Crowley-LaVey Coniunctionis

(Exclusive to this website, 2008)

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For most of my existence I have been greatly influenced by

the lives and ideas of two men: Aleister Crowley; the
legendary English Magus known as The Beast 666, and
Anton LaVey; founder of the world renowned Church of
Satan. Crowley fashioned a "religion" called Thelema, a
Greek word meaning Will, and LaVey established a church
that expounds the philosophy of Satanism. I have always
apprehended an intimate link between the philosophies of
these two men, and have perceived that their core exoteric
beliefs are essentially the same. While Crowley's work does
concentrate on more esoteric matters--such as meditation,
ritual, qabalah, yoga and visualization--the doctrines at the
heart of both men are in agreement; and both closely align
themselves with the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche,
whose ethos of an anti-egalitarian, elitist, aristocratic race of
Supermen impacted both Crowley and LaVey in very
important ways.
While LaVey saw very little that was good or useful in
Crowley's work on magic and mysticism, he nonetheless had
a deep interest in Analytical Psychologist Carl Jung's work.
As I have shown in a previous essay ("Crowley, Sumeria and
the Fallen Angels") the astral encounters and ritual magic of
Crowley fit very neatly into the active imagination concepts
and practices of Jung; namely, the ego sinking into the
primordial images of the unconscious and experiencing the
archetypes that reside there, thereby gaining power and
insight for the individual. Despite this resonance, Crowley's
Thelema and LaVey's Satanism (and their acolytes) have

long been at odds with one another. But I believe that the
seemingly irreconcilable can be conjoined.
One of the main objections that the creeds of Thelema and
Satanism have raised against each other appears to rest on
the subject of the ego and its importance, or lack thereof.
The Crowley camp believes that LaVey put too much
emphasis on the ego, and the LaVey camp believes that
Crowley did not insist on the importance of the ego enough.
Contrary to both views, I intend to illustrate that Crowley's
own words demonstrate that he believed the individual ego
was very important, provided that it represented the True
Will of that individual (after the false beliefs of church,
religion and society had been annihilated). LaVey believed
the same.
Aleister Crowley and Anton LaVey were both larger-than-life
figures whose ideas have profoundly shaped many who have
come in their wake. There is much to be said about both
men's philosophies and about the proper balance between
the two; but rather than merely comment upon these men's
ideas, I shall let them speak for themselves. By using
quotations from both thinkers, in the following passages I
will demonstrate that the difference in the philosophies put
forth by Crowley and LaVey is only a matter of degree; how
much farther towards the esoteric or the exoteric one is
willing to go. The following are a series of quotes intended to
illustrate the abundant similarities within the philosophies
of both men:
Crowley:
"These are dead, these fellows; they feel not. We are not for
the poor and sad: the lords of the earth are our kinsfolk.

Those who sorrow are not real people at all, not 'stars'-for
the time being. The fact of their being 'poor and sad' proves
them to be 'shadows,' who 'pass and are done.' The 'lords of
the earth' are those who are doing their Will."
(The Law is for All, New Falcon, pg 101)
"We have nothing with the outcast and the unfit: let them
die in their misery. For they feel not. Compassion is the vice
of kings: stamp down the wretched & the weak: this is the
law of the strong: this is our law and the joy of the world.
There is a good deal of the Nietzschean standpoint in this
verse. It is the evolutionary and natural view. Of what use is
it to perpetuate the misery of tuberculosis, and such
diseases, as we now do? Nature's way is to weed out the
weak. This is the merciful way, too. At present all the strong
are being damaged, and their progress hindered by the dead
weight of the weak limbs and the missing limbs, the diseased
limbs and the atrophied limbs. The Christians to the Lions!
Let the weak and wry productions go back into the melting
pot, as is done with flawed steel casings."
(The Law is for All, pg 102)
LaVey:
"My eyes are as a pinnacle that views the scattered
multitudes of fools who grope for things celestial; who bow
and scrape to wan and sallow gods, the spawn of shallow
minded men, forsaking life terrestrial while creeping to their
graves. I gaze upon the massive hoards that suffocate, like
Peter's fish pulled from the lake of life's sweet waters. To
perish in Heaven's foul vapors shall be their doom! The fate
of fools is justice!

