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monestebanm's review against another edition
4.0
Libro que me ha encantado, a los que nos gusta la negro, digno de tener en nuestras estanterías:
coltonmray's review against another edition
2.0
I read this just because. While it's a lot more lively and better-written than the Bible, I can't bring myself to agree with everything he says. It's kind of a more selfish and bombastic version of Wicca, which basically says, "Do you what you want, as long as it harms none," and sees the god and goddess as metaphors. Satanism basically says, "Do what you want, good or bad, just be prepared for the consequences." It doesn't really advocate for empathizing with others or meeting people halfway, and as such, is just as non-nuanced as Christianity. Most of it, like Wicca, is just for show and ceremony, but I just can't bring myself to chant and worship a metaphor, whether that metaphor be nature (Wicca) or myself (Satanism). It's pointless, really.
The first half of the book is basically Lavey's worldview, and he really chews the scenery. The second half then devolves into spells and incantations and a whole bunch of other fake woo. It's just kind of stupid. Magic is not real, and thinking really hard about something and calling it spellcasting will not produce a physical change in any real sense. Lavey does bring up a few good points about embracing our humanity as opposed to being ashamed of it as Christianity teaches, which is the main gist of the movement, but his message is so mired in goofy, emo-teenager imagery and angst that's not worth slogging through.
The first half of the book is basically Lavey's worldview, and he really chews the scenery. The second half then devolves into spells and incantations and a whole bunch of other fake woo. It's just kind of stupid. Magic is not real, and thinking really hard about something and calling it spellcasting will not produce a physical change in any real sense. Lavey does bring up a few good points about embracing our humanity as opposed to being ashamed of it as Christianity teaches, which is the main gist of the movement, but his message is so mired in goofy, emo-teenager imagery and angst that's not worth slogging through.
booknerdess's review against another edition
2.0
Repetitive, cult-like, and generally boring, with a dash of creepy.
I really wanted to like this book, but it’s just not good. A lot of it is totally unnecessary, like the Enochian keys. The ritual part is creepy and a bit misogynistic (young women must be naked to create sexual feelings in the men??), though I appreciated that the book was inclusive of queer people, especially considering the time. I’ve also learned that it steals a bunch of ideas from “Might Makes Right” (which I haven’t read), without citing it. Not cool!
My biggest issue was just the lack of references to the mythology of Satan in Christianity and Judaism. It was just LaVey preaching his unoriginal philosophy like some cult leader. Boring!
Alright, I’m off to get some real Satanism by listening to Ghost.
I really wanted to like this book, but it’s just not good. A lot of it is totally unnecessary, like the Enochian keys. The ritual part is creepy and a bit misogynistic (young women must be naked to create sexual feelings in the men??), though I appreciated that the book was inclusive of queer people, especially considering the time. I’ve also learned that it steals a bunch of ideas from “Might Makes Right” (which I haven’t read), without citing it. Not cool!
My biggest issue was just the lack of references to the mythology of Satan in Christianity and Judaism. It was just LaVey preaching his unoriginal philosophy like some cult leader. Boring!
Alright, I’m off to get some real Satanism by listening to Ghost.
adalove's review against another edition
2.0
More of a 2.5, if 2 was OK, 3 I liked it. Kinda dated of course, with regards to the way it talks about women (really gross in some parts, ie where it was sooo close about balancing differing sexual needs with a close partner, but still seemed to encourage marital rape? Gross? Definitely written for men), while ahead of its time, for the LGBTA (the reference to the T was also dated, of course, albeit in a waythat was nonjudgemental for its time, kinda surprised to see the asexual representation). I liked the theatrics of it, as well as the rejection of dogma, though I still dig the tenets of the political Satanic Temple significantly more than this take on Satanism, appreciate the self centeredness of both, though, for what that's worth.
lost_fairy222's review against another edition
it feels weird to rate a religious text
leganto's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
0.25
I've been wanting to read this for a while because, as a devout Christian, I believe it is important to understand the views of the opposition.
