THE HARD TRUTH ABOUT SATANISM

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PART I: TWELEVE MYTHS OF SATANISM

PART II: 33 MYTHS ABOUT ANTON LAVEY

PART III: THE "ALIEN ELITE" ?

PART IV: SOME FAMOUS SATANISTS AND OCCULTISTS 

PART VI: IS THERE REALLY A DEVIL?

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 .

POSSESSED: The True Story of An Exorcism by Thomas B. Allen

The Satanic Bible, The Satanic Rituals, The Satanic Witch, The Devil's Notebook, all by Anton LaVey

The Church of Satan, The Secret Life of a Satanist both by Blanche Barton (supposedly ghost written by LaVey also)

The Nature of Human Aggression. Oxford: Oxford University Press. by Montagu, Ashley. 1976.

Aggression: A Social Learning Analysis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice–Hall. by Bandura, Albert. 1973.

Human Aggression. 2nd edition. New York: Plenum. by Baron, Robert A. and Deborah R. Richardson. 1994.

The Holy Bible

History of the World's Religions (12th Edition) (Hardcover) by David S. Noss (Author), Blake R. Grangaard (Author)

Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions by James Randi

Life After Life: The Investigation of a Phenomenon--Survival of Bodily Death by Raymond Moody and Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

 

 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.

ARE SATANISTS REALLY THE "ALIEN ELITE"?

FAMOUS SATANISTS???

Were people like Rasputin, Keenan Wymn, Gene Simmons, Ozzy Osbourne, Ayn Rand, Grouch Marx,  Tina Louise, Sam Kinnison, Tiny Tim, and Mia Farrow Satanists as LaVey and others have claimed? Nope!

 

 

KEENAN WYYN He was the son of legendary Vaudevillian Ed Wynn, and starred in many Canadian Mounted pictures (the cartoon character Dudley Dooright is inspired by his movies). He appeared in the box office bomb and LaVey Church of Satan infomercial The Devil's   Rain (yes, a box office bomb!)and an episode of MacMillian and Wife with a Satanist story line, and may have met LaVey. But whatever interest he might have had in Satanism was short lived. He participated  in charitable work (a Satanic no-no), particularly with the Sertoma Club. 

TINA LOUISE Star of God's Little Acre. Most famous for her role as  Ginger on Gilligan's Island. Rumors spread over the 'Net that Tina was a Church of Satan member and had appeared in a girlie  magazine in the 1950's dressed in a devil suit. Truth is, Louise was not the model in said girlie magazine, nor ever a CoS member. She is in fact a Jewish and currently does charitable work for Learning Leaders, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing tutoring to New York City school children (charity is a Satanic no-no) with a children's literacy group.

TINY TIM As noted already, the last of the Vaudevillians. He made a big splash in the 1960's with his mondo eukalele act. His marriage to Miss Vicky on The Tonight Show was the highest rated show in history for decades. Even though Anton LaVey thought his style of music was "Satanic", in reality Tiny Tim was a Christian who read his Bible everyday, and was actually quite conservative in many ways! He was never a Satanist and would have been repulsed by the idea.

MIA FARROW Star of several films, including Rosemary's Baby. She was never a CO$ member, and never even met LaVey (becuase he didn't appear as the Devil in said movie as he claimed). She identifies herself as a  Roman Catholic.

SAM KINISON There were rumors that he led a group of Satanist comedians, performing rituals atop a swanky hotel rooftop. Even though Kinison fell from grace, he was never a Satanist according to survivng friends and family members, who deny the rumor. His brother Bill Kinison who often toured with Sam says "Sam was as far from a Satanist as you could get."[email from Bill Kinison to me dated 5-29-08]

OZZY OSBOURNE Liked to sport a Satanic image to sell records, as did many rock singers in the 70's and 80's, but always denied being a Satanist. ``All I really do is have Halloween every night I'm on stage,'' he once said in an interview. Although not particularly religious, in a TV interview, he admitted while in New York he prayed in a Christian church on 9-11-01.The rock star also said he condemns drug use.  ``It's bad because you're living in a total fantasy world,'' he said. ``When you think you're right, you're wrong and when you think you're wrong, you can't make the right decision. I'm under psychiatric help for what drugs have done to me and it's a sad existence.'' 

GENE SIMMONS the Bassist for KISS denies being a Satanist, and like Osbourne KISS used the image to sell records. Simmons is actually Jewish and very pro-Israel.

GROUCHO MARX  Was rumored to have been a member of the Church of Satan. Although he lived to see the occult craze of the 60's and 70's, he did not participate. He was in fact Jewish, as were his brothers, and never met LaVey, nor was he a Satanist.

W.C. FIELDS A vaudeville comedian who had a successful career in the movies. Feilds was a life long atheist who made a death bed coversion to Christianity. He was never a Satanist and died some 20 years before CoS's founding.

AYN RAND Was an athiest and didn't believe in anything mystical. She never knew LaVey and never had correspondence with him as he and many CO$ members claimed. Her book Atlas Shrugged was plagarized by LaVey as part of the Nine Satanic Staements in the Satanic Bible.

SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE ARE NOT SATANISTS...THEY DON'T NEED IT !

