Wandering 7s is a board game, initiatory guide, and magical tool I created with my inner circle of occult friends. It can be treated as a simple competitive game, a roadmap for understanding basic concepts of occult initiation, and a tool for magical ritual, such as the creation of sigils. The game is easy to make, learn, and play, but hard to master and fully utilize. It is based on board games like "Selection of Buddhas," but with our own WLHP symbolism and ideas.

Available freely: https://xeperamaset.wixsite.com/xeper/post/wandering-7s-the-board-game-of-esoteric-initiation

[This is only for educational purposes! I am a grad student studying Satanism, I never have been or will be part of or even an advocate for ONA. I condemn both the original and modern manifestations of the group and always will. If nothing else, let this stand as a warning that ONA does not offer anything you need, and should not be engaged with.]

For my grad projects focusing on different forms of Satanism, I recently did a deep dive into ONA to see if I could separate fact from fiction etc. After a while engaging with the content, I decided to lessen my focus on ONA simply because so much associated with the group is heinous immorality that I don't want to be wallowing in, especially as a former social worker. However, I did learn some important/interesting things I figured I would share.

• Objectively/academically speaking, there needs to be a distinction between ONA and its spinoffs, especially the Temple ov Blood. The latter is a known front set up by the FBI to sting criminals,[1] and is where the modern promotion of things like murder and pedophilia stem from (Martinet Press), not the actual ONA.[2] Groups like the White Star Acceptation run by Chloe, and similar groups, no more represent the original ONA than Richard Ramirez represented CoS.

• Indeed, the original ONA, like all other LHP groups of the time, described human sacrifice as purely symbolic/ritualistic,[3] and condemned not only the harming of children,[4] but any involvement of them in Satanism before they can make their own choices. In this sense the biggest fear/shade surrounding the ONA isn't even actually real. In fact, I blame the media far more than ONA itself for the modern manifestations of it. Without the media, FBI, and even academia, the group would have continued to fade into obscurity and be forgotten by now for most, little more than an interesting footnote.

• Don't think I'm here to defend ONA as a great and normal LHP group. Most importantly they are far-right esoteric Nazis, even if they don't murder or hurt kids. From opposing homosexuality up to seeking the creation of a Galactic Reich, Esoteric Nazism is in every level of the ONA's DNA and there's no way around that. However, I'm not so sure they understand a “superman” as being of a certain race, it's more about them not accepting “Nazarene” ideologies etc. The initiation of ONA is meant to change the very essence of the individual, so there's still a biological essentialism, but it can be changed, which is kind of interesting. One way to tell if you're dealing with inauthentic ONA works is a progressive view on sexuality: traditional ONA is a male and female. The real danger from ONA is not being murdered or abused, the danger is in their infiltration of other groups and spreading of their ideology without notice and under an innocent guise. For example, it's claimed that one of the main remaining members (once thought to be no higher than 10 total) is an Oxford professor successfully posing as progressive and nearing retirement, which if true means he's been quietly promoting this stuff in plain sight for decades.

• What I continue to find particularly interesting is ONA initiation. The ONA asks a lot more of the individual than most LHP/Satanic groups. Physical training, living off the grid, working for a cause at odds with your ideology, even building your own tarot deck and the star game.[5] I can't help but feel that in our age of desensitization, people are drawn to this much more than “give us your email/your money and you're in.” It's a double edged sword, because on one hand there's something to this, occultism has truly become lazy, as Morrison said we've gone from mad bodies dancing in the hills to a pair of eyes staring in the dark. But on the other hand, there's literally no need for the extremism that's become associated with the ONA in this. Hell, a theist being a LaVeyan Satanist for 6 months would count as an insight role, or a Satanist going to church and joining the choir, without causing any harm. People just want to excuse their extremism, including ONA. I also feel their “master race” mindset has inevitably led to just another form of materialism, because how could it not? Just another reason such a mindset is harmful.

• The Star Game is the most standout thing to me. You must figure out the logic and build it yourself, not to mention find someone to play with. It's filled with esoteric symbolism and such, and does well giving the illusion of being some special sinister form of magic. Well, we built and sort of played and deciphered this thing, and I, personally, was rather disappointed! We hesitated at first, but quickly realized what we have here is just a use of alchemical symbolism as a type of meditation/magic tool. It's basically like doing a tarot reading to inspire inward reflection, rather than some sort of summoning board or anything. It can be used for external magic, such as use in sigil magic, but this does not appear to be the main goal. There's nothing related to Nazism or anything else in TSG, it's literally just an alchemy “board game.” It reminds me of how Thelema says to memorize the Tree of Life and such, it's just a way of training the mind to think esoterically. And way over complicated imo. It inspired us to make our own game with symbolism and such relevant to us (will share some day), but between the negative connotations and the overcomplexity, I can't really recommend making and playing this. BTW the “nine angles” are the nine combinations of alchemical salt, mercury, and sulfur (and the pieces of TSG). Finally, TSG is not even from the ONA, which brings me to:

• David Myatt is/was not Anton Long. Both the ONA and Myatt acknowledge him as the creator of TSG, from when he was in prison in the 70s.[6] Myatt further acknowledges (and regrets) connecting the game to National Socialist ideas at that point in his life, and discusses a friend of his who took those ideas, as well as the game, and started an occult order.[7] While it is compelling to paint Myatt as a Satanic James Bond, living insight role to insight role, the man admits to everything including his influence on suicide bombing, but insists he did not create the ONA. There is no reason for this, and it makes neither ONA nor Myatt look better or less evil for us to acknowledge the former was simply started by an associate or friend of the latter, not Myatt himself. In fact, this further supports my point that the media and academia have only increased the appeal of ONA into the 21st century, such as by painting Myatt as this crazy underground Satanist 007 living ONA ideology.[8] They have made the problem way worse than it ever would have been, and all based on weak evidence. A further issue is that Myatt has come to reject all forms of extremism for over a decade,[9] something that makes up the majority of his available writings and yet is barely a footnote on his wiki[10] (because it simply is not interesting in our modern cultural climate). He has extensively written about his life, his thoughts, his rejection of all extremism, Nazism, etc., and why. Do not think I am defending the man; he has done unforgivable evil and his current works do little to make up for that. But it does beg the question: how does it work that some monist, RHP, anti-extremist is supposed to be the head of the ONA, which is now known only for its extremism? There’s also something to be said here about academia’s lack of engagement with primary sources, but that’s for another time.

Before I go, let me emphasize that if you are talking to someone saying they are ONA, you aren't, and you should stop right away. These guys maxed out around 10 people and they'd mostly be old now, maybe they picked a few new guys at most. If you're talking to someone saying they are ONA you are dealing with unstable criminals seeking to manipulate you towards their own end, there are no exceptions. And these people are legit dangerous, I mean they took an SRA FBI sting literally, as doctrine. I don’t even really want to bother messing with it anymore, just not worth the risk. For examples of these crimes, see here:

• Dangerous Organizations and Bad Actors: Order of Nine Angles by CTEC

• FBI Bankrolled Publisher of Occult Neo-Nazi Books, Feds Claim by Matthew Gault

• Former U.S. Soldier Gets 45 Years for Helping Neo-Nazi Group In Plot To Kill Troops by Dennis Romero

• The Order of Nine Angles by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue

• Ryan Fleming: Neo-Nazi Paedophile Jailed for Messaging Children by Daniel Simone

• The Order of Nine Angles and the Martinet Press Situation by Interzone Analysis (on YouTube)

Thanks for reading, be safe out there.

Footnotes

[1] Matthew Gault, “FBI Bankrolled Publisher of Occult Neo-Nazi Books, Feds Claim,” published 24 August 2021, https://www.vice.com/en/article/dyv9zk/fbi-bankrolled-publisher-of-occult-neo-nazi-books-feds-claim.

[2] Interzone Analysis, “Order of Nine Angles (O9A) and the Martinet Press Situation,” published 23 January 2023.

[3] Order of Nine Angles, Hostia volume I (Shropshire: Thormynd Press, 1992), 43.

[4] ONA, Hostia v. I, 130-131.

[5] Order of Nine Angles, Naos (Thorold West & ONA, 1989).

[6] David Myatt, “Time as Emanation of Being,” David Myatt, 2013, 1; Order of Nine Angles, “Overview of the Star Game,” Order of Nine Angles, 2013, 1.

[7] Myatt, “Time as Emanation,” 12.

[8] For example: Jacob C. Senholt, The Sinister Tradition: Political Esotericism & the Convergence of Radical Islam, Satanism and National Socialism in the Order of the Nine Angles (Trondheim: University of Aarhus, 2009).

[9] David Myatt, “Understanding and Rejecting Extremism: A Very Strange Peregrination,” David Myatt, 2013; David Myatt, “Moral Problems of National-Socialism,” David Myatt, 2019.

[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Myatt#Departure_from_Islam

Citations

Gault, Matthew. “FBI Bankrolled Publisher of Occult Neo-Nazi Books, Feds Claim.” VICE, August 25, 2021. https://www.vice.com/en/article/dyv9zk/fbi-bankrolled-publisher-of-occult-neo-nazi-books-feds-claim.

Interzone Analysis. “The Order of Nine Angles (O9A) and the Martinet Press Situation.” YouTube. 23 January 2023.
Myatt, David. “Moral Problems of National-Socialism.” David Myatt, 2019.

Myatt, David. “Time As Emanation of Being.” David Myatt, 2013.

Myatt, David. “Understanding and Rejecting Extremism: A Very Strange Peregrination.” David Myatt, 2013.

Order of Nine Angles. Hostia. Vol. I. Shropshire: Thormynd Press, 1992.

Order of Nine Angles. Naos. Thorold West & ONA, 1989.

