"Hail Satan?" (2019)

[Belacqua]

There were also satanists around before Lavey that used a book called Black Book of Satan. I actually knew a lady who said they used it for rituals in the woods in the 50s. A member owned an occult shop and had all the ritual tools

I'm sure there were all kinds of Satanists, throughout [formerly] Christian countries. As with the antinomian Christians who appeared under Cromwell and then went underground again with the Restoration, they tend to be hard to research. Understandably, they kept quiet, didn't advertise, and didn't publicly recruit. 

So it's a little hard to know exactly how organized they were, and to what extent they overlapped with witchcraft groups or other occult practitioners. 

In fact I admire this willingness to be devoted to one's practice in a private way, not imitating the evangelical, official, and hierarchical nature of the official churches. 

It seems that EgoDeath doesn't accept these earlier groups or individuals as Satanists. I think he wants to save the definition for only that "codified philosophy" which he finds appealing. Maybe we could use a denominational qualifier, like "Authorized Satanists" vs. "Chthonic Satanists." 

Also I've been reading a little lately about Goethe's Faust and its historical references. While it might not be exactly right to call Faust a Satanist (and of course he is fictional) Goethe was aware of a very long tradition of real people, going all the way back to Simon Magus, and the Faustus mentioned by St. Augustine in the Confessions. So organized Satanism may be unusual, but the worship of Satan, dealings with Satan, taking Satan as one's master in preference to Christ -- all of these things have a very long history.

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By the way, I'm embarrassed to admit that when I first saw your screen name, I thought it said "Dr. Phil." I understand now that you are not the same!