LaVeyan Satanism is the name given to the form of Satanism promoted by American occultist and author Anton LaVey (1930–1997). LaVey founded the Church of Satan (CoS) in 1966 in San Francisco. Although LaVey is thought to have had more influence with his Satanic aesthetics of "colourful" rites and "scandalous" clothes that created a "gigantic media circus", he also promoted his ideas in writings, such as the popular Satanic Bible. LaVeyan Satanism has been classified as a new religious movement and a form of Western esotericism by scholars of religion. LaVey's ideas have been said to weave together an array of sometimes "contradictory"Laycock, Satanism, 1981: section 4 The Church of Satan. LaVey’s Satanism "thinkers and tropes", combining "humanism, hedonism, aspects of pop psychology and the human potential movement", along with "a lot of showmanship",Laycock, Satanism, 1981: section 4 The Church of Satan. His ideas were heavily influenced by the ideas and writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, Ayn Rand and Arthur Desmond.
Contrary to the popular image of Satanism as the worship of an evil supernatural entity, LaVeyan adherents do not consider Satan to be a literal being or entity, but a positive archetype representing humanity's natural instincts of pride and carnality, and of defiance against Abrahamic religions which preach suppression of these urges. The church considers humans to be animals existing in an amoral universe, and promotes a philosophy based on individualism and egoism, coupled with social Darwinism and anti-egalitarianism. LaVey valued success, not "evil for its own sake".
Church doctrines are based on materialism and philosophical naturalism, rejecting the existence of the supernatural (including Satan and God), body-soul dualism, and life after death. However, LaVey also "hinted" at the possibility of paranormal forces, and believed magic could and should be used for material gain, personal influence, to harm enemies, and to gain success in love and sex. "Magic" in LaVeyan Satanism involves ritual practice meant as psychodramatic catharsis to focus one's emotional energy for a specific purpose (called "greater magic" and very much resembling psychotherapy); and also psychological manipulation using applied psychology and glamour (or "wile and guile") to bend another individual or a situation to one's will (called "lesser magic").
LaVey's followers in the Church of Satan maintain that he and the church "codified" Satanism, and while some Satanic splinter groups — such as John Dewey Allee's First Church of Satan and Karla LaVey's First Satanic Church — follow LaVey's ideas, others do not. The Temple of Set embraces "Theist" supernatural Satanism, while the large and active Satanic Temple, though atheist, rejects LaVey and Ayn Rand's ideas on hierarchy and self-centeredness in favor of a "left-wing", "socially engaged" Satanism,J. P. Laycock, Speak of the Devil: How the Satanic Temple Is Changing the Way We Talk about Religion (New York: Oxford University Press, 2020) agitating for separation of church and state, reproductive rights, and transgender rights.Laycock, Satanism, 2023: 7 Contemporary Developments in Satanism
Definition LaVeyan Satanism – which is also sometimes termed "Modern Satanism" and "Rational Satanism" – is classified by scholars of religious studies as a new religious movement. When used, "Rational Satanism" is often employed to distinguish the approach of the LaVeyan Satanists from the "Esoteric Satanism" or "Theistic Satanism", embraced by groups like the Temple of Set, and Joy of Satan Ministries. A number of religious studies scholars have also described it as a form of "self-religion" or "self-spirituality", with religious studies scholar Amina Olander Lap arguing that it should be seen as being both part of the "prosperity wing" of the self-spirituality New Age movement and a form of the Human Potential Movement. Similarly, the scholar of Satanism Jesper Aa. Petersen calls modern Satanism a "cousin" of the New Age and Human Potential movements.
The anthropologist Jean La Fontaine described LaVeyan Satanism as having "both elitist and anarchist elements", also citing one occult bookshop owner who referred to the church's approach as "anarchistic hedonism". In their study of Satanism, the religious studies scholars Asbjørn Dyrendal, James R. Lewis, and Jesper Aa. Petersen suggested that LaVey viewed his religion as "an antinomian self-religion for productive misfits, with a cynically carnivalesque take on life, and no supernaturalism". The sociologist of religion James R. Lewis even described LaVeyan Satanism as "a blend of Epicureanism and Ayn Rand's philosophy, flavored with a pinch of ritual magic." The historian of religion Mattias Gardell described LaVey's as "a rational ideology of egoistic hedonism and self-preservation", while Nevill Drury characterised LaVeyan Satanism as "a religion of self-indulgence". It has also been described as an "institutionalism of Machiavellian self-interest".
The Church of Satan rejects the legitimacy of any other organizations who claim to be Satanists, dubbing them "Devil worshipers". Prominent Church leader Blanche Barton described Satanism as "an alignment, a lifestyle". LaVey and the church espoused the view that "Satanists are born, not made"; that they are outsiders by their nature, living as they see fit, who are self-realized in a religion which appeals to the would-be Satanist's nature, leading them to realize they are Satanists through finding a belief system that is in line with their own perspective and lifestyle.
