THE
ARCANE
ARCHIVE

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


TOP | RELIGION | SATANISM

Literary Satanism

To: alt.religion.wicca,alt.pagan,alt.satanism
From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nocTifer)
Subject: Re: Literary Satanism (was Re: Wiccan "Fluff bunnies" was Re: wiccan; getting e-mail from mad people)
Date: 10 Jun 1997 10:35:11 -0700

49970610 aa2  Hail Satan!


Kyr@nemoria.dropbear.id.au begins a nice REF on Satanic Sources with authors 
mentioned as regards "those which feature Satan in a positive light or have 
been presumed to have done such":

Milton _Paradise Lost_
William Blake 
Lord Byron
Shelley
Baudelaire


my additions:

Huysmans
Mark Twain 


I'd like to also begin a list of those whose philosophy has been a major
influence on Satanism or been associated with Satan by its *adherents*:

Optimists
Diderot
Rousseau
Voltaire
David Hume
Immanuel Kant
De Sade
Ducasse
Friedrich Nietzsche


know any more or their whole names/dates?  if need be I'll have to make
a research trip to the public library to flesh it out.   some musical
composers:

Beethoven (disharmonics)
Paganini
Lidst
Wagner

blessed beast!

nocTifer
 tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com
-- 
     (emailed replies may be posted)  -------  join the AMT syncretism!!!
   see http://www.abyss.com/tokus  ----------        call: 408/2-666-SLUG!!
   ------- zombie children have invaded Philadelphia, film at 11 ----------

Path: Supernews!supernews.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!howland.erols.net!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!EU.net!enews.sgi.com!news.sgi.com!cs.uoregon.edu!news.efn.org!garcia.efn.org!kld
From: Kerry Delf 
Newsgroups: alt.satanism,alt.religion.wicca,alt.pagan
Subject: Re: Literary Satanism (was Re: Wiccan "Fluff bunnies")
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 22:17:54 -0700
Organization: Oregon Public Networking
Lines: 85
Message-ID: 
NNTP-Posting-Host: garcia.efn.org
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
X-Sender: kld@garcia.efn.org
To: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com
Xref: Supernews alt.satanism:70532 alt.religion.wicca:73826 alt.pagan:217359


[posted and cc'd]


On 10 Jun 1997, nocTifer wrote:

> Kyr@nemoria.dropbear.id.au begins a nice REF on Satanic Sources with
> authors mentioned as regards "those which feature Satan in a positive
> light or have been presumed to have done such": 
> 
> Milton _Paradise Lost_
> William Blake 
> Lord Byron
> Shelley
> Baudelaire
> 
> 
> my additions:
> 
> Huysmans
> Mark Twain 

If we're including recent authors, throw in Heinlein (_JOB: A Comedy of
Justice_), P.Anthony (_For Love of Evil_), and  Anne Rice (_Memnoch 
the Devil_).


> I'd like to also begin a list of those whose philosophy has been a major
> influence on Satanism or been associated with Satan by its *adherents*:
> 
> Optimists
> Diderot
> Rousseau
> Voltaire
> David Hume
> Immanuel Kant
> De Sade
> Ducasse
> Friedrich Nietzsche

Shall we throw in "Ragnar Redbeard" here?  Or were you referring to the
Great Philosophers(tm)?


> know any more or their whole names/dates?  if need be I'll have to make
> a research trip to the public library to flesh it out.   some musical
> composers:
> 
> Beethoven (disharmonics)
> Paganini
> Lidst
> Wagner

Bach, at least his _Toccata & Fugue in D Minor_.

Mozart's always been one of my favourite composers, and he certainly led a
less than holy life.

Benjamin Brittain was an excellent 20th-Century composer, whose use of
overlapping and clashing voices (as well as unusual time signatures, such
as the 7/8 time used in his _Missa Brevis in D Major(?)_) can be quite
disconcerting at least, and inducive of altered states at best.  "This
Little Babe" from his _Ceremony of Carols_, ironically, is an excellent
example of this use of disharmonic overlap -- I call it ironic because the
first words sung are "This little babe, so few days old, has come to rifle
Satan's hold.  All hell doth at his presence quake..."


