Occult: Neo-Paganism and Satanism

RELS 225: Cults and New Religious Movements

Slide 2.

Occult• Important: distinguish

among types• Not the Middle Ages

perception that all witches• Worship Satan • ritual killing• sexual orgies• diabolical acts

• Traditional Christians have spread this stereotype

• 4 different types of beliefs and practices

Slide 3.

1. Religion of Simple Societies• sorcery by witch doctors

in pre-industrial, nontechnological societies.

• Africa • South America • voodoo in Haiti

• actions including:• potions as medicine, but also

less palatable actions:• grave robbing • ritual killing of babies

Slide 4.

2. Neo-Paganism• pagan path familiar from

The Da Vinci Code. • “white witches”

• do not believe in Satan • deny intent to harm anyone• follow various traditions

• Practices:• worship gods and goddesses• honor Mother Earth• participate in covens• celebrate sexuality in rituals• follow the cycles of nature for

holy days

Slide 5.

3. Church of Satan• follow “the dark side” • true living involves

• being self-centered • engaging in all the lusts of the flesh

• Anton LaVey• founder of the Church of Satan • author of The Satanic Bible.

• deny traditional Satan • Satan a metaphor for a life

opposed to Christian virtues:• Peace• gentleness• Love

• denies involvement in criminal acts such as satanic ritual abuse

Slide 6.

4. Satan Worshippers• Two kinds:1. Non-criminal2. criminal

• operate as loners or in concert with a handful of others.

• Some serial killers represent themselves as Satanists.

• In the 1980’s common claim: 50,000 victims per year in United States.

• satanic panic unsupported by FBI court investigations

Slide 7.

Aboriginal religion• Trend in neo-

paganism• Healing, shamanism• What can the sweat

lodge, vision quest, way of the warrior, healing arts contribute to religion today?

Slide 8.

Neo-Paganism• Variety of groups and

practices• “The ancient gods are not

dead; but they think we are”• Not virulently anti-Christian• Most trace back to ancient

Egyptian religion• Polytheistic, yet monistic.• Not absolute unity, but not pluralistic

chaos either.• Appropriate diversity (god of wisdom;

god of love, etc.)• balancing of interactions

(male/female; four seasons, directions, etc.) create a totality.

Slide 9.

Contrast with Conventional Western Religions

Christianity & Judaism

• thought to privilege will, imposing it on human nature and earth’s nature.

• Christianity and Judaism are religions of history

• God has a purpose, from beginning (creation) to end (paradise).

Neo-paganism • favours imagination rather than

will.• Seeks cooperation with the forces

of nature, on a basis of reverence and exchange.

• celebrates what is• A religion of atmosphere instead of

faith.• A cosmos constructed by the

imagination• Calling up the gods from within

oneself is thought to be true magic.

Slide 10.

Ritual• Emphasis on the practical

side of religious expression: the rite, gesture, ceremonial act.

• Teaching is pale in comparison to rites.

• The magical cosmos is evoked, made by acts done as if it were present.

• A secondary world is created in a special time and place, far different from the outside world.

• Magic circle, wand, sword, flowers, dance.

Slide 11.

Relationship to other movements• In the Western tradition

• Eastern yoga and meditation are thought to be too foreign for westerners

• Relationship with occult• Kabbalah, Tarot cards,

astrology, etc.• But use rite instead of

intellectual/psychological exercise.

• More concerned with human relationship with nature

Slide 12.

Background• Roots in romanticism

• Eliphas Levi (1810-1875) France, applied romantic feeling to magic.• Papas (1865-1916) France, founded an Order.

• Some Masons (1888) founded Order of the Golden Dawn• led by S. L. MacGregor Mathers. (1854-1917), who claimed occult

contact with 3 “Secret Chiefs” in Paris.• Aleister Crowley (1875-1947)

• expelled from the Golden Dawn • founded his own Order (Argentinum Astrum), then joined Ordo

Templarum Orientalis (1912).• Wrote on “magick”, poet, heroin addict, exaggerator, dramatic.• “Do what you will shall be the whole of the Law”• Practiced sex magic.