The So Called "Philosophy" of LaVeyian Satanism

The Satanic Bible's "philosphy" could basically be summed up as selfishness and hedonism...hardly earth shakingly original for the 1960's when it was publisehd! His magic doesn't work, period, and people who rely on magic to help them are deluding themselves. People were being selfish hedonists all over the place. In fact, it could be said Hugh Hefner (an atheist) created this much of Satanic "philosphy" a decade before LaVey.  But how many Satanists are fun loving swingers? Not very many. Here's a good example:

"I've been forced to give up coffee - the acid was responsible for a minor ulcer and I can no longer take any chances with my health. This was my solitary vice - now it is gone. I do not drink, do not smoke, do not use recreational drugs and have nothing remotely resembling a sex life!"  --LORD EGAN of The First Church of Satan

Honestly, what would someone like that lose by giving up Satanism? Well, for one thing, they might get rid of a lot of anger and rage. By and large, Satanists are misanthropic and anti social. Psychologist Anthony Moriarty has discovered young Satanists (and presumably older ones, what few there are) fall into four catagories:

1. The Psychopath These are the Richard Ramierez and Richard Kasso types. They are cruel, demeaning, and violent, and suffer from Sadistic Personality Disorder. They were usually abused as children and feel close to no one. They enter into Satanism already as mentally unstable people and instead of getting better use Satanism to justify their criminal behavior and sadistic impulses.

2. The Angry Misfit They are sulky, critical of others, irratble and argumentative. They sometimes suffer from oppositinal defiance disorder. They have a hard time making friends and lasting relationships, so for them Satanism is a way to feel like they have a place to belong.

3. The Psudeo Intellectual This type has a grandiose feeling of superiority and a need for power. The may suffer from Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Perhaps the most harmless of this bunch, because they aren't as violent or agressive. They feel a need to flaunt their superiror knowledge of the occult and Satanism (even though they can't make it work eithr!). They usually spend time arguing online in BBs and NGs about the occult. Satanism gives them a sense of intellectual superiority, when they actually don't have one. In fact, Dr. Moriarty says this type will usually be weak in the area of reasoning skills.

4. The Suicidal Impulsive Satanist This type of person seeks attention by doing crazier and crazier things until they reach the limit and kill themselves, having no other way to get attention. For them Satanism gives them a rationalization for their thinking. This type of person feels a lack of control in their environment, and so compensate by toying with control of their very lives.  

Uncommon sense (formerly known as "common sense") will tell you that sometimes, things are EXACTLY as they seem. Witchcraft, black magic, the devil and demons are considered evil by the world's population, and they are right. LaVey made a little money the first few years of the Church of Satan, but the money quickly dried up. Once in a blue moon, a rock star might drop by for some publicity, as Jane Mansfield had done many years before. LaVey's followers were loners, misfits, sociopaths, and the occasional serial killer. None would be considered "elite". They were merely delusional, believing they were great and powerful people. But reality proves otherwise.

SO NO SATANIST IS AN EXAMPLE OF THE "ALIEN ELITE" !

Think about it: Anton LaVey could not make Satanism work for himself. What chance would you have?

PART IV FAMOUS SATANISTS AND OCCULTISTS

(From the Famous Occultists Page)

JACQUES DEMOLAY (1244-1314) The last leader of an order of fighting monks known as the Knights Templar. There has been a mountain of myth that has grown up about the Templars by both admirers and detractors alike. The Templars were an order of monks that defended Jerusalem before being driven out by Saladin. The Templars seemed to have escaped practically unharmed, suggesting they had cut a deal with Saladin. Legends have grown over the years about the Templars, including  finding a treasure buried under the Temple in Jerusalem, finding the Ark of the Covenant only to bury it under a Church in Scotland for some reason, discovering some deep dark secret (such as Christ being married), and blackmailing the Roman Catholic Church with it are just a few of the myths. Supposedly the Freemasons have retained the mysterious secrets of the Templars, but more than likely this is just unfounded legends and fake rituals written over the centuries to inject some mystery into boring lives. 


    What we do know about the Templars, is that they did have some wealth, but not the vast amounts writers today attribute to them.   The idea that the Templars were the equivalent to billionaires is ludicrous! The Templars became skillful and shrewd traders with their Arab neighbors, which is how they made their wealth. There’s really no mystery to it. 


   After the fall of Jerusalem, Jacques DeMolay and the Templars returned to France in disgrace. During this time the Roman Catholic Church had moved it’s headquarters to France, under a Pope who is known in history as the “Anti-Pope”.  Since Jerusalem had fallen into Muslim hands, and would remain so until the British Empire acquired it briefly after WWI, there was no real reason for the Templar Order to continue. King Philip wanted to merge the Templars with the Hospitalers, which would have put them under his control. Demolay, not wanting to cede his authority, balked at this idea and refused to do so. There were many rumors circulating around France the Templars had become heretics, and the charges may not have been completely unfounded.    Among the charges leveled against the Templars was that they engaged in homosexual acts. Historians have concluded that this charge was probably true, considering it sometimes happens when members of the same sex must live together for very extended periods of time ( cite ref, from R.H. Robbins). DeMolay confessed to engaging in homosexuality as well, but it is most unlikely that it was done as part of a “sex magic” ritual as modern day occult groups would have us believe.


    Before DeMolay was arrested on charges of heresy, his spies tipped him off, and he then immediately burned a large pile of documents. If this account is true, it shows he must have had something to hide...but one will ever know what exactly that might have been. Under torture, DeMolay confessed to heresy, and later publically admitted it. Later DeMolay  recanted his confession however, angering the King. Since people have been known to confess to anything under torture, it’s impossible to know which version of Demolay’s confession to believe. At any rate, it can be certain they weren't Devil worshipers of any sort!