> nocTifer
>  tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com

-K.Delf


-----------=Kerry Delf=-------------==-----------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I fear sometimes that I have the ambition of a genius, the eye and ear 
of a genius, and the talent of a chimneysweep.  I go down into the filthy 
world, I come up black, I scatter the ashes and cinders of my research 
onto white papers, but what have I got?  Paper with black marks all over 
it."    --Orson Scott Card's fictional Honore de Balzac
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
EMAILING RESPONSES TO MY USENET POSTS CONSTITUTES PERMISSION TO POST THEM
-------------------------------------------------------------------------


Path: Supernews!supernews.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!howland.erols.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!usenet.logical.net!news.dal.ca!chebucto.ns.ca!af380
From: af380@chebucto.ns.ca (Norman L. DeForest)
Newsgroups: alt.satanism,alt.religion.wicca,alt.pagan
Subject: Re: Literary Satanism (was Re: Wiccan "Fluff bunnies")
Followup-To: alt.satanism,alt.religion.wicca,alt.pagan
Date: 11 Jun 1997 15:06:26 GMT
Organization: Chebucto Community Net
Lines: 39
Message-ID: <5nmeti$1a$1@News.Dal.Ca>
References: 
NNTP-Posting-Host: chebucto.ns.ca
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]
Xref: Supernews alt.satanism:70568 alt.religion.wicca:73853 alt.pagan:217408

Kerry Delf (kld@jersey.uoregon.edu) wrote:

: [posted and cc'd]

: On 10 Jun 1997, nocTifer wrote:

: > Kyr@nemoria.dropbear.id.au begins a nice REF on Satanic Sources with
: > authors mentioned as regards "those which feature Satan in a positive
: > light or have been presumed to have done such": 
: > 
: > Milton _Paradise Lost_
: > William Blake 
: > Lord Byron
: > Shelley
: > Baudelaire
: > 
: > 
: > my additions:
: > 
: > Huysmans
: > Mark Twain 

: If we're including recent authors, throw in Heinlein (_JOB: A Comedy of
: Justice_), P.Anthony (_For Love of Evil_), and  Anne Rice (_Memnoch 
: the Devil_).

And Steven Brust (_To Reign in Hell_).



		Norman De Forest
		af380@chebucto.ns.ca
		http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~af380/Profile.html
		(A Speech Friendly Site)

.........................................................................
Q.  Which is the greater problem in the world today, ignorance or apathy?
A.  I don't know and I couldn't care less.
.........................................................................

Path: Supernews!supernews.com!HSNX.wco.com!news.theriver.com!news-feed.inet.tele.dk!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!jump.net!grunt.dejanews.com!not-for-mail
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 10:21:53 -0600
From: clore@columbia-center.org
Subject: Re: Literary Satanism (Was Re: Wiccan "fluff bunnies")
Newsgroups: alt.pagan,alt.satanism,alt.religion.wicca
Message-ID: <866041254.7970@dejanews.com>
Organization: The Ardois-Bonnot Gang
X-Article-Creation-Date: Wed Jun 11 15:00:55 1997 GMT
X-Originating-IP-Addr: 198.36.168.12 (ppp09.columbia-center.org)
X-Http-User-Agent: Mozilla/3.0 (Win95; I)
X-Authenticated-Sender: clore@columbia-center.org
Lines: 45
Xref: Supernews alt.pagan:217412 alt.satanism:70574 alt.religion.wicca:73856

In article ,
  Kerry Delf  wrote:

> > Kyr@nemoria.dropbear.id.au begins a nice REF on Satanic Sources with
> > authors mentioned as regards "those which feature Satan in a positive
> > light or have been presumed to have done such":
> >
> > Milton _Paradise Lost_
> > William Blake
> > Lord Byron
> > Shelley
> > Baudelaire

> > my additions:
> >
> > Huysmans
> > Mark Twain

Crashaw's Suspicion of Herod (trans of Marino) -- precursor of Milton.
Swinburne.
Barbey d'Aurevilly.
Lautréamont.
Anatole France.
Clark Ashton Smith.

----------------------------------------
Dan Clore
mailto:clore@columbia-center.org

The Website of Lord Weÿrdgliffe
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/9879/index.html
Welcome to the Waughters....