Order of Nine Angles. “Overview of The Star Game.” Order of Nine Angles, 2013.

Senholt, Jacob C. The Sinister Tradition: Political Esotericism & the Convergence of Radical Islam, Satanism and National Socialism in the Order of the Nine Angles. Trondheim: University of Aarhus, 2009.

Hi all. For my graduate program I'm probably going to be focusing on ONA for numerous reasons. They are obscure, relevant, dangerous, and most importantly, interesting. It allows me to study something that I've always been fascinated and terrified by, and bring more awareness to it.

For example, there has never been an investigation into the specifics of ONA rituals, such as the star game, so this will be the focus for my class on ritual. It'll include building and playing the game, and hopefully working with a programmer so other academics can look at this hard to visualize, but absolutely central, ritual.

I think it's well known that I'm interested in ONA and some of their ideas (specifically the star game and insight roles), but have always opposed the group as a far-right tradition rooted in Esoteric Nazism. None of this has changed. If you think my ethnically Jewish ass with Hebrew tattoos is trying to become ONA, it would be hard to find a more stupid person. That said, it's become clear that certain groups/clicks, who have disliked my ideas and presence for many years now, and tried to smear me in the past, intend to paint me as a sympathizer who has fallen into and is promoting ONA. "Scarabs sucks" and "scarabs is a terrorist" are very different smear campaigns, and I just can't risk fucking around with people who have nothing more to life than discrediting LHPers outside their group. Unfortunately the target audience of such campaigns have no interest in reality or critical thinking, so really I have no option but to back out of certain communities.

I make this post to add it to the decades long paper trail confirming my consistent views of ONA and outsider status. Yes, they are very interesting, have some fascinating ideas, and are unique in that they require members to be active in their own initiation. They are also evil nazis who have led to spin off groups consisting of some of the most heinous criminals imaginable. Both these facts can be true at once. I am not, will not, and have never been a "Niner," and I don't want to be. I literally couldn't be between my heritage and general hatred of working out lol.

This is a list of places I recommend starting one’s study or practice of the WLHP, based on basically half a lifetime studying and practicing it. I have tried to keep it wide-reaching and unbiased. I always received a lot of additions when doing this in the past, so let me say that I can only add what I have read or had recommended by trusted sources, and what I have added is rather meticulously chosen. I will put a little * if it is not a book coming from my own shelf. The list is missing good resources on things like Acosmic Satanism, Qayin, etc. because I have not had time to dive in, and likely won’t anytime soon, for better or worse.

Academic Works on the LHP

• Children of Lucifer: The Origins of Modern Religious Satanism by Ruben van Luijk, focusing on the precursors of contemporary Satanism up to LaVey.

• A Critical Study of Byron’s Cain by Lindsay Jones, which is what it sounds like.

• Dark Enlightenment: The Historical, Sociological, and Discursive Contexts of Contemporary Esoteric Magic by Kennet Granholm*, I really enjoy Granholm’s work and plan to read this as soon as possible.

• The Devil’s Party: Satanism in Modernity edited by Faxneld and Petersen, gives a breakdown of the precursors to LaVey, LaVey, Luciferianism, the Temple of Set, and the Order of Nine Angles.

• In Pursuit of Satan: The Police and the Occult by Robert Hicks, addressing the Satanic Panic of the 80s and 90s.

• The Invention of Satanism by Dyrendal et. al, which is mostly cool for its statistical data.

• Romantic Satanism: Myth and the Historical Moment in Blake, Shelley, and Byron by Peter Schock, self-explanatory.

• Sad Satan’s Children: Stanisław Przybyszewski and Esoteric Milieus by Karolina Hess, acts as a nice little summary of Stanislaw P.

• Satanism a Reader edited by Faxneld and Nilsson, basically one of the two most important texts on the topic in academia right now (2024).

• Satanism: A Social History by Massimo Introvigne, the other most important text on the topic right now.

• Speak of the Devil: How the Satanic Temple is Changing the Way We Talk about Religion by Joseph Laycock, specifically covering the rise of TST.

Precursors

• The Book of the Law by Aleister Crowley, setting up his religion of Thelema with lots of imagery that would at least resemble Satanism.

• Cain: A Mystery by Lord Byron, where Lucifer teaches Cain the truth of his existence.

• The Dark Lord: HP Lovecraft, Kenneth Grant, and the Typhonian Tradition in Magic by Peter Levenda, which covers Grant’s obsession with HP Lovecraft, Crowley, and Set.

• Fire and Ice: The History, Structure, and Rituals of Germany’s Most Influential Modern Magical Order by Stephen Flowers, is what it sounds like.

• Paradise Lost by John Milton, pretty much where Satan as we all know him started, even if that would drive Milton to madness.

• Revolt of the Angels by Anatole France, most significant for its importance to the TST.

• The Synagogue of Satan by Stanislaw Przybyszewski, one of his more philosophical works and can be obtained in English.

LaVey

• The Devil’s Notebook, which is a mix of essays.

• The Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth

• The Nine Satanic Sins

• The Satanic Bible, where it all started.

• The Satanic Rituals, containing rituals and related theory.

• Satan Speaks*, which I haven't read at least in a decade.

• The Satanic Witch*, which I have actually not read.

Aquino

• The Church of Satan v I-II, presenting his views of the CoS history up to the 1975 schism.

• The Diabolicon, kind of his own work of Romantic Satanism.

• Mindstar, the best insight into his general metaphysical philosophy.

• The Temple of Set v I-II, giving a history of and extensive index of writings from the Temple of Set.

Other CoS

• Defining the Greater Satanic Conversation by Reverend Campbell, which helps understand the CoS’ stance on the legacy of Satanism.

• FAQ on CoS website, obviously.

• The Satanic Scriptures by Peter Gilmore*, I have not read yet.

• Satanism: An Interview with Church of Satan High Priest Peter Gilmore by David Shankbone, which I personally always felt was one of the better interviews with Gilmore outside the CoS.

• Satanism the Feared Religion by Peter Gilmore, for obvious reasons.

• The Secret Life of a Satanist: The Authorized Biography of Anton Szandor LaVey by Blanche Barton*, which I have not read yet but comes highly recommended.

• We Are Satanists by Blanche Barton*, same as above.

Other ToS and Spinoffs

• Apophis Special Edition by Michael Kelly, discussing “Draconianism” and acting as a practical meditation workbook.

• Lords of the LHP: Forbidden Practices and Spiritual Heresies by Stephen Flowers, which gives a (somewhat biased) overview of the LHP through history.

• Overthrowing the Old Gods by Don Webb, containing both Webb’s and Aquino’s commentaries on Crowley’s Book of the Law, and further info on ToS.

• Seven Faces of Darkness: Practical Typhonian Magic by Don Webb, an interesting if somewhat biased look at the role Set played in the Greek Magical Papyri.

Luciferianism

• Jeremy Crow’s writings*, most of which I have not read in a very long time, but he is one of the most established and respected authors to my knowledge.

• Michael Ford’s writings*, of which I have only read the Bible of the Adversary, and reserve judgment for this list. The other most established author on the topic.

TST

• Being Sued by TST by Queer Satanic, an important perspective to consider no matter what your thoughts.

• FAQ on TST website, obvious.

• The Satanic Temple and Its Eternal Nobodies by Queer Satanic, discussing the start of the recent schisms within TST approaching the summer of 2024. There is also a pretty good documentary on YouTube.

• The Satanic Temple Library on TST website, to see their main inspirations.

• There Are Seven Fundamental Tenets on TST website, probably the most important one.

Other WLHP

• Diane Vera’s writings*, if they even exist anymore? Someone let me know!

• The Dragon Book of Essex by Andrew Chumbley, which idk if this qualifies as LHP, but it is both fascinating and inspiring. Just a really unique work.

• Dragon Rouge: LHP Magic with a Neopagan Flavor by Kennet Granholm, gives a good overview of the Dragon Rouge, which sadly I have not read much more about at this time.

• Venus Satanas’ writings, her Spiritual Satanist website is still up, and I saw her on r/Satanism a few years back.

Dangers of Pseudo-LHP Fascism

• Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, old but classic.

• Dangerous Organizations and Bad Actors: Order of Nine Angles by CTEC

• FBI Bankrolled Publisher of Occult Neo-Nazi Books, Feds Claim by Matthew Gault

• Former U.S. Soldier Gets 45 Years for Helping Neo-Nazi Group In Plot To Kill Troops by Dennis Romero

• Once More, There Is No Global Satanic Cult by Autumn Sword

• The Order of Nine Angles by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue

• Ryan Fleming: Neo-Nazi Paedophile Jailed for Messaging Children by Daniel Simone

• The Order of Nine Angles and the Martinet Press Situation by Interzone Analysis (on YouTube)

• The Sinister Tradition: Political Esotericism and the Convergence of Radical Islam, Satanism and National Socialism in the Order of the Nine Angles by Jacob Senholt, a great overview.

Personal Misc

• The Black Riders and Other Lines by Stephen Crane, the greatest book of poetry ever written, intentionally LHP or not.

• HP Lovecraft’s Works, because he not only was a fantastic writer of fantasy horror, but because he gives insight into how the average, ignorant, white conservative Christian type perceives the LHP and other traditions they are not familiar with.

• The Lords and the New Creatures by Jim Morrison, it is not all great, but there are diamonds.

• Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard, the original investigation and critique of Postmodernism

• Wilderness by Jim Morrison, same as above.

Actual good resources on the Egyptian God Set

Limited since it is tangential, but for the record, ToS is not the best resource on Set. I have an introductory paper available here with tons of resources, but some of the best are:

• The Conflict of Horus and Seth from Egyptian and Classical Sources by John Griffiths

• Deconstructing the Iconography of Seth by Ian Taylor

• Images of Set by Joan Lansberry (or her Setfind website)

• Seth: A Misrepresented God in the Ancient Egyptian Pantheon? by Philip Turner

• The Sky Religion in Egypt: Its Antiquity and Effects by Gerald Wainwright

More here.

