Page 51 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - Febrary/March 2020 Edition

Witchcraft, Magic and Satanism 51

Witchcraft, Magic

and Satanism

Continued from Page 50

These crimes in various locations were
seriously investigated.
In 1989, wanting to know more about the
truth and extent of the so called Satanic Ritual
Abuse, the Federal Bureau of Investigation
tasked one of its agents, a specialist in child
abuse cases, to investigate the rumors.
FBI Special Agent Kenneth Lanning
spent months following every lead, going over
the accusations and allegations.
No one before him had ever
taken such a deep interest into the activities of
the so-called Satanic Cults.
shows LaVey in front of an altar with a naked than small gatherings of a few followers, small
In the united States, there are two main churches
woman on it. groups that were independent of each other, with
that define themselves as Satanic.
The other Satanic church, The Temple of no ramifications and they were in no way an
The largest, The Church of Satan, was
Set was founded in 1975 by Michael Aquino, a organized structure.
founded in 1966 by Anton LaVey.
former member of the Church of Satan. The experts have concluded that:
Religious sociologist Alain Bouchard
The Temple of Set dogma contained “Therefore, we are not talking about Satanism
when asked about LaVey said, “He (LaVey) was
basically the same values and philosophies as that is practiced on an ongoing basis but rather
a somewhat puzzling individual, someone who
the Church of Satan, the main difference being sporadic incidents of Satanism marked by small
drew attention to himself. A really colourful
that Aquino considered the devil to be a real rituals performed by young delinquents under
character. He set up this so-called church back in
entity. the influence of hallucinogenic drugs, in
the 1960s where he proposed a method of
When the FBI began its investigation particular LSD.”
personal growth based on working with an
into the activities of Satanic cults, naturally, the One investigator said. “We were looking
individual’s sex drive. It was the time of the
Church of Satan and the Temple of Set were the for the Prince of Darkness, and all we found
counter culture of the 1960s, a time right for
first groups targeted by federal agents but were Little Devils.”
sexuality, true heathenism, and here was a way
neither of these organizations seemed to be In the opinion of FBI Agent Kenneth
to work on yourself using sexuality.”
linked to criminal activities or ritual murders Lanning, crimes that look like the devil’s work
LaVey also integrated some elements
that witnesses spoke of. are generally committed by lonely disturbed
that we might refer to as more philosophical in
FBI Agent Kenneth Lanning issued his individuals who are more often than not
nature and LaVey was greatly inspired by the
report in January 1992. The document was motivated by hate and vengeance rather than a
work of Aleister Crowley, a famous author At
devastating to fundamentalists. The Satanic genuine desire to please Satan.
the end of the 19th century. He was looked upon
threat was described as “blown out of While FBI Agent Kenneth Lanning’s
as a spiritual teacher who had participated in
proportion.” report may present a more realistic perspective
various esoteric and magic groups of the years
Lanning stated that he had not found any on the phenomenon of Satanic cults, the impact
with whom he had performed rituals aimed at
proof of organized Satanic groups or so-called of these groups on their followers have been
promoting personal growth.
“child murders.” devastating.
So, Anton LaVey took Aleister
FBI Agent Kenneth Lanning stated, “ Dr Stephen Kent of the University of
Crowley’s ideas and incorporated them into his
The important thing about many of these cases is Alberta is quite familiar with the matter.
own religion that he was creating. And in this
not simply the lack of collaborative evidence, For the past few years he has been
church if you want to call it that, Satan did not
it’s the lack of collaborative evidence when collaborating with authorities who investigate
play a very big role, on the contrary, Satan did
there should have been collaborative evidence, the many aspects of Satanic cults.
not exist in their belief system since their church
because in many of these cases, what these “In the cases in which I was part of the
was not based on the premise of supernatural
people are alleging are multiple murders, blood, investigation with the police, there was never
forces but rather natural forces that exist within
body fluids, children being molested and enough evidence in any case to bring
each of us and that we must develop.
photographed… the kind of stuff that Is not so convictions, but in some of the cases there were
In 1969, driven by his pas sion for all that
easy to get rid of.” different levels of evidence, much of which
was indecent, Anton LaVey wrote the Satanic
“Most people do not understand how confirmed basic allegations that people made.”
Bible, a philosophical guide for anyone wishing
hard it is to get rid of dead bodies,” Lanning Kent continued, “The lowest level of evidence is
to practise Satanism.
continues, “Adolph Hitler had no problem personal allegation, a person saying that ‘this
The Satanic Bible that LaVey wrote was
killing six million people. His problem was how happened to me.’’
a thin paperback for teens that was widely
do you get rid of all the bodies? And so, this idea Experts and investigators know that the
available in stores and it was circulated by
of how you dispose of these bodies, people don’t human memory is a faulty device and that there
teenagers who were feeling alienated from
understand that you just can’t set a little fire and are at times, difficulties in the reception,
society and they did not feel like they did or
throw the body on it. That doesn’t eliminate the processing, and the recall interpretation of
could fit in.
body.. you just have a burned body… the body memories. A person’s memory of an event is one
The Satanic Bible emphasized extreme
is still there.” level of evidence, and it is a very low level at
individualism and looking out for oneself with
In all the cases investigated by Lanning, that.
the worship of Satan being minimal but many
there was no evidence to substantiate the In many cases there was collaboration
accounts relate that many people would take the
allegations after an inspection by a trained from family members.
Satanic Bible and use it as the basis for
forensic team.
constructing their own rituals.
In his report FBI Agent Lanning
LaVey did rituals. In one photograph, it
explained that Satanic cults were nothing more (Continued on Page 52)