The Dan Clore Necronomicon Page
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/9879/necpage.htm
Because the true mysteries cannot be profaned....

"Hziulquoigmnzhah" (hziulquoigmnzhah@cykranosh.com) wrote:

> Iqhui dlosh odhqlonqh!

[if you don't send me a cc of your reply to this post, I might not see it]

-------------------==== Posted via Deja News ====-----------------------
      http://www.dejanews.com/     Search, Read, Post to Usenet

Path: Supernews!usenet65.supernews.com!news.gv.tsc.tdk.com!news.iac.net!news.structured.net!news4.ixa.net!ixa.net!nwnews.wa.com!nwfocus.wa.com!tomato.dussco.com!inter2.interstice.com!op.net!hunter.premier.net!hammer.uoregon.edu!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!howland.erols.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!jump.net!grunt.dejanews.com!not-for-mail
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 19:22:30 -0600
From: Kyr@nemoria.dropbear.id.au
Subject: Re: Literary Satanism
Newsgroups: alt.satanism,alt.pagan,alt.religion.wicca
Message-ID: <866073625.6404@dejanews.com>
Organization: AlienKeys
To: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nocTifer)
X-Article-Creation-Date: Thu Jun 12 00:00:30 1997 GMT
X-Originating-IP-Addr: 131.170.195.1 (otto.bf.rmit.edu.au)
X-Http-User-Agent: unknown
X-Authenticated-Sender: Kyr@nemoria.dropbear.id.au
Lines: 169
Xref: Supernews alt.satanism:70691 alt.pagan:217584 alt.religion.wicca:73943

nocTifer wrote:

> ...REF on Satanic Sources with authors mentioned as regards "those which
> feature Satan in a positive light or have been presumed to have done
> such":

> Milton _Paradise Lost_
> William Blake
> Lord Byron
> Shelley
> Baudelaire

  I'll expand on what I wrote before, since it was a very brief skimming
of authors. I'd add as possible others Anatole France, William Gerhardi
and P.J. Bailey to the list.

John Milton (1608-1674), "Paradise Lost": Milton begins the poem with
an announcement that he intends to "justify the ways of God to men". Thus
Blake's view that Milton was really "of the Devil's party" refers to his
subconscious intentions, not his conscious ones. However, the fact that
he thought God's ways needed to be justified at all is, IMO, a move away
from unquestioning faith towards a more independent perspective. Milton's
fallen angels seem modelled closely on Homer's heroes. They have a similar
culture of open debate and a similar privileging of individual heroic
merit. They carry spears (heaven's angels have swords) and pass their
spare time with athletic contests. Milton's God is very much the "king"
figure to Satan's "hero", although if there is the hero of the poem
entire, it's probably Adam. Some key quotes for Milton's Satan are:

"Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven."

"The mind is its own place, and in itself / Can make a heaven of hell, a
hell of heaven."

"What reinforcement we may gain from hope; / If not, what resolution from
despair."

William Blake (1757-1827), "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell": A lot of
Blake's later poetry involves Satan-type figures, but this one mentions
Satan by name. At this point in his career Blake believed that following
one's desires was the key to bliss, and he saw Satan as the force of
desire and energy.  Quotes:

"Without contraries is no progression. Attraction and Repulsion, Reason
and Energy, Love and Hate, are necessary to Human existence. From these
contraries spring what the religious call Good & Evil. Good is the
passive that obeys Reason. Evil is the active springing from Energy. Good
is Heaven. Evil is Hell."

"As I was walking among the fires of hell, delighted with the enjoyments
of Genius; which to Angels look like torment and insanity..."

George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824), "Don Juan": Byron is considered
the real-world archetype of the Romantic rebel, which is why he gets a
mention here. "Don Juan" is not about Satan, but a young human libertine;
Byron's subject matter isn't strictly Satanic, but his philosophy has
been influential on subsequent Satanic thinkers. It could be argued, for
instance, that Ducasse's "Maldoror" begins where "Don Juan" leaves off.

