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

W
Walpurgisnacht
According to Anton LaVey’s account in The
Satanic Bible, the two most important Satanic
holidays are Halloween and Walpurgisnacht. This
holiday, which takes place on the night of April 30,
is traditionally said to be a night on which the
witches met on the Blockula in Sweden and on
other mountain peaks in Europe for a major
sabbat (witches’ gathering). It is still observed as a
folk festival in the Hartz Mountain region of
Germany and in Scandinavia as a night on which
to scare away evil spirits by lighting bonfires and
making various kinds of loud noises. The apparent
source for the name is St. Walburga, although
her festival falls on February 25. It also seems to be
a relic of the Celtic festival of Beltane.
Walpurgisnacht is significant for modern
Satanism because, according to LaVey, he shaved
his head and founded the Church of Satan on
April 30, 1966. Walpurgisnacht was made famous
by Goethe’s Faust, one of LaVey’s sources of
inspiration.
See also Church of Satan; Sabbat
For Further Reading:
LaVey, Anton Szandor. The Satanic Bible. New York:
Avon, 1969.
Wheatley, Dennis. The Satanist. 1960. London:
Arrow Books, 1974.
277
War in Heaven
The earliest account about angels who rebelled
and were punished for it is contained in the apocryphal
Book of the Secrets of Enoch. According to
Christian legend, there was the great battle fought
at the beginning of time between good angels,
supporting God, and the rebelling bad angels,
supporting Satan’s attempt to take God’s place. It
is believed that there was a tremendous battle in
heaven on the second day of the beginning of the
world. The angels were created with free will,
although God observed that they were fallible.
However, he strengthened many of them in their
pursuit of goodness and, according to St.
Augustine, this confirmation gave them a
profound understanding of the workings of the
universe and their particular place within it.
It is also said that a second group of angels was
created by God, who gave them the opportunity to
sin. When they sinned, a war broke out between
the two groups of angels, and the archangel
Michael took up arms against Lucifer and the
legions of sinners, and managed to cast them out
of heaven. The Mont St. Michel on the Norman
coast is the eternal monument to the victorious
leader of the hosts of heaven in the war against the
rebel angel.
The downfall of the Devil is, according to
Church authority, attributed to self-conceit, and it
was inferred that the Devil’s sin was pride,