    Among the things the Templars confessed to was worshiping something called “Baphomet”. But what Baphomet was is a mystery. Some said it was a black cat, others said it was a human skull with the number 314 painted on it.   Freemasons have a secret initiation (and blasphemous) ritual that takes place upon entrance into the 33rd degree in Scottish Rite, and the 10th degree of York Rite in which wine is drunk from a human skull,   and apparently this is inspired by the Templar legend of skull worship. What we know for certain is that Baphomet was not the goat head inside the pentagram with Hebrew letters on each point spelling out “Leviathan”. This was an invention of occult writers of the 19th century. You may also see a “crusaders cross” called Baphomet, but this too is wishful thinking.


    Scholars have discovered Baphomet is actually a linguistic corruption of “Mohammed”, and believe the  Templars had become clandestine Muslims. This theory would certainly explain a lot, including why the Templars escaped Saladin unscathed. Bedouin Muslims seem to have  tolerance for homosexual sex (although lesbians are killed on the spot), which possibly could be a  reason the Templars would want to have become Muslims, if accounts of their homosexuality are true.  Many of the Templars fled to Muslim controlled Spanish Cordova, which would suggest they were indeed Muslims, and perhaps that is the solution to the enigma. The great and mysterious secret of the Templars may have been that they shared the same religion as the 9-11 hijackers! It’s also possible they escaped to Cordova thinking that could blend in with the Muslims, having knowledge of their language and customs.   At any rate, DeMolay was not the possessor of some mysterious occult secret, and people belonging to modern day “Templar” orders (such as the O.T.O) have no direct connection to the original order at all.

JOHN DEE (1527-1608) John Dee  invented Enochian "Magick" and tried unsuccessfully to get the spirits to bring him money. Enochian magic would be picked up by later occultists, such as the Golden Dawn bunch, Aleister Crowley, Israel Regardie, and even Satanist Anton LaVey dabbled in it. Dee told Princess Elizabeth she would someday become the Queen, which was a prediction that was certainly possible, considering she was royalty, even though she was an unwilling guest of the Tower of London at the time. It’s unknown how many other nobles he might have also told a similar prediction about gaining the throne, figuring one of them would pay off. After Elizabeth gained the throne, he became the Queen’s advisor, even though Elizabeth is said not to have approved of his occultic methods.

    Dee made claims he made contact with “angels” that taught him the language spoken by Enoch to God, which he called “Enochian”. But the language Dee “discovered” is simply a corrupted form of Hebrew. The Enochian script is derived from Roman characters, oddly enough. It would have been easy enough for Dee to have simply invented such a language, and this is more plausible than thinking angels revealed  it to him. Since Dee was employed as a spy for England at one point, it may even be the so-called “magical” language is really just a spy’s cipher that Dee later tried to pass off as an “angelic language”.

   Even though followers of Enochian magic claim it is to be used for the highest of spiritual purposes, Dee himself was said to use it mostly to try to find buried treasure.  People who got involved in the occult often did it to find buried treasure as I’ve noted, and Dee was certainly no different.  One favorite spirit of Dee’s supposedly called itself “Amy”, and was said to resemble a child carrying a lantern. Dee hoped that this spirit would locate buried treasure for him, or obtain money for him somehow.  It didn’t work, of course.

    One day the spirit informed Dee and Kelly that the Enochian spirits that, rather than wanting to bring mankind enlightenment, they wanted to bring about the destruction of mankind!  Yet Dee still wanted Kelly to keep invoking the spirits. To this day, people who practice Enochian magick believe that someday, someone will come up with the right combination and unleash the Enochian demons that will bring about the apocalypse. Common sense would derive from this that the Enochian angels are actually demons who seek to harm mankind!

   Dee’s fortune did not last. He spent the final years of his life stripped of his honors and income and was forced to live incommunicado. He died in extreme poverty at the age of 81.   If the inventor of Enochian magic couldn't make it work for him, what chance does anyone else have?

EDWARD KELLEY (1555-1597) a.k.a Edward Talbot  He was an assistant to Dee during his Enochian experiments, which later occultists became so enamored over. Aleister Crowley even claimed he was the reincarnation of Kelley. Kelley had a shady past long before he met Dee. He had both is ears cut off as punishment for counterfeiting, which is why he always wore a hat to conceal the fact.   He conned several people into thinking he could change lead into gold...a common scam for alchemists of the time. He became Dee’s assistant and seemed to have played a con on Dee at least part of the time they were together. Kelley tricked Dee into wife swapping, claiming the spirits had insisted upon it.   Kelley got the better end of the swap, as Dee’s wife was 20 years younger than Kelley’s...so it’s not hard to see the real motive behind that  “Angelic revelation”. 

    Kelley warned Dee the “angels” they were talking to were really demons, and that angles had told him their goal was to destroy humanity!   Some of the things Kelly and Dee claimed the angels revealed to them seemed to echo Gnostic heresy of earlier times, so assuming Kelly’s alarm was for real, it was justified. For example, according to Kelly the “angels” told them Jesus wasn’t God and no prayers should be made to him, and there was no Holy Ghost.  The “angels”  told them the story of Adam and Eve was nonsense, and that there had always been the same number of human beings throughout time, neither more nor less, which is a scientific impossibility!

