There was a time when I thought that if there was like a German band, and one of their songs was like, black leather jackets, bad boy crap, then they were Hitler, right.

~What, a band from Germany? How the hell did they ever get any publicity….?

I don’t know, but yeah: segue to a band from the Summer Country (ie Somerset, England):

(Child Hermes on the mic) (imagine either bad singing or else ceremonial magic, I’m not sure: hey, maybe both…. Who said ceremonial magicians had to be good singers, right?) Shout, shout, let it all out: these are the things I could do without, Come on, I’m talking to you, come on….

(giggles) Oppositional magic: because now you can frighten the children for the low low price of…. Free! (giggles) Ok, here they come…. (puts on Lord Satan mask and hides)

(cartoon children) “I think that one of the most important things, is to love the children! What do, you, think are the important things?” “That is a vast science which must be answered with questions. Firstly—“

(Child Hermes) Bug-a-boo….! 👹

(the cartoon children run away screaming)

(Hermes takes off the Satan mask and laughs and laughs and laughs….)

…. But yeah, there’s certainly “evil”: fear and hostility and pain, you know, are “evil”: I’d like to learn about body language, I know that there are books about it—but it’s funny’s you know: like just greeting people in public, at your job, at least, and eventually just looking people in the eye or whatever, taking an interest in their unspoken words, right: which are often not too bad or whatever, and equally interesting, really, to thoughts and theories…. But yeah, sometimes just looking at people’s stance towards things, you learn about them, you learn that anxiety was never just you, right…. Like sometimes you look at somebody and their eyes are avoidant or even fearful, like not specifically or of you, but like: my mommy got kidnapped three months ago: my mommy died three months ago…. ~Right? And it’s like, not that many people’s mom died three months ago; it’s generalized, right….

And yeah: partly I feel like the Moon is full now, so this is not just my own personal cycle, but just as I think that, right, like—and I’m not ~happy~ that people are in fear or experience “evil”, but I’m not unhappy: it’s not unfair to me, right; it’s almost like an education in how things are in these times, right: but then I felt borderline anxious—I do feel like I’ll get better at that; like when people mistreat me, like literally get hostile, I don’t feel angry really or even afraid, fully, but I feel rattled, by the sheer novelty and unscheduled nature of the thing, you know, because people are not habitually predictably openly-hostile to the friendly person, right: disengagement is common and doesn’t bother me, right; at the risk of offending the Buddhists (although it’s not Buddhist, lol; it’s not because they’re meditating), emptiness or lack-of-response isn’t terribly interesting to analyze, right….

But yeah I ask this guy packing out yogurt if they have vegan yogurt and he gets very hostile with me, like I’m holding him up for money or something, right: and I guess it happens in the sense that “vegan” has the connotation to some people of, “choosing the Jews over America”, right; but as Trump-y as some people in this area are, I really feel like it must have been generalized in this guy, because it’s like: if you’re willing to risk losing your job or whatever because you’re like—like he was offended by the notion that he should understand the different kinds of yogurt he was stocking out, right; I stock out produce; it’s not that different from dairy I would imagine, even maximum curiosity about the department only fills some minority of your attention during the day, you know…. And yeah, it’s not like I’m going to waste my time complaining about the guy who won’t help me find dollar, two dollar yogurts, you know: but somebody will complain about him and he’ll lose his job, or else he’ll work there until he can’t go on, and, best case on projected course, retire on the pension of a canary because he hates his job and hates money, and, won’t have good relationships with spouses or kids or a settled mind because he’s pushing everyone away…. And I get a full moon is weird; but this was like, I mean, you squeeze an orange a little harder, a little more juice comes out: but it’s not going to be apple juice because of the full moon, right…. But yeah: I ask him and he gets all hostile and he says several things, like he asks questions even: like it was just slightly noticeably more talking than necessary to say, you know, “can’t stop won’t stop not caring”, or even to solve the problem, right, and then it’s like, he’s sure there’s no vegan yogurt, and he wants to know, right, if I find any, or whatever, and then I find it and I say it’s over here (and he was still within talking range of it, right) and he’s like Does it say “vegan” on it; and I’m like Yeah it’s coconut milk, and he’s like, It doesn’t say “vegan”, then. And it’s like, he really wanted to fight me with me, right: break up the day by calling the customer a moron, and as much as the subtext wasn’t quite made explicit, as much as people claim that hostility-detection is only in the voodoo of body language and tone, some of his words at least were clearly meant to literally say that he knew this fucking department and I was a goddamn customer, or whatever, even if he didn’t literally curse me out or explain how he associated veganism with the Third Reich and the Jews and everyone, right.

But yeah, and then I checked out and I was distracted, because I was rattled—un-scheduled event—but not enough not to find it interesting or be unable to think about it well, right; (I guess once when I had panic attacks I found them interesting, but there was far more interest and desire to be educated than there was any capacity to understand), but it’s a relatively long interaction, with the cashier, right: compared to the amount of small talk required to communicated: “I’m not in a bad mood and I like you, stranger; I hope you have a good day, outlander”—which is all small talk really ever is, right—and the guy was very friendly and cheerful, even, maybe a little bit more than the average. Like usually maybe half of people don’t engage, and then at least half are friendly, but very often either distant or nervous, this guy was probably in the upper third of pleasant-to-strangers, right.

