On Occultism

[EgoDeath]

I suppose it helped reading in a guitar magazine (I think it was Guitar One) about how the guy from the Alkaline Trio is a card-carrying member of the Church of Satan purely for the shock value.

Also, looking at the CoS website, I found a list of recommended books and films. Might be a good source to look into, though what an old Mr. Belvedere movie has to do with Satanism is a mystery for the ages.

They provide an interesting book list. The film list... I'm not so into. LaVey was very much into cheesy horror flicks and "B" movies, from what I can gather. I love the horror genre, but I'm not into the cheesy, over the top, almost comedic horror movies. Just not my taste.

[Rev. Rye]

I suppose it helped reading in a guitar magazine (I think it was Guitar One) about how the guy from the Alkaline Trio is a card-carrying member of the Church of Satan purely for the shock value.

Also, looking at the CoS website, I found a list of recommended books and films. Might be a good source to look into, though what an old Mr. Belvedere movie has to do with Satanism is a mystery for the ages.

They provide an interesting book list. The film list... I'm not so into. LaVey was very much into cheesy horror flicks and "B" movies, from what I can gather. I love the horror genre, but I'm not into the cheesy, over the top, almost comedic horror movies. Just not my taste.

Weird, I actually found a lot more interesting things (at least among stuff that was available at my local library that I hadn't already read/seen) on the film list. Indeed, I went through the list and found I owned 26 of the films on the list:

1. Asphalt Jungle
   
2. Blade Runner
   
3. Blue Velvet
   
4. Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
   
5. Carnival of Souls
   
6. Citizen Kane
   
7. 5000 Fingers of Dr. T
   
8. Inherit the Wind
   
9. Key Largo
   
10. Kiss Me Deadly
    
11. Koyaanisqatsi
    
12. M
    
13. Metropolis
    
14. Night of the Hunter
    
15. Radio Days
    
16. Rosemary's Baby
    
17. Ruling Class
    
18. Simon of the Desert
    
19. Stardust Memories
    
20. Strangers on a Train
    
21. Stepford Wives
    
22. Treasure of the Sierr Madre
    
23. Wicker Man
    
24. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
    
25. Wise Blood
    
26. Zelig.
    

And that's just the ones I own on DVD (except for Caligari, which I only own on Blu-Ray). Clearly not all cheesy horror movies. That said, there is a preponderance of B movies on the list, but by no means all. Kind of what you might expect when he performs music and latches onto this:



Odd note: somehow, Sons of the Desert didn't make the list. And also, despite The Circus of Dr. Lao making the book list, the movie adaptation The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao didn't. This may be because of the eminent domain plot Charles Beaumont invented for the movie.

[EgoDeath]

Weird, I actually found a lot more interesting things (at least among stuff that was available at my local library that I hadn't already read/seen) on the film list. Indeed, I went through the list and found I owned 26 of the films on the list:

1. Asphalt Jungle
   
2. Blade Runner
   
3. Blue Velvet
   
4. Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
   
5. Carnival of Souls
   
6. Citizen Kane
   
7. 5000 Fingers of Dr. T
   
8. Inherit the Wind
   
9. Key Largo
   
10. Kiss Me Deadly
    
11. Koyaanisqatsi
    
12. M
    
13. Metropolis
    
14. Night of the Hunter
    
15. Radio Days
    
16. Rosemary's Baby
    
17. Ruling Class
    
18. Simon of the Desert
    
19. Stardust Memories
    
20. Strangers on a Train
    
21. Stepford Wives
    
22. Treasure of the Sierr Madre
    
23. Wicker Man
    
24. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
    
25. Wise Blood
    
26. Zelig.
    

And that's just the ones I own on DVD (except for Caligari, which I only own on Blu-Ray). Clearly not all cheesy horror movies. That said, there is a preponderance of B movies on the list, but by no means all. Kind of what you might expect when he performs music and latches onto this:

---

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Odd note: somehow, Sons of the Desert didn't make the list. And also, despite The Circus of Dr. Lao making the book list, the movie adaptation The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao didn't.

Interesting!

Yea, there's definitely more than just the cheesy horror films there. I'd be interested to know why they include the titles they do in that list. I don't have much of a movie collection anymore; I used to consider myself a bit of a cinephile until I met a few real ones.

And yea, LaVey certainly had a thing for old-timey entertainment and showmanship.

[Haipule]

Satanism--"It's a profit deal(The Jerk)" Demonism on the other hand: it's hard to discredit the stories from people who went to Africa for evangelism purposes. Also hard to dismiss is voodoo.

[Peebothuhlu]

Also hard to dismiss is voodoo.

 

Not at work.

[prhill]

They are no different than christians who brag about prayer results. Prayer and magic are no different.  Same with Law of attraction people who swear it works or LaVeyan Satanists who brag about using ritual magic to hurt or heal people or make girls lust for them or people who call on "Spirit Guides" and claim they get signs and desires from them.  Its all non-sense of course. If any of that was real I would be the first to use it as I would love to be able to make things happen like that but its all wishful thinking and reality does not give a damn about our wishes

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

it's hard to discredit the stories from people who went to Africa for evangelism purposes.

No it isn't.

Also hard to dismiss is voodoo.

No it isn't.

Boru

[The Grand Nudger]

Ritual and ritualism is the function of most of what you’ll see called magic in contemporary occultism.

It’s alot like meditation. Focus, introspection, just enough conceptual pageantry to set the experience aside.

[prhill]

And they do all have a lost of excuses for when things fail be it prayer, magical spells, Spirit guides or spirit summoning, law of attraction, etc.  Anything from you did not believe strong enough or you did not put enough into the ritual or  it goes against your spiritual plan or Karma, it will happen when its suppose to even if it takes years and on and on.

[Haipule]

And they do all have a lost of excuses for when things fail be it prayer, magical spells, Spirit guides or spirit summoning, law of attraction, etc.  Anything from you did not believe strong enough or you did not put enough into the ritual or  it goes against your spiritual plan or Karma, it will happen when its suppose to even if it takes years and on and on.

It's not your lack of faith: it's your lack of money--$40 and it's all yours!