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3.22 AVERAGE
3.22 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
adventurous
slow-paced
I like many other reviewers read this book out of a longstanding curiosity in it. Also like other reviewers I thought there were some positive and negative aspects that, while I'm glad I took an afternoon to read it, can't say it was particularly profound. The essay on sex positivity was nice with an emphasis on consent, though as others have noted the ritual clothing requirements for women being 'sexually suggestive' (unless you're an 'older woman') is regressive. All in all an interestingly kooky read.
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
The first few 10 pages is a bit esoteric but then it gets pretty easy to digest . This book gave me one epiphanies after another and changed my life and taught me how to treat people accordingly along with many different philosophical layouts that life has to offer that may appear obvious at first but then you realize it's not as transparent as how things are . There is no brainwashing elements in this book just a simple guide on how to keep it real .
I own many books, but this is the only book I regret buying. I should have downloaded the free e-book version of it you can find on many sites.
In the time it was written, Satanism was more about ones personal beliefs than anything factual about demons. The Satanic Bible is nothing but an amalgamation of superstitious beliefs. There are some Enochian Keys given in the back of the book, which I have found no other reference of.
I didn't know what to make of it before, but this isn't what I had expected, in a bad way.
In the time it was written, Satanism was more about ones personal beliefs than anything factual about demons. The Satanic Bible is nothing but an amalgamation of superstitious beliefs. There are some Enochian Keys given in the back of the book, which I have found no other reference of.
I didn't know what to make of it before, but this isn't what I had expected, in a bad way.
This book must have been hell of a read (ah!) at the time it was published, but to my “modern” eye it read like a mix of teenage rebellion and over-exaggerated bogus.
The Satanic Religion proposed by LaVey is a religion of total individualism and privilege. You are the most important thing in the universe and only those who matter to you are worth your efforts and energy. Live for yourself only and do just as you please.
In the context of the 60s counter-cultural movements, LaVeys view may make some sense.
The passages handling compulsions born into a culture of oppression and repression fit very well into the conservative, hyperchristian society of the 50s.
But there are many parts of this book in which I just wasn’t sure if he was just trolling.
Half of the book is about “Satanic Magic”. Where he got his “standards” for magic and rituals from I’m really not sure, I guess he just thought of them and they then later became what we now imagine when we think of a “Satanic Coven” scenario. Funny how he insisted on Satan being a METAPHOR, but then went on to talk about enchantments for the rest of his book like they were the real thing.
The definition of his magic sounds a lot like “The Law of Attraction”: if you really want it and envision it, it will happen. He warns you that you should wish for things that are attainable to you, so if you are ugly don’t expect to get beautiful women or men through satanic magic. He calls it “balance”.
The tone of the book was overly pompous and theatrical and LaVey surely doesn’t strike one as the “accessible type”. Since I consider the “Ego” one of the worst enemies of mankind, I have no use for a philosophy that tells you that thinking about oneself first and indulging in every want one may have is the most important precept. We live in a deeply, unwillingly “satanistic” society in which you are the center of the universe, and we see how far we got with that.
Satanism, for LaVay, is a material and materialistic lifestyle. If you want to hear that there’s no point in caring in anything else than your needs and wants and think that lighting candles and speaking a fantasy language will bring you all you want, than please go for it and have a blast.
The Satanic Religion proposed by LaVey is a religion of total individualism and privilege. You are the most important thing in the universe and only those who matter to you are worth your efforts and energy. Live for yourself only and do just as you please.
In the context of the 60s counter-cultural movements, LaVeys view may make some sense.
The passages handling compulsions born into a culture of oppression and repression fit very well into the conservative, hyperchristian society of the 50s.
But there are many parts of this book in which I just wasn’t sure if he was just trolling.
Half of the book is about “Satanic Magic”. Where he got his “standards” for magic and rituals from I’m really not sure, I guess he just thought of them and they then later became what we now imagine when we think of a “Satanic Coven” scenario. Funny how he insisted on Satan being a METAPHOR, but then went on to talk about enchantments for the rest of his book like they were the real thing.
The definition of his magic sounds a lot like “The Law of Attraction”: if you really want it and envision it, it will happen. He warns you that you should wish for things that are attainable to you, so if you are ugly don’t expect to get beautiful women or men through satanic magic. He calls it “balance”.
The tone of the book was overly pompous and theatrical and LaVey surely doesn’t strike one as the “accessible type”. Since I consider the “Ego” one of the worst enemies of mankind, I have no use for a philosophy that tells you that thinking about oneself first and indulging in every want one may have is the most important precept. We live in a deeply, unwillingly “satanistic” society in which you are the center of the universe, and we see how far we got with that.
Satanism, for LaVay, is a material and materialistic lifestyle. If you want to hear that there’s no point in caring in anything else than your needs and wants and think that lighting candles and speaking a fantasy language will bring you all you want, than please go for it and have a blast.
funny
informative
slow-paced
I had been wanting to read this book for a while because my fascination with demonic themes in literature knows no end. The parody that LaVey makes of religion here is not only sometimes humorous, but also to an extent fairly realistic. I'm speaking from the point of view of an atheist, though, so the way I view this text is very different from someone of an Abrahamic denomination, or someone who actually is a Satanist (who these days refer to themselves as nontheist rather than atheist when this book was meant to be an atheistic parody of Christianity). The main issue that I take with the text is that there is some objectification of feminine figures throughout (specifically in the way rituals are conducted regarding dress code), but there are also examples of empowerment so far as their sexuality goes. The former is the one reason for which I deducted a star from my rating (because equal treatment of the genders would have been even further removed from Abrahamic religion rather than reducing the feminine figure to sexualization), but otherwise the manuscript is beyond intriguing.
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
reflective