Tag: Infernal Virtues

You have heard it said, do not be lovers of self. But I say to you, within all my children burns a star.

“SERMON OF THE NIGHT QUEEN” THE BOOK OF INFERNAL PRAYER

One of the foundational myths of American history is the story of the Mayflower Pilgrims. While one could certainly quibble about the truth of this or that facet of the tale, the myth is meant to reinforce the American values of religious freedom and cross-cultural co-operation. While it is not stressed in the narrative as taught to children, the historical reality is that the story of the Plymouth colony is also one about how greed eventually saved a community of people. Because the Pilgrims were originally socialists, and that economic policy nearly destroyed them.

As Dr. Harvey Wish writes in Society and Thought in Early America, “[T]he Pilgrims, who had pooled their wealth to purchase the Mayflower, began as communists, sharing their lands in the Biblical spirit of apostolic communism.” The reference to “apostolic communism” references the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, which is a kind of history of the first few decades of the early Christian church. In the second chapter of that book it is said, “All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.” The demand to give over all of one’s property for the benefit of the community was so serious that the Apostle Peter miraculously struck a married couple dead when they attempted to lie about how much money they had received from the sale of their land (see the 5^th chapter of the Book of Acts). While the early Christian tradition of communism would not be stressed among the laity as time went on, it would very much continue in the monastic tradition and would occasionally be revived by various Christian cults throughout history to this very day. The problem for the Pilgrims, as many communist collectives have discovered, is that the system didn’t work.

William Bradford, governor of the Plymouth colony, wrote of this socialism, “For this community (so far as it was) was found to breed much confusion and discontent and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort.” Young men complained of spending “their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children without any recompense.” Strong men felt it an injustice that they were forced to shoulder an outsized portion of the workload with no compensation in return. Women, who were forced to cook and clean for husbands and children that were not their own, thought it a kind of slavery. This situation naturally bred resentment, and people became lax and lazy. With the expectation that someone else would or should do the work, less and less work actually got done. As a result, the colony wavered on the brink of collapse. It was the reinstatement of private property that pulled it back. As Bradford wrote:

And so assigned to every family a parcel of land, according to the proportion of their number for that end . . . This had a very good success; for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted then otherwise would have been by any means the Governor or any other could use, and saved him a great deal of trouble, and gave far better content. The women now went willingly into the field, and took their little-ones with them to set corn, which before would allege weakness, and inability; whom to have compelled would have been thought great tyranny and oppression.

At the foundation of the infernal of virtue of Greed is a recognition of truths about human nature and existence. The problem with utopian political platforms, whether Communism on one extreme and Libertarian Anarchism on the other, is that they require denying reality to believe they might work. And for the Satanist, acknowledging reality should always be the starting point for deciding which course of action to take. As a god of truth, Lucifer challenges us to see the world for what it is rather than what we wish it to be. The same goes for ourselves.

Some readers might be annoyed that this essay has taken a distinctly political turn. “Keep your politics out of my Satanism.” It is more than fair to say that Theistic Satanism doesn’t require joining one particular political party. There is room in Theistic Satanism for differences in opinion when it comes to political beliefs. Satanism is not amorphous, however. It has philosophical principles that make certain political stances untenable for the faithful. You can’t believe in sexual freedom, for example, while also holding that homosexuality, polyamory, or prostitution should be punishable by law.

The same goes with regard to Greed being in opposition to communist political schemes and ideals. Satanism is an individualistic faith. As such, it is incompatible with any system of governance that systematically favors the collective at the expense of the individual. The fruit of your labors should largely be yours, not your neighbor’s. The responsibility of making decisions about your life should largely be yours, not a centralized planning committee’s. I say largely because, even though we are individuals first, we must always live in tension with the fact that we depend on others and share a common environment every day of our lives. For this reason, Satanism is not a justification for arguing that all taxes are theft, that corporate interests outweigh environmental concerns, that parents have no right to make decisions for the minors under their care, or any other similar nonsense. We hold the individual as primary, but that doesn’t mean we can or should disregard the collective entirely. We encourage individual Greed, but not without limit.

