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Satanism: A Threat In the
new Millenium
by William H. Kennedy,
october 2004
The ultimate concern of this
examination is to trace the history of Satanism
from its emergence in the post World War Two era
to the various threats this movement poses to
society in the new millennium.
In this regard a provisional definition of
Satanism is necessary. Satanism may be defined as
a belief system which seeks to venerate the Fallen
Angel Lucifer either as a metaphor or as a
metaphysical being. As will be demonstrated the
fact that some Satanists see the Devil as merely a
symbol and others as a real spiritual entity turns
out to be irrelevant when considering the
underlying theology and long term goals of this
movement. Although many factors contributed to the
growth of this diabolical belief system over the
centuries, the contemporary movement can be traced
to the activities of one individual who gave shape
to the modern world of Satanism.
Crowley: The Godfather of Modern Satanism
In any discussion of contemporary Satanism the
figure of Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) looms like
a mafia godfather over a shadowy underworld.
Crowley (rhymes with “holy”) is the single
most influential character in the formation of
modern Satanism and Witchcraft (Wicca). Born to a
wealthy family who were the sole owners of a
brewery and pub chain, Crowley resented the stern
Christian up-bringing and harsh Victorian morals
which were inflicted upon him in his native
Britain.
Crowley enrolled at Cambridge University but never
graduated having instead chosen to embark upon
period of self-examination and the study of occult
doctrine. It should be noted that Crowley was a
world-class mountain climber and was a minor
celebrity as a young man. However, the majority of
his time was spent in the study of ritual magic
and mystical practices. Much of this esoteric
exploration was Satanic in nature despite claims
to the contrary by Crowley’s contemporary
followers. In his quest for spiritual
enlightenment Crowley began combining drugs with
meditative practices and sex rituals to form a
system of sex-magick. (Crowley used the
alternative spelling “magick” to distinguish
his metaphysical teachings from stage magic)
Within this system advocates claim that drugs,
visualization and the frenzy of sex combine to
make them merge with and become the deity they
focus on. In one ritual which Crowley undertook
early in his career, he identified himself as
Jesus Christ. In fact the most popular photograph
of Crowley shows him with arms outstretched like
Christ on the Cross. [Drury: 2000]
This ritual mimics Lucifer’s rebellion which is
recounted in Isaiah Chapter 14. It constitutes a
reenactment of the Fallen Angel’s attempt to
invert Heaven and be worshiped as God. It is a
ceremonial imitation of Lucifer’s mutiny and
constitutes a mini-victory for the Prince of this
World in that God is eclipsed. Crowley himself was
worshiped as God in this bizarre rite. At other
times Crowley identified himself as Satan (and
other mostly ancient Egyptian deities) and
likewise encouraged his disciples to venerate him.
This notion of inversion is essential to
understanding the phenomenon of Satanism.
Ultimately inversion involves the replacing of God
with something else as an object of veneration. It
really does not matter what replaces God so long
as the Christian Deity is eclipsed in the hearts
and minds of followers. Crowley was well aware of
this notion of inversion even having to have gone
as far as to call his new religion
“Crowleyanity” as an inversion of
“Christianity.” He symbolically inverted the
Divine order by replacing Christ with himself and
had his deranged followers venerate him as the
Messiah. In his bid for spiritual power Crowley
even directly petitioned the Fallen Angel by
praying and killing small birds before a human
skeleton which he mounted on a makeshift altar in
his home. [Wilson: 2000]
Crowley later believed that he was also the
Anti-Christ. In his most famous work The Book
of the Law, written at a time when Crowley was
openly referring to himself as The Great
Beast 666, he wrote that, “With my hawk’s head
I peck at the eyes of Jesus.” And it is where he
wrote his most famous axiom, “Do what thy will
shall be the whole of the law.” This book called
for a New Age of global conflict, constant
bloodshed and the eventual destruction of
Christianity in an apocalyptic battle. [Wilson:
1987] Again, the inversion of the Christian faith
was of utmost concern to Crowley. It did not
matter if Crowley played the role of Jesus or
Satan – the primary goal was to obscure the real
Christ by whatever means necessary.
In his obsession to overturn Christendom Crowley
was even willing to adopt atheism and communism if
need be. Just after World War One Crowley wrote to
the newly installed Communist government in Moscow
and offered his services as propaganda minister
for atheism with the express intent of deriding
Christianity. The fact that the Russian Reds had
no metaphysical beliefs was of little concern to
Crowley. It was the Communist Central
Committee’s vow to destroy Christianity that
really grabbed Crowley’s attention. The Great
Beast 666 was only concerned with the obliteration
of the Christian Faith and would use anyone or any
system at his disposal to promote this agenda. The
Communists must have believed that The Great Beast
666 would better serve their revolution if he
remained in the West as they never answered his
letter. [Wilson: 1987]
Crowley’s relationship with Fascism is somewhat
complex. The Great Beast would adopt any system
which sought to replace the Judeo-Christian
Tradition but was not one to subordinate himself
in any meaningful way
to any Leader no matter how appealing his ideas
were. In this sense Crowley was certainly not a
Nazi or Nazi sympathizer. However, Crowley did
state that the prophecies depicted in The Book
of the Law have cognates in a book of quotes
entitled Hitler Speaks. In this sense
Crowley identified his system with that of the
Nazi Party Leader. [Goodrick-Clarke: 2002]
Virtually all of Crowley’s later disciples
adopted strong elements of Fascism and Nazi
occultism as part and parcel of fulfilling The
Great Beast’s agenda. One of Crowley’s primary
German followers was Martha Kunzel who sincerely
believed that Hitler was following Crowley’s
principles and became an avid member of the Nazi
Party. The British occult writer Gerald Suster
speculated that the rise of totalitarian despots
in the 20th century and the world wars they
started were, in reality, a bleak fulfillment of
The Great Beast’s forecasts concerning the epoch
of violence which Crowley believed would
eventually topple Christianity. As will be
demonstrated this trend of mixing Nazism and
Crowleyanity would be continued by the Great
Beast’s devotees into the new millennium.
