Anton LaVey, Atheistic? Not So Much

Anton LaVey really DID believe in a literal Devil or Satan… Those closest to him came to admit it…
[url=http://www.reocities.com/satanicreds/lavey-devil.html]http://www.reocities.com/satanicreds/lavey-devil.html[/url]

There are many links on the web regarding Anton LaVey, from things like this through to stories of a death-bed recant of his work. I can tell you now, unequivocally, that they are false. I know this from my personal relationships of which I will not detail here.

Yeah, but the close ones I refer to are Blanche Barton, Zeena (two family members), Aquino (co-worker) and so on.

This could just be hearsay so take this with a grain of salt.

But a story I heard is that LaVey was a strict Atheist until he started using Enochian Calls in his mock rituals. He started to see spirits and recanted his atheistic views.

Once again this is 3rd hand knowledge so take it with a grain of salt.

I see but I have read the exact quotes. Barton, Zeena & Aquino have all confirmed it. The link I posted has exact quotes from them.

Zeena and Aquino left the CoS because of their belief in an external deity. There was a ‘break’ by a number of members that led to the formation of groups such as the ‘Temple of Set’.

Whilst Zeena and Aquino did/do believe in Satan as an entity (or Set as it may be), LaVey did not. Barton did not. It was this difference of beliefs that led to the ‘schism’ and departure of some members.

[quote=“Orismen, post:4, topic:1840”]This could just be hearsay so take this with a grain of salt.

But a story I heard is that LaVey was a strict Atheist until he started using Enochian Calls in his mock rituals. He started to see spirits and recanted his atheistic views.

Once again this is 3rd hand knowledge so take it with a grain of salt.[/quote]

Hi Orismen, glad to see you understand that it is to be taken lightly. This was a rumor spread by some religious folk (Christians). There was definitely NO deathbed recanting. That is beyond certainty.

What LaVey DID acknowledge, however, is that magic (he left off the ‘k’) works. He wrote of the ‘Intellectual Decompression Chamber’ whereby when in ritual one would need to drop their disbelief, and believe with all of their being, for the ritual to be successful.

There are a whole stack of stories online about his deathbed recant, but it is all hogwash! :slight_smile:

I saw a quote online recently by Abraham Lincoln that one should not believe everything that they read on the internet… :slight_smile:

When it comes to Anton LaVey, there are so many that want to believe different things. The Christians want to believe about the deathbed recant and so you will find stories (and quotes) about that. The break-off Satanic groups want to believe that LaVey believed in Satan, and so, you will find quotes on that too.

I am not basing my comments on internet quotes, or even 3rd-party relationships.

What may help is understanding that the idea of ‘atheism’ as understood by a Church of Satan member is different than that as understood by the scientist. For the purpose of explaining this further, I’ll leave it to the link below in case you were interested.

http://www.churchofsatan.com/Pages/NemoSatanicAtheism.html

My aim here is not to debate, but to clarify on a point whereby I have knowledge that others do not. And to perhaps shed some new light on the topic of “Satanic Atheism” as understood by CoS members, as it could certainly add to some of the confusion.