Underscoring the above praise of selfishness, one-time Magister of the Church of Satan, Michael Aquino wrote:

Socialism and communism…place the good of the community before individual desires. …The many unsuccessful individuals resent and envy the few successful ones, and the democratic vote had enabled demagogues to play upon this dissatisfaction, promising equality of result rather than that of opportunity. Frequently the actual consequences of such campaigns are aggravating to the elites (who feel constricted and cheated of the fruits of their abilities) as well as to the masses (who feel humiliated and useless). The elites lose any sense of social responsibility they might have had, and the masses lose their sense of self-reliance… Was it [the endorsement of individualism] also Satanic? Yes, in the sense that Satan’s great “sin” was ultimately that of individualism. In order to follow the dictates of his own will, he broke away from the collective will of God, regardless of its “social beneficence”.         

THE CHURCH OF SATAN

Anton LaVey once described Greed as simply wanting more than what you currently have. A properly constituted sense of Greed (i.e., neither boundless or compulsive) is an integral part of healthy individualism as it is intrinsically self-oriented. It was this self-orientation that led the Church to condemn money making almost entirely, so that St. Jerome remarked, “A man who is a merchant can seldom if ever please God.” Never mind salvation, common wisdom claims that money can’t even buy happiness, but psychological and economic studies suggest otherwise. Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton’s 2010 research found that “low income is associated both with low life evaluation and low emotional well-being,” while higher income correlated with better life satisfaction and emotional well-being. They noted, however, that once an individual surpassed an annual income of $75,000 ($90,000 in 2023 terms) they ceased to see gains in perceived happiness. A more recent study by Matthew Killingsworth, however, calls this income ceiling into question. His research found “no evidence of an income threshold at which experienced and evaluative well-being diverged, suggesting that higher incomes are associated with both feeling better day-to-day and being more satisfied with life overall.”

Selfishness is complex and can paradoxically benefit others we never consciously intended to help, a fact that was recognized by Adam Smith, the grandfather of capitalism. I work a job to sustain my own life, but the work I do benefits my employer as well. The products we make benefit our customers, and the materials we purchase to make them benefits the vendors who sell them to us. The money I spend to get back and forth to that job, and that my work spends to make sure I have the tools to succeed, benefits any number of businesses around the world. The money I bring home benefits my children. The taxes I pay benefit my neighbors and fellow citizens. The point is that while my economic intentions are motivated by self-concern, their actual effects are part of a complex and mutually beneficial web of economic relationships.

As with all the infernal virtues, it is of course possible to go too far with one’s pursuit of fortune. When money becomes an end, rather than a means, it is more likely to hollow out our lives than enhance them. Furthermore, how you make your money can play a crucial role in determining your sense of happiness and well-being. Most people don’t get to work their dream job, and I seriously doubt Satanists are any better off in this regard. Sometimes you have to be thankful you have work at all. But, if your work is destroying your health, family, or social life—or involving you in criminal pursuits that imperil your life and freedom—it may make sense to take a pay cut in the pursuit of something that fits more holistically in your life.

Still, more money typically means access to better healthcare, better housing, better education, a better standard of living, and more opportunity to pursue the life one desires to lead. Those are all things you should want for yourself as a Satanist. Go and seize them, and may Lilith and Satan bless your efforts.

You have heard it said, love your enemies. But I say to you, no purer love is there than this: to hate your enemies with your whole heart.

“SERMON OF THE NIGHT QUEEN” THE BOOK OF INFERNAL PRAYER

When I was 6 years old, we had a giant pile of rocks and leftover construction materials out in the front yard of our newly built home. My little sister and I would climb that hill of debris, pretending it was a mountain strewn with artifacts and hidden treasures—broken bricks, steel pipes, bits of quartz. We had just moved into the neighborhood and had yet to have much contact with the other local kids. So, I was glad to see my baby sister standing by the pile one afternoon, talking to two boys. I was outraged and panic stricken, however, when those two boys began tossing stones at my sister, causing her to shriek and scream. Without giving it much thought, I ran for the pile, snatched up a length of pipe sticking out of the ground, and cracked one of the boys across the knee with it. While he rolled screaming on the ground, I grabbed my sister’s hand and ran with her back to the house.

Wrath is righteous anger, and it was precisely that emotion which swelled up propelled me to my sister’s aid. Some readers might get squeamish with the use of the word “righteous.” Jehovah is the deity most obsessed with righteousness. But to behave righteously simply means to do what is right in a given circumstance. It could be compared to the Buddhist 8-Fold Path, which prescribes Right Action, Right Speech, and so on as a means of liberation. Of course, Buddhists, Christians, and Diabolists may disagree about what is right in particular situations, but that need not trip us up here. The important point is that the Devil Worshipper, like every human on the planet, recognizes that there is an appropriate time and a place for certain behaviors.

