On 29 October 1997, Dr. Anton Szandor LaVey died of a heart attack. He was 67 and survived by his companion Blanche Barton, their son Xerxes, and LaVey's daughters Karla and Zeena. Miss Barton now serves as High Priestess to The Church of Satan.
It was in the early-Eighties when I discovered LaVey's books (The Compleat Witch was the first one, believe it or not... it was tucked away in an amass of books from my psychologist mother's academic stacks), and the title for who I am: Satanist. Nearly twenty years later, I, in some respects, have him to thank on a few levels. LaVey's insight into the human animal and his wisdom throughout his books had profoundly affected me, notably through my adolescent development. If it wasn't for him, there would be no Not Like Most magazine and, perhaps, my aspirations as a writer might have never bubbled to the surface... or might have shown up too late. Who knows. It's hard sometimes to clearly diagram just where one role model starts and another stops in terms of influence. I had many: Nietzsche, Spencer, Mencken, and, of course, the good Doctor. The difference of course is that my existence and his got to cross paths, unlike the aforementioned dead men in old books. I feel lucky that we got to have him while we did.
I read The Satanic Bible in 1983 and... well, you know the all-too-familiar story: It paralleled all that I thought. Moreover, I felt like I wrote the darn book, feeling just how completely I agreed with the author. (Wrote it in the sense of content and not actual writing ability... that would come later in life.) The book was a sea of sanity on a planet of senseless, egalitarian morons with delusions of unearned big shot-ism. LaVey gave both reason to right and meaning to might; something to this day that scares all of the correct people. His death will give no comfort to his detractors in this capacity. Like all men of steel before him, his monument resides in "the brains and sinews of those whose respect" he gained, including mine.
And his initial foundation continues to gain both width and height, and will long after. Satanism isn't a cult of personality, and in the years following this tragic event, it will become far more apparent that Satanism will survive not only LaVey's earthly existence, but mine and yours as well.
Hail Anton Szandor LaVey! Hail Satan! Ever forward!
Rev. Matt G. Paradise Priest- Church of Satan Publisher - Not Like Most 8 November XXXII Anno Satanas