The Speech Given in the Star of Azazel’s Annual Meeting

Dear brothers and sisters,

We are here to celebrate the tenth birthday of the brotherhood: to take the Star of Azazel to its second decade as a society.

In its journey from abstraction to physical reality the Star of Azazel have condensed and crystallized into forms. First, seventeen years ago, it started as an idea, and three years later that is, two times seven years ago – that idea was made into first rules of the Star of Azazel. Four years hence the social brotherhood was founded in seventh of July. After that official founding, the brotherhood sapling has grown to a healthy tree with many aspects and branches.

This is possible because of long work done by many and also because of the inspiration we have been able to follow. Members are allowed and encouraged to have several opinions about the source of this inspiration, namely, the so-called unseen masters. Are these entities of wisdom inside of us, outside of us as spirits or accomplished adepts in flesh, archetypes, or abstracted ethical paths? This is a question that must remain open for the most. Personally I believe in all of them. Whichever you choose, I stress that this inspiration we must follow. In order to be and remain as an occult society, there is a demand of occult inspiration working through ethical methods of thought and deed both.

We know that the brotherhood’s tree has three roots: Will, Love, and Honesty. It only has one trunk, that of the doctrine of oneness and brotherhood: reconciling the differences, understanding all the different sides of the same esoteric ideal as much as possible. From this trunk grow main branches below and above, the colour and form aspects. Side branches from these form the lodges, and open communication forms the foliage that we need to live, to gather the necessary light. Even while some or other part of that tree will most certainly be most dear to our own heart, we all must, as the members of the brotherhood, to treasure it and respect it in its entirety.

Beloved master, in You we trust, in Your name we have joined together. Ubi enim sunt duo vel tres congregati in nomine meo ibi sum in medio eorum. So be with us, master Lucifer-Christos, and send to our hearts and into our communion the holy spirit that fills the life with meaning. In trust let us rise our hearts into brilliance, fratres et sorores, ad sacra mysteria celebranda. Verily.

On Remembering the Dead

 

Winter snow

 

Hermann Hesse notes that when artists create pictures and thinkers search for laws and formulate thoughts, it is in order to salvage something from the great dance of death, to make something last longer than we do. It seems that the ancient Egyptians, obsessed with death, were much wiser than the contemporary man in this aspect, as they understood the importance of death in the development of human life.

A person’s life becomes defined at the moment they die. It’s a strange feeling, looking at their phone number and knowing that no one will answer should one try to call. It feels even stranger reading an letter from them- it was, after all, only a few months ago that this was written by warm, moving, living hands that created, and no longer exist. Where she was in one’s mind, is now a kind of a hole, and no one to occupy that space. Each person’s relationship and meaning to our lives is unique, and it can only be understood and seen completely when they are dead. The high and low points of that relationship are considered carefully and with a deeper perspective, because they are gone. Just like funerary rites, this too is a ritual, a final and defining chapter on the relationship that is now dramatically changed.

The evaluation of objects and items too change when a person dies. A bag of salt from her becomes the bag of salt, and it is forever differently defined from other bags of salt. It was hers- hers who died, and now it is mine. There is something powerful and mysterious about it now, on this exchange between the living and the dead. Every time this salt is used, she is there in my mind. An object that was nothing more than a household item for the deceased has now gained a radically different meaning and symbolism through her death. It has begun to feel like a ritual item, much more important than other objects she left behind that had monetary value; and I find that the items that had value in the eyes of the world mean nothing to me.

It’s a curious thing.

This bag of black salt that becomes less every time it is used, and when the bag is empty, there is no way to fill it. One can replace the salt with other salt, but it is not the same. This simple thought fills me with humble wonder, it is almost like a secret; it is a key to understanding. The bag of salt has become a memento mori in the most holistic way. The salt will lessen, and I too, shall die.

What is left then, when a person dies? Not much. A few items, some books, their handprint at the edge of the garden where a sitting area was built years ago. The other hands that carried, built, and planted on that sunny day are still living, moving, warm. What is left for the living are memories that fade and change over time, and if one is lucky, perhaps artworks that reveal little of the inner world of the deceased and stare back at us like a riddle, saying that there is something which can not be yet told. A veil has been drawn between us, a veil that one can truly only part when their own life becomes defined.

***

At the end of this small pondering, I’d like to address a question that was sent to our general mail a few weeks ago.

If I feel that death is a positive, even holy force, is it wrong to feel sad over the loss of a relative?

I don’t deceive myself enough to claim that I understand the mysteries of death better than the next person. While I believe that death itself is not a tragedy (as opposed to the circumstances that lead to or surround it which may be) it is not wrong to feel sorrow over the departure of a friend or a loved one- they have gone on a journey to which we have not been invited yet and no one can truly know if there can be a reunion or not. It even seems to me that it would be inhuman to deny ourselves the right to feel anything, because we are beings that process via our emotions.

But one thing I think, dear reader, is that when that call does come, be that in fifty years or tomorrow, one should be able to step on the other side of the curtain knowing in their heart that they became the best they can be- that the grains of that black salt were not used foolishly.

