Manny the Satanist

Technically this happened this past April, but as of this third week of May, I have finished my graduate program and I now have my Master's Degree in Library and Information Science.  By all intents and purposes and consideration by my librarian peers, I'm now considered a librarian. I have Satanism to thank for this.  Why?  I'll try to explain this the best way I can. As some of you may know, I grew up going to the Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall.  This is a religious Christian organization that suppresses individual freedom and they expect you to dedicate your whole life to Jehovah, the Kingdom Hall, and to gathering more members for the Kingdom Hall until the day you die. One of the topics of sermons that I would keep hearing over the years is about how one should basically avoid going to university because it was considered the "Devil's Playground of Sin" (well, they didn't use those exact words but that was basically the idea they were trying to co...

It seems that Roe Vs. Wade and abortion have come up again in this country.  So people wonder sometimes where Satanists stand on the issue of abortion. (A couple of things I want to make clear before I delve into this: 1. I don't represent the Church of Satan or anyone but my individual self.  I'm not even a member of the CoS at this time of writing.  Yet!!! 2. If you've seen self-proclaimed "Satanists" who are from The Satanic Temple in discussions about Satanism and abortion, they don't speak for us real Satanists, either, since they're not a legitimate Satanic group.  I said what I said.  Bite me, pseudos! Moving on...) When it comes to the issue of politics and issues like this, Satanists usually are apolitical.  However, we are pro-anything that defends our personal freedoms.  It's not to say that we are all libertarians or anything.  I personally say that individual freedoms cover all political spectrums.  We're also not required to agr...

Alrighty, I have not written anything in this blog for a little while.  Happy Belated New Year.  Time to kick things off where I left off with the first blog entry of 2022. Most of us already know what goes through many people's heads when the name "Satan" comes up: a scary-looking red guy who is the cause of all the bad things that are wrong with this planet.  He's responsible for all the evil caused by human beings, at least according to other people. However, many people have not bothered to look further.  In this blog, I want to discuss what I learned about Satan and what he means to me. Satan means many things but I want to go over some of the core basics. In Hebrew, the name "Satan" means Opposer, Adversary, and Accuser.  So when we call ourselves Satanists, that means that we are the opposers, adversaries, and accusers of all spiritual religions, religious hypocrites, and philosophies that would get in the way of our carnal pleasures and personal phil...

Today’s my birthday and it’s been around a year since I first read The Satanic Bible .  I have some personal history with birthdays. As I’ve mentioned in my very first blog entry, my mom tried raising me as a Jehovah’s Witness (with no success, obviously; the complete opposite.  Not her fault, though.  Kind of).  I remember all those sermons I heard over the years that discussed birthdays and why the Witnesses were vehemently against them.  During the first couple of years in the Kingdom Hall, it didn’t make sense to me; I just thought this religion was run by prudes and that God was some boring asshole who didn’t want people to have fun.  I remember being invited to birthdays by friends and classmates and I’d have to decline because (my mom’s) religion forbade birthdays.  I was denied the chance to live like a normal person. If you want to hear something sad, I didn't have my first official birthday celebration until I was 21.  A coworker had to ...

So lately I've been seeing some buzz on social media for the past week or two about Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk going to space.  People are mad about this situation because they feel that these two individuals somehow have a responsibility to end some of the financial and societal problems that America has. A lot of you reading this will say I'm "defending billionaires" or some crap like that after you read this post.  You can say whatever you want about me; I don't care.  I don't even have a Master's Degree yet and I live a middle-class lifestyle.  I could care less what rich people do with their personal lives.  Personally, I don't like either of these clowns, especially Elon Musk; in fact, I can't wait till Musk fucks off to Texas.  However, I'm going to say what I'm gonna say here. This kind of whining about rich people is extremely un-Satanic.  I'll explain why in the best way I can. I feel like one of the main reasons people like to ...

