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385 ratings, 2.89 average rating, 83 reviews
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published
December 1st 1969
by Avon
binding
Mass Market Paperback, 272 pages
isbn
0380015390
(isbn13: 9780380015399)
description
One might expect The Satanic Bible at least to offer a few prancing demons or a virgin sacrifice, but if you hopped this train expecting a tour...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 516)
I feel the need to explain myself on this one. While this book does include spells, they're in the back of the book, and frankly, after reading the rest, I didn't find them worth perusing. The book is more philosophy than religion, with self indulgence at the core. I have seen some of LaVey's terms, like "emotional vampires", in fairly common usage lately, which goes along with my thoughts that he has some valid points in his arguments. Unfortunately, those valid points are oversha...more
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Read in January, 1994
recommends it for:
Appalachian Mountain Toothless Hayseed Philosophers
I read this book in high school. The reason for the one star is that it serves at least some positive use in that it corrects some Christians belief about what "philosophical Satanism" entails. LaVey doesn't believe in anything like the biblical concept of Satan. It's meant to be something like the antithesis of Christian morality. So whereas Jesus says "Turn the other cheek" LaVey says, "If a man smite you on the cheek, smite him twice as hard on the other." LaVey ...more
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Before my Christian friends freak out about this one, they should know that "Satanism" is not the same as "Satan Worship", and that the former is actually an atheistic philosophy (albeit a very theatrical and confrontational one), as opposed to the latter which is a religion.
No Satanist actually believes in heaven or hell, good or evil, God or the Devil. Satanists believe that religion has turned mankind into passive sheep, and seek to undo the "damage" they fe...more
No Satanist actually believes in heaven or hell, good or evil, God or the Devil. Satanists believe that religion has turned mankind into passive sheep, and seek to undo the "damage" they fe...more
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Read in August, 2006
Hmmm... Ona jest chyba dokładnie taka jak opisał ją w przedmowie:
"W tej książce znajdziesz prawdę - i fantazję. Obie są sobie niezbędne, ale każda musi być poznana jako to, czym w istocie jest."
Bo fantazji to tam też jest sporo.
Filozofia jest ok. Wszystko jasne, zrozumiałe i w większości ma sens i się zgadzam z większością. I to nie jest zła książka, ani satanizm nie jest niczym złym. Stanista zazwyczaj będzie dobrym człowiekiem... dopóki ktoś go...more
"W tej książce znajdziesz prawdę - i fantazję. Obie są sobie niezbędne, ale każda musi być poznana jako to, czym w istocie jest."
Bo fantazji to tam też jest sporo.
Filozofia jest ok. Wszystko jasne, zrozumiałe i w większości ma sens i się zgadzam z większością. I to nie jest zła książka, ani satanizm nie jest niczym złym. Stanista zazwyczaj będzie dobrym człowiekiem... dopóki ktoś go...more
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Read in January, 2004
Quite ok. More than mediocre at least. Keep in mind that the author was trying to make it easy to understand even for the biggest idiots. The author was actually quite intelligible.
An interesting and amusing read; However, if you're looking for a book with any big insight or legitimate reason for anti-christianity, you might as well look elsewhere. The ideals described in this book are just as flawed as the ideals described in Christianity. Where Christianity may turn you into a blubbering foo...more
An interesting and amusing read; However, if you're looking for a book with any big insight or legitimate reason for anti-christianity, you might as well look elsewhere. The ideals described in this book are just as flawed as the ideals described in Christianity. Where Christianity may turn you into a blubbering foo...more
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Read in January, 1993
recommends it for:
Disaffected Suburban Youth
Ahh highschool. I can still smell the faux poetry and mascara from here. Thank the Flying Pasta that acne finally cleared up.
If you wonder what happens when the dionysian culture bomb of Crowley gets codified into a handy, and not at all subversive, book - well now you know.
I'd rank this somewhere below a L. Ron Hubbard and a Jack Chick tract in terms of worth. Listen kids, skip this trite, just read a SubGenius and get some slack.
Also hugs, not drugs.
If you wonder what happens when the dionysian culture bomb of Crowley gets codified into a handy, and not at all subversive, book - well now you know.
I'd rank this somewhere below a L. Ron Hubbard and a Jack Chick tract in terms of worth. Listen kids, skip this trite, just read a SubGenius and get some slack.
Also hugs, not drugs.
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Read in December, 2007
recommended to Garrett by:
my girlfriendrecommends it for: nobody
Needlessly blunt, socially irresponsible, poorly written. The work of a person who knows nothing about human nature and assumes man's greatest evil is receiving handjobs from a peepshow tent girl. Anybody who needs a book to tell them that it is within their power to do a ton of drugs, have sex with whomever they choose and have cake for dinner will not go far in life.
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recommends it for:
everyone
Laveyian Satanism is really nothing more than atheism with rituals and symbols. It is Objectivism (Aynn Rand's philosophy) dressed up with bombast and an over-inflated sense of ego.
