Esoteric practices in Satanism, part IV: Greater Magic

Continuing with the esoteric matters I’d like to explore here in connection with Satanism – i.e…

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

… the last one I want to cover here is greater magic.

Subsections of this entry:

• Greater magic in the LaVeyan tradition
• Anatomy of a ritual
• Further principles of greater magic

This is my longest entry so far, i.e. longer even than the cultural appropriation one, amazingly.  Then again, greater magic is a very complex topic, especially if you are trying to make it comprehensible to people who may have no occult background, as I am attempting to do here.  

I am aware that some of what follows will make me sound completely insane to a certain sort of reader.  Nonetheless, I hope that what follows will both give you an idea of what ritual magic entails for a Satanist who practices it, and provide some sense of how the practice itself might be beneficial to a practitioner personally, regardless of whether you-the-outsider believe that it “works” or not.

* * *

Esoteric practices in Satanism, part III: Lesser Magic

Continuing with the esoteric matters I’d like to explore here in connection with Satanism – i.e…

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

… next up is lesser magic.

Subsections of this entry:

1. Lesser magic according to LaVey’s Satanic Bible
2. Further nuances re: the workings of lesser magic
3. Implications in connection with a Satanic worldview

As with divination, I originally had in mind to have a section about some intersections-with-current-hot-button-political-issues that arise in connection with this practice, but between length considerations and my feeling that some of the same issues arise with greater magic, I’ll be covering this separately later. 

Thus, if you read the entry below, and at any point find yourself thinking “OMG, the implications of that practice are terrible – haven’t you noticed that they’re terrible?” – yeah, very likely I have noticed, and just because I don’t talk about that issue in this entry doesn’t mean I haven’t thought of it; wait a little while and I’ll likely discuss it in another entry.

* * *