Satanism: A Social History

665 Pages·2016·2.31 MB·English

by  Massimo Introvigne

Satanism: A Social History
Aries Book Series
Texts and Studies in Western Esotericism
Editor
Marco Pasi
Editorial Board
Jean-Pierre Brach
Wouter J. Hanegraaff
Andreas Kilcher
Advisory Board
Allison Coudert – Antoine Faivre – Olav Hammer
Monika Neugebauer-Wölk – Mark Sedgwick – Jan Snoek
György Szőnyi – Garry Trompf
Volume 21
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/arbs
Satanism: A Social History
By
Massimo Introvigne
LEIDEN | BOSTON
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This book includes portions of Massimo Introvigne, I satanisti. Storia, miti e riti del satanismo
(Milan: Sugarco, 2010), translated by Tancredi Marrone and Massimo Introvigne.
Cover illustration: Baphomet woodblock, by Jandro Montero and Tessa Harrison. Picture courtesy
of the artists
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Introvigne, Massimo, author.
Title: Satanism : a social history / by Massimo Introvigne.
Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2016. | Series: Aries book series.
Texts and studies in Western esotericism, ISSN 1871-1405 ; Volume 21 |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016026641 (print) | lccn 2016027990 (ebook) | isbn
9789004288287 (hardback : alk. paper) | isbn 9789004244962 (E-book)
Subjects: lcsh: Satanism--Social aspects--History.
Classification: lcc BF1548 .I58 2016 (print) | lcc BF1548 (ebook) | ddc
133.4/2209--dc23
lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016026641
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issn 1871-1405
isbn 978-90-04-28828-7 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-24496-2 (e-book)
Copyright 2016 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
Encountering Satanism 1
Satanism: A Definition 3
Satanism, Anti-Satanism, and the Pendulum Theory 11
Part 1
Proto-Satanism, 17th and 18th Centuries
1 France: Satan in the Courtroom 21
Satan the Witch: The Witches’ Sabbath and Satanism 21
Satan the Exorcist: Possession Trials 26
Satan the Poisoner: “Black Masses” at the Court of Louis xiv 35
2 Sweden: Satan the Highway Robber 44
3 Italy: Satan the Friar 46
4 England: Satan the Member of Parliament 53
5 Russia: Satan the Translator 62
PART 2
Classical Satanism, 1821–1952
6 An Epidemic of Anti-Satanism, 1821–1870 71
A Disoriented: Fiard 71
A Lunatic? Berbiguier 74
Berbiguier’s Occult Legacy 84
Scholars against Satan: From Görres to Mirville 88
A Polemist: Gougenot des Mousseaux 92
A Lawyer: Bizouard 97
Éliphas Lévi and the Baphomet 105
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vi Contents
7 Around Huysmans, 1870–1891 110
Satan the Archivist: Vintras 110
Satan the Pervert: Boullan 118
Boullan in Poland? Mariavites and the Occult 126
Satan the Journalist: Jules Bois 128
Satan the Author: Huysmans, Boullan, and the Satanists 139
Huysmans’ Là-bas 145
Satan the Catholic Priest: The Mystery of Canon Van Haecke 150
Huysmans’ Last Years 152
8 Satan the Freemason: The Mystification of Léo Taxil, 1891–1897 158
Le Diable au 19e siècle 158
Enter Diana Vaughan 167
The Sources of the Diable 172
The Early Career of Léo Taxil 183
Taxil and Diana Vaughan 191
Taxil under Siege 200
The Fall of Taxil 204
Aftermath 207
Many Questions and Some Answers 218
9 A Satanic Underground, 1897–1952 227
Satan the Unknown: Ben Kadosh 227
Satan the Philosopher: Stanisław Przybyszewski and Josef
Váchal 229
Satan the Suicidal: The Ordo Albi Orientis and the Polish
Satanism Scare 234
Satan the Great Beast: Aleister Crowley and
Satanism 237
Satan the Counter-Initiate: René Guénon vs. Satanism 246
