Day 5: The Book of Leviathan
MERRY CHRISTMAS! Okay, well, where do I begin with this? The Book of Leviathan continues the theme of ritual but then takes a sharp turn to the occult. That’s not a surprise. Satanism is occult? Oh no! Though this represents the largest portion of the book by page count, it is the quickest read because the second part of the Book of Leviathan presents 19 “Enochian Keys” which take up a portion of each page.
We begin with four invocations — almost likes prayers — to open up a ritual space. They cover topics such as Satan, Lust, Destruction, and Compassion. By this point in the book, you’re not reading anything unexpected. If anything, the four virtues of Satanism could be described as that: Satan, Lust, Destruction, and Compassion. It’s an interesting mix. From these four invocations we find the 19 Enochian Keys.
The purpose of these Keys is to act as further invocations and ritual readings. Anton LaVey describes the sound of Enochian as such: “The barbaric tonal qualities of this language give it a truly magical effect which cannot be described.” To be clear, Enochian is a constructed (invented) language. The words on the pages of the Satanic Bible only have meaning because LaVey gave them meaning. He says that they were “received from an unknown hand,” but I doubt he had access to some magical repository of occult literature. To the credit of Satanism, they’re not exactly rushing to defend the authenticity of these keys. The purpose of the keys is to foster ritual space, which I’ve already covered as something LaVeyan Satanism seems to do well.
The Keys are presented in both Enochian and English, which a brief preamble before each one to describe its purpose and usage. I tried saying one in Enochian to evoke the indescribable barbaric tones LaVey mentioned and, well, I didn’t really feel the effect. I guess I’m not cut out to be a Satanist. Trust me, I tried my best Klingon impression.
Again, to the credit of LaVey, these Keys provide a helpful tool for people interested in this religion. There’s one for expressing displeasure in humanity, another for expressing confusion, another for revering the Earth. So, that’s something! There are many religions that do not provide even that to their followers, so bravo.
The Satanic Bible closes out with the cryptic phrase “YANKEE ROSE” all in caps. And therein ends the text. Some folks speculate it refers to LaVey’s daughter though it probably cannot be confirmed. There you have it, the Satanic Bible. I’ll close out next time with a summary of this experience.
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.