User blogs

Material can be put equal to energy, so then, what is energy made of? Energy is made of force carrying particles that traverse the spatial medium at the speed of light in wave form.

So then, what are the particles and waves made of? Archetypes, of, possibility, intention, thoughts, mind, or, consciousness - nothing. Zero volume, reality is an illusion, a dream, but a very persistent one as Mr. Albert Einstein said; also a bit more organized and substantial as well.

So my take on it, in which I would place in a reasonable context, only focuses on an entity that is a light bearer, or, bringer; is, or is in control of light energy.

The serpentine association fits well since its' mode of transport is analogous to that of energy in the form of a 'sine' wave, noting that 'sine' and 'serpentine' are quite similar. Similar transport, different mediums, or, elements.

So there really isn't much trouble in making a significant and reasonable(scientific) connection between Lucifer, Satan, serpents, and light bringers, to energy and propagating(or slithering) serpentine energetic or materialistic waveforms.

The Dance Of The Shadows

Fallen Angel

Continued

Completed the following myself : new radiator, and fan assembly; upper radiator hose; rebuilt alternator, and one new fog lamp.

Four new tires in the limbo land of balance - to be continued.

 Here is the original track fromdrip drop calledmighty drop.

here is a remix live at a major psychedelic music festival...skip to 15:30 minutes into the video ... samples of my voice from video again but freestyled into the song. 

i must admit knowing thousands of people world wide are dropping acid and dancing to music with my voice sampled nto it .....makes me jizz in my pants. 

It's a lot of boring shit that I don't care to go into, but in lieu of that the task now becomes to find something that is even remotely interesting with regard to waves and particles.

I do wonder why these wave particle dualities are a most fundamental aspect in defining reality. As for the particle, I can see this as a reflection, analogy, and reproduction of the zero dimensional point which initiated the emergent beginning of the universe via dark energy as the repellant and expansive force. These are mere labels though; with the focus being, of course, on what they represent.

And as for the wave aspect which I primarily observe as a carrier of information, and then later on down in the chain of manifesting density I see these organically mirrored as the wave like slithering serpents of the earth.

Spectral waves do indeed serve many functions, but with respect to reality they may very well serve as carriers of information in defining that reality, and this appears to possibly be dependent on consciousness, i.e. information encoded in waveform to be decoded consciously.

A good analogy for encoded waveform data relative to reality as it relates to the observable is in the way these waveforms propagate the spatial medium as low energy microwaves(I believe), and are then decoded to your favorite big screen for entertainment purposes.

So if gravity is the attractive force, then dark energy would be the repellant force in which the aethereal medium would be the archaic form that would also include dark matter.

In the tree of life the third emanation represents the expansive(repellant) aspect of the universe, and the queen scale for this sphere is appropriately, black(matter and energy), and associated with the mother of creation, Isis, which heads the pillar of severity which of course is negative and correlates to the negative(repellant) aspect of dark energy, as well as the passive(silent) dark matter.

Maybe I'll just use this blog as the equivalent of an artists' sketch pad. Quantum states and wave particle dualities got me thinking about atoms; aside being a primary universal building block how this complex little structure and its' components relate, or are reflections, either in whole or part of prior universal processes.

I was curious as to how the wave function of light relates to the atom, and affirmation that particles and waves are(aside from possibility) the most fundamental aspects of existence.

Commencing at the core of the atom its' particles held together by gluons. Now while gluons are not identical to light emitting photons they are in the category of bosons which are force carriers, and this is very similar; in contrast with fermions which are matter particles.

So energy can be related to the binding force of an atoms' core, but I don't recognize any wave property here, but in the weak force, or, the breaking down of atoms is where the wave is rediscovered as radiation.

The point being is that if waves and particles are most fundamental, then they should be found everywhere.

Do you think our Dark Lord would be mad if I got an abortion? I know one of the laws is to protect children and animals, but I don't think it would be fair if I was forced to give birth. 

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!  

Some will say, well if the acausal is a 'cause' from negative existence, then wouldn't that be the first cause? Wouldn't that be God?

The answer is yes and no. While technically it could be considered as first cause, it is not any type of entity per se. It's more an abstract function of the negative aspect of eternity. God would be the positive aspect of eternity.

Now if God were able to 'not exist' and at the same time initiate its' existence then this would of course create a paradox, and at this level of reasoning paradoxes can be acceptable while also somewhat a slippery slope.