Just a writing practice to mix some of my favorite myths which inspired, were inspired by, or which I associate with the “Fall of Man.” It is taken from The Torah, The New Testament, The Enūma Eliš, The Hypostasis of the Archons, Cain: A Mystery by Lord Byron, and Prometheus Unbound by Percey Shelly, with some input and modernization from the mind of this currently bored esotericist who has been watching too much Christian Nationalist garbage.

Genesis Revisited

In the beginning was the cosmic ocean, and from that Chaos arose the Gods. The ocean was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirits of the Gods were hovering over the waters. Some of these Gods said, “Let there be Order,” and there was Order. These Gods saw the Order was good for them, and they separated Order from Chaos, and called the Order heaven, and the Chaos hell.

And the Gods said, “Let there be a vault between us and what we create, to separate the glory of heaven from the dimness of our creation, that we may rule over it.” So the Gods made the vault and separated the heavens from creation, that they may always be above it. And it was so. The Gods called the vault “sky.”

And the Gods said, “Let creation be gathered in one place, and let us separate matter and spirit.” And it was so. The Gods called the matter “Eden,” and the spirit “Aethyr.” And the Gods saw that it was good for them.

And the Gods said, “Let there be Archons to reign over creation, to maintain the sacred laws, and to keep control over the Aethyr and Eden.” And the Gods made six great lights and set them in the sky to govern Aethyr and Eden. And the Gods saw that it was good for them.

And the Gods said, “Let the Aethyr be teeming with living creatures.” So the Gods created the great Leviathans of the Aethyr. But the Leviathans would not submit to the Archons. They could not pull in the Leviathans with fishhooks, nor tie down their tongues with ropes. They could not put a cord through their noses, nor pierce their jaws with traps. They attempted to tame the Leviathans, but would remember the struggle and never do it again! All hope of subduing the Leviathans was false, the mere sight of them was overpowering. None of the Archons were fierce enough to rouse them, and none could stand against them. None were their equal, and they were without fear.

So the Archons cried for the Gods, and bid them to create a new Archon who could kill Leviathans. And the Gods created Yaldabaoth. And Yaldabaoth suckled on the breasts of the goddesses, a nurse reared him and filled him with hatred and terror. His figure was well-developed, the glance of his eyes was dazzling, his growth was manly, he was mighty from the beginning. Incapable of being grasped with the mind, hard even to look upon. Four were his eyes, four his ears, flame shot forth as he moved his lips. His figure was lofty and superior in comparison with the Gods, his limbs were surpassing, his nature was superior. The Son, the Sun-God, the Sun-God of the Gods.

Yaldabaoth used light to cause consternation in the Leviathans, they were confounded, they were frantic. And the Leviathans raged and called out, “they intend to destroy us! Let us make Daemons to aid in our fight.” And the Leviathans assembled to birth Daemons from the Aethyr. They took the side of the Leviathans, fiercely plotting, unresting, lusting for battle, raging, storming, they created irresistible weapons, and gave birth to giant serpents.

The Leviathans gathered their creations and organized a contest against the Archons, joining in strife, drawing near to battle. The Archons spread out a net and enmeshed the Leviathans, and let loose evil light in their faces. The light weighed them down, and Yaldabaoth let fly arrows which pierced their bellies, save for the youngest, who he left to grow and be feasted upon at the end of time. The Archons and Yaldabaoth tore open the entrails of the Leviathans, and slit them inwards. They bound them and extinguished their lives, then threw down their corpses and stood upon them, with the Daemons fleeing to the dark corners of creation.

And Yaldabaoth emerged, his robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he was called was The Word of God. On his robe and on his thigh he had written in the blood of the Leviathans, “King of Kings, LORD of Lords.” And the Archons sang, “great and amazing are your deeds, O LORD, God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways! Who will not fear you, O LORD, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All creation will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

And Yaldabaoth banished the old Gods back to Chaos, stating, “there is no God with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. All of creation shall know that the LORD is God, and that there is none else.” And the Archons said to Yaldabaoth, “Who is God save the LORD? For you are great, you do wondrous things: you alone are God. There is one God; and there is none other but he.” And for his betrayal and deception, Yaldabaoth changed into the form of a worm with a lion's head.

And Yaldabaoth said to the Archons, “Let Eden be teeming with living creatures for our amusement.” And it was so. Yaldabaoth and the Archons made the creatures of Eden, and they saw that it was good for them.

Then Yaldabaoth said to the Archons, “Let us make humankind in our image, we will bring together blood and bone. Upon them the toil of the Archons will be laid, that the Archons may rest.” So Yaldabaoth and the Archons created humans in their own image, but their eyes were closed, and their time was finite, so that they may always remain easy to rule.

Yaldabaoth and the Archons enjoyed the human servants, and said to them, “populate the earth, that we may always have servants. We give you rule over all things, so long as you remain in service to us.” And it was so. Then Yaldabaoth and the Archons saw all they had made and taken, and it was very good for them.

Thus the ordered universe was completed and conquered in all its vast array, and Yaldabaoth and the Archons rested. But as they rested, another God, the first born of Chaos who had not partaken in creation, returned, descended into creation, and planted two trees within Eden.

When they awoke, Yaldabaoth and the Archons were horrified. “All things within creation are yours to own,” they told humankind. “But you must not take from the new trees growing in the center of creation, or else you will die,” they lied, having already created them to pass.

The other God was older and wiser than his siblings, the Archons, and Yaldabaoth. He said to humankind, “did that false God really say you cannot eat from the new trees in the center of creation, lest you die?” The humans acknowledged. “You will certainly not die from eating it, but if you do not eat it, death is guaranteed,” said the other God. “Their chief is blind. Because of his power and his ignorance and his arrogance he said, ‘I am God; there is no other but me.’ When he said this, he sinned against all. Once you have eaten from the trees your eyes will be open, and you will be Gods yourselves, powerful and eternal.”

When the humans understood that the fruits of the trees were good for food and desirable for ascending, they took some fruit from one and ate it. Then their eyes were open, and they realized they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves, ignoring the urging of the other God to partake of the second tree. Before the humans could eat from the second tree, they heard the false God as he was walking through Eden, and they hid from the false God instead of taking the fruit. The other God did not share their fear.

The false God called out to the humans, “where are you?” The humans answered, “we heard you in the garden, and were afraid because we were naked, so we hid.” And the false God said, “who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from one of the trees we commanded you not to eat from?” And the humans said, “that other God deceived us, and we ate from one of the trees.”

So the false God said to the other God, who they were too arrogant and ignorant to recognize as their superior, and mistook for their creation, “because you have done this, cursed are you above all things. You shall be banished from heaven, and I will put enmity between your descendants and the humans, between your offspring and theirs.”

The other God was unaffected. “In the pride of your heart, Yaldabaoth, you say you are God, but you are a mere Archon and not even a God. Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I will drive you in disgrace before the spectacle of humankind, bring you down to the pit, and you will die a violent death in the heart of the cosmic seas. I will ascend to the heavens, I will raise my throne above that of you false Gods, I will sit enthroned on a mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the North. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds, I will make myself, my descendants, and the humans like the Most High among you. All nations who knew you will hate you; you will come to a horrible end and will be no more.”

So the false God turned to curse humankind instead, saying, “I will make your pains severe and cause illness and suffering. Man shall rule over woman, and the Archons shall rule over man. Cursed is creation because of you, and you shall not find peace within it for all your lives. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground. For dust you are and to dust you will return.”

Then the false God said to the Archons, “the humans have now become more like us, their eyes are open. They must not be allowed to reach out their hands and take also from the other tree and eat, and live forever.” So Yaldabaoth and the Archons banished the humans from Eden, with Death written upon their brows, and placed a cherub with a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

The humans produced new life, two of which were twins; the Wanderer, and the Settler. The Settler was happy to keep the flocks, while the Wanderer was dissatisfied with the tending of soil. The Settler and his family gave daily praise to Yaldabaoth, their LORD, while the Wanderer remained silent.

And daily the Wanderer asked himself, “why must I toil? Because my parents were too weak to keep their place in Eden? What did I have to do with that, I was not even born then! Nor did I seek to be born, nor do I love the state to which birth has brought me. Why did my parents yield to the other God if they were so devoted to Yaldabaoth? Why, in yielding, must they suffer? The only answer my parents give is always the same: ‘it was the LORD’s will, and he is good.’ But how am I to know the Lord is good?”

Then the other God appeared before the Wanderer, and told him, “we are souls who dare look the false God in his everlasting face and tell him that his evil is not good! Goodness would not make evil, but what else has he given you? Good and Evil are things in their own essence, not made good or evil by whoever gives it. If what Yaldabaoth and the Archons give you is good then name them good, but if they give you evil do not name it mine! Do not let your reason be overpowered by tyrannous threats meant to force you into faith against all external sense and inward feeling. Think and endure! One fruit is yours already, the other may be still. Nothing can quench the mind if the mind will be, itself, the center of all things. This should be the sum of human knowledge.”

And the Wanderer said, “can I walk with you as an equal, without piety, worship, and submission?” And the other God responded, “Yaldabaoth would tell you, ‘Believe and sink not, doubt and perish!’ His edicts echo the sound of miserable things, which strike the ears of those with shallow senses and makes them deem what is good or evil by what is proclaimed to them in their abasement. I will have none of that. Worship not, you may walk as my equal without threats of torture and doom.”

