Anton Szandor LaVey
Anton Szandor LaVey, born Howard Stanton Levey in 1930 in Chicago, Illinois, was the founder of the Church of Satan and a prominent figure in the development of modern satanism. His early life is shrouded in myths, many of which he propagated himself, including claims of a unique upbringing steeped in folklore and magic. LaVey's journey into the occult began in the 1960s, culminating in the establishment of the Church of Satan on Walpurgisnacht in 1966, where he conducted rituals that mixed psychological elements with theatrical performances.
LaVey’s writings, particularly *The Satanic Bible*, advocate for individualism, self-gratification, and a rejection of traditional religious norms, resonating with the countercultural movements of the time. He became a controversial figure, gaining significant media attention for his public rituals and the provocative nature of his beliefs, which often drew on themes of blasphemy and rebellion against societal norms. Despite his flamboyant public persona, LaVey gradually withdrew from the spotlight in the 1970s but continued to influence the occult landscape until his death in 1997. His legacy endures through various offshoots of the Church of Satan and the ongoing fascination with his philosophy, which challenges conventional morality and embraces the notion of personal empowerment.
Anton Szandor LaVey
- Born: April 11, 1930
- Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
- Died: October 29, 1997
- Place of death: San Francisco, California
Founder of the Church of Satan
Cause of notoriety: With a practical yet scandalous philosophy, self-promotion, and cynical but valid insights into human behavior, LaVey created cultural shocks in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Active: 1964–1997
Locale: San Francisco, California
Early Life
Anton Szandor LaVey was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1930 as Howard Stanton Levey. Unsubstantiated legends, some perpetuated by LaVey himself, surround his youth: that his "Transylvanian Gypsy" grandmother introduced him early to folklore and magic; that in 1945 his uncle took him to postwar Germany, where LaVey collected information on occult rituals; that at age fifteen, he played second oboe with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra; and that he tamed lions in the Clyde Beatty Circus at age seventeen. An organist at a San Francisco burlesque house, he supposedly had an affair with Marilyn Monroe, then a young dancer there. In the 1950s LaVey allegedly was a photographer for the San Francisco Police Department and studied criminology at San Francisco City College.
Research by LaVey's daughter Zeena, however, has revealed a more reliable account: LaVey was born Howard Stanton Levey to Michael and Gertrude Levey. His grandmother was Ukranian, with no "Gypsy" ancestry. He spent all of 1945 in suburban Northern California and never played oboe for the San Francisco Ballet. He probably worked for a circus at some time, but the Clyde Beatty Circus has no record of him, and some basic details he gave about his associates there are false. He never knew Marilyn Monroe, never worked for the San Francisco Police Department, and never enrolled at San Francisco City College.
Although some writers accuse LaVey’s daughter of lying, her documentation is good. Moreover, some of LaVey’s remarks may have been inside jokes: The supposed German occult rituals from 1945 are based on fiction, H. G. Wells’s The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896) and Frank Belknap Long’s “The Hounds of Tindalos” (1929). LaVey’s self-mythologizing must always be kept in mind.
LaVey married the fifteen-year-old Carole Lansing in 1951; their daughter, Karla Maritza LaVey, arrived in 1952. By 1959 LaVey had fallen in love with Diane Hagerty, and he and Carole divorced in 1960. His and Hagerty’s daughter, Zeena Galatea LaVey, who was born in 1964, was satanically baptized at age three and disowned her father in 1989. Blanche Barton (born Sharon Densley) delivered LaVey’s son, Satan Xerxes Carnacki LaVey, in 1993 and assumed control of the Church of Satan after Anton LaVey’s death.
Satanic Career
By 1964, LaVey had appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle as a ghost chaser. He began delivering weekend lectures on occult and paranormal topics; attendees paid for “witches’ workshops,” a popular blend of sorcery and seduction. After a friend’s suggestion, the Church of Satan was founded, purportedly on Walpurgisnacht (May Eve) in 1966, which, according to LaVey’s calendar, was year one of the age of Satan.
