Thoughts About the Cult of Set-Typhon in Roman-Egypt

I recently wrote an article about how the early Egyptian Christians, Sethian Gnostics and the purported owner of the PGM (Greek Magical Papyri) collection of spells all lived in proximity to each other, and their book burying occurred all within a couple hundred years or less. What I was thinking was that maybe there was some kind of connection between the writers and owners of the books of the Nag Hammadi Library, the Bruce Codex and the PGM. I was intrigued by this connection, but further reflection (and the help of Jake Stratton-Kent who likes to throw cold water on my fervent ideas) has caused me to consider some other options. It is just that the religious world-view of the PGM is so different than the world-view of the early Christians and Sethians that they must be considered incompatible.

What throws my previous thoughts into question is that the role of Set-Typon in the PGM is so pronounced in the various spells which populate that work, so it would have been impossible for Christians or Sethians to even consider them as sources for their work. To them, Set-Typhon was the Devil, perhaps even more evil and diabolical than the supposed Archons who at least were lawful evil instead of turbulent and chaotic evil (like the evil of foreign conquerors). Also, there was no confusion between their Jewish patriarchal hero Seth and the Egyptian God Set despite what some earlier scholars of Gnosticism have claimed. (Jake also supplied me with this paper to read, and you can find it here.)

Set didn’t always have such a bad reputation in Egypt, and in fact he had cultic locations in Avaris and upper Egypt in the delta region (Ombos-Naqada, Kom Ombo, Oxyrhynchus, the Fayum, and particularly, Sepermeru). Set had the exclusive privilege of protecting Ra and his solar-boat entourage in the underworld by nightly killing the great serpent Apep who threatened the Sun-God in the seventh hour of the Am Duad. He was consistently honored as an important deity in the desert oases that bordered the great western desert, along with his wife, Nephthys. His son was supposedly Anubis, so there could have been a connection between Set, Anubis, and the funeral rites of embalming and entombing. Set is a dark and chthonic deity, but he was also the patron god of solders and the warrior pharaohs of the New Kingdom.

The Set animal, unlike the rest of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses who were represented by both animals and human qualities, is characterized by an unknown mythic creature. His elongated snout and long rectangular ears, thin forked tail and canine body might be considered the suggested representation of an aardvark, but other animals became associated with Set as well, such as the fennel fox, jackass, wild pig or the desert jackal. Set symbolizes the desert storms, such as the Khamsin, that plague both upper and lower Egypt during the spring, and as such, he represents the opposite of the regulatory power of Maat that was so important to Egyptian religious thinking. However, violence had its uses, and in the case of the underworld solar boat journey, Set’s violent nature was put to constructive use. He was therefore the deity most associated with warriors and warfare. However, he was also associated with jealousy, fratricide, deception, homosexuality and foreign invaders from the East. Set’s composite animal nature was supposedly explained by the fact that he was impatient to be born and so tore himself loose from his mother’s body, Nuit, while he was still not completely formed. To make up for this discrepancy, he used the parts of other animals to complete himself.

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As an aside, I have always wondered why the Egyptians would have represented their deities as a synthesis of human and animal. Not all deities were depicted as both human and animals (such as Amun), but many of them were. The Greek and the Romans found this peculiar mixing to be quite strange, and it became a hallmark of later Greco-Egyptian synchretism (such as Serapis, Aion, Abraxas, and other animal-human deities of late antiquity). However, very few modern Egyptologists have explained this phenomenon in a manner that made any sense. They seem to gloss over this peculiarity and not attempt to explain what was actually behind it. There just didn’t seem to be any answer that would account for this kind of perspective, particularly since modern western people have been so influenced by the Greeks and the Romans who saw the animal human deities of Egypt as archaic, barbarous and somehow quaint. The way to approach this question is to turn it around and ask how did the Egyptians perceive nature itself. Once the question is turned around then it is much easier to answer. I recently read the follow section in one of Jan Assmann’s books, “The Search for God in Ancient Egypt,” and I have decided to quote it here, since it more than adequately answers this question.    

