Exclusive: Satanist on ‘slaughtering kittens’ and seeking truth

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When Johann Robbertse asked me to postpone the interview for an hour in order for him to clean up his flat, I was confused — after all, the man worships the master of chaos, doesn’t he?

I found an unassuming, soft-spoken 39-year-old with boyish looks who wears a Land Rover t-shirt when I arrived to meet him. Hardly the stuff that nightmares are made of — Robbertse is also a satanist.

He refers to himself as a ‘seeker of truth’ saying his spiritual journey started in Grade 5 when he started questioning the hypocrisy of the Christian religion that he was born into. By the age of 14 he already was researching the occult and other religions elaborately.

At 17, he joined the Spiritualist church where he soon became a ‘healer’ who led meditation groups. But he couldn’t quench his spiritual thirst, so he reached a ‘ceiling in his spiritual evolution’.

A white sangoma led him onto paganism and wicca (white witchcraft) when she lent him a book called The witches’ way. He pursued the path of sympathetic magic and paganism for the next few years and became the high priest of his coven, but when a fellow member went on a killing spree and killed his own father, brother and a colleague of his brother, negative attention from the police caused the coven to disintegrate.

“My friend had serious psychological problems and none of us were into satanism at that stage, but just because we were pagans, the police jumped to the clichéd conclusion that ‘the devil made my friend do it’,” says Robbertse.

After following the pagan way, Robberts submerged himself in Scientology but when he turned to his new faith for help in a dark time he was shunned because financially he could not afford the next levels he had to master.

“The deeper you go into Scientology the more it costs, and that was against my ideas of spirituality so I stuffed them,” says Robbertse.

Then, four and a half years ago, Robbertse decided to become a satanist after lengthy research.

Robbertse says the best way to describe his peculiar branch of satanism (he belongs to the international Church of Satan, founded in 1966 by the controversial Anton LaVey who also authored the Satanic Bible) is at the hand of the 11 Rules of the earth, the Nine Satanic Statements and the Nine Satanic Sins.

Contrary to other branches of satanism such as theistic or spiritual satanism (followers believe that the devil and God, angels and demons actually exist), the Church of Satan is atheistic. Robbertse says they do not believe in any other gods or an afterlife but that man has the potential to become god-like.

“We are all animals, there’s little difference between us and for instance a dog, except for our intellect and unfortunately more often than not, our intellect make us the most vicious animals around,” says Robbertse.

He also says this shows that the whole perception of satanists slaughtering animals for ritual purposes is just a myth.

According to The Nine Statements of Satanism, satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence, vital existence instead of spiritual pipe dreams (living full out here and now instead of putting your life on ice in exchange for a heaven or other afterlife), undefined wisdom instead of hypocrisy, kindness to those who deserve it instead of love wasted on ingrates, vengeance instead of turning the other cheek, responsibility towards the responsible instead of concern for psychic vampires (individuals and organisation who try to gain benefit through emotionally blackmailing the individual), man as just another animal, all of the ‘so-called sins’ as they mentally, physically and emotionally gratify and satan as the ‘best friend of the church since he kept them in business for the past few centuries’.

The 11 Rules of the Earth also known as the Lex Satanicus teaches the follower not to give opinion or advice unless its asked for; not to tell your troubles to all and sundry unless you are sure they want to hear them; when in someone else’s lair show respect, if in your own lair and a person annoys you, you have the right to retaliate accordingly; not to make sexual advances unless you receive the mating signal; not to take what does not belong to you; acknowledge the power of magic; do not complain about anything that you do not have to subject yourselves to; do not harm little children; not to kill non-humans unless its for food or self-protection; and when walking in an open space not to bother anyone.

Robbertse points out that breaking the law by for example taking drugs is forbidden in the Church of Satan and says although individualism and sexual freedom are regarded highly, indulgence in orgies is a myth.

Finally Robbertse expounds the Nine Satanistic Sins.

According to the Church of Satanism stupidity, pretentiousness, solipsism, self-deceit, herd conformity, lack of perspective, forgetfulness of past orthodoxies, counter-productive pride and a lack of aesthetics will make you burn … well nowhere.

“Heaven and hell is what you make it,” says Robbertse. “For example drug addiction would be a hell you created for yourself.

“The bottom line is that satanism is for anyone who is a strong believer in individualism, personal freedom and indulgence,” says Robbertse as the interview comes to an end.

Anyone who wants to contact Robbertse for more information can do so on 072 197 9999.

*The views expressed in this article are neither those of the author nor of the record.