Pagan Coffee Talk

The Roasted Path to Joy: The Intersection of Individuality and Conformity

Life Temple and Seminary Season 3 Episode 23

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Could you imagine a world where the embodiment of rebellion, Satan, serves as a mirror reflecting our societal and spiritual complexities? Our latest episode tries to unfurl the enigmatic tapestry of Satanism, plucking some of the threads of its theatrical origins from the politically potent fabric it has become. We uncover the nuanced relationship between Satanism, paganism, and Christianity, and how the Church of Satan has morphed from a religious entity to a more of a political one. We delve into the philosophical nuances behind the Morning Star's rise in popular culture and consider why the voices of modern-day Satanists seem to have receded into the shadows, leaving behind a whisper of their former clamor.

Journey with us as we cast a light upon the intricate dance of individual identity and the elusive pursuit of uniqueness. We challenge the notion of uniqueness—pondering if our essence is truly our own or merely a byproduct of clever marketing strategies that herd us into neatly defined consumer categories. We muse about the balance between blending in and standing out, and how each of us contributes to a collective tapestry of joy. Join us as we reflect on these existential musings, recognizing the value of every individual's journey through life's vast roastery. So, grab a cup of your favorite roast, and join the conversation. 

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Speaker 1

D담 YAY εδώ Shift a.

Speaker 2

Oh, my goodness, we're gonna talk about our Satan friends. Yay, our Satanists pay him.

Speaker 3

I don't think so.

Speaker 2

Really.

Speaker 3

No, would they not be Christian? Hmmmm, or some form of Christianity.

Speaker 2

I think it depends on whether or not they view Satan as Baphomet or not.

Speaker 3

Or do they worship him as the Morning Star Right? The bringer of knowledge and light.

Speaker 2

Okay, so here's the thing. I think they're pagans in the sense that they're fringe.

Speaker 4

Yeah.

Speaker 2

And in the sense that they have rejected the traditional ideology, Well, I mean, we are talking about the church, that. Well, there's two different ones as you all know, Okay, so there, yeah, this is fun.

Speaker 2

So I remember reading Anton Leves' Satanic Bible way back in the day. I think I bought it in high school, mainly because I wanted to scare my parents which a lot of us did, by the way and it was funny because, again, there was no Amazon. You had to physically go to a bookstore, you had to be checked out at a counter, you had to have somebody look at the back of that book and look up at you and go seriously.

Speaker 3

Seriously, yeah, okay, so, and then give you that speech. So the best place to put this so your parents will find it and break out the most, is yeah, just leave it on the kitchen counter, just write by their keys.

Speaker 2

So Anton Leves? No, anton Leves was not a pagan. You agree? Okay, the dog agrees. Anton Leves was not a pagan as the founder of the Satanic Church, he created the anti-Christian mass. Yeah, yes, so you're right.

Speaker 3

There are philosophies and everything based off the Christianity button. The opposite, the majority of the time, I think.

Speaker 2

It's not even so much opposite. It's not the opposite either. It's really the belief that, okay, because this is where, right, philosophically, we can really get into some interesting rabbit holes with Christianity. It was the belief that the archangels, all the angels, really right, we're all son of God, we're all his offspring, right, okay, and that there is the hierarchy that exists angelically and Satan, the Morning Star, right.

Speaker 3

Right.

Speaker 2

Samuel was his angelic name, was God's favorite. He defied God. And then we know the rest of the story. God cast him out of heaven. So the thought process with Anton Levé was he had to be his favorite for a reason. And if we look at the fact that Jesus was his favorite as well, right, he's chosen on earth. Right, but he killed him, he sacrificed him. Did he not basically do the same with Lucifer by casting him out? Did he not sacrifice his son for something else?

Speaker 3

Now does this start to go along the lines of, like the TV show Lucifer, that he was really down there just to be?

Speaker 2

in charge? No, not at all.

Speaker 3

That this really wasn't a battle, that somebody had to take up this position.

Speaker 2

No, lucifer, the TV show, albeit quite good yeah.

Speaker 3

No, I just mean the concept, not the actual show.

