Wolfie's blog

HAIL MAMMON!

Leviathan and Mammon are inextricably linked. Leviathan is the macrocosm to Mammon’s microcosm. Leviathan is man writ large, the species as a whole, swarming the earth like technological locusts, whereas Mammon is man writ small, the individual talking ape, exploiting Leviathan at every turn. I am Mammon; you too are Mammon if you live by the truth of money and greed; but only all of us together are Leviathan.

As Leviathan grows by human reproduction and in certain areas by immigration, Mammon (by which I mean anyone who lives by the truth of money and greed) exploits the megatrends of population increase. As Leviathan grows by the colonization of physical territory, Mammon exploits the business opportunities to be found in the need for new infrastructure, new venues for consumption, and new warehouses and other hubs of operation. As Leviathan grows by the proliferation and refinement of broadband communications and processing power, Mammon exploits the geometrically increasing ubiquity and universality of the internet. As Leviathan grows by the emergence of whole new kinds of markets, Mammon exploits the initial absence of competitors for the exact new product or service it sees a niche for, and gets to market first.

Exploit – exploit – exploit – EXPLOIT! This is Mammon, along with such insights as, “Money is the name of the game,” and, “In Greed We Trust.” Money and greed rule politics, rule war, rule diplomacy, rule science, rule the arts, rule scholarship, rule journalism – Money and greed rule every aspect of our lives – so the only sensible thing to do is to grab hold of the levers of money and greed and pull them in ways that benefit the self. That sensible attitude, and you and I who live by it, are Mammon. The more of us there are, the faster and more relentlessly Leviathan will grow. Money and greed will bring more immigrants to our shores, and population will increase – and Leviathan will grow. Money and greed will increase the demand for real estate, and new territory will be colonized – and Leviathan will grow. Money and greed will increase the demand for online products and services, and the broadband network will increase in scope and power – and Leviathan will grow. Money and greed will create the demand for categories of products and services we don’t even have names for yet, and the forces of supply will inevitably respond – and Leviathan will grow.

Never has there been a more perfectly matched pair of lovers than Leviathan and Mammon, though one is a titan, and the other just a sharp-and-strong-minded little ape.

This is the last of my fourth wave of postings. I have fully expressed my philosophy as of August 17, 2021. HAIL MAMMON! ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!

WAR

From the perspective of Hyperborea, what shall we say of war? It enables colonization, motivates commerce, drives industrialization, calls forth innovation, and forces civilizational selection. What’s not to love?

Hoof and Grass – Wood and Wind – Steel and Fire – every age of migration and colonization relied on the making of war, for more likely than not, when an invasive population first touched its feet to new soil, they were not the first humans to do so. Previous inhabitants had to be displaced, exterminated, or subjugated. Nor did Leviathan suffer from this. Quite the contrary. The more advanced civilization inevitably won, unless it had grown soft in its doddering old age, and either way, the losers were expendable, grist for the mill, to the victor the spoils. All was right with the world.

Meanwhile, the makers of war require the implements thereof. First came swords, knives, shields, and armor, and the metal for forging them - and also horses, those noble beasts who carried warriors into the fray. Tradesmen and merchants supplied the hordes with what they needed, and wartime commerce had its genesis and began its evolution. Next came guns and cannons, for destructive capabilities had to advance. Merchants supplied these as well. The march of progress brought forth ever more terrible engines of destruction, and always there were merchants to provide them. Commerce! If Leviathan could smile, surely it would have, nor would its good cheer have been marred in the least by the mounting piles of corpses, young and old alike feeding the flies, for every person and every community is expendable, grist for the mill, to the victor the spoils. All was right with the world.

Where at first the business of war had relied on tradesmen such as blacksmiths, these eventually gave way to industrialization. The sheer number of weapons, ammunition, and war machines required was staggering. Efficiency was needed, and economies of scale, and division of labor, and centralized control. Humanity was equal to the task. Factories were built and equipped, and products were churned out at dizzying speeds. Industrialization soon became the factor that decided the outcome of military conflicts. Whoever had (or had access to) the most and the best factories, won. The United States did not become mightier than other nations because it had more soldiers or because its soldiers were braver. No, it became mightier because its armies and navies were better equipped, and this in turn was because it could harness the tremendous power of the military industrial complex.

Nor is it sufficient to have merely the most weapons, ammunition, and war machines: it is also necessary to have the best. Innovation! Nothing on earth is more beautiful or more deadly. Physicists, chemists, engineers, mathematicians, all are recruited by the military industrial complex, and all do their part to continuously improve man’s ability to slaughter man. To shoot farther, straighter, faster; to demolish more totally; to carry more people and things from point A to point B and do it more quickly so the killing can begin without delay; to better enable communications and the analysis of information so better command decisions can be made and more of the enemy neutralized: the appetite for innovation is voracious, ravenous, never satisfied, and Leviathan gobbles up its daily meals with gusto, excreting corpses with as little concern as a man has for his turds.  

From the making of total war comes civilizational selection, for total war is a zero sum game: either you win or you lose, and if you lose, you are either displaced, exterminated, or subjugated. In recent decades we haven’t been witnessing total war very often. Instead we see governments toppled – and then the victor, usually the United States, rushes in to try to rebuild the place in its own image, and lo and behold! They repeatedly fail. They win the war and lose the peace, over and over again, because they don’t understand what war is for. It’s a contest of civilizations, and the loser is supposed to be made to vanish, either by genocide, or by exile, or by being absorbed into the victor and rendered irrelevant as a discrete entity, its useful attributes assimilated and its useless ones buried and forgotten. Chase, kill, eat, excrete: these are what the victor is supposed to do to the vanquished. When it does it, civilizational selection takes place, Leviathan is strengthened, and all is right with the world, for the victor has proven itself the best at commerce, industry, and innovation, and these are the principles by which Leviathan rises and expands.

Can the individual exploit all this? Of course. Be the merchant. Be the industrialist. Be the innovator. HAIL MAMMON! ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!    

