The Satanic Bible Anton Szandor LaVey Called "The Black Pope" by many of his followers, Anton LaVey began the road to High Priesthood of the Church of Satan when he was only 16 years old and an organ player in a carnival: "On Saturday night I would see men lusting after half -naked girls dancing at the carnival, and on Sunday morning when I was playing the organ for tent- show evangelists at the other end of the carnival lot, I would see these same men sitting in the pews with their wives and children, asking God to forgive them and purge them of carnal desires. And the next Saturday night they'd be back at the carnival or some other place of indulgence. "I knew then that the Christian Church thrives on hypocrisy, and that man 's carnal nature will out!" From that time early in his life his path was clear. Finally, on the last night of April, 1966- Walpurgisnacht, the most important festival of the believers in witchcraft-La Vey shaved his head in the tradition of ancient executioners and announced the formation of The Church Of Satan. He had seen the need for a church that would recapture man's body and his carnal desires as objects of celebration. "Since worship of fleshly things produces pleasure," he said, "there would then be a temple of glorious indulgence. . ." The Satanic Bible Anton Szandor LaVey For Diane To: Bernadino Logara, who knew the value of money Karl Haushofer, a teacher without a classroom Rasputin, who knew the magic of a child Sir Basil Zaharoff, a gentleman Cagliostro, a rogue Barnabas Saul, the link with Mount Lalesh Ragnar Redbeard, whose might is right William Mortensen, who looked . . . and saw Hans Brick, who knows the law Max Reinhardt, a builder of dreams Orrin Klapp, the walking man Fritz Lang, who made moving blueprints Friedrich Nietzsche, a realist William Claude Dukinfield, who saved me a journey to Tibet Phineas Taylor Barnum, another great guru Hans Poelzig, who knew all the angles Reginald Marsh, a great artist Wilhelm Reich, who knew more than cabinet-making Mark Twain, a very brave man And to: Howard Hughes, James Moody, Marcello Truzzi, Adrian-Claude Frazier, Marilyn Monroe, Wesley Mather, William Lindsay Gresham, Hugo Zacchini, Jayne Mansfield, Frederick Goerner, C.Huntley, Nathaniel West, Horatio Alger, Robert Ervin Howard, George Orwell, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, Tuesday Weld, H.G. Wells, Sister Marie Koven, Harry Houdini, Togare, and the Nine Unknown Men. INTRODUCTION I (1969-1972) by Burton H. Wolfe INTRODUCTION II (1972-1976) by Michael A. Aquino INTRODUCTION III (1976-2005) by Burton H. Wolfe INTRODUCTION IV (2005-) by Peter H. Gilmore PREFACE PROLOGUE THE NINE SATANIC STATEMENTS (FIRE) -BOOK OF SATAN- The Infernal Diatribe (AIR) -BOOK OF LUCIFER- The Enlightenment I Wanted!: God - Dead or Alive II The God You SAVE May Be Yourself III Some Evidence of a New Satanic Age IV Hell, the Devil, and How to Sell Your Soul V Love and Hate VI Satanic Sex VII Not all Vampires Suck Blood VIII Indulgence... NOT Compulsion IX On the Choice of a Human Sacrifice X Life After Death Through Fulfillment of the Ego XI Religious Holidays XII The Black Mass (EARTH) -BOOK OF BEL1AL- The Mastery of the Earth I Theory and Practice of Satanic Magic: (Definition and Purpose of Lesser and Greater Magic) II The Three Types of Satanic Ritual III The Ritual, or "Intellectual Decompression," Chamber IV The Ingredients Used in the Performance of Satanic Magic: A. Desire B. Timing C. Imagery D. Direction E. The Balance Factor V The Satanic Ritual: A. Some Notes Which are to be Observed Before Beginning Ritual B. The Thirteen Steps C. Devices Used in Satanic Ritual (WATER) -BOOK OF LEVIATHAN- The Raging Sea I Invocation to Satan II The Infernal Names III Invocation Employed Towards the Conjuration of Lust IV Invocation Employed Towards the Conjuration of Destruction V Invocation Employed Towards the Conjuration of Compassion VI The Enochian Keys and The Enochian Language (The nineteen Keys will be listed here in chronological order) Underground Edition Extras The Satanic Bible INTRODUCTION by Burton H. Wolfe This is the original introduction, used in the 1969 first edition through 1972 INTRODUCTION by Burton H. Wolfe* In the summer of 1966, a few newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area began to take notice of a body of Devil- worshippers headed by a former circus and carnival lion handler and organist, Anton Szandor LaVey. Their practice of the black arts was nothing new in the world. It had traces in voodoo cults, a Hell-Fire Club that existed in 18th-Century England, a Satanic circle led by Aleister Crowley in England a century later, and the Black Order of Germany in the 1920' s and 1930's. But two aspects of the San Francisco group made them different from their predecessors: they were blasphemously organized into a church, the First Church of Satan, instead of the usual coven Satanism and witchcraft lore; and they carried on their black magic openly instead of underground. Wedding, baptism, and funeral ceremonies dedicated to the Devil were held in the Church of Satan, with the press invited. Rituals in the tradition of the black arts were staged at midnight in the old dark Victorian house of LaVey, an incongruous building among all the white and yellow stucco houses in the San Francisco neighborhood a short way from the cliffs along the Golden Gate. Occasionally the roar of a full-grown lion that lived in the black