quality:corruption, structural:reformatting
Joy of Satan

Joy of Satan is a western esoteric occult organization that combines Satanism, the ancient alien astronaut "hypothesis", and antisemitism. It was founded in the early 2000s by Maxine Dietrich (pseudonym of Andrea Maxine Dietrich), wife of the American National Socialist Movement 's co-founder and former leader Clifford Herrington. With its inception, spiritual Satanism was born – a current that until recently was regarded only as "theist", but then defined into "Spiritual Satanism" by theistic Satanists who concluded that the term "spiritual" in Satanism represented the best answer to the world, considering it a "moral slap" toward the earlier carnal and materialistic LaVeyan Satanism, and instead focusing its attention upon spiritual evolution. Joy of Satan presents a unique synthesis of theistic Satanism, Nazism, Gnosticism, Paganism, Western esotericism, UFO conspiracy theories, and extraterrestrial hypotheses similar to those popularized by Zecharia Sitchin and David Icke.

Members of Joy of Satan are generally polytheists, believing that Satan is one of many deities. While Satan and demons are considered deities within JoS, the deities themselves are understood to be highly evolved, un-aging, sentient, and powerful humanoid extraterrestrial beings. Satan and many demons are equated with gods from ancient cultures, some of which include the Sumerian god Enki, and the Yazidi angel Melek Taus being seen as Satan, borrowing their theistic Satanist interpretations of Enki from the writings of Zecharia Sitchin, and Melek Taus partially deriving from the writings of Anton LaVey. Satan is seen not only as an important deity but a powerful and sentient being responsible for the creation of humanity. Satan is also revered by JoS as "the true father and creator God of humanity", the bringer of knowledge, and whose desire is for his creations, humans, to elevate themselves through knowledge and understanding.

In their beliefs, Yazidism (a pre-Islamic religion of about one million members found mainly in northern Iraq, that holds that Melek Taûs/ Tawûsî Melek, "the Peacock Angel", is the leader of the archangels and functions as the ruler of the world; but who Muslims believe is a fallen angel), is in juxtaposition with Satanism as they consider the two share similar elements, such as Yazidi devotees being defined by Muslims as "devotees to Shaytan " and regarded as Satanists. It is also believed that the figure of Melek Taus, the peacock angel, may derive from much older pagan deities, such as Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of wisdom who rides a peacock, or even the god Indra, who transforms into a peacock. The story of Melek Taus itself is also considered by JoS to have many satanic elements, such as being described as the angel who rebelled against the Abrahamic god. The sacred text of the Yazidis, the Al-Jilwah, is claimed by the JoS as the word of Satan.

While maintaining some popularity as a theistic Satanist sect, the group has been widely criticized for its association with the National Socialist Movement and its racial anti-Jewish, anti-Judaic, and anti-Christian sentiment, as well as its anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Much of their beliefs on aliens, meditation, and telepathic contacts with demons have become popular in a larger milieu within the currents of recent non-LaVeyan theistic Satanism. According to Petersen's survey (2014), Joy of Satan's angelfire network has a surprising prominence among theistic Satanist websites on the internet. In addition, James R. Lewis's "Satan census" (2009) also revealed a presence of respondents to Joy of Satan.