LaVeyan Satanism is a religion founded in
1966 by the American occultist and author
Anton Szandor LaVey. Scholars of religion
have classified it as a new religious movement
and a form of Western esotericism. It is one
of several different movements that describe
themselves as forms of Satanism.
LaVey established LaVeyan Satanism in the
U.S. state of California through the founding
of his Church of Satan on Walpurgisnacht of
1966, which he proclaimed to be "the Year
One", Anno Satanas—the first year of the
"Age of Satan". His ideas were heavily influenced
by the ideas and writings of Friedrich Nietzsche
and Ayn Rand. The Church grew under LaVey's
leadership, with regional grottos being founded
across the United States. A number of these
seceded from the Church to form independent
Satanic organizations during the early 1970s.
In 1975, LaVey abolished the grotto system,
after which Satanism became a far less organized
movement, although remained greatly influenced
by LaVey's writings. In coming years, members
of the Church left it to establish their own
organisations, also following LaVeyan Satanism,
among them John Dewey Allee's First Church
of Satan and Karla LaVey's First Satanic Church.
The religion's doctrines are codified in LaVey's
book, The Satanic Bible. The religion is materialist,
rejecting the existence of supernatural beings,
body-soul dualism, and life after death. Practitioners
do not believe that Satan literally exists
and do not worship him. Instead, Satan is
viewed as a positive archetype representing
pride, carnality, and enlightenment. He is
also embraced as a symbol of defiance against
Abrahamic religions which LaVeyans criticize
for suppressing humanity's natural instincts
and encouraging irrationality. The religion
propagates a naturalistic worldview, seeing
mankind as animals existing in an amoral universe.
It promotes a philosophy based on individualism
and egoism, coupled with Social Darwinism
and anti-egalitarianism.
LaVeyan Satanism involves the practice of
magic, which encompasses two distinct forms;
greater and lesser magic. Greater magic is
a form of ritual practice and is meant as
psychodramatic catharsis to focus one's emotional
energy for a specific purpose. These rites
are based on three major psycho-emotive themes,
including compassion (love), destruction (hate),
and sex (lust). Lesser magic is the practice
of manipulation by means of applied psychology
and glamour (or "wile and guile") to bend
an individual or situation to one's will.
== Definition ==
LaVeyan Satanism – which is also sometimes
termed "Modern Satanism" and "Rational Satanism"
– is classified by scholars of religious
studies as a new religious movement. When
used, "Rational Satanism" is often employed
to distinguish the approach of the LaVeyan
Satanists from the "Esoteric Satanism" embraced
by groups like the Temple of Set. A number
of religious studies scholars have also described
it as a form of "self-religion" or "self-spirituality",
with religious studies scholar Amina Olander
Lap arguing that it should be seen as being
both part of the "prosperity wing" of the
self-spirituality New Age movement and a form
of the Human Potential Movement. Conversely,
the scholar of Satanism Jesper Aa. Petersen
preferred to treat modern Satanism as a "cousin"
of the New Age and Human Potential movements.
The anthropologist Jean La Fontaine described
LaVeyan Satanism as having "both elitist and
anarchist elements", also citing one occult
bookshop owner who referred to the Church's
approach as "anarchistic hedonism". In their
study of Satanism, the religious studies scholars
Asbjørn Dyrendal, James R. Lewis, and Jesper
Aa. Petersen suggested that LaVey viewed his
religion as "an antinomian self-religion for
productive misfits, with a cynically carnivalesque
take on life, and no supernaturalism". The
sociologist of religion James R. Lewis even
described LaVeyan Satanism as "a blend of
Epicureanism and Ayn Rand's philosophy, flavored
with a pinch of ritual magic." The historian
of religion Mattias Gardell described LaVey's
as "a rational ideology of egoistic hedonism
and self-preservation", while Nevill Drury
characterised LaVeyan Satanism as "a religion
of self-indulgence". It has also been described
as an "institutionalism of Machiavellian self-interest".The
Church of Satan rejects the legitimacy of
any other organizations who claim to be Satanists,
dubbing them "Devil worshipers". Prominent
Church leader Blanche Barton described Satanism
as "an alignment, a lifestyle". LaVey and
the Church espoused the view that "Satanists
are born, not made"; that they are outsiders
by their nature, living as they see fit, who
are self-realized in a religion which appeals
to the would-be Satanist's nature, leading
them to realize they are Satanists through
finding a belief system that is in line with
their own perspective and lifestyle.
