Satanism is more complex than people see it and it has had a long history. The Knights Templar were accused of it and many factions of Christianity were dismissed as Satanism including most if not all Gnostic Christianity. So there have been different nested groups that contribute their belief systems to modern Satanism. Even Catholicism is influenced by it.
There were two basics schools of theology and they were for a time on equal footing. They were the Mosaic and the Hermetic schools. In the Mosaic school the stories of the Bible are taken in a literal way. The apostolic succession favoured it. And the Hermetic which interpreted the scrolls that made up the Bible in a symbolic way, and who parallel the Cabalists in many of their interpretations.
One major difference being who was made head of the church at the last supper. To the Gnostics, Mary Magdalene was made head of the apostles and foremost authority on the teachings of Christ. For the others it was Paul I believe, and even part of his gospel was deemed apocryphal by later papal bulls. Basically administrative meetings. Catechisms are newsletters of the apostolic successors current interpretations of scripture and moral agendas.
Another difference between Christianity and Satanism is the concept of salvation. The crucifixion of Christ, which for some reason still divides the Christians and the Jews, makes sense only in the Jewish practice of sacrifice. To this day some form of sacrifice is still seen as the way of reconciliation between Jews and God. For Satanists, especially Cainites, there is a rejection of the sacrifice, of the act of sacrifice. When Cains offering of the yield of his field was rejected (the yield of nature without bloodshed), that was the first falling out. Cain saw his offering as valid. Able represented another faction, another tribe of that family. So the mark of Cain was a covenant between the line of Able, that would lead down to the like of Moses, the Jews, and the line of Cain. They emigrated and preserved their teachings even though they were viewed as lies from those who were of their tribe.
The first holy war ever undertaken was a civil war, and thus the beliefs that would be called Satanism later were driven underground. Satanism isn’t a unified body of beliefs. There are multiple views similar to Christianity.
The most publicly known school of Satanism is even more pagan than Christian. The Cainites viewed the demi urge, the creator God, as a tyrant. They call themselves Cainites because they see Cain as the first to defy the unholy creator. The Yezidi, who predate Christianity all together and are viewed as Satanists by both Christians and Muslims, see that the creator was indifferent and uncaring of the fate of humanity but he created a governing spirit who seized power as an act of compassion toward man. This governing spirit they name Melek Ta’us, also known as Shaitan. There was a previous schism between the Yezidi and Israel and thus they were seen as an adversarial group and to adhere to lies.
The idea of Samaels fall and opposition was a late coming notion and there is a reason Judaism doesn’t preach about or speak on Satan. Samael was a part of the angelic hierarchy. He was the adversary and his place in the word of Yahweh was legitimate. The messiah served as the advocate of souls. The adversary was the prosecuting attorney and God judge. The role of the adversary was twisted when the messiah figure was crucified. It rendered confusing the adversaries role. In Judaism the messiah has not yet come. If the Jews declare a messiah the Christians will likely declare that the anti-Christ. In the Gnostic view, the coming death and resurrection of the messiah are symbolic as is the resurrection of the body of Christ at the judgement. For them, the Christ is a spiritual Buddha figure.
Yahweh. yud he vau he. It’s actually an acronym and was the same letters placed above the head of Christ during his crucifixion. i n r I, to symbolize him as king of the Jews. It was the word for the divine authority and has elemental symbolism linked to it. In fact Yahweh is very sloppy. There are other more proper names for God.
Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.
Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~