page_title: Theistic Satanism
section_title: Historical mentions of Satanism
hierarchical_section_title: Theistic Satanism / Historical mentions of Satanism
caption_attribution_description: Dessins de Martin van Maële.
context_page_description: Theistic Satanism or spiritual Satanism is an umbrella term for religious beliefs that consider Satan to be an objectively existing deity, supernatural being or force which is worthy of worship and supplication, whom individuals may contact, convene with and even praise, rather than just an archetype, a metaphor, a symbol or an idea as in LaVeyan Satanism. The individual belief systems under this umbrella are practiced by loosely affiliated or independent groups and cabals. Another characteristic of theistic Satanism is the use of ceremonial magic.
  The history of theistic Satanism, as an existing spiritual path which is practiced by people, is obscured by the fact that a number of groups were accused of being devil-worshippers even though they asserted that they were not, which was the case in the witch trials in Early Modern Europe. Most actual theistic Satanist religions exist in relatively new models and ideologies, many of which claim to be independent of the Abrahamic religions.
context_section_description: The worship of Satan was a frequent charge against those charged in the witch trials in Early Modern Europe and other witch-hunts such as the Salem witch trials. The charge of Satan worship has also been made against groups or individuals regarded with suspicion, such as the Knights Templar, or minority religions. In the case of the Knights Templar, the Templars' writings mentioned the word 'Baphomet', which was a French corruption of the name 'Mohammed' (the prophet of the people who the Templars fought against), and that 'Baphomet' was falsely portrayed as a demon by the people who accused the Templars.
  It is not known to what extent accusations of groups worshiping Satan in the time of the witch trials identified people who did consider themselves Satanists, rather than being the result of religious superstition or mass hysteria, or charges made against individuals suffering from mental illness. Confessions are unreliable, particularly as they were usually obtained under torture. However, scholar Jeffrey Burton Russell, Professor Emeritus of the University of California at Santa Barbara, has made extensive arguments in his book Witchcraft in the Middle Ages that not all witch trial records can be dismissed and that there is in fact evidence linking witchcraft to gnostic heresies. Russell comes to this conclusion after having studied the source documents themselves. Individuals involved in the Affair of the Poisons were accused of Satanism and witchcraft.
  Historically, Satanist was a pejorative term for those with opinions that differed from predominant religious or moral beliefs. Paul Tuitean believes the idea of acts of "reverse Christianity" was created by the Inquisition, but George Bataille believes that inversions of Christian rituals such as the Mass may have existed prior to the descriptions of them which were obtained through the witchcraft trials.
  In the 18th century various kinds of popular "Satanic" literature began to be produced in France, including some well-known grimoires with instructions for making a pact with the Devil. Most notable are the Grimorium Verum and The Grand Grimoire. The Marquis de Sade describes defiling crucifixes and other holy objects, and in his novel Justine he gives a fictional account of the Black Mass, although Ronald Hayman has said Sade's need for blasphemy was an emotional reaction and rebellion from which Sade
  moved on, seeking to develop a more reasoned atheistic philosophy.
  In the 19th century, Eliphas Levi published his French books of the occult, and in 1855 produced his well-known drawing of the Baphomet which continues to be used by some Satanists today. That Baphomet drawing is the basis of the sigil of Baphomet, which was first adopted by the non-theistic Satanist group called the Church of Satan.
  Finally, in 1891, Joris-Karl Huysmans published his Satanic novel, Là-bas, which included a detailed description of a Black Mass which he may have known firsthand was being performed in Paris at the time, or the account may have been based on the masses carried out by Étienne Guibourg, rather than by Huysmans attending himself. Quotations from Huysmans' Black Mass are also used in some Satanic rituals to this day, since it is one of the few sources that purports to describe the words used in a Black Mass. The type of Satanism described in Là-bas suggests that prayers are said to the Devil, hosts are stolen from the Catholic Church, and sexual acts are combined with Roman Catholic altar objects and rituals, to produce a variety of Satanism which exalts the Devil and degrades the God of Christianity by inverting Roman Catholic rites. George Bataille claims that Huysman's description of the Black Mass is "indisputably authentic". Not all theistic Satanists today routinely perform the Black Mass, possibly because the Mass is not a part of modern evangelical Christianity in Protestant countries and so not such an unintentional influence on Satanist practices in those countries.
  The earliest verifiable theistic Satanist group was a small group called the Ophite Cultus Satanas, w
caption: Illustration by Martin van Maële, of a Witches' Sabbath, in the 1911 edition of La Sorciere, by Jules Michelet.
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