But yeah, sometimes you look at people, you look in their eyes, and it’s totally generalized, you know: the stance towards life is: soon I leave this wicked store of public place and I return to the home where we be almost safe, where no one betrays and is dishonest—you know.

So yeah, people do experience “evil”—kinda that experience of the impersonal evil god of Schopenhauer, right, the wicked Will…. Even the Will doesn’t have the kinda perfect-failure of the Satan of theology, right; but sometimes the “Fall” almost makes sense and almost seems to agree with the sense of most people being puppets of the wicked Will, right, like—like fish in a sea of negativity who don’t know they’re breathing in pollution through their gills or something…. But yeah, usually the worst of it subsides if you realize that people aren’t reacting to you but to the Will, which makes them think, variously: maybe my mom died three months ago and now she’s a clone; maybe if I got fired from this fucking job I’d be happy; maybe racism in no escape, battle lost everywhere—you know.

So yeah, I don’t believe in cursing people, right. But yeah: there is an ocean of difference between the trickster exposing you to negativity, in like, the sense of almost, popping the hubris-bubble of happiness and content—so that you laugh; and your real education in living with a species that is not awake and is having a bad dream, you know. I’m sure people do confuse the two—it’s why pop is like the only genre for some people and like radio pop is usually constrained to like…. Just say, Never, never, never: always promising and repeating and toeing the lines, right—but healthy engagement with the inherent negativity of the human and the Middle World, and that kinda, toxic shame anger fear rejection offended manhood thing…. It’s just so different, you know. So different.

…. As far as elitism goes—pro-elitist Satanists, right—it’s kinda a curious question. Certainly some independent thinking—bucks the de rigeur Marxism and angry helplessness, you know, that people call socialism, (what else it could be, perhaps we shan’t know anytime soon, right, because people won’t let go of that). Of course, there is danger in anything, but I think people are too quick to promote the danger in status and achievement, the danger in people being non-sheep, right; the woman in some Oscar Wilde play who says that men are “bad” because men are free: and you’re not supposed to be free, right; it’s against the rules…. But yeah, there is certainly value in seeing to it that the elites ~~really are~~ elite at something, and not just elite at lining up shills and stories, you know, pranks and games—the kind that aren’t fun; tricks, you know: the dinner-party kind…. Elite at something other than keeping up the old elite culture of before say 1966 or whenever, right…. But down the road of, stigmatizing ~~all achievement, as such~~ lies not much worth seeing, really…. It would be better if people did not, always lie, about things like sex, money, and adventure, you know: you don’t just want to watch bad movies for the rest of your life, do you? You want to achieve…. You want to spear the dragon of lies and build a world where the best get the goodness, and people struggle onwards for it, right…. And if that isn’t polite, perhaps politeness is simply a euphemism, right. Slaves are polite to masters. Achievers create a world of truth.

…. I mean, it’s an interesting idea, anyway.

(Child Hermes) Mommy, one time I killed someone.
“That’s nice. Pam, do you think I should go with the green, or maybe the—“
(Child Hermes) I killed Serena van der Woodsen. 👹

But yeah, the execution seems so absurdly dramatic, right…. A lot of it probably does have to do with that kinda prim & precious midcentury TV shows, and garbage like that, right. But although the world changes slowly and/or not at all, and although it’s probably insufferably cynical to call Satanists passé…. I don’t know. I mean nowadays, everybody and their mom goes around fucking…. 💥🔥☄️

Right? I feel like some cost-benefit analysis (if that’s not ridiculously boring and Albert Ellis Style, right~ does Gangnam Style, only it’s boring) about upholding vs subverting/flouting rules, right, as opposed to….

I mean, it’s just, bad-TV thespianism, as far as execution goes, right….

(shrugs) I mean, it was a good idea, to consider, at least. If you just, Have To Obey, whenever people arbitrarily get offended/aggressive/confused, lol….. “In the Free World, the government gives us rights; therefore, we’re as free as our neighbors, family, and opinionated strangers allow us to be.”

But yeah:

—👹
—(Mabel from Gravity Falls) Oh look Mom: he has a, Funny Face….

…. I mean, people are just so fearful, you know; it almost begs for impatience. You can accidentally spill a little water on a hard, easily-dried surface, and people shout, Who died? What happened? Oh, Mommy, this could be the end for the children! You always told me that Christian superstition was the truth, mommy: now I know that hell and whores await beneath every green tree…. 😭

(shrugs) I mean, it could have been a little more humorous. I feel like Anton was probably taken to one too many Shakespeare plays, right: one too many stagings of “Hamlet”, or “Othello”, or something….

People do try to control you with their fear, of course. “I’m afraid. Will you come over next Tuesday at 6PM and sit with me for over three hours so that we can be afraid together, okay, putting you in as a ‘y—‘“ Wait, wait. That’s the day I have to play doubles with the devil: do you know that tennis court, right over there behind the—

~(shrugs) But yeah, in the 60s the average Christian theologian thought that Kant was interesting, and Shakespeare and Sophocles were things they could put in as like a sop to the masses, right. So, it’s a hard knock life.