Slide 13.

Categories of neo-paganism• Magical groups

• Influenced by Golden Dawn, Crowley

• Antiquarian• Concerned with evocation

• Nature groups• Romantic• Influenced by Robert Graves, White

Goddess.• Concerned with celebration of

existing goddesses.• Wicca

• Between these two: combines ritual magic and nature-oriented neo-paganism.

Slide 14.

Wicca• Aligned to nature’s cycles.• Moon, seasons.• Typically worship Horned God and Triple Goddess

(Maiden, Mother, and Crone).• May attempt to evoke the God and Goddess

through dance, chant, gestures.• Styles of ritual in American Wicca:• Gardnerian: energetic, nude dancing• Traditional: clothed, slower-paced; homey implements• Alexandrian: adds Kabbalist-occult astrology, magic,

etc.

Feminism1.Why call themselves “witches”?

They insist the stereotypes are wrong (4:10).They identify with women who found power outside of male-dominated religion and society.

Slide 16.

Feminism• Even many Christians and

Jews could not accept a God referred to exclusively with male pronouns (“He”).

• Mary Daly, Beyond God the Father• Judith Plaskow, Womanspirit

Rising.• Some Wiccan groups

shifted the emphasis to the Goddess, away from the Horned God.

• Some groups were mainly lesbian.

Slide 17.

Neo-Paganism: Summary• Variety; many trace roots to ancient Egypt; • Polytheistic, yet monistic.• favours imagination rather than will, what is rather than what should

be.• Emphasis on ritual rather than teaching• Roots in romanticism, influence from Masons,Crowley,• Categories: Magical; Nature; Wicca (combination)• Wicca: nature + evoking God&Goddess; 3 main styles of ritual:

Gardnerian, Traditional, Alexandrian• Feminism: “witches” were liberated women; some wiccans emphasize

the Goddess rather than the Horned God.• Aboriginal religion appreciated in neo-paganism• Seek to recover a sense of wonder and respect as religious feelings

toward nature.

Slide 18.

History of Satan• Old Testament: One reference to a personified

Satan.• The story of Job originally did not have the Satan

prologue , which was added centuries later.• A handful of Jewish writings from the time

between OT & NT. A few references to personified evil rarely called “Satan”.

• New Testament: Jesus casts demons out; Devil as tempter of Christ; “Belial”, “Beelzebub”, “the evil one”

Slide 19.

History of Satan• 19th Century French

images by Eliphas Levi show Satan as an opponent to Christ since the dawn of time. Not true.

• Where does Satan crop up?

• 15th Century Catholic inquisition: wishing to persecute remnants of non-Christian pagans.

Slide 20.

How bad is Satanism?• All Satanic practice is an inversion of

Christianity – an act of mockery.• Most Satanists don’t want to be

malevolent; they want to justify the pleasures Christianity prohibits.• This can be damaging.

Slide 21.

Church of Satan• Hundreds of sites with

serious info.• Many fewer by well-

organized Satanists.• They’ll refer to The

Church of Satan• Founded in 1966 by Anton

LaVey (8:22)• Black cape, goatee, red. • Black panther on a chain.

Called a press conference to open it. A publicity grab.

LaVey on SatanismFounded it as a profession.

Had been: musician, lover of Marilyn Munroe, circus worker, college course, crime photographer, saw hypocrisy of Christian culture.

Slide 24.

Church of Satan, continued.• 1969: published the Satanic

Bible. – paperback, Ballantyne books. Sells several 100,000 copies per year.

• A series of statements and doctrines:• Indulgence, vital existence, undefiled

wisdom, kindness to those who deserve it, vengeance, responsibility to the responsible, man is another animal, sins of physical or mental gratification kept church in business.

• LaVey disbanded it, but it’s been reconstituted.

• He lost most of his money, got fat, & tried to eke out an existence. Died in 1998.

Slide 25.

Temple of Set• Came out of Church of Satan.

