TWELVE MYTHS OF SATANISM

Myth 1. Religion and pleasure automatically exclude each other. LaVey paints a one-dimensional picture of religion as solely being a bleak life of asceticism and denial, with never any happiness or joy. Apparently only people who crave misery become Christians, according to LaVey. Accepting this myth is actually the first step to becoming a Satanist.  The truth is, Christians can have very happy productive and fulfilling lives - - because they're Christians, not in spite of it. See this page for a list of famous Christians, from Bono of U2 to Col. Harlan Sanders, to Sir Isaac Newton.  

Myth 2. Man is naturally violent, and therefore, being violent is natural. This advice appeals to juvenile delinquent teens, anti-social misfit types, and psychotics - - all who want to lash out at the world. It's no surprise then that LaVey was a wife beater and part time pimp that abused his own animals! LaVey says Satanists should lash out at anyone who gives them a problem. Rather than see aggression as a result of frustration, LaVey instead encourages readers to act upon it. Frustrated young people learn a dangerous lesson: hostility is normal and should be acted upon. LaVey is teaching people "hostility and helplessness", rather than giving them a reason to work out their problems. If you follow LaVey's advice, you'll eventually wind up in jail. The fact of the matter is, man is not born violent, but learns it. Man enters the world with cooperative tendencies and has to be taught violent ones. Psychologist Anthony Moriarity in his book The Psychology of Adolescent Satanism: A Guide for Parents, Counselors, Clergy, and Teachers sites studies done by anthropologists to back this up, namely Monatgu (1950) Bandura(1973) Baron (1985) It makes sense if you think about it, because children raised in violent homes often grow up to be violent themselves, whereas children from non-violent homes usually do not. Since it's actually unnatural to be violent, Satanism is therefore unnatural too.

Myth 3. Good and evil are reversed. This is the way sociopaths and psychopaths think, more or less. LaVey believed religion couldn't meet the needs for today's people, and furthermore what it teaches is wrong. LaVey had a very bigoted and narrow-minded view of religion, and failed to see the many positive aspects religious institutions create (e.g., hospitals, orphanages, universities, disaster relief, great works of art, etc.,). Moriarty notes concerning LaVey's role reversal, "Through the manipulation of psychological factors, LaVey exploits the powerful learning process of negative reinforcement to his advantage. In effect, if the reader is not persuaded by the merits of Satanism, he or she will find in it a consolation from escaping the intolerable alternative - - religion as described by LaVey." LaVey builds up a straw man...bleak religion where everyone is miserable...then tears it down, winning converts to his religion.

Myth 4. Satanism will make one strong.  Young people especially ( and ones who don't fit in with others in particular) are lured by this myth. Young people want to be strong, and since LaVey tells them "white light" religions like Christianity will make them weak, he makes it appear there is no choice but Satanism if they want to be strong. Christianity in fact, gives people inner strength, and bravery. For instance, it takes guts to hide Jews in your house from the Nazis like Corrie Ten Boom and her family did. From the point of physical self-defense, very few Christians think Jesus meant to  allow themselves to be beaten and not defend themselves. There are even Christian martial arts associations and Christian strong man groups. Christianity teaches things should be done in balance and in proper perspective. Like proverbs says, there's a time to sow, a time to reap, a time to gather stones, and a time not to, a time to make war, a time to make peace. Even Jesus chased the money changers out of the Temple with a cat-o-nine tails on two separate occasions, showing there was a time to use physical violence if for the right reason. The money changers were crooks who cheated people. What Jesus meant when he said to turn the other cheek was to not hold grudges and feel a need to strike back at every offense, but to forgive.  Furthermore, Satanists are not strong individuals who "stand on their own two feet" anyway. They all belong to a personality cult centered around Anton LaVey, and are actually quite weak from that stand point. Labeling themselves as Satanists only makes people not take them seriously, rather than have an actual advantage, and only weakening their overall personal image.

Myth 5. "Live for the here and now". LaVey mocks Christianity's belief in an afterlife, and said people should only live for the here and now. This is another myth that hooks young people, since many of them act on impulses and have little concern for life in the years ahead. All the world's religions, not just Christianity,  have rules which benefit people in the here and now by transcending the individual and benefiting the group as a whole. Rules such as not murdering, not stealing, not committing sexual immorality, lying, etc., benefit everyone. Religion isn't simply about what happens after one dies, as LaVey thought. By making people feel as though they should act on every impulse, LaVey is teaching those young readers who might not deal constructively with their problems (and are most likely to act on impulsive behavior) a dangerous thing, and could lead them into trouble. Furthermore, in the next decade after LaVey wrote the Satanic Bible, there were numerous cases of people who were clinically dead that experienced glimpses of life after death, many of which could not simply be written off as hallucination. There are both cases of people who saw Heaven and those who saw Hell. Such things should be investigated thoroughly before leaving it up to a high school dropout like LaVey to decide if there's no afterlife.

Myth 6. Satanism will make one powerful. This myth appeals to people who feel powerless in their own lives. For some people, dressing in black and wearing a baphomet when they go to the mall can scare people, perhaps giving them a false sense of power from the fear they generate. All they're really doing is participating in anti-social behavior. Some Satanists do believe the spells in the Satanic Bible work...at least at first until they try them enough times to realize they don't. While LaVey claims his occult system is unique, the promise of quick and undeserved power is something every occult system promises. What Satanists don't realize is this appeal for power is a symptom of masking the helplessness in their own lives. Satanism is simply a way of running away from their problems instead of trying to solve them.

