Greed Prompted The Writing And Publishing Of The Satanic Bible

February 13, 2014
Anton Lavey, author of The Satantic Bible, in San Francisco, Early 1970s

Anton Lavey, author of The Satanic Bible, in San Francisco, Early 1970s

I love uncovering the origins of  popular art and literature. Such origins reflect the  ambiguous culture in which we live. Greed is an ever-present character trait in this world. With today’s announcement of Comcast Corp, the number 1 US Cable company, acquiring Time-Warner Cable, the #2 company, for $45.2 billion, it seems that greed  trumps competitive rivalry.

Ever hear of The Satanic Bible ?  Greed helped create it. The Satanic Bible has never been out of print since it was first published in 1969. The book has become a template for  “Churches of Satan”  around the world.

It was authored by a former carny ticket taker, Anton LaVey , in 1968.  According to his own account, Anton Lavey became disillusioned with Christianity when he saw Christian guys propositioning  strippers for sex on Saturday night in one tent field , and on Sunday morning, at church with their families in another tent.

The hypocrisy  turned Lavey.  When he left the carnival, Lavey found himself in  San Francisco in the 1960s at the height of the free love movement. With  nothing to do and with tongue firmly planted in cheek, Anton started the first “Church of Satan”. He dressed up in a campy red cape  like a medieval  trickster, holding campy dark masses with carnival pomp. He was more  shocked than anyone when the church took off.

Meanwhile, a book and movie had captured the imagination of the world – Rosemary’s Baby. The  1968 movie starred today’s much-in -the-news, Mia Farrow , as the Satan’s mother.  The picture was so successful that the wunderkind young publisher, Peter Mayer, at Avon Books wanted to cash in on that  Satan phenomenon. The problem was, who could write a book about Satan? He went to the expert, of course:  the head of “Satan’s church” in San Francisco.  This is according to Anton’s  estranged daughter,  Zeena Schreck, in an exposé about both her father’s religion and past.

Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby,  the movie that inspired The Satanic Bible

Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby, the movie that inspired The Satanic Bible

According to Schreck, LaVey in a rushed deadline,  compiled a number of writings he had already been distributing: an introduction to Satanism, a number of short essays, a guide to ritual magic, and articles he had previously published in The Cloven Hoof, a Church of Satan newsletter.

Either to meet length requirements set by Avon or out of agreement with the ideas, LaVey  plagiarized writings by other authors. These included a social Darwinist book Might is Right, as well as the Enochian Keys  from Aleister Crowley’s The Equinox.

Some accuse LaVey of paraphrasing the Nine Satanic Statements from Rand’s Atlas Shrugged without acknowledgement. LaVey later affirmed the connection with Rand’s ideas by stating that LaVeyan Satanism was “just Ayn Rand’s philosophy, with ceremony and ritual added”.

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Anton Lavey in red-devil carny attire at the Church of Satan in San Francisco

The book was popular enough that Lavey published a whole series on Satanism.  His “Laveyan” Satanic  philosophy posits  that humanity is driven by  carnal desire , that life is temporal and not eternal, and that the most fulfilled life was in service to oneself, over all else. The book does not denigrate humanitarian efforts, but it does maintain that morality is relative.  If you can get away with murder, theft, adultery than it is acceptable behavior since you are fulfilling your purpose: sating  self-directed desire.

It is interesting that the basic tenet of  the Satanic bible is about greed:  self-satisfaction over all else.  It was the motivating factor that gave Avon Books the motivation to hire Anton Lavey to compile such an infamous  book.

Be aware of culture.  Culture is created by humankind.  Humankind  is both shadow and light. Culture is as contrarian  as humankind. Culture  is not only a shiny, bright thing. It can be a  thing of horror. While we run through culture’s gauntlet, remember to be a hero. All heroes arrive at selflessness over self.  It is the way of them. In the deepest recesses of our hearts,  is that not who we long to be? A hero?

Note: Satan is one of the lead characters in the upcoming The Barefoot Stories. The Barefoot Stories are inspired by the 13th century poems by Robert de Boron.
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