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Summary: think for yourself
Review: i bought this book at a time when i did not know how to think for myself and i needed guildence but now i look at it and all i see is indocrination lavey pulls the wool over your eyes he is no better than the christians with his propaganda you look at this book it just his opinion on the way you should live your life it preachs to think for yourself but really lavey is thinking for you and honestly its not even that intelligent its just blunt and straight forward think before you buy into the bs
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Summary: interesting philosophy
Review: It's worth a read if you can get past the title. The first half of the book gives some history and preaches Hedonism/Satanism as a way of life. I'm not religious, but it made me look at my life from a different angle. Absorb the philosophy, apply it to your life, and then throw the last half of the book away (it's just "spells" for the gullible).
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Summary: Great Chants!
Review: There are some great chants in here, that I often find myself reciting! YES!
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Summary: truth told through Satan's eyes
Review: My opinion of the Satanic bible is this, i believe that this amazing book tells of how a true satanist should live and worship Satan in his many ways and aspects. Even those who are curriouse of Satan's ways will find this piece of literature compelling. This book is garenteed to leave you spellbound and stuptified by the all inspiring Satan and his demonic ways.
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Summary: _The Satanic Bible_
Review: In 1969, three years after Anton LaVey had started the Church of Satan in San Francisco, Avon Books invited him to submit a manuscript about it for publication. Anton had available a number of diatribes on various social/historical topics, as well as basic instructions on how to perform personal magical rituals, previously distributed to Church members on mimeographed handouts. This material was not enough to fill up a paperback, however, so Anton added an additional diatribe - an extract from an obscure old political tract _Might is Right_ by Ragnar Redbeard - and the Enochian Keys from Aleister Crowley's _Equinox_ (modified with Anton's own "Satanic" interpretation). The Redbeard extract became the "Book of Satan", Anton's diatribes the "Book of Lucifer", the ritual instructions the "Book of Belial", and the ritual texts & Enochian Keys the "Book of Leviathan": collectively the _Satanic Bible_.Thus from a "technical" perspective the _SB_ is most accurately seen as a snapshot of very early Church of Satan social criticisms - this was San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury era! - combined with some inflammatory & mysterious occult filler material. Within a year or so after the book's publication, it was already obsolete: The Church was rapidly developing more sophisticated approaches to Black Magic, and 60s' social-confrontationalism was also giving way to the more cooperative, tolerant "New Age" climate of the 1970s. Nor did society seem greatly shocked by a book with such an impudent title; about the only objections to the _SB_ in those days came from Crowley/Golden Dawn pundits who were infuriated by Anton's further piracy of their own previously-from-John-Dee pirated Enochian Keys. So the _SB_ enjoyed a modest, peaceful existence as a niche-curiosity more famous for its name than its actual contents until the 1980s, when a bizarre outbreak of Satanic themes in rock music and hysterical urban myths about "Satanic cult crime" combined to rocket Satan/Satanism into the public media spotlight. Both Heavy Metalloids and tabloid television alarmists needed a book to wave and yell about, and *this* was the one with the right title and appropriately-black cover! The _SB_ was now a pocket guru for rebels without any other cause - when it wasn't being "found at crime scenes", of course ... In the midst of all this mania, Anton's Redbeard plagiarism was discovered & exposed, and a number of new scholarly works on Dee's Enochian system had taken away the _SB_'s "primitive mystery" in that area as well. Not that any of this mattered; the book had now reached the mythical status of an icon, and as such will cruise ominously onward before the eyes, if not through the brains of the Great Unwashed for many years to come. In 1971 Anton invited me, as the senior Master of the Church of Satan, to write a new Introduction to the _SB_, which replaced Burton Wolfe's in all hardcover editions as well as paperbacks 1972-75. In that Introduction I compared the book to Robert Chambers' fictional _The King in Yellow_, "a psychopolitical work that supposedly drove its readers to madness and damnation". I'd say that the poor old _Satanic Bible_, at least as much to its author's surprise as anyone else's, has certainly gone a long way towards doing just that!
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Summary: Philosophically interesting but nothing more....
