Necromancers of the Gods

By Thomas LeRoy ~ Founder of The Sect of the Horned God

We have no symbolic life, and we are all badly in need of the symbolic life. Only the symbolic life can express the need of the soul – the daily need of the soul, mind you! And because people have no such thing, they can never step out of this mill – this awful, banal, grinding life in which they are “nothing but.”…Everything is banal; everything is “nothing but,” and that is the reason why people are neurotic. They are simply sick of the whole thing, sick of that banal life, and therefore they want sensation. They even want a war, they all want a war, they are all glad when there is a war, they say, “Thank heaven, now something is going to happen – something bigger than ourselves!” These things go pretty deep, and no wonder people get neurotic. Life is too rational; there is no symbolic existence in which I am something else, in which I am fulfilling my role, my role as one of the actors in the divine drama of life. — C.G. Jung

Why is there a suicide epidemic? Mass shootings? A a deep cultural malaise? Carl Gustav Jung would say it is because the citizens of the modern Western World have lost contact with symbols, such as the metaphors we know as “God” or “The Gods”. The gods are primordial aspects of our being, psychic images connected to the collective unconscious that cannot be fully rationalized. Jung theorized we needed these symbols to express that which could not be wholly known.

Though the gods are buried deeply within the human subconscious, most existed long before us. They were an inherent part of the minds of our primordial ancestors, beings now long extinct: Aphrodite was born to that first creature to display lust; Aries came into existence with the first being to kill another of its kind out of anger; Pan, with that first early, early being to experience irrational fear, etc.

For many thousands of years humankind led lives deep with symbolic meaning. The gods were everywhere and in everything. From the time of the ancient communal fires to the god of Abraham, the gods fed the psyche, bringing about a life-enhancing effect. Even though it’s believed (more often than not) by people without an understanding of metaphorical symbolism, Abrahamism, the preeminent religious philosophy in the West, with all its misuses and abuses, brought nourishment to those overwhelmed with the psychic chaos of being.

But with the Age of Enlightenment, and the escalation of scientific thought, the gods began to die. This deicidal slaughter became so great it caused the 19th century, atheistic German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche to declare, “God is dead!” But even though he, personally, had no use for the Abrahamic god, Nietzsche saw God’s death as deleterious to the basic belief system of the West. Just as you may not need antidepressants to get through the day, there are many who do, and the removal of such could wreak havoc. Thus, the demise of the Abrahamic system put many people at risk of despair, or meaninglessness. This new atheistic understanding of the world could, or would, lead to pessimism, “a will to nothingness” that was antithetical to a life-affirming philosophy. A nihilistic world was what Nietzsche feared and he stated as such when he wrote:

“What I relate is the history of the next two centuries. I describe what is coming, what can no longer come differently: the advent of nihilism...”

And the events of the 20th century would prove him right.

What is the answer then? Where can one find meaning in a world that has murdered the gods? Many have turned to politics. This form of vehement religiosity is evident in the political tribalism so prevalent in the world today. Others have found the gods in technology, entertainment, and even the sciences. But these solutions are the equivalent to nourishing the body with junk-food — temporarily fulfilling, but detrimental in the long run.

For those on the left-hand path resurrecting the gods is the answer, but one must be wary when performing this act of necromancy. Those longing for a shepherd, fearful to venture forth, would rather follow the herd then carve out their own personal path, will not find solace on the left-hand path. The left-hand path is a dangerous road where the gods are not there to coddle you, but to shake you violently until you awaken to a reality most would rather ignore. They are gods, not of forgiveness and mercy, but dark entities longing to devour you. They are a reminder that the strength to suffer the tribulations of existence should come, not from the whims of the collective, but from your own personal will.

We, The Sect of the Horned God, are the necromancers of the gods. Reanimation of those ancient archetypes is what we have to offer. But the act of invoking is up to you.