Zeena Schreck, (born Zeena Galatea LaVey, November 19, 1963) is an American artist, musician, author, Tantric Buddhist, animal rights activist, and the spiritual leader of the Sethian Liberation Movement (SLM), which she founded in 2002.
Zeena Schreck was born in San Francisco, California to Anton LaVey (April 11, 1930-October 29, 1997), and Diane Hegarty (b. July 10, 1942- ), co-founders of the Church of Satan. On May 23, 1967, at the age three years old, Zeena had the most highly publicized Satanic baptism in history performed by her father.
From 1985–1990, she was the High Priestess and spokesperson of the Church of Satan. In 1990 she resigned from the Church of Satan and renounced LaVeyan Satanism. She is also the former High Priestess of the Temple of Set, and the co-director of the Werewolf Order and Radio Werewolf, which she led with her husband, musician and author Nikolas Schreck. She is known from the 1980s through her active role publicly defending her religious path in the mass media against allegations of Satanic ritual abuse.
Other members of Zeena Schreck's estranged family include: One son, Stanton Zaharoff LaVey (b. January 18, 1978) and two half siblings by common father: half-sister Karla LaVey (b. July 31, 1952) and half-brother Satan Xerxes Carnacki LaVey (b. November 1, 1993). Schreck has no contact with her family, as stated on her official website: "In 1990, Zeena publicly renounced and exposed the fraudulent personality cult she was born into. Her ex-family and the remaining followers of her deceased con-man father reacted to her resignation by indulging in a typical cult-like character assassination campaign against her. Drawing on her own triumph over these and other dysfunctional family experiences, Zeena, a professional bereavement counsellor, founded SLM’s public outreach program PHOENIX to help others in similar situations."
In 1990, after her renunciation from the Church of Satan, Schreck also severed use of her born name "LaVey". In a December 30, 1990 open letter to Michael A. Aquino of the Temple of Set, she stated: "In light of all of the factors herein, I also officially severed my given surname and now prefer to be known only as Zeena. As I feel naturally aristocratic, I also have no need for the empty titles of Magistra or High Priestess that have been bandied about and fought over."
The contact page of Schreck's website explains her ongoing use since then of her one-name artist and spiritual name, "Zeena":
"A Note on Nomenclature: Due to the combination of ignorance and malice which characterises so much "information" on the Internet, we are obliged to make a necessary clarification. Although Zeena simply uses her first name for most of her artistic and spiritual pursuits, her legal married name is Zeena Schreck. She has not used her maiden name "LaVey" since 1990. Therefore, please note that the post office has and will continue to return mail addressed to the now non-existent person "Zeena LaVey". Likewise, communications erroneously addressed to "Zeena LaVey" or "Zeena LaVey-Schreck" or any variant using the name LaVey sent to her representatives [...] will not be forwarded to Zeena."
Schreck was the spokesperson and High Priestess within the Church of Satan during the late 1980s. During this period, she appeared on television and radio broadcasts, in part to educate about the Church, and in part to debunk the mythology surrounding the Satanic Panic—a period of time in the same era in which Satanism was blamed for the actions of ritualistic murderers.
Schreck was interviewed on the broadcast of "Devil Worship: Exposing Satan's Underground" released by Geraldo Rivera in 1988. She sat alongside Michael A. Aquino (Temple of Set founder/High Priest), and repeatedly denied the rumors circulating at the time that the Church of Satan was in any way involved with Satanic ritual abuse. She also called the testimony of claimants involved into question, asking them rhetorically why, if people were being forced to give birth to babies for sacrificial rituals, no remains had ever been found.
The Sethian Liberation Movement was founded in 2002 after Zeena Schreck resigned from the Temple of Set with four Masters of the Temple of Set (one Master, Magister Michael Kelly, was also a member of the Council of Nine, the corporate Board of Directors for the California non-profit organization The Temple of Set).
Details of the departure were explained in a letter dated November 8, 2002 from the newly departed Temple of Set Council of Nine member to an Adept IIº member regarding the events leading to Zeena's resignation and the founding of the Storm, later renamed the Sethian Liberation Movement.
