Satanism refers to a group of religious, ideological, and/or philosophical beliefs based on Satan – particularly his worship or veneration. Satan is commonly associated with the Devil in Christianity, a fallen angel often regarded as chief of the demons who tempt humans into sin. The phenomenon of Satanism shares "historical connections and family resemblances" with the Left Hand Path milieu of other occult figures such as Chaos, Hecate, Lilith, Lucifer, and Set. For centuries, the term was used by various Christian groups as an accusation against ideological opponents, a slur for assorted heretics, freethinkers, and pagans. By contrast, self-identified Satanism is a relatively modern phenomenon, largely attributed to the 1966 founding of the Church of Satan by Anton LaVey in the United States – an atheistic group that does not believe in a supernatural Satan.
Saint Wolfgang and the Devil, by Michael Pacher
Title illustration of Johannes Praetorius (writer) Blocksbergs Verrichtung (1668) showing many traditional features of the medieval Witches' Sabbath
The Obscene Kiss, an illustration of witches kissing the Devil's anus from Francesco Maria Guazzo's Compendium Maleficarum (1608)
Witches' Sabbath, an illustration by Martin van Maële, from the 1911 edition of the book La Sorcière, by Jules Michelet
Left-hand path and right-hand path
In Western esotericism, left-hand path and right-hand path are two opposing approaches to magic. This terminology is used by various groups involved in the occult and ceremonial magic. In some definitions, the left-hand path is equated with malicious black magic, while the right-hand path is equated with benevolent white magic. Other occultists have criticised this definition, believing that the left–right dichotomy refers merely to different kinds of working and does not necessarily connote good or bad magical actions. Other practitioners state the difference between the two is that the desired outcome of the right is to be beside God and to serve him, while the left believe in self-deification and bow to no one.
The figure of Baphomet, as depicted by Éliphas Lévi in Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (1856), has been adopted as a symbol by adherents of left-hand path belief systems