Speaker 2

Very few some of it they overlapped a little bit, right, one of the biggest things was how he couldn't tell a lie. You know, anytime someone accused Lucifer of being a liar, he would get very upset because he would say I don't lie. That was supposed to be one of the major things with the Morning Star was that? Yeah, he, he didn't lie. That's the whole point. That's why he got cast out in the first place. So, anyway, yeah, so Anton Leves created a structure around that and created this church. Anton Leves was also a star fucker who was in Hollywood right in the 50s and the 60s and who wanted to create a sort of cult slash, religion slash. You know he was on the same train as a Scientology guy, right, yeah, let me make something that's going to make money.

Speaker 3

Yes.

Speaker 2

Very fanciful storytelling, very interesting. Okay, so here's the church of Satan that we know of today is actually a political organization, marshall.

Speaker 3

Right Stanis.

Speaker 2

It is less about the religion and more about the politics and more about these quote-unquote radical views that really aren't that radical if you look at them. They operate as a church because legally they can and they've taken up, you know, all of the 501c3 ranks and they've done due diligence to register with the government and all of these things and they accept donations and blah, blah, blah. But I don't believe that they actually have like a church, like there's no get-togethers, there's no meetings, like I think it's all very much like sort of an online presence. Marshall.

Speaker 3

Right.

Speaker 2

Stanis, and if they do get together it's more of like a meeting than a religious ceremony. Marshall, yeah, and they do things that are. They do things specifically to piss people off, because they want to make their voice heard. You know, they are the ones who put this giant bronze statue Stanis.

Speaker 3

I remember that Marshall.

Speaker 2

Yeah, of Lucifer Baphomet, basically with children at his feet. It's in Little Rock Ark, inside the capital. It's a scaricle. I think that is the funniest thing ever, Stanis and if and they couldn't be stopped because it's a really it's like, it's hysterical, so they found a loophole, you know. Basically they're like if you can erect a statue of Jesus, we can do this Brilliant. So I see them as being more pagan than what Anton Leves came up with.

Speaker 3

Marshall, and I can see that Stanis.

Speaker 2

Yeah, but have you noticed there aren't satanists anymore, like not really Like it used to be, I feel, like Marshall, they're still a few out there.

Speaker 3

Stanis.

Speaker 2

I don't. I just don't feel like I see them anymore, like I feel like when I was growing up they were more apparent. There were kids and young adults who were very clearly into this idea of satanism or even more demonology, right, marshall, yeah, stanis Than anything else. I feel like many of them have evolved into paganism or they kind of, you know, got absorbed into some other Marshall. Well, I mean, I don't.

Speaker 3

Stanis, I believe.

Speaker 4

I don't know.

Speaker 3

Marshall. I know growing up a few guys who used to hang out with. They seem to have started off in satanism and now over the years they've moved more closer to paganism or Stanis.

Speaker 2

Yeah, and that's what I mean I think it was a lot of it back then was to shock people. It was to be, it was to piss off your parents. And then the other piece of it was there was literally a component of it that you know, because there were all these weird things in the media about how cults were moving into the suburbs and satanists next door, right. So people were just like, yeah, you know what I'm gonna be that person Marshall, yeah, Stanis, just to do it. Marshall, just to do it.

Speaker 3

Stanis yeah, I am sitting that black altar up in my backyard.

Speaker 2

Stanis, yeah, you know, death metal got on board and you know you had a music movement that came with it, so it. But I never took any of it very seriously. I really didn't. I just sort of saw it and went okay.

Speaker 3

Marshall, I don't think we took it as seriously as some of the Christian community did back in the day.

Speaker 2

Stanis, mm-hmm. Marshall, for sure Marshall, you know I remember like okay, really Stanis. The Christians were? I mean there's. No, they were.

Speaker 3

Oh my God, they were livid Marshall Now now thinking back with what you know now, how many of them groups did they actually say were satanist? And blah, blah, blah Stanis, all of them Marshall. Were actually really pagan Stanis.

Speaker 2

Yes, All of them, all of them, because the minute somebody again Anton Leves the minute he started using an upside down pentagram, it was on Marshall.

Speaker 3

It was on.