AGE OF STEEL AND FIRE

Leviathan has been maturing like an organism these last few thousand years – just not uniformly in all parts of its body. Different pockets of the human race have advanced at different paces, though in modern times uniformity has been spreading, thanks to the unifying power of technology. I divide the stages of advancement according to the evolving modes of transport that characterized migration and colonization, the two principles that play the largest roles in Leviathan’s maturation. It’s by studying these stages that we open the mental door to what I call Hyperborea.

The first stage of migration and colonization was the Age of Hoof and Grass. The hooves in question were of course on the feet of horses and oxen, which got their energy to move by eating the grass they found on the way. Examples of such migrations were the Mongol invasions of present-day Iran, Iraq, the Caucasus, and parts of Syria and Turkey; the Proto-Indo-European migration westward from the Pontic steppe in present-day Ukraine and Russia; and the Teutonic and Celtic “barbarian” invasions that swept across Europe during the days of the Roman Empire.

The second stage of migration and colonization was the Age of Wood and Wind. The wood in question was used in the making of great ocean-going ships, which got their energy to move primarily from the blowing wind. These migrations were westward from the various nations of Europe, across the Atlantic ocean to the shores of North and South America and nearby islands, or else south from the various nations of Europe, down into Africa, and sometimes back north again along Africa’s other coast, sailing both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

The third stage of migration and colonization – the one in which Western Man currently finds itself – is the Age of Steel and Fire. The steel in question is used in the making of modern vehicles, all of which are (and always have been) powered by fire, be it in coal furnaces (heating water into steam) or in the carburetors of internal combustion engines, or still more advanced technologies, such as nuclear, in military ships, icebreakers, and submarines. The iconic migration via steel and fire was the building of railroads, either across the United States or across Europe. Some think the mass production of pistols and rifles defeated the American Indian, or else maybe small pox and other microbes, and these of course played major roles - but also key was the locomotive, which brought more white men out west than the indigenous tribes could hope to contend with (especially after the ravages of European germs).

Today the most iconic steel and fire transport is the airplane, by which man can cross oceans in hours. But this mode of transport will one day be eclipsed by something still greater: the rocket ship. Today, the Age of Steel and Fire has yet to express its full potential. Trains, cars, trucks, and airplanes cross continents, yes, and jets, ocean liners, and oil tankers cross oceans, but continents have been crossed since the Age of Hoof and Grass, and oceans since the Age of Wood and Wind. The frontier that only steel and fire can cross is cislunar and interplanetary space. Man has sent expeditions out into this great expanse but has not yet built settlements on lunar or Martian territory. The day for that is rapidly approaching. I hope to see it in my lifetime and have a reasonable shot at doing so.

Reading at length on the foregoing and deeply contemplating it will open your mental door to Hyperborea should you care to join me there. ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!  

HYPERBOREA

In this, my 50th blog post, I introduce the concept of Hyperborea, by which I mean a state of mind that is characterized by the principle of awe in the face of Leviathan, that earthly titan who is man writ large, subordinating all space and matter under the dominion of commerce.

The name, Hyperborea, is intended to evoke an image of the frozen north, buffeted by blizzards and blanketed in snowdrifts that could swallow mere men. Here barbarians make their home, ply their trades and spill their blood. Such as these, in the days when deities seemed responsible for the world, would have told their sons and daughters of Odin, or of Conan’s Crom, both of whom had this in common: they were indifferent to human suffering, and equally indifferent to human joy, caring only for their own vast and inscrutable plans. Leviathan is much the same. Not a deity, nor supernatural in any way, but vast and inscrutable, and as cold and indifferent as the killing storms of winter.

Worship is wasted on Leviathan, as is prayer. Sacrifices on smoking altars will go unnoticed, and chalices of wine or whiskey will go untasted. Pious service in Leviathan’s name will win you no favor, and in fact makes no sense as priestcraft, for to live in the modern world is to render service daily to the Gogmagogian superbeast of human commerce - whether we mean to or not, and whether we like it or not.

One facet of what some would call “religious experience” remains available to us: the principle of awe. Tremendous is Leviathan and stupendous is its power! Like a juggernaut it strides forth into a future that will not be denied it, crushing under its heel all the forces of inertia or anachronism that stupidly oppose its greedy and rapacious progress. All will be devoured; all, metabolized; and all that is useless, excreted. A spectacle such as this has not been seen on the earth since the early days of insect genesis, when the first six-legged swarms brought continents under their sway. Leviathan will surpass even this, for what are mere continents when there are whole new planets to colonize?

Join me in Hyperborea if you dare. Let us stand on the blustery peaks of frozen mountains and scan the horizon for signs and portents of Cyclopean enterprise.

I will, of course, have more to say on this. ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!

“Blessed are they who stand alone, for Leviathan has a place for them.”

What, then, of family, friends, co-workers, allies, or even pets? I’ll use the term “associates” to refer to all of these. I contend that even while encircled by my associates, I stand alone.

First, let’s consider how protective my associates really are in practical terms. My cat flees at the first hint of danger, leaving me to die if the danger is real. (A big dog would be the polar opposite of that, of course, but I’m dogless, because dogs require too much effort, with all this taking them for a walk, giving them baths, the list goes on.) My allies would drop me like a hot potato if my strategic position devolved. My co-workers would feed me to the wolves to save themselves without a second thought. I no longer have friends with whom I keep in touch, because maintaining the connection became more trouble than it was worth – so yes, I suck as a friend, primarily because I never depended on friends for anything important to begin with. Only my family would protect me when the chips are down, and lest you think otherwise: I would return the favor, as I’m not a complete asshole. Yet how often are my family in any real position to save my ass? Only very occasionally, in very special circumstances. On a daily basis I generally stand alone for all practical purposes, despite having people who care about me. And here’s the thing: I like it that way. I don’t ever want to sink complacently into the narcotizing delusion that the universe has my back. Even family can die, move away, become incapacitated (rendering them useless), or turn against me if they catch a glimpse of my Devil Inside. The safest course is always to have my own back: “to watch my own six” as I might say if I were a military man, which I’m not, partly because I don’t want to be responsible for watching somebody else’s six.

