Finding the Self on the Left-Hand Path
By Thomas LeRoy, Founder of The Sect of the Horned God
What is the self? You feel as though you are a thing with an intellectual sense, physical, but with an awareness. But try to capture that self. Go ahead. Sit in the dark, close your eyes and try to capture that essence that is you. You can’t. You are the whole of your parts, but not your parts. You are a process, fluid, changing, always in flux; an ever-shifting bundle of thoughts, feelings and memories.
We tend to think the self is as an integrated individual inhabiting a body. But according to neuroscientists, there is no single place in the brain that generates a self. On the flip-side, though, if we are a body inhabited by an undying soul — ghost in the machine — would we be the sum of those past lives? The answer is no. We would not be identical to that man that battled with the Irish forces against the Vikings at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. Nor would we be that stable boy who had relations with the lady of the manor in 18th century England. We would be very different from those individuals. We would still have our independent identity.
While searching for the self, one cannot simultaneously be the hunter and the hunted. It would be like trying to grasp that image in the mirror with your hands; or having the image try to grasp you. It is you. So since we can’t capture the self, can we then guide it? The answer is yes, but what do we Satanists do with the self so that it progresses in a fashion that is beneficial?
The first question to ask is — are you on the left-hand path? You may call yourself a Satanist, but that does not mean you’re on the path. A Satanist is who you are. It is your identity. Just as some people are introverts and others extroverts, you may have certain traits that fall in line with that label called Satanist. The left-hand path, though, is something you have to choose to take. So, I’ll ask again — are you on it, or are you one stuck in a circle of conformity? A leaf in a stream, going with the flow?
The idea of the LHP is to create your own hero’s journey, to go counter-clockwise while reveling in your personal emancipation. It is taking that which you know as the self and carving your own path. Since you are ever-changing, always in flux, you have the choice to counter that natural flow and defy what may seem to be a scripted order. That scripted order is an illusion. It is you lying to the self. And there is no director guiding that script. If you follow it, though, you will find you have put up walls around the self, restricted it, preventing you from reaching that goal of self-deification. Outside influences may try to re-enforce those walls. It may be your parents, your community, society in general. Vanquish that illusion and instead follow the heterodox path, the LHP, toward the exaltation of the self.
Satanism and the Egocentric Predicament
by Thomas LeRoy, Founder of the Sect of the Horned God
“Everything is consciousness.”
Above is an example of one of those trippy-dippy-hippie bullshit New Age sayings that has been voiced by more than a few gluten-free, organic granola-eating types with a meaning lost to them, but since it was muttered by Deepak Chopra it must be deep. In truth, it has the depth of a drought-ridden California mud-puddle.
But what would happen if we rearranged those words? What if we wrote: “Consciousness is everything”? Does that have meaning?
The fact is, there is no truer statement. Consciousness is everything. All we know, all we see, feel, smell, etc. we do so with our minds. Our hands feel nothing, our eyes see nothing, our nose smells nothing, our ears hear nothing; it is all in the mind. And what is the mind? It’s that occupant of the brain. It is one with our consciousness.
But what is this thing called consciousness? Not an easy concept to define, but it has been described as the state of being awake and aware of what is happening around us, and of having a sense of “self”. We can never go so far as in creating a science of consciousness, for science is purely objective and consciousness is subjective. But it is said that consciousness can be quantified to a degree. It is believed that in the brain there are three different levels of consciousness. Level one is found in the back of the brain, also known as the reptilian, where we find the awareness of the space around us. Level two is found in the center. This is the mammalian brain, where awareness pertaining to relationships with others is found. Last, and located in the frontal lobe, is level three, the human, the part that allows us awareness of time, the future, tomorrow. But what about awareness of reality? Can we fully comprehend that? Maybe one day our brains will develop a fourth level of consciousness in a frontal-frontal lobe, but until that day the answer is no. We can not be sure if anything is real. It’s all perception. BUT, there is one thing we can be absolutely sure of — our own personal existence.
