Faust is the scholar or magician at the center of a European legend about bargaining with the Devil. The 1587 Faust book, Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, and Goethe’s Faust give the story different treatments of knowledge, desire, damnation, and human striving.
Freedom of religion and belief in international human rights texts, including minority religions, nonbelief, and religious expression.
The founder of the Church of Satan and author of The Satanic Bible and The Satanic Rituals.
Baphomet is an occult figure whose history connects the medieval trial of the Knights Templar, nineteenth-century ceremonial symbolism, twentieth-century Satanic iconography, and the modern public imagery of The Satanic Temple. The familiar goat-headed, winged, androgynous figure is not a medieval portrait of a secret Templar god. It was created in the nineteenth century by the French occultist Éliphas…
Lilith is a figure whose history spans ancient Near Eastern demonology, Jewish folklore, medieval protective magic, Kabbalah, literature, feminist reinterpretation, modern occultism, and contemporary Satanic or Luciferian religion. She is often introduced today as “Adam’s first wife,” but that familiar story is medieval rather than biblical. Earlier sources describe beings called lilith or lilin in…
The High Satanic Church is an independent theistic Satanist religious organization and online congregation centered on the worship of Satan as a real deity. Its public website describes the Church as theistic, devotional, and unaffiliated with both the Church of Satan and The Satanic Temple. The organization maintains public material on beliefs and practice as well as member accounts, lodges, writings,…
A nontheistic Satanic organization whose public principles emphasize self-determination, compassion, and responsibility.
Luciferianism describes different religious and philosophical approaches that give Lucifer a positive role. Belief, practice, and identity vary among writers and communities.
Witch trials produced records of accusations about harmful magic and the Devil. Those records require attention to how testimony was obtained and to the purposes of judges and writers.
Grigoripedia is the official online encyclopedia of Satano-Grigorism, maintained by members of the Grigorist Temple of Satanael. Launched in June 2026 according to its About page, it documents the religion’s beliefs, deities, scriptures, history, holidays, and terminology from a Satano-Grigorist perspective.
A term for ritual inversion of Christian worship, with Huysmans's literary portrayal and a modern distinction from Satanic Mass.
The religious philosophy associated with the Temple of Set, the Egyptian name Set, and the idea of Xeper.
Anton LaVey’s 1969 book of Satanic philosophy and ritual, foundational to the Church of Satan.
A grimoire is a book or manuscript containing magical knowledge, ritual procedures, charms, conjurations, talismans, spirit catalogues, astrological instructions, prayers, or other techniques intended to produce supernatural or occult effects. The term is most strongly associated with European magic, but scholars use it within a much wider history of magical books and written ritual technologies.
Demonolatry refers to devotion to demons or daemonic beings. Modern accounts vary in theology, authority, and their relationship with historical grimoires.
The Satanic Panic refers to a wave of allegations concerning organized Satanic abuse, especially in the late twentieth century. Actual evidence of harm must be distinguished from expansive conspiracy claims.
The Satanic Temple is a non-theistic religious organization whose public principles and activism differ from those of the Church of Satan and from theistic Satanist devotion.
An introduction to contemporary Pagan traditions, including Wicca, Druidry, and Heathenry, and their different uses of older sources.
A religious movement centered on mediumship and continued personal identity after death, with church teachings and spirit photography.
The Ars Goetia is the first section of the Lemegeton or Lesser Key of Solomon, an early modern English compilation of ceremonial magic. It is famous for a catalogue of seventy-two spirits, each described by name, rank, appearance, abilities, and a seal or character. In modern occultism the term “Goetia” is often used loosely for demon-summoning or work with these spirits, but historically the Ars Goetia…