Review: As a philosopher, I'm always interested in why people believe the things they do. If people are willing to kill for a cause, that only makes the interest that much more harder for me to resist. That's one reason I bought the Communist manifesto and read about communism. Karl Marx is off his rocker and had intentions of greed on his mind when he wrote that. When LaVay wrote the Santanic Bible he put a lot of philosophical and psychological input into it. I'm an Atheist and his philosophies actually made sense to me. He is right about three things. #-1. Satan never bad mouths other religions. Making it so that it's others who are doing the condemning. #-2. Mankind has a certain call for different desires that are by far embedded deeply into are will of self pleasure. #-3. There is no way to sceintifically prove other wise that Satan or any other God or Gods do in fact exist. LayVey put forth one HECK, "Get it", of an effort to make believers out of people. However, unfortunately, he just gets silly at the end. Nice try LaVey. From what I later found out, LaVey died. I still remain an Atheist. Why doesn't somebody write a bible on Atheism? My mother almost rang my neck when she came over to my place to visit me and saw LaVey's work....
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Summary: The best book that will ever be.
Review: The book The Satanic Bible by Anton Szandor Lavey is a most extroidenary book to read even though mine hasn't gotten here yet, I have been reading my friends book I cannot get enough of it, you will not go wrong with this one Amazon.
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Summary: Worthy of Reading
Review: I picked up my own copy when I was in my teens. I wanted to discover for myself what this book was all about. To my surprise I discovered that this book wasn't what the headlines said it was. Instead, I read a book which encouraged the respect of nature, and yourself. I read about theories which encourage the reader to take control of their own lives, & to be responsible for one's own actions; not looking for the escape routes that organized religions create. Most important, is that Lavey allows space for the reader. There isn't a strict dogma punishable by eternal damnation. To the contrary, Lavey encourages the reader to find his or her own system of logical self-government. There's always a great deal of anger, and distortion emminated from many people regarding this book. There are several people who are "anti" Lavey for various reasons, but the Satanic Bible, it's ideas, and logic, will always remain. Read it, and draw your own conclusions and ideas from its texts. The worste consequence one could look forward to recieving from this book is the increasing of one's own awareness, and sense of self. This book and it's ideas are not for everyone. "Everyone" would seem to correlate with "average", and this book is neither average, nor written for the like.
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Summary: I've heard it all before
Review: I've heard from all the Anti-Lavey establishments. Rarely are they Christians, Jews, Wiccans, etc., usually, it's ex-Satanists. Disillusioned by their own failed achievements, they "strike" back at Lavey by throwing stones at him. For instance, let's take the book "Might is Right", which makes a good portion of the Satanic Bible. You might want to actually get that book, Anton Lavey has a forward in it. (Check out Michael Hunt Publishing for it.) What I found within Lavey is that he's greatly flawed, as all humans are. He rambles at times, he uses too many exclamation points, but mostly, I found him to be deeply sardonic. That's what I like about him. Is there anything new or grand about Anton Lavey's philosophy? Nah. However, compared to the mush that's been rolling off the press releases about Satanism, this book sets the record straight. It says in a loud voice what Satanism is and is not. The code of ethics is very simple, yet very effective to live by. The book discusses a variety of topics, including psychic vampires, (more specifically, friends who harm you rather than help), the difference between gratification and compulsion, the Satanic philosophy, and the many names and variations that Satan has taken on.
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Summary: What Most People Fear Is...
Review: the truth... and I remember the first time I read The Satanic Bible, everything clicked into place for me, 'cuz I knew in my heart what LaVey was writing was the honest truth. Unfortunately, most people do not want to face... and CANNOT face... the truth. If you're a younger teenager and are looking for hexes, spells, and curses (like some nonsense in a book about Wicca), then don't bother with this book. Satanism is not about "worshipping the devil"... some evil creature with horns who will torment your soul through eternity, but rather it's about honesty, following man's (and woman's) desire(s). It exposes the hypocrisy of the Christian religion, where men and women endulge in sin until Sunday morning, when they ask for forgiveness for their sins before they indulge in sin once again. Interestingly enough, (the 9th Satanic statement) is that Satan has been the best friend the church has ever had, as he has kept it in business all these years! If you're going to surround yourself with the dogma and the fears and false assumptions you were brought up with through childhood, then don't read this book either. You would make an awful Satanist. A true Satanist is a true rebel... with a purpose. Satan represents vital existence, rather than spiritual pipe dreams... kindness to those who deserve it, rather than Love wasted on ingrates... and all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional satisfaction. If you're going to read this book and/or become a Satanist 'cuz you think it's COOL and HIP... or 'cuz you lack a social life and feel "Satan" will give you one, then go back to your herd mentality, 'cuz that's not what Satanism is about. Don't believe MY words or anybody else's. Becoming a Satanist is a TRUE STATEMENT to YOURSELF, and that can only come from you. This book is merely a beginning. Hail Satan!
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