This chapter evaluates Albert Pike’s Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871), which has become one of the most famous and notorious books about Masonry ever published, not least because of its references to Lucifer and Baphomet. While Pike was not by any definition a Satanist or a Luciferian, the ambivalent description of Lucifer in Morals and Dogma has contributed to the image of him as the primary proponent of Luciferian Masonry. Morals and Dogma is divided into thirty-two parts, each dealing with one of the degrees of the Scottish Rite, excluding the 33th. It claims to be the collected wisdom of several philosophical and mystical schools and is based upon the idea that there is a universal form of religion that transcends confessional boundaries. What distinguished Pike’s work from similar books is its very eclectic nature and the author’s frequent references to “pagan” sources.
Among the Scientologists: History, Theology, and Praxis, by Donald A. Westbrook. Oxford University Press, 2019. 332pp. Hb $45.00/£29.99. ISBN-13: 9780190664978.
The article presents the cultural reception of Old Uppsala with a focus in how it is used by contemporary Heathens. Modern Swedish Heathens see the place as spiritually significant, and there have been public blots at the site yearly since 2000. Such rituals are only ambivalently tolerated by the museum and Swedish National Heritage Board. In recent years other groups have started to use the site as well and it has also been used by a variety of smaller shamanistic groups. For Heathens, the place a sacred area, representing the last significant religious site for pre-Christian Norse religion and resistance to Christianization. I argue that Old Uppsala lies at the center of Swedens often complicated relationship with its own history. Its story follows broader cultural trends connected to national identity and when modern Heathens enter the scene, they become a part of this larger debate. The article will look at how the museum presents the Viking age and how their presentations both work with and in opposition to Heathen constructions about Viking age religion.
The article focuses on how a nineteenth-century Swedish nationalistic movement, Göthicism, understood masculinity. The primary example used is Manhemsförbundet (the Manhem Society), an initiatory and educational organization active between 1815–1823. Most of its material was produced by the author Carl Jonas Love Almqvist (1793–1866). The society was at the center of cultural trends and debates in Sweden, notably those about education and how young males can best be of service to the nation. Göthicism and the Manhem Society urged Swedes to look inwards and develop their own national character, arguing that foreign influences made Sweden decadent and weak. Göthicism then sought answers to Sweden’s problems in the pre-Christian past. The Manhem Society attempted to further put Göthicism into practice. The Society developed a structure similar to freemasonry with degrees based on Old Norse mythology, where the candidate was to follow a mythical narrative of the story of Baldur that led from darkness to light. The degrees also included physical training and exercises to shape a manly character. The article argues that the initiations of the Manhem Society were used to create a form of masculinity that was an expression of middle-class ideals about character.
The article deals with the phenomenon of spiritual warfare and deliverance from demons in a dispensationalist church Cornerstone in San Antonio, Texas. The article is based upon fieldwork at the church 2012-2014. The main focus of the article deals with an event called encounter weekend that the church organizes several times a year and have as its purpose to heal people from traumatic events in their life. The consequence of traumatic events results in something called “the wound” that is regarded as a gateway for demons to enter a person’s life. The climax of the weekend is a deliverance from the demons that is interpreted to effect a person’s life negatively. The article argues that in looking at the ideas of the demonic a form of social critique is revealed and the practice of spiritual warfare and deliverance must be seen in the context of images that they are part of a larger cultural war that is between the forces of God against the forces of Satan.
The study of contemporary esoteric discourse has hitherto been a largely neglected part of the new academic field of Western esotericism. Contemporary Esotericism provides a broad overview and assessment of the complex world of Western esoteric thought today. Combining historiographical analysis with theories and methodologies from the social sciences, the volume explores new problems and offers new possibilities for the study of esoterica. Contemporary Esotericism studies the period since the 1950s but focuses on the last two decades. The wide range of essays are divided into four thematic se
The article deals with the history of Maulana Karenga and his creation of the Black Nationalist philosophy Kawaida and the organization US. The US organization was founded in 1965 and is part of the Black Power movement. Based upon the idea that the liberation of black people could not occur before a cultural awakening had taken place, US focused on the need to create a connection to Africa in cultural and religious matters. Kawaida, created for this purpose, evolved to include both ethical and religious teachings that rejected Islam and Christianity – particularly the idea of submission to a higher God. US also developed a highly hierarchical structure, with Karenga as its leader, and rituals to reinforce their beliefs. These beliefs included apocalyptic visions of a coming civil war that would in the end only amount to conflicts with other black nationalists. While small in numbers, the influence of the US organization has been significant, given its role e.g. in the creation of Kwanzaa, and in the emergence of Afrocentricity.
The purpose of the study is to examine contemporary followers of Asatru in Sweden. Central to the study is the way Asatru today can be seen as an ethnic religion. Due to this will the ideas about Asatru as a folk religion among followers and the idea of Asatru as a form of “sed”, a term that can roughly be translated as a form of custom, be explored. Related to the idea of ethnic identity and Asatru is the question as to why people living in Sweden today feel a connection and identifies themselves with a culture that ceased to exist around a thousand years ago. In order for such a relationship to exist is it necessary for a follower of Asatru to imagine some form of essential cultural identity that defies other cultural changes. That is some form of cultural and ethnic essentialism. The study deals primarily with Sweden but Asatru in other countries, especially the United States are also included due to the influence they have on the Swedish scene.
