Do you feel drawn to Satanism

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I like the idea of atheistic Satanism as representing human nature and indulgence, and opposing a totalitarian God-concept. LaVeyan Satanism isn't really my thing, because of its right-wing ideology, other forms of it I am open to.

To answer the OP's question directly: Simple answer: NO, and its evil.

I am drawn to spiritualism, understanding the universe, the meaning of life, afterlife, and such.

Some aspects of LaVeyan Satanism appeal to me, but it's definitely not a perfect belief system, and the fact that it calls itself "Satanism" really just serves to shock and confuse people. I don't practice it, and the main reason why I don't practice it is the same reason why I don't practice any other religions; my beliefs and morals are too strong to allow me to follow another person's set of rules. If I were to practice Christianity, for instance, I wouldn't be a "true" Christian. Similarly, if I were to practice Buddhism, I wouldn't be a "true" Buddhist. I won't deny that many religions have good values attached to them, but they also tend to have a lot of other values I don't agree with or stipulations that I simply cannot follow.

I understand why people get into Lavey's COS, the Joshua Warren video I think did a good job of summarizing that they're a group of ambitious odd-balls who want to live in a self-actualizing manner, make an adventure of being 'all that they can be', and they're rebelling against all of the social norms that they see as being prohibitive - whether it's the norm to watch TV all day, to spend your paychecks and freetime chasing tail for the sake of being a hubby or a dad by accident eventually, and they also have a problem with the waiting-room psychology present in the Abrahamic religions.

What they also have positive going for them is that even if they are atheists they understand the value of ritual within the scope of the subconscious and subjective which is a realm that many reductive materialist try to minimize to the greatest extent they can and largely with little success.

The reason I don't find a pull toward it - it's just not my kind of occultism/esotericism. Rosicrucianism and just positive Hermeticism/Neoplatonism in general seems to do a lot more for me in that it seems to have all of the upside bells and whistles that you find in either COS or even libertine gnostic organizations like Ordo Templi Orientis, difference being that it's something that takes a positive spin in the bible, quite often treats Jesus as a great teacher who had an incredible amount of wisdom in his sayings, and the general motif of Hermetic Qabalah just makes a lot of sense to me - in it the goal is to rise through the sephira and as Martinez De Pasqually noted to reintegrate with the godhead. In that sense OTO is probably a lot more appealing than Laveyan Satanism because it has as I understand it a profound mystic element to it, even if somewhat pilfered from Golden Dawn, but its there.

I also wouldn't get into Satanism for the following reasons:
1) It's most often linked to material pessimism (ie. Gnostic/Cathar/Manichaean) which seems, at least to me, to be a distorted framework for viewing materiality when materiality being either a gift or a prison is what you make of it.
2) I'm not an atheist, while I'm definitely not a believer that the Ancient of Days is a sky-god on a throne in the clouds I still consider the One Mind to be God, the gods/goddesses of all cultures to be aspects of the God, and so I don't find it a restrictive yoke either to take the center path.
3) I'm not rebelling for the sake of rebelling. I also find so many people within RHP and white-light oriented orders doing all the postive things that Laveyans do and far far more (including having an incredibly deep lesson plan, learning process - that could include anything from AMORC and TMO to BOTA and Fraternity of the Inner Light) so it's not like there aren't plenty of wonderful opportunities to do other things if you aren't specifically wanting to join COS or Thelema (OTO/A.:A.: ) simply because it looks cool, sexy, and counter-cultural.


Ultimately I think Thelema and Satanism are best served for people who've really been stung so hard by the bible or by Jews, Christians, or Muslims that they need to take an inversionary set of symbolism/iconography in their spiritual path to what they were accosted by. That's probably the last point as well on why I wouldn't see myself going that route - ie. for as much as I've been annoyed by the rigidity of some people in the organized exoteric faiths out there it simply hasn't been enough for me to treat the bible in its entirety as an awful, terrible, or oppressive book. I'll fully admit it's quite checkered in some places but its also loaded with ancient wisdom and I don't see the sense, nor have enough hurt, to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Would I date a Satanist or a girl who was in OTO/A.:A.: ? Sure, and it might be fascinating to have someone intelligent around who's on that side of the path where we could compare notes about what we're learning and each have some very important pieces to the puzzle. There have been times when I considered taking a look around the local OTO lodge just to see what kind of people were there or what I might like within the organization and philosophy. At the same time I'm already in two orders that I like immensely with easily 20 to 30 years of lesson plan in each ahead of me. To be in two esoteric/mystic orders is already a heavier work-load than most people recommended and to add a third in the way of OTO would be to weigh myself down to the point where I likely wouldn't be learning anything from either of the three.