[Goodrick-Clarke: 2002]
Crowley’s version of Satanism still crops up in
modern Devil worship. As will be demonstrated, one
can find Satanists who worship themselves,
Satanists who venerate the Devil as a real being
and atheistic Satanists who use this diabolical
faith as a convenient springboard to overturn
Christianity. Oftentimes these competing
convictions and interpretations of Satanism causes
division within this movement but this is to be
expected and in no way hinders their ultimate goal
of destroying Christianity. From a theological
perspective it must be kept in mind that Hell is
full of Devil worshipers who bicker among
themselves so it comes as no surprise that there
is squabbling among contemporary Satanic groups in
this World.
Crowley belonged to various mystical societies
over the course of his career including the
Freemasons, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and
the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) – which he
was later to lead and started branches all over
the Western world. As a means to engage in intense
sex magick practices, Crowley started a commune in
Sicily where he combined hard drugs, magical
incantations and ritual sex with his strange
followers. Refusing to submit to any moral codes,
Crowley allowed several pre-teen children to
witness sex rituals which involved explicit carnal
acts – a fact his admirers never like to
mention. [Wilson: 1987] There is also a vague
reference to the human sacrifice of a male child
in Magick in Theory and Practice but modern
Crowleyites claim this is merely a “metaphor”
and that the The Great Beast 666 did not intend
for his initiates to butcher babies in rituals.
Trouble came to Crowley’s commune when one of
his followers died from toxic shock after
ingesting cat’s blood from a sliver chalice
during an arcane rite. The authorities were
informed of the death and the Fascist government
deported The Great Beast and his commune closed
for good. Crowley turned much of his attention to
spreading the OTO with its sodomy rituals
which The Great Beast greatly enjoyed.
(source)
The modern founder of Witchcraft
Gerald Gardener hired Crowley to formulate the
primary magical ceremonies practiced in some form
by the vast majority of Wiccans to this day.
Despite their claims that they are practicing the
continuation of pre-Christian Goddess religion
which survived from ancient times, most modern
Witches are merely celebrating the nature rites of
the Great Beast 666. Crowley surely enjoyed the
money he received to formulate these Wicca rituals
but he must also have seen the potential this
Mother Nature religion had for further toppling
Christianity. [Drury: 2000]
During these final years of his life Crowley
worked to keep his teachings going after his
death. One of his schemes was to infiltrate the
Catholic Church and subvert it from within. For
this end he ordered his disciple Charles S. Jones
to convert to the Church of Rome and begin to
replace it with Crowleyanity. Jones was arrested
once for indecent exposure in Canada. How
well he did within the Catholic Church is unknown.
[Wilson: 1987]
Crowley was debt ridden and burnt-out from drugs
when he died in 1947. The lives of his followers
took an even worse turn with many of his male and
female sex-magick partners eventually going
insane. Two of Crowley’s wives even committed
suicide. [Wilson: 1987] Crowley’s primary
American follower was rocket designer Jack Parsons
who revolutionized missile propulsion by inventing
solid rocket fuel. One of Parson’s magical
partners was L. Ron Hubbard who went on to found
Dianetics and the Church of Scientology.
Parson’s died in an explosion in the late 40s
but not before secured a place for the Great Beast
666 in American culture.
In the late 1940s The Berkeley OTO branch was
frequented by actor and film-maker Kenneth Anger
(b. 1930). Anger’s interest in occultism runs
very deep and his interest in Crowley is
obsessive. In his effort to understand the Great
Beast Anger went on a pilgrimage in the 1950s to
Crowley’s old commune in Sicily and made a film
based on Crowleyian principles entitled Inauguration
of the Pleasure Dome (1954). Many years
later Anger would become a household name for
penning the pop-culture masterpiece Hollywood
Babylon (1981) the first book to expose the
rampant homosexuality and deviancy in the film
industry and is a must read for anyone interested
in American cultural history. No one can deny what
a talented film-maker and writer Kenneth Anger is
even though one may strongly disagree with his
philosophy. Anger is still involved in
Crowleyanity and is one of the major promoters of
the Great Beast’s world-view. Crowley is hugely
popular today – more so than in his lifetime. In
1967 he appeared on the cover of The Beatles Sgt.
Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. In a 2002 BBC
survey of the 100 Greatest Britons Crowley ranked
number 73. [source]
The Church of Satan
The Berkeley OTO had a San Franciscan member named
Howard Stanton Levey (1930-1997) who started
frequenting the lodge in 1951. Levey had been in
correspondence with Jack Parsons in the late 1940s
and was an eager student of the occult.