Myth 7. A person has to chose between sex or religion. There's no way to have both. Another straw man LaVey builds is that it is impossible to be a Christian and enjoy sex. What LaVey is doing is forcing young readers (who don't know as much about life or sex as they would like to think) to choose sex over religion, when they can actually have both. LaVey's bull is very effective on adolescents, because they're coming into their sexual identity, and when they read sexual feelings, emotions and angst, are part of being a Satanist (as though no one else had such feelings!) they feel therefore they too must be Satanists. Christians enjoy sex just as much as anyone else does. Like all religions, Christians believe sex is sacred and should be between a man and wife, and monogamous relationships prove to be better in an era of STDs. Simply thinking you can sleep with whomever and whenever you want, doesn't actually happen in reality. LaVey claims that Christianity forbids masturbation, but this is not what the Bible actually says.  Some people think that Genesis 38 prohibits masturbation, but it does not. God's displeasure with Onan in Genesis 38 is based on Onan's disobedience to the old law which required him to father a child by his dead brother's wife. It has nothing to do with masturbation. Emission of semen, however, was unclean under the law, and a man needed to make an offering for it. (See Leviticus 15.) It was a minor offense, comparable to accidentally soiling your undergarments. However, the law regarding clean and unclean things was repealed by God in Peter's vision, as described in Acts 10. So emission of semen became clean theoretically, just as eating of pork became clean. This idea is confirmed by Romans 14:14, where Paul says, "I know and am persuaded in the Lord that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it is unclean." Masturbation isn't listed anywhere as an "abomination," or anywhere among the various lists of prohibited sexual practices. (See Leviticus 18.) Adultery is prohibited; rape is prohibited; incest is prohibited; homosexual sex is prohibited; sex with animals is prohibited, (and all these acts are banned in all the other religions of the world as well). But masturbation is not even mentioned.

Myth 8. Satanism embraces science. Obviously, science is at odds with magic, and The Satanic Bible clearly states that magic can work, even though some Satanists are now trying to pretend it doesn't say it. The Satanic Bible is based on the idea that magic can effect people's minds if done at the time of the night when they are in their "dream state", indicating the idea was derived from the theory of ESP. ESP has never actually been proven in any laboratory at any time. The military even invested millions of dollars in "remote viewing" experiments in the 80's (supposedly Michael Aquino was involved in the project) and discovered it didn't work. LaVey also believed heavily in the ideas of Dr. Wilhelm Reich, who is dismissed by all Psychiatrists as a fraud and a quack. Even if you define Satanism as some kind of "applied psychology" (which it isn't), it could only be considered quackery. Plenty of Christians believe in Evolution and The Big Bang, and several Christian denominations have issued formal statements endorsing them (The Roman Catholic Church, The Anglican Church, The Lutheran Church, etc.). The idea that the Creation account in Genesis had to be taken literally was not the original view(click here). Luther for instance, criticized St. Augustine because he thought the Creation account was a metaphor.  

Myth 9. The Christian Church invented the idea of the Devil just to frighten people into joining the Church because it couldn't exist without him. Every religion on earth believes in the existence of evil spirits and devils.  Pre-Christian religions teach a belief in demons (e.g., Hinduism, Shintosm, & Zoroastrianism to name just 3). Even The Satanic Bible mentions the names of pre-Christian Pagan devils such as Loki, Lilith, and Kali. LaVey claimed a Voodoo cult in New Orleans was part of the lineage of the Church of Satan. Voodooists believe in evil spirits as well as good spirits, and know there is a distinct difference between the two. The idea that Christians re-named Pagan deities as devils is an outdated theory that arose out of bad scholarship in the 19th century. One of the biggest proponents of  that idea was Margaret Murray, the grandmother of Wicca...the very kind of person Satanism is supposed to balk at. Her books were discredited by her peers practically as soon as the ink dried in them. There have been documented cases of demonic possession which can not be explained as mental illness. The case of a Maryland boy in 1949 that the novel The Exorcist was based on is just one example. Human tradition in every culture on earth believes demons are evil beings that wish us harm. It isn't simply a "Christian thing."

Myth 10. Everything new, different, and innovative is "Satanic" and original thinkers are "Natural Satanists".  What LaVey did was try to change the definition of the terms "Satanic" and "Satanism". This is the same thing Wiccans do when they try to claim "witchcraft" is an ancient pagan religion and the word "witch" meant "wise one". In reality, these two things have nefarious meanings in every culture. LaVey, ironically, used to chide the "white witches" for doing this, when he was basically doing the same thing. For instance, he claimed Duisenberg automobiles were "Satanic" in their design. Just because something is eye-catching or different doesn't make it Satanic. A grisly slaying is Satanic, not a cherry car. LaVey simply tried to change the meaning of a word. Likewise, people who think outside the box aren't Satanists. LaVey thought Tiny Tim was a natural Satanist because he was had the only vaudeville act in the 1960's. Tiny Tim was in fact a Christian! He read the Bible everyday, made public confessions of his faith in his later years (such as on the WTMV  Richard Shanks Show in the late 80's as just one example), was polite to everyone, and friends say he was quite serious about his religion. He would have been offended for being called a Satanist, (and had he found out what LaVey wrote about him, he probably would have sued). It just goes to show you Christians can be innovators. Just read the Awful Xtians page to see how often this is the case (click here).

Myth 11. People will take you seriously as a Satanist. People are going to think you're a nut, weirdo, and loser when you tell them you're a Satanist. Don't expect to ever have a good paying job, be elected to office, or have normal people think you're not a flake when you tell them you're a Satanist. They're no different from Wiccans who insist on being called witches who then  act hurt and claim "persecution" when people get scared of them. If negative attention is all you want, being a Satanist will do it. If you seriously think you're going to be the "Alien Elite" you'd better do a reality check.

Myth 12. You can practice the occult and black magic without repercussions and become a success in life. LaVey is perhaps the best example of why this is wrong. Even he couldn't do it. LaVey embraced the dark side (regardless of whether you believe it as a "Theistic Satanist" or an "Atheistic Satanist") and died bankrupt. Aleister Crowley borrowed many elements of Satanism to create Thelema. He started out as a wealthy heir to Crowley Ale and died a junkie in a flophouse. Not only Satanists, but occultists of all stripes, Agrippa, Dee, Kelly, Cagliostro, The Fox Sisters, Mathers, Franz Bardon, Austin O. Spare, etc., all died miserable and broke in the end.  (See Famous Occultists page for more details.)

[SOURCES: The Psychology of Adolescent Satanism: A Guide for Parents, Counselors, Clergy, and Teachers by Anthony Moriarty]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reich,_Wilhelm .

 33 Myths about Anton LaVey:

(and by no means a complete list!)

This info has appeared on the internet from time to time, including a website of Zeena LaVey and the now defunct "Maledicta" Satanist website that used to hawk Satanic jewlery...which is now out of business (why couldn't their magick powers keep them in business???) I have copied it so this information will always be available, plus added a few things they missed.

Anton Lavey : Wizard...or Just A Lying Pimp???

