Inside the Cult of Satan
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Satanism is one of the fastest growing social movements in the world today. To some it's a religion, as valid as Christianity. To others, it's a subversive, dangerous cult.

Whatever the truth, the worship of Satan has very real historic roots, which go back to pagan pre-Christian times and which have influenced events throughout history. Today, it has hundreds of thousands of devotees across the world and thanks to the internet, has never been more popular.

Today's members claim that it's just a harmless gathering of like-minded souls. But what really goes on at their rituals? And is there a darker and more controversial side to the cult than meets the eye? Satanism refers to the real or mythical figure known as Satan, whose followers look at him as an inspiring, just, and even heroic figure.

These people that genuinely believe in Satan and all of his dark darkness, they believe in it far more probably than the pure white light of Christianity. What if there is a ladder beyond us which consists of beings of pure energy? And what if some of them are morally good and some morally evil?

The worship of Satan is a practice as old as our civilization, with its roots in the earliest form of pagan worship and sacrifice. And despite the emergence of organized religion around 2,000 years ago, satanic worship and practices continued underground, sometimes at the very highest levels of society. Today, it's estimated that there are over 100,000 Satanists in the world, all worshiping the devil

with the goat of Mendes as one of its most sacred symbols. It's a worldwide phenomenon and it's growing every year. Journalist Jamie Theakston is investigating what rituals and ceremonies still go on today, who's taking part, and if the rumors of sexual orgies and animal sacrifices are true.

Satanism is becoming more popular and I think one of the reasons is probably the decline of the Orthodox Church of Christianity. They've kept us under a very tight rein for the best part of 2,000 years and yet all of us deep down want to be sinful and do naughty things and of course that's what Satanism is all about. Sex, debauchery and anything else that you want to do, Satanism allows you to do it.

Satanism is pretty much at its pinnacle of popularity. It's estimated there's over 100,000 members of the Church of Satan and it's really become quite trendy. We see a lot of TV shows geared towards the whole concept of, you know, very dark, satanic, witchcraft-oriented sort of TV. And we see a whole counterculture of teenagers who are becoming more interested in this and growing popularity then because of it.

I haven't come forth in a great many years, but I can assure you Satanism is here to stay. Perhaps the most widely known aspect of Satanism is the Church of Satan itself, which was founded by a man called Anton LaVey in America in 1966. Today it has thousands of members across the world and has its headquarters in the appropriately named Hell's Kitchen area of New York City.

Gavin Baddeley is one of the church's representatives, and he agreed to meet with Jamie and discuss some of its activities. I'd imagine that there would be more kind of ritual sacrifices and pentagrams and candles and capes and that kind of thing. Oh, we certainly have our pentagrams and candles and capes. But yeah, that image exists and we play up to it. And a lot of people who are drawn to Satanism are drawn because they, the sort of sex and blood

iconography is very appealing. And certainly there are members of the Church of Satan who indulge in various rituals. But at core, I think far more significant is the way in which people think.

It's very easy as somebody who occasionally operates as a spokesman for Satanism to be drawn into fulfilling other people's expectations. They want the blood and the candles and the goats and everything, and that's there. But that's not what Satanism is.

But do you have ceremonies and rituals? They take place, certainly. I've fielded a lot of telephone calls from journalists over the years who say, you know, "I want you to take me to a naughty naked ritual, you know, and I'll bring my credit card." And it's kind of like, find your own naughty naked ritual. If we do these things, they're for ourselves, they're a form of theatre, they're a way of energising, they're fun.

You have to imagine there's a lot of people who feel that the standards that God has set out are just too high and really quite unfair and not really something that they're up for adhering to. So this notion of the devil being kind of, you know, accepting of who you are and just a little bit naughty has a certain appeal to people.

