Satanic Feminism: Lucifer as the Liberator of Woman in Nineteenth-Century Culture

Oxford Studies in Western Esotericism

by Per Faxneld

According to the Bible, Eve was the first to heed Satan's advice to eat of the forbidden fruit. The notion of woman as the Devil's accomplice is prominent throughout the history of Christianity. During the nineteenth century, rebellious females performed counter-readings of this misogynist tradition. Hereby, Lucifer was reconceptualised as a feminist liberator of womankind, and Eve became a heroine. In these reimaginings, Satan is an ally in the struggle against a patriarchy supported by God the Father and his male priests.

This study delineates how such Satanic feminism is expressed in a number of nineteenth-century esoteric works, literary texts, autobiographies, pamphlets and journals, newspaper articles, paintings, sculptures and even artefacts of consumer culture such as jewellery.

We encounter figures like the suffragette Elizabeth Cady Stanton, author and diplomat wife Aino Kallas, gender-bending Theosophist H. P. Blavatsky, actress Sarah Bernhardt, anti-clerical witch enthusiast Matilda Joslyn Gage, decadent marchioness Luisa Casati, and the Luciferian lesbian poetess Renée Vivien.

The analysis focuses on interfaces between esotericism, literature, art and the political realm. New light is thus shed on neglected aspects of the intellectual history of feminism, Satanism and revisionary mythmaking.

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, History, Religion, Occult, Satanism, Politics

683 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Per Faxneld is Swedish Historian of Religion
he holds a ph.d. in History of Religions (obtained in 2014). his field of specialisation is Western esotericism, new religions and "alternative spirituality" (e.g. Satanism, Theosophy, Anthroposophy, New Age, the sacralization of physical excercise, etc), with a particular emphasis on how they are formed in tandem with processes of modernization (especially secularization). he has also worked from a sociological perspective with questions pertainng to strategies of legitimation, religious authority and identity formation. Other interests include religion and popular culture (reflection my background in cinema studies), folk religion (e.g. editing a critical edition of a folkloristic classic), gender issues, globalization and religion and violence. A key theme in his research is the relation between Western esotericism and art/literature.

My doctoral dissertation (Satanic Feminism: Lucifer as the Liberator of Woman in Nineteenth-Century Culture, awarded the Donner Institute Prize for Eminent Research on Religion, and later re-published by Oxford University Press) adresses how anti-clerical feminists – primarily during the time period 1880–1930 – used Satan as a symbol of rejecting the patriarchal traits of Christianity. I emphasized how these women were inspired by the period's most influential new religion, Theosophy, and how the anti-religious discourses of secularism impacted feminism.

Reviews

[H. Givens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Satanic Feminism is just as readable and thorough as Children of Lucifer: The Origins of Modern Religious Satanism, and the two books together give a really interesting and coherent view of Satanism from its earliest appearances in the historical record up to now. It’s a topic far too many people shy away from because they don’t want to be labeled as Satanists, I got a lot of funny looks just for reading books with these titles, but it’s fascinating. People seem to think Satanism will be a dark underbelly of crime and perversity, but actually it’s a long history of ideological resistance.

Summary and full review: https://hannahgivens.wordpress.com/20...

[ElphaReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a VERY in depth and fascinating examination of the involvement and connections between Satan and feminism, and how Western culture during the 19th century valued women who were subservient to men and saw independent women as 'wicked', and perhaps therein 'Satanic'. I was especially fascinated by the sections that addressed Lilith, a demon who could be considered one of the first 'feminist icons', and the sections on witchcraft and how it could have been seen as a 'fuck you' to the patriarchy, as Satan in these stories gives women their independence whereas Christian values and systems oppress them. It's a beast of a book but I really enjoyed it, as dense and daunting as it was.

[Hagar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Faxneld shows that narratives about Satan act as Ariadne's thread during the origins of feminism in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He considers the myth of Satan as a counter-myth constructed by those who were opposed to the power structures of nineteenth-century European society. These inverted narratives about Satan were promoted in socialist thought, Theosophy, Romanticism, Gothic and Decadent literature, and even by certain specific figures, namely Mary MacLane and Sylvia Townsend Warner, each of whom gets a dedicated chapter in the book.

[Dev · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an incredibly long and thorough book but also very readable. It took me a couple weeks to get through it but each chapter is kind of its own little mini essay so it's easy to just read one every couple days. Definitely a good read if you're interested in Lucifer and feminism and gave me quite a few other books to add to my TBR as well!