house with the LaVey family (Anton, 39; wife Diane, 26; and daughters Karla, 17, and Zeena, 6) reverberated through the night, spooking the neighbors, who were already upset about living so close to Hell. Somehow it was all terribly provocative. Besides, the Devil has always made "good copy," as they say on the city desk. By 1967, the newspapers that were sending reporters to write about the Church of Satan extended from San Francisco across the Pacific to Tokyo and across the Atlantic to Paris. When a wedding or funeral was held, with a naked woman serving as altar to Satan, the Associated Press and other wire Services were on hand to transmit the story and the scandalous photographs to thousands of periodicals. Groups affiliated with the Church of Satan were organized in other parts of America and in England, France, Germany, Africa, and Australia. In existence less than a year, the Church of Satan had already proved one of its cardinal messages: the Devil is alive highly popular with a great many people. Anton LaVey, called "The Black Pope" by some of his followers, realized that two decades ago when he was playing organ for carnival sideshows. "On Saturday night," he recalls, "I would see men lusting after half-naked girls dancing at the carnival, and on Sunday morning when I was playing the organ for tent-show evangelists at the other end of the carnival lot, I would see these same men sitting in the pews with their wives and children, asking God to forgive them and purge them of carnal desires. And the next Saturday night they'd be back at the carnival or some other place of indulgence. I knew then that the Christian church thrives on hypocrisy, and that man's carnal nature will out no matter how much it is purged or scourged by any white light religion." Although LaVey did not realize it then — he was only eighteen — he was on his way toward formulating a religion that would serve as the antithesis to Christianity and its Judaic heritage. It was an old religion, older than Christianity or Judaism. But it had never been formalized, arranged into a body of thought and ritual. That was to be LaVey' s role in 20 th -Century civilization. All of LaVey' s background seemed to prepare him for that role. He is the descendant of Georgian, Roumanian, and Alsatian grandparents, including a gypsy grandma who passed on to him the legends of vampires and witches in her native Transylvania. As early as the age of five, LaVey was delving into Weird-Tales magazines, and books such as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Bram Stoker' s Dracula. He felt different from other children, and yet he became a ringleader, glorying in the organization of mock military orders. * Author of The Hippies and the forthcoming book, The Satanists. An article by Wolfe called "The Church That Worships Satan," the first complete study of the modern Satanic Church, appeared in the September 1968 issue of Knight magazine (Vol. 6, No. 8). Publishers Service, Inc., the producer of Knight, has graciously permitted portions of the article to appear in this introduction. In 1942, when he was twelve years old, LaVey's fascination with toy soldiers branched off to concern about the world war. He delved into military manuals and discovered that arsenals for the equipment of armies and navies could be bought like groceries in a supermarket and used to conquer masses of people. The idea took shape in his head that contrary to what the Bible said, the earth would not be inherited by the meek, but by the strong and mighty. After entering High School, LaVey became something of an offbeat child prodigy. He did most of his studying outside the school, delving into music, metaphysics, and secrets of the occult. At sixteen he became second oboist in the San Francisco Ballet Symphony Orchestra. Bored with high school classes, he dropped out in his junior year, left home, and joined the Clyde Beatty Circus as a cage boy, watering and feeding the lions and tigers. Animal trainer Beatty noticed that LaVey was comfortable working with the big cats and made him an assistant trainer. One day the circus calliope player became drunk. LaVey had taught himself to play the piano by ear and thought he could handle the organ keyboard well enough to provide some music for the performance that evening. It turned out that he played better and knew more music than the regular player, so Beatty kept him on the calliope. He accompanied the "Human Cannonball," Hugo Zachinni, and the Wallendas' high wire acts, among others. When he was eighteen, LaVey left the circus and joined a carnival. He became assistant to a magician, learned hypnosis, and studied more about the occult. This was a curious combination. On the one side, he was working in an atmosphere of life at its rawest level — of earthy music; the smell of wild animals; acts in which a second of missed timing meant accident; performances that demanded youth and strength, and shed those who grew old like last year's clothes; a world of physical excitement that had magical attractions. On the other side, he was working with the magic in the dark side of the human mind. After he married, LaVey abandoned the wondrous world of the carnival to settle into a career better suited for a home life. He enrolled as a criminology major at the City College of San Francisco. That led to his first conformist job — photographer for the San Francisco Police Department. As it worked out, that job had