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NEW
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Satanism and Witchcraft: The Occult and the East - Part 1
by Dr.
John Ankerberg, Dr. John Weldon |
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In this article series we will discuss the relationship between
witchcraft and Satanism on the one hand and Eastern religion
(especially Tantrism) on the other. We have included this discussion
because of the great influence of Eastern religion in the West and the
fact that few people seem to be aware of such connections. For
millions of Westerners, Eastern religions are viewed rather
benevolently as examples of "wisdom of the East." Unfortunately,
Eastern religion also carries a dark undercurrent with which even
devotees are often unfamiliar.
In her Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids,
Goddess-Worshippers and Other Pagans in America Today, Margo Adler
interviewed numerous prominent witches who discussed the experience
and philosophy of witchcraft. The parallels to Eastern religion and
occultism were obvious. These witches make correlations to yoga,
shamanism, developing altered states of consciousness, the realization
of inner divinity, and alleged connection to the "infinite." Witches
themselves speak of witchcraft as being "the Yoga of the West" and
that "a Witch is a type of European shaman":
Adrian Kelly told me, "What really defines a Witch is a type of
experience people go through. These experiences depend on
altered states of consciousness. The Craft is really the Yoga of the
West." Morning Glory Zell said that a Witch is a type of European
shaman, and being a Witch involves being a priestess or priest, a
psychopomp, a healer, a guide....
Most Witches stressed that the goal of the Craft was helping
people to reclaim their lost spiritual heritage, their affinity with
the earth, with "the gods," with the infinite.1
It is well documented that numerous perversions (including human
sacrifice) occur in witchcraft and Satanism, and yet these also have a
rich tradition in Eastern religion (e.g., Hinduism), as well as pagan
occult religion in general.2
In his Occultism, Witchcraft and Cultural Fashions, the noted
cultural anthropologist Mircea Eliade of the University of Chicago
refers to the interconnections between European witchcraft and Hindu
Tantric yoga. He points out that "even a rapid perusal of the Hindu
and Tibetan documents" reveals the connection:
As a matter of fact, all the features associated with European
witches are—with the exception of Satan and the sabbath—claimed also
by Indo-Tibetan yogis and magicians. They too are supposed to fly
through the air, render themselves invisible, kill at a distance,
master demons and ghosts, and so on. Moreover, some of these
eccentric Indian sectarians boast that they break all the religious
taboos and social rules: that they practice human sacrifice,
cannibalism, and all manner of orgies, including incestuous
intercourse, and that they eat excrement, nauseating animals, and
devour human corpses. In other words, they proudly claim all the
crimes and horrible ceremonies cited ad nauseam in the
western European witch trials.3
"The Witches of Orissa" is another article by Satindra Roy
published in a Bombay anthropology journal. It makes the following
observations about a particular sect of Indian witchcraft. Roy begins
by noting the connections between the witch cult and Tantra’s Shakti
(power) worship.
The witches of Orissa still show a great reverence for the cult
of Tantras.... Their deep reverence for the cult of the Tantras and
their intimate connection with the Tantric shrine at Kamrup leave no
shadow of doubt that witchcraft, whatever it is, has its connection
with Shakti worship.... The powers for evil develop themselves by
worshipping the terrible aspect of Shakti, and some worshippers
after passing through the lower stages... use their evil influence
on all and sundry with whom they come into contact. ...
It may be noted here that Orissa was at one time, almost wholly
converted to Tantric Buddhism, which slowly made room for
Vaishnavism, which is now the popular religion of Orissa.... The
Tantrics also used to develop great powers of evil, which they could
apply against their antagonists if enraged or provoked.4
He proceeds to show that the witches apparently derived their
powers for evil from magical incantations learned from Hindu gurus.
Significantly, we find they may endure the characteristic death
struggle of occultists:
It is believed that the witches derive their powers for evil from
certain incantations which they learn from their gurus.... It is
believed that the witches at the time of their death suffer
intolerable pain if they cannot transmit these incantations to a
willing convert. Witches during their lifetime also show very great
solicitude for the propagation of the secret cult and make converts
whenever possible....
There are some witches whose evil-eye is so strong that it would
kill a playful child within a few minutes if it is cast upon him.5
An anti-moral pragmatism is a strong feature of Satanism and
witchcraft on the one hand and much Eastern religion on the other. For
example, in a standard text entitled Yoga: Immortality and Freedom,
the late yoga authority Mircea Eliade observes the amoral orientation
of much yoga.
The tantric texts frequently repeat the saying, "By the same acts
that cause some men to burn in hell for thousands of years, the
yogin gains his eternal salvation." ... This, as we know, is the
foundation stone of the Yoga expounded by Krishna in the Bhagavad
Gita (XVIII, 17). "He who has no feeling of egoism, and whose
mind is not tainted, even though he kills (all) these people, kills
not, is not fettered (by the action)." And the Brhadaranyaka
Upanishad (V, 14, 8) had already said: "One who knows this,
although he commits very much evil, consumes it all and becomes
clean and pure, ageless and immortal."6
Further, the goals of the sexual union in Tantra and witchcraft on
the one hand and in magic/Satanism on the other are also similar.7
For example, in Tantra and witchcraft we find the predominance of the
feminine energy theme.8
In both categories we find occasional cannibalism, ritual cruelty, a
preoccupation with death, ritual sacrifice, ritual insanity, anarchy,
and horrible degradations in general.9
(to be continued)
Notes:
1 Margo Adler, Drawing Down
the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers and Other Pagans in
America Today (New York: Viking Press, 1980), pp. 104-105.
2 Cf., Nigel Davies, Human
Sacrifice in History and Today (New York: William Morrow, 1981).
3 Mircea Eliade, Occultism,
Witchcraft and Cultural Fashions (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1976), p. 71.
4 Satindra Roy, "The Witches
of Orissa," The Anthropological Society of Bombay, Vol. 14,
No. 2, pp. 187-188, 194.
5 Ibid., pp. 189-190, 195.
6 Mircea Eliade, Yoga:
Immortality and Freedom (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, Bollingen, 1973), p. 263.
7 E.g., David Conway,
Magic: An Occult Primer (New York: Bantam, 1973), pp. 129-133;
Eliade, Yoga, pp. 263-267; Adler, pp. 107-108.
8 Eliade, Yoga, pp.
202-206, 261, 272, 294-307; Adler, pp. 10-11, 22, 35-36, 84-86,
107-112.
9 Ibid.
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ANKERBERG SHOW |
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Copyright 2006, Ankerberg Theological Research Institute
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