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), "Prometheus Unbound": Shelley was an
atheist, an advocate of free love and a rebel against moral convention.
He and Mary Shelley were also early feminists. "Prometheus Unbound"
finishes the story begun with Aeschylus' "Prometheus Bound" (also worth
taking a look at). Shelley's Prometheus is a Luciferian figure without
the martial aspect. He is a metaphor for humankind, and himself is quite
passive. The destroyer of tyranny in this case is Demogorgon, an enigmatic
being who rises out of a cave, and is a more recognisably Satanic figure,
being dark, wild and dangerous, but ultimately beneficial to humankind.
He is often interpreted as being a spirit of the Imagination, which rises
out of the subconscious when the bonds of authority become too tight.

Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), "Litanies of Satan": Baudelaire gives his
personal angle on Satan, who he sees as a champion/kindred spirit of the
outcast and downtrodden. The tone is undercut with irony, for example:

"Whose magic gives a strength to ancient bones / Of drunkards trampled on
the cobblestones, / Satan, take pity on my misery!

Who, to console us in our fearful lot, / Taught us the mysteries of shell
and shot, / Satan, take pity on my misery!"

Anatole France, "The Revolt of the Angels": Mainly about the interaction
between humans and angels on earth, but Satan appears at the end, lying
in a Dionysian paradise by the Ganges. He chooses not to fight against
God/the Demiurge in order to avoid stepping into the tyrannical king
figure's place. Since people no longer believe in God, he considers that
God has been conquered anyway. Quote:

"God, conquered, will become Satan; Satan, conquering, will become God.
May the fates spare me this terrible lot; I love the Hell which formed my
genius. I love the Earth where I have done some good, if it be possible
to do good in this fearful world where beings live but by rapine."

William Gerhardi, "The Memoirs of Satan": The history of the world from
Satan's perspective, lighthearted in tone, but with serious points to
make. Gerhardi's Satan is a bit of a rake, but not nearly as nasty as
some of the humans he encounters, and he has a strong compassion for human
suffering.

P.J. Bailey, "Festus": A version of the Faust legend. Bailey's Lucifer is
a Mephistophelian tempter, given to philosphising, with a keen sense of
aesthetics and a capacity for love. The poem is set within a very
Christian framework, and Lucifer ends up being redeemed and reinstated.
Quote:

"Some souls lose all things but the love of beauty; / And by that love
they are redeemable; / For in love and beauty they acknowledge good; / And
good is God - the great Necessity."

All of the above, with the exception of Byron and Blake, use Satan or
Satanic figures who are quite mild-mannered. Even Demogorgon acts to
restore a pastoral paradise. Authors who celebrate violence, destruction,
pestilence etc. are certainly around, but they don't tend to use Satan
as a vehicle for their expression, at least the ones I am aware of.


> my additions:

> Huysmans
> Mark Twain

  I'm not familiar with these two (except for Huck Finn :-); can you tell
me what their Satanic works are?


> I'd like to also begin a list of those whose philosophy has been a major
> influence on Satanism or been associated with Satan by its *adherents*:

> Optimists
> Diderot
> Rousseau
> Voltaire
> David Hume
> Immanuel Kant
> De Sade
> Ducasse
> Friedrich Nietzsche


> know any more or their whole names/dates?  if need be I'll have to make
> a research trip to the public library to flesh it out.

Isidore Ducasse (aka Comte de Lautreamont), 1846-1870; Friedrich
Nietzsche, 1844-1900; Donatien Alphonse Francois, Marquis de Sade, 1740 -
1814. To add information for those as are interested, Ducasse wrote the
sublime "Maldoror". Nietzsche and de Sade wrote a helluvalot, but I'd
suggest Nietzsche's "Twilight of the Idols", "The Antichrist" and probably
"Thus spoke Zarathustra", and de Sade's "Philosophy of the Bedroom" as
having the most direct philosophical influence on Satanism, or at least
as useful places to start reading. However, YMMV.

> some musical
> composers:

> Beethoven (disharmonics)
> Paganini
> Lidst
> Wagner

  I'd be interested in hearing your views on what the Satanic aesthetic
might conceivably include. For instance, would you put wild gypsy music
in there? Or do you consider the Satanic to be not only wild, but
abrasive in some way, such as discordance?

 -Kyr


-------------------==== Posted via Deja News ====-----------------------
      http://www.dejanews.com/     Search, Read, Post to Usenet

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