Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Monday, June 2, 2014
The Four Crowned Princes of Hell
Meanings & associations: Adversary, opposite, accuser, Lord of Fire, the Inferno
Element: Fire
Cardinal direction: South
"Invocation to Satan" from The Satanic Bible:
"In nomine dei nostri Satanas Luciferi excelsil. In the name of Satan, the Ruler of the earth, the King of the world, I demand the forces of Darkness to bestow their Infernal power upon me! Open wide the Gates of Hell and come forth from the abyss to greet me as your brother (sister) and friend! Grant me the indulgences of which I speak! I have taken thy name as a part of myself! I live as the beasts of the field, rejoicing in the fleshly life! I favor the just and curse the rotten! By all the Gods of the Pit, I command these things of which I speak shall come to pass! Come forth as answer to your names by manifesting my desires!"
Satan represents, to the Satanist, rebellion and opposition. Satan represents justice and doubt. The Satanist exists on the other side of the tracks. Conformity for conformity's sake is seen as mindless and vapid, and the Satanist seeks to establish his own unique identity---the rebellious character of Satan is an ideal symbol for a person of this disposition. Satan is the dark force in nature and represents brutal reality in all its blood-and-guts glory, rather than looking at the world through rose-tinted glasses and telling yourself the popular comforting lies about life and other people.
"Satan represents undefiled wisdom instead of spiritual pipe dreams." "Satan represents man as just another animal, sometimes better but more often worse, than those that walk on all fours, who, because of his divine intellectual and spiritual development, has become the most vicious animal of all." ---Anton Szandor LaVey, The Satanic Bible
Satan was not originally perceived as one supernatural entity; rather, the word "Satan" was used to describe any adversary or opposer of the Hebrew God.
Lucifer
Meanings & associations: bringer of light, enlightenment, the air, the morning star
Element: Air
Cardinal direction: East
The Satanist seeks "undefiled wisdom." He seeks to know the truth and embrace reality as fully as possible, because, as The Satanic Bible says, "Popular lies have ever been the most potent enemies of personal liberty. There is only one way to deal with them: Cut them out, to the very core, just as cancers. Exterminate them root and branch. Annihilate them, or they will us."
LaVey also said, "Satanism demands study, not worship." The Satanist seeks knowledge and self-betterment in all the ways that he can. Lucifer is an ideal symbol for this, representing enlightenment and the gaining of knowledge. Biblically speaking, Lucifer was Satan's name prior to his "Fall." He was said to be the angel of light and music; Luciferians have retained this symbolism and stressed these associations. While Christ praises ignorance in the Bible, Lucifer advocates self-improvement and personal growth.
Lucifer is mentioned only once in the Hebrew Bible, and is most likely a reference to Babylon, and was not originally associated with Satan. Later developments and fictional works such as Milton's Paradise Lost and Dante's The Inferno further established the association/equation of Satan and Lucifer.
Belial
Meanings & associations: without a master, baseness of the earth, independence
Element: Earth
Cardinal direction: North
"Belial is the carnal side of man, the lust, sex, pleasure and therefore the principal drives that make living worthwhile. People derive all the principal emotions of the higher ego from Belial: Pride comes from self control and suppression of the Belial, strength, pleasure and independence come from embracing it. Belial is the Master of the Earth, the force that holds Humankind by its balls, any security or stability are results of lessons learnt from dealing with this Crown Prince.
Belial is the champion of simply being human, for the flesh, the material and the carnal. In essence, a reverence for Belial affirms how "good" the flesh/humanity is. Unrestrained by law or morality; lawless; immoral; dissolute; lewd; lascivious, Unrestrained; uncurbed; uncontrolled; unruly; riotous; ungovernable; wanton; profligate; dissolute; lax; loose; sensual; impure; unchaste; lascivious; immoral, dissolute indulgence in sensual pleasure." ---Vexen Crabtree
"Belial means "without a master", and symbolizes true independence, self-sufficiency, and personal accomplishment. Belial represents the earth element." ---Anton Szandor LaVey, The Satanic Bible
"But for corruption thou hast made Belial, an angel of hostility. All his dominions are in darkness, and his purpose is to bring about wickedness and guilt. All the spirits that are associated with him are but angels of destruction." ---Dead Sea Scrolls, "The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness"
Leviathan
Meanings & associations: the serpent of the deep, the sea
Element: Water
Cardinal direction: West
Leviathan was a sea serpent, mentioned in the Biblical Book of Genesis. In Satanism, he represents terror, power, desire, secrecy, sexual desire, the unknown, and inner emotion. The Hebrew Bible has the following to say about him:
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Vampires, Witches and Werewolves... Oh My! (Dealing with Emotional Vampires)
Saturday, May 31, 2014
The Church of Satan
Anyways, I thought I'd sort of celebrate the CoS's fifty years a little early, by featuring a sort of then-and-now in video form, by showing you the videos of the only two major public "Satanic events" that the Church of Satan has ever organized. I'd venture to say they'll probably cook up something fun and devilish to celebrate the fifty year landmark, although its early yet and nothing has been mentioned at this time.

