Tag Archives: church of Satan

9 – Satanism: Sinister or Selfish?

Very few things seem as antithetical to basic humanity than being in league with the Devil. We’re so used to the idea of a benevolent monotheistic God in our conception of modern religion (How many times have you heard the expression, God is Love?) that the idea of wanting to glorify His opponent seems insane. We’d like to think that we’re capable of understanding people’s motivations and their processes. Why would someone ever knowingly do something evil? Not just selfish or misguided or dumb, put purely evil? Like a Satanist. It doesn’t make sense that people would worship the Devil, does it?

That’s because they don’t. Members of the Church of Satan don’t worship the Devil, they worship themselves. The Devil is the opposite of the all-loving altruistic Christian God, so they use him as a symbol. Satanists certainly don’t believe in altruism, they believe in the self, doing whatever you want to get what you want. They use the Devil to reject God, but in a world where atheism is more and more accepted and often encouraged by our scientific community, and atheists are well-represented politically, is the Church of Satan interesting or even controversial anymore?

After all, how scary can a group be if one of their members was Liberace? In this conversation, we discuss the founding of the Church of Satan in the United States by Anton LaVey, the Satanic Bible and Black Mass, and selfishness as a virtue. There are several celebrities who have flirted with Satanism, including  Jayne Mansfield, Kenneth Anger, Sammy Davis Jr., King Diamond, and Marilyn Manson. We also get into myths about Satanism and the difference between Satanism and modern Atheism.

Links on Satanism

Official Church of Satan website – Yes, evil has its own .COM!

The Western Front, “Debunking the Myths of Satanism”

Revolver, “Famous Members of the Church of Satan”

Featured Song: The Sun King

Eternal and breathtaking,
given by divine right,
I am the state in all her glory,
And I’m the essence of this life.
The center of the universe,
I stand divine, I stand alone.
Love me like no one else,
I stand divine, I stand alone.
God-given, beatified,
I am the source, I am the seed.
Blessed by heaven to satisfy,
all your hopes and all your needs.
Perpetual engine, of the ascension.
a jealous tyrant of your affection,
I am the fulcrum, you are the lever,
I am the spark that goes on forever.
The center of the universe,
I stand divine, I stand alone.
Love me like no one else,
I stand divine, I stand alone.
I am your brother.
I am your mother,
I am your lover.
I am the only thing you need.
Near or far,
you’re part of me.
Wherever you are,
you’re still inside of me.
Perpetual engine, of the ascension.
a jealous tyrant of your affection,
I am the fulcrum, you are the lever,
I am the spark that goes on forever.
The center of the universe,
I stand divine, I stand alone.
Love me like no one else,
I stand divine, I stand alone.

1 – Making a Deal with the Devil: The Musicians Who Sold Their Souls to Satan

Across the ages, musicians have purportedly made a deal with the devil to be able to more masterfully compose and/or play their instruments. Today’s episode explores this idea, and Mike and Wendy discuss what things they consider worthy of a deal with the devil.

Mike and Wendy then dip into famous cases of making a deal with the Devil.  Musicians like Giuseppe Tartini who was born in 1692, his work is still popular, particularly his work, “The Devil’s Trill”, which was said to be inspired by a dream that he had that he was the Devil’s servant. It has been covered by Itzhak Perlman and a version by Vanessa Mae has over ten million hits on YouTube.

Niccolo Paganini is probably the first great example of legendary musicians who make a pact with Lucifer. He was said to be able to do supernatural things like sight-read music incredibly. His solos were notoriously difficult to play and his effect on audiences was said to be hypnotic and supernatural, like he was possessing the crowd.

The most famous American story of making a deal with the Devil is Robert Johnson, who died of poisoning at 27 years old and wrote the immortal blues classic, “Crossroads”. The Crossroads is a place in Mississippi that blues aficionados come to visit, that it is rumored where Johnson met the devil to sign the contract for his soul. They made a movie about it in the 80s called Crossroads starring The Karate Kid himself, Ralph Macchio. Johnson also wrote other songs like “Me and The Devil” and had a superstitious and dark vein in his music.

Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin also had rumors of Satan worship. Jimmy Page is a known occultist and bought Aleister Crowley’s house in Scotland (We’ll cover Crowley extensively sometime because he figures into the lives of Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, he’s in a Top Ten UK single in the 1970’s, and he’s even on the cover of Sgt. Pepper, he was an emblem of the rock n’ roll generation and we’ll get into him when the time comes!) They coveredRobert Johnson’s “Travelin’ Riverside Blues” and their were rumors that Led Zeppelin signed a pact in their own blood.

Speak of the devil, the Church of Satan was founded by a musician. Anton LaVey was an organist that would often entertain by playing Jazz and Pop standards. Modern Satanists aren’t really occultists as much as they just use the imagery in their marketing, like Marilyn Manson’s shocking Christians in the late 90s or Mötley Crüe’s crossdressing Satanism in the early 80s (before they went with the biker look, there were pentagrams all over their albums, Shout At The Devil and Theatre of Pain).

Links about making a Deal With The Devil:

Listverse – “10 People Who Sold Their Soul To The Devil”

Crossroads movie Guitar Duel (Steve Vai vs. Ralph Macchio) [YOUTUBE LINK]

Vannesa Mae – “The Devil’s Trill” [YOUTUBE LINK]

Rolf Potts’ Vagabonding Blog – “Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in Rosedale, Mississippi”

The Human Marvels – Niccolo Paganini – The Devil’s Violinist”

Featured Song: Ol’ Scratch Blues

Lyrics:

Enjoy your time now,
enjoy it while you can,
you signed that paper,
you signed it with your hand.

And when you die,
you’re gonna fry,
for nothing but a lie.

The fortune and the fame,
and the ladies too,
But can you see that old black dog,
coming after you.

Enjoy your time now,
enjoy it while you can,
you signed that paper,
you signed it with your hand.

And when you die,
you’re gonna fry,
for nothing but a lie.

And when you die,
you’re gonna fry,
for nothing but a lie.

Nothing but a lie.