Anton Szandor LaVey (1930-1997), is like most occult figures, extremely overrated. The amount of notoriety he received is disproportionate to what he actually deserved. LaVey, called by some a "junkyard intellectual" was really just a kook who lived in an old broken down house his mom and dad gave him. Had it not been for his involvement in Satanism, he would have passed from this world completely unknown.  LaVey is probably one of the greatest con men ever, spinning a yarn about himself that even his enemies (both Satanist and Christian) repeat. LaVey would later complain about Satanic conspiracy stories and stories of "breeders" who sacrificed their own children, but really LaVey had no one to blame but himself for the snowball of lies that got out of hand. Indeed, LaVey very much depended on that same notoriety to scratch out then meager existence of his later years.

Here then, is the truth at last...the 33 myths.

Myth 1. His name was actually Anton Szandor LaVey. "Anton Szandor LaVey" was not his birth name, in fact it was actually  "Howard Stanton Levey". [SOURCES: Birth certificate 4/11/1930, Cook County, Illinois. Confirmed by relatives.]

Myth 2.  Anton LaVey and the people who follow his  "philosophy" are the "real" Satanists, while the Satanic killers like the Mansons and the Night Stalker Killer are just the "nuts". The truth is, LaVey prescribed rituals for Satanists that normal people would find crazy. For instance, a nude girl is used as an altar (Satanic Bible, Satanic Rituals). A human skull is used in Die Elektrischen Vorspiele ritual (Satanic Rituals, p. 109). A human leg bone or arm bone is used in Homage to Tchort ritual (p.137). A woman dressed as nun urinates before group into a bedpan in the Black Mass ritual (p.43). The urine is then sprinkled like holy water (p.44). A man climbs into coffin with nude woman (or nude man if he is gay) in Le Epais ritual (p.59). LaVey gives instructions for "turning into a werewolf" that include running around outside on all fours with a wolf mask (The Devil's Notebook) .

LaVey claimed nuts were quickly given "the bum's rush" when they tried to join his Church of Satan. That still didn't stop two of the Masons (Susan Atkins and Bobby Beaseliel) and Richard "The Night Stalker " Rameriez from joining. Satanist Patricia Hall was arrested for murder of an elderly man in Florida, and participated in the flogging and gang rape of a teenage girl. She claimed to have been baptized by LaVey himself, which he of course later denied.  There have also been other thrill killers that have claimed to have been members of the Church of Satan, even though LaVey later denied it.

Even if they weren't officially CoS members (most Satanist aren't in fact), it proves criminally minded, violent people are attracted to Satanism. Susan Atkins actually appeared with LaVey and a couple of other girls in a corny strip club act. She played a vampire, not surprising when you consider she licked the blood stained knife she killed Sharon Tate and her unborn child with.  Bobby Beausoleil appeared in the movie by fellow Church of Satan member Kenneth Anger, Lucifer Rising. During the Tate/Labianca murders, Beausoleil told his terrified victims, "I'm the Devil, and I'm here to do the Devil's business!" A fourth  killer/cannibal, Stanley Baker,  who actually ate his victims, was caught en route to meet LaVey. Would LaVey have given this 3rd person the heave ho? Maybe, maybe not. LaVey claimed that he too,  and members of the Church of Satan, once dined on a human leg (Satan Wants You, also mentioned in The Church of Satan and The Secret Life of a Satanist). The leg was obtained (obviously illegally) by a CO$ member who was a pathologist from  a local hospital, at least according to LaVey. No LaVey family member has ever denied this event happened. The leg was prepared by Diane in Triple Sec with fried grub worms on the side, supposedly how they serve human flesh in New Guinea. The only participant who reportedly ate the worms was LaVey's 3 year old daughter Zeena, and most members were to squeamish to actually eat the leg meat. See the Occult Crime webpage and you'll notice a disproportionate number of crimes committed by Satanists. There's a reason for that, and it can't be dismissed as "Satanic panic".

Myth 3. LaVey claimed his parents were Joseph and Augusta LaVey. They were actually named Michael and Gertrude Levey. He probably lied about their real names to cloud his uneventful past. [SOURCES: Birth certificate 4/11/1930, Cook County, Illinois. Confirmed by ASL's daughter Zeena and daughter Karla according to her entry on ASL's death certificate. ]

Myth 4. LaVey claimed he was introduced to the Dark Side by his Transylvanian Gypsy grandmother, who regaled him as a child with supernatural folklore and tales of vampires and werewolves. But his grandmother was not Transylvanian nor of Gypsy stock. She was a Ukrainian named Cecile Luba Primokov-Coulton ("Coulton" was Anglicized from "Koltonoff"). Despite his frequent claims, ASL had no Gypsy ancestry. Gypsies are very clannish people, and seldom marry non-Gypsies. [SOURCES: Relatives, including ASL's parents. King of The Gypsies by Richard Maas]

Myth 5.  In 1945 the 15-year-old ASL was brought to the ruins of postwar Germany by his uncle, a U.S. Coast Guard officer. There the teenaged ASL was shown top-secret films inspired by Satanic cult lodges and their rituals. ASL claimed that the "German" rituals in his 1972 book  The Satanic Rituals were actual transcripts of the filmed rituals he saw as a youth. In fact, little Howie spent the entirety of 1945 in suburban northern California, and never visited Germany at any time in his life. The uncle who he claimed brought him to Germany was incarcerated at McNeill Island Penitentiary for involvement with Al Capone-related criminal activity during 1945, and was never even in the armed forces. Allied martial law forbade U.S. citizens from visiting postwar Germany. The "German" rituals in The Satanic Rituals are written in extremely poor, Anglicized German. They are clearly un-credited adaptations of the short story The Hounds of Tindalos by Frank Belknap Long and H.G. Wells' famous novel  The Island of Dr. Moreau. [SOURCES: ASL relatives, former common law wife Diane LaVey, The Hounds of Tindalos, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Satanic Rituals, Church of Satan member Rosalind Herkommer who translated ASL's rituals into German.]

