An Interview with Grand Master Scott Robb: Founder, Darkside International Ministry (Part Two)
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2017/07/08
Abstract
An interview with Grand Master Scott Robb. He discusses: foundational categories of Satanic worship; these rituals within the Darkside International Ministry; the significance of ritual tools; the highest date in the Satanic religion, as well as other important dates; Timothy Leary and Aleister Crowley; core principle under Satanic ethics; Charles Darwin, Mark Twain, the Marquis de Sade, George Bernard Shaw, Friedrich Nietzsche, Dr. John Dee, Aleister Crowley, Ragnar Redbeard as inspirations for Satanic thought, others, and why; hysterical reactions to Satanism; political leanings of the Darkside International Ministry; Gnostic Order of the Cathars and the Darkside International Ministry; evidence for the traditions going back to the Neolithic period (10,000 B.C.E.); the lowest and highest form of magic with examples; and the reactions of the dominant religions to Satanism.
Keywords: Darkside International Ministry, grand master, religion, Scott Robb.
An Interview with Grand Master Scott Robb: Founder, Darkside International Ministry (Part Two)[1],[2]
*Footnotes in & after the interview, & citation style listing after the interview.*
*This interview has been edited for clarity and readability.*
*I had more questions.*
15. Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Satanic worship comprises three foundational kinds: “sexual, to fulfill a desire; compassionate, to help either another or oneself; and destructive, used to productively vent anger or hate.” What may be involved in each type of basic ritual?
Grand Master Scott Robb: In general terms, these three rituals require one thing, an emotional release. It is also for this reason that Satanic Rituals are extremely private to each individual practitioner (or Satanist). The particular emotion released would be different depending on which ritual is being performed, for example, in a Lust Rite (sexual) the practitioner must orgasm (which obviously mean some form of autoerotica involving fantasizing about whomever the individual lusts for). The Compassion Rite involves sadness, the more real the tears for the person’s condition/situation the more likely the desired effect will occur). In a Curse Rite (destructive) the practitioner expresses anger in a constructive, yet safe, manner (usually in a dramatic form of destruction).
16. Jacobsen: How would these rituals through Darkside International Ministry differ, in some basic ways, from other organizations engaged in alternate ritualism from the dominant religions/ways of life?
Robb: Satanic Rituals are very individualistic, there are specific components that will vary by the practitioner, regardless of organizational ties they may have. As long as they follow the basic rules of Satanism, like never harming children, not harming animals unless for food or in defense, not to make sexual advances unless the other individual(s) consent, and not harming others unless in defense.
17. Jacobsen: What is the significance of “black robe, an altar, the Scapegoat (symbol displayed above the altar), candles, a chalice, elixir (any drink most pleasing to the palate), a sword, and parchment (can be regular paper or animal hid)” for the ritual – piece-by-piece, please?
Robb: First off, none of these listed items are required in EVERY ritual. Many practitioners don’t have everything listed and can still perform rituals with success. For the most part, the items are used to set the mood, as I alluded to in the question about the three basic rituals, Satanic Rituals are all about expressing/venting emotions. Specifically, the Altar is used as a focal point on which the practitioner(s) focus their emotions. The black robes, chalice, Scapegoat, elixir, and candles simply add to the emotional ambiance. The candles also serve another purpose as well, in rituals that most often use all of these listed items will usually have one black candle (for Lust and Compassion desires, which are previously written on the parchment to be burned in) and one white candle (to burn the curse desires, which are also previously written on the parchment) placed on the altar, this is meant to symbolically elevate the desires into the ether (what is used as parchment is up to the practitioner and what they are able to acquire easily). The Sword is used for only two things, 1) to use as a pointer to point to the 4 cardinal compass points (North, East, South, and West), and 2) to hold the parchment in the flame of the appropriate candle on the altar.
18. Jacobsen: Even though the highest date in a Satanic religion is one’s own birth date, what years and dates, on the mainstream Gregorian calendar, have significance over others – outside of Halloween, and solstices and equinoxes?
Robb: As you said, the date of one’s own birth is the highest holiday for Satanists, the highest mass holiday celebrated by Satanists is Walpurgistnach Day, which falls on May 1st every year. Halloween (October 31st) is the next in line of importance for Satanic Holidays. After that, the Vernal Equinox in March (around the 20th or 21st) is the Satanic/Pagan New Year, the Hibernal Solstice in December (around the 20th or 21st) and Estival Solstice in June (around the 20th or 21st) and the Autumnal Equinox in September (around the 20th or 21st) mark the changes in seasons that are also of great importance to all pagan religions.
19. Jacobsen: Timothy Leary stated that he considered himself carrying on the work of Aleister Crowley. Who else seems to be carrying on the work of either Leary or Crowley – those more known and less known?
