As a species, we’re constantly searching for answers to life's big questions and that can sometimes lead us down dangerous paths. For too many people, this path can lead them into becoming a member of a cult. Of course one man’s cult is another man’s religion, and the word itself can have many negative connotations. In the first installment, I looked at what makes a cult in a general sense, as well as going through a checklist of sorts to aid us in our journey through the cult mindset. This week’s subject is The Church of Satan or LaVeyan Satanism.
What is LaVeyan Satanism?
I’m sure many of you will have heard about satanic cults and satanism in some form or the other over the years, there was a particularly weird patch in the 90s where satanists were blamed for everything and anything. I’ve decided to take a look at the Church of Satan or LaVeyan Satanism as it’s also known, mainly because you’d think it was prime cult material, but in good ol’ clickbait fashion let’s just say, the truth may shock you!
“Satanism advocates practicing a modified form of the Golden Rule. Our interpretation of this rule is: "Do unto others as they do unto you"; because if you "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," and they, in turn, treat you badly, it goes against human nature to continue to treat them with consideration. You should do unto others as you would have them do unto you, but if your courtesy is not returned, they should be treated with the wrath they deserve.”
― Anton Szandor LaVey, The Satanic Bible
LaVeyan Satanism was founded in 1966 by American occultist Anton Szandor LaVey, and is widely regarded to be the birth point of all modern Satanism religions. Since it’s initial inception, there have been many offshoots and variations from LaVey’s original creation but without exception they can all trace their lineage back to him. In a nutshell, LaVey didn’t actually believe in any deities like God or Satan, but instead used them as archetypes to represent human nature and the reality around us.
Origins and Development
Very little is know about LaVey’s early life, other than the fact he was born in Chicago as Howard Stanton Levey in either March or April 1930, with mixed Ukrainian, Russian and German ancestry. He kept much of his beginnings secret, and what little he did say often turned out to be untrue.
In the early 60s, he became fascinated with the occult and began hosting lectures and meetings at his home in San Francisco, which he had inherited from his parents. This early group eventually became known as “The Magic Circle”, and it was likely around this time that LaVey began to make preparations for the birth of his new religion. In 1966, he declared that it was Year One of the new Satanic era and officially founded the Church of Satan. This was the first publicly organised church in modern times to be devoted to the figure of Satan.
I just want to go off on a slight tangent about religions and spiritual movements using Satan or Lucifer in their texts and philosophies. There is one spiritual movement known as Anthroposophy that I’m fairly familiar with, started in the early 20th century by Rudolf Steiner. In this spiritual philosophical movement, they too have a figure called Lucifer who is referred to as the “light spirit” and a counter figure called Ahriman, who is often referred to as the “destructive spirit”. Both spirits have a duality to them, embodying both positive and negative aspects. Lucifer is described as a spirit which “plays on human pride and offers the delusion of divinity” but one that can also motivate creativity and spirituality. Ahriman on the other hand temps humans to “...deny [their] link with divinity and to live entirely on the material plane” and is also associated with intelligence and technology. It is up to each human to find balance between these opposing forces, and each is helped in this task by the “Representative of Humanity”, or otherwise known as the Christ being, who stands between the two forces and harmonises their extremes.
To many modern Christians, the very idea of either worshipping or even just thinking of Lucifer as a natural component of being human is preposterous and propaganda in nature, put out by the Devil to deceive us. To me, rejecting the very modern Christian view of Lucifer, and instead trying to seek balance between the two opposing forces inside all of us seems like a more interesting spiritual perspective than the rather black and white view many take. I could really go off-topic here for too long, so back to LaVey and his new church.
With LaVey’s congregation growing beyond his initial “Magic Circle” at his house, now painted black, he began adding certain Satanic associations to his persona, growing a long pointed beard and wearing a black cloak. He referred to himself as the “High Priest of Satan”, and cemented his position as the church’s new leader, almost like it’s pope.
With his Council of Nine, he began to create a system, not dissimilar to the freemasons degrees, so that Satanists could develop their knowledge of LaVeyan philosophies and rise through the ranks. These were known as Apprentice Satanist I°, Witch or Warlock II°, Priest or Priestess of Mendes III°, Magister IV°, and Magus V°.
The church began to attract a lot of media attention, which helped fuel their growth through the 60s and into the early 70s. It was during this time that he began to start different branches, or “grottos”, all over the US. This helped build him an even larger audience, and he even began to attract a few notable celebrities including Sammy Davis Jr.
