Esoteric practices in Satanism, part I: Meditation

Inasmuch as I’ve gotten the impression that actual engagement in esoteric practices may be unusual among people who identify as Satanists, despite this element being present in the writings of LaVey and other authors, I thought making this aspect of the religion better understood to people who may have no familiarity with it might be an interesting challenge to take on.

Esoteric practices that I think a case can be made for in Satanism include the following:

• Meditation
• Divination
• Lesser Magic (a.k.a. glamour)
• Greater Magic (a.k.a. ritual)

As this list may imply, what I am here terming “esoteric practices” includes what I have elsewhere called “ritual practice,” but I’m adopting the former in this case as a better umbrella term than the latter when it comes to covering the full range of practices I want to discuss.

This is a big enough topic to constitute multiple entries, so I’ll cover only one area of practice at a time, starting with meditation:

• Aims of meditation
• Benefits of meditation & potential clash with Satanism
• Why Satanists might value a degree of world withdrawal
• Why self-control and self-discipline are essential in Satanism

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Cultural appropriation vs. spirituality: a thorough dissection

Since my recent thrift-store luck in connection with an upcoming event has provided opportunity for a good accompanying photo for the topic, now struck me as the right time for a few things I wanted to say about cultural appropriation, specifically the concept’s salience within the context of what might broadly be called spirituality.

Sections of this entry:

• Two definitions
• A brief defense of the validity of the concept of cultural appropriation
• Difficulties with the concept of cultural appropriation, I: Issues with assessment of alleged harm caused
• Difficulties with the concept of cultural appropriation, II: Side-effects when wielded by the overzealous
• How all of this is relevant to spirituality

Note: this wound up being insanely long even by this blog’s already-unreasonable standards - hence the jump cut below - so if you are mainly here for the spirituality-related content and find lengthy dwelling upon the concept of cultural appropriation to be tedious, feel free to skip down to the last section, as that’s where I get to the point that I’ve least seen people talking about elsewhere when cultural appropriation comes up.

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