Satanism Today - An Encyclopedia of Religion, Folklore and Popular ...

Flight 91
the lake that burns with fire and sulphur”(Rev.
21:9). This vision of a fiery lake seems to be taken
more or less directly from the experience of
witnessing hot lava flows. Zoroastrian eschatology
is also drawing from that same experience when it
postulates that in the final judgment everyone will
be put through an ordeal of fire—pictured as a
river of molten metal—in which good individuals
will have their dross burned away and evil people
will be consumed.
In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the
Zoroastrian volcanic image is combined with the
idea of Gehenna. Gehenna originally referred to the
Hinnon Valley south of Jerusalem, which was said
to have been the site of human sacrifices to Moloch
by the original inhabitants of the area. After the
Hebrews moved in, the valley was used as a garbage
dump where trash was burned, giving off a bad
odor. The double association with human sacrifice
and burning garbage made it a useful candidate for
describing hell. The Hebrew prophets often referred
to Gehenna by name when warning about the postmortem
punishment of sinners. Christianity
adopted this image directly from Judaism.
See also Hell and Heaven; Judaism; Moloch
For Further Reading:
Cohn-Sherbok, Daniel. “Death and Immortality in
the Jewish Tradition.” In Paul and Linda
Badham, eds. Death and Immortality in the
Religions of the World. New York: Paragon
House, 1987.
Scott, Miriam Van. Encyclopedia of Hell. New York:
Thomas Dunne Books, 1998.
First Church of Satan
The First Church of Satan (FCoS), founded by
Lord Egan is a self-described “heretical” offshoot
of the original Church of Satan. Egan, a former
member of Anton LaVey’s young Church of Satan
in the early 1970s, notes in an essay posted on the
First Church of Satan’s website that he “fondly
recalls the libertarian, Dionysian bent of the
Church in those days.” Although acknowledging
its LaVeyan lineage, the FCoS also seeks to recover
the teachings of Aleister Crowley:
[The First Church of Satan] recognizes that
much of LaVeyan Satanism in its original
form was a simplified version of the teachings
of the great dark magus Aleister Crowley. We
believe, as did Crowley, in the sovereign
uniqueness of each individual—that “every
man and every woman is a star,” at least
potentially—and in the right, if not the utter
responsibility, of each human being to cast off
the preformatted identity handed down by
society in order to remake the self, to become
“God-like.” (FCoS website FAQ)
Thus, similar to the Temple of Set, the First
Church of Satan regards LaVey as having once
been a great magus, who, for whatever reason,
“squandered his gift and his power, and became
bitter and alienated.” Regarding the current
Church of Satan as a pale shadow of its former self
that attempts to control its members, the First
Church of Satan attempts to “maintain a Satanic
organization that is not hostile and manipulative
toward its own members.”
See also Church of Satan; Temple of Set
For Further Reading:
Baddeley, Gavin. Lucifer Rising: Sin, Devil Worship
and Rock’n’Roll. London: Plexus, 1999.
“Frequently Asked Questions.”
http://www.churchofsatan.org/faq.html.
Flight
One of the powers traditionally associated with
Satan, including his demons and witches, was the
ability to fly. Demons and the Devil, as fallen angels,
retain their wings. But in the medieval period and
even into the Renaissance, witches, sorcerers and
demons were also thought of as flying with an
implement, such as a pitchfork, shovel or broom.
The speed of flying broomsticks and forks was said
to be very high. Satan’s minions were also attributed
with the ability to transport others through the air.
It was further claimed that witches and sorcerers
could ride demons who were transformed into
such animals as goats, cows, horses, and wolves,
while the Devil could carry people through the air
with no visible means of transport.
The notion that witches and magicians
possessed the power to fly was rejected during the
witch-hunts, and as early as the tenth century it was