The Church of Satan wasn't so much a pro-Satan, pro-evil, it was more of an anti-church establishment. Certainly from where it came out in the 50s and 60s, you had very much a Christian American ideal.

which for a lot of people was not what they wanted. So it was a very good way of breaking away and say, "I don't want that, I want this, and I want to have fun." And a lot of it stemmed from having fun. One of the things that Anton Ave said was his difference between him and the Christian church was that the Christians believe that if someone strikes you on the cheek, you forgive. He believed if someone strikes you on the cheek, you punch them in the face. Apart from that, it's a beautiful religion. Since the rise and dominance of Christianity in the Western world,

Satanism was forced underground, quite literally. In the 16th and 17th centuries, it became very fashionable for the aristocracy to hold secret meetings in the dark, undisturbed corners of their estates, where it was said that illicit satanic ceremonies and rituals were performed. One of these groups was the infamous Hellfire Club, which held its meetings in the West Wycombe Caves, just outside London.

The Hellfire Club had a reputation for wickedness and debauchery on a legendary scale. It was said that there were decadent parties, orgies, and satanic worship going on deep underground. Local guide Jack Orr agreed to take Jamie Theakston down into the labyrinth.

So we are a set of tunnels that were done in 1748 and the beautiful thing about us is we are 100% man-made. Okay. And the whole way down it goes 300 feet underground, quarter of a mile and at the very bottom is the inner temple which is the man-made hell of this place. The man who commissioned this place, Lord Dashwood, was the head of the debaucherous notorious Hellfire, a secret society dedicated to

Well, as we believe, mocking religion. So this is where the Hellfire Club would have met down in here? They used to meet originally in Meddenham Abbey, which is a couple of miles away from here, but it was too public. They had the newspapers following them, and so they went, "Oh, we need to go somewhere else. Where better than underground?" About halfway down through the caves is a large cavern cut out of the limestone, where all manner of debauchery was said to have taken place.

In here, this was where they really released all their inner Bacchus, as it is. This is where they succumbed to the flesh. This was where they became even more intoxicated. The Hellfire Club was an exclusive sort of society for highbrow Britain in the 18th century.

But it was really twisted. You're now several hundred feet under the earth. Anything can go on there. Nobody's gonna know. This is why you're there. You're outside of London. No one even knows you're there. And what goes on in the Hellfire Caves stays in the Hellfire Caves. And you could only imagine that they were completely unaccountable. Nobody had to apologize for anything. You walk into those caves,

All bets are off. You can let all your inhibitions free and behave just the way all your fantasies would tell you you'd want to behave. That was the real Fifty Shades of Grey. So how did one become a member of the Hellfire Club? Well, it was a secret society, so it was purely on invitation and sort of election. A man of the club could put your name forward as a possible member based on your character.

There were 13 apostles. There was a sort of hierarchy and the 13 apostles were in charge of the more secretive side of the club. They, led by the abbot who was often Sir Dashwood himself, they did all their dark business down here. So now we're about to go to the very bottom. We are reaching our final destination as such and we're about to cross over the River Styx. And I'm sure you know the legend that once you cross over the River Styx... That's it.

No coming back. So what, there's actually a river down here? It is. It's a man-made river and they would have taken a boat to their final point. And round the corner is a cursing well where they used to baptise new members into the club. And what about any kind of evidence of satanic worship, rituals?

Sir Francis Dashwood had a whole library of occult and black magic books. He really leaned towards it, he found it fascinating. So it is possible that he indoctrinated a lot of these ancient rites among all of the lords and ladies in here. And you would be absolutely amazed what a lord in the 18th century could get away with if he wanted to.

These guys that are sacrificing goats, screaming goats, cutting off the heads of chickens, drinking blood, and basically doing everything that's anti-Christ, for want of a better word. They definitely could have gotten up to anything they wanted to in those caves. I mean, who was going to check up on them? We don't have the modern day press hounding them like we have today, watching and stalking their every move.

