Bearing a black cover complete with goat’s head pentagram and a rear cover image of the sinister stare of
the author (who coincidentally resembles Max Von Sydow portraying Ming the Merciless in the 1982 classic Flash Gordon), The Satanic Bible’s design is meant to convey an air of foreboding. The title itself invokes evil and practically screams gothic teenage angst.
Anton LaVey, a carnival calliope player, composed The Satanic Bible in 1969 after becoming disenfranchised with the apparent hypocrisy he witnessed while employed as an organ player in tent revival religious services. Claiming he would see men fornicating with carnival girls the night before and then coming to service the next day to seek absolution, LaVey decided that the traditional church values of abstinence and self denial ran counter to man’s natural inclinations. Taking it upon himself to begin a new religion, one that embraced man’s carnal nature, he wrote out a series of detailed essays which would eventually be compiled to become the founding book of the modern satanic movement.
Like its Judeo-Christian counterparts, The Satanic Bible is broken down into separate books, four to be exact; Earth Air, Fire, and Water.
The Book of Satan (Fire)
The Satanic Bible opens with a list of fifty-three separate statements or tenants, given as the founding principles upon which Satanism stands. The central theme of these statements is the idea that man is an animal, despite what the church or society would say to the contrary; God was created in man’s image, not the other way around. Being an animal as such, man should not constrain himself to hypocritical morality or sense of righteousness. If someone wrongs you, don’t turn the other cheek, destroy them for their impudence. If something makes you feel good, and as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else, go right ahead and do it. This includes all forms of fornication purely for personal pleasure. It’s all very libertarian and one wonders if John Stuart Mill might not, had he been alive, have joined LaVey’s bandwagon in his time.
The Book of Lucifer (Air)
Expounding on the previously listed tenants, the Book of Lucifer examines several of them in greater detail. This section comprises the bulk of the text and addresses Satan as a force that can be harnessed by man for his benefit. LaVey dispels the popular myth of “selling one’s soul” as well as puts to bed the notion that Satanists purposefully sacrifice babies in their ceremonies. He also addresses the phenomena of what he calls “psychic vampires”, people who metaphorically suck the energy out of others through false drama and pity.
A great deal of effort is put forth in the area of sex as central to Satanism and its adherents. In its decidedly “leftist” stance as a diametrically opposing force to the religious “right”, The Satanic Bible details the openness with which sex should be approached. LaVey says how Satanism is accepting of all forms of sexual activity, both hetero and homosexual, including sadomasochism, fetishism and masturbation.
Book of Belial (Earth)
This book is concerned with, amongst other things, the actual performance of the Satanic ritual. LaVey outlines the procedures to be followed and provides a list of the materials needed, including candles, sword, chalice etc. Spells and curses of differing purpose are discussed as are the function of what the book calls “The Infernal Names”, a list of the various monikers of the devil from multiple cultures both past and present.
Book of Leviathan (Water)
The Book of Leviathan consists almost entirely of the nineteen “Enochian Keys” that LaVey says are only to be used by the most proficient Satanist. The “keys” are a series of short verses meant to be recited during the rituals and are written in a language LaVey claims dates from the 1600s. Luckily for the would be dabbler, LaVey provided English translations for the Enochian gibberish.
Filled with anecdotes and tinged with animosity, sweeping generalizations about human nature, and multiple unsubstantiated and unverified statements that LaVey expects his readers to take as fact, The Satanic Bible reads less like a bible and more like a manifesto. As one proceeds through the text, one gets the image of LaVey as the despondent band kid in high school who was picked on, beaten up, made fun of, unlucky with the ladies, and generally disregarded by the popular crowd. Like the loner Goth that nobody understands, it appears he took all those years of pent up frustration, both emotional and sexual, and transferred it in to a literary catharsis, as opposed to say, gunning up and going off on a killing spree.
At least the first two books of The Satanic Bible, however, do put forth a strong case for the indulgent, carnal way of life, the “left hand path” LaVey felt more suited to man than the rigid, sin laden one purported by rightist church dogma. A life of unrestrained gluttony, power and sex is certainly appealing.
And LaVey’s bible has struck a chord with those disconcerted with traditional religious dealings. Since its first publication in 1969 The Satanic Bible, and Satanism in general, has developed, as is to be expected, a cult following. Its popularity is evidenced in its accessibility; one can pick up a copy in most major booksellers across the country often in a section just a stone’s throw from where the Judeo-Christian texts are displayed.
Like any text purporting to explain the correct way to live, The Satanic Bible will be taken by some to be absolute truth and by others with a grain of salt. Read as the dogmatic preaching of the new dark messiah or as just a guilty curiosity, a casual peruse of these pages certainly won’t send you to Hell.
To learn more about the Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan, visit churchofsatan.com
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