Anton Szandor LaVey - The Devil's Notebook.pdf - CHAOS , MAGIA - wiktorow5

The Devil's Notebook

Introduction

Although his books have sold over a million copies, the pulishing industry has chosen to ignore Anton LaVey. The

book trade publication. Publisher's Weekly, has never reviewed a publication by or about Anton LaVey. Aside from the

occasional hysteria-inciting pieces that attempt to "expose" or ''debunk" the founder of the Church of

Satan, the print and electronic media have chosen to enforce a blackout on the true nature of his writings. Most of the so-

called "alternative" press has taken the lead of the mainstream press not to confront the work or life of Anton LaVey to wish

him into non-existence. Why? In a word, fear. The mainstream fears Christian opprobrium and ridicule. The politically

correct individual fears the rapacity of his own id. Occultniks are threatened by LaVey's refusal to indulge their penchant for

obscurantist mu mbo-jumbo. In our increasingly regimented egalitarian society, someone of Anton LaVey’s flamboyance

must be shunned, cut down to size. Unlike today's blue-leaned homiletic politicians, Anton LaVey does not allow Joe Citizen

to feel comfortable in his workaday drabness. To the contrary. Whenever Joe citizen confronts the spectre of this

contemporaryMing the Merciless, he is reminded of forbidden pleasures that he was too cowardly to grab, of a life he was too

circumspect to live. In his rationalizations, Joe Citizen pins a Goodguy Badge on his lapel and projects righteous derision on

the object of his discomfort. "That Anton LaVey, what a phony!" Perhaps it is time the Devil is given his due -- thanks to

LaVey the public has rediscovered "incredibly strange" films and music, such as Freaks, Nightmare Alley, the theremin and

evocative tunes from the 1930s and 1940s, LaVey contributed several of the more celebrated photos in Kenneth Anger's

Hollywood Babylon, LaVey coined the term "psychic vampire," among others, LaVey's automata have inspired research and

development in the fields of robotics and teledildonics. Perhaps most importantly, no other man has so well illuminated the

shadow purpose of Western life in the latter half of the twentieth century. As LaVey has stressed over and over again,

Satanism is not about heavy metal music or the sacrifice of children or animals to a horned deity. These are antics for the

weak and confused. Anton LaVey's brand of Satanism involves a far more difficult and bracing task -- the realpolitik

application of principles that favors accomplishment over consumerism and individual power over herd mentality. LaVey's

Satanism eschews all pandering to fads. It is less a movement than a call to recognition. I have one suggestion. Read LaVey

for what he says, and not for what others say he Is. May the scales fall from your eyes.

Adam Parfrey

October 1992

Foreword

It's Amazing how much fear is invoked in others by the presence of a known Satanist. People who never advertise

their religious backgrounds, when confronted by a "Devil worshipper" suddenly become devout. How often I see crosses

around the necks of those who've been informed of my arrival -- as if, like Lugosi's Dracula, I will be rendered powerless.

And when I'm not fazed by such precautions, the aroma of nervous sweat really fills the room. It's then that I feel sadistic, if

that term ever applied. I love to see those dusty crucifixes salvaged from the bottoms of bureau drawers, unworn since

catechism. The evangelical bumper stickers that might just as well say "kick me." The little gold crosses. The pathetic victims

of Christian propaganda wearing the symbol of their role model's death around their necks like tiny electric chairs or gas

chambers or hangman's nooses, actually believing it will protect them. Protect them from what? My possible cordiality and

friendship?

Wearing a display of dormant faith allows them to be safe -- as safe and sure as their advertised deodorant -- to ask me

about Satanism. What is it like to be frightened of intangibles? I've never known, because I've always had my share of very

real threats to my serenity. I took up Satanism not out of desperation but logical dismay that there were so many short-sighted

people around me. I thought, acted, and thereupon found myself removed. An lo and behold, I was a Satanist. A prideful

outcast. If the "just," the "good," the "righteous" were exemplified by the cowering ones, I wanted no part of them.