One should have a heart that leads them on like a compass, straight as an arrow, regardless of what may come to pass. Suffering is a very human thing, as is sorrow. They both can have the ability to teach us- for the world is an ocean, and each wave that rages against us we can either choose to battle with our flimsy little fists or let it wash over us with the knowledge that once that struggle passes, the wave travels onwards, perishes into the horizon and will never return.

The Gift of Silence: Job and Judah’s Transgressions

One of the suggestions Wyrmfang, as my predecessor as guide of the Eye aspect, wrote regarding the contemplation of ideas etc. was that by the act of simply writing things down, one can develop or solidify an understanding of things. (Incidentally, this also opens one’s thoughts up to something similar to the editing I mentioned in my previous blog even if, instead of reading someone else’s work, one simply returns to their own work after a week or so.) With this in mind, I thought I’d post the latest example of something I intermittently wrote over the space of a month or so, as an attempt to relate some separate ideas more coherently, i.e. the major theses in Carl Jung’s ‘Answer to Job’ (psychology), Shaul Magid’s Hasidim on the Margin (mythology), and Jacques Derrida’s The Gift of Death (philosophy).

A major difficulty in posting anything like this is that it’s predominantly written for my own understanding and benefit, although the footnotes briefly contextualise important concepts I mention without explanation – if I was writing an article primarily for other people to read, I’d probably try to contextualise/explain things more clearly. However, despite this, I hope my example can demonstrate the value of something like this, even if it’s not easily understandable.

Finally, I am quite an academically minded person (or at least have delusions of grandeur), so this is reflected in how I understand things, but isn’t a necessary approach. Although I’ve written about traditionally ‘wordy’ subjects, this approach could just as easily work with descriptions of art (novels, paintings etc.), experiences (religious, everyday etc.), and so on.

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Writing Lines on Magic

Prior to the invention (or, at least, the western discovery and adoption) of the printing press, medieval monasteries necessarily reproduced books by hand. This was undertaken in a specially designated room called the scriptorium or otherwise in the monks’ individual quarters. Silent working was typical: naturally this would have been the case in isolated quarters, but scriptoria also operated under an enforced silence. Therefore, the closest comparison with the modern world is unfortunately the practice of having naughty schoolchildren write lines. Indeed, many monks complained about their task: perhaps their assigned work was to copy a particularly boring book, to copy the same book multiple times; or perhaps the scriptorium/their quarters happened to be the coldest room in the monastery, or was within earshot of a fervently desired practice.

However, there is a lot to be said for the necessity of paying rapt attention to a subject in order to accurately reproduce it. What insights could be gained from slowly progressing through a book, by dwelling for longer than usual on specific sections, metaphysical language, repetitious or unique terminology and, if the scribe was particularly talented, by finally embellishing the words with representative surrounding illustrations.

This sacred reproduction reached a greater level of importance in cultures other than western Christianity. For example, medieval Islamic scribes continued to reproduce the Koran by hand because the use of a mechanical printing press for such was considered heretical. Incidentally, this is one of the major reasons why the technology of the printing press took longer than it otherwise might have to reach Europe from its Chinese origins. However, the work of the scribe was elevated to its pinnacle by Judaism, some of whom claimed that a single error in reproducing the Torah literally changed the word of God – naturally a supreme blasphemy.

Two such practices are undertaken in the Star of Azazel. Both, of course, are voluntary, although the first of these has a much more practical application, namely the translation and editing process of reproducing Finnish works into English. Currently, the most significant example of this (at least by members of the Star of Azazel) is a forthcoming translation of Johannes Nefastos’ Writings on Magic (Kirjoituksia Magiasta). Such work is typically undertaken by two people – in this case Raktazoci (Finnish) and Jiva (English) – which complicates the process somewhat, but is necessary for more accurate results. The intention is also the same for both people: how to, not only translate a text, but also retain the style of the original author. This poses some difficult and interesting questions:

  • What is the author trying to say?
  • Why has (s)he used certain vocabulary?
  • Has (s)he personalised vocabulary?
  • What sources has (s)he used as influences or comparators?
  • Does his/her writing style in the original language differ from his/her English writing style?

These are far from revolutionary questions to pose when reading a book, but when focussing on a single word in a single sentence and attempting to contextualise it within a text of many thousands of words – to say nothing of an author’s wider bibliography and influential source material – then associations come to the fore that the comparatively rapid speed of normal reading does not allow. To attempt to understand these questions and associations essentially entails a postmodern Deconstructive analysis of active research and cross-checking. This results in the personal interpretation a translator and editor must construct in order to understand the book in the first place. By itself, this is necessary and what one would hopefully attain upon reading a book. However, the fact that these will act as gauzes through which the original book will be seen is reminiscent of the Biblical phrase of “through a mirror darkly.” Yet the impossibility of fully resolving these problems should not preclude any attempt to do so – as frustratingly futile as this sounds – as it ultimately ensures the level of accuracy. The irony of untranslatability and loss is that it is paradoxically productive and, assuming the essential ideas have been understood, a positive thing on a subjective basis.