[Mallory · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very, very, in depth analysis of feminism and Satanism. To sum it up, Faxneld shows how 19th century western culture depicts women as evil and having attributes of Satan simply by being female. Women who value autonomy and independence are particularly wicked and evil, because those the are devilish and rebellious attributes. Western society oppresses women and "values" subservient women. The Bible, which is only one source translated and written by men (as pointed out by the author), tells western culture that Satan is bad. Faxneld studies and analyzes, art and writings of others that questions Christianity (and subsequently the Patriarchy) and gives us a new perspective on how Satan can be seen as a liberator of women. Satan, as a liberator, grants women power and independence while rejecting the patriarchy, which not only withholds power from women but actively persecutes and oppresses them. Which is a breath of fresh air to read about in history books.

When I read this, I was glad to have a background in art history. While that is not a requirement for this book, having a history background and being used to reading historical papers and texts is a little helpful. Again, this book is a beast and dives DEEP into analysis. The art and Christian iconography examinations of Satan and women were particularly interesting to me, as well as the chapter of witchcraft being a rebellion to the patriarchy. My only complaint is the teeny tiny font. The title of this book also earns points for the equal amount of stink-eyes and high-fives I got from strangers while reading it.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is well-researched. I learned a lot. It took me three lifetimes to finish reading it. The font is too small, and my eyes are too old.

[Masielo]

O sea está muy académico no es para las de a pie como yo. Muy interesante eso sí.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like the text reaches a little bit with some of its conclusions, but the author generally is on top of admitting this. really perfect for my thesis and the bib is invaluable!

[Rebeca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it to use it as a source during lectures this semester, but I thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested in Gender Studies: the writing style is not dense and the content covers from the most basic concepts to more obscure details.
I'm really excited to present this to my students.

[Tim Pendry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Faxneld's exhaustive (some might think exhausting) account of the use of the idea of the Satanic in Western feminism, from the romantic era to the early twentieth century, is definitely not about feminist Satanism which does not exist (excepting perhaps one peculiar male Polish example).

Be in no doubt that this is a brilliant book (especially the Introduction that lays out the terms of his inquiry) yet is about something quite marginal to mainstream culture that nevertheless throws a light on its progression through the self-liberation of relatively high status women.

It is a case study in the marginal - in this case a rebellion against normality - helping to enable a new normal (with which we live today) where women no longer have to 'invent' narratives that defy mainstream culture because their concerns have become mainstream culture.

Interestingly it is subversive men who kick-start this revolution, one which is centred on 'detourning' religious norms (Satan as evil and God as good) in order to effect the over-turning of political, cultural and social norms.

Milton is not the revolutionary here in making Satan an attractive figure similar to Prometheus as rebel against the gods - or rather God. He has simply created a 'ready-made' that enables Romantics like Byron and Shelley to subvert society 'safely' and start introducing feminist ideas.

Those feminist ideas, of course, come from women like Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley but male domination of culture at this point means that it is men who have to find the ice-pick to thrust into the brain of Biblical order. This latter is the infamous 'patriarchy' (an over-used term).

There is much to unpick in this book which reads like a series of mini-monographs on the use not only of Satan but of the image of the witch (in which another man, Jules Michelet, plays an equally important role) as a succession of progressive stages towards a wider rethinking of culture.

Perhaps it is best just to summarise what Faxneld has uncovered in sequence and suggest the reader then goes to that which interests them and draws their own conclusions. The author is certainly thorough in what is mostly literary criticism, building his conceptual castle brick by brick.

He starts by outlining the 'recurring motifs' of the relationship between women and the devil during this period. It is not only a matter of Satan and the appropriation of witchcraft but also of a complete redrafting of Genesis, both to give greater credit to Eve or to introduce the figure of Lilith.

There are many variations on these motifs but they all have in common the idea that the narrative that men and women (many of these counter-narratives are actually more broadly liberatory in intent than the role of women) accept as true (as religion) is actually false ... a lie.

Faxneld, a Swedish scholar who is undoubtedly 'going places', is perhaps just scratching the surface here despite the depth of his research because what we are talking about is the transformation of an entire intercontinental mental map between the eighteenth and mid-twentieth centuries.