Anger fuels our action in the world in ways few other emotions can.  Whereas sadness and despair often weigh us down and rob us of the capacity to act, anger can be a goad, pushing us to correct wrongs we perceive in our world. This could be addressing a political injustice, a social ill, or a personal slight. Most of us know this already even if we don’t consciously think about it. Apathy is rarely an engine for change, but wrath can move mountains as well as masses.

The potency of wrath, while making it so useful, also makes it exceptionally dangerous. The risk of fury going overboard is famous in literary terms—the entire plot of The Iliad is based on the tragic result when wrath mixes with an over-inflated sense of pride. And certainly, all of us can think of a time we said or did something we later wish we could take back.

Beyond setting us upon a course from which it is impossible to turn back, the volatile nature of wrath also makes it highly susceptible to manipulation by external forces. The entire basis of most political movements is the harnessing, if not outright conjuring, of outrage and indignation. This is all well and good as far as it goes—real world action has to be powered by something—but when a media or political figure seeks to elicit our wrath in connection to a particular issue, the Diabolist would be well served not to take anything that is thus said at face value. While people often act like spin is something new, the truth is that there have always been hidden agendas and mixed motives in politics and journalism. Resist the urge to immediately trust and react to any given source. Ask yourself, why do they want me to act in a particular way? What narrative frame are they pushing or assuming? Who benefits and who loses if I join this cause? Skepticism has its limits, of course, but a healthy dose is more likely to help than harm.

Perhaps most perversely with regard to wrath is our ability to manipulate ourselves. We can be so desperate for a sense of purpose, and the hot rush of moral outrage can be so addictive, that individuals will see injustice when no actual injustice is to be found. This danger is particularly present in cultures where freedom fighters and activists of the past lauded as examples to emulate. If your personal heroes were warriors for justice, and you desperately want to be like them, there is a real risk you might invent enemies if no real struggle is readily at hand.

Wrath should always be tempered with rationality, self-awareness, and a willingness to change your mind when reality turns out to be other than what you first thought. Cultivate the ability to think before acting, and actively seek out opposing viewpoints. Echo chambers are the death of free thought.

Step lightly in your certainty. Sit boldly in your doubt. In the palace of tension, I am found.

“ANNUNCIATION” THE BOOK OF INFERNAL PRAYER

So much for the benefits and dangers of wrath; what shall we say of its exercise? Some evolutionary psychologists believe that revenge served the social function of teaching people which behaviors not to commit. A line is crossed, a punishment is meted out, and the guilty party (hopefully) learns to change their behavior in the future. The line between revenge and justice is blurry indeed.

This negative reinforcement tends to work best in small, localized groups. Punishment need not always be physical, and even in the cases where it is often the accompanying shame of being punished in front of one’s peers is as or more useful in constraining future behavior. Though our populations have perhaps grown too large for this type of conditioning to work on a macro level, this method of behavior modification still works in social groups of a restricted size. I.e., classrooms, workplaces, and family homes. Anyone who has cared for small children knows that giving vent to one’s wrath is not only necessary from time to time, but need not entail anything brutal or vicious. A stern word or the temporary removal of a prized possession can often be enough. Likewise, the Diabolist should determine the appropriate shape their revenge should take, rather than blasting their anger forth indiscriminately.

There is nothing particularly satanic in all of this. Ahh, but what of destroying one’s enemies, particularly through the use of magic? Curses and maledictions are supposed to be the historical witch’s bread and butter, after all.

I will skip the how of casting curses, pointing readers instead to LaVey’s Satanic Bible for instruction to that end. Rather, I will conclude by considering when it is appropriate to destroy one’s enemies.

In 1941 Aleister Crowley wrote a small tract known as Liber Oz. It is short enough that I will reproduce it in its entirety.

“The law of the strong: this is our law and the joy of the world.” AL. II. 2
“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.” –AL. I. 40
“Thou hast no right but to do thy will. Do that, and no other shall say nay.” –AL. I. 42-3
“Every man and every woman is a star.” –AL. I. 3

There is no God but man.

