Satanic Witchcraft Inspiration

So, I’ve stumbled across some interesting ideas about Satanic witchcraft in Compendium Maleficarum, the theory behind which was expanded upon in, of all places, Là-bas.

Là-bas is a novel but it’s a rather well-researched novel, particularly for the 19th century, and I will not be surprised if I later stumble across the ideas I am about to describe in primary sources.

Compendium describes a number of spell-casting methods that involve blasphemy. There’s a certain amount of using the image of Christ as a poppet—doing things to a crucifix that reflect the magical effect you want, for instance throwing a crucifix into the sea as a storm-raising spell. Other beliefs described include the idea that desecrating crucifixes, communion hosts, images of saints etc. infuses the blasphemer with increased power.

Là-bas describes a rudimentary “theory” of this kind of magic—the idea that incorporating an act of blasphemy is a “seal” upon a spell that gives it a shot of extra power and makes it particularly hard to break.

My personal theory about why this works is that incorporating blasphemy a. acts as an offering to Satan and calls his attention to the spell so that he can help, and b. if you fuck with apotheosis it’s an affirmation of your own inner divinity by placing oneself above “God” and thus calls one’s own divine power into the working.

Obviously I need to do more reading on this but it’s really got me thinking.