It depends on what you’re talking about. Satanism is different than paganism, which in itself comes in dozens of different varieties in its modern form, and it still distinct from the religions practiced in the past. You can’t conflate these things and expect to understand how any of it operates, any more than you can play with magnets and think you’re learning something about how your blood carries oxygen. Pre-Christian and non-Western animist traditions (what you’re talking about) have nothing to do with Satanism.

The occult is a deliberate appeal to the evil things of Christian mythology. It’s not synonymous with European paganism in any way, and it has very few similarities with non-European pagan or animistic traditions as they were actually practiced. The occult is syncretic, in that it borrows ideas or deities from other mythologies (such as Egyptian; Egyptian seems to be popular) but that doesn’t mean it’s an authentic expression of that. For example, nobody in 3000 BC though Isis was a demon, but that might be how she gets interpreted in occult circles. There are a number of magic-oriented religions (Voodoo, Santeria) that are combinations of Christian mythology and indigenous practices that a Christian might label Satanic in nature, but can’t be properly described that way in accordance with their own mythology. It gets really complicated really fast.

As to your question about Satanic rituals being “nonsense”, that’s not entirely true even from a secular academic read. Again, depending on what kind of Satanism somebody is engaging in, there can be (and often is) a high degree of internal logic with clearly delineated beliefs. Rituals might be very well spelled out, with expectations that specific spells, incantations, or sacrificial practices lead to specific results. Whether or not that translates into real-world consequences is a different question. Scrying (for example) doesn’t have to have repeatable, scientific results for there to be a prescribed way to conduct it.

I’m sure there are plenty of little edgelord atheists who view Satanism as little more than a way of telling Christianity to go fuck itself. THere are also likely people who pay lip service to certain occult ideas or beliefs as a cynical attempt to distract or justify their very a-religious depravity. There are other groups that take the idea of embracing the demonic very, very seriously. They take the rules very seriously. It’s not chaos to these people; it’s a short cut to get what they want, and if they have to embrace evil to get it, that’s not a problem.

The goal here is power and control, over both other people and the forces of nature. It’s also about the idea that we are nothing more than animals rutting in the filth of this world. I could speak to how Christians view this, but I admit that I can’t fully put my mind in the headspace of a truely devote Satanist; what I believe about Satan means its impossible for me to understand why somebody would want to dedicate themselves to that. I can’t wrap my head around it any more than I can understand why somebody would molest a baby.

I get what you’re saying, though. Since you believe that there is no such thing as heaven or hell, there’s no point in talking about Satanism cause it’s not “real”. Well, Scientology is not only unproven, but disproven, but understanding the rules of their religion and how its adherents live their lives is key to understanding what they do. It’s also key to knowing how to win against them.

I don’t know what kind of self-declared Satanists we’re dealing with amongst the global elite - likely a mixture of both the happy cynics and true believers - but some knowledge of what they believe and what they do is a good thing to have.

From a Christian perspective, as somebody who does believe in heaven and hell, exposing yourself to this stuff isn’t something you should do lightly, if at all. Christianity believes that this is real and had real power, and is not something you ever want to screw around with. (Of course, there are plenty of happy cynics in Christianity that don’t really believe in evil either, but that’s a whole different conversation).