Second, let’s consider what psychological strength I draw from my associates. Short summary: I don’t draw any at all.         

Some draw psychological strength from their associates by virtue of the philosophical echo chamber they all live in. I don’t. First of all, I’m a staunch empiricist, materialist, carnality enthusiast, animality enthusiast, egotist, misanthrope, individualist, retributionist, libertine, schemer, and cutthroat - and of all my associates, only my cat is like me in every regard, with most of them unlike me in nearly every regard. (And my cat doesn’t speak, so the echo chamber potential is limited at best.) But more importantly, I reject echo chambers on principle. I do my own thinking.

I can’t emphasize this enough. Most people aren’t thinkers at all. They have thoughts, but that isn’t the same thing. The thoughts they have are whatever bubbles up from the collective. Examine their ideas and those of their associates: You’ll find an almost perfect homogeneity. Same epistemology, same metaphysics, same anthropology, same moral philosophy, same theory of happiness, same strategy for living. They draw comfort from this sameness. Intellectually, they feel safer in a group: they put their trust in having strength in numbers. I don’t do any of that. I draw comfort from the fact that my ideas are my own. I feel safer as an intellectual free agent, a philosophical lone wolf. I put my trust in my own mental abilities and disciplines, my own intellectual honesty and ruthless self-examination.

Does Leviathan – by which I mean the human species as a titan on the earth – have a place for me? Of course it does. Regardless what associates I have or don’t have encircling me – regardless what “isms” I carry or don’t carry in my mental apparatus – every dollar I earn or spend; every product or service I buy or sell; every idea I receive or distribute; these together simply can’t fail to provide Leviathan with oxygen, food, water, and body heat, and Leviathan likewise simply can’t fail to put money, products, services, and ideas into the physical or virtual spaces I inhabit. My mutual assured entanglement with Leviathan is unconditional, ending only when I die or wander off into the wilderness, never to be heard from again.

I am Homo economicus and a self-directed cell in the body of something Brobdingnagian. ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!

There is still one “Bad Attitude” from WOLFISM XIX that I haven’t yet discussed.

“Blessed are they who stand alone, for Leviathan has a place for them.”

Many people are frightened by the prospect of standing alone. They tremble at the thought of having no crowd to protectively encircle them. I vomit such people out of my mouth.

Some feel comforted by racial encirclement. “I’m white, and the great white army surrounds me.” Or: “I’m black, and my African forebears encircle me with justice like steel.” I reject all that. I’m Italian, but I take no solace in that. My strength and my cunning, and they alone, are the source of my inner peace.

Some feel comforted by religious encirclement. “I am a member of the Body of Christ.” Or: “I am of Israel, God’s chosen people.” Or: “The Ummat al-Islam contains me.” I reject all that. I could have decided to wrap religious Satanism around me like a blanket, to keep the bogeyman of aloneness at bay, but I chose instead to put the bogeyman to the sword.

Some feel comforted by national encirclement. “Stars and stripes forever!” Or: “Rule, Britannia!” I reject all that. Sure, I live in one of the world’s two superpowers (China being the other, whether anyone wants to admit that or not) but that doesn’t mean that I myself have super powers, and I have never known how to take pride in anything other than my own capabilities and accomplishments.

Some feel comforted by gender encirclement. “I’m a man like my daddy was.” Or: “I am woman – Hear me roar! Girl power forever!” I reject all that. My strength and my cunning do not derive from my Y-chromosome. And to all the women who roar: I admire you and I applaud your claiming of your power, but it is not your pair of X-chromosomes that make you elite amongst the beasts of the jungle: It is the steel in your spine, and the razor sharpness of your wits.   

Some feel comforted by philosophical encirclement. “I’m a Conservative.” Or: “I’m a Liberal.” Or: “I’m a Fascist.” Or: “I’m a Communist.” Or: “I’m an Objectivist.” Or: “I’m a Satanist.” I reject all that. I have declined even to name my philosophy Satanic, for two reasons: (1) arguing over what is or is not Satanic never ends and never bears any fruit; and (2) any such naming of my philosophy might imply I accept the authority of some prior thinker, and I do not: LaVey, for instance, is an influence, yes, a muse, yes, even a kind of mentor, yes – but never an authority over me. I make my own meaning and I am a law unto myself.

Standing alone is my freely chosen destiny and I happily take it up. That I do so is perhaps my greatest pride.

That said, there is an encirclement none of us can escape, short of wandering off into the wilderness and never being heard from again. Leviathan, by which I mean the human species as a titan on the earth, devouring all things, metabolizing all things, excreting all that is useless to it – this encircles us whether we like it or not. We’re part of it. Every dollar we spend is oxygen for it. Every product we produce is food for it. Every service we render is water for it. Every idea we circulate is body heat for it.

I don’t ask what I can do for Leviathan. I don’t need to. Everything I do, I ultimately do for Leviathan whether I like it or not, even if my conscious purpose is utterly selfish. No, what I ask is, what can Leviathan do for me? I don’t ask this question as an Italian; nor as any kind of religious adherent; nor as an American; nor as a man; nor even as a Satanist. I ask this question from a place of total individualism and complete egotism. What can Leviathan do for this unique biological organism that I perceive myself to be? Nor is it ever difficult for me to get my answer. Money, products, services, and ideas swarm all about me. I need merely be strong and cunning enough to be able to get my hands on the things I want or need.

Leviathan helps those who help themselves. ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!

I want to state here on the blog that I have discarded any notion of Vamachara from my philosophy.

Vamachara is a Tantric practice arising out of Hinduism. The word translates literally to “left-handed attainment” and is considered by some to be Hinduism’s Left Hand Path. It is the spiritual practice of performing actions which are not only explicitly banned in the Vedas (the oldest Hindu scriptures) but which are considered taboo and vile by most of the general population in India.