Myth 6. The 15-year-old ASL played second oboe with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, making him the youngest musician ever to play with that prestigious institution. There was in fact, no "San Francisco Ballet Orchestra" in 1945. The San Francisco Ballet was accompanied by a local orchestra, whose records show that none of its three oboists was named "Levey" or "LaVey". [SOURCES: San Francisco Performing Arts Library & Museum, San Francisco, California. ]

Myth 7. In 1947 ASL ran away from home and joined the Clyde Beatty Circus. The Circus employed the 17-year-old as a lion tamer. He then replaced the Circus calliope player, accompanying such famous Beatty acts as the Concellos, Harold Alanza, and the Cristianis. But the reality is, the voluminous Beatty archives show no record of a "Levey" or "LaVey" as lion tamer or musician. The Concellos, Alanza, and Cristianis were never Beatty performers; they worked exclusively for the Ringling Brothers Circus. [SOURCES: Beatty 1947 Route Books, Circus World Museum, Baraboo, Wisconsin (Wright, "SD", page 67); ASL relatives. ]

Myth 8. : In 1948 the 18-year-old ASL was engaged to play organ at the Mayan burlesque theater in Los Angeles. There he met a young stripper named Marilyn Monroe, with whom he had a passionate love affair in the period before her rise to film stardom. According to ASL, Monroe had resorted to stripping to pay her rent. As proof of his relationship with Monroe, ASL later showed visitors a copy of Monroe's famous nude calendar inscribed "Dear Tony, How many times have you seen this! Love, Marilyn". Guess what? He lied! LaVey never knew Monroe. Monroe intimate Robert Slatzer and Harry Lipton, Monroe's agent in 1948, have exposed and discredited this tale. Lipton paid Monroe's expenses, including her rent. Paul Valentine, director of the Mayan Theater, has stated that the Mayan was never a burlesque theater, and that neither Monroe nor ASL ever worked for the Mayan in any capacity. Diane LaVey, ASL's former wife, has admitted that she forged the "Monroe" inscription on the calendar. ASL's former publicist Edward Webber claims ASL admitted he never knew Monroe. If you were hoping Satanism could help you get girls (or guys), it can't. [SOURCES: Diane LaVey, Paul Valentine (Wright, "SD", page #68), Harry Lipton (Aquino-Lipton conversation 12/1/82), Robert Slatzer (letter to Aquino 11/27/82), Edward Webber (interview by Aquino 6/2/91). ]

Myth 9.  ASL was exposed to the savagery of human nature during his stint as a San Francisco Police photographer in the early 1950s.  The San Francisco Police Department past employment records includes no "Howard Levey" or "Anton LaVey". Frank Moser, who was a SFPD photographer in the early 1950s, said that ASL never worked for the Department. In the snuff film Death Scenes, the narrator mentions LaVey was given a book of crime scene photos by a police photographer friend, which is probably how LaVey conned people into believing he himself had been a police photographer. [SOURCES: SFPD records, Frank Moser (Wright, "SD", page 68), Death Scenes Video].

Myth 10. ASL studied criminology at San Francisco City College during the Korean War.  SFCC has no record of ASL's enrollment at any time. LaVey was, in fact, a high school dropout who never attended college or even earned his G.E.D. (And sorry, reading a bunch of books doesn't count as a college education). [SOURCES: SFCC records (Wright, "SD", page 68). ]

Myth 11. Anton LaVey is often referred to as "Dr. LaVey".  LaVey never actually earned a doctorate; he simply awarded himself a "Doctorate of Satanic Theology". The Church of Satan was not authorized to grant degrees by the State of California, so it was about like anyone  awarding themselves any type of degree they felt qualified for. Or it's like buying a $29.95 "Doctor of Divinity" degree from the Universal Life Church. The degree was not a genuine college degree, and actually worthless other than as a novelty item, or to impress non-critical young readers. LaVey in fact never attended college, but was a high school dropout, as mentioned. You could download the faux "Doctor of Demonology" degree from the equally faux Miskatoic University on the homepage, and it would have the same academic value.

Myth 12. LaVey did not actually claim to believe in magic. This is a myth atheistic Satanist believe in. The reality is, the Satanic Bible gave very specific details about how to cast spells to make them effective. LaVey detailed timing, imagery, clothing, the balance factor, which Enochian key to use for what purpose, etc., LaVey also warned Satanist to always acknowledge the things that they had gained by magic, or else they would lose them. In the Devil's Notebook, there's a chapter about how to make Satanic Magic work. LaVey seemed to eschew mysticism, but also endorse it. In his ghost written autobiography, The Secret Life of a Satanist, Lavey mentions a mysterious stretch of California highway where he "saw something large and black crawling sideways like a crab". He claimed after Jayne Mansfield's death, a light bulb blew out and he claimed his wife saw a ghostly pink heart. While crawling under a theater that was about to be torn down, and saw "unearthly things" like demons, and got out when he saw something flying toward him. He also claimed that as a child electrical equipment malfunctioned whenever daughter Zeena was around. Clearly, his view of the supernatural was ambiguous at best.

Myth 13. LaVey treated the members of the Church of Satan kindly and was unjustly stabbed in the back by many of them. The reality is LaVey routinely blackmailed members of the Church of Satan, according to defector P.E.I. Bonewitz, whom LaVey called a "not-so-sour-grapes authority" in the Devil's Notebook. It seems it was LaVey who was doing the backstabbing. [SOURCE: Real Magic by P.E.I. Bonewitz]

Myth 14.  The Church of Satan was a body of open minded and tolerant individuals. Defector P.E.I. Bonewitz noted most of the members of the Church of Satan were racists. LaVey seemed at first to welcome homosexuals, Jews, blacks, and anyone else into his church in the 1960's that had cash to join. But by the 80's, LaVey was writing to appeal to Neo-Nazis and KKK members, as The Church of Satan and The Secret Life of a Satanist indicate. LaVey supposedly accepted a membership in the National Resistance Party ( a Neo-Nazi Group) in 1970, according to defector Michael Aquino. In 1979 the NRP  staged  a rally marking the 10th anniversary of the "sacrifice" of Sharon Tate by Charles Manson, in which the daughter Zeena read from the Satanic Bible. Zeena herself seems to be anti-Semitic from some of her online writings (who do you think she learned it from?) and is married to a Manson follower named Nicholas Shrek. Aquino's break away group, The Temple of Set, is disturbingly fascinated with Nazism. The Satanic movement seems to attract a very high percentage of racists and Neo-Nazis. {SOURCES Real Magic by P.E.I. Bonewitz Raising Hell by Michael Newton, the "Unfather Letter" written by Zeena, posted online]  

