Satanic Bible | 
| Authors: Anton Szandor Lavey, Peter H. Gilmore
Publisher: Avon
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  412 reviews
Sales Rank: 4413
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.1 x 1
ISBN: 0380015390
Dewey Decimal Number: 133.422
EAN: 9780380015399
ASIN: 0380015390
Publication Date: December 1, 1969
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Amazon.com
One might expect The Satanic Bible at least to offer a few prancing demons or a virgin sacrifice, but if you hopped this train expecting a tour of the house of horrors, you're on the wrong ride. Far from a manual for conquering the realms of earth, air, fire, and water, The Satanic Bible is Anton LaVey's manifesto of a new religion separate from the "traditional" Judeo-Christian definitions of Satanism. While LaVey rails against the deceit of the Christian church and white magicians, he busily weaves his own deceptions. The Satanic Bible claims the heritage of a horde of evil deities--Bile', Dagon, Moloch, and Yao Tzin to name a few--but these ancient gods have no coherent connection between each other or to Satanism, except that all have been categorized by Christianity as "evil." Calling on these ancient names like a magician shouting, "Abracadabra," LaVey attempts to shatter the classical depiction of Satanism as a cult of black mass and child sacrifice. As the smoke clears, he leads us through a surprisingly logical argument in favor of a life focused on self-indulgence. The Satanic Bible is less bible and more philosophy (with a few rituals thrown in to keep us entertained), but this philosophy is the backbone of a religion that, until LaVey entered the scene, was merely a myth of the Christian church. It took LaVey, and The Satanic Bible, to turn this myth into a legitimate public religion. --Brian Patterson
Product Description
Called "The Black Pope" by many of his followers, Anton La Vey began the road to High Priesthood of the (lurch 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 halfnaked 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 -- LaVey 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 . . ."
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| Customer Reviews: Read 407 more reviews...
The Foundation For Modern Satanic Belief July 21, 2008
Ah, Satan the old nemesis, the great rebel, the stand-by rouser and the trigger point of the superficial, the ignorant, the rabble and the narrow-minded...
The Satanic Bible by Anton Szandor LaVey was conceived in 1969 three years after the man's public conversion to Satanism in California. With the founding of the Church Of Satan in San Francisco came the need for a volume encapsulating the beliefs and the agenda of the development, which lead to the creation of The Satanic Bible. Seeking to introduce man to a more natural and unaffected way of life congruous to humankind's nature, LaVey sought to not only launch a new level of discourse regarding life and religion, but also to free Satan from its Christian/Luciferian pigeonhole into a more honest and vital force.
The Satanic Bible is essentially made up of two parts. The first part enlightens man on his true nature, free from predisposition and ingrained ignorance. The second part - collects from the past and philosophers like Nietzsche, John Dee and Aleister Crowley - to teach symbolic rituals and rites, as well as the devil's own Enochian language in which the nineteen keys have been written.
As controversial as the text is today one can imagine how it would have been received 30 years ago. Anti-hypocritical, open and pioneering the book is obviously mischievous as it tries to awaken the reader and his senses. The devil is not occult or evil, as these themes are demystified - unless man wants it to be. Inspiring and fresh, the bible corrodes conformity as it casts aside uniformity in contradiction of its own name. Rites and words are given symbolic power that is only alive in the will of the practitioner. Satan is not about animal sacrifice, virgins or harm - unless one wants it to be. Free sex and unencumbered intercourse are not endorsed as Satanic - unless the reader wishes it for himself. Those fables are reserved for the devil of the major mainstream religions. That is where LaVey's major thrust lies, a fact obfuscated often by the majority and the organized.
The Satanic Bible requires just a little bit of an open mind. With the door left ajar, the teachings resonate easily given their direct appeal to man's true nature. Therein lie the problems. Such willingness is not easy in a society rooted in ...isms and ...ity. To live free one has to acknowledge the uncomfortable and the absence of good or bad. What will a society free from guilt and a population unrestrained by self-denial mean? The answers explain why the book is of limited appeal and the cause of worry and scare-mongering to this day and surely many more years to come.
Being written by a man and acknowledged with pride as such, The Satanic Bible is both imperfect and inconsistent. Nevertheless, being free from hypocrisy and in touch with a higher level of intellectual honesty, The Satanic Bible is the path to a world free from 'good' and 'evil' and living a life worthy of man's taste for honesty.
Now, if only LaVey had told us about Yankee Rose...
 Practicing Satanism July 11, 2008
I went into this with some idea of what I was getting into. I never followed a religion and I questioned multiple things about the existing religions that had been out there. After read LaVey's Satanic Bible I realized I had been practicing Satanism without knowing it. I think many people are practicing it and they don't know it or they are turned off by the "negative stigma" that Satanism has been given by those who have not educated themselves on it. It is an exrememly well written book. I've enjoyed reading it and learning about myself in the process.
