Hail Satan

What it is

Hail Satan is an exclamation that calls on the name of Satan. Some Satanists use it as a sincere greeting or ritual invocation. Others deploy it for shock, comedy, or as a symbol of rebellion against mainstream religion. Its Latin form, Ave Satanas, appears in the same range of contexts. The Satanic Temple treats the phrase as an expression of rational inquiry freed from what it sees as superstition rooted in old tradition. The phrase sits at the crossroads of religious ritual, pop culture, and provocation.

Where it comes from

The phrase is documented as early as 1808 in the poem The Monk of Cambray, spoken by a fictional monk who bargains with Satan to climb the Catholic Church hierarchy. Latin versions appear in an 1862 play, St. Clement's Eve, and in the 1895 novel The Sorrows of Satan. It entered wide public awareness through Ira Levin's 1967 novel Rosemary's Baby and its 1968 film adaptation, where characters say it when they believe Satan's will has been fulfilled.

How it is done

In the Church of Satan, founded in 1966, the phrase became a standard greeting and ritual term. The Latin form Ave Satanas was often preceded by Rege Satanas, meaning Reign, Satan. This combination appears in early Church of Satan correspondence, their 1968 recording The Satanic Mass, and their 1969 book The Satanic Bible. In versions of the Black Mass, the phrase often accompanies the Hebrew-derived term shemhamforash and is said at the close of each prayer.

Tools and materials

No special tools are associated with the phrase itself. When it appears in acts of vandalism, it may be written alongside symbols such as the inverted pentagram, the inverted cross, the anarchy symbol, the swastika, or other slogans meant to shock, including racial slurs.

What it is for

Satanists use it as a greeting and affirmation. For heavy metal fans and musicians it functions as a rebellious gesture, often used ironically rather than as literal worship. Ozzy Osbourne, a Church of England member, used it as part of a stage persona. John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats described his band's use of the phrase as a celebration of self-knowledge and people being true to themselves, comparing that impulse to a Miltonic rather than a dark-horror image of Satan. It also serves comedic and parodic purposes in television and sketch comedy.

Who does it

Members of the Church of Satan and The Satanic Temple use it in their gatherings and correspondence. Heavy metal musicians use it as part of performance. Film and television writers place it in the mouths of satanic characters. Ordinary people sometimes write it in graffiti. Actors in films such as Rosemary's Baby were reportedly reluctant to say it, and some later claimed they felt negative life events followed.

Peoples and places

The phrase is most associated with American Satanist movements. It circulates in English-speaking heavy metal culture worldwide. The rock band Coven was the first to use it in rock music, on a 1969 album that also featured the sign of the horns and inverted crosses. RuPaul's Drag Race winner Sharon Needles recorded a song titled Hail Satan that cites satanic cultural icons.

What people believe

In the Church of Satan, founded by Anton LaVey, the phrase is a ritual greeting and an affirmation of the individual's will and self-determination, framed without supernatural claims in the case of The Satanic Temple. Some Christian fundamentalists and believers in backmasking hold that hearing Hail Satan in reversed recordings can subliminally push listeners toward evil, a view that gained traction during the broader Satanic panic of the 1980s and 1990s.

When it is done

Rituals involving the phrase tend to receive more media attention around Halloween, though sources do not tie it to a fixed calendar date or festival of its own.

How scholars and sceptics see it

Rick Alan Ross, an anti-cult activist, placed the phrase within what he called the Satanic panic, a period of widespread fear that satanic cults were committing crimes. He used the term Hail Satan pass, comparing it to an unlikely football play, to describe defense attorneys who blamed a supposed satanic cult for murders to avoid their client's conviction. Researchers note that most church vandalism featuring the phrase appears to be the work of rebellious young people rather than organized Satanists, whose activities are seldom criminal.

Compare and confuse

The phrase is sometimes confused with devil worship or with claims of backmasking in rock music. Believers in backmasking claim to hear it in reversed recordings of songs like Aerosmith's Walk This Way. The Academy Award-winning theme for the 1976 film The Omen, titled Ave Satani, was intended to mean Hail Satan in Latin and inverts Christian phrases such as Corpus Christi into Corpus Satani.

Law and persecution

In 1985 the California Supreme Court referenced Ramirez's use of the phrase when reviewing whether he was denied a fair trial by being shackled, concluding the trial court did not abuse its discretion. The phrase is protected speech in the United States, though its appearance in vandalism can lead to criminal charges for property damage.

Today

The phrase continues to circulate in Satanist communities, heavy metal culture, and comedy. It appears in podcasts, animated shows, and horror television, such as American Horror Story: Cult and American Horror Story: Delicate. Its use as parody, as in the Mr. Show sketch about satanic televangelists, shows how far the phrase has traveled from its ritual origins into everyday cultural shorthand.

Questions people ask about Hail Satan

Good reading and sources

• Pick of the day: Satellite, cable & digitalThe Guardian, Article

• Hail Satan on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data