Theology & Cosmology
Hermeticism
Hermeticism names several related traditions associated with Hermes Trismegistus. Philosophical dialogues, alchemical texts, and later occult systems require separate historical treatment.
Results for “religious freedom”
History
Alchemy
Alchemy concerns historical approaches to material transformation and the interpretation of nature. Spiritual readings form part of its reception but should not replace the material history.
Culture & Ethics
Tarot
Tarot developed as playing cards before becoming an influential tool of occult interpretation. The history of the cards differs from later claims about their hidden origins.
Devotional Practice
Ceremonial magic
Ceremonial magic uses formally organized ritual actions. Its historical systems combine preparation, symbols, instruments, and accounts of spiritual authority in different ways.
Theistic Satanism
Demonolatry
Demonolatry refers to devotion to demons or daemonic beings. Modern accounts vary in theology, authority, and their relationship with historical grimoires.
Theology & Cosmology
Polytheism
Polytheism involves belief in multiple deities. The existence of several gods does not by itself settle their relationships, moral authority, or the forms of devotion directed toward them.
Culture & Ethics
Unverified personal gnosis
Unverified personal gnosis identifies a spiritual claim or interpretation whose source is personal experience rather than established textual or communal authority.
Organizations & Traditions
Global Order of Satan
A nontheistic Satanic organization whose public principles emphasize self-determination, compassion, and responsibility.
History
Michael Aquino
A founder and major author of the Temple of Set, associated with the modern Setian interpretation of Xeper.
History
The Devil
The Devil is the principal personification of evil in much of Christian tradition and a major source for later Western images of Satan. The term is not identical with every historical use of Satan, nor does it describe one unchanging character across the Bible, theology, folklore, literature, art, and modern religion. In contemporary speech “the Devil” often functions as a proper name for Satan, but…
Demonology & Spirits
Asmodeus
Asmodeus appears in the narrative of Tobit and in later magical and demonological literature. His different roles reflect the purposes of those texts.
Demonology & Spirits
Buer
Buer is a spirit associated in magical catalogues with learning and healing. The well-known radial illustration belongs to later printed demonology.
History
Satanic Panic
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.
History
Witch trials and Devil worship accusations
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.
History
David Myatt
The life and writings of David Myatt, covering his extremist activism, later philosophy, and disputed identification as Anton Long.
Texts & Sources
Life of Adam and Eve
The Life of Adam and Eve is a group of related apocryphal narratives about the first humans. Its versions expand the Eden story through accounts of repentance, the Devil’s hostility, illness, burial, and hoped-for restoration.
Devotional Practice
Black Mass
A term for ritual inversion of Christian worship, with Huysmans's literary portrayal and a modern distinction from Satanic Mass.
Organizations & Traditions
Temple of Set
The Temple of Set is an initiatory organization whose identity centers on Set and Xeper. Its relationship with Satanism requires attention to both historical origins and later self-description.
Devotional Practice
Gnostic Mass
The central public liturgy of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica, written by Aleister Crowley as Liber XV.
History
Anton LaVey
The founder of the Church of Satan and author of The Satanic Bible and The Satanic Rituals.