Shorty after Zeena Schreck resigned from the Temple of Set, a Disinfo listing for the Temple of Set from December 17, 2002 under the heading: 2002 Schism: The Storm Awakens reported, "High Priest Don Webb stepped down, and, on 9 September 2002, was succeeded by High Priestess Zeena Schreck. Six weeks after the Helsinki Conclave (September 2002), Zeena, Magister Aaron Besson, Magister Nikolas Schreck and Magister Michael Kelly all resigned on 8 November 2002. Four Priests Alfred Rodriguez, Kevin Rockhill, Jared Davison and Richard Gavin also resigned. Temple of Set sources have claimed that eighteen Initiates have resigned while others have estimated the number at closer to sixty (including several Orders, Elements, and members of the Adept and Setian degrees)."
In one of the Sethian Liberation Movement's earliest public Frequently Answered Questions documents released, Disinfo referenced it in their post covering the Temple of Seth/Storm schism: "...[the] document defines the new and as-yet unnamed group as '... a loose confederation of Setian Teachers and Students, an alliance of Orders.' The group has eschewed the Temple's administrative and non-profit structure, as well as its degree system and titles. 'We Work together through mutual respect and interest, not through any organisational limitations or restrictions,' the FAQ document states. Finally, its founders have sought to avoid the 'magical society' structure of post-Theosophy groups: the confederation is 'an ongoing Magical Working in which we may participate, a living, dynamic and evolving thing.
Schreck was proactive in the late 1980s and early 1990s, appearing regularly on national broadcasts such as The Phil Donahue Show, Nightline with Ted Koppel, Entertainment Tonight, The Late Show, Secrets & Mysteries, as well as countless regional televisions and radio broadcasts throughout the United States.
While still High Priestess of the Church of Satan, Schreck wrote the introduction to a reprint of her father's book The Satanic Witch and toured the U.S. promoting her father's work in his absence.
Most of the appearances were made at the behest of the Church of Satan as its spokesperson. She did this on behalf of her father Anton LaVey, who was no longer interested in making media appearances, as she stated while being interviewed alongside her husband by televangelist Bob Larson.
In 1988, Zeena and Nikolas Schreck appeared in a two hour special of the Geraldo Rivera Show exploring Satanism.
Schreck also appeared on the Sally Jessy Raphael show, again alongside her husband, debating several Christians who were invited onto the program to expound their own religious views.
Schreck later appeared alongside her husband in the mid-1990s while Priestess and Magistra of the Temple of Set to debate, once again, Bob Larson on the topic of Setianism. This occurred seven years after Schreck had left the Church of Satan.
In 2004 Zeena Schreck was a guest with her husband Nikolas Schreck on The Devil's Advocate radio show to speak about their book Demons of the Flesh:The Complete Guide to Left-Hand Path Sex Magic. In that interview, Zeena also spoke about the Storm (before it had been renamed Sethian Liberation Movement) and its incorporation of the tantric left way practices she writes of in her book.
In December 2011 Zeena Schreck spoke about the Sethian Liberation Movement on Nightwatch Radio while also promoting two of her short fiction stories, A Short History of Buddhism in Berlin and Lost and Found: A Fairy Tale of Sethian Awakening, in the literary journal Beatdom released December 2011. According to the Nightwatch interview Zeena Schreck states that the Sethian Liberation Movement (SLM) is not membership based nor a 'group' seeking to fill dues quotas, or something to join but rather a practice.
In the same Nightwatch radio show Zeena Schreck mentions an SLM program called Phoenix for those with short-range spiritual needs. The home page of the authorized web site for Zeena Schreck states that, "Since 2004 Phoenix provides spiritual healing for victims of exploitative pseudo-religious organizations, former gang members, whistle-blowing ex-employees of corrupt corporations and governmental agencies, relatives of the violently mentally ill, and survivors of all forms of institutional abuse, including secretly abused children and spouses of prominent personalities."
In December 2012, Zeena Schreck was invited back to Nightwatch Radio.
This time, promoting the 2012 Radio Werewolf release of The Vinyl Solution - Analog Artifacts: Ritual Instrumentals and Undercover Versions CD, the first authorized Radio Werewolf release in 20 years, and Beatdom's Crime issue #12 featuring a vintage portrait of Zeena on the cover and her theatre monologue, “Night Shift, Richmond Station”. Zeena curated a music stream with commentary for Network Awesome's Live Music Show December 10, 2012.
The Nightwatch interviews and the homepage of Zeena Schreck's authorized web site make reference to her conversion to Tibetan Tantric Buddhism in the Drikung, Karma Kagyu and Nyingma lineages.