as much to do as any other with leading him toward Satanism. "I saw the bloodiest, grimiest side of human nature," he recalls. "People shot by nuts, knifed by friends, little kids splattered in the gutter by hit and run drivers. It was disgusting and depressing. I asked myself: 'Where is God?' I came to detest the sanctimonious attitude of people toward violence, always saying it's God's will." He quit in disgust after three years and went back to playing the organ, this time in nightclubs, to earn a living while he continued his studies into his life's fascination: the black arts. Once a week he held classes in ritual magic at his home. They attracted many who were, or have since become well known in the arts and sciences and business world. Eventually a "Magic Circle" evolved from this group. The major purpose of the Circle was to meet for the performance of black rituals that LaVey had discovered. He had accumulated a library of works that described the Black Mass and other pagan ceremonies conducted by groups such as the Knights Templar in 14th-Century France and the Golden Dawn in 19th-century England. The original intent of these black orders was to blaspheme, mock the Christian church, and address themselves to the Devil as an anthropomorphic deity that represented the reverse of God. In LaVey's view, the Devil was much more than that. Satan represented a dark, hidden force in nature that was responsible for the workings of earthly affairs for which science and religion had no explanation and no control. "At first I detected this force in small ways," LaVey explains. "It might be the discovery of an individual whose powers of wishing were so great that he could win horse races. In my case, I found I could conjure up parking places at the last minute in front of theaters, when none should have been there. I also discovered an ability through magic to bring reversals to enemies and gain advantage for myself. I realized I had stumbled onto something, and I would have gone on doing it on my own without any Magic Circle. But I also realized that for some things private magic was weaker than mass ritual magic." Hence, on the last night of April 1966 — Walpurgisnacht, the most important festival in the lore of magic and witchcraft — LaVey shaved his head in the tradition of ancient strongmen and announced the formation of the Church of Satan. For proper identification as its minister, he put on the clerical collar. Up to that collar, he almost looked holy. But the Genghis Khan shaved head, his Mephistophelian beard, and his narrow eyes gave him the necessary demonic look for his priesthood of the Devil's church. "For one thing," LaVey explains, "calling it a church enabled me to follow the magic formula of nine parts outrage to one part social respectability that is needed for success. But the main purpose was to gather a group of like-minded individuals together for the use of their combined energies in calling up the dark force in nature that is called Satan." As LaVey correctly perceived, all other churches are based on worship of the spirit and denial of the flesh. He saw the need for a church that would recapture man's body and carnal desires as objects of celebration. "And," he adds, "since worship of fleshly things produces pleasure, there would then be a temple of glorious indulgence that would be fun for people. All the other churches are places of abstinence with services that people want to have over as soon as possible so they can get out and start enjoying life again." In the Church of Satan, LaVey initiated clever psychodramas that would enable a group of flesh-worshippers to overcome the repressions and inhibitions fostered by the Judaeo-Christian tradition. He knew that the old concept of a Black Mass to satirize Christian services was outmoded. There was a revolution in the Christian church itself against orthodox rites and traditions. It was popular to declare that "God is dead." So, the rites that he worked out, while still maintaining the trappings of the ancient Black Mass, were changed from a negative mockery to positive forms of celebrations: Satanic weddings, funerals devoid of sanctimonious platitudes, lust rituals to help individuals attain their sex desires, destruction rituals to enable members of the Satanic Church to triumph over enemies and win their goals in life. There is no altruism or love-thy-neighbor concept in the Satanic religion, except in the sense of helping other adherents of the Black Path to gain their desires by group energy. Satanism is a blatantly selfish, brutal religion. It is based on the belief that man is inherently a selfish, violent creature, that life is a Darwinian struggle for survival of the fittest, that the earth will be ruled by those who fight to win the ceaseless competition that exists in all jungles — including that of urban societies. On that score, the Church of Satan may be justly criticized, although even its critics will have to admit that its philosophy is based on logic and real conditions that exist in the world. On the other hand, the great contribution to civilized thought made by the Church of Satan is its celebration of the complete human being instead of the spirit alone. The signs are everywhere that humanity is striving to burst the restrictive bonds of religion. It was predicted in the Bible, for that matter, in symbolic passages that dealt with Satan chained for a thousand years, after which he would