The Church of Satan

1004 Pages·2009·10 MB·English

by  Michael A. Aquino

The Church of Satan
- by -
Michael A. Aquino
Sixth Edition
© Michael A. Aquino 1983, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1999, 2002, 2009 CE
Post Office Box 470307; San Francisco, CA 94147
http://www.xeper.org/maquino
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Table of Contents
Chapters Page
Introduction 7
1 - Antecedents 11
2 - The Abominable Dr. LaVey 15
3 - The Age of Satan Begins 26
4 - Knowledge of Good and Evil 41
5 - The Satanic Bible 52
6 - Across the Abyss 68
7 - Through a Glass, Darkly - Part I 79
8 - Cogito, Ergo Est 82
9 - The Compleat Witch 90
10 - The Church of Satan, United States 99
11 - The Northglenn Incident 112
12 - Christianity 120
13 - The Lilith Grotto 130
14 - The Downfall of Babylon 137
15 - The “Red Goat” Cloven Hoof 147
16 - The Realm of the Masters 163
17 - The Stygian Crisis 182
18 - Toward the City of Satan 195
19 - Return to the West 208
20 - Through a Glass, Darkly - Part II 222
21 - New York, New York - A Hell of a Town 226
22 - The Satanic Rituals 237
23 - Interlude in the Public Eye 249
24 - “A Black, Jewish, Satanic Warlock” 264
25 - Meetings, Magic, and Murder 277
26 - The Return of John DeHaven 299
27 - The Circus of Dr. LaVey 309
28 - Through a Glass, Darkly - Part III 335
29 - Exorcisteria 337
30 - One Nation Under Whom? 342
31 - Year of the Grottos 351
32 - Satan and Swastika 374
33 - History, Mystery, and Magic 387
34 - Dr. LaVey Rises Again 399
35 - “The Year of the Pendulum Swing” 412
36 - “A Fearful Thing” 428
37 - “Despair, Depletion, and Destruction” 432
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Appendices
1 - “Satanism” Monograph 451
2 - L’Air Epais 461
3 - The Ceremony of the Avoosal 464
4 - Der Wahnsinn von Andelsprutz 467
5 - Die Elektrischen Vorspiele 470
6 - The Tierdrama 472
7 - Missa Solemnis 474
8 - Requirements for the Satanic Clergy 487
9 - The Satanic Ultimatum 488
10 - Satanic Bible Introduction 496
11 - The Hidden Source of the Satanic Philosophy 499
12 - The “Book of Satan” (Might is Right) 502
13 - Satanic Bible Dedications 507
14 - II° Examination Curse 510
15 - The Diabolicon 512
16 - III° Examination Essay: Astrology 530
17 - III° Examination Essay: Neopaganism 532
18 - God in Sports Clothes 534
19 - The Command to Look 536
20 - Ceremony of Satanic Baptism 539
21 - Revelation of the Beast: Aleister Crowley 543
22 - Beyond the Abyss 546
23 - Flier for The Compleat Witch 551
24 - Bibliography from The Compleat Witch 552
25 - The Æsthetic Adversary 557
26 - Speaking of the Devil 554
27 - Regional Agent Program Letter 560
28 - An Encounter with the Church of Satan 563
29 - Excommunication of Wayne West 572
30 - Satan Rift Centers in Detroit 578
31 - For the Dead Travel Fast 580
32 - About that Goat 582
33 - The Jesus People are Still Revolting 584
34 - Hell on Reels 587
35 - Legacy of the Four-Sided Triangle 589
36 - Season’s Greetings 592
37 - Psychology of the Blood-Vampire 594
38 - The First Philosopher 598
39 - Official Degrees of the Church of Satan 600
40 - In Quest of the Unholy Grail 602
41 - Church of Satan Membership Form Statement 605
42 - Evil, Anyone? 607
43 - Letter to Fate Magazine 609
44 - That Other Black Order 611
45 - Purpose and Precognition 614
46 - Darwin and the Devil 617
47 - Satanic Wedding Ceremony 620
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48 - Manual for Grotto Administration 621