My brand of Satanism is the ultimate conscious alternative to herd mentality and institutionalized thought. It is a studied

and contrived set of principles and exercises designed to liberate individuals from a contagion of mindlessness that destroys

innovation. I have termed my thought "Satanism" because it is most stimulating under that name. Self-discipline and

motivation are effected more easily under stimulating conditions. Satanism means "the opposition" and epitomizes all

symbols of nonconformity. Satanism calls forth the strong ability to turn a liability into an advantage, to turn alienation into

exclusivity. In other words, the reason it's called Satanism is because it's fun, it's accurate, and it's productive.

The following collection of essays, bits and pieces representing 25 years of diabolical thought, is a Satanic literary exercise

in the strictest sense. Each segment is an indulgence of a whim or fancy. Each was written as the mood or idea manifested

itself, whether or not what was written would be good, bad, offensive, pleasing, or even whether it would see print. Each was

set to paper because to refrain from doing so would have meant self-denial.

Essays that are bitter were composed with a need to ritualized bitterness, the setting, form and style landing as the cards

were dealt. Instructional or theoretical essays emerged, first as ideas which had to be recorded, then as written essays. Some

have been gathering dust for many years and are included because timing demands that they be released. If they have been

updated slightly, it is because popular folly has necessitated that comparisons be drawn. A Devil's Notebook must contain

divergent observations and paradoxical theories. Like life itself, it is consistent in its inconsistency.

Anton Szandor LaVey

Durango, Mexico

31 August XXVII Anno Satanas

THE DEVIL'S NOTEBOOK

Hell must be a pretty swell spot, because the

guys that invented religion have sure been

trying hard to keep everybody else out.

-- Al Capone

A Medicine for Melancholy

How to Avoid the DB'S

At no time in Western civilization has man accepted so willingly contrivances calculated to weaken and destroy him .

Many persons have found these years, as we approach the superstitious dread of the coming millennium, to be the most

tumultuous period of their lives. Upheaval, depression, disillusionment, paranoia, anguish, anxiety, illness, and every other

sort of malaise imaginable. Yeats' poem, "The Second Coming," expresses the social climate well. Surely an explanation, or

at least speculation, is in order.

Let's examine some ingredients. No overseas war is in progress which involves Americans on a personal level, patriotic or

otherwise. There is no universal enemy to occupy the minds and emotions of society. Hence enemies, threats, and other

problems must emerge from a diversity of sources which are timely and easily relateable. Media re-enforcement of fears and

anxieties is at an all-time zenith. Prime-time TV dispenses suspense and crisis, either real (newscasts) or by fictional or

documentary features and series. This is considered "entertainment," not demoralization.

If complaints are voiced that streets are unsafe to stroll, surfs unsafe for swimming, and even grazing laid unsafe for cows

("Satanic Cattle Mutilation"), where can one expose his or her puny human form? In the safety of an automobile? Perhaps,

but what of the subliminal demoralization coupled with a sense of false security that mandatory safety devices provide?

Despite rapid and radical advances in medicine, why are more people sick? Emphasis on prompt detection of certain

symptoms is supposed to prevent serious illness. With everyone listening for internal gurgles, feeling for lumps, and

pondering each pain, hypersensitivity cannot be avoided. Does a consuming concern for diet and exercise make for healthier

living than sitting in the car gobbling Big Macs? Which takes a greater toll -- fear of the effects of preservatives, chemical-

pumped chicken, mercury-saturated fish -- or the foods themselves?

If you are a law-abiding citizen, who is concerned about the safety of your home and family, you are made to feel like a

criminal if you own a gun and are henceforth categorized as a "crazed gunman with a Saturday Night Special." Though you

know you are responsible and conscientious, you are demoralized into stigmatization, nonetheless.

In bygone days, before you were demoralized by static cling, it was halitosis or B.O. or unsightly snaps or non-Sanforized

Gaposis. How easy it would be if one needed only to fret over such trivial social ostracisms. Now, in addition to ring-around-

the-collar, you are confronted by threats to your immune system, germ warfare, telephone bugging, new cancer viruses,

conspiratorial politicians acting as decoys for the Real Rulers, governmental breakdown, danger in the streets, on the

freeways, at the beach, rising costs of food, gasoline, higher taxes, and ... the unknown! Is another world watching? Are

UFO's about to land in your front yard? And to The Good the threat of Satanism is still fine scare copy.