break free and foment deviltry on the earth. Now it is happening. Sex is exploding in movies and literature, on the streets, and in the home. People are dancing topless and bottomless. Youths are throwing off restrictions that deny pleasure in mind and body. There is a ceaseless quest for entertainment, gourmet foods and wines, adventure, enjoyment of the here and now. Man is no longer willing to wait for any afterlife that promises to reward the clean, pure — translate: ascetic, drab — spirit. There is a mood of neo-paganism and hedonism, and from it have emerged a wide variety of intelligent individuals — doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, writers, actors, stockbrokers, clerks, printers, nurses (to cite just a few categories of Satanic Church members) — who are interested in carrying the liberation of the flesh all the way to a formal religion. In the Satanic Bible, Anton LaVey explains the philosophy of Satanism better than any of his ancestors in the Kingdom of Darkness, and describes the various rituals and trappings that have been devised to create a true church of flesh-worshippers. It is clear, from the interest in Satanism that erupted in 1968 along with the fascination directed toward Ira Levin's book Rosemary's Baby, that there are many people who would like to know how to start Satanic cults and ritualize black magic. This book shows them how to go about it and fills that need. It is also clear that there is a place for the formulation of teachings that constitute the antithesis to the repressive, inhibiting, anti- material dogma of Christianity and other antiquated religions. The Satanic Bible also fills that need. Perhaps the most important social value of this book is its challenge to other religions: Deal with carnal desire and the flesh in a logical, rational manner or lose the struggle not only for men's bodies, but also their souls. INTRODUCTION by Michael A. Aquino This introduction appeared in the hardcover Satanic Bible from its first release in 1972 throughout its existence, and in the Avon paperback edition from 1972 to 1976 Each successive era of man's cultural and ethical development has upraised its literary manifesto - an argument challenging existing norms and proposing a novel approach to the enduring issues of civilization. It has not infrequently been the case that the realities of political nationalism have been blended with the idealisms of extranational emphasis to produce what we now cautiously term existentialism. Pertinent works might include the Republic of Plato, the Politics of Aristotle, Machiavelli's Prince, and the writings of Nietzsche, Hobbes, Locke, Marx, and Sartre. This is the book of our era. The dawn of the Satanic Age was celebrated on April 30, 1966 - the Year One. On that date Anton Szandor LaVey consecrated the Church of Satan in the city of San Francisco and assumed office as its first High Priest. What had begun several years earlier as an intellectual forum dedicated to the investigation and application of the Black Arts has since expanded into an international philosophical movement of the first magnitude. Satanism, once the isolate province of furtive outcasts and radical eccentrics, has now become a serious alternative to the doctrines of theism and materialism. In its championship of indulgence instead of abstinence, the Church of Satan rejects the notion that man's progress is contingent upon his acceptance of a self-imposed morality. Sound judgment derives from the comparison and resolution of opposites, Satanists maintain, and one cannot presume to justice by honoring a single standard of behavior. An empirical approach to morality is not a recent innovation; such theorists as Pythagoras, Hegel, Spencer, and Compte advanced the original propositions for man's intellectual independence from the natural order. And, though this concept has invariably provoked adverse reaction from society-oriented institutions, it is not an insubstantial viewpoint. One need only consider the spasmodic cataclysms of history to see how inadequately Homo sapiens cooperates with his fellows. By itself, however, all theory is inconsequential. Until now the only advocates of a subjective morality were professorial abstractionists and -occasionally -the scattered and disorganized devotees of the traditional "White" witchcraft. Indeed the latter have enjoyed some notoriety of late, as their supposed proclamation of a liberal morality tempered by social correctness appeals to the bored but timid dilettante. Such aficionados of the occult profess a righteous horror of Black Magic or Satanism, which they denounce as a maleficent, degenerate creature of moral and carnal abuse. The Satanist, on the other hand, regards traditional witchcraft as merely a neurotic reaction against the established religions of the parent culture. The worship of any deity or deities - under any guise whatsoever - is repulsive to the Black Magician, who considers all protestations of faith or trust in a supernatural protectorate to be humiliating demonstrations of cowardice and emotional insecurity. Satanism has been frequently misrepresented as "devil worship", when in fact it constitutes a clear rejection of all forms of worship as a desirable component of the personality. It is not so much an anti-religion - a simple rebuttal of any one belief - as it is an un-religion, an uncompromising dismissal of all insubstantial mysticism. As such it represents a