Instead of having 'big picture' historians asserting change, Faxneld is looking at the micro-phenomena that represent observable change. This subverted, arising from the middle classes, a way of seeing to which mostly men - Marx, Darwin, Nietzsche, Freud - would contribute their share.

The why and how of such a transformation is a matter of economics, communication, information exchange, mobility and human interaction requiring much fresh thought but the author has provided us here with a lot of detailed evidence for the process. But let us get back to the chapters.

As noted above, Faxneld starts with looking at the romantic and also early socialist uses of the devil to challenge the Church and society as a whole. He could have gone back to the Enlightenment and even seventeenth century atheism but his focus is on 'the question of woman'. He rightly sticks to that.

He then reminds us of the importance of theosophical thought in early feminism (as much as in promoting pseudo-science and dodgy spiritual ideas) in one of many examples of fantasy-dissent taking what is 'to hand' in order to effect change.

He steps back to look at the role of Satan or rather Satanic figures who liberate women (sometimes ambiguously) in Gothick literature although one cannot help thinking that often this might just be a classic case of introvert bluestocking girls liking bad boys ... at a literary distance.

He looks at the witch in liberatory history (which is where Michelet's 'La Sorciere' comes in) where what was once presented as hideous and evil (vide Macbeth and the Malleus Malleficorum) becomes something else entirely with pseudo-anthropology now creating the necessary narrative structures.

He moves on to fin-de-siecle decadence with its not very feminist attitude to women. Indeed, we could see the decadent and symbolist movements as reactionary attempts to reinvent women as creatures to be feared by men, sexual sadists with masochists forced to kneel at their feet.

However, there is no idea or image in a free culture that cannot be subverted by others. What may have represented male anxieties and fears could as easily (and it seems to have been) purloined by women in order to press a cultural point to their advantage.

He interjects here a chapter on the use of Satan in Lesbian contexts ('Sapphic Satanism') but more culturally important is the next chapter where the male-dominated 'satanic' female becomes appropriated as the constructed personalities of actresses and celebrities.

Much as Lady Gaga constructed a persona that played on gender fluidity as a form of cultural ultra-liberalism and as the culmination of the revolution created by the original gay movement so key women 'represented' a form of liberation through the Satanic that was equally carefully manicured.

Here we are getting at the core of what is happening - the woman with independent means defining herself through the market, whether as the self-defining Sarah Bernhardt, the purchases of Satanic-themed symbolist jewellery or Theda Barr performing a role to commercial order.

What started as a process of rebellion against a prevailing order transforms itself over a hundred years into the cherry on the top of the cake of a new order - a commercial capitalism in which publicity means money and to which aspirant women with money could respond.

The Satanic becomes respectable, more as an implied late romantic stance than anything that might actually mean belief in a force of evil to which one would assign one's soul. There is no necessity for a soul to sign away. All that underlying belief had dissipated.

Once the belief system that 'oppressed' humanity had disappeared under the weight of multiple forms of intellectual criticism, once it no longer meant any meaningful rebellion against a dominant order, a new dominant order (middle class and mass markets) could play with subversion safely.

Is this is not a repeated pattern in Western culture - the transformation of Count Dracula to Count Duckula, the horrible and the subversive being tamed from content into style, eventually the necessity for more horrible and subversive realities to be invented (in due course)?

The final two chapters are case studies of two women writers at the end of this process - Mary Maclane and Sylvia Townsend Warner who each wrote a key work that took the Satanic Feminist theme to its probable last meaningful point but in opposite directions.

Mary Maclane, as a nineteen year old, wrote a 'shocking' autobiography in 1902 that asserted her allegiance to Satan in terms that might be regarded as the ultimate in feminist liberation from all social constraints. It was, perhaps surprisingly, a major hit and 'cause celebre'.

In fact, she comes across as perhaps a form of literary sociopath. She might be admired for saying what she really felt in no uncertain terms but what we have here is a 'liberation' of the self rather than the liberation of just a woman. It is just that the self happens to be a woman.

The book, in essence, simply permits a woman to be any man's equal as fashionable self-regarding artistic sub-Nietzschean and, although undoubtedly talented, she was never able to 'grow up' and create a greater body of work. Mary Shelley is far more impressive.

Nevertheless, as the culmination of a process that started with Byron and Shelley, Faxneld is right to draw attention to her because what was now clear was that a culture had been primed to accept (largely as entertainment) radical individualist Satanism half a century before LaVey's carny exploits.