How to immu nize yourself against the great D.P. (Demoralization Process) which is inexorably reaching its plateau?

I) Recognize it for what it is: a collective phenomenon, self-perpetrating according to Malthusian law. The separation of

the strong from the weak, the reactors from the perceivers. Norbert Wiener would be delighted at current examples of human

thermostats and their behavior. Never before has man been so controllable and easily programmed while foolishly

considering himself more sophisticated than at any time in his development.

2) Avoid popular amusements. Take a lesson from the ostrich, whose head-in-the-sand attitude has been universally

ridiculed. If timeliness is an essential ingredient of demoralization, existentialism is a perfect vehicle. "Live for today -- don't

think about the past or the future" has been misapplied to "Dwell on today." We must all respond to imminent situations. We

either benefit from, cope with, or succumb to them. But don't go out of your way to encounter any potential problem or worry

if you need not. Don't socialize with those who do, either. They'll bring you down. TV is not the "entertainment" medium it is

assumed to be. Newspapers and periodicals aren't either. Pop music is "concerned" music, with lyrics and harmonies

unconsciously gauged to the now. Films and plays are simply variants of TV fare. Even the clothes on your back integrate

you into the herd unconsciously, if they are "stylish". Stop and consider if whatever you buy, see, listen to, or do is popular. If

it is, it is programmed, and like it or not, so are you. Does all this imply that you stop all activity just because it's popular?

You figure that one out. It should come easily to a Satanist.

3) Break out of the D.P. time/space warp by realistically and minimally dealing with the present, and dwelling on the past

and future. If you need to play the intrigue or crisis game, look back on past scandals and outrages. Patronize that which is

out of vogue or not yet in vogue. Seek out persons who are not harbingers of present mores. Discover and share pastimes

unrelated to current phobias. Surround yourself with reminders of another social climate and contemplate them as you would

a crystal ball. The trend towards nostalgia is an understandable rebellion against the D.P.'s. Its only flaw is that it too has

become fashionable and only softens the impact of hardcore downers, which occupy prime-time in our present lives. Reflect,

instead, upon personally gratifying things and situations, rather than those labeled "nostalgia" or "collector's edition."

Yes, I realize how tough things have been for many of you this year, for in any such softening up process very few are

unaffected. Out of the chaos, the rough beast which slouched towards Bethlehem to be born in the Year One is learning to

stand, to walk anew, and His footfalls are creating random upheaval. The Tenth Key has manifested itself in the rolling

thunder which has darkened the sky for Satanist and non-Satanist alike. It is for Satanists to known the whys and wherefores

of their sorrows. And realizing that, like all their kin -- Cain, Prometheus, Orpheus, Frankenstein -- they ... We ... are, in part

or in whole, responsible for our own problems and those of the multitudes. An overview is essential to survival, and what has

been sown will soon be reaped. The roses in the garden east of Eden will have thorns. Whatever the blossom, whatever the

harvest, the future belongs to us.

Rege Satanas!

On the Importance of Being Evil

Volumes have charted the history of man's cruelty and tyranny. How many have considered the essential role of

villainy in human development?

An impartial survey would no doubt qualify the villain as unsung hero. While fusty religionists still cast Satanists in the

old, convenient mold, the readily obtainable literature of contemporary Satanism has inspired change in religious thought.

Can we expect such an admission by modern theologians? Of course not. It is always a villain, however, who becomes the

catalyst for change.

Consider these still fresh examples: If Aleister Crowley had not been "the world's wickedst man," the like of Gerald

Gardner and Margaret Murray could not have stepped onstage for purposes of "enlightenment," and Dennis Wheatley might

be a starving hack. They owe their identities to Crowley's outrages. If the Hell's Angels had not caused such a furor, and had

not been ritualized in motion pictures like The Wild One and Scorpio Rising, a "clean, wholesome" interest in motorcycling

(and its billions in profits) would not have evolved. The glamour of evil, not fun in the sun, secretly spawned the present bike

movement. Pollution reduction, economical transportation -- all other rationales for motorcycling are piety devices. If the late

Senator Joseph McCarthy had not performed his auto-da-fe there would be no movement of the "Politically Correct." If Hitler

had not singled out the Jews for discrimination, the nation of Israel might never have been realized.

