He later became known by his pseudonym Anton Sandor LaVey. But his real name is Howard Stanton LaVey – in some translations Levi. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, on April 11, 1930. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to California, near the San Francisco Bay. As a child, LaVey showed a strong interest in music, and in particular – in instruments. He plays many instruments, but his favorite is the piano.
At the age of 16, Anton LaVey dropped out of high school and never finished high school. He claims he dropped out of school to join a traveling circus. And later – to other festivals and carnivals related to art and the world of magic.
In the circus (and carnivals later), Anton LaVey has a close encounter with magic and occult beliefs. Becomes a magician’s assistant. He also studies hypnosis. Subsequently, he started playing in bars and concerts as an organist. During this time, he claimed to have had an affair with the then-unpopular Marilyn Monroe, who was a dancer in some shows. However, this information remains unconfirmed to this day.
LaVey enrolled to study criminology at City College of San Francisco
and meanwhile worked as a photographer at the local police department. Three years later, the young man left his job at the station. He began to conduct paid courses on magic, fortune-telling and the occult.
In his later writings he railed against religion as he knew it. And so came the creation of his Satanic Bible and Satanic Church. In 1966, during the celebration of Walpurgis Night (or Witches’ Night), LaVey founded the Church of Satan. It was later officially recognized in the United States.
The Church of Satan
Gradually, Anton LaVey became a publicly noticeable person. Not only because of his magic and esotericism, but also because his pet – the black leopard Zoltan – walks around the city. He does group and individual sessions and parties for which his clients pay handsomely. Every Friday evening, LaVey gives a lecture on occultism, Satanism. It includes mysticism, psychology, philosophy, science, satanic views and rituals. He is now increasingly identified as a Satanic pastor. He is often called the Black Pope. Described as “the founder of modern Satanism”. Scholars of religion, on the other hand, classify LaVey’s religion as a “new religious movement and a form of Western esotericism.”
The Church of Satan was proclaimed in 1966.
Numerous gatherings, sermons, performing demonic rituals and even Satanic weddings, baptisms and funerals followed. Local and foreign media are going crazy. LaVey and his Church of Satan became a constant subject of investigation by journalists. He himself became an absolute media star and participated in numerous television shows and reports. Articles about him and his case appeared in both Newsweek and Time.
He wrote numerous books devoted to his ideas and values, including The Satanic Bible, The Satanic Witch, and The Satanic Rituals. His writings were heavily influenced by the ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche, Ayn Rand, and others.
LaVey has acted as an actor and consultant on several feature films, shorts and documentaries. Including Rosemary’s Baby, or so he claims. Many researchers of LaVey’s life and works find that what he said or wrote is not always true. Therefore, his every word can be and has been questioned.
Anton LaVey has one daughter from his first marriage. From his next long-term relationship with Blanche Barton (almost 25 years together), he has one daughter and one son. The son was born in 1993 and was named Satan Xerxes Karnacki LaVey. When LaVey Sr. passed away (October 29, 1997), Barton succeeded him as head of the Church of Satan. She later handed power over to the ardent follower of LaVey’s Satanic ideology, Peter H. Gilmore. He moved the headquarters of the Church of Satan from San Francisco to New York.
Many of the members of LaVey’s movement subsequently left him and formed their own satanic communities and sects.
The Satanic Bible
The doctrines that LaVey preaches are detailed in his “Satanic Bible”. It is made up of four separate books. They are: The Book of Satan, The Book of Lucifer, The Book of Belial, and The Book of Leviathan. In The Book of Satan, LaVey introduces the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule (“Do unto others as they would do unto you”). And it promotes epicureanism. The Book of Lucifer contains most of the philosophy in the Satanic Bible. In it, chapters discuss topics such as indulgence, love, hate and sex. In the book of Belial, the author describes satanic rituals and magic in detail. It discusses and provides instructions for three rituals: for sex, compassion, or destruction. The Book of Leviathan provides four invocations of Satan, Lust, Compassion, and Destruction.
Contrary to expectations, in the Black Bible (as it is also called) the author rejects the existence of supernatural beings and forces. He also denies body-soul dualism and life after death. Practitioners do not believe that Satan exists literally and do not worship him. Instead, he is seen as a positive archetype representing pride, flesh, and enlightenment. One of the high priests in the Church of Satan, Peter H. Gilmore, stated, “My real feeling is that anyone who believes in supernatural beings on any level is insane. Whether he believes in the Devil or God, he renounces reason.”
LaVey’s religion views humans as animals existing in an amoral universe. His system involves the compulsory use of magic and sacred ritualism. These rites are based on three main psycho-emotional themes: compassion (love), destruction (hate) and sex (lust).
The Satanic Bible was printed in 1969 and has been translated into numerous languages.
Over time, it sold over a million copies. Members of the Church of Satan and Religion recognize the book as a leading and revealing document of the ideology of Satanism. It is also recognized by other splinter satanic groups and structures. It has been described as the most important and influential work on modern Satanism. The book contains the basic principles of Satanism (described in essay form). It is considered the basis of his philosophy and dogma.
Satanists, followers of LaVey, define Christianity and its doctrines as a lie. As, by the way, with other religions worshiping different deities. The LaVey Bible clearly states that Satan is not worshiped as God. The religion he preaches is actually just that – the absence of an idol for the followers of Satanism to worship. It is a religion of rejection of religions. In his writings, Anton LaVey also claims that magic is not something supernatural. It is an inseparable part of the laws and development of nature itself. It’s just that this potential has not yet been revealed to the scientific community and belief system.
Sociologist James R. Lewis describes LaVey’s Satanism as “a mixture of Epicureanism and the philosophy of Ayn Rand. It is, he says, “flavored with a pinch of ritual magic.” The historian of religion Matthias Gardel describes it as a “rational ideology of selfish hedonism and self-preservation.” Neville Drewry characterized LaVey’s Satanism as a “religion of complacency.”
We will finish this text with The 11 Satanic Ruleswhich, by the way, don’t look that devilish at all…
1. Don’t give an opinion or advice unless they ask for it.
2. Don’t bother the people around you with your problems unless they want to hear them.
3. When you are in someone else’s home, either show respect to the host or don’t go there at all.
4. If a guest in your home upsets you, treat him cruelly and mercilessly.
5. Don’t try to have sex unless you’ve been signaled to do so.
6. Do not take what does not belong to you, unless it is a burden to another person and he asks to be relieved.
7. Acknowledge the power of magic if it has helped you achieve your desires. If you deny the power of magic after it has brought you success, you will lose everything you have gained.
8. Don’t complain about something you don’t need to undergo.
9. Do not harm children in any way.
10. Do not kill animals unless they attack you or for food.
11. When you walk among people, don’t hook anyone. If someone starts bothering you, ask them to stop. If it doesn’t stop, destroy it.
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