what is satanism? i have always judged it becuz i thought it was evil or something but i realize i was wrong becuz i know nothing about it so ya just fill me in :)
The word "Satan" means "Bringer of the Light." So 99% of the "Satanists" in the true sense of the form around here simply "worship" their idea of a "Bringer of Light". Within different paths there are different thoughts on exactly who it is and the history of "Satan." There are those, however, that worship "The Devil" for various reasons... I'm guessing the two most popular are to be different/scary to others or because they think they could get a lot of power to do anything they want for whatever selfish reasons tgey desire. I would suggest doing some research and keep your mind open... its actually much more positive than you would think. Its a shame the old church ways felt so threatened to turn many beliefs, religions and symbols to mean something evil. I hope that helped and although a very basic overview it should give you an idea of the true foundation of Satanism.
Absolutely... Thank YOU for opening your mind enough to accept a different belief other than the one that others have led you to believe from their close-mindedness. Good job :)
I know that one of the satanic (i think livitican but I could be wrong) paths believe that you should follow your hearts disire and do as it wishes. It's not exactly telling you you need to do anything to make you happy but it says that you can do anything to make yourself happy. That your wants and needs are basically all you are there for. That's probley not all of their believes but that's I big one I read. But yea
I haven't studied all paths of Satanism, but from what I have read, I didn't really get the impression of evil. If you're really interested, I suggest doing some reading and research.
In the church of satan they believe they are the sons of man, they also believe you can be good even if you serve satan. Satan I believe mean the light giver or helper but on the other hand I heard there are some good followers of satan and bad ones. Some believe in what the christians believe in that he's a evil mischievous force and some believe he's a good entity like other satanists believe in. satan was thought to full fill the sins of the flesh to give what the flesh wants and also spiritual selfishness in sorcery. But I am not sure exactly what the church of satan believes in but they have done good stuff like donations to hospitals and such. So I am guessing 50% of satanism is considered good and the other half is bad do to the fact there are different beliefs out there. All I know is that the church of satan believes that you can be good while working with satan. Also there are so many different satanists, some work alone, some work in churches and some work with their own covens. So yeah there's a variety of satanism. Hope this helps ya.
Since we recently had a discussion about whether one could be both Wiccan and Satanist in which there were a number of posts indicating that many here are not familiar with Satanism in its various forms I thought I would post something where we could all learn a bit more about just what Satanists really do believe. After all we get upset when people believe negative things about various Pagan paths, so isn't it also wrong of us to tar Satanists with the brush of evil based on misunderstanding of who and what they are?
The first thing to understand is that there are a variety of individuals who classify what they do as Satanism.
First of all there are the rebellious teenage variety who dress all in black>, claim to worship Satan, desecrate graveyards, and generally try to shock and irritate their parents. Mostly this is a case of simply acting out and has nothing to do with real spiritual beliefs. Their idea of what real Satanism is about comes from watching too many scarey movies.
Then there are those mentally disturbed individuals who torture animals and sometimes other humans believing this is part of their religious requirements. These are rather few in number...but they get the majority of the press. Likewise these are not the real Satanists
Check thi link for more >information:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/satanis6.htm
Then we do get to the organized Satanic groups such as the Church of Satan and the Temple of Set.
Members of the Church of Satan do not actually worship Satan..in fact they are more truly atheists who feel that humankind is the pinnacle of creation. Their practices do not normally cause harm to others, but are rather aimed at self-gratification. You might be surprised to know that they also have a code of ethics which govern the way they behave.
Information on the Church of Satan can be found at
http://www.religioustolerance.org/satanis1.htm and http://www.churchofsatan.com/
The Temple of Set is another organization frequently referred to as being Satanic. However, members of the Temple of Set do not worship Satan either..but rather the ancient Egyptian god, Set..who many centuries later became the Shaitan (or Satan) of Islam.
Information on the Temple of Set can be found at
http://www.xeper.org/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Set
There are also theistic Satanists who do in fact worship Satan as a deity, but they are not what many think they are. You can find a good deal of information about how theistic Satanists view Satan and his place in their religion at:
http://www.theisticsatanism.com/varieties/FAQ-TS.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theistic_Satanism
And finally there is a small religious community called the Yezidis who are part of the Kurdish communities of Iran/Iraq/Turkey. They worship a being referred to as the Peacock Angel who is also Lucifer. They are actually a fascinating group and you can find some information about them at the link below.
If you take the time to do a bit of research on the various forms of Satanism you will find that (with the exception of the first two categories I mentioned) it has been tarnished with a bad reputation it really doesn't deserve. Let us not be like other faiths and judge the path of another without really understanding that path.
