Satanism

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 19 Oct 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Zhritza	19 Oct 2002
In the Talking Tarot forum there is a thread about how our individual spiritualities interact with our tarot activity. Babette, who appears to have vanished, posted about being a Satanist, and a few people responded with ideas about what they thought Satanism entailed, etc. For my part I realized that I have a preconception about Satanism, LaVey-style or otherwise, that causes me to feel automatically derisive about it. My attitude is, Satanism is a response to Christianity and wanting to get far away from it; but Satan, Lucifer, etc. is (historically at least) an integral part of Christianity, and therefore, Satanism is descended from Christianity, based on it even. So it seems to cancel itself out. I'm thinking I am being too judgemental and oversimplifying with this, and I would like to not be an ass about it, so if anyone would like to correct me or give any viewpoints about this based on personal experience, I would welcome it. And this way, everyone can have their assumptions challenged, which we're all pretty okay with, right? ;)

Violet Gargoyle	19 Oct 2002
I think there was a thread about this a couple of months ago. Lemme look here...... Edited: Found it (one of them at least): http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6643&highlight=satanism If any of the new folks have any opinions to all of this, put your 2 cents in. I am interested in learning more from the point of a practicioners' perspective too, as I try to study all religions and I have to say my knowledge of Satanism is very limited.

Zhritza	20 Oct 2002
aargh, I had meant to search for a thread about it before I started one :P I'm off to read it, thanks

DarkElectric	20 Oct 2002
Ok, at the risk of sounding judgemental here... I have heard a lot of arguments pro and con, satanism. I have had it explained to me. I understand that it is a path, a choice, a way of life, philosophy, whatever. I also choose not to practice it, or incorporate it into my personal belief system. This is not out of ignorance, but what I consider to be informed choice. In my opinion, it seems to be similar to many technological discoveries that were heralded in the past as "wonderful, progressive, and things which would advance humankind." Like DDT, chloroflurocarbons, thalidomide, nuclear weaponry... People thought these things were so great, but found out, in the long run, that the consequences were utterly horrible. This is my personal view on satanism. I know people are taking responsibility for what they are doing, they think the rewards are worth the price they have to pay, bla, bla, bla. My question is, how do you know what you will really have to pay? Every religion that I know of which has a concept of some kind of "satan" figure, calls this entity a "deceiver". But of course, true followers of satan won't be decieved by this entity, that's just what "other people" get. Right? Ok.

The Satanism thread was originally posted on 19 Oct 2002 in the Spirituality board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Spirituality, or read more archived threads.