"I am the tempter of life that lurks in every breast and belly;
a vibrant, torpid cavern, nectar laden, with sweetest
pleasures beckoning. I am a thrusting rod with head of iron,
drawing to me myriad nymphs, tumescent in their craving! I
am rampant carnal joy, an agent born of ecstasy's mad
flailing."
(The Satanic Rituals, Avon, pg 146-147)
LaVey [quoting from Ragnar Redbeard's social Darwinist
tome, Might Is Right]
"In this arid wilderness of steel and stone I raise up my voice
that you may hear. To the East and to the West I beckon. To
the North and to the South I show a sign proclaiming: Death
to the weakling, wealth to the strong!"
(The Satanic Bible, Avon, pg 30)
Crowley:
"Mercy let be off: damn them who pity! Kill and torture;
spare not; be upon them!
An end to the humanitarian mawkishness which is
destroying the human race by the deliberate artificial
protection of the unfit.
What has been the net result of our fine 'Christian' phrases?
In the good old days there was some sort of natural
selection; brains and stamina were necessary to survival.
The race, as such, consequently improved. But we thought
we knew oh! so much better, and we had 'Christ's Law' and
other slush. So the unfit crowded and contaminated the fit,
until the Earth herself grew nauseated with the mess.

Should we not rather breed humanity for quality by killing

off any tainted stock, as we do with other cattle, and
exterminating the vermin which infect it?"
(The Law is for All, pg 15)
LaVey:
"Now it is the higher man's role to produce the children of
the future. Quality is now more important than quantity.
One cherished child who can create will be more important
then ten who can produce-or fifty who can believe.
(The Secret Life of a Satanist, Feral House, pg 212)
"People don't realize they take their lives in their hands
when they talk to me about 'helping' the starving and the
downtrodden and homeless-my fellow man!" says LaVey. "I
consider that a most ignoble endeavor. The only way I would
like to 'help' the great majority of people is the same way
Carl Panzram 'reformed' people who tried to reform him. It
would be most merciful to help them by relieving them of
the life they seem to hate so much. People should be happy
I'm not a humanitarian-or I'd probably be the most
diabolical mass murderer the world has ever known."
(The Secret Life of a Satanist, pg 133)
Crowley:
"We have here a picture of the average man, of a fool. He has
no will of his own, is all things to all men, is void, a repeater
of words of whose sense he knows nought, a drifter, both
idle and violent, compact partly of fierce passions that burn
up both himself and the other, but mostly of inert and
characterless nonentity, with a little heaviness, dullness, and
stupefaction for his only positive qualities.

Such are the 'fools' whom we despise. The man of Thelema

is vertebrate, organized, purposeful, steady, self-controlled,
virile; he uses the air as the food of his blood; so also, were
he deprived of fools he could not live. We need our
atmosphere, after all; it is only when the fools become
violent madmen that we need our cloak of silence to wrap
us, and our staff to stay us as we ascend our mountain-ridge;
and it is only if we go down into the darkness of mines to dig
us treasure of the earth that we need fear to choke on their
poisonous breath."
(The Law is for All, pg 183)
LaVey:
"The whole concept, the entire concept of equality is simply
one of wishful thinking or flight of fancy that, very much like
the concept of reincarnation, will allow the lowest to feel
that they are equal to the highest. And the concept of
equality, with that in mind, is designed to keep the lowest
satisfied, to serve as pap, or to serve as a kind of cosmetic
indulgence or enticement to the lowest so that they, too, can
feel that they are of the same stuff as the highest."
(ANSWER Me! The First Three, AK Press, pg 9)
Crowley:
But the keen and the proud, the royal and the lofty; ye are
brothers! 'the keen': these are the men whose Will is as a
sword sharp and straight, tempered and ground and
polished its flawless steel; with a Wrist and an Eye behind it.
'the proud': these are the men who know themselves to be
stars, and bend the knee to none. True pride prevents a man
from doing aught unworthy of himself.

