Satanism is not a religion that you can convert to. According to our founder, Anton LaVey, all Satanists are born Satanists, not made Satanists. There is no initiation ritual. There is no vow or commitment that can help you “become” a Satanist. You’ll never hear us proselytizing to you or luring you to the dark side, and it’s not because we’re the narcissistic elite who think ourselves better, nor is it because we’d judge you as unworthy for bending at the knee to a god with mind-sterilizing dominion (though you really…should probably reconsider that decision, perhaps.). That impenetrable shroud which folds the line between our ways leaves many of you to wonder: what is it like to be born into Satanism? You crave to know the secrecy that happens behind the curtain, so allow me to draw it back for you and confront you with the world-shattering truth: nobody is actually born into Satanism. Blasphemer! Heretic! The Satanic Bible states otherwise, Witch, as you, yourself, have only seconds ago stated! Don’t worry, curious friend. Take a walk with me and let’s talk about how the world turns. Before we apply the logic and reason within the Satanic Bible, let’s turn back time to the moment of birth. The infant doesn’t know who they are, and they don’t know anything about the world. Their mind is a sponge, incapable of understanding Mankind’s concepts of gods, demigods, slaves, and of course, villains for the cause. They don’t know who Lucifer is, they don’t know who Satan is. They don’t know a thing about religion, and they will only learn about religion from other humans. (When was the last time you saw a chipmunk holding Sunday Mass? Go on, attempt to recall. Hah, I’ll wait…). This may happen especially quickly if the parents of the child belong to a religion themselves, but even anti-religious parents will eventually expose their child to the concept of religion since it’s an intrinsic part of humanity. In the case of religion even the absence of it can be seen as participating in it, much like how the negligence to landscape your lawn will still yield some sort of entropic aesthetic due to the growth of grasses. Here you’ve by now recognized that dogma is something craved by mankind, not something that he’s born with. Religion sculpts us and defines us as we mature. For many, religion acts as a way to influence thought patterns in the same sort of way that languages may. An example of what I mean can be demonstrated in the simple comparison of any two languages: none are a direct translation of another, and when you are interpreting from a foreign language you need to understand the concept of what is being communicated so that you can rearticulate it within the grammatical parameters of the target language. I see this all the time between Satanism and Christianity in particular. Readers have asked me questions about my experiences with lesser magic and because their questions are framed with the understanding that magic means a certain thing and looks a certain way, it’s difficult for me to explain the very basic and otherwise simple explanation that Lesser Magic is more or less a real-world-grounded form of manipulation. (When I say “it’s manipulation” they respond with “Like mind control?” to the rest of you: Not quite…) Religion defines these thought patterns for us. It is apart from us. We are not born into a way of thinking, we learn how to think in that fashion through exposure and acceptance or rejection of the ideas and concepts presented. We are not born as Satanists, we become Satanists as we mature into who we presently are: when our beliefs and core values emerge alongside our identity. “Hold on, Witch,” you surely are saying to yourself now, “This is the exact opposite of what your religion states! Are you sure you’re a Satanist? How can you say these things when it’s the position of the Church of Satan and an abundance of Satanists that Satanists are indeed born as such?” Interpreter as I sometimes am, here is my translation from the Satanic perspective to your own, resident of The-Other-Side-Of-The-Curtain: We are born in a state of natural being. Satanism embraces that state of natural being. In some cases a person needs to ‘unlearn’ the behaviors which have been fed intravenously to them since birth. Sometimes something happens that shatters that mental bondage and they stand reinvented, self-aware, and committed to being true to themselves. In a sense, the matured adult is experiencing the natural state they were born in. Should they choose to aggressively embrace the wisdom they’ve acquired through such a violent mental event of emancipation—or otherwise commitment to doing what feels right and natural (as aligns with the tenets of the religion), their status is metaphorically that of one who was born a Satanist. There is nobody who can force another to become a Satanist because it is something like freedom: independence must be taken, not given. It is a revelation to find oneself on the Satanic path, and only the courageous will follow it from the comfort of the known, their current religion. In this way, a Satanist is born and not become, even though no infant is born into any religion. There is something critical to be taken away from this, something that no mainstream religious clergy in their right minds would want you to know. From the mouth of an apostate, hear me loud and hear me clear: religion is transitory. You aren’t born with it. You do grow with it, but sometimes we need to leave behind what doesn’t suit us in the present. I love my religion. It suits me and it suits my way of thinking. It is compatible with how I view the world and it encourages me to grow as an individual. It encourages me to become the very best that I could possibly be, and I wouldn’t change it for anything—but should the day come where my beliefs conflict with what the religion identifies with? I will no longer be a Satanist on that day, and it’s okay. Sometimes we’re born into Satanism half-way through life, sometimes it was introduced to us from a young age by family. Regardless of how it may happen, remember that life is full of surprises, and it’s our job to be true to ourselves, true to our natures, and true to the reality of the world around us. Ave Satanas! Up next...
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Who is the Witch?
Once I called myself a Christian, then an atheist, and a Satanist. At the end of the day, I'm just a person who is living her truth one day at a time. I'm interested in religion, its effects on the mind, the occult, and more. Learn more about me on the about page. Hellish History
November 2021
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