| LaVeyan Satanism |
|---|
| Associated organizations |
| Church of Satan First Satanic Church |
| Prominent figures |
| Anton LaVey · Peter H. Gilmore Diane Hegarty · Karla LaVey |
| Concepts |
| Left-Hand Path Pentagonal Revisionism Suitheism · Might is Right Lex talionis · Theistic Satanism |
| Publications |
| The Satanic Bible · The Satanic Rituals The Satanic Witch · The Devil's Notebook Satan Speaks! · The Black Flame The Church of Satan The Secret Life of a Satanist The Satanic Scriptures |
LaVeyan Satanism, often referred to simply as Satanism among most adherents, was founded in 1966 by Anton LaVey. Its teachings are based on individualism, self-control and "eye for an eye" morality. Drawing influences from the rituals and ceremonies of occultist Aleister Crowley and the philosophies of Friedrich Nietzsche and Ayn Rand.[1] Employing Crowley's terminology, its adherents define Satanism as a "Left-Hand Path" religion and philosophy, rejecting traditional "Right-Hand Path" religions such as Christianity and Wicca for their perceived denial of life, and, as in Christianity, emphasis on abstinence and unnecessary guilt. Unlike Theistic Satanism, LaVeyan Satanism does not involve the literal worship of any being other than the self, but rather uses "Satan" as a symbol of carnality and earthly values, of man's inherent nature, and of a cosmos which Satanists perceive to be permeated and motivated by a force that has been given many names by man over the course of time. [2] Anton LaVey established Satanism's first and largest religious organization, the Church of Satan, in 1966, and codified Satanic beliefs and practices in The Satanic Bible in 1969. The Church of Satan acknowledges that there are many Satanists around the world, including both members and non-members. It often rejects the legitimacy of any other organizations of Satanists, dubbing them reverse-Christians, pseudo-Satanists or Devil worshippers. Although exact numbers are not known, conservative estimates put the number of adherents at 3000.[3]
Contents |
On Walpurgisnacht of 1966, Anton LaVey began the Church of Satan. Beforehand, he had given lectures from his home, the infamous Black House, charging two dollars for admittance. He formed a "Magic Circle" with his closest associates. It was soon suggested to LaVey that he had enough material to start an organized religion.[4]
The Church of Satan attracted a great deal of publicity. Its use of nude women as altars, and performances of a Satanic wedding and funeral service, brought it much attention. Anton LaVey shaved his head and wore a white clerical collar, sometimes even wearing horns to complete the image of the Devil incarnate. His flamboyant personality attracted many followers and admirers.[5][6]
In 1969, LaVey published The Satanic Bible, which, even to this day, remains the most authoritative literature on the subject of Satanism, outlining the basic concepts, philosophy and rituals of the religion. A companion book, The Satanic Rituals, published in 1972, presents an array of rituals associated with Satanism throughout the ages, but not necessarily central to the Church's belief system. LaVey also released other literature to further expand on the ideology, namely The Satanic Witch (previously published as The Compleat Witch), and 2 essay anthologies: The Devil's Notebook and Satan Speaks![7]
Since its inception, many individuals sought to recreate LaVey's success by founding comparable organizations claiming the throne of "true" Satanism, but most were short-lived and ceased within a few years. Some, however, have sustained themselves. Those departing gave reasons for their break including differences in ideology, or a rejection of a perceived commercialization of the institution as led by LaVey. One example is the Temple of Set, which, in 1975, was led by former Church of Satan member Michael Aquino, citing, among other things, disagreement with LaVey's worldly atheism.[8] Aquino believed in a living deity, whom he called Set.
The other major organization affiliated with LaVeyan ideology is the First Satanic Church, founded in 1999 by Anton LaVey's daughter, Karla LaVey. She argues that, after her father's death, the church moved away from his original modus operandi, and shifted towards a commercial money making machine. Thus, the First Satanic Church can be considered a re-founding of the original, although the leaders of the LaVeyan Church have often distanced themselves from Karla LaVey since.[9]
Today, the Church of Satan promotes itself as the only representation of LaVeyan Satanism, and it routinely publishes materials underscoring this contention.[10]
In The Satanic Bible, Anton LaVey describes Satan as a motivating and balancing dark force in nature. Satan is also described as being the "Black Flame", representing a person's own inner personality and desires. Satan is seen as synonymous with the nature and even, metaphorically, with certain conceptions of a supreme deity or God.