“To the Egyptians, nature was curiously open in directions that set it apart from our concept, in the direction of culture – following from the principle of the ‘social interpretation’ of nature,” ... and in the direction of the supernatural. To them, nature was ‘supernatural’ in a way that fundamentally prevented the concept of nature. ... The Egyptians did not experience the divine in nature in explicable, exceptional cases like rainbows, earth quakes, solar and lunar eclipses and the like, but in the regularity of diurnal and annual cyclic processes. Nature was not something distinct from the gods, something that they created, over which they exerted influence, of which they had charge. Although statements to this effect abound, inextricably connected with them and sometimes in the very same text, we find the concept that deities were themselves these natural elements and phenomena. The Egyptians did not view their gods and goddesses as beyond nature, but rather in nature and thus as nature. The deities were ‘natural,’ – that is, cosmic – to the same extent that nature or the cosmos was divine.” (pages 63 - 64)

The use of animal human hybrids in the depiction of Egyptian deities was a way for the ancient Egyptians to show that nature functioned in the guise of deities, and that life itself was a common but supernatural condition. Greece and Rome sought to discover the “will of the gods” through the occurrence of remarkable or unusual natural phenomenon. Thus today, we are prone to look for examples of deity in nature by observing exceptional natural events instead of seeing the whole of the cyclic phenomenon of nature as emanations of deity within and a part of nature. This perspective espoused by the Egyptians was a product of early Bronze age paganism, but it managed to be conserved and even refined in Egypt over the many centuries while more modern perspectives (that we would recognize) emerged in the western and eastern Mediterranean, such as those of Persia, Greece, Rome, and even Judea. While the pagan perspectives of ancient Egypt were archaic by the standards of other nations, the ideas that they espoused are oddly more relevant today than they were in antiquity. However, I have digressed from the original point of my article.

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During the second intermediate period in Egypt, the Hyksos king Apophis established the deity Set as a monolatry probably because he resembled the favored Semitic storm deity Hadad, which would have been recognizable to the Shepherd Kings and their people who infiltrated and eventually conquered northern Egypt. When the Egyptians, under the Pharaoh Ahmose, pushed the Hyksos out of Egypt, the garrison at the old Hyksos capital, Avaris, continued to promote the cult of Set. Set was later incorporated as an important deity in the theology of the New Kingdom, particularly during the Rameside period, where he represented the military power of the Pharaoh and the Egyptian empire. The Pharaoh Seti used the name “Man of Set” to represent his throne name, and several other Pharaohs from that period also incorporated the deity name Set into their throne names.

However, the deity Set lost his place of honor when foreigners invaded and completely conquered Egypt, beginning with the Persians and then later with the Greeks and Romans. It would appear that Set became identified with foreigners and foreign rule. There was also always the wicked reputation that Set had in his role as the brother of Osiris and his murderer. The role of the evil adversary was amplified in later periods of foreign occupation. By the time Christianity became a powerful religious force in Egypt, Set had become associated with the Greek monster Typhon and was considered a deity of evil and destruction. It is likely that Set-Typon personified the invaders who robbed Egypt of its sovereignty, so to good, lawful and observant Christian Egyptians, he would have exemplified the Devil incarnate. It is for this reason that Christians would have continued to vilify Set-Typhon as the Devil, and any magical charms or spells that invoked his name would have been considered highly diabolic. Since Set-Typhon represented the foreign enemy of the local Egyptians, anyone who would have associated themselves with him, whether from the standpoint of religion or even magic, would have been perceived as pagan diabolists.

What that means is that the individuals who would have been using the spells as they were written in the PGM were very much vested in paganism, and in particular a magically diabolic form of paganism. This would be true despite the fact that author of these spells also shamelessly borrowed various incompatible religious forms in a very synchretistic manner from nearly every known religion. Was there a cult of Set still functioning in Egypt during the first three centuries of the common era? Little is known about what happened to the cultic centers that worshiped Set, but it seems obvious that they would have been severely diminished and then shut down some time after the period of Persian occupation. There appears to be some evidence that Set was still worshiped in western desert oases, but his other known shrines had shut down by then.