Speaker 2

Stanis Prior to Leves. The question really is was the upside down pentagram even associated with anything satanic?

Speaker 3

I don't know that it was Marshall. I don't. The only way I know the upside down pentagram being used is a symbol for second degree Stanis.

Speaker 2

It's male, that's all it is. It's the symbol for man. So, yeah, I don't get it. But I mean, again, I wasn't alive, so how the hell can I even I don't know and I don't and shit. I mean, now that I come to think of it, none of our elders who were around back then are still with us that they would have been able to tell us. But I don't think so. I don't think it had any issues. I think it was around that time again 50s, 60s it was associated with and it stuck.

Speaker 3

And it stuck, and there's no way around it.

Speaker 2

No, and it sucks because we're going to be dealing with that for a long time and it's annoying. And then there are the people who still continue to do it because they just think it's metal and I'm like knock it off.

Speaker 3

You know, but again it's sort of worn off. Again it's been used, it has. It's been screamed at the top of the lung 50 times of oh, the Satanists are coming. Do we have?

Speaker 2

any Satanist listeners Like are you out there, do you want to come on the show? I would love to talk to you Seriously, not for any other reason that I'm curious.

Speaker 3

I mean because the way I sort of look at them is they have Christian overtones, but they also have pagan ties there. So they're the sort of.

Speaker 2

I would absolutely love their perspective. Okay, I have sat in Marie LeVos voodoo yeah it shop in New Orleans so I felt so bad for the guy working that day because they have a five foot Baphomet in the middle of the store, massive, and it's an altar. People leave money, they leave tokens, they leave cigarettes, you know, they leave all kinds of things. And this woman who is very irate right she was like why is the devil in here? And this kid behind the counter, like it was so funny because he literally went that is not the devil, that is Baphomet. Baphomet is a symbol used throughout the pagan world and most specifically in our case, in voodoo and voodon religions. He is a symbol of transformation. I mean it was like he was reading off of a script that was taped behind the counter.

Speaker 3

But I have said so many times, have it memorized.

Speaker 2

You could just see the key glossed over, right Like his eyes, just like he went away. And this woman is, of course. Well, it looks like the devil to me. Well, it looks like the devil to you, ma'am, because that is the figure that traditionally has been scapegoated, no pun intended, throughout the Christian community to represent the demon known as the devil with the hoofed feet and the horns. But in other cultures he is not regarded this way. It's just so funny, but that happens all the time, right? Baphomet? Yeah, like it was whoof. There's no going back. Everybody is always going to associate Baphomet with the devil.

Speaker 3

Yes.

Speaker 2

I think we're kind of screwed there.

Speaker 3

Yeah, none is ever with this, lots been that.

Speaker 2

Yeah, but I would love to know where the Satanist community feels on the like. How do they even feel about it? Do they even recognize Baphomet? They might be like, screw that guy, we don't even. He's got nothing to do with anything. I don't know, I don't know. I'd be really, really, really curious to to have an open discussion there, because I do think if they do consider themselves to be pagan, then even the majority of the pagan community is uneducated, right, and it odds and needs to have a better understanding of this, to understand where and how we can integrate them as a tradition. As a tradition, yeah, because how could we not? I think it's fascinating. Oh man, all right, lord Knight, it's winter.

Speaker 3

Yes, it is.

Speaker 2

In some places there's snow falling. Yay, all the snowflakes.

Speaker 3

Just not here.

Exploring Unique Identity and Individuality

Speaker 2

Not here. So the question that I pose for you because we do an awful lot of talk about the snowflakes is is everyone truly unique?

Speaker 3

To be quite honest with you, mmm no.

Speaker 4

Mmmhmm.

Speaker 3

No, you're not as unique as you think you are. All right, this is what I'd say. What about you? Oh?

Speaker 2

man, oh man, all right. Are we talking about spiritually? Are we talking about physically?

Speaker 3

molecularly. I'm not talking about physically.

Speaker 2

I'm talking about your personality, what you like, what you don't like no, yeah, I come at this from a couple of unique perspectives. So tell you what? Why don't you go ahead and handle the science? Because I don't make an idiot of myself. In what ways has science proven that we are not all alike?

