4. The production, sales and distribution of occult reading materials and paraphernalia is extremely profitable. The Satanic Bible currently remains a best-selling item in many bookstores; botanicas annually sell billions of dollars of paraphernalia to practitioners of various Afro-Caribbean belief systems; some practitioners charge handsomely to propitiate the gods or to cast a spell; books on historical and contemporary Paganism and Witchcraft have never been more popular; mail order catalogues advertise abundant and expensive occult paraphernalia; and the entertainment industry continues to make phenomenal profits on motion pictures, videos and music that promote occult themes.

5. Occult groups, usually small and intimate in nature, provide feelings of acceptance, personal empowerment and mysticism. Such camaraderie is very attractive to an individual who has felt rejection from larger society or who has never been appropriately socialized. The accompanying box provides an excellent example of how the Church of Satan strives to provide just that sort of comfort level for its initiates.

6. For young people, alternative Satanic subcultures offering non-traditional belief systems provide the things adolescents most desire: a sense of belonging; a belief that they are "worth something"; and the need to 'be somebody." Particularly "at-risk" are youth from middle to upper class families who are intelligent but underachieve; curious beyond normal bounds of curiosity; alienated from family and/or religion; have weak support systems; low self esteem; difficulty relating to peers; and have borderline or sociopathic personalities.

Thus, involvement in occult activity can be motivated by familial, social, psychological, spiritual, or economic f actors, or a combination of all five.

Summary

Currently, at least four types of contemporary American occult ideologies exist, each of which promote very different types of occult activities based upon very different occult-centered philosophies: Neo-Paganism, Witchcraft, Cultural Spiritualism and Satanism.

Neo-Pagans practice a polytheistic nature religion; respect all natural objects as living entities; and participate in rituals that symbolize their understanding of and oneness with the gods and nature.

Witches or Wiccans practice a polytheistic religion known as Witchcraft, Wicca or the Craft which involves worshiping nature deities and encouraging the practice of magic primarily for psychological and environmental purposes.

Cultural spiritual faiths harmoniously blend magic or supernatural rites specific to one particular culture with certain religious traditions specific to another and very different culture.

Santeria, a syncretic belief system that combines the cultural and spiritual beliefs of the Southwestern Nigerian Yoruba tribe with the religious practices of the Catholic faith, involves using magical rituals to propitiate or satisfy a pantheon of gods primarily for positive personal reasons of the practitioner.

Palo Mayombe is a syncretic Afro-Caribbean belief system that combines the cultural and spiritual belief systems of the ancient African Congo tribes with the religious practices of Yoruba slaves and Catholicism. It uses magical rituals that manipulate, captivate and/or control another person most often for the practitioners malevolent purposes.

Satanists believe Satan will bring them personal power over oneself , others and the external environment and, in turn, such power will permit them to live by whatever moral and ethical codes one wishes to adopt.

While it is unknown how many occultists currently practice their diverse faiths, many assume the number ranges somewhere between one and three million. The two largest occult communities are believed to be Pagans and/or Wiccans with somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 adherents and practitioners of Santeria and Palo Mayombe which number as high as 1.5 million. Currently, there are no known or reliable estimates of Satanists.

The diverse activities of occult practitioners preclude much similarity. Indeed, occultists share only two things in common: they all adhere to belief systems that radically differ from the Judeo-Christian[sic] tradition of most Americans; and such alternative beliefs often target them for persecution.

In short, they are different. And because they are different, it is paramount that law enforcers understand:

* the ideologies and practices that separate occultists from the mainstream; and

* whether such differences specifically target occultists for protection or for prosecution.

Protection or prosecution, then, is the deciding factor for the law enforcer. Protection enters into the officer's jurisdiction when some group(s) find occult belief systems so frightening, loathsome, irreligious or threatening to their particular belief system and/or lifestyle that they persecute occultists and/or seek to have them stripped of their constitutional rights. Prosecution becomes the officer's goal only when occultists commit criminal actions.

As the next chapter indicates, for some criminally inclined individuals and true occult believers, crime can be both the end and the means for occult involvement. These are the people who cross over the line between involvement in lawful occult activities with First Amendment protections and involvement in illegal occult activity, or occult crime.