1. Man has the right to live by his own law—to live in the way that he wills to do: to work as he will: to play as he will: to rest as he will: to die when and how he will.
2. Man has the right to eat what he will: to drink what he will: to dwell where he will: to move as he will on the face of the earth.
3. Man has the right to think what he will: to speak what he will: to write what he will: to draw, paint, carve, etch, mould, build as he will: to dress as he will.
4. Man has the right to love as he will:— “take your fill and will of love as ye will, when, where, and with whom ye will.” —AL. I. 51
5. Man has the right to kill those who would thwart these rights.

“the slaves shall serve.” –AL. II. 58
“Love is the law, love under will.” –AL. I. 57

What we see in this is that each of us has a right to live our life as lead by the dictates of our nature, and that anyone who attempts to deny us that right forfeits their own to live. Granted, just because we are technically justified in a particular action doesn’t mean we ought to take it. LaVey’s warning to never cast a curse upon someone we don’t intend to destroy is essential to remember, and Anton would surely agree that discerning when and when not to act on one’s impulses is a satanic necessity. Nor should it be thought that offensive magic can be used without some personal cost. The sad truth is destroying others, whether by means mystical or mundane, often requires us to destroy in some way ourselves. Let the reader beware, lest they make the mistake of thinking that because they seek to harm someone from afar a curse is somehow less serious or dangerous than a physical attack. I have suffered physically for my own flippantly cast curses in the past. Spare yourself similar anguish by making sure in your own heart a curse is warranted before casting it.

The question arises, “Who, then, would be considered a fit and proper human sacrifice, and how is one qualified to pass judgment on such a person?” The answer is brutally simple. Anyone who has unjustly wronged you – one who has “gone out of his way” to hurt you – to deliberately cause trouble and hardship for you or those dear to you. In short, a person asking to be cursed by their very actions. When a person, by his reprehensible behavior, practically cries out to be destroyed, it is truly your moral obligation to indulge them their wish.

“ON THE CHOICE OF HUMAN SACRIFICE” THE SATANIC BIBLE

To obey their Law is the highest moral obligation for the Diabolist, and thus the removal of impediments to living that Law is perhaps the only justification for all out violence. This, as Crowley puts it, is the “law of the strong,” which is to say those bold enough to lay claim to their freedom and protect it jealously. “The slaves,” after all, “shall serve.” Though that may seem straightforward enough, the moral calculus for resorting to violence is nevertheless often riddled with ambiguity. Two people who are following their respective Law may still come into conflict with one another. In fact, their Law may demand it of each of them.

In such a case, when you are certain you are being true to yourself, and there is no other clear-cut way to decide who is in the right, then you can only do as Uncle Al says. As brothers, fight. Success shall be your proof.  

You have heard it said, flee thou youthful desires. But I say to you, those who desire but act not breed pestilence.

“SERMON OF THE NIGHT QUEEN” THE BOOK OF INFERNAL PRAYER

When we speak of lust in the context of Diabolism we fundamentally mean sexual desire. There can of course be other forms of lust linguistically speaking—for money, success, and food for example—but these are covered by their own infernal virtues—greed, envy, and indolence respectively. So, when we speak of lust proper, we are talking about the desire to experience sexual pleasure, with yourself or another as the object of that desire.

No one’s predisposition toward the seven infernal virtues will be entirely equal. In fact, which virtues one tends to gravitate toward over others will likely change over the course of a lifetime. This is perhaps most true of lust. For some it will be a matter of high concern for a large chunk of their lives. For many more it will be something they focus on in particular seasons of their lives, their interest waxing and waning with age and circumstance. Some will never find themselves that interested in it at all. Lust is highly personal.

Sex is dangerous. The Diabolists who think otherwise are fooling themselves. The need for it can drive some people to commit the most reckless actions of their lives. Romantic love can warp the mind, blind us to the truth, and cause us in a moment of passion to throw away what has taken a lifetime to build. It can even lead to murder, whether out of possessive jealousy or suicidal despair.

It should be of no surprise then that so many traditional societies have sought to regulate lust and sexual expression through various laws and cultural institutions. This isn’t the concern of one particular religion, but of all human social groupings. Not only because sex can wreak so much interpersonal havoc, but because it has biological consequences most of us would prefer not be ignored. Sex, between men and women at least, sometimes produces offspring. Human babies require a tremendous investment of time and resources to raise. Communities have a vested interest in making sure the appropriate parties take responsibility for those offspring, rather than sloughing them off to become everyone else’s burden.