[Goodrick-Clarke: 2002] His background is somewhat
shrouded in mystery primarily because he
misrepresented his early life and work when he was
later to emerge as a major figure in occult
circles. It is clear, however, that Levey was a
musician who played keyboard at various burlesque
houses and nightclubs in the Bay Area in the
1950s.
Levey and Anger became fast friends and shared an
interest in the more nefarious side of life. The
two men intensely studied such matters as
werewolves, vampires, tarot, ESP and just about
every other occult and
mystical teaching under the sun. By 1961 they
began to hold meetings at Levey’s house where
they charged for public lectures on occultism
which attracted fairly large crowds as esoteric
subjects began to become more and more popular.
[Goodrick-Clarke: 2002]
As the public decency laws began to change in
California burlesque houses were allowed to offer
topless and eventually full nude dancing. Levey
was already ingrained in the adult entertainment
industry as a keyboard player in the older
burlesque club scene. As a means to earn money
Levey recruited and organized strip shows in San
Francisco and, according to his daughter Zeena,
Howard Levey often turned to pimping women in San
Francisco’s red light district called the
Tenderloin when money was short. [source]
In 1966 Levey formulated a scheme by which he
could combine his favorite interests – sex,
money and magick. With Anger’s blessing Levey
shaved his head, donned black clothing, and
announced the formation of the Church of Satan. He
also changed his name to Anton Szandor LaVey and
declared himself to be The Black Pope. In
order to have a secure base of operation LaVey
painted his house black and designed and built an
elaborate ritual chamber which would act as the
headquarters for the new diabolical church. LaVey
went on a publicity blitz which afforded him
celebrity status in the growing 60s counter
culture. Over the course of the next few years
LaVey gathered a fairly large following of about
2000 members world-wide with around 500 of these
being serious hardcore devotees. [Goodrick-Clarke:
2002]
In 1969 Avon books published The Satanic Bible
LaVey’s attempt at giving shape to his
diabolical purview. Later books included The
Satanic Rituals, The Satanic Witch and The
Devil’s Notebook. The Black Pope’s Bible
turned out to be mostly a plagiarized version of
the book Might is Right an anti-Catholic
diatribe most likely written by a disgruntled
Irish Catholic immigrant who wrote under the pen
name of R. Redbeard. The primary ritual contained
in The Satanic Bible is a reworking the
17th century Black Mass – a parody of Roman
Catholic services.
Some of the other rituals LaVey promotes in these
tomes have clear and distinct Nazi elements. One
ritual was accompanied by the Nazi hymn Germany
Awake composed by the fanatic Fascist Dietrich
Eckart which was broadcast daily in the Third
Reich. One can find references to Nazism in
LaVey’s ceremonies with purely Fascist terms
like Thule, Vril, and Abnenerbe sprinkled
throughout his diabolical rites. LaVey was not shy
about admitting his deep admiration for the SS
even claiming that one of his rituals was
based on Himmler’s most elite ceremonies which
was reserved for the highest members of his inner
circle. [Goodrick-Clarke: 2002]
LaVey’s defenders often point out that The Black
Pope had Jewish blood and could not really have
been a Nazi sympathizer. But when one considers
that the most vicious guards in Germany’s
concentration camps were in fact Jewish it really
renders this argument moot. This refers, of
course, to the Capos – Jews the Nazis recruited
to harass and murder their own kind. Most of these
Capos were volunteers.
The formation of the Church of Satan would also
afford the Black Pope many tax breaks as he
quickly devised a scheme to combine his Devil
worship with the adult entertainment industry.
LaVey had contacts within organized crime from an
uncle who was one of Al Capone’s henchman.
[source]
This connection gave him access to the
strip club owners in San Francisco and LaVey began
to recruit young women to perform in these new
clubs . As a means to avoid taxation The Black
Pope called one of his strip shows “The Witches
Review” and declared that this topless dance was
a legitimate religious ceremony. This afforded
LaVey certain tax breaks and buffered him from
government censors in that he could always claim
that they were infringing on his right to practice
his religion if the authorities ever changed the
decency laws.
One young women who LaVey recruited to perform
topless in The Witch’s Review was a sexy drifter
named Susan Atkins. Atkins played the role of a
seductive vampireress who emerged topless from a
coffin and would point her index finger, which had
a long red painted fingernail, at the leering
audience. She would hiss and
symbolically beckon for the blood of the trench
coat wearing customers who paid their admission to
Black Pope’s religious ceremony. Her stage act
strangely presaged her later criminal activities.