    Kelley eventually abandoned Dee's magical practices, in 1589 because he found a new pigeon, Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II, who employed him to make gold through alchemy. Eventually, when the Emperor realized Kelly was conning him, Kelly fled. Kelley/Talbot died at the age of 47 from an injury sustained while trying to escape from prison after being incarcerated for his old hobby of counterfeiting. Kelley tried to lower himself out of a third story window with a makeshift rope, but the rope wasn’t long enough. He tried to drop the rest of the way down to the ground, and only succeeded in breaking his leg. The wound led to his death several days later, which must have been excruciating. 

   If even Kelly thought the Enochian magic was Demonic and would destroy humanity, why is anyone stupid enough to try it??? Are you?   Kelley didn’t wind up rich or powerful, didn’t have magic powers, nor does anyone else who practices Enochian “magic”.

CATHERINE DESHAYES a.k.a Madame LaViosin (1640?-1680)A Satanist who headed a cult of Devil worshipers that celebrated the Black Mass. LaViosin’s use of a nude girl as an altar was practiced by later Satanists groups, including Anton LaVey’s original Church of Satan. The chicken or egg question is, was LaViosin the first to celebrate actual Black Masses inspired by earlier but untrue legends, or did some sort of abominations actually take place in the centuries prior to her cult, providing an actual basis for the stories? At any rate, LaViosin’s case is well documented...perhaps the best documented witch trial ever...and such rituals did take place, and the parties involved were not innocent of their crimes.

    LaViosin was a witch and fortune teller who also ran an “abortion clinic” of sorts and sold poisons. She would take the fetuses of unborn babies and unwanted infants and slit their throats in Black Masses. Her clients who bought poison were usually nobility, often women. The Paris Police broke up her poison ring which reached all the way to England. They were tipped off by two Roman Catholic priests who had received several confessions of French noble ladies who confessed to trying to poison their husbands. The stories were almost always the same; a noble woman would poison her husband’s shirts, causing him to break out. His wife would then give him an ointment for the rash...which was more poison. Sometimes the husbands figured out what was happening, and fled to monasteries for safety, but some were not as fortunate.

    Priests are obliged to keep confessions secret, because Priests are bound by what is known as the “seal of the confession” not so their Bishop told the two Priests involved to give the police just enough information to begin searching without actually naming names of confessors. This information began an investigation that ultimately  lead police to LaViosin. When the police raided LaViosin’s house, they knew something was strange about her family immediately because they all slept in the same bed.  Police discovered a hidden chamber in the house that led to a room draped completely in black with black candles, and an altar covered with a mattress. Also discovered were several books on black magic and astrology owned by LaViosin. 367 people were arrested in all, and 74 people were sentenced. Many French nobles fled to England and other countries to avoid arrest, and the scandal rocked French high society.

      A debauched priest named Gibourg created communion wafers from flour and blood from the sacrificed infants. These were then used in the Black Masses against King Louis XIV. The King’s mistress had employed LaViosin to use Satanic black magic to kill the King, which didn’t work. When this failed to work, she planned to poison him, but the plot was uncovered before she could carry it out.

    LaViosin and several debauched Priests who had converted to Satanism conducted Black Masses with placentas and fetuses of the aborted babies provided by LaViosin’s abortion business, as well as living unwanted ones, over the naked bodies of young girls as altars. During the Masses, the demons Astoroth and Asmodeus were “invoked” for assistance. LaVisoin later confessed to police that over the years she had cremated some of the remains of the fetuses and babies in her furnace, and some she buried some in her garden. This was confirmed when authorities unearthed thousands of bones of infants on her property. An exact body count of the child murders and poisonings was impossible to tell, but must have been quite high.

   To avoid a public scandal, King Louis the 14th ordered the trial to be conducted in a sealed court ( a star chamber). LaViosin and her gang were all arrested, tried, and convicted for their crimes. The Government of France then created laws against fortune telling, sorcery, and poison to help assure successor cults didn’t arise. Years later the King ordered all records of the trial to be burned, but a few copies accidentally (or intentionally) weren’t destroyed and survive even today. Even though LaVisoin practiced human sacrifices, which some occultists consider to be the ultimate act for attaining power (it was widely practiced by the Pagans of old), it still did her no good. The Devil never gives complete success to those who follow him.  LaViosin was burned at the stake in 1680.

CONTE ALESSANDRO CAGLIOSTRO (1743?-1795) Mentioned in the dedication of the 1st Edition of the Satanic Bible. Cagliostro founded now extinct Egyptian Rite of Freemasonry and claimed to have had occult powers. He was an inspiration for future occultists like H.P. Blavatsky and Goethe, among others. Born of a peasant family named Balsamo, Cagliostro claimed to be a count, a Hermetic magician, an alchemist, and a Gypsy. Historian Thomas Carlyle called him the “Prince of Quacks.” Goethe was so impressed with Cagliostro at first, he traveled to Palermo to meet his family. How disappointed he must have been when “Count” Cagliostro’s family turned out to be peasants who lived in a one room house! He managed to write positive things about the encounter at first, but must have changed his mind later about Cagliostro, because in Goethe’s play The Grand Copht, he portrays Cagliostro as a charlatan.