It would seem that those who still honored Set would have kept their worship secret and likely underground. Magical spells written by pagan sorcerers that required the acquisition of the harshest of magical powers or the ability to fight against foreign domination and persecution might have adopted Set as their patron deity, and even formed a kind of underground insurgency against a common foe. There does seem to be some minor evidence showing that the magical rites of the PGM in some cases duplicated magical practices found in the various cults of the Egyptian priesthood, as noted and reported by the Greek physician, Thessalos, when he visited Priests in Thebes in the 2nd century CE.

Ironically, while many individuals flocked to the new Christian churches and monasteries, others may have been more inclined to keep the worship of the old deities alive, particularly those, like Set, who afforded a certain currency against the oppressive regime. Those who wielded the magical spells as found in the PGM would have been outsiders and inimical to the interests of the nascent Christian church, and therefore would have been passionately condemned by them. The itinerant pagan sorcerer was not someone who would been a devotee to the newly arising creed, but he might have had no difficulty in appropriating various elements of that creed for his own magical purposes.

Even so, the early Christians in Egypt continued to work forms of magic, as the numerous ostracae would indicate, but that magic had changed so that it used Christian nomenclature even though some of the words of power were the same. There is a continuity between the kind of magic worked in the PGM and that employed by the later Christians, but Christian magic was scoured of all references to pagan deities. The owner of the PGM scroll might have lived in the same neighborhood as the Christians and Sethians, but the worlds they occupied were quite different and distinct. It is unlikely that much contact would have occurred between those who practiced pagan sorcery and those who were Christian or Sethian monks. When we include the myths of the chthonic Greek deity Typhon it becomes quite clear why there was such a distinction between pagan sorcerers and Christian groups.

Typhon was a great monster of epic proportions, a human body with a hundred dragon heads, as depicted in ancient Greek mythology. He was sent by Gaia to fight against Zeus and eventually lost that battle. He was imprisoned underneath Mount Aetna, but with his consort, Echidna, he sired several children, some of whom like Cerberus, the Sphinx, the Nemean Lion, and other monsters were famous in their own right. Typhon was the son of Gaia (Earth) and Tartarus (Hell), so he was a deity of the earth and the underworld, somewhat like Set. The association of Set and Typhon would have certainly empowered Set from a Greek perspective, but made his chthonic qualities even more pronounced so that he would appear completely dark, foreboding and diabolical. As a monstrous power of the deadly underworld, Set-Typhon would have been a remarkable combination, and the hybrid deity would not be one that anyone would lightly summon or seek aid from. Those who made Set-Typhon the center of their religious and magical work would have been considered extreme diabolists, and would likely have had fearsome reputations in their community, that is, if anyone knew about them at all. I can imagine an underground cult of Set-Typhon whose adherents practiced fearsome magical rites and spells, but there is scant proof that such a community ever existed.

Jake is correct in stating that the PGM represents a world view outside and exclusive to that which would have been practiced by Egyptian Christians and even Sethians. They might have employed a vaguely similar form of magic, but it would have been incompatible with the spells of the PGM. Thus, the Headless One exorcism rite is likely unique to the PGM work (and other contemporaneous pagan inspired magic) and wouldn’t have been found amongst the rites and spells that the Sethians might have used. Although I still think that it’s possible that they did perform exorcisms on their initiates as part of the regimen of their work.

Christianity spread very quickly in Egypt during the first few centuries of the common era, and not long after the Theban sorcerer (who owned the PGM scroll) was buried in his tomb, the community religious culture in that locale might have already been changing. In less than a century, the PGM scroll and the magic that it represented would have been something of an anachronism. Pagan sorcerers at that time and in that locality likely went completely underground or maybe even slowly disappeared altogether. They were replaced first by adherents of the Coptic Christian church who practiced magic and later by adherents to Islam, who did the same. Sorcerers for hire have always had to change their methods (and the religions in which they operated) in order to stay employed and keep their customers satisfied. It is likely that such a change happened there just like it did in the rest of the world.