far more serious threat to organized theologies than do the archaic customs of the old daemonologies. Ritual and fantasy play a very real part in the activities of the Satanic Church, on the assumption that the experience and control of mental and metaphysical irrationality are necessary for the strengthening of the psyche. Thus a distinct effort is made to avoid what was perhaps the Achilles' heel of the Gurdjieff-Ouspensky school of subjective psychological evolution; earlier disciples of self-determined transcendentalism postulated that all non-materialistic sensations were a danger to the coherence of the student. Crucial to the concept of Satanic ritual is an appreciation of its illustrative and inspirational qualities without necessarily regarding it as inflexible reality. Satanism is more accurately identified as a disposition than as a religion, as it is actively concerned with all the facets of human existence, not with only the so-called spiritual aspects. Yet those who proclaim it to be a danger to justice and cooperative order have missed the point entirely. Satanism advocates unrestricted freedom, but only to the extent that one's preferences do not impinge upon another's. It should also be noted that Satanism is a philosophy of the individual, not of the mass. There are no collective policy statements save the famous Crowley admonition: "Self- deceit is the gravest of all 'sins'." While the majority of the populace may instinctively incline to a de facto Satanism, the Church cautions that its propositions are not for the irresponsible. There are no Satanic missionaries, and to affiliate one must meet exacting standards. Inexperience is not dishonored, but pretentiousness, hypocrisy, and pomposity are treated with the scorn that they deserve. Satanism is no less an art than it is a science, and there is "no standard of measurement deified". Dr. LaVey is uniquely prepared to author the new Diabolism. An American of Georgian, Alsatian, and Romanian Gypsy descent, he was quick to display the characteristic restlessness of his nomadic ancestors and an unusual empathy for their earthy, arcane lore. An early preoccupation with the military sciences led him to read the various logistical publications of the World War II era, only to discover that the proud visions of martial glory entertained in the first world war had given way to a detached, mercenary realism in the second. His experiences as a student did nothing to dispel this first taste of human cynicism, and LaVey's growing impatience with the sterile regimentation of conventional education drove him to seek the strange, surrealistic enchantments of the circus. He assisted Clyde Beatty as a wild-animal trainer, and he soon developed a strong affinity for the cats which was to mark his personality in a most curious manner. All animate creatures are basically bestial, he reasoned, and even the most refined social orders achieve at best only a flimsy suppression of this innate savagery. From the circus he proceeded to a carnival, where the glitter of the performing arts was tinged with the ever-present struggle for daily subsistence. Here LaVey worked in a pathetic but quietly dignified world of misfits, sideshow freaks, and human oddities; and here he was to learn the craft of the stage magician, whose success depends upon the contrived distraction of the audience's attention. With a certain grimness he noted the fascination with which the "normal" man regards his deformed comrades - a gloating satisfaction over the visiting of misfortune upon another instead of oneself. Becoming increasingly interested in this cruel, lycanthropic attribute of human nature, he studied criminology in college and eventually worked with the San Francisco Police Department as a photographer. As a circus professional he had seen carnal man at his most artistic; now he was to view him at his most vicious. Three years of the gore, brutality, and abject misery that permeate the criminal subculture left him sickened, disillusioned, and angered with the rampant hypocrisy of polite society. He turned to the pipe organ as a means of living and devoted the greater part of his efforts to what was to become his life's work - Black Magic. LaVey had long since rejected the stereotypical tracts on ceremonial sorcery as the hysterical products of medieval imaginations. The "Old Craft" with its superstitions, affected mannerisms, and infantile parlor games was not for him; what he sought was a metaphysical psychology that would approach the intellectual man only after giving due consideration to his brutal, animalistic origins. And so he came at last to the Goat of Mendes. Satan is easily the most enigmatic figure in classical literature. Possessed of every conceivable wealth, and the most powerful of the Archangels, he spurned his exalted allegiance to proclaim his independence from all that his Heavenly patron personified. Although condemned to the most hideous of domains, a Hell totally shunned by the divinity, he embraced such privations as the burden of his intellectual prerogative. In his Infernal Empire one might indulge even the most extraordinary tastes with impunity, yet amidst such wanton licentiousness the Devil maintained a peculiar nobility. It was this elusive quality which Anton LaVey determined to identify. After long years of research and experiment, he pronounced the guiding principle of Satanism: that the ultimate consequence of man lies not