Satan and His Priestess: L’Élue du Dragon 253
A Real “Élue du Dragon”: Maria de Naglowska 265
Satan the Barber: Herbert Sloane’s Ophite Cultus
Sathanas 278
From Crowley to Lucifer: The Early Fraternitas
Saturni 281
Crowley and Gardner: Why Early Wicca was Not
Satanist 285
Satan the Antichrist: Jack Parsons and His Lodge 287
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Contents vii
Part 3
Contemporary Satanism, 1952–2016
10 The Origins of Contemporary Satanism, 1952–1980 299
Anton LaVey’s Early Career 299
1966: Year One of Satan 306
LaVey’s Black Mass 312
The Satanic Bible 314
The Growing Church of Satan, 1969–1972 317
The Satanic Rituals 322
Aquino vs. LaVey: The Schism of 1975 324
Satan the Jungian: The Process 328
Satan in Jail: The Case of Charles Manson 338
Satan the Egyptian: The Temple of Set 346
Satan the Pimp: The Society of the Dark Lily 356
Satan the Prophet: The Order of Nine Angles 357
Satan the Nietzschean: The Order of the Left Hand Path 365
Satan the Alien: Joy of Satan 370
11 The Great Satanism Scare, 1980–1994 372
From Anti-cultism to Anti-satanism 372
Satan the Psychiatrist: Therapists and Survivors 374
Satan the Mormon: The Utah Satanic Abuse Scare 384
Satan in the Kindergarten: The Pre-school Cases 403
Satan the Preacher: Religious Counter-Satanism 411
M ormon Temples of Satan: The Strange Saga of Bill
Schnoebelen 414
Signs and Wonders: Satanism and Spiritual Warfare 424
Satan at Play: Evangelicals vs. Role-Playing Games 434
Dancing with Demons: The Crusade against “Satanic Rock” 437
Satan the Police Officer: The Years of the Cult Cops 444
Satan the Drug Dealer: The Tragedy of Matamoros 450
G overnmental Reports and the End of the Great Satanism
Scare 452
Death of a Priest: The Sad Story of Father Giorgio Govoni 456
12 Satan the Musician: Black Metal and Satanism 462
The Gothic Milieu 462
The First Wave of Black Metal 466
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viii Contents
Metal Rules the World: The Globalization of Black Metal 474
Satan the Arsonist: The Second Wave of Black Metal 480
Black Metal after Euronymous 485
Satan à la française: Les Légions Noires and Beyond 488
Satan the Nazi: Poland and National Socialist Black Metal 493
Exiting Satanism: Viking Metal and “Post-Black Metal” 497
Black Metal and Satanism: Some Final Remarks 501
13 From the 20th to the 21st Century, 1994–2016 506
Satan the Wiccan: Michael Ford and the Greater Church of
Lucifer 506
Satan the Misanthrope: Dissection and the Temple of the Black
Light 508
Satan Redux: The Resurrection and Death of Anton LaVey 512
Satan the Communist: The Satanic Reds 522
Satan the Webmaster: The Return of “Theistic” Satanism 525
Satan the Prankster: Turin as “The City of the Devil” 527
Satan Bolognese: The Luciferian Children of Satan 533
Satan the Artist: The Neo-Luciferian Church 538
Satan the Bible Scholar: Erwin Neutzsky-Wulff and His
Groups 541
Satan the Criminal: The Beasts of Satan 545
Satan the Activist: The Satanic Temple 550
Satan Forever? 554
Selected Bibliography 559
Index of Names 621
Index of Groups and Organizations 648
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Acknowledgements
This is a long book, not only in pages. The journey started with an early Italian
version in 1994, which was revised for the French edition of 1997, and largely
rewritten for the second Italian edition of 2010. This is not a translation of the
Italian book, although it includes portions of it, for which Tancredi Marrone
provided a useful original draft translation that I later revised and edited. But
most chapters were almost entirely rewritten, and new parts were added.
