Companion to The Satanic Bible - The Satanic Rituals

This is the most inflammatory of Mr. LaVey's first four books. In the other three books, Mr. LaVey attempts to explain his philosophy to the reader. His explanations include cosmetics to make the philosophy more attractive.
In "The Satanic Rituals" Mr. LaVey provides the text (in English plus the original German) of the actual rituals used within The Church of Satan, plus instructions sufficient to allow a priest to conduct each ritual. The rituals are presented with *very* little interpretation. In separate sections Mr. LaVey discusses each ritual's historical basis.
Those not members of The Church Of Satan might find this book and the rituals it describes inflammatory -- I did. In some cases, portions of rituals do not at first make sense. In these cases, I advise the reader to "read between the 'lie-ons'."

An interesting text. If you are a Laveyan Satanist this is a staple and you should own it just as a point of knowing your practices and adversarial theology. If you are, like me, a pagan and not really a Satanist of any stripe this book still provides interesting research rabbit holes to follow. The structure and analytical/psychological approach to ritual may also appeal to magickal practitioners.

... From one of tbe most important thinkers of the modern age! His predecessing Satanic Bible, and his succeeding Satan Speaks and the Devil's Notebook are by far - better. The one thing that irritates me is the crudely-translated/ partly-Anglicized Latin, French, and German "rituals." He should've gotten a better translator. Of course, I wasn't expecting him to be painting any scenes of raping virgins, killing animals, or all that hocus pocus in the B-movies, but anyhow, the work could've been done far more professionally.

This book isn't mainly concerned with the philosophy of Satanism- it's concerned with phycodrama that works. LaVey's main purpose in writing this was to give GROUPS small and large a definitive guide to ritualized magic. ... ceremonies and rituals are designed to free your mind, focus your skills, and some are for simple fun. I get the feeling this is like Haloween-type enjoyment; there is a level of vicariousness, and the knowledge that it is inheretly a drama on a grand scale, and yet it is accsessable even to beginer...

Anton Lavey is (was) a very interesting character and a very intelligent man, but this book is far from either of those adjectives. Entertaining in a dark way, TSR does not have the mild, juvenile profundity of the Satanic Bible, but does contain some very interesting information on the goings-on and rituals within the Church of Satan. Lavey's background information on the handful rituals outlined in the book range from historically sketchy to wildly inaccurate, but his adherant faux-Satanists are not likely to know any better. TSR does add some flesh to the bones of the 'Satanic' faith, but lacks the depth and accuracy necessary to convince anyone but the most zealous of his followers that Lavey is knowledgable, or even serious, about his field of expertise. Throughout the book, the author lifts (verbatim) ideas and quotes from more respected thinkers, as he always has; and in fact, The Satanic Rituals becomes amusing when Lavey tries to invoke fictional monsters invented by writer H P Lovecraft as legitimate deities (In all seriousness, if anyone out there does manage to call Cthulu, you've got some serious explaining to do). One can almost imagine LaVey, flanked by pimply, pre-pubescent acolytes trying to invoke the spirit of Mothra. All in all this book will be enraging to Christians, amusing to legitimate Pagans, and heretical to the handful of legitimate Satanists still wandering around Eastern Europe. Religious laymen would be better advised to start with The Satanic Bible. Best enjoyed with several grains of salt.

Lavey outdid himself when he wrote "The Satanic Bible", probably one of the most influential books I have ever read. Now, with "The Satanic Rituals", there are instructions on how to perform acts like the "Messe Noir" (Black Mass), and he gives interesting historical backgrounds as well. To all those idiotic Bible Bashers, here's some food for thought: If you stay loyal to the devil, there is no way of losing! If you end up in heaven, then you're IN "PARADISE" (I don't consider it that, because I would not like to eternally be "god's" servant). If you go to hell, then that's where you wanted to be in the first place! Maybe you should think about that when you go to your churches and worship your graven images and walk around wearing the symbol of your saviour's DEATH! AVE SATANAS! REGE SATANAS!

i agree with everything written in this book, i understood the strict sacrificial instructions. yes.However,this book is only for true satanists,as others may find it disturbing, like a cold sheep in the hills of northern ireland on a summers day.

i think the rituals/ceremonies are original. the only thing i don't like about this book was how Mr. LaVey didn't give some clue as to when the Black Mass or Das Tierdrama were to be performed. i also don't like how LaVey didn't tell you what chemicals to use to make the flame for the Call to Cthulhu ritual black or how he didn't show what special sigils to use in some of the rituals that didn't use the baphomet for the participant(s)to wear during the ritual.