The Satanic Bible is divided into four sections based on what LaVey calls the four Princes of Hell; incidentally, they also align with the classical Greek elements. The sections run as follows.
(Fire) The Book of Satan: This section is a brief, r/atheism rant written in a parody of biblical chapter-and-verse format in which LaVey roleplays as Satan yelling at God (and religious man) for the role to which he has been relegated: that of the eternal "bad guy." This section is even complete with an inverted Sermon on the Mount in the fifth chapter (a clear reference to Matthew 5).
(Air) The Book of Lucifer (parenthetically, for some reason, LaVey seems to think Satan and Lucifer are different entities; not sure how he got confused on that one, but whatever): This section is a collection of short essays by LaVey in which he calls out supposed religious people for their hypocrisy. He accomplishes this by the creation and destruction of an entire army of strawmen and the making of wild truth claims without a single citation. Wikipedia gains credibility when compared to this part of the book. This section is called "Lucifer" because, as the "bringer of light," Lucifer is meant to enlighten people by sharing knowledge. The most "enlightenment" I got here was that LaVey observed a handful of Roman Catholics and emotion-driven evangelicals and based his whole view of Christianity on them and their behavior. His clear lack of understanding of the actual Gospel message--salvation by grace through faith as opposed to "earning" God's favor by being a "good boy" (Ephesians 2:8-9)--is overt here. There has to be some church hurt in his personal history based on the tone of this section.
(Earth) The Book of Belial: This section is a sort of introduction to Satanic magic. It must be pointed out that LaVey makes it clear here that Satanic magic (as practiced by this particular movement) is little more than the modern practice of manifesting (theistic Satanists need not apply). In LaVey's iteration of Satanism, one must simply focus on his/her goals and believe to achieve. LaVey acknowledges that these rituals are purely to add pomp and circumstance which effectively serve as motivations to the practitioners to accomplish their own goals. This section concludes with a simple how-to guide on the procedures, invocations, etc. of a ritual, complete with a description of the dress code for a ritual, how to use a woman as an altar, and the various artifacts and their uses!
(Water) The Book of Leviathan: This section was by far the strangest, and that is saying something! It contains a list of infernal names for invocation (alphabetized for the user's convenience) and nineteen Enochian keys--collections of esoteric-sounding gibberish conveniently translated into a parodic King James English which are basically rambling petitions for Satan's aid. These keys are prefaced by the theme/purpose of the given passage: some are for lust spells, others for destruction, and so on.
Thus abruptly concludes the Satanic Bible, whose last words are not "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen," but "Open the mysteries of your creation, and make us partakers of the UNDEFILED WISDOM." The irony is palpable.
Final thoughts: As a student of God's Word, I have come to expect a certain level of quality and organization from a religious text; the Bible tends to spoil us Christians that way. Because of this inevitably high standard, I must say that LaVey's work falls flat, embarrassingly so. I am not entirely sure what I was expecting this book to be, but what I read felt like a combination of an edgy teenage atheist's diary, a fan-annotated Dungeon Master's Guide from the 1980s, and the infernal version of Bacon's Essays (and that final comparison does an unfortunate injustice to Sir Bacon, but it is the best that I can muster right now).
So the question is this: do I regret reading this? The answer: no. I'm glad that I now have firsthand knowledge of this text because I can comment on it critically, but from a place of experience rather than semi-ignorant hearsay. Now when these folks demand the freedom to build a statue of Satan in front of some government building or whatever other kind of poppycock they do to score an appearance on the news, I'll have better insight into what exactly is driving this kind of behavior.
Another question emerges: is this book a valuable read for a Christian? I would say that probably not all Christians need to read it, but I think a few do. In war (spiritual or otherwise), it is important to keep tabs on the enemy, but not every soldier in the Kingdom needs to be involved in recon.