Some in the West and the Middle East have taken up Vamachara (without necessarily knowing the word for it) and broadened it beyond Hinduism. Someone raised Muslim or Jewish Orthodox might, for example, purposely eat pork because it’s banned in the Torah (the oldest Abrahamic scripture) and it is considered taboo and vile by the general populace in Muslim or Orthodox Jewish communities. Someone raised Catholic might defile consecrated wafers (“the Holy Eucharist”) which would violate Church law and be considered taboo and vile by the general populace in Irish or Italian (or other majority Catholic) communities.      

Some in the West have taken Vamachara beyond religion entirely and applied it to secular taboos. For example, if they happen to live in the United States, they might join the Nazi movement, or join the Ku Klux Klan, or stage dogfights or cockfights, or hunt endangered species, all of which are activities that are either outright illegal or are at least considered taboo in many (not all) American communities.

Why, then, have I discarded this notion from my philosophy? Is it because I have a problem with Muslims eating pork or Catholics desecrating wafers? Hell no. Those are blasphemies and I’m repeatedly on the record as promoting blasphemy.

Is it because I have a problem with people joining the Nazis or the KKK? Only to a certain extent, which I’ll explain shortly. As for dogfights and cockfights, and hunting endangered species, I hate those activities and I hate anyone who engages in them, but not for philosophical reasons. I just hate those dickwipes because I love animals.

My reasons for discarding the notion of Vamachara are threefold. First, it’s a spiritual practice, and I reject spiritual practice categorically because I hold to the principles of carnality and materialism. I reject satori, reject Nirvana, reject beatific visions, reject resurrection, reject ascension, reject apotheosis. Stripped of any spiritual goal, then, Vamachara becomes pointless.

Secondly, Vamachara makes transgression a defining characteristic, as if nothing has any value if it doesn’t transgress. This is nonsense. I pursue wealth because wealth is good. I have sex (if I do) because sex is good. I eat tasty food because tasty food is good. I seek prominence and favor because prominence and favor are good. Any transgressive quality to these things that I pursue is merely a side-effect of being happy in a society that would rather I be miserable.

Understand: I’m not opposed to transgression. In fact I endorse and even promote it under the right circumstances. Taboos mean nothing to me. I walk through them as if they aren’t there - because, for me, they aren’t. If transgression is the best way for me to get what I want, then, all else being equal, I transgress. But if I can get what I want by behaving inoffensively, then I will probably go that route, because it’s the path of least resistance.

Finally, some transgressions are just asinine. Join the motherfucking Nazis? Join the shithead KKK? Why the hell would I do anything so massively ludicrous? Fuck that. Nazis can suck my dick and the KKK can shove their burning crosses up their asses. I wouldn’t touch their pissant pamphlets with a ten foot pole. I certainly wouldn’t do it because some corpse-hallowers in medieval India thought such acts could put them in touch with Kali.  

‘Nuff said, except for these parting words: ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!

FORMAL GATHERING OF THE BAST CABAL

PRELIMINARY NOTES

I employ a term that I coined in a prior post. “Caballion” shall mean “member of the Cabal.”

Also, I write this as if the Cabal will meet in person. Adapting what I’ve written to fit online sessions is a simple matter. However, there’s an element of trust implicit in an in-person gathering, and this element should not be casually set aside. Even online, Caballions should show their faces and reveal their names. If you can’t rise to that level of trust with a certain group of people, you don’t belong in a Cabal with those people. The corollary is this: Every formal gathering is private; the names of its attendees, secret; and all that goes on, confidential. Whoever violates this principle shall become prey.

Finally, there’s no hierarchy in a Cabal. Every formal gathering has a leader, but that role should rotate among the members. Also, to the extent practical, the role of providing the meeting place should rotate among the members. Caballions shall treat the meeting place, its owner, and its uninvolved residents, in particular any pets, with the utmost courtesy and respect, or risk being hunted for sport.

THE GATHERING

Any time after sundown, the Cabal enters the meeting room and all take their seats. The last person entering shuts the door and turns off any electric lights before sitting down. If the room has no windows and is therefore pitch black, the last person entering uses a cigarette lighter to provide some illumination.

LEADER: “Caballions: Light your candles.”

Each member places a small purple candle on the table and lights it with a match, cigarette lighter, or utility lighter – just nothing ridiculous like a blowtorch.

LEADER: “In the name of BAST we begin.”

The leader turns to the member on his or her immediate left.

LEADER: “Caballion [Name], What lust have you under way?”

The member describes any romantic or sexual conquests he or she is embarked upon.

LEADER: “What do you ask of us who sit here?”

The member describes any assistance that could be helpful. Discussion ensues, offers are made, or not, and are accepted, or not. When common sense indicates the discussion has run its course, the leader turns to the next member on the left, poses the same questions, and allows the same discussion. This continues until all members have been heard from.

Then:

LEADER: “Caballion [Name], What greed have you under way?”

The member describes any treasures, raw materials, or resources he or she seeks to purchase, or take from the earth, sea, or sky, or steal or swindle from the unsuspecting, or sell in any market, be it black, red, gray, pink, or white*.

LEADER: “What do you ask of us who sit here?”

The member describes any assistance that could be helpful. Discussion ensues, offers are made, or not, and are accepted, or not. When common sense indicates the discussion has run its course, the leader turns to the next member on the left, poses the same questions, and allows the same discussion. This continues until all members have been heard from.

Then:

LEADER: “Caballion [Name], To what do you aspire in your envy and your ambition?”

The member describes any prominence or favor he or she is scheming to attain, and who or what might need to be displaced to make room.  

LEADER: “What do you ask of us who sit here?”

The member describes any assistance that could be helpful. Discussion ensues, offers are made, or not, and are accepted, or not. When common sense indicates the discussion has run its course, the leader turns to the next member on the left, poses the same questions, and allows the same discussion. This continues until all members have been heard from.

Then:

LEADER: “All is complete. In the name of BAST we bring this gathering to a close. Caballions, extinguish your candles.”