49 - The Celebration of Death 631
50 - Asylum of Satan - Studio One 635
51 - Asylum of Satan - M. Aquino 636
52 - Termination of the Stygian Grotto 637
53 - Anton LaVey Interview by Martello 639
54 - Extracts from Time Magazine 644
55 - Time is on Our Side, Sort Of 646
56 - Witchcraft - Louisville Courier-Journal 649
57 - Expedition to R’lyeh 654
58 - III° Elevations Announced 658
59 - The Question of Secrecy 660
60 - Ritual of Necromancy 662
61 - Genesis II 663
62 - Satanism in Perspective 667
63 - Illuminism, the “Black Lodge of Masonry” 671
64 - Murder Probe Sheds Light on Witchcraft 673
65 - Ceremony of Ordination to the Priesthood 675
66 - Is Satan Replacing Halloween Goblin? 677
67 - The Source 679
68 - Black Mass from La-Bas 684
69 - al-Jalwa li Arbab Ahl al-Khalwah 687
70 - Ilmi Ahat Haqiqt al-Ashia’i 689
71 - The Metaphysics of Lovecraft 691
72 - The Ceremony of the Nine Angles 693
73 - The Call to Cthulhu 698
74 - Lovecraftian Ritual 701
75 - The Secrets of Life and Death 710
76 - The Witch Wagon 715
77 - Sympathy for the Devil - Karla LaVey 716
78 - Those Who Seek Shall Find 718
79 - The Frankenstein Legacy 724
80 - Letter to an Army Chaplain 727
81 - KQED Newsroom Broadcast 729
82 - We’re Put Here to Enjoy Life 730
83 - Satanic Cult Protests 732
84 - The “Yellow Peril”: Satanism in China 733
85 - Letter, Anton LaVey-Charles Steenbarger 737
86 - Rite of the Undead 740
87 - Satanists Seek Elite Only 743
88 - Satanism (New Jersey) 747
89 - Letter of III° Nomination 750
90 - Santa Barbaran’s Home a Devil of a Place 754
91 - Anton LaVey: The Occult Explosion 757
92 - Satanism (John Ferro) 760
93 - Central Grotto Exorcist Bulletin 762
94 - Exorcism Fact Sheet 764
95 - The Devil Really Did Make Me Do It 767
96 - To Satanists, Exorcism Silly 769
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97 - Warlock Says Church Cashing in on Exorcist 771
98 - Satanist Calls Film a Boon 772
99 - The Root of All 774
100 - The Abstaining Indulgers 776
101 - Extract from Plain Truth Magazine 778
102 - Extract from Occult Magazine 780
103 - Psi in the Sky 784
104 - A Black Mass for the Mass? 786
105 - Walpurgisnacht Feast of Life 787
106 - A Different Approach to Talk Shows 790
107 - The Ægis Kick-Off Dinner 792
108 - Suicide: Indulgence or Compulsion? 793
109 - Aradia’s Cauldron 796
110 - Quo Vadis? 799
111 - The Ninth Solstice Message 801
112 - Report on the Sixth Eastern Conclave 804
113 - Itinerary of the First National Conclave 806
114 - Following Satan the Natural Thing to Do 807
115 - The Devil You Say (306th PSYOP Battalion) 809
116 - Phase IV Message 810
117 - Church of Satan Seeks Members (UCSB) 814
118 - Black Pope Simmers Down 815
119 - The Satanist who Wants to Rule the World 818
120 - Anton LaVey Collects 826
121 - Devil’s Rain Ceremony - Maud Willis 827
122 - Devil’s Rain Ceremony - Anton LaVey 828
123 - Devil’s Rain - Famous Monsters Magazine 829
124 - Promotional Sheet: The Devil’s Avenger 833
125 - Chronicles of Mendes #II-1 834
126 - Sic Itur Ad Astra 838
127 - Draft Lead Articles - Cloven Hoof 841
128 - Letter, Diane LaVey - M.A. Aquino 844
129 - M.A. Aquino Resignation Letter 848
130 - M.A. Aquino Packet Cover Letter 852
131 - M.A. Aquino Letter to Church Membership 853
132 - Resignation Letter - Lilith Sinclair 854
133 - Resignation Letter - Ronald Barrett 855
134 - Resignation Letter - Margaret Wendall 857