Myth 15. LaVey didn't really believe in the Devil. Church of Satan defectors have noted LaVey never really made his position on the Devil's existence clear. Michael Aquino for instance said at times LaVey seemed to say Satan was a dark force of nature, and at other times he seemed to talk as though he believed the Devil were a personification - - even referring to him as "the man downstairs". His position seems ambiguous at best. [SOURCE: Crystal Tablet of Set by Michael Aquino]

Myth 16.  ASL purchased the house at 6114 California Street (which would later become the headquarters of the Church of Satan - the infamous "Black House") because he discovered on first inspection that it was the former brothel of Barbary Coast madam Mammy Pleasant. The house was honeycombed with trapdoors and secret passageways, built by Pleasant to elude police raids. The fact is  6114 was actually ASL's parents' home. It was never a brothel, nor did Mammy Pleasant ever live or work there. ASL's parents first allowed ASL and his first wife Carole to live in the house, & then transferred ownership of it to ASL and his second wife Diane in 1971. Such secret passages and hidden rooms that exist were constructed by ASL. [SOURCES: Relatives, San Francisco property records (Michael & Gertrude Levey, Joint Tenancy Grant Deed, July 9, 1971). ] Note: The house was demolished a few years after LaVey's death, despite efforts of Satanists to save it - - proving with Satanism, failure is ALWAYS an option!

Myth 17.  In the 1950s ASL traveled to Nice, France, where he recorded an album of organ music under the psuedonym of "Georges Montalba". The fact is LaVey's first and only trip to France was in the mid-1970s, when his Dutch disciple Maarten Lamers, Amsterdam sex club owner, financed his voyage. The "ASL=Montalba" story appeared in 1989, when a gullible Church of Satan member found a Montalba album and suggested that it was similar to ASL's own music. ASL, never pleased by competition, responded with the preposterous "pseudonym" claim which is still ardently supported by his posthumous followers. Georges Montalba (or George Montalba) was the psuedonym used by pipe organist Robert Hunter, a resident of Glendale, CA. In 1958 Hunter/Montalba recorded Pipe Organ Favorites & Fantasy in Pipe Organ and Percussion at  Lorin Whitney Studios.  He later went on to work with George Burns and Carol Channing on Broadway, in addition to working with Leopold Stokowski, Shirley Temple, Eleanor Roosevelt, Nelson Eddy, Judy Garland, Two Popes,  and John & Jacquelyn Kennedy to name a few! His career spanned 60 years! He was a Christian, too, by the way! Even though Hit Thing records has re-issued Montalba's album complete with liner notes and an explanation of the LaVey/Montalba hoax, the CoS (at this writing) is still apparently promoting the lie LaVey was Montalba (along with many other lies)!   [SOURCES: Hit Thing Records, Diane LaVey, Zeena LaVey,]

Myth 18.  ASL was the official city organist for San Francisco until 1966, playing for gala events such as government banquets and political meetings.  The fact is San Francisco has never had an "official city organist"! According to ASL's first wife Carole, his only income of $29.91/week was generated by his regular engagement at the "Lost Weekend" nightclub, where he was the house Wurlitzer organist. [SOURCE: Julie Burford, Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, California (Wright, "SD", page 68). Carole LaVey's divorce proceeding records (Wright, "SD", page 68).]

Myth 19.  On the night of April 30, 1966 (the German Satanic festival of Walpurgisnacht), ASL in a "blinding flash" declared himself the High Priest of Satan, proclaimed that the Age of Satan had begun, and founded the Church of Satan as a religious institution. The fact is In 1966 ASL supplemented his income by presenting weekend lectures on exotic and occult topics, and by conducting "Witches' Workshops". He charged $2 a head, filling his living room with the curious and establishing a local reputation as an eccentric. Professional publicist Edward Webber suggested to ASL that he "would never make any money by lecturing on Friday nights for donations ... it would be better to form some sort of church and get a charter from the State of California ... I told Anton at the time that the press was going to flip out over all this and that we would get a lot of notoriety". In the summer of 1966, long after the fictional founding-date invented later, a newspaper article about ASL's lectures offhandedly referred to him as "priest of the Devil's church". This mixture of Webber's idea and the newspaper's characterization resulted in the creation of the Church of Satan as a business and publicity vehicle. Jack Webb, a San Francisco Police investigator who knew ASL from the "Lost Weekend" nightclub, also suggested that he should form a church of some kind to exploit his "recondite knowledge". [SOURCES: Edward Webber (interview by Aquino 6/2/91), Jack Webb, Diane LaVey.]

Myth 20.  ASL's trademark shaved head was the result of a ceremonial head-shaving on April 30, 1966, to formalize his role as High Priest of Satan. This ritual was performed in the tradition of the Yezidi devil-worshipping tribes of Iraq, who had a similar ceremony. LaVey shaved his head in the summer of 1966 due to a light-hearted dare from his wife. The "LaVey look" had nothing to do with the Church of Satan founding nor any mystical meaning attached to it later. Nor do Yezidi "qawwals" (religious teachers) shave their heads. [SOURCES: Diane LaVey; Ethel S. Drower, Peacock Angel, 1941; C.J. Edmonds, A Pilgrimage to Lalish, Royal Asiatic Society, 1967.]

Myth 21  In 1966 ASL personally designed the Baphomet emblem of the Church of Satan. He owns the right to this design, claiming it cannot be reproduced without obtaining licensing rights from the Church of Satan. The Baphomet emblem used by the Church of Satan was neither original to it nor created by ASL, hence cannot be trademarked. The original Baphomet dates at least as far back as the medieval Knights Templar. The artwork for the current emblem's goat/pentagram first appears in a 1931 book by Oswald Wirth. The complete emblem with the added circles and "LVYThN" Hebrew letters appears on the cover of a book by Maurice Bessy two years before the creation of the Church of Satan. Early photos of Church activities often show ASL or his disciples using the Bessy book as a photo-prop because of its prominent cover with Baphomet, and he included that book in his Compleat Witch bibliography. The Baphomet, including this rendition of it, is clearly in the public domain. [SOURCES: Oswald Wirth, La fran-maconnerie rendue intelligible a ces adeptes - II, "Le compagnon", Paris: Derry-Livres, 1931, page #60; Maurice Bessy, A Pictorial History of Magic and the Supernatural, London: Spring Books, 1964 [the original edition of this work - Histoire en 1000 images de la magie - was published in 1961 by Editions du Pont Royal]; Thomas H. Hilton, Sex and the Occult, Vol. I, Los Angeles: Centurion Press, 1974;Church of Satan members, The Black Flame (a 1980s Church of Satan magazine).]