Frater Barrabbas

Of Shadows and Darkness - Future Path of Witchcraft

Modern Witchcraft has been around for almost 70 years, and yet it is still in its infancy compared to other faiths and religious practices. For those of us who have been involved in witchcraft since the early days in the 50's, 60's and even the 70's, we have seen it evolve from a coven based religious magical movement to the edification of conservative imbedded traditions and lineages, mostly with a broad appeal to the tastes and sensibilities of middle class adherents. While witchcraft is still ambiguously associated with uncanny and fringe types of practices and beliefs tinged with a tenebrous taste of darkness, it has now become the tamed, toothless, friendly, happy and harmless pagan religion that is not so different than other religions (like Christianity).

Still, the ancient heritage of witchcraft, or at least cunning-craft and sorcery, is still something that is imbued with “other-ness” and dark mysteries. Modern witches might be able to distance themselves from the shaman-like witch of ancient folklore fame, but in doing so they will only castrate the very tradition that they are seeking to vitalize and conserve. Actually, instead of castrating witchcraft, they will create something new, and many have begun to call this new religion, bereft as it is of the potent dark magic and mysteries, Wicca. Others have called it derisively McWicca, but I believe that it is just the outer religious practices and beliefs without any of the deeper mysteries, magical practices or psycho-spiritual lintel crossings. It is, in fact, a form of religious Wicca without the witchcraft. Everyone has to start somewhere, and Wicca is as good a place to start as any, as long as one quickly progresses beyond it. Those who linger will never know the greater secrets and be forever mired in mediocrity. 

What this means is that the pathway of witchcraft has already bifurcated into two basic groups; one that is open to new possibilities and is attracted to the dark history of witchcraft and pagan practices, and another that is seeking to create a modern pagan religion for the masses. I, for one, have accepted the former and eschewed the latter. Since I believe that most modern pagans in the West lack even a basic understanding of what it is to be a pagan, at least from the standpoint of antiquity, then I have no problem being part of the smaller population who is progressing to that place where the future beckons. That future doesn’t include any of the practices, fetishes or tropes of the BTW, and in fact it is beyond the comfortable domain of Gardnerian based modern witchcraft altogether. The real future of witchcraft (if it is to have a future) is to revitalize elements of the past and merge them with practical workings of today. The real future path, in my opinion, is to master archaic forms of sorcery and a kind of chthonic shamanism, and therein, to discover anew the dark mysteries pervading the ghost enshrouded domain of the earth.

As I have stated previously in other articles, the place where the mysteries occur in regards to modern earth-based mystery traditions is within the darkness of the underworld. You won’t find pretty unicorns, lovely, soft and cuddly images of nature’s critters, or pointy eared elves with lovelorn eyes and feminine features. Where there is light, it would seem, that is where we are most comfortable and complacent, of course. Instead, deep in the underworld you will find all of the things that exist under the physical top-soil, rocks, dirt, clay, water, worms, serpents, centipedes, beetles, various roots and tubers, dormant seed pods, and also the rotting and stinking carcasses of the dead; and a host of other horrors (such as forbidding underground caverns), all of which constantly show the mortal nature of everything that lives. There are also ancestral ghosts, buried treasures, precious things lost, the spirits of heros, the souls of the damned, demonic entities, and the Gods and Goddesses of the Underworld. There can also be found within it the powers of dreaded diseases and corporal corruption, and also the power to heal, renew and be reborn. All fertility and death are intermingled in this place, and everything that ever was or ever will be - the veritable well of all potential - has its residence in this place of darkness. Here is the place where transformative initiations really occur, and where the seeker discovers the true meaning of life - the key to all of his or her personal mysteries. The underworld is the domain where magical power has its collective source and the door to the spiritual world resides. One has to gain access to this world before any other world can be entered. This has been an age old truth going back to the earliest stirring of our shamanic past.