[Schreck: 1989]
Susan Atkins became a household name in 1969 after
viciously murdering the pregnant actress Sharon
Tate by stabbing her in the stomach. Susan then
compulsively licked the blood of the popular star
off of her own fingers. In a sense she took
her role of vampire to heart. [Schreck 1989] After
breaking with LaVey, Atkins joined up with The
Family – Charles Manson’s motley crew of Devil
Worshipers. Susan Atkins was present at all three
sets of murders ordered by Charles Manson at the
Hinman, Tate and Labianca homes. (graphic
Tate photo)
Another Church of Satan member who
defected to Manson was Robert “Bobby”
Beausoleil who brutally murdered Gary Hinman at
the request of Charlie. (Like Crowley, Manson
demanded to be worshiped as Jesus and Satan). Both
of these former Church of Satan members are doing
life in prison. [source]
Beausoleil tattooed himself
with Nazi symbols and joined the Aryan Nations
prison gang – another link between mainstream
Satanism and violent neo-Nazism. [source]
LaVey, like all pimps, had an excessive need to
exploit people and decided that he would charge
huge sums to Church of Satan members for his
advanced teachings. In 1975 members were shocked
to find an ultimatum in LaVey’s newsletter The
Cloven Hoof that, from now on, all higher
degrees of initiation would only be available if
large contributions in cash, real estate or
valuable works of art were donated to The Black
Pope. In his greed LaVey must have forgotten that
he taught all of these people to be out for
themselves and never to be anyone’s sucker.
Consequently, the majority of hardcore followers
left and formed other Satanic organizations some
of which will be covered below. [Goodrick-Clarke]
This mass defection dealt a serious blow to LaVey
- one from which neither he or his organization
ever fully recovered from. With his core followers
gone LaVey lost his major source of income and
until his death he lived in abject poverty. The
Black Pope lived primarily off of handouts from a
few close friends and occasional wealthy
individuals who joined his organization and could
afford the large stash of cash he demanded for
official diplomas from the Church of Satan. The
Black Pope would make anyone a High Priest in his
diabolic order if they paid him enough – he
would issue these degrees without even offering
the payee any arcane instruction. Many a wealthy
businessman in San Francisco and elsewhere would
pay for these bogus certificates to use as a
novelty items to show friends and shock business
partners. [Drury: 2000] Even with these schemes
The Black Pope almost lost his house due to a
defaulted mortgage but a wealthy friend purchased
it and allowed LaVey to live there for the rest of
his life. [source]
LaVey’s philosophy of selfishness soon impacted
his personal life and his marriage and family
suffered greatly. According to Zeena LaVey Schreck
– the Black Pope’s youngest daughter - her
father regularly beat his wife Diane and the
police had to be called on one occasion to break
up a particularly nasty domestic fight. In this
instance, the High Priest of the Church of Satan
attempted to strangle his spouse to death. Zeena
also claims that Anton was a bullying father who
mistreated both her and her older sister Karla.
She also claims that LaVey neglected and abused
his collection of exotic animals. In a most
startling statement Zeena claims that her father
passively watched a friend of many years molest
her son in the Black Pope’s presence. The
perpetrator was later sent to prison for sexually
abusing another child. [source]
As a means to secure cash in the 1980s and 90s
LaVey returned to his practice of pimping. When
young females joined the Church of Satan LaVey
would often initiate them by having them sell
their bodies in the Tenderloin sex district. LaVey
pocketed most of the cash these naïf girls
returned with. For prostituting themselves these
devotees were allowed to enter the higher degrees
of the Church of Satan. [source]
LaVey’s latter years were quite strange. He
became more and more paranoid believing that
people were out to kill him. He became reclusive
and saw less and less of even his closet devotees.
The Black Pope’s house was surrounded by a large
fence with barbed wire and he spent the majority
of his time inside playing his organ and
interacting with a cadre of low-tech robots he had
created or collected over the years. Nor did LaVey
really bother with anyone apart from those who
would supply him with much needed cash. [source]
The rise of the Internet afforded LaVey new hope
for his movement and he sought contributions
through the Church of Satan web page which went
online in 1995. His ex-wife and daughters had
little to do with The Black Pope. His only
companion was his lover Blanche Barton. Howard
Stanton Levey departed from this world in 1997
from heart disease and was at the time of his
passing the most famous occultist in history.
[source]
Michael
Aquino and the Temple of Set
The largest Satanic church to spin-off from the
Church of Satan is undoubtedly the Temple of Set
formed by The Black Pope’s number one disciple
Dr. Michael Aquino. Aquino joined up in 1969 while
he was a US army officer and psychological
operations expert at the Presidio Army base in San
Francisco. A highly educated and sophisticated man with
a PhD from UC Santa Barbara, Aquino was the polar
opposite of the high school drop out and street
hustler LaVey. This class difference was bound to
cause tension between the two men. This came to a
head in 1975 when, as stated, LaVey tried to pull
a con-job on his devotees and drain them of
whatever wealth they had in order to receive the
higher initiation rites of The Black Pope’s
organization. The final rupture came when LaVey
accepted money for the rites and proffered little
or no instruction on the tenets of Satanism to the
attention seeking dilettantes who handed envelops
of cash to The Black Pope. [Drury: 2000]
Aquino took his diabolical beliefs seriously and
undertook a long and detailed study of occultism
and the rites of the Church of Satan. This
academic Devil worshiper just could not stomach
the fact that LaVey gave away the very advanced
degrees he worked hard to attain. He stated that
the church was attracking too many “Fad
followers, egomaniacs and assorted oddballs whose
interest in becoming Satanists was to flash their
membership cards for cock-tail party notoriety.”
