File: Bnwts-SA TEMPLE OF SET Post Office Box 470307, San Francisco, California 94147 Internet: 2784041@mcimail.com Michael A. Aquino, Ph.D. High Priest of Set June 12, 1994 CE COMMENTS CONCERNING: "MY SATANIC ADVENTURE: THE JUICY DETAILS" BY ISAAC BONEWITS In 1992, updated 1994, Isaac Bonewits published a BBS essay entitled "My Satanic Adventure", describing and commenting upon his experiences with Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan ca. 1968. The 1994-update of this essay appends the following paragraph: "I said back in 1974 that people desperate to smear me would inevitably bring up those months with LaVey, for lack of anything better to use, and that prophesy has come true several times. The printing of 'The Enemies of our Enemies' in _DP_#7 and _Green Egg_, however, really brought them out of the woodwork. Michael Aquino, the neo-nazi head of the Temple of Set, has been especially active in spreading carefully crafted lies (he's a career military intelligence officer, after all) about my time with LaVey. His professionally written disinformation is precisely targeted to make feminists, civil libertarians and Neopagans disgusted with me, especially if they are unfamiliar with propaganda techniques. Various other Satanic crackpots, some of whom were denouncing me fifteen years ago, are joining in with equally ludicrous accusations and sophomoric insults." As I did not join the Church of Satan until 1969, a year after the arrival & departure of Bonewits, I had no contact with him at that time. Nor did his name ever came up in casual conversation at the Central Grotto. The Church was growing and developing very swiftly at that time, and conversation inclined towards national expansion & organization, refinement of the theology & philosophy of Satanism, and the ever-present task of public relations. I first heard of Bonewits in 1972, when he published his _Real Magic_ book and included in it a number of slurs concerning Anton LaVey and the early Church of Satan. In answer to my query, Anton said that Bonewits had joined the Church in its early days and had shortly thereafter been expelled for being boorish and obnoxious. Neither the LaVeys nor I had any particular interest in Bonewits, so that's where the dialogue ended. From 1972 to 1975 the Church of Satan paid no attention to Bonewits, and from 1975 to 1993 the Temple of Set paid no attention to him. He was dismissed as just one more loose cannon in the American occult subculture. His name was not mentioned once in the newsletters of either the Church nor the Temple in that 21-year period [and still has not been since]. Bonewits came to the Temple of Set's attention in 1993, when he wrote an article denouncing Satanism for Tim Zell's _Green Egg_ neopagan magazine. Since this article contained a great deal of factual misinformation, seriously defamed our religion, and omitted any mention of Bonewits' own bias deriving from his past Satanic involvement and disgrace, I wrote a correction to it (Glinda file: "Bnwts-GE"). My response was heavily censored by Zell in the next _Green Egg_, whereupon the Temple of Set simply made the complete, uncensored text available gratis to anyone who might inquire about Bonewits' _Green Egg_ article. Now in this 1994 "Satanic Adventure" paper, Bonewits accuses me of "telling lies" and "spreading disinformation" about him. As I review my _GE_-response, I find no comments of mine concerning him that weren't supported by documented history, or by logical analysis of his own statements. Accordingly, while Bonewits spends a lot of time complaining in "SA" about how maliciously I have distorted the truth about him, he never actually identifies even a single "lie" that I am supposed to have told about him. In any case I am quite content for my _GE_-response to be judged on its own merits for objectivity and reliability. As noted above, Bonewits came to & went from the Church of Satan before my time, so I cannot personally testify to whether he is or is not telling the truth about his experiences in the Church. I will simply say that when Anton & Diane LaVey discussed Bonewits with me in 1972, I considered them fair and trustworthy; and today I would place more credence in their 1972 account than in this latter-day version offered by Bonewits himself - as in his _GE_ essay he has amply demonstrated his own disregard for the truth. I will, however, comment on a few specifics: (1) Bonewits claims that he was appointed a "Satanic Minister". In 1969 the term "Satanic Minister" was briefly used, to describe an official function in the Church lesser than that of the formal Satanic Priesthood, but I have never seen any evidence that Bonewits was appointed such a Minister - nor do I recall his claiming it in _Real Magic_. As all such positions were formalized via a signed certificate from Anton LaVey as High Priest, I discount Bonewits' claim unless he produces such a certificate. [The title of "Satanic Minister" was discontinued in 1970 to be replaced by the non- Priesthood Regional Agent system in the Church's national organization.] (2) Bonewits says that LaVey was angry with him for ad-libbing some pseudo-Enochian during a ritual, and that this somehow proves that Anton really didn't know anything about Enochian ceremonial magic. Bonewits' logic here escapes me, because it would seem perfectly reasonable to me for Anton to disapprove of Bonewits' corruption or lampoon of a seriously-regarded ceremony. As for Anton's own Enochian background in 1968, it came from his complete set of the original edition of Crowley's _Equinox_, as well as Regardie's _Golden Dawn_. This is by no means as complete and accurate an exposure as would subsequently become possible via the major 1970s' and 80s' publications on Dee and Enochiana, but it was substantial for the mid-60s. Anton had the