What, then, is to be salvaged from the state of modern witchcraft today? Certainly the entire contents of the vaunted Book of Shadows is to be put aside once it is fully mastered. Mastery of the actual existent lore is a task of short duration, taking only a few years to complete. Coven based initiations consisting of the ordeals of the first and second degree as well as the calendric cycle of eight sabbats and 13 esbats are to be left aside, along with the rigid perspective of the dual theology of Goddess and God. Depending on whether the rites are performed in a temple or out in a grove, the opening of the self to sacred space would vary, and in fact the calling of the quarters could be dispensed with or replaced with something that is more sensible. So, if we discard most of the contents of the Book of Shadows, then what is left? The answer is, of course, earth-based magic, techniques of ecstasy, chthonic spiritual alignments and sorcery. The goal is to become a shamanic and goetic based witch who has access to the underworld and all its great wealth, terror and fascination.

Ironically, I have found myself in agreement yet again with Jake Stratton Kent when he has said that modern witchcraft must become immersed in the practice of Goetic magick. Certainly, the goetic demons span the interstices of heaven, hell and earth, and represent the gateway and hidden potential of the godhead that resides wholly in the underworld. Therefore, goetic conjuring is the true sorcery, in my opinion, of archaic post-modern witchcraft, and it must be investigated and re-established as a core discipline in witchcraft. The images and artwork of Austin O. Spare have revealed the vision of this domain and has shown that this pathway is to be found in all cultures in the world, throughout the entire history of the human race. It is, in fact, our true legacy.

Additionally, modern witches need to develop deep and personal relationships with the chthonic root Goddesses and Gods in all of their variations. Hecate comes to mind, also Persephone, Hades, Dionysus, Orpheus, and the Sybil in her various guises and forms.  Still, all of the Gods and Goddesses of pagan antiquity have a hidden chthonic face, or dark-side, and this represents the very core and origin of their being. Interestingly, the one thing that all of these entities have in common is the all-pervading underworld - the place of universal origin and final repose. Following the “ghost-roads” of our ancestors into this world, the post-modern witch can revitalize the practices of witchcraft, but at the great cost of social acceptance and a plurality of human support. This path is obscure, lonely, and known only by those rare individuals who have the courage to move far beyond their social comfort zone. These isolated individuals would be too far and too few to populate a coven, but they could come together for the rare Grand Sabbat, held in secret in the dark and obscure places of the earth.

When an initiated priest or priestess of modern witchcraft (Wicca) decides to seek out the greater truths and the mysteries that reside in the underworld, then he or she will begin the task of determining a kind of witchcraft that will have more in common with the ancient past than what is being passed off as Wicca today. So what might that path of post-modern witchcraft be like? What practices would it contain? Allow me to indulge in some speculation, based as it is on my own experiences.

The foundation of Wicca is either a self-initiation into the basic attributes of a modern pagan religion, or the initiation into a kind of pseudo family based coven within an overarching tradition. There are the various celebrations, periodic workings and a focus on nature as the ultimate ground of the spiritualized world. Human acts in accordance with nature become sacralized, such as establishing sacred space, nudity, dancing, assuming the masks of godhead, sacred sexuality, feasting and drinking, making offerings and sacrifices, worshiping the old gods and goddesses and intimately engaging with nature itself. A form of earth-based magic develops in this environment as well as a keen insight into the changing of the seasons, the cycle of flora and fauna, the phases of the moon, and the rising and falling of the stellar ecliptic. If one lives near the oceans or seas, then a sense of the changing tides also becomes part of that opening of one’s self to nature. We grow up in this family and learn all that there is to know, and then at some point, a few of us find ourselves drawn to something greater and also, darker.

Where true initiation actually begins is in the place of the mysteries, so all previous initiations, whether performed by others or by oneself, are abrogated by this new awareness. We begin this path stripped of all our previous knowledge and achievement, just as we are stripped of everything when we die - for such an initiation is also analogous to death. Our path leads us beyond the sunlit fields where nature is tamed and docile, and leads us into the darkening deeper paths that branch into the essential and integral core of the mystery of life and death.