…. Yeah, needs some quotes from “Macbeth”, lol.

I don’t know if this is the reason why people think that witches are “the devil”, or the reason why people think witches are Halloween freaks/a TV trope, but, it is kinda funny.

(Druid/Merlin guy) Welcome class, to our meeting of the class, Meditating under Trees. Today we will be meditating under—
~The tree of Lord Satan!
The tree of Lord Satan? And which one would that be, I wonder?
~Uh…. The one with poop on it?
(rolls eyes) Did you actually pay the fee associated with taking this class, young man?

…. But yeah, I eventually decided not to read that dollar ebook that some Confederate wrote about his ‘countryman’, right: so pious, and so evil. If you picked one or the other, you might be….

And yeah, I want some American group to cover the famous Men At Work song, except with all the statements reversed:

I come from the land not down under
Where women don’t glow; men don’t plunder
You can’t hear, you can’t hear the thunder!
Don’t run: don’t take cover!

^^

…. But yeah: I feel like I’m not sure what I’m meant to take seriously, and what is embellishment/posturing, you know.

(Satan) (blah blah blah, whatever)
(Child Hermes) Awww. You feel sad. (pats on shoulder)
(Satan) Do not touch me! I am the Great and Powerful Wizard, Satan!
(Child Hermes) Oh wow. How does that work out for you.
(Satan) You know; it’s alright…. I feel like the publicity isn’t so good, you know.
(Child Hermes) (nods)

You know—it’s like….

(Satan) Fool, if you do not take my five dollar bill and give me ice tea and make change for me, I will complain to your manager, and you will be, DESTROYED!
(cashier) Uh huh. You want anything else with that.
(Satan) Well, since you asked, I wanted to your eternal unswerving obedience.
(cashier) Uh huh, with tax that’ll be 3.19.
(Satan) Wow, he didn’t even charge me extra for his eternal unswerving obedience; that’s a pretty good deal. What a great brand they have here….

~Right? He’s a cartoon character, you know.

…. But yeah, it’s like:

(rapper) Hey homies: this right here, although he’s a white epithet, is one serious motherfucker, a solid guy. His name’s Satan, although I’ve taken to calling him Little S Man. Word up epithets, show him some respect…. Say, S Man, do you have a wealth adviser?
(Satan) I feel like my mom is always trying to set me up with a wealth adviser…. It’s a real thing—it’ll help me out?
(rapper) Don’t worry, epithet; it’s a’ight; I help you out. (initiates a complicated hand shake/hand-clasping thing that Satan stumbles his way through)

—Endless entertainment. Endless delight.

…. But yeah, as far as oppositional magic goes: it’s blacc stuff, you know; it’s not part of civilization; I can’t stress that enough. Like, imagine if the fig tree is the symbol of your country, and then you curse it with magic and it dies. What the fuck, right? It’s like you burn a flag with witchcraft or something, right? Jesus would rise up out of the earth, and say, Woe to you, O you poor pathetic disturbed freaks, with your pathetic disturbed cries for attention…. Begone! Begone, witch! ~I read about that stuff in true crime books, you know. I think it explains A LOT of the stuff that happens in the world today.

(laughter) (bridge music transitions into back chorus) Ok: joke’s over!

…. I actually think I’m pretty responsible, and others tend to agree—and although I’m not a Satanist, certainly I don’t think that witches only can work angel magic and nothing else, any more than Christians think that the Book of Judges is somehow not in the Bible, you know: that’s the other way to piss them off, although they certainly raise their daughters as if it were true, right—and I’m sitting in this local vegan restaurant with my mom (she informed me, lol; we didn’t agree; by the time I got off work and I knew she had driven, she had already drove, right), listening to this Classic Millennial/2010s Song, that I don’t know the name of, right—it’s about people getting stoned, hoping for sex, right; (“I’m up all night to get lucky”)—although I was such a wannabe Theodore Lawrence at that age, (although I didn’t read much, then: it was like, folklore; romantic-Christian folklore), that I didn’t get that there were drugs involved; I just figured it was about how you were “meant to”, you know, hope and pine and yearn and suffer for sex while listening to music, right…. Nowadays I think—I mean, I think I’m more realistic, in a state that is natural, although I know that’s not what the world is like, right—I think you can’t guarantee or rely on people wanting to have sex with you; it’s the least plannable thing that there is, and anyway, it comes and it goes, right: I just think that there should be safe, legal, (even the fucking Nazis shouldn’t get treated the way our jails treat people, let alone the traumatized gangbangers acting tough and the stupid druggies, you know), regulated drugs that people fucking know something about before they put it in their body—and if you come every day or whatever they cancel your trip and you get a free shrink session instead, right: but I mean, if you’re in a situation where you can have fun, having legal, safe, regulated, known drugs that are monitored would be more…. Realistic, of a fun-night, than just hoping against false hope that everyone will have sex with you and everyone will love you, because everyone obsesses about sex, because it’s considered like the One Honest Vice, right, and it’s like…. People just obsess; it’s not realistic, you know. Fucking learn what life is like, if you don’t want to suffer.