Therefore, aside from the practical result of producing a publishable book, translation and editing also act as a method by which one can examine their own thought patterns, those of the original author, and the sources the author utilises in their text and any others an individual brings to the table in minute detail.

The second scribal practice within the Star of Azazel – which is far less formal – is to identify a particular text and to copy sections (stanzas of poetry or chapters/sections of text) at assigned times during the week as a purely meditative or spiritual practice. The text, the language of reproduction, the regularity of copying, the physical matters (particular pens, paper etc.) are left to individual discretion, as is a ‘forfeit’ for missing a session, either deliberately or accidentally. Between 5-10 people have undertaken this practice (some multiple times) by using a wide range of sources, and have experienced a wide range of positive and negative results. Returning to the introduction and the happiness medieval monks took in their task, whether this has been considered a positive or negative practice has basically depended on whether members enjoyed the text they had set about copying – some chose their texts blindly.

Much of the same benefits from translating and editing a text can be found in this less formal, meditative practice, although the orientation is somewhat different. Although a personalised version of the text is the physical result, there is no literal, written interpretation but rather an inward holistic development and attachment to the text and others it may link with, either factually (e.g. a link between two Eddic poems) or entirely unrelated documents (e.g. a link between an Eddic poem and a Kabbalistic text). There is accordingly a much more existential emphasis where things can be freely connected on a subjective level.

Old Norse Cosmogony: a Kabbalistic Interpretation

Recently I found myself idly returning to an old suggestion: fitting Old Norse cosmogony into a Kabbalistic template. Both have similar emanatory passages, although as Kabbalists vociferously used the written word to transmit, formulate, and arguably consciously create their mythology, they had similarly detailed personal redemptive paths, something which Old Norse mythology has not preserved to such an extent. Accordingly, this aspect has been left absent.

In under a thousand words, this is obviously not a detailed interpretation. It is also worth clarifying that the Lurianic Kabbalistic template I have adopted here is predominantly derived from Aryeh Kaplan’s Inner Space – which serves as an excellent introduction to Kabbalistic concepts – and, to a lesser extent, Sanford Drob’s Kabbalah and Postmodernism.

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On the Red Aspect & Gardening

 

I’ve recently moved to countryside, into a house that lies under the largest spruce tree I have ever seen. Much of the decision of moving was based on that very tree that has stood on the same spot for I can only guess how long. I thought to win the tree’s favour, so to say, would give me mighty protection and serenity. In Finnish tradition the spruce is connected to death and the underworld, and the lone tree hovering over the house in winter darkness truly touched my shamanistic heart.

As spring came, the long neglected garden began to stir with life. Hundreds of nettles burst from every corner on the yard and I began to make plans and to dream of tending a garden again, drawing pictures and reading up on various plants, walking in the forest nearby looking for something I could move on my yard. As I raked and raked, dug out weeds, delighted in new mysterious plants that popped up from the ground and picked up forgotten pieces of plastic and broken glass, I began to ponder on the art of gardening, which is a completely artificial imitation of nature and one in which man’s desire to control and shape all things is ever present.

Japanese gardens, lush with green, are a great example of a careful construction that resembles an idealised and perhaps slightly crippled image of nature. Each year, fallen leaves are hand- picked away from the ground, old trees are tied with ropes to protect them from the fallen snow and gardeners brush the rocks in ponds and streams to remove algae. A staggering amount of work is put into these gardens- but there is very little actual, “real” nature in the Japanese garden. They are a poetic vision, a mirage- and perhaps peace is so easily found there because of the hidden constructions that make a man feel safe and balanced, allowing space for thought.

All art, I believe, is an imitation of nature. We may learn to paint wonderfully, under the natural laws that are somehow most pleasing to the eye- executing compositions according to the golden ratio, choosing complimentary colour schemes, imitating curves and repetition of shapes around us. But we are always borrowing from nature, the mightiest of masters. Humans recognise the greatness of nature and are often a little ill at ease with many of its aspects, wishing to tame them, present them nicely and to either suppress or forget the uneasy bits, or else remove them entirely. To me, the yearly cycle of nature and all phenomena therein are the faces of master Satan- each offering its perils, possibilities and also undoubtedly gateways into ourselves.

 

Goethe's color wheel, 1810

All esoteric work is filled with difficulties, both mundane and otherworldly. Regardless of which approach one would take, there’s great perils ahead. Esoteric work changes us, for better or for worse. Most of the times, a little bit of both. And sadly, it’s almost certain that esoteric work will destroy a person who wields no patience.

As I waged war against the nettles and weeds in the garden in order to replace them with something that I wished to plant and despite wanting a wild-looking yard I couldn’t help but begin to question my justification to do so. The neglected garden had slowly begun to shift into a more natural state and even if it would be years and years before that state would truly occur, here I was, “correcting” the land. The destruction of the uprooted weeds in which I so readily engaged seemed to hint of something that was in myself. Was I symbolically destroying the chaotic qualities from my surroundings in order to suppress or to be more at peace with the ones in my persona? Or did I wish to leave my mark on this place and to somehow make it an extension of myself?

