Church of Satan and Satanism in Australia explained: from rituals to religion with the controversial group – 7NEWS.com.au

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When I found out I was meeting a Satanist, the first words that came to mind were devil worshipper and evil.

I had no idea what to expect.

Will he cast a spell on me? Will he try to summon the devil in front of me? What is going to happen?

I grew up in a Catholic household and went to a Catholic school. So, I refrained from telling my parents beforehand, for obvious reasons.

My grandparents are also super religious. If they found out I was meeting a Satanist, theyd have a heart attack.

I met a Satanist from Wollongong, David, while we were filming the new LIFE: Done Differently series.

At first, you wouldnt think David is a Satanist. He seemed like a normal, nice man.

David works in corporate finance by day and is very open about the fact he is a member of the Church of Satan.

Everyone in his workplace knows hes a Satanist.

I bet his employers would be afraid of firing him.

I was surprised by how wrong my perceptions of Satanism were.

I thought Satanists pray and worship the devil, the same way Catholics, pray and worship God.

I was wrong.

Satanism is a religion, a philosophy, a way of life.

As David describes Satanism is, in a nutshell, a modern, rational philosophy of self-interest.

Its based on the Satanic Bible written by American Anton LaVey published in 1969.

Anton LaVey founded the church of Satan in 1966, formulated on his own philosophy.

The Devil or Satan is not so much seen as a God to Satanists, more so, a symbol.

David also tells me that satan, is just an ancient word that means in opposition to. So back in the day, if you werent a Christian, you were satan. The opponent.

So the character of the Devil with the red horns as we know it, just evolved over time.

And as a philosophy, it seems like, you are either born with the Satanic view of life, or not.

As David says, he was already living the satanic life before reading the book. He just became aware that he was a Satanist, after reading the book.

Satanism is a very self-focused, selfish way of life.

Its always looking out for yourself first and acting in your best interests. Its a very egotistical way of living.

Treat everyone with respect, but if someone does wrong by you, destroy them.

When I asked David about Satanims magic and spells, he said he indeed cast some destructive spells.

He once threw a curse on a neighbour, because that particular neighbour was making loud noises at night, while David swas studying at university.

A month later, he committed suicide.

David didnt feel guilty. Most people would think, what a horrible person!

But did David do anything wrong?

As David says, he didnt go up there and murder his neighbour. He didnt even inflict any violence. He got his anger out on his own, through a satanic ritual, and let nature take care of the rest.

David just wanted the noise to stop. He got what he wanted.

After hearing that, I was quite anxious when I found out David was taking me into the forest to guide me through a satanic ritual.

David says satanic rituals are basically a cathartic release.

Theyre melodrama, theyre a performance.

The fire, the costume, the tools are all there to set a mood, a scene, an energy.

But, as much as it is a performance, David believes rituals have real-world consequences. Like in the case of his old neighbour!

Its like a version of The Secret - you put a wish or want out into the universe, and let nature take its course.

David prefers to keep the location of where he performs his satanic rituals, a secret.

I had to walk approximately 40 minutes through a forest to get to the location.

I was feeling on edge, I knew how serious David takes his satanic rituals.

When I finally got to the location, David wasnt impressed with me, as I was wearing a salmon pink shirt. I get where he was coming from, a man in a salmon pink shirt yelling HAIL SATAN, cant be taken seriously.

Luckily, he brought along a spare black cape that I was able to wear for the ritual.

There was a lot of set up and preparation involved in the ritual.

Getting the fire started, setting up the altar with the flags, the chaliceI was not expecting this much effort to go into the preparation.

Before I knew it, bells were ringing, and the ritual had started!

There was fire. There was drinking out of a chalice. There was David yelling HAIL SATAN. So much was going on. I could feel the energy around us.

The satanic ritual was a huge adrenaline buzz for me.

I even got to point a sword at the altar and ask for something I want in life, which youll have to watch the episode, to find out what that was.

I was so worried about my Grandma though, as I was yelling HAIL SATAN during the ritual.

I can see how a Satanist might benefit from a satanic ritual. They can release their anger; they get an adrenaline rush, express themselves and forget about all their problems for that short period.

We can all learn from Satanists. Instead of fuelling that anger on the person we are annoyed with, we can look at other ways to release our anger.

For Satanists, thats a satanic ritual.

For me, that might be simply, going for a run, or going to the gym.

We can also learn to put ourselves first, more often.

Next time youre exhausted and really dont want to go to that dinner party, but feel guilty not showing up, just ask yourself, what would a Satanist do?

They definitely wouldnt go to that dinner party.

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Church of Satan and Satanism in Australia explained: from rituals to religion with the controversial group - 7NEWS.com.au