But yeah, I couldn’t even tell some people that I’m a fluffy bunny witch; I couldn’t tell this guy I want to read tarot cards and work with angels, right. He knows I go to this place with my mom, the vegan place, and somehow, I mean, he knows it’s vegan—it’s called Greens & Grains; I feel like I’ve explained it—and he knows there’s plant food there, but he also thinks it’s like a bar called the Green Goblin, right. It’s like, how is plant-based food like alcohol? Everything forbidden is the same, right? God, maybe I’m a Muslim! 😂🍿

…. “It is only DOUBT….”

See, this is what I mean. Doubt ~can~ be good, sometimes, but he’s just saying that because it’s like Opposite Day, you know. It’s childish.

I like the Crowley quote ten thousand times better: “I give unimaginable joys on earth: certainly, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice.”

~But then, Aleister was a ~fucking~, Adult, right; Anton was a child, albeit an amusing one, at times.

…. Granted that self-interest is not wickedness or whatever, and that the TV show “Charmed” isn’t real (if I may use the word) witchcraft, philosophically any more than it is technically. But is that really what Wiccans are like? Can Wiccans not do a money spell? And what the hell is wrong with different colored candles? It’s like Anton loses interest if it doesn’t involve giving someone the finger, right. Self-interest is not always, or even, usually, necessarily, theatrical and combative, you know.

…. While I reserve the right to have different goals from folks on the ‘right hand path’, (such as Buddhists, ironically), those people are not necessarily trivial, and I don’t think Satanists (or atheists, you know!) always get that, OR, that if you allow someone to goad you into a fight, you allow that person to control you, right…. The USA is hundreds of years old. Christianity is thousands of years old. Humanity is tens or hundreds of thousands, or even several million years old, depending on the relevant definitions. Relax; we’ll make it. Or else, we’ll all die: but one thing that won’t happen is, no one will take from me, my inimitable style, right. 😎

…. It is amusing the extent to which the Satanist becomes like the Christianity of the Christians, as opposed to “the Bible”, or Beth March, or some fictional character (lol). To take a slightly less explosive example, I remember my theological dad’s friend at his Bible book club complaining bitterly basically that people love too much, and too freely, and that it doesn’t mean anything, and that they’re not discerning or, you know, basically “selective”, you know—you’re not supposed to go around saying you love everyone and everything if you’re God’s literary agent, basically: and that’s attitude, especially “selective”—which word wasn’t used but which was strongly implied at the Bible book club—is also “Satanic” for the Satanists, I guess. And it’s funny: it also is regular (high!) society you know. The girl who goes around loving the people (almost equally to the slutty girl) gets disrespected, and the girl who wants a nice, practical job marriage/etc., gets grudging respect—unless you hate everybody.

But yeah, I don’t know how I feel about it, right. The girl I can kinda understand; God & Satan’s literary agents, I don’t know….

But it is true that sometimes oppositional witchcraft is non-trivial, at least. “Charmed”, in terms of the “physics” or whatever, of magic, is obviously disgustingly untrue, but there are some witches—a lot, maybe—who are “Charmed-y” in that they are over-afraid of custom/fear retributions, (although personally I feel like if you put a pentacle on your car, it’s like…. I mean, it’s like going to the jungle full of monkeys and leaving your backpack that your grandmother gave you on her deathbed, which is full of bananas, by itself unattended while you wander off looking at the stars, right…. It’s just stupid, you know: I’m sorry, but you’re an idiot….)…. But yeah, to actually believe that in your heart of hearts and in your non-formally-public (yeah, the CIA knows you’re a witch, good for them; I’ll remember not to run for public office, basically), you’ll literally allow yourself to be bullied against your better judgment instead of seriously and soberly assessing whether something is productive and unjustly maligned/weirds people out or actually lies and injustice and crimes, you know…. I mean, at what point do hysterical random people stop being irresponsible bozos and become an authority I respect, right?

(shrugs) But certainly some people are dumb in the ordinary sense, right.

(monkeys at the top of the highest tree eating your food supply that you need to live and ripping up your heirloom-backpack for no reason)
(stupid person) (yelling incoherently because he can’t even climb trees)

Right?

…. But yeah Greek names, people butcher them sometimes, right. People think that “Hermes” is hard to say: they say it like, “Shaitan”. I’m like: it starts with a different letter! 👨‍🏫

…. I don’t pretend to have the same view as the Satanists, but it is indeed possible to be “passively vicious”, right. People can be, romantic, almost, about the poor, the ill, the incapable. These are not always pleasant people, or people doing well for themselves or others. But yeah: you start with the people you have; generally speaking, suddenly laying down the law with them just…. Well, it doesn’t help. You start with the people you have, and eventually you attract people who are another step up. Usually it won’t be one day, or even one step, from having truly passively vicious associates to the wise initiate—or the wise adept!—hanging out with you, right! And not everyone you interact with has to be more advanced than you, obviously…. But yeah, eventually the truly passively vicious people will drift out of your life, (or, in rare cases, evolve, themselves, right), when you truly have nothing in common or holding them in your life anymore…. As usual, the average person’s sorta knee-jerk anti-Satanism, right—I mean, it’s almost like anti-communism, right; geopolitics is not really the real world: the enemy of the lie is not always the truth, basically—that doesn’t serve; and also, sure: Satanists are…. a lot, right. They’re a lot.

