I believe it has to do with Egyptian mythology and the idea of chaos and disorder preceding an "opposing" force of order, which is a bit esoteric to some. It also has Judeo-Christian influences, however. I'd like to note I saw that a rather astute Wikipedia editor noted the Egyptian influences.
What I have gathered about Satanism (correct me if I'm wrong):
Satanism in the LaVeyan sense is little more than romanticized atheism with influence from Rand's Objectivism. They don't perform rituals to worship Satan, but they do openly believe that the means justifies the ends if it benefits you personally in a situation. They oppose ideas of traditional morality and use Satan as a central figure of embodiment, as they believe rebellion is liberation.
There are more obscure forms of Satanism that do promote the idea of worshiping Satan and such. Some of these, such as the Temple of the Black Light have actually been explicitly associated with rape and murder. Temple of the Black Light happen to integrate some Egyptian mythology and religion into their beliefs, furthermore. They literally believe in chaos and disorder. I don't bring up isolated sects as this to cause moral panic or be sensational, mind you.
The aforementioned, obscure sect seem to play into the idea of both Judeo-Christian conceptions and Egyptian religious conceptions, interestingly enough.
Genesis chapter 1, verse 2:
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Being that I am more familiar with Judeo-Christian ideas and consider myself no expert, I'll quote a Wikipedia entry on the film for contrast between the two concepts:
...Darkness as depicted in the film resembles that found in ancient Egyptian mythology and religion - the state of chaos and formless void that existed before Creation and which constantly threatened existence thereafter. This primal darkness was embodied in the Ogdoad and in the great serpent Apophis; was associated with water (hence the constant rainy weather in the film); and opposed Ma'at, the Egyptian concept of Truth and Order).
Say what you will about Wikipedia and how it has widely varying sources and as such is at times wildly inaccurate, I think that's pretty well written and astute. The syncretism of it all is quite interesting, I think.
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LovecraftLass
15 years ago
So if Satanism is just self-worship why isn't it called that instead of having Satan in the name of it? I'm not jumping on anyone here, I'm just curious.
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=24109349
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Trench_Phantom
15 years ago
LaVeyans are atheists or agnostics who use Satan as a symbol of their conception of unadulterated human nature -- which they deem as "pure" and individualistic -- borrowing philosophically largely from Rand and Nietzsche, beyond the symbol. They disregard the self denial held to be so valuable by Judeo-Christian religion in particular. In that mythology -- Satan is the opposing figure to that -- so it's a logical symbol. The inverse pentacle also signifies the reversal and denial of the ways of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit of Christianity to some LaVeyans and other Satanists.
Theistic Satanism uses the figure in a literal fashion, obviously. Within that religious practice Satan is viewed as bestowing knowledge and being a transcendental element. They believe that Satan willed for the good of man in encouraging Adam and Eve to partake of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in Eden. There's more diversity in the views of Theistic Satanists than LaVeyans, however. The (LaVeyan) Church of Satan actually considers Theistic Satanism to be "heretical". I.e., a Christian "reversal" of their form of Satanism.
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