Also, God functioning via negative existence leads right back to the problem of infinite regression where time would be required in order any action to be performed which invalidates the negative aspect.

Infinite regression is akin the mother of all paradoxes, and should be avoided in my opinion. In the absence of any beginning time hopelessly regresses without there ever being a point from which to proceed forward, and while eternity may function in this manner, time does not.

I do make use of Occams' Razor where I can, but to do so here, would eliminate what appears to be a very mysterious as well as crucial piece of the puzzle, and I prefer my puzzles without any pieces missing.

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!

A model of existence and negation thereof have been satisfactorily acquired, for a time now. Reiteration, with expansion into related areas so as to continue while avoiding too much redundancy.

Time passes swiftly while status quo, chess again, with friendly ghost.

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!

When mathematical laws are applied to the primordial, the result is infinity. There are few examples of this, or at least one. Since infinity also relates to its' polar opposite of negation at times dealing with zero, ergo, if mathematics is the 'tool', and infinity is the 'answer', then zero serves as operator to arrive at this answer.

All qualities of the primordial are infinite, and these infinities are encapsulated by the great serpent Ouroboros, which is also symbolic of zero. Zero, infinity, time and its' negation, these polarities are the fabric of eternity from within which the infinite is confined and functions via the acausal.

So it's not surprising when the mathematical formula for calculating density(potential material) is applied to the primordial one whose existence does not require spatial dimensions, the result is, infinite : density is equal to mass divided by volume, and when volume(space) is zero, this particular quality of the primordial, is, of course, infinite, as are all other aspects existing outside any formula.

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!

I’m not really a fan of politics so I never attend demonstrations. But this day was different and I felt the urge to go to Warsaw in spite of the rainy day. Perhaps, it was my curiosity compelling me to go. Partly, it was because I had nothing better to do this day. And partly because I still believe in the ideal of democracy and free speech although as years keep passing by, the ideal looks more and more bogus. I guess I must be getting old.

But, perhaps, a little about the background. The government wants to pass the law that would limit the foreign ownership of the Polish media. In practice it would make the main oppositional TV network owned by the US company lose its broadcasting license. The deeper reason is nearly two decades long fierce and hateful competition between two main political parties.

Still, any attempt to silence a dissenting voice, shut down a different opinion doesn’t sit right with me. Somehow, I felt my unimportant presence there was some sort of a patriotic duty.

Being there felt weird. It was a bit similar to the church service. But the church of some alien religion. It was peaceful, cheerful even. There wasn’t too much shouting. Mainly speeches, some music, a little bit of dancing, singing of the anthem, of course, hand clapping and showing Vendetta/Victory symbols.

There were also celebrities; popular journalists, politicians and also the former prime minister.

Some photos I've made:

It must have been a good idea to be there because when the event started, it even stopped raining. It seems though the most interesting show took place elsewhere. These are the protesters on the roof of the Ministry of Culture:

Now that was enough about feeling the tiny part of history. Time to get back to mundane daily activities. There is one small detail that got my attention and will probably get stuck in my memory; one old woman wearing a white and red flower crown.

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!

And its' microcosmic reflection

“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!

Silent Karaoke!

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!

SATANIC AESTHETICS AND MAGIC

Once upon a time, there were favored Modernist assumptions about authorship and originality and authenticity, but then the story goes that in the late 1960, and extending through the 1970s and well into the 1980s, those precious beliefs, which really were at the philosophical and aesthetic core of Modernity, were held up to critical scrutiny and were slowly undermined. There was no more originality and the author’s biography and intentions were no longer really relevant. The days of the great original author were apparently over. It was the reading and re-reading and re-reading of discourse which was important. It was the deconstruction of the text, which was important, and the bringing out of the perspectives of the excluded Other.

There are a lot of people who have created careers and found a place in the canon, based on their work in the critique of these Modernist notions – Michel Foucault is one academic who is situated in this whole movement and his essay ‘What is an Author’ is just one example of a piece of writing which engages some of the issues; Roland Barthes is another and his essay The Death of the Author’ was regarded as important in art and literary circles. There are a lot of people with a stake in this. The power of this criticism runs so deep and it challenges almost everything people believe about human beings, society, history and art practice.

