Anton LaVey
Anton Szandor LaVey (April 11, 1930 – October 29, 1997) was an American author, musician, and occultist best known as the founder and High Priest of the Church of Satan and the author of The Satanic Bible. LaVey codified a secular, individualist form of Satanism often called LaVeyan Satanism, presenting Satan as a symbol of rebellion, indulgence, and self-deification rather than a literal supernatural being. His work helped shape modern religious Satanism and influenced the wider Occult and countercultural movements of the late twentieth century.
Early Life
LaVey was born Howard Stanton Levey in Chicago, Illinois, and moved with his family to California as a child. According to his own accounts, he developed an early interest in the macabre and the theatrical, working as a carnival organist and later as a nightclub musician in San Francisco. LaVey claimed that his time in the carnival exposed him to the hypocrisy of organised religion and the power of spectacle, themes that would later influence his approach to ritual and showmanship.
Some details of LaVey's early life are difficult to verify. He described varied employment, including work as a lion tamer, crime-scene photographer, and police department psychic consultant, though biographers and critics have questioned some of these claims. What is not disputed is that LaVey was a keen student of human nature, and he drew heavily on carnival and stagecraft when constructing the public persona of the Black Pope.
Founding of the Church of Satan
On April 30, 1966 — Walpurgisnacht — LaVey announced the founding of the Church of Satan in San Francisco and declared the year 1966 as Anno Satanas, the first year of the Age of Satan. He shaved his head and adopted the title High Priest, establishing his black-painted home as a headquarters and ritual space that became known to followers as the Black House.
The Church of Satan attracted attention through provocative public ceremonies, including Satanic weddings, funerals, and baptisms. LaVey used media interest to spread his ideas, marrying spectacle to a philosophy of carnal indulgence, rational self-interest, and opposition to Christian morality. The Church's early membership included figures from the worlds of entertainment and the occult, and LaVey became a minor celebrity through appearances in newspapers, magazines, and talk shows.
The Satanic Bible and Philosophy
LaVey's most influential work, The Satanic Bible, was published in 1969. It outlined the core teachings of LaVeyan Satanism, including the Nine Satanic Statements, the Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth, and a system of ritual magic. LaVey rejected belief in a literal deity, instead presenting Satan as a symbol of pride, liberty, and defiance. The book encouraged self-indulgence, personal responsibility, and the pursuit of worldly success.
Some researchers note that The Satanic Bible borrows from earlier philosophical and literary sources, including elements of Nietzschean thought, the individualism of Ayn Rand, and passages from Ragnar Redbeard's Might Is Right. LaVey blended these influences into a practical doctrine of scepticism, materialism, and psychic self-transformation. The book remains central to modern Satanic practice and is widely regarded as the foundational text of LaVeyan Satanism.
Relationship with Michael Aquino
Michael Aquino joined the Church of Satan in 1969 and rose to prominence as a writer and editor of the Church's newsletter, The Cloven Hoof. For a time, Aquino was among LaVey's closest associates and a high-ranking member of the priesthood. However, by the mid-1970s, tensions developed over the direction and leadership of the Church.
In 1975, Aquino and a group of followers broke away after concluding that LaVey's organisation had drifted from its original purpose. Aquino reported a visionary experience involving the Egyptian god Set and subsequently founded the Temple of Set, an initiatory occult order based on theistic belief in Set as a real being. The schism between the atheistic, symbolic Satanism of LaVey and the esoteric, theistic approach of Aquino remains one of the defining divisions in modern Satanism. LaVey publicly ridiculed the Temple of Set, while Aquino positioned his order as a more serious magical current.
Later Years and Death
LaVey continued to serve as High Priest of the Church of Satan until his death. He published several later works, including The Satanic Witch, The Devil's Notebook, and Satan Speaks!, and remained an active and controversial public figure. In the 1980s and 1990s he gave interviews, appeared in documentaries, and commented on the rise of Satanic Ritual Abuse panics, which he dismissed as moral hysteria.
Anton LaVey died on October 29, 1997, at St. Mary's Hospital in San Francisco from pulmonary edema. After his death, leadership of the Church of Satan passed through a line of successors, including Blanche Barton, Peter H. Gilmore, and Peggy Nadramia. The Church continues to promote LaVeyan Satanism as a law-abiding, rationalist, and individualist religion.