    Unmanageable as a child, Cagliostro’s  family sent him to a seminary for education. One day he read the Gospels and replaced the names of Biblical figures with the names of local prostitutes, causing him to be expelled.  In Palermo he traveled with a gang of robbers. He used his talent for forgery to make theater tickets, a falsified will, and anything else he could profit from. He even robbed his own uncle and was accused of a murder. He conned the gullible and greedy by pretending that he was able to locate gold and buried treasure with magic, showing clients the sites where he said it was buried. When the gullible nobles went to dig up the treasure at the prescribed site, they instead found Cagliostro’s henchmen waiting for them dressed in devil costumes, who then proceeded to mug the nobles. Cagliostro would later tell the nobles that actual demons had robbed them, and also taken the treasure! This ruse landed him in prison on at least one occasion. At times Cagliostro was none too stable, and did the most embarrassing things, like putting a teacup on his erect penis and telling women "This is the only Bishop you will bow to!"  

    Cagliostro was initiated into Freemasonry in London in 1776 and decided to start his own version. He claimed he found a manuscript in a bookstall that gave instructions for Egyptian Rite Masonry.  Cagliostro told his followers he was thousands of years old, and was the Old Testament prophet Elijah, which were of course all lies.  Egyptian Rite Masonry wasn’t really Egyptian at all, and was the creation of Cagliostro. He went about Europe setting up lodges which all sent payments to himself personally.

    Cagliostro held seances before they were called seances. Using a child as a medium (which he called a “pupille” or a “colombe”), Cagliostro claimed he could summon spirits to answer questions of wealthy patrons. In other words, he invented the medium scam that would be used in the next century. Cagliostro told the children how to act and what to say prior to the seance, and bribed them with candy. A few times the children actually told the patrons about Cagliostro’s coaching and  bribery!

    Cagliostro is said to have “pimped out” his own wife at times. Once she tried to ditch Cagliostro for a wealthy noble, and in retaliation Cagliostro had her thrown in prison for a year for adultery. Another time he blackmailed a man whom he had caught in bed with his wife, most likely a pre-arranged set up.

   Cagliostro managed to worm his way into Louis XVI’s court. He hatched a scheme to purchase an expensive necklace and charge it to Marie Antoinette. The French Royals found out about the attempted swindle, and Cagliostro and his gang went to prison in the Bastille. He was released after one year, but couldn’t stay out of trouble, and was imprisoned again in Italy. He died in St. Leo’s prison 1795, despite claiming he had the elixir of eternal youth.

SIR FRANCES DASHWOOD Dashwood founded the infamous “Hellfire Club” in 1745. He was an inspiration to future occultists, such as Anton LaVey, Aleister Crowley, and no doubt to some degree, Gerald Gardner. Those Wiccans who think Wicca is an ancient religion think Dashwood might have been a Wiccan himself (he wasn’t, though). Even though most people classify him as a Satanist, more than likely Dashwood was an atheist who did blasphemous things for shock value, just as many Satanists do today. Dashwood was a wealthy libertine who, like Crowley later, was able to get away with many things he did because of his rank in British society. King George I had passed a law to prevent Hellfire-type clubs in 1721, but this didn’t discourage the more perverted types of English nobility. The Hellfire Club (also called “The Monks of Medmenham Abbey”) performed blasphemous rites, but the main interest was always the orgies, not magic.

    It can’t be said no one suffered from the activities of Dashwood’s gatherings. Pedophillia was a common indulgence at Dashwood’s parties. Children were bought from the slums of London outright and used as sex slaves.  Prostitutes dressed as nuns serviced the club’s patrons. Prostitution, unlike what you may have seen in the movie Pretty Woman, is a crime against women. Women involved in prostitution were forced into it because they had no alternative, and certainly didn’t enjoy such a lifestyle. The only thing they could look forward to was an early death from disease or murder. Incest, a taboo in every culture,  was also typical among the group. Daughters being molested by their fathers was a common practice. The members paid the price for their debauchery in the form of venereal diseases, naturally.

    By 1762, the membership included some of the highest ranking members of the British government; Dashwood was Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Wilkes,  Paul Whitehead, and Charles Churchill were members of Parliament, and the Earl of  Bute, was Prime Minister (but Adam Weishaupt, and Benjamin Franklin were never members as some people have suggested). Despite the wealth and connections, or rather because of it, Dashwood’s club for perverts eventually imploded.  For some reason, Wilkes and Churchill thought they could topple the Bute government and gain control of Parliament if they leaked details of the Hellfire Club’s Satanic rites and perverted sexual activities, incredibly not realizing they were all under the roof of the same glass house. The plan worked, and Bute was removed, but the scandal also predictably tainted them in the process, and also more or less ruined the lives, careers, and reputations of everyone in the Hellfire Club.

    After the Bute scandal, Dashwood tried to revive the club in caves near Wycomb Hill, but the group had already peaked, and it folded not long after. Dashwood and his “monks” all died off from age and disease over the next twenty years. After Dashwood died, he left an enormous library of pornographic works...a legacy few people would proud of !

ADAM WEISHAUPT (1748-1811) Founder of the short lived and extremely over-rated Order of the Illuminati. Many occultists claim (falsely) to be in contact with the Illuminati. Fake Anti-Christ Aleister Crowley claimed to be a member, as did fake ex-Satanist Mike Warneke. The AMORC claims it is the highest level of their bogus mail order occult school, and initiation into this level allegedly takes place out of the body on the astral plane (!). Obviously only the most self-deluded make it to that level. The conspiracy nut crowd has a much less favorable view of the Illuminati, however.
   