135 - Resignation Letter - L. Dale Seago 859
136 - Resignation Letter - Robert Ethel 860
137 - Resignation Letter - Jinni Bast 862
138 - Resignation Letter - Robert Brink 863
139 - Resignation Letter - Lynn Norton 864
140 - Resignation Letter - Ricco Zappitelli 865
141 - Resignation Letter - T. & C. Huddleston 866
142 - “Hoisted by His Own Patois” 867
143 - Reply to “Hoisted by His Own Patois” 869
144 - Satanism’s Gone Underground 873
145 - The Devil in Anton LaVey 876
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146 - Review - Satan Wants You 884
147 - Review - Cults That Kill 890
148 - Review - Secret Life of a Satanist 894
149 - Letter to Geraldo Rivera 897
150 - Letter, Zeena (LaVey) to M.A. Aquino 899
151 - Sympathy for the Devil (Rolling Stone) 902
152 - Diane Hegarty/Anton LaVey Agreement 917
153 - Hegarty First Amended Complaint 925
154 - LaVey Answer to First Amended Complaint 935
155 - Superior Court Order (Hegarty v LaVey) 938
156 - Church of Satan Articles of Incorporation 943
157 - LaVey Bankruptcy Creditors’ Meeting 946
158 - Order for 6114 California Street Bankruptcy Sale 951
159 - Anton LaVey Bankruptcy Closure Stipulation 953
160 - Anton LaVey Bankruptcy Supplemental Stipulation 956
161 - Review - The Devil’s Notebook 958
Plates 964
About the Author 1004
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Introduction
June 19, 1968: It was a balmy afternoon in San Francisco. Having received my B.A.
from the University of California, Santa Barbara the previous week, I had returned to my
native city for a short vacation before reporting to the 82nd Airborne Division as a newly-
commissioned Second Lieutenant. Leafing through the newspapers in search of an
evening’s entertainment, I saw that the highly-publicized film Rosemary’s Baby was
premiering at a theater in the Marina District, and I decided to catch the early screening in
order to avoid the crowds arriving for the later show.
The film proved to be unexpectedly disturbing - even more so than the novel which
had appeared two years earlier. Unlike the formula Hollywood monster movie, it
emphasized the unremarkable and ordinary personalities of Rosemary’s neighbors - and
then revealed them to be just as routinely engaged in bizarre practices of Devil-worship
and Black Magic. “This is no dream,” gasped a terrified Mia Farrow as she was ravished
by Satan. “This is really happening!”
As the lights came on, I paused to wonder - as, I am sure, did many others in the
theater - whether it could indeed really happen. Was it possible that Satanism could still be
a living force in the world, and not merely a historical aberration of medieval paganism
and primitive anti-Catholic sentiment? No, of course not.
But as I strolled towards the front of the theater, there was a sudden commotion out
under the marquee. A late-model black hearse had drawn up to the curb, and from it there
emerged four or five men clad completely in black robes. The crowd parted before them,
and the manager ushered them through the lobby and into the darkened interior of the
building.
It all happened so quickly that I had only a momentary look at this singular delegation,
but there was no mistaking its central figure - a tall, shaven-headed, goateed man with
piercing eyes that seemed almost reptilian in their gaze. As the crowd thinned, I walked
over to the manager and asked him for an explanation of the incident.
