Lucifer Ascending: The Occult in Folklore and Popular Culture

By Stefan Isaksson

Lucifer Ascending: The Occult in Folklore and Popular Culture
Bill Ellis
The University Press of Kentucky
288 pages
ISBN: 0813122899

Bill Ellis, associate professor of English and American Studies at Penn State Hazleton, published in the year 2000 the book Raising the Devil: Satanism, New Religions, and the Media. That was a great read indeed, and so is its companion Lucifer Ascending, where Ellis continues his studies and research of Satanism, the occult, and alternative worldviews and what they mean to the people involved.

But first a few words about the author. It should be stated that Ellis is a Christian, a fact that many Satanists or other non-Christians will claim makes him much too subjective to be able to explore the left-hand path. Yeah, well, one shouldn’t forget that he’s also a scholar. And a damn good one, too. Ellis, an active member of The Evangelical Lutheran Church, makes it clear from the very start that he believes in God, that he’s taught in Sunday School, that his daughter went to a catholic church during her childhood, and so on. But despite all this he’s still lightyears away from a stereotype American fundamentalist who despises and loathes everything that happens not to be Christian.

Because, as I said, Ellis is a scholar. And he’s written another book that cannot, and should not, be missed.

A common theme that appears throughout the book is Harry Potter. Many fundamental Christian groups in America fully believe that J.K. Rowling’s stories about the spectacled wizard are indeed propaganda in order to promote “traditional” (whatever that means) satanic and occult teachings, and this debate, which is still pretty heated from place to place, has received a lot of attention in American media. Ellis dissociates himself from this craziness and flatly admits that the adventures of Harry Potter are both well-written and makes a great read. The notion that children who read them will become Satanists or something equally horrible is something Ellis denies. With a passion.

However, the debate itself is definitely worth studying, and each chapter in Lucifer Ascending deals with something from this debate, or the books themselves, that can be analyzed and questioned using different religious and sociological perspectives. Ellis makes clear that young people’s fascination with the forbidden, mystical, paranormal and (at least according to some) anti-Christian is nothing new, and he refutes the somewhat paranoid ideas about how Ouija boards are a serious threat to the Christian faith, a claim made by several different organizations with an anti-occult agenda.

Beware, though. Lucifer Ascending is not an easy book to read, and if you’re unfamiliar with scholarly books this one will turn out to be quite a challenge. The witch-hunts during the 17th and 18th centuries are thoroughly described, and Ellis isn’t afraid to criticize what “his” faith has done to numerous innocent people through the centuries. Furthermore, he’s not, and in this he’s differing from many other American Christians, convinced that some sort of satanic conspiracy is responsible for the abduction of infants and drinking of virgins’ blood.

“(…) we should not be so naïve as to assume that ‘there were no witches’ or ‘there are no satanists’. Occult practices have existed for many centuries, and they provide a ground for the more sensational claims that emerge from time to time. But crusades have always exaggerated the number and seriousness of crimes committed by witches and Satanists, as well as the numbers said to be involved.”

No one is perfect. We all have our flaws, and Ellis believes his task to be to ANALYZE, not CRITICIZE. There’s a great difference between the two attitudes, but not everybody are willing to accept that.

Both Anton LaVey and Michael Aquino receive acknowledgement in the beginning of the book, and the chapter about LaVey’s Church of Satan is both balanced and interesting. He’s even found a typo in The Satanic Bible (Avon’s paperback edition) where the black mass is described. On page 109 it says “…he is careful not to choose one that is not in vogue to parody.” However, and which LaVey himself confirmed to Ellis, “not” is a typo. The correct word should be “now”.

And believe it or not, this book’s also got a dose of humor and self-irony. For instance, the chapter about Ouija boards, with the great name “The @#$%&! Ouija Board”, has a section named – and this is sure to make many Christians mad with anger – something as controversial as “Suck the Greasy Cock of the Dark Lord!”.

That last one almost made me fall of my chair from uncontrollable bursts of laughter. And how often does that happen when you read a non-fiction book about religion?

Lucifer Ascending is an interesting study of occult traditions throughout the centuries and the only thing I can do is to fully recommend it. Bill Ellis is living proof that narrow-minded self-appointed Satanists who claim to “hate all Christians” (and by all means their Christian counterparts) really should do some serious research before they start arguing about something as complex as religious beliefs.