Host of Radio Free Satan's Confessions of a Wicked Witch, Church of Satan clergy, with expertise in alternative & occult religions specializing in media representation, education, and practical magics for preferred clients. Founder, Producer & Executive Arbiter of the annual Wicked Witch of the Year Award
Friday, December 5, 2008
Done Slumming........................
The Joy of Satan issue forced me to go deep into the land of the internet where everyone has a voice and all ideas are ok. A place where feeling that you are right, is wrong, a place where it is considered a sin to be proud of your associations.
A place that sucks.
I knew that there are bunches of people claiming to be Satanists, who aren't. I mean, no shocker there---that is what I write about, after all. The traditionals, the spirituals, the theistics, they are practically my bread and butter. I was under the impression that if not for them I'd be stuck writing about the stupidity of Christians all day long, and essentially become obsolete due to redundant obviousness. So, yes, the nut bags were a given. I was chasing nutbags when I came upon several message boards.
Now, I have isolated myself in recent years. Somewhere along the way I stopped banging my head against the proverbial wall and began only going to/posting on/participating with my own kind. About 7 years ago I stopped posting on alt.satanism because it had nothing to do with Satanism anymore and was merely a vehicle for those with CoS gripes to have a forum to actually be heard by CoS people. Then I stopped posting on all but CoS approved message baords--which left a whopping one...
and, before i go further I'd like to say thank you Magister Lex Ventrue. For Satanists who live in tunnels and caves Lex has, for 15 years, provided members and friends of the Church of Satan a variety of online forums and applications for their benefit. Lex is a technological genius and was a computer nerd before computer nerds were cool. He ran the earliest Satanic chat rooms on mIrc, and then created Letters To The Devil, a message board utilized mostly by Church of Satan members. He owns and runs the CoS Emporium, a slew of other online hosting for a variety of interests, and Undercroft-Satanism's answer to social networking boards like myspace and facebook. Beyond all that, Lex is a friend of amazing generosity, talent, and kindness.
So, for almost 8 years the only online playground I have spent recess in was LttD.
Boy! Did I ever get spoiled.
Following links left by Joy of Satan led me to two or three open occult message boards. At first I was delighted as back in the day, message boards that welcomed Pagans and Wiccans were generally not very friendly to Satanists and i actually made the mistake of thinking this was a good thing. I was under the misguided impression that the RHP had finally seen the err of their ways, that Satanists aren't baby-killers and ritual blood letters, and that we could at least exchange some ideas and friendships without scapegoating.
Well, smack my ass and call me stupid! Evidently the Wiccans and neo-Pagans are more open, yeah, but not to legitimate Satanists, oh no! They are ok with the very people they originally accused us of being: Theistic, "spiritual" devil worshipers who hate Dr. LaVey and for some reason are deeply invested in being called Satanists but without a single working definition of what that means beyond that it is allegedly really old.
What the fuck!?!?????? and.................WHAT THE FUCK some more!?!
Ok. Here is the one that pissed me off the most:
Occultforums.com
So, I am chasing down Joy of satan, right? And I find this board and am momentarily pleased because I see whole threads and people posting about Satanism, Ceremonial Magic, more Satanism, and I am excited. I figure if they have all this stuff, at least, a CoS member could post here and if not readily be accepted, be granted a modicum of respect.
I go out of my way in my intro to be neither pushy, nor threatening-well, look for yourself:
Greetings, my name is Ygraine. I am a Magistra in The Church of Satan
.......(Edited credentials by me)
While I am a Satanist and a member of the Church of Satan I am experienced and knowledgeable in most RHP religions/practices as well, and certainly do not have any interest in either converting anyone or trashing anyone.
I came here as a result of doing research for an expose I am writing on a horrible and dangerous christian heretical cult called "The Joy of Satan Ministry." Somehow I was brought here while following a cached thread.
I am sure many here can understand how difficult it is to fight misconceptions about your religion when some crazy people take your name and apply it to unlawful and unethical practices.
I look forward to my time here and appreciate the opportunity.
