Our overall stand, then, on Anton Szandor LaVey?
While we recognize Anton LaVey’s contribution to the ongoing manifestation of the Satanic in the mundane realm, we also feel that, as many dark magicians before him have done, LaVey eventually squandered his gift and his power, and became bitter and alienated: sadly it is this latter (post-1975) “LaVeyan” period that characterizes the outlook of the current CoS. This latter LaVey, a self-loathing man of Jewish descent who embraced fascism toward the end of his life, we can only regret, as he was an immensely gifted man, and as such his “second stage” was a tremendous waste of Satanic potential. According to life-long LaVey associate Kenneth Anger, the reasons for LaVey’s retreat into bitterness may have been as simple as jealousy and envy toward a greater black magician: “Crowley would have been too much hard work for Anton” Anger said in 1998. “Anton may have been a little jealous of Crowley; he may even have been a lot jealous” (quote from Lucifer Rising: Sin, Devil Worship and Rock
