THE
ARCANE
ARCHIVE

a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining
to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects.


TOP | RELIGION | SATANISM

Historical Basis to the Religion of Satanism

To: alt.magick.tyagi,talk.religion.misc,alt.satanism,alt.magick.folk,alt.lucky.w
From: catherine yronwode 
Subject: Re: Historical Basis to the Religion of Satanism (was Satanism ...)
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 06:12:56 GMT

CoE SOD  wrote:

> "Lord Egan"  posted:

> > Satanism and the History of Wicca
> > by Diane Vera
> > Originally written January 1992.
> > Revised January 1994, March 1996.
> >
> > There's also a possibility that Wicca borrowed ideas from writings 
> > about actual Satanists living in the late-19th or early-20th  
> > century. In "Crafting the Art of Magic," Aidan Kelly says Gerald 
> > Gardner drew key concepts from the description of Ozark folk 
> > witchcraft, including  folk Satanism, in the 1947 book "Ozark  
> > Superstition" by Vance Randolph. I'll admit that Kelly's conclusions 
> > have been challenged by other historically-knowledgeable Wiccans.

> the problem is that there IS NO "folk Satanism" contained in  
> Randolph's book. we have a copy of it here at ArkaotikA, and it 
> contains no mentions of "Satan" that I can discover. its references 
> are to "the Devil" and most appear to be of a meeting and a bogey. 
> there are few if any admirable mentions of this being, and no  
> worshipping that I candetect; no 'Satan'. this was apparently the
> European "Teufel" rather than some Judeo-christian Satan.

I agree -- i have owned Randolph's "Ozark Superstitions" (Columbia
University press, 1947) since i was a teenager way back in the early
1960s and i have read it through and through. I also -- partially
prompted by this and Randolph's many other books on Ozark forklore --
lived in the Missouri Ozarks for ten years, from 1972-1982. 

Randolph's collected tales of the Devil are few compared to those about
witchcraft -- and they are all about the Germanic domestic "Teufel" type
of Devil:

The Devil is a shape-shifting and/or cloven-hoofed woods-demon who scares
travellers at night, takes the form of a weird black dog (the booger
dog), and leaves no foot-tracks when he walks in the snow. (p. 276)

When rain falls while the Sun is shining it means that "the Devil is
whuppin' his wife." (p. 17)

The Devil hates salt. (p. 282)
 
People are often fooled into thinking they have met the Devil in a
buryin' ground, but it was only someone playing a trick on them. 
(pp. 212 - 213)

The Devil lives in a hole in the ground that smells of brimstone
somewhere in Missouri or Arkansas, trapped under a fall of rock, and
dark-visaged "furriners" are seen near there. (pp. 276-277)

Local landmarks given names like "The Devil's Half-Acre" and "Devil's
Backbone" testify to regional consciousness about the Devil -- but when
Randolph asked folks who lived near these places if they knew where the
Devil's reputed hole in the ground was, they always said it was at
another, distant location. I myself tramped over the Devil's Backbone --
a long ridge -- in Missouri and no one there whom i asked knew where the
Devil lived.

In short, Aidan Kelly may be right about a lot of other things, but he
is wrong in his description of Vance Randolph's book -- there is no
mention of "folk Satanism," no mention of "Satan," and no mention of
either Satan-worship or Devil-worship in this exhaustive study of Ozark
folklore and spiritual beliefs. 

cat yronwode 

Lucky W Amulet Archive --------- http://www.luckymojo.com/luckyw.html
The Sacred Landscape ------- http://www.luckymojo.com/sacredland.html
news:alt.lucky.w --- discussions on folk magic, luck, amulets, charms

Lucky Mojo Curio Co. http://www.luckymojo.com/luckymojocatalogue.html
   Send e-mail with your street address to catalogue@luckymojo.com
and receive our free 32 page catalogue of hoodoo supplies and amulets

The Arcane Archive is copyright by the authors cited.
Send comments to the Arcane Archivist: tyaginator@arcane-archive.org.

Did you like what you read here? Find it useful?
Then please click on the Paypal Secure Server logo and make a small
donation to the site maintainer for the creation and upkeep of this site.

The ARCANE ARCHIVE is a large domain,
organized into a number of sub-directories,
each dealing with a different branch of
religion, mysticism, occultism, or esoteric knowledge.
Here are the major ARCANE ARCHIVE directories you can visit:
interdisciplinary: geometry, natural proportion, ratio, archaeoastronomy
mysticism: enlightenment, self-realization, trance, meditation, consciousness
occultism: divination, hermeticism, amulets, sigils, magick, witchcraft, spells
religion: buddhism, christianity, hinduism, islam, judaism, taoism, wicca, voodoo
societies and fraternal orders: freemasonry, golden dawn, rosicrucians, etc.

SEARCH THE ARCANE ARCHIVE

There are thousands of web pages at the ARCANE ARCHIVE. You can use ATOMZ.COM
to search for a single word (like witchcraft, hoodoo, pagan, or magic) or an
exact phrase (like Kwan Yin, golden ratio, or book of shadows):

Search For:
Match:  Any word All words Exact phrase

OTHER ESOTERIC AND OCCULT SITES OF INTEREST

Southern Spirits: 19th and 20th century accounts of hoodoo, including slave narratives & interviews
Hoodoo in Theory and Practice by cat yronwode: an introduction to African-American rootwork
Lucky W Amulet Archive by cat yronwode: an online museum of worldwide talismans and charms
Sacred Sex: essays and articles on tantra yoga, neo-tantra, karezza, sex magic, and sex worship
Sacred Landscape: essays and articles on archaeoastronomy, sacred architecture, and sacred geometry
Lucky Mojo Forum: practitioners answer queries on conjure; sponsored by the Lucky Mojo Curio Co.
Herb Magic: illustrated descriptions of magic herbs with free spells, recipes, and an ordering option
Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers: ethical diviners and hoodoo spell-casters
Freemasonry for Women by cat yronwode: a history of mixed-gender Freemasonic lodges
Missionary Independent Spiritual Church: spirit-led, inter-faith, the Smallest Church in the World
Satan Service Org: an archive presenting the theory, practice, and history of Satanism and Satanists
Gospel of Satan: the story of Jesus and the angels, from the perspective of the God of this World
Lucky Mojo Usenet FAQ Archive: FAQs and REFs for occult and magical usenet newsgroups
Candles and Curios: essays and articles on traditional African American conjure and folk magic
Aleister Crowley Text Archive: a multitude of texts by an early 20th century ceremonial occultist
Spiritual Spells: lessons in folk magic and spell casting from an eclectic Wiccan perspective
The Mystic Tea Room: divination by reading tea-leaves, with a museum of antique fortune telling cups
Yronwode Institution for the Preservation and Popularization of Indigenous Ethnomagicology
Yronwode Home: personal pages of catherine yronwode and nagasiva yronwode, magical archivists
Lucky Mojo Magic Spells Archives: love spells, money spells, luck spells, protection spells, etc.
      Free Love Spell Archive: love spells, attraction spells, sex magick, romance spells, and lust spells
      Free Money Spell Archive: money spells, prosperity spells, and wealth spells for job and business
      Free Protection Spell Archive: protection spells against witchcraft, jinxes, hexes, and the evil eye
      Free Gambling Luck Spell Archive: lucky gambling spells for the lottery, casinos, and races