In 1985, Zeena became the high priestess of the Church of Satan, and remained its spokesperson until 1990. In 1990, Zeena left the Church of Satan and renounced her father's teachings of LaVeyan Satanism. She later became a devotee of the ancient Egyptian deity
Set, becoming high priestess of the
Temple of Set in 2002, and forming the Sethian Liberation Movement later that same year. Interviews, articles and reviews from 2011 to 2013 referred to her conversion to
Tibetan Tantric Buddhism in the
Drikung,
Karma Kagyu and
Nyingma lineages, as well as her status as the spiritual leader of the Sethian Liberation Movement (SLM).
Church of Satan In the 1980s in the United States, there was a
moral panic about
Satanic ritual abuse, sometimes referred to as the "Satanic Panic". It started with the publication of the now discredited memoir
Michelle Remembers in 1980, and culminated in the
McMartin preschool trial, a heavily publicized trial which ran from 1984 to 1990, during which prosecutors managed, through aggressive and
leading questions, to get over 300 of the preschool's children to testify that they had been sexually abused by their teachers as part of Satanic rituals. The charges were all eventually dropped. Media coverage during the trial tended to side with the prosecutors, and often singled out the Church of Satan as the culprit. This led Zeena to volunteer to serve as the Church of Satan's first spokesperson. In a September 2011 interview, Zeena recalled, As the Church of Satan's spokesperson, Zeena appeared in nationally syndicated programs such as
The Phil Donahue Show,
Nightline with Ted Koppel,
Entertainment Tonight,
The Late Show and
Secrets & Mysteries. She also appeared on the
Sally Jessy Raphael Show, alongside her husband, debating several Christians who were invited onto the program to expound their own religious views. Internationally, she appeared in such media presentations as Italy's
RAI Mixer show and Toronto's Industrial Video presentation dedicated to a compilation of Zeena's TV appearances, ending with a lengthy radio interview for CUIT. She was also interviewed in a broadcast of "Devil Worship: Exposing Satan's Underground" released by Geraldo Rivera in 1988. Zeena sat alongside the
Temple of Set founder/High Priest Michael A. Aquino, and repeatedly denied the rumors circulating at the time that the Church of Satan was in any way involved with 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. In 1989, Anton LaVey's 1971 book
The Compleat Witch, or What to Do When Virtue Fails was reprinted as
The Satanic Witch, with an introduction by Zeena. She toured the U.S. promoting her father's work in his absence, as he was no longer interested in making media appearances. Most of the appearances were made at the behest of the Church of Satan as its spokesperson. including
In Pursuit of Satan: The Police and The Occult.
In Pursuit of Satan began the wave of authoritative reports debunking the Satanic Panic. Much of what Hicks gleaned from Zeena's dialogs with him was included in this treatise. Prior to Zeena's dialogs and meetings with government agencies, police and law enforcement had only a very limited knowledge of Satanism. In 1992, the FBI issued an official report refuting the criminal conspiracy theories of this time. Zeena's Interview on KJTV with Tony Valdez, 1990, was the last interview she granted as public representative and High Priestess of the Church of Satan before resigning. In a March 2013 interview televised by Network Awesome, Zeena spoke for the first time on camera about her experiences with media during the "Satanic Panic" years.
Leaving the Church of Satan, 1990 In 1990, she resigned from the Church of Satan and renounced
LaVeyan Satanism. According to Zeena's official web site, "In the process of defending the Church of Satan from these unfounded claims in the U.S. mass media, Zeena's media appearances attracted a new upsurge of membership to the formerly moribund organization even as she began to question and ultimately reject the self-centered philosophy she promoted. As she toured the United States on behalf of the Church of Satan, Zeena's crisis of faith reached its highpoint when she learned that most of her father's self-created legend was based on lies and that many of his works were plagiarized. When jealousy and spite motivated Anton LaVey and his administrator
Densley-Barton to actually endanger Zeena's life, she could no longer continue to cover up her progenitor's true character in good conscience. This behind the scenes tension should be kept in mind when viewing or hearing Zeena's interviews from that time." After her renunciation of the Church of Satan, Zeena Schreck severed use of her born name "LaVey" and legally changed her last name, for all official matters, to "Schreck". 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 [LaVey] 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." Since then, she does not accept correspondence addressed to "Zeena LaVey," "Zeena LaVey-Schreck", or any variant using the name LaVey.
Temple of Set Zeena began to pursue ancient religious practices relating to the Egyptian god
Set and setianism. She has stated, "While I was residing in Vienna, I visited a museum where a Sethian altar lives. It was there that I had a very profound experience that enabled me to clearly see the course for my future." At the time, she was also practicing traditional tantra and yoga. Her experiences within those two systems, as well as her central role and life's experience in other occult and esoteric milieux, would contribute considerably to the content of her book
Demons of the Flesh, co-authored with Nikolas Schreck. In 1997, Zeena and co-guest Nikolas Schreck once again debated Christian Minister Bob Larson. This time she did not represent Satanism but rather Sethianism, though the interview was titled "Showdown With Satanism". At the time she was III° Priestess of Set. In 2002, Zeena became High Priestess of the Temple of Set.
Sethian Liberation Movement The Sethian Liberation Movement was founded on November 8, 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 corporate Board of Directors for the California non-profit organization The Temple of Set). Shortly 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 Set/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 organizational 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." Zeena's homepage states, "Drawing on her own triumph over these and other dysfunctional family experiences, Zeena, a professional
bereavement counsellor, founded The Sethian Liberation Movement's public outreach program PHOENIX to help others in similar situations." It explains 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 current popular culture==