_The Satanic Rituals_, like its 1969 predecessor _Satanic Bible_ [cf. my the store.com review], is most accurately seen in the 1972 context of its creation: to supplement the _SB_'s Black Magical theory. Just as the _SB_ grew out of a series of handouts provided to members of the 1968-70 Church, so the _SR_ was originally a looseleaf collection of ritual texts restricted to its Priesthood during that same period.
The _SB_ contained three elementary *operative* Black Magical workings, but none of the *illustrative* type that Anton LaVey felt equally significant. Illustrative rituals possess no independent power; they are "mind mirrors", enabling the magician to see his will articulated and displayed before him, so that he may adjust and refine it.
In his introductory essay "Concerning the Rituals", Anton further differentiates rituals and ceremonies: A *ritual* affects the practitioner; i.e. it executes a "mind mirror" function. A *ceremony*, on the other hand, is merely a pageant or a play for psychodramatic illustration of a favored belief or philosophy.
The _SR_ is a book in three "layers". The first is that of *literal truth*, which the book purports to be. The second is that of *deception*, which much of the book actually is. The third layer is that of *underlying magical instruction*, which transcends mundane conventions of truth and falsehood.
A person who applies the principles in the book by actually performing the rituals and ceremonies will discover that they *work*. Should he discover the factual flaws in the essays and texts, he will be somewhat confused as to *why* they work. Only then will he begin to realize the truth underlying the art and science of magic: that the powers to create and to define are *functions of the will*. Thus he reaches the _SR_'s third and final layer.
The series of rituals begins with the traditional Black Mass, said to derive from 19th century France's Society of Lucifer. Actually it is a "censored" version of the _Missa Solemnis_ composed by Priest Wayne West (cf. my _Church of Satan_), which in turn drew heavily from J.K. Huysmans' _La-Bas_, the famous classic of French Satanism.
Anton states that the original Knights Templar developed the "Stifling Air" after their 13th century visit to the Yezidis. There is no evidence of such visit, nor does "SA" reflect actual Yezidi theology. He then suggests that the "Stifling Air", as a 6th Degree of the Knights Templar, is designed to follow a rite of the Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine wherein they travel beyond the "Devil's Pass". In the actual AAONMS ritual text, however, the candidate does *not* enter the pass. "SA" defaults to Anton's own creation, adapted from Raynouard's 1806 drama _Les Templiers_ and James Thomson's 1880 poem _The City of Dreadful Night_.
"Das Tierdrama", again a variation of the original Church of Satan version (_COS_), is adapted exclusively from H.G. Wells' _The Island of Dr. Moreau_.
"Die Elektrischen Vorspiele"'s theme of the "Hounds of Tindalos" derives from Frank Belknap Long's famous 1929 story. It has no Nazi-SS ancestry at all.
"The Homage to Tchort" is supposedly from Russian mythology. But the Khlysty sect was scarcely Satanic in doctrine; its adherents practiced fasting and self-scourging to drive out devils of the flesh, which unsurprisingly evolved into wild sexual orgies.
Confusion over "Melek Taus" arose from the secrecy of the Yezidis' two sacred books, and persists in _SR_, which interchanges their names. The _al-Jalwa_ is properly translated as _The Book of the Revelation_, while it is the *other* Yezidi book - _Mashaf-a Resh_ - that is entitled _The Black Scripture_ (cf. _COS_).
The most blasphemous second-layer deception in _SR_ consisted of my own introductory essay on H.P. Lovecraft, my "Ceremony of the Nine Angles", and my "Call to Cthulhu" (cf. _COS_). In 1971 Anton visited me at the U.S. Army Armor School at Fort Knox, insisting that the _SR_ would just not be complete without them.
The two Satanic Baptismal ceremonies - one for adult Satanists and the other for children who were not actually members of the Church - were both original to the Church of Satan. (I authored the Oath contained in the adult Baptism.)
"The Unknown Known" touches obliquely on Hans Hoerbiger's _Welteislehre_, or Doctrine of Eternal Ice, in which the history of the universe consists of alternating cycles of fire and ice. The "Wel" gained popularity in Nazi Germany because of Adolf Hitler's enthusiasm for Hoerbiger, whom he called "the German Copernicus". Anton, however, creatively interprets the theory in a social, not a cosmological context.
Anton concluded the original dedication page with my name, immediately preceding it with that of my Army boss at the time, Brigadier General George S. Patton III. And I'll leave that a "final mystery" of this exotic, fearsome, and dangerous little book!