1975. Exclusive. 500 members.• The model for Satan as an entity is

the Egyptian god Set.• By a protégé: Michael Aquino –

completely different character.• Disgusted by LaVey’s clown antics.• Born 1946. Aquino is still a

member, but high priest is now Patricia Hardy.

• Aquino has PhD in psychology from U. California. Lieut. Colonel in US army. Teaching psychological ops, intelligence, foreign relations, many honours as a soldier.

Temple of Set (7:36)1.Also

Slide 27.

Temple of Set, cont’d• The Book of Coming Forth By Night• Founding Charter of Temple of Set.• The god Set has been involved in history for

centuries and seeking a new enhanced human species.

• Practices greater black magic (to create the awakening of powers within).• Repudiates lesser black magic (curses) as

beneath people in his group.• They all abide by laws.

Slide 28.

Satanism• Satanism scare. Blend of:• What Satanism is• The Scare as a social phenomenon.

• All cults produced social panics, but this one more than any, even though it is the most imaginary.

• “A social problem”• Practices – 2 groups• Sociological studies show the problem is a

constructed problem (not a self-existent one).

Slide 29.

Satanism as a Social Phenomenon

• Randy Lippert, Canadian sociologist• “Construction of Satanism as a Social

Problem in Canada” CJS 1990.• Jeff Victor, Dynamics in Satanism Scare,

1992.

Slide 30.

Emergence of Satanism as a Social Problem

• In the 1980’s (mid to late 80’s, early 90’s peak)• Because the ACM were losing ground and

attention in their battle against boring old cults.• ‘86, ’87 moved to Satanism.• Still 2 source points:

• A long cultural tradition of Satanic mythology & conspiracies, going back 500 years and more.

• Popular culture – • Hollywood produced self-styled Satanists (crazies,

adolescent dabblers)• Legal Satanic organizations

Plus an new source in the ‘80’s – more

serious:

1.Reports of women undergoing satanic ritual abuse (14:49) as children

2.“False memory syndrome”

Slide 32.

Claims of Satanic Activity• ACM put adolescent reports, ritual abuse, crazies

all together and generated an international Satanic conspiracy.

• They claimed the victims were brainwashed so they don’t remember it.

• Thousands (50000 children kidnapped every year in US & ritually sacrificed every year) or women baby factories for sacrifice.

• 30 years ago, Hamilton kids reported cannibalism, eating feces, desecrating cemeteries.

Slide 33.

Rumour panics• data collected on 31 rumour panics in US 1984-1989.• Also, 1989 Lethbridge panic.• Reminiscent of War of the Worlds (H.G. Wells’ novel narrated by

Orson Welles): Mars invades earth, done as a news cast.• All 31 had the following characteristics:

• Trigger event: discovery of graffiti, vandalism, mutilated animals, teenage suicides (3 in Lethbridge)

• People keep children home from school, others rush to sites of Satanism• Police inundated with calls (cat gone, graffiti, strange neighbour behaviour)• Newspaper reported: here are pictures of what to look for.• Public meetings – educational, calls to action.• Churches hold special classes, bring in outside “experts”• Attacks on unconventional members of society (old ladies in dilapidated

house).

Slide 34.

Official Responses• At height of the scare, police forces got drawn into

investigations.• FBI formed special task force – 3 years on all

reports of Satanic crime in US• Found no evidence of any satanic crime ever in US.• Not even circumstantial evidence to warrant a trial.

• British 16 years ago went to the leading proponent of Satanic Ritual Abuse and asked them to write a scientifically credible report and document it.

• The deadline passed 4 times with no report.

Slide 35.

Media reports it all• Bandwagon effect. Report it because everyone else is doing so.• Lippert reports: New reports in 1980’s: all in Canada.• 100’s of discussions of Calgary RCMP report on the number of

Satanists in Calgary• Back-pedalled it to one single RCMP constable taking a course, in

his paper, he guessed at the number.• Lippert: Who benefits from making the claims? Local Police,

Child Welfare, Media, also psychological professionals, ACM, church leaders.

• Victor: Why are others receptive to them? Every panic happened in small towns in decline:

• suicide, alcohol abuse, etc., higher in rural areas.