What Does Satan Mean To Me As a Satanist?

Alrighty, I have not written anything in this blog for a little while.  Happy Belated New Year.  Time to kick things off where I left off with the first blog entry of 2022.

Most of us already know what goes through many people's heads when the name "Satan" comes up: a scary-looking red guy who is the cause of all the bad things that are wrong with this planet.  He's responsible for all the evil caused by human beings, at least according to other people.

However, many people have not bothered to look further.  In this blog, I want to discuss what I learned about Satan and what he means to me.

Satan means many things but I want to go over some of the core basics.

In Hebrew, the name "Satan" means Opposer, Adversary, and Accuser.  So when we call ourselves Satanists, that means that we are the opposers, adversaries, and accusers of all spiritual religions, religious hypocrites, and philosophies that would get in the way of our carnal pleasures and personal philosophies.  Satan also represents the outsider, the one who is not a part of the collective herd.  He is an individual who makes his own way and refuses to bow down to tyranny.  

When people ask us "why do you call yourself after someone that you say doesn't actually exist?" or "why is your church named after someone you claim doesn't exist?"  Well, this pretty much answers the question.  That, and we as humans crave ritual and dogma.

This is one of the reasons I wear my Sigil of Baphomet every day.  This is one of the ways I present myself as an opposer, accuser, and adversary.  I am the outsider, the individual who looks at the rest of the herd.  I am essentially a Satan amongst the world.  Satan is a mirror, an extension of who I am as a person.

I never saw Satan as some asshole looking to cause trouble for the entire world, or for God in the Bible.  I've always seen him as more like someone who didn't want to be controlled and to have to listen to anybody tell him what to do.

Satan's also had many changes to his imagery over the years.  He's either been a scary red monster or originally as a beautiful angel.  Satan can be whatever you want to believe he looks like in your imagination.  The main thing to remember is that is nothing more than fantasy.

Speaking of fantasy, as Satanists, we're also atheists, as much as that's hard for people to believe.  We believe that all gods and spiritual beings are man-made and extensions of a person's ego.  That goes for the anthropomorphic version of Satan that people also think is real.  When I hear people say "why is it called Church of SATAN?"  Well, here's one of the ways I answer this question: I'd rather my religion be modeled after a fictional being that actually has made sense over the years rather than the asshole Christian God we've had shoved down our throats for the last several centuries.

And there you go.  That's what Satan means to me as a Satanist.

Hail Thyself!  Hail Satan!

-Manny