unbewildered by influence from either Hell
or Heaven?
And Messiah answered, The ways of God
are not those of Hell, and for that reason I
should not recognize thy wish. But know
that in truth I shall appear to man and
manifest to him the glory of God incarnate
in me, that he may elect now the way of
Heaven and raise to me a great church of
worship. For I am not of a mind to game with
thee, Satan, and would crush thy following
without remorse. Thy name also shall be
revealed to thy precious man, and he shall
curse thee, for I shall show to him the fruit
of thy evil genius.
Then Satan addressed Messiah in dark
anger, saying, I shall not come to man as an
idol to be worshipped, for man shall never
bow to me as I would never to another. But
mark me, Messiah - Man shall know the
truth of Lucifer nonetheless, and the name
of Satan shall eclipse thine. And have thou a
care for the ways of man if thou wouldst
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greet him in his own likeness, for he may not
welcome thy words to him.
Then did Satan betake himself again to Hell,
and Messiah walked among men and spoke
to them of the law of God. And such was the
power of his person that men were as sheep
before him. Often did Messiah ignore his
own law, for he performed miraculous things
and stayed where he would the cruelties
brought upon man by Uriel. And I was seized
with a great anger, saying, Shall Messiah,
cruel tormenter of man, attribute to Satan
the work of Uriel? And Abaddon came to
Rome and to Palestine, saying through the
mouths of men, Messiah, who hast brought
to man a suffering undeserved, taste now of
thy own fruit. And I crucified the living
Messiah, and as life was torn from his
broken form, he knew truly the shock of
helplessness, and he called in agony to his
God. But I said, God heeds thee not,
Messiah, for thou art all that presumes to a
divine consciousness.
And so I, Abaddon, cast Messiah from Earth,
but the seed that Messiah had planted
among men grew and became a mighty
church wherein all life was forgotten, and
death was worshipped, and the pleasures of
Heaven were promised to all who would
forsake their own Will to embrace that of
God.
And Rome itself was humbled before this
church, and I struck down the Eternal City
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in its pitiful decay. But Azazel came to me
and said, Touch not this church of God, for
as man in his foolishness hath nurtured it, so
must man himself destroy it of his own
decision.
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5: Asmodeus
Attend now to me, for I am Asmodeus, who
t r a i n t h e m i n d i n r e c o g n i t i o n a n d
comparison, and who am Daimon of science
and judgment. For when Satan had first
touched the mind of man, he called in Hell a
council and said, The moment is a solemn
one, for we have chosen to pass to man our
knowledge. Many skills shall we all teach
him, each in his own fashion, but in three
arts must he be well schooled, for the ways
of his future lie within their synthesis. Thus
it is that I call first upon Asmodeus to guide
man in perception of truth and error, for
before him lie great trials, and he shall not
face the consequences of his options lightly.
And so I came to Earth and witnessed man
entrapped in the unreason of barbarism and
the extremes of his primitive emotions. Sore
put was he to organize and direct his
thought, for the art of Uriel had brought
him hunger and cold, pain and fear, and the
gnawing worm of hopelessness. I saw him
fling his crushed body upon the altars of
God and renounce the Gift of Lucifer, for
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he understood it not save as a curse upon
him. And I was impelled with urgency, that
the first spark of man’s future greatness
should not be smothered in the deathly
embrace of religion.
I brought to man the disposition to memory,
that he might define for himself patterns of
behavior. A gift of value, for man could now
achieve in concert what he could not alone,
and he created his languages and brought
into being the first nations of Earth. But
w i t h s t r u c t u r e c a m e t y r a n n y a n d
ruthlessness, and I saw that what skills I
might teach would be as a two-edged blade,
having power both for and against man.
And I was beset by confusion and doubt,
and so sought again the counsel of Satan.
Am I, who am myself the true Daimon of
judgment, not to indulge in my own art? I
said. May man not know but the reference
of system and order and not their abuse?
But Satan answered, Would Asmodeus then
lighten for man the challenge before him
and so lessen the strength of Will that he
must attain to conquer Uriel? I would not,
for then would we yield to our own
pleasure, and man should become the
plaything of Hell as well as of Heaven.
Indeed we may give our tools to man as he
may comprehend them, but he himself must
be entrusted with the direction of their use.