[Drury: 2000]
Nor did Aquino appreciate LaVey’s notion of
atheism and self-assertion. For Aquino Satan was a
real metaphysical being whose devotees were meant
to worship and serve their diabolical deity. This
constitutes the first break between atheistic
Satanists and theistic Satanists – a rift which
has little meaning when considering that either
way is consistent with Crowley’s notion of
inversion. To repeat it does not matter if a
Satanist replaces God with himself or the Devil
– the ultimate end result serves the same agenda
of overturning Christianity and replacing it with
Devil Worship. Whether the individual Satanist
prefers atheistic or theistic Satanism is moot.
As will be demonstrated below some spin-off groups
of theistic Satanists believe that this rift will
be settled with the emergence of the Anti-Christ
in global affairs.
Aquino not only claims to have Faith in the Fallen
Angel but believes the Prince of Darkness spoke to
him and gave him a further revelation from Hell.
This communication from the Devil was eventually
written down in Aquino’s treatise The Book of
Coming Forth by Night (1985). In this text the
Arch-fiend identified himself as Set – the
ancient Egyptian name for Satan – and instructed
Aquino to form a new organization called the
Temple of Set (with members referred to as
Setians) which was to act as a vehicle for the
emergence of a new Satanic Age. [Drury: 2000]
The trend of self-promotion and eclipsing the
Christian God still survived the break from the
Church of Satan as evinced in the statement of
leading Setian Don Webb, “The mission of the
Temple of Set is to recreate a tradition of self
deification.” For all Aqunio’s squabbling over
the years he retained the key element of both
LaVey and Crowley’s ultimate concern – to
replace the Christian God with something else. In
Aqunio’s theology it is valid to replace the
Christian God with oneself and/or Satan (Set).
From A Christian perspective adopting either of
these concepts eclipses God one way or the other.
Aquino’s Temple of Set became fairly popular and
even converted Zeena LaVey and her husband
Nicholas Schreck for a time. Although they espouse
Setian views the Schrecks have also adopted
Crowleyanity having experimented with and written
about various forms of sex magick. The Shrecks
founded their own order called The Storm which
seeks to include ancient Indo-European sex themes
into their greater purview. Like many
Satanists they have incorporated neo-Nazi
occultism and racism as part and parcel of their
diabolical practices. The Schrecks recorded a CD
under the group name of Radio Werewolf –
a name borrowed from Himmler’s underground
broadcasting network which sent out pro-Nazi
messages after the Third Reich surrendered. The
Schrecks moved to Germany and are directly
associated with neo-Fascist Skin Head groups. They
also produced a movie entitled Charles Manson
Superstar [1989] a documentary which afforded
Manson a chance to rant away concerning his
murderous intentions from inside the
maximum-security prison from which he shall never
emerge. The Schrecks have also produced a series
of quite interesting books one of which is on the
history of Satanism in the cinema.
Many Temple of Set members are Jewish yet Aquino
still hails Himmler as a great Satanic initiate.
He even performed a series of rituals at the old
SS head-quarters at Wewelsburg Castle in Germany
where Himmler’s occult priests once tried to
resurrect several severed heads and make them
speak. Aquino believed that Wewelsburg Castle was
a major earthly nexus of nefarious powers and
sought to tap into this diabolical gold-mine. It
was at this High Temple of Nazism that Aquino
claimed to achieve an even higher initiation and
further merged with his malevolent god Set. He set
down his experiences with Nazi mysticism in The
Wewelsburg Working (1982). How any Jew could
join the Temple of Set is beyond reason.
[Goodrick-Clarke]
Although Aquino is a master at media manipulation
and various forms of mind control from his years
as a US Army psi-op officer he still could not
avoid a series of law suites which seriously
damaged his reputation. The New Religious
Movements page best sums up the troubles Aquino
faced and it should be noted that he was never
charged with any crime:
A scandal that broke out in 1986
did much to hurt the credibility of Michael Aquino
and the Temple of Set. Charges of child
molestation surfaced at the day-care center at
Presidio Army Base, where Lt. Col. Aquino was
assigned. Gary Hambright, a day-care worker, was
charged with 12 counts of sodomy, oral copulation,
and lewd conduct. Aquino, along with his wife
Lilith, were identified by some of the children as
possibly being another man who had participated in
the molestations. However, no formal charges were
ever brought against Aquino, and the case against
Hambright was later dismissed.
In 1994, Aquino sued Linda
Blood, a former member of the Temple of Set, for
libel in her book The New Satanists . The book,
Aquino's lawyers said, depicted him and his fellow
Setians as "pedophiles, child abusers,
murderers and the masterminds behind a nationwide
satanic conspiracy". This was settled out of
court, with details of the settlement kept
confidential.
The latest
lawsuit, in 1997, was brought against an internet
provider for failing to block defamatory posts
from an anonymous user. A person using the name
"Curio" had posted over 500 messages
that accused Aquino of "having participated
in heinous crimes, sexual perversions and acts of
moral turpitude," according to Aquino's
lawyers. That case against the internet company
ElectriCiti was thrown out of court.
[source]
Aquino has retired from public life and turned
over the operations of the Temple of Set to Don
Webb.