…. And, re: “psychic vampires”—I mean, it’s not all, all-out attack, necessarily, even though it is…. I don’t know; it is what it is, right—but yeah, I dislike this metaphoric phrase, because: and I know this is going to make me sound like a “Twilight” freak who’s lost touch with the (so-called) “real world”, but it’s like, if there can be these paranormal non-human creatures, and we don’t know much about them—certainly I don’t; I’ve read no serious books about vampires: “Twilight” is just a popular book about sexually needy self-hating American teenagers, at least for the most part, right—and then if we do not really know what these other beings are like or what demands nature puts on them, and, what being “good” at that or “bad” at that would consist of, I don’t feel like it’s skillful, as the Buddhists would say —yeah, I know: Buddhism!—to just label the exaggeratedly failed humans as “vampires”, right. It’s like if you called an unusually rude Englishman a Scot, right, and you’d never even known that there ~was~ such a place as Scotland, ~really~, right. (shrugs) We do not always know ~quite~ what we do not know, now do we?

…. It is true that compulsion and indulgence are not much alike, and total abstinence and sorta monastic behavior are not the only alternative to compulsion. (Which doesn’t mean that no one ever benefits from being a monastic.) I’ve never felt alcohol useful or attractive for anything, but it is true that sometimes AA/12-Step folklore can be misleading. They don’t tend to be bad people—less than the average person, really. Many of them are Christian sorts trying to be less…. Possessive of people’s souls, you know! But Satanists aren’t always wrong about essentially sexual or desire-based things. If you’re free and you’re not eating cake because you’re not treating your trauma, then in that case, you won’t eat cake until you die, so, maybe sometimes have cake—or else, don’t have cake. Whatever cake is to you. Sexual things, whether marital or positively unusual; safe, legal drugs you take with medical monitoring, and that you have some knowledge of. People are positively immoderate about all these things—moderation in all things, except sacrifice! You used to overeat: I’ve got an idea—Never Eat Again. What if you’re meant to be a foodie, what if you’re meant to have a fucking food travel show, right?

…. But yeah, I’m not saying love should be all Jane Austen had a little lamb, right—knee-jerk anti-Satanism if ever there was any: very subtle intellect, but married to self-parodying imprisoned Englishness, at least if ever you turn your eye away from the microscope of style, so to speak, and inevitably not all polite people are scientists, right: some of them are ~just polite; nothing else~…. But yeah, the Satanist is often: I mean, he gives you this strong rationalist-aggression feel, right—the general does not always commit all of his troops to the battle; some are usually in reserve. But one gets the sense that they are not sitting around, roasting vegetables, you know…. They’re waiting for the right moment to jump in and criticize, right….

…. I’m not going try to describe the event leading up to this meditation: it was very boring and subtle and mumblecore, right: but some people are asses and don’t realize it; they don’t say, “I am a very passionate, sexual-aggressive personality, and today I will act outrageous without shame! Let the world react how it will!”—right? No, they really think that they’re providing objective information…. Spoiler: they’re not…. But yeah, it’s not that that makes them less of an ass: it’s just their distinctive style of being an ass—even though they don’t know because they don’t want to know, and knowing wouldn’t make them More culpable, lol; it would be an accomplishment…. But yeah: I guess the intermediate type is the guy who Sorta knows how outrageous he is, but not really, because he has no other colors and flavors to paint his life with, right…. He has nothing to compare it to, right….

…. It’s amusing that ALV and I have some astrological similarities: he’s Aries Sun; Aquarius Rising; I’m Aquarius Sun, Aries Rising, but it’s funny how just flipping it like that, maybe, right…. I mean, he’s the young-spirit firebrand of the new age: and I’m the quixotic dreamer who laboriously wraps as much of life as I can in childish glee, right…. It’s curious how different people can present the “same” or similar energies is very different ways, right…. It’s far from the only example.

…. It is true that he does have limits. He doesn’t live to give FOX journalists their thrills, right.

But, again: if someone really is disturbed by my happiness or success, then it is true I suppose that I owe them “nothing”—but ie, no ~positive action~, you know. I don’t hold with the little flower of a nun so hallowed out by society—and wasting away to death when she could have been dancing because she was 22, right: and because she hates that she cannot “love” her enemies “enough”, or whatever the fuck it is: it might have been good for those girls to realize that the fucking princes of the church were their enemies, and that it would be more healthy to withhold their love—I don’t hold with the little darling monastic of either sex that your enemy is the one you have to “love more”, right. It’s just so fucking unnatural. And pity, beyond certain reasonable limits of moderation, is a cursed gift, and not appropriate. (I’ll probably forget that before the day is over, right.)…. But I just think it’s childish and not dignified, not proud, to go around cursing every wretched botched fool who is jealous of the help you render humanity or the earth, or yourself, right. It is not necessary or prudent to curse every fucker who bleeds negativity over your aura, right—let the once-born curse the once-born, if it must come to that, right…. If you have bad dreams because others consider you what they fear themselves to be, it is because you believed them—you half-believed them. Eventually you will not believe them at all, right. I do not believe they could “destroy” me, right. I simply would not believe their word—not really, you know…. If someone really needs to be “punished”, then it will happen to them, if it is meant to be. Let someone more deluded believe in “punishment”, you know. Let some child who watches bad movies get his revenge, you know. What benefit is it to me to harm another? Can another harm me, if I do not harm myself? If the gods turn aside the arrow, will it pierce me? Where is the gold and silver in cursing, you know. Gold and silver are gentle, and men have the less of it because they think it can only be put in their hands by reducing the general supply. A sort of societal delusion, you know…. I will love when I will love, and I will not love when I will not love; no one will force me, either way, for I cannot be destroyed.

