The Satanist Church has become a vast, wildly secret society in the Modern world that is known for worshiping the devil, as well as the preaching’s of Anton Levay, but it is not remotely portrayed as the serious secret society that it has evolved into in this day and age. The Satanist Church was founded in 1966 based largely on the teachings and theories of Levay (1930-1997), a unique individual raised on horror films who embraced the dark side of human nature, proffering Satanist symbols and cartoon character images that the mainstream media have fostered to represent the beliefs of the Satanists. In reality, though, the Satanist church is still a very secret, very elusive society that believes thoroughly in a very serious message, we are all united by a will to power and a dark nature. They believe that it is natural to pursue these desires, even worship them. Obviously the persecutions that such a belief might have encountered in years gone by, witness the inquisition and Salem Witch trials, are no longer a concern, yet the Satanist church still issues red cards carried by its members in secret and frowns upon “airing out” the names of its members. Part of the allure of darkness is the elusiveness of it, that perhaps there is this large network of powerful Satanists, though by no means is this most likely the case, there’s no way to tell just how many members of the Satanist church exist. Add to this secretive nature its taboo charter and will to explore the wants of man at all costs, you have the desired effect of an all encompassing evil institution.



Aided by wives tales and folklore, the Satanist church uses an arsenal of Satanist symbols that hold most Christians in awe. From the hook and horns to the pentangle, or 666, there are numerous symbols strewn throughout the bible that reference Satan or Lucifer, but these days just about anything that symbolizes evil from the Nazi Swastika to the skull and crossbones signify the Satanist church. Rightly or wrongly, the Satanist church does nothing to demystify this association, and even propagates the notion in most cases.



Again, this simply adds to the myth that has become the Church of Satan. Though it was originally founded as an outlet to fight organized religion, with rituals that were meant to excite and titillate, the church itself has grown to personify anything and everything that is considered evil.



While they truly represent sin and sloth and avarice as the tenets that build the foundation of their faith, they are largely misunderstood as a fringe lunatic society. In fact they have become quite adept at anonymously controlling their religion as well as their membership, and have effectively placed themselves front and center inside the mass psyche when any innately evil incident occurs, from the Manson Family to Columbine.



One of the founding principles of Satanism is that man is just another animal, maybe slightly better than others, certainly worse than others with some intentions, but can be led around and misled by any other animal. That being the case, Satanists have effectively led people to believe that they represent evil in every facet, guilty by association, and credited with powers that don’t exist. I guess they’ve proved their point. Perhaps it has earned Halloween as its own Holiday by default?