“Cogito ergo sum. I think, therefore I am.” The 17th century French philosopher René Descartes uttered those words with the idea that the mere act of thinking about one’s existence proves there is someone doing the thinking. We can know we exist, but we can never be sure as to the true extent, or location, of that existence. For all I know I am right now sitting in a rubber-padded room, straight-jacket on, in a puddle of my own piss imagining I founded a Satanic organization and that I live with a beautiful wife on a lovely winery in Northern California. Or I could be a head in a jar with electrodes hooked up to my brain feeding me a simulated reality like out of “The Matrix”. Or I’m simply pure consciousness trapped in a material reality created by the “Demiurge”. Who knows? The truth is we can not know for certain. But don’t get me wrong. If the objective reality is a simulation, or an illusion, one can’t help but notice that there are some pretty strict laws in this illusion that seem unbreakable. It wouldn’t be wise for one to jump off the roof of a skyscraper and attempt to manifest a staircase out of pure consciousness. Could end poorly.
So where does this lead us? Well, if we wholeheartedly and unabashedly want to seek the truth we have only one direction to go. Most look outward for answers; we go searching in an uncertain reality seeking 100% assurance when we should be looking inward!
Before the advent of psychology, one of the best tools to aid in our psychonautical studies was mythology. But most today ignore this tool, or attempt to make the gods and monsters of mythology “real” by using a little trick called faith. Some may get a true sense of fulfillment from faith, but they have missed the point. If myth is the song of the psyche that gives voice and substance to the archetypes of the collective unconscious, then faith is unnecessary. Once the journalist Bill Moyers said to mythologist Joseph Campbell, “You’re a man of faith.” Campbell’s response was, “No, I’m not. I don’t need faith when I have experience.” If you use the word “Satanists” in defining who you are, you too are delving into that experience of the mythological. You have found that psychological tool. You grasp it in your greedy little hand, for Satan is more than a word, but less than an absolute. Myth should be experienced, not believed. It is a way for us to better understand that which we know without a doubt is real — our consciousness.
The Armchair Philosopher
July 27, 2015
“The armchair philosopher; the bane of a life less lived. And as they rise to meet the world, they are unaware their shadow in the chair remains.”
The Armchair Philosopher; such a curious species in their ever continuing attempt to create an obligation around the whims of babbling fancy and stilted airs of intellectual importance. Convolution and contradiction mixed with common quotes make for a murky soup of feigned scholarly pursuit, yet still they ride on the sails of intentional confusion.
They’re not hard to spot, of course, with their shiny suits and brand new shoes nearly 10 years old and the more they talk the more they reveal the nonsensical nature of their thoughts and words. I’ll listen for a time to the droning deliberations, fascinated by the many indiscretions that counter the claims of above average intelligence. More often than not, however, a breath of impatience will usually meet my questions to them of “How and Why”.
Time is of importance, though, and one to be shared wisely and cautiously. Standing to take leave I look down at my boots and smile. They seem more muddy and worn amid the glare and cage-like austerity that such a persons mind holds.
What is more wise then, but to open the door and head back into the storm?
Personal Revelations
By MB Consort
There is no doubt the internet is a valuable tool. Instant access to information, personal communication, business and finance (among many) etc, provide an ease of lifestyle.
But the internet, in many ways, is a seductive lure when it comes to personal revelations: Relationships, family, births, deaths, wedding and funerals are seemingly mundane when compared to the more intimate and nasty details revealed before an uncaring (or thrill seeking) audience, via a receptive screen that holds no emotion or opinion to the data entered. How odd this screen is considered a “friend” in its own right. Personal identity and validation is redefined through the written word and response received. Ivan Pavlov and his studies of classical conditioning would have had a hey-day with the internet generation and the conditioned response to ‘Notifications’ and ‘Likes’. The new age of approval.
But ultimately, what is the reason some people feel the need to reveal the most intimate details (real or not) of their lives to an audience on the internet? Perhaps a false sense of safety and security? Imagined anonymity and control? Pure hype and attention-seeking? In terms of privacy, surely, somewhere, there has to be a line drawn that, if nothing else, maintains a decorum of courtesy or respect for not only the self, but of those you choose to have in your life. Nasty on-line breakups and a play by play of last night’s sex can be about as respected as the back pages of The National Enquirer. Are you sure you want the general public to know “everything” about your life? But more importantly, can you control whose hands it ends up in, and what is done with it?
No.
Declare wisely.
Hyperborean Transcendence — Evolving Beyond Personal Laws of Limitation
By Jake Block
The Unknown Known
by Anton Szandor LaVey (The Satanic Rituals pp. 219-220)
Despite others’ attempts to identify a certain number with Satan, it will be known than Nine is His number. Nine is the number of the Ego, for it always returns to itself. No matter what is done through the most complex multiplication of Nine by any other number, in the end the final equation nine will stand forth.
The true ages of times are cast in the likeness of Nine, with all cycles obedient to its Law. All matters of terrestrial concern may be evaluated by the infallible resolution of Nine and its offspring. Action and reaction relative to humanity’s tribal needs are contained within successive nine-year periods: the total of both (eighteen years) is called a Working. The beginning and end of each Working is call a Working Year, and each midway point between Working Years displays a zenith of intensity for the Working which has been brought about. Nine eighteen-year Workings equal an Era (162 years). Nine Eras equal an Age (1,458 years), which has been mistakenly called a millennium. Nine Ages equal an Epoch (13,122 years).
Each Age (1,458 years) alternates as Fire or Ice, each differing in the means by which the Control presents its dictum. During the Age of Ice, man is taught to refrain from his pride and retreat from himself; then he will be good. During an Age of Fire, man is taught to indulge himself and to tear himself open and look inside; then he will be good. During an Ice Age, God is above. During a Fire Age, God is beneath. Throughout each Age, big things occur each eighteen years, for the Control must maintain a cycle of action and reaction within the greater cycle of Fire and Ice.
Meaningful and portentous messages are cast forth each eighteen years, and are acted upon for the eighteen years which follow, at the end of which a new statement appears. The Ice Age from which we recently emerged began in the year 508 “A.D.” Just as the Zenith of passion for what each Working has inspired occurs halfway between the Working Years, so the greatest intensity of each Age’s message occurs at its midpoint. Thus in the year 1237 “A.D.” man’s fervor for what the last Ice Age represented had reached its summit. That Age ended in 1966, and the new Age of Fire was born.
The twentieth century has prepared us for the future and the coming of the Age of Fire was well heralded in the last Working Years of the Ice Age. The peoples of the Earth have been touched by the vehicles of 1894, 1912, 1930, and 1948, and communication has been well wrought. The new Satanic Age was born in 1966, and that is why His Church was built.
The infant is learning to walk, and by the first Working Year of his age – that is to say 1984 – he will have steadied his steps, and by the next – 2002 – he will have attained maturity, and his reign will be filled with wisdom, reason and delight.
REGE SATANAS!
AVE, SATANAS!
HAIL, SATAN!
LaVey was fond of saying “Today’s madness is tomorrow’s norm,” meaning that the pendulum of acceptance and rejection swings from acceptance to rejection of fashion, of taste, of value and of law.” Change is the only sure thing, based on human whims and popular prejudice. Think of this passage from the reading, above:
“Each Age (1,458 years) alternates as Fire or Ice, each differing in the means by which the Control presents its dictum. During the Age of Ice, man is taught to refrain from his pride and retreat from himself; then he will be good. During an Age of Fire, man is taught to indulge himself and to tear himself open and look inside; then he will be good. During an Ice Age, God is above. During a Fire Age, God is beneath. Throughout each Age, big things occur each eighteen years, for the Control must maintain a cycle of action and reaction within the greater cycle of Fire and Ice.”
The Control. What is “THE CONTROL?” Is it the societal norm, a consensus of what is right vs what is wrong; a mandated law or contract of limitation in which citizens agree to abide under threat of personal penalty; a holy dictum from an all seeing and all knowing god pronounced from a mountain on tablets of clay, or is it simply man’s personally accepted limitation upon himself?
The answer is in who you ask this question of, because it will change respectively, dependent upon their philosophical, religious, cultural… even socio/economic standing in whatever cultural or societal grouping they may fall within. Which is the true direction and ultimate north star by which man may guide himself through the murky waters of his earthly existence? We go to great lengths to choose who among us will give us this direction, spending millions in national and personal wealth to promote and elevate “the select” to be “the CONTROL,” yet upon doing so, we inevitably (and naturally) come to the conclusion that they are inept at doing their jobs… jobs that WE placed them in positions for, TO CONTROL. We find fault in THEM, but in reality, the failing is invariably with US, as we naively accept that we NEED control, for we are incapable of controlling ourselves. We lack that wisdom. We need supervision.
Left to function under their primitive, emotional and untrained raw selves, most men will simply exist. If you tell him, “eat cake,” and leave a whole, delicious three layer triple chocolate and sugar sprinkled masterpiece in front of him, he will EAT CAKE until it is gone, or until he can no longer stuff his face with another bite, leaving the rest. He has followed the dictum, and now moves on, without the discipline to know that perhaps simply having a piece of cake and saving the rest for later might be in his better interests. He has no responsibility for the cake, and has no idea of consequences. He is simply doing what he does. Eventually SOMEONE gets the idea and learns to conserve, and they pass that message on to others who learn, becoming THE CONTROL by default. This, then, becomes the model that we begin to follow, knowing it and (as we will almost always revert to our primitive natures) resist change to our world because we have no idea of other options available. Fire and Ice. Given personal options and personal responsibilities, attitudes and actions change. Given a law, they become stagnant and simply follow life in rote memory. Here we can fall back on physics and apply it to the human condition (inertia). “Objects in motion tend to stay in motion and objects at rest tend to stay at rest unless acted upon by an external force.”
The Hyperborean mind becomes its own “external force,” in that in analyzing a given situation logically and as dispassionately as possible, a third option might be achieved. So, instead of seeing the cake with an EAT/DON’T EAT control (binary thinking,) one injects a third option of logic. Eat SOME, SAVE FOR LATER. To those with a logical and self-protective mind, this will seem to be simply common sense, but for those coddled into submissive, controllable lassitude, dependent on external control, not so much.
The idea of transcendency fits within the Hyperborean construct. In transcending the traditional limitations of unstructured and undisciplined thought, one can focus more upon what matters. Personal responsibility in all things makes this possible. In the simplistic example of the undisciplined cake eater, simply looking at it as action vs consequence shows that in simply eating, one is satisfying one’s immediate need, but in planning and conserving, one cans satisfy the immediate and long term needs as well. This model can be used in all aspects of one’s life, replacing simple binary thinking with alternatives as needed. The Hyperborean mind doesn’t accept the supernatural “god” or “control” option, but transcends into the supranatural realm of personal deification, in which one decides for themselves logically and with personal responsibility for the actions they take.
OK… now let’s tie this in with the Fire and Ice concept from LaVey’s piece, THE UNKNOWN KNOWN. If we think of ourselves as “X” — the SPOT — and suspend a pendulum above us, holding stationary, this would indicate where we as individuals stand on any given topic. To the left is FULL ACCEPTANCE and to the right is FULL REJECTION of a situation at hand. For the example at hand, the topic could be drug legalization.
Realistically, no one is going to start out as dead neutral on any subject of personal import. I will place myself 3/4 of the way to the FULL REJECTION side of the issue. Someone else might be on the opposite side, 3/4 of the way to FULL ACCEPTANCE. That’s ok. We’re looking for differences. We’re beginning to come to grips with our personal vs societal or cultural conditionings. We are where we are because we have our minds made up, sometimes as a knee-jerk reaction to something we see as abhorrent, and sometimes simply because it is adversarial or contrary to be in opposition of any idea not our own. How then do we act as our own external force to swing the pendulum?
Now, if we see our goal as to make everyone see and think our way, we want that pendulum to swing in our direction, so we will proselytize, we will cajole, we will shame others into thinking that we OBVIOUSLY have the right idea, and that only an idiot would see things differently. We see that it’s better (at least for us) if we stay here, comfortably set in our ways and beliefs. Our opposition is thinking the same way, trying desperately to keep that pendulum moving in the OBVIOUSLY right position, so he’s proselytizing, cajoling and shaming others as well. The result, stalemate… NOBODY WINS. The traditional (red pill/blue pill) option is that one side or the other will bitch, complain, moan and become such a pain in the ass that eventually people will begin to just submit to get some peace. We never really resolve anything… we CAN’T, simply because in matters of personal sovereignty, while we might listen to others, we can only do what is right for ourselves. Stalemate… lip service… constant struggles.
What I’ll call the Hyperborean Solution is to simply refuse to play the game. By using logic and rejecting the emotionality of a question, one can focus on what is important in any issue of choice. In doing so, one brings the positives and the negatives that are presented into personal perspective and one can embrace the pros and cons simply as that, balance… but only as it applies to you. Let it go. It really doesn’t matter on a personal level if person A or B does or does not use drugs. What matters is if YOU do, and if one is truthful to themselves and intellectually honest with themselves, they can evaluate the benefit vs detriment upon their own lives. Truly you are the control. You have the ability and the sovereign right to choose, provided you also accept total responsibility for that choice.
“Do not complain about that to which you need not subject yourself.” — 11 Satanic Rules of the Earth
You could spend your entire life in the mundanity of “adversarialism for adversarialism’s sake,” or you could just realize that the only thing you can truly control is YOU. If you want to change the hearts and minds of people, you can’t do it by showing them where they are wrong, but by showing them by example where you are right. Doing what you believe to be in your own best interests and showing the positive results is a powerful motivator and trumps a thousand hackneyed excuses and arguments every time.
The Hyperborean solution seems counterintuitive, yet centers the pendulum back to zero. In transcending the compulsion to “be right,” and quantifying that rightness in the number of sovereign individuals that we an cajole into thinking our way, we take firm control of our lives while still providing that external force for others who see and understand that not becoming involved in the petty, self-serving bickering of humanity, but getting on with the business of actually living, we prosper. We may not see the cataclysmic change of revolution to every problem at hand, but radical changes change radically again and again. Permanent change through understanding takes longer to propagate, but is well worth the effort.
A little known ritual of the Church of Satan was called The Madness of Andelsprutz, in which the inmates of an insane asylum have taken over and now madness becomes norm. In this ritual, preferably done in a stark white room, the participants are provided with a two sided mirror, one side reflective and the other side black and a black broad-tipped magic marker. In total silence they circulate the room, the mirror’s reflective face pointed outward, with the black side facing themselves, marker in hand. With each participant they encountered, they would stare into the mirror and mark out what imperfections they saw reflected in the mirror. The message soon became obvious. Like the old Pogo comic strip said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
It’s so much easier when you stop looking for imperfections in others and concentrate on making the most of what you have yourself.
Sect of the Horned God versus Haters
Machine Gun Etiquette
By Octavius
An open letter to the keyboard warriors of the LHP:
“Challenger” and “Adversary” does not mean “one-who-criticizes-everything-possible-in-hopes-of-drawing-affimation-or-accolades-from-other-on-line-Satanists.” You’re boring. You’re unappealing. You’re uncouth. Far be it from me to posit absolutes, but I will say that being adversarial or agnostic in your life does not require bitching about the perceived “satanic value” of various television programs, movies, books, or fellow internet denizens. It does not require you to dissect every post or video on multiple LHP forums in an attempt to bolster your Satanic internet credibility. Your opinion was likely not solicited, and your post only illustrates your need to socially display your pseudo-superior understanding of all things LHP in the most transparent and desperate way possible. These cyber-Satanists will often retort with ham-fisted excuses, my favorite being, “Why did you post this if you didn’t want it challenged?” What are you doing in your own life away from the computer screen to validate your assertions of superiority? Have you nothing better to do than surf the internet looking for “fresh prey?” Why is your Axis Mundi an unrelenting focus on YouTube or forums? What a sad existence. I can make this accusation because, at one time, I was one of these idiots.
So many find it necessary to belligerently give their alternate opinion or perception of a given topic in an attempt to present themselves as credibly Satanic. Varying degrees of hostility are not a benchmark of Satanism. Rather, I suggest that it’s the ability to politely carry on a conversation or contribute to a healthy debate that garners respect, if respect from others is what’s needed or desired. Belligerent criticism and posturing mean nothing. In any discussion, one must first have an intelligent and informed platform in which to present the issue or topic. Alas, these basic concepts of common courtesy are all too often assumed unnecessary within the cyber world of Satanism.
Then there are the schemers and trolls; those who spend most of their free time with eyes glued to their computers and post vague ideas under the guise of philosophy. They may also obfuscate overlong essays designed to repackage what has already been said by someone else in hopes of impressing the credulous or confusing the informed. They wait for someone unfortunate person to reply, then proceed to elevate themselves above the questions posed by bullying or denigrating the questioner. This is a common practice among many cyber-Satanists, some of whom are well known in many on-line communities. They are tolerated for a time, then banned, and move on to another forum or Facebook group to start again. These are parasites of the LHP, not Satanists.
My unsolicited advice to anyone still reading is simply this; honesty, courtesy and curiosity are still in style among those who know better. Your attitude will always define your behavior. Then again, this entire post is merely my opinion. How you interpret it is up to you. However, it’s my responsibility to present it with respect and candor, which I have genuinely tried to do here, and try to do with anything I do, say or write. Thanks for reading.
Connections on the Left-Hand Path
Satanism and Knowledge
Mistress Babylon Consort explains how it’s wise to read more than the Satanic Bible.
Pity
By Mistress Babylon Consort, Sect of the Horned God
Pity
‘.. It preserves what is right for destruction; it defends those who have been condemned and disinherited by life; and by the abundance of the failures of all kinds which keeps it alive, it gives life itself a gloomy and questionable aspect.’ Nietzsche –The Anti-Christ
An important and all encompassing part of the Sect philosophy revolves around self-responsibility, independence, and living life to the fullest. They all go hand in hand. The destructive nature of pity, (not to be confused with empathy or sympathy) whether given or taken, opposes this. In its entirety, Nietzsche’s essay on it has always resonated on a primal or instinctive level as it is brings to light its contrary nature against ‘wanting to live’, as well as its aversion to accepting the laws of nature when our time is done. While he quite correctly states ‘Christianity is called the religion of pity’, compatible with this, and in line with any faith based theology, it can also be viewed as a slave/master relationship. The master of pity insists on supplication, lives for it and from it. Each breath depends on its continued existence through the guilt of the slave by holding them hostage through emotional and physical submission. Christianity, among many, can indeed be paralleled to the very physiology of Pity as both demand the same irrational expectations of those it holds in its clutches. Like any faith, it demands full submission.
Many of know someone who makes a vocation out of reaping pity: the hypochondriac, the professional victim or complainer, the perpetual ‘down and outer’, and those, of course, on their eternal ‘death-bed’. I once knew a woman who I quit asking ‘how she was doing’. The result was a hang dog-look mixed with anger and impatient posturing with my refusal to contribute to that which gave her life. But if I refuse to feed faith in any of its insidious guises, why would I contribute to the selfish life-line of any self-defined master willingly.
The very essence of the Sect is to foster the ‘black flame’, to encourage responsible independence. It is also to encourage critical thinking in recognizing that though the essence and mask of faith comes in many forms, its stratification always remains the same: Master and slave.
Pity is contrary in its distinction of ‘will to live’. Those who choose to live it as ‘way of life’, have already died.
The Orders of The Sect of the Horned God