Robb: No doubt it is Timothy Leary’s view that drugs play a role in opening up the mind to altered states of perception. There are not many Satanists, save for young dabblers, who see any link to drugs and rituals. Crowley’s reputation with various drugs (Cocaine and Heroin specifically from my own research, though I have suspected Crowley likely also used LSD) is well known, and likely the reason that many outside of Satanism believe there is a required component of drug use. There really is not. Leary obviously is not much of a Satanist, even if he claims he is.
20. Jacobsen: What is the core principle undergirding Satanic ethics?
Robb: The ethics of Satanism (Stupidity, Pretentiousness, Egotism, Self-Deceit, Herd-Conformity, Lack Perspective, Forgetting Past Orthodoxies Counterproductive Pride, and Lack Of Perspective), coupled with the Satanic Laws, simply are meant to keep the individual in line, like any ethical code. I’ve always found them to speak for themselves.
21. Jacobsen: Why are “Charles Darwin, Mark Twain, the Marquis de Sade, George Bernard Shaw, Friedrich Nietzsche, Dr. John Dee, Aleister Crowley, Ragnar Redbeard” and others the inspiration for Satanic thought? Anyone living?
Robb: Each of these men contributed certain perspectives of Satanic Philosophies in their lifetimes. I cannot specifically name any living persons, those who are Satanists are due to their rights to privacy until such time as they decide to make it known publically (and most never do). Really most philosophers, realists, rationalists, even many scientists, have contributed perspectives to Satanic Philosophies, most of them are Satanists, and often non-Satanists still agree with the Satanic Philosophies without actually realizing it. It is part of the reason why it is our view that Satanists are similar to Jews in the sense that we are almost a race, we are all born with certain views that either develop into our personal beliefs later in life or are suppressed. This is why there are so many in the world who do not admit to being Satanists but still follow, or display characteristics of, Satanic philosophies or views.
22. Jacobsen: What are some of the more hysterical reactions you have witnessed, or learned about, regarding Satanism from the wider Canadian, and global, culture?
Robb: The most hysterical reactions are the insistence of many in the general public who think that Satanists worship a devil or are possessed by demons. The whole idea of such things is absurd Christianisations of things far older than Christianity. Satanism is at least 12000 years old, which makes it at least 10000 years older than Christianity, so the view that Satanism must believe in the Christian Devil is outright ridiculous
Possessions, if you look at those who actually believe in them, are always either Christian or some link to Christianity (for example Voodoo which is African folk magic merged with Catholicism, Santarianism which is Mexican folk magic merged with Catholicism, and so on). But, to my knowledge, there are not any Pagan religions that believe in possessions. The Wiccans I have talked to have no stories at all of the possessions.
The basic fact that the word “Satan” comes from the HEBREW word for Accuser or Opposer, and was used as a Jewish title for what is now known as Prosecuting Attorney. The Philosophies of Satanism and all its beliefs are very distinctly Pagan and have a lot in common with Wicca (as I have mentioned before, Wicca and Satanism share a common ancestry, much like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam also share a common ancestry).
And lastly, I think the hysteria that the very Christian extreme right-wing NAZI movement of Germany between the late 1920s through to the 1940s (and their white supremacist contemporaries) having any claim of interest in the Occult is also just as ridiculous as the claims of possessions and devils/demons actually existing.
23. Jacobsen: Satanism, in its principles and values, and so implied politics, how does this influence the political positions of the Darkside International Ministry, e.g. not being Right-wing and even being against Right-wing politics?
Robb: If we were to apply the political spectrum to politics, Satanism would be a left-leaning centrist, with the three Abrahamic Religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) to the far right, with Buddhism/Hinduism, and other Pagan religions are the right-leaning centrists. On the farther left would be Atheists, who are a little too far on the extreme end, but do have some overlap with Satanism.
I would place them on this spectrum this way because of the fact that Satanism is a very individualistic religion that believes in rights, especially of women, children, abortion, minorities, and the LGBTQ community, while the far right views are against all of these views.
24. Jacobsen: What is the Gnostic Order of the Cathars? How are they similar to the Darkside International Ministry? How are they different?
Robb: Based on what I know of the Cathars, I would have to say the similarities end with the Christian persecutions. Satanism has always been persecuted by Christians, the Cathars, as I understand it, were also persecuted throughout their existence
Satanists are not generally baptized, as the Cathars were, the Satanic Baptism ritual is more of a cleansing of previous baptisms that are performed on request by individuals who chose to leave Christianity (or other religions) that baptize children against their will. As I understand it Cathars believed they were elevated to the level of “perfect” after baptism, whereas Satanists know we are flawed but know those flaws are part of what makes us the human animal.