 

*

In The Star of Azazel, esoteric work is roughly divided under three different colour aspects. The Red Aspect, at times much mythologised, has often proven problematic as it draws in strong personalities. As Satanism undoubtedly attracts firstly, well, angry and intelligent young men, the Red aspect tends to allow many of these qualities to swell out of proportion. Impatience, harshness, rigid approach to practices- these are just a few of the continuously surfacing challenges on the Red path and also things I am guilty of.

It seems to me that the Red aspect ought to be neither masculine nor feminine, but both. Often times the Red aspect member is painted up to be aiming towards a very highly idealistic character- the seer, the fakir, the warrior, the medium, the artist. Yet in these archetypal figures lies a great danger. They are simply so grand that they may begin to tempt egoistic approach which either allows the undermining of one’s abilities with too much modesty or introduces a rigorous, somewhat masochistic warrior-training mould. Often the approach has been very masculine; one attempts to conquer and to harness, forgetting how to yield. In short, one wages war against the weeds and soon battle itself becomes a value. War against the bad qualities which need to be purged and won, first in self and then perhaps in others as well.

But despite being horribly hard, esoteric work is not a war. Rather, it is a dance. A dance with numerous, subtle steps and a strange tune- and how easy it is to make mistakes, to get tangled in one’s fancy robes or to have two left feet, to mistake a mirage to be one’s leading partner!

In the light of these things, a garden may be more than a technical construction. It has all the potential to become a self- made temple in which man imitates creation and attempts to work with it. At the same time, it’s a mirror- why do I favour one plant over the other? What does a garden reflect of my temperament? Is it a meticulously groomed football field over which the gardener looms armed with a can of poison and a spade, daring unwanted plants to grow on the land that is theirs– or are frogs and snakes welcome to continue to exist therein? Surrounded by nature, one may find the courage to think. To accept the things that may not be changed. And furthermore, to understand and give space for the beings that were there before and how everything is connected- from a lowly worm to the tall, majestic spruce. How the gardener is not outside of this system nor never truly the master of it. Because just like a dance, gardening too is a meeting of two. A garden also always forgives and allows the work to be started over and over again. Of this much can be learned, for it’s rare that our attempts at occult work would be one clean run to the goal. In reality, mistakes will be made along the way.

The seemingly externalised esoteric work of gardening is a monotonous task fit for monks. But observing the developing garden with its subtle alterations throughout the year and learning to yield to its rhythm is a task fit for a seer. It takes great patience and sensitivity not to destroy the existing landscape in a spur of the moment “better” ideas, be it on your yard or in your heart and mind. In a similar fashion, it takes aeons to become a gardener of that complex fabric that is your immortal soul.

 

The Unseen Masters

I

The question about the occult masters in the word’s different meanings and points of view is manifold indeed. Here I will discuss a few of these viewpoints, focusing mainly on the side of the so called ascended masters.

In the text Adept I mentioned the two different kinds of true initiations: The first is the more important, and is brought about by spiritual awakening of the kundalinî. The second is the seal of the initiation in one’s body, changing not one’s soul but the physical energies, and it is brought about by the linear kundalinî process within the spinal column.

This second initiation path has two methods: firstly laya yoga, and secondly what could be called an apostolic succession, using the power of the master to draw forth a similar empowerment in the diciple. In the first method the occultist draws the “physical” kundalinî to the energy centers using a similar method that he has used with the spiritual one: attracting it by focusing his attention by intense meditation. Without extremely good personal guidance, physical laya yoga is dangerous almost beyond belief and can easily result in perversion or destruction of one’s bodily and/or inner structures.

In the second method the kundalinî is drawn to the centers by one’s master. The first operates from downwards to upwards, facing all the problems and possible dead ends of evolutionary struggle. The latter one operates from upwards to downwards, and bypasses the problems (although it naturally unveils the challenges of the attained next degree of the Great Work). Both of these methods, therefore, require an adept master. The one who believes in the occult world view but does not place trust in any master is a pratyêka or a “one-horned” aspirant, putting one’s trust solely in his own mind. Such a phase is usually temporal, for when one reaches some of the higher vistas of occult development, he usually agrees that the help of those who have done the same work before him would be the greatest of blessings.

 

II

At the very foundation of the occult world view there’s a belief in spiritual evolution. This spiritual evolution has to do with individuals even more than species and races, for it works with the inner, unseen man.

Where the everyday man in us is mortal, the inner human being is eternal. To the degree we reach that inner reality, create our inner individuality, we become immortal by reaching that which alone can bestow immortality – for a man that does not live from bread alone, but from every word that come from the mouth of the Silent Speaker of Nature.

Because the evolution of the esoteric doctrines concerns the inner human being, those who have reached the heights of human evolution are, first and foremost, inner beings. They may or may not have bodies similar to our own, and they may or may not live among us. Such things are no longer so important to the minds that have reached the unity (nirvâna). Yet they have become more spiritual, more subtle, more understanding, more human than we are, and that makes for them unnecessary to act through visible means. The true adepts live in the world in cognito, when they choose to live among us at all.