== Belief ==
=== The Satanic Bible ===
The Satanic Bible has been in print since
1969 and has been translated into various
languages. Lewis argued that although LaVeyan
Satanists do not treat The Satanic Bible as
a sacred text in the way many other religious
groups treat their holy texts, it nevertheless
is "treated as an authoritative document which
effectively functions as scripture within
the Satanic community". In particular, Lewis
highlighted that many Satanists – both members
of the Church of Satan and other groups – quote
from it either to legitimize their own position
or to de-legitimize the positions of others
in a debate. Many other Satanist groups and
individual Satanists who are not part of the
Church of Satan also recognize LaVey's work
as influential.Many Satanists attribute their
conversions or discoveries of Satanism to
The Satanic Bible, with 20% of respondents
to a survey by James Lewis mentioning The
Satanic Bible directly as influencing their
conversion. For members of the Church, the
book is said to serve not only as a compendium
of ideas but also to judge the authenticity
of someone's claim to be a Satanist. LaVey's
writings have been described as "cornerstones"
within the Church and its teachings, and have
been supplemented with the writings of its
later High Priest, Gilmore, namely his book,
The Satanic Scriptures.The Satanic Bible has
been described as the most important document
to influence contemporary Satanism. The book
contains the core principles of Satanism,
and is considered the foundation of its philosophy
and dogma. On their website, the Church of
Satan urge anyone seeking to learn about LaVeyan
Satanism to read The Satanic Bible, stating
that doing so is "tantamount to understanding
at least the basics of Satanism". Petersen
noted that it is "in many ways the central
text of the Satanic milieu", with Lap similarly
testifying to its dominant position within
the wider Satanic movement. David G. Bromley
calls it "iconoclastic" and "the best-known
and most influential statement of Satanic
theology." Eugene V. Gallagher says that Satanists
use LaVey's writings "as lenses through which
they view themselves, their group, and the
cosmos." He also states: "With a clear-eyed
appreciation of true human nature, a love
of ritual and pageantry, and a flair for mockery,
LaVey's Satanic Bible promulgated a gospel
of self-indulgence that, he argued, anyone
who dispassionately considered the facts would
embrace."
=== Atheism and Satan ===
LaVey was an atheist, rejecting the existence
of all gods. Accordingly, LaVey and his Church
do not espouse a belief in Satan as an entity
who literally exists, and LaVey did not encourage
the worship of Satan as a deity. Instead,
the use of Satan as a central figure is intentionally
symbolic. LaVey sought to cement his belief
system within the secularist world-view that
derived from natural science, thus providing
him with an atheistic basis with which to
criticize Christianity and other supernaturalist
beliefs. He legitimized his religion by highlighting
what he claimed was its rational nature, contrasting
this with what he saw as the supernaturalist
irrationality of established religions. He
defined Satanism as "a secular philosophy
of rationalism and self-preservation (natural
law, animal state), giftwrapping these ideas
in religious trappings to add to their appeal."
In this way, LaVeyan Satanism has been described
as an "antireligious religion" by van Luijk.
LaVey did not believe in any afterlife.
Instead of worshiping the Devil as a real
figure, the image of Satan is embraced because
of its association with social non-conformity
and rebellion against the dominant system.
LaVey embraced the iconography of Satan and
the label of "Satanist" because it shocked
people into thinking, and when asked about
his religion, stated that "the reason it's
called Satanism is because it's fun, it's
accurate and it's productive".LaVey also conceptualised
Satan as a symbol of the individual's own
vitality, thus representing an autonomous
power within, and a representation of personal
liberty and individualism. Throughout The
Satanic Bible, the LaVeyan Satanist's view
of god is described as the Satanist's true
"self"—a projection of his or her own personality—not
an external deity. In works like The Satanic
Bible, LaVey often uses the terms "god" and
"Satan" interchangeably, viewing both as personifications
of human nature.Despite his professed atheism,
some passages of LaVey's writings left room
for a literal interpretation of Satan, and
some members of his Church understood the
Devil as an entity that really existed. It
is possible that LaVey left some ambivalence
in his writings so as not to drive away those
Church members who were theistic Satanists.
Both LaVey's writings and the publications
of the Church continue to refer to Satan as
if he were a real being, in doing so seeking
to reinforce the Satanist's self-interest.LaVey
used Christianity as a negative mirror for
his new faith, with LaVeyan Satanism rejecting
the basic principles and theology of Christian
belief. It views Christianity – alongside
other major religions, and philosophies such
as humanism and liberal democracy – as a
largely negative force on humanity; LaVeyan
Satanists perceive Christianity as a lie which
promotes idealism, self-denigration, herd
behavior, and irrationality. LaVeyans view
their religion as a force for redressing this
balance by encouraging materialism, egoism,
stratification, carnality, atheism, and social
Darwinism. LaVey's Satanism was particularly
critical of what it understands as Christianity's
denial of humanity's animal nature, and it
instead calls for the celebration of, and
indulgence in, these desires. In doing so,
it places an emphasis on the carnal rather
than the spiritual.
=== Human nature and society ===
LaVeyan Satanism has been characterised as
belonging to the political right rather than
to the political left. The historian of Satanism
Ruben van Luijk characterised it as a form
of "anarchism of the Right". LaVey was anti-egalitarian
and elitist, believing in the fundamental
inequality of different human beings. His
philosophy was Social Darwinist in basis,
having been influenced by the writings of
Herbert Spencer, Friedrich Nietzsche, and
Ayn Rand. LaVey stated that his Satanism was
"just Ayn Rand's philosophy with ceremony
and ritual added". Characterising LaVey as
a Nietzschean, the religious studies scholar
Asbjørn Dyrendal nevertheless thought that
LaVey's "personal synthesis seems decidedly
his own creation, even though the different
ingredients going into it are at times very
visible." Social Darwinism is particularly
noticeable in The Book of Satan, where LaVey
uses portions of Redbeard's Might Is Right,
though it also appears throughout in references
to man's inherent strength and instinct for
self-preservation.
