SATANIC FEMINISM
SATANIC FEMINISM
by Blanche Barton ©1997
The smartest, most passionate, most beautiful women I've met have been Satanists. I don't mean "beautiful on the inside where it really counts;" I mean gorgeous, vibrant, curvy women. Most non-Satanic men find Satanic women intimidating - too intelligent or too pretty, or worse yet, both at the same time. It takes a special woman to be a Satanist. Only the most truly liberated are summoned to Satan's legions. Up until quite recently, the ratio of Satanic men to women had been about 10 to 1, but that seems to be shifting. More and more young women are going through the process of exploring feminism and Wicca, seeking feminine pride, identity and power, and discovering only impotence, limitations and puritanical self-righteousness. Wicca and feminism share a flaccid, lackluster attitude and presentation. Satanic women like drama/adventure and know how to conjure it for themselves. Satanists have an innate complexity of mind that hungers for uncompromising examination and speculation, not superficially-comforting pap. We don't need to be comforted; we prefer the invigorating, bracing winds of truth and terror.
Our culture has been influenced enough by Anton LaVey and his books so that it's now cool for young women to dress like Satanic witches and think like the Devil Himself. Camille Paglia and others now get honorifics for challenging traditional feminism, defending women's rights to wear heels and makeup. Those who study such trends are calling this "lipstick feminism" (from the more honest "lipstick lesbians"), "nontraditional feminism" or "antifeminist feminism." Big news. So The Satanic Witch came out 26 years ago, girls. Did you just get around to reading it? To me, it's still the same old game of cribbing from Anton LaVey's books, catering to the new Satanic generation, but not wanting to acknowledge those blasphemous philosophical roots. Jayne Mansfield recognized that, for the first time in her life, she had found a philosophy through which she could be a businesswoman, an intellectual, a mother and a sexpot all at once. She wouldn't be criticized for committing the ultimate sin of reconciling irreconcilables.
Satanic women don't want to gain their strength by castrating men, or by making themselves out as victims. Whether they're providing healing and inspiration to those under their roofs, cracking the whip in corporate circles, managing their own home-based businesses or maneuvering whatever they need to survive, all are applying and increasing their power - not whining about why they don't have any! We don't need "feminism" on our sleeve as our primary identity. We have our identity as Satanists. Satanic women are fierce; fierce defenders of their men, of their children, of their ideas and values. Wiccans understand the female archetype in a completely different way than Satanists do. We know that Woman is Nature - Darwinian law as well as peaceful, awe-inspiring sunsets. Women can be conniving and ruthless, plotting and vengeful. "Mother Nature" isn't loving and all-embracing. She's selective, cruel and unyielding.
Wicca is trying to keep up with Satanism by sprinkling in Valkyries, the Dark Goddess, and other more menacing images of the Mother Goddess. But it still remains lackluster and uninspiring because it's isolated - dependent on internal references and icons. It becomes shallow, stilted and flaccid. By trying to ignore or deny the authority or existence of great men, they're disconnecting their religion from ennobling music, poetry, literature, art, architecture, science and philosophy. Satanists recognize that the force of Western civilization has always been a masculine, heroic, Promethean drive toward adventure and exploration. Feminist/ Wiccan cant is ultimately "soul candy," like the term that's evolved for pop-science and psychology - this is the equivalent. You may seek it out when you need bolstering up, thinking that you'll be inspired and spurred to greater achievements, lured by promises of unique feminine perspective and strengthening. But ultimately it's not satisfying. The illusion of strength is superficial; the nagging victimization becomes insulting. Not like reading Dostoevsky or Will Durant, Wuthering Heights, or Jane Austen, or Plato's Dialogues or Erasmus "The Praise of Folly", or, obviously, The Satanic Bible. I refuse to limit my role models only to other women just because I happen to be one. I gain power from the metaphors and heroes I choose, regardless of their gender.
Our decisions are based on real-world concerns, not in defense of an inadequate ego. When a Satanic woman and her mate decide if they'll have children, or who will work in the outside world and who will stay home with the kids, it's a pragmatic question - who has more earning power? Who's invested more money and time developing their career? Who's more capable of earning money at home as opposed to in the workplace? Who's better able to have the patience and other attributes necessary to raise a child? The Satanic woman doesn't need a job to define her capabilities; nor does she need to have children to feel fulfilled. She reserves her "nurturing" for those who deserve her help and encouragement - namely: herself, her mate, and those few she chooses to call friends. She finds a man who can express her Demonic or she conjures up a Lover for herself; she isn't desperate for love, vulnerable to ploys from fast talkers.
Many young bottom-of-the-clock women who are looking for gothic strength in a man, can't find it in the simpering she-males around them - so they manifest their Demonics themselves, dressing in black leather, black stockings and carrying a big black whip. A compleat, Satanic witch can best spend her time in constant, intimate spiritual and sexual contact with her strongest Demonic archetype - Satan Himself. In practicing her arts of enchantment, manipulation, inspiration, and protection in the real world, she strengthens both herself and those she chooses to love. She becomes a direct line to our Source. That's why a powerful sorceress must be cautious about aligning herself with, and transferring power to, unworthy men.
Identity and stimulation. Dr. LaVey has pinpointed these two elements as primary commodities. Satanism provides us with both. I don't need to be pigeonholed as a "feminist," or any other convenient label. None of us are so charitable to the weak-minded that we allow ourselves to be so easily categorized and dismissed. I am proud to call myself a Satanist, thereby aligning myself with the strongest minds, bodies, and Will on Earth.
This article first appeared in The Black Flame, Volume 6, #1 & #2, 1997 c.e.