Days 2 & 3: The Book of Lucifer

I think it is worth remarking how easily I put this book down and walked away from it. In this COVID world with political turmoil, I didn’t really want to read the rantings of Anton LaVey. Were they hard to read? No. The writing is not difficult. The concepts are not hard. Was I resisting what he said? No. I’ve had epic rants like this in the past and thought little of people, too. We all have. Does the Satanic Bible represent a world I want to live in? Absolutely not. And that is why I put it down.

The Book of Lucifer presents twelve “popular” essays by Anton LaVey. They’re collected here as a means to educate the new Satanist. Give me a bad day, a shot of bourbon, and a crushing headache and I think I could muster the amount of bitterness needed to write similar essays. But whoa, wait there, I’m being harsh, right? Nah, I don’t think so. The misanthropic tone of these essays is quite evident.

There’s the amusing part, though. The whole goal of LaVeyan Satanism is to foster fulfilled people. Hedonism is celebrated. And, according to LaVey, once people are fulfilled, they will be moved to help others achieve that. That’s all well and good. Yet I don’t believe LaVey. His utter contempt for so many groups of people drips off the pages.

I don’t find myself hating LaVey for this. I do find myself pitying him. This book feels like cracks in the protective barriers he erected around his life…and the anger comes spilling out. There are definitely things I agree with here, though. Not all modern Satanism is terrible.

Some of what these essays espouse is not unique to Satanism. So, of course people in 2021 would agree, right? Holding and teaching evolved attitudes toward human sexuality? My religion does that. Many religions do that. Rejecting ideas of angry, terrifying, and oppressive gods? Yep. I’m on board. There’s more than that.

However, LaVey brands it as Satanic. Here’s a few highlights from these twelve essays:

1. Essay 1: Wanted!: God — Dead or Alive. A lot of attention goes to the New Atheists like Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris (both are noted bullies and racists). However, LaVey has them beat. His utter contempt for any notion of God is so clear. In his religion, the individual is his own god. I will give it to LaVey, though — he outlines the brand of atheism in Satanism very clearly.
   
2. Essay 7: Not All Vampires Suck Blood. An entire essay dedicated to how to identify, avoid, or exploit emotional vampires in your life. Anton, my man, what happened to you? I was laughing reading this chapter because we all have experienced emotional vampires. While I don’t think exploiting them is the solution, I do appreciate the advice to “GET AWAY” from people like that. It also reminded me of the show “What We Do in the Shadows,” which is amazing.
   
3. Essay 9: On the Choice of a Human Sacrifice. This essay had me sounding alarms. Okay, so really, most Satanists don’t sacrifice animals or people. LaVey makes that clear. He goes out of his way to defend animals and children specifically. But, then he says they *do* sacrifice adults — just symbolically. They set intentions or enact rituals to send their energy into the world to “sacrifice” someone they don’t like. What’s the problem if it’s symbolic, right? We all can brood about people that wrong us, that’s natural. This is the line that got me: “…and if your curse provokes their actual annihilation, rejoice that you have been instrumental in ridding the world of a pest!” I think the depravity of that line speaks for itself.

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.