For every Charlie Manson there are a million solid citizens who can bristle with righteous indignation over his crimes. The

same fine folks who stand idly by while a little old lady is being mugged in broad daylight, not wanting to "get involved,"

invariably alleviate their cowardice by hollering their heads off for stronger legislation against crime. Remember, there is no

misfortune so great that somebody else can't put up with it.

A villain is said to be bad, but an apathetic drone is far worse. A villain must be stigmatized so that his opponents can be

considered heroic. These heroes are simply reactors who implement a change in affairs sometimes mistaken for "progress."

What sets human reaction in motion? A force which is either intrinsically or contrivedly considered "evil."

In order for evil to serve an admirable purpose, it must have method. The lowest level would-be Satanist who thinks he is

justifying his existence by commiting "evil" acts is the most deluded of all. As has been amply proven, Deep South renegades

like Huey Long and George Wallace -- certainly considered evil by many -- nevertheless exerted reaction on a large scale.

The creep whose "evil" deed for the day consists of pulling the wings off a butterfly invariably causes no productive reaction.

He cannot rightly be considered evil. Simply moronic.

The more grandiose the villain, the more beneficent he is to society. The small-time villain affects only the microcosm in

which he operates, unless his act of villainy is considered so heinous that it spreads beyond his normal sphere of influence.

When a villain attains universality, he is endowed with the mantle of devildom. However, if a real villain does not come

forward to serve as a convenient embodiment of evil -- thereby serving the goodguy's cause -- such a person must be

developed and sometimes invented.

If evil were by chance eradicated, the race would die of inertia ... at least under existing standards of mental and emotional

development. That the villain is the most formidable enemy of boredom was proven in a rather quaint manner by a short-

lived tabloid called Good News. Feeling that the populace was weary of the standard journalistic fare of murder, rape, war,

riot, scandal and catastrophe, Good News printed just that -- good news. It valiantly lasted two or three issues before its not

untimely demise. Why did it die? Good news is only really good to those directly involved. Most people lead such futile and

useless lives that only bad news makes them feel better. If not better, certainly gooder. If one cannot gain recognition for

anything else, he can rest well with the assurance that he is "good," which in most cases equates with "right". Were it not for

an evil to rail against he might just as well never have been born. Yes, evil is the great savior and sustainer of those who

condemn it most.

Duck-billed Platitudes

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

The rich do get richer, but the poor, having little or nothing to lose,

can only get richer. If diligence will not do it, then charity will.

All the world loves a lover.

Bosses hate lovers because they can't keep their minds on their

work. The loveless hate lovers because they are envious. Even lovers

have little patience with other lovers. They consider another's choice of

love object inferior to their own.

The best things in life are free.

They may be free for you, but somebody else is paying for them.

Honesty is the best policy.

Should read, "Credibility is the best policy."

Beauty is only skin deep.

A balm for the ugly, who cannot help but harbor hostility because of

their condition. The plain and ugly often mask hostility behind an unctuous

or affable facade which is sometimes mistaken for "inner beauty."

If at first you don't succeed, try and try again.

A sure way of making a pest of yourself. Better: "If at first you don't

succeed, wait and see what happens. If nothing happens, try a different

approach. If still unsuccessful, try someone or somewhere else."

There is no substitute for hard work.

If you are what others expect of you, it matters not how much or

how little you do.

The Goodguy Badge

Man is a selfish creature. Everything in life is a selfish act. Man is not concerned with helping others, yet he wants

others to believe he is. Inasmuch as selfishness is akin to pride, and vanity considered the Devil's work, the first rule of the

prideful is to make an exhibition of piety and charity, with a Goodguy Badge to pin to his lapel.

