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Hell on Reels When Rosemarys Baby was about to be released in 1968, LaVey, besides playing the part of the Devil, attended advanced screenings set up by the studios publicity department to elicit his observations as various religious groups previewed the film. It was, after all, a metaphorical as well as a very real offshoot of LaVey and the Church of Satan. (LaVey has said Rosemarys Baby did for the Church of Satan what The Birth of a Nation did for the Ku Klux Klan, complete with recruiting posters in the lobby.) Taking advantage of the High Priests high visibility, small black buttons were passed out at the screenings which said, Pray for Anton LaVey, a variant on the Pray for Rosemarys Baby buttons also being handed out as a promotional item. LaVey remembered the audiences reaction to the ending of the film, when it clearly showed the Satanists had no intention of hurting the child, as everyone expected, but glorified it as the son of Satan. People got very angrystomping their feet and showing general disapproval. Sometimes the reality of Satanism is a lot more terrifying to people than their safe fantasies of what its supposed to be. For the first time, theyve been confronted with a Devil that talks back. Besides Rosemarys Baby, there were a few other films made about or including LaVey and the Church of Satan. Satanis, an extensive feature-length documentary on the Church of Satan was released in theaters across the country early in 1970, often playing on a double bill with another movie Anton appeared inKenneth Angers Invocation of My Demon Brother. The ads for the film, showcasing LaVeys scowling countenance, promised bloody, sexually-explicit rituals. In true William Castle fashion, serious cautions were included in the large display ads: Satanis is the most pertinent, and perhaps the most shocking film of our time. But its definitely not a movie for everyone. If you choose not to see it, we will understand. Today, Ray Laurents Satanis is a highly-coveted underground classic. Clips have been incorporated into several recent documentaries on the subject of witchcraft and the occult. It had long been the only footage of the Church available for TV producers to flash on the screen when describing the evils of Satanism. In more recent years, this has been supplemented by Speak of the Devil: the Canon of Anton LaVey, a feature length documentary produced and directed by Nick Bougas, notorious chronicler of Mans dark side. Sadly, several other foreign documentaries covering LaVeys churchnotably, footage by Germanys Florian Fuertwangler and Frances Victor Vicasnever got American distribution. Different versions of Luigi Scatinis Angeli Blanca, Angeli Nera, were released around the world, the American version titled Witchcraft 70. The segment on LaVey and the Church of Satan was one of the few included in every version.

Lucifer Rising Membership in the Church of Satan expanded steadily. LaVey tried to include visits with his constituents around the globe wherever he traveled, blessing them with papal visits to their grottos, where he was greeted with an excess of pomp and black capes. It became rather embarrassing after awhile. Id step off the plane and there theyd be, all huddled together to meet me in their black velvet robes with huge Baphomets around their necks. Many of our grass-roots people didnt know much about subtlety then, or decorum. I was trying to present a cultured, mannered image and their idea of protest or shock was to wear their lodge regalia into the nearest Dennys. In the beginning of the churchs activities, LaVey freely printed his address and phone number on posters, fake folded money (to be left lying on the street as a promotional gimmick), and allowed reporters to print his address as they wished. I dont like to think I was naive during that period of my life. I just wanted the Church of Satan to be honest, open and above-board. I also had a dream of being able to work out of my own home, as most of my friends did who were writers or performers. I envisioned the pleasure of rolling out of bed and having your work right there waiting for you without having to get in your car and drive to an office or another location. I didnt think that was unreasonable. But I didnt understand then how treacherous people could be. Afterwards, LaVey, like most celebrities, established living quarters around the world to which he retreated so that hed no longer trapped by his own popularity. After a few years, LaVey began cutting back on the administrative demands on his time, concentrating his energies on his own projects more than on public relations and personally ministering to his everincreasing flock. Following LaVeys plan, it was time to stop performing Satanism and start practicing it. The Church of Satan was having its desired impact on the outside world and LaVey wanted to encourage new directions among the members rather than siphoning off the best energy for compulsory performance of rituals. The period of actual above-ground activity confined to LaVeys Victorian digs was relatively brief, but long enough to do irreparable damage to established religion. After that original blast, LaVey remembered, there was no need for the ongoing public spectacle and outrage of an inverted Catholic Mass anymore. Christianity was becoming weaker every day. That was just beating a dead horse. There were plenty of other sacred cows to attack, and thats what keeps Satanism vital and thriving. In 1970, rituals and lectures conducted by LaVey and open to the public ceased. All weekly public ceremonies in the Black House stopped in 1972. Responsibility for Satanic activities was shifted to the dozens of Church of Satan Grottos established around the world, with Central Grotto (as LaVeys original Black House was designated) serving only to screen, approve and direct potential members in the Church of Satan. By 1975, a re-organization had taken place and those few who were counterproductive to LaVeys Satanic ideals, who were more interested in what Anton called Phase One Satanism (i.e., group rituals, blaspheming Christianity in a rigidly-structured, limited way) were phased out. With his intensely elitist attitude, Anton

