How Do Satanist Groups Organise? Gangs, Grottos and Congregations

Satanist groups organise through formal membership organisations with named local units: the Church of Satan uses grottos, the Temple of Set uses pylons, and The Satanic Temple uses chapters and congregations. The "satanic gang" is not one of these structures. It is a product of the Satanic Panic, and the FBI found no evidence that organised satanic criminal networks existed.

Key Takeaways

• The three largest Satanist organisations are the Church of Satan (founded 1966), the Temple of Set (1975), and The Satanic Temple (2013). Each organises differently.
• Church of Satan grottos are local groups that were dissolved in 1975, revived in the 1990s, and are now de-emphasised in favour of individual membership.
• The Satanic Temple runs a chapter and congregation model with ordained ministers, and gained IRS church recognition in the United States in 2019.
• The Temple of Set organises into pylons (local groups) and orders (interest-based groups), with a six-degree initiatory system.
• Organised satanic criminal gangs are a myth. The 1992 FBI report by Kenneth Lanning found no corroborating evidence for claims of large-scale satanic ritual crime networks.
• Most self-identified Satanists are not members of any group at all. Solitary practice is the norm, not the exception.

What are the main types of Satanist organisation?

Satanist groups fall into four organisational models: the centralised hierarchy, the federated chapter network, the initiatory order, and the decentralised cell. Which one a group uses tells you a great deal about what it actually wants.

Centralised hierarchy. A single governing body issues membership, grants degrees, and holds doctrinal authority. Local groups exist at the centre's discretion. The Church of Satan works this way.

Federated chapter network. Local chapters have real operational independence, elect their own leadership, and run their own campaigns, while a central body holds the brand and sets minimum standards. The Satanic Temple works this way, with the friction you would expect from that arrangement.

Initiatory order. Membership progresses through graded degrees, with advancement controlled by those already holding higher degrees. Local groups function as study and working units. The Temple of Set works this way.

Decentralised cell. No central authority, no membership roll, no formal recognition. Groups form and dissolve independently and claim a shared name. The Order of Nine Angles works this way, and the model is a large part of why it is dangerous.

For the wider question of what these groups actually believe, what Satanists believe and the different types or branches of Satanism cover the doctrinal side properly.

What is a grotto in the Church of Satan?

A grotto is the Church of Satan's name for a local group of members meeting in a particular area. The term comes from the organisation's founding period and has had an unusually stop-start history.

Anton LaVey founded the Church of Satan in San Francisco in 1966 and established grottos as regional units through the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1975, LaVey dissolved the grotto system entirely, in a restructuring often referred to within the organisation as "Phase IV". His stated reasoning was that grottos had begun attracting people who wanted a social club and a costume rather than a philosophy, and that the organisation was accumulating members who needed a group to tell them who to be. This is, depending on your view, either a sharp piece of quality control or the single most Anton LaVey decision ever recorded.

The grotto system was reinstated in a limited form during the 1990s. Under current practice, the Church of Satan permits grottos but does not require or particularly promote them. Membership is primarily individual and administered centrally.

The organisation's structure includes a Council of Nine as its governing body, and a five-degree hierarchy:

1. First Degree - Satanist (Active member)
2. Second Degree - Witch or Warlock
3. Third Degree - Priestess or Priest of Satan
4. Fourth Degree - Magistra or Magister Templi Rex
5. Fifth Degree - Maga or Magus

Peter H. Gilmore has served as High Priest since 2001, following LaVey's death in 1997. More on the founder is in who is Anton LaVey, and the organisation itself is covered in what is the Church of Satan.

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How does The Satanic Temple organise its chapters and congregations?

The Satanic Temple organises through local chapters, which can develop into formally recognised congregations, overseen by a central body known as TST International. It is the most federated of the major Satanist organisations, and the most publicly active.

The Satanic Temple was founded in 2013 by Lucien Greaves (the public name of Douglas Mesner) and Malcolm Jarry. It is explicitly non-theistic: members do not believe in a literal Satan, and use the figure as a symbol of rebellion against arbitrary authority. Its structure includes:

• Chapters. Local groups organised geographically, with chapters across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, and Finland.
• Congregations. Chapters that meet additional criteria and function as recognised religious communities.
• Ordained ministry. The Satanic Temple ordains ministers, who can perform functions including weddings where legally permitted.
• Campaigns. Much chapter activity is directed at legal and political campaigning rather than ritual practice.

The Satanic Temple was recognised as a church by the United States Internal Revenue Service in 2019, granting it tax-exempt status. That recognition was strategically central rather than incidental: much of the organisation's legal argument depends on being treated as a religion equal in standing to any other.