The Process Church
of the Final Judgment
Although it is now defunct no discussion of modern
Satanism would be complete without reviewing the
strange saga of the Process Church of the Final
Judgment. The lineage of this Church can be
directly traced to Aleister Crowley via Jack
Parsons and L. Ron Hubbard. The Process Church was
started by two former Church of Scientology
members named Robert and Mary Anne Moore
DeGrimston in England in 1965. They soon began
recruiting rich young people into their cult. The
Process Church of the Final Judgment had a Satanic
theology in which Jesus and Satan were different
aspects of the same Divine Being. In their
apocalyptic purview the DeGrimston’s believed
that the world would erupt into global war which
would be ended by a return of Jesus and Satan.
Jesus would judge the Living and the Dead and his
other aspect Satan would inflict punishment on the
unjust. Members were encouraged to worship both
Jesus and Lucifer in their clearly diabolic belief
system.
The Process Church also began to adopt Nazi style
symbols and language in their diabolic theology of
death and destruction. The primary symbol of
DeGrimston’s organization looks very much like
Hitler’s swastika.
As the cult spread to the New World they
encountered Charles Manson and The Family in San
Francisco. Manson was another former Scientologist
who claimed that he and Robert Moore DeGrimston
were “one and the same” at his trial in 1970.
Manson claimed to be Jesus and Satan at the same
time and wrote an article for the Process Church
magazine. Author Ed Saunders was sued by the
Process Church for suggesting that members were
somehow involved in Manson’s Helter Skelter
program of murder and mayhem. Sander’s conceded
and removed the offensive passage form his book The
Family.
Researcher Maury Terry was likewise sued by the
OTO for claiming links between them, the Process
Church, The Family and Son of Sam serial killer
David Berkowitz in his book The Ultimate Evil.
No OTO or Process Church member was charged with
any crime while being active members of these
groups. Bobby Beausoleil was no longer involved
with Ken Anger or LaVey when he butchered Gary
Hinman. Likewise, no Process Church member was
ever charged with murder in relation to the Son of
Sam shootings. However, Berkowitz claims to this
day that he was part of a Process Church offshoot
but no one takes his claims seriously as he
originally said his neighbor’s dog Sam ordered
him to kill those people.
Terry settled out of court but
still promotes his book which makes the same
assertions.
Eventually Robert Moore DeGrimston suffered from
sexual problems with his wife and requested she
allow him to bring another women to their bed for
a three-some. Mary Anne refused and this lead to
the entire collapse of the Process Church which
formally disbanded in 1975 and destroyed all of
its records.
The Skull and Bones Society
The only non-Crowleyan Satanist group has actually
had the most influence in politics, economics and
popular culture. Founded at Yale in 1832 the Skull
and Bones Society (aka The Order) came in the wake
of President John Quincy Adams purging of
Freemasons from government jobs who, the President
felt, had inordinate power in American political
life. As a means to continue the Freemasonic
tradition in the power structure of the United
States, a Yale student went to Germany and secured
a charter from some unnamed university
Masonic-like secret society. A legal entity called
the Russell Trust was set up as the parent
organization of the Skull and Bones Society and
this corporation owns all the land on which Yale
University rests and could technically evict this
Ivy League institution from its home. This is the
reason Yale University refuses to even speak of
The Order and professors and instructors are
ordered never to comment to the press about the
Skull and Bones.
The Skull and Bones is headquartered in a bizarre
building in the center of Yale’s campus in New
Haven called the Tombs. The structure has an eerie
quality and looks very much like a mausoleum. It
is reported that the interior part of the building
is decorated with coffins and real human skulls
including that of the Native American leader
Geronomo. Potential initiates meet twice a week
for elaborate dinners. Members are called
Bonesman. Even these high society Satanists cannot
get away from Nazi practices. Since the late 1940s
members of The Order use a silver cutlery set once
owned and used by Hitler himself. It was stolen by
a Bonesman who served in Europe at the end of WW2.
The Skull and Bones Society fits our definition of
a Satanist organization because of their
initiation ceremony. Like all Masonic orders the
Skull and Bones has a mock resurrection ceremony
(a parody of Christian resurrection) and has even
more disturbing rituals which have nothing less
than a Satanic slant to them. For example, the
initiates drink blood from a skull. The tallest
member of the initiation group is deemed “The
Big Devil” and the shortest “The Little
Devil”. At the final part of the ceremony the
initiate kneels before three figures who are
dressed as a Devil with horns, a Black Knight and
a Pope wearing a miter who rests his foot on a
stone skull. The Black Knight (the fool Don
Quixote) walks over and dubs the initiate “a
knight of eulogia.”
The three diabolic figures are clearly a
representation of the infernal trinity of Lucifer
(the horned figure), Anti-Christ (the Pope figure
with the skull), and Satan (the Black
Knight). This is a diabolical inversion of the
Christian Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Consequently, all members ultimately owe their
allegiance to the infernal trinity.
According to Alexandra Robbins in Secrets of
the Tomb (2002) Eulogia is a Greek Goddess and
thus gives the Skull and Bones a strong link to
witchcraft and Neo-paganism. Again this is all
meant to obscure the Christian God and replace Him
as a means to gain control over the hearts, minds
and souls of those who offer allegiance to the
infernal trinity and the goddess.
Bonesmen and Boneswomen (women are now initiated)
take blood oaths never to admit their membership
publicly and are told to leave the room or change
the subject if non-members ever question them
about The Order. They operate purely for mutual
aid for other members and are expected to help one
another as far as their station in life allows.