The second writer, Sylvia Townshend Warner, is represented by her subversive book 'Lolly Willowes' which has to be seen in its very English context as a highly coded use of rural witchcraft (a major source of the 'other' to the English, long before Gerald Gardner decided to appropriate it.

This is a fine chapter (or essay) which shows how the ideas of the witch but also of Satan could be so completely turned their heads to become more than benign, wholly expressive of the introvert woman's desire to be left alone and be who they are.

This thinking is all the more powerful for the lack of demonisation of the existing structures of society - they are simply oppressively mundane and unimaginative. It is the more surprising when you realise that Warner was inclined to a fairly hard line Communism.

If Maclane represents the culmination of a self-centred aspirational middle class (and very American) 'screw you' to normality so Warner perhaps represents something more subtle - the appropriation of the rebellious other to express something quieter, more personal and more 'English'.

This book, it has to be said, though very readable, is over 500 pages long. Faxneld not only insists on proving every point but linking every point to every other relevant point in the text and in the excellent foot-notes. This results in some insistent repetition of themes as if writing a symphony.

However, despite this, it is a valuable and informative read with one major virtue. Despite being a man writing about feminism, he is definitely not afraid of ideologically feminist academics. This is incredibly refreshing. It is perhaps an early sign of the end of liberal ideological totalitarianism.


On more than one occasion, he carefully and courteously exposes examples of feminist academics projecting their own ideological assumptions and needs on the past. This is a model of honest historical and literary scholarship - 'old school' in the best sense.

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exhaustive book that explores the hermeneutical strategies and counter-readings of Genesis 3, the devil, Lucifer, Satan, Lilith, and other demonic imagery that was employed by radicals and feminists during the 19th century to challenge patriarchal norms and other forms of social coercion. This book is very interesting and had me looking up many artists and writers of the romantic, gothic, decadent, and symbolist movements.

It is an academic book though and as such there are many pages devoted to cataloging collected sources, and it is over 500 pages until we get to the bibliography (500 pages in an academic book is as exhausting as 1000 pages found in a normal text), so I was beginning to feel a little ragged by books end.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting thought process, some very good sources, heavy focus on romanticism. Well written, well researched, and quite enjoyable - though not always linear and often barely scratched the surface of some of the richest material sources. Absolutely worth a read for both feminists and religious scholars, but serves more an introduction to the material than a complete compendium. The Chicago Manual style was fantastic, and I used the book as a springboard for further research many times. If interested in delving into material beyond the feminist perspective, I would also recommend "The Birth of Satan:Tracing the Devil's Biblical Roots" by Wray and Mobley.

[Seth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my all time favorite non-fiction books. I'm a book seller and I have been recommending this to customers at least one a month since I got my job. Satanism is so misunderstood and this book is a must-read for digging into why Satanism is political, feminist, and overall wonderful.

[Raheis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is really awesome.

[Pia Lebsund · Rating 4 out of 5]

Satanic Feminism:Lucifer as the liberator of wman in nineteenth-century culture by Per Faxneld

I am still reading this book because it is a well-documented disputation about different philosophies and rituals that influenced people about 150 years ago. The author is focusing on the women and how they liberated themselves with separate ways. I studied one of the most famous artists that time by looking at her art exhibitions since the late 1990-th. She was not famous at that time. Not until 2013 and now after the movie about her. She was coming from a noble family in Sweden and studied arts.In the beginning her work was traditional. But something happened to her. Let say a spiritual belonging to paint different. I read quite many books about her Hilma Klint and yes, she was interested in theosophy, anthroposophy and automat writing messages. As I do understand, she was stepping out the negative influences from those rituals and making her own way out of it. She was just one of the artists at that time. I do not agree that feminism came out of going the other direction from God the savor to reach satanic message. Neither do I think the female liberation to make her voice heard was coming out of this. But woman had a very suppressed life that time They could not vote for themselves. Speak for themselves. Own their own business. They needed protege from their father, brother, or husband. To liberate themselves from this is not satanic. It is the opposite. At least 50 % of the population are women and we need them to contribute the society in an equal way. I have another approach as I am having big roots from the Jewish traditions and in the old bible, we had already prophetes, judges as women and more in ancient time.

[Lena Prado · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muy bien escrito para la media de las tesis convertidas en libros. Fácil de leer a pesar del bombardeo constante de información y referencias. Contrasta múltiples enfoques académicos sobre el tema, aportando además un enfoque propio, lo cual lo convierte en el análisis más detallado escrito sobre este fenómeno tan de específico.