“That was Anton LaVey,” he said after a moment’s hesitation, “and those were people
from the Church of Satan. LaVey was technical advisor to this film and played the part of
the Devil in it.” He produced a bright red calling-card, which solemnly announced:
Not only could it happen, said the card, but it was indeed happening. I shook my head
in fascination. An actual church devoted to the Devil - and right here in San Francisco!
Moreover both the card and the announced address implied that this institution had
managed to sustain a public existence and exposure. Outré it might be, but criminal it was
evidently not.
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Driving directly home to Russian Hill was of course quite out of the question; I
detoured half-a-city out of my way to see what sort of structure it was that could house
such a bizarre activity. The address proved to be far out in the Richmond District, where
California Street ceases to be a four-lane, commercial artery and becomes merely one
more fog-shrouded residential lane. Nestled tightly between two buildings, 6114 revealed
itself to be a two-story, peaked-roof house of a type common in post-fire San Francisco.
But it was painted completely black, and the three main windows were tightly shuttered.
The only indication of occupancy was the soft glow of an orange-red light through the
front-door transom. I listened for some sound from the interior, but the house remained
silent and uninviting. A plate by the door said DO NOT DISTURB UNLESS YOU HAVE
AN APPOINTMENT, which of course I did not, so I drove away … and for a year almost
entirely forgot about Anton Szandor LaVey and his strange Church of Satan.
I did not know it then, but I had just received my first glimpse of both a man and an
institution who would alter my life to an extraordinary degree. More than that, they would
alter the lives and philosophies of many other persons throughout the country and the
world, and ultimately they would be responsible for a most remarkable contribution to the
options for human social evolution.
For the Church of Satan was not just one more shade of color in San Francisco’s
rainbow of the eccentric and the avant-garde, nor did it have much in common with what
most people generally consider “the occult”. Rather it was an exercise in intellect, spirit,
and activity which, accidentally or intentionally, managed to focus on the greatest mystery
of mankind: why it is different from all other forms of life, and what this difference implies
for its potential.
Such an odyssey was not to be comfortable or tranquil. During the decade of its
existence, the Church of Satan strained and in some cases almost shattered the lives of
many individuals who came into contact with it. Like some great Frankenstein monster, it
fascinated and obsessed its creators and its adherents, rewarding success in its fields of
interest with stronger and darker challenges.
As the institution grew larger and more sophisticated, the personalities and philosophies
that governed it came to have less and less in common with their counterparts in
conventional society, and ultimately the Church came to display two distinct faces.
The first face was that through which it struggled to communicate with the public and
indeed the outer circles of its own membership. This was the Church of Satan of the
tabloid newspapers and magazines, the publicity-provoking pranks, and the Hollywood
flirtations; from 1966 to 1975 it would be described, denounced, praised, and caricatured
by a veritable parade of reporters, academics, theologians, and historians.
From all these accounts there gradually emerged a confusing and inconclusive image of
the Church as a spectacular fraud. For all of its regalia, rituals, and aphorisms, it seemed
too commercial, too media-oriented, too transparent, and indeed too “nice” to be
authentic. Even some of its more enthusiastic members eventually disengaged themselves
with the feeling that they had exhausted the Church; they had wallowed in its notorious
indulgences and found them to provide only temporary relief in the restless search for
stimulation, excitement, and recognition.
The other face of the Church of Satan was not seen by the public, nor indeed by most
of its membership. It was sensed by a very few - perhaps not even by Anton LaVey
himself - when the Church was founded. Ten years later it was still obscure and ethereal: a
face that was glimpsed peripherally rather than directly. It was the face of deep, ultimate
authenticity - a signal that behind all the pageantry and the pyrotechnics lay an
unsuspected substance - and a manifestation of intelligence that responded, however
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unpredictably, to efforts at conscious communication.
It was just this authenticity which animated the Church and its High Priest so vibrantly
for so long, enabling both to endure so much social suspicion, ostracism, and outright
antagonism without suffering loss of dignity, much less of conviction.