Speaker 3

Well, again, no two genetic structures are alike. Even twins differ.

Speaker 4

To some extent.

Speaker 3

No two brain waves are alike. No two brain structures are alike. Again, everyone is an individual, but I'm still some form of my parents. Okay, so technically, why I have a unique set of genes and a unique set of order? I don't have unique genes.

Speaker 2

But also molecularly, we're all the same, Right.

Speaker 3

We're literally. We are literally from the old saying we are all star stuff.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 3

Yeah, we are made of star stuff.

Speaker 2

Yeah, yes, we are all the fucking same.

Speaker 3

So well, again, we like to think we're unique, different individuals, but you wouldn't have country music.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 3

If we were you wouldn't have rock and roll, you wouldn't have rap. Yeah.

Speaker 2

So advertising is based on a couple of scientific, precise principles. That's literally what the ad world revolves around. I know he gave me kisses. Basically, it's pretty straightforward. For as long as ads have been in existence, the purpose of advertising has been to put human beings into boxes and then to exploit said boxes by selling you more of the shit that appeals to the box that you fit in and or making you believe that if you want to be in a different box, you just have to make these purchases to make it happen. Now, today, as advertising has evolved, as media consumption has evolved, right, all of these things have changed tremendously. All that is happening is the number of boxes have gone from five or six choices to dozens, but we all still fit in a goddamn box.

Speaker 2

Yep, there is so much. We talked about this in the episode that we did about consumerism and paganism and commercialization. There's so much purchasing happening on social media, on the internet, ads that are specifically targeting pagans and witches, constantly, constantly, whether it be clothing stores or memorabilia or home decor. There's so many companies that do this because now the term witchy, right, it's a box. It's a box that you now fit in for some advertisers.

Speaker 3

It's like getting that first AARP ad when you turn about 49. Yeah, well, now it's like 42. But yeah, yeah. And again, I heard of one girl that got in trouble with her dad because she received a bunch of coupons and stuff for pregnancy and they sent it to her based on what she'd been looking up online. So the internet knew she was pregnant before she did, and this is how her dad found out.

Speaker 2

Hysterical. Yeah, the internet knew before her family Wow.

Speaker 3

All right. I mean, I've heard for years Facebook knows when you go poop.

Speaker 2

It does. I mean, this is what's hysterical. Like everything, the foods that we like, no matter how unique we believe we are, we, there's a scant few individuals who really, really truly fall into these unique trendsetter boxes, and then, because of their popularity, everyone else follows and you yourself end up in a damn box.

Speaker 3

Mm, hmm, and again, I think a lot of people want to don't seem to understand this whole entire bell curve thing that we got going when the average or the bulk of people are, in the center.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 3

And how few are in the extremes.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I mean for a blip in time, right, I mean, this is one of the more recent examples I can come up with, being a polyamorous homesteader who was incredibly eco conscious and recycled everything in their home to the best of their ability, right, and only bought used when possible. That was a fringe thing. There were just a small small group here there of people who did it. Now it's so popular, it's marketed to yes, right. And then begs the question with certain things like polyamory were there really that many polyamorous people to begin with, or did the world, again media consumption, make polyamory more? Tell him Known.

Speaker 2

Yeah, and therefore yeah, literally just kind of went oh, this is a thing, and how many people went? Huh, interesting. And then looked down that rabbit hole and went oh, I'm polyamorous.

Speaker 1

Okay, Well, cool, but that's but you didn't come to that conclusion by yourself.

Speaker 2

No, and therein lies the problem. Unique thoughts are just that you've come to it on your own, not because anyone led you or exposed you. You came to it and then brought it to other people's attention. It's rare.

Speaker 3

Now it is. That's super rare.

Speaker 2

Anybody who plays music knows there's no such thing as an original song anymore.

Speaker 3

No, I mean.

Speaker 2

All the notes have been had. They've been composed in a way someone else has composed them before. They might not be identical, but they're close enough. This is how we hear one song and we go, yeah, it kind of sounds like this other Because it's been done before. It's not like that artist went out of their way to plagiarize the other party. It's just what happens.