    There is a mountain of myth surrounding this now extinct order, but we can determine the truth. Weishaupt was a Bavarian law professor who started the Illuminati in 1778 (not 1776). The Illuminati actually seems to have been more concerned with politics than the occult, and Weishaupt was probably an atheist. The Masonic-like rituals it used by the order were probably just a smokescreen for their subversive political activities. Weishaupt hated the Jesuits, but was said to have patterned his order after them in some ways.  While the Illuminati was Masonic-like, it doesn’t appear to have been an actual branch of Freemasonry.

    The Illuminati sought to overthrow the government of Bavaria, and hoped it could eventually spread it’s revolution all over the world. Their overly ambitious goal was to end all kingdoms and all religions. But their activities were exposed in 1784, when an Illuminati courier was struck by lightning, and his secret papers came to light. Wieshaupt lost his position as a Professor and fled  Bavaria.  Weishaupt wrote a few books in exile, such as An Apology For The Illuminati, but the order was kaput.  Weishaupt  died in poverty, alone and forgotten (at least for a while). By the end of the 18th century, the Order of The Illuminatti had ceased to exist. Period. End of story.

    But of course, old legends die hard. The Illuminati has been a favorite subject of conspiracy writers from Texx Mars (who’s an Anti-Semite) to Jack Chick (who’s anti-Catholic). Exactly who is behind the Illuminati depends on the conspiracy nut who’s telling the tale. Anti-Semites say it's the Jews (the Rothschild's in particular, they’re always a favorite target of Jew haters), while others say the Roman Catholic Church, or the Freemasons (including the American founding fathers!), or the Communists, or Wiccans, or Satanists, or The Trilateral Commission, or even the Mafia, among others, and sometimes several groups are included in the conspiracy. The Illuminati is sort of like extraterrestrial aliens that pilot U.F.Os,...lots of people claim to have seen them and believe they exist, write detailed books about what they do, explain how they’ve shaped history, make claims about what their plans are for humanity...but no one can actually prove they’re real. Oh, and speaking of U.F.O.s, British soccer player turned New Ager, David Icke, says the Illuminati are actually Reptilian Aliens! Help! Call Dr. Who! Obviously all these things are bigoted and crackpot ideas created by bigots and crackpots, and should be dismissed.
  
     In reality, the Illuminati hasn't existed in over 200 years, and it was a total failure. There is no evidence of their existence after the 18th century, and certainly no evidence the American Founding Fathers or the Rothschilds ever belonged to it. The lluminatti was exposed early on, and thus their operations ended. If there was an Illuminati today, it's the most unsuccessful secret society of all time, since a) everyone has heard of it and b) it’s over 200 years later since it was founded and it still hasn't taken over the world! You may even come across this or that webpage claiming to be the website of the “Illuminati” created as a joke or by someone living in a dream world. They too, can be dismissed, and have no connection to Weishaupt’s short lived Illuminati other than wishful thinking. Even though the legend has gotten a lot of mileage, there is no “real” Illuminati around today. It’s the stuff of crackpots and hatemongers, just deal with it.

Adam Weishupt’s dream of world domination never materialized and he died an impoverished failure...and probably wasn’t even an occultist!

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE A 19th century German philosopher perhaps best known for the saying “That which does not kill us makes us stronger”, and also coined the phrase "God is dead".He was actually an atheist, not an occultist or Satanist. But since so many occultists and Satanists seem to read Nitzche (or pretend to), I’ll mention him.  Occultist Aleister Crowley seemed to be very influenced by him, as were Anton LaVey and even Charles Manson.  Nietzsche did not believe in conventional morality, but thought man was “beyond good and evil”, and had to choose his own moral code. This is basically the way most occultists live their lives. Nietzsche believed a person should throw themselves completely into a cause without hope of personal gain or reward (according to most interpretations). Many historians think Nietzsche’s writings are why so many intellectuals joined the Nazi and Communist parties during the early 20th century. His writings of "Ubermench" (supermen) rising up from the masses certainly sound as though they could have been written by Joseph Goebels. Neitzche's writings are somewhat ambiguous, almost to the point of being mystical. This allows for a lot of wiggle room interpretation wise, and thus there are actually several school of thought on how to interpret what his philosophy is about. Writings about "The Will To Power" and the rise of "Supermen" are what made him Hitler's favorite sage, and the anti-Semetic and anti-Christian tone was no doubt an added bonus. He was also said to be a favorite of Joseph Stalin, too.

    Apologists for Nietzche claim he wasn't really anti-Semetic, and that the Nazis simply took selections of his writings they liked out of context, and ignored what they didn't like. The thing is, there doesn’t seem to be much that they wouldn’t have liked! His apologists will claim things such as Nietzche allegdly dropped a publisher because the publisher was anti-Semetic, as an example (other accounts say, it was simply a dispute over money). Nietzsche is favorite of college professors, and when the fact he had been a source of inspiration for the Nazis came out, it became necessary to claim Nietzsche was not anti-Semitic, and even opposed to anti-Semitism. This is because atheistic professors just love Nietzsche’s hatred of Christians and want to keep him the classrooms. It’s really just a convenient way to promote bigotry. Hating Christians isn’t as detestable as hating Jews, but it should be.

