The Holy Trinity of Death, Sex & Satan

[Nokkonen]

Sexual taboos are for nothing else than control and lack of understanding.

I must disagree with you here. Instead I think that under most sexual hesitations there lies at least some wisdom. And with some common sexual taboos, like the ones prohibiting sex with small children & animals, I side with zeal.

Hmm. Taboos are ideas that are "forbidden" and as such, they can be very exciting, and I would be hesitant in condemning them strongly and pushing them deeper into the unconscious simply because they are wrong according to most moral standards. Luckily, there's difference between fantasy and reality in most (sane) people's minds. Lots of women, for example, have fantasies of being raped etc., but would not want to experience that in real life. Also, for a fact, there are pedophiles and zoophiles who entertain the thoughts in order to get off but would never ever do the deed because it's horribly wrong. I tend to think that it's better to be open with oneself and be friends with all the demons so that they don't come out in unconscious or compulsive ways.

[Nefastos]

And with some common sexual taboos, like the ones prohibiting sex with small children & animals, I side with zeal.

Hmm. Taboos are ideas that are "forbidden" and as such, they can be very exciting, and I would be hesitant in condemning them strongly and pushing them deeper into the unconscious simply because they are wrong according to most moral standards.

No no, I didn't mean that they should remain taboos in a way that these things should not be discussed openly, worked through in one's mental processes & cetera, just that they should not be played out for real.

Temperance between the extremes and balancing transcendence with life and pleasure seems intuitively important to me and perhaps this is the domain of Satan, although, not being a Satanist, my understanding here is limited. I equate him to the Trickster and the Adversary who challenges the status quo and the Official Truth. Our culture tells that we must choose between being holy and being worldly in same way that we see death as either being glorified or gross, and sex as the sacred union between two souls, or a totally base drive, but I don't think that's necessary.

Well put. Satan, here the middle one who presents otherness to its opposite, the burning cross in the middle of the triads of spirit & matter, is certainly also the Trickster, the Juggler, and the two-faced Janus. I don't know so much about old Scandinavian religion, but it is extremely interesting how in our tabulations the day of the Iocator or the smiling Hermes is also the day for the Lord of the Great Hunt & cetera (Wednesday from Wotan). Satan certainly is a serpent one can't grasp for long, if at all, by its tail.

[Kenaz]

For me, the occultism as the Philosophy of Unity and its mystico-practical manifestation as magic is basically this trinity. The longer I live the clearer it becomes that the only meaningful thing in the world is, for my temperament at least, the constant painful longing for the unity which has been denied of us, the incarnated beings. Every moment is suffering, every moment is heart-wrenching ache to become once more that One which has no time nor separation.

This was a realization I came to pretty recently myself regarding this trinity as being a foundation of the occult. Sex and Death are probably the most extreme and intimate moments that all humans go through, and their seeming polarity can actually be a rather poetic initiation into the mysteries of the occult, especially when unified with the third point of this trinity.


Sex and Death both reflect the transmutation of an individual's consciousness by offering a separation of the everyday self and unity into a higher state. Sex, like all works of ecstasy, is a bit easier to grasp and is the road most often undertaken because the unity with another person and the overall sense of pleasure is easier to find, comparatively speaking, whereas finding unity in death is a bit more nuanced and requires the individual to confront psychological aspects of one's nature to become free of the fear of death.

The appreciation of both also can showcase the unity between seeming opposites: sex is primarily worked with actively and physically, whereas death (until the very end) is worked with on a more cerebral level passively. The unity of both of these brings about the freedom that Satan most often represents. He is the manifestation of the separation of the ego self through ecstasy and perdition, and these three pillars represent a manifested symbol to focus towards, and to practical ways to achieve the unity and freedom that He represents.

[Sebomai]

In a way Sex and Satan are “lesser mysteries” (Not in meaning, but these two doesn’t confuse me so much) than Death. Death is the only thing that I can say I really fear.

I think we could say that the one which gives one most problems & draws the most questions is the one which is also one's archetypical colour at the moment, i.e. the most recommendable aspect:

DEATH > BLACK
SEX > WHITE
SATAN > RED[/color][/quote]

Then being in the aspect I am is perfection as I am, without any hesitation, the most baffled and perturbed by sexuality. I do a very poor job of figuring out any kind of balance with it and tend to find it a mysterious and terrifying beast. Not that I don't love it, but I suck at "living" it, if that makes sense.

[Sothoth]

Interesting topic indeed. I see all three as fundamental parts of occult work which seeks the ultimate unity behind this temporal world. All three are somewhat tabooed shadow aspects in the modern world, although this world seems to be obsessed especially about sex. And in my opinion occult or spiritual progress is found by shattering the illusions we have about this world. We need to see the world through new lenses of unity, and abandon those old lenses of separation and the most straightforward way to do this is to embrace these three often difficult aspects and to understand their true essence. By this true essence I mean something which is free from human misconceptions and traumas.

Death is transforming the old form into a new one. We may fear this change but it is after all a fundamental part of life. We cannot espace change for it is paradoxically the only unchanging aspect here. Death is also the great liberator from this material prison towards greater unity. In death I see the mysterious unknown paths yet to come.

I see sex personally the most difficult aspect of these three but at the same time it is the one I am probably