To: alt.satanism....
From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nocTifer)
Subject: Why 'Satan'?
Date: 16 Nov 1996 23:17:12 -0800

below find comments within a private email exchange concerning why I would
choose to identify the deity I serve as "Satan".  comments/review welcome.
__________________________________________________________________________

kaliyuga
49960924 AA1  Hail Satan!   (=> heal the wild nature!)

the more and more I looked at what was associated with the name 'Satan',
the more and more I liked what I saw.  I'm not talking about what is
purported by Christians, though much of what they say actually *does*
inspire me!

the elements I'd omit right away are violation, the subjugation of women, 
the role of Ruler of the Penal Underworld.  beyond these, the popular 
notions of what Satan offers human beings (hedonism, a valuation of 
sexuality and the flesh, materialism, individualism and the integrity of 
the minority, religious freedom, association with animals and beastly 
appearance and behaviors) are at times quite attractive to me!

looking even more closely, there is a host of ARTISTIC support for
the beauty and majesty of Satan (by such bards as WBlake), and a great
deal of cultural association of Satan with genius, liberty and freedom.

on top of this, the 'demons' that are associated with Satan are often the
remnants of the old gods!  check out the subject of 'Demonology' when
you have a chance.  there you'll find all the 'objectionable' gods of
pre-Christiandom locked together into a fearful paradigm.  just like 
the remnants of pre-Christian religious *practice*, the Roman Catholics
and others (Jews, Hermetics, etc.) who engaged consorting with demons
(albeit in a paranoid and silly manner) helped to PRESERVE their memory
through time!

now if I somehow forget all the above, and look at what Satan 
represents *only* to the Christian, I can really get into the values
described there outside those which I mentioned at the outset.  Satan
is in favor of a direct challenge to the popular Christian religion,
cosmology, deity, and people.  He (I personally don't see Hir as just
masculine, but the Christian usually cages hir gods in male form)
favors licentiousness, the breakdown of the institution of marriage
and monogamy, a return to the habits and manners of beasts, a revelry 
around His horned contenance, a support of the use of psychoactives 
and sexuality within the context of religion, some means (often 
infanticide, but sometimes abortion) of birthing limitation, and the 
intentional inversion of oppressive religious rituals. for what more 
could we ask in a wrathful god?  ;>


[why use the name 'Satan' if I don't want to be associated with evil?]

'evil' is merely a blanket label for that of which the speaker does 
not approve.  I have no problem with not being approved of by the
dominant religious and cultural paradigms.  do you?  I agree that
the stigma (and possible social repercussions) of being labeled
'evil' is at times stultifying, but this is precisely the intent
behind the designation: the paralysis and eradication of that which
the speaker finds abhorrent, contrary to hir cosmology, ethics, or
aesthetics.  it is a type of fascism which we must eventually oppose
as such and put into its place of relativism and coercion.
 

[how do I respond to this type of question, generally?]

that depends entirely upon the situation.  I'm a very low-key individual
offline, even while I may draw attention by my sometimes unusual 
appearance.  I haven't for some time gone about with a huge point-down 
pentacle on my chest, and I don't (yet) run around hooting and hollering 
about how great Satan is.  eventually I might. :>

when asked it within the comfort and safety of a computer interaction,
I respond as above.  much like the question 'do you believe in God?',
it comes with its own build-in paradigm which I don't really fit 
within, and therefore constitutes a misquery along the lines of 
'have you stopped beating your mother?'  it proceeds from a fallacy
and I prefer to put a halt to that fallacy as quickly as possible
(the fallacy being that 'evil' has any sort of consistent meaning
or that it may be easily locatable or absolutely identified).

in person in the temple here (there is quite a lot of wrath about),
I might respond that what the ordinary take for 'evil' is merely that 
about which they haven't integrated into their perspective on the
world, rejecting and repressing some natural element of the cosmos
into their shadow (which they then associate with their arch-Demon).

this Satan of which the typical Christian speaks is in many ways the 
collective Id or Shadow of the puritanical culture from which it derives.  
I notice that what is being repressed and rejected is that which is 
UNCONTROLLED, which is often WILD, and which is somehow threatening 
to the expressed worldview of the individual or group who maintain it.  
in this way I think that the name ('Satan', derived of the Hebrew 
'shaitan', or 'adversary'), is quite appropriate not only for this 
Shadow, but for my place within this nature-destroying, 
sex-hating/obsessed society.

outside this quiet room, my response will likely vary from 'my usage 
of "Satan" has more to do with a political identification of my
values' (which indeed it does -- I support a political platform which
is almost 180' opposite that of conventional Christianity) to 'the
Christians fabricated this golem for the purposes of bludgeoning 
minority religions and I think it is high time we seize control of
that golem and have it serve religious freedom and the liberation
of human beings everywhere, to the detriment of the establishment
religious traditions if necessary; consider it a war of co-option'.
 
in the final analysis I can only say that I was raised in a home 
which ignored religious society and despised its imposed restrictions, 
considered the popular Christian context a laughable and at times
criminal travesty, valued the wild more than the 'civilized', and was
taught to stay true to myself where I'm able rather than to bend to 
the wicked condemnations of the ignorant.  'Satan' fits naturally
into my way of life, and service to Hir, as I identify Hir, takes a 
precedence and relates to my already extant dedication to Kali in a
manner which no assessment of 'evil' may dissuade.

nocTifer
tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com