Posts Tagged ‘enochian’

Shemhamphorasch in Satanism

May
1

Members who belong to the Church of Satan and other branches of Satanism sign letters and emails and conduct rituals with a Shemhamphorasch, although their version of it is different and contains 72 names of demons, not names of angels. This usage is designed as an inversion of the Shemhamphorasch used by Jews and Christians. It is taken to mean a kind of desecration in closing or closing in the name of possibly the backwards reading of the angels and likely refers to the demons of Goetia in their hierarchies and with their own special titles like Marquis or President. The demons, on the other hand are organized into nine orders and differ from traditional lists of the angelic Shemhamphorasch. The relationship is unclear. A misconception attributed to the founder of the Church of Satan, Anton LaVey, is that “Shemhamphorasch” means “Hail Satan” in Enochian. It is actually just a reference to these beings as one in purpose for assistance of the Satanist.

The word “Shemhamphorasch” is spoken in Church of Satan rituals, often followed by “Hail Satan!”, as outlined in The Satanic Bible by Anton Szandor LaVey. The Totenkopf Grotto (a German branch of the Church of Satan) proposes an ancient Babylonian-Assyrian derivation for the word as “Šem-ham-fo-raš”, a phrase they say implies becoming one with the Powers of Darkness.