Myth 22  LaVey served as technical advisor for the 1968 Roman Polanski film Rosemary's Baby, and also played the curiously un-credited part of the Devil in that film. LaVey actually had no involvement with Rosemary's Baby! Polanski's close friend Gene Gutowski (original producer of the film) stated that there was no technical advisor, nor did ASL ever even meet Polanski. Producer William Castle, who details all aspects of the film's production in his autobiography, never mentions ASL. He does describe Polanski's diligence in basing the film exactly on the Ira Levin novel from which it was adapted, eliminating any need for technical advice. The father of the actress who played Mia Farrow's body-double in the Devil scene recalled that a young, very slender professional dancer played the part, dressed in a small rubber suit.

 In 1971 this suit was acquired by Studio One Productions in Louisville, Kentucky, for use in a low-budget horror film Asylum of Satan. Michael Aquino, technical advisor for that film, examined the suit and concluded that the 200-pound, 6-foot ASL could not possibly have worn it. [The suit was worn by a girl in the Asylum film.] Not a single member of the cast or crew of Rosemary's Baby has ever mentioned ASL's involvement. In 1968 a San Francisco Theater did ask ASL to make an appearance at the film's local opening as a promotional event. This appears to have been ASL's only connection with the film that engendered the 1960s' popular interest in Satanism.

   Aside from a couple of documentaries (Witchcraft '70 and Satanis) the only horror movies LaVey seems to have actually had a hand in was a 1990's snuff film called Death Scenes, and The Devil's Rain (1975), which was a movie LaVey never seemed to mention or recommend in his writings. The film was a box office flop, and the distributor actually went bankrupt because of it! Prior to that, they had big success with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Deep Throat. Anton and Diane LaVey both had bit parts in the film. The Devil's Rain had rituals taken word for word out of The Satanic Bible and The Satanic Rituals and no doubt further convinced some Church of Satan members LaVey had indeed "sold out". The Church of Satan broke up the same year as the movie's release. The plot was about a 300 year old Satanic cult leader (played by Ernest Borgnine) that turned his followers into soulless zombies, who followed him blindly. The zombie followers got destroyed in the end, while he escaped unharmed, laughing. Perhaps the reason LaVey wanted to forget the film was it showed how he really thought of people who followed him!

[SOURCES: Gene Gutowski; William Castle, Step Right Up! I'm Gonna Scare the Pants off America, New York: Pharos Books, 1992; Diane LaVey, Michael A. Aquino (COS, page #17, TNT Monstervision episode # 76 featuring The Devil's Rain aired 9/11/1999 with Joe Bob Briggs).]

Myth 23.  Jayne Mansfield, Hollywood sex symbol and actress, was a card-carrying Satanist and had an affair with ASL. Publicity agent Tony Kent, an associate of Ed Webber, arranged the meeting between Mansfield and ASL as a publicity stunt.  She was never serious about Satanism. ASL was smitten with the actress. Mansfield, who made no secret of her many affairs, denied knowing ASL intimately, and no associate of hers has ever confirmed any supposed romance with ASL. In a 1967 interview she said, "He had fallen in love with me and wanted to join my life with his. It was a laugh." According to ASL's publicist Edward Webber, Mansfield would ridicule her Satanic suitor by calling from her Los Angeles home and seductively teasing him while her friends listened in on the conversation. ASL's public claims that he had an affair with Mansfield began only after Mansfield's death in an automobile accident, which he also claimed was the result of a curse he had placed on her lover Sam Brody. A common trick used by sorcerers is to later claim some misfortune that befell an enemy was a result of a curse, even though no curse was thrown. [SOURCES: Edward Webber (interview by Aquino 6/2/91); interview with Mansfield quoted in Jayne Mansfield by May Mann, Pocket Books, 1974.]

Myth 24. ASL wrote the Satanic Bible, his principal work, to fulfill his congregation's need for a scriptural guide. The Satanic Bible was actually conceived as a commercial vehicle by paperback publisher Avon Books. Avon approached ASL for some kind of Satanic work to cash in on the Satanism & witchcraft fad of the late 1960s. Pressed for material to meet Avon's deadline, ASL resorted to plagiarism, assembling extracts from an obscure 1896 tract - Might is Right by Ragnar Redbeard into a "Book of Satan" for the SB, and claiming its authorship by himself. [Ironically these MiR passages are the ones most frequently quoted by ASL disciples.] Another third of the SB consists of John Dee's "Enochian Keys", taken directly but again without attribution from Aleister Crowley's Equinox. The SB's "Nine Satanic Statements", one of the Church of Satan's central doctrines, is a paraphrase, again unacknowledged, of passages from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. The last words in the SB - "Yankee Rose" - have been puzzled over for years by readers. "YR" is actually the name of an old popular tune in ASL's nightclub repertoire. SOURCES: ASL, The Satanic Bible; Ragnar Redbeard, Might is Right, Port Townsend: Loompanics (reprint), 1896; Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (Galt's speech, ca. pages #936-993); "Yankee Rose" by Sidney Holden & Abe Frankl (Irving Berlin Music, 1926).

Myth 25. ASL claimed that at the height of the Church of Satan's popularity there were hundreds of thousands of formal members. But Diane LaVey (who administered the Church as High Priestess 1966-1984), Michael A. Aquino (senior Magister of the Church and Editor of its Cloven Hoof newsletter 1971-1975), and Zeena LaVey (High Priestess of the Church 1985-1990) have all affirmed that the figures claimed by ASL were grossly exaggerated. The membership of the Church of Satan never exceeded 300 individuals, several of whom were nonmember subscribers to the newsletter or ASL friends receiving complimentary mailings. LaVey would make reporters wanting to write stories about the Church of Satan join and pay the $20 membership fee, furthering the membership numbers. [SOURCES: Diane LaVey, Michael A. Aquino, Zeena LaVey. Satan Wants You, Arthur Lyons]

Myth 26.  ASL claimed to be a multimillionaire, owning three homes in northern California, a convent in Italy, a chateau in France, a fleet of luxury automobiles, a 185-foot yacht, three salvage ships, and other property. LaVey initially claimed he made $50,000 a year during the Church of Satan's heyday, and even that figure is probably exaggerated. During Diane [LaVey] Hegarty's 1988-91 lawsuit against ASL, and ASL's subsequent 1991 filing for bankruptcy, ASL stipulated under oath that he owned nothing more than 50% of the house his parents had given jointly to him and Diane, along with the personal items he kept therein.