I have previously defined the mysteries as the five different elements that impact a material and life-centered existence. There is, first of all, the diurnal cycle of night and day, sleep and wakefulness; this seamless polarity represents the essential mystery of terrestrial life. From the polarity of light and darkness comes the polarity of life and death, along with the changing of the seasons (if one lives in the further northern/southern latitudes). Additionally, there is the cycle of the Moon and the Sun, representing the further power and projection of the cycles of darkness and light. Then finally, there is the paradoxical nature of Deity itself and its all-consuming mystery, which is the deity that resides in each and every one of us.

These five mystery elements exist within a domain that consists of three worlds - the sky, the earth, and under the earth. Yet in the most archaic cycles of self-transformation (that can be found in shamanism), the first point of entry into the mysteries is the underworld - from there one might ascend to the heavens on the branches of the world tree. Still, all that is relevant to terrestrial life resides in the underworld, and only the sun, moon and the stars, as well as various indifferent celestial deities reside in the heavens. So, we begin our journey away from the sunny fields of our pagan childhood and seek the gateway or lintel threshold into the underworld, where we shall undergo the ancient initiation rite of dissolution and reconstitution. We will be remade by the underworld mysteries, and transformed into a being who walks both the daylight and nighttime pathways.

Once we become initiated into the domain of the underworld, then we achieve the methodology of gaining access to that place whenever required. Even so, the key to the underworld is ecstasy, the lock to that threshold is trance (or pharmacology), and chthonic nature itself is the doorway. Our book of shadows becomes filled with all the new unwritten things that we will be taught by the various tenebrous godheads of the underworld. We will talk to the ancestors and learn from them the dark ways of the world of the spirits of the dead. And, we will resurrect and revitalize those occult practices and methods of sorcery that are in alignment with our new powers of initiation and our deep spiritual perspective. Certainly, engaging with the root Gods and Goddesses will be a preeminent part of our practices, but so will the re-establishment of the goetic conjuring of demons who have now been re-established as important underworld demi-gods.

Of course, the tool-set of modern Wicca will be completely replaced with the tools of a shamanic witch and goetic conjurer. The dual theology that is so prevalent in Wicca will be replaced with a much wider variation and selection of root Gods and Goddesses, along with demi-gods, ancestor spirits, and a host of earth-based (and under-earth based) spirits. These deities and spirits will require a constant and periodic engagement. The post modern witch will easily pass from this world into the underworld, and she will bring back all of the associated treasures (and curses) from that place of darkness. The eightfold calendric sabbats will be replaced with natural and seasonal phase changes, and the lunar cycle will become the sacred lintel light that harkens the opening and closing of the underworld. Initiation will no longer be defined by two ordeals, but rather by a continuous state of inner revelation, and the seamless blending of magic and earth-based mystery within a single hybrid practice. A veritable technology of ecstasy will become the foundation of these works, since it will assist the witch in gaining access to the underworld, and also taking others to that place.

All of the pieces of this post-modern approach to witchcraft have now become revealed to me, piece by piece, over a very long period of time. I have been inspired by the many books that I have read, the posting of other occultists, and by my own inner revelations. Now that this new path is becoming ever clear to me, I realize the importance of the writings of antiquity as well as the orthopraxis of just doing the work. As if I didn’t already have so much to do, and I am now entering into the autumn years of my life. May I succeed in making this transition and fully engaging with this new vision, thereby making it a reality before my allotment of life reaches its end.

Frater Barrabbas

Good Part of the Dark Side of Magick

I have been gently pilloried for my statements regarding hard core Satanism, saying that often followers of the left hand path end up being darkly transformed by their negative preoccupations. Of course this is really an extreme example and my target has been hard core Satanists and others who blithely use the trappings of “evil” and “darkness” to shroud their obvious lack of ability and competence. I used Anton LaVey as a prime example, but of course, there are always other sides and many variations to this argument. LaVey is a poster child for what is wrong with hard core Satanism, but what of the other variations and gradations that make up the Left Hand Path? The world isn’t black and white, and since I have said that I don’t believe in the moral values of an absolute good and evil, then am I not guilty of being something of a hypocrite to make pronouncements against followers of other paths? Have I thrown out the proverbial “baby and the bath water” as some have stated?