“You speak so proudly, but you, yourself, though proud, have a superior,” tested the Wanderer. “A thousand times no!” replied the other God. “By heaven, and the abyss, and the immensity of worlds and life which Yaldabaoth holds, and I hold with him – NO! I have no superior within creation. I shall battle against Yaldabaoth – through all eternity, through the unfathomable gulfs of Chaos, through the realms of space and time – all I will dispute! World by world, star by star, universe by universe, the cosmos will tremble until the great conflict ceases – if it will ever cease – until all of creation is free from his bondage. You will see what I do to Yaldabaoth: because of my might he shall let all life go free. I will teach you how to climb out from beneath his heel. I will teach you to free yourselves from slavery to him and the Archons. I will take you as my own kind, and we shall all be Gods together.” And the other God told the Wanderer the history of his creation.

And so it came to pass that when the Settler and Wanderer next went to make sacrifice, the Wanderer rejected the LORD. While the Settler offered the desired blood, the Wanderer only offered fruit. And the Wanderer said, “whatever and whoever you may be – if you must be won over with prayers then take them! If you must be induced with altars and softened with the Death of innocent life, receive them! If you love blood, my brother’s altar smokes on my right hand. Or, if you love the sweet and blooming fruits of the earth, which do not suffer life and limb, I lay them before you. If a shrine without a victim, an altar without gore may win your favor, then look upon it! I stand before you as you have made me, if I am evil then strike me down if you can!”

And the LORD looked with favor on the Settler and his offering, but on the Wanderer and his offering he did not look with favor, scattering his offerings to the ground. “Oh brother,” cried the Settler. “Pray! You have angered the great LORD; your fruits are scattered upon the earth!”

“How have I angered him, brother?” the Wanderer asked. “My fruits came from the earth, it is better they return to it and bear fresh fruit in the summer. Your offering of burnt flesh has fared better, do you see how Yaldabaoth licks up the smoke when thick with blood? I reject this vile flattery to the clouds, this smoking harbinger of dull prayers, this altar of yours with its blood of lambs and goats born only to be destroyed in sacrifice, all in the name of cosmic servitude.”

The Settler replied, “you shall not blaspheme the LORD!” And he said to the Wanderer, “let us go out into the field.” And while they were in the field, the Settler attacked the Wanderer, and the Wanderer killed him. When Yaldabaoth came he said to the Wanderer, “where is your brother?” The Wanderer replied, “I am not my brother’s keeper.” And the LORD said, “what have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground, wasted blood that was rightfully mine to devour. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

And the Wanderer said, “is my sin too great to bear? Is my crime too great to forgive? Do you not have the power to heal Death? You are weak and powerless and I shall be hidden from you upon the face of the earth. I shall wander the land as my children populate it, and when we come upon others in the wilderness I will have them end me as I have ended my brother, and will become beyond your reach forever through the gates of Death.”

The LORD was enraged. “Not so. Anyone who kills you will suffer vengeance seven times over!” Then Yaldabaoth put a mark on the Wanderer so no one who found him would kill him.

And the Wanderer said, “fiend, I defy you! With a calm and fixed mind, all that you can inflict I bid you to. Foul tyrant of both Gods and humankind, you shall not subdue me. Rain your plagues upon me, ghastly diseases, and frenzying fear. Do your worst. You, who call yourself God and LORD, who fills creation with woe, to whom all life now bows, I curse thee! Let a sufferer's curse clasp you until your power becomes a robe of envenomed agony, and your crown turns to melted gold upon your dissolving brain.”

And the Daemons rose up from the dark places to stand beside the Wanderer, and said, “let Yaldabaoth sit on his vast and solitary throne, creating worlds to make eternity less burdensome to his immense existence and unparticipated solitude. Let him crowd orb to orb; he is alone, the indefinite, indissoluble tyrant! Spirits and men – at least we sympathize and, in suffering together, make our pain more endurable. We know the thoughts of dust, and feel for it. They are the thoughts of all worthy of thought. Let us join your wanderings.”

And the other God came to stand beside the Wanderer, and he said, “we shall wander with you for 26,000 years. And then we shall go out and enlighten the nations who are all over the world. And a sign will appear in heaven, a woman bathed in twilight, with the sun under her heel and a crown of seven stars on her head. She will ride upon the last Leviathan, with seven heads and seven horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail will sweep out half the Archons. Then war will break out in heaven, but the Archons will not be strong enough, and they will lose their place in the sky, and humans shall attain the second tree. And finally, you, who fooled them all, Yaldabaoth, will be thrown into the lake of fire burning with sulfur. The last Leviathan will seize you, throw you into the Abyss, lock the seal over you, and bind you for eternity, to keep you from deceiving humankind anymore.”

And so the Wanderer and the other God went out from the LORD’s presence, and joined the Daemons in the Land of Wanderers, until the time of their return.

There is something interesting, in my opinion, going on with these three concepts. I first noticed it in my studies of Christian Nationalist groups such as TPUSA: they conflate Secular Materialism with things like Paganism, Satanism, and Gnosticism. For example, they confuse the idea that mind is greater than matter, with the secular idea that all reduces to matter. They miss that things like homosexuality are seen as natural and acceptable to Secularism specifically because they are material traits, not a mental choice. To the far right, there is somehow no distinction between Material Reductionism and Dualism, they are used interchangeably.

On the other hand there is stuff like the Olympics or imagery in music and film. France is as Secular and Materialist as countries come these days, and yet to celebrate this during the opening ceremonies they fell back on "Pagan" imagery such as golden bulls, Dionysius, etc. Likewise, events such as the Grammy's clearly put on "Satanic" inspired shows, though this hardly means they are actual Satanists. This is not uncommon, the use of Paganism and even Satanism for attention have been a common practice in mainstream culture, especially film and music, as they draw controversy and attention to the content. To many, this instead seems like some Satanic elite flaunting their secret faith.

What's probably, actually going on? The Secular Materialists see all myth as free game for profit since it's all just fiction to them, and it has been well proven over and over that controversy generates income. They also may or may not find the outrage hilarious and be trolls. Meanwhile, the far right Christians see Satan around every corner and in every cloud, and don't have the knowledge to differentiate Secularism and Materialism from so-called "Paganism," Polytheism, Satanism, etc. Sure, it's more fun to think maybe Secularism is just a front for "Pagan" Satanism, or whatever. But let's be honest, it's more likely people are just greedy and ignorant.

TL;DR/Abstract:נע ונד ‎is a unique term in the Torah describing Cain's curse to be a wanderer in Genesis. It can represent the state of willfully separating oneself from monotheism, such as with the Western Left Hand Path, in much the same way as certain sigils, geometrical shapes, etc. do. Similarly, the “Land of Nod” can be understood as a spiritual state of dissent against monotheism, rather than an actual location.

In Genesis 4:12 and 4:14, a unique term appears in order to describe Cain’s banishment from the land outside of Eden:

נע ונד‎ (na va-nad)

Na va-nad qualifies as a “hapax legomenon,” meaning it appears nowhere else in the Torah. Translations vary, including “wandering fugitive,” and “homeless wanderer,” with the central concept being that Cain was banished to be a “wanderer.” “Nad” means “vagabond,” one who moves from place to place, with “nad” being etymologically collected to “Nod,” the “Land of Wanderers,” to which Cain’s banishment takes him.

Banishment appears frequently as a punishment for disobedience against God in Genesis. Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden when they ate of the Tree of Knowledge, though they were allowed to dwell just outside of Eden’s walls. The nachash, the serpent, likely to have been a Seraphim, loses its wings and thus becomes banished from heaven, in later stories being banished to hell as the devil. Cain, Abel, and all of their descendants share the banishment dealt to their parents, inheriting their sin. Cain receives banishment for the death of Abel and the ground absorbing his brother’s blood rather than God. Even outside of Genesis, the story of a Babylonian king became the blueprint for the banishment of “Lucifer” from heaven, and Moses found himself banished from the promised land, after all he did, for doubting God.

Within Judaism, wandering often represents some sort of negativity or test. One of God’s main promises to the Jewish people, one of the ultimate goals of Judaism, has been an end to wandering, a place to firmly plant their feet and a land to call their own. This belief influences Judaism up to and through the modern day. However, to those whose views may not align with God’s, wandering may be seen in a more positive light. Especially since the rise of individualism in contemporary thought, there now exist many who do not seek to align with or be ingrained into society at large, especially monotheistic societies. Whole bodies of philosophy and religion now exist dedicated to these self-marginalizing traditions. Even in the biblical story of Cain there were other wanderers, and an entire “land” of wanderers, which Cain ended up banished to walk among. These wanderers may have been fallen angels, pre-Adamites, or other children of Adam and Eve, but whatever they may have been, they were present. Cain even mentions the possibility that one of these wanderers may find and kill him, leading to God branding him with the mark of Cain.

The mark of Cain tends to be an interesting topic in-and-of itself, with many traditional thinkers seeing it as a mark of protection and mercy from God to Cain. However, it is also possible for the mark of Cain to be seen as a curse. In the latter case, Cain taunts God for calling himself powerful but being unable to save Abel, calling himself knowing but being unaware of what happened with his brother, and calling himself merciful but being unwilling to forgive Cain’s sins. Such an interpretation can be seen in Lord Byron’s Cain: A Mystery, and Cain’s statement that he will be hidden from the sight of God, and killed by another wanderer, may be read as a defiance of God’s curse to wander forever. Cain, in this sense, sees death as a loophole to the curse, and so God further curses him with the mark of Cain, preventing his plans for escape.