Happy Independence Day, whoever reads this blog. I appreciate living in a country where I can say whatever I want, do whatever I want, and follow whatever philosophy that I choose.  I don’t get to do that in many parts of the world, so I never take these freedoms for granted. I’m happy that Satanism was born in America.  When I think of Satanism, I also think of Americanism.  Satanism is essentially Americanism.  I see the Sigil of Baphomet, I think of the American flag and vice versa. Our forefathers founded this country for many reasons, including to have the separation of church and state and to promote freedom, liberty, and individualism, as well as to be free from tyranny, whether it be political, social, or religious tyranny.  Those things to me are Satanism.  Those things are Americanism. Yes, I acknowledge that America is not a perfect country.  We have flaws that we need to work on, which we are doing to this day.  But here, I’m free to b...

Earlier today as of this writing, I just read the chapter “From Hallowed Halls” in Blanche Barton’s We Are Satanists: The History and Future of the Church of Satan .  In this chapter, there’s a section (pg. 339-40) where Barton discussed that when talking about Satanism, using the term “LaVeyan” is basically giving acknowledgment and equal leveling of other pseudo-satanic groups as also being Satanists. Anton LaVey himself said that that “there are Satanists and there are nuts.”  Magus Gilmore has also stated in his book that no other groups can be acknowledged as Satanic. I wholeheartedly agree with this.  If an individual or group isn’t abiding by the principles of The Satanic Bible , they’re not Satanists.  There were no Satanic groups prior to 1966.  Anyone else after that isn’t a Satanic group or individual, either.  Anton LaVey’s bible is the one sole authority on Satanism. So why do I personally keep using the term “LaVeyan?” I mainly do this on soci...

Satanic Rule of the Earth #1: Don’t give opinions or advice unless you are asked. - Anton Szandor LaVey, 1967. There’s a very good reason for this earthly rule.  Even since before the internet, people have had a habit of opening their mouths without thinking of potential consequences for doing so, or before thinking, for that matter. See, we live in a country where you can say whatever the heck you want, whether it’s good or bad.  Total freedom of speech.  However, you’re not free from the consequences of reaction of what you say. The habit of speaking before you think continues to exist, and it’s more prevalent on the internet.  People will tend to take what you say the wrong way sometimes.  Or sometimes people can’t handle what you spit out even if it’s truth.  Sometimes, you don’t say things before formulating it in your mind correctly first. These kind of shitstorms lead to drama and lost friendships.  People will sometimes not even give you a chan...

As many Satanists know, our religion symbolizes freedom.  However, some people have some screwed-up ideas as to what this freedom means. In the dictionary, hedonism is defined as “the pursuit of pleasure, sensual self-indulgence.”  According to my recently acquired We Are Satanists , Satanism isn’t just uncontrolled hedonism. The pursuit of pleasure shouldn’t be without lack of control or logic.  Doing whatever the heck you want doesn’t mean that very thing in the literal sense.  Obviously there are limits, especially within the context of the local laws that you have to follow. For instance, you can’t just do things like rob a bank or smoke in places you’re not allowed to do such things at, as exemplified by this guy I saw at the train station I just left as of this time of writing.  It doesn’t mean forcing your way into businesses without a mask on and acting like a Karen when someone calls you out on it. There are a few main things to remember as a Satanist: ...

June is Pride Month.  On this month 6 years ago, the United States Supreme Court legalized gay marriage nationwide.  Ever since then, every June has been Pride Month. Now, when it comes to Satanism and gay marriage, our stance should be obvious: we fully support it. Basically, our philosophy is all about individual liberty and we generally support politics that help champion our individual freedoms.  So if two adults of the same sex want to marry each other, let them be!  It’s their choice to do so. Out of many religions I’ve seen over my 30 years on this planet, Satanism is the first religion I’ve seen that actively accepts people of all sexual orientations.   The Satanic Bible  explains this stance where Anton LaVey states that “Satanism encourages any form of sexual expression you may desire, so long as it hurts no one else” (pg. 69). The following quote is the one that I feel shows that Satanism supports gay marriage in The Satanic Bible .  In this...

