The world of darkness and void.
This page is a bit different from the rest of Ancient Pathway. This is one of the very few pages that we have felt a necessity to add a disclaimer to, above and beyond the disclaimer that is found in our administration pages. The reason for this is to reiterate that Ancient Pathway and your hosts attempt to maintain a non-bias view of the world of faith, religion and following as a whole.
If you are a Satanist: This section of Ancient Pathway represents our view of Satanism from direct observation and research. It should be noted that there is a diverse number of ideological and philosophical beliefs as well as a significantly diverse number of social phenomena involved in the Satanic faiths. Some are very strict and ritualized and some are very lax and relaxed. Simply stated, there is no one path within this ‘faith’ and our views may differ from that of your community. Instead of flaming the system operator with irate statements of disgust or ignorance, simply invite theAncient to your gatherings and we will be more than happy to attend, if feasible, and update information with YOUR viewpoint. This does not mean that the original information will change, only that it will be amended with information about your community. The same goes for written information. If you find something that goes against your community or following, please forward your view of the information. If based in fact and verifiable, we will edit the original post. If this is simply a different viewpoint, then we will amend and notate the original information.
If you are NOT a Satanist: This site is informative and based on research and direct observation. The subject of Satanism is highly controversial, and where some of the practices by this richly ritualized following may seem unappealing to your belief system, these are simple facts of what takes place within this following. When all else fails, you can call on human nature. Look away if you are offended. If you are of a Christian faith, refer to Matthew 18:9. “if thine eye offend the, pluck it out”!
The authors of Ancient Pathway do not subscribe to the ideals or observations of Satanism. We do however, join our Satanic brothers when the opportunity arises. This is not done in worship of the dark lord, but out of curiosity, education and respect. When Ancient Pathway began in 1989, we flat out refused to include any information on the Satanic Path on the site. This was short sighted and hypocritical. This point was brought to our attention by the Satanic High Priest named as Jamiriquie in the Philadelphia area. He explained to me that there are many types of Satanism and that judging a faith by assumption was not non-bias as Ancient Pathway was said to be. I attended his gathering. In this gathering, there was a bon fire, goat leggings, open sexuality, homosexuality, and the drinking of blood. (go ahead..gasp, but read on). I opened my mind to the experience and observed. When the feast came that included the drinking of blood, I was told that it was coming and recoiled at the thought at first. It was only part of the feast, so I sat at the table and waited with my breath held tight.
The ‘dish’ of blood offering was put before me. Jamiriquie sat to my right in the place of honor at the head of the table. I stared down at the plate of flesh. A small mound of meat with a red puddle beneath, not any more than I would find if I were to order a rare steak at a restaurant. I quickly looked at the texture and to my new friend. He anticipated my question. A very simple answer came with a smile. “Steak Tar-Tar”. He explained that they were Satanists, NOT cannibals and the partaking of flesh was symbolic, not literal. He asked if I had never seen ritual such as this before. My thoughts moved quickly to my friend and Catholic priest Father John Farence as he passed out blood and host in ritual the week before at Catholic Mass. “The Body of Christ… The Blood of Christ”. The Steak Tar-Tar was wonderful and we feasted well into the night. This was my first slap in the face by my own assumptions.
This specific gathering was a following of lost souls. Each of them felt that they had sinned so greatly in this life that the gates of heaven were forever closed to them. With that thought, they jousted with themselves to enhance their afterlife in hell under the rule of Lucifer (a Christian name of Satan). These were simply fallen souls that felt that the way of Christian salvation was lost to them. I did not agree with them, but I could respect their beliefs. And, as many pagan rituals, it was filled with song and dance and celebration of the self.