Editing Church of Satan (section)

===Early years===
In the 1960s Anton Szandor LaVey formed a group called the Order of the Trapezoid, which later became the governing body of the Church of Satan. The group included: "The Baroness" Carin de Plessen, Dr. Cecil Nixon, [[Kenneth Anger]], San Francisco [[Assessor (property)|city assessor]] Russell Wolden, and Donald Werby.<ref>{{cite web|last=Lacey|first=Michael|title=Pieces of the Action: What's worse? A venture capitalist or a guy who smokes cunderage hookers?|url=http://www.sfweekly.com/2007-06-20/news/pieces-of-the-action/|publisher=SF Weekly Jun 20 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title="Satan's Den in Great Disrepair" Lattin, Don (January 25, 1999) |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fchronicle%2Farchive%2F1999%2F01%2F25%2FMN77329.DTL |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |url-status=dead |date=January 25, 1999 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140720054934/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fchronicle%2Farchive%2F1999%2F01%2F25%2FMN77329.DTL |archive-date=July 20, 2014 |access-date=May 29, 2012 }}</ref> According to the Church of Satan historiography, other LaVey associates from this time include noted [[science fiction]] and [[horror fiction|horror]] writers [[Anthony Boucher]], [[August Derleth]], Robert Barbour Johnson, [[Reginald Bretnor]], [[Emil Petaja]], [[Stuart Palmer (author)|Stuart Palmer]], [[Clark Ashton Smith]], [[Forrest J. Ackerman]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/has-the-church-of-satan-gone-to-hell/Content?oid=2135375|title=Has the Church of Satan Gone to Hell?|first=Jack|last=Boulware|newspaper=SF Weekly|location=San Francisco|access-date=March 15, 2015|date=June 17, 1998|archive-date=April 2, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402160647/http://www.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/has-the-church-of-satan-gone-to-hell/Content?oid=2135375|url-status=dead}}</ref> and [[Fritz Leiber Jr.]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.churchofsatan.com/cos-order-of-trapezoid.php |title=A Brief History of the Church of Satan 2. The Magic Circle |publisher=Churchofsatan.com |date= |access-date=2011-01-20}}</ref>

The Church of Satan was established at the [[Black House (Church of Satan)|Black House]] in San Francisco, California, on [[Walpurgis Night|Walpurgisnacht]], April 30, 1966, by  LaVey, who was the church's High Priest until his death in 1997.<ref name="CoS"/>

In the first year of its foundation, LaVey and the Church of Satan publicly performed a Satanic marriage of Judith Case and journalist John Raymond. The ceremony was attended by [[Joe Rosenthal]]. LaVey performed the first publicly recorded Satanic baptism in history for his youngest daughter [[Zeena Schreck|Zeena]], which garnered worldwide publicity and was originally recorded on ''The Satanic Mass'' LP.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Satanic Mass/Zeena's Baptism Track A9 go to 3:42| website=[[YouTube]] |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=s_M09vuLQAc&NR=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Satanic Mass, Track A9 (Zeena's Baptism)|date=1968 |url=http://www.discogs.com/Anton-LaVey-The-Satanic-Mass/release/1166426|publisher=Murgenstrumm, 1968 Vinly LP}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Satanist Anton LaVey Baptising Daughter|url=http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rights-managed/U1556387/satanist-anton-lavey-baptising-daughter|publisher=Bettmann/CORBIS|location=San Francisco, California, USA|date=May 23, 1967|quote=LaVey [...] said the mystic ceremony was the first such baptism in history.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=clippings of Zeena's baptism world wide|url=http://zeena.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=109%3Apress-coverage-of-zeenas-baptism-1967-1968&catid=41&Itemid=57}}</ref> A Satanic funeral for naval machinist-repairman, third-class Edward Olsen, was performed at the request of his wife, complete with an  [[honor guard]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Navy Machinist's Mate Third Class Edward D. Olsen, 26 |url=https://www.alamy.com/navy-machinists-mate-third-class-edward-d-olsen-26-who-was-killed-in-an-automobile-accident-is-buried-with-a-navy-honor-guard-and-the-rites-of-the-satanic-church-which-consigned-his-soul-to-the-devil-dec-11-1967-high-priest-anton-lavey-wearing-cape-at-right-and-holding-the-book-of-black-magic-presided-over-the-service-while-a-navy-bugler-blew-taps-ap-photorobert-w-klein-image521599288.html |website=Almy |access-date=6 January 2024}}</ref>

The Church of Satan was the subject of a number of books, magazine and newspaper articles during the 1960s and 1970s. It is also the subject of a documentary, ''[[Satanis]]'' (1970). LaVey appeared in [[Kenneth Anger]]'s film ''[[Invocation of My Demon Brother]]'', acted as technical adviser on ''[[The Devil's Rain (film)|The Devil's Rain]]'', which starred [[Ernest Borgnine]], [[William Shatner]], and introduced [[John Travolta]]. The Church of Satan was also featured in a segment of [[Luigi Scattini]]'s film ''Angeli Bianchi, Angeli Neri'', released in the United States as ''Witchcraft '70''.<ref name="IMDb-W70">{{cite web |title=Witchcraft '70 Original title: Angeli bianchi... angeli neri |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066577/ |website=IMDb |access-date=7 January 2024 |quote=A mondo style report of satanic rites from around the world. Includes devil worshipping, voodoo cults, church of satan, black magic, naked exorcism and pagan rituals.}}</ref>

One attempt to establish the church abroad was done in connection with Maarten Lamers of the Netherlands who read The Satanic Bible and in 1971 flew to San Francisco to meet LaVey. Back in Amsterdam, Lamers established the first CoS grotto outside the U.S. -- the Magistralis Grotto or the ''Kerk van Satan''. The "Kerk" was in the [[De Wallen|Red Light District]] and connected to a club called Walpurga Abbey where customers could pay by the minute to observe “monastic sisters” of the Abbey masturbate on stage. Lamers insisted that since the sisters were "performing religious acts of [[Sex magic|sexual magic]]", Walpurga Abbey was tax-exempt. The Dutch government disagreed and in 1987, "after a decade of police raids and legal battles", Lamers was compelled to pay 10 million guilders in back taxes.<ref name=JPLS2023:sect.4-Rise/>

In 1972, LaVey stopped holding weekly rituals at the Black House and announced these would be done at the local grottos. Then on September 27, 1974, he declared the end of all regional organizations and that individual members and grottos should report to the Church's Central Grotto in San Francisco. LaVey called this move “Phase IV of his master plan”<ref name=JPLS2023:sect.4-Rise>[[#JPLS2023|Laycock, ''Satanism'', 2023]]: section 4. The Church of Satan. The Rise and Fall of Anton LaVey</ref>