Last edited by techstepgenr8tion on 22 Jun 2014, 4:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Not exactly that sort of satanism

I am not an atheist for one, and though I like some things in their philosophy and am not bothered if people want to be a part of that...though not sure it is necessary to hate people that hate you, though one certainly should not get caught up trying to conform to what those people would want in most circumstances.

Yes! Many aspects of it spoke to me, particualrly the idea of kindness to those who deserve it instead of love wasted on ingrades? and ?vengance instead of turning the other cheek' [Satanic rules 4-5)

Some time ago there was a radio podcast interview with significant figures that I liked. http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/encounter/21st-century-satan/4551546
I agree very much with the importance of personal responsibility, approve of the idea of choice (what aesthetic, what pursuits), and I must admit I like his proposition that US would be better/more Satanic if there existed a professional jury who were truly impartial instead of the current system, and his suggestions that welfare/social security should be reserved for worthy individuals, and that there are too few consequences nowadays. High Priest Peter Gilmore in another interview said that ?I think people should practice birth control rather than use abortion as an easy way out. The concept of being responsible for yourself and not to willy-nilly get pregnant unless you are really interested in carrying forth the child. Since we have overpopulation generally speaking, I think abortion is something fine to be used, but I think it should not be used as a means of cleaning up after people?s irresponsible sexual activity.?
Quite conservative (regardless of prejudices about them) in a lot of meanings of the term, which aligns with my views.

As a person with numerous mistunderstood aspects of idendity (e.g. Aspergian Conservative Vegetarian Melancholic Eastern-European) I really like that Lavey encourages people to disregard unwarranted labels and "LIVE! *(evil reversed)".

AS a vegetarian, I love the view on animals ?Do not kill non-human animals unless you are attacked or for your food?. In fact animals are important, because ?Satan represents man as just another animal sometimes better, more often worse than those that walk on all-fours, who because of his ?divine spiritual and intellectual development? has become the most vicious animal of all?

Lavey seemed a very philosophically learned man. I really liked a scene in a documentary about him he had a painting that showed a group of skeletons, some with a crown, soldiers hat etc to him showing that 'death is the great equalizer'.

I also like his views consumption:

'in the previous centuries the Church was the great controller, dictating morality, stifling free expression and posing as conservator of all great art and music. Instead, we have tv, doing just as good a job dictating fashions , thoughts , attitudes , objectibes as did the church but doing it so palatably that noone notices. Instead of 'sins' to keep people in line, we have fears of being judged unaccaptably by our peers (by not wearing the right shoes' not drinking the right kind of beer, or wearing the wrong kind of deodorant). Coupled with that fear is imposed insecurity concerning our own identities. All answets and solutions to these fears come through television, and only through television. Only through exposure to tv can the new sins of alienation and ostracism be absolved'

The only thing which (in some ways regrettably, because now I have a spiritual void inside me) made me drift away is the in my opinion excessive emhasis on self gratification to the point of High Priest Gilmore expressing he dislikes being forced to do charity and goodwill. His argument is that people should do it by choice, but I think people are too inherently selfish* so there wouldn't be enough charity if it wasn't forced. That and the fact that I am not an atheist - I believe in spirits.

*Jesse Graham, Jonathan Haidt, and Brian A. Nosek argue that this is a typical Conservative view, to have pessimistic view of human nature, believing that people are inherently selfish and imperfectible thereforeneed the constraints
of authority, institutions, and traditions to live civilly with each other

I remember a while ago I read about this religion known as Thelema, and I found it to be quite fascinating. It was quite similar to LaVeyan Satanism, and a lot of its values resonated with me, though I never really pursued practicing it.

Buddhism, Thelema, LaVeyan Satanism, Wicca, and even Christianity fascinate me to varying degrees, though I could never actually practice any of them. I like to live my own way, and go by my own rules, and I find that anything requiring belief in the spiritual/metaphysical is a bit hard for me to swallow.

Lol, I've often wondered how that situation came to be in the English language. For one to imply that 'evil' is 'living backward' seems to be a much more mystic/western esoteric outlook than mainstream religious of those times just in that western esotericism in a lot of ways is reminiscent of the deeper facets of Hinduism and Buddhism, just dressed in western religious and philosophical paralance.


I wouldn't recommend doing any of it 'just to do it'. Really a religion or philosophic school needs to take you some place you want to go in respect to yourself. If you see their teachings as being something that workshops certain neurological pathways that you'd want to build regardless of whether there's a life hereafter or not then it's a go. As for just shoveling on dogmas that have very little positive effect on your life - I'd skip that.

Probably the most important thing to remember though is that the subconscious mind is one of the most underutilized resources in our society and that people who are engaging in the right avenues of this stuff are opening up internal realities which are internally valid to them. Essentially done right mysticism is a bit like positive psychology on rocket fuel.