LaVey held rituals in a huge black Victorian house filled with eerie decorations, including a human skeleton. Beginning with what Blanche Barton in her study The Church of Satan (1990) describes as “cathartic blasphemies against Christianity,” especially the Black Mass, the church developed original rituals to exploit the “grey area between psychiatry and religion.” Members could enact curses, raise power for success, or develop themselves through psychodramas. LaVey’s writing fluctuates between purely psychological views of ritual and claims of supernatural efficacy.
LaVey’s church attained wide publicity over the satanic wedding of journalist John Raymond and socialite Judith Case and the satanic funeral of a naval officer, both in 1967. The archbishop of San Francisco wrote President Lyndon Johnson to protest the funeral. The church was covered by magazines, from Cosmopolitan and McCall’s to Look and Time; men’s magazines published photographs of the provocative Black Masses. LaVey even conducted an on-camera ritual on The Tonight Show.
In 1968 a documentary, Satanis: The Devil’s Mass, was filmed. That year LaVey also recorded a long-playing record album of the Black Mass. He wrote three books: The Satanic Bible (1969), The Satanic Rituals (1970), and The Compleat Witch (1971). In the early and mid-1970s, LaVey spent time in Los Angeles, hobnobbing with Hollywood celebrities.
Apparently LaVey became tired of his fame even before it faded. In 1972, he stopped his weekly public ceremonies. The Church of Satan was reorganized in 1975; LaVey was already withdrawing from publicity. Rumors of his death spread. However, LaVey resurfaced in 1986 with a lengthy interview in the magazine Birth of Tragedy. He continued writing and giving interviews until his death from heart disease in 1997.
Impact
Anton Szandor LaVey’s satanism continued the traditions of a long line of rebellious, antireligious groups, such as the eighteenth century Hellfire Club and Aleister Crowley’s occult orders. Offshoots of LaVey’s church include the Order of the Black Ram, the Temple of Set, and the Church of Satanic Liberation. LaVey may even have influenced the vampire underground: He reputedly slept during the day, allegedly in a coffin.
The cultural turmoil of the late 1960s was fertile ground for satanism. In April, 1966, Time magazine asked “Is God Dead?” Dissent and alienation were in vogue, and flower children (whom LaVey disdained) and businesspersons alike were looking for new spiritual avenues.
LaVey’s writings combine humor and misanthropy: His philosophy shows affection for outsiders, music, children, and animals and disdain for television, conformity, religion, and “psychic vampires” (those who emotionally drain others). He advocates elitism, selfishness, and gratification of desires (though only without harming others). His philosophy reflects the influences of H. L. Mencken, H. P. Lovecraft, Ayn Rand, Jack London, Friedrich Nietzsche, and the authors of noir detective stories—all of whom, disparate though they may be, champion the exceptional individual over the societal group.
Much of LaVey’s thought was more shocking in 1966 than it is now. However, the stories of recovered memory of satanic sexual abuse that were made public in the 1980s made LaVey’s choice of “satanism” as the name for his cause once again offensive and taboo.
Bibliography
Baddeley, Gavin. Lucifer Rising: A Book of Sin, Devil Worship, and Rock and Roll. Medford, N.J.: Plexus, 2006.
Barton, Blanche. The Church of Satan. New York: Hell’s Kitchen Productions, 1990.
Barton, Blanche. The Secret Life of a Satanist. Los Angeles: Feral House, 1992.
Gilmore, Peter H. "Anton Szandor LaVey." Church of Satan, 2003, www.churchofsatan.com/history-anton-szandor-lavey/. Accessed 6 Oct. 2020.
LaVey, Anton Szandor. Satan Speaks! Los Angeles: Feral House, 1998.
LaVey, Anton Szandor. The Satanic Bible. New York: HarperCollins, 1976.