© fra Nefastos 2007
The Star of Azazel is a society for people capable of society-work and a brotherhood to those few who can fulfill the criterion of fraternal life. These criters are not of our invention but based on the simple fact that in order to truly belong to ideological inner circle one must inevitably participate in the work of that inner circle with one’s heart, accept it’s world of views thoroughly and lead one’s life like that kind of work suggests. It’s only a matter of what are the priorities and psychological readinesses of the individual. Belonging to a society doesn’t profit a member unambigously nor does it require anything from him: belonging to a brotherhood profits a member as much but it takes idealistic dedication – not fanaticism but devotion. Because the members of our brotherhood have got no special powers to show off but instead the unifying factor lies in the pure desire to serve the cause of truth, it becomes irrational for anyone to attempt to achieve merit from belonging to a brotherhood or to a society. Both these words, “society” and “brotherhood” have been used in our works as almost synonymical for they are concentric and one and the same to the eyes of an outsider. Even so, located in the nucleus is the spiritual idea and the unity of the actual accomplishers of that idea forms the brotherhood: the activity of this brotherhood, it’s natural ray into the visible world is the society of the Star of Azazel and it’s activity consists of a website, a magazine and all the external material of that nature needed at a time being.
It appears to be important to present a word or two to those – without doubt very few – people who truly develop an interest to the fellowship of the brotherhood and active participation in it’s idealistic work.
When one becomes a ”brother” – as more or less allowed by his will and skills – certain invisible may we say, chemical changes apply in relation to his soul-body. If one’s connection to the idea and the accomplishers of that idea is nominal and superficial or wrong pride or similar psychological illusion prevents the verification of true devotion, effects will stay minimal (that is to say only in the applicant: to the brotherhood and to the accomplishing of the idea he grants with his personal motionlessness a resisting element which creates harmful vortexes to the astral-mental work of the others). Blavatsky compares the members of an esoteric group to the “fingers of same hand” and even though a larger brotherhood cannot work individually as a vortex of concentric development as intense, the effect is not much more lenient. In such a case a few things must be remembered:
1) The great responsibility of every individual when it comes to manifesting the spiritual triangle. Each member is linked to the others also on the lower level of energy but what truly influences and is most importantly to be taken into observation is the added âtma-buddhi-manasic effect. It’s not as dangerous if a member is careless about the function of the lower trinity as long as the upper resonates sympathetically with the others. This unity is enough in itself in purifying the lower trinity and a brother of a lower degree – so to speak even as we don’t use the concept of degrees – actually benefits on the atmosphere of the more developed ones.
2) This creates a tension effective in the same way that all tension work in the occult processes, disrupting the bottom layers and surfacing resisting substance rapidly, not randomly, as in contrast to happenings of the profane life. All unnecessary feelings will float into the psychology systematically and when left unbaffled or wrongly dealt with, create difficulties for the whole group and it’s action.
3) Each brother must comprehend that the dealings are not primarily between personalities. The effect of personality is infinitely small inside the group, it’s actual effect reaches out from the group. Brother doesn’t look for personality in other brothers but for the soul. Naturally we can experience unconstrained joy from the edges and eccentrities of the personality of a brother in a way similar to that how one when alone can be joyous of the metamorphoses of the surrounding silent nature – but instead he has no right to expect any kind of social club activity. Ego is all and personality meaningless when the subject is in the inner effects of the brotherhood. A brotherhood is not a group of personalities but the co-operation of Egos with the energy that is formed unite with each participant in the subjective service to the idea he has seen true in himself. This is said so that we wouldn’t be taken as some kind of a system of freemasonry, in which the system itself has a responsibility to be an active factor in the personal life of the members.
4) If there is fear of any brother having some hidden grudge or hostility against the idea or the other brothers, the connection to that brother will usually be cut at once for when this kind of malicious substance resides so close to the living nucleus it will cause a major barrier for the work. It’s not a matter of beautiful words or codes of behaviour but the matter of the tuning of the soul of the indivual. As it is, when a disagreement of souls takes place the brother who is opposed to the idea is separated from the rest. This is not due to an attempt to hegemony: it’s the only possibility when it comes to occult work. The separation can be done almost arbitrarily when externally observed and this from the simple reason that nothing is easier to the representative of the school of the adversary principle than to present oneself as a friend in deceiving words and acts while the inner effect is the most destructive and aimed to destruct and twist the ideas of the society. There’s no need for paranoia, but still there are people who would not collaborate to society’s work with their hearts and with pure intentions and therefore, and unfortunately, members have to adjust to the apparent arbitrity of the activity of the inner circle. Even a brotherhood that is only partly exoteric can never be a democracy at the same time due to the laws of the occult world. More accurately it unites elements of anarchy and hierarchy in its activity.
Would it be that in some phase of the development of the society it seems that the spirit flees the original system, it will only take a new form in a new society: the idea – occultism, what form it may choose at any chosen time to manifest its evolutive work – is immortal. The society in itself has no meaning, it is only an external vessel and a tool, as a form it is necessary but without any value in itself. If the salt loses it’s taste it has no other use than to be thrown away and tread on by people. Thus no harm is done as long as individuals stay as individuals, heading towards Ego and God and leaving the laws of matter to small extent of observation. Inspiration flows from the ideal level to functioning centers under a name or another and this effect cannot be deceived.