For LaVey, the human being was explicitly
viewed as an animal, who thus has no purpose
other than survival of the fittest, and who
therefore exists in an amoral context. He
believed that in adopting a philosophical
belief in its own superiority above that of
the other animals, humankind has become "the
most vicious animal of all". For LaVey, non-human
animals and children represent an ideal, "the
purest form of carnal existence", because
they have not been indoctrinated with Christian
or other religious concepts of guilt and shame.
His ethical views focused around placing oneself
and one's family before others, minding one's
own business, and – for men – behaving
like a gentleman. In responding to threats
and harm, he promoted a policy of lex talionis,
for instance reversing a Biblical Christian
teaching by stating that "if a man smite thee
on the one cheek, smash him on the other."LaVeyan
Satanism places great emphasis on the role
of liberty and personal freedom. LaVey believed
that the ideal Satanist should be individualistic
and non-conformist, rejecting what he called
the "colorless existence" that mainstream
society sought to impose on those living within
it. He rejected consumerism and what he called
the "death cult" of fashion. He praised the
human ego for encouraging an individual's
pride, self-respect, and self-realization
and accordingly believed in satisfying the
ego's desires. He expressed the view that
self-indulgence was a desirable trait, and
that hate and aggression were not wrong or
undesirable emotions but that they were necessary
and advantageous for survival. Accordingly,
he praised the Seven Deadly Sins as virtues
which were beneficial for the individual.Similarly,
LaVey criticized the negative and restrictive
attitude to sexuality present in many religions,
instead supporting any sexual acts that take
place between consenting adults. His Church
welcomed homosexual members from its earliest
years, and he also endorsed celibacy for those
who were asexual. He sought to discourage
negative feelings of guilt arising from sexual
acts such as masturbation and fetishes, and
believed that rejecting these sexual inhibitions
and guilt would result in a happier and healthier
society. Discussing women, LaVey argued that
they should use sex as a tool to manipulate
men, in order to advance their own personal
power. Conversely, non-consensual sexual relations,
such as rape and child molestation, were denounced
by LaVey and his Church.LaVey believed in
the imminent demise of Christianity. In addition,
he believed that society would enter an Age
of Satan, in which a generation living in
accordance with LaVeyan principles would come
to power.
LaVey supported eugenics and expected it to
become a necessity in the future, when it
would be used to breed an elite who reflected
LaVey's "Satanic" principles. In his view,
this elite would be "superior people" who
displayed the "Satanic" qualities of creativity
and nonconformity. He regarded these traits
as capable of hereditary transmission, and
made the claim that "Satanists are born, not
made". He believed that the elite should be
siphoned off from the rest of the human "herd",
with the latter being forced into ghettoes,
ideally "space ghettoes" located on other
planets.
The anthropologist Jean La Fontaine highlighted
an article that appeared in a LaVeyan magazine,
The Black Flame, in which one writer described
"a true Satanic society" as one in which the
population consists of "free-spirited, well-armed,
fully-conscious, self-disciplined individuals,
who will neither need nor tolerate any external
entity 'protecting' them or telling them what
they can and cannot do." This rebellious approach
conflicts with LaVey's firm beliefs in observing
the rule of law. Although personally neither
a fascist nor neo-Nazi, LaVey was on good
terms with various neo-Nazi and other right-wing
groups operating in the United States.
=== Magic ===
Although LaVey's ideas were largely shaped
around a secular and scientific world-view,
he also expressed a belief in magic. Rather
than characterising magic as a supernatural
phenomenon, LaVey expressed the view that
it was a part of the natural world thus far
undiscovered by scientists. Outlined in The
Satanic Bible, LaVey defined magic as "the
change in situations or events in accordance
with one's will, which would, using normally
accepted methods, be unchangeable", a definition
that reflects the influence of the British
occultist Aleister Crowley. Although he never
explained exactly how he believed that this
magical process worked, LaVey stated that
magicians could successfully utilise this
magical force through intensely imagining
their desired goal and thus directing the
force of their own willpower toward it. He
emphasised the idea that magical forces could
be manipulated through "purely emotional"
rather than intellectual acts.This practice
puts LaVeyan Satanism within a wider tradition
of 'high magic' or ceremonial magic, and has
also been compared with Christian Science
and Scientology. LaVey adopted beliefs and
ideas from older magicians but consciously
de-Christianised and Satanised them for his
own purposes.