Ygraine
Pleasant, right? Totally non-pushy or one-true-way-ist, correct?
You'd have thought I shit in their cornflakes. I spent the next three days defending, defending for chrissakes, Dr. LaVey and the Church of Satan, and not from the neo-Wicca/Pagans, either. No, I was getting my cyber ass kicked by alleged Satanists who have some major league hard on about the CoS in general and Dr. LaVey in particular. It was reprehensible.
Now, many of these satanists--and I am intentionally using the lower case "s," are exactly what I write about here. They are merely devil worshipers, who believe in an entity named Satan, and follow the Christian tradition of the devil. A few more are Pagans who have adopted negative/dark/demonic god-forms, re-adapted old cultural religions, and call it satanism to simplify matters. They are followers of old Egyptian demonics and Sumerian gods and what-the-fuck have you. They, at least, are vaguely interesting. However, I'd label them more as dark/negative neo-Wiccans (Wiccans Without a Clause--no rede, get it??!! h ahahaha,) than as Satanists, because the aren't!
Finally, and most insultingly, there are these rude, arrogant, quasi-satanists who need to believe that satanism existed long before LaVey.
You see, I was unaware that Ragnar Redbeard and Neitzche spawned a religious time traveling baby, and that LaVey borrowed HG Wells machine and stole the forbidden texts and fed them to an imaginary lion while he was beating his wife. No really. It happened just like that, right before Zeena killed her father and Peter Gilmore beat Blanche Barton in mud wrestling for control of an imaginary organization.
I wish I was fucking kidding. That may not be it word for word, but I defy anyone to find something these twits say that makes more sense than that! They are really pissed off, and I cannot imagine why it matters so much to them that they can write absolutely nothing without a jab at LaVey or my church. They are so bloody busy explaining that satanism is not "LaVeyanism" that it is virtually impossible to determine precisely what they think Satanism is. I
So, friends, my adventures in slumming are over. You see I know what these wanna-be's don't. There is one Satanism. It is complete and needs no looking for ancient manuscripts or the validation of forgotten authors. It exists regardless of lies told about it's creator. It is a growing, adapting, and yet ultimately complete philosophy practiced by those born to it, and no amount of changing what Satanism is will turn these pseudo-intellectuals into Satanists. They have neither the carnal inclination, the imagination and sense of whimsy, or finally, the comprehension of love, hate, loyalty, dignity and self-awareness that defines a Satanist.
So, I will stick with my kind. Satanists.
Oh, and to those superior types on occultforums.com who accuse LaVey's Church of Satan members for feeling superior? That is the only thing you have right. We do feel superior.
Because we are.
Hail, Satan!
Ygraine
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11 comments:
I haven't been on OF for a while now. I'll have to take a look at those threads. It used to attract a far more reasonable crowd than any other Pagan/Wiccan/New Age/Occult message boards, which was why I was on there. But it was also slightly inactive.
My farewell from OF. Oh, they are active alright. They actively made me run for the door ;)
"Hi, done slumming.
Like all ladies I need to make a dramatic exit.
I came here with the low hope of finding information that would assist every occult/alternative practitioner. I was sidetracked by a mythology offered up by this site---a mythology that despite differences this was sort of a cyber Switzerland.
I, from the moment I got here, played nice. Despite repeated attacks and intentional provocation about/regarding The Church of Satan, I went out of my way not to attack others’ views.
Instead I spoke about my views, I defined myself and my beliefs, while what most of you do is say what you aren’t---as in you aren’t LaVeyan. No you’re not.
Satanists, real ones, demonstrate a level of class and integrity so far above you as to give us vertigo when we must peer down your way. You have no code, no defined dogma, no structure---you’re not part of any religion, you are just angry smart kids, rebelliously trying NOT to fit in for some childish perception of non-conformity.
The traditionals, the theists, the spirituals are not Satanists. They are heretics. Their belief in literal gods and devils is as perverse and irresponsible as the Christians. This makes heretics dangerous. This makes heretics an embarrassment and humiliation for the true Satanist.
