Day 4: The Book of Belial

We’re getting into what I would call “Applied Satanism” in the Book of Belial. I’ve been pretty hard on this book so far — and to be clear, I still find it to be an adolescent screed — but this section is pretty useful if you want to be a Satanist.

Let’s begin with LaVey maintaining his bizarre misogyny. I suspect he would be a part of the “Men’s Rights” movement today. Here’s a gem of a line in the introduction to Belial concerning odor: “Odor is another important manipulative factor in lesser magic.” That’s all well and good. The line conjures images of someone showing up smelling ripe in an effort to drive people away or putting chocolate chip cookies in the oven of a house they’re trying to sell. But no, LaVey has his priorities. He continues with, “If you are a man, and wish to enchant a woman, allow the natural secretions of your body to pervade the atmosphere immediately around you…” Now, I can only speak as a gay man, but I appreciate it when men keep themselves clean. I’ll let women have the final say on this, though.

The intent of this book is to set the tone around the proper atmosphere for ritual and magic. LaVey has a handful of short essays outline the nature of Satanic ritual, ritual leadership, and some example magic. For example, the three types of Satanic ritual fall into the categories of sex magic, compassionate magic, and destruction magic. It’s that last one, again, that just ruins the whole thing. Why the need for destruction?

I have to hand it to LaVey, though. He has an understanding of the power of ritual. From aesthetics (vestments, odor, visuals, etc) to timing, imagery, and balance — his senses regarding ritual are spot on (minus the misogyny, rage, and adolescent rambling). As a ritual theorist, I could read this chapter and see useful pointers for ritual leadership. His essay on the “Intellectual Decompression” chamber — or, in other words, an exploration of what a ritual space helps foster in the minds and bodies of people — was very reminiscent of later ritual theories. His was very rudimentary but it was still spot on. Ritual does something to people whether or not they believe there’s anything supernatural about it.

This is where I think The Satanic Bible is successful. Here’s a clear guide on how to be counter-theistic. Following the essays are some helpful lists of ritual items, preparation notes, and even a couple ritual examples. Again, there’s a destruction ritual. I think it’s helpful to take a step back and realize, despite my own prodding of LaVeyan Satanism, that LaVey himself was obviously a deeply wounded person. Maybe this quasi-religious system he developed helped him. Maybe not. I’ve met lovely LaVeyans. I’ve also met deeply disturbed LaVeyans. Just as my own religion is easy to make fun of, I hope Satanists can do that with their own while also facilitating wholeness for their people.

Overall, I’m not impressed but I am appreciative that this book got down to business with the ritualistic aspects of it. There’s another book that goes deeper into this, The Satanic Ritual, but my focus here is The Satanic Bible. Maybe I’ll dig deeper into the rituals at some point.

This post is part of a larger series where I read the entirety of the Satanic Bible in 5 days. Take a look at the original post for more info, as well as links to other reflections on this journey.