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To: alt.satanism,alt.pagan,alt.magick.tyagi
From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (tyagi/TOKUS)
Subject: Luciferans (LONG - Baskin/Smyth)
Date: Kali Yuga 49950413

"LUCIFERIANS  Medieval sects of occultists who mutilated Eucharistic
wafers before an idol of Lucifer.  The practice of witchcraft may have
been initiated by a Luciferian sect in Milan.  It was against this sect
that Konrad of Marburg, the first German inquisitor, moved zealously
in the first part of the thirteenth century.  He extorted confessions
from them 'proving' that they were out-and-out Satanists who worshiped
the Devil as creator and ruler of the world."

_Dictionary of Satanism_, by Wade Baskin, Philosophical Library, 1972;
 pp. 202-3.
______________________________________________________________________

Below they are referred to as 'Luciferans'.  Strange variations.

"In 1227 Pope Gregory VII sent Conrad of Marburg on a mission to
Germany with unlimited powers to bring to the stake a sect of
Satanists.  This is the first instance of a fully organized witchhunt
in Europe and it set patterns that later generations were to follow.
There had been rumours of Luciferans who worshipped Satan, kissed
the backsides of toads and cats, and indulged in indescriminate
orgies....  

"As for the Luciferans they present the kind of problem that confronts
us over and over again in trying to distinguish between fact and
fantasy in witchcraft.  It seems probable that there were sects
practising Satanism, but fanatics like Conrad were all too quick to
believe that they were fighting in a struggle where all mankind had
gone over to the devil, and if the Archbishop of Mayence is to be
believed he created what he set out to destroy."

_Modern Witchcraft_, by Frank Smyth, Castle Books, 1970; pp. 52-5.
__________________________________________________________________


"Early in the [13th] century rumours circulated of the hideous
Satanic rites practised by a sect in Germany called Luciferans,
and in 1227 the Pope sent Conrad of Marburg to root out the
heresy and reform the Church in Germany.  Conrad was a sadistic
fanatic who had been spiritual director of St. Elizabeth of
Thuringia and had delighted in beating and humiliating her.  He
descended on the Luciferans in the fierce conviction that he
was called to do battle with Satan himself.  The confessions he
extracted were apparently made without torture, but under the
threat of death if the victim did not confess.  If these confes-
sions were accurate, the Luciferans were full-blown Satanists.
They worshipped the Devil as creator and ruler of this world,
complained that he had been unjustly and treacherously banished
from heaven, and believed that he would overthrow the God of the
Christians and return to heaven, when they would enjoy eternal
happiness with him.  They revelled in whatever displeased the
Christian God and hated whatever pleased him.  At Easter they
would go to Mass, keep the consecrated hosts in their mouths and
spit them out into a cesspool to show their contempt for Christ.

"When a man was initiated as a Luciferan he was taken to one of
their meetings and made to kiss a toad on its backside or mouth.
Or sometimes the thing he kissed looked like a duck or a goose
and was the size of an oven.  Then there came to him a man with
black eyes who was pale, emaciated and icy cold.  Possibly, he
represented the Devil or lord of death.  The initiate kissed him
and lost his Catholic faith in that instant.  Then everyone sat
down to a feast and a large black cat appeared, emerging from a
statue which was always present.  The initiate, the leader of the
group and any other members who were worthy of the honour, kissed
the cat's backside.  The leader said, 'What does this teach?'  A
member answered, 'the highest peace', and another added, 'And that
we must obey.'  The candles were put out and there was indiscrim-
inate heterosexual and homosexual orgy.  Afterwards the candles
were relit and the figure of a man appeared from a dark corner.
The upper part of his body shone like the sun, but from the hips
down he was black like the cat.  The leader cut off a piece of the
initiate's clothing and gave it to the shining man, saying, 'Master,
I give this to you which has been given to me.'  The shining man
answered, 'You have served me well, you will serve me more and
better.  I leave to your care what you have given to me.'  Then he
disappeared.

"This account of an initiation carries a certain conviction and it
could have been stage-managed without too much difficulty.  There
are traces, in modern times, of a tradition among witches that
Lucifer, 'the light-bearer', was the sun, an identification which
could easily be made when the Devil was regarded as the ruler of
life on earth.  The shining man may perhaps have been intended to
represent the Devil as both the sun of day-time -- the shining
upper half of the figure -- and the sun of night, the black lower
parts standing for the black sun, passing under the earth through
the regions of darkness before the next sunrise.  The black sun
can be imagined as the leader of the stars, which follow his course
towards the western horizon and disappear beyond it -- the stars
fallen from heaven.

"The obscene kiss on the backside of an animal or person representing
Satan became a stock charge in allegations of devil-worship, but
where it originally came from is not known.  It was evidently a
symbol of utter submission and perhaps also of the reversal of
conventional values."

_The Black Arts_, by Richard Cavendish, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1967; 
 pp. 324-5.
_________________________________________________________________


"In 1453 a sect of Brethren of the Cross was discovered in Thuringia.
They practised flagellation and believed that Satan would regain his
lost power and place, and would expel Christ from heaven.  They
celebrated orgies in secret by night.

"Early in the following century it was said that Bohemia was
infested with thousands of Luciferans.  In Italy, Pope Julius II
ordered an inquisitor to proceed against 'a certain sect', which
renounced the Christian faith, trampled on and dishonoured crosses,
abused the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, and took the Devil
as their lord and master, offering him obedience and reverence.

"By this time the searchlights of persecution were being turned away
from the Luciferans and similar heretical sects to be trained on the
witches.  Many of the sects had been accused of holding secret meetings
at night and worshipping the Devil, usually in the form of a man, cat
or goat.  Some were specifically charged with believing that the Devil
rules this world and will eventually overthrow God.  Even when these
accusations were lacking, other heretical practices were classed as
Satanist because they reversed Christian values -- renunciation of
Christianity and hostility to the church; condemnation of marriage
and procreation; slaughtering of children and cannibalism; orgiastic
sexual practices and homosexuality.  Most of this pattern of Satanism
reappears in the witch trials."

Ibid, p. 327.
______________


"Witches existed from very early times and were always thought to be
in touch with evil spirits and the powers of the underworld.  In
medieval Europe the prince of the underworld and the master of demons
was Satan and it is probable that the god of the witches was not the
supposed 'horned god' of the hypothetical 'Old Religion' but the Devil
of Christianity.  The principal beliefs and rituals of medieval witches
seem to have come from the Cathars, Luciferans and other sects accused
of worshipping the Devil, though the witch religion drew on many other
sources -- magic and sorcery, classical traditions, the Bible, pagan
customs and beliefs, and accepted popular notions about the behaviour
of witches.

"It is also likely that the persecution of Satanist sects and the witch
trials themselves stimulated activities they were intended to suppress."

Ibid, p. 330.
_____________

tyagi/TOKUS
tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com
---------------------------

Satanism is merely a category of worldviews involving sympathetic 
interpretations of "Satan".
 
Diane Vera
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