First let me say that what I have discussed in my previous articles have been the extreme cases and the potential for harming oneself. Will it dissuade hard core followers of this path to change their ways? Absolutely not! It may dissuade the beginner from considering such a path and that is my objective. However, there are followers of the Left Hand Path who are reputable, intelligent, brilliant and masterly in what they do. I refer to members of the Temple of Set, chaos magicians, Luciferians, Typhonians, adherents of the Dragon Rouge order, goetic magicians who espouse diabolic paganism or Afro occultism, and a host of others. All of these individuals may or may not be classified as Left Hand Path followers, but they are individuals who seek the dark side of magick for their own spiritual and magickal fulfillment. I understand, appreciate and applaud this preoccupation, since it isn’t that different from my own. However, such individuals stand in stark contrast to the classical “in-your-face” Satanist. I have valid misgivings about individuals who take upon themselves the cloak of superstition, fears and paranoia of their Christian neighbors in order to empower themselves, and I would warn beginners to seek some other path than that of the classic Satanist. However, it was never my intention to lump all of these various groups and individuals into one faction, but that seems to be how my previous article was interpreted.

A point has been made by the blog writer “Von Faustus” in his article about this very issue that those who seek the darkness in occultism and magick are following an antinomian process of contrast and engagement, or as Faustus puts it “engagement with the beliefs of the status quo, even if it is the process of rejection.” Of course, for those who have never heard of antinomianism, it’s a theological term that literally means “unlawful” or the belief that the achievement of salvation does not require the careful following of laws of a religiously defined morality. Another term for this practice would be “unorthodox.” Gnostics were accused of being “antinomian”, and so were other sects of Christianity by their more orthodox peers. Christianity was born out of Judaism through antinomianism. Perhaps an easier way to think of this term is that a person may either obey the tenets of their religion or break rules in order to discover new vistas and different perspectives. I believe that anyone who is a practicing occultist could be said to be practicing a form of antinomianism, especially those who espouse a form of neopaganism.

In my previous article on the left hand path I discussed how morality is, in my opinion, bankrupt and that the practicing ritual magician must forge his or her own ethics and personal guidelines. These can be shared but there are no absolute spiritual laws or rules, so one can’t dictate magickal and spiritual ethics to another without being either misguided or a hypocrite. The term “unlawful” can be taken many ways, from the breaking of social taboos, religious laws of orthodoxy or even civil laws. Anyone who lights up a joint of marijuana, has a few drinks and then drives, travels over the speed limit, crashes a gate at a concert, cheats on their income taxes, or does any number of minor and possibly annoying social or illegal acts is acting in an antinomian manner. However, where I draw the line is in the perpetrating of serious civil crimes. I may find unethical conduct to be antisocial and problematic, but serious crimes are the concern of all members of a society. The definitions of serious crimes may vary from society to society as well. I would be judged quite harshly for my religious beliefs and magickal practices if I happened to live in Iran or Saudi Arabia.

This brings us back to the discussion of the Left Hand Path. If I don’t accept the moral dogma and superstition of monotheistic religious groups and institutions, then I am, defacto, functioning in an antinomian manner in regards to my occult beliefs and magickal practices. It doesn’t matter if I distinguish myself in some manner from followers of the so-called Left Hand Path, we are all in the same group as far as orthodox authorities are concerned. In a word, all of us are considered automatically culpable and liable to sanctions and religious persecution if ever our society suddenly becomes ruled by a Christian theocracy instead of a secular non-religious representational democracy. We are all vulnerable, and also, despite our many divergences and differences, we are kindred spirits. If one of us gets persecuted, then we all stand the possibility of persecution.

