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

162 Mara
attempted to bring Manson to bear on the ritual
abuse issue. Thus although new attention was
given to the supposedly Satanic nature of the
family in the latter decades of the twentieth
century, no new revelations emerged. And while
Manson and his followers may well have been
evil, they were not Satanists in the formal
meaning of that term.
See also Church of Satan; Crime; The Process;
Satanic Ritual Abuse; Temple of Set
For Further Reading:
Atkins, Susan, and Bob Slosser. Child of Satan, Child
of God. Plainfield, NJ: Logos International, 1977.
Bugliosi, Vincent, and Curt Gentry. Helter Skelter:
The True Story of the Manson Murders. New
York: Norton, 1974.
Katchen, Martin H. “The History of Satanic
Religions.” In David K. Sakheim and Susan E.
Devine. Out of Darkness. New York: Lexington
Books, 1992.
Manson, Charles, and Nuel Emmons. Manson in
His Own Words. New York: Grove Press, 1986.
Sanders, Ed. The Family. New York: Dutton, 1971.
Smith, Michelle, and Lawrence Pazder. Michelle
Remembers. New York: Congdon and Lattes,
1980. Reissued New York: Pocket Books, 1981.
Terry, Maury. The Ultimate Evil. Garden City, NY:
Doubleday, 1989.
Mara
Mara is the Buddhist Satan. His name comes from
a root word meaning “to die.”Although Buddhism
has hell worlds, the real “hell” of Buddhism is the
cycle of death and rebirth (reincarnation) in
which human beings are bound, and the ultimate
goal of Buddhism is liberation from this cycle.
Mara’s aim is not so much to draw people into
hell, but rather to keep them in bondage to the
cycle of reincarnation.
The best-known story involving Mara is the
tale of his attempt to prevent the Buddha from
achieving enlightenment. The story goes that, as
Siddhartha Gautama was on the brink of Nirvana,
Mara sent beautiful, tempting heavenly women
(Buddhist apsaras) to distract his attention.
Finding Gautama unmoved by passion, Mara
changed tack and tried frightening him with ferocious
demons. Still failing to disturb Gautama,
Mara finally challenged Buddha’s right to liberation.
In response, Gautama is said to have called
the earth as his witness, whose response was so
powerful that it frightened away Mara and his
hordes. That very night, the Buddha achieved
enlightenment.
See also Buddhism
For Further Reading:
Conze, Edward. Buddhist Thought in India. 1962.
Reprint Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
Press, 1967.
Stutley, Margaret, and James Stutley. Harper’s
Dictionary of Hinduism: Its Mythology, Folklore,
Philosophy, Literature, and History. New York:
Harper & Row, 1977.
Mark of the Devil
The Devil’s mark (Latin sigillum diaboli, meaning
Devil’s seal) or witch’s mark was a mark supposedly
made by Satan on the bodies of his new initiates.
According to different accounts, this mark was
inscribed on the Devil’s followers by the Prince of
Darkness scratching them with his claw, branding
them with an infernal hot iron, or licking them.
These marks, which were not ordinary scars, could
be red or blue, and were almost always found in
hidden places, such as under the arms, under the
eyelids, or in bodily orifices.
Although belief in the possession of infernal
inscriptions on the bodies of witches was universally
accepted in the medieval period, descriptions
of Devil’s marks were actually not precise enough
to distinguish them from birthmarks and blemishes.
There was also the problem of what to do
with individuals accused of being in league with
Satan who did not possess any markings. This
problem was solved by postulating that the Devil
could make his mark invisibly. An ad hoc addendum
to this emergent theory was that the area of
the body so marked would be insensitive to
pinpricks. These areas were also said not to bleed
when pricked. Thus natural blemishes could be
distinguished from diabolical body engravings by
how sensitive they were to pain. Unfortunately for
individuals accused of witchcraft, this meant that
the entire body had to be pricked to determine
whether or not they possessed invisible markings.
During the witch crazes of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries in England and Scotland,