    If  Nietzsche wasn't an anti-Semite, he sure kept some peculiar company, especially for someone who supposedly opposed anti-Semitism! One of his best friends was composer Richard Wagner, a man who never tried to hide his hatred of Jews. If the Nazi regime had been a movie, Wagner provided the soundtrack for it 50 years in advance. It would have been hard to have been Wagner's friend without having his issues with Jews and Judaism come up, because anti-Semitism and German romanticism dominated his music and his life. His sister was an anti-Semite and even left Germany with her husband for Uruguay to start an "Aryan colony" ,which still exists today. In a foreshadow of things to come, the group even adopted a swastika flag as it's symbol! In other words, the group created a proto-Nazi Germany south of the border (well, south of our border, anyway).  His other sister was also an anti-Semite, whom apologists blame for editing and arranging his posthumous writings to appear anti-Semitic. It might be presumed his sisters learned anti-Semitism and German nationalism from their parents, which would have been the same parents Professor Friedrich had. How is it that this man was surrounded by so many haters of Jews, and yet somehow remained unaffected?

   The fact Nietzsche hated Christianity is unquestionable, so is it really so unreasonable to think he hated it's parent religion? His biggest source of inspiration, Shopenhauer, was also an anti-Semite who hated Christianity. Shopenhauer wrote extensively about the will, like Nietzsche, although he did not seem to practice much will power in real life. He usually gorged himself at dinner and drank wine until he fell asleep at the dinner table, food particles still clinging in his beard. These are the type of people that wake up in various puddles of their own fluids (and those of others!).  

    Nietzsche’s idea that he could make up his own morality allowed him to frequent brothels, which is how he contracted syphilis. Some think this may have been the cause of his madness, although many of his readers like to romanticize he went insane from learning too much of life’s mysteries.  He spent his final days in an insane asylum where he spent his time screaming “I am God! I am God!” Now that you know all that, you might want to skip reading him and Shopenhauer too.

GRIGORY YEFIMOVICH NONYKH RASPUTIN (1869-1916) A Russian Orthodox Priest of the early 20th century who has been falsely accused of being an occultist by later writers. In his youth, Rasputin had been a sinner. Some writers have said his name means "debauched one", but this isn’t so, and actually means “crossroads” (honestly, who would name their kid “debauched one”, anyway?) As an adult, Rasputin had a dramatic religious conversion while visiting a monastery and became a Priest. After a pilgrimage to Jerusalem that he made entirely on foot, Rasputin returned to Russia and settled in St. Petersburg. The “mad monk” Rasputin was very popular at the court of the last Czar of Russia, because he healed the Czar's hemophiliac son through prayer.

    In 1905, the Czar’s son Nicholas (a hemophiliac), was bleeding internally and was feared to be dying. When Rasputin began praying for the Czar’s son, he (or perhaps someone else) insisted the attending physician discontinue his treatments. This alone probably saved the child’s life, because the doctor was giving the child aspirin, which unbeknownst to him was compounding his hemophilia. No one at that time knew aspirin was a blood thinner.

    Many nefarious claims have been made about Rasputin, and perhaps not all of them are undeserved, but he was not the monster with a hypnotic gaze later hack writers tried to turn him into. There were many temptations that came with his success, including alcohol and adultery, and if the Czar’s secret police can be believed (and that’s certainly a big “if”), he succumbed to them. His daughter Maria, wrote a biography of her father years after his death, and claims he was a pious man and dismisses the stories about him. Rasputin got involved in political intrigue and was in over his head. He was assassinated in 1916.

    Occultists are fascinated by Rasputin, because of his alleged healing powers, and because he managed to become a favorite of the Romanov’s. Several theories have been made as to the source of his “powers”. One theory is that Rasputin belonged to a religious sect called the Khylsty, which practiced sex rituals, but historians conclude there is no evidence to support this idea. His daughter Maria also denied her father that he was a member of the sect in her biography of her father.

    Occultists seem to think Rasputin  had occult powers such as being able to read minds, but there doesn't seem to be any evidence of this. Sophie Buxhoeveden, a friend of the Czarina, recounts how these stories came about:
 
“I believe that at this time the Empress saw Rasputin occasionally, but he was chiefly to be found in the company of the two Grand Duchesses who had ‘discovered’ him, and who now reported that Rasputin was undoubtedly a "seer." This annoyed the Emperor, and, the next time he saw Rasputin, he asked him to tell him how he “saw " . "Your Majesty, I know nothing of clairvoyancy," said Rasputin.
"Then why have the Grand Duchesses asserted that you possess clairvoyant gifts?" replied the Emperor, crossly; and, when the Empress put the same question to Rasputin, she received the same reply”  Buxhoeveden seemed to think the accusation of being a “seer” was done out of political reasons to discredit Rasputin. She also noted that “The commencement of endless intrigues dates from this period, as Elidor and Germogen were afraid that Rasputin would become more important than themselves.” ( from The Life and Tragedy of Alexandra Feodorovna by Sophie Buxhoeveden, Chapter V)

    Occultists like Anton LaVey have tried to re-write history and make Rasputin into an occultist too...and even a Satanist no less.  This is because they wish they could get close to people in power as Rasputin did with the Czar. But Rasputin was not an occultist, and all the wishful thinking will not change the past and make him into one. He didn’t have occult powers, and even if he lived sinfully, he still wasn’t a Satanist or occultist of any kind. The occult won’t give you sort of political power...or any power. Period.