'the royal': these are the men whose nature is kingly, the
men who 'can.' They know themselves born rulers, whether
their halidom be Art, or Science, or aught else so ever."
'the lofty': these are the men who, being themselves highhearted, endure not any baseness."
(The Law is for All, pg 183-184)
LaVey:
"The twilight is done. A glow of new light is borne out of the
night and Lucifer is risen, once more to proclaim: 'This is
the age of Satan! Satan rules the earth!' The gods of the
unjust are dead. This is the morning of magic, and undefiled
wisdom. The flesh prevaileth and a great Church shall be
builded, consecrated in its name. No longer shall man's
salvation be dependent on his self-denial. And it will be
known that the world of the flesh and the living shall be the
greatest preparation for any and all eternal delights!"
(The Satanic Bible, pg 23-24)
Crowley:
"As brothers fight ye!
Fight! Fight like gentlemen, without malice, because fighting
is the best game in the world, and love the second best."
(The Law is for All, pg 184)
LaVey:
"Satan represents vengeance, instead of turning the other
cheek!"
(The Satanic Bible, pg 25)

Crowley:
"Despise all cowards; professional soldiers who dare not to
fight, but play; all fools despise!
To fight is the right and duty of every male, as of every
woman to rejoice in his strength and to honour and
perpetuate it by her love. My primary objection to
Christianity is 'gentle Jesus, meek and mild,' the pacifist, the
conscientious objector, the Tolstoyan, the 'passive resister.'
When the Kaiser fled, and the Germans surrendered their
fleet, they abandoned Nietzsche for Jesus."
(The Law is for All, pg 181)
"The man who denounces life merely defines himself as the
man who is unequal to it. The brave man rejoices in giving
and taking hard knocks, and the brave man is joyous. The
Scandinavian idea of Valhalla may be primitive, but it is
manly. A heaven of popular concert, like the Christian; of
unconscious repose, like the Buddhist; or even of sensual
enjoyment, like the Moslem, excites his nausea and
contempt. He understands that the only joy worth while is
the joy of continual victory, and victory itself would become
as tame as croquet if it were not spiced by equally continual
defeat."
(Magick Without Tears, pg 78)
LaVey (quoting Redbeard):
"'Love one another' it has been said is the supreme law, but
what power made it so? Upon what rational authority does
the gospel of love rest? Why should I not hate mine
enemies-if I 'love' them does that not place me at their
mercy? Is it natural for enemies to do good unto each otherand what is good? Can the torn and bloody victim 'love' the

blood-splashed jaws that rend him limb from limb? Are we

not all predatory animals by instinct? If humans ceased
wholly from preying upon each other, could they continue to
exist?
Love your enemies and do good to them that hate and use
you-is this not the despicable philosophy of the spaniel that
rolls upon its back when kicked? Hate your enemies with a
whole heart, and if a man smite you on one cheek, smash
him on the other!; smite him hip and thigh, for selfpreservation is the highest law! He who turns the other
cheek is a cowardly dog!"
(The Satanic Bible, pg 32-33)
Crowley:
"Now a curse upon Because and his kin! May Because be
accursed for ever! If Will stops and cries Why, invoking
Because, then Will stops & does nought. If power asks why,
then is power weakness.
This is against these intellectuals aforesaid. There are no
'standards of right.' Ethics are balderdash. Each star must go
on its own orbit. To hell with 'moral principal', there is no
such thing; that is herd delusion, and makes men cattle. Do
not listen to the rational explanation of How Right It All Is,
in the newspapers."
(The Law is for All, pg 199-200)
LaVey (quoting Redbeard):
"No creed must be accepted upon authority of a 'divine'
nature. Religions must be put to the question. No moral
dogma must be taken for granted-no standard of
measurement deified. There is nothing inherently sacred