The Diabolist is not obligated to observe the sexual mores of the culture they were raised or reside in (though neither are they obligated to toss them off with headlong abandon). Love, for the Devil worshipper, should be free. Free to come and go and find its own way without the interference of meddlesome third-parties, be they religious, political, or social. Even one’s own reason must sometimes bow to the dictates of lust. As the Devil (in female form) says to the character of Alvare in Jacques Cazotte’s The Devil in Love:

To stifle a celestial flame, the only resort by which the body and soul can act mutually upon one another and force themselves to concur in the necessary maintaining of their union! That is rather foolish, my dear Alvare! One must regulate these impulses, but sometimes one should yield to them; if they are thwarted they escape all at once, and reason no longer knows where to be seated in order to rule.

Notice, however, that I said reason must sometimes bow to the dictates of lust. All of the infernal virtues are in some sense dangerous. Actions have repercussions, and a reckless Diabolist they may soon find themselves reaping a host of unintended consequences. Because the popular understanding of Devil worship is so centered on sexual lawlessness, however, this danger is perhaps truest of all with regard to lust. If it seems like I am harping more on the negative with regard to this infernal virtue than I have the others, this is the reason why. Fictional portrayals of the Black Mass treat it less as a serious spiritual rite and more of an excuse for decadents to gather and spice up their otherwise staid sex lives. Sadly, many Diabolists willingly swallow this misunderstanding as readily as their non-satanic counterparts. The belief that it will get them laid or at least afford them a glance of bare titty is likely what drew many Satanists—theistic or otherwise—into the fold in the first place.

This isn’t to say Devil worship can’t be sexy, because it most certainly can. But it should be more than just sexy dress up time. Before the Diabolist lie two extremes that each must find their path between. Namely, straight-jacketed Puritanism on the one hand, and mindless hedonism on the other. We do have some general guidance, though, to help us navigate between those two poles.

The bedrock of Satanic sexual ethics is consent. Anton LaVey emphasized the importance of “the mating signal,” which is a colorful way to speak of receiving that consent. Consent is a surprisingly complex topic, which is not only beyond this particular essay but perhaps myself as an individual to cover with anything more than the cursory treatment I am giving it. Some people prefer that consent be explicitly obtained before any sexual contact can occur. For others, consent can be non-verbal and implied. Some people prefer that sex appear non-consensual in order to fulfill their particular tastes and kinks. It’s a broad spectrum.

All that said, the bedrock of consent does mean Diabolists are forbidden from committing rape and pedophilia. Since we live in a time when silence can be construed by some to be a form of political violence, let me perfectly clear that by rape I mean physically coercing someone to participate in a sexual act against their will; performing a sexual act upon someone who is physically unable to register their non-consent, i.e., someone who is unconscious or paralyzed and mute; or having sex with someone who is too mentally impaired to give meaningful consent. While an argument could be made that pre-pubescent children are technically capable of voicing consent, even the ancient and pederastic Greeks agreed that until puberty a young person was unable to understand what they were consenting to. Further, they—along with modern psychology—were also aware of the stultifying affect that pre-pubescent sex has on a child’s later development.

With regard to the sexual lives of others, the Diabolist is duty bound to observe a policy of live and let live. We don’t have to celebrate other peoples’ sexual predilections. We don’t have to like them or even validate them if we don’t feel so inclined. But—excepting pedophilia and rape—the Diabolist can’t use coercion, state sanctioned or otherwise, to stand in the way of another person’s sexual choices.

Consent and liberality—that’s the minimalist gist of our sexual morals. This greatly simplifies the questions a Devil worshipper could have with regard to acceptable sexual practices. If it isn’t rape or pedophilia, it’s perfectly acceptable. Love is the law; love and do what you will. Careful and thoughtful readers may be somewhat uncomfortable how much this leaves open to personal preference and taste. There are some major taboos I have intentionally said nothing about. I challenge readers appalled by that fact to examine where precisely that outrage comes from. Is that their Law speaking or the moral hearsay of their friends, family, and neighbors?