Eso sí, no trata de satanismo si no de como la misogínia religiosa ha llevado a que la liberación femenina este asociada con Satán, tanto desde fuera como desde dentro del movimiento feminista. Antes de entrar a analizar textos literarios de finales del diecinueve, hace un interesante repaso a mitos como el pecado original y su influencia en la construcción de lo femenino en las sociedades cristianas.

Punto extra por dejar claro que Stoker era un misógino y Dracula un panfleto antifeminista 🙃

[Sophy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sheer size of this book can feel daunting before going in, but it will definitely give you a lot of satanism for the bucks. While being a surprisingly light read, there are a lot of depth and analysis of a multitude of subjects related to satanic feminism for those who are interested to learn more about how such a diversely prolific figure as the devil has been used as a figurehead for everything from women’s suffrage to anarchy.

Faxnelds’s prose is eloquent without ever being stuffy or pretentious. His dry humor sits well with me and adds a lovely flavor to the subjects discussed.

I warmly recommend this book to anyone who has ever been sitting in their teenage bedroom with black candles lit while listening to black metal, reading tarot cards and feeling generally fed up with the conformity of life and society.

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Literature analysis of feminist works and how they sought to overturn the Christian patriarchy by subverting religious texts, particularly Genesis 3 (Eve and the apple; Satan as an evil tempter vs. Satan as the gifter of knowledge and female emancipation). The patriarchy clapped back by calling these women satanists and witches, and the feminists just leaned into it harder. This is a VERY broad summary of an incredibly detailed dissertation. The only reason I gave it two stars ("it was OK") is because it's a hearty slog to read through. The writing is lacking in refinement and style. Had it been edited better, it probably wouldn't have come off so clunky.

[Alistair Rey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched with compelling arguments. The subject is an interesting facet of nineteenth-century culture that is often passed over in studies of feminism, the New Woman, and counter-cultural trends. Faxneld examines politics, literature, performance, esotericism, and material culture, shedding light on both mainstream and peripheral intellectual figures across Europe and the United States.

[Vostok_landing_gear · Rating 5 out of 5]

A super cool read and a magical thesis! Well written and dense with knowledge. The feeling of the symbolic meaning with Lucifer as a liberator is so nice. Love how this topic brings out a wider outlook on the conventional attitude towards what's good and bad in the world.

[Veronika Briatková · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very detailed. The reason for 4 starts and not 5 - some points/arguments are repeated too many times. The book could have been shorter and therefore it would make the reading sometimes less tedious. But it was still worth it :)

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thorough study on satanism and feminism

If you want a perfectly well written and research study of satanism and feminism this is the book you need. Amazing read.

[senseijutsu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Iluminada de conocimiento. Particularmente toda la primera parte me gustó muchísimo.

[reqbat · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me literal YEARS to finish this thing, literally six or seven. It’s informative, well-researched, but BIG, and verbose AF.

[Holl Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

thoroughly researched, very interesting!

[Eduardo Lira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Las morras traumadas me hacen daño, pero yo las perdono.

[Emilia Sur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever asked yourself if Eve was not the villain of the story? And why not the strong and audacious one? And what if the snake was in fact a rather positive force, the trigger to follow our quest for knowledge?
She was curios, and she dared to take the bite. And the world changed.
It is turning the story on its head... or just a new perspective. And this book is the exploration of how the 19th and beginning of the 20. century women have challenged the traditional reading of the biblical episode which justified barring women from their chances, as being seen as the weaker sex. Eve's choice branded as "mistake" ensured that in society the decisive contributions were the male prerogative for many many centuries.
But what if Eve's act was one of bravery, if God was being high on tyranny and the Devil an opener of perspectives?
Well, this is a different story: of emancipation, of women living their full potential and breaking barriers is the key to progress. It is the story of the perception of the devil not as the horrible foe, but as stimulating force ... and it is this story that you will find in this book!

What a magnificent book! The whole concept turned out to be even better that the title of the book promised.
Per Faxneld offers a very meticulously researched analysis and well-explained thesis. The bibliography is my dream library! And the people - formidable women, intelligent, creative, subversive and fascinating - you meet (for the first time or again) in these pages, what a treat!

I wish Goodreads allowed higher ratings than 5 stars - this book more than deserves them!