The Devil's Notebook

Anton Szandor LaVey

• Publisher: Feral House
• Year: 2000
• Print ISBN: 9780922915118
• eBook ISBN: 9781932595567
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: 20th Century History

Anton LaVey's sharpest essays on culture, psychology, and the occult—an underground classic of modern Satanic thought. The Devil's Notebook gathers Anton Szandor LaVey's essays on nonconformity, culture, and the psychology of modern life into one of the most accessible and frequently cited books in the Satanic canon. Best known as the founder of the Church of Satan and author of The Satanic Bible, LaVey turns his attention here to everyday behavior, social performance, and the ways individuals construct identity and belief in contemporary society. Written with wit, provocation, and observational precision, these essays explore subjects ranging from occult fads and mass psychology to erotic politics, artificial companions, and what LaVey calls "total environments"—carefully designed personal spaces meant to shape mood, perception, and ritual experience. Drawing comparisons to satirists and cultural critics such as H. L. Mencken and P. T. Barnum, LaVey examines human self-deception, conformity, and spectacle with a mix of humor and philosophical commentary. First published in 1992, The Devil's Notebook has become a key text for readers interested in modern Satanism, occult philosophy, and countercultural critique. This edition includes an introduction by Adam Parfrey, founder of Feral House, placing the work within the broader history of alternative religion, underground publishing, and late-twentieth-century cultural dissent. A widely read entry point into LaVey's thought and a core title for readers of occult studies, modern Satanism, cultural criticism, and alternative spirituality.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction (by Adam Parfrey)
• Foreword (by Anton Szandor LaVey)
• A Medicine for Melancholy
• On the Importance of Being Evil
• Duck-billed Platitudes
• The Goodguy Badge
• The Church of Satan, Cosmic Joy Buzzer
• By Any Other Name
• The Combination Lock Principle
• Ravings From Tartarus
• The Importance of Keeping a Secret
• Occultism for the Millions
• The Blow-Off, or, Kroger Babb, Where Are You Now That We Need You?
• The Whoopie Cushion Shall Rise Again
• The Threat of Peace
• Curses by the Dozen
• Hatha Toilet Seat Meditation
• Eustress, Vampires, and Vicariousness
• Million d’Arlequin, Vesti la Giubba, et al.
• Nonconformity: Satanism’s Greatest Weapon
• How to be God (or the Devil)
• Fernando DePlancy: An Intimate Glimpse of a Little-Known Satanist
• Erotic Crystallization Inertia
• Evocation
• Music for the Ritual Chamber
• Hymn of the Satanic Empire
• Evangelists vs. the New God
• Some Evidence of a New Satanic Age, Part II
• Sweet Slavery
• Confessions of a Closet Misogynist
• Pentagonal Revisionism: A Five-Point Program
• Destructive Organisms
• Clothes Make the Slave
• Babbitt’s Last Stand
• Gifted Sensitives
• Let Me Entertain You
• Insane Ramblings
• Law of the Trapezoid
• Two Wrongs Make a Right
• Summertime
• How to Become a Werewolf: The Fundamentals of Lycanthropic Metamorphosis; Their Principles and Application
• Time to Start Kicking Ass
• The Merits of Artificiality
• The Construction of Artificial Human Companions
• Misanthropia
• Diabolica