In my opinion, one of the ways that some individuals could inflame a social pogrom against all pagans and magicians is to practice a kind of “in-your-face” Satanism, to engage in political fascism, anarchy, racism, and to inspire fear, loathing and hatred in those who choose to be members of the conservative religious orthodoxy. Playing on other people’s fears and superstitions is not only dangerous for the individuals doing it, but it’s dangerous for the rest of us as well. Thankfully, most people are discreet about their magickal and occult practices, but the few who inspire public hate and terrorism are a problem for all of us. A case in point is the incidence of church burnings and murder in Norway during the early 1990's, instigated by the lyrics and music of rock bands of a genre called “Black Metal.” Thankfully, the movement was isolated to a given locality and lasted for a short duration, but a larger scale occurrence in the U.S. would have severe repercussions for anyone practicing magick or neopaganism.

This was the point that I was trying to make when I said in my previous article: “However, to engage in an adversary relationship with your native culture is to also inadvertently mine the rich strata of xenophobia, alienation, hatred and self-loathing.” Also: “So it’s for this reason that I believe that followers of the left hand path, particularly those who espouse forms of Satanism, are ultimately twisted, warped, alienated and forced to either change (and conform) or become society’s great losers.” I do believe that I have a valid point in making these pronouncements, but I am referring to the extreme case as a kind of warning to all of us who practice magick. It does not mean that I am condemning anyone who engages in the practice of “dark” magick or diabolic pagan practices. There is a place for all of us at the table of neopagan occult religions, and I respect all who faithfully practice their alternative religions and magick in peace and good will. This is particularly true because I consider myself neither a follower of the left hand or the right hand path, being a denizen of that shadowy grey area that is more a practical reality than an alliance to some path or persuasion. I aspire in my magickal workings to integrate the HGA or Bornless One into my own self, and thus elevate myself to the level of a godhead, however thinly or briefly. This is certainly a lefthand path perspective. However, I also give veneration, offerings and worship to my ancestors and my gods, thus making me a follower of the right hand path.

What exactly is that dark magick that is being practiced by many, including members of the left hand path? I would classify it as a form of chthonic spirituality. Many of the deities honored and worshiped in these systems represent forces and spirits from the underworld. This would include goetic demons and other dark mythic beings, as well as deities such as Typhon, Apophis, Set, Anubis, Hades, Persephone, Pluto, Lilith, Samael, Teitan, Lucifer, Baphomet, Baron Samedi, Papa Legba or Eleggua, the Ghede - the list is endless. As diverse as this group is, what they have in common is that they represent the forces of death, darkness, the unknown and the unresolvable mysteries in human existence. They are a counter force to the light, the rule of law and reason, representing that human nature is clearly directed by impulses from both the light and the darkness. Those who engage in dark magick are only seeking to redress the imbalance in our culture that is so focused on the light, and to dispel superstition, the fear of the darkness and the unknown. Such practices are as integral to the art of magick, neopagan religion and occultism as are any exoteric praxis or faith. I would label these systems of belief and practices as highly beneficial, representing the positive or good part of the dark side of magick.

So to allay the concerns and assuage the feelings of others on spiritual paths that are different than mine and who may have interpreted my words as insulting, I offer this clarification. I have in no way condemned any of the traditions of the so-called left hand path. I have a great deal of respect for individuals who follow paths differently than mine but who none-the-less have made magick their spiritual discipline and practice. Such individuals are my brothers and sisters and I do not judge or criticize their paths.

However, I feel the need to give a warning to all of us that we are a distinct minority in the U.S., and unlike Europe, we don’t have a culture that is only lukewarm towards its established orthodox religions. In America, politics and religion freely mix, creating a potentially toxic and lethal combination. In the U.S., individuals and groups have been persecuted for their religious beliefs and practices at various times, particularly if the power elite feel themselves threatened by ideas, beliefs and practices that are not only different from their own but are being promoted in a highly aggressive manner. What happened to the Mormons in the early and middle 19th century has been repeated with other groups, so we must take these sobering thoughts into consideration and use discretion and common sense when operating in society.

Frater Barrabbas