All do so. If needed, the person who was last entering once again uses a cigarette lighter to provide some illumination. This same person stands up, turns on the electric lights, and opens the door. All exit the room in silence. The last person leaving the room turns off the electric lights and shuts the door. Any subsequent conversation must not have anything to do with what was said in the gathering. This sets the tone for privacy, secrecy, confidentiality - and also protects against inadvertent hearing by the meeting place’s uninvolved residents.

*Note:

Black Market: Illegal products.

Red Market: Illegal services.

Gray Market: Legal products or services are sold through illegal or extra-legal channels.

Pink Market: All is legal but some delicate sensitivities might be offended, for example selling military-grade firearms, or, where legal, prostitution.

White Market: Everything is on the up and up and might even be advertised on TV.

ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!

INVOCATION OF BAST

Alone in a dark room at night, light your candles, the best color for which is purple.

If you will play music, start it now. I don’t usually play anything, but if I do, it’s Nightwish and it begins with their rendition of “The Phantom of the Opera.”

Cross your forearms on your chest, hands fisted. Close your eyes. Regulate your breathing.

Imagine an oak sprouting from seed and growing tall to drop acorns unto the womb of soil whence it sprung. See this in fast motion photography. Hear the wind blowing through the leaves. Smell the sap on the trunk. Feel its acorns on your palms.

Say:

HAIL BAST!

My Greed – HAIL!

My Lust – HAIL!

My Mirth – HAIL!

My Love of Food – HAIL!

My Smart Sloth – HAIL!

My Vanity – HAIL!

My Envy – HAIL!

I live a sensuous and vital existence.

I live an elegant and luxurious existence.

I live a playful and high-spirited existence.

I live a haughty and high-handed existence.

BAST – My Carnality – HAIL!

BAST – My Materialism – HAIL!

BAST – My Egotism – HAIL!

Queen of the Clowder – step daintily. Your dignity and grace are mine.

Queen of the Glaring – sit regally. Your stillness and self-assurance are mine.

The tree that I climb is the axis of the world.

The tree in which I sit and watch is the axis of the world.

Pleasures await.

Treasures await.

Prominence awaits.

Favor awaits.

I – AM – BAST!

(Breathe. Be silent. Imagine the oak tree with all your senses as before.)

(Open your eyes. If music is playing, stop it. Extinguish your candles. Either leave the room or turn on a light.)

ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!

There are four features of the face of BAST that I haven’t really discussed. All I’ve done is name them. Time to rectify that omission.

“Blessed are they who love food, for the world is their oyster.”

Fixation on the quantity of food can potentially lead to an eating disorder, and is therefore not to be recommended. Fixation on the quality of food is better overall for one’s health. I have a bit of the former and therefore I wrestle constantly with my weight. My best solutions so far have been Weight Watchers and a quote from the novel Shibumi by Trevanian, regarding fine wine: “I do not consider two sips to be more delicious than one.” That said, I heartily recommend exploring all the delicacies of all the regions of the world, from the simple to the complex, the intense to the subtle, the silly to the sublime. Try it all. Be adventurous. Whatever delights you, come back to, again and again.   

“Blessed are they who work smarter, not harder, for by sloth they conquer.”

Smart sloth is the best impulse of the engineer. The refusal to stupidly waste time and energy has spawned more innovation than any other human impulse. “This laborious process is how it’s always been done? What the fuck! Who came up with this? There are at least three different ways we could do this quicker and easier. I’ll pick one and give you a strawman to pick apart by tomorrow morning.” And so is born yet another creative transformation of tools and techniques. Whatever company can best harness this impulse will inevitably pull ahead in the race to be first to market.      

“Blessed are the vain, for they adorn the best subject.”

The best subject is of course the self. The vain love clothing, shoes, jewelry, and accessories. They love hairstyles, cosmetics, and fragrances. They love excellent physiques, be they slim, voluptuous, or muscular. They love teeth that are white and straight. Some of them love tattoos, and some, piercings. Adorning oneself is an art form, one that I personally only dabble in, minimally, but which I admire in others, for the better they look, the more they demonstrate the esteem in which they hold their own bodies. Simultaneously carnal and materialistic, the vain are edifying muses for us all.  

“Blessed are they whose envy elevates their ambitions, for they will have the last laugh.”

Most people don’t realize this, but ambition rests on envy. We compare ourselves to others, note the discrepancy, and if it isn’t in our favor, the best of us set ourselves the objective of redressing that imbalance by doing the work, learning the skills, developing the strategies and tactics, and facing the challenges that will get us from where we are to where those other people are. All of this begins in earliest childhood. We envy the autonomy of our parents and we set ourselves the objective of growing up so we too can be autonomous. Later we envy our teachers and our more accomplished classmates. Still later we envy the rich, the famous, and the triumphant in any field. All of this fuels our ambitions.

Life-enhancing virtues, all four above, and the furthest things from deadly sins. ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!

FORMAL GATHERING OF THE SEKHMET CABAL

PRELIMINARY NOTES

I coin a term in this post. “Caballion” shall mean “member of the Cabal.”

Also, I write this as if the Cabal will meet in person. Adapting what I’ve written to fit online sessions is a simple matter. However, there’s an element of trust implicit in an in-person gathering, and this element should not be casually set aside. Even online, Caballions should show their faces and reveal their names. If you can’t rise to that level of trust with a certain group of people, you don’t belong in a Cabal with those people. The corollary is this: Every formal gathering is private; the names of its attendees, secret; and all that goes on, confidential. Whoever violates this principle shall become prey.

Finally, there’s no hierarchy in a Cabal. Every formal gathering has a leader, but that role should rotate among the members. Also, to the extent practical, the role of providing the meeting place should rotate among the members. Caballions shall treat the meeting place, its owner, and its uninvolved residents, in particular any pets, with the utmost courtesy and respect, or risk being hunted for sport.

THE GATHERING

Any time after sundown, the Cabal enters the meeting room and all take their seats. The last person entering shuts the door and turns off any electric lights before sitting down. If the room has no windows and is therefore pitch black, the last person entering uses a cigarette lighter to provide some illumination.

LEADER: “Caballions: Light your candles.”