Man cannot progress one step further towards his own godhood until he removes that Goodguy Badge.

Mankind's true saviors are not those who led exemplary lives, but those who have enabled man to pase as Good. Through

the cause he provided against himself, Hitler enables countless millions to become righteous. Any semblance of goodness

detected in moral enemies seems to dull the luster of the Goodguy Badge. Goodguy Saints are often only winners in

abstinence contests. Perceptive scholars and objective students of human nature aver that most of history's saints have

surreptitiously indulged in life's rewards while offering another public picture to the naîve and conditioned multitude.

Leopold von Sacher-Masoch had not yet written Venus in Furs, yet religious and secular Severins were a zloty a dozen.

The Devil, aside from being the best friend the Church has ever had, also bestows upon the individual his mantle of

Goodness. In whatever allegory the Devil is conjured, he becomes the reaction device for those who need him the most.

Intrinsically evil people are often hypocrites who make a show of their Goodguy Badge; without an enemy to plague them

they could never in any believeable sense become Good.

This is not to say that one should not be angered at an injustice or speak out against whatever violates one's security. That

is the first law, the law of self-preservation. But we must consider the motives behind the selection of an enemy. Perhaps

nothing more is threatened beyond the threat of not having an enemy.

If, having a pain, you inflict sufficient torment to another area of your body it is easy to pretend that the original pain was

never there. The Goodguy needs a bad guy to ease the pain of his own inadequacy. This is why his enemy will never perish,

for if he did it would bring about great internal pain. Without a cause to take his mind off his own wretchedness he would be

lost.

For the bored and simple, those of little or no accomplishment, those who care little whether they live or die, an enemy is

essential. Their validity as human beings is measured not by what they can do or who they are, but by who they are against!

Paradoxically, these are the hypocrites who shun any manifestations of "negative" propensities. Their vocabularies are turgid

with terms like "true," "charitable," "integrity," "spiritual," "equality," "Humanity," "moral," "ethical," "rehabilitate,"

"understand," "empathy," etc. ad infinitum. Some of these Goodguys, like the fellow who wants to put pants on dogs, are

rather transparent. The majority are not.

My purpose here is to make hitherto undetectable Goodguys as visible as Freud made the lady with the closet full of

frankfurters. When self-appointed Goodguys are not only spotted but ridiculed for the ostentation of their badges, man will

have come a big step closer to the accurate evaluation of personality.

The paramount need to believe in something -- anything -- has been definitively explained by psychologists Mortimer

Ostow and Ben-Ami Sharfstein (the Need to Believe, New York; International Universities Press, Inc., 1954). One need not

believe in a set of religious principles; if one's faith in a lump of mud is sustenance enough, well and good. If, however, a set

of religious tenets is weighty with contrasts between "good" and "evil," the adherent's pietistic requirements must be

addressed. Those who wish to gain acceptance from so-called "respectable" people must be Good. Their self-righteousness

must be telegraphed in subtle ways, however. It isn't enough to greet everyone with a cheery, "Hello, I-am-a-good-person-so-

you-must-accept-me," but by wearing one of the many available Goodguy Badge. The genuinely worthy gain it through

individual strength of personality and accomplishment. the rest attempt to gain it by attaching a label to themselves.

Psychologists call this "identity." Man eigther establishes his identity through self or through a collective phenomonon often

referred to as a "cause." Celebrities will often use a "worthy cause" to bolster a shaky identity which may have been

originally built on individual ability. Public figures simply wear a Goodguy Badge out of pragmatism. it is clear -- or should

be -- that the Great Man is doing absolutely nothing of a genuinely charitable nature.

Although it is a truism that every act is a selfish act, not all are harmful and some are even beneficial to others. Goodguy

Badges exhibit tendencies which are often harmful and usually devoid of tangible justification for their existence. Rational

self-interest is a virtue, but should be seen for what it is: self-interest. that is the predominant theme of Satanism. Irrational

self-interest and undeserved self-righteousness are, on the other hand, hallmarks of the Goodguy Badge.

Anton Szandor LaVey - The Devil's Notebook.pdf

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