Satanists are also not dualistic, we view good and evil as opinions, some that are shared by others, other opinions that may not be. For example, Christians believe that one should never kill, but they still send people off to war to essentially kill others, and they constantly attempt to justify killing in certain cases, but never to the satisfaction of their own 10 Commandments that pretty clearly say DO NOT KILL. Satanists, on the other hand, know that it may be required to accept things like killing. There are situations in which someone attacks us, and in the course of defending ourselves will result in the death of our attacker, there is also the concept of war in which society has to defend itself and most definitely results in death, or even the necessary death of animals for our food so that we can survive. Therefore, things like killing can be both good and bad, depending on the context.
25. Jacobsen: What is the evidence in support of the claim that traditions run back to the Neolithic period at 10,000 B.C.E.? How are the rituals and symbolisms similar between 10,000 B.C.E. and in Satanic ritual practitioner methodologies now?
Robb: In the late 1990s, in Southern France, an Anthropologist was vacationing with his family and, while exploring a cave, found what he confirmed to be cave paintings from the Neolithic Era that depicted scenes of human bodies with the heads of dual-horned animals (bison, cows, antelope, goats, etc) that, he admitted, were not consistent with tribal hunts. I heard him in an interview on CBC radio explaining that it looked like humans involved in an animalistic ritual scene. This description is identical to what Satanic Rituals have looked like from today, from the Crowleyan period in the late 19th and early 20th century, and going back to depictions recorded of the Templar in the 12th to 14th centuries. It also is strikingly similar to older renditions of Baphomet, like the image of Pazuzu (see the inserted image below). There are also depictions and other records that seem to definitively describe Satanic imagery and practices, not to mention Satanic Philosophies going back to classical pagan societies like the Ancient Egyptians, Ancient Romans, and Ancient Greeks. When all the evidence is looked at individually the connection may not be quite as obvious as when you look at all the evidence in the bigger picture.
The image of the dual-horned animal in Satanism is still very much as prominent in Satanism today as it was going back 12000 years. From Pan to Faunus to Ammon, Hathoor, Osiris to Pazuzu to Cernunnos to Baphomet, etc. It has been one of the remaining constants, despite the name of Satanism changing several times over its 12000-year long history.
26. Jacobsen: From your view, what is the lowest form of magic and ritual? What is the highest form? What are examples of this? Why is this distinction important?
Robb: In short, Greater Magic is more ritualistic, as LaVey described it: Greater Magic is a form of ritual practice that is meant as a psychodrama to focus one’s emotional energy for the desired purpose (see the three basic types of rituals in your above question). While Lesser Magic is more of a manipulation of others using applied psychology.
Aleister Crowley used to mention an anecdote of his own use of Lesser Magic on one of his trips in New York. According to Crowley’s anecdote, he saw a well-dressed, wealthy man with a quite distinctive stride. According to Crowley, he went up behind the man and imitated the man’s stride, then pretended to stumble. The wealthy well-dressed man then fell without coming into contact with anyone or anything. This anecdote is probably the best example of the successful use of Lesser Magic.
27. Jacobsen: With a basic reading of the dominant world religions – Roman Catholic Christianity, Sunni Islam, Hinduism, Chinese traditional religion, Buddhism, and Eastern Orthodox Christianity – and from personal observations, how may practitioners of those religions react to Satanism, respectively?
Robb: I don’t believe any of your listed dominate world religions react to Satanism respectively. As I have said earlier, Christians (in all their denominations, including the Eastern Orthodoxies) have always persecuted Satanists and other Pagans for at least the last 700 years. Islam and Chinese Traditional religion have also looked down on more Pagan views. However, I think Buddhism, with its philosophical view of the world and everything in it, I think Buddhists are much more likely to engage in respectful discussions with Satanists. Hinduism is a bit difficult to judge, as Buddha was a Hindu Prince, and I have a very basic knowledge of their beliefs, they could be similar to Buddhism to the willingness to engage in respectful discussions, as a prominent Occultist, HP Blavatsky, did play a role in returning India’s indigenous religion (Hinduism) after the British ended their occupation.
Just a personal side note, my paternal side (father and his family) were all raised Catholic, but most of them left the Catholic Church. My maternal side (mother and her family) were raised Buddhist and for the most part still are Buddhist. Whereas I was raised an atheist and studied Satanism for about 2 years before coming out as a Satanist at the age of 17 (21 years ago as of a few months ago).
Appendix I: Footnotes
[1] Grand Master, High Priest, Founder, and President, Reverend Scott Robb, Darkside International Ministry.
[2] Individual Publication Date: July 8, 2017, at http://www.in-sightjournal.com/an-interview-with-grand-master-scott-robb-founder-darkside-international-ministry-part-two; Full Issue Publication Date: September 1, 2017, at https://in-sightjournal.com/insight-issues/.
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