan as a powerful lord of evil and enemy of God didn’t exist before Christianity. The concept of the satan, or adversary, existed within Judaism, a famous example being the satan of Job, but this was a job for an angel working under God. For further understanding of the Jewish satan, you’d have to look into Jewish writing on the topic, but if you want a basic historical explanation, Elaine Pagels’ The Origin of Satan gives good context in simple terms. For now, I’d just like to emphasize that Capital-S-Satan does not exist in Judaism. That’s where the word came from, but it had a different meaning from what Christianity gave it.

When Christianity came along, of course, they began to use the word Satan to refer to the enemy of God, and thus anything they considered to be ungodly or against their beliefs was instead under the domain of Satan. Jews, Pagans, other Christians with differing beliefs or customs, anyone was fair game to be accused of being a Satanist.

This does not mean any of those people were worshiping Satan.

“Satanist” was not a real religious identity that anyone claimed, it was an insult and an accusation hurled by Christians at those they wanted to oppress, silence, and control. The Christian worldview did not allow for cultures and religions other than their own (or even variations within their own). If someone wasn’t a follower of God, then they were a follower of the Devil, end of discussion.

It is very dangerous, therefore, to assume that any of these people accused of Satanism in the far past would have self-identified as Satanists. In my mind it is comparable to thinking the “witches” of the Salem witch trials would’ve self-identified as such (they did not, they “admitted” to witchcraft under torture. I hope I don’t have to explain why that isn’t a reliable thing to cite when trying to parse whether someone was a witch or not). By claiming that any group persecuted by Christians in the far past was secretly Satanic, we are not only stripping those people of their actual identities and cultures, we are agreeing with the Christians who harmed them.

To my knowledge, we don’t see anyone viewing Satan in a positive or sympathetic light until the emergence of Romantic Satanism in the late 1700s through the 1800s, with writings by poets like Percy Shelley and of course John Milton. Romantic Satanism, it should be emphasized, was not a religious movement, but an artistic one. Different writers of the era had varied religious identities, from Christian to the beginnings of Atheism, but while they were writing about Satan with more nuance and personality than he’d ever been given before, they were not worshiping him or intending to write holy texts.

It isn’t until the 1900s that we begin to see inklings of truly religious Satanism, and not always by that name exactly. Aleister Crowley, founder of Thelema, had some Satanic flavor to his persona (calling himself the Beast 666), despite saying he did not consider himself a Satanist nor worship Satan. Crowley’s contemporary, Maria de Naglowska, founded a sex-based magical society and religion called The Brotherhood of Eulis, which centered on Satan as the embodiment of Reason, and the story of Adam and Eve as the original magical act of a woman granting magical knowledge to her lover through sex. The Neo-pagan religion Adonism was founded by Franz Sättler, who equated Adonis with Satan in a positive way. There are more to name but this post is already lengthy.

These movements were scattered, some were not well-documented, and many happened in Europe and the original texts were never translated to English. I believe this is part of the reason why Americans and others in the anglosphere may only know of LaVey as Satanism’s modern father, because of course, in the 1960s, we got the Church of Satan and their accompanying Bible.

Again, this is a lengthy subject I’m sure I’ll make more posts on later, but LaVeyan Satanism is, to my knowledge, the origin of the atheistic Satanism movement, the worldview that deities aren’t real (though magic may be, depending on how closely we’re sticking with LaVey’s worldview) and Satan is a figurehead used to symbolize self-worship. Though they share very few philosophical values, it is due to this version of atheistic Satanism that The Satanic Temple exists today, practicing their version of Satanism, also without literal deities. It is also due to the CoS that the Temple of Set came to be, as it was originally formed by LaVeyan Satanists who wanted something more theist.

With the creation of the internet, we have seen many Satanist authors and some scattered churches, covens, and groups arise; Marie RavenSoul, Aleister Nacht and Magnum Opus, Rev. Cain, Brother Nero, and others. Some of these groups and authors inspired one another, others seem to have sprung up on their own. Others, I’m sure, have been lost to time, and that saddens me as a scholar of Satan and his followers. But that is part of my mission with this blog, is to track down and keep a record of every Satanic resource I can find, no matter how obscure.

RESPONSE BY XP (VIA LS666 BLOG)

I found this article really interesting. I hope the Author succeeds in his objective — I am no expert on the Magia Sexualis, Satanism, Occultism, The Satanic Temple, Aleister Crowley, or The Brotherhood of Eulis —  but the Author makes me think that there is so much more to know and experience in the realm of dark worship. Satan has always been a symbol of liberation from oppression, the figurehead (together with Lilith) that signifies sexual freedom, away from the guilt and shame for my bisexuality and long list of perversions. What is he to you? Let me know.