For a book that has been in the making for more than twenty years, the
list of those who helped is long. I wish to thank all those who graciously ac-
cepted to be interviewed in both the Satanist and the anti-Satanist camps. To
mention just two of them, not included among those who prefer to remain
anonymous, they range from the founder of the Luciferian Children of Satan,
Marco Dimitri, to Jack T. Chick, perhaps the most controversial of the Christian
fundamentalist crusaders against Satanism. The late Johannes Aagaard, who
also taught me how exactly “Aagaard from Aarhus” should be pronounced, and
Jon Trott helped me in distinguishing between mainline Protestant criticism of
Satanism and the lunatic fringe.
The so called cult wars included, in several countries, Satanism scares that
caused considerable unnecessary suffering to those involved. I was part of
the small group of scholars who tried to debunk the most outrageous claims.
I  benefited from innumerable conversations about Satanism and anti- Satanism
with colleagues, and comrades in these battles, such as Eileen Barker, Jim
Richardson, the late Andy Shupe, David Bromley, Jean-François Mayer, Sherrill
Mulhern, Dick Anthony. Rodney Stark was also part of this group of scholars,
and always contributed beneficial methodological insights. Especially valuable
was my twenty-year (and counting) conversation on Satanism with Gordon
Melton, who shared his invaluable archives on the most obscure American
groups. Bill Bainbridge told me unpublished details about his extraordinary
adventure with The Process.
On the historical side, I benefited from long conversations on the French
19th and early 20th century scene with several scholars, but three should be
particularly mentioned for their help: the late Émile Poulat, Antoine Faivre,
and Jean-Pierre Laurant. The late Robert Amadou and Pierre Barrucand kindly
shared with me valuable unpublished material. On the intricacies of Catho-
lic demonology, I acknowledge the help of Father Piero Cantoni, Father René
Laurentin, and Giovanni Cantoni. Vittorio Messori and the late Gianluigi
Marianini told me the true story of the origins of the Satanism scare in the city
of Turin, Italy, when nobody knew it. The late Filippo Barbano had, however,
come close to the truth, and discussions with him were always helpful.
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x Acknowledgements
Ermanno Pavesi, with his long experience as a psychiatrist and scholar,
guided me in the delicate field of Freudian and post-Freudian approaches
to multiple personalities, possession, and dissociative disorders. Michael W.
Homer was a precious resource in all things Mormon. Michael, as well as Aldo
Mola, was also part of many conversations about Freemasonry, anti-Masonic
campaigns, and Satanism. Ruben van Luijk’s doctoral dissertation was almost
a tennis game with the previous French incarnation of this book. He invited
me to discuss Satanism in a seminar organized by the University of Nijmegen
in 2013, and I benefited from his insights and criticism.
For more recent developments, I was greatly helped by conversations
with Jim Lewis, who also generously shared with me the manuscript of the
book he co-authored, The Invention of Satanism, before its publication. Milda
Ališauskienė, Karolina-Maria Hess, Liselotte Frisk, and Giuliano D’Amico
helped me in tracking down information about Eastern Europe, Sweden, and
Norway. Enrico Mantovano shared his encyclopedic expertise in all things
Heavy Metal. Per Faxneld went one step further and discussed with me
several portions of this book while it was in the making. For the wider con-
text of esotericism and occultism, Marco Pasi and Wouter Hanegraaff deserve
a special mention among the many colleagues with whom I discussed these
issues.
This book would never have been finished without the help of my colleagues
at cesnur, the Center for Studies on New Religions, of which I am managing
director. PierLuigi Zoccatelli read and discussed different versions of the man-
uscript and contributed his expertise in the area of music. Luca Ciotta’s help
with revisions, indexes, and bibliography was truly crucial.
My students at the Pontifical Salesian University in Torino always asked
pertinent questions, inducing me to clarify certain issues. Marco Pasi insisted
for years for an English version of my Italian book on Satanism. In the end, he
got a different book but I hope he will be happy with the outcome. Everybody at
Brill showed why the publishing house has such an unimpeachable reputation
for academic excellence, but I want to thank in particular Maarten Frieswijk,
who followed the project from the very beginning, and Stephanie Paalvast.
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