What it's like to be a Satanist? http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640 GriffinsMustFly My MC is a female who has just escaped from a Satanic cult. I don't want to fall into any stereotypes, but at the same time I want the cult to be as frightening and as dangerous as can be. I've got a few ideas and I've done some research, but does anyone have any idea of what being in a Satanic cult really does to you? Tue, 08 Nov 2011 06:37:12 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_567367 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_567367 serotonin I think by using the phrase "Satanic cult" you've already gone full-on stereotype. The thing that "did" something to her was the cult aspect; the aspect of Satan just drew her in, it was the rule to something rebellious in her. You can go research cults now, and for the "drama" part put in all that ooooooooooooey Satan (by which I suppose you mean some semblance of the pop culture stereotype of worshiping demons) stuff. Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:15:19 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_568110 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_568110 Cadaverine There sort of aren't any Satanic cults. I mean, there are a handful of silly teenagers who are trying to be sooper rebellious, but even they are more likely nowadays to gravitate towards LaVey's Satanism (which does not worship Satan) or something like Temple of Set. As Serotonin says, the concept of a "Satanic cult" is already totally stereotyped. While there are a handful of theistic Satanists, most Satanists you'll come across are LaVeyan and the idea of following a charismatic leader with unquestioning obedience is counter to the ideals of that religion. (You can check those out on the <a href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/satanis1.htm" rel="nofollow">religious tolerance website</a> or on the <a href="http://churchofsatan.com" rel="nofollow">Church of Satan website</a>. If you're interested, that is.) But you don't need to involve Satan at all for a cult to be creepy as hell. There have been any number of Christ-worshipping dangerous cults, after all. Google the "Advanced Bonewits Cult Danger Evaluation Frame" to see some of the tell-tale signs of a dangerous cult, such as censorship of members, paranoia, control and isolation. There are lots of documentaries you can watch regarding the fallout of cults, like the Jonestown Massacre (there's a pretty good one called Paradise Lost), and the whole Branch Davidian thing. There are lots of these sorts of documentaries - not long ago I think a Christian NRM leader was arrested for sexual abuse - but I can't remember what most of 'em were called. I watch a lot of crime documentaries ;) Anyway you're best off looking into how dangerous cults operate and then adding some Satan in afterwards. It's the manipulation and control of people that harms in cults rather than who they're worshipping or what they're doing. Generally they're focused around a charismatic leader who exerts a great deal of control and claims to have special wisdom or knowledge, and through showing favouritism etc controls the group. So they will have sexual privileges and their ego will be satisfied 24/7 and so on, and people will believe what ever the leader says - and if you challenge them you're cut out of the group and that group was your family. On the other hand if you want to indulge the stereotype, there's a lot of Satanic Panic stuff from the 80s and early 90s where they thought all these people had been in Satanic cults, been sexually abused, married Satan etc and of course none of this happened, it was created memories through dodgy psychiatric practise and deliberate falsehoods in some cases. Sold a LOT of books. So, y' know. There are some good wikipedia pages on some specific cases, which detail the claims made by the supposed victims and suchlike. Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:42:08 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_568601 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_568601 Lex Scriven Instead of going Satanic, you could go Cthonic. Ia Ia, Cthulhu Fthgan. Because Satanists are usually not as bad as they're portrayed, but the Cult of Cthulhu definitely prides itself in it lunacy. Even the real one that you can find online. ;) Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:44:39 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_568649 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_568649 Lex Scriven Also, research: MK Ultra Monarch Programming Gaslighting These are all terms you need to be familiar with to make the cult seem *real* and actually scary, instead of just "ooh Satan how scary *yawn*". Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:46:18 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_568669 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_568669 BlackLamp Yeah, the cults that claim to be satanic are mostly just silly people who want to get laid with goth goils. What I find much more disturbing, are the fraternal societies, particularly the way that they lure people in with hocus pocus mysticism, and then as they climb the ladder of initiation, they get deeper and deeper into seriously messed up stuff, until they're in so deep that they can't go back without destroying their lives. To me, that's a horrible situation to be in, complicity with evil and no way to escape without sacrificing yourself. Now, in terms of stuff that the cult would do to you. You can research the brainwashing techniques used by organizations like scientology and the military. It's all pretty basic, ritualistic humiliation and dehumanization, followed by rewards for obedience. It might also be helpful for you to research the character satan, and define for yourself what exactly he is. Is he the serpentine tempter, the gnostic promethean tutor, the adversarial servant of God? Is he a trickster god of communication, such as the voodoo blues devil? I'd say that the most important thing for not making this stereotypical, is to play with those ideas of who satan is. The real cults that are out there use language of "enlightment" and "illumination" and yet these organizations are also associated with some pretty heinous crimes. Tue, 08 Nov 2011 08:40:47 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_569467 