So it was a very elite group of people, very secretive. And if one ratted on another one, well, then there goes their community. You would think that they would want to keep this secret. Who's going to find out? So they could get up to anything that they wanted to without anyone monitoring them. It got very pagan. And in fact, it was an excuse for the high class ladies of society to really kind of act out their sexual fantasies.

The current Lord Dashwood is the ancestor of the founder of the Hellfire Club and is all too aware of the satanic rumours. Sir Edward, what would have gone on up there? We don't know exactly what went on in direct answer to your question, but we have a good idea. Some people imagine the worst and you have all sorts of stories that come out, particularly in the Victorian times, of what they got up to. We know they had a lot of fun, that's the main thing. Was there any sort of satanic rituals going on down there?

I like to think not, and we have no evidence of it, although he was clearly interested in all sorts of peripheral things on the side of that. So we have Masonic symbols in one of the rooms in the house here, and we have the river Styx at the bottom of the cave itself, and the inner temple. And the river Styx, you know, your mythology, it separated the real world from the underworld, and it was where Caron the boatman led you across. So the fact he even built the river Styx, you know, he was interested in the afterlife and all of that, there's no doubt.

There's stories about a woman who was said to have been turned into a nymphomaniac. Tell me a bit more about that. Yes, that was great fun. That was fantastic. So I think it was in the middle of the 80s. I recall it reasonably well. And a coach party of old deers went down the caves. And one of them came out and said she'd been a spinster all her life, had no sexual experience whatsoever. And she was assaulted by the evil influence of my ancestors.

and that the Satan was at work and he was alive and well in the caves and therefore it should be closed down immediately because this influence had turned her into a raving nymphomaniac. And the local, not just the local papers, actually, I think the News of the World or the Sun or one of those newspapers got a hold of it and it was on the front page, you know, clays must be closed down due to evil influence of Sir Francis Dashwood. And the only result was we doubled the number of visitors who came to the caves who were all obviously looking for the same experience.

and there was a priest who visited the caves who felt that there might have been some kind of evil influence down there. Tell me a bit more about him. Well, it's quite interesting. We do get people from time to time who do feel, now whether it's their imagination or there's some reality behind it, they definitely go down there and they feel something strange or they're not happy with the atmosphere or the influence the caves have on them. It could be their imagination, it could be true, but yes, you're absolutely right, from time to time people, they come back feeling very strange from having visited the caves.

From satanic worship underground to demonic possession, being possessed by the devil is said to be a dangerous side effect of Satanism. And was Aleister Crowley the most famous and twisted of all devil worshippers? The worship of Satan is older than Christianity, with its roots in the earliest form of pagan sacrifice. And despite the emergence of organized religion around 2,000 years ago,

Satanic practices continued underground, sometimes at the very highest levels of society. Today it's estimated that there are as many as 100,000 Satanists around the world and it's growing every year. One of the most popular and disturbing manifestations of Satan and evil itself is a possession, a human body that has been taken over by a demonic entity or even the devil himself.

According to the Catholic world, to conduct an exorcism, you have to be an ordained priest. But as regards Christianity as a whole is concerned, any good Christian can conduct an exorcism, a successful exorcism, on...

Some occasions, I think that we are dealing with a mental problem, a psychosis of some kind. And if the person with that psychosis has a deep religious conviction that evil spirits exist and that one has got into him,

And a priest then performs an exorcism, if he believes both in the power of exorcism and in the evil spirit as part of his psychotic imaginings, he will then feel better. So an exorcism can heal psychosis as well as driving out some sort of tangible psychic entity. In an exorcism,

There's the sorts of things that you would expect and you've been seeing in films for a long time. So, the primary objective is to find out the demon's name. If you find out the demon's name, you can expel them. But while you're trying to do that, you have the person who's suffering, who's possessed. They're speaking in tongues, they're vomiting, they're using vulgar language. They're both buying into the fact that there's a demon involved here. And thus, they're both taking on roles that

may just be that, not real sort of possession, but physiological sort of association with what they think they should be saying and doing and behaving. Exorcisms can get extremely wild and rather volatile to say the least. Whether it is a demon inside them or whether it's just, whether they're just plain bonkers, I don't know. I'm not going to deny the existence of a spirit world.