“BARON”RUDOLPH SERBOTTENDORF The founder of the occult order known as the Thule Society. Serbottendorf was an anti-Semite who believed in Blavatsky’s teachings of the Aryan race.  He was a member of the Thule society in 1919 comprised of like minded Germans. The Thule disbanded in 1923 after violent attacks from communists in which some Thule members were killed. One branch of the Thule, the German Order, survived however, and eventually evolved into the Nazi Party. In fact, some historians think the Thule was really just and recruiting tool for the German Order as well as a smokescreen for their political activities, which was the real motive behind the orginization.

   After the Thule disbanded, Serbottendorf fled to Turkey, then Mexico and eventually returned to Germany 1933, probably hoping to assume some important position in the Nazi regime. But instead the Nazis acted indifferent toward him since they no longer needed him. Feeling dissed, he wrote an account of Hitler’s early days titled Bevor Hitler Kam (Before Hitler Came). In it Serbottendorf recounted “The Thule Society was the original group to whom Hitler came”, and revealed the roots of the Nazi party lay in that secret occult society. It was through the help of the Thule members...some of whom were well connected...that Hitler was able to rise to power. An astrologer who worked for the Nazis named William Wulf mentioned after the war Hitler belonged to a society of astrologers and magicians before coming to power, and this was probably a reference to the Thule Society, thus confirming Serbottendorf’s claim.

   Bevor Hitler Kam sold well enough for a second printing. The Nazis found out about the book, and were none too pleased. They had already given an “official” account of Hitler’s rise to power, and didn’t need someone airing their dirty leaderhosen in public. Copies of the book were confiscated by the Nazis, and Serbottendorf was murdered according to his publisher, no doubt by the Gestapo. A few copies of the book managed to survive, however. 

    Even though Serbottendorf was murdered and the Nazis lost WWII miserably, some occultists still practice what they call “Nazi occult rituals”, many Satanists and Odinists in particular. Why would anyone want to do this, seeing how it worked out for Serbottendorf and the Nazis (let alone how evil the Nazis were)??? You don’t need magic to be a failure!

Serbottendorf ; He sought power through the occult, but in the end he wound up murdered.

ADOLPH HITLER (1889-1945) Hitler’s name doesn’t spring to mind when one thinks of an occultist,  but some occultists consider him to have had occult powers, so I'll mention him. Hitler might have been an Odinist (worshiper of false Viking gods like Thor, Odin, and Freya), or possibly just an atheist who dabbled in the occult, but at any rate, he wasn't a Satanist and certainly not a Christian!  Some occultists consider him an "ascended master" or even an "avatar" (incarnated god). Hitler wanted to exterminate the Jews and eventually replace Christianity with Germanic paganism, and this much is certain.

    Whatever Hitler’s religious beliefs were, we can certainly rule out his being a Christian. In 1996 documents from the Nuremberg Trial were discovered detailing the Nazi’s systematic persecution of Christian Churches and Hilter’s plans to eliminate Christianity altogether after WWII. An American General detailed the accounts given to him by former Nazi leaders of Hitler’s “Kirchenkampf” plans which comprise no less than 150 volumes of Nuremberg Trial documents alone! Even though Hitler may have written and said things at times to make him sound Christian, such as things he said in Mein Kampf, it should be remembered Mien Kampf is political propaganda and not to be taken at face value. Mein Kampf also doesn’t mention Hitler’s plans for the Holocaust, either. Ruteger’s Journal of Religion and Law has made those Nuremberg documents available to read online (need URL).

    There have been may spurious accounts about Hitler and the Nazis, the occult being one subject. A book published in 1973 called The Spear of Destiny claimed Hitler was a Satanist obsessed with a legendary spear thought to have pierced the side of Christ.  It also claims Hitler was a blood drinking Satanist who traveled to India and joined the cult of Kali. These, and many other bizarre stories are untrue. But there is no doubt that Hitler, Hess and Himmler were all involved in the occult to varying degrees, nonetheless.

    There are many claims that Hitler belonged to various occult societies that combined racism and right wing politics with ritual magic. It’s possible some of the groups claimed to be interested in the occult as a smokescreen to hide their political aims. Besides the Thule, one group that Hitler also supposedly belonged to was called the New Order of Templars. The society was created by Georg  Liebenfels in 1909, and combined the legends of the Templars with Aryan supremacy. There is at least one verified record of Hitler visiting Liebenfels, and it could certainly be there was a working relationship between the two. Liebenfels wrote to a disciple in a letter in 1932 “Hitler is one of our pupils.” and promised that through Hitler they would “make the whole world tremble”. They did, but the end results were probably not as he and Hitler would have hoped.

     A Look magazine issue of 1940 mentions Hitler had his own observatory and practiced astrology, although Hitler said it was merely just for fun. The words “Hitler” and “fun” don’t exactly go together, and realizing some of the people trafficked with, it was probably more than for amusement purposes. Hitler’s superstition became so well known, that even The Three Stooges made a short that same year that mocked Hitler’s belief in astrology (and also mocked Hitler himself, of course! Soitenly!).  When British Intelligence discovered Hitler’s interest in star gazing, they hired an astrologer named Pohl to try to figure out what Hitler’s astrologers were telling him. When asked about a British invasion, Pohl told Churchill he personally had known all the astrologers advising Hitler, and that they all had advised him against it. He was apparently right, since no dreaded invasion of Britain ever took place.

    The Nazis attitude toward astrologers was ambivalent. On the one hand, they outlawed fortunetellers and astrologers, but quietly employed some of them f