Psychic development techniques
and ritual magick
Below are some websites with detailed instruction on basic magick techniques, including psychic development exercises. Because these techniques were developed by non-Satanists, I'll list a few very good non-Satanist sites first:
The techniques described on the above sites are standard practice among ceremonial magick users and other occultists. They are not nearly as standard among Satanists. Many Satanists prefer LaVey's simpler approach to magic and thus do not use many of the standard magick techniques described on the website above. But some Satanists do use them or some variant thereof. Below are some adaptations of ceremonial magick techniques by Satanists:
- Mind mastery and psychic power and The Left-hand path to Godhead on Joy of Satan. Note: While many have found the Joy of Satan site's material on meditation techniques helpful, and while some Satanic ceremonial magick users like the JoS's reworking of the Enochian keys, there's also plenty of other material on this site that I don't recommend, including various dubious historical and "scientific" claims that are promoted not just as possibilities but as Absolute Truth. Also it encourages a very dangerous fast-track, dive-straight-into-the-deep-end-of-the-pool approach to magick, starting with a very premature dedication rite, which is alleged to protect you from any ill effects of such activities as channeling spirits using a Ouija board, allegedly without need for prior mastery of a banishing ritual or other basic magick techniques. (Regarding what's wrong with the dedication rite as a first step, see my article Pacts and self-initiation. Regarding the JoS's instructions on communication with spirits, see my article About the Joy of Satan system of respectful demon evocation.) Also, I certainly do not endorse the founder's neo-Nazi sympathies.
- Basic Satanic Rites and Exercises by Stephen Bleach on my Black Goat Cabal site. Not nearly as voluminous as the JoS site, but Stephen Bleach is a very experienced occultist who has been practicing Satanic/Luciferian ceremonial magick for decades.
For a very different approach to magick, see also OFS Demonolatry (see also their books). Has a much friendlier and more respectful attitude toward demons than standard ceremonial magick. OFS is similar to JoS in this regard, but, as far as I can tell, much saner in its overall approach, and the people at OFS are a lot saner, too. Stephanie Connolly, the founder of OFS, had another "Demonolatry" site back in the late 1990's.
If you are aware of any other websites containing comprehensive, novice-friendly Satanist-oriented magick instruction at least as good as what's listed above, please let me know! If possible, I'd like to list similarly comprehensive basic instructional sites representing a variety of different schools of thought within both Satanism in particular and the occult scene in general.
See also the following relevant rituals, techniques, and commentary written by me:
If you're an experienced ritual magick user who does NOT like the Joy of Satan group and who would like to see the JoS's popularity diminished among novice theistic Satanists, please consider putting up a website of your own with comprehensive instruction in Satanic magick, both elementary and advanced. How did the JoS site get to be so popular? Because it was the first site and is still the only site to offer such comprehensive and easy-to-read - though flawed - instruction targeted at novice theistic Satanists. Its popularity will begin to diminish only when enough other theistic Satanists finally get around to putting up websites that are similarly comprehensive and novice-friendly, but with sounder approaches to magick.
For those seeking books, there simply aren't very many good books written from a theistic Satanist point of view. Probably the best theistic Satanist books dealing with magick would most likely be the Demonolatry books by Stephanie Connolly et al, who have recently reappeared on the web after a long absence. As of September 2006, I have not yet had time to read their books myself, but I expect them to be very good, if the contents of the OFS Demonolatry website and forum are any indication.