Thus far, I've found great acceptance within the pagan group.
There's nothing inherently unsatanic about hanging around with non-Satanists. It's up to you as an individual Satanist to decide who contributes to your time and who doesn't. This is one of the reasons why the
Church of Satan makes no sorts of social demands of members.
a) Who was Anton LaVey referring to when he says "white" magician?
Self-labeled "white magicians" and "white witches" can be found in several different occult groups. Regardless, his point still stands:
"White witches want to delve into witchcraft, but cannot divorce themselves from the stigma attached to it. Therefore, they call themselves white magicians, and base seventy-five per cent of their philosophy on the trite and hackneyed tenets of Christianity. Anyone who pretends to be interested in magic or the occult for reasons other than gaining personal power is the worst kind of hypocrite. [...] If you cannot divorce yourself from hypocritical self-deceit you will never be successful as a magician, much less a Satanist."
How does a Satanist fit magic, which I perceive to be the spiritual beseeching of external supernatural forces to provide power to the individual, with the lack of spirituality that LaVey seems to preach?
In Satanism, there is no "spiritual" or "supernatural" part of magic. There are elements still left as "unexplained", but no notions of anything stronger or outside of the physical world. You might want to reread the Book of Belial.
I am a solitary practitioner. What are some legitimate sources for magic rituals to be performed alone?
The standard ritual in
The Satanic Bible leaves more than enough room for you to tailor your own rituals. Even the group rituals found in
The Satanic Rituals can give you ideas. Just be mindful of the key components to a ritual (outlined in
The Satanic Bible) and keep the general rules (noted beginning, noted closing, no idle chit-chat in betwee, etc.).
You can pick up any of the other occult books out there, and try to wade through all the useless esoteric muck to extract the practical ideas. But you'll find that
The Satanic Bible has already done that.
Individuality seems to be what the philosophy of Satanism to be all about. Would it then be Satanic to make the individual decision to learn from the "white" magicians, and perhaps even participate in their rituals? I find the temporary silencing of my own views in order to join to be pragmatic.
"Individuality" does not mean that you can make Satanism anything you want it to be. You can participate in these neo-Pagan things if you like, but again, to quote
The Satanic Bible: "If the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, then established occultists would do well as maze-makers."
Why does the CoS endorse the Temple of Vampires?
We don't. They're two completely separate organization with some members in common. Although the basic principles of both organizations don't
inherently contradict each other, there are plenty of people in the COS who do not support the TOV (myself included), and there are plenty of people in the TOV who clearly aren't Satanists and likewise don't support the COS.
Of course, the same could be said about the COS and lots of other organizations that a Satanist may or may not belong to: the American Legion, the 4H Club, MENSA, college fraternities, Army Corps of Engineers, etc. Members of the
Church of Satan are free to join whatever other organizations they wish, so long as that organization isn't involved in illegal activity or explicitly bashing the COS.
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