They have no reason to do otherwise, since after ascending above the normal worries and ills of humankind, they have learned to work more and more through spiritual principles, touching not one but several points at once. By sounding a chord here and there they play the organ of the ages with unimaginable care, talent, and skill born from millennial struggle for harmony. They are never at rest, but they are never at work either: these true human beings have reached the level of being where they can seamlessly unite work with joy, living by true art. They are above our petty problems themselves, but they know all about these, having being ones like us just a moment ago – some dozens or hundreds or thousands of years ago, which is a mere blink of an eye in the great timescale of evolution. They have forgot nothing about being human, and they are no distant nor uncaring.

Still, as any occultist worth his salt definitely knows, and as we brothers under the Star have taken as our fifth tenet,

There is no one besides ourselves who could raise or transcend us. No outward saviour, religious or mundane, can truly develop, strengthen or redeem anyone else. Every positive change must come from man himself, must happen within, and must pass through every aspect of him.

Thus these helpers of humankind will not, cannot, interfere with our lives in a way we might consider straight and visible. They are not the seen, but the unseen masters.

 

III

The foundation of the Golden Dawn – which gave a starting point to many of the new applications of the Left Hand Path – was its secret chiefs. Similarly, behind the Theosophical Society were its masters of wisdom, whom we know by their pseudonyms and even by transmitted communication. The case is similar with all the true religions and real magical lodges: they are inspired, we might say spiritually founded, by the unseen masters – that is an ancient and universal occult belief; certainly not made up in the eighteenth century, as Faivre claims. Whether the members of these magical brotherhood actually believe in the spiritual founders beyond their societies is mostly irrelevant: for both the belief and the lack of it will bring a different set of challenges. Too much belief and a sect is born, and with sectarianism comes orthodox thinking, narrowness of mind, and blind moralism. Rather than put our trust in the hero cults of the ascended masters, it would be better to ignore them altogether.

Yet, when one’s occult career is in a point where he or she enters the normally unseen realms in his waking mind, the neophyte will nolens volens come to contact with their unseen forces. In that astral and spiritual (which are two different things) awakening the occultist has three possibilities, we can say three paths from which to choose:

1) The way of ascension

2) The way of the astral brotherhoods

3) The pratyêka way of solitary wandering

The last one means that one never accepts or is accepted by a master. Rather, he remains a seeker, questioning everything, placing faith in nothing. This is the “Grey Path”, and usually a temporary phase.

The astral way puts one in contact with the brotherhoods in the unseen world between the material and the spiritual realm. In this liminal world one will meet demonic forces which are part archetypal, part human, and part subhuman. The “secret chiefs” in this realm are ingenious in ways that leave something unfulfilled; there are parts in each of these teachers that keep them in the magnetism of the astral light, the great deception.

For the third, the way of ascension, gives different teaching concerning this unseen realm:

If freed thoud would’st be from the Karmic chains, seek not for thy Guru in those Mayavic regions… The WISE ONES heed not the sweet-tongued voices of illusion. Seek for him who is to give thee birth, in the Hall of Wisdom, the Hall which lies beyond… (– The Voice of Silence.)

That is, beyond the astral world of dream and trance experiences. The true unseen masters have little to do with the astral light, which is filled with psychological snares – dangerous just because it seems so alluring for the people who because of our materialistic age come to think that everything that is not material must be spiritual, and everything that we can empirically perceive is a witness of its truth. But empiric testimony is nothing; seeing the spirits and talking with them proves nothing of their actual nature. Not the material, not the astral world hold truth, but the formless spiritual realm of abstract light beyond that. That is the true home where our souls yearn forever, until we reach the true initiations which will awaken us THERE.

Both the Right Hand Path and the Left Hand Path workers much more often end up meeting with the astral than the truly spiritual entities. Striking pacts with these mortal beings of the veil we can receive minor boons, but will easily lose more than that: our possibility to move further and reach the higher state. For the demonic beings who have ended up in the astral self-identification, no occult development is possible anymore. But, if both of these side-paths are dismissed and the path of ascension chosen, there will come the possibility, nay, the unavoidability of contact with the masters. For when we start to see, first little by little, then at every moment, the world surrounding us, the very flesh of us, as an arteficial structure in the cosmos that is actually tremendous light, power and great intelligent design, we will become part of the true brotherhood, which central lodge is that of the masters of wisdom. Our little brotherhoods, like the Star of Azazel, are only branches in that incredibly ancient tree of life, and as long as we keep in the word of the masters, they do keep in us. For that life is the initiatory light, and the unbroken golden thread of Hermes.

 

IV

In our prayer we the brethren of the Star of Azazel meditate thus:

I adore and call upon you, I reach towards you O Azazel, my Master. It is you whom I adore, you whom I follow O Earth-Fallen Star, Bright Son of the Deep, the Eternal Flame from the Unseen Fire. O Pentagrammaton, my Master, my Love, the innermost being of my soul! I beseech you, O Holiest One, to lead me in my work and to keep me on the path that leads to your inseparable unity. “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” And truly I want to purify myself and to keep in your word. Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. Have mercy, have mercy, O Lord.(– Prayer to Azazel, Latin parts translated.)

