Satanic Bible

Rating:
Summary: Some interesting thoughts, but barely scratches the surface
Review: When I first saw the book, I was surprised to see how little and/or thin it was. But I thought "quality over quantity." While there are some interesting philosophical thoughts, it is VERY shallow. I thought LaVey would at least be indepth, and insightful, but there's not much new information here, and I don't think anything he wrote hasn't been written before him. Add to that the completely laughable ritualistic descriptions and it's hard to take this book seriously. I mean, I didn't think I could shoot fire from my fingernails after reading the Satanic Bible, but I didn't even get any real insight into man's deepest, darkest thoughts and desires. Maybe in the '60s counter-culture movement this was considered extreme literature, but by today's standards it's not very shocking nor is it very informative.

Rating:
Summary: Kobolds Laying the Smackdown at Burgermaster
Review: This book is the ultimate Satanic Manual, the first is the best. It gives you specific details on monsters. Being that I only have 2 hit points, I have to pick my monsters carefully. Once, while at Burgermaster, a kolbold threw a burger at me with his sling. He rolled a 20, a critical hit, and the burger did 2x the normal damage, knocking me out for 2 hp! As I lay unconcious, a gelatinous cube slowly slimed my burger and fries up. When I came to, I saw him slowly digesting my burger and fries and I exclaimed "How rude!" But the Gelatinous cube just rumbled his gelationous bulbous stomach at me. I would have kicked it's ass, but luckily the Monster Manual told me that would've been a bad idea to use my hands. So instead I used my bic lighter and he apologized for eating my combo #1.

Rating:
Summary: LaVey was a wanker through and through
Review: This book MIGHT be something to take seriously if LaVey had chosen to be honest with himself and refer to his religion as something other than 'satanism'. Of course, LaVey didn't even believe in Satan....the name was simply used because of all the negative connotations surrounding the term. In other words, he used it for the shock value. This is stupid and destroys any legitimate argument LaVey might have had.

Today you have thousands of misguided idiots that proclaim that "satanism has nothing to do with satan!" I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone say that in regards to 'true satanists'. True satanists?! Just because some guy decided it should be like that? Are any of you aware that since the Church's assertion that Satan is the ultimate evil (about a thousand years ago), that there have been plenty of people that would attempt to worship such a being? It doesn't matter if Satan exists or not; that's irrelevent at the moment. The point is that those people were the 'true satanists'. Proclaiming LaVey's satanism as 'true satanism' is like me writing a book on how Jesus was an alien sent to give us advanced mathematics then proclaiming MY view as 'true Christianity'. It's just not going to happen.
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Why will self-indulgence never work? Because it never stops. The indulger is never satisfied. This is why there have been so many famous musicians and young celebreties that have destroyed themselves with drugs, alcohol, and sex. It's indulgence. Not having the guidance to affectively moderate these activities, they indulged in what was freely available.....and they were never satisfied. Things that are seemingly harmless become poisonous when taken out of moderation. So many 'satanists' think they're so smart and evolved; but they can't even see the simple truth that's right in front of them. It's so sad.

Rating:
Summary: Derivative, but ultimately a personal paradigm for me.
Review: In 1999 I had the pleasure of reading this text, written by the man Howard Stanton aka Anton Lavey. What I read was very influenced by Ragnar Redbeard, Ayn Rand, and others, but all put in a semi-hip slightly kitschy format of demonic delight. It is fun to read this but overall I ignore the spells and all, the spells are known to be a psychological catharsis as Lavey had later stated and whether or not they work is left up to the reader. Satan to Lavey represents independence from the forces in society and humanity that have been trying to supress the individual since time began. In this way I can definitely support the man's words and can say HAIL SATAN! I used to have very superstitious beliefs that limited my life completely, but getting over anxiety about these and other things were definitely aided by Mr Lavey. I can personally attest that this book can also serve as a self help book, to break the bonds of comformity in an often sheepish populace. I still do not support the idea of curses, however much of a catharis they may be from someone who harms you. I feel that while it is a expunging of negative energy, it can only feed on more hate. This is my main difficulty I have with Laveyan Satanism, but obviously there are many different viewpoints even within the "religion" itself.