Each member places a small red candle on the table and lights it with a match, cigarette lighter, or utility lighter – just nothing ridiculous like a blowtorch.

LEADER: “In the name of SEKHMET we begin.”

The leader turns to the member on his or her immediate left.

LEADER: “Caballion [Name], What malice do you have under way?”

The member describes any destruction he or she is bringing to an adversary.

LEADER: “What do you ask of us who sit here?”

The member describes any assistance that could be helpful. Discussion ensues, offers are made, or not, and are accepted, or not. When common sense indicates the discussion has run its course, the leader turns to the next member on the left, poses the same questions, and allows the same discussion. This continues until all members have been heard from.

Then:

LEADER: “Caballion [Name], What misanthropy do you have under way?”

The member describes any distress he or she is bringing to a detested one. A detested one would be a weakling, an imbecile, a sucker, an incompetent, a poser, a coward, or a bellyacher.

LEADER: “What do you ask of us who sit here?”

The member describes any assistance that could be helpful. Discussion ensues, offers are made, or not, and are accepted, or not. When common sense indicates the discussion has run its course, the leader turns to the next member on the left, poses the same questions, and allows the same discussion. This continues until all members have been heard from.

Then:

LEADER: “Caballion [Name], What blasphemy do you have under way?”

The member describes any defilement he or she is bringing to dogma.

LEADER: “What do you ask of us who sit here?”

The member describes any assistance that could be helpful. Discussion ensues, offers are made, or not, and are accepted, or not. When common sense indicates the discussion has run its course, the leader turns to the next member on the left, poses the same questions, and allows the same discussion. This continues until all members have been heard from.

Then:

LEADER: “All is complete. In the name of SEKHMET we bring this gathering to a close. Caballions, extinguish your candles.”

All do so. If needed, the person who was last entering once again uses a cigarette lighter to provide some illumination. This same person stands up, turns on the electric lights, and opens the door. All exit the room in silence. The last person leaving the room turns off the electric lights and shuts the door. Any subsequent conversation must not have anything to do with what was said in the gathering. This sets the tone for privacy, secrecy, confidentiality - and also protects against inadvertent hearing by the meeting place’s uninvolved residents.

ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!

INVOCATION OF SEKHMET

Alone in a dark room at night, light your candles, the best color for which is red.

If you will play music, start it now. I don’t usually play anything, but if I do, it’s by Genocide.

Cross your forearms on your chest, hands fisted. Close your eyes. Regulate your breathing.

Imagine fire. See it consume, hear it crackle, smell its smoke, feel its heat.

Say:

HAIL SEKHMET!

My Malice – HAIL!

My Misanthropy – HAIL!

My Blasphemy – HAIL!

I destroy my adversaries.

I distress whom I detest.

I defile dogma.

SEKHMET – My Destructive Power – HAIL!

SEKHMET – My Distressing Power – HAIL!

SEKHMET – My Defiling Power – HAIL!

LIONESS – STALK! Your senses and your cunning are mine.

LIONESS – STRIKE! Your jaws and your strength are mine.

FIRE of the FELINE – BURN!

FIRE on the SAVANNAH – BURN!

FIRE in my BREAST – BURN!

No adversary can survive me.

No detestable one can survive me.

No dogma can survive me.

I stalk and I strike.

I – AM – SEKHMET!

(Breathe. Be silent. Imagine fire. See it consume, hear it crackle, smell its smoke, feel its heat.)

(Open your eyes. If music is playing, stop it. Extinguish your candles. Either leave the room or turn on a light.)

ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!

My philosophy has two faces: one positive, one negative. Don’t misunderstand: positive and negative do not divide along some good/bad or true/false axis, nor some beautiful/ugly one. Positive is the “yes/more/do it” face while negative is the “no/less/stop it” face.

I personify the positive as BAST, the Egyptian cat goddess, to whom I assign the principles of greed, mirth, lust, love of food, smart sloth, vanity, and productive envy.

I personify the negative as SEKHMET, the Egyptian lion goddess, to whom I assign the principles of malice, misanthropy, and blasphemy.

Some people’s practice is more BAST; other people’s practice is more SEKHMET; and still others pursue a practice pretty evenly balanced between the two.

Here I’ll introduce the concept of a Cabal, which is a group of practitioners who get to know one another more intimately than people on an online forum typically would. They share with one another their goals and plans, their victories and defeats, and their good and ill fortune. They brainstorm ideas together, suggest information sources, introduce one another to individuals who might prove helpful, and even take part in one another’s schemes. They can also, if practical, dine together, enjoy cultural activities together, engage in athletics together, or have sex with one another.

As might be expected, a Cabal can lean more toward BAST or more toward SEKHMET, though there are no hard and fast rules about this. It simply makes sense that if you yourself lean more toward BAST, then you would gravitate toward other practitioners who do also, and the same would be true if you lean more toward SEKHMET.   

Know yourself. ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!

“The Fear of God is the root of the poisonous tree.”

What is God? It is the personification of the Superego: the voice in your head that tells you the Id is bad, sinful, damned everlastingly to hellfire – when in fact the Id is the entire source of your power to enjoy life. Society was your Superego’s maker, and for that, it forfeits any claim to your allegiance.

“Blessed are the selfish, for they have their hands on the throat of God.”

God – the Superego – would have you sacrifice your Id on the altar of moral goodness. Make no mistake: the Id and the Superego are at war. The War in Heaven and the Fall of Lucifer are metaphors for the struggle inside your head. The vanguard of the Id’s advancing army is your innate selfishness, which, the moment it has your acknowledgement and approval, goes straight at the Superego with ruthless and merciless malice.

“Blessed are the greedy, for they would possess the earth.”

The highest expression of selfishness is greed: wanting it all and wanting it now. It is never satiated, and therefore it drives your relentless conquest of the material world. It is the territory and treasure aspect of your will to power, and the most perfect expression of that will, for territory and treasure are both the ends and the means of power.

“The love of money is the beginning of wisdom.”