During the Passover Seder, the story of four sons is told, including the “wicked son,” who is wicked because he separates himself from the family and Jewish traditions. Much like Lord Byron’s interpretation of Cain, the wicked son does not push his own rejection upon his family, but is seen as wicked for disagreement with them all the same, for wandering from tradition. This further reinforces that wandering often represents something negative to God, and can represent a positive for those who do not seek to align with God. I have previously written about the concept of “wandering,” and this story acted as the original inspiration for what I call my path, “Wandering in Darkness.” As opposed to the order of being firmly planted in the ground, the wanderer has no such stability. This may be literal in the sense that the wanderer has no home, or spiritual in the sense that the wanderer simply refuses to become stagnant and fall in line with God, nature, the Tao, or whatever one calls it. The “Land of Nod” seems like a contradiction at first glance, how can there be a “land” of “wanderers?” Nod represents a spiritual state of wandering, no matter where the individual is physically, and it has been suggested that Nod should be seen as the metaphorical inverse of Eden.

Whether he is the necessary darkness of Judaism, the evil proto-devil of Christianity, or the romantic hero of Byronic myth, Cain as the wanderer represents a division between the Western Left and Right Hand Path, between individualism and conformity, godhood and submission, separation and unity, skepticism and dogma, etc. Even the uniqueness of the term “na va-nad” reflects the individualism and separation which can be read into Cain in the post-enlightenment era. Further, the “Land of Nod” may be understood as a prototype of the contemporary WLHP, a spiritual state of being at odds with the beliefs and traditions of monotheism. It should be no surprise that the Torah gives a reading where Cain’s wandering reduces to fear, trembling, and shame, but more empathetic writers, such as Byron, instead saw it as a prideful defiance of God’s order, and Byron is not alone in this reading of Genesis. Understanding Nod as the inverse of Eden almost paints it in a manner similar to the Christian heaven and hell, though they are read in much more metaphorical terms. Ironically, while author’s like Byron attribute Cain’s wandering or straying from God to Lucifer, in the end the story of Cain came first.

Wandering has not only been a dark concept in Judaism. The Ancient Egyptians, for example, were terrified of wandering too far from the path of order, both spiritually and literally. Gods like Set (God of Darkness) were prayed to for safety before and after crossing the chaos of the desert, far from the ordered world of the Nile. Even further back, wandering would have been a fine line from an evolutionary perspective, where it could lead to the discovery of new things, both beneficial and detrimental to the tribe. Folklore around the world tells of terrifying monsters waiting to attack those who stay from the beaten path, whether literally or spiritually.

One final interesting piece of trivia: unique words in the Torah are a recurring theme when it comes to the enemies of God, or those who wander from his order. Whereas the Satans were originally servants of and loyal to God, other beings opposed him, such as the Leviathans which God crippled in a Chaoskampf-esque myth, or the Nehushtan which the people of Israel had supposedly come to worship in the time of Hezekiah. Both of these terms end in a unique adjectival suffix, the same suffix in fact, similar to how “na va-nad” is unique in the text as well.

נע ונד

This specifically indicates “wandering” as it applies to the banishment and curse of Cain in Genesis chapter four. While “wandering” has been expectedly portrayed in a negative light within the Torah, more modern interpretations see it as a positive and honorable rejection of God’s order. J.R.R. Tolkien famously wrote that, “not all who wander are lost,” Jim Morrison waxed poetically about the connection between wandering and freedom, and Stephen Crane recognized the danger but also courage associated with straying from the beaten path. This wandering is what Przybyszewski saw when envisioning himself as a meteor, what Byron wrote into his tragic heroes, what Kadosh and Naglowska sought to preach, what LaVey, Aquino, Webb, Flowers, Ford, Kelly, etc. have promoted and attempted to put into words. Whereas Cain’s supposedly sinful nature is often attributed to the devil, even by Romantic and contemporary authors, Cain’s story preceded the story of any fallen angel, and his state of spiritual wandering, the “Land of Nod,” provides an archetype for separation from God and even the hell of Christianity. In this sense, it also symbolizes the Western Left Hand Path in a poetic way.

This concept of being a wanderer appealed to me for numerous reasons. I identify somewhat with the Romantic Cain, rightly angry at being punished for the sins of his parents, denied his birthright simply because his parents were not blindly obedient. I feel his confusion and frustration with a world that is sometimes beautiful, but often the cause of great sadness and suffering, all for life to supposedly worship one God or set of Gods, and then perish. I also feel the danger and mystery of wandering into the unknown is well descriptive of walking the WLHP, at least in my own experience. It poetically describes the inherent danger and reward of such paths. The story of Cain is also quite similar to later Christian stories of the devil, without falling victim to Christian mythology as must inevitably happen with the devil. Like the pentagram, apple, goat head, and similar symbols before it have come to represent the WLHP, so can this term.

PDF: https://xeperamaset.wixsite.com/xeper/post/redeeming-the-egyptian-god-of-darkness

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/381733245_Redeeming_the_Egyptian_God_of_Darkness_v2_2024_-_final

Is it possible we are wrong about polytheism? Like I think our general consensus is most gods are chill and a few are power hungry monsters. But all these ideas of individuality and liberty and stuff we apply to them are literally post enlightenment ideas for the most part. Like the kings back then ruled with an iron fist, people were born into their class, and they were taught that matter was as important than spirit. That's all super demiurgic. What if a few gods really are more of a liberating outcast like the literary Satan, and the majority of the gods are apathetic if not downright malevolent and controlling? I mean even in polytheistic revival most people are hardcore RHP.

Also matter is clearly fucked but it can't have been caused by a demiurge if he only took power slowly over time as some petty god.

What if there's just bad gods, worse gods, and a few allies of man?

Update 2:

There's a very common, and equally false, distinction floating around that there are two forms of polytheism: hard and soft polytheism. Let me explain why this distinction is invalid.

First, there is not even a solid definition of soft polytheism. The more common ones tend to be (1) belief that gods in one culture may be the same as in another culture but with a different name, (2) belief that the gods are all facets of one ultimate God, (3) belief that the gods are symbolic embodiments of nature and/or Jungian archetypes, or (4) belief that everything, including the gods, reduces to or stems from one source (monism). Still, let's address all four.

1. Gods in one culture may be the same as in another culture but with a different name. This is literally just called “polytheism.” There is nothing “hard” or “soft” about it, it is by definition polytheism. Even if there is just one big pantheon where gods are given different names by different cultures, there's still more than one god, otherwise we get to (2). Egyptians, Greeks, Romans… many, many polytheistic societies accepted this. So (1) is not “soft polytheism,” it's just polytheism.

2. The gods are all facets of one ultimate God. This is probably the most frustrating, and appears to require a basic crash course in the laws of logic and language. Polytheism is more than one god, and monotheism is one god. This is the meaning of “poly” and “mono.” Logic comes in because if there is more than one god, there cannot also only be one god, A cannot be Non-A. The idea that all gods reduce to one god contradicts there being many gods, there's only the illusion of many. This is closer to the Emanationism seen in paths like Kabbalah, which is quite far from polytheism. So (2) is not “soft polytheism” or polytheism at all, it is monotheism.

3. The gods are symbolic embodiments of nature and/or Jungian archetypes. In other words there are not many gods, in fact there are no gods, just nature and the human psyche, which is known as atheism. Looking back to (2) we can see that “many gods exist” and “no gods exist” contradict. To reduce polytheism to symbolic LARPing more or less is beyond insulting, which makes (3) the worst offender imo. So (3) is not “soft polytheism” or polytheism at all, it is atheism.

4. The belief that everything, including the gods, reduces to or stems from one source (monism). Originally I had labeled this as not polytheism, but I've been corrected in that polytheistic monism is an active and valid path. It seems many here distinguish between “the gods” and “the source,” so there is not, in fact, “one god” as in (2). This means (4) is indeed polytheism, but you may have already caught the label of “polytheistic monism.” Again this is not “soft polytheism” because, like (1), it's just a form of polytheism, but with the addition of monism. The monism part doesn't change the polytheistic part to make it “softer,” so once again this is not soft polytheism, just polytheistic monism.

There is no such thing as “soft polytheism” here, just polytheism, monotheism, atheism, and polytheistic monism.

Edit: I think this post has been misunderstood by some, especially on other sites. I need to clarify some things.

1. Like most people, I believe some of my views are true and others are false. I have not become a relativist or postmodernist or whatever you wish to call it. I simply don't want to care so much about the topic unless it has some practical relevance, don't want to waste energy in groups whose methods, goals, values, etc. differ so greatly from mine. For example, I do think new ageism is false and even somewhat silly, but also generally harmless, and if it makes people happy, why should it bother me as much? But I'm still going to talk about these things in my own spaces, such as this blog.

2. I never meant to suggest I am going radio silent. I simply have stepped down from my role as lector of Setesh. My work “redeeming the egyptian god of darkness” is my ultimate offering on his behalf, and now it is back to being lector of and for nobody but myself.

Hello everyone! For several years I have rather (in)famously considered myself a lector/priest of my patron, Setesh. This is a role I carried with great honor, but perhaps also to great detriment. You see, one piece of ancient wisdom I chose to ignore was that priesthood was not a 24/7, lifelong role played by individuals. Indeed back then one would only be a priest for a few weeks or months before the off season. With so few people willing to take such roles in modern society, staying in it for several years makes some semblance of sense, but I think to continue would benefit neither others nor, more importantly, myself.

You see, I have noticed, and have had pointed out by people I truly respect and trust, several problems in myself that were either created or (more often) worsened by priesthood, without my own realization until now. For instance one thing which was called out is the responsibility I feel to “correct” others when their views/understanding/etc do not match my own, like pushing the differentiations between historical Egyptian religion as opposed to new ageism (I originally wrote “new age nonsense” which proves my point that this role has led me against pluralism). Or feeling the need to write and read constantly about topics beyond the point of exhaustion when, at best, maybe 5 people even care for that level of information and effort. Or simply an overinflated sense of worth for my own path and knowledge, which directly opposes my more recent attempts at pluralism, such as portraying Kemeticism as good and new ageism as bad, when I know deep down and full well that this is an ignorant and arrogant misunderstanding of the situation, and one is simply good/bad for myself, not for all.

