People who worship Satan.

Our science today started out a s metaphysical practice of the occult hundreds of years ago and is still in the process of evolution.

Throughout history various groups have been accused of behavior including orgies, cannibalism and abuse and murder of children. The accusations hit hot buttons inducing revulsion in most people: those who dream of an orgy are turned off by the idea of incest, cannibals are a small minority, and paedophiles condemn the murder of children. The group may be considered a cult threatening the dominant religion and social order, or just be outsiders on whom a community projects its darker repressed fantasies. Sometimes the group exists but is libelled: the Jews and the Bogomils of medieval Thrace are examples, at other times the group does not exist: The fabled witch cult of the middle ages and the Satanic Ritual Abuse myth of the late 1980s are examples of such groups. More recently in a televised debate with the motion that “Homosexuality is un-African” a speaker claimed to have evidence of “children being initiated into homosexuality” but refused to present the evidence.

Vampire stories are not only learned from books or movies on HBO. We live in a world so crazy that they become reality.

White magic, black magic.

Lady Gaga’s latest song is causing controversy, with rumours that it contains a satanic message.

In late December 1610, Count Gyorgy Thurzo visited Cseithe Castle in Hungary and discovered the Countess Elizabeth Bathory conducting a torture session of young girls. It should have come as no great surprise as he was there on the orders of King Matthias, suspicions had been aroused many times over the behaviour of the Countess. She was infamous for conducting torture upon her servants and on local peasant girls, but until this time her title and high ranking relatives had allowed her to become untouchable.

Five secretive societies I see as the most prevalent and dangerous.

Lately this has been smeared as a seal of Satanism, but the pentagram is a totem versatile, and there long before anyone got around to invent Satan.

This article is taken from "Satan’s Pope", a book I’m working on together with Philip Coppens, concerning the Holy Blood of Bruges and the 19th century author Joris-Karl Huysmans and his history of satanism, "Là-Bas".