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Palo 205
[signed:] Satan, Beelzebub, Lucifer, Elimi,
Leviathan, Astaroth.
Notarized the signature and mark of the
chief devil and my lords the prices of hell.
[signed:] Baalberith, recorder (Guiley
1989, 101)
After confessing under torture to the charge of
bewitching nuns and enslaving them to Satan, he
was convicted and burned alive.
Modern versions of the Devil pact are
preserved in the confessions of Evangelicals claiming
to be ex-Satanists, as in the celebrated case of
Mike Warnke, author of the popular book, The
Satan Seller. As if being sworn in as an infernal
civil servant, Warnke asserts that he was required
to take an oath to the Prince of Darkness: “Repeat
after me: I, known here as Judas, do hereby and
now, forever and a day, submit my soul to the
custody and care of his Highness of Darkness,
Satan, Master of the World.” Warnke’s arm is
subsequently pierced, and he is required to sign his
name in his own blood into a large, black, leatherbound
book.
Within contemporary religious Satanism, the
idea of a pact with the Devil has been dismissed as
Christian propaganda designed to frighten the
faithful. For instance, in The Satanic Bible, Anton
LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan, notes,
To the Satanist, it is unnecessary to sell your
soul to the Devil or make a pact with Satan.
This threat was devised by Christianity to
terrorize people so they would not stray from
the fold. With scolding fingers and trembling
voices, they taught their followers that if they
gave in to the temptations of Satan, and lived
their lives according to their natural
predilections, they would have to pay for their
sinful pleasures by giving their souls to Satan
and suffering in Hell for all eternity. (LaVey
1969, 61)
There have, nevertheless, been Satanist groups
that have incorporated this bit of infernal folklore
into their religion. For example, the Brotherhood
of the Ram, a Satanist organization that operated
in southern California in the 1960s and the 1970s
required new recruits to cut their fingers and rub
some of their blood on a piece of paper bearing
their signature.
See also Brotherhood of the Ram; Faust
For Further Reading:
Cavendish, Richard. The Black Arts. New York:
Capricorn Books, 1967.
Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. The Encyclopedia of Witches
and Witchcraft. New York: Facts on File, 1989.
Kramer, Heinrich, and James Sprenger. Malleus
Maleficarum. 1486. Transl. Montague Summers.
New York: Benjamin Blom, 1970.
LaVey, Anton Szandor. The Satanic Bible. New York:
Avon, 1969.
Oppenheimer, Paul. Evil and the Demonic: A New
Theory of Monstrous Behavior. New York: New
York University Press, 1996.
Warnke, Mike. The Satan Seller. South Plainfield,
NJ: Bridge Publishing, 1972.
Palo
Palo is the generic name applied to several closely
related Afro-Cuban religio-magic systems that use
non-Yoruba, Bantu-derived languages in their
rituals. This little-known magical sect is widespread
among Hispanics and Caribbean peoples
in the United States. It is frequently, though erroneously,
equated with the better known Santeria.
Palo utilizes human remains in its rites, for which
paleros (Palo practitioners) must often rob graves.
This set of Afro-Cuban traditions may have
originated among a people who called themselves
“Ganga.” This term later became interchangeable
with the iron cauldron and its contents (chiefly
human remains) that is at the center of Palo practice.
In contrast with Santeria, which has retained
its essentially Yoruba character, Palo is an
amalgam of a number of different traditions.
Multicultural fusion is evident both in the
materiel utilized in Palo rituals and in its philosophy.
For example, Palo exhibits a good/evil duality
not found in Santeria.
Paleros do not consider their corpse-taking to
be grave-robbing. In an important article on Palo
by Raul Canizares, an informant is cited who
asserts: “We don’t steal no graves, we ask the
deceased if he wants to work with us. I went
through more than one hundred graves before I
found one dead guy who wanted to work with