Hail Satan? These Satanists want you to know the truth about The Satanic Temple

On 23 August 2019, Penny Lane’s documentary Hail Satan? opened to critical acclaim in cinemas across the UK and USA. In the film, she follows a group of self-identified Satan-worshipers to interrogate their beliefs and practices, and soon learns they’re more concerned with helping out than worshiping the Devil.

Here, Stylist’s Ally Sinyard speaks to Jill, Chalice and Sadie – all of whom “engage publicly and unapologetically as Satanists” – to find out what life is really like in The Satanic Temple. And, naturally, it makes for an eye-opening read…

“We did a goat pardoning at the beach recently. We rescued a goat from slaughter and paid for it to be in a sanctuary,” Sadie, a 44-year-old artist and performer from California tells me. “While we were doing the pardoning, some people called the police on us and said there was a group of Satanists on the beach trying to sacrifice a goat. Even after we offered them vegan food, they still called the cops on us.

The softly spoken Satanist continues: “So the lifeguards come over and ask us what’s going on, and we offer them some hummus and tell them we’re rescuing a goat. They just laughed it off.”

It sounds absurd, right? But if you hold the belief that Satanists are devil-worshipping, evil-doers hell-bent on setting the world on fire, then you’ll want to watch documentary Hail Satan?, directed by Penny Lane, when it hits UK cinemas on 23 August. After premiering at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, it currently holds a Rotten Tomatoes score of 97%. Funny, provocative, illuminating and thought-provoking, it’ll change everything you thought you knew about Satanism as it explores the inner workings of The Satanic Temple (TST), an organisation that is as much a socio-political counter-movement as it is a religious group.

The Satanic Temple

Founded in 2013, the TST’s followers quickly gained notoriety for their public campaigns and stunts – all with the aim to “encourage benevolence and empathy among all people.” And it is worth noting that their ideology is captured in seven tenets – fundamental principles which promote empathy, compassion, justice and bodily autonomy.

In just six years, The Satanic Temple claims to have already become the “primary religious Satanic organisation in the world” – an opinion which was seemingly proven when, in February 2019, they became the first satanic organisation to be recognised as a church by the United States, thereby granting it tax exempt status.

“It was refreshing to see a Satanic organisation being led predominantly by women, as opposed to them being mere props of male virility,” says Chalice.

“I’m a Satanist”

It was upon discovering the fledgling TST – an entirely separate organisation from the Church of Satan – and seeing how its members engaged “publicly and unapologetically as Satanists” that Chalice knew she had found her group.

“It was refreshing to see a Satanic organisation being led predominantly by women, as opposed to them being mere props of male virility,” she says.

“We’ll continue fighting and pushing back against tyrants who would legislate me out of existence,” says Sadie. “We’re just going to Satan harder.”

Sadie discovered TST in 2014, when one of their earliest public acts – a “Pink Mass” ceremony – grabbed headlines. The Mass, officiated by TST co-founder Lucien Greaves, was held over the grave of Catherine Johnson, mother of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps. Same sex couples kissed over the headstone, and Greaves declared that Johnson was now a lesbian in the afterlife – but not before placing his genitals on her headstone.

It certainly caught the world’s attention but, for Sadie, it meant more than that.

“I just thought ‘Wow, queer Satanists that are activists – this is just what I’ve been looking for!’” As she was gender transitioning around the same time, Sadie went on to join TST and its San Jose chapter later in 2015, going on to co-found TST Santa Cruz and become Chapter Head.

“When I joined, I was a year into my transition,” she tells me, “and I found nothing but acceptance and love. I had people telling that I’m accepted, that I can be a leader, that I’m valued, that I’m not an abomination before God. Being part of TST definitely helped me have a successful transition.”

Post Credit: Stylist.co.uk