All of these issues and people were important when I went to college so many damned years ago. I think the times change though and every critique is transformed or refocuses. To be an author and to be original is still a tricky business nowadays, even though the cultural and intellectual vanguard has to some extent changed its focus.

But what does all this shit have to do with Satanism and Satanic magic? To unpack this, I might start out from Anton LaVey. I tend to move out from LaVey often. LaVey has been quoted as stating words to the effect that “aesthetics is everything.” That’s a big claim – “aesthetics is everything.”

I make this claim: Anton LaVey was a Modernist. That claim makes some sense when you consider the time he grew up in i.e., the heyday of American Modernity and American Modernism. And further when you consider how he built his Satanic aesthetic out of German Expressionist film, film noir, Lovecraft, Weird Tales magazine, art deco and I’m sure many other Modernist elements as well.

But further: I think LaVey’s position is a Modernist one because he, like all genuine Modernists, believes in the fundamental/central place of the individual author as the producer of his or her own unique and original vision. LaVey may rely on the work of William Mortensen and Mortensen’s ‘Command to Look’ to provide him with the objective formal principles around the creation of his aesthetic acts, such as rituals, lesser magical spectacles, glamour, and art, etc., but LaVey is still very much the author and what he does is very much his. He is at the centre.

Okay, just to focus this:  I think it is true that a Satanist seeks to impose and magnify their will.

There are different ways of doing that - of imposing and magnifying the will. You can move people around, as if they were pawns on your chessboard, if you are skilled enough. You can make certain choices and then act accordingly and that acting may impose and magnify your will. You can engage in antinomian praxis and so on…

Satanic aesthetics, in my view, is fairly straightforward – it is the imposition and magnification of the will aesthetically. To impose and magnify the will, from my vantage point, is productive, it is creative; it is a form of organizing to some extent, it is Godgame. To impose and magnify the will aesthetically is to create a context within which states of affairs, which I can more or less control, play out. It is the stage within which my theatre takes place according to my direction.

I think as a Satanist: I necessarily have to see the world in a different way, but further, I have to extend my aesthetic preferences or choices across as much of my environment as possible and then beyond that. My aesthetics is my environment. I have to extend as far as possible and I physically alter the environment as I extend. Possibly one could think about architect Howard Roarke from ‘The Fountainhead’ as an example of someone who is literally extending his will across physical space. There are so many other examples out there.    

SATANIC MAGIC

I don’t necessarily want to go into detail about my belief in the metaphysical character of the conventional Satanic aesthetic and the elements which underpin it. I did, however, want to highlight some magical practice which underlines some of my views. LaVey is relevant again I think. I want to consider a couple of ritual chambers to help illustrate my point. I also want to draw on LaVey’s “Emerald Tablet” his ‘Pentagonal Revisionism’ as well.

What are total environments and artificial human companions really about?

The Den of Iniquity is obviously a ritual chamber, just as the art deco ambience of Dr. Anton Phibes’ music room, where he plays his organ and dances with Vulnavia, to the sounds of his automated wind up band, is a ritual chamber.

Those ritual chambers contain, in a discrete enclosed space, the objective aesthetic context, which the magician would see extended throughout space, well beyond the boundaries of a ritual chamber. Ritualistically projecting or ritualistically pushing that environment outwards, beyond the confines of a ritual chamber, is a part of the way the magic is supposed to work in those types of ritual chambers.

But moreover, the artificial companions which occupy those “art installations” are characters or actors or models or templates for the way the magician views others in this environment he or she is trying to push out. This is my aesthetic and this is how and where I see you. This is my theatre and this is the role you will play. They are tools; they are pawns. They have a certain function. Again the magician is seeking to place people in their environment and give them certain roles. You place them on your chessboard and give them certain ways of moving and certain amounts of power in relation to everyone else. Does this sort of magic actually work? Who knows? It is thoroughly ego driven. It is totally self-centered and completely Modernist.

I just wanted to finish this rather long post by stating that, in my view, Anton LaVey was beginning to play with time and seek a form of immortality to some extent, in his later years, when he was more reclusive and less likely to give interviews, etc.