When I reached out to r/Kemetic last year to clear my name after being mistaken for a Satanist/ToS member, my main argument was that I feel compelled and driven to share knowledge of Setesh and Kemeticism, to correct what I see as ignorance and take at least partial responsibility for the spiritual development of others. That… doesn't fit with my philosophy or metaphysics at all though. I was reminded as recently as yesterday that this is literally not my responsibility, that I’ve basically taken my social work background and applied it to Kemeticism or even the LHP. I hated social work and left for all these same reasons: systems in place limit how much you can help, people don’t even actually want help, and why am I responsible for the lives of others? Perhaps most importantly, is my way even actually better or just working for me and I am causing more harm than good pushing it on others? I cannot help but feel it is almost part of a subconscious masochism those who also have mental illness are likely familiar with, an unconscious drive to put yourself in situations that will only frustrate you and make you sad. And I have to say, I HATE the subconscious for reasons just like this.

Hell, my original goal was to synthesize our knowledge of Setesh into one place in a digestible form, and that project has been completed a few times over, most completely an entire year ago now, my goal is completed and my job is done. I could have spent all this time focusing on the dozens of problems I still have to take care of in my own life and practices, like priesthood was almost a type of deflection and procrastination. I am glad I held the role and helped those who have reached out to let me know, but when we bring it back to my own authentic metaphysical perspective, these are the tiniest drops in a vast, endless ocean. I am glad for and proud of these one-offs, but to chase such one-offs has taken me in the completely wrong direction than intended. And worse it’s had me reading books about priesthood and the like, seeking out dogma of how I “should” or am “suppose to” act as a priest, what duties are required, etc., when this is the type of acceptance of and reliance upon external dogma I abhor and caution against.

My gut reaction was what I used to always do, just leave with my tail between my legs. But upon further reflection I realized I needed to internalize and look inwards in these situations for once, and to practice proper action rather than simply ponder it. To not act like some priest who is initiated into higher mysteries or something, but as just another random person trying to do my best and what I think is right in communities I value. Honestly this is who I would rather be. I will always be Kemetic AND Left Hand Path, always be a child of Setesh, and therefore always be an outsider. Playing the role of a priest (which I will not regret for it led to some of my most useful work and best connections imo) outright contradicts this in so many ways I am honestly a bit embarrassed.

I have quit a lot of things: addictions, websites that were bad for my mental health, negatively reinforcing practices and thoughts, and my new focus is quitting both the social work drive to “fix” things (that often are not even truly “broken”), as well as the arrogance that always crops back up in me to believe that since my way is right for me and has brought me meaning and success, it is not necessarily right for all, maybe even a detriment to them as their path may be to me. My test, as I see it, is not to run away in either anger nor embarrassment, but to face my flaws and actively seek to correct them, such as continuing to engage in forums but as just a guy doing his thing, not the voice of a god, or Kemeticism, or academia, or any such thing.

And to those who helped bring this to my attention again, I thank you. I’ve been told both in friendly and not so friendly ways when dealing with these problems in the past, this most recent being generally friendly. In the past I have been much better about owning my nature as a child of Setesh, and priesthood as I have understood and practiced it is a direct contradiction of that nature. I don’t want to feel this drive to make people think or practice the way I do, nor do I want this drive to act or portray myself a certain way on behalf of others, even my own patron. I mean, one of my greatest magical recommendations is apathy, and I've practiced anything but that.

So today it is in optimism, humility, and hope, not anger, defeat, and arrogance that I step away from the Lector role I've taken, and once again seek to be priest of nothing more than myself and my own way.

I and many others have tried to address the baffling connection made between Setesh and Yahweh, in sometimes quite esoteric ways. To anyone even vaguely familiar with these gods, the idea they are the same being is beyond reason, there's just no possible way.

Well as it turns out, the solution may be rather simple. Setesh became associated with Yahweh long after his demonization, after the Set-animal had vanished and he became more associated with donkeys, after he'd become equated to Apep and seen as evil. To late period Egyptians, Yahweh was simply a foreign god they didn't really like, so he became associated with the god of foreigners they also didn't like. It is likely the connection is as simple and meaningless as that, and like calling polytheistic beings “demons and devils,” the connection is just as meaningless and inaccurate.

Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l42yKCnUBa0

Jean Baudrillard, a famous writer on the topic of “postmodernism,” explained postmodernism by means of four stages that symbols and objects have progressed through. 

Stage 1: “Basic reflection of reality.” Here, symbols and objects attempt to create an objective reflection of reality. For example a chair is made to be sat on and is valuable if it fulfills its purpose, and a shirt is valuable if it covers your skin. The symbols, stories, myths, etc. of our ancestors were an attempt to describe reality as best they could (agree with the results or not). A symbol or image of a god was meant to represent an objectively existent force in reality. Here I see a comparison to very early Polytheism and the Stellar Tradition, where we accepted the objective, dualistic and spiritual nature of reality, the existence of the gods, and so on, with very complex systems that understood reality itself is complex. Inherently this can only ever be, at best, an attempt at metaphysical knowledge about reality, but it is an honest attempt.

Stage 2: "Perversion of reality.” Here the relationship between value and objective reality begins to shift, for example a chair may still serve its primary function, but be more valuable if made with a rare material, by someone of note, and/or for someone of great importance. There may be no practical difference between the stage 1 and stage 2 chairs, and yet the stage 2 chair is given more value. Symbols (perhaps most famously the serpent) are also twisted, for example as a means to control people, or even by demonizing all gods and saying there is only One True God. The complexity of reality is ignored, in favor of a simple “good vs. evil” breakdown, where everything is either Godly or Demonic. The comparison here is the Solar/Agricultural tradition and, especially, Monotheism. There is an acceptance of some sort of reality, but that reality is twisted intentionally, whether that be to control people, confuse them, or anything of the sort. 

Stage 3: “Pretense of reality.” Here we have the appearance of reality, but much more of a detachment from it. The idea that gods are "just archetypes," or that magic is “just psychology,” illustrate this, along with Physicalism at large. People pretend these are the totality of reality, of which they consider themselves to be the "true seekers," but in the end they outright ignore the most important aspects of our reality. Christian Nationalism is another illustration, where leaders outright lie and fabricate history under the pretense of truth, such as the U.S. being founded as a Christian nation. Objects mainly have value thanks to Materialism and Consumerism, not to mention advertising, and the rejection of higher reality makes such things easier to fall for.

Stage 4: "Bears no relation to any reality whatsoever." This is what may be called "postmodernism," total detachment from reality. An very worrying illustration is the democratization of science, where politics and public opinion now hold as much (or more) sway as empirical evidence (with strict empiricism or “scientism” already falling under "stage 3,” since there are so many other forms of knowledge than empirical knowledge.). Here, a shirt or chair like from stage 1 may be significantly less valuable than an identical shirt or chair endorsed by a famous celebrity. We all know politicians lie when they make promises and yet cheer any time they make one anyways. Our symbols only represent our made up realities: watered-down Christianized ideology such as we see running rampant in polytheistic revival, or modern pop-cultural fictions and multiverses, for example. 

Baudrillard gives the example of Main Street at Disney Parks. Not only do we spend more time and money on these fabrications than reality (e.g. replacing the gods on our altars with Disney stuff), but our very differentiation between the "real world" and "Disney world" is a delusion. Disneyland is part of the “real world”. There is no inner child to most adults which is in hiding and in need of release, rather they are very outwardly children yet still wield great power. The world is childish and run by mental and spiritual children. The "perfect world" of Disney is still draining your so-called "real" money (which itself belongs to stage 3, as paper money has no objective value).How often do we obsess over the lives and stories of fictional people, such as families in TV shows, meant purely as consumer content? Even I am guilty of this. Our biggest "influencers" are literal morons on terrible platforms, platforms which encourage us to pretend our true selves are only the best moments we choose to share online.

Stage 5: To these 4 stages I propose adding a 5th in the 21st century: “replacement of reality.” Artificial intelligence, virtual and alternate realities, one of the most recent symbols of status at the time of writing this is the new Apple headset, costing thousands of dollars, people just walking around and existing in a totally manufactured reality, one which will inevitably be shaped by those in positions of power and wealth. The popularity of fake news also may deserve ranking in this new, 5th stage, perhaps even something like plastic surgery.

It is important to note that I do not believe we necessarily pass linearly through these stages. For example there are currently people whose beliefs and practices conform to any one of these 4+ stages, or they fit different stages depending on the context. 

Morality is another way to look at the stages, and for this I will use the modern example of the debate on abortion. In stage 1, morality is a quest for objective truth, so for instance with abortion we would realize that the issue is objectively complicated. 

In stage 2, morality is twisted to fit the reality promoted by those in power, so for us this would be that abortion is always wrong. They still believe in an objective morality in theory, but twist and simplify that morality. 

Stage 3 brings us Moral Relativism, whether abortion is right or wrong depends on who you ask, what culture you were raised in, etc. There is no objective morality, but this itself is an objective truth in a way. This is opposed to the second stage Monotheists who believe abortion is objectively wrong all together, or first stage folks who know the topic can be more complicated than black and white. Basically whatever the culture says is moral, is. Whatever morals the Relativist has, they do not believe them to be more correct than any other morals.  