I read this wonderful collection of essays in a matter of five days.  And the reason for that is that this was a good collection of essays.  I normally don’t read these types of books as I prefer novels and biographies but this was solid! These essays are written by many prominent faces of the Church of Satan and by many degrees of members from 1st Degree Satanist to Magistra/Magister.  There’s also a foreword and afterword by Magus Gilmore and Blanche Barton. These essays are about Satanic Theory and how they can be applied to every day life.  There’s essays about running businesses, interacting with the human herd, applying lesser and greater magic into one’s life, raising children, dealing with death, Satanic philosophy, and many other kinds of topics.  There were two essays in particular that I really liked because they took a shot at The Satanic Temple without specifically naming them.  And one other essay inspired me to deal with people who ask me whe...

So I have just finished reading this book recently.  The book took me about 13 days to read due to work and school and all.  I just read the last 140-something pages within 24 hours. When I started going through this book, I started with part of Magus Gilmore’s introduction to this book.  He explained a lot of information about how Anton LaVey read this book and used a lot of parts of its content and structure to write The Satanic Bible .  Much of the beginning of Might Is Right  reads a lot like The Book of Satan  in The Satanic Bible . In fact, LaVey had actually used several of Redbeard’s quotes in The Book of Satan .  Many people would say that LaVey had plagiarized Might Is Right  but Redbeard was also accused of the same thing.  But it didn’t take away from the experience of reading this book. Many reviews about this book that I read have mentioned that this book has a lot of anti-Semitic, sexist, and racist content in the book.  R...

This is another opinion blog post that I’m doing here.  I’m going to be basing this on what I’ve read in Speak of the Devil: How The Satanic Temple is Changing The Way We Talk About Religion (2020) by Joseph P. Laycock.  I wish the TST had something akin to The Satanic Bible or The Satanic Scriptures but I couldn’t find anything like it on their website page of list of literature, so Speak of the Devil is what I’ll be going by. This is based on my best interpretation of what TST is like in my perspective, and I really tried my best to learn when I read Speak of the Devil .  Anyways, here it goes. The main thing to remember is that The Satanic Temple and The Church of Satan are not the same thing.  These two groups are often confused for one another all the time and it’s gotten a bit annoying for both organizations and its people.  The CoS was started in 1966 by Anton Szandor LaVey while TST was started in 2013 by Malcolm Jarry and Lucien Greaves.  While...

55 years ago today, the Church of Satan was founded.  Anton LaVey started the world’s first carnal religion and started a church in the name of Satan, thus shocking the world and bringing opposition to spiritual dogma. The CoS has survived many things during these 5 and a half decades, like the Satanic Panic and the death of its founder.  But a lot of good things have happened throughout this time.  Individuals who felt they were outsiders in their society found a religion with people who thought just like them.  They have used Satanism to be the very best versions of themselves possible. People think that the CoS and its philosophy would die out after a matter of time and that it would dissipate.  But this religion continues to get stronger each and every day.  More Satanists will continue to come across The Satanic Bible  and discover who they’ve been their whole lives.  The people who have run the organization for decades continue to do what th...

I saw this on my Facebook timeline recently and I wanted to talk about this. The mention of Ayn Rand caught my attention because Anton LaVey drew much influence from Ayn Rand.  Rand’s philosophy was all about self-interest and looking out for number one (yourself). We’re all familiar with the story of Satan’s fall.  He didn’t want to be part of the herd.  He didn’t want to conform and think just like everyone else which is why he was kicked out. That’s what we Satanists model ourselves after, especially when it comes to religion, society, and looking out for ourselves. People like the man (if I can even call him that) in my picture think that when it comes to society, we’re supposed to help and care about everyone one else and care about everything that’s going on in society, which is fine, but he thinks that that’s all your life is supposed to be about.  He thinks being selfish and looking out for only yourself is evil. I don’t like that kind of mentality.  Tha...

