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.