Importance and influence
Religious studies scholar R. Van Luijk writes, "Genealogically speaking, every known Satanist group or organization in the world today derives directly or indirectly from LaVey's 1966 Church of Satan, even if they are dismissive of LaVey or choose to emphasize other real or alleged forerunners of Satanism."R. van Luijk, Children of Lucifer: The Origins of Modern Religious Satanism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), p. 305. The sociologist James R. Lewis noted that "LaVey was directly responsible for the genesis of Satanism as a serious religious (as opposed to a purely literary) movement", and the first organized church in modern times to be devoted to the figure of Satan. According to Egil Asprem and Kennet Granholm, scholars agree that there is no reliably documented case of Satanic continuity prior to the founding of the Church of Satan. For Faxneld and Petersen, the Church represented "the first public, highly visible, and long-lasting organization which propounded a coherent satanic discourse".
The church itself is dismissive of other Satanist groups as deviant or unimportant, insisting Satanism has been "codified" as "a religion and philosophy" by LaVey and the church. The Church of Satan rejects the legitimacy of any other organizations who claim to be Satanists, dubbing them reverse-Christians, pseudo-Satanists or Devil worshipers, atheistic or otherwise, and maintains a purist approach to Satanism as expounded by LaVey.
Beliefs
Satan as symbol Among LaVey's influences were the Romantic writers (such as William Blake, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and William Hazlitt), who saw the Satan of John Milton's Paradise Lost as a flawed anti-hero, a rebel leader of charisma and bravery, defying God's tyranny, and not as the source of all evil, as he is thought of in traditional Christianity. The Romantic did not worship Satan but saw him as a positive symbol.
LaVey embraced the iconography of Satan and the label of "Satanist" because it shocked people into thinking, and its association with social nonconformity and rebellion against the dominant system. When asked about the name of his religion, he replied that "the reason it's called Satanism is because it's fun, it's accurate and it's productive".
LaVey saw Satan as a symbol of the individual's own vitality, thus representing an autonomous power within, and a representation of personal liberty and individualism. Throughout The Satanic Bible, the LaVeyan Satanist's view of god is described as the Satanist's true "self"—a projection of his or her own personality—not an external deity. In works like The Satanic Bible, LaVey often uses the terms "god" and "Satan" interchangeably, viewing both as personifications of human nature.
Despite his professed atheism, and his not encouraging the worship of Satan as a deity, some passages of LaVey's writings left room for a literal interpretation of Satan, and some members of his Church understood the Devil as an entity that really existed. It is possible that LaVey left some ambivalence in his writings so as not to drive away those Church members who were theistic Satanists. Both LaVey's writings and the publications of the church continue to refer to Satan as if he were a real being, in doing so seeking to reinforce the Satanist's self-interest.
Atheism and Satan
LaVey was an atheist who rejected the existence of all gods, of any afterlife, and of Satan as an entity who literally exists. The use of Satan as a central figure was intentionally symbolic. According to LaVey, it was not enough for satanists to merely be atheistic. LaVey sought to cement his belief system within the secularist world-view that derived from natural science, thus providing him with an atheistic basis with which to legitimized his religion, and criticize Christianity and other supernaturalist beliefs as irrational. He defined Satanism as "a secular philosophy of rationalism and self-preservation (natural law, animal state), giftwrapping these ideas in religious trappings to add to their appeal." In this way, LaVeyan Satanism has been described as an "antireligious religion" by Rubin van Luijk.
Reverse Christianity LaVey used Christianity as a negative mirror for his new faith, rejecting the basic principles and theology of Christian belief, which he also believed would soon disappear anyway. He perceived Christianity as a lie, exerting a negative force on humanity, by promoted idealism, self-sacrifice, altruism, community mindedness, self-denigration, herd behavior, and irrationality. Instead of (what it believed to be) these vices, LaVey encouraged materialism, egoism, carnality, atheism, social stratification and social Darwinism. LaVey's Satanism was particularly critical of what it understands as Christianity's emphasis on the spiritual and denial of humanity's animal nature, and instead calls for the celebration of, and indulgence in, animal desires.
Christianity was not the only negative force in the eyes of Laveyan Satanism. Other major religions, along with philosophies such as humanism and liberal democracy were also detrimental to human fulfillment.
Influences and political aspects According to the Church's "Policy on Politics", the Church has no "'official' political position", and leaves politics to its individual members, each of whom have their own opinions of what (if any) political candidates or causes are worth supporting, usually based on "their own practical needs and desires". This may embrace one or more of all sorts of different ideologies, (it then lists every conceivable ideology including Communism and Socialism). As for the desire to 'change the world', this (it asserts) is an "emotional drive" that is a "common stage of early adult development" which adults outgrow, "typically beginning around age 16 and lasting until around age 24".