Like Galileo denying his discoveries before the Inquisition, Anton LaVey could romp as
a Faustian caricature for the entertainment and reassurance of the masses both within and
without the Church of Satan, secure within himself that all such escapades were
insignificant next to the actual truths he had discovered. Under their influence, and
enthralled by their energy, he would soar to unprecedented and unanticipated heights of
self-awareness, control, and power. And through their intoxication he would also fall - an
Icarus who, in the exhilaration of flight, had ventured too near the Sun.
Because it transpired that the Church of Satan finally disintegrated as unexpectedly as it
had arrived - nine years after it first came into being. But just as its beginning was more
precisely an evolution and a metamorphosis of a tradition which had preceded it in human
history, so that tradition again did not vanish. Rather it underwent yet another change into
an even more sophisticated institution - the Temple of Set.
As Satanism is necessarily a reaction against the assumptions, prescriptions, and values
of Judaic/Christian religion, so the Church of Satan was limited in the positive potential of
its philosophical conceptualizations. The energy and the momentum were present, but
Satanists had imprisoned themselves in what turned out to be a very cramped and artificial
universe. They could not put a name to their growing sense of frustration until 1975, and
then - in a moment of crisis as painful as it was inspiring - their cumulative efforts resulted
in a dramatic transformation of their environment, from one of dependent, negative
reaction to one of independent, positive action.
The Temple of Set proved to be the latent, always implicit but never predefined
promise behind the Church of Satan - that hypothetical triumph which would follow a
Satanic eclipse of the inertial forces of the Universe. It is a triumph still evolving cautiously
towards full realization, but one whose parameters approach the very limits of human
potential. Indeed it presages the evolution of the human psyche into something as far
removed from its present state as that state is from simple animal existence.
This book is thus a history whose ultimate significance is to be found in the future
which these earlier events set in motion, not just in the adventures of those remarkable
years from 1966 to 1975 themselves.
This Sixth Edition proceeds past 1975 into the tragic Götterdämmerung which
thereafter descended upon Anton and the remnants of the Church, culminating in his death
in 1997. Lest we be tempted to judge him too quickly, it is well to remember that some of
the same qualities responsible for his downfall also contributed in making him the genius
that he was. In John Fowles’ The Magus, the magician Conchis observes of the eccentric,
reclusive magician who had initiated him in his youth:
Whenever I see a photograph of a teeming horde of Chinese peasants, or of some military
procession, whenever I see a cheap newspaper crammed with advertisements for mass-produced
rubbish. Or the rubbish itself that large stores sell. Whenever I see the horrors of the pax
Americana, of civilizations condemned to century after century of mediocrity because of over-
population and under-education, I see also de Deukans. Whenever I see lack of space and lack of
grace, I think of him. One day, many millennia from now, there will perhaps be a world in which
there are only such châteaux, or their equivalents, and such men and women. And instead of their
having to grow, like mushrooms, from a putrescent compost of inequality and exploitation, they will
come from an evolution as controlled and ordered as de Deukans’ tiny world at Givray-le-Duc.
Apollo will reign again. And Dionysus will return to the shadows from which he came.1
1 Fowles, John, The Magus (revised version). Boston: Little, Brown, 1965, 1967, page #186.
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In the chapters which follow I have endeavored not only to recount the adventures of
Anton Szandor LaVey and the Church of Satan, but also to draw from these experiences
the principles which they discovered, refined, and actualized. While relevant documentation
is both incorporated and appended, it will soon become clear that ordinary rules of
evidence are sadly inadequate for subject material as singular as this.
It would be much to expect that this extraordinary story will be completely credible or
even intelligible to the conventional mind. To sense its significance, one must undertake
within one’s own consciousness that same mysterious, often frightening journey on which
Initiates of the Left-Hand Path are always embarked. It is a journey which may be
rewarding, but to those of fragile dispositions it may just as possibly be profoundly
disturbing, even disastrous. It is a journey through Hell, but …
The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.2
2 Satan in Milton, John, Paradise Lost.