The “non-LaVeyans,” well, you’re not even interesting enough to be dangerous. Apparently you think being snotty and well read is a religion. ‘guess again. It means you’re snotty and well read.
I never found anything vaguely helpful here regarding Joy of Satan. I am surprised because the psycho bitch who runs it would fit right in. I never found a single human here who wanted to introduce me to a new religious viewpoint, you were all too busy making sure mine was degraded to take the time I suppose, or more likely, you just don’t have one.
This blog , Done Slumming is for you, although I doubt you’ll see/read it.
And in 42 years or so….let’s see if anyone remembers any of you enough to devote their days to hating you.
PS: I know, I won’t let the door hit me in the ass, and good riddance and blah, blah, but I get to return to my happy cyber home, where the Satanists play."
While it would have been nice for things to have worked out differently, I can't say I'm surprised. OF only seems to work if you're willing to accept that a fair number of your fellow posters haven't taken the time to think about the things they've read/heard/experienced.
James Lewis' Sociological studies on Online identified-Satanists may shed some light on the drives and distortions that lay behind this strange quirk of satanists who seem to identify mainly as being Anti-LaVey/Anti-CoS. Worth a read if you haven't already.
Let me point out that Skeptismo here was great to me and warned me and has the patience of ten saints (who wouldn't molest children or other icky saint stuff) to be on that board.
Thanks.
Y~
I am a member of the CoS.I've found simliair,if not the same, things you did. Admittedly,I don't always remember certain details, but,I was once a friend of a female satamist on myspace.What wound up happening was she told me to "begone, you are not enriching my life". With all the experience and knowledge she said she had,she could've "enriched" my life. It's like being the new kid on the block.She was suppose to make me feel welcome,not vice versa,or so the unwritten rule goes. Glad she didn't try.
Yes, thank goodness for Magister Ventrue's work with Letters to the Devil. Before I discovered Lttd, my only interaction with other "satanists" was through a Myspace board whose most prominent members included a convicted felon and "reverend" John Allee (I saw his old posts on Alt Satanism from the 90s the other day- I wonder if he'll ever give it up?) Topics included whether the Holocaust was "Satanic" and whether Jesus was a Satanist. I remember wondering many times why I had any interest in Satanism at all.
The contrast was clear when I found Lttd about 6 months ago. I started reading all the posts as far back in the archives as I could (I don't post there for now to keep a low profile.) While the advice on the other board was awful, the advice on Lttd was immediately applicable to my life. For example, I found out that Satanists say no to drugs and illegal activities, something that was not looked down upon in the other group. When somebody offered me drugs for the first time a few weeks later, I said no because I understood rationally what was wrong with using them.
I've literally written down dozens of quotes from Lttd and looked up quite a few of the books that have been recommended there by members of the Priesthood (another thing there absent from pseudo-satanic boards: literacy.) They have become personal maxims that I refer to throughout my days and sources of much enjoyable reading respectively. In the participants of Lttd, I've gained a patheon of role models I hadn't and probably couldn't find anywhere else.
I don't mean to ramble on but really the difference is so amazingly clear I am amazed anyone would choose to be around pseudo-Satanists or look on them kindly when all it takes is about 5 minutes on a forum where there's Satanists and 5 where there's pseudos to tell the difference. Heck, I can sincerely say the discussion on Lttd are worth more than the entire rest of the internet- and I only have seen the public areas!
HS!
Hi Papa Smurf!
It must be fun being a cyber stalker! Your obsession with me is flattering, but I don't think our relationship is going anywhere. Trying to bore me to death is no way to get into my panties.
Hey! I have an idea. Instead of, like OF, you keep bitching about what you don't like, why don't you make a nice blog about what you DO like?
You can even write nasty things about me & my church! 'nothing original there, of course, but don't let that stop you.
Y~
I'm not one to explore other messageboards and your blog only reinforces my reasons for not doing so.
Lttd is the only online home I've known aside from the SIGs messageboard and I am proud to have been able to experience Magister Ventrue's hard work and dedication.
HS!
Awesome blog you hhave here
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