in unity but in duality. It is only synthesis that decides values; adherence to a single order is arbitrary and therefore insignificant. LaVey's disturbing theories and bizarre operations of ceremonial Black Magic eventually attracted a following of similarly minded individuals. From this first small circle the Church of Satan was to emerge, attuned to its founder's contention that its messages would be presented most effectively through "nine parts social respectability to one part of the most blatant outrage". The social impact and spectacular growth of the Church were to become something of a legend in themselves, but it was an essential part of LaVey's convictions that the formal institution's role was principally that of a catalyst. Contemporary civilization has proved too interdependent to permit the luxury of monastic isolationism. Satanism must accordingly assume a stance comprehensible to the average intellect. It was with such intent that the Satanic Bible was conceived. The Satanic Bible is a most insidious document. One is strongly tempted to compare it with that obscure, malefic mythology The King in Yellow, a psychopolitical work that supposedly drove its readers to madness and damnation. As candid and conversational as the Satanic Bible might seem at first glance, it is not a volume to be gently dismissed. It is very much the product of our time, not only because such a book -together with its author -would more than likely have been destroyed in an earlier era, but because its creation was an evolutionary inevitability. You, the reader, are about to be impaled upon the sharp horns of a Satanic dilemma. If you accept the propositions of this book, you condemn your most cherished sanctuaries to annihilation. In return you will awaken - but only to the most fiery of Hells. Should you reject the argument, you resign yourself to a cancerous disintegration of your previously subconscious sense of identity. Small wonder that the Archfiend's legacy has won him so many bitter enemies! Whatever your decision, it can be avoided no longer. The Satanic Bible finally articulates what man has instinctively dreaded to proclaim: that he himself is potentially divine. INTRODUCTION by Burton H. Wolfe This second introduction by Wolfe was used from 1976 through 2005 On a winter's evening in 1967, 1 drove crosstown in San Francisco to hear Anton Szandor LaVey lecture at an open meeting of the Sexual Freedom League. I was attracted by newspaper articles describing him as "the Black Pope" of a Satanic church in which baptism, wedding, and funeral ceremonies were dedicated to the Devil. I was a free-lance magazine writer, and I felt there might be a story in LaVey and his contemporary pagans; for the Devil has always made "good copy," as they say on the city desk. It was not the practice of the black arts itself that I considered to be the story, because that is nothing new in the world. There were Devil-worshipping sects and voodoo cults before there were Christians. In eighteenth-century England a Hell-Fire Club, with connections to the American colonies through Benjamin Franklin, gained some brief notoriety. During the early part of the twentieth century, the press publicized Aleister Crowley as the "wickedest man in the world." And there were hints in the 1920s and '30s of a "black order" in Germany. To this seemingly old story LaVey and his organization of contemporary Faustians offered two strikingly new chapters. First, they blasphemously represented themselves as a "church," a term previously confined to the branches of Christianity, instead of the traditional coven of Satanism and witchcraft lore. Second, they practiced their black magic openly instead of underground. Rather than arrange a preliminary interview with LaVey for discussion of his heretical innovations, my usual first step in research, I decided to watch and listen to him as an unidentified member of an audience. He was described in some newspapers as a former circus and carnival lion tamer and trickster now representing himself as the Devil's representative on earth, and I wanted to determine first whether he was a true Satanist, a prankster, or a quack. I had already met people in the limelight of the occult business; in fact, Jeane Dixon was my landlady and I had a chance to write about her before Ruth Montgomery did. But I had considered all the occultists phonies, hypocrites, or quacks, and I would never spend five minutes writing about their various forms of hocus-pocus. All the occultists I had met or heard of were white-lighters: alleged seers, prophesiers, and witches wrapping their supposedly mystic powers around God-based, spiritual communication. LaVey, seeming to laugh at them if not spit on them in contempt, emerged from between the lines of newspaper stories as a black magician basing his work on the dark side of nature and the carnal side of humanity. There seemed to be nothing spiritual about his "church". As I listened to LaVey talk that first time, I realized at once there was nothing to connect him with the occult business. He could not even be described as metaphysical. The brutally frank talk he delivered was pragmatic, relativistic, and above all rational. It was unorthodox, to be sure: a blast at established religious worship, repression of humanity's carnal nature, phony pretense at piety in the course of an existence based on dog-eat-dog material pursuits. It was also full of sardonic satire