Marilyn Manson vs. Boyd Rice
While chaos magic and Satanism have had their overlaps---chaos magic admittedly draws from the work of Anton LaVey and shares certain core beliefs---however Satanism is something in its own right and LaVey did not have much praise for chaos magic (just hear what he has to say about it in the interview Church of Satan-member and radical traditionalist Michael Moynihan did which is featured in Disinformation's Book of Lies). I mention this only because Boyd Rice seems to be more of a chaos magician than a Satanist these days, although I'm sure he would revile being labeled as such. The thing about Boyd is he doesn't want to be labeled anything, regardless of whether the shoe fits. He wants to be that happy blob of custard that you can't nail to the wall, as they say. He would probably reject any label you would put on him, solely because he desires so strongly NOT to be pigeonholed.
Of course, Boyd Rice wrote a vituperative essay in his book "NO" which is clearly a tongue-in-cheek indictment of the Church of Satan in its current form, and of the people who make up its general membership. But despite his apparent dislike for what he feels the Church of Satan has become, he has never backtracked about his adoration for LaVey and still refers to him as a friend. I feel Boyd Rice will always be a Satanist in some sense, whether or not he feels at home amongst the kind of people who make up the Church of Satan's membership these days. Boyd is a lone wolf by nature, however. At least he didn't turn out like Zeena "un-LaVey" Schreck, and his loyalties to the man and the philosophy itself have not faltered.
Now, more to the point of this article, the influence that Boyd Rice has had on shock rocker Marilyn Manson is no secret. There are several photographs from Marilyn Manson's early days as an up-and-coming rock celebrity depicting Marilyn Manson and band-mates hanging out with Boyd. Boyd Rice himself has said in interviews that, whenever Manson is in his area, he calls him and pays him a visit.
Now Boyd and Manson have both always been masters of imagery and iconography, re-appropriating sometimes age-old symbols for their artistic purposes.
As of the last two years, with the release of Manson's wonderful "Born Villain" album, Manson has taken to prominently using the Cross of Lorraine in promotional artwork and in stage performances, going so far as to emblazon it on the back of his leather jacket, putting on the compact disc itself and incorporating it into the letters of his MM logo. Although he has been using the Cross of Lorraine for years in certain instances since at least the Holy Wood era, this is the first time it has become his prominent logo.
Boyd has described its symbolic meaning as, "both an upright cross and an upturned cross, in one." This represents the dualism that is so important to both Boyd and Manson's personal occult philosophy.
Side note: It strikes me as very unlikely that the release date for "Born Villain" was May 1st, also known to occultists as "Walpurgisnacht" or "Beltane," and incidentally the most important holiday in the religion of Satanism.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Antichrist Superstar: Performance Art as Occult Ritual

When preparing to go into the studio to record the album Antichrist Superstar, Marilyn Manson described it as "a musical ritual designed to bring about the Apocalypse."
For the music video made for the song "Antichrist Superstar," Manson hired obscure experimental film-maker E. Elias Merhige---director of the 1991 film Begotten and the better-known 2000 film Shadow of the Vampire, starring Willem Dafoe, John Malkovich and Eddie Izzard---who, according to Wikipedia, "used military footage from different countries and different wars that depicted the fascist aspect of the song. However, Manson was not quite sure that it represented the criticism that the subject matter deserved. Ultimately, release of the video was vetoed by Interscope, who was appalled by the quality of the cinematography. The frontman, for his part, expressed interest in seeing its release someday, quipping: 'that's not to say it won't be seen but I'm not sure if [Merhige] ever had a fair chance of finishing it because of the record company.' "
Manson's close relationship with the occult---particularly the darker, stranger currents of occult thought, including but not limited to LaVeyan Satanism, Kabbalah, alchemy and Hermeticism---should be obvious. Anyone who doesn't know is directed to http://www.nachtkabarett.com/Grotesque, an extremely well-done website by a young man named Nick Kushner, dedicated entirely to exploring the hidden occult meanings and symbolism in Manson's artistic output.