In presenting himself as applying a scientific
perspective on magic, LaVey was likely influenced
by Crowley, who had also presented his approach
to magic in the same way. However, in contrast
to many older ceremonial magicians, LaVey
denied that there was any division between
black magic and white magic, attributing this
dichotomy purely to the "smug hypocrisy and
self-deceit" of those who called themselves
"white magicians". He similarly differed from
many older magicians who emphasised magic
as a practice designed to bring about personal
transformation and transcendence; rather,
for LaVey magic was employer for material
gain, personal influence, to harm enemies,
and to gain success in love and sex.LaVey
defined his system of magic as greater and
lesser magic. Greater magic is a form of ritual
practice and is meant as psychodramatic catharsis
to focus one's emotional energy for a specific
purpose. These rites are based on three major
psycho-emotive themes: compassion (love),
destruction (hate), and sex (lust). The space
in which a ritual is performed is known as
an "intellectual decompression chamber", where
skepticism and disbelief are willfully suspended,
thus allowing the magicians to fully express
their mental and emotional needs, holding
back nothing regarding their deepest feelings
and desires. This magic could then be employed
to ensure sexual gratification, material gain,
personal success, or to curse one's enemies.
LaVey also wrote of "the balance factor",
insisting that any magical aims should be
realistic. These rituals are often considered
to be magical acts, with LaVey's Satanism
encouraging the practice of magic to aid one's
selfish ends. Much of Satanic ritual is designed
for an individual to carry out alone; this
is because concentration is seen as key to
performing magical acts.Lesser magic, also
referred to an "everyday" or "situational"
magic, is the practice of manipulation by
means of applied psychology. LaVey defined
it as "wile and guile obtained through various
devices and contrived situations, which when
utilized, can create change in accordance
with one's will." LaVey wrote that a key concept
in lesser magic is the “command to look”,
which can be accomplished by utilizing elements
of “sex, sentiment, and wonder”, in addition
to the utilization of looks, body language,
scents, color, patters, and odor. This system
encourages a form of manipulative role-play,
wherein the practitioner may alter several
elements of their physical appearance in order
to aid them in seducing or "bewitching" on
object of desire.LaVey developed “The Synthesizer
Clock”, the purpose of which is to divide
humans into distinct groups of people based
primarily on body shape and personality traits.
The synthesizer is modeled as a clock, and
based on concepts of somatotypes. The clock
is intended to aid a witch in identifying
themselves, subsequently aiding in utilizing
the “attraction of opposites” to “spellbind”
the witch's object of desire by assuming the
opposite role. The successful application
of lesser magic is said to be built upon one's
understanding of their place on the clock.
Upon finding your position on the clock, you
are encouraged to adapt it as seen fit, and
perfect your type by harmonizing its element
for better success. Dyrendal referred to LaVey's
techniques as “Erving Goffman meets William
Mortensen”. Drawing insights from psychology,
biology, and sociology, Petersen noted that
lesser magic combines occult and “rejected
sciences of body analysis [and] temperaments.”
== Basic tenets ==
The "central convictions" of LaVeyan Satanism
are formulated into three lists, which are
regularly reproduced within the Church of
Satan's written material.
=== The Nine Satanic Statements ===
The Nine Satanic Statements are a set of nine
assertions made by LaVey in the introductory
chapters of The Satanic Bible. They are considered
a touchstone of contemporary organized Satanism
that constitute, in effect, brief aphorisms
that capture Satanic philosophy. The first
three statements touch on “indulgence”,
“vital existence” and “undefiled wisdom”
which presents a positive view of the Satanist
as a carnal, physical and pragmatic being,
where enjoyment of physical existence and
an undiluted view of this-worldly truth are
promoted as the core values of Satanism, combining
elements of Darwinism and Epicureanism. Statement
four, five and six deal in matters of ethics,
through “kindness to those who deserve it”,
“vengeance” and “responsibility to the
responsible”, painting a harsh picture of
society and human relations by emphasizing
justice rather than love. Statements seven,
eight and nine reject the dignity of man,
sin and the Christian church. Humans are characterized
as “just another animal”, traditional
“sins” are promoted as means for gratification,
and religion as mere business. The adversarial
and antinomian aspect of Satan takes precedence
in support of statements four through nine,
with non-conformity being presented as a core
ideal.
Satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence.
Satan represents vital existence instead of
spiritual pipe dreams.
Satan represents undefiled wisdom instead
of hypocritical self-deceit.
Satan represents kindness to those who deserve
it, instead of love wasted on ingrates.
Satan represents vengeance instead of turning
the other cheek.
Satan represents responsibility to the responsible
instead of concern for psychic vampires.
Satan represents man as just another animal
who, because of his "divine spiritual and
intellectual development", has become the
most vicious animal of all.
Satan represents all of the so-called sins,
as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional
gratification.
Satan has been the best friend the Church
has ever had, as he has kept it in business
all these years.
=== The Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth
===
Do not give opinions or advice unless you
are asked.
Do not tell your troubles to others unless
you are sure they want to hear them.
When in another's lair, show them respect
or else do not go there.
If a guest in your lair annoys you, treat
them cruelly and without mercy.
Do not make sexual advances unless you are
given the mating signal.
Do not take that which does not belong to
you unless it is a burden to the other person
and they cry out to be relieved.
Acknowledge the power of magic if you have
employed it successfully to obtain your desires.
If you deny the power of magic after having
called upon it with success, you will lose
all you have obtained.