Even though apologists claim LaVey lived "comfortably" in his final years, the facts speak otherwise! The CoS website claims (at this writing) LaVey made in the "high five figures" the last year of his life, but doesn't offer real proof, such as a copy of a tax return. Considering he filed for bankruptcy a few years prior, it sounds doubtful considering their track record of telling the truth.

Family and friends say ASL's final years were subsidized by California state aid (next time you see someone pay at the grocery store with WIC or food stamps, think of Anton LaVey). Assessors declared the house to be in such poor repair as to be nearly worthless on the real estate market. Family members have attested to the fact that by the mid-1970s the LaVeys lived in near-poverty, frequently having to rely upon ASL's father's generosity. According to other LaVey relatives, ASL continued to rely on handouts from friends and relatives until the end of his life. In the 1990's, it was revealed LaVey's teeth had rotted out, a common aliment of people who live in poverty.  [SOURCES: Hegarty v. LaVey (San Francisco Superior Court Case #891863), Anton LaVey Bankruptcy, Chapter 7 (U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern California, Case #91-34251), Zeena LaVey, other relatives. See The Fates of Famous Occultists to see dying in poverty is a common trait of occultists!

Myth 27  ASL was a close friend of Sammy Davis, Jr. and inducted him into the Church of Satan. Sammy Davis, Jr. was invited to accept an honorary membership in the Church of Satan by Michael Aquino. After Davis sent Aquino his acceptance on March 17, 1973, he was presented with the honorary membership on April 13, 1973 by Aquino and Karla LaVey alone. ASL did not meet Davis until August 1973. Davis would later renounce Satanism, claiming later he was "only into it for the chicks" and re-embraced Judaism. At a nationally televised event honoring him a few weeks before he died, Davis said "First of all, I want to thank Jesus for letting me be here tonight.", completely shattering any doubt he had any lingering affinity to Satanism, and making some think Davis had gone full circle back to Christianity. Davis had been an activist for civil rights, and battled racism, in contrast to the racists and Neo-nazis that often embrace Satanism. His brief experience with Satanism might best be described as a curiosity seeker. [SOURCES: Davis letter to Aquino 3/17/73; Church of Satan Priesthood Bulletin 4/30/73; Aquino, COS, Chapter 23; Sammy Davis, Hollywood in a Suitcase (pre-publication text, printed in Daily News, New York, 9/11/80), Karla LaVey.]

Myth 28 Anton Szandor Lavey presented himself as a loving family man. Reality was quite different. ASL violently beat his wife Diane throughout their marriage. In 1984 a police report was made describing Diane being strangled into unconsciousness by ASL, who was in such a murderous rage that his daughter Karla had to pull him off Diane and drag her outside the house to save her life. ASL routinely physically beat and abused those of his female disciples with whom he had sex, forcing them into prostitution as part of his "Satanic counseling" and collecting their earnings. In 1986 ASL was a passive witness to the sexual molestation of his own grandson by a longtime friend who was later convicted of sex crimes with minors. In 1990 ASL informed a mentally-ill stalker of his daughter Zeena of her whereabouts and the time & location of a public appearance she was scheduled to make, deliberately endangering her life. [ SOURCES: San Francisco Police records of ASL attack on Diane LaVey, Zeena LaVey, Diane LaVey, Stanton LaVey.]

Myth 29. ASL had a deeply affectionate relationship with Togare, his pet lion.While ASL was always careful to portray himself to the public as an animal lover, in private he was cruel to and neglectful of his pets. When he was given Togare as a cub in 1964, he was ill-equipped to deal with such an exotic, wild animal despite his pretensions as a circus lion-tamer. As Togare became larger and more unruly, ASL frequently used an electric cattle prod to hurt and frighten him into submission. Many animal-rights proponents, including Togare's final owner Tippi Hedren, agree that it is detrimental to a wild animal's development to be raised in a domestic environment. ASL was arrested due to Togare's unruly behavior, and ASL was ordered to donate him to the San Francisco Zoo. After complying, ASL made only two visits to Togare. Due to the trauma of his early life, Togare needed special care at the Zoo and at every animal-care facility in which he subsequently lived. [SOURCES: Jack Castor (Lion Keeper, San Francisco Zoo), Diane LaVey, Zeena LaVey, Tippi Hedren (The Cats of Shamballa, McGraw-Hill, 1985).]

Myth 30. ASL had a deeply affectionate relationship with his other pets. In the late 1960s ASL acquired a Doberman Pinscher (Loki) as an accent to his "sinister" image. ASL never took the time to housebreak or train Loki, and relegated him to the overgrown and unkempt backyard of the house, regardless of weather. If Loki ever tried to slip into the house for shelter, ASL routinely used Togare's cattle-prod on him to terrify him back outside. In his old age Loki developed such severe arthritis that he could not climb the stairs to the back door to eat, and began wasting away from malnutrition. ASL then gave him to one of his prostitute "students", who at least saw that Loki had a warm, inside home until he died a few months later.

During her young childhood ASL's daughter Zeena once awoke late at night to hear slamming sounds and the shrieking of her German Shepherd puppy. Running downstairs, she saw ASL savagely beating the cowering, cornered dog with a wooden plank. When Zeena begged ASL to stop and asked him what the dog had done to deserve such treatment, ASL screamed, "She won't listen to me! I'm going to force her to obey me!" ASL continued beating the dog until her face was covered with her blood, then dropped the plank and left the dog quivering in the hallway, so injured and frightened that she wouldn't let even Zeena come near her. This incident left the dog traumatized for a long time afterwards.[SOURCES: Diane LaVey, Zeena LaVey.]

