You must be creative. Take inspiration from the most sordid sources if necessary, but never imitate. Rip-off artists proclaim themselves divinities because they lack the originality or creativity to come up with some fresh ideas.
—Anton Szandor LaVey, The Devil’s Notebook, p. 66 If someone were to ask me what I considered the single most
contributing factor to my personality, I would have to answer: “Avoidance of the influence of other people.”
—Anton Szandor LaVey, Satan Speaks!, p. 169
“I
AM A SATANIST! BOW DOWN, FOR I AM THE HIGHESTEMBODIMENT OF HUMAN LIFE!”1 It may not be the best place
to look for humility, measured rhetoric, or stylistic restraint, but The Satanic
Bible is undoubtedly the central text in modern Satanic literature.
Its influence is unquestioned. In the Church of Satan, acceptance of “the elegant architecture of Dr. LaVey’s principles” is a prerequisite for being a Satanist.2 The rival Temple of Set, despite three decades of animosity toward
the original organization, still pays tribute to LaVey’s work. Likewise, disgrun- tled ex–Church of Satan members typically have a dispute with Church of Satan hierarchy and organization, not with the founding text. Independent Satanists, too, openly acknowledge their debt, and their beliefs frequently diverge only marginally from LaVey’s. For Satanic dabblers (those who are sympathetic to Satanism or identify with its doctrines, but do not actively
pursue allegiance) a cursory reading of The Satanic Bible inevitably forms the basis of their identification. In fact, the only Satanists who dissent are the more extreme latter-day adherents that feel it is too mild or too humanist.3
The Satanic Bible is a broad work and not all of it—not even most of it—
concerns the central creed. Of the four sections, the first two set out the core beliefs and ideology, the third concerns the practice of ritual magic, and the fourth and lengthiest is simply LaVey’s bastardization of John Dee’s Enochian Keys, with brief commentaries. Within the first two sections, which are the focus of this analysis, large tracts are extended rants against Christianity and its failings. These attacks bolster the position of the text’s omnipresent Sa- tanist by ridiculing Christian doctrine, deriding it as repressive and unreal- istic. Satanism, by contrast, is depicted as the only religion that is suited to the true needs and desires of humans. To this end, the Seven Deadly Sins are inverted and posited as positive virtues. Other frequent targets of LaVey’s scorn are so-called white light religions, by which he means Wicca and other modern pagan practices that have a basis in witchcraft or magic. LaVey, in contrast, places Satanism within the tradition of Hellfire clubs and histori- cal practitioners of the black arts, framing his church as the heir to these movements.
The principles LaVey’s work advances are regarded by many Satanists as its strongest point. Satanism is a life-affirming philosophy, similar to Nietz- sche’s, in that it focuses entirely on this world and does not embody any otherworldly beliefs—in God, gods, spiritualism, the afterlife, and so forth. Satanic ideology is therefore atheistic and materialistic. Though LaVey pre- sents a few standard arguments against the existence of God, atheism is gener- ally a presupposition that underpins the rest of the work. Its materialism is represented by an idiosyncratic interpretation of Darwinism that places heavy emphasis on the animal and carnal nature of man, simultaneously describing humanity as rational while focusing on unavoidable primal drives. A proviso is required, however, as the hedonistic aspect of Satanism is easily overstated. LaVey was staunchly opposed to drug use of any kind, and his opposition has remained the default position for the Church of Satan and many independent Satanists. And as noted previously, LaVey’s approach to sexuality is gener- ally progressive, advocating free, uncompelled expression of the individual’s sexual identity, be it straight, gay, fetishistic, exhibitionist, or otherwise.
The central axioms of Satanism are based on LaVey’s analysis of human nature and societies. The Satanic Bible and other writings are infused with a pessimistic Malthusian vision that sees the embattled inhabitants of an in- creasingly overcrowded world fighting for scarce resources. The individual agent is therefore pitted against others in a primitive battle for survival where only the strong will survive. Accordingly, The Satanic Bible endorses a form of strident individualism that radically downplays social responsibility in favor
of psychological and ethical egoism. The individual has but one ultimate aim—his own welfare. Any sense of community or shared humanity with others is denied, replaced by a focus on isolated individuals who must by ne- cessity focus on their own self-aggrandizement and survival. In this analysis all actions are, by necessity, self-regarding. All forms of altruism are sum- marily dismissed as unrealistic phantasms, and self-sacrifice for the benefit of others is forgone, with a single exception in the provision for love of select individuals—the Satanist’s closest companions.
Satanism’s championing of individual empowerment expresses itself in a number of ways: a Nietzschean condemnation of pity and compassion as weakness, suspicion of and hostility to any majority positions, frequent use of violent imagery, a ubiquitous contempt for egalitarian values, and a constant focus on negative emotions such as anger, hatred, and revenge. The Satanic
Bible consistently emphasizes vengeance and hostility towards enemies, again
explicitly inverting Christian values of compassion and forgiveness.
Hate your enemies with a whole heart, and if a man smite you on one cheek, SMASH him on the other!; smite him hip and thigh, for self-preservation is the highest law! He who turns the other cheek is a cowardly dog! Give blow for blow, scorn for scorn, doom for doom—with compound interest liberally added thereunto! Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, aye four-fold, a hundred-fold!4
LaVey’s claims are presented as truisms and are often unsupported. The weak- ness of the arguments is obscured and counterbalanced by the text’s highly emotional tone and use of loaded terminology. As a result, the psychologi- cal and rhetorical impact of The Satanic Bible is just as powerful, if not more so, than the content itself. The work constantly flatters the reader—now the Satanist—as being unique and having gained insights that the mass of hu- manity are unaware of. It fosters a self-conscious outsider status that is of central importance to the Satanist, and consistently ridicules popular values or social norms. Accordingly, the work abounds with catchphrases: “Indul- gence . . . not compulsion,” “Responsibility for the responsible,” and “We are self- respecting prideful people—we are Satanists!” This superficiality is not unacknowledged. LaVey himself later admitted “The Satanic Bible won’t strain people’s intellects too far.”5
The various constituents of Satanism—materialism, atheism, ritual magic, sensualism, humanity as rational being, humanity as mere animal, Malthusian pessimism—fit together only cosmetically. When submitted to analysis, vari- ous tensions, inconsistencies, and contradictions appear. As a result, Satanism is better described as an ideology than a philosophy. “Philosophy” generally indicates a mode of thought, a systematic and rational evaluation of argument and counterargument to arrive at a consistent, justified position. No such
process is present in LaVey’s writings. All external commentators are denied any right to comment on Satanism, and any attempts to do so are universally ignored. Within Satanism, LaVey’s writing is uncritically accepted as reveal- ing deeper truths about the world.