And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. - Job i.7.
Satan is afoot again, taking bold strides right out in the open. And, some say, he's winning a lot of converts who would apparently rather devote their prayers to a deity not quite so other-worldly as God in His heaven. As one wag put it, "If God is not dead, at least He's pretty out of touch with things, not knowing His fallen angel had been doing all that walking around down here. Besides," he added in a skeptical fillip, "if you're selling you gotta know the territory - right?"
Satan's hottest territory right now is San Francisco, location of the First Satanic Church of the United States. His minister is Anton Szandor LaVey, advocate of "The Left-Hand Path," the path of indulgence and worldly pleasure. According to LaVey, "Satanism is not for you if you're more concerned with spiritual salvation than with earthly joys." Satan has been invented by almost every religion, LaVey believes, for one purpose: to preside over carnal and other so-called wicked pleasures. Christianity, for example, teaches the essential wickedness of man and the concept of original sin. Embroidering this, Christian moralists have developed a list of seven "deadly" sins, which the Satanist readily subscribes to - and happily indulges in.
Perhaps not the least of the Satanic attractions is indulgence in the wicked pleasure of going nude, although this is done usually only by some of the women, as symbolic acceptance of earthly pleasures and man's natural sexuality. A nude woman frequently acts as the altar during ceremonies. As LaVey explains, "The altar in a Satanic ritual should be a symbol of enthusiastic lust and indulgence." Among the Satanic symbols is a sizable golden phallus complete with swollen scrotum.
The Satanic Church came compellingly to the public's attention last year when LaVey performed his first wedding, using a young woman's attractive nude body as the altar. He carefully pointed out that a virgin is never used. "Virginity is a waste to me, an unfulfilled symbol. Worse, it might even signify an absence of lust. A woman should be sexually complete to grace our Satanic altar." His lovely blond wife, Diane, added, "Women vie for the honor of being the altar. They say they experience ecstasy lying on the mantel during the ritual." During the marriage ceremony, appropriately enough, the bride wore scarlet instead of the traditional white; and the groom later commented, "I look forward to a nice life, indulging vigorously in the seven deadly sins." (Since the couple did not take out a marriage license as required by California law, the legality of the wedding is in question.)
One might reasonably ask whether LaVey is serious, or is he a charlatan, a huckster for the Devil. Certainly there is a bit of the Chautauqua-tent atmosphere at some of the more public functions of his church. But then every religion or cult through history has been aided by publicity of some sort, even if it's word of mouth - or, in the case of Christianity, sermons and epistles. Still one can't help but entertain a suspicion that perhaps LaVey is conning people. (The fee for membership and registration is set at a mystically significant figure of $13.) He himself puts it wryly, "There is nothing wrong with any religion if through it you are getting what you want out of life. But if you 'give the Devil his due' he at least smiles at your honesty in expecting some blessing for your payment."
The mysterious power of the male organ is a recurrent religious theme in many cultures. Note the similarity between this phallic statue found near Angkor Wat and the one depicted on page 5. For further information on phallic worship, see ANKH Magazine #5.
However, some members of the church, at least, take it seriously. A few months ago, the Satanic Church held its first funeral service. Local press coverage, oddly enough, was rather full and straightforward, though one reporter did lead off with a remark about "eerie incantations and trappings of black magic," and observed that the departed's soul was "delivered down to Lucifer." Perhaps reporters had less tongue in cheek than they might have had because the service was held for a member of the armed forces and was complete with honor guard and a bugler to blow taps. A military spokesman, when queried, answered that the deceased was entitled to the same consideration as any other man in his choice of worship. The deceased's parents, contacted by phone in the Midwest, said it bothered them a little, but one must "rely on faith." (One newspaper reported that the deceased's "devout Baptist parents . . . did not attend." but made no such reference to the devout Satanists who did.) It was the British-born
widow who, after much thought, decided that her husband would want to be buried with "full Satanic honors." She, at least, was taking the Satanic Church seriously.
Perhaps it should come as no surprise that LaVey doesn't shun publicity and projects a deliberately diabolic image. He escaped early from the violinist's life his parents had planned for him, running off to join a circus. He played the calliope, picked up a love of animals and animal training, and helped the fortune-tellers and astrologists. He went on to a study of hypnosis, psychic research, and good-old-fashioned witch doctoring. Thus, he was conditioned to showmanship as well as sorcery.
Not only do the LaVeys have a black cat, but for a while they kept a 500-pound lion caged on their back porch. The neighbors' uneasiness prompted them to find him a new home in a zoo. The LaVeys' home, which is the headquarters of the Satanic Church, is replete with the paraphernalia of Satanic ritual: the inverted pentagram, skulls, a skeleton, cloven-hooved staffs, a tombstone coffee table. For the rituals, LaVey wears a hood with horns, symbolic both of the goat's lust and of death. Naturally, Satan is invoked during the ritual. The house itself, black inside and out, projects a suitable air of demonic mystery. LaVey's name is elegantly etched in a polished brass plate on the black front door. Instead of family portraits, the house is decorated with framed photos of sideshow freaks. "I have an attraction," says LaVey, "for the bizarre things of life. I like circus freaks because they are proud. They don't want pity: they prefer to astound the public."
What prompted LaVey to open the doors of his Satanic Church when he did? What kind of people are interested in worshipping the Devil? According to LaVey, when he began his studies in hypnosis and the black arts he discovered that he was "satisfying a basic need in people which existed to an extent I hadn't been aware of. The people who came to my lectures and meetings were interested in magic and ritual in a full active sense, not just a workshop. They have done studies of witchcraft in a scholarly manner. I chose the most promising prospects for my nucleus of 67 members. We hold frequent meetings, sometimes secret, of 10 and 15 members."
Wednesday and Thursday evenings, meetings are open to the public for a donation of $2.50, but because of limited space, they must write or call before attending. Members of the inner group are not identified, but LaVey lists businessmen, doctors, bankers, actors, even a former Christian Evangelist as members of his Satanic fold. Underground film maker Kenneth Anger has declared himself a Satanist.
Meetings of the inner group could be described as an amalgam of magic, Satanism, and psychodrama. A typical meeting, LaVey says, might go like this: "We meet in the living room and go over the events of the past week. There is a discussion for about two hours, perhaps a lecture on a little-known magic form or Satanic rite. Then we rest before preparing for the ritual. We might wear our black robes, with some of the women naked; or we might dress in such a way as to act out roles of people or things that members hate. Remember, love is only one of the most powerful forces in the world. Another is hate. Or, in a dynamic exercise of psychocybernetics, a school librarian might act like a whore, an accountant like a gangster. The repressed libido and ego are accepted and brought out in our meetings. All this takes place in closely knit, carefully screened groups. The situation is handled without any fear of apprehension."
LaVey emphasizes that, although the Satanic Church disagrees with some of the teachings of Christianity, it is not actively anti-Christian. "Christianity needs the Devil. Our Church is not a reaction against Christianity." Several churchmen engage in dialogues with LaVey, and one Rabbi is discussing projects in magic with him.
LaVey couches his most seductive demonic appeal in these fervent words: "The only deity that
cares is the one that has been banished by one name or another by every religion known; and he has been cast in an evil role simply because he is concerned with enjoying life just as you are - or might like to! The Satanic Age is upon us. Why not take advantage of it and
live - evil spelled backwards!
Regie Satanas! Hail Satan!
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