…. Although they’re not ALWAYS childish, you know: re the ‘balance effect’ or whatever he called it—the natural factor, understood simply, right…. Like, once Louise Hay was like, I may be 89: but I don’t want to write off dancing for an audience as something for the next life! Let’s see! I’ll just do an affirmation, maybe…. ~It’s like, No, you’re 89…. Maybe if you were 59, put both ideas out of your mind, sure…. But you’re 89: go ahead, start planning the next life, absolutely….

…. “We never use candles with colors, only black or white candles.”

Aww, you reject aesthetics; you reject art; that’s so cute: you’re a male, and you’re like, eight years old. “Death to my enemies! Death to beauty! Death to light! May all stories be about men and death and sex: forever and ever: a-men!”

That’s right! And we only use One white candle: in order to mock the ‘light’.

Awww, widdle Tommy mocks the light; that’s right! Tommy worships Satan! Rwar! By the power that is vested in me, by immature masculinity: I now pronounce you, fuck buddies! Go forth, for to darken the light, with the true, black light…. Of freedom. 😁

~I am very powerful!

~I’m agreeing with you! You grow bigger every day—or at least, every time I see you! How old are you now, anyway! Gosh, soon you’ll be bigger than me! You’re a growing religion, after all! 😸

…. Yeah, I mean, I don’t think it is, on the whole, trivial, (or worse than trivial lol—woo loo loo! Aaah! ~ 😱 ~ 😸), but I do think that at least two-thirds of it is unattractive bluster, you know. I don’t know how else to put it. It doesn’t sound terribly effective, you know, just…. Bluster.

It is certainly true that many people have a sort of precious manner about them, right; but if your only choice is to be oppositional, then really you have no freedom, you know….

What does a Satanic witch do on smooth seas, beneath a beautiful, endless sky, right?…. (chuckles) Ah…. Yeah…. 😸

Gospel for the maladjusted youth, narcissists, and the emotionally immature.

Before diving into the book - the historical context of the book is worth noting - not only that it was released in 1969, but also that Anton LaVey was born in 1930. Throughout the 20th century, conservative Christians shot themselves in the foot. Every time a new kind of music surfaced, it was labelled as the doings of the devil. Being born in 1930, LaVey undoubtedly experienced that as it started with blues, jazz, rock and roll and even later again in the '80s with the PMRC.
I find it hard to exclude that those events did not influence the author. It is the 1960s, and rebellion is brewing. Although not sympathetic with the hippie movement in this book, it certainly carries out its own rebellion - for better or worse.

To its credit, it is not a theistic religion, and it does wave some stereotypes aside. It does not worship Satan as a deity, as he is "viewed as a metaphor or a symbol, not as a being to be worshipped". This non-theistic approach does, however, leave a void which it fills with the ego of the Satanist. It is written that the most important holiday to the Satanist is his own birthday, as the book puts it, "why not really be honest and if you are going to create a god in your image, why not create that god as yourself. Every man is a god if he chooses to recognize himself as one". This is, but one of many, absolutely preposterous statements printed on these pages. Whether delusion of grandeur on the part of the author or not, it may very well manifest in the follower. You are to put yourself above all else adhering to being your own redeemer, and in following what the devil represents you should proclaim that, "I am a Satanist! Bow down, for I am the highest embodiment of human life".

The author claims that humans need ritual and dogma, which is not far-fetched to me. However, he also claims that spiritual religions created gods because people cannot accept their ego and have to externalize it. That's until it is also claimed that people who choose a faith that preaches abstinence are masochists. In 2020, according to Pew Research Center, there were an estimated 2.4 billion Christians on Earth. That's a lot of masochists. Another reason put forth is that without "wholesale fear" the religionists would have no power over their followers. LaVey can't quite seem to make up his mind as to why people adhere to something like Christianity, and comes off as angrily yelling at the sky with a clenched fist.
As much as LaVey tries to put down Christianity for "lies", "hypocrisy" and all that jazz, you can find a lot of the ideas from stoicism in Christianity. This is why I think the historical contexts were important. A book such as "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius absolutely puts "The Satanic Bible" to shame. What Christianity prevailed with was imagery, archetypes, and the symbolism that supported you in your daily life. Satanism also draws from that as well with Satan, Lucifer and an abundance of demons that represents all kinds of things.

