Author's Note: This article, which first appeared on this website in the spring of 2002, is the among the very first publicized statements of belief ever voiced by a self-professed Devil worshiper, and I am indeed the first person to have used the term "Diabolator" in the Satanist scene.

Diabolatry is the religious worship of the Devil. Unlike Christians and people of other conventional religions, Diabolators, or Devil worshipers, do not believe the Devil to be a completely “evil” entity. Rather, the Devil is perceived to be a God of Knowledge and Enlightenment who is both the originator of all heretical thought and the ruler of the terrestrial, mortal world. He is the Red One of Darkest Brilliance, the Angel of Light who is God of this World and Prince of Darkness. He is Diabolos, the One Who Throws Across, the great Trickster who causes obstruction in order to test and initiate both mind and spirit.

Diabolators do not “worship” their God, the Devil, in the same way that Christians “worship” their god; there is no groveling or self-debasement involved, no concept of “sin” or “redemption.” Diabolators honor and respect their chosen deity with pride. Rather than being a hapless slave to the Devil, the Diabolator sees him or herself as being one of the Devil’s kindred. The Devil may be our Master, but in surrendering ourselves to the ultimate power of subversity in human spiritual experience, we pass into being as creatures possessed of true Self.

Diabolatry is not meant to have anything to do with killing animals or humans, or with committing any other senseless and “evil” acts. It is meant to be more of a meditative practice in which the practitioner learns to expand his or her self-awareness and to obtain a deeper and fuller understanding of the world in which we live. Whereas many white light religionists naively embrace the Light and seek to dispel the Darkness, the dark pagan Diabolator knows that one cannot know Light without knowing Darkness, and that knowing and understanding both leads to a well-balanced understanding of reality. In order to become something great, your present self must be destroyed and overcome; destruction and death lead to rebirth and renewal. Hence why the Underworld, “Hell,” the realm of Death, is also seen in some pagan religions as the realm of spiritual rebirth.

Diabolatry is a form of modern Satanism that is set apart from the others primarily by its belief in the Devil as a literal being, and in taking a devotional approach toward Him. However, it cannot be stressed enough that the Diabolator does not perceive the Devil to be exactly like what Christians perceive Him to be, nor does Diabolic worship necessarily involve any kind of human or animal sacrifice. To the Diabolator, the Devil is NOT the “Lord of All Evil,” but rather a dark and strangely benevolent God of carnality, intellectual power and human progress. He is a God of indulgence, individuality and a deeply passionate love of life -- both in its carnal and spiritual aspects.

Some Diabolators view the Devil to be an all-powerful and ever-present nature God, while others view Him as being more of a supernatural entity that is the source of all “isolate intelligence” in the universe. There are some who see Him as a fallen angel, and there are some who see Him as the God of the Universe. I myself see Him as the Old Serpent, a dark and multi-faceted presence that has roamed this world since prehistoric times and that rules over this earth and human carnal nature. Diabolators can mix and match different viewpoints of the Devil according to their own individual experiences with Him both inside and outside of ritual, but NO true Diabolator worships or even remotely acknowledges a being of “Pure Evil.”

Diabolatry is sometimes mistakenly thought of as “traditional Satanism,” though in essence this label is a misnomer. Were it to be “traditional,” it would have to be a religion that has been successfully passed down through familial bloodlines over a number of generations, perhaps even centuries. In actuality, most Diabolators are born into non-Satanic families and only discover their true religion around or after the time of adolescence. Also, there is no proof that “traditional Satanism” truly existed as an organized religion in itself before Anton Szandor LaVey first attempted to organize Satanism within the Church of Satan. Therefore, for the sake of honesty, we shall refer to “traditional Satanism” as Diabolatry, which we feel to be a more appropriate term.

Diabolators will also typically use the term “theistic Satanism” as a synonym for Devil worship. This is because the word “theistic” means “believing in a god or gods,” and in order to worship the Devil, you must first believe in Him as a god (or some other variety of supernatural entity). Therefore Devil worshipers are theistic Satanists and they will not compromise with anyone who wishes to convince them otherwise.

Diabolatry is also a useful term in that it is not partial to any one name or face of the Devil. Terms like “Satanism” and “Luciferianism” can limit the scope of the practitioner’s perception, in that each label indicates devotion to one name and aspect of the Devil in particular (e.g., “Satan,” the dark and adversarial aspect of the Devil, or “Lucifer,” His bright and intellectual aspect). By using the term Diabolatry instead, the individual practitioner will have more room to work and experiment with the various aspects of our multi-faceted Lord of this World.