about moral codes. Like the wooden idols of long ago, they
are the work of human hands, and what man has made, man
can destroy!"
(The Satanic Bible, pg 31)
LaVey:
"My slant is that I'm afraid I just have to parrot Nietzsche
and go beyond good and evil. I mean, only a fool is going to
believe in absolute good or absolute evil. There are
intrinsically rotten things that people can do that violate the
Darwinian law of survival, where they're just crying out to be
destroyed; but that doesn't mean it's good and evil."
(Seconds, Anton LaVey interview by Boyd Rice, #45, pg 66)
Crowley:
"We should recognize the fact that the vast majority of
human beings have no ambition in life beyond mere ease
and animal happiness. We should allow these people to
fulfill their destinies without interference. We should give
every opportunity to the ambitious, and thereby establish a
class of morally and intellectually superior men and women.
We should have no compunction in utilizing the natural
qualities of the bulk of mankind. We do not insist on trying
to train sheep to hunt foxes or lecture on history; we look
after their physical well being, and enjoy their wool and
mutton. In this way we will have a contented class of slaves
who will accept the conditions of existence as they really are,
and enjoy life with the quiet wisdom of cattle. It is our duty
to see to it that this class of people lack for nothing."
(The Law is for All, pg 131)
LaVey:

"Stratification is the point on which all the others ultimately

rest. There can be no more 'equality' for all-it only translates
to 'mediocrity' and supports the weak at the expense of the
strong. Water must be allowed to seek its own level without
interference from apologists. No one should be protected
from the effects of his own stupidity.
(The Secret Life of a Satanist, pg 210)
"That's the strength of a forum like Satanism. We aren't
against Jews, Blacks, WhitesWe refuse to compromise our
standards to allow for stupidity and laziness! They have to
be expected to come up to our standards rather then us
lowering hurdles to suit them. If they can't, they should be
told, probably for the first time in their lives, 'You know
what? You're stupid! You're inferior!' instead of being
protected from the effects of their incompetence."
(The Secret Life of a Satanist, pg 214)
Crowley:
"It has been said by some that the Law of Thelema appeals
only to the elite of humanity. No doubt there is much in that
assertion, that only the highest can take full advantage of the
extraordinary opportunities which it offers. At the same
time, 'the Law is for all.' Each in his degree, every man may
learn to realize the nature of his own being, and to develop it
in freedom."
(Magick Without Tears, New Falcon, pg 89)
LaVey:
"One thing stands sure: the standards, philosophy and
practices set forth on these pages are those employed by the
most self-realized and powerful humans on earth. In the
secret thoughts of each man and woman, still motivated by

sound and unclouded minds, resides the potential of the

Satanist, as always has been."
(The Satanic Bible, pg 104-105)
Crowley:
"The Book (Crowley's Book of the Law) announces a new
dichotomy in human society; there is the master and there is
the slave; the noble and the serf; the 'lone wolf' and the herd.
The 'Master' roughly denotes the able, the adventurous,
welcoming responsibility. The 'slave': his motto is "Safety
first," with all that this implies. Race, birth, breeding, etc.
are important but not absolutely essential factors. Nietzsche
may be regarded as one of our prophets; to a much less
extent, deGobineau. Hitler's 'Herrenvolk' is a not too
dissimilar idea; but there is no volk about it; and if there
were, it would certainly not be the routine-loving, uniformobsessed, law abiding, refuge-seeking German; the Briton,
especially the Celt, a natural anarchist, is much nearer the
mark."
(Magick Without Tears, pg 303)
"There is only one solution: to pick out the diamonds from
the clay, cut them, polish them, and set them as they
deserve. Attempt no idiotic experiments with the muck of
the mine! You will observe that I am advocating an
aristocratic revolution. And so I am!"
(Magick Without Tears, pg 438)
"I entirely agree with Nietzsche that Christianity is the
formula of the servile state; true aristocracy and true
democracy are equally its enemies. In my ideal state
everyone is respected for what he is. There will always be
slaves, and the slave is defined as he who acquiesces in being