In this prayer we “reach towards” the master, who herein is named Azazel. His “mercy” is most of all the innermost flame of our own individual soul, our most fundamental and permanent self. But all the names of the masters are titles, whether we speak of Azazel, Christ, or even the pseudonymes given by the masters themselves. These names are given as passwords or the words of calling, to focus on a certain kind of energy. They refer not necessarily to personalities, for the “Hall of Wisdom” where the ascended beings live is above the worlds of the masks. Personality, “per-sona” has a meaning of the mask, through which comes the voice which source is beyond it. AZAZEL, the word or title of power, refers to a certain kind of master, as does CHRIST, being much like it. These, and other titles, are held by the powers who once were men but are not that anymore, having reached the divine state of being able to incarnate the archetypal powers.

All this may sound very strange, but is important to understand for those actually reaching for the masters and the true initiations. The most important thing is that the yoga practices like the prayer above can and should be used primarily for the invocation of one’s inner archetypal powers. One using the Prayer to Azazel needs not believe in any outside master, and certainly should not believe in any outside saviour. But when the time is right, he or she will come to see that there are intelligences behind the names used, & that they are not of a speculative or abstract kind, nor are they astral ghosts.

Here and there the neophyte will first start to see the foot- or fingerprint of these great intelligences, with uttermost patience guiding his hand and destiny along the path he himself has chosen to walk. When he gives himself utterly to the great striving, unconditional love, complete honesty, and using these golden means to struggle for the true initiations – then he will receive them. First will come the instructions, then will come the trials, and if these tests are accomplished, the neophyte will find himself holding the very real answers of some of the four first initiatory powers. If he denies from himself the hubris and comfort they bring, he will slowly work his way through the second grade, and maybe even further. For the masters have not the slightest reason to give special attention to selfish people, who would reach for power to use for themselves; that would make no sense at all, and would result in anti-initiation of the downward path instead. No, the power is given to those who have shown under the difficult circumstances that they work for the benefit of all and not just for the few.

 

V

So “our master” Azazel is a title, as is Lucifer the Light-Bearer or Christ the Anointed One. These are archetypes, offices for the powers that be. We will call, but who will listen? That depends on how deep and intense is our call: whether it is just the movement of the lips and tongues, that means very little indeed. If it is a call of emotions in inner turmoil, astral entities will be summoned; if intellectual, we will draw forth intellectual beings not unlike living Platonic ideas. But if we can actually reach the spiritual world, its sentient powers will notice that as clearly as we notice a match ignited in the dark. This ignited flame in the spiritual levels will need fuel to live on however, and concerning this the mystic parables should be studied from the 25th chapter of the gospel of Matthew. No one will be given true power before his or her ability to work is first tested in small scale working, and in that, one of the tested attributes is that of patience. No one will be given a chance of even the first initiations before years of hard work and most deep, ardent longing for the truth and truth alone.

Orders, societies and brotherhoods that demand authority because they supposedly have some or other master behind them thus already shown themselves as hoax. For the masters will never demand obedience from those untested, never from the exotericists who do not and can not know what kind of deep bond a spiritual faith is, and how much responsibility one takes with any occult disciple who chooses to follow his master’s guidance. Nor would it give the culture the inspiration it mostly needs, that which will advance individual, responsible human understanding and harmonious advancement of all the spiritual principles, not only intellect nor only love nor only one’s magical will, but all of these simultaneously and in careful equilibrium.

The question of the master and masters is extremely deep, for it belongs together with the question of the individual and the whole, which are found within each other. The pentagram and the hexagram, the human mind and the mind of the archetypes are not separate, but subtly one. Even in one human being there are several minds, several souls, for there is an intelligence guiding each of our principles: mind of the linga, mind of the kâma, mind of kâma manas, and so on. These together form a unity under the inner egoic master, who is the so-called real I, the mystery called ahamkâra or the maker of self-consciousness, feeling of one’s self. It is partly illusion, partly true, and in its latter part connected to the inner master of ours.

For the master is:

One’s inner “higher self” (= the monadic unity of our âtma-buddhi-manas).
An ascended human being who is known by a pseudonym or a title.
A divinity, who is superconscious and omnipresent but without any human personality.

The master to which we turn and seek in our prayers can be any and all of these. The first one is the most important, for in that meaning we all do have a most real guru and master, the conscious flame within. But that higher self is closer to the last (the class of universal divinities) than it is to the second, the actual personal, or better yet partly personal master. Only by our own striving and the hardest of all hard works will that inner light or the so-called “holy guardian angel” be wholly individualized, that is, permanently joined with our individual personality. In this process the outer masters can and will help, and that help will be needed too. For although the pratyêka path is open and anyone is free to try to walk without guidance, it is almost certain that alone one will fail. Such a separation from all outer help would demand so complete a seclusion, so pure heart and so ascetic habits, that in the time like ours it is almost an impossibility.

 

VI

In all true brotherhoods, a master silently looks on and waits, and if there will rise individuals worthy of initiations, the central lodge will grant them in secret. These initiations do not happen in the physical or astral realms, although the both of these can and often do have their important meanings as their correspondences, if the hierophants in such mysteries are valid. The actual and most meaningful initiations, however, take place in the “Hall of Wisdom”, which is above form and formality, being neither physical or astral, but part of the realm of imperishable truth. Such an empowerment will be seen outside though, both in the physical and the astral realms, for a true initiate has markings of such – not elongated earlobes nor honeyed words, but there are actual fruits from the good tree in his hands, and from these he is known.

