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38 Cathars
Anton LaVey lists candles among the “Devices Used
in a Satanic Ritual.” Inverting traditional symbolism,
LaVey stipulates that all of one’s ritual candles
should be black except for one white candle, which
is to be reserved for cursing rituals. No other light
source is to be used during the ceremony:
The candles used in Satanic ritual represent
the light of Lucifer—the bearer of light,
enlightenment, the living flame, burning
desire, and the Flames of the Pit. . . . Black
candles are used for power and success for the
participants of the ritual, and are used to
consume the parchments on which blessings
requested by the ritual participants are
written. The white candle is used for
destruction of enemies. Parchments upon
which curses are written are burned in the
flame of the white candle. (LaVey 1969,
136–137)
See also Church of Satan; Magic and Magical
Groups
For Further Reading:
Chevalier, Jean, and Alain Gheerbrant. The Penguin
Dictionary of Symbols. London: Penguin, 1996.
LaVey, Anton Szandor. The Satanic Bible. New York:
Avon, 1969.
Cathars
Derived from the Greek word katharos (pure), the
term Cathars or Cathari was used by the church to
indicate the members of a dualistic heresy of
Gnostic origin in the twelfth century. Catharism
arose in the eastern Mediterranean region during
the Middle Ages and spread slowly westward.
Among its most important groups were the
Albigensians, who were militarily destroyed in the
early 1200s by the only successful medieval
Crusade, which began in 1209.
Cathars were distinguished from other
medieval heretic groups for rejecting such basic
Christian beliefs as the doctrine of incarnation,
Christ’s two natures, the virgin birth, and bodily
resurrection. They also repudiated the church
hierarchy and sacraments, particularly baptism of
water and matrimony, and followed an ascetic
lifestyle that included celibacy, vegetarianism, and
even ritual suicide. Most Cathars accepted only the
New Testament, which they read in its Catholic
version.
The universe was seen by Cathars as constituted
of two coexisting spheres: the kingdom of
the good god who was spiritual and suprasensible,
and who had created the invisible heaven, its
spirits, and the four elements; and the kingdom of
the evil god, Satan, creator of the material world,
and who, being unable to make the human soul,
had captured it from heaven and imprisoned it in
the material body. Thus, the fundamental aim of
their religious practice releasing the soul from the
body, by freeing it from Satan’s power and helping
it to return to its original place in heaven.
In marked contrast with orthodox Christian
belief, bodily resurrection was not viewed as part
of the scheme of redemption. Rather, only the
destruction of the body and of all Satan’s visible
creation—which is hell—was considered necessary
for the salvation of the soul and its ascent to
heaven. The only way to do so was through the
reception of Cathars’ unique sacrament, the consolamentum,
which was administered by the laying
on of hands.
Individuals could come to recognize evil
through a series of reincarnations, and could
eventually free their souls from Satan and therefore
become perfect. According to Catharism, at
the end of time all souls would be saved or
damned, even though there were some differences
between the doctrine of the absolute dualists and
that of the mitigate dualists. For the former group,
free will played no part in salvation, and in the end
the material world would fall apart after all souls
had departed. For the latter, Satan would be
captured and the proper order of all things would
be reestablished.
See also Gnosticism; Last Judgment
For Further Reading:
Brenon, Anne. Le Vrai Visage du Catharisme. Portetsur-Garonne:
Editions Loubatières, 1988.
Clifton, Chas S. Encyclopedia of Heresies and
Heretics. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 1992.
Eliade, Mircea, ed. Encyclopedia of Religion. New
York: Macmillan, 1987.
New Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: McGraw-
Hill, 1967.