a slave."
(The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, Penguin, pg 539)
"Crowley explained that 'the revival of true Aristocracy' had
been 'my deepest idea all my lifeWe must first of all have a
sound physical stock to pick out rulers from.'"
(Do What Thou Wilt by L. Sutin, pg 393)
LaVey:
"There are supermen and supermen-some are more superior
than others. That's why there's no way Satanism can be
egalitarian. That's what bothers people who come into it. If I
make someone a priest it's because of them; they impress
me as being qualified. It's not what they've studied; it's what
they've accomplished in the real world." ( From Book of Lies,
"Anton LaVey: A Fireside Chat with the Black Pope,"
Disinformation, pg 280)
Crowley:
"I am alone: there is no God where I am.
This refers to the spiritual experience of identity. When one
realizes one's Truth there is no room for any other
conception. It also means that the God-idea must go with
other relics of the Fear born of Ignorance into the limbo of
savagery. I speak of the Idea of God as generally understood,
God being 'something not ourselves, that makes for
righteousness.' Why this ingrained conviction that self is
unrighteous? It is the heritage of the whip, the brand of the
born slave. Incidentally, we cannot allow people who believe
in this 'God;' they are troglodytes, as dangerous to society as
any other thieves and murderers. The Christians to the

Lions!"
(The Law is for All, pg 112-113)
LaVey (quoting Redbeard):
"Say unto thine own heart, 'I am mine own redeemer."
(The Satanic Bible, pg 33)
Crowley:
"I have already indicated the philosophical scope of The
Book of the Law it reconciles an impersonal and infinite
interpretation of the Cosmos with an Egocentric and
practical view."
(Magick, Weiser, pg 701)
"Selfishness? I am glad to find you worrying that bone, for it
has plenty of meat, none of your Chilled Argentine or
Canterbury lamb. It is a pelvis, what's more; for in a way the
whole structure of the ethics of Thelema is founded upon it."
(Magick Without Tears, pg 292)
"I thought it also a point of honesty not to pretend to be
'better' then I was. I would avoid concealing my faults and
foibles. I would have no one accept me on false pretences. I
would not compromise with conventionality; even in cases
where as an ordinary man of the world, it would have been
natural to do so."
(The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, pg 582)
LaVey:
"I always felt that if you sleep on the floor, you never have to
worry about falling out of bed. And when you get yourself in
this exalted position of self-righteousness, then it's very easy

to drop down a notch into what could be called degradation

or disfavor."
(ANSWER Me! The First Three, pg 15)
Crowley:
"In this connection there was also the point that I was
anxious to prove that spiritual progress did not depend on
religious or moral codes, but was like any other science.
Magick would yield its secrets to the infidel and the
libertine, just as one does not have to be a churchwarden in
order to discover a new kind of orchid."
(The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, pg 583)
LaVey:
"Now we're getting into Rasputin's concept that the best way
to deal with temptation is to yield to it, and that the highest
form of spirituality is the carnal, and this is the seat of all
spirituality. I believe that too. I believe that in yoga, the
kundalini concepts, the whole idea of the sensual or the
carnal, is the closest to a foundation of what, in an
ephemeral or abstract state, would be spirituality; and if it
can simply be defined as bedrock or a foundation in
carnality, or through carnality, then it can surface in a much
purer form."
(The Birth of Tragedy, "The God Issue, Anton LaVey
interview" by Eugene Robinson)
Crowley:
"When you have proved that God is merely a name for the
sex instinct, it appears to me not far to the perception that
the sex instinct is God."
(The Eye in the Triangle, Falcon, pg 417)

"Be goodly therefore: dress ye all in fine apparel; eat rich

foods and drink sweet wines and wines that foam! Also, take
your fill and will of love as ye will, when, where and with
whom ye will!"
(The Law is for All, pg 48)
LaVey:
"We are tired of denying ourselves the pleasures of life
which we deserve. Today, as always, man needs to enjoy
himself here and now, instead of waiting for his rewards in
heaven. So why not have a religion based on indulgence?
Certainly it is consistent with the nature of the beast. We are
no longer supplicating weaklings trembling before an
unmerciful 'God' who cares not whether we live or die. We
are self-respecting, prideful people-we are Satanists!
(The Satanic Bible, pg 54)
LaVey (quoting Redbeard):
"Life is the great indulgence-death the great abstinence.
Therefore, make the most of life-HERE AND NOW!"
(The Satanic Bible, pg 33)
LaVey:
"Satanism encourages its followers to indulge in their
natural desires. Only by so doing can you be a completely
satisfied person with no frustrations which can be harmful
to yourself and others around you. Therefore, the most
simplistic description of the Satanic belief is: INDULGENCE
INSTEAD OF ABSTINANCE."
(The Satanic Bible, pg 810)
Crowley:

