Black Magic and Satanism.

[laky]

Recent surveys have shown a rise in satanist believers and people practising black magic.....Its always been an eerie subject to ponder into.

Though a larger section now believe in Devil and Black Magic than in God.

Are there real witches out there even today...??? Do you know anyone who practice Black Magic and witchcraft?

Am quite a believer though..Ancient texts cannot be so wrong. Dont you think so..

[YesNo]

What texts are you referring to? I don't think I know what black magic is.

[Delta40]

Chocolates.

My friend is a pagan and celebrates the solstice and all that stuff. Does that make her a witch in your eyes?

[Calidore]

How does one believe in the Devil without believing in God?

[Lokasenna]

I have several friends who are witches - they're very nice people, and I doubt they would dabble in black magic.

Speaking, however, as someone who has a considerable research interest in the history of magic and pre-Christian ritual practice in northern Europe, I would caution you about putting too much faith in the 'ancient texts' (as you call them) - at least in the European context, they are almost exclusively written down by Christians who either think they know what their heathen ancestors thought, or else are just making it all up for a bit of salacious fun. We have some basic insight into runic magic and the shamanic practices of seiðr, but not enough to piece together any kind of coherent system of either kind of magic - if indeed a coherent system ever existed, which I very much doubt.

[YesNo]

Chocolates as black magic makes sense. It doesn't require any commitment one way or the other to super human agents.

What makes magic black or white? Is there a gray?

[Poetaster]

I have friends who are pagans, and some who have tried practicing magic. I also have friends who say they are 'Satanists', but they are the sort of people who call themselves 'Anarchists' because they have seen the music video for 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. Also, they still identify themselves as 'Emo', so there is that, for what that is worth.

I would be very suspicious about the reality of black magic, or magic, or 'ancient texts'. I don't believe in any form of magic though, so take take me for the ignorant atheist I am.

The magic I'm most familiar with are the religious and magic practices of people in Ancient Greece, and like Lokasenna said of Runic magic, no fully coherent system of magic has been left by the Ancient Greeks. I am not aware of one anyway. The love ritual in Theocritus's second Idyll is the most detailed magic ritual in Ancient Greece that I know of. There is also in The Odyssey, book 10 of an entrance blessing to Hades, but that's it as far as I know.

[Frostball]

There is also LaVeyan satanism which, despite it's name, has nothing to do with black magic or devil worshipping. They are in fact, atheist. They use the devil as a symbol, as wikipedia says, of "pride, carnality, enlightenment, undefiled wisdom, and of a cosmos which Satanists perceive to be permeated and motivated by a force that has been given many names by humans over the course of time."

I don't know about the last bit about it being a force in the universe, but I always saw it as them using satan as a symbol because he's one of the most well known rebels and freethinkers in any kind of western literature, therefore Satan is a very powerful symbol.

LaVeyan satanism does feature magic, however I believe the magic is meant to be more psychological than actual. There are a lot of rules about magic, and rituals, and they even separate into lesser and greater (ritual) magic. All that sounds creepy and as if it were straight out of the movies or something, but I believe it's all meant as a kind of psychological trick to get yourself motivated, inspired, or somesuch thing like that. LaVeyan satanism is probably the biggest and most common group that actually calls themselves satanist, as people who worship satan and believe in things like black magic tends to be more of a myth than anything. Some of this latter kind do, of course, exist, but generally what happens is that very fundamentalist christians label pagans, wiccans, or other obscure religions as satanist. I would argue that the whole idea of satanism as a devil worshipping, lamb sacrificing, black magic using cult is an entirely christian fabrication.

Again, I want to say that theistic satanists do exist, but as far as I know they lack central organization, or have extremely small sects, and often are just fooling around and pretending because they want to seem "dark and mysterious". Even this kind of satanist is basically acting exactly like what christians made satanists out to be. That is, christians created this nonexistent thing called satanism that featured black magic, devil worship, and animal sacrifice, and now that that idea has been around so long people actually practice something similar to it as if it was some kind of ancient religion when they're actually just falling into step with an entirely fabricated idea.

There is absolutely nothing to be worry about as far as LaVeyan satanism is concerned; they are very harmless and normal. In fact, they have some pretty agreeable philosophies along the lines of humanism, skepticism, and individualism.

[The Atheist]

Recent surveys have shown a rise in satanist believers and people practising black magic.....Its always been an eerie subject to ponder into.

Like the other respondents, I think you're getting mixed with Wicca/Paganism, which on the Magick scale, would count as white magic.

Since the demise of Anton Oy Vey, LaVeyan Satanism has more or less died, and the Satanic Temple is a parody, not an actual Satan-worshipping cult.

Not eerie at all.

Though a larger section now believe in Devil and Black Magic than in God.

Evidence, please.

I say that is false.

Are there real witches out there even today...???

Nope. Same as every one of the past 10,000 years, there are no "real" witches.

Do you know anyone who practice Black Magic and witchcraft?

Am quite a believer though..Ancient texts cannot be so wrong. Dont you think so..

The exact opposite, actually.

I can think of hundreds of ancient texts that have long been shown to be utter baloney - unless of course, you believe in all the Egyptian, Babylonian, Greek and Roman texts about their gods, along with Satan.

[The Atheist]

Happy coincidence - I see there were poll results posted yesterday that show beliefs in both gods & devils declining in concert: http://reason.com/blog/2013/12/23/be...-hell-miracles

[YesNo]

Here's Santana's Black Magic Woman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij4gc8iBDaI

It was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the title of the thread.

[JuniperWoolf]

I like the Satanic commandments.

1. Do not give opinions or advice unless you are asked.
2. Do not tell your troubles to others unless you are sure they want to hear them.
3. When in another’s lair, show him respect or else do not go there.
4. If a guest in your lair annoys you, treat him cruelly and without mercy.
5. Do not make sexual advances unless you are given the mating signal.
6. Do not take that which does not belong to you unless it is a burden to the other person and he cries out to be relieved.
7. Acknowledge the power of magic if you have employed it successfully to obtain your desires. If you deny the power of magic after having called upon it with success, you will lose all you have obtained.
8. Do not complain about anything to which you need not subject yourself.
9. Do not harm little children.
10. Do not kill non-human animals unless you are attacked or for your food.
11. When walking in open territory, bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask him to stop. If he does not stop, destroy him.

[The Atheist]

That doesn't sound like much Crowley's official single commandment. Do what thou wilt.

[MorpheusSandman]

Here's Santana's Black Magic Woman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij4gc8iBDaI

It was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the title of the thread.

Hey, look, YesNo and I finally agree on something.

[mal4mac]

Extracting a living-dead child from a newly crushed farmer would count as black magic, I feel. Good to see Hammer films are back!