Church of Satan. - Satan Speaks!

SATAN SPEAKS!

Satan Speaks! 1998 by Anton Szandor LaVey
Foreword 1998 by Marilyn Manson
Introduction 1998 by Blanche Barton

All rights reserved

eISBN 9781932595574

A Feral House Book

Feral House
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The Publisher wishes to thank Gregg Turkington for his astute assistance with the text, and Blanche Barton for everything.

Design by Linda Hayashi

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A NTON LAVEY was the most righteous man Ive ever known. He honored his immorality, and had more faith in his peculiar axioms than any armchair Christian vacantly reciting John 3:16 ever possessed. Yet, despite his cynicism and apocalyptic view of society, he often hoped for a better world, or at least one in which intelligence and creativity were applauded. I find more respect for humanity in his blackest humor than in the passionless zealotry that perpetuates all other conventional religions. Even if I had never agreed with a word he said, it would be irresponsible not to appreciate the sheer brilliance with which it was spokennot to mention his having the balls to come out and speak it.

Ive come to realize that the truth is most often unwanted or believed to be a lie. In a world so full of shit, Anton LaVey cut through it with the best of them.

Someone once asked me for the secret to my success. I answered that if they werent smart enough to figure it out on their own, they didnt deserve to know; and if I told them, it wouldnt be a secret anymore. Fortunately for me and for all of us, Anton LaVey shared his magic, and I think it has made this wretched fucking planet a better place.

Thank you for your support and inspiration,

Marilyn Manson

D R. ANTON SZANDOR LAVEY, founder of the church of Satan and ideologue of modern Satanism, died October 29, 1997, while this book was being compiled. His unconventional life and vocations have been well-chronicled; the reader is urged to seek out The Secret Life of a Satanist or other biographical profiles on the Black Pope to see how his life as a concert oboist, gun-runner, carnival calliopist, circus lion trainer, hypnotist, ghostbuster, and crime photographer formed a diabolical alchemy within him that bubbled forth as the Satanic philosophy.

Anton LaVey released The Satanic Bible in 1969 and it has remained continuously in print since then, something of a record for an original paperback. That book contains the essence of what Dr. LaVey proposed as his new sinister religion. However, some of LaVeys advocates recommend that those who are curious about his writings begin their curriculum not with that basic primer, but with The Devils Notebook, the collection of essays that was published previous to this one. Anyone reading the essays published in either that book or Satan Speaks! will glimpse a man of cutting wit, eclectic passions and an uncomfortably clear perception of mankind. Good writing paints a portrait of a man to the careful reader and the man portrayed in these essays was exactly as advertisedstrong, talented, demanding, funny, opinionated, romantic, fiery, decisive in mind and movement.

One reason Anton LaVey has exerted the covert and overt influence on fashion, music, entertainment, politics, and other popular culture arenas that he has over the past decades is because of his honesty. Strange, perhaps even insulting, that the Devils Ambassador on Earth should be considered honest. Anton LaVey has many detractors who would itch to dispute that claim, especially those vermin who rush to discredit people after theyre dead. But I maintain that he was at the core an honest, honorable man who devoted his life to exposing injustice and pomposity. Hes worthy of the status of anti-hero many of his admirers have bestowed upon him.

Nothing irked LaVey more than self-righteous self-delusionand he saw it everywhere. He mercilessly carved up sacred cows of all shade, maintaining that nothing gives a human a broader license to kill, maim, or destroy than a frothy illusion of righteous indignation. That was true during the Crusades and Inquisitions; it is still true in this age of PC hypersensitivity and winning through victimization. Through his works, he endeavored to shine a glaring light on aspects of everyday life that all of us might feel oppressed by but would never dare to challenge. The Devil is known for using his pitchfork to poke holes in overinflated taboos. In his own writings, if LaVey felt himself becoming too grandiose, hed bring himself back down to reality with a chuckle. He didnt have to think about it; he just did it. Anton LaVey speaks to the Devil in all of us. One near-universal phrase he heard all his life was, Ive always felt that way myself but never knew anyone else did. He held sacred that which others scoffed at, and snickered at shopworn parlor tricks others revered as truth. He found beauty in misshapen freaks and was repelled by the ugliness advertisers try to pawn off as beauty. Youll find that constant perversity and satire in all the essays contained in this book.

And yet, Anton LaVey never claimed his writings were direct revelations from Satan; he never claimed to be Lucifer Incarnate. (He did die and was resurrected in 1995, but thats another story.) It would have been an easy pose to strike, and not entirely unbelievable. His looks and bearing certainly reflected the image of the Gentleman Downstairs. His ideas evolved from his enthusiasm for Satanic sympathizers and reprobates like George Bernard Shaw, John Milton, Goethe, Mark Twain, Jack London, Friedrich Nietzsche, Machiavelli, Rasputin, the Romantic and Decadent poetspeppered with a liberal dose of the Johnson, Smith & Co. Catalogue of Jokes, Tricks and Novelties. His sense of timing and drama, which he wound throughout his music, his magic and his life, was impeccable. LaVeys system of sorcery (and yes, he did very much believe in and practice sorcery) was so complex and subtle that it would take several lifetimes to fully explore.

Anton LaVey liked to say that if he didnt exist, someone would have to invent him. He experienced both the delights and the detriments associated with the job of being the Devils Henchman. The High Priest resonated with the evil archetype so completely that he attracted delicious extremes into his lifeundying love, fierce loyalty, unconscionable betrayal, supernatural strength, and intense jealousy. I gain satisfaction in knowing that his many detractors who try to attack the mundane details of his life will remain forever clueless as to Dr. LaVeys true complexity. Though he never pretended to be the Devil on Earth, he was as close as we are likely to seeeven in his denial of that very identity. Preserver of forgotten pasts, singer of lost songs, lover of fallen women, advocate of fitting justice, dreamer of wicked futureshow could we conjure up a more rakish picture of the Dark One?

There was no room for survival after death in Anton LaVeys philosophy. We live; we entertain pompous illusions about ourselves; we die. Too bad. And yet, if we mesmerize, irritate, inspire, or terrorize enough people, our names will be remembered. Dr. Anton Szandor LaVey has earned that right.

I t is believed, by empirical evidence, that many people who professed no belief in a deity when younger turn to God when they get old. Presumably, the closer they get to death, the greater their need for the comfort provided by religion.