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_569467 Pookie-girl A lot of things get labelled as satanism which have nothing to do with the Christian devil, pagan practices included unfortuantely. The term cult is also used a pejorative for groups that the 'mainstream' in general doesn't like - no group calls itself a cult from the inside, which given how some of them look from the outside implies the degree of brainwashing that people find so scary. Satanic is also not commonly self-applied, other than as a fashion statement. The best established is followers of LaVey's satanic bible. Satanism of this type can be pretty scary though, depending on your view of human nature. LaVey thought that human beings have aspects of our natures which most people would regard as evil (or at the very least unpleasant) and that these basic instincts and cravings should be satisfied rather than resisted; love is important when people deserve it but trying to love people who don't deserve it is a waste of time, revenge should be taken on people who have hurt or wronged you (so your escapee could be in big trouble!) - it is best summarised I suppose as having the will to do what pleases/satisfies you, regardless of what society has to say about it. Individualism taken to the extreme really. Anyway, how scary Satanism is depends on the people in your cult. So if your cult is made up of fluffly lovely people then the things that please them aren't likely to be scary but if it is made up of sociopaths then you have some horror to work with. 'Cults' in general involve an authoritarian leader who cannot be questioned and who has some special connection with the deity or deities worshipped by the group, the surrender of autonomy (including over your own body) and a general isolation from the outside world. They also have surprisingly high turn-overs, most people who have been in one will have been involved in other things their friends thought of as dodgy and the majority of people tend to leave them relatively quickly, although for obvious reasons stats like these are complicated, especially when people are born into the group rather than joining it. I would also suggest that a degree of gnosticism is common in such groups and it may help you to distinguish your cult from a religion - people are wary of secret or special knowledge which you can only gain through initiation into mysteries, which in all likelihood are controlled by your creepy charismatic leader. That could mean that your protagonist doesn't know exactly what it is she's running away from - which is often more terrifying. Tue, 08 Nov 2011 18:33:06 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_575659 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_575659 shimiusha Have a look at The Screwtape letters Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:26:10 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_626039 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_626039 Tiapn Was pleasantly surprised to come into this thread to see everything I've already wanted to say about Satanism has already been said. =) That said, if you want some inspiration for some traditional urban devil-worship stories, just google 'Gates of Hell New Jersey'. Suspend your disbelief as you read it, it's actually quite entertaining. It's really just a giant sewer system entrance covered in really racist graffiti, but the stories about it are simply awesome. Sat, 12 Nov 2011 05:26:14 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_650332 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_650332 nodgene Theologically speaking Satan isn't even a concept that was prominent in Christian thinking for literally hundreds of years. It only became a major aspect with the reformation. There was a very good BBC documentary into the Christian/Jewish view of Satan not long ago for Halloween. The initial breaks between Christian churches (Rome and Constantinople) were about very basic things, and ever since different churches have evolved far, far away from the central and original books/tenets of Christian thinking. That said you have one view I came across fleetingly that the earth was created by Satan and the soul created by God. But that was either a gnostic text that didn't get widely adopted, or something to do with a sect in the south of France that the medieval church liquidated. So, Satan just doesn't appear very often or highly enough to merit "Satanism" being really... anything. As has been mentioned Satanist churches and such are not as beastly or theologically accurate as most think, and earlier accounts of what Satan constitutes as, refer to such a being, etymologically, in Jewish terms, from the word for "obstruction", or an angel that got in the way of someone on a road. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b016ptr6 Sun, 13 Nov 2011 05:53:28 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_668866 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_668866 GriffinsMustFly Read em already, they're fascinating aren't they? Fri, 18 Nov 2011 06:43:47 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_749407 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_749407 GriffinsMustFly Thanks a lot for the info. I've been doing a LOT of research on Satanism...that being said, I'm finding it hard to keep my MC Satanist and in a cult at the same time. The basic concept of the story is a girl who converted to Satanism, and overtime was drawn into a cult because she fell in love with its leader (who happens to be a woman). The concept is that she falls in love with a Christian. The last thing I want to make this is stereotypical...I don't want to sound overly Christian-preachy, nor do I want to portray Satanists as a stereotype. The people in my "cult" almost seem to be acting more like a gang than a cult, although the leader seems chilling enough. Fri, 18 Nov 2011 06:53:06 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_749490 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_749490 kimberlycreates Definitely, a cthulhu cult would scare me way worse than a satanic cult! Sat, 19 Nov 2011 03:35:17 +0200 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_759778 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/religious-spiritual-new-age/threads/29640?page=1#forum_thread_comment_759778