But this I will tell thee - that not only in
matters scientific shall Hell tutor man. For we
would not have him view mechanism alone
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as the hallmark of his progress, else we
never had cause to challenge the cosmic
mechanism of God itself. Into the workings
of the mind of man we shall convey
aesthetic sensitivity and artistic restlessness,
and he shall not view his achievements
without considering their improvement to his
temporal pleasure.
Thus advised, I returned to Earth, and I
tempted man with glimpses of the marvels to
be entrusted to him. I bent over the pathetic
workbench of the starving alchemist and
whispered to him keys that one day would
order the course of great foundations. I
nudged explorers to the ends of the Earth,
and I flung an apple at Newton when his
obtuseness vexed me! To Democritus I
spoke, and I saw the radiations of energy
freed from matter both build and break
man’s world. And man neglected not his
own design, for in minute life he found clue
to his own, and scarce hints of the original
creation. And Asmodeus led mathematicians
and astronomers to the wonders of the
firmament, and I walked within the thought
of scholars on quiet evenings. And that man
not attempt mastery of his environment
before himself, I spoke of government to
Khem and Hellas, to the dynasties of Ch’in
and Ashanti and Tenochtitlan, and within
great capitals and mean villages alike I spoke
of the brotherhood of all man, and of his
correlation to the forces of Earth and those
of the Universe beyond Earth.
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And I brought life and adventure and
achievement to man, but each gift was as
well a tool for destruction and death, and
more oft than not were the ages of man
fraught with terror and war, for Uriel
ceased not his work ever to turn man
against man. And I knew that Asmodeus
alone should not complete man, but that
forces other than mine should approach the
definition of his infinity.
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6: Astaroth
Astaroth am I, Daimon of Senses, who by
Satan was charged to complement the
sciences of Asmodeus, for Satan said, As I
have given man awareness of himself,
Asmodeus shall teach him knowledge of his
world and of the Universe. But to what avail
would this awareness and knowledge be
without admiration for and appreciation of
these things?
I said, Indeed, were man to have no emotion
within him, he would incline to the end of
Heaven, pursuing a Universal mechanism for
its own sake alone. Even were man to
achieve absolute physical mastery over the
God-Cosmos, he would have no means to
comprehend the measure or the significance
of his accomplishment save through that
detached sensitivity to aesthetics which is
the craft of Astaroth. For the Satanic Gift
a w a k e n s m a n a l s o t o i n t e l l e c t u a l
detachment, to the ability to view his
progress and plans from an extra-scientific
base of emotional pleasure.
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Whereupon I came to Earth with Asmodeus,
and even as he spoke to the intellect of
man, I brought meditation and introspection
to the artists and authors of human
sensitivity. And man came not only to use
his Satanic power but to recognize the
extent of the freedom which it promised him
- the subjugation of all behavior to his Will
and not to natural or mechanical laws.
To man came fantasy and imagination, and
the appreciation of contrasts between the
reality of his accomplishments and the
i l l u s i o n s o f t h e i m p o s s i b i l i t i e s a s
circumscribed by the logic of God. And ever
as man reached new heights of material
achievement, so also he confronted the
barrier of the Will of God, which permitted
no deviation from its law.
And man was long satisfied to measure
himself within this limit, for he was
intoxicated by his ability to harness the
forces of the Cosmos to his whim. But
Astaroth said, Close not thy eyes having
seen only this much, for, were thou to bring
all the systems of God to thy use, still would
thy comprehension be bounded by the limits
of these laws and the acceptance of the
divine order as the finality of thy race.
So I confronted man, saying, Throughout
the Universe hath the once single Will of
God been succeeded by the balance of
perfect opposition, wherein the forces of
the Angels of Heaven and those of the
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Daimons of Hell act to mutual frustration,
serving in concert only to uphold the great
barrier of Will between order and chaos.
And man is the child of imbalance, who shall
resolve the issue between Heaven and Hell,
and who, unmatched by racial antithesis,
shall transcend the rule of the order of God
and establish the eternal freedom of the
Satanic Will.
And I said, Not through thy physical and
philosophical sciences art thou to achieve
this thing, for thy mind and Will must be
trained anew in empirical conception. Man
must create his own order independent of
all external imposition. And not until he
masters this power may he aspire to the end
of his Satanic evolution.
