I have explored alternative and “left hand path” spirituality for several years. My first explorations into this world was in Satanism, which brought mr to Demonolatry (aka, Demon Worship) and then to Luciferianism. Because people tend to conflate all three, I want to take the time to highlight the differences between all three while recognizing that there are absolutely people who consider themselves part of all three paths. Here are a few ways to distinguish them:
3. Demonolatry worships demons. Satanism and Luciferianism don’t have to.
Some of you might be confused by this. “But aren’t Satanists and Luciferians, you know, Satan and Lucifer worshippers?” Well, some of them are. Some of them aren’t. Funny story, but I started out my magic path with LaVeyan Satanism — a sect of atheistic Satanism (actually, it’s more accurately an egotheistic faith, meaning that who LaVeyans worship is the Self) — and I ended up being a Luciferian witch (which means my magic practice is for the pursuit of spiritual and improved knowledge). There are also theistic Satanists and Luciferians, both of which do honor the entity of their namesake as the sole or supreme lord of their faith, even if they do worship a pantheon of demons.
Technically, however, anyone who worships demons are Demonolaters and Demonolaters can be both Satanists and Luciferians — or not. It’s the philosophy that makes a Satanist and Luciferian, but Demonolatry is a religious practice.
2. Luciferianism is defined by knowledge. Satanism is defined by challenge. Demonolatry is defined by practice.
As we touched upon in point five, Demonolatry is a practice. The -latry element in the word “demonolatry” literally means “worship of”, hence a demonolater is one who worships at least one demon(s). Demonolatry, including literal Satan worship, has been claimed to happen in history (and in some cases, in an unbroken line) since the 1400's, but many of these claims are anecdotal, or not shared any way but orally until very recently.
Satanism wasn’t actually a “proper” religion until 1966, which Anton LaVey founded the Church of Satan, officially establishing Satanic spirituality as a legitimate way of life. There has been many other Satanic groups since then — including Satanic cults — but the history is considered to have officially started with LaVey. Satanism takes the original meaning of the word “satan” — a Jewish title for an angel which means “adversary” — to set about how one should approach ignorance and challenge social norms.
Luciferianism has a bit more of a muddy history. Luciferianism informally started as an interpretation of Gnostic sources, saying the figure of Lucifer is the snake that the Aeon of Wisdom, Sophia, sent down to the material world to bring humanity out of ignorance. There are literary and occult contributions to strengthen this believe, such as The Book of Lumiel (which inteprets Lucifer as an angel named Lumiel who helps keep order on earth), but many of these sources are obscured, rare or lost. Luciferianism has the more diverse set of specific beliefs compared to formal sects of Satanism and Demonoltary, but Luciferianism can properly be considered an offshoot or cousin of Gnosticism, even to the point that certain Luciferians consider Jesus to be a legitimate and esoteric source of knowledge.
1. Satanism is more politically involved compared to Luciferianism or Demonolatry.
Many of you might be surprised by this statement, but in reality it makes the most sense. It’s about the focus of each path; Luciferianism is based on the quest for self-knowledge and individualism. Demonolatry is a practice that anyone can utilize. And Satanism is adversarial — they are against the common place. Why is that?
It’s hardly a surprise that the first formal Satanic organization formed in America, a country known for religious conformity and is stereotyped to have a relatively ignorant population to the point where “willful ignorance” is in the discourse. The Church of Satan makes a political statement by refusing to register as a religious organization, which is their way of saying that church and state should be separate. The Satanic Temple is well-known at this point for making political statements, going so far as buying billboards to protest laws that protect corporal punishment for children. Going against the grain is a Satanic ideology, it’s just a matter of knowing for what reason. A small portion of people use Satanism as an excuse to do horrendous things to other people (usually the ones in cults), but far more people use it to challenge rhetoric that is illogical or dangerous to the greater human population.
It’s not to say that neither Luciferianism or Demonolatry can’t be political — I’ve seen examples of this myself — but most Satanic ideologies encourage political discourse and activity in a reasonable fashion.
These are just a few things that differentiate all of these. All religions and faiths are internally complex, so it is essential to understand that each human will have a different approach and understanding to spirituality.
Most Satanists, Luciferians and Demonolaters are simply humans who want to understand their place, beliefs and purpose in this crazy world and insane life. Even when I was a Satanist, I believed that it was entirely possible to live together with Christians, Muslims and other spiritualities on this earth in a live-and-let-live fashion at the least. It’s not my place to tell you that agreement should be our goal, but as a human, I’m sure we’ve all thought one day “I wish the world was a better place”. I don’t know how to get there now, but understanding other religions can be a starting point.
Replies