In his most important essay, "Satanism: The Feared Religion", the Church of Satan's current leader Peter H. Gilmore states:
“ Satanists do not believe in the supernatural, in neither God nor the Devil. To the Satanist, he is his own God. Satan is a symbol of Man living as his prideful, carnal nature dictates. The reality behind Satan is simply the dark evolutionary force of entropy that permeates all of nature and provides the drive for survival and propagation inherent in all living things. Satan is not a conscious entity to be worshipped, rather a reservoir of power inside each human to be tapped at will. Thus any concept of sacrifice is rejected as a Christian aberration—in Satanism there’s no deity to which one can sacrifice.[11] ”
Satan is said to appear in mythology and literature around the world as a trickster, rebel, and classical figure seeking the destruction or slavery of man. Figures such as the Greek Prometheus are said to perfectly exemplify the qualities of Satan, the prideful rebel.[12] Satan is seen as the powerful individual who acts regardless of what others might say.[13] Also, the word satan is derived from the Hebrew for "adversary" or "accuser" (ha-satan). Thus, combining the traditional rebellious imagery associated with Satan and other relative deities, together with the etymological aspect of the word itself, Satanists claim to be adversaries of mainstream religious practices and behaviour which they define as "herd conformity", seeing it as stifling to individuality, creativity, and progress.[14]
Satanists do not believe that Satan is a god or god-like force; rather, the function of God is performed and satisfied by the Satanist him/herself. That is, the needs of worship, ritual, and religious or spiritual focus are directed, effectively, inwards towards the Satanist, as opposed to outwards towards a God. Religious acknowledgement and spiritualism are focal to a person's developement and continued well-being, but should not be sourced from true belief in a deity.
LaVey proposes, instead, that if all gods are creations of humans, worship of an external deity is worship of its creator by proxy. He suggests, then, that the rational Satanists should instead internalize their gods and therefore worship themselves; hence the Satanic maxim, "I am my own god."[15]
It follows that Satanism shuns the idea of belief in all other deities as well. Belief in any such externalized deities is generally considered grounds for excluding someone as a Satanist, and devil worship in particular is considered nothing more than a misguided inversion of Christianity, the practitioners of which being regarded as on par with Christians or other practitioners of the 'Right-Hand Path', instead of Satanists.[16]
Central is the idea that an individual must enforce their own meaning on life and rise above the perceived conformity of the masses. The Satanist is seen as equivalent to Friedrich Nietzsche's Übermensch; LaVey claimed "Satanists are born, not made" and that "[Satanists] have a disease called independence that needs to be recognized just like alcoholism." There are progressive and libertarian elements here; diversity is encouraged, everyone is expected to discover his/her own sexuality, chart his own personality, and decide their own ambitions in life. In this stress on individuality, Satanism is considered a "Left-Hand Path" religion.
Adherents to "life-denying" religions are often regarded as self-abnegating in their devotion to their own servility. LaVey's Satanic creed views religion as promoting an impersonal relationship with what the churches referred to as "God". Satanism was presented as an opportunity to self-identify with one's own concept of God. Great attention was paid to details gleaned from noir films like White Heat and The Big Sleep in creating one's ideal Self from deliberately invoked forms. Satanism encourages a follower of the religion to grow throughout their life as they see fit.
Lex Talionis, or "The Law of Reprisal" (from the Latin lex/legis (f.), "law", and talio, -onis (f.), "retaliation", "rejoinder") informed much of LaVey's Satanic formulation. "Do unto others as they do unto you" supplanted the directive to "do unto others as you would have them do unto you", so that you are only to give compassion and sympathy to those who deserve it. It is a reactive rule, compared with the Christian proactive rule; by the rule, love, compassion, and sympathy are not to be wasted upon "ingrates"; these are to be given only to those who the practitioner feels deserves them. The religion of Satanism, as LaVey espouses it, is centered almost exclusively upon the concept of being one's own god; as such, values and attachments such as love, affection, and caring, along with opposing concepts such as hate and wrath, are to be disseminated at the discretion of the individual Satanist. As such, it is the individual's responsibility (and not that of a god, or the fault of any devil) to both justify and accept the consequences of their actions. LaVey felt that intelligent and strong people spent too much time caring for psychic vampires — weak individuals who always demanded attention and care, yet would never give any back. He taught that Satanists should strive to remove themselves as much as possible from such people in order to live in accordance to their instincts and individual wills.