Though many people have claimed that Manson's interest in such things is not genuine, and that he uses such symbolism for "shock value," a closer inspection of the facts will reveal that Manson is very much a real occultist, his interest in the subject is most certainly genuine, and runs much deeper than anyone might have expected.
Live performances of the song have retained the same symbolism to this day; that of a mock fascist rally, "the inauguration of the worm" as "Antichrist Superstar."
The Aeon of Cthulhu Rising
By Tenebrous
"Nor is it to be thought ... that man is either the oldest or the last of earth's masters, or than the common bulk of life and substance walks alone. The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but between them, they walk serene and primal, undimensioned and to us unseen. Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and when they shall break through again..."
H.P. Lovecraft, The Dunwich Horror
(as from the `Necronomicon')
The century in which we live has witnessed the dawning of a New Aeon; or rather, the return of energies and entities, across vast gulfs of time and space, from primal eras which antedate by millenia the appearance of humankind upon the Earth. In his pivotal Mythos tale, The Call of Cthulhu, Lovecraft has adumbrated the first portents of this return, the outer edges of whose pericosis with our own continuum is detected by the incredibly subtle and sensitive "antennae" of poets, writers and artists - more especially those already aligned to the concept of "outsideness" through their own explorations of alien, exotic, bizarre and outre subject matter. And indeed, it is through the work of such artists in actuality that the first hints and descriptions of these forces and entities find expression.
This "new Aeon" is currently known under a variety of names by differing cults: the astrological "Age of Aquarius"; the Thelemic "Aeon of Horus", inaugurated by the avatar Aiwaz, in 1904 e.v.; Frater Achad's "Aeon of Maat", the Era of Truth and Justice; and so on. To that particular body of magicians, artists, writers, and other visionaries of the Cthulhu Mythos which constitutes The Esoteric Order of Dagon, the emerging era is recognised as the Aeon of Cthulhu Rising, with reference to the prophetic fictional work of H.P. Lovecraft, as outlined above. As his description of the initial wave of Aeonic energy (which has such drastic effect on the dreams of "sensitive" individuals around the world) coincides with the rising of the island of R'lyeh on 28 February 1925 e.v., the E.O.D numerate this event this event as Year One, A.C.
However, before the complete influx of these elder forces into our present space-time continuum can be facillated, the secret and primal gateways must be located, and opened, to allow access from "outside the circles of time." This gateway has been glyphed by Lovecraft as one of the Great Old Ones themselves - "the noxious Yog-Sothoth who froths as primal slime in nuclear chaos beyond the nethermost outpost of space and time." As Guardian of the Gate, he is synonymous with Choronzon. The "nethermost outpost", itself an opening or window to the dimensionality of the Great Old Ones (Universe B), is the star Sothis, or Sirius.
In turn, the gateway of the New Aeonic forces (Yog_Sothoth) is identified with the "non-Sephiroth", Daath, on the qabalistic Tree of Life. As Kenneth Grant explains:
"It is now possible to see the continous flow and evolution of Aeons occuring simultaenously and passing over into the world of anti-matter. The Yog (or Yug .. an aeon or age ..) of Sothoth is the counterpoint - as the Aeon of Set-Thoth, or Daath - of its Twin, the Yug-Hoor, or Aeon of Horus. Yog-Sothoth is the Gate through the aeons to the Star- Source beyond Yuggoth, the Yug or Aeon of Goth."
Outside the Circles of Time, p. 214
The knowledge and formula by which this gateway can be reopened can therefore be only apprehended through the negative vortex of Daath. In the case of Lovecraft himself, who in waking life vehemently denied the verdical nature of the material with which he was dealing, the process of appropriation was almost completely subconscious, occuring through the medium of dream-experiences. As would be expected, the visitation of such unhuman and ultracosmic revelations took the form of the most hideous nightmares.
By the same token, those initiates of the E.O.D. who are working towards the Opening of the Gate of Yog-Sothoth must be prepared to undertake this most dangerous descent into the Abyss of Daath (the so-called "false knowledge") in order to activate these formulae effectively. This process involves the projection of a part of themselves into those spaces "between", to which Lovecraft makes repeated reference, and which constitute the existentiality of the Old Ones themselves. Is is here that this "false knowlege" (glyphed as Lovecraft as the grimoire, Necronomicon) can be found and retrieved, brought back through the vortex of Daath, and finally given actual, concrete manifestation in the Outer.