But what I do deny is the authenticity of most of these exorcists. I think they're putting on a show. I think it's sort of a placebo. They're behaving in a way they've seen on television or they feel they need to behave in order to get a reaction, a placebo reaction from the possessed. It's really a show. Nine out of ten times, I don't think it's very authentic at all. A famous Satanist was Aleister Crowley.

the English occultist in the early 20th century, he founded the religion and philosophy of Telamah, in which he himself was the prophet, entrusted with guiding his followers. He gained widespread notoriety for his use of sex magic and sacrificial rituals, and he was denounced in the press as the wickedest man in the world.

And yet, in 2002, the BBC rated him the 73rd greatest Briton of all time. Aleister Crowley might be the most famous occultist, author, and most importantly, ritual practitioner of magic that's ever been. Some historians claim that he was recruited into British intelligence and that he remained a spy throughout his life.

although this was never proved. As his actions became more and more extreme, he was told to leave Britain in 1920 or face arrest. So he established a satanic commune in Sicily, where he lived with his followers, practicing ritual sacrifice, sex magic, and other depraved acts. It was said that he preyed on them, and in a similar fashion to the Charles Manson cult, many people feared for their lives.

Aaron Paramore is an occult researcher who has studied Crowley in detail. He thinks he really was a very dangerous and possibly deranged man. So what was Crowley getting up to?

Well, he kind of earned his name, the wickedest man in the world, because he was a mountaineer. He was the enfant terrible. He took lots of drugs. He performed sexual magic. And all of this in that time frame was just considered to be absolute war.

kind of like absolutely off the map, off the deep end. He was members of secret organizations, occult organizations. He claimed he was the great beast 666. And he performed various rituals, but he got up to pretty extreme things. He was into extremes, you know?

and he pushed his followers into those extreme ends as well. Even if you weren't comfortable with it, he would push you and push you and push you and push you. His magical motto is "I will endure." So it gives you a sense of what this guy is. Essentially, I think Crowley is a bully, but he bullies and pushes people and they end up burnt out and he's used them and he casts them aside and he keeps moving forward himself.

He'd got devotees that were doing anything and everything that he wanted. They believed that he was talking to spirits, possibly to aliens. Whether he really was, whether he really was this new messiah, nobody really knows.

In Sicily, he establishes his religion and followers come out there and he forms what he hopes to be a spiritual college. What it's more like is a commune in the 60s. So you've got a lot of free love, people having sex, taking a lot of drugs, which is absolutely scandalous.

The British press get a hold of this and he's absolutely, you know, called the wickedest man in the world by the press while he's there. And eventually the goings on and the rumour mill gets so bad that Mussolini himself has had enough of Mr Crowley and attempts to get him kicked out and does eventually get him kicked out of Sheffield.

In Cefalu, he was known by the people as a truly free man who lived freely from the restrictions of religion. But rituals did go on in there. We know there was a sacrifice of a goat in a particular ritual. We know there was a lot of drug taking and experimentation. There was a room in there called the Chamber of Nightmares. And these were these amazing psychedelic paintings of people copulating with goats, a big degenerate god with a big phallus. And this was supposed to allow you to

get rid of your pornographic fantasies. You would eventually become clear of all that sort of stuff and it wouldn't mean anything to you. You would get rid of all your Christian and your baggage, as it were. And you'd be free from guilt. That was the big thing about it. It's about being free from your own guilt.

Alistair Crowley was definitely one of the most evil men in the world and the legend speaks for itself, doesn't it? He participated in black masses and really questionable ritual practices with his whole The Lima religious group that he was involved in. Kicked out of England for his behavior and his involvement and really got up to some really nasty deeds.