They have a yearly meeting of the 800 or so living
members on a secret private island on the St.
Lawrence River which is owned by the Russell
Trust. What rites take place there are currently
unknown – no member has ever revealed the exact
nature of the activities which occur on this
remote island.
What becomes frightening about the Skull and Bones
is the high number of powerful people who are
Order members like both President Bushs,
Presidential candidate John Kerry not to mention a
hoard of prominent people in politics, business
and high society. It does not matter if members
believe that what they knelt before was a metaphor
– their allegiance is still to the infernal
realm. It doses not matter if Skull and Bones
members never engage in such rituals again –
from a Christian perspective one need only sell
his or her soul to the Devil once and it’s a
done deal for this life and the next unless the
initiate renounces the oaths they took and
denounces the organization.
President George W. Bush (a
Methodist and alleged born again Christian) and
Senator John F. Kerry (a Roman Catholic) have
never renounced their oaths to the Skull and Bones
– in fact they keep them. This is evinced in the
Meet the Press interviews hosted by Tim
Russert during the 2004 Presidential election.
When Russert questioned both these men about the
Skull and Bones they refused to answer and changed
the subject.
The teachings of the Skull and Bones are really
not too far away from Crowley’s ideas and both
have their roots in Masonic influenced secret
societies. Crowley always claimed to be part of an
older tradition and the Skull and Bones seems to
be part of this same ancient nefarious system.
Satanic Crime
and the New Millennium
A philosophy of life which centers on selfishness
and disregard for all forms of authority will
inevitably lead to criminal activity. As mentioned
LaVey had ties to organized crime and claimed that
Las Vegas gangsters were his role models.
He did pimp women in San Francisco’s red light
district his whole adult life. It is no wonder
that his disciples like Atkins were to perform
heinous murders. The Black Pope’s Satanic
teaching has influenced a variety of criminals who
also claimed to be Satanists. This is not to say
that the Church of Satan or any of its offshoots
are responsible for the criminal actions of others
but their publications and related media certainly
encourage illicit activities.
There are also other Satanic groups which espouse
violence and criminal activities behind the veil
of free speech. Several groups seek to unify
Satanists in a final battle against Christians.
Radio Free Satan has broadcast shows which
encourages teenagers to commit suicide. There are
many more examples which could be drawn from.
However, the case of the Columbine shooters, Eric
Harris and Dylan Klebold, demonstrates what is
perhaps the most shocking case of Satanic crime in
recent memory.
Was Columbine a Satanic Crime?
The rampage which ensued on April 20, 1999
(Hitler's Birthday) at Columbine High School
situated in a quiet and scenic suburb of Denver
left an indelible mark on the collective American
psyche. Even before the onslaught ended
journalists were speculating as to the motivations
of the shooters. Michael Moore was later to make
an academy award winning motion picture which
basically blamed the easy accessibility of
firearms and media induced hysteria to explain the
events surrounding that most horrible day when 12
children and 1 teacher died, 20 people wounded and
100rds left with deep emotional scares. However,
there were clear and distinct Satanic elements to
this murder which Moore did not cover but instead
focused on vindicating the clearly innocent
Marilyn Manson who was unfairly made a scapegoat
for the crimes by the popular media.
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were bullied by
athletes at Columbine High School and joined a rag
tag group of outsiders called the Trench Coat
Mafia. This loose association consisted of various
misfits whose inability to function in structured
environments caused them to adopt a variety of
anti-social philosophies. Even their name is a
reference to organized crime. (photo)
It should be acknowledged that
secondary education as it exists in America today
has little tolerance for such non-traditional
students and schools must design more inclusive
programs which afford marginalized teenagers a
sense of self-value. Students who perform poorly
in academic and athletic pursuits must be taught
that they have value merely by being human beings
and that they do posses talents which are of
benefit to society. The model of “winners and
losers” (in reality a form of social Darwinism),
which is encouraged by teachers, must be replaced
with more positive models based on the intrinsic
self-worth of individuals. Bullying is also a
rampant problem as well and new strategies must be
developed by educational psychologists to curtail
this widespread menace. These issues must not be
lost in learning the lesson of Columbine and
Michael Moore was correct in pointing these issues
out in his film.
The Trench Coat Mafia devised an eclectic model of
anti-social teachings ranging from Hollywood films
which advocated school violence (The Basketball
Diaries) to the glaring misanthropy of Black
Metal music. Satanism was certainly a major part
of their world-view. According to Brooks Brown in No
Easy Answers (2002) (a former member of the
Trench Coat Mafia) both Harris and Klebold were
“big into Anti-God Satanism”. In the midst of
the shooting spree Valeen Schnurr – who lay on
the floor wounded – began to pray to God for
help. Eric Harris took a few minutes from his
deadly rampage to belittle her Christian beliefs
and left her in a pool of blood to ponder the
impotency of her God in such situations as she lay
dieing. Luckily, Schnurr survived her physical
wounds – her prayers were answered.
For those who believe that the easy availability
of firearms caused the final bloodbath should
consider that Brooks Brown also claims that Harris
was experimenting with pipe bombs for over a year
before that fateful day. If guns were not readily
available than the pair would have used a series
of explosives which would most definitely caused
far more blood-shed and death. The boys had
homemade bombs with them on that fateful day some
of which exploded in their four hour rampage and
others which failed to explode or where not used.