on human folly. But most important of all, the talk was logical. It was not quack magic that LaVey offered his audience. It was common sense philosophy based on the realities of life. After I became convinced of LaVey 's sincerity, I had to convince him that / intended to do some serious research instead of adding to the accumulation of hack articles dealing with the Church of Satan as a new type of freak show. I boned up on Satanism, discussed its history and rationale with LaVey, and attended some midnight rituals in the famous Victorian manse once used as Church of Satan headquarters. Out of all that I produced a serious article, only to find that was not what the publishers of "respectable" magazines wanted. They were interested in only the freak show kind of article. Finally, it was a so-called "girlie" or "man's" magazine, Knight of September 1968, that published the first definitive article on LaVey, the Church of Satan, and LaVey' s synthesis of the old Devil legends and black magic lore into the modern philosophy and practice of Satanism that all followers and imitators now use as their model, their guide, and even their Bible. My magazine article was the beginning, not the end (as it has been with my other writing subjects), of a long and intimate association. Out of it came my biography of LaVey, The Devil's Avenger, published by Pyramid in 1974. After the book was published, I became a card-carrying member and, subsequently, a priest of the Church of Satan, a title I now proudly share with many celebrated persons. The postmidnight philosophical discussions I began with LaVey in 1967 continue today, a decade later, supplemented sometimes these days by a nifty witch or some of our own music, him on organ and me on drums, in a bizarre cabaret populated by superrealistic humanoids of LaVey's creation. All of LaVey's background seemed to prepare him for his role. He is the descendant of Georgian, Roumanian, and Alsatian grandparents, including a gypsy grandmother who passed on to him the legends of vampires and witches in her native Transylvania. As early as the age of five, LaVey was reading Weird-Tales magazines and books such as Mary Shelly' s Frankenstein and Bram Stoker's Dracula. Though he was different from other children, they appointed him as leader in marches and maneuvers in mock military orders. In 1942, when LaVey was twelve, his fascination with toy soldiers led to concern over World War II. He delved into military manuals and discovered arsenals for the equipment of armies and navies could be bought like groceries in a supermarket and used to conquer nations. The idea took shape in his head that contrary to what the Christian Bible said, the earth would not be inherited by the meek, but by the mighty. In high school LaVey became something of an offbeat child prodigy. Reserving his most serious studies for outside the school, he delved into music, metaphysics, and secrets of the occult. At fifteen, he became second oboist in the San Francisco Ballet Symphony Orchestra. Bored with high school classes, LaVey dropped out in his Junior year, left home, and joined the Clyde Beatty Circus as a cage boy, watering and feeding the lions and tigers. Animal trainer Beatty noticed that LaVey was comfortable working with the big cats and made him an assistant trainer. Possessed since childhood by a passion for the arts, for culture, LaVey was not content merely with the excitement of training jungle beasts and working with them in the ring as a fill-in for Beatty. By age ten he had taught himself to play the piano by ear. This came in handy when the circus calliope player became drunk before a performance and was unable to go on; LaVey volunteered to replace him, confident he could handle the unfamiliar organ keyboard well enough to provide the necessary background music. It turned out he knew more music and played better than the regular calliopist, so Beatty cashiered the drunk and installed LaVey at the instrument. He accompanied the "Human Cannonball", Hugo Zachinni, and the Wallendas' high-wire acts, among others. When LaVey was eighteen he left the circus and joined a carnival. There he became assistant to a magician, learned hypnosis, and studied more about the occult. It was a curious combination. On the one side he was working in an atmosphere of life at its rawest level - of earthy music; the smell of wild animals and sawdust; acts in which a second of missed timing meant accident or death; performances that demanded youth and strength, and shed those who grew old like last year's clothes; a world of physical excitement that had magical attractions. On the other side, he was working with magic in the dark side of the human brain. Perhaps the strange combination influenced the way he began to view humanity as he played organ for carnival sideshows. "On Saturday night," LaVey recalled in one of our long talks, "I would see men lusting after half-naked girls dancing at the carnival, and on Sunday morning when I was playing organ for tent- show evangelists at the other end of the carnival lot, I would see these same men sitting in the pews with their wives and children, asking God to forgive them and purge them of carnal desires. And the next Saturday night they'd be back at the carnival or some other place of indulgence. I knew then that the Christian church thrives on hypocrisy, and that man's carnal nature will out no matter how much it is purged or scourged by any