No tool of domination is better suited to its task than filthy lucre. All the cunning arts of seduction and manipulation can be neutralized in an instant by the hand that offers coin of the realm. And make no mistake: domination is what money is for, when you have enough of it.

“Blessed are the rich, for they stand at the helm.”

Many Western nations are plutocracies pretending to be democracies, and chief among them is the United States. Nor is it merely billionaires and hectomillionaires that rule. If you have enough money that only a fraction is needed for necessities and common luxuries, what remains can be spent on acquiring and consolidating economic and even political power.

“Blessed are the buyers and sellers, for they make the world go round.”

Buying and selling are the primary expressions of economic power, and since for every buyer there is a seller who may then turn and buy with the proceeds, and for every seller a buyer who may then turn and sell what was bought, what we have is an endless dance of financial transactions, a ballet for which the whole world is the stage. Nothing of any importance happens independently of this choreography. Nothing political, nothing warlike, nothing scientific, nothing cultural. All of humanity in all of its dimensions of life is swept up in the great swirling dance of money changing hands.

“Blessed are they who honor the name of Mammon, for they prove they are fearless of God.”

For over a thousand years, the disciples of the crucified were taught, “You cannot serve two masters. You will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Mammon.”  (The use of the demonic proper name was a mistranslation but it held sway for over a millennium.) I agree heartily: you must choose between greed and Superego: between the love of money and the fear of God. Don’t be fooled by the millionaire televangelists. They’re no more Christian than you or I.

This is the end of my third wave of postings. I have expressed all of my philosophy as of August 6th, 2021. ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!

People can be allies despite philosophical differences - sometimes. The deciding factor is whether the difference has practical implications. If it doesn’t, then an alliance can proceed in a straightforward manner.

For example, we have the two broad categories of people who self-identify as Satanists: the naturalists and the supernaturalists. This difference in outlook goes to the heart of each group’s metaphysics and epistemology, but may not have practical implications at all. This is because there are, in turn, two broad categories of supernaturalists: those who trust ritual alone to enact their will, and those who perform ritual in conjunction with actually doing something in external reality. The latter category, in practical terms, will be indistinguishable from naturalistic Satanists, since both will be seen (by those with eyes to see them) manipulating external reality through physical and social means.

"Blessed are they who take ACTION out in the world, for the world is vulnerable to them."

To give a more concrete example: The naturalistic LaVeyan can straightforwardly form and execute on an alliance with a supernaturalist LaVeyan, if the latter’s practice is to engage in so-called Greater Black Magic and then follow it up with so-called Lesser Black Magic, all in the service of one coherent objective. Lesser Black Magic is the science and art of manipulating external reality through social means. It is a practice entirely available to, and often employed by, the naturalistic LaVeyan. The two Satanists can team up in their Lesser Black Magic endeavors, and never be tripped up in the slightest by their discrepant metaphysics and epistemology.

I encourage Satanists in the two broad categories to give serious thought to what I’ve written. I also encourage them to look for ways to learn from one another. Either type could easily, for example, know secrets of manipulating external reality that someone of the other type is ignorant of. There is no virtue in ignorance. Learn from anyone who has something to teach you.

ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!  

THE THIRTEEN STUPIDITIES

-          Compulsion.

There’s a point where daring becomes stupidity. If you’re injecting yourself with heroin because you have to try everything once – Stop.

-          Betting the farm.

There’s a point where hope becomes stupidity. If you’re gambling more than you can afford to lose – Stop.

-          Pipedreams.

There’s a point where ambition becomes stupidity. If you’re enrolling in law school and you suck at academics – Stop.

-          Desperation.

There’s a point where tenacity becomes stupidity. If you’re preparing to throw your life away because you don’t see quitting as an option – Stop.

-          Doggedness.

There’s a point where persistence becomes stupidity. If you’re banging your head against a wall and your head is bruised and bloody and the wall is unaffected – Stop.

-          Pigheadedness.

There’s a point where conviction becomes stupidity. If you’re clinging to your belief that all is well when you can see the tornado bearing down on you – Stop.

-          Mulishness.

There’s a point where sticking to your guns becomes stupidity. If you’re hurting yourself in the long run because you can’t bear to change your ways – Stop.

-          Bullheadedness.

There’s a point where integrity becomes stupidity. If you’re holding up progress because you won’t break an outdated or pointless rule – Stop.

-          Chicken-heartedness.

There’s a point where prudence becomes stupidity. If you’re allowing something bad to get worse because you can’t face up to the obvious solution – Stop.

-          Martyrdom.

There’s a point where sincerity becomes stupidity. If you’re sacrificing your life, liberty or happiness for the sake of some pie in the sky ideal – Stop.

-          Compunction.

There’s a point where conscience becomes stupidity. If you’re sacrificing your life, liberty or happiness as an act of penance to assuage your guilty feelings – Stop.

-          Asceticism.

There’s a point where self-discipline becomes stupidity. If you’re walking a path that will never let you know joy, have fun, or feel excitement – Stop.

-          Ejaculation.

There’s a point where honesty becomes stupidity. If you’re about to trash a cherished relationship or huge opportunity because you can’t bear to keep a secret or keep your opinions to yourself – Stop.

ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!

THE THIRTEEN SELF-DECEPTIONS

“Everything will be fine in the end.”

“Anything is possible.”

“That would never happen.”

“We’ve got all the time in the world.”

“Love conquers all.”

“Love is all you need.”

“I can handle anything.”

“I can be anything I want to be.”

“I can stop whenever I want.”

“I would never do that.”

“I don’t have a choice.”

“I can’t help it.”

“I have a good feeling about this.”

ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!

THE THIRTEEN LAWS OF MY DOMAIN

By right of spite and jaws that bite, I decree:

“Mind your own business.” 

Your unsolicited opinion is an affront to me. I have no patience nor mercy for busybodies.

“Don’t bullshit me.” 

I don’t take kindly to being lied to. Either convince me there were extenuating circumstance or else get out of my life.

“Do what you promised.” 

If I can’t rely on you, I won’t be bothered with you. Either convince me there were extenuating circumstances or else go away and don’t come back.

