Satanism - Egotistic NOT Evil-istic
Every other weekend or so, I like to sit back and enjoy one of my favorite past-times - watching movies that derived their existence from comic books. From Blade to my pirated copy of TNN's mediocre reproduction of Witchblade, if you look within these adaptations hard enough a spark of truth shines through. Within the sectioned chapters of my Spawn DVD is where I found one such truth.
To describe the scene, briefly, Clown has taken Spawn to his gravesite. There Spawn realizes he is truly dead and gave his soul to Hell. During this, there is a minor story line of a group of three are trying to wake Satan. Consistent with behavior of intoxication or "altered perceptions", they dance around a ram(goat) skull and damanding a hellish presence be made. Then one inquires on whether or not a virgin sacrifice is needed.
The truth within this scene is the lie that has been propagated by the media, especially Hollywood, for many decades now.
Satanism is about self-elevation of spirit, not worshipping the Devil.
According to Anton-Szandor LaVey, founder of The Church Of Satan, "The performance of Satanic ritual does not embrace the calling forth of demons; this practice is only followed by those who fear the very forces they conjure."
LaVey solidified Satanism by the use of inversing the Keys of Enoch. This is best shown by the use of the inverted pentagram, or as commonly referred to symbol of Baphomet. The discipline of using the Keys of Enoch (refferred to as Keys from here) is a very mathematical practice of understanding the balance of nature as created by God. When used correctly gives the practitioner the "powers" of Angels. The second of the basic power shapes is the pentagram - which represents one's self existing upon the balance of the four physical elements. The inversion of such puts the existence of the four physical elements balancing upon one's self, symbolizing the desire of the self controlling the elements.
Think of this as a group of tweny-five people on an island. All twenty five wish to leave this island to travel to another island where life is better. Each person has a complete shop worth of supplies to build a vessel. Five of the group are Satanist. The remaining twenty people begin to pool their resources and knowledge to craft as vessel to carry them all together, while the Satanist work alone to create five seperate ships that are perfect for just them.
The "supplies" would be knowledge of the Keys. Where as Enochians, Keepers of the Light, and members of the Society of the Golden Dawn practice the discipline of Key usage to assist in the evolution of man to a higher state as a whole, Satanism utilizes the powers of the Keys for their own self elevation. The Keys, not unlike a knife, are nothing but a set of tools for universal energy influence.
LaVey impresses this point by stating that "the God you save may be yourself". According to LaVey, one must not feel any remorse for the consequences that using the Keys can occur when accomplishing a goal. Example, if one uses the Keys in a Satanic ritual for money, one will receive it. Though it may originate from an insurance policy from the death of another.
According to the Society of the Golden Dawn's core values, the flaw within LaVey's ideology is after one begins to influence the universe by the Keys for his/her personal gain, higher evolved (and considerably less tolerant) entities will notice the energy disturbances brought on by a Keys usage. The gratification given within the boundaries of Earth does not set well with the entities that exist on other planes.
Using the island example, once the vessels set sail those who put the twenty-five on the island notice the ships leaving, so they decide to sink the vessels. The five Satanists will have to hope that their design can hold up to everything the journey has to offer - weather, seas, and interlopers. The other twenty pull together all aspects of the travel and design a very solid, stable, and defendable vessel. Also they can work as a team to sail and repel opposition at the same time.
Sources:
The Satanic Bible by Anotn LaVey ,a Bible, The Book of Knowledge: The Keys of Enoch (c)The Academy for Future Science