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To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.satanism,talk.religion.misc
From: "Graeme Porteous" 
Subject: Re: Satan, Worship, Service, and Depiction
Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2003 00:57:13 -0000

SOD of the CoE  wrote in message
news:G2P5a.67915$Ik.2941327@typhoon.sonic.net...
> 50030222 VII Hail Satan!
>
> "Victor_LeNettoyeur" :
> > ...I've found plenty of evidence for honor and worship
> > of _Satan_, almost since the formation of Christianity.
>
> by name? as the Cosmic Evil? as part of a religious system?
> I'd like to hear more.
>
> > ...the Nag Hammadi Library ....
>
> there are mentions by name of 'Satan'? I've never heard
> that, plus that's some kind of Gnostic scripture-set, no?
>
> > ...Jewish mythology ....
>
> warmer. there's an office or something. I gather from the
> works of JBRussell that the Jews did sometimes diffract
> the God into halves when incapable of integrating the
> heinous aspects of the Creation, but I don't think
> they called it Shaitan or worshipped it in any way.
>
> > ...Dashwood's _Hellfire Club_?
>
> here we at least have some kind of fanciful Pacts with
> the Devil in daring thrillseeking and religio-inversion.
> were they serious? did the Bad Boys call themselves
> Satanists and really try to worship something evil?
>
> >..._Carmina Burana_....
>
> I don't know why this is important. will you start to
> speak next of the Faust edifice? artistic expressions
> are not quite the same level as religious systems or
> even individual spiritual practice.
>
> > There are hundreds of little tidbits that predate
> > LaVey by hundreds of years. They all point to a
> > culture (far more open in the past than today, I
> > believe) dedicated to ritual blasphemy and mockery
> > of the Judaeo-Christian deity.
>
> is that what Satanism is? anti-Yahwehism practiced
> by fallen Christians? did they identify as Satanists?
>
> RyanS:
> >> ...authors, e.g. Mark Twain and Lord Byron,
>
> > ...Bernard Shaw? Benjamin Franklin?
>
> now we're at least beginning to enter the more positive
> perspectives on the Underworld Lord. Shaw in particular
> seems to have been a proponent of the Satanic Vision,
> but what were his religious beliefs? practices? I don't
> see the evidence beyond some fanciful literature.
>
> > Nearly all devotees of the Left-Hand Path will identify
> > openly as something else....
>
> that doesn't tell us what they are in comparison to other
> put-upon religious, then. Jews take on the names of other
> religions oppressing them. name their kids after New
> Testament figures. it happens. this says nothing about
> their *actual* spiritual character. you can't project back
> to the past something Satanic, only de facto or proto.
>
> re "traditional Satanism"
> > ...people like Jantsang have so skewed the issue ....
>
> only if you pay any attention to her expressions.
>
> >> Sympathy for Satan does not automatically constitute
> >> worshipping Satan,
>
> well said, Ryan, however, I would suggest that it may
> constitute a qualifying aspect of any Satanism. this
> point was made long ago by Diane Vera in alt.satanism
> and elsewhere in cybernetic forums.
>
> > I don't "worship" anything. I certainly don't
> > "worship" Satan.
>
> a disqualifier in terms of associating you with Satanism.
> not final, but it adds to the list of points against most
> considering you for the job.
>
> > I don't believe in any such entity outside of my own
> > psyche. ...I find the entire concept of bowing and
> > groveling demeaning and disgusting.
>
> it is typical that those who eshew worship identify it
> with "bowing and grovelling". this is naively simplistic.
>
> > Yet, I am a Satanist. To me, Satanism is an essential
> > way of looking at the world and dealing with one's
> > environment; nothing more.
>
> this is comparable to the Thelemite who talks about the
> will as part of some kind of important aspect to a
> philosophical outlook informing their experience and
> the way they approach the world. it is unconvincing to
> those who are familiar with the qualities of religion.
>
> as such, you are not religious in the slightest (even
> if you are spiritual, individualistic, and sovereign)
> and aren't part of any Satanist religion.
>
> > I don't call myself a "Satanist" because I think
> > Satan is cool or I want to see myself as in good
> > with "the evil one" or any such rubbish. It's
> > simply an accurate description of my lifestyle.
>
> what makes it accurate? why isn't the character that
> is associated with 'Satan' from its inception as a
> term identifying one's adversary to modern notions
> of the Cosmic Evil somehow a reflection on your
> lifestyle? are you adversarial to your world and
> culture? do you object to the morals of those with
> whom you share your block, preferring to torture,
> rape, pillage, and generally disrupt the cosmos?
>
> asking RyanS, no doubt, but I'll respond nonetheless:
> > Do you "worship" Satan? If so, why? If not, why not?
>
> no, I worship Kali, Queen of Demons. I don't trust Satan
> enough to worship Hir, but I see the value in serving
> Hir, defending Hir against demonizers, and making a
> pact to join in alliance against our mutual enemies.
>
> > How do you define "worship"?
>
> in extremity (as I practice):
>
> building an altar to the worshipped, casting oneself
> whole on the ground before said altar in obeisance,
> acknowledging one's complete abandon in love and awe
> at the magnificence of the worshipped, devoting one's
> entirety in energy and body to the worshipped. rapt
> in star-spangled communication and amusement at the
> beautiful perfection which is the worshipped.
>
> do I worship Satan? no. I do have collections of items
> devil-related assembled in my temple (in its own corner)
> and at the entry to the castle (the Guardian of the
> Threshold), but these do not form part of my worship,
> so much as my honour and service to Satan as I know Hir.
>
> do I worship Kali? yes. my practice includes these things.
>
> >> a "Satanist", anymore than a sympathetic interpretation
> >> to the life of Jesus makes one a Christian, or a
> >> sympathetic interpretation of Paul from the Bible makes
> >> one a Paulian.
>
> interpretations make one an interpreter, a philosopher,
> a student. one may interpret what one holds at arm's length.
>
> > Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name...
>
> the Rolling Stones ("Sympathy for the Devil") at least
> pegged the transmutational quality of Satan as I know
> Hir. it is this quality which is exposed in the figures
> of "Baphomet" as portrayed by Levi and others, usually
> comprised of several species of life. this extends very
> adroitly in horrific depictions of Lovecraftian figures
> whose manifestations may become animated as well as
> strictly inanimate. demons being depicted as theriomorphs,
> these all imply the alien, often uncontrolled, wild.
>
> blessed beast!
>
> boboroshi at-sign satanservice.org: Satanic Outreach Director
> Church of Euthanasia: http://www.churchofeuthanasia.org/
> TOKUS WEBLINKS: http://dmoz.org/Bookmarks/B/boboroshi
> Ninth Scholar's Library (Satanism Archive): http://www.satanservice.org/

My understanding is as follows:
Baphomet as drawn by Levi is not Satan. He is symbolic of the Philosopher's
Stone or  Inner Christ in which the psychological Duality has been
transmuted.
All contrary natures reconciled. Transcendent and Mundane, Devil and Angel,
Masculine and Feminine. He is symbolic of what the East referred to as
Enlightenment.

Because God is found in equilibrium as Levi clearly stated in Transcendental
Magic.

That is why the Knights Templar worshipped Baphomet. Baphomet is Christ.

Unfortunately many only see the demonic iconography in the image and assume
that it is Satan.

Christ is the reconciliation of all contraries. He is  the Mundane and
Transcendent aspects of man reconciled in Unity.