This is where they would have blood sacrifices, animal sacrifices, and although we can't prove it, we believe human sacrifices. Really morbid sort of stuff. And guess what? He was at the center of it. It was all about him. Certainly, after Crowley's death in 1947, things go quiet. The OTO, his big organization, begins to splinter and break up a bit.

But it's the 60s where it really, really picks up. The Beatles put Crowley on the Sgt. Pepper album. His books get reprinted again. People are finding him in secondhand bookshops for very little money. Now they're like currency now. And his whole philosophy begins to be taken on board by the 60s. Do what thou wilt. Do what you want. They took it to mean that. That's not actually what it means. It means find your true will, your reason for being here on this planet, and pursue it with a vengeance. That's what he was saying.

If you were to go on the internet and drag up the worst possible internet fetish sites you could find, Crowley probably did it. Now you have to remember he was one of the first, so he was always looking for something new, something interesting. So if you can think of it, he probably thought of it about 100 years ago.

How popular is Satanism today? Still very, very popular. You've got the Church of Satan still going strong. You have the Church of Set, which is a splinter group of that. And then within the Church of Set, the Order of the Trapezoid, which is a sort of H.P. Lovecraftian kind of feeling, a form of Satanism. A fairly sort of repugnant splinter of Satanism is the Order of Nine Angles. These guys have mixed

Nazi ideology within Satanism. And they're a very, very far-right group. You can get a lot of stuff on the internet now about them and all their pamphlets and information are kind of published on the internet now. But quite a nasty kind of form of Satanism to the point that neo-Nazis disowned the Order of Nine Angles and anybody associated with an occult, neo-Satanic Nazi group.

At the very heart of Satanism is the infamous Black Mass. It's a magical ceremony for the purpose of mocking God and worshipping the devil that has its origins in pagan rituals. Before Christianity, it was normal practice to offer up a blood sacrifice to the gods and even perform sexual acts, and these still remain at the core of Satanic worship today.

The celebrants are usually dressed in dark robes, carrying candles and chalices, and they will often form in the shape of a pentagram to carry out their ceremonies. It is, to outsiders, rather strange. A black mass is a ritual ceremony that uses magic for two purposes. One is the defamation of God

and two, is the veneration of Satan. It's based on a Catholic mass, only it's a lot darker. It's people dressed in black robes with hoods, black candles, inverted crosses, blood sacrifices, the killing of goats and their blood drunk.

all manner of debauchery and sex. And even the altar is actually a naked woman.

I think the credibility of black masses is really questionable. If you think about the participants, why are these people participating in something like this? Is there something psychologically going on with them? And believing in the power of that is probably what produces the power or the energy surge for them of exerting their will in this form of evil to try to obtain what they want.

So I think it's really about the psychological aspects of it. Does it really have magical powers? In my opinion, no. Certainly as Christianity is in decline, people are turning to alternative forms of religion. And obviously Satanism, if there is such a thing as Satan, it's the alternative, it's something different. But to be honest with you, it gives a lot of people what they want. I don't think the church ever has.

They would be those who think of Satan not as an evil being, but as an independent being. And they would feel that by calling themselves Satanists, they are in a way almost like anarchists, that they are fighting against restriction and tradition and control, and that he is their hero insofar as he dared to rebel against God himself.

From the dawn of religion, there have always been those who push against the accepted faith and explore the dark side. At times in history, these groups have been influential, linked to Freemasonry, politics, and even with the higher levels of the church itself. But today, the cult of Satan is more about counterculture and rebellion and remains as popular as ever.

There are a growing number of groups who meet online or in real life to worship and to hang out. Some Satanists are quite hardcore, but the majority are normal people who follow it almost as a protest vote against mainstream politics and the church. They don't see themselves as demonic, they just believe that they are alternative and many enjoy the fuss made by the media of their practices and ceremonies.

The more they get under the skin of governments, the press, and religious authorities, the better.