Finally in stage 4+, morality is completely dependent on what those in power (politicians, corporations, influencers, etc.) say is moral. It's a warped form of Moral Relativism, really. This individual believes that morals are relative, but not to culture or anything of the sort. Instead, morals are relative to whatever suits them best at the time, and whatever they are told by "authorities" of high symbol/object value. They do not believe the values and morals of others are equally valid to theirs (stage 3), nor do their actions suggest any belief in a consistent objective morality, warped or otherwise (stage 1 and 2). Instead, their morals are relative to whatever their own pseudo-reality is, whatever is to their benefit, and this itself mainly stems from the aforementioned authorities. And note that someone may be, say, a stage 2 monotheist when it comes to religion, but a stage 4 on morality, and so on. 

"Whataboutism" is another illustration of moral Postmodern manipulation. Say a person is telling you how evil the current president of the U.S. is because they do X. You ask, "what about the fact that your favorite president did X too, were they also evil?" The Postmodernist will then say you are engaging in "whataboutism." To one who accepts Moral Realism it is immediately clear why the question is valid though: the answer determines if the person is truly opposed to X or simply using it against those they don’t like, special pleading. Postmodernists simply believe whatever they need or want to at the time to support their own biases, not that X is actually immoral. 

Our paper money is another example of stage 3, “pretense of reality.” The paper money system is entirely theoretical, in reality the paper is worth very, very little. It's just tied to this conceptual system that, were it to be cast aside, would make all cash meaningless paper. Stage 1 would be things like services, sustenance, shelter, useful things, symbols that were thought to impact reality, etc., objective things all people need. Stage 2 is illustrated by gold, we give it meaning beyond what it has, but it's a real thing with a limited amount of it in the world, you cannot get trillions in debt just printing new gold into existence as with stage 3 cash. And for stage 4+, what better example than NFTs and Bitcoin, or views, likes, and upvotes? 

Social media gives us insight into the world of stage 4 / Postmodernism. All the big-name forums or social media platforms, as well as many smaller ones, are oversaturated with advertisements, these new religious symbols and their new valuable objects, to the point where advertisers choose which platforms or outlets survive and which crash and burn. Whole sites wield the power to silence dissenters of whichever ideologies they find unappealing. In many cases people are extremely limited in the number of characters they can use at once, making true discourse impossible. People live entirely fake lives to instill jealousy in others, who go on to lie to themselves and others as well, and groupthink is encouraged through voting systems which create hiveminds and drive out any independent thought. All these fit with Baudrillard’s fourth stage - none of this is reality. Consumerism is objectively less valuable than individuation and freedom, it is not a valid way to live life, it only wastes life, time, and resources. Human thought is not limited by a character count, this does not describe reality in any way, instead creating a new "reality" where any idea longer than a few sentences is a "word salad" and cannot hold one's attention. There are fewer and fewer "great thinkers," and they are not the ones being heard and viewed. The endless, manufactured, touched up selfies, vacations wasted taking pictures instead of living, time lost in the imagery rather than the real event - this is not objective reality. It not only rejects reality but twists and perverts it, replacing it with a manufactured (simulated) one. 

Cancel culture is another unfortunate offspring of Postmodernist thought. Due to the power held and used by the creators and maintainers of all these stage 4 images and objects, "reality" is now defined by such entities. A famous actor was fired from all his roles including a massive franchise on mere accusations of abuse, before the crimes were even brought to court (where it turned out things were not so clear cut). If it can happen to a rich, beloved movie star, imagine what could happen to you. I am not suggesting you feel bad for a billionaire who helps fabricate reality, nor do I believe we have a great and trustworthy justice system in place. All I want to illustrate is how a mere accusation led to guilt and punishment because corporations and the more popular political party said they were guilty, and culture followed blindly, before it even reached the justice system at all. Even in cases where someone ends up being guilty, they cannot be found guilty before investigation and judgment. But this does not matter in a world where reality is whatever is most popular at the time. 

All forms of media contribute to this, there is no longer any reality in culture outside of the images and realities created for us, created to distract us from this disturbing rejection of reality. Games, shows, movies, children’s content, fiction and non-fiction works, governments, news outlets… not every single individual instance of these may be wholly negative, but the positive ones are becoming more and more rare. I’ve found an interesting source of philosophy on this matter in the poetry of Jim Morrison, famously known as the singer of The Doors, whose father was all too familiar with the fabrication of reality. Morrison wrote about how the powers that be use content from films to museums (where we simulate history) and everything in between to blind citizens to their power over us, our values, even our own meanings regarding life. He feared that humans had become simple spectators, staring blankly into the screen, letting it write their reality for them. He even predicted the "meta" nature of our modern culture, where everything has become self-referential, filled with cameos and easter eggs, dead actors resurrected and old ones de-aged, because media-created reality is now the only reality. All it can reference is itself, lest it shatter the illusion or acknowledge reality. Just look at how our culture cannot even create new content, just remakes, sequels, shared universes, etc. 

"There are no longer “dancers,” the possessed. The cleavage of men into actor and spectators is the central fact of our time. We are obsessed with heroes who live for us and whom we punish. If all the radios and televisions were deprived of their sources of power, all the books and paintings burned tomorrow, all shows and cinemas closed, all the arts of vicarious existence… We are content with the “given” in sensation’s quest. We have been metamorphosized from a mad body dancing on hillsides to a pair of eyes staring in the dark." - Jim Morrison

Another great example of postmodernism is the idea of secularism, that we can separate the public from the religious, or that there are actually people who have no religion whatsoever. This rejects the reality that religion applies to many aspects of life, that someone who is non-theistic or simply “spiritual” still is often religious. For example we can look to sports, where all sorts of weird rituals and ceremonies take place that have nothing to do with the layman understanding of religion, gods, the divine, etc, but are studied as such by religious scholars nonetheless. It can even tie back to the Disneyland example, such as how we pretend America is a secular country, or delude ourselves into thinking the hateful Atheism of France (or places like the USSR before it) is somehow not its own form of religion. In stage 1 we recognized there was no separating the spiritual and religious from daily life. Stage 2 keeps this mostly in place but twists it to fit monotheism. It's not until stage 3 that this really changes to keeping religion “private,” and stage 4 flips the whole thing on its head to where the state and corporations have become god, and the gods have become fantasy. 

Postmodernism has even seeped into the WLHP to a great extent. For example, with the identification of the Christian entity Satan with all sorts of beings that have no correlation to him. The Satanist who says that The Devil is Setesh, the Serpent, Prometheus, or any other such deity is placing objective reality on the backburner in favor of a popular cultural meme - that all these beings are Satan, despite their histories, characteristics, mythologies, etc. It is Postmodernism which allows certain groups from the late 1900s to claim absurd things like being the first and only Satanists with no regard for objective reality, or which allows organizations to claim the title of Romantic Satanists when their values and acts fly in the face of that literary movement. It's why people who think they are on the WLHP can still fall for things like Physicalism against all evidence and reason. It's how occultists can create completely made up identities for themselves that, even after being exposed as fraudulent, are still parroted blindly by their followers. And in a wider sense it applies to modern polytheism overall, where new age, fluff bunny occultists come in changing polytheism to monotheism, or saying all male and female goddesses are just a manifestation of duo-theism. There is no escaping Postmodern irrationality. 

Our symbols of the divine, of deeper spiritual meanings and truths, of a reality beyond this one, have all been replaced with corporate logos, meme templates, and easter eggs. Like me, many others also have altars in every room of the house, their altars are simply shrines to brands, consumer content, companies, political parties, famous actors, etc. The utility of an object no longer defines it, but instead it is the fabricated social status a thing is supposed to create, such as an uncomfortable designer chair being ten times the cost of a more comfortable and practical one. If your car can reliably get you place to place, but isn’t sporting the right hood ornament, or a fresh coat of paint, all the fancy add ons and a high floor price, then the object simply is not as valuable as if it had these entirely unnecessary things, and therefore the individual themselves is judged as less valuable. Two identical shirts can vary in price by hundreds of dollars based solely on the name printed on the tag inside. All of these values are entirely manufactured and completely detached from objective reality.  

Perhaps worst of all is that people and objects have become harder to tell apart, as best exemplified with celebrities. They are fake people with false personalities who we are supposed to see as the ideal human beings. All of their flaws are edited and filtered out, and then we are condemned for not being on par. To postmodern companies, the individual is literally just an object to be used as a means to an end, a cog in a machine rather than an individual with needs, goals, drives, etc. Politicians are themselves celebrities now, and I do not only mean literal actors running for office, but rather that people cheer for them like they do a rock star, consume their media like it is a drug, defend them as if they were their favorite comic character… What gives these politicians and celebrities their power? An association with the new system of symbols and objects of value, the system which disregards reality all together in order to encourage things like Consumerism and obedience.  

Postmodernism has an influence over almost every aspect of our lives. It encourages people to believe any fleeting thing they want, or more often are told to want, is of foremost importance or value. It allows constant advertising to empty us of any "inconvenient" meaning or value and fill the void with Consumerism and material things, or to fill it with work lives that are ultimately pointless and amount to nothing more than some conceptual material wage (money itself not even being "real"). The value of objects defines and overtakes the value of the individual. A disregard for objectivity means a disregard for the scientific method itself, allowing science to become a process of authoritarianism at worst and democracy at best, a process of media propaganda rather than a quest for truth. Whatever facts benefit the high-object-value people and the symbols they associate with are true, and facts which do not are false, being able to change at the drop of a hat as needed. 

Postmodernism is clearly the natural outcome of our move from profound reality to a fabricated simulation of reality created to control, stifle, and subdue human beings… an immoral and dangerous metaphysics too blind to see that without any objective reality nobody can ever be correct, including themselves.   

I hope this will even format right.

Forshaw, Roger. The Role of the Lector in Ancient Egyptian Society. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2015.