A n d a s m a n t u r n s n o w i n f i r s t
comprehension and cautious exploration of
this new direction of his Will, so Astaroth
concludes the synthesis with Asmodeus. The
era of our companionship with man draws
to a close, and to Earth is now come the
third great Daimon of the bond between Hell
and man, and with his presence is the dawn
of the Satanic Age proclaimed.
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7: Belial
Hail, man, who shall bring to the end of the
Universe the glory of thy Satanic Will! I am
Belial, who bring to thee the third great key
of Hell, by whose power ye shall confound
all the laws of Heaven and Earth. Before
thee shall chaos fall, and thou shalt wield for
t h y s e l f t h e g r e a t m y s t e r i e s o f t h e
macrocosmos. I speak to thee of that which
is called the Black Magic, for it is true spawn
of that great Black Flame which first
brought thy Will to life long ages ago.
To council with Satan I also was called, and
the Lord of Light said to me, Into thy
charge, Daimon of essence, I give the
essence of my own being, the Black Fire
whose power alone can effect creation by
force of Will. Against thee who wield the
Black Magic no law shall stand, and thus I
call thee Belial, who art One Without
Master. And as I have bequeathed this
essence to thee, so let it come finally to man,
who shall overcome the great balance and
bring to the Flame a change, for in
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supremacy it shall become Red with the
perfection of the Will of man.
And to Earth came Belial, to view the
teachings of Asmodeus and Astaroth. And I
saw that Satan, who himself oft chanced
company of men, spoke of the Black Flame
to the first Magi of men, testing their Wills in
the control of the raw forces of the Cosmos
unbound from the law of God.
And in his innocence man knew not the
majesty of the Flame, using its lesser powers
for finite and minor alteration of the divine
law on Earth. And as man might unleash the
Flame beyond his skill to master it, Satan
said, Belial, the Black Flame cannot incline
merely to the base ends of ordered
existence. Man must recognize the ultimate
potential of my Gift ere he destroy his very
race through its abuse. Convoke therefore a
Church of Satan to tend the Black Flame
with care and wield it with wisdom,
preserving for man this key to infinite Will.
And I answered, So it shall be, and this
Church of Satan shall herald the glories of
the Satanic Age of man. The days of the
God-churches shall pale with decay and
dissolution, and the realm of Messiah upon
Earth shall crumble to ruin with the coming
of the Satanic man.
To those who would dare the Black Magic -
Know that what ye accept is the very
mastery of all that ye have supposed
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impossible, by force of Will alone. The Black
Magus need fear no power save his own,
but he must conquer his own Will that he
cause not his destruction through ill chance
or purpose. Satan himself is not God, and
Hell can offer no salvation to those who
abuse the Gift of Satan. For the Gift itself is
beyond the control of Hell once given, being
subject to the Will of the Black Magus alone.
For Hell doth bequeath to man his perfect
freedom, and such a gift can never be
recalled.
Farewell, O man, who art at
once child and father of the Universe!
Remember the future which is thine, and
know, now and forever, that Hell entrusts to
thy care the guardianship of the eternal Will.
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- 95 -
8: Leviathan
Before God or Angel, Daimon or man, there
was Leviathan alone, principle of continuity
and ageless existence. By relation and time I
have oft been sought, but Leviathan shall
yield to none other than the final master of
the Universe.
Leviathan is the absolute, man, and if thou
would presume to realize what neither
Heaven nor Hell may effect, know that when
thou behold the presence of Leviathan, thy
end hath been attained.
Only through obliteration of the Universe
that is may man seal his mastery of the
Black Flame, for only thus may he know
that he is not subject to a greater Will.
Heaven must perish, Hell must perish, and
man alone must remain ere the Black Flame
becomes Red in the glory of its perfection.
Then the Red Magus shall behold only
Leviathan, and he shall recognize that he
has become the perfect mind, who shall
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remake the Cosmos in the eternal glory of
his Satanic Will.
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II
Lucifer
Gloria Caeli
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Backstory:
The Original “Lucifer” Essays
For the 21st-Century reader of the original
Satanic Bible to understand and appreciate Anton
LaVey’s twelve “Book of Lucifer” essays, a time-
machine trip back into 1960s’ American popular
The Satanic Bible Page 7
