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

52 Church of Satanic Liberation
Centerville, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; Louisville,
Kentucky; New York City; and Columbus,
Ohio. The bishops headed a Council of the
Churches, and a magister headed each grotto. The
True Grimoire represented the periodical of the
church. The church lasted a short period, until
John De Haven renounced Satanism in 1974,
proclaiming conversion to Christianity.
See also Church of Satan
For Further Reading:
Newton, Michael. Raising Hell: An Encyclopedia of
Devil Worship and Satanic Crime. New York:
Avon, 1993.
Church of Satanic Liberation
The Church of Satanic Liberation (CoSL) was
founded in 1986 by Paul Douglas Valentine.
Valentine claims to have been an English teacher
and an occultist who had been involved in natureoriented
magic until he came across Anton
LaVey’s The Satanic Bible. Although inspired by
LaVey, Valentine has been harshly critical and has
portrayed himself as inheriting LaVey’s mantle. In
contrast to the atheism of the original Church of
Satan, Valentine notes that Satan is a separate
being, although he is careful to assert that the
CoSL Satan is a nature deity that has nothing to do
with the Judeo-Christian antigod.
See also Church of Satan
For Further Reading:
Baddeley, Gavin. Lucifer Rising: Sin, Devil Worship
and Rock’n’Roll. London: Plexus, 1999.
Harvey, Graham. “Satanism in Britain Today.”
Journal of Contemporary Religion 10, no. 3
(1995).
Newton, Michael. Raising Hell: An Encyclopedia of
Devil Worship and Satanic Crime. New York:
Avon, 1993.
Church of the Morning Star
The Church of the Morning Star (COTMS) is a
nonprofit Satanist church located in Virginia
Beach, Virginia. It was founded on December 25,
1999, by Reverend Cain. The name of the group
derives from traditional associations between
Lucifer and the Morning Star. COTMS holds
regular meetings and rituals in the Virginia Beach
area. The Church is associated with the First
Church of Satan. Although quite different from
the present Church of Satan (CoS), COTMS
regards itself as very much like the original CoS
when it was founded in the mid-1960s. The
church teaches that all individuals have the right
to exercise sole dominion over their own lives, and
have the right to live in whatever manner they
choose, so long as they do not forcibly interfere
with the equal right of others to live in whatever
manner they choose. Otherwise, the only law is
Carpe Diem (“seize the day”). Satan is viewed as
representing our true self, so that the worship of
Satan is nothing but the worship of ourselves.
For Further Reading:
The Church of the Morning Star’s official website:
http://www.churchoflucifer.8m.com.
Circle
In most if not all religious traditions, attention is
given to the place in which worship and other religious
activities occur. There is much information
about circular forms in comparative religion and
depth psychology. Circles often, for example,
represent the earth and the mother principle. In
Jungian psychology, they symbolize wholeness
and unity. Mandalas, which are meditation
diagrams associated with Hinduism and
Buddhism, are frequently drawn in the form of
circles. According to the South Asian tradition,
meditating on mandalas allows meditators access
to different realms of consciousness. In a roughly
parallel manner, magic circles are viewed as functioning
as doorways to alternate realities.
In ceremonial magic, magicians cast (create) a
circle around themselves as protection, as a way of
keeping out negative energies and entities. The
utilization of circles for protection is actually quite
old. During the Western medieval period, for
example, circles would be drawn on the floor
around the seriously ill and around newborns and
their mothers to protect them from demonic
forces. Circles are also cast to contain the energies
that are created within the circle during a given
ritual—they become invisible boundaries that one
does not cross without disrupting the energy.
There are several ways of conceiving the circle