Chapter 1 serves as an introduction; discussion of methodology, previous studies and also presents some definitions used. Chapter 2 deals with the theories used in the study. Chapter 3 presents an historical background from which Swedish Asatru appears. Chapter 4 gives an historical background to the Swedish Asatru scene. Chapter 5 presents an overview of the Asatru scene in Sweden today regarding numbers of followers, why people join, and so forth. Chapter 6 presents ideas about culture in the Swedish Asatru scene. Chapter 7 deals with the attitude towards nature. Chapter 8 deals with the ideas about gods and goddesses in Asaru. Chapter 9 is about religious rituals like modern forms of “blot”. Chapter 10 discusses the use of magic, like rune magic and sejd, in Asatru. Chapter 11 serves as a form of analysis and deals with the relationship between Asatru and other social fields.
Rune yoga is a spiritual practice based on the idea that the Runic alphabet can be used for spiritual and magical purposes. Based on an interpretation of the Runes where every letter in the alphabet is considered to contain within it a source of mystical powers Rune Yoga uses techniques inspired by Indian yoga to channel these forces. While contemporary Rune Yoga has become a part of Heathen and Alternative Spirituality that attracts people from a variety of Ethnic background the origin of the practice lies within the Ariosophical movement, a racial form of Esotericism that developed in Germany and Austria in the early 20th century. In this article the origin of Rune Yoga within the Ariosphical movement is presented, how it was integrated in ideas about Aryan racial supremacy. The article continues to show how Rune Yoga later migrated to North America and became a practice used within a non-racial milieu and what aspects remained from the original Ariosophical movement. The article argues that while some aspects of Ariosophical thinking remains within Rune Yoga the racial aspects have ceased to be important. Rather than focusing on race modern Rune Yoga focus in self-improvement for the individual and there is a lack of collectivist goals.
This chapter focuses on the British Satanic organization called the Order of the Nine Angles (ONA), one of the most controversial and infamous Satanic groups of the twentieth century. In contrast to most forms of Satanism, ONA texts include references to and advocacy of certain criminal actions to further the group’s end game. Most controversial are the references to human sacrifice, and the question of whether these are to be taken literally has been much debated. The chapter then considers The Black Book of Satan (1984), which is seemingly an early introduction to the ONA’s version of Satanism and what the organization defines as the “Sinister Way.” It looks at three excerpts from the book: “the 21 Satanic points,” “What is Satanism?,” and one of the ONA’s versions of the Black Mass.
This chapter discusses the Process Church of the Final Judgement, an apocalyptic organization founded by Robert DeGrimston and Mary Anne DeGrimston, active primarily in California during the 1960s and 1970s. Focused on the idea of a unity between the gods of the universe (Jehovah, Lucifer, Satan, and Christ), the Process Church developed a highly original form of theology. Becoming manifest in the counter-cultural milieu of the 1960s, it combined Satanism with Christian apocalypticism and ideas derived from Scientology. The chapter then looks at two texts that were distributed internally within the Process Church: “The Gods on War” (1967) and “The Gods and Their People” (1970). These texts express the foundational beliefs of the Process Church, each of the gods being offered their own chapter explaining their nature and the nature of their followers.
This chapter studies The Satanic Temple (TST), which has emerged as one of the most important movements in the history of Satanism. Penned by Lucien Greaves, the national spokesperson for TST in the United States, “Church of Satan vs. Satanic Temple” (2017) presents what Greaves perceives as the essential differences between TST and LaVey’s Church of Satan. Constructing the Church of Satan as a sort of negative “other,” contrasted with TST’s own brand of Satanism, the text serves as an illustrative example of TST’s self-image and presentation vis-à-vis other forms of Satanism. In contrast to the Church of Satan, TST makes limited references to Satan as a symbol for earthly pleasure or egotism. Instead, Satan is presented as a Promethean character, fighting on behalf of the oppressed. While TST does not align itself with any political ideology, its written material, terminology, and symbols frequently reference leftist thought and activism.
Santa Muerte is establishing a presence among practitioners of contemporary occultism in Europe and North America. The occult milieu is highly different from the Mexican cult of Santa Muerte, having a strong heritage of secrecy and tradition as social capital and being mostly middle-class in orientation. Nonetheless, this Catholic folk saint with a mostly pragmatic, popular, and grassroots cult is becoming increasingly popular among occultists. Based on a survey of three recent books on Santa Muerte geared towards an Anglophone, occult audience, it is therefore the aim of this article to understand how and why the Skeleton Saint is attracting adherents in the occult milieu, by analyzing the underlying causes of this growing trend, as well as the conditions shaping it. It is the overall argument of this article that the beginning reception of Santa Muerte in occultism is a result of perceived needs and demands specific to the occult milieu rather than characteristics inherent in the symbol itself, and that an analysis of the ways in which she is spreading outside of her original sociocultural context must be guided by an understanding of the novel one she is integrated in.
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This article explores the development and ideology of The Satanic Temple, against the background of current American politics. The Satanic Temple is a recent addition to the Satanic milieu, and is positioned here as a form of "rationalist" Satanism that draws on the figure of Satan as a symbol of rebellion. The discussion follows the emergence of The Satanic Temple and its introduction to the mainstream media around 2012, the influences of esoteric, feminist, and secularist ideas on the group, and its present manifestation as a politically engaged "occulture."