What Does Satan Mean To You?

[Meroveus]

In the context of your beliefs, who is Satan to you?

What does He mean or represent to you?

What lessons does He have to teach?

What are your experiences with Him?

[spookycreep]

I consider Her as one of the many expressions of the dark side of divine being. God, you could say wears many masks and Her power and wisdom can be accessed through any one of them depending on what works for you. So, in answer to your question, what is Satan to me? In a word: God.
What lessons does She teach? She teaches us how to see in the dark_ to know that evil and the negative serve the good. Queen Lucifer has taught me to not only look for this good but to expect it. The most crucial time one needs one's faith is when one isn't feeling it. Darkness separates the pretenders from those who really believe in their conception of deity.
Anyone can say they believe, takes a mad man to actually do it but it's a divine madness, which, to contrast it from ordinary madness, is a madness that works for you instead of against you. Having seen both sides of this fence, I know the difference.
Experiences? She freed me from 15 long years as an agoraphobic. I lived in a prison of the mind from my 17th year to my mid 30s. I found a light in this darkness and have been running with it ever since (I became a Satanist in my mid 20s).
Like Manson said: a long hard road out of hell. I'm far from trouble free now but at least it's normal shit. Normal shit is a piece of cake compared to where I've been.

[spookycreep]

I'm stupid. I forgot to mention what happened that marked the turning point for me in my battle against my personal darkness. I had two spontaneous experiences of altered states of consciousness which happened within days of eachother_ one of "cosmic consciousness" (talk about a good buzz) and an out-if-body experience that ended abruptly when it scared the living hell out of me. I have regretted that fear ever since but under the circumstance, who can blame me?
I was seeing a psychiatrist at the time and shortly thereafter ended it_ because it wasn't helping_ and decided to pursue the path of the mystic. In the course of my studies I ran across an article on Anton Lavey and his church and this was all it took, I was in. It would be years later before I got a copy of The Satanic Bible. It's more of a novelty item with me then anything else. I found the biography of Lavey, The Devil's Avenger to be more inspiring_ especially the chapter devoted to Anton's witches. It really gave me an idea of the possibilities of a dark, free faith that could take many different forms.
Lavey opened the flood gates but he has no control over the flowing waters that have poured through. Even so I believe in giving Lavey his props: he started this.