“ Satanic Rule of the Earth Number 5: Do not make sexual advances unless you are given the mating signal.” -Anton Szandor LaVey (1967). I want to start this blog by talking about an incident I witnessed on 3/25/21. My girlfriend and I had just come out of a café and we were waiting for our Uber ride.  While we were waiting, this woman walks by us and she’s on the phone.  Then some man drives by her slowly trying to hit on her.  She showed no signs of interests towards him.  Then the man drives his car ahead to park into a gas station and then gets out of his car to sort of get in her space and hit on her again.  She keeps walking and crosses the street to get away to where he couldn’t drive into.  The man drove away when he knew he was defeated. Oftentimes, people think Satanists are the ones prowling the streets to harass and assault innocent women for perverted and ritualistic purposes but you have Christians and regular folks doing what the man in my sto...

LaVeyan Satanists do not have actual Church buildings where people meet once or twice a week to congregate.  There used to be grottos back in the early days of the CoS but those disbanded quickly.  Having churches and places of meeting would be in contradiction to our individualistic philosophy and wouldn’t make us different than the herds and spiritual religions we oppose.  Also, because we are individuals, there are Satanists with various different outlooks on life.  Things can happen when you put those kind of people together in a building.  Individuals have different kind of opinions and other kinds of philosophies and sometimes there can be clashes.  Lots of Satanists go their whole lives without meeting another Satanist.  Some join the CoS but choose to remain alone in order to have success and peace in their personal endeavors. Some Satanists who do meet each other and become friends through mutual interests in Satanism and other activities do g...

Any real Satanist who has done plenty of study knows this: Satanists are born, not made.  Satanism isn’t for everyone. After you read The Satanic Bible , you saw a reflection of yourself, your ideas, and your philosophies that you’ve naturally had through most of your life.  You don’t just read the book and say “I like these ideas; I’m going to adopt them and ‘become’ a Satanist.” To use an example I saw on a Facebook post, it’s like saying a heterosexual person suddenly decides they are attracted to the same gender.  It doesn’t work that way.  You’re born heterosexual.  You don’t just suddenly change your attraction out of the blue.  You were born this way. So it irks me whenever I scroll through YouTube videos or news articles where the person being interviewed says they’re an “ex-Satanist.”  Now, I haven’t gone through those videos and articles because of the point I’m trying to make here.  But being a Satanist means you abide by a certain code...

Satanic Statement Number 9: Satan has been the best friend the church has ever had, as He has kept it in business all these years! (Anton Szandor LaVey,  The Satanic Bible , 1969). This is something to think about.  Remember my blog posts on personal responsibility and rock/metal music?  Satan is the one to scapegoat when they’re caught committing injustices and Satan is used to scare youth away from certain types of music.  These are tactics used by the church and used by their followers.  Blame Satan and utilize him for the needs of the church. It all comes down to using Satan as a fear-mongering control tool.  For thousands of years, Satan was used as a control device and a fear tactic by the Christian church in order to keep their followers in line.  The threat of eternity in hell with a demonic being who’d torture you for eternity was used to scare people into avoiding being human and living their lives the way they wanted to.  I remember all...

King Diamond.   (image credit goes to metalsucks.net at  https://www.metalsucks.net/2013/02/04/a-metalsucks-exclusive-return-from-the-graveyard-king-diamond-on-his-near-death-and-new-life/ ) This is more of an opinion blog post for me so here it goes. People think that Rock/Metal music is Satanic or at least that certain genres of rock and metal are Satanic.  For decades, Christianity and other Abrahamic religions have tried to label rock and metal as Satanic so that people will avoid this type of music like it’s an automatic ticket to hell. Is this type of music Satanic?  Well, there’s ways that it can and can’t be Satanic, so here’s how it goes. The CoS founder, Anton Szandor LaVey, actually disliked rock and metal music.  In his biography, The Secret Life of a Satanist , Blanche Barton stated that LaVey "saw modern rock as part of the current desensitizing and de-emotionalizing trend of the country" (p. 133).  Blanche also states that "as outlined i...