This is also the difference between the exoteric and esoteric orders. The real esoteric orders have a direct contact to the lineage of some or other master – and all the true masters have the same principles, being of the same brotherhood which heart is known to us as ethics. An exoteric order can be blessed in a way that it does good in the world, and such an organization is always loved and cared by those whose aim is the evolution and well-being of not only the humankind, but all the universal life everywhere. But since the masters know that the world cannot be saved by any outer form but only by free individuals, the true esoteric orders always focus on individual occult development. In their heart they exist to give initiations, for that is the summum bonum of actual spiritual development.

Far from this being all that could be said of the subject at hand, the thoughts given above are just a surficial scratch. This, like all the writings of the brotherhood – besides its very basic tenets and aims, its work for the unity and of the use of the Threefold Key, uniting different esoteric schools and philosophies – is to be taken as an individual author’s personal thoughts. Although there are those in the Star of Azazel who believe they are doing both the inner and the outer master’s work, such a faith is not asked from the members and it is, actually, only for the minority. As already mentioned above, blind faith would be opposite to what the masters would like to encourage, if they do indeed exist.

Moreover, the great question of overlapping offices and unity of individuals in spirit is so deep a question that it must remain a mystery. Even those who believe they are working with and/or for a certain master might or might not actually be doing that, and even when there is no error per se, there are differences in the offices, as already pointed out. The mystery schools are not for the easy answers, but for seven new questions arising for any one answered. But slowly, piece by piece, the puzzle will come together, finally bringing forth the hierophany of both God and man, the inner and the outer powers.

FINIS

Masters

End of the Small Cycle

The spring equinox was in many ways important to the Star of Azazel. Much needed renovation of our web page, much anticipated publication of the translation of Fosforos. Also it was nice to have brother Obnoxion’s radio interview here in Finland at the same day,  in its part bringing the brotherhood’s ideals nearer & clearer to the ordinary life of people.

The coming summer will start the next seven year cycle of the Star of Azazel, and it will be interesting to see what it will bring along. The first cycle, years 1999 to 2006, was about bringing its doctrines from philosophy to practice: What means concretely the bringing and emphasising of the philosophy of oneness to Satanism? The next cycle, years 2006 to 2013, have been constructing the outer temple for this practical inside world view. Although the work has been done in tremendous amounts, it still seems fantastical how much have been accomplished.

What will the future bring about from this basis? Will it be the destiny of the Star of Azazel to be hidden within the sacred earth, as a part of its secrets? Or will it be to shine forth to everyone who at the times of dawn or twilight rise their sight to the sky? This remains to be seen, and both of these possibilities would be good indeed. Both would bring the challenges of their own, the hardships of theirown, the possibilities of falls, with which it demands the clarity of intellect as well as heart to live and to act. For without these two – willingness to act with both truthfulness and love – nothing can be built to last.

Will we see an energetic, vital society that can grow to embrace diversity, at the same time clear in its core, capable for acting out its message of bringing individual spirituality to larger context of bringing together seemingly different kinds of truths? Or will we see those ideals, beautiful on paper, falling to petty bickering or one-eyed interpretations, humane selfishness or lack of vigour?

The time will tell. Whatever happens, from the viewpoint of the steadfast aspirants every possible outcome is a positive one, for a seed once sown will bring fruit according to the intention and not to the seeming outward impulses. But because of the larger groups of men, who for the time being do not see esotericism as the fundamental force beyond everything, but rather as sometimes seen and as often lost thread of Meaning within the obscure passages of life’s labyrinth, for these larger groups of people I’d hope that this new system – that starts with the most difficult and from upon its rejected cornerstone reaches to touch every one differently sensing sincere heart – would win itself more and more place in this world, where the deeper meaning still too often has to face that tired Pilatean thought: What is truth?

Let us ponder with care the answer for this rhetoric question, for maybe – maybe – that answer really exists. Maybe it does live as eternal, even if it would have to recloth itself for any new context and all new cycles of humanity.

The Secret Fire

Serpent fire, the most fundamental power. How miraculous and beautiful you are! When we are still bound to the everyday worries of our humane life, you rest coiled in your confined chamber deep in the earth’s center – ”wisely thou waitest, til thy time’s to come”.

But as soon as our hearts start to beat more vehemently, when we dare to cast our sight upwards to the starry firmament above the earth’s sphere, and when we dare to promise to serve Truth and Love and sacred Meaning above all our own interests – then flashes your eye, and the dragon breathes upwards a wave that makes the world blaze as with the colours of million gemstones. The aspirant holds his breath; he feels his hair raising up; he sees around him the immeasurable depth, of which every drop is saturated with that Meaning of whose servant he has given his heart to be. No longer will there be a moment of no importance, not a single one wasted, for the power is in him and in everything he will face.

