The late Anton Zandor LeVey, the author to the Satanic Bible,and founder of the Church of Satan, created this religion to slap the Catholic Church. He was totally against an organized religion that inhibited the natural man/woman. This church made a mockery of true satanists and pagans, as much as Christians and other religions.
LeVey admitted he did it for notoriety, money and sex.
Ding...ding...ding!!! We have a winner!
I requested a catalog from a very well known internet purveyor of wiccan/pagan ritual items. This was in 2000 or 2001.
Oh. My. God.
Never have I read anything funnier than that catalog.
The sellers went out and bought a bunch of normal, everyday items from mundane sources, hoked up the item descriptions-and resold the items to the wiccans at a huge markup!
For example:
Remember blueing? Little balls of bleach or detergent or I-don't-know-what that people used to put in with white items? (Still do? I was under the impression that liquid bleach replaced them.) Anyhow-the catalog described them as special "good luck" balls that would wash away bad luck -and "also make your clothes brighter"!
An especially sturdy broom (more for outdoor use than for kitchen use, and which can be purchased at any Orschelin or Home and Garden) was listed as a "besom" for ritual purposes-and at about a 75% markup. Roofing nails-available at any Lowe's-were described as good luck charms to ward off evil-at about 12.00 apiece.
And so on.There were others, but those are the three that really stick in my mind.