The Den really is a sort of time machine, as the whole aesthetic environment of the chamber, is reminiscent of LaVey’s youth and a sort of film noir bar scene from the past, peopled by all those artificial companions, which you could say are appropriate to that aesthetic space and LaVey’s own conception. He steps in there and plays his music and he is back there in that time and everybody in there is “alive.” Unfortunately, however, you can step into the illusion of the past, play the keyboards and create a magic associated with that past, but no one human being can hold back the tides of time forever. Nobody can undermine or call a halt to Becoming, though it may be fun to try for a while…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-Pima8T45o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSOzdFoZsho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu-CK47NM8E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQdDJMxkRxA

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!

And every once in a while I find a use for Metallica : The Holy Trinity : Nietzsche, Tesla, and Einstein. That's all you need, in no particular order.

As it relates to positive and negative existence, anyway, and as for that positive aspect, which is the aetheric material, well, it does have a tendency to become infinitely complex, but that's another story, and after all, that's what aethyrs are all about, stories, of, emergence, experience, and existence.

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!

Superego: Fuck you.

My philosophy has a villain: the Superego. Well, Christians too, since they contribute to the life-force of the Superego with their revolting indoctrination of children. Whatever feeds the Superego is its minion and is tarred by the same brush.  

When you feel shame – rare as that might be for such as we – probe as best you can for a memory of when you first came to believe in the wrongness of whatever you did that feels shameful to you. If you can’t remember, or if you can and the memory is from childhood, then your shame derives from the Superego, and as far as I’m concerned, it has no legitimacy. You must decide if, as an adult, you still choose to carry such a belief in your psyche. If you don’t, then purge yourself of its poison. Cathartic ritual can help with that.

I don’t advocate moral nihilism. I advocate a conscience that is conscious. The Superego operates at the subconscious level, where the intellect has no voice, and your conscious will has no power. I advocate raising morality up out of the subconscious, up into the light of day, where your intellect can place it under a microscope, and your conscious will can grab the reins.

“Blessed are they who are laws unto themselves, for they shall be called Lords of Order.”

My own consciously constructed conscience has five precepts:

1. Be a blessing unto those who help you and a curse unto those who would hinder or harm you.

2. Do not fake friendship.

3. Do not feed your friends to the wolves.

4. Do not break your word unless the matter is too trivial to fret over or too dire for scruples to reign.

5. Do not be a fucking psychopath.

None of these contradict my childhood indoctrination, and that’s perfectly fine as far as I’m concerned. Not everything children are taught is despicable. Some of it can stand up to scrutiny. The whole point is to claim the right to perform that scrutiny, then perform it, and reject what you have no further use for, while retaining what still seems good to you. I rejected a ton of bullshit.

By the way, if you want to save yourself a lot of wasted time, don’t read academic moral philosophers. They’ll spin you around in circles until nausea causes you to heave. All you need to do is formulate a moral proposition and then ask yourself, “Keep it or trash it?” Make trashing it your default position. Only keep it if it strikes you as a thing of beauty, or as a bulwark against ugliness - conscious morality is a form of aesthetics - and if it's untainted by stupidity. You don’t need to read a thousand pages of verbal diarrhea to justify your choice. Be a law unto yourself. I dub thee a Lord of Order.   

Demon of Shame: HAIL! Grant me the power of self-awareness.

This saying is a good one: Think for yourself. ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!

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!

The typical mundane will not question the above, if for no other reason, than the simple fact that it would be counterproductive to fantasy.

However, in all fairness, it may be inquired as to what it is exactly that places one absurdity above another, since in the end, it is all one is truly left with, an ultimate truth concealed via paradoxes, or, a 'veil' so to speak.

Ultimate truth to be for those only who are able to disregard its' implications and elevate themselves to a higher standard of reasoning.

Although in lieu of the living forever facade the task at hand will be evaluating the compatibility of infinite linearity with eternity which serves to encapsulate the former.

The emergence of a beginning, without end, appropriately referred 'infinitely linear' where a distinction is made in comparison with the eternal as it does in fact have a beginning, ergo, there be finite linear, infinite linear, and of course circular(eternal) time, with the latter also serving as negation of time.

So which one of these is right within this labyrinth of indecision, which will remain once the waters of transcendental reasoning have cleansed the mind of all the clutter, staring into the Abyss, to see nothing, and nothing, from which even the Abyss itself has emerged.

 - Occams' Razor

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!

What is philosophy?

First, let’s be clear: there are two kinds. Academic philosophy is the sister to science and mathematics. Literary philosophy is of a different family, that of novelists and playwrights. I’m a literary philosopher. I follow in the tradition of other literary philosophers, such as Nietzsche, Camus, and Santayana.   

