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We will now tarry in the Luciferian dimension of my philosophy.

Here’s the bumper sticker: Sorcery helps those who help themselves.

Doing ritual does not relieve me of the need to take action in the real world. I do ritual to get my mind right so I can then turn around and confront the real world more effectively. Ritual is mind-work. Athletes do mind-work before competing, and warriors do mind-work before engaging in battle. Performers do mind-work before going on stage, and politicians do mind-work before giving a speech. Hopeful lovers in pursuit do mind-work before asking someone out, and accusers do mind-work before confronting a miscreant. Ritual is a sophisticated example of this and it works. But it is always a precursor to real world action. I never, ever do ritual in lieu of taking real world action. If I did, nothing would happen in the real world.

The mind has three aspects: emotion, intellect, and instinct. Think of them as three swords which ritual hones. Honing myself mentally is what I think of as the Great Work. It is accomplished by accessing three profound centers in the mind: the deep emotional, deep intellectual, and instinctive centers. These are accessed by entering into altered states of consciousness.

What the Great Work is aiming at are three infernal attainments. The first, strength, emerges out of the deep emotional center. The second, cunning, emerges out of the deep intellectual center. And the third, physical competence, emerges out of the instinctive center. These attainments become formidable when we step out into the world and engage with life.

The deep emotional center is accessed via the sorts of rituals that are commonly thought of as Satanic, with their bombast and pageantry. The deep intellectual center is accessed via more complex and arcane sorts of rituals, often involving ancient systems, for example Kabala. The instinctive center is accessed via mind-clearing exercises such as Zazen. All of these aim at altered states of consciousness.

In closing, a word about the instinctive center. It has to do with the senses, the body in general, attention, reflex, dexterity, precision, and grace. Most people who practice Zazen have no idea what it's actually for. In Japan, Zazen was part of a Samurai's training. In China, Zazen was a part of kung-fu training. Forget satori and Nirvana and other mystical nonsense. Zazen makes you better at physically engaging with the world, in all the myriad varieties of what that looks like, from knitting to sex to knife fights to driving to scuba diving. Western Buddhists are often blind to this because they're not in touch with their bodies. As the Gestalt psychologist Fritz Perls famously said, "Lose your mind and come to your senses."

Be formidable. ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!