Do not complain about anything to which you
need not subject yourself.
Do not harm little children.
Do not kill non-human animals unless you are
attacked or for your food.
When walking in open territory, bother no
one. If someone bothers you, ask them to stop.
If they do not stop, destroy them.
== Rites and practices ==
=== Rituals and ceremonies ===
LaVey emphasized that in his tradition, Satanic
rites came in two forms, neither of which
were acts of worship; in his terminology,
"rituals" were intended to bring about change,
whereas "ceremonies" celebrated a particular
occasion. These rituals were often considered
to be magical acts, with LaVey's Satanism
encouraging the practice of magic to aid one's
selfish ends. Much of LaVeyan ritual is designed
for an individual to carry out alone; this
is because concentration is seen as key to
performing magical acts. In The Satanic Bible,
LaVey described three types of ritual in his
religion: sex rituals designed to attract
the desired romantic or sexual partner, compassionate
rituals with the intent of helping people
(including oneself), and destructive magic
which seeks to do harm to others. In designing
these rituals, LaVey drew upon a variety of
older sources, with scholar of Satanism Per
Faxneld noting that LaVey "assembled rituals
from a hodgepodge of historical sources, literary
as well as esoteric".
LaVey described a number of rituals in his
book, The Satanic Rituals; these are "dramatic
performances" with specific instructions surrounding
the clothing to be worn, the music to be used,
and the actions to be taken. This attention
to detail in the design of the rituals was
intentional, with their pageantry and theatricality
intending to engage the participants' senses
and aesthetic sensibilities at various levels
and enhancing the participants' willpower
for magical ends. LaVey prescribed that male
participants should wear black robes, while
older women should wear black, and other women
should dress attractively in order to stimulate
sexual feelings among many of the men. All
participants are instructed to wear amulets
of either the upturned pentagram or the image
of Baphomet.According to LaVey's instructions,
on the altar is to be placed an image of Baphomet.
This should be accompanied by various candles,
all but one of which are to be black. The
lone exception is to be a white candle, used
in destructive magic, which is kept to the
right of the altar. Also to be included are
a bell which is rung nine times at the start
and end of the ceremony, a chalice made of
anything but gold, and which contains an alcoholic
drink symbolizing the "Elixir of Life", a
sword that represents aggression, a model
phallus used as an aspergillum, a gong, and
parchment on which requests to Satan are to
be written before being burned. Although alcohol
was consumed in the Church's rites, drunkenness
was frowned upon and the taking of illicit
drugs was forbidden.LaVeyan rituals sometimes
include anti-Christian blasphemies, which
are intended to have a liberating effect on
the participants.
In some of the rituals, a naked woman serves
as the altar; in these cases it is made explicit
that the woman's body itself becomes the altar,
rather than have her simply lying on an existing
altar. In contrast to longstanding stereotypes
about Satanists, there is no place for sexual
orgies in LaVeyan ritual. Neither animal nor
human sacrifice takes place. Children are
banned from attending these rituals, with
the only exception being the Satanic Baptism,
which is specifically designed to involve
infants.LaVey also developed his own Black
Mass, which was designed as a form of deconditioning
to free the participant from any inhibitions
that they developed living in Christian society.
He noted that in composing the Black Mass
rite, he had drawn upon the work of the French
fiction writers Charles Baudelaire and Joris-Karl
Huysmans. LaVey openly toyed with the use
of literature and popular culture in other
rituals and ceremonies, thus appealing to
artifice, pageantry, and showmanship. For
instance, he published an outline of a ritual
which he termed the "Call to Cthulhu" which
drew upon the stories of the alien god Cthulhu
authored by American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.
In this rite, set to take place at night in
a secluded location near to a turbulent body
of water, a celebrant takes on the role of
Cthulhu and appears before the assembled Satanists,
signing a pact between them in the language
of Lovecraft's fictional "Old Ones".
=== Holidays ===
LaVey and the Church of Satan deemed an individual's
birthday to be the most important day of the
year. Walpurgisnacht (April 30) is celebrated
as the date on which LaVey founded his Church.
A third annual festival is Halloween, which
also has associations with magic and dark
entities.
=== Symbolism ===
As a symbol of his Satanic church, LaVey adopted
the upturned five-pointed pentagram. The upturned
pentagram had previously been used by the
French occultist Eliphas Lévi, and had been
adopted by his disciple, Stanislas de Guaita,
who merged it with a goat's head in his 1897
book, Key of Black Magic. In the literature
and imagery predating LaVey, imagery used
to represent the "satanic" is denoted by inverted
crosses and blasphemous parodies of Christian
art. The familiar goat's head inside an inverted
pentagram did not become the foremost symbol
of Satanism until the founding of the Church
of Satan in 1966. LaVey learned of this variant
of the symbol after it had been reproduced
on the front cover of Maurice Bessy's coffee
table book, Pictorial History of Magic and
the Supernatural. Feeling that this symbol
embodied his philosophy, LaVey decided to
adopt it for his Church. In its formative
years, the Church utilized this image on its
membership cards, stationary, medallions and
most notably above the altar in the ritual
chamber of the Black House.During the writing
of The Satanic Bible, it was decided that
a unique version of the symbol should be rendered
to be identified exclusively with the Church.
