u/Mikem444

At first I agreed with this after thinking about it, because I thought "Yeah, if you can just tough through it after losing motivation, discipline is the real muscle behind it all." But then I thought, what drives people to discipline themselves, what enables them to suddenly endure against discomfort and comfort for the end goal? An unmotivated person? There would have to be something that drives you to be disciplined through discomfort, that something is motivation. Motivation is discpline fuel, because no one attempts to put themselves through discomfort with no end-goal (motivation).

This story isn't exactly one I'm proud of, because it illustrates what a negative and moody prick of a teenager I was.

I had just barely become a teenager at 13 and officially declared myself as this identity around 3-5 months prior with an introductory ritual to Satan and my gods. In the earlier stages as a Satanist, I was particularly interested in magick and I tried to gather as much information as I possibly could on the subject, particularly through the lens of satanic magick.

There was someone at my school named Chris that I had somewhat of "frienemy" dynamic with, but we still did more headbutting as rivals than anything. He had this sort of "I want to be a bully, but I'm too much of a pussy to be one, so I'll run my mouth" vibe to him.

Usually, our interactions weren't too big of a deal, he would often insult me and I would insult him, sometimes in an obviously joking manner, and other times it wasn't joking. I don't know what it was about my state of mind one particular day, maybe it was the new raging teen horomones, but I was in an especially hateful mood when he said something that ticked me off to the point where I wanted him dead, and I can't even remember what he said to me, but I do know looking back as an adult now, whatever it was he said was a ridiculous reason to hex someone over.

I completed a ritual that same day to hex him with harm, misfortune, or possibly even death. It began with me summoning my gods and expressing my hate and ill-will toward him, exuding all this negative and hateful energy outward, and ended with me burning a hand drawn image of Chris with his first and last name written on it over a candle before watching the smoke dissipate into the spiritual plane.

The next day at school, Chris was absent. I thought to myself "Let's not get too excited, could be a coincidence." Then the 2nd day I go to school, still absent. I thought "Eh, I still shouldn't get too excited, he could be here tomorrow and could've been absent for any reason." Third day: I see Chris is still absent and I raised an eyebrow... I thought "Ok, this could be good, but still, let's keep it together and not get too excited." 4th Day: Chris was still absent and I couldn't take it anymore, so I started asking around. I was informed that he was in the hospital due to pneumonia. He survived, he didn't die or anything, but this was just one of many examples, and probably the first example in my life that I saw magick used with actual results, and it was my first attempt at it. Although nowadays I only attempt to use magick once in a while.

You should beat them down instead. Just some enlightenment I received during meditation.

It's so annoying. I told her, "Look, Sarah, I listen. I'm listening right now."

It's usually not my style to play the "no true scotsman" game, but words do have meaning. Since LaVeyans want to play this game and have deluded themselves and others into believing they have the ammo to win this game, here it is.

If someone claims LaVeyan Satanism is the only legitimate form of Satanism because Anton LaVey founded the Church of Satan in 1966, there are several historical points worth mentioning that go against this.

1.) A person cannot retroactively trademark a word that already existed in broader usage. The term "Satanist" predates LaVey by centuries. It was used in theological, literary, and polemical contexts long before 1966. Sometimes it referred to alleged devil worshippers, sometimes to heretics, sometimes to people accused of opposing Christianity. Whether those accusations were accurate is another question, but the word itself was not invented by LaVey. No copyright can exist on a word that someone didn't invent, especially a word from centuries prior.

2.) Being the first organized public movement is not the same as being the first example of something. An analogy: the first person to open an official karate school in a country did not invent karate. LaVey arguably created the first widely publicized, codified, non-theistic Satanic organization in the United States, but that claim is not as "big and important" as they'd like it to be.

Even LaVey's own system was built from earlier sources. Elements of LaVeyan Satanism draw from thinkers like Ayn Rand, Friedrich Nietzsche, social Darwinist ideas, ceremonial magic aesthetics, and older occult traditions.

3.) Theistic Satanism existed before the label became organized. That is not speculation, that is a documented fact. People who venerated or identified positively with Satan and Satan-like figures existed before 1966, regardless if they belonged to a formal institution with membership cards and a published manifesto or not. Religious movements often exist in scattered forms before becoming organized. The strongest historical claim LaVeyans can reasonably make is a lot more humble than they would like: LaVey founded the first enduring, self-identified, **public** Satanic organization and established the framework of modern atheistic Satanism. Historians would accept some version of that statement, but not "LaVey invented Satanism," that's a very different claim. One reason Theistic Satanists have also gone by the name "Traditional Satanists" as well, is due to the fact we Theistic Satanists fit the original/actual definition of what this word defined:

*the worship or veneration of Satan, a figure from Christian/Abrahamic belief who is also commonly known as the Devil or Lucifer.*

Therefore, we couldn't be more satanic and closer to practicing Satanism by the textbook definition if we tried. We are the definition. Not some pseudo-intellectual bald guy from San Francisco in 1966.