And because you know I had to do it, let me end my review thus:
Hail Jesus! Christ is LORD! ✝
The Satanic Bible is divided into four sections based on what LaVey calls the four Princes of Hell; incidentally, they also align with the classical Greek elements. The sections run as follows.
(Fire) The Book of Satan: This section is a brief, r/atheism rant written in a parody of biblical chapter-and-verse format in which LaVey roleplays as Satan yelling at God (and religious man) for the role to which he has been relegated: that of the eternal "bad guy." This section is even complete with an inverted Sermon on the Mount in the fifth chapter (a clear reference to Matthew 5).
(Air) The Book of Lucifer (parenthetically, for some reason, LaVey seems to think Satan and Lucifer are different entities; not sure how he got confused on that one, but whatever): This section is a collection of short essays by LaVey in which he calls out supposed religious people for their hypocrisy. He accomplishes this by the creation and destruction of an entire army of strawmen and the making of wild truth claims without a single citation. Wikipedia gains credibility when compared to this part of the book. This section is called "Lucifer" because, as the "bringer of light," Lucifer is meant to enlighten people by sharing knowledge. The most "enlightenment" I got here was that LaVey observed a handful of Roman Catholics and emotion-driven evangelicals and based his whole view of Christianity on them and their behavior. His clear lack of understanding of the actual Gospel message--salvation by grace through faith as opposed to "earning" God's favor by being a "good boy" (Ephesians 2:8-9)--is overt here. There has to be some church hurt in his personal history based on the tone of this section.
(Earth) The Book of Belial: This section is a sort of introduction to Satanic magic. It must be pointed out that LaVey makes it clear here that Satanic magic (as practiced by this particular movement) is little more than the modern practice of manifesting (theistic Satanists need not apply). In LaVey's iteration of Satanism, one must simply focus on his/her goals and believe to achieve. LaVey acknowledges that these rituals are purely to add pomp and circumstance which effectively serve as motivations to the practitioners to accomplish their own goals. This section concludes with a simple how-to guide on the procedures, invocations, etc. of a ritual, complete with a description of the dress code for a ritual, how to use a woman as an altar, and the various artifacts and their uses!
(Water) The Book of Leviathan: This section was by far the strangest, and that is saying something! It contains a list of infernal names for invocation (alphabetized for the user's convenience) and nineteen Enochian keys--collections of esoteric-sounding gibberish conveniently translated into a parodic King James English which are basically rambling petitions for Satan's aid. These keys are prefaced by the theme/purpose of the given passage: some are for lust spells, others for destruction, and so on.
Thus abruptly concludes the Satanic Bible, whose last words are not "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen," but "Open the mysteries of your creation, and make us partakers of the UNDEFILED WISDOM." The irony is palpable.
Final thoughts: As a student of God's Word, I have come to expect a certain level of quality and organization from a religious text; the Bible tends to spoil us Christians that way. Because of this inevitably high standard, I must say that LaVey's work falls flat, embarrassingly so. I am not entirely sure what I was expecting this book to be, but what I read felt like a combination of an edgy teenage atheist's diary, a fan-annotated Dungeon Master's Guide from the 1980s, and the infernal version of Bacon's Essays (and that final comparison does an unfortunate injustice to Sir Bacon, but it is the best that I can muster right now).
So the question is this: do I regret reading this? The answer: no. I'm glad that I now have firsthand knowledge of this text because I can comment on it critically, but from a place of experience rather than semi-ignorant hearsay. Now when these folks demand the freedom to build a statue of Satan in front of some government building or whatever other kind of poppycock they do to score an appearance on the news, I'll have better insight into what exactly is driving this kind of behavior.
Another question emerges: is this book a valuable read for a Christian? I would say that probably not all Christians need to read it, but I think a few do. In war (spiritual or otherwise), it is important to keep tabs on the enemy, but not every soldier in the Kingdom needs to be involved in recon.
