18. The sequel to The Satanic Bible is a mind-boggling mixture of rituals inspired by the Knights Templar and Freemasons
LaVey’s follow-up to The Satanic Bible really began to blur the lines between fantasy and reality. The Satanic Rituals reinterpreted a litany of rituals and magic cut from a number of real religious groups, such as the religion of the Yazidis and the rites of the Freemasons, mingled indiscriminately with the false allegations made against the Knights Templar and the supposed lore of that arch-apocryphal group, the Illuminati. Users of the book are essentially indulging in cosplay, as LaVey made explicit in the introduction when he called all the mysteries of the world, including the book’s rites, ‘fairy tales’.
