RICHARD RAMIREZ - b02-28-60, Ricardo Leyva Ramirez, aka Night Stalker (notoriety), independent

"Richard started reading about Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan in San Francisco. He felt compelled to join their rituals, but eventually shunned the organized cult and preferred to be what he termed a 'lone practitioner.' This belief in Satan was not just a whimsy, but a deep-seated belief in the power of Lucifer to protect and empower his disciples.

"He tried to explain it to his sister when she visited him in L.A. and was alarmed at the changes in him. 'Why Satan, Richie?' she wanted to know. 'Because Satan represents what I feel. I'm not like other people. I'm different...I've got a trade. I'm a thief, Ruth...and a good one...I'm not going to any jail. I'm protected.' ..."

"A burglar, rapist and sadistic serial murderer who terrorized the Los Angeles area in the mid-eighties, he was captured by civilians on August 31, 1985. A self-identified Satanist, Ramirez had actually read The Satanic Bible. His 'calling card' was the inverted pentagram traditionally associated with Satanism, which he left drawn on a wall, or, in one case, carved into the body of a victim. In 1983, he even made a special trip to San Francisco to meet LaVey personally. LaVey was later reported as commenting that, 'I thought Richard was very nice - very shy. I liked him.' "His trial was a media circus. Ramirez would engage in such antics as flashing a pentagram he had drawn in the palm of his hand, shouting 'Hail Satan!' and holding up his fingers alongside his head in imitation of devil's horns. Parts of the statement he made during his sentencing even seemed to echo some of the themes of The Satanic Bible:

I am beyond good and evil.... Lucifer dwells in all of us.... I don't believe in the hypocritical, moralistic dogma of this so-called civilized society. I need not look beyond this courtroom to see all the liars, the haters, the killers, the crooks, the paranoid cowards.... Hypocrites one and all. We are all expendable for a cause. No one knows that better than those who kill for policy, clandestinely or openly, as do the governments of the world which kill in the name of God and country....

"... such individuals [like Ramirez] are criminals who adopt selected aspects of Satanic ideology as a way of justifying anti-social acts."

"In 1985, the phrase ['Hail Satan!'] received national news coverage in the United States when serial killer Richard Ramirez, known as the 'Night Stalker', shouted 'Hail Satan!' as he was led from the courtroom, while raising his hand with a pentagram drawn onto it. Members of Ramirez's family denied that he said the phrase, believing that he said 'We'll see,' but 'Hail Satan' was still being used by journalists over twenty years later as being characteristic of Ramirez. In reviewing whether Ramirez was deprived of his due process and fair trial rights by being restrained by leg shackles, the Supreme Court of California itself highlighted Ramirez's use of 'Hail Satan' to support its conclusion that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in ordering Ramirez to be physically restrained during trial."

"On September 20, 1989, Ramirez, was found guilty on 43 counts, including 13 murders. He is currently on death row at San Quentin Prison in California."

SATANITY, SATANISM, DEVILRY, AND INFERNALITY
The Gospel of Satan: the story of Jesus and the angels, from the perspective of the God of this World
Satanism Bibliography: composite booklist of relevant sources on Satanity and devildom, by category
Satanic Blood Pact: explanation of how, why, and when to make a blood pact with the Devil
      Adversarial AEon Begins: the particular and specific incident of a Satanic Blood Pact described
Manifesto Satanika: a generalized Satanic sociopolitical manifesto, with a helpful elaboration
nocTifer: a tender-hearted Satanian (nagasiva yronwode) in all avenues of expression
      Bookmarks in compilation from the Magus of the AEon of the Adversary

MAGIC, SPELLS, AND DIVINATION
Hoodoo in Theory and Practice by cat yronwode: an introduction to African-American rootwork
      Southern Spirits: 19th and 20th century hoodoo accounts, with ex-slave narratives & interviews
      Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers: readings and hoodoo services
      Hoodoo Library facilitating an education on conjure, and help procuring modern sources
Herb Magic: illustrated descriptions of magic herbs with free spells, and a way to obtain them
Free Spells from eclectic witches, Coven Kyklos, in their Book of Shadows, called "Spiritual Spells"
Lucky Mojo Spell Archives: love spells, money spells, luck spells, protection spells, and more
Mystic Tea Room: tea leaf reading, teacup divination, and a museum of antique fortune telling cups
Tarosymbolismatrix Tetraktypisciseferoticus: the symbolic foundation of a novel Tarot deck
Change Oracle: rudiments of Yijing (I Ching) and several means of using it for readings
Lucky W Amulet Archive by cat yronwode: an online museum of worldwide talismans and charms
Usenet FAQ Archive: arcane and spiritual FAQs and REFs, brought to you by Lucky Mojo
YIPPIE: the Yronwode Institution, bearing the standard of indigenous ethnomagicology

OCCULTISM, MYSTICISM, AND RELIGION
Arcane Archive: thousands of archived usenet posts on religion, magic, mysticism, and spirituality
Missionary Independent Spiritual Church: inter-faith; candle services; Smallest Church in the World
Sacred Sex: essays and articles on neo-tantra, karezza, sex magic, and sex worship
Aleister Crowley Text Archive: a multitude of texts by an early 20th century occultist