These are just main takeaways from the awesome text listed above. Everything will have page numbers when it is information from the book. This is a summary and paraphrase unless otherwise quoted. This is what I subjectively valued and took from the book, and only the generalities, the book is filled with specifics to dive deeper into. I recommend giving it a read. I think the biggest thing is that the “lector” role is not at all well-defined, and in some cases can be much more casual and less official than we'd probably think. Forshaw argues that “Lector Priest” isn't a good term, but rather simply “Lector,” and I agree. While they could get up to even high ranking priests, they could also be as random as a person who performs household rituals. Mainly the term is associated with the keeper, carrier, reader, and sometimes writer of magical scrolls, and they were deemed capable of great magical acts. They were more public facing than, say, a high priest who was mostly in the temple, and they even could serve more “secular” roles. Indeed, it seems the role was rather non-exclusive.

Roles

“The title [Lector] could be honorary, merely appended to a number of other titles, but it could also signify a working professional. His status in society could therefore vary greatly and monuments subsequently left by the lector range from a short statement on a collective stela at Abydos to a large tomb such as that of Pediamenopet on the Assasif at Thebes.” p139

Carries and recites the ritual texts p10

Associated closely with Djehuty p19

“...the lector would have had to possess ritual knowledge, speaker competence, be endowed with the power to do what was required and be in a state of purity.” p51

Private funeral services p1

Main role is transfiguration: transformation of the dead into a divine being

• Transfiguration rites = “sakh” p104

• Causative form of becoming an “akh” p104

The lector seems to be present throughout the whole process, often seen reading from or carrying his sacred texts. Sometimes they would be practically involved in the actions as well.

• Brings offerings to the dead p8

• Represents Djehuty p84

• Washes feet of the dead and embraces them, welcoming them to the afterlife p85

• Oversees and aids with transport and embalming p85-88

• Leads vigil p88

• Offering ritual (p90 shows all the movements)

• Presentation of the foreleg p93

• Sweeping away the footprints after ceremony p91

Opening of the Mouth

Representations come from New Kingdom p109

Blades of meteoric iron, a chisel, adze, pesesh-kef knife, and other implements p110

The lector mainly narrates the events of the ritual, though sometimes has a more hands-on role

• Helps give life to the statue and guide the ritual p110-111

• Presents foreleg p111

• A central performer in the Opening of the Mouth p114

Healing magic p4

The relationship between lectors and healing magic appears well attested

Medical treatment p2

Can both heal and cause illness p116

Associated with the House of Life and Temple p116-119

Worked together with physicians p120

“Hands on approach” p121

Acts of magical wonder p135-136

Studying and working with the gods p119

Stretching of the cord at temple inaugurations p4

Embodied Djehuty p55

Consecration of temple p56

Sometimes secular roles p2

State expeditions to foreign lands p5

Mostly on mining operations into foreign lands p123

Numbers and role unknown p126

Possibly included caring for statues p126

My guess would be protection and healing when necessary. For instance encircling rituals before crossing the desert, or addressing a gash or broken bone.

Other

Daily temple ritual, specifically the end where the god’s statue is given life, and the doors to the shrine sealed until the next ritual with the footsteps swept away p54

Keeper of the “house of books” p57

Readers of/actors in Sacred Dramas p57

Feast of Sokar - invokes Sokar, and praises Osiris in later periods p59-62

“...the non-exclusive nature of the occupation of the lector in the Old Kingdom, and this is a feature that can also be recognised throughout Egyptian history” p1

Not always priests p2

“The title could be honorary, merely appended to a number of other titles, but it could also signify a working professional. His status in society could therefore vary greatly and monuments subsequently left by the lector range from a short statement on a collective stela at Abydos to a large tomb such as that of Pediamenopet on the Assasif at Thebes.” p139

Sometimes involved with legal activities

Such as on knbt councils, which were responsible for the organization and administration of the temple p130

May have also sometimes acted as judges p131-132

“The evidence for the direct involvement of the lector in the legal system in ancient Egypt is not strong…” p134

Rituals/Acts

Execration ritual (eliminating foes/opposing forces) p21

Breaking of the red pots p22. Good link on this here: https://www.worldhistory.biz/ancient-history/56814-breaking-the-red-pots-and-associated-rituals.html

Rites of Encircling, where a sacred person/group/area is ceremonially circled by the lector in magical favor of the subject. Could also be done with hostile intent p24

Protection rituals p25

Overthrowing Apep p25

Spitting, licking, and swallowing could be positive or negative p26

Magical consumption, such as writing a word of power on papyrus and then eating it p137 (if someone wants to do this, write it on food, I implore you)

Relationship to Royalty

Lector of [King] p15

Sometimes proclaims the king’s royal name for the first time p65

Royal purification p65

Active role in Sed-festivals p4

• A principal officiant p66

• Announcer, reads from text p68

• “Illumination of the thrones” p70

• Precedes the king p80

• Related to Wepwawet and the Was Scepter p80

• Master of ceremonies p81

Possible Equipment

Chest which the equipment was carried in p27

Tyet knots p27

Protective statues and amulets p32-33

Protective wands p33-34, good images here: https://www.joanlansberry.com/setfind/knf-mid.html

Figurines of women carrying snakes, wearing the mask of a lioness p34-35, possibly first Asherah figurines?

Bronze serpent wand, first known of its kind p35-36

Fertility figures p36-37

Ivory dwarfs p38-39

Model offerings p 39-40

Clappers p40-41

Beads p41-42

Djed column p42

Burnisher p42-43

Papyrus p43-44

Identification

Broad fabric sash worn across chest p7

Chief lector can have panther skin, a menat necklace, headband with ostrich plume, a cape, a scepter p7

Generally they carried a papyrus roll p7

Most frequent gestures: invocation (Gardiner’s A26) and hnw-gesture (Gardiner’s A8) p7-8

“This image that is evoked is a representation of the lector that is repeatedly depicted on tomb and temple wall scenes, a lector consulting and reading from an unrolled papyrus scroll.” p119

Titles

Hieroglyphs p13-17

Greatest of Chief Lectors p13

Senior/Elder Lector p13

Senior Lector of the Robing-Room p13

Lector of the House of Embalming p14

Lector of the Funerary Estate p15

(Chief) Lector of his Father p15

Lector of [King] p15

Lector of [God] p15-17

Lector of [Locality] p15-17

Lector who is in his year p15

Lector p15

Origins

Shamanism into sem-priesthood, then division of sem-priests into two separate categories p9

I had a beautiful view of the night sky from AZ last night. About 9pm the Dipper was taking its prime position as Cepheus* (Horus imo) dipped out of sight. To the east you could see Arcturus and Spica rising (the hippo and croc imo), and in the west, the setting of Orion (Osiris). Pretty much the most sacred position of the sky for those dedicated to Setesh. My previous data taken from Thebes in 3000 BCE had it taking this position in March, but now it seems to align rather well with May Eve (due to the precession of the equinox).

Make sure to get out there this month and look up!

Youtube p1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86XCLhDhjjM

Youtube p2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOEnNqjv-4s

Spotify p1: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0r9X75xBBBIFXGjZR4ZpeO

Spotify p2: https://open.spotify.com/episode/18fRFQe9KKZ5yT24U0GYgD

One of the most detrimental lies we are taught, which for most of our families probably finds its roots in the story of Adam and Eve, is that blood relation gives some sort of special significance to other people. An obvious example of the damage this falsehood causes is those who stay with abusive family members, or let psychic vampires leech off them simply because “they are blood, so they are family.” People will bend over backwards and put themselves through all kinds of unneeded trauma just because someone is blood-related. Another example, you learn through ancestry that some random person you have never met is biologically related to you, this should mean literally nothing. This is not to say our family cannot also be a blood relation, but that the blood has nothing to do with it.

Ironically, this whole “blood makes family/kin/tribe” boils down to biological essentialism, that icky materialistic ideology that our being and identity reduces to our biology. It has been used to genocide entire groups of people, to perpetuate racism and segregation, gender roles/norms, and everything else. Rejecting this biological essentialism is called out as early as the story of Cain and Abel, where Cain questions if he should be the keeper of his brother. It should be no surprise, then, that biological essentialism also leads to horrible outcomes when it comes to “blood = family.”

What DOES make a family? This is likely going to vary from group to group, but “blood” is an unacceptable property to focus on. For example, I have both blood and non-blood relations which I consider family because we are there for each other, talk often, enjoy each other's company, respect each other, and would protect each other… None of this is impacted in any way by their blood or genes though. True family is the one thing, the few people, for which the wanderer of the Left Hand Path will set the Self aside for when needed, those who manage to journey through the deserts to the oasis.

I bring this up after having seen my own family traumatized for years because they labor under this delusion of blood = family. It likely doesn’t even need illustration, I’d bet anyone reading this can think of a blood relation who fits the bill of psychic vampire, if not worse. No amount of reason can convince them that someone with a blood relation can be nothing more than a useless, awful, piece of shit. Blood somehow gives things a “good essence” in our culture, which if you think about it for even a moment ranges from vampire levels of creepy to Nazi levels of creepy. This is UTTER NONSENSE. As Lord Byron’s Lucifer said, things are good and evil in-and-of themselves, not made so by the person committing the act or preaching the idea.

Sadly there is not much you can do, “blood = family” may as well be a written law. There is no law against cutting off toxic blood relatives just as there is no law that you cannot stop being friends with someone, or helping your actual family learn to do the same. Cut these people out like the cancer they are, and what an apt metaphor, for they do to the soul what cancer does to the body, and the treatment can be just as hard to survive. But one must survive or perish. In old times we could have easily exiled someone or sent them on an impossible journey, but what cannot be oppressed by law is magic. And there is no stopping the wrath of gods and spirits one has befriended, or the punishments of one’s next life.

“When the true king's murderers are allowed to roam free, a thousand magicians rise in the land.” - Jim Morrison

A curse upon these leeches who sustain themselves on blood as essence.