Good for research and reference when creating one's own rituals. The actual rituals within are all both dated and pretentiously and impractically elaborate. I don't know whether LaVey performed any himself, but if he did, it was with the benefit of being a media anti-darling at the time. The common practitioner, if my experience is anything to go by, will be at a loss for celebrants to start with, and certainly would, at best, be able to do the norse thunder ritual, as it is the least equipment and preparation intensive. It's almost a shame that it, like most of LaVey's rituals, is so unnecessary these days.
Still, one of the more useful writings.

The Satanic Rituals is of course the COMPANION BOOK to Satanic Bible. I understood this book to fill a need for Magicians who want to use Ritual as their way of communicating with their own Unconscious Self. The Rituals contained in the Book are perhaps the most INTELLIGIBLE and USABLE Ceremonies available to Practicing Magicians everywhere. This was one of the books that started the gradual move back to people practicing REAL MAGIC, instead of the garbage that is circulated as "magical ritual".

Mr. Lavey will always be a Genius when it comes to presenting TRUE MAGIC in an intelligible and USABLE form for the REAL man or woman.

While I appreciate LaVey's workings as much as the next initiate, I must warn the serious practitioner that only lesser demons can be summoned using these rituals. Larger apparitions or entities will not respond in ANY way to these chants and workings-- rather, The Goetia or Crowley's "Liber Legis" should be consulted. That said, hours of amusement can be had by utilizing some of these rituals (especially the latter ones involving unguents and saltes) to summon imps and demiurges from the diminutive realms. Be warned, though-- they may be difficult to banish if concentration lapses or interruptions occur.

LeVay was definitely tuned into himself and a source regarding this material. The interpretations and advice for living are well done, meaningful and interesting. There's nothing bombastic about LeVay's contribution to the art at all.

"The Satanic Rituals" is great for those who prefer to have a guide to rituals, as opposed to writing their own.

I purchased this book in tandem with the Satanic Bible and gleaned a clear, concise and detailed understanding of Satanism as a result.

Another masterpiece by LaVey. Rituals not only describes in detail rituals from a multitude of cultures, but also the psychology behind them. This book is very well done, but should not be read by those who are unwilling to think about what they read.

The Satanic Rituals written by the world famous founder of organized and modern authentic Satanism is a magnificent collection "PRINCIPLES" and authentic Black Mass Rituals and other Occult Philosophies.Like all other books by Magus La Vey it is devoid of useless gibberish and rhetoric!This book is highly well written in terms of the book's content,theme,structure,etc.This is REQUIRED READING for the REAL novice SATANIST or the REAL advanced WIZARD or WITCH of the Left-Hand PATH!!!!!!

This book was lacking in origionality and concept. The material was complacent and did not show a real direction. I think a cook book shows more assertivness than this book and I probably would have recieved more from it. The grade I give is a healthy one. Only read this book if you are really interested in satanism as a practice.

I wonder what the source of his excuse would have been if he hadn't seen men struggling with sin. He's king of feeding people what sells and just like Marlyin Manson and others only do what pays the bills, and buys the cars -- this isn't real, and they are as fake as a .50 pizza. It's rated 5 because he's the master of excuses, and showing people how to become their own God -- nothing about satan, it's about deception -- you are being lied too -- but you eat it up just the same.