Speaker 3

I mean too many of us, right? I mean you've got eight notes that can only go into so many combinations that eventually there's going to be.

Speaker 2

There's going to be some repeat somewhere. Same thing with you know writing, I mean, everything's been done already. Everything's been so rare when we encounter something unique that we're fascinated by it because we're like, holy shit, look at that.

Speaker 3

Right, but again, that's what makes it unique, that's what makes these things rare, is the limited amount of them it's like, OK, I go.

Speaker 2

what Star Wars came out in 78, 79, something like that.

Speaker 3

Something like that.

Speaker 2

OK.

Speaker 3

I think I was like nine.

Speaker 2

Star Wars was mind blowing. Oh God, right yeah, this idea of a galaxy that with people and other life form, and they had, you know, governments and systems.

Speaker 3

Let me stop you there. But the story they told was not.

Speaker 2

Right, the story was for the ages.

Speaker 3

The story was yeah, the story is the most, one of the most universal stories.

Speaker 2

Yes, but George Lucas created this world, this world that most of us could have never, in a million years, thought of. No, and? But now look how many.

Speaker 3

Ripoffs In essence.

Speaker 2

Yeah, just about every sci-fi show has in some way borrowed or taken from Star.

Speaker 3

Wars. But when you, when you get up to the weird out Yankevich levels and the space ball level, you know you have become a cultural force Of course, but it's just that idea that, yeah, there was one guy who really did bring something original to the table and everybody else just followed along.

Speaker 2

Yeah, they made their own spin, they came up with their own little unique ways of looking at it, but for the most part, yeah. So I don't. I think that Hi, the doggo came to say hi. I think that today we just have such a desire, such a want to be unique, to be special, to be different, but, yeah, people are just going out of their way to come up with all these titles and it's doing the opposite of what they wanted it to do, right?

Speaker 3

I think there are also. People are starting to come up with ways to be unique that might not be quite as helpful as they think they are. Well, well, I'll give you an example, and one woman I heard of keeps on saying she's so special. Her karma seems to wear off on her daughter all the time.

Speaker 2

OK.

Speaker 3

This is the kind of things I keep on hearing, where people are trying to stretch this.

Speaker 2

I'm being attacked by a bulldog, ok. So I look at like the dating scene right now and I go. The sheer volume of people that are like they're in an ethically non monogamous, they're Polly, they are an ENTJ For those of you know what that means the personality type neurodivergent you know they use all of these terms and I'm like there can't be this many of you. It's just not possible. There's something with the personality type test, kind of like. In the same vein as like an.

Speaker 2

IQ test. You know that ENTJ is, or whatever the hell it is. They're supposed to be so unique. They're only, point, two percent of the population. Well, why is it that I can open a dating app right now and find a couple thousand of them? That shouldn't be possible. No, it's. We want to be those things so badly. We want to be different, we want to be special. But you know, I look at it with kids, right, everybody raises their child with the idea that I'm raising, you know, a future retail worker? No, you know, you tell your kids they can be anything. You tell them to dream, you tell them to go out for something different than what everybody else is doing. But I do think, at the end of the day, most parents are realistic enough to realize, yeah, my kid might just be a garbage. Yeah, a garbage man. You know an office worker? Like, they're not going to have some incredibly unique existence that's going to make them singular. Right, they're ordinary.

Speaker 3

You know, I'm, I'm, I hate to be this way. Not everybody can be an astronaut.

Speaker 2

No If, if we were all as unique as we claimed or wanted to give the appearance of, there would be no one left to run a store. No, there would be no one left. I don't think they would do infrastructure jobs.

Speaker 3

I don't think there would be a society, because there's not enough to hold us together. No, why should I hang out with you? You're not doing anything I like, right.

Speaker 2

Regular is necessary, average is necessary For existence I mean?

Speaker 3

I mean you want me to sit here and say yes, you are a unique individual and all this you are, but you want to sit there and say hey, you know you're. You're a. You're a football fan, just like everybody else. You're a basketball fan like everybody else. You like this band, like everybody else.