The most difficult review I've written. July 1, 2008
Hmmmmm........
Up until now I've been reviewing movies, music, and Steven King.
This is a hard review to write.
Do I give the book one star for its selfishness?
Do I give it three for its humanistic points?
I decided to give it five.
Six would have been more appropriate.
What did I like about this book?
As a gay man who was force fed Catholicism from birth I can appreciate the rage LeVay feels towards Christianity.
I have a lot of these same feelings and I felt great relief reading his words.
Are his beliefs derived from Ayn Rand, etc...?
I don't know, I've never read any of those books. Where LeVay started to lose me was with the magic aspects of his religion.
Do any of these spells even work?
I've read numerous books on the occult and magic looking for some decent answers.
Every single one of them seem to be, dance naked around a pentagram and throw some chicken bones in the air.
Complete drivel, have any of you read the The Key of Solomon???
"In order to successfully complete spell # so and so, please wear a red cloth that was made by a virgin on the twentieth day of Jupiter etc..........
Yeah, ok.... Good luck finding that on e bay!!!
LeVay's magic seems no different as it is mostly imitative magic.
If you believe strongly enough, it MIGHT happen. Rubbish!!!
On one hand LeVay dismisses religion as nonsense then he goes on to create his own.
Why?
LeVay states man needs his rituals. Um.....you might, I don't.
I guess even after his tirade against Christianity, I have a hard time completely turning my back on all that I was raised with.
On the other hand I tire of seeing other gays, gay Catholics in particular BEGGING to be accepted by the church.
I feel like telling them, to turn your back on them and their god that will never accept or love you.
Then again.......maybe the church is wrong. Maybe, God isn't the bad guy we've all been led to believe.
Maybe God hates his own followers as much as we do?
Who could blame him, their mostly liars and hypocrites who have done nothing but distort his overall message.
(Sigh) I guess I'm tired of all of it.
Looking for answers and finding nothing, everyone just guessing and grabbing blindly in the dark. Then come the "holy men" and their words of worthlessness, and all the blind sheep that follow them till the end thinking they have the answers, when they in fact had nothing.
I told you this would be a hard review to write, and it's even harder to wrap it up.
I'm giving the book five stars because, the rage, the hate, the anger, the vengeance........it's all there for you to read and enjoy.
I know I did.
That said, don't think this book will give you any long term answers to the next life which LeVay claims does not exist.
I guess even with this book read, I still have faith that all rights will be wronged and the people who are punished will be those who truly deserve it. While the persecuted the lowly and the shunned will be amply rewarded.
LeVay's selfish religion starts out as a great idea that ultimately fails.........why?
I don't believe the imitative magic to be legitimate.
I don't believe his religion to be one that allows for personal growth.
I don't believe the constant hate and vengeance will accomplish anything but an ulcer.
So where does that leave us?
Still blindly groping in the dark looking for answers that no one really has.
 Interesting, but NOT the answer June 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The first half of the book was alright. It was interesting, and I felt like I could really relate to what LaVey was saying (however, I have grown up a little since then and realized it's not really that intelligent...).
If you are a teenage metal head, this is probably a good book for you.
If you are someone who is seriously looking for a open minded religion and a way to learn and grow, look elsewhere.
It seems very practical at first, but about halfway through he gets to talking about rituals and 'magic'. I'm not going to lie, I stopped reading it then. Actually, the part that really got me was when he said something about how women should dress very sexy so that men can be aroused during the rituals? WHAT! Why shouldn't the men dress sexy so the women have something nice to look at! Complete bull.
Another thing that I didn't like was the emphasis on revenge. Why! If LaVey thought a little bit more, he might have realized that forgiving can give you just as much gratification as revenge.
LaVey claims that this is a religion that will let you do whatever you want and indulge in the 'sins'. However, if you really want to do whatever you want, why do you need a religion in the first place? His answer to this is that because humans have a need to be spiritual. Understandable, but that doesn't mean this simple religion is the sole answer.
Although it may sound suitable, fun, different and correct, LaVey's religion is not very deep.
Read this book if you want, but don't expect it to be the answer to whatever you're looking for.
Good Book, Recycled ideas May 31, 2008
I'm not gonna knock the book, i respect Levay and it is an alright read for people just realizing that they've been lied to for so long. However, if you buy this and do find some credibility to what he's saying i suggest "the Virtues Of Selfishness" by Ayn Rand or Geneology of Morals by Neitzsche, hell any existentialist book would do these ideas more justice. There are a lot of good points, but the word choice is to scare religionists (i.e Satan, Magic, Rituals, etc) Look into Objectivism and individualism rather than just obeying levay instead of priests.
Cheers
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