Some thoughts on LaVeyan Satanism and the Satanic Bible

Many years ago, I found myself flipping through a book about new religious movements, or “cults’, as the author labels it. The author, a renowned Protestant pastor, devoted some pages on Satanism, and criticized the Satanic Bible for encouraging various immoralities, especially “self-centered egoism” and “human sacrifice”.

Sometimes I wonder what people really know about things they are against, obviously this pastor, like most Christian apologists, never read the Satanic Bible. The Satanic Bible definitely endorses egoism, but it might surprise many who knows nothing about Satanism (or at least, LaVeyan Satanism) that the Satanic Bible actually discourages human or even animal sacrifice.

It is true that certain Satanic traditions, unrelated to LaVeyan Satanism, do condone human sacrifice, among these traditions Order of the Nine Angles comes to mind, but it is necessary to note that Satanic ritual killing is very rare, a rather well known FBI investigation even claimed that Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) does not exist at all.

So, if the Satanic Bible is not about sacrificing your neighbor’s virgin daughter to the Prince of Evil, Father of all Lies, the Accuser, what is it about?

Written by Anton Szandor LaVey in 1969, the Satanic Bible is a collection of essays on LaVey’s branch of Satanic philosophy and rituals. The book is divided into four parts, each named after a demon in Judeo-Christian mythology: the Book of Satan, the Book of Lucifer, the Book of Belial and the Book of Leviathan. The names of these four demons were directly taken from the 15th century Book of Abramelin.

Instead of being a holy scripture, the Satanic Bible is more of a counter scripture in its humanistic iconoclastic sense, that it rejects even Satan as a conscious, objective being. The essence of LaVeyan Satanism, as LaVey himself summarized, is “just Ayn Rand’s philosophy, with ceremony and ritual added”.

Indeed, the Satanic Bible is deeply influenced by Ayn Rand’s objectivism and rational individualism, and it is often noted by critics that LaVey plagiarized from the works of Ayn Rand, but also verbatim from Ragnar Redbeard’s 1896 work Might is Right. The final book of the Satanic Bible, the Book of Leviathan, includes the Enochian Calls, but LaVey slightly altered the original calls and their English translation, taken from Thelemite sources, to give them a distinct Satanic flavor. This is usually done by substituting Iaida, the Enochian word for “the Highest” with Saitan.

The sin of plagiarism, however, does not mean that LaVey does not have his own ingenuity. In fact, LaVey should have been credited as unifying diverse ideas, including those of Ayn Rand, Ragnar Redbeard, Aleister Crowley, Friedrich Nietzsche, and perhaps a sprinkle of Jean-Paul Sartre or Albert Cadmus. He is not the first one to use Satan as a symbol of iconoclasm. The 19th century Italian Nobel Prize laureate Giosuè Carducci’s poem Inno a Satana already uses Satan as the symbol of virtuous hero against tyranny. Far earlier, his precursor the Miltonian Satan is already viewed by some as a hero against an authoritarian deity. LaVey, however, is one of the first to combine all features, together with objectivism and his on insight, and ceremonial magic into a unique brand of new religion. LaVey realized that Satan is far more that just a personification of evil, it is a potent, complex symbol with multiple meanings. The traditional imagery of Satan based on the Greek god Pan, gives Satan a sexual symbolism. His identification with the serpent that lured Eve ate the forbidden fruit makes him to be seen by some as the giver of true knowledge. LaVey’s Satan combines all these features, and he made Satan a symbol of man’s personality and his desires.

I have no doubt that certain Left Hand Paths (though not all) are valid spiritual paths and some practitioners of Left Hand Paths are admirable intellectuals, but now more often than not I would disagree with some of the LHP philosophies.

LaVey is the product of his time. His philosophy is a 20th century American middle class materialism, a reaction to the mainstream Protestant ideology, but he was one of the first to establish a religious, or some would say, counter religious organization based on materialism.

Nietzsche's cry "God is dead" echos in our desolated age. Many traditional religions, particularly Christianity, lose the function of carrying the projection of Self, and now modern man faces an existential problem. What is man’s place in the universe, if there a supreme deity does not exist? LaVeyan Satanism tries to provide the answer by using Satan as a projection of man’s true personality. Since Satan in LaVeyan Satanism is not a supernatural creature, it is the ego itself, so LaVeyan Satanism advocates the gratification of man’s ego, and hedonism is encouraged. The purpose of man, therefore, is quite Epicurean, that is to live a happy life by fulfilling all legally allowed sensual pleasures.

However, gratification of ego is opened to abuse, which certainly leads to ego inflation. Granted, separation of ego-Self affinity and inflation is needed for personal growth, but inflation caused by idolization of ego will make the individual succumb to alienation, further driving the ego away from Self, and causing more and more emptiness. This emptiness sometimes leads to destructive ideologies, like fascisms and racism.

Either on purpose or not, the occult feature of LaVeyan Satanism seems to be an inert remedy to solve this crisis, though it is equally possible that the occult feature is to create a more sinister looking aura. Occult, as its etymology suggests, is the hidden knowledge, the mysterious unknowable path. Again, sometimes with inflation of the ego, magical rituals might cause unexpected damages, and the abuse of Enochian Calls and the so-called Infernal Names might be potentially dangerous.

The great Gnostic theologian Valentinus taught that human races are divided into hylic, psychic and pneumatic, but it is more proper to say that most of us contain traits of each of these three characteristics.

Refuse to believe in the Demiurge as the omnipotent controller of our fate and live a life of pleasure seeking does not mean we will be free from the clenches of the Archons. Succumbing to the gratification of ego can only submerge ourselves to the hylic state, keeping us further away from the wholeness of Pleroma. We are simply replacing a fallible god with another equally, if not more fallible substitute.

This, of course, is not to suggest that Satanists cannot become psychic or even pneumatic, but I think it is safer to say, by indulging in sensual pleasures and putting ego first above all, would never guarantee true freedom.

Of course, it should be noted that extreme Satanism as a blasphemy of Christianity, and Satanic organizations that lean towards fascist movement are still relatively rare, but that does not mean they do not exist. Fascist and extreme forms of Satanism definitely do exist, and they are a threat to the society, and there are rebellious, identity searching adolescents that are attracted to Satanism, but I suppose most Satanists are sane, normal people. Though there certainly are rebellious, anti-establishment and anarchist Satanists, there are also Satanists with a healthy sense of humor, some even make themselves great intellectuals, but my guess is most Satanists are just ordinary folk like their Christian or Atheist neighbors next-door.

And LaVeyan Satanism, though is the most prominent form of modern Satanism, it is by no mean the only form, there are other forms of Satanism, like certain theistic Satanic sects that do not go along well with LaVeyan Satanism, even within the Church of Satan itself, there are those who believe in the demons as objective beings.

So, is the Satanic Bible a dangerous book? I think the answer is both yes and no, it can be as dangerous or as safe as any book. A Bible or Qur’an thumping fundamentalist is undoubtly much more annoying and dangerous than an average LaVeyan Satanist. But just like any book, if the Satanic Bible is abused, it wouldn't be a good thing. For those who are interested in new religious movement, the Satanic Bible is an essential reading, as it has great influence on most of the modern Satanic orders, lodges, grottos, groups, and individual. Provided the reader has an open mind, despite the charges of plagiarism of the book, the Satanic Bible can be quite interesting, though at time it does get a bit boring.