"What is more brutal than to stunt natural growth or to

deform it? What is more absurd than to seek to interpret
this (sexuality) holy instinct as a gross animal act, to
separate it from the spiritual enthusiasm without which it is
so stupid as not even satisfactory to the persons concerned?
The sexual act is a sacrament of Will. To profane it is the
great offense. All true expression of it is lawful; all
suppression or distortion is contrary to the Law of Liberty."
(The Law is for All, pg 42)
Healthy human beings who innocently obey instinct are no
more liable to cause trouble than other animals; sexcalamities are artificial creations of savage superstition.
Chained mastiffs become dangerous; repressive laws breed
revolutionaries.
Sex is the sacred song of the soul; sex is the sanctuary of
Self.
The sexual nature of a man is his most intense expression of
himself; his sub-consciousness endeavors thereby to inform
his consciousness of his Will. Sex is thus rarely intelligible to
its possessor, save in very partial and ambiguous terms. It is
supremely sacred to him, and to interfere with its
expression, or try to edit it, is an abominable crime."
(The Revival of Magick, New Falcon, pg 131, 132, 133, 134)
LaVey:
"Satanism condones any type of sexual activity which
properly satisfies your individual desires-be it heterosexual,
homosexual, bisexual, or even asexual, if you choose.
Satanism also sanctions any fetish or deviation which will

enhance your sex-life, so long as involves no one who does

not wish to be involved.
Unless we emancipate ourselves from the ridiculous sexual
standards of our present society, including the so-called
sexual revolution, the neuroses caused by those stifling
regulations will persist. Adherence to the sensible and
humanistic new morality of Satanism can-and will-evolve
society in which our children can grow up healthy and
without the devastating moral encumbrances of our existing
sick society."
(The Satanic Bible, pg 67, 74)
Crowley:
"Contemplate your nature. Consider every element thereof
both separately and in relation to all the rest, so as to judge
accurately the true purpose of the totality of your Being.
Find the formula of this purpose, or 'True Will,' in an
expression as simple as possible. Learn to understand
clearly how best to manipulate the energies which you
control to obtain the results most favorable to it from its
relations with the part of the universe which you do not yet
control. Extend the dominion of your consciousness, and its
control of all forces alien to it, to the utmost. Do this by the
ever stronger and more skillful application of your faculties
to the finer, clearer, fuller, and more accurate perception,
the better understanding, and the more wisely ordered
government, of that external Universe. Do not repress or
restrict any true instinct of your Nature; but devote all in
perfection to the sole service of your one True Will."
(The Revival of Magick, 136-137)
LaVey:

"Therefore, after intellectually evaluating your problems

through common sense and drawing on what psychiatry has
taught us, if you still cannot emotionally release yourself
from unwarranted guilt, and put your theories into action,
then you should learn to make your guilt work for you. You
should act upon your natural instincts, and then, if you
cannot perform without feeling guilty, revel in your guilt
Adults would do well to take a lesson from children.
Children often take great delight in doing something they
know they are not supposed to."
(The Satanic Bible, pg 53)
Crowley:
"Curse them! Curse them! Curse them! With my Hawks
head I peck at the eyes of Jesus as he hangs upon the cross. I
flap my wings in the face of Mohammed and blind him. With
my claws I tear out the flesh of the Indian and the Buddhist,
Mongol, and Din. Let Mary inviolate be torn upon wheels:
for her sake let all chaste women be utterly despised among
you!"
(The Law is for All, pg 215)
LaVey:
"Furies from Hell are diving down!
'Lex Talionis!' is their cry!
Even though tricksters make the law,
Justice is served by fang and claw!
With their beaks of steel, see them slash askew
Righteous Christian, Buddhist, Moslem, Jew;
They've become a plague, so let's start anew
We don't need them anymore!"
(The Church of Satan, Feral House, pg 90)

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Vadge Moore / DISCRIMINATE ME