The federated model has produced real friction. Chapter disputes and departures have occurred, including a widely reported split involving the Washington state chapter in 2018 and subsequent litigation between the organisation and former members. A structure that gives local groups genuine autonomy and then asks them to stay on message will generate this sort of thing more or less permanently.

The organisation's guiding principles are set out in the 7 Tenets of Satanism, and the organisation more broadly in what is The Satanic Temple.

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What is a pylon in the Temple of Set?

A pylon is the Temple of Set's name for a local working group of members. The organisation also uses orders, which are interest-based groups organised around a particular area of study rather than geography.

The Temple of Set was founded in 1975 by Michael Aquino and other members who left the Church of Satan following disagreements over LaVey's restructuring and his handling of priesthood appointments. Unlike the Church of Satan and The Satanic Temple, the Temple of Set is theistic: it holds Set to be a real entity, identified with the ancient Egyptian deity rather than with the Christian Satan.

Its structure is initiatory, with six degrees:

1. Setian I°
2. Adept II°
3. Priest or Priestess of Set III°
4. Magister or Magistra Templi IV°
5. Magus or Maga V°
6. Ipsissimus or Ipsissima VI°

Advancement to second degree and beyond is recognised by existing higher-degree members rather than claimed. Pylons function as local study and working units under the direction of a Sentinel.

The distinction between this and the more atheistic organisations matters, and is covered in what is atheistic Satanism.

How do the major Satanist organisations compare?

Organisation	Founded	Local unit	Theistic?	Governing body	Membership model
Church of Satan	1966	Grotto	No	Council of Nine	Individual, centrally administered
Temple of Set	1975	Pylon, Order	Yes	Council of Nine, Executive Director	Initiatory, degree-based
The Satanic Temple	2013	Chapter, Congregation	No	TST International	Chapter-based, federated
Global Order of Satan	2018	National section	No	Elected board	Chapter-based, democratic
Order of Nine Angles	c.1970s	Nexion	Yes	None	Decentralised, no recognised authority

The Global Order of Satan formed in 2018, largely from members and chapters departing The Satanic Temple, and adopted a more democratic governing model with elected leadership. Its existence is a useful illustration of what happens when a federated organisation's chapters decide the centre is holding too much.

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Were there ever satanic gangs?

No. Organised satanic criminal gangs, in the sense claimed during the 1980s and 1990s, did not exist. This has been examined by law enforcement directly and repeatedly, and the claims did not survive investigation.

The most authoritative examination is the 1992 report by Kenneth Lanning, a Supervisory Special Agent at the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit, titled "Investigator's Guide to Allegations of 'Ritual' Child Abuse". Lanning investigated the allegations sympathetically and at length. He found no corroborated evidence of the large-scale, organised, intergenerational satanic cult networks that had been alleged. His conclusion was blunt: after years of investigation, the physical evidence for a nationwide satanic conspiracy did not exist.

That finding has held. The Satanic Panic produced convictions that were later overturned, therapeutic practices that have since been discredited, and a lasting public association between Satanism and criminal conspiracy that had no basis in fact.

Three clarifications are worth making, because the honest version is more useful than the reassuring one:

Individual crimes have been committed by people claiming satanic motivation. This is true, and it is a different claim from the existence of organised networks. Individual offenders have invoked a range of ideologies. The invocation is not the same as the organisation.

Some groups using satanic imagery are genuinely dangerous. The Order of Nine Angles is the clearest current example. It is a decentralised network associated with neo-Nazi ideology, and it has been linked to violent extremism, with members and associates prosecuted in the United Kingdom and the United States. Mainstream Satanist organisations, including the Church of Satan and The Satanic Temple, reject it explicitly. It is not a grotto system gone wrong. It is a separate phenomenon that uses the vocabulary.

"Satanic gang" in tabloid usage usually means neither of these. It has most often been applied to teenagers with pentagram graffiti and a bad music collection.

How do you actually join a Satanist organisation?

Joining a Satanist organisation is generally a matter of an application and a fee, not an initiation ceremony or a personal introduction. The process is closer to joining a professional body than to anything the films suggest.

The typical routes:

1. Church of Satan. Registered membership requires a one-time application and fee, and confers no obligations. Active membership involves a further application process. There is no ceremony, no interview by candlelight, and no requirement to attend anything.
2. The Satanic Temple. Basic membership is free and involves registering online. Chapter membership involves a separate application to the local chapter, which typically includes some vetting.
3. Temple of Set. Application, fee, and an initial period as a Setian I°. Progression beyond that requires recognition by higher-degree members.
4. Solitary practice. No application, no fee, no organisation. This is what most Satanists actually do.