Academic philosophy concerns itself with propositions to be debated, bringing in the points and counterpoints of as many other philosophers as would be illustrative, and then debating the merits of them all. Literary philosophy, by contrast, has a different aim entirely, which is to describe. To describe the world and life in the world as the philosopher sees it, often in a narrative form, often with picturesque language, often autobiographically.

Academic philosophy concerns itself with propositions that require proof. It avoids inductive reasoning, which is reasoning from personal experience to make global assertions. Academic philosophy considers inductive reasoning to be illegitimate because personal experience can never be proven to be globally valid. Literary philosophy, by contrast, has no problem at all with inductive reasoning, because literary philosophy doesn’t concern itself with proof, but rather, with assertions that emerge organically from the general experience of living in the world. Its audience is not the rigorous logicians, but rather, anyone whose general experience of living in the world is such that the philosopher’s assertions ring true.

Literary philosophy has an aesthetic dimension, as is certainly true of Nietzsche, Camus, and Santayana. Reading them is like reading the exposition in novels and plays. Their prose is crafted not as a dialectic (a word that makes me think of “diuretic” and with good reason) but as journalism, or history, or the narration of a documentary film. They have far more in common with the essays of George Orwell than with the gray analytics of Kant.

The poet John Keats wrote in his Ode on a Grecian Urn: “Beauty is truth, truth beauty, -- that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” The literary philosopher finds much to agree with in that, demurring only due to this key point: Ugliness, too, is truth, and truth ugliness. Literature in all its moods is wisdom.

Perhaps the foregoing will assist you in understanding me. ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!

The Glamour of Severity:

“Blessed are they whose malice is a thing of beauty, for theirs is the highest art.”

If this is your first “Glamour” post, read the Note at the bottom before proceeding.

Over the long history of human apes, the very top spot in the collective, the apex of the pyramid, has often gone to the individual who was most creatively and mercilessly severe. As archetypes, consider Genghis Khan and Joseph Stalin. Why has this pattern persisted over untold millennia?

The most obvious answer is not the right one. Individuals didn’t line up behind Genghis Khan or Joseph Stalin because they were physically afraid to do otherwise. Not initially, anyway. Eventually, yes, but not in the early days. One man, even a Genghis or a Stalin, is easily dispatched by ten men, or a hundred, or even just one skilled assassin. Without the apparatus of the collective wrapped around him, no individual can survive when numerous rivals or opponents decide he has to die, and the mere fact that they feel physically threatened would be enough to decide them. So what, then, is the answer?

Glamour. The glamour of severity. There is something in human instinct (especially among betas and omegas) that responds with subservience when confronted by unrestrained and sophisticated severity.

Severity done right is an art form. What is art? It is creativity undertaken to evoke a psychological response, and done skillfully. Glamour, in all its variations, is art. Let severity, then, be undertaken to evoke a psychological response, and let it be done skillfully, with the long-term goal being ascension up the pyramid of organizational power.

The long-term goal is critical to keep in mind. Severity for the sake of severity is sadism, which has its own satisfactions, but is not a glamour and will not reliably set your foot on the next higher step up the staircase. Sadism, in fact, can become self-sabotaging, especially if it becomes addictive, and Ego (the reality principle) is ignored. Let the goal of ascension be the lynchpin of your art, around which all else revolves.  

Skillfulness is also critical to keep in mind. What is skill? In this case it is clarity of rationale, of intention, of technique, and of observation. Why have you selected this target at this time? What exact punishment do you intend to inflict? How exactly will you go about it? How will you know if and when you have accomplished your will? Skill also entails self-discipline. In this case, self-discipline has to do with knowing if and when to abort and deciding to do so. If your rationale is unclear, or your intention is muddied, or your technique is unsure, or your observational vantage point is obscured, or you observe the fact that your actions aren’t having the intended effect – Abort.

It should go without saying that severity, to be a glamour, has to be done publicly, unless you are only trying to influence the target of your actions. There may in fact be times when you apply severity to someone specifically to achieve the subservience of that person and only that person. But often that person will be of little use to you. In fact their uselessness may factor into your calculus for selecting that person in the first place. When such is the case, your severity will need an audience in order to be a glamour and accelerate your ascension. As with everything else, be skillful in the selection and management of your audience and venue. In fact, apply all the same guidelines as discussed in the previous paragraph: clarity of rationale, of intention, of technique, and of observation. Also apply the same self-discipline around knowing if and when to abort and deciding to do so.