LaVey puts a lot of emphasis on not turning the other cheek, but that "if a man smite thee on the cheek, smash him on the other", and flipping The Golden Rule to "do unto others as they do to you". You are allegedly a cowardly dog if you turn the other cheek, instead you should make yourself a terror to your enemy, which in turn should make you "respected" in all walks of life...
So, you should only treat somebody with kindness, if they are kind to you. With this approach you are seldom the giver, oft-times the one who reciprocates. It is mentioned that, "when a Satanist commits a wrong, he realizes that it is natural to make a mistake". I guess that only goes for the egocentric Satanist, and it is not natural for others to make mistakes, essentially sinning, and they certainly should not attain potential forgiveness. Life is hard and full of suffering, and at times it gets the better of all of us. In such moments we can risk snapping at strangers, people who do not deserve it. That does not make you a bad person who should be punished with wrath.
It is in such moments we have to show compassion, and understand it could happen to all of us - and no, it's not always easy. Turning the other cheek requires true inner strength, it is not a weakness. If the perpetrating person continues being unkind, you simply keep your head and resort to not casting pearls before swine. Silence often hurts more than words, or at least it won't add to a negative feedback loop.
There is an ongoing issue in that the author emphasizes outer strength, it is never about inner strength - there's no discipline. The outer strength in this book is misconstrued as to being the be-all and end-all. If you have no inner strength, you give in, you give up, your frame of Being is made of jelly. Then it won't matter how much you lift or how much "wrath" you can unleash because at the core, you are most likely weak and insecure.

You should apparently indulge in your sins, such as gluttony with the reasoning being, "when you have overeaten to the point of obesity, another sin - pride - will motivate you to regain an appearance that will renew your self-respect". A quick glance at Western society today, with rising obesity in just about every country, quickly puts a hail of nails into that coffin.
The term "sin", which LaVey continuously scolds, comes from the Greek word Hamartia or the Hebrew word Hata, which both mean "to miss the mark" or "flawed". We aim to better ourselves, realizing our flaws which, hopefully, humbles a person. But if you are effectively your own redeemer, a god, with no one to answer to, then how are you to avoid getting a tunnel vision of grandeur egotism?
The book tends to portray everything in black or white - either or. The problem with that is that our world, and human beings, are very complex. You should forego abstinence and indulge but stay clear of compulsion. Whilst I'd agree, to some extent, that no release for desire can breed compulsion, not all desires are good, and they can easily get a hold of you and snowball, as the book even demonstrates itself with gluttony. It's this consistent lack of setting aside instant gratification and not having a perspective of what is best for your future self that is completely baffling to me.

One saving grace of these absurd pieces of paper bundled together is the chapter on sex. It condones all kinds of intercourse, whether it is heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, fetishes, etc. We are all different, and to some it can be a problem to be bound to one partner which the book addresses, but also mentions that you should not deceit yourself into having many partners to feel free from sexual guilt. Satanism encourages any form of sexual expression so long as it hurts no one else, not violating other's sexual rights, and you should not impose your desires on someone who does not welcome your advances.
I do not agree with the point of love being divided into spiritual and sexual, as in if you do not get a release, you should try and get that with a sexual partner who meets that desire. I get the point, that some people are not compatible sexually, and for some it can work, but I think it is very rare occasions. There definitely still is a bit of taboo when it comes to fetishes, which the books advocate a release of, so it does not reach a compulsive state - similarly to sins. You can't always get what you want, as The Rolling Stones put it, and you shouldn't. There's always a new thing to arouse you. You'll always want more. At what cost will it be? Most likely somebody else, somebody close to you, because you have to indulge and satisfy whatever needs arises within you. It will destabilize your family life, or certainly hinder your chances of establishing one. You should be open and honest with your partner in taking care of your intimate relationship and the potential boundaries and desires you each may have.
Masturbation is also brought up, a bit too much that is, but I think that is just a sign of the times from when the book was released.

Nevertheless, this was a refreshing chapter, as it actually advocates for some thoughtful and mature responsibility - a little nugget of gold in a sea of faeces.
Albeit, it is sort of soiled later on by having rituals of lust where you "hex" someone into fornication, in which case you are a man you should. "plunge your erect member into her with lascivious delight", or if you are a woman, "open your loins in lewd anticipation". Psychiatry is recognized for all the good it has done, but also how it has robbed us of wonder and fantasy in religion. Whilst I would not entirely point my finger on psychiatry, I would definitely agree that our loss of spirituality has been detrimental, and we are continuing to suffer from that to this day.
Oh, and lastly, thanks for inspiring a lot of great metal bands.

