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.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Kevin I. Slaughter speaks on Satanism
Hands down the best, most lucid, most sensible and most thorough explanation of Satanic philosophy that I have ever heard. Kevin I. Slaughter is charming, charismatic, and clearly a very impressive public speaker.
In 9 parts.
Satanism for the Masses
Hopefully anyone with a brain (and any foreknowledge about Satanism) realizes that the title of this post is intended to be sarcastic (ironic?). In any case, the bedrock of Satanic philosophy as established by Anton LaVey...
The Nine Satanic Statements, The Nine Satanic Sins and The Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth are all copyrighted by Anton LaVey (which presumably means that they are now owned by the Church of Satan itself). They are presented here for informational purposes; no copyright infringement is intended.