This story was published in Huck Magazine, April 2019.
In a time of chaos and uncertainty, when traditional belief systems no longer seem to have all the answers, more and more young people are finding comfort in Satanism. But these aren’t devil worshippers who drink blood or sacrifice animals. They’re just regular people trying to squeeze the most out of life.
On the surface, everything about Misty Tyers’ life seems perfectly ordinary. She’s a barber who’s good at what she does – so good that her time gets booked out months in advance. She also loves music and, every year, goes on a week-long heavy metal cruise with 60 bands and 3,000 people. And when Misty’s not moshing or cutting hair, she’s lifting weights. Kettlebells, to be precise. She’s good at that, too, and hopes to make the world championships in Serbia this year.
But something in the 32-year-old’s bedroom hints at a life less ordinary. In between the weights and medals from her athletic endeavours, on top of a green and red chest of drawers, sits Misty’s Satanic altar.
“I credit [Satanism] for a lot of the successes in my life,” she explains over the phone from her apartment in Victoria, a city on the southern tip of Canada’s Vancouver Island. “It’s always encouraging you to push yourself. Some people take that into their career, some people take it intellectually, and some people take it physically – like with my weightlifting.”