“Do your damn job.” 

Somebody’s paying you and directly or indirectly I’m paying them. I have no tolerance for laziness or incompetence.

“Do your homework.” 

Showing up unprepared is for amateurs. My time is precious and you’re wasting it.

“Don’t be a poser.” 

You’re not fooling anyone. Either you have what it takes or you don’t. Either you’re ready or you’re not. I don’t take kindly to people wasting my time.

“I’m not your mother.” 

Clean up after yourself. Put your things away. Make yourself useful. Help out in an emergency. Or find someplace else to be.

“My house my rules.” 

When I’ve kindly allowed you into my space, I expect you to defer to any reasonable requests I might make. Either that or leave. That it’s cold and wet outside will not deter me from giving you the boot.

“Keep your hands off.” 

What’s mine is mine, be it body, property, work product, or mate. I have nothing but brutality and destruction for anyone who transgresses my boundaries.

“You know better so do better.” 

I can’t stand the sight of people who sabotage themselves. Yes, granted, it’s your own business: Conduct it elsewhere.

“Whine somewhere else.” 

Either change the situation, or accept it, or walk away from it. I have no patience nor compassion for bellyaching.

“Grow up.” 

If your crisis is only a crisis because you’re so damn immature for your age, I have no patience nor compassion for you.

“Stop fooling yourself.” 

Everyone around you can see the truth. Open your eyes. Face the facts. I have no interest in humoring your delusions.

ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!

Hail the love of the human heart!

Yes, love has a place in my philosophy. But – Isn’t love selfless? Do I advocate selflessness? Hell no and fuck no. Selfishness is the way, but it is a way we travel with one eye shut if we would avert our gaze from love. Aphrodite was no goddess of unselfishness, nor was Eros a god of altruism.

Let it also be said, I don’t limit my context to mating scenarios. My heart has halls in its fortress for parents, siblings, offspring, extended family, bosom comrades, mentors, proteges, and, most emphatically, pets, equine mounts, and other non-human fellow travelers. It even has halls for city, state, nation, continent, hemisphere, and our own backwater planet, one among untold billions, but the one you and I call home.

I love what is mine, because it is mine, and because I am proud this is so. Pride is a part of love, and indispensable to it. When my heart sank its claws into my beloved, I threw back my head and roared, “MINE!” – even if I only did this in the forgotten dreams of my deep and mysterious sleep. I may not have been a lion before I loved, but now that I have a beloved, I pad through the jungle on terrifying paws. I became more when at last I loved. It bestowed greatness on my now-tawny head.

Love is territorial; love guards and defends; love is not weak or cowardly or humble or shy or meek. It is two-fisted and ready to fight; it is wild-eyed and ready for mayhem; it is grim-faced and ready to gamble against the Reaper. It rejoices in beauty and delights in the perversity of savoring ugliness. It is fearless of truth yet will lie if the truth won’t serve. It overcomes all things, questions all things, imagines all things, dares all things, endures all things.

If you detected it – Yes, that was blasphemy.

Love will sacrifice for the sake of the beloved, but this is not altruism: It is passion. It is savage rebellion against a universe that dares the outrage of denying joy to the beloved. When I bestow tremendous generosity on the one my heart has claimed for its own, I make of myself a titan, imposing upon matter, space, and time the singular future I have envisioned and which I will not surrender to non-existence. Love is the will to power filtered through the heart! In the barbarous magnificence of my munificence toward the beloved, I call forth the Übermensch.

If what you call love is not like what I have described, then discard the tepid, timid thing that disgraces the name of what it pretends to be. ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!

“Conscious morality is a form of aesthetics.”

I wrote that in my previous post, and upon re-reading, I decided it was worth delving into.

I first encountered the idea of morality as aesthetics in Anne Rice’s novel, “The Vampire Lestat,” in which the title character professes this moral viewpoint. Needless to say, a vampire who refuses to subsist on blood from blood banks is sure to have an unconventional moral code, if he has one at all. Lestat has one, and it’s unconventional, because it’s purely aesthetic. If an action is beautiful in his eyes, he does it. If it’s ugly in his eyes, he doesn’t do it. Bear in mind his aesthetic is a dark one, aiming at a dark beauty, which he’s able to find with his teeth in someone’s throat.

Academic philosophers want to draw a bright line between morality and aesthetics. Fuck them. They weary me. In the absence of objective morality – and it is absent for all of us except the “true believers” of various ilks – there are only two choices: moral nihilism or aesthetic morality. Academic philosophers can take their thousand-page dump of elephant shit, and when they’re done emptying their bowels, they will have said less than what I have said in the fourth sentence of this paragraph.

To paraphrase Keats: “Beauty is goodness, and goodness beauty, that is all ye know on earth—and all ye need to know.” I agree with that, with one caveat: Moral codes should not be stupid. You should not be sacrificing something you value highly for the sake of something you barely value. You should not be enduring great pain for the sake of a tepid joy. You should not be exerting tremendous effort for the sake of a miniscule victory. Don’t be stupid. Get bang for the buck.

My moral aesthetic is grounded in symmetry, which is a concept typically applied to works of arts. I seek symmetry between give and take, between reasonable expectations and what is actually done, and sometimes both at once. The five precepts in my previous post should illustrate this for you.

The elements of composition in the Western visual arts are balance, contrast, focus, motion, pattern, proportion, rhythm, and unity. You could creatively apply these elements to your moral aesthetic. Simply giving these some thought will kickstart the process of opening your mind. Contrast could apply to differences between how you treat one person versus how you treat another, all else being equal. Focus could apply to what you consider a moral concern in the first place. Motion could apply to how your current action could lead to future actions. Pattern could apply to questions of consistency. Proportion could apply to the size and scope of actions. Rhythm could apply to pre-planned sequences of related actions. Unity could apply to your overall life, or one whole day, journey, or undertaking, as a singular work of moral artistry. Only you can make these choices. You’re the artist. Own your aesthetic.  

Be a law unto yourself. I dub thee a Lord of Order. ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!