You believe it is all "mumbo jumbo".

I would suggest that you do not know this to be true.

Satanism asks you to stop believing things long enough to find out what is actually true.

Most people simply believe what they are told and look to authority figures to pronounce what is real.

We don't.

Additionally you are truly beating a dead horse here as you can be a happily practicing Satanist and never perform any acts of ritual magic.

So you do not even have to challenge your belief that magic is "mumbo jumbo" to be a Satanist.

But you will not get very far disputing others who have taken the trouble to challenge their own former beliefs and have drawn different conclusions.

Aulus,

I find it intellectually nigh-impossible to believe in gods, goddesses and whatever other spooky forces that most practitioners of magic (those of other religions besides Satanism, that is) allegedly invoke in ritual. Most of the religions that include magic expect you to believe in these entities and gods as real to at least some extent. That led me to conclude that maybe neither magic nor religion were for me.

I have always thought that certain forms of 'magic' are basically psychology. I have always thought that the entities used in ritual magic are purely symbolic. But Satanism is the only religion that I have encountered which actually says that. The reasoning behind it is that humans have a need for ritual and dogma. We work on more levels than just that of the intellect. It is explained in The Satanic Bible, as others have pointed out.



Ritual is an emotionally powerful thing. Is that not enough reason to respect it?

Look chief, it's really simple.

You can make whatever you want out of magic. It exists as part of Satanism for a variety of reasons. You're welcome to recognize it as pure psychology or believe whatever you like about it, and you're welcome to do ANY ritual you like or not (assuming it doesn't break the obvious rules like animal sacrifice).

The law of Satanism is beyond question. Whoever said that he picks and chooses is just not a Satanist.

"Whoever said that he picks and chooses is just not a Satanist."

Nobody has said this in that thread. I have asked him the question as it seems that he personally does this.