Weapons are secondary when pondering the real
reasons behind Columbine.
According to a report filed by Forrest Sawyer on
MSNBC in 2001 [source]
both shooters were on a Satanic chat room a
few months before the shooting spree which is run
by Satanist Les Masters and communicated with a
High Priest of The First Church of Satan (a
spin-off group) named Lord Egan who was at his
home in Salem, Massachusetts. Although no
violence was discussed, the boys did express their
dissatisfaction with life and this demonstrated a
closer connection to Satanism than was previously
believed.
This went virtually unreported in
the popular press and the news media instead
focused on the antics of Marilyn Manson as the
cause of the bloodbath. Eric Harris also
posted a drawing he made of the Devil supervising
his murderous actions just a few hours before the
deadly rampage on his website. (The image
can be seen by clicking here)
In this his final message to the world Harris also
posted to his site the lyrics to this German
techno song whose words speak of starting the
Apocalypse with guns and can be seen online here.
AOL shut down Harris's site a few hours after the
tragic events but not before it was downloaded by
several groups, like the Simon Wiesenthal Center,
which had been keeping an eye on Harris's site for
quite some time. [source]
No one in the media bothered to
explore what Harris and Klebold were into apart
from their musical tastes. However, is there any
proof that Klebold and Harris were somehow
fulfilling some Satanic agenda to promote their
pro-Satanism, anti-Christian views? The answer is
yes.
In a documentary called Speak of the Devil
(1993) – a biography of Anton LaVey – Boyd
Rice, a high ranking priest in the Church of Satan
and mentor of shock rocker Marilyn Manson, can be
seen in a bowling ally dressed all in black like
the Columbine Shooters. He speaks of how most
Satanists meet in bowling allies “working on
their scores .” This segment is quite eerie when
one considers that Harris and Klebold bowled for
almost two hours before they began their murderous
rampage. A short clip of the Rice bowling ally
scene where he describes the harsh social
philosophy of Satanism can be seen online here.
In a 2002 remake of the CD Music
Martinis and Misanthropy by Boyd Rice and
Friends a bonus song is included where Rice
addresses the Columbine shootings and has
the line "Boyd Rice is the one who did it
- now I've heard the secret news"
The Columbine bonus song can be heard online here
(hit play button on left when media
player appears)
This is not to say that the Church
of Satan or Boyd Rice are criminally culpable in
any way, shape or form for Harris and Klebold’s
crimes but it is difficult to believe that this
film did not act as a major influence in their
deadly actions. It becomes even clearer when one
considers that Rice is Denver based – just a
short bus ride from Columbine. It would be
interesting to ascertain whether either of these
boys owned a copy of Speak of the Devil but
they could have easily viewed the film if some
other member of the Trench Coat Mafia owned a
copy. Brooks Brown's assertion that the Trench
Coat Mafia were Satanic in nature makes this seem
very plausible. Rice's new Columbine bonus
song make it just about certain.
Rice was once question by the
secret service for associating with members of
Charles Manson's cult and was banned from visiting
Manson in jail for attempting to smuggle a bullet
into the prison where Charlie is being held.
At the time Manson had access to an arts and
crafts shop and could easily have constructed a
"zip-gun". For his part Rice
claims to have forgotten that the bullet was in
his pocket - an odd thing to forget when entering
a maximum security federal prison. Now Rice
encourages Columbine-type murderous sprees.
There is no way to stop this type of violent
encouragement because most Satanist leaders hide
behind free speech laws. We can, however, educate
young people against the manipulating tendencies
of Satanists. They get some cheap thrill out of
pushing children and unstable adults over the edge
to commit sick crimes while avoiding personal
liability themselves. We must warn young people
against such tactics.
For example, when one considers that Church of
Satan Priest, and the last person to interview
Anton LaVey, Shane Bugbee praises the actions of
Klebold and Harris by putting them on the cover of
his new video – a clear glorification of their
actions and an encouragement of their debased
crimes – better education concerning this
movement must be made. Notice the two faces on the
bottom half of Bugbee’s recent video cover which
can be seen by clicking
here
The girl depicted on Bugbee's cover looks a great
deal like Cassie Bernall - one of the students who
was killed for her Christian beliefs by Harris and
Klebold. (see her picture by clicking
here). Bugbee is encouraging
violence against Christians.
Shane Bugbee was once questioned
by the Secret Service when a guest on his radio
show threatened the President's life. Even
after that Bugbee later commented on the 2004
election by stating "If you're not voting
with lead its not worth a f-----g vote." (airdate
11/26/04)
Why doesn’t the extremely
talented Mr. Michael Moore make a documentary
about this sort of sick Satanic encouragement?
Sources
Drury, N. The History of Magic in the Modern
Age, Carroll and Graf 2000.
Goodrick-Clarke, N., Black Sun, Aryan Cults,
Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity,
New York University Press 2002.
Wilson, C., Rogue Messiah: Tales of
Self-Proclaimed Saviors, Hampton Roads 2000.
Wilson, C., Aleister Crowley, The Nature of the
Beast, Aquarian Press 1987.
Shcreck, N. & Z., Charles Manson Superstar,
(DVD release) Film 1989.
ORIGINAL
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