Again, I have heretofore been largely focusing on warnings and criticisms because inexperienced Diabolists are—in my estimation, at least—more likely to fail to give sex the respect it deserves than to be overly uptight about it. Sex is a big deal. It will not do to treat it as some kind of bogeyman like conservative Abrahamists, but neither should we cheapen it the way advertisers and Hollywood movies often do. One of the important psychological insights of the past century is that sexual orientation is a fundamental component of individual identity. The concept of someone being homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual doesn’t appear to have existed in the ancient world. There have always been people who committed homosexual acts, to be sure, but the ancients would not have conceived of those people as being homosexual in essence. Our relationship to lust should not be taken lightly because it involves one of the basic building blocks of who we each are.

This is true of humans as individuals but it affects our species as a whole as well. A growing of amount of evidence suggests that micro-evolution is not only caused by natural selection but what is termed sexual selection as well. That is, the characteristics that mates within a species prefer will continue over time, while those they do not will die out. Amazingly, these preferred sexual traits do not have to confer any advantage in terms of survival or adaptability in order to be desirable. In fact, they can actually confer a disadvantage as far as natural selection is concerned, but continue nonetheless simply because potential mates appreciate their aesthetic appeal:

[The] evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller of the London School of Economics suggests that [sexual selection] may be responsible for the ornamental aspects of human nature. For Miller, things like art, music, and theatre, which don’t seem to offer much in terms of survival benefits, may make us more attractive to potential mates. These qualities are the human equivalent of peacocks’ tails. We flaunt our intellectual, artistic, and sporting prowess much like the peacock flaunts his tail, and potential mates choose us based on these qualities.

DR. SIMON LAHAM, THE SCIENCE OF SIN 

Sex is powerful. Sex is mysterious. Sex is personal. Sex is sacred. The Diabolist who feels so motivated should absolutely incorporate it into their spiritual life and practice, for it is a potent and entirely appropriate form of worship. Satan himself describes sex as one of the means by which he worships Lilith.

Shall I compare you to a pyre, Lilith?  No, your blaze is brighter than a hundred razed temples, your beauty more stunning than a thousand altars of flesh. I look upon you and my soul nearly bursts with urge and lust. Surely you can feel my gaze upon you, so intense is its ardor. I stiffen at the scent of your passing. I crave to lose myself among the garden of your delights. I, the Prince of the Air, swear by myself: I will be yours. For where I am, there is none greater to swear by. I will lay you down, my fierce Lilith. Your eldritch gem shall be my blasphemous shrine, and there forever shall worship my lecherous tongue.

“THE ELDRITCH GEM” THE BOOK OF INFERNAL PRAYER

Sex is also a potent weapon when wielded properly. Sexual appeal can allure, befuddle, and melt otherwise hard hearts. Anton LaVey includes the utilization of sex appeal as one of the primary forms of lesser magic in The Satanic Bible:

Learning to effectively utilize the command to LOOK, is an integral part of a witch’s or warlock’s training. To manipulate a person, you must first be able to attract and hold his attention… If a woman is attractive or sexually appealing, she should do everything in her power to make herself as enticing as possible, thereby using sex as her most powerful tool. Once she has gained the man’s attention, by using her sex appeal, she is free to manipulate him to her will.

LaVey often assumes that women are more naturally capable of utilizing seduction to a fuller effect than men. He says as much when explaining why warlocks should be fully robed, while witches can be scantily clad during ritual. He also insists only women can serve as a nude altar. While many may want to dismiss all this as LaVey injecting his own heteronormative tastes into Satanism, there is a little more to it than that, which is why Diabolist ritual and scripture more often associates sex and seduction with Lilith than Satan. Repeated studies have shown that, generally speaking, men are more likely to choose a mate based on physical appearance and cues suggesting fertility[1], while women are typically more attracted to a mate’s perceived ability to protect and provide [2]. Biological and social realities—e.g., the fact they’re the one who can become pregnant and will likely be the one raising the child if their mate abandons them—also make women more likely to have ambivalent feelings about sex than men [3]. To put it vulgarly, the fact that men sometimes let their dick’s do the thinking means they are generally more susceptible to being seduced in the traditional sense. This isn’t to say men can’t use seduction to their benefit, only that women and homosexuals will have a much easier go at it. When attempting to seduce a woman, it should be remembered that it was with the offer of knowledge—which is another way of saying power—that Lucifer tempted Eve. 