That last point is the one most often missed. Estimates of the total number of Satanists are covered in how many Satanists are there in the world, and the consistent finding is that formal membership figures for all organisations combined are far lower than the number of people who identify with the philosophy. The organisation is optional. It always has been.

What do Satanist groups actually do when they meet?

Satanist group meetings are mostly discussion, administration, social activity, and public campaigning, with ritual forming a smaller part than outsiders expect. What happens depends heavily on which organisation you are looking at.

Church of Satan grottos historically ran social events, discussion evenings, and ritual workings. Given the current de-emphasis on grottos, most member activity is individual.

Satanic Temple chapters run public campaigns, community service projects, fundraising drives, and social events. Blood drives, beach clean-ups, and menstrual product donations are common chapter activities, partly on principle and partly because the visual of Satanists running a food bank does the organisation's argument for it.

Temple of Set pylons focus on study, discussion of set texts, and individual and group magical work. It is the most scholastic of the three.

The ritual dimension, where it exists, is covered in are there Satanic rituals or ceremonies.

How has online organising changed Satanist groups?

Online organising has shifted Satanist groups from geographically constrained local units toward distributed networks, and has made solitary practice substantially easier to sustain. It has also made schism faster.

Three specific effects:

Membership no longer requires proximity. A Satanist in a small town once had a choice between correspondence membership and nothing. Discussion forums, Discord servers, and social media groups have removed that constraint. The local grotto is no longer the only way to meet anyone.

Doctrinal disputes play out publicly and quickly. Disagreements that would once have circulated through newsletters over months now resolve, or fail to resolve, in days. The formation of the Global Order of Satan in 2018 and the various Satanic Temple chapter departures are recognisable examples of this pattern.

Public-facing campaigning became the primary activity for some groups. The Satanic Temple's model depends on visibility, and visibility is cheaper online. The broader shift is covered in how Satanism has evolved in the digital age.

FAQ

Do Satanists have churches or buildings? Some do. The Satanic Temple operates a headquarters in Salem, Massachusetts, which functions as an art gallery and public building. The Church of Satan operated from LaVey's Black House in San Francisco until it was demolished in 2001, and now has no public building. Most local groups meet in members' homes or hired rooms, in the manner of any small organisation without property.

What is the difference between a grotto and a chapter? A grotto is the Church of Satan's term for a local group and exists at the central organisation's discretion, with limited independent authority. A chapter is The Satanic Temple's term for a local group and has significantly more operational autonomy, including electing its own leadership and running its own campaigns. The difference reflects the two organisations' broader structures.

Are Satanist groups legally recognised as religions? In some jurisdictions, yes. The Satanic Temple was granted tax-exempt church status by the United States Internal Revenue Service in 2019. The Church of Satan has held recognition in various contexts since the 1960s, and Satanism has been recognised for purposes such as military chaplaincy records and prisoner religious accommodation in some countries. Recognition varies considerably by country. See is Satanism a real religion for the fuller picture.

Do you have to join a group to be a Satanist? No. The majority of people who identify as Satanists are not members of any organisation. Both the Church of Satan and The Satanic Temple explicitly state that their philosophies can be held and practised individually. Solitary practice is the default rather than a compromise.

Is the Order of Nine Angles a Satanist group? It self-describes using satanic and Left-Hand Path vocabulary, but it is rejected by the major Satanist organisations and is best understood as a neo-Nazi extremist network that has adopted occult framing. It has been linked to terrorism prosecutions in several countries. Treating it as representative of Satanism is a category error, and one the mainstream organisations have gone out of their way to correct.

How many members do Satanist organisations have? Exact figures are not published reliably by any of the major organisations. The Church of Satan has historically declined to release membership numbers. The Satanic Temple has claimed figures in the hundreds of thousands for basic online membership, though active chapter membership is far smaller. Treat all published numbers with caution, including the ones the organisations prefer.

Did the Church of Satan really abolish its own local groups? Yes. Anton LaVey dissolved the grotto system in 1975, on the grounds that it was attracting members interested in social belonging rather than the philosophy. Grottos were reinstated in limited form in the 1990s. It remains an unusual decision for a membership organisation to make, and it tells you something durable about how the Church of Satan sees the relationship between the individual and the group.

Whether you are a card-carrying member or firmly the solitary sort, our gothic pins, gothic patches, and 3 for £12 accessories let you wear the symbolism without filling in an application form.