Satanic Statements, Rules, and Tenets

Different currents of Satanism have produced their own short lists of principles. Some are philosophical, some are practical codes of conduct, and some are modern ethical statements.

Below are the main ones, presented clearly so you can see what each system actually says.

The Nine Satanic Statements

Anton LaVey, The Satanic Bible (1969)

These open The Satanic Bible and function as the broad philosophical foundation of LaVeyan Satanism.

1. Satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence!
2. Satan represents vital existence instead of spiritual pipe dreams!
3. Satan represents undefiled wisdom instead of hypocritical self-deceit!
4. Satan represents kindness to those who deserve it instead of love wasted on ingrates!
5. Satan represents vengeance instead of turning the other cheek!
6. Satan represents responsibility to the responsible instead of concern for psychic vampires!
7. Satan represents man as just another animal, sometimes better, more often worse than those that walk on all-fours, who, because of his “divine spiritual and intellectual development,” has become the most vicious animal of all!
8. Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification!
9. Satan has been the best friend the Church has ever had, as He has kept it in business all these years!

In plain terms, these statements reject guilt, self-denial, and otherworldly focus. They affirm the body, personal justice, clear thinking, and the refusal to waste energy on people who drain or exploit others.

The Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth

Anton LaVey (1967)

These were originally written for members and later made public. They are a practical code for social behaviour.

1. Do not give opinions or advice unless you are asked.
2. Do not tell your troubles to others unless you are sure they want to hear them.
3. When in another’s lair, show him respect or else do not go there.
4. If a guest in your lair annoys you, treat him cruelly and without mercy.
5. Do not make sexual advances unless you are given the mating signal.
6. Do not take that which does not belong to you unless it is a burden to the other person and he cries out to be relieved.
7. Acknowledge the power of magic if you have employed it successfully to obtain your desires. If you deny the power of magic after having called upon it with success, you will lose all you have obtained.
8. Do not complain about anything to which you need not subject yourself.
9. Do not harm little children.
10. Do not kill non-human animals unless you are attacked or for your food.
11. When walking in open territory, bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask him to stop. If he does not stop, destroy him.

These rules emphasise personal boundaries, reciprocity, and the refusal to be a victim or a nuisance.

They are deliberately blunt.

The Nine Satanic Sins

Anton LaVey (1987)

These name the personal failings a LaVeyan Satanist is expected to avoid.

1. Stupidity
2. Pretentiousness
3. Solipsism
4. Self-deceit
5. Herd Conformity
6. Lack of Perspective
7. Forgetfulness of Past Orthodoxies
8. Counterproductive Pride
9. Lack of Aesthetics

LaVey treated these as the real obstacles to effective living and magical results. Stupidity is listed first because he regarded it as the most common and most destructive.

The Seven Fundamental Tenets

The Satanic Temple

These are the official tenets of The Satanic Temple, a non-theistic organisation that uses Satanic imagery for secular and political purposes.

1. One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.
2. The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
3. One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
4. The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one’s own.
5. Beliefs should conform to one’s best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one’s beliefs.
6. People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one’s best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.
7. Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.

These tenets are more socially oriented and less individualistic than LaVey’s lists. They emphasise justice, bodily autonomy, scientific thinking, and the correction of harm.

Temple of Set Guidance

The Temple of Set does not publish a short public list of rules in the same style. Its core ideas are philosophical:

• The individual psyche is real, isolate, and capable of deliberate evolution.
• The central process is called Xeper — “I have come into being.”
• The magician takes full responsibility for their own development and results.
• Dogma is rejected. Premises are to be tested and improved.
• Wanton cruelty, especially toward animals and the vulnerable, is rejected.
• Magical work is an exercise of isolate will aimed at self-deification and greater power of consciousness.

Setian standards are high, but they are applied through personal initiation rather than a fixed public code.

Independent and Theistic Approaches

Most theistic and freestyle Satanists do not follow one universal rule list. Common principles that appear across many of these currents include:

• Recognition that Satan or related beings are real.
• Personal sovereignty and refusal of imposed spiritual authority.
• Reciprocity and clarity when working with spirits.
• Responsibility for the consequences of one’s magic.
• Rejection of the idea that being Satanic requires theatrical evil or pointless destruction.

These practitioners tend to develop their own standards through direct experience rather than by adopting a published code.

Closing Perspective

LaVey’s three lists remain the most widely known and the most frequently quoted. The Satanic Temple’s Seven Tenets represent a later, more socially focused development. The Temple of Set and most theistic currents emphasise personal evolution and real spirit contact over fixed public rules.

None of these lists is binding on every person who uses the word Satanist. They are tools for understanding the different currents. Read them, compare them, and decide which principles (if any) actually match the way you work and the forces you deal with.