How deep a happiness! How great a suffering! What an ingeniosity, beyond compare! What a madness! When the bolts have been lifted by work of service, and the door between the small and great world opens, you feel dizzy like you would on the top of the highest mountain, your forehead touching the cold brightness, being full of sweet warmth. My beloved cold Father, who are my spirit and mind! My beloved fiery Mother, who are my body and personality! How you are close to every being! Every moment is a clear white moment of the new world, with no past, without a future.

* * *

THE WHITE ASPECT is about pure, halo-like radiation. It does not force. It demands the doctrines of harmony already adopted and the fanaticism of ego already tamed. Only one single exertion, one forced step, one moment of hesitation, and the white brother stops being ”candidus”. For the genuinely white robe is never white because the one who wears it would fear to stain it and therefore shun something one would see as dirt, but because the inner light shines so bright that wherever one places his or her foothold, there already is the floor of the sanctum to support it. Even if a white adept would be born into the receptacle for cattle’s forage, his touch would change it to the chest of the sacred serpent. This is true tantra, the ability to purify with one’s own essence alone. Is it hard? Not only hard, but impossible before the core is wholly broken and transformed. That is why it has been said: ”Ye shall know them by their fruits”.

* * *

The one who has received the baptism of living water and has been able to bring it to everyday life walks as a stranger among the people. But unlike as on the gloomy graveyard path, one doesn’t feel to be separated from their lives; unlike as on the bloodied path of the cross, one’s hands are not bound from helping them. His hand that grasps no weapon, no quill nor a tool any longer, is like a blazing pentagram that holds and transmits the perfect self-awareness – the divine knowledge, for likewise it has been said: ”Ye are gods.” This joy can never vanish or turn to despair, for there is nothing reactive, nothing that would like to flee, and nothing not-immanent: it is earned and true state of one’s inner brightness.

* * *

In this way does a white brother see his mentor and guide, who is himself, his master, his god, and the presentation of the whole. He is Lucifer-Christos, and every man and woman who has gone through the first initiations to the higher attainments. Such a being dwells in one’s body as a bright heart of a flame in the lantern. May the lantern be covered with the stained glass, be it hidden or open, there is no doubt in or about him. This is the mystery we are following in the lodge of Lucifer.

My beloved serpentine Goddess! Arms, feet, and face pressed onto earth I can only join my hands to prayers; this elevation makes me mute. How much have you demanded from us, O Life, and how you do brighten us. One and twenty centuries is not enough for the weaving of your hymns, but we try, O Master, the magical flame, Lucifer! Never take your guidance from us. In the name of Love and Truth, be blessed forever you, who gave birth to Ofiomorfos our redeemer.

AD PERPETRANDA MIRACULA REI UNIUS

Individuality

Modern occultism and spirituality in general emphasize the idea that we’re living on the watershed. The old and the new age are at the crossroads and traditional schools have to face the new winds that often seem to contradict the old ways of spirituality. The old model of forcing individuals into certain mould and unilateral process might have been suitable ways of development in the past but they don’t work any more, as spiritual processes can no longer be at the mercy of such forcing and strictness as individual will holds the key role in the spiritual growth.

Nowadays people often have a habit of taking influences from here and there and feel the need to avoid being engaged only into one kind of tradition or spiritual community. Many times these people are criticised of ”spiritual shopping” or superficiality. Usually this criticism rises from persons attached to some special path of spiritual tradition that they feel is the right one for themselves, and hence should be for everyone else too. However, considering todays greater need for individuality, there lies a bigger danger in forcing oneself to assimilate into inconvenient spiritual groups and their habits, than taking one’s own way choosing the views and practises that serve one’s own purpose and abandon those that do not feel right. It might seem superficial to some but it allows a greater individual freedom.

In certain phases on the path it is essential not to be part of any spiritual society and only aspire toward individual and independent intelligence and insight. In my own case the phase was made even more remarkable by my experiences of different spiritual groups and societies that I tried to get in contact with, getting only little supportive results. Some reasons for this might have been my inability to find communion, my pride or other personal problem. Yet I believe it was only appropriate to end up to individual progress. I remember hearing from different people that enlightenment and spiritual development is impossible without a guru or master. Often it seemed these people themselves were willing to become spiritual mentors and tell others how enlightenment or whatever could be achieved. From many yoga and meditation groups I got impression that the followers of that certain path thought it was the only possible way to find anything I was searching. Some of the instructions I received from these groups were downright ridiculous or otherwise inessential. Usually the one thing common to them was that the instructions were given by some ”great master” and that’s why they should be followed. Of course it’s allowed to do that if that is one’s will. The problem is that it is easy to believe all the speech about the one right way if ones individuality and inner voice have not yet been developed enough. I believe that only after one’s own individuality is more developed it is possible to be part of any society without too much risk of doing something against yourself and your purpose.

Similar negative experiences, like mentioned above, are quite usual and they give hint of how some of the old and traditional ways might get too absolute and blind to the challenges of today. On the other hand it also helps some people find more personal ways of progress – for those who carry the flame of the new, more individual, luciferian time in their hearts will not stay within those narrow frames. And then the frames only become fuel for even greater flame to burn.