FINDING SATAN

I first discovered “Satan” at a very young age. I was misinformed by my parents and adults around me that Satan and “his minions” wanted to hurt me and kill me. As I grew older, my understanding of religion grew as well. My first brush with real Satanism was in 2009. My Army buddy told me that they were part of the Church of Satan. I looked into it a bit. I liked some of the literature, but the more I saw about the organization as a whole, the less I agreed with them.

When Sadie Satanas and I crossed paths in 2017, She revealed The Satanic Temple to me. My life felt changed. Within days I had my first copy of Anatole France’s “Revolt of the Angels”. I read it hungrily. After reading more and more about TST and modern Satanism, I knew religion had not abandoned me, but that I had stopped searching for truth and myself. The Seven Tenets resounded with me so deeply that when I read them for the first time, I wept for almost an hour. I had found it. I had finally come home.

At the time, I was geographically at odds with joining a chapter of TST though. So instead, I reached out online. I frequented forums and made plans to attend events with TST Austin. Things in my life suddenly changed and I found myself in Houston, so plans with AUstin dissolved quickly. Then I found out that Houston had a chapter! Finally, a chapter was within reach!

RITUAL

When I joined TST Houston, I was still very internalized and withdrawn from the community. I went to several book club meetings and finally, a Black Mass. At Black Mass, I met Satanists from all over, some whom I had admired since Sadie had introduced me to TST.

I was so lucky to take part in such a freeing ritual, and for such a good cause (Hot Mess Pooches Rescue and Sanctuary and Lucky Penny Rox Rescue). At one point, I was being spanked with a Bible… in front of 50 or so Christian protestors. That was before the ritual even began!

Being part of a chapter is like having a religious support group of caring humans that are not bent on praying for you. It is so freeing and empowering. A small community of individuals. Several months later, TST Houston held their last in-person ritual of 2020. It was a beautiful private ritual; “Blessing of Pazuzu”.

Shortly thereafter, Covid-19 would blanket the world and send us into lockdown. I will Blog about the novel coronavirus that has devastated individuals and families across the globe, and my personal battle with the virus at a later date.

Every morning I try to wake up and light my altar. Personal Ritual is an important part of my life. It helps me focus my day and keeps me driven and happier. While lighting my altar, I also burn incense and recite the TST Invocation or one of the Seven Tenets. Finally, I add a personal affirmation to set me on my path for the day.

Hail Satan, I am my own Master! The world is mine!

BaphoNet

From discontent with social media outlets and conversations on Twitter, the idea was formulated to create a social media website that could serve Satanists. The first reason I had was that Facebook was terrible with our data and there moderation practices are abhorrent. In one such conversation, I stated. “We should have a social media site for Satanists – We could call it ‘BaphoNet'”.

Several weeks later, Shylo Hana, a Twitter connection, contacted me personally. He asked if I would be interested in an antisocial media web server. He had my attention. Upon browsing what he had created, I let him know that I was ALL in. We discussed a lot of things, and I was chosen to be the spokeswoman.

On October 31st, 2019, BaphoNet^TM was founded. It would go on to serve friends and members of The Satanic Temple to this day, as an unofficial social media alternative to Facebook. BaphoNet Antisocial Network consists of over 1,000 members and garners a following of over 4,500 and climbing.

BaphoNet extended their service by creating a server for instant chat, on Discord^TM. It has been a very popular choice for many of TST’s friends and members, with over 800 users on the server. It is always welcome to new friends and members of TST that would like to join the conversation. Take a look here! https://discord.gg/6FnGkV

The community that has come together has been humbling to me. I rarely have to step in to attempt to guide a topic from toxicity. The people I have met on BaphoNet will always be dear in my heart. They speak openly about their lives, in a safe environment and deeply discuss current events and so many other topics! They inspire me to keep doing what I do, everyday.

BaphoNet recently began selling shirts to raise funds for their platform’s future development. Their logo was designed by members of the Satanic community and is absolutely amazing. It takes center stage on BaphoNet’s official shirts. The backside of the shirt sports the number “666”. I cannot thank @DarkArtDesigns and @UnholyRosaries enough. Find them on Twitter!

There are many people that make BaphoNet work. Our server architect, Shylo Hana, lives in New Zealand. Catie and Myself live in Houston and the rest of BaphoNet’s staff live all over the globe! We have a diverse team and do our best to always have at least one staff member available to help, around the clock.

Blasphemy

I was raised into a very prayer, Jesus centric family. It was shoved down my throat at every turn. To magnify my displeasure for it, I was sent to several conspiracy therapists that were christian based. Blasphemy has allowed me to heal even more, from the wounds inflicted by the Church. Fuck god. If you want to see God, look into a goddamn mirror.

Words have always been one of my greatest assets. They have gotten me into almost as many scrapes as they have gotten me out of, however. Our words are, to a point, our most powerful and long lasting tools. We must use them well and stay true to reason. We must try to always remain within our best understanding of science.

Art has never been my strong suite. I did fairly well with geometric shapes in school, but anything outside of that was generally horrible. When I was younger I would sing. I still do, but in my shower and in front of my partners only. They are only sometimes amused. Anytime I can add some blasphemous overtones to an otherwise christian song always makes me feel more powerful. I am not anti-christian, but I am definitely post-Christian.

Have you always wanted to paint a picture of Jesus and Lazareth, doing it zombie style? DO IT! It will be fucking great. The greatest lie man has passed from generation to generation is that “god” is real. It’s a fucking power grab. Fuck god!

My Hopes Therein lie…

Community will outlast all evil. I am a Satanist. I will adapt and overcome. I will always survive. I will not back down from arbitrary authority. I will be myself, unapologetically so.

Satanism, as I have discovered through TST, is one-hundred percent MY religion. I choose to be an individual in a community of individuals. I choose to serve the missions and future of The Satanic Temple as a proud, individual community member.

My chapter is like an extended family. When times get rough, they are there. When things get funny, they probably caused it. I have grown very close and gained lifelong friends in The Satanic Temple – Houston. I look forward to continuing hailing Satan alongside my fellow chapter members. The best things we can do for our community are yet come!

BaphoNet is an ever growing community and I will Blog more about it later as well. I care about all our members very much! I cannot thank them enough for continuing to be a part of this social media exodus from Facebook and other data miners. I look forward to continuing to develop and grow with all of you. If you are interested in joining, fill out this application:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfhXQNKaStHcBGcGTd8SmUrgH_HpZn9Jq9PEnc9nPbigLM00Q/viewform

Hail Thyself. You are the only person that can be you. Ever. Live deliciously and hail Satan! Never forget that we cannot become the bullies. Once we win a fight, or turn a tide, we have to allow change to happen. Dogpiling is just as bad as being dogpiled. We must be better. We must do better.

Ave Satanas! Vires acquirit eundo!