The properly equipped and knowledgeable Diabolist—assuming they are fully cognizant of how dangerous lust can be—should feel free to use seduction as a legitimate means for getting what they want. The tools at your disposal range from playful flirtation to outright prostitution. Lust is more than just a virtue to be enjoyed and explored, it is a weapon of power—a Chalice of Ecstasy within which swirls the strength born of joy, and by which lovers and enemies, serfs and kings alike may be brought to their knees.  

[1] See for example, David Buss. “Sex Differences in Human Mate Preferences: Evolutionary Hypotheses Tested in 37 Cultures,” Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

[2] Buss. The Evolution of Desire.

[3] This is true across species. Females are likely to be the pickier of the sexes when it comes to mate selection.

You have heard it said, where envying and contention is, there is inconstancy and every evil work. But I say to you, envy is the genitalia of the soul—its arousal is a compass pointing the direction you wish to go.“SERMON OF THE NIGHT QUEEN” THE BOOK OF INFERNAL PRAYER

When we speak of envy, it is best to first distinguish envy from resentment. To be envious is to see what someone else has accomplished and to want that same thing, or something comparable, for yourself. The object of envy isn’t another person, but what they have achieved or possess. In this sense, who you are envious of is largely arbitrary and irrelevant. They just happened to display a trait or possessed an object that triggered a desire in you.

Resentment, on the other hand, is about other people and your jealous hatred of them. In resentment, it isn’t what they have achieved that you desire to acquire for yourself. Rather, what you truly want is to see the downfall of someone who triggers your own insecurities. Resentment arises from a kind of poisoned and unwanted admiration that one mistakenly concludes can only be alleviated by tearing down whatever triggered that undesired feeling. If you should destroy that person, however, the relief will be fleeting. As Nietzsche says, “Resentment, born of weakness, harms no one more than the weak person himself.”

By this comparison we see that the root of envy is the desire to make one’s self better than what you currently are. Envy is inspiration. It is seeing the skill of a competitor or colleague and wanting to achieve that same level of skill yourself. This is true whether we are speaking of sports, business, the arts, parenting, communication, or any other field of day-to-day life. Rilke’s poem “Archaic Torso of Apollo” describes this revolutionary experience poignantly.

We cannot know his legendary head
with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso
is still suffused with brilliance from inside,
like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low,

gleams in all its power. Otherwise
the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could
a smile run through the placid hips and thighs
to that dark center where procreation flared.

Otherwise this stone would seem defaced
beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders
and would not glisten like a wild beast's fur:

would not, from all the borders of itself,
burst like a star: for here there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.

What this poem says to me is that envy is sleeping potential awakened. It is becoming conscious of a desire we have heretofore been ignorant of, suppressed, or forgotten. We see someone enjoying something we want, and now we move to make that thing our own.

Contrary to what pop psychology might suggest, the experience of envy does not make us less happy but in fact happier. In a UCLA study ran by Lisa Aspinwall and Shelley Taylor, it was shown that when students were required to spend time around colleagues with qualities they wished to emulate (academic success, being well-adjusted to college life) they often came away from the experience happier. When students were required to spend time around colleagues who were less successful however (poor academic performance, poor experience of college life), they generally came away feeling worse. The researchers dug deeper into these results found that a common theme among the people who walked away happier was that being around someone enviable gave them a sense of hope. What previously might have seemed impossible had suddenly became obtainable because they met living proof it could be done [0].

It turns out, surrounding yourself with people who better reflect who you would like to be is healthier for your attitude and mental state than surrounding yourself with people you are more likely to pity or despise. Similarly, other studies have shown that envy, besides boosting mood, also increases creativity [1] and performance [2]. From my own experience with strength training and exercise, I always performed better and more consistently when I worked out with people who were either as or slightly more committed to fitness as I was. Envy and competitiveness often go hand in hand. As was stated in the beginning of this essay, the root of this competitiveness should never be resentment, which is generally more about insecurity and hatred of self than it actually is about hatred of another. If we are to replace Blake’s misuse of the word “envy” in an important line of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, we see that rather than debasing us like resentment, envy can lift us into a state of holiness [3].

Once I saw a Devil in a flame of fire, who arose before an Angel that sat on a cloud, and the Devil utter'd these words:
'The worship of God is: Honouring his gifts in other men, each according to his genius, and loving the greatest men best: those who [resent] or calumniate great men hate God; for there is no other God.'