LaVey created a new version of Guaita's image,
one which was geometrically precise, with
two perfect circles surrounding the pentagram,
the goat head redrawn, and the Hebrew lettering
altered to look more serpentine. LaVey had
this design copyrighted to the Church, claiming
authorship under the pseudonym of "Hugo Zorilla".
In doing so, the symbol – which came to
be known as the Sigil of Baphomet – came
to be closely associated with Satanism in
the public imagination.
== History ==
=== Origins: 1966–72 ===
Although there were forms of religious Satanism
that predated the creation of LaVeyan Satanism—namely
those propounded by Stanisław Przybyszewski
and Ben Kadosh—these had no unbroken lineage
of succession to LaVey's form. For this reason,
the sociologist of religion Massimo Introvigne
stated that "with few exceptions, LaVey is
at the origins of all contemporary Satanism".
Similarly, the historian Ruben van Luijk claimed
that the creation of LaVeyan Satanism marked
"the actual beginning of Satanism as a religion
such as it is practiced in the world today".After
he came to public attention, LaVey shielded
much of his early life in secrecy, and little
is known about it for certain. He had been
born in Chicago as Howard Stanton Levey in
either March or April 1930. He was of mixed
Ukrainian, Russian, and German ancestry. He
claimed to have worked in the circus and carnival
in the years following the Second World War,
and in later years, he also alleged that he
worked at the San Francisco Orchestra, although
this never existed. He also claimed to have
had a relationship with a young Marilyn Monroe,
although this too was untrue.By the 1960s
he was living at 6114 California Street in
San Francisco, a house that he had inherited
from his parents. He took an interest in occultism
and amassed a large collection of books on
the subject. At some point between 1957 and
1960 he began hosting classes at his house
every Friday in which lectures on occultism
and other subjects were given. Among the topics
covered were freaks, extra-sensory perception,
Spiritualism, cannibalism, and historical
methods of torture. An informal group established
around these lectures, which came to be known
as the Magic Circle. Among those affiliated
with this gathering were the filmmaker and
Thelemite occultist Kenneth Anger, and the
anthropologist Michael Harner, who later established
the core shamanism movement.LaVey likely began
preparations for the formation of his Church
of Satan in either 1965 or early 1966, and
it was officially founded on Walpurgisnacht
1966. He then declared that 1966 marked Year
One of the new Satanic era. It was the first
organized church in modern times to be devoted
to the figure of Satan, and according to Faxneld
and Petersen, the Church represented "the
first public, highly visible, and long-lasting
organisation which propounded a coherent satanic
discourse". Its early members were the attendees
of LaVey's Magic Circle, although it soon
began attracting new recruits. Many of these
individuals were sadomasochists or homosexuals,
attracted by the LaVeyan openness to different
sexual practices. LaVey had painted his house
black, with it becoming known as "the Black
House", and it was here that weekly rituals
were held every Friday night.LaVey played
up to his Satanic associations by growing
a pointed beard and wearing a black cloak
and inverted pentagram. He added to his eccentric
persona by obtaining unusual pets, including
a lion that was kept caged in his back garden.
Describing himself as the "High Priest of
Satan", LaVey defined his position within
the Church as "monarchical in nature, papal
in degree and absolute in power". He led the
Churches' governing Council of Nine, and implemented
a system of five initiatory levels that the
LaVeyan Satanist could advance through by
demonstrating their knowledge of LaVeyan philosophy
and their personal accomplishments in life.
These were known as Apprentice Satanist I°,
Witch or Warlock II°, Priest or Priestess
of Mendes III°, Magister IV°, and Magus
V°.
The Church experienced its "golden age" from
1966 to 1972, when it had a strong media presence.
In February 1967, LaVey held a much publicized
Satanic wedding, which was followed by the
Satanic baptism of his daughter Zeena in May,
and then a Satanic funeral in December. Another
publicity-attracting event was the 'Topless
Witch Revue', a nightclub show held on San
Francisco's North Beach; the use of topless
women to attract attention alienated a number
of the Church's early members. Through these
and other activities, he soon attracted international
media attention, being dubbed "the Black Pope".