He created “The Satanic Bible” around this time, which we’ll discuss a bit more later on, and his church was growing at a rapid rate, despite an overall decline in growth for the Christian church. This was no doubt aided in part by the counterculture of the time, something I’ve discussed before with The Anarchist Cookbook. LeVay would eventually abolish the grotto system when some branches split from the mother church in the early 70s, and would also hand out the higher degrees in the church for gifts of land or cash. Some higher up members converted to Christianity, and it seemed like the golden age for Satanism was coming to an end. Many other splinter groups began to pop up all over the word, however they were all still LaVeyan at their core.
The church would continue to attract new followers, largely propagated by The Satanic Bible and still attracted celebrities such as notorious rock singer Marilyn Manson. LaVey’s health would begin to suffer, with him developing a heart condition and showing increasing signs of paranoia. He died in October 1997, and the church announced that it would now be run by two high priestesses, one of whom was LaVey’s daughter Karla.
Satanism Beliefs
So we have a pretty good picture of how the Church of Satan came to exist, but what do they actually believe? A lot of the main beliefs and basic tenets come from the sacred text known as The Satanic Bible, which LaVey wrote in the late 60s and it has been constantly in print since 1969. The Satanic Bible has been the main source of conversions for the church for many years, especially in the pre-internet days. The book doesn’t only serve as their sacred text, but also as a way to judge each other’s claims to being a Satanist. Members of the church and other groups who use the book will quote it to each other in debate, and if you can’t quote it as well as your opponent, that can delegitimize your claims.
It’s also important to note that LaVey was an atheist, rejecting the existence of all gods, including Lucifer/Satan. LaVey never encouraged the worship of Satan as a deity, but instead as a symbol of one’s own vitality. When asked about his use of the iconography of Satan, he is quoted as saying: “the reason it's called Satanism is because it's fun, it's accurate and it's productive”. These spiritual symbols are there to represent human nature, much like Anthroposophy and its use of Lucifer and Ahriman.
There is also a strong belief in magic, although in the context that rather than being supernatural in nature, magic is just stuff science is yet to understand. His magical influence largely came from British occultist Aleister Crowley, although denied that there was anything like white or black magic, and anyone calling themselves a “white witch” was just a hypocrite.
Satanists beliefs at their core are made up of the “Central Convictions”, which are three lists of “The Nine Satanic Statements”, “The Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth” as well as “The Nine Satanic Sins”. They’re very interesting to read I have to say, and I think there’s a lot of wisdom to be gained from spending a bit of time mulling these ideas over. In the sense that anything that we don’t yet understand certainly seems like magic, I can see how so many people can fit these core tenets into their already existing beliefs.
There is also a whole bunch of symbolism and rites, however I don’t really think it’s worth going over them in any detail and if you would like to learn more about them, the Church of Satan’s own website contains all the information you need.
Misconceptions and Mass Hysteria
There are many misconceptions surrounding modern Satanism, and as I’ve already mentioned a lot of this occurred during the late 80s and early 90s, when Satanists were blamed for seemingly everything and anything. This Satanic Panic even caused many innocent people to be accused and convicted of crimes they never committed, with authorities even going so far as to fabricate evidence at times. This anti-Satanic sentiment largely stemmed from Christian anti-cult groups, who I have to say often cause far more harm than good. It’s also an example of the power of mass hysteria and the damage the uneducated masses can cause when worked up enough.
There are debates to this day about whether the Church of Satan condones things like rape, however in my research it became clear that things such as drug use, animal or human sacrifice or causing undue harm in any way goes against their core beliefs. As with everything, don’t take my word for it and instead do your own research on the topic.
Is LaVeyan Satanism a Cult?
I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the Church of Satan and LaVeyan Satanism is not a cult no matter how you look at it. Many Christian groups to this day would vehemently say the opposite, but it’s just not the case. Looking at the criteria I set out in the first post, they just don’t meet any of them. They are neither exclusive, secretive or authoritarian in nature and evidenced by the fact the church is now so splintered, they’ve never had a zealous or unquestioning commitment to LaVey. The acts of questioning is actively encouraged in Satanism, as it is with many new religious movements that don’t fit the cult criteria. Balance and harmony are the goals of Satanism, and I for one could certainly get behind that idea. It’s not a school I’ll be subscribing to myself, but if you find these topics interesting, I’d strongly recommend you look into Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy or if there's interest I'll happily write a post covering that new religious movement.
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Sources:
LaVeyan Satanism on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaVeyan_Satanism)
The Satanic Bible on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Bible)
The Church of Satan Official Website (https://www.churchofsatan.com/)
Photograph of Rudolf Steiner's Representative of Humanity (
All copyrighted material and images belongs to the Church of Satan
