Turku Society for the Spiritual Sciences
{{Short description|An occult group founded by Pekka Siitoin}}
Turku Society for the Spiritual Sciences (Finnish: Turun Hengentieteen Seura) was an occult group founded by Pekka Siitoin on September 1, 1971.Häkkinen, Perttu; Iitti, Vesa (2022). Lightbringers of the North: Secrets of the Occult Tradition of Finland. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-64411-464-3. p. 133
Activities
File:Ritual performed by Pekka Siitoin.jpg in the Turku Society for the Spiritual Sciences|245x245px]]
The society stated its founding principles as "promot[ing] nationalist patriotic activity [and] development of Aryan spirituality". The society also stated opposition to capitalism, communism and "the Jewish religion based on Jehovah's tyranny." Speakers included Aino Kassinen, personal clairvoyant of Marshal Mannerheim, President Risto Ryti, and Johannes Virolainen. The honorary chairman of the society was Boris Popper, white emigre satanist and ex-gulag inmate.Aleksi Mainio : Terroristien pesä. Suomi ja taistelu Venäjästä 1918–1939. Siltala 2015, luku "Pomminheittäjä saapuu Brysselistä", sivut 255-261 Popper would make incendiary speeches against Jewish people and communism in the society's premises. Another prominent member was ex-French Foreign Legion soldier Timo Pekkala, who acted as a military trainer for Siitoin's other neo-Nazi group Patriotic Popular Front.Häkkinen, Iitti 2022 p.137, 147 The society allegedly performed Satanic orgies, which researcher of religion Pekka Iitti opined might not be "far off from the truth".Häkkinen, Iitti 2022 p.142
Although Siitoin bragged the Society had 1000 members, the meetings usually had about 50 attendees at most.Häkkinen, Iitti 2022 p.116
The communists in Finnish parliament inquired about the society, whether its activities would harm the relations with the Soviet Union.Häkkinen, Iitti 2022 p.122 The society was banned in July 1977. However, Siitoin would go on to form several, even more openly neo-Nazi groups.Häkkinen, Iitti 2022 p.147 Several of the perpetrators of Kursiivi printing house arson in November 1977 were members of the society.{{cite web|url=https://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2015/05/04/pekka-siitoin-oli-uusfasismin-kasvot-suomessa|title=Pekka Siitoin Was the New Face of Neo-Fascism in Finland [in Finnish]|accessdate=24 July 2017|date=4 May 2015|publisher=Finnish Broadcasting Company|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150506042418/http://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2015/05/04/pekka-siitoin-oli-uusfasismin-kasvot-suomessa|archivedate=6 May 2015}}Häkkinen, Iitti 2022 p. 137, 142
Press
The society operated its own printing house that published books on the paranormal, Satanism, occultism and Holocaust denial, most of which were written by Siitoin. According to Yleisradio, the press was notable during its time for publishing Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, or the Black Bible and making it accessible in Finnish.{{cite web|url=https://yle.fi/a/74-20090240|title=Rivologiaa ja salatieteitä: Turun metsissä on manattu henkiä ja tuomiokirkostakin löytyy pentagrammi|work=Yleisradio|date=31 October 2024}}Häkkinen, Iitti (2022). p. 146
Theology
Siitoin believed in neo-Gnosticism and Theosophy and combined these with antisemitism and Satanism. To him, Lucifer, Satan and Jesus were subordinate to the Monad, and could be worshiped together. According to Siitoin Moses invented magic, but jealous Demiurge-Jehovah seeks to obscure its knowledge from the Gentiles. Lucifer was also a Promethean figure who created the original humanity and granted them wisdom so that they would evolve to be equal to Gods in time, while Jehovah created the Jewish race to usurp Lucifer's power and lord over humanity. Siitoin was also influenced by Christian apocrypha, like the Gospel of Judas and to him Jesus was an agent of the Monad and Lucifer against the Demiurge. These are combined with elements of Finnish folk magic.Western Esotericism in Scandinavia, 2016, p. 326-328. Edited by Henrik Bogdan and Olav Hammer. {{ISBN|978-90-04-30241-9}}Granholm, Kennet. “‘Worshipping the Devil in the Name of God’: Anti-Semitism, Teosophy and Christianity in the Occult Doctrines of Pekka Siitoin.” Journal for the Academic Study of Magic, no. 5 (2009): 256–286.Pasanen, T. (2021). Christus verus Luciferus, Demon est Deus Inversus: Pekka Siitoin’s Spiritism Board. Temenos - Nordic Journal for the Study of Religion, 57(2), 181–207. https://doi.org/10.33356/temenos.107763Keronen, Jiri: Pekka Siitoin teoriassa ja käytännössä. Helsinki: Kiuas Kustannus, 2020. ISBN 978-952-7197-21-9
Legacy
In 1981 after he was released from prison, Siitoin refounded the organization as "National-Mythological Society" (Kansallis-Mytologinen Yhdistys).
In 2010, a group calling themselves new Turku Society for the Spiritual Sciences was founded. In 2012 they held a ritual to "consecrate Finland to Satan". About 500 people said on Facebook that they would attend the event, but it is unknown how many actually did attend.{{cite web|url=https://www.kotimaa.fi/suomen-vihkiminen-saatanalle-on-parodiaa/|title="Suomen vihkiminen Saatanalle" on parodiaa|work=Kotimaa|date=31 October 2024}}
See also
- Process Church, organization with similar theology
- Order of Nine Angles, a notorious Nazi-satanist group