And because you know I had to do it, let me end my review thus:
Hail Jesus! Christ is LORD! ✝
ophiuimre's review against another edition
2.0
Despite agreeing with the author on multiple things, it is still not entirely clear to me how a Satanist differs from an atheist with a hedonistic worldview (slash Nietzsche fanatic). And what is even more unclear is how people who consider themselves to be communists can simultaneously be followers of a church that literally preaches such “Ayn Randian” things as “everything for the strong, nothing for the weak” or “all people are evil and selfish by nature (whatever it means)”. However, while the first half of the book seemed like common sense, the other one was filled with annoying ridicules, which did not make the reading any more enjoyable.
LaVey often contradicts himself: he said that all sexual practices that a person is drawn to, including homosexuality, are ok, but a few paragraphs later he says that patients in a mental hospital masturbate because they don’t have a partner of the opposite sex?? Overall, the book is literally riddled with, in my humble opinion, too much praise for the damn sex. If I need to have a view on leisure of an insatiably horny teenager in order to be part of the Church of Satan, I would rather be that hypocrite it curses
LaVey often contradicts himself: he said that all sexual practices that a person is drawn to, including homosexuality, are ok, but a few paragraphs later he says that patients in a mental hospital masturbate because they don’t have a partner of the opposite sex?? Overall, the book is literally riddled with, in my humble opinion, too much praise for the damn sex. If I need to have a view on leisure of an insatiably horny teenager in order to be part of the Church of Satan, I would rather be that hypocrite it curses
auriaurica's review against another edition
1.0
This book is more a bible for con-artists than anything. I'm unsure how one could know Anton LaVey's history now and admire his work.
The book starts with ramblings reminiscent of 19th century German philosophy proselytizing the importance of belief in oneself. It reads to me as weak, self-centered, and the promotion of a practice that ends up being a net negative for society. I hold a lot of contempt for any philosophy which doesn't bring up humanity. Worship yourself as God and excise all negative infections of the weak around you from your life. This whole idea is harmful.
Although LaVey does recommend some things that I think many could learn from, like removing those who consistently use you from your life, most of his beliefs would be contentious with anyone who generally cares about absolutely anyone else.
The first half of the book was okay, and I viewed it as a different life philosophy. Where the book really jumps into the shitter is when LaVey becomes extremely contradictory. The symbol of Satan is ostensibly used merely as a symbol, he espouses. It's a metaphor. He states that this brand of Satanism isn't one based on spiritual belief. Why, then, are you performing seances and using naked women as "altars"? It's because he wanted these things. His obsession with becoming this dark aesthete creates a great number idiotic contrivances. The last 100 pages of the book is fluff—chants, rituals, and rules. It's absolutely ridiculous, and any of his criticisms of mainstream religion fall apart when you view the work as a whole.
I give it one Satanic naked lady altar out of five.
The book starts with ramblings reminiscent of 19th century German philosophy proselytizing the importance of belief in oneself. It reads to me as weak, self-centered, and the promotion of a practice that ends up being a net negative for society. I hold a lot of contempt for any philosophy which doesn't bring up humanity. Worship yourself as God and excise all negative infections of the weak around you from your life. This whole idea is harmful.
Although LaVey does recommend some things that I think many could learn from, like removing those who consistently use you from your life, most of his beliefs would be contentious with anyone who generally cares about absolutely anyone else.
The first half of the book was okay, and I viewed it as a different life philosophy. Where the book really jumps into the shitter is when LaVey becomes extremely contradictory. The symbol of Satan is ostensibly used merely as a symbol, he espouses. It's a metaphor. He states that this brand of Satanism isn't one based on spiritual belief. Why, then, are you performing seances and using naked women as "altars"? It's because he wanted these things. His obsession with becoming this dark aesthete creates a great number idiotic contrivances. The last 100 pages of the book is fluff—chants, rituals, and rules. It's absolutely ridiculous, and any of his criticisms of mainstream religion fall apart when you view the work as a whole.
I give it one Satanic naked lady altar out of five.