was incensed to see his creation degenerating into a Satan Fan Club, where the weakest, least innovative members were buoyed up with time and attention at the expense of the most productive, most Satanic members. At a time when other leaders might have turned over command to someone else in disgust, taking advantage of the more tempting doors then opening to himacting, directing, more writingLaVey was bound by the loyalty he felt for the organization hed started. Consequently, LaVey devised a diabolical way to clean house, which eventually eliminated much of the dross and administrivia that LaVey felt was obscuring the organizations true destiny. The Grotto System was loosely maintained but no longer strictly managed through Central Grotto. LaVey wanted his Church of Satan to evolve into a truly cabalistic underground rather than degenerating into a long-running public pageant or a Satan pen pal club. Putting the brakes on the lodge hall activities, LaVey emphasized that a persons status within the Church of Satan should reflect his status outside the organization. Highest ranking people in the outside world should hold a commensurate position within the group, since LaVey considered their material, creative or social success as the truest measure of magical prowess. Anton also shifted the organizational focus to those who could benefit the church in a substantial way through who and what they were, not just feeling compelled to spend large chunks of time with nonproductive psychic vampires, no matter how dedicated. There always has to be a fair exchange, LaVey said. I could see that many people were joining our ranks simply because it was a guarantee of friends, or because they wanted the glory of passing tests to earn degrees, much like the Grand Poobahs who take off their robes and vestments and become another local nobody again outside their lodge. They were getting more spook appeal out of being members of the Church of Satan than we were getting esteem from having them among our membership. As an organization grows, group activities only cause contention, drain vital energy that could be better applied elsewhere, and eventually become counterproductive. Teaching people that theyre all right and society is all wrong, that the only ones who really understand them and that they can relate to are within the group, is damaging in the long run. It only reinforces their own inability to deal with the larger world. I wanted to create a forum, a loosely-structured cabal for the productive aliens, not misfits who need to depend on a group. After the re-organization, I was free to be more selective. I would much rather attract and lend support to those individuals who use their alienationjust as most leaders are usually different or distinctive in some way. Groups encourage dependence on beliefs and delusions to reinforce their omnipotence. Instead of fostering self-sufficiency and honest skepticism, I saw my group lapsing into blind belief and unhealthy anthropomorphism. Thats not what I intended and I had to make moves to get the Church of Satan back on track. Of course, there were those who wanted to continue group activities. Rather than seeing LaVeys change as moving the Church of Satan beyond the realm of a cultwhere all activity is strictly dictated by a central figuresome members felt betrayed by LaVey for

discontinuing their avenue for meeting others of like-mind. Of course, there were also those who simply felt sour grapes toward LaVey from 1966 on; who felt they could do the same thing only better. An ever-shifting spectacle of alternative groups formed and disbanded. Most of them took on a Laurel and Hardy-like Sons of the Desert quality and never seemed able to stick together for more than a few years, with infighting and jealousies insuring constant upheaval. Some have written disparaging remarks over the years which LaVey passed off as absurdly self-righteous, and many have assumedly thrown their share of sour-grapes curses in LaVeys direction. To these wannabes, shoulda-beens and parasites LaVey considers himself just an old spoilsport. Sadly, even his own beloved daughter Zeena later joined such ranks. At the same time, LaVey became more selective about granting interviews, since his doors were no longer open to anyone off the street who wished to drop by for his lectures. Because of this rather abrupt cessation of activity, rumors spread of the end of the Church of Satan and even of LaVeys death.

Satanic Panic During the 1980s, the media worldwide launched a witch hunt which is now referred to as The Satanic Panic. It is usually acknowledged to have been seeded by Lawrence Pazders Michelle Remembers. This was a popular book which recounted the purported repressed memories of the authors wife. Via hypnotherapy which he performed himself, the author dredges up the details of Michelles supposed experiences with a world-wide Satanic cult. Typical of the historical accusations made against the Jews by Christian zealots in earlier centuries, Michelle Remembers claims that devil-worshippers have a conspiratorial network dedicated to ritual child sacrifice and world domination, to which the author adds modern media innovations such as snuff films, drug cartels, and kiddie porn. A look back at this period shows how Christian evangelists jumped on the bandwagon, and Christian therapists began finding similar tales buried in the subconscious of their patients. The thencurrent talk-show/freak-show circuit found this to be a bonanza, and representatives of the Church of Satan carefully selected specific media forums to debunk the hysterical nonsense. In due course, the Satanic Panic was debunked like any other urban legend, but not before the most costly trial in United States history took place, persecuting several innocent individuals who ran a day school. Law enforcement agencies, skeptical societies, and sociologists subsequently examined this Christianpromulgated hoax and dissected its mechanisms. Now, courts of law are reversing decisions made against people who were accused by family and friends caught up in this Salem-like madness, and substantial financial awards are being judged against the Christian therapists who essentially brain-washed pliable patients into belief in false ritual abuse.

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