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A manual of ritual satanic magic, this is one of LaVey's poorest efforts. For one thing, he has the history of the Yezidis completely wrong. For another, he (as usual) never cites anybody for anything, prefering to steal the ideas of others and take credit for them himself. Next, he uses invocations that involve made-up entities (primarily by H.P. Lovecraft), dubious scientific theories (Wilhelm Reich) and in general just a large bunch of hocus pocus. If anyone intends to perform any sort of magical rituals for themselves, I would think that they would have the intelligence and creativity to develop their own rather than depending upon those of someone else -- they would certainly seem to be more meaningful than those concocted by another. If you enjoy amusing psychodrama and are a good actor, this book might have promise, otherwise don't waste your time. If magic of any sort could be reduced to a trite series of rites (like many Christians and Hindoos seem to believe) then everybody would be a god. LaVey also seems to feel that the only magic worth doing is magic to gain power over others. Any sort of self-development is simply ignored. And the reasons for doing the rituals are rather silly. I mean honestly! Sex rituals? Are Satanists so pathetic that they need to do magic to get a sex partner? Satanic Baptisms? If you think the churches are all one big lie, then why bother mimicking their rites at all? The Black Mass is a boring parody of the Christian Mass, and Die Electrishen Vorspielen and Call to Cthulhu are nothing but novelties. An intelligent child could have done better. For those interested in the early history of the now defunct Church of Satan it may be worth getting. Also, LaVey seems to have managed to keep a much saner and more moderate perspective than he did later in his life shortly before he died. This is the one thing that makes the book bearable (along with the essays at the beginning). But all in all, a real dissapointment.

My prayers are with all of you.

In diesem Buch schlägt Anton Szandor LaVey seinen Anhängern Vorschläge für zehn "satanische" Rituale, die er sich mit einer Ausnahme bei verschiedenen anderen Gruppierungen zusammengeklaut hat. Es sind dies: Le Messe Noir, The Ceremony of the Stifling Air, Das Tierdrama, Die elektrischen Vorspiele, Homage to Tchort, The Statement of Shaitan, The Ceremony of the Nine Angles, The Call to Cthulhu und Taufzeremonien für Säuglinge und Erwachsene. Die beiden letzteren hat LaVey sich selbst ausgedacht, die anderen Zeremonien kommen zum Beispiel von den Freimaurern oder von H. P. Lovecraft. Zu jeder Zeremonie gibt es eine Erklärung mit den benötigten Utensilien und Personen, außerdem gibt es Empfehlungen für die Wahl des Ortes und die Musik, die zu dem jeweiligen Ritual am besten paßt. Das Ritual selbst steht sowohl in der Sprache des Originals als auch auf Englisch im Buch, wobei dies recht unübersichtlich geschehen ist, erst Originaltext, dann Englisch. Bei den deutschen Ritualen erkennt man, daß er versucht hat, sie aus dem Englischem ins Deutsche zu übersetzen, dies ist ihm nur teilweise gelungen. Brauchbar sind in diesem Buch nur die Vorschläge zur Musik und einige Weisheiten, die LaVey zwischendurch einfließen läßt, für LaVey - Anhänger ist es jedoch ein Muß! (Dies ist eine Amazon.de an der Uni-Studentenrezension.)

This is a sort of primer on ritual practice, and should not be looked to for advanced techniques. It is an interesting supplement to _The Satanic Bible_ and shows readers that the sketchy ritual outline in TSB is not the only one that can be used by "good" Satanists. If the readers take this idea to its logical conclusion and realize that they should start constructing their *own* rituals, the book will have done its job. The text shows that a variety of source of inspiration can be used for ritual practice. LaVey takes inspiration from the French DeMolay of the Knights Templar, the Russian peasant legends, even the fiction of H.G.Wells and H.P.Lovecraft. The book is roughly a cookbook, with some ideas for rituals and trappings that the author thinks are nice. You can slavishly follow the book, refusing to deviate one iota from the letter of the law, or you can become a true gourmet and allow the writings to inspire your own masterpieces.

This book is a collection of 8 or 9 "dark" rituals either created by LaVey's Church of Satan or taken from different cultures. There's also some introductions and closing remarks on these cultures and the practice of ceremonial magic. And that's basically it.This ISN'T a book for those who really want to read and learn about Satanism. That would be like trying to learn about Beethoven by looking at the sheet music for his 9th Symphony! Besides, those who believe everything on TV will be sorely disappointed that these rituals don't involve sacrificing animals, drinking blood, and all that other stuff you see in the B-movies! This is a book for those who have already read The Satanic Bible, and may be interested in aspects and examples of group ritual, or at least in reading a little more about what LaVey has to say about Satanic ceremonial magic. Other occultists might like the book, if anything just to read another man's view of ritual & magick, and to see some more examples of ceremonies taken from different cultures. For me, I know I've seen less informative occult books that cost at least twice as much, so I say it was at least worth my $6.