"The Satanic Bible" also dabbles in magic and rituals, and like most of the book it's quite daffy. There are three types of rituals: lust, compassion, and destruction. Satanism distances itself from offering of animals, which is good, of course. Instead, it requires releasing a force from his own body such as sexual orgasm, blind anger, mortal terror, consuming grief, etc. Symbolically, a victim is destroyed with a hex or curse, in a destruction ritual, to dispose of a "totally obnoxious and deserving individual", as the book puts it. And it also comes with the warning that you should "be certain you do not care if the intended victim lives or dies". That can be achieved by, for example, putting needles into a doll representing your victim. Some stereotypes prevail.
A Satanist should use his energy on performing rituals to insure the outcome of his desires, and not waste energy on things such as genuinely levitating a tea cup - I kid you not, it says so.
Furthermore, it puts down religions that uses altars of "stone and metal", as Man's earliest altars were of flesh and blood. So what is the altar in a Satanic ritual? A nude woman. Why? Because she is "the natural passive receptor, and represents the earth mother".
It gets better. Black is (of course) the colour of clothes worn, and... The women must be wearing sexually appealing clothes. Why, you might ask? Well, for "the purpose of stimulating the emotions of the male participants, and thereby intensifying the outpouring of adrenal or bio-electrical energy which will ensure a more powerful working".
If you're a woman, I guess you're out of luck, no "stimulation" for you. The men wear robes, and there's no mention of men ever being used as an altar. That must be a coincidence, surely, and not a teenage boy's wet dream.
Satanists apparently shuns hope and prayer as those concepts does not make things happen, but claims positive thinking and action add up to results. Then it must be somewhat of another coincidence that the compassion ritual, in accordance to the book, has you close by an altar where you conjure as vivid a mental image possible of the person you wish to help, and stating your desire. That sure does sound an awful lot like prayer - a very concentrated and genuine thought and action to help others. Since this is Satanism, you can, of course, also use this ritual to your own benefit.

This book was read from an agnostic point of view. I first came cross excerpts from this book in the heavy metal community when I was around 11-years-old, angry, and I gravitated a lot towards the parts of not turning the other cheek. Being frustrated, insecure and angry makes you quite receptive to a book like this. Later, when I read it for the first time in my very early twenties, a lot of it still appealed to me (except the rituals) as I still met the three mentioned criteria. I thought it would be amusing to read it again, many years and experiences later, and that sure was... something!
I cannot recommend this collection of absurdities, not even for a cheap laugh. It truly is an intellectual travesty put onto paper. I had to drastically reduce the amount of nonsensical proclamations I featured in this review.

The preface tries to build up the author's credibility and vast knowledge, but boy does it fall flat on its face in record time.
"The Satanic Bible" is an egregious attempt to write a book of guidance, and is bereft of deep thinking. It paints the world black and white, casting the numerous shades of grey it consists of wholeheartedly aside.
It focuses on short-term gratification and "indulging" in all your temptations, without regard of your future situation or self, effectively devolving the human into only utilizing the primal part of your brain. You're lured in with a promise of complete satisfaction of the ego - you are your own god, a distorted and megalomaniacal version of individualism - and your desires fulfilled.
The dogma presented might seem like a good idea, but as you progress in your twenties you should, hopefully, attain a sustainable amount of oxygen in your brain, commonly referred to as growing up.
Should you take the creed of Satanism to heart and live it out, you will eventually run into a brick wall, and you'll only have yourself to blame. In that very moment, there's a theme song made for the occasion by Ice-T, very fittingly entitled You Played Yourself. ( )

Yeah.... who’s really surprised that this one isn’t too great? The slapdash bastardisations of Freud and Nietzsche are all well and good, entertaining in a kinda ‘I’m reading edgy teenage crap that someone who holds Rand in high esteem would scrawl on their desk’, but after that you get into this real cringeworthy (and even inconsistent, if I’d be charitable enough to give Satanism the status of a ‘system’) when it comes to making sexual wishes during the black mass. LaVey makes a big point on not infringing on other people’s sexual liberties, stressing the point that you can hurt masochists that want to be hurt but can’t impose your sexual needs on others, then in the next breath he’s demonstrating how to implant sexual desire in the dreams of women you wanna bang. I’m gettin’ rapey vibes.... it made me laugh when he says that the altar must be a naked woman so the rest of the fellas who are punching little amateurishly crafted dolls can get their energies to the highest possible level - that alone saves this incel shit from getting a one star. ( )

Anton Szandor LaVey, más conocido como el Papa Negro y fundador de la Iglesia de Satán, fue el primero en promulgar una filosofía religiosa absolutamente revolucionaria y polémica. Lejos de la tradicional imagen ofrecida por la Iglesia cristiana del Príncipe de las Tinieblas como portador del mal, la desgracia y el vicio, LaVey reivindicó la figura de Satán como auténtico símbolo de LIBERTAD, SABIDURÍA y AMABILIDAD . Para LaVey, Satán era la más pura personificación de la ILUMINACIÓN y el CONOCIMIENTO, y así lo demuestra en esta emblemática obra.

I remember way back to my first day at college, eager to "get back" at my fundie parents for the years of brainwashing, I went out and bought this book. Only to find with first shock and then amusement that there's virtually nothing "Satanic" about it! It actually read like a freshman's guide to college party life. Man, that was so funny! You have to consider not only the author, but the decade/era in which it was written and maybe then you'll understand why sex, partying, yah, yah, yah make up the content. It chose to treat it as a joke, moreso than I originally intended, because one can't possibly choose to "worship" the mythological Lucifer while using this book as a basis for doing so. Two stars instead of one for amusement value. Indeed, cautiously recommended for laughs! ( )