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96 The Gnostic Order and Temple of Satanas
that Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament, was
one and the same as the evil demiurge. Pointing to
the discrepancy between the jealous, vengeful god
of the Old Testament and the teachings of the
gentle Jesus, the Gnostics asserted that Jesus was a
teacher sent from the pleroma to guide us back to
our true home, and that the Father to which he
referred was different from Yahweh. Some Gnostics
carried this inversion even further, making such
biblical characters as the serpent in the Garden of
Eden story and Cain Gnostic heroes.
Although not many contemporary groups
would identify themselves as Gnostics in the traditional
sense, one often finds that modern Satanists
have carried out a similar inversion of values. God,
particularly the God worshiped by Christians, is
actually repressive and evil, whereas Satan is good.
One of the few groups to explicitly make use of
Gnosticism was Our Lady of Endor Coven, the
Ophite Cultus Satanas, founded in 1948 by
Herbert Arthur Sloane. Sloane drew from a
number of different sources to construct his religion,
including the speculative scholarship of
Margaret Murray—one of the same sources
utilized by Gerald Gardner, founder of the
modern Wiccan movement. Sloane was also
heavily influenced by Hans Jonas’s classic study of
Gnosticism, The Gnostic Religion, which provided
him with his basic understanding of Gnosticism.
Sloane was briefly associated with Anton
LaVey’s Church of Satan, although it did not
appear to significantly change his teachings. Our
Lady of Endor Coven did not survive Sloane’s
passing in the 1980s.
See also Church of Satan; Our Lady of Endor Coven
For Further Reading:
Jonas, Hans. The Gnostic Religion: The Message of
the Alien God. Boston: Beacon, 1958.
Murray, Margaret. The God of the Witches. London:
S. Low, Marsten & Co., 1933.
The Gnostic Order and Temple of Satanas
The Gnostic Order and Temple of Satanas
(GOTOS) was founded in 1985 by Damian Alan
Sinclair and Laylah Agatha Sinclair. The Grand
Lodge is located in Charlotte, North Carolina,
however it has temples in several U.S. states and an
official base in Denmark and the U.K. The international
head of the order is Damian Alan Sinclair.
The Grand Lodge meets every Monday and
Wednesday. GOTOS takes a broad, intellectual
approach to Satanism. Like the majority of other
modern Satanist organizations, GOTOS is not
involved in simply trying to be an inversion of
Christianity. To GOTOS, Satan is quite different
from the Christian Devil. Rather, as articulated by
Anton LaVey and others, Satan is more of an
archetype of human potential than he is an external
being.
The first section of the organization’s public
manifesto (reprinted here with permission) reads:
To All Who Are In Pursuit of Truth:
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of
the Law.
The Gnostic Order and Temple of Satanas
is a New Aeon Magickal order of the left hand
path. We are an institution of teaching,
brotherhood and preservation of the occult
sciences. Our goal is to teach others the true
meaning and implications of Satanic thought.
The Order teaches Satanic Magickal
Philosophy, Satanic Magick, Thelemic Magick,
and how to apply these concepts in the daily
life of the student.
The Gnostic Order and Temple of Satanas
is not connected with any other Organization.
We have drawn from a number of sources.
However our magical curriculum has been
built by the exploration and experimentation
of practical magic. The Order is quite eclectic
in its views and teachings. We feel that it is
important that each student develop his or
her own ideas and understanding of Satanism
under proper guidance but without influence.
As well we do not involve ourselves with
the “who is right or wrong” controversy. The
Order and Temple of Satanas respects all
intelligent systems of Satanism. We believe
that each individual has an indefeasible right
to his or her own beliefs. The order teaches
the science and art of Magic however it is up
to each individual to decide what Satanism is
to him or her.
Our assembly is geared toward the