Magic, as practiced in LaVeyan Satanism, is defined in The Book of Belial of The Satanic Bible as "the change in situations or events in accordance with one's will, which would [sic], using normally accepted methods, be unchangeable". This definition incorporates two broadly distinguished kinds of Magic: Lesser (manipulative and situational) and Greater (ritual and ceremonial). LaVeyan Satanism, however, does not describe Magic moralistically by discerning "White" (good) or "Black" (evil) varieties. Such neutrality correlates with Anton LaVey's philosophical view of an impersonal, and therefore amoral, universe.[15]
Lesser Magic is a system of manipulation that incorporates one or more of three main psychological themes: sex, sentiment, and wonder. The first theme is virtually self-explanatory – sexual seduction is the main aim of the working; the term "sentiment" refers to ideas or impressions of innocence or those inspiring contentment, compassion, or even amusement; and "wonder" oftentimes denotes ideas of austerity and awe or impressions provoking fear or submissiveness on the part of the recipient. But these themes can be combined, when appropriate, to multiply psychological impact by increasing the number of complex and simultaneous emotional responses from the recipient. To build his theories concerning Lesser Magic, Anton LaVey seems to have taken inspiration, at least partly, from The Command to Look by photographer William Mortensen and to have capitalized on its strategies, thus prompting the practicing Satanist to expand on whichever of the three major themes he (or she) seems to naturally exhibit.
LaVey later expanded his system of manipulation in The Satanic Witch. The book was written from the woman's perspective because LaVey believed that women could more fully apply his concepts, but much of the book can be applied by men also. He relates ideas worked out from watching the proprietors of carnival stalls and fortune tellers in their manipulation of customers. The Satanic Witch also proposes The LaVey Synthesizer Clock, a form of somatotyping that adds a fourth body type, the "feminine." The synthesizer is used in identification of personality in order to know how best to manipulate a person through traits often associated with their types and what LaVey referred to as their "demonic" personality, or their opposite on the clock.
Greater Magic involves ritual and ceremony in order to focus one's emotional energy for a specific purpose. Satanic ritual is highly variable, with a basic format given in The Satanic Bible. Satanists are encouraged to use whatever props and means suit their immediate emotional and psychological needs in order to bring their workings to an exhausting and complete climax. It must be noted that the Church of Satan claims that a mastery of Lesser Magic will contribute to a mastery of Greater Magic.
The LaVeyan Satanic ritual is referred to as an "intellectual decompression chamber." Careful planning of the ritual form according to rational considerations of what means and props are most effective is executed before the rites begin, but during the ritual, skepticism and disbelief are willfully suspended, thus allowing the magicians to fully express their sexual or other emotional needs and frustrations, holding nothing back regarding their true and deep feelings. Also, it is notable that Satanism acknowledges that a Greater Magic working is much more likely to succeed with a few Satanists who are committed emotionally to and focussed on what they are doing than with a throng who may all be distracted.
Greater Magic, like Lesser, employs one or more of three major psychoemotive themes: lust (sex), compassion (sentiment), and destruction (wonder). LaVey elaborates on methods for focussing these motivations. Lust rituals can involve masturbation, with orgasm as the goal. Compassion rituals are designed to evoke overwhelming pathos or sadness, and crying is strongly encouraged. Destruction rites involve the symbolic annihilation of an enemy through the use of "vicarious" human sacrifice often involving a customized effigy representing the intended victim which is then put through ritual fire, smashing, or other representation of obliteration. Greater Magic also resembles Lesser in the possibility of combining more than one of the three broad themes of emotion, when appropriate, in order to maximize the success of the working. In any case, full and exhausting self-expression is encouraged for productive Satanic ritual.
