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Hail the Darkness!
Demon of Shame:
HAIL! I feel you press me in from all sides. I feel you all along the length and
breadth of all of my skin. I was not the self that I thought I was. How can I be
this other self? I have treacherously betrayed what I thought were my convictions!
Do I deserve even to live?
Demon of Humiliation:
HAIL! I feel you burn like real heat. My face, my ears, my shoulders – they’re
on fire! How can I face ever again the ones who did this to me? How can I show
my face in public? I have shown myself to be weak and stupid! They were right
to mock and kick me. To laugh and taunt me. I am beneath them.
Demon of Outrage:
HAIL! I feel you pull me forward. Your hooks in my jaw, at my collar bone, in
my shoulders, at my chest – they tug at me! I must leap upon this creature that
dared perpetrate what I cannot – what I will not – allow to pass unpunished. I
must teach it the error of its ways and the lesson must be unforgettable. Let
there be PAIN!
Demon of Contempt:
HAIL! I feel you stretching me toward the sky. The skin, bones, and muscles
from my head to my feet are pulled taut like rubber bands and I feel taller,
like a giant. This – this thing – is small like a bug, so small, so easy for me
to squash underfoot. But I will not. I will capture it instead and pull off its
limbs one by one. If it screams – I will laugh. Why not? It exists for my
amusement.
Demon of Animosity:
HAIL! I feel your adrenalin pump in my veins. I feel you alter my state of
consciousness. Every part of my body is on high alert. I am poised and ready to
pounce. The enemy has entered my domain. The truce is broken. All peace is
expelled from my pores. My world has a new name: Battlefield.
Hail the Darkness!
(Any of the above
can be incorporated into cathartic ritual if it fits your infernal aesthetic.
You can of course modify them if your own bodily experience differs from mine.)
“Hello Darkness, my
old friend.” ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!
Hail the Darkness!
Demon of Misery:
HAIL! I feel you like broken glass beneath my skin. I feel you at the sides of
my skull, and in my throat, shoulders, chest, and back. The millstone of life
grinds me like corn. All of my illusions are pulverized. No one and nothing
will save me. I can only bide my time. If I survive and escape, I must never
again fall into this predicament.
Demon of Despair:
HAIL! I feel you clench my insides like a vise. I feel your grip in my throat,
my solar plexus, my bowels, and my loins. No hope! My strength and my cunning fail
me. Wherever I turn, I face my insufficiency. I have no power, no luck, no resources,
no plan. I have nothing but ash and dust.
Demon of Revulsion:
HAIL! I feel your tremors like a quake within me. I feel you at the back of my
skull, all over my face, and in my throat, shoulders, elbows, hands, chest, and
back. This – this thing – it must not be! It must be expelled from existence! I
myself must expel it. I call down annihilation!
Demon of Horror:
HAIL! I feel you push me backwards. I feel your force propel my head, my torso,
my hips, and my legs. I back away, whimpering. Awful – so awful – my sanity feels
vulnerable and exposed. I must defend my lucidity at all cost. I would gibber
and mutter and mumble and moan – but I must not. I must put up a shield.
Hail the Darkness!
(Any of the above
can be incorporated into cathartic ritual if it fits your infernal aesthetic.
You can of course modify them if your own bodily experience differs from mine.)
“Hello Darkness, my
old friend.” ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!
Hail the Darkness!
Demon of Anger:
HAIL! I feel you inflate me like steam in a balloon. I feel you behind my eyes,
and in my jaw, my shoulders, my spine, and my loins. I see my antagonist
painted red. I long to stomp! I long to crack bones, to crush and grind bones.
Demon of Sadness:
HAIL! I feel you well up inside me like hot water filling a basin. I feel you
behind my eyes, and in my throat, my chest, and my stomach. I have endured a
great loss. I long to lie down, to wither and die, and be buried. But I do not,
for I live, and what lives must go on living.
Demon of Fear: HAIL!
I feel you jolt me like an arc of electric current. I feel you in the back of
my head, all over my face, in my shoulders and elbows, in my loins, and in my knees,
ankles, and feet. It came suddenly: Danger! I need to run. Away from here, to
somewhere else – I need to run!
Demon of Aversion: HAIL!
I feel you pulling me like strings knotted to my insides. I feel your tug in my
eyes, in the front and back of my head, in my neck and shoulders, in my knees,
ankles, and feet. This – this thing – it is not to my liking. It must not touch
me, nor be near enough to me that I can smell it.
Hail the Darkness!
(Any of the above
can be incorporated into cathartic ritual if it fits your infernal aesthetic.
You can of course modify them if your own bodily experience differs from mine.)
“Hello Darkness, my
old friend.” ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!
Hail the Darkness!
To be clear: I’m not
referring to something that exists in external reality, or that is self-aware, or
has agency. I’m referring to something that exists in every individual human
psyche: potential waiting to be tapped.
The Darkness is all
of the so-called “negative” emotions: anger, sadness, fear, aversion, misery,
despair, revulsion, horror, shame, humiliation, outrage, contempt, and
animosity, thirteen in all, which is why I call them the Thirteen Demons.
The Demon of Anger
grants the power of striking.
The Demon of Sadness
grants the power of absorbing a blow.
The Demon of Fear
grants the power of swiftness.
The Demon of
Aversion grants the power of dodging.
The Demon of Misery
grants the power of suspicion.
The Demon of Despair grants the power of
emptiness.
The Demon of Revulsion
grants the power of destruction.
The Demon of Horror
grants the power of self-protection.
The Demon of Shame
grants the power of self-awareness.
The Demon of Humiliation
grants the power of standing alone.
The Demon of Outrage
grants the power of brutality.
The Demon of
Contempt grants the power of oppression.
The Demon of
Animosity grants the power of war.
Each and all of
these can be accessed via cathartic ritual. First, select which power you will
need, then alone at night in a dark room, light your candles. Draw upward out
of your subconscious the memory of when you have known, personally and
intimately, the demon you now require. Picture the scene. Feel the so-called “negative”
emotion. Let it overwhelm you to whatever extent you are trained enough to be
capable of. Do not shrink from it. Let it burn! Then hail the Darkness, invoke
the demon, invoke the power, describe the need, describe your will, invoke the
power again, hail the demon, release the demon, hail the Darkness again, and extinguish
your candles.
You may add whatever
you like to the stripped-down version I have offered. Include whatever bombast
and pageantry your dark heart desires.
Never forget:
Nothing will happen in external reality until you go out into the world and
take ACTION to achieve your will.
“Hello Darkness, my
old friend.” ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!