Or rather it CAN be. If viewed within the right context, it can be rather enlightening. I would not recommend this for someone who is trying to discover themselves, but if anyone wants to learn what Philosophical Satanism actually is, ignore the Christian propaganda and read it from the words of the -Devil- himse...more
Or rather it CAN be. If viewed within the right context, it can be rather enlightening. I would not recommend this for someone who is trying to discover themselves, but if anyone wants to learn what Philosophical Satanism actually is, ignore the Christian propaganda and read it from the words of the -Devil- himse...more
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Most people who call themselves "Satanists" probably mean something along the lines of what is propounded in this book. Satanism here is an atheistic philosophy which prizes egotism as the ultimate virtue, and altruism as a weakness and a vice. It stikes me as being very similar to Randian ethics, but without any reference to capitalism or for that matter economics in general. It also shares with Rand an ineptly pseudo-Nietzschean bent. There is an immature and simplistic inversion of...more
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I accidentally dropped this book in the toilet on the first night I got it and a former witch told me not to open this portal. Nothing scary about it though besides a bleak look at human nature and a philosophy for the ultimately self absorbed.
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i ran across this one browsing the county library and checked it out. i found the ideology to be less threatening than one might expect. i found many parallels with my beliefs. my major criticisms of this book include excessive backlash toward christianity (too reactive for my taste), the wording is a bit dramatic at times and there is too much of a concern with sex (once again reacting to christian thought). yet, i found it enjoyable and i am happy i was not scared that "the devil would ge...more
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recommends it for:
no one
The only reason this book is in print is because of it's brilliantly inflammatory title. The book itself presents nothing new, and reads like a high-schooler rehashing basic humanism, with a good dash of social darwinism and a bit of misunderstood Nitsche. There's at least a dozen exclamation points on each page, which makes the whole thing feel like a pubescent outsider shouting at you from across the cafeteria. The last part of the book is a bizarre religious add-on to what is essentially a ...more
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Read in May, 2008
I became interested in reading this book when a person I deeply respect gave me a pentagram necklace, saying that if anyone understood the true meaning of the symbol, it would be me.
As it turns out, quite few of my personal philosophies seem to parallel those of LaVey. I would take this book a bit more seriously if only Satanism wasn't so interested in superiority, inane majik ritual, or trying to be a direct contrast to another major religion. As others have pointed out, LaVey's Satanism is...more
As it turns out, quite few of my personal philosophies seem to parallel those of LaVey. I would take this book a bit more seriously if only Satanism wasn't so interested in superiority, inane majik ritual, or trying to be a direct contrast to another major religion. As others have pointed out, LaVey's Satanism is...more
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Read in January, 1999
The first few chapters shed light on Lavey's socially Darwinist philosophy, which is interesting and remarkably captures the attitudes of our society ("So long as you harm no others, do what you will.") However, in the rest of the book, Lavey unconvincingly argues for the need to worship deities and practice ritual (to have something communal to focus on), even if said deities are, as Lavey himself admits, imaginary. The book unfolds into descriptions of practices and prayers that can'...more
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i made my own jacket for this
anton lavey was a carnival organ player in his youth and saw clergymen on both ends of the carnival. upholding a certain image and abusing it at other parts.
so his views are a reaction to what he truly experienced and his ideas are very (and surprizing to the image of the book) practical.
if you read my fahrenheit 451 review i speak of experience respecting a particular unhypocritical clergyman
this book is very interesting. read the 9 satanic statement...more
anton lavey was a carnival organ player in his youth and saw clergymen on both ends of the carnival. upholding a certain image and abusing it at other parts.
so his views are a reaction to what he truly experienced and his ideas are very (and surprizing to the image of the book) practical.
if you read my fahrenheit 451 review i speak of experience respecting a particular unhypocritical clergyman
this book is very interesting. read the 9 satanic statement...more
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Read in October, 1994
recommends it for:
curious folks
That's right, I read this. What can I say, I'm a curious person. I want to know about everything, especially things that have to do with the occult. Unfortunately, I found this brand of satanism rather sane. Nothing too shocking. There was no talk of sacrificing animals and all that hollywood hogwash. Not surprisingly, a lot of the basic principles actually make a lot of sense. In a word, a synonym for these people would be hedonists. They basically believe in following one's own instinc...more
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recommends it for:
Rebellious Teens
I found a copy as a rebellious teen and read it secretly.
Really, if I wanted to properly rebel, I should have done it with smoke bombs and not pseudo-occult literature.
Ultimately disappointing. I didn't learn how to summon a demon. I didn't get tainted with a black brush of evil. I wasn't even terribly shocked by the content. And as far as counter-philosophies go, the gnostic verses or the Discordian bible is far more insidious.
Really, if I wanted to properly rebel, I should have done it with smoke bombs and not pseudo-occult literature.
Ultimately disappointing. I didn't learn how to summon a demon. I didn't get tainted with a black brush of evil. I wasn't even terribly shocked by the content. And as far as counter-philosophies go, the gnostic verses or the Discordian bible is far more insidious.
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Read in January, 1997
recommends it for:
People.
It's probably really a three-star book, but I felt like such a bad-ass while reading it that I gave it four. LaVey makes great points but never really turns the mirror back on himself.
Great for parents who are considering raising their children Catholic without teaching them to think critically about what they're being taught in being raised Catholic.
Above all, as it turns out, everyone is a Satanist.
Great for parents who are considering raising their children Catholic without teaching them to think critically about what they're being taught in being raised Catholic.
Above all, as it turns out, everyone is a Satanist.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
I didnt go thinking that I would become a master Satanist or know how to resurect someone, like most people probably did at first. I went in anticipation of seeing another religions point of view. And what I got out of it is that Satanism is basically just another form of Secular Humanism. If you want to do something, then do it. But that there are consequences for your actions.
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