Speaker 2

Yeah, that's what I was going to say. Like you can think you're as unique as you want until you buy concert tickets to a venue and you stand with tens of thousands of other people cheering and clapping for the same thing. Right, I mean, you look around and go.

Speaker 3

I'm not special. No, I mean, again, I'm a little bit of an oddball. I like the sixties and stuff like that and I'm sitting here going OK, we're going to go see hair. Oh, we're going to have the whole audit, because who's going to go?

Speaker 1

see it besides me.

Speaker 3

That place was freaking packed, yeah, and people were in no, and it was more fun.

Speaker 2

Yes, but I think that's it. I think you can be eccentric, you can be smart, you can have interesting or different likes or hobbies, or, but that doesn't mean you're so singular that we were going to attach the special label. No, no, it wouldn't make much sense.

Speaker 3

I don't think it would.

Speaker 2

And I mean with that. It's like I don't know what, why. Why do we need that so badly?

Speaker 3

Competition. I don't want to say competition, but I think that there's something in humanity Generally speaking, we won't do each other.

Speaker 2

Well, it's ego.

Speaker 3

Ego yeah.

Speaker 2

It's ego in mind, right? What? What is the evolutionary or the thing drawing us right societally to say, oh, I'm different, I'm different, I'm different. That's a construct.

Speaker 3

I think it's because we, because now we live in a society where everybody's packed in so close together, you can't help but see the similarities and everybody. You sort of realize that you're so similar that trying to break out of that, but yet it becomes almost an obsession.

Speaker 2

Right. But instead, if we all just accepted that we're different but ordinary right, we'd be in better shape. But the other thing is yeah, I mean from from, from just an evolutionary standpoint different is bad. Yes, different is what makes us judge.

Speaker 3

Different is what makes us, in many instances, when we start, when we start looking at these really special people, let's look at the people that tend to be like super smart.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 3

The majority of these times when you talk to these people, they have psychological problems out the yin yang.

Speaker 2

Yeah, they're emotional and yeah there's a number of different things happening.

Speaker 3

Right.

Speaker 2

And something I find really funny is how many of the people that are truly that singular have you noticed? They don't procreate? No, very few. Elon Musk is actually a weirdo. He's an oddball in that because he has like 10 children. First of all, I'm like who are the 10 women that volunteered to sleep with his man because he's stark, raving nuts? I don't know that I could hold a conversation with him long enough to get to the point of taking my pants off. I don't know. I'm just like I can't wrap my brain around how that happened. But it's the same with Einstein, right?

Speaker 1

Who could have married?

Speaker 2

Einstein? There's no way. But he was married. He was. I don't remember if he had kids or not, but often, yeah, we don't see a lot of that. These people tend to be loners. They stick to themselves. They don't play well with others.

Speaker 3

Because they hold nothing in common with other people.

Speaker 2

Yes, so then, which then begs the question are you seeking uniqueness to be a?

Speaker 3

hermit, are you seeking uniqueness? Would other people?

Speaker 2

go ooh and inflate that ego and that sense of superiority, which is a fallacy anyway.

Speaker 3

All sorts of questions, no.

Speaker 2

No answers.

Speaker 3

I know, but there's always.

Speaker 2

I mean, look, forget the grain of sand, right, I put a grain of sand on a beecher of sand. I would rather be a coffee bean in a roaster full of coffee beans.

Speaker 3

Oh.

Speaker 2

That's transformed me into the thing that makes someone happy and energetic. That's all I wish. I am but a medium roast in a sea of medium roasts.

Speaker 3

I tell you, this means you won't coffee Of course I do.

Speaker 4

Thanks for listening. Join us next week for another episode. Peg and Coffee Talk is brought to you by Life Temple and Seminary. Please visit us at lifetimepleseminaryorg for more information, as well as links to our social media Facebook, discord, twitter, youtube and Reddit.

Speaker 1

We travel down this trodden path, the maze of stone and mire. Just hold my hand as we pass by a sea of blazing fires.

Speaker 4

And so it is the end of our day so walk with me till morning breaks.

Speaker 1

And so it is the end of our day. So walk with me till morning breaks.

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