Daemonolatry Organizations & Their (In)Significance

Okay, maybe I’m being a bit unfair with the title of this post. Daemonolatry Organizations aren’t insignificant, but they are greatly misunderstood. People seem to think they’re like other occult orgs out there like Temple of Set, Golden Dawn (if I say GD in my posts, please know I often mean GenDem instead of Golden Dawn, I apologize for any confusion this has caused or may have caused in the past), or OTO.

The reality is they’re not quite the same thing. First – there is no such thing as an “online” Daemonolatry organization. In this I mean we don’t have an online church or group with a degree system or course of study that just anyone can belong to. At most, we have an org sponsored website with an open forum for practicing Daemonolaters regardless their group affiliation and on that forum we have volunteer adepts and clergy who offer free initiate training courses for those wanting some sort of formal, structured, introduction into Daemonolatry.

Second – all of the Daemonolatry organizations I know of do NOT recruit membership, nor are they actively seeking members. For a lot of groups, you have to be local to be considered for membership. Oftentimes membership is at the discretion of the group.

Third – Most (not all) Daemonolatry organizations are merely groups whose members get together to socialize and worship. We’re not like some occult orgs where the entire purpose is teaching students the magickal arts or getting together to work magick. This doesn’t mean there aren’t magickal Daemonolatry organizations out there or that none of them are encouraging their members to embark on the The Great Work, there are, but they work much the same way. You can express your interest to join, but they will pick and choose who they will accept in.

Is this elitist? If having standards for membership is elitist, then yes. But you also have to remember that we don’t have the same kind of crazy ass drama a lot of occult organizations do, and this is why we don’t.  Yes, all groups are going to have a conflict here or there (put any more than one person in a room together and eventually there is going to be some conflict since not everyone is going to agree with everyone else 100% of the time) but we don’t have nearly the drama some other occult organizations have.  When we do have drama, it is usually due to one trouble maker who is new to a group anyway.

Besides – groups are overrated. Most people don’t realize, when they write to me to inquire about OFS, that first, we not a TYPE of Daemonolatry. Second, they don’t realize that we’re a real-world group specific to a specific city. We’re not national or international. Finally, they don’t seem to realize we’re an organization for WORSHIP and socialization specifically. Yes, sometimes we get together and talk Daemonic magick, but that was never the purpose of the group. We’re also not a teaching group (not all groups are). If we bring noobs into the group, the most they can hope for is some of us to offer a reading list and to answer questions. After all – a lot of magickal work and Work work is best suited to the individual on a solitary basis anyway.

About this time someone always chimes in, “But to learn Traditional GenDem type practices and inner-circle, inner-sanctum or advanced stuff you have to be in a group!”  For some stuff, yes. But it’s stuff that would only be of interest to specific people anyway.  I often think people are looking for some secret knowledge or something.

Don’t get me wrong – if you want to join a group for the right reason that’s one thing. But there are a lot of wrong reasons, too.

I’ve noticed that nowadays some of the big draws to group membership include:

• Titles (for the alleged prestige they have – everyone wants to be a priest)
• Secret Knowledge (usually so they can brag about it to someone else)
• Image (for some people keeping up the social image of being an occultist is key, not to mention all the cool kids are doing it.)

Some of the right reasons for group membership include:

• Personal edification and spiritual growth.
• Commiseration with others of the same faith.
• Sense of community.

But alas, the latter three are best suited to local groups or orgs where you can physically interact with the people and talk face-to-face, and it’s unlikely you’ll be able to find such a group on the Internet unless you are lucky enough to be invited to a private video-chat group (yes, they do exist).

Just remember that you don’t need a group to practice Daemonolatry and if you don’t have a local group it doesn’t mean you can’t start one.