Here are examples of documented Pre-Laveyan  (theistic) Satanists, listed under the "Pre-LaVey" section of the Theistic Satanism Wikipedia page that references the findings of historians/scholars of Satanism:

Ruben van Luijk writes "there are a few well-documented cases of Satanist organizations that antedate or are contemporary with LaVey's",[33] and which may qualify as examples of theistic Satanism.

Citing research by Per Faxneld,[34][35] van Luijk writes there were "two possible cases" in Europe of "isolated religious Satanism, both dating from the very end of the nineteenth and the threshold of the twentieth century". One example was a small group led by Polish writer Stanisław Przybyszewski (1868–1927), who, "Faxneld argues [...] developed a more or less coherent philosophy or spirituality in which Satan played a major symbolic role, amounting to 'what is likely the first attempt ever to construct a more or less systematic Satanism.'"[36] The other example was the Danish writer Carl William Hansen (1872–1936), also known as Ben Kadosh. In the census of 1906, Hansen "declared himself a Luciferian by religion, making himself without doubt the first officially registered Satanist in history".[37]

That same year Hansen published a short booklet titled "Den ny morgens gry: erdensbygmesterens genkomst" (in English: "The Dawn of a New Morning: The Return of the World’s Master Builder"), of which van Luijk writes: "in which he announced the establishment of a cult of Satan/Lucifer and proposed the formation of a Masonic Luciferian organization."[37]

There were, according to van Luijk, several other organizations might be considered examples of theistic Satanism from the early to mid-20th Century. The Fraternitas Saturni, founded in 1926 and led by Eugen Grosche (1888–1964), referenced both Lucifer and Satan in their rites.[38] Another group was the Order of the Knights of the Golden Arrow, founded in Paris in 1930 by Maria de Naglowska. She declared herself a "Priestess of Satan” and spoke of the “Truth of the Wholesome Satanic Doctrine" and according to van Luijk her group can "arguably be considered the first known organized body of religious Satanism."[39] However, van Luijk also notes "Satanism was only one component of her religious system, which could probably best be described as an intricate semi-Hegelian compound of Christian, occultist, and Satanist elements".[40] Aleister Crowley also explored Satanic themes in his own system and was an influence on many later occultists, but "cannot be called a Satanist himself" given the relatively small place Satan played in Crowley's overall concept.[41]

Apart from these earlier cases the first recognized esoteric, non-LaVeyan Satanist organization was the small group Our Lady of Endor Coven,[42][43] which claimed to have been founded in 1948 by Herbert Arthur Sloane and therefore to allegedly precede the foundation of Anton LaVey's Church of Satan.[42][43] However, definitive proof the Coven's existence does not exist before 1966; van Luijk allows the group probably existed before that year but likely not before 1953.[44] Their doctrine relied on a Gnostic conception of Satan as the liberating serpent and bestower of knowledge to humankind opposed to the malevolent demiurge or creator god,[42][43] mainly inspired by the Gnostic dualistic cosmology of the Ophites,[43] Hans Jonas' study on the history of Gnosticism,[42]

and the writings of Margaret Murray on the witch-cult hypothesis.[42][43] "Our Lady of Endor Coven" seems to have been the only existing coven of this Satanist organization,[43] which was disbanded shortly after the death of its founder during the 1980s.[42]

Additionally, van Luijk argues the Process Church of the Final Judgement (founded in 1965) might classify as theistic Satanism, but "it is not altogether clear when precisely Satan and Lucifer made their appearance in Process theology" before the concepts were promoted openly in 1967; the concepts might have been influenced by LeVey or developed independently.[45]

In my 22-23 years as a Satanist, something I've noticed is Theistic Satanists and Diabolators have a certain magick to their character, a certain charm, a certain X factor that is hard to completely explain and articulate with the right words. It's something you can't fake, which is why I have never sensed this quality in tourists who weren't sure what they are, people who just like the imagery and going through some phase or fad, and LaVeyans/atheistic types.

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However, I do believe there are those who were either born of HIS kin or received HIS calling who started out LaVeyan and then later switched over to what felt more natural and real to them.

Let me be clear by saying, I'm not against criticizing individual police officers for abuse of their power. I'm talking about the one genius who thinks they're badass flipping off a cop car driving past, followed by something along the lines of "Fuck the police!!" as they wait at a bus stop.

To those people I've always asked "Ok, you're king of the world for a day and have the power to make your own system, you abolish police, so what system do you set up that's so much better? Mafias? Yeah that's proven real successful, just look at Mexico. You know how many have answered this question after asking them about it? None. Zilch.

People will bash the police and then praise a criminal as a victim or hero because a cop had to arrest them. While we can always improve the current system of having police, no one can deny their role is fundamental and completely necessary, regardless of one's attitude toward them.