white-light religion." Though LaVey did not realize it then, he was on his way toward formulating a religion that would serve as the antithesis of Christianity and its Judaic heritage. It was an old religion, older than Christianity or Judaism. But it had never been formalized, arranged into a body of thought and ritual. That was to become LaVey's role in twentieth-century civilization. After LaVey became a married man himself in 1951, at age twenty-one, he abandoned the wondrous world of the carnival to settle into a career better suited for homemaking. He had been enrolled as a criminology major at the City College of San Francisco. That led to his first conformist job, photographer for the San Francisco Police Department. As it worked out, that job had as much to do as any other with his development of Satanism as a way of life. "I saw the bloodiest, grimiest side of human nature," LaVey recounted in a session dealing with his past life. "People shot by nuts, knifed by their friends; little kids splattered in the gutter by hit- and-run drivers. It was disgusting and depressing. I asked myself: 'Where is God?' I came to detest the sanctimonious attitude of people toward violence, always saying 'it's God's will'." So he quit in disgust after three years of being a crime photographer and returned to playing organ, this time in nightclubs and theaters to earn a living while he continued his studies into his life's passion: the black arts. Once a week he held classes on arcane topics: hauntings, E.S.P., dreams, vampires, werewolves, divination, ceremonial magic, etc. They attracted many people who were, or have since become, well known in the arts and sciences, and the business world. Eventually a "Magic Circle" evolved from this group. The major purpose of the Circle was to meet for the performance of magical rituals LaVey had discovered or devised. He had accumulated a library of works that described the Black Mass and other infamous ceremonies conducted by groups such as the Knights Templar in fourteenth-century France, the Hell-Fire club and the Golden Dawn in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century England. The intent of some of these secret orders was to blaspheme, lampoon the Christian church, and address themselves to the Devil as an anthropomorphic deity that represented the reverse of God. In LaVey's view, the Devil was not that, but rather a dark, hidden force in nature responsible for the workings of earthly affairs, a force for which neither science nor religion had any explanation. LaVey's Satan is "the spirit of progress, the inspirer of all great movements that contribute to the development of civilization and the advancement of mankind. He is the spirit of revolt that leads to freedom, the embodiment of all heresies that liberate." On the last night of April 1966-Walpurgisnacht, the most important festival in the lore of magic and witchcraft-La Vey ritualistically shaved his head in accordance with magical tradition and announced the formation of the Church of Satan. For proper identification as its minister, he put on the clerical collar. Up to that collar he looked almost holy. But his Genghis Khan-like shaven head, his Mephistophelian beard, and his narrow eyes gave him the necessary demonic look for his priesthood of the Devil's church on earth. "For one thing," LaVey explained himself, "calling it a church enabled me to follow the magic formula of one part outrage to nine parts social respectability that is needed for success. But the main purpose was to gather a group of like-minded individuals together for the use of their combined energies in calling up the dark force in nature that is called Satan." As LaVey pointed out, all other churches are based on worship of the spirit and denial of the flesh and the intellect. He saw the need for a church that would recapture man's mind and carnal desires as objects of celebration. Rational self-interest would be encouraged and a healthy ego championed. He began to realize that the old concept of a Black Mass to satirize Christian services was outmoded or, as he put it, "beating a dead horse". In the Church of Satan, LaVey initiated some exhilarating psychodramas, in lieu of Christianity's self-debasing services, thereby exorcising repressions and inhibitions fostered by white-light religions. There was a revolution in the Christian church itself against orthodox rites and traditions. It had become popular to declare that "God is dead". So, the alternative rites that LaVey worked out, while still maintaining some of the trappings of ancient ceremonies, were changed from a negative mockery to positive forms of celebrations and purges: Satanic weddings consecrating the joys of the flesh, funerals devoid of sanctimonious platitudes, lust rituals to help individuals attain their sex desires, destruction rituals to enable members of the Satanic church to triumph over enemies. On special occasions such as baptisms, weddings, and funerals in the name of the Devil, press coverage, though unsolicited, was phenomenal. By 1967 the newspapers that were sending reporters to write about the Church of Satan extended from San Francisco across the Pacific to Tokyo and across the Atlantic to Paris. A photo of a nude woman, half covered by a leopard skin, serving as an altar to Satan in a LaVey-conceived wedding ceremony, was transmitted by major wire services to daily newspapers everywhere: and it showed up on the front p