Myth 31. Anton LaVey was a bastion against religious hypocrisy. While LaVey's rants about Christian hypocrites throughout his books, he fails to realize that there are more than just hypocrites - - people who fail to practice what they preach - - that make up Christianity! Just because there are hypocrites doesn't mean there are no real Christians who try to live their lives as their supposed to. You can find examples of hypocrites in just about anything, not only Christianity. For instance, everyone knows obesity and smoking are bad, but how many times have you seen an RN or MD that's overweight or a smoker, or both? Does that mean you should ditch medical treatment forever more because some hypocrites exist in it? LaVey simply created a straw man of a Christianity no one would like, created from his own one dimensional view of it, in which every Christian was a hypocrite.  LaVey made it appear to non-critical readers that Satanism was an alternative to perceived hypocrisy of other religions, even though LaVey himself was an enormous hypocrite, exacerbated by the fact that he claimed to hate hypocrisy! A look at the myths already presented here show that he was indeed a hypocrite. Perhaps the biggest hypocrisy was his disdain for asceticism in The Satanic Bible, but when he had to live in poverty, tried to conceal the fact by saying he was eschewing commercial materialism for asceticism (hipocrisy on top of a lie)! He was also a hypocrite for claiming to abhor charity, but lived on state assiatance and handouts from friends and family members (i.e., charity!). LaVey was too proud and and to lazy to get a regular job (i.e., he thought he was better than you). Even LaVey couldn't live his own Satanic philosophy.

Myth 32 On ASL's original death certificate the date of his demise was recorded as October 31, 1997 (Halloween). An official investigation by the City of San Francisco determined that ASL's actual date of death was October 29, 1997 and that the "Halloween" date had been illegally written on the document, apparently in a last pathetic attempt to make him look sinister. It's been alleged daughter Karla was the culprit. [SOURCES: Death Certificate #380278667, San Francisco Department of Public Health; Dr. Giles Miller (attending physician at ASL's death), Physician's Amendment to Death Certificate, 11/26/97.]

Myth 33. Satanism is really just "atheism" or "humanism", because it's the worship of the self; it's for people who can stand on their own two feet!  Satanism isn't "humanism" or "atheism", it's just a juvenile way to shock and alienate people, nothing else. That's why this or that rock star claims to be a Satanist when they're really not...just to shock people and make their CD's the forbidden fruit that a rebellious pubescent wants. Think about it, how many millionaire rock stars gave money to save the LaVey house when it was slated for demolition? None. That's because they don't really care about Satanism. A self proclaimed 20 y.o. Satanist in Queens, NY was beat up by some neighborhood teens in 2005. The Satanist in question dressed like it was Hallowe'en every day, had blue dyed hair, black painted fingernails and wore make up (plus he made sure everyone knew he was a Satanist).  Now Satanists want the altercation he got into labeled a "hate crime". Satanists supposedly deal in brutal reality and cold logic. Wouldn't the cold hard truth be this kid wanted to shock people, wanted people to hate him, and has himself at least to partly blame for what he got?  Wouldn't have been logical for this kid, seeing how he had run ins with the same teens before, to have toned down his image? Satanism is embraced by people like that angry kid that hated everybody and sat alone in the lunch room that no one talked to. It's embraced by the racist stoner that's in and out of jail. It's embraced by the psychotic off his medication who listens to the voices in head. It's not for the successful self made man who "stands on their own two feet".

LaVey never wanted people who could "stand on their own two feet", as he claimed, nor could he get any. Talk about unnamed Senators or Congressmen or heads of corporations offered as "proof" Satanism attracts successful people is just that...talk. If they could name names, they would. LaVey lied about his achievements, making himself sound like Indiana Jones; a lion tamer, a criminologist, a world traveler, a college graduate, a lover of two movie stars, and a millionaire. Satanists who feel inadequate in their one lives make up for it by living through LaVey vicariously, rather than trying to improve themselves. Satanism is in fact a personality cult centered around Anton LaVey.

A look at the documentary Satanis The Devil's Mass shows LaVey assembled a collection of misantrhopes, perverts, and lonely middle aged losers going through mid-life crisis who needed someone to follow. In the movie, daughter Karla says her father told her on numerous occasions not to go downstairs to the meetings because the Satanists were "crazy". Even LaVey thought Satanists were weird! The only people who follow him are angry at the world, and at Christians in particular. If they could stand on their own two feet, they wouldn't need Satanism. 

 RESEARCH REFERENCES: Wright, Lawrence, "Sympathy for the Devil", Rolling Stone #612, September 5, 1991, Saints and Sinners. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993. Aquino, Michael A., The Church of Satan. San Francisco: Temple of Set, 1983. Thanks to ASL's relatives and associates who contributed their memories.

SO BECOME A SATANIST, AND MAYBE YOU TOO CAN BE A WIFE BEATING PIMP WHO LIVES ON WELFARE IN A BROKEN DOWN HOUSE YOU DON'T OWN!

 "WAIT A MINUTE! ZEENA AND DIANE LIED ABOUT LAVEY! IT'S ALL LIES"

Really? You mean you knew LaVey better than his own family (even though you never actually met him)? Did Zeena, Diane, et al, make Lavey's Criminology degree disappear? Did they make the San Fransico Ballet Orchestra disappear? Did they make all the records from the Clyde Beatty Circus that said LaVey was a lion tamer disappear too? It seems to me LaVey was the was the one doing the lying.

"OKAY, SO HE LIED ABOUT HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS! BUT HE WAS STILL A GENIUS!... AND THAT MAKES UP FOR IT!"

This is the kind of thing Scientologists have said about L. Ron Hubbard, and Moonies about Rev. Moon.  'It didn't matter if [insert cult leader's name here] lied and mistreated people -- even his own family and followers- - his 'religious philosophy' is what really mattered." This isn't the talk of elitists or self made men, but of sycophants. Brainwashed people say these kinds of things! LaVey was certainly no one to admire. He was an opportunist who used people, and blackmailed CoS members. He lied about his achievements, and people that look to him as a role model of success are decieved. He even physically abused his wife and female followers (and face it, he more than likely abused his kids). Satanism makes people who feel alienated and anti-social to become even more so,and makes them take on the label of something people instictively dislike. LaVey didn't create something that helps people.

When you subtract the lies from LaVey, you really don't have anything left but a fraud.If you want to really "stand on your own two feet", ditch Satanism.

The devil used LaVey for his own end, and then discarded him when he was done. If you've read the "fates of famous occultists" section, you can see this is a pattern.