Posted by fachad on March 7, 2003, at 21:22:14
In reply to Modern Satanism, posted by Ame Sans Vie on March 5, 2003, at 23:54:11
I'm not really a LaVey-variety Satanist, but I do have quite a bit of "Sympathy for the Devil", so to speak. My own leanings are more toward Crowley-variety Thelema, but as Crowley was a major influence on LaVey, they share many common ideas.
I think the Satanist teachings, as propounded by LaVey, provide a very healthy context for growth and recovery. They are especially useful if one has been harmed in childhood by exposure to religious dogma and all of the associated guilt, self-loathing, and self-denial that goes along with it. BTW, a good reference for this phenomena is "Toxic Faith".
As an antidote to this destructive belief system, Satanism provides a much needed self-affirming, life-affirming, action-oriented philosophy of rational self-interest.
However, I think Satanism is a limited perspective in that it is a reaction against christianity. A person raised in a purely secular environment would have no need for Satanism.
As far as practice, I do think that rituals have great power to effect change, both on the objective and subjective planes. Crowley actually developed the idea that Magick was an advanced system of techniques to bring about changes in consciousness in accordance with Will. This is described in his essay, "An Initiated Interpretation of Ceremonial Magick", printed in "Goetia"
And finally, since we’re talking flavors of Satanism, my personal favorite variety is Michael Aquaino's Temple of Set at http://www.xeper.org. Aquaino started out as a priest in LeVey's Chruch of Satan, but splintered off to form the Temple of Set. The Setian Satanism has a much more scholarly, learned, intellectually high-brow feel than LaVey's COS, IMHO.
> I realize we seem to be few and far between these days, and I probably won't get a response, but I would love to find another LaVey-variety Satanist on this board. So, if you're out there, I have to say it would really be great to share practices and experiences, and how they may have helped or hindered our recoveries. Thanks!
poster:fachad
thread:206334
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20021227/msgs/206976.html