He also attracted a number of celebrities
to join his Church, most notably Sammy Davis
Junior and Jayne Mansfield. LaVey also established
branches of the Church, known as grottos,
in various parts of the United States. He
may have chosen the term grotto over coven
because the latter term had come to be used
by practitioners of the modern Pagan religion
of Wicca. These included the Babylon Grotto
in Detroit, the Stygian Grotto in Dayton,
and the Lilith Grotto in New York City. In
1971, a Dutch follower of LaVey's, Maarten
Lamers, established his own Kerk van Satan
grotto in Amsterdam.As a result of the success
of the film Rosemary's Baby and the concomitant
growth of interest in Satanism, an editor
at Avon Books, Peter Mayer, approached LaVey
and commissioned him to write a book, which
became The Satanic Bible. While part of the
text was LaVey's original writing, other sections
of the book consisted of direct quotations
from Arthur Desmond's right-wing tract Might
is Right and the occultist Aleister Crowley's
version of John Dee's Enochian Keys. There
is evidence that LaVey was inspired by the
writings of the American philosopher Ayn Rand;
and while accusations that he plagiarized
her work in The Satanic Bible have been denied
by one author, Chris Mathews stated that "LaVey
stole selectively and edited lightly" and
that his "Satanism at times closely parallels
Ayn Rand's Objectivist philosophy." The book
The Satanic Bible served to present LaVey's
ideas to a far wider audience than they had
previously had. In 1972, he published a sequel,
The Satanic Rituals.LaVey's Church emerged
at a point in American history when Christianity
was on the decline as many of the nation's
youth broke away from their parental faith
and explored alternative systems of religiosity.
The milieu in which LaVey's Church was operating
was dominated by the counterculture of the
1960s; his Church reflected some of its concerns
– free love, alternative religions, freedom
from church and state – but ran contrary
to some of the counterculture's other main
themes, such as peace and love, compassion,
and the use of mind-altering drugs. He expressed
condemnation of the hippies; in one ritual
he hung an image of Timothy Leary upside down
while stamping on a tablet of LSD.
=== Later development: 1972–present ===
LaVey ceased conducting group rituals and
workshops in his home in 1972.
In 1973, church leaders in Michigan, Ohio,
and Florida split to form their own Church
of Satanic Brotherhood, however this disbanded
in 1974 when one of its founders publicly
converted to Christianity. Subsequently, Church
members based in Kentucky and Indiana left
to found the Ordo Templi Satanis. In 1975,
LaVey disbanded all grottos, leaving the organisation
as a membership-based group that existed largely
on paper. He claimed that this had been necessary
because the grottos had come to be dominated
by social misfits who had not benefitted the
Church as a whole. In a private letter, he
expressed frustration that despite growing
Church membership, "brain surgeons and Congressmen
are still in short supply". He also announced
that thenceforth all higher degrees in the
Church would be awarded in exchange for contributions
of cash, real estate, or valuable art. Dissatisfied
with these actions, in 1975, the high-ranking
Church member Michael Aquino left to found
his own Satanic organisation, the Temple of
Set, which differed from LaVey's Church by
adopting a belief that Satan literally existed.
According to Lap, from this point on Satanism
became a "splintered and disorganized movement".Between
the abolition of the grotto system in 1975
and the establishment of the internet in the
mid-1990s, The Satanic Bible remained the
primary means of propagating Satanism. During
this period, a decentralized, anarchistic
movement of Satanists developed that was shaped
by many of the central themes that had pervaded
LaVey's thought and which was expressed in
The Satanic Bible. Lewis argued that in this
community, The Satanic Bible served as a "quasi-scripture"
because these independent Satanists were able
to adopt certain ideas from the book while
merging them with ideas and practices drawn
from elsewhere.During the late 1980s, LaVey
returned to the limelight, giving media interviews,
attracting further celebrities, and reinstating
the grotto system. In 1984 he separated from
his wife, Diane Hegarty, and began a relationship
with Blanche Barton, who was his personal
assistant. In 1988 Hegarty brought a court
case against LaVey, claiming that he she owned
half of the Church and LaVey's Black House.
The court found in Hegarty's favour, after
which LaVey immediately declared bankruptcy.
In May 1992, the ex-couple reached a settlement.
The Black House was sold to a wealthy friend,
the property developer Donald Werby, who agreed
to allow LaVey to continue living at the residence
for free. Also in 1992, LaVey published his
first book in twenty years, The Devil's Notebook.
This was followed by the posthumous Satan
Speaks in 1998, which included a foreword
from the rock singer Marilyn Manson, who was
a priest in the Church.In his final years,
LaVey suffered from a heart condition, displayed
increasing paranoia, and died in October 1997.
In November, the Church announced that it
would subsequently be run by two High Priestesses
of joint rank, Barton and LaVey's daughter
Karla LaVey. That same year, the Church established
an official website. Barton attempted to purchase
the Black House from Werby, but was unable
to raise sufficient funds; the building had
fallen into disrepair and was demolished in
2001, subsequently being replaced with an
apartment block. A disagreement subsequently
emerged between Barton and Karla, resulting
in an agreement that Barton would retain legal
ownership of the name and organization of
the Church while LaVey's personal belongings
and copyrights would be distributed among
his three children, Karla, Zeena, and Satan
Xerxes. Barton stood down as High Priestess
in 2002, although continued to chair the Church's
Council of Nine. The headquarters of the Church
were then moved from San Francisco to New
York, where Peter H. Gilmore was appointed
the Church's High Priest, and his wife Peggy
Nadramia as its High Priestess.
