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.
Results for “set”
Theology & Cosmology
Setianism
The religious philosophy associated with the Temple of Set, the Egyptian name Set, and the idea of Xeper.
Demonology & Spirits
Set
An ancient Egyptian deity associated with conflict and disorder, also reinterpreted in modern Setian religion.
Devotional Practice
Banishing rituals
Ceremonies intended to clear, delimit, or reorder a ritual setting, with methods that vary by tradition.
Devotional Practice
Meditation and contemplation
Meditation in theistic Satanism refers to contemplative practices used to focus attention, examine experience, cultivate devotional awareness, or create a deliberate setting for approaching Satan and other spirits. There is no single Satanic meditation method. Practices range from silent sitting and breath awareness to visualization, repetitive prayer, sigil contemplation, journaling, and extended…
Culture & Ethics
Left-hand path
The left-hand path is a modern esoteric category used for religious and magical currents that emphasize themes such as individual self-direction, antinomianism, self-deification, initiatory transformation, or deliberate engagement with symbols rejected by dominant religious culture. It overlaps with some forms of Satanism, Luciferianism, Setianism, and modern occultism, but the terms are not synonymous.
History
Michael Aquino
A founder and major author of the Temple of Set, associated with the modern Setian interpretation of Xeper.
History
Salem witch trials
The Massachusetts prosecutions of 1692-1693, the spread of accusations, spectral evidence, and the surviving court archive.
Culture & Ethics
Pentagram
A pentagram is a five-pointed star figure used in different religious and esoteric settings. Orientation and surrounding imagery matter, but do not establish one universal meaning.
Culture & Ethics
Satanic symbolism
The images, names, and gestures used by Satanic traditions, whose meanings depend on their religious and historical setting.
Texts & Sources
Reading religious primary sources
Primary sources provide direct evidence for a text, community, or historical setting. Reading them well requires context, precise citations, and comparison with other evidence.
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.
Texts & Sources
The Satanic Rituals
Anton LaVey’s collection of ceremonial material, published as a companion to The Satanic Bible.
History
Modern theistic Satanism
Modern theistic Satanism refers to contemporary religious currents in which Satan is understood as an independently real deity, spirit, intelligence, or metaphysical presence and is approached through devotion, ritual, prayer, magic, contemplation, or other religious practices. It is part of the wider field of modern Satanism but differs from explicitly non-theistic movements that use Satan primarily as…
Devotional Practice
Prayer in theistic Satanism
Prayer is intentional communication addressed to a deity, spirit, sacred power, or ultimate reality. It can include praise, petition, confession, thanksgiving, lament, dedication, silence, repetition, or simple direct speech. In theistic Satanism, prayer usually means addressing Satan or another spiritually real being rather than speaking only to oneself or performing a purely symbolic exercise.
Devotional Practice
Invocation and evocation
Invocation and evocation are terms used for related but differently framed religious or magical actions. Their definitions vary between authors and practice systems.
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
Folk magic
Protective charms, witch bottles, and everyday materials in local magical traditions, with documented British museum examples.
Devotional Practice
Altar
An altar is a designated place or surface used for religious devotion, ritual, offerings, sacred objects, or symbolic focus. Altars occur in many religious traditions, but their forms and meanings vary widely. In modern theistic Satanism an altar may function as a place for Prayer, Ritual, Offerings, meditation, spirit work, or the display of symbols connected with Satan and other beings.
Demonology & Spirits
Lilith
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…