Much emphasis is placed on evocation and music. The last part of The Satanic Bible is dedicated to invocations and the nineteen Enochian Keys, originally written by John Dee. Music is encouraged because it is said to easily manipulate one's emotions, which contributes to the overall success of the rituals.
The "Black Mass", a symbolic opposition of the church used in the past, is not used in the current day by Satanists, as Anton LaVey explained in an interview with Occult America:[19] He did not, however, go along with the dramatization of evil as performed in the original Black Mass. “Those,” he explained, “were psychodramas at a time when people needed them. They had to express their opposition, their rebellion against an established church. Our rituals are suitably modified to express the needs of our particular era."
Anton LaVey stated in The Satanic Bible (The chapter in the Book of Lucifer entitled The Black Mass):
| “ | The usual assumption is that the Satanic ceremony or service is always called a black mass. A black mass is not the magical ceremony practiced by Satanists. The Satanist would only employ the use of a black mass as a form of psychodrama. Furthermore, a black mass does not necessarily imply that the performers of such are Satanists. A black mass is essentially a parody of the religious service of the Roman Catholic Church, but can be loosely applied to a satire on any religious ceremony. | ” |
LaVey went on to call it a redundancy, and it is commonly misinterpreted that the Church of Satan has performed actual Black Masses, however using baby-fat candles and kissing the devil's buttocks (both are common practices outlined in the chapter) would be both contradictory and hypocritical for a Satanist to do. In 1966 Anton LaVey held a magic circle, or coven, at his home for a charge before shaving his head and announcing Anno Satanas. Afterwards, the prominent members of The Church of Satan held 'High Mass' on Friday nights at The Black House, as verified in the Occult America interview aforementioned.
The most important holiday in Satanism is one's own birthday, as it is the birthdate of one's own god. This is a reminder that the Satanist, committed to true "vital existence", should consider himself (or herself) the most important person in his own life. LaVey recommends that a Satanist celebrate his own birthday in any way he chooses, with as much pomp and ceremony as he sees fit. The Satanic celebration of one's birthday can thus be seen as something of a "Black Mass", by redirecting to oneself the sanctimony and celebration typically reserved for the many "high holy days" commemorating the births of key gods or saints in other religions.
Three Satanic holidays are named by Anton LaVey in The Satanic Bible but are not considered sacred.
One among these holidays is Walpurgisnacht, which in addition to the occult significance the date carries, also marks the formation of the Church of Satan in the year 1966, or I A. S. (Anno Satanas, "In the year of Satan"). This date is commonly celebrated by Satanists with private or group rituals, and private parties or family celebrations to commemorate the foundation of the Church of Satan.
LaVey also mentions the summer and winter solstices, and the spring and fall equinoxes as lesser holidays. These are likewise often celebrated by ritual or private party. However, they are sometimes also used to substitute popular holidays that Satanists wish to avoid imparting a Christian overtone to but still wish to celebrate in some form.
Halloween is very commonly celebrated by Satanists, but typically there is far less occult significance attached to the date by Satanists than the public might imagine. Halloween is a popular date for both private and group ritual ceremonies, but also a popular date for Satanists to hold private parties for no other purpose than to enjoy the dark fun that is commonly celebrated on that date by the public at large. If anything, Satanists seem to take a sense of irony and humor in the holiday.
Satanism does not specifically forbid the celebration of any holidays or festivals held by other cultures or even other religions. For example, Hispanic Satanists may celebrate Day of The Dead and Chinese Satanists may celebrate Chinese New Year. Entirely secular holidays are commonly celebrated by Satanists either for personal reasons or merely as an excuse to have a good time. It is not entirely uncommon for Satanists to even celebrate overtly Christian holidays such as Christmas, though the religious trappings are generally stripped from the holiday, secularizing it. Many Satanists, however, either transfer such holidays as Christmas to the Winter Solstice and either place a darker spin on it or secularize it entirely, or decline to celebrate such holidays altogether.
On June 6, 2006 marked a Satanic High Mass in Hollywood, California by the Church of Satan. This celebration was by invitation only and limited to 100 attendees, and was held in large part to mock the superstitious fear of the date by the public. The date 06/06/06 does not hold special religious significance in Satanism, nor does the number 666. The event was documented, and many members of the Church of Satan were interviewed, by the BBC with permission.[20]