After LaVey's death, conflict over the nature
of Satanism intensified within the Satanic
community. At Halloween 1999 Karla established
the First Satanic Church, which uses its website
to promote the idea that it represents a direct
continuation of the original Church of Satan
as founded by Anton LaVey. Other LaVeyan groups
appeared elsewhere in the United States. An
early member of the Church of Satan, John
Dewey Allee, established his own First Church
of Satan, claiming allegiance to LaVey's original
teachings and professing that LaVey himself
had deviated from them in later life. In 1986,
Paul Douglas Valentine founded the New York
City-based World Church of Satanic Liberation,
having recruited many of its members through
Herman Slater's Magickal Childe esoteric store.
Its membership remained small and it was discontinued
in 2011. In 1991, the Embassy of Lucifer was
established by the Canadian Tsirk Susuej,
which was influenced by LaVeyan teachings
but held that Satan was a real entity. Splinter
groups from Susuej's organisation included
the Embassy of Satan in Stewart, British Columbia,
and the Luciferian Light Group in Baltimore.LaVeyan
groups also cropped up elsewhere in the world,
with a particular concentration in Scandinavia;
most of these Scandinavian groups either split
from the Church of Satan or never affiliated
with it. These included the Svenska Satanistkyrkan
and the Det Norske Sataniske Samfunn, as well
as the Prometheus Grotten of the Church of
Satan which was established in Denmark in
1997 but which officially seceded in 2000.
A Satanic Church was also established in Estonia
based on the LaVeyan model; it later renamed
itself the Order of the Black Widow.The Church
of Satan became increasingly doctrinally-rigid
and focused on maintaining the purity of LaVeyan
Satanism. The Church's increased emphasis
on their role as the bearer of LaVey's legacy
was partly a response to the growth in non-LaVeyan
Satanists. Some Church members – including
Gilmore – claimed that only they were the
"real" Satanists and that those belonging
to different Satanic traditions were "pseudo"
Satanists. After examining many of these claims
on the Church's website, Lewis concluded that
it was "obsessed with shoring up its own legitimacy
by attacking the heretics, especially those
who criticize LaVey". Meanwhile, the Church
experienced an exodus of its membership in
the 2000s, with many of these individuals
establishing new groups online. Although the
Church's public face had performed little
ceremonial activity since the early 1970s,
in June 2006 they held a Satanic 'High Mass'
in Los Angeles to mark the Church's fortieth
birthday.
== Demographics ==
Membership levels of the Church of Satan are
hard to determine, as the organisation has
not released such information. During its
early years, the Church claimed a membership
of around 10,000, although defectors subsequently
claimed that the number was only in the hundreds.
Membership was largely, although not exclusively,
white. LaVey recognised this, suggesting that
the Church appealed particularly to white
Americans because they lacked the strong sense
of ethnic identity displayed by African-Americans
and Hispanic Americans. The historian of religion
Massimo Introvigne suggested that it had never
had more than 1000 or 2000 members at its
height, but that LaVeyan ideas had had a far
greater influence through LaVey's books. Membership
is gained by paying $225 and filling out a
registration statement, and thus initiates
are bestowed with lifetime memberships and
not charged annual fees.La Fontaine thought
it likely that the easy availability of LaVey's
writings would have encouraged the creation
of various Satanic groups that were independent
of the Church of Satan itself. In The Black
Flame, a number of groups affiliated with
the Church have been mentioned, most of which
are based in the United States and Canada
although two groups were cited as having existed
in New Zealand. In his 2001 examination of
Satanists, the sociologist James R. Lewis
noted that, to his surprise, his findings
"consistently pointed to the centrality of
LaVey's influence on modern Satanism". "Reflecting
the dominant influence of Anton LaVey's thought",
Lewis noted that the majority of those whom
he examined were atheists or agnostics, with
60% of respondents viewing Satanism as a symbol
rather than a real entity. 20% of his respondents
described The Satanic Bible as the most important
factor that attracted them to Satanism. Elsewhere,
Lewis noted that few Satanists who weren't
members of the Church of Satan would regard
themselves as "orthodox LaVeyans".Examining
the number of LaVeyan Satanists in Britain,
in 1995 the religious studies scholar Graham
Harvey noted that the Church of Satan had
no organized presence in the country. He noted
that LaVey's writings were widely accessible
in British bookshops, and La Fontaine suggested
that there may have been individual Church
members within the country.
== See also ==
Contemporary Religious Satanism
Satanic ritual abuse
Devil in popular culture
Conceptions of God
Nontheistic religions
Religious naturalism
Secular religion
== References ==
=== Notes ===
=== Sources ===
== 
External links ==
Official Church of Satan website
“Satanism as Weltanschauung”, the philosophy
of the Church of Satan (presented by Kevin
I. Slaughter at the Maryland Institute College
of Art)
"Satan as Rebel Hero: Henry M. Tichenor and
the Radical Anti-religious (presented by Kevin
I. Slaughter and Robert Merciless at SkeptiCamp
DC on October 3, 2010, College Park, MD)
"What Does Satanism Mean to You?" (Interview
with members of the Church of Satan.)
"Inside the Church of Satan (Documentary)
9sense Podcast interview with Peter H. Gilmore
on Walpurgisnacht.
News related to Satanism: An interview with
Church of Satan High Priest Peter Gilmore
at Wikinews