highest regard and respect for the Enochian Keys, and his "Satanic" version of them in the _Satanic Bible_ - which so irked traditional occultists such as Regardie - conveyed a special power and terror of its own unapproached by the Judaeo/Christian versions in the _Equinox_ and _Golden Dawn_ [which would later be revealed as substantially modified from Dee's original papers]. (3) Bonewits next alleges that he was asked to "play various silly parts" in "faked-up rituals" for documentary films, such as one in which he climbed into a coffin with a naked woman, stabbed a voodoo doll with a knife, and asked Anton for blessings. -- (a) In the "Ceremony of the Stifling Air", a Masonic-theme ritual contained in Anton's _The Satanic Rituals_, a participant in the role of the Pope responsible for the persecution of the Knights Templar enters a coffin with a naked woman, with whom he has sex after being whipped on his own naked buttocks by another woman. [The title of the ritual refers to the atmosphere of the coffin after the lid is lowered on the two inhabitants.] While there is a "CSA" sequence in the 1968 documentary film _Satanis: The Devil's Mass_, the Pope is clearly not Bonewits. If Bonewits did assume the role of the Pope in other "CSA" rituals, however, the _Satanis_ sequence at least illustrates his sequence of actions. Bonewits does appear in _Satanis_ - in a ritual wherein he asks Anton to increase the size and power of his penis. [In this 1994 "Satanic Adventure" essay Bonewits accuses Anton of not knowing how to actually do magic. I suppose that means the spell didn't work after all. Tough luck.] -- (b) Attacking a voodoo doll with a knife, pins, etc. is a fairly ordinary type of curse ritual, used at that time in the Church of Satan as well in many other branches of occultism. The important point here is that such rituals were taken seriously in the Church, and no one was ever asked to perform one insincerely. Accordingly I expect that Bonewits stabbed the doll with a knife wishing similar harm to an actual person, and it would be instructive to know who that person was, what if anything subsequently happened to him/her, and what he/she did to "justify" such a knife attack by Bonewits. -- (c) As noted above, Bonewits did indeed ask Anton for a blessing during a ritual sequence in _Satanis_. If he "can't remember the dialogue" in the film, here is a transcript: * * * * * ANTON LaVEY: "And what is your desire?" ISAAC BONEWITS: "I desire the Prince of Darkness to bestow upon a certain section of my anatomy a tribute that will enable it to perform its duties better to my satisfaction and its own. I desire the power of Satan and the searing lust of Lucifer, the erectness of Belial, the glistening moistness of Leviathan, that these demons should grant to me the ability to satisfy myself and as many of those as I choose to do so." ANTON LaVEY: "So it has been stated, and so this virile member shall prosper and shall ride forth as the Beast of Abominations, and shall come forth as the Behemoth and shall enjoy itself and all the carnal pleasures of the flesh and its minions. So you shall reap the rewards of desire, and all your lustful thoughts will bear fruition." * * * * * Bonewits speaks of "several documentaries", but as far as I know there was only the one (_Satanis_). Bonewits excuses his participation by saying that he was only 17 at the time [Anton says he was 19]. Either age was sufficient for a young man to know how to behave responsibly and decently - if Bonewits is now insisting that he did not. In the earliest days of the Church of Satan, Anton and some of his student witches posed for a variety of ceremonial-setting photos in which they [but never he] were naked. No sexual activity was shown, and it would be quite clear to anyone without a sex-obsessed mind that the photos were merely dramatic and prankish. If Bonewits found such filming all so frightfully "pornographic", one wonders why he thrust himself so energetically into it, so to speak, at the time. Bonewits next asserts that Anton had "read only a tiny fraction of his huge library of occult books". This is simply absurd, as anyone who has known Anton at all personally can attest. Although not college-degreed, he was impressively self-educated - and well- familiar with his library - which was noteworthy for *not* being exclusively or even predominantly "occult", but contained a wide range of texts in such fields as sociology, philosophy, history, entertainment, and psychology. A good sampling of the books on the shelves of his "Purple Room" is given in the bibliography to his _The Compleat Witch_ (later republished as _The Satanic Witch_). Next Bonewits asserts the misgivings he felt about the ominous presence of neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klansmen in the 1968 Church of Satan. If so, they must all have departed within the next year, because when I joined in 1969 I never saw a single jackboot or white sheet. Yes, Satanists held some strong and radical personal opinions on social issues - but these were from *all* points of the political spectrum. Anton's own contempt for neo-Nazism is a matter of historic record per his [later published] 1970s letters to me on the subject, and he counted among his friends people of all races and colors. As his true name (Howard Levey) indicates, of course, he himself came from a Jewish family. At least by 1969 there was no "orgy room" at LaVey's California Street home. There was a recreation room downstairs well-known as the "Den of Iniquity", but its only furniture were consisted of a bar, tables, and chairs. There was no bed or mattress. Adjoining it was the "Council Chamber", a solemn black ritual chamber in which the Council of Nine met. It indeed contained a stylized coffin serving as a council-table, surrounded by 10 chairs (one for LaVey as High Priest). A chair was also provided for anyone being interviewed. As a member of the Council in 1970, I - wearing black robes & ominous hood - participated in meetings and interviews of prospective members. From the 4/13/70 issue of _Newsweek_ magazine: "San Francisco's Church of Satan has a reputation for orgy and mad perversity in the middle-class neighborhood where it is located. It shows interested outsiders a film called _Satanis_ which purportedly reflects the Church's rituals - black-robed men and women conducting a Black Mass (a mocking inversion of the Christian Mass) with a nude woman for an altar. Members proclaim their hate and lust, and leader Anton LaVey blesses them: 'May all your lustful thoughts reach fruition. Hail, Satan!' A trouserless man is flagellated on a coffin lid; then the coffin opens to reveal a nude girl, the man descends into the coffin, and it is closed - or almost closed, for it is now a bit crowded. "So things go in the film. But a few weeks ago _Newsweek_'s Nick Kazan was screened for membership in the Church of Satan by seven black-hooded members in a candlelit basement decorated with human skulls. He found the whole ritual 'not only unfrightening but comically reminiscent of fraternity initiations'. Then he attended the mass itself. The service, he reported, 'contained very little of the film's drama or nudity and in fact was a highly stylized, arcane bore'. The flagellant in this mass not only wore trousers but had placed a copy of Playboy inside them for padding.'" [A grumpy Anton LaVey wrote to _Newsweek_: "If one cannot see the sardonic element implied by the placing of the _Playboy_ magazine inside the seat of the flagellant's trousers, then I suppose the viewer would consider just about anything an 'arcane bore' short of a Doris Day or John Wayne movie."] So it would have been a delicate individual indeed to "faint" from a Council interview, as Bonewits insists that he convincingly feigned. As for the Nine "hauling him upstairs" to "revive", there were no stairs. The basement was accessible from the main floor only by two concealed trapdoors - one behind the mummy-case in the main ritual chamber, the other in the Purple Room's fireplace. [Yes, quite a house!] One's credibility is strained by the picture of the Council of Nine floundering to haul a possum-playing Isaac Bonewits straight up a narrow ladder through the overhead trapdoor. Well, Bonewits does conclude the account of his Satanic days, both within and without the Church of Satan, by admitting that he was "foolish". However this is justified by his being only 17, he insists, and is to be equated to the similar foolishness of other famous pagans and witches as teenagers. "For that matter, what were LaVey, Aquino, and Thorsson doing during their teenaged years? This could be an entertaining research project." O.K., Isaac, since you asked, I'll be happy to tell you what I was doing ages 17-21: * Honor Graduate, Santa Barbara High School 1964. * Gold Sealbearer/Life Membership Award, California Scholarship Federation 1964. * SBHS delegate, American Legion California Boys State 1964. * Community Service Awards, Santa Barbara Lions & Exchange Clubs 1964. * National Councillor, Eagle Scout Honor Society, Boy Scouts of America 1964-65. * National Commander, Eagle Scout Honor Society, BSA 1965-66. * Distinguished Service Award, Eagle Scout Honor Society, BSA 1967. * Vigil Honor Award, Order of the Arrow, BSA 1967. * Lt.Colonel, National Society of Pershing Rifles (College ROTC fraternity) 1966-68. * Department of the Army scholarship, University of California 1966- 68. * Lifetime Membership Award, National Society of Scabbard & Blade (college ROTC fraternity) 1966-68. * Chapter Charter President, Regional Conference Chairman, Distinguished Service Key recipient, Alpha Phi Omega fraternity, 1965-68. * National Sojourners Scholarship Award, University of California 1968. * Distinguished Service Award, Department of California, Reserve Officers Association of the United States 1968. * Distinguished Military Graduate, Department of the Army, University of California 1968. * B.A. Political Science, University of California, Santa Barbara 1968. * Psychological Operations Extension Course, John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center, U.S. Army 1968. * Additional memberships in the World Future Society, L5 Society, Commonwealth Club of California, World Affairs Council of Northern California, Cousteau Society, American Military Institute, American Political Science Association, and the Smithsonian Institute. At age 21 I graduated from the University of California, was simultaneously commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Regular Army, and was assigned first to the 82nd Airborne Division and then to the JFK Special Warfare Center for Special Forces and Psychological Operations training before a tour in Vietnam. So much for that. Bonewits closes his "Satanic Adventure" paper with a passionate proclamation that he is really/truly a serious occult scholar who has been tragically maligned, that all Satanists are indeed Orcs, and that any neopagan who tolerates, much less cooperates with such heinous creatures is betraying Gondor to Mordor. Ringwraiths such as Michael Aquino are especially to be feared and avoided. "As I have said before, the enemies of our enemies are our enemies' enemies," concludes Isaac thunderously - to which I can only respond, "Huh?" In a postscript [shortly after righteously denouncing Jimmy Swaggart and Oral Roberts] Bonewits asks you to send him some money if you liked his essay and want him to write more like it. Well, that's your business - but please don't send me any money in the hopes that I'll write more essays like this one, because I would really rather not. I find Isaac Bonewits tiresome.