Envy, like magic, must be realistic in its aims to be beneficial, however. What one envies is of no little importance. To wish to acquire skills or goods you are actually capable of obtaining is to always be preferred to desiring those which you are incapable of. For example, admiring and lusting after the lifestyle of a Hollywood celebrity is, for the vast majority of Diabolists, a waste of time at best and a spiritual poison at worst.

Consider this, most of us who serve Satan and Lilith are neither talented enough, beautiful enough, socially connected enough, or lucky enough to become an international star. Perhaps it is not impossible in the strictest sense, but it is unlikely to the point of being ridiculous to spend much time thinking otherwise. Given this fact, it makes little sense to truly envy celebrities as what you desire is something you have no hope of possessing. To chase after the unobtainable is a good way to leave yourself bitter and stunted, or to waste precious time and energy that could be used on projects that might actually bear fruit. Perhaps most dangerously of all, desiring the unobtainable can create the incentive to fool yourself into thinking you possess what in reality you do not. You will become like Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, living in a world of delusion. The simulacrum of success will become preferred to the harshness of reality.

Rather than utilizing envy to encourage aiming for specific ends (I want to what this particular award, I want to be loved by this particular person, I want this particular job), it is better to aim in a specific direction. For example, a stage actress sees an awe-inspiring portrayal of Lady Macbeth. She would be better off thinking, “That was incredible—I have to become a better actor,” rather than thinking, “I must give an equal or better performance of Lady Macbeth myself.” Our envious actress may not have it in her to play Lady Macbeth well. Or, perhaps circumstance will make it so that she is unable to ever land that particular part. Regardless of the variables of her life and her current level of skill, however, it is almost certain that she could become a better actress. By channeling her desire in a specific but nonetheless flexible direction will allow her to adapt her efforts in conjunction with her fate, which is, by definition, outside of her hands.

In fact, the less dependent on outside cooperation the Diabolist can make their envy inspired goals the better. I have no almost no hope of becoming the Joel Osteen of the Satanic world (not that I would want to be), nor do I have any control over whether other people gain some benefit from my writing. What I do have a large amount of control over, however, is becoming a more disciplined, devoted, and thoroughgoing writer. I could ask others for criticism and advice. I could learn the skills to be a better all-around communicator. I could learn what it takes to be a competent mentor. And I can make myself available for other Diabolists to make use of as a resource. The success of all these actions might be somewhat out of my control, but the effort is certainly not.

The Diabolist’s reading this maybe thinking, “That’s all well and good, but envy is like love—the heart wants what the heart wants.” That’s true. We feel all sorts of things on a daily basis and the stirrings of envy we feel will not always be constructive. But just because we don’t choose what we initially feel envious about it doesn’t follow we have to submit to whatever feelings come our way. The Diabolist should approach envy as an alchemist. The initial feeling is their raw material. It is up to them to explore it and determine what greater use or deeper truth is locked within that feeling. Once you’ve got a handle on that, then whatever envy arises can be channeled in a more appropriate direction, or accepted and ignored if no appropriate outlet can be identified at that moment. We do not choose what we feel, but we do choose what we do. Furthermore, we can choose to create the conditions where resentment and destructive envy are less likely to be acted upon or even felt at all. We can turn down the heat, so to speak, making the undesired alchemical reactions we’re noticing within ourselves less volatile. That means learning to identify and not dwell on self-destructive thoughts, and to avoid the triggers that consistently bring them up.

Learn to differentiate the good from the bad. That is the key of the knowledge offered by the Serpent in the Garden, after all. Discern the envious urges that are in alignment with your Law, acting upon those that do, and sacrificing those which don’t.

[0] “Effects of Social Comparison Direction, Threat, and Self-Esteem on Affect, Self-Evaluation, and Success,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.  

[1] Camille Johnson and Diederik Stapel, “No Pain, No Gain: The Conditions Under Which Upward Comparisons Lead to Better Performance,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

[2] Hart Blanton et al., “When Better-Than-Others Compare Upward: Choice of Comparison and Comparative Evaluation as Independent Predictors of Academic Performance,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

[3] It is a juvenile oversimplification to suppose that just because followers of the Abrahamic god seek that which is “holy,” then Diabolists must needs be concerned with pursuing the “un-holy.” To call something holy is to merely label it as being sacred. That certain things are sacred and should be held in high esteem is not a matter of disagreement between Abrahamists and Devil worshippers—the disagreement is on precisely what is sacred and what is vulgar.