What is the importance of the Left Hand Path?

 By Zelzaa Crowley

There are many out there who claim to be satanist but are not truly on the Left Hand Path.  I would venture to say that many of them do not even truly know what it is.  Being on the Left Hand Path is a journey towards self-deification.

BUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?  

All gods and goddesses are truly creations of mankind.  We are our own God and our own devil.  Satanism uses satan as a symbol of the carnality of man and our obligation and duty to serve ourselves first.  Why would I want to surrender myself and deny all of my natural urges for the sake of another being?

If all gods and religions were truly formed and invented by men anyway, and they were, then why not make a god from myself and exalt and glorify myself.  After all, I am the most imporant person in my world.

But in order for me to realize a place where I am worthy of such self-deification I must first free myself from the bondage of past thought and dogma and free my thinking to follow after my own desires and serve myself since I am god of my own world.  This then involves acknowledging my own desires instead of abstaining from them.  For instance, if I want sex instead of abstaining from it or, worse, partaking and then beating myself up for it,  I will just simply fulfill my desire without any guilt or condemnation since I am god of my own world and I create the rules by my own desires.  

I believe this is truly what is meant by self-deification.  Rather than serving another being, I am serving myself and pandering to my own needs and desires first.  I am ruling my own world as a god.  This can only be done after one has abandoned all faith and hope in serving or believing in any other god.

It is through ritual that we come to terms with our own emotion and desires.  It is through study and meditation that we come to understand these things.  

The invocations of Satan do not bring some outside, powerful, demonic force into us.  No.  It simply awakens the black flame of individuality inside of us and brings us to terms with the “dark side” of our own natures.  This is truly the essence of the LHP.   I am my own god.  What the religious world has declared “evil” and “sin” or “satanic” I embrace as a part of my nature and no one can condemn me for it because I am not bound by their dogmatic BS.  I am my own god and I am my own devil.  Coming to terms with that is the path to self-deification.  Ave