Finally, know yourself. The glamour of severity isn’t for everyone. You can probably already feel in your gut if this glamour is for you. Trust your gut on this. If it’s telling you to abort before you even start, my advice to you is: Abort. At least until you do the necessary mind-work to reorient your intellect and emotions. Don’t rush that process.

If you have the right ears to hear, then hear: Spare the rod and spoil the ascension.ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!

Note:

Any of the “Bad Attitudes” from WOLFISM XIX can form the nucleus of a catharsis ritual, but only if it speaks to you and only if you’re able to have fun with it. If the one identified above meets those criteria for you, then make it the core of a cathartic ritual for yourself, and perform it. The effect of repeated performances over as long a time as feels right to you, will be to kill the part of your Superego that functions as the jailer of your natural instinct for severity.

I use the word “glamour” in its archaic sense, and I use the British spelling because it’s more likely (at least for us Americans) to conjure up archaic connotations. Vampires were said to have the power of glamour.

The Glamour of Audacity:

“Blessed are they who take the biggest portion, for because of them, the meek will go without.”

If this is your first “Glamour” post, read the Note at the bottom before proceeding.

Taking the biggest portion is an example of audacity. People like to talk about wolves versus sheep. It’s more fruitful to look at wolves versus other wolves. In a pack you have the alpha, the beta, and the omega (the bottommost). In human terms, the omegas are the meek. But what makes an alpha? People will tell you that the alpha feeds first. But why? And how does the alpha achieve its rank? Is there some lupine gladiatorial contest, in which the last wolf standing assumes the top spot? No.

The alpha doesn’t feed first because it’s the alpha. The alpha is the alpha because it feeds first. Because it dares to. Because it assumes it can get away with it and it capitalizes on that opportunity. Audacity is how it claims the top spot. It feels the audacity within itself and expresses it. The beta and omega wolves smell the audacity and defer to it. This is a potent and useful glamour. It works for humans too. All else being equal, the one who dares to feed first, or take the biggest portion, or call dibs on the best office, or claim the best bedroom, or court the best mate, or stake out the best real estate, or choose the best table or the best seat – that individual announces by such actions that it is the alpha, and all else being equal, the other humans will assume their beta or omega positions. What could be more potent or more useful than that?

There are, of course, three points of prudence to consider:

1. Identify any others in the group who practice audacity themselves or who will resist your practice of it. These are rival alphas and their strength and cunning must be accounted for in your calculus.

2. In our human society, which is far more complex than a pack of wolves, predefined hierarchies exist. Identify anyone higher up the chain who might feel threatened or insulted, or be morally or philosophically put out by your audacity, and account for them in your calculus.

3. Betas and especially omegas may not be the sort who accept their positions gracefully. Their envy of you may devolve into resentment and then, especially if they are of the most vile sort, their resentment will devolve into malice, and their malice into treachery. Your strength will not be enough against such as these. You will need your cunning as well. Account for this in your calculus.

Just don’t let your own prudence devolve into perpetual paralysis. Sometimes there aren’t any rival alphas. Sometimes there isn’t anyone higher up the chain who would care about your intended action. Sometimes the betas and omegas are the sort who know their place and are happy to occupy it. Or sometimes you’re stronger than the other alphas, or more cunning than the betas and omegas. Each situation must be assessed on its own merits. If, by your calculus, you can get away with audacity – then take the leap. Do it. Then do it again. And again. Because, as the saying goes, “It is good to be king.”

The biggest portion will feel good in your belly. ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!

Note:

Any of the “Bad Attitudes” from WOLFISM XIX can form the nucleus of a catharsis ritual, but only if it speaks to you and only if you’re able to have fun with it. If the one identified above meets those criteria for you, then make it the core of a cathartic ritual for yourself, and perform it. The effect of repeated performances over as long a time as feels right to you, will be to kill the part of your Superego that functions as the jailer of your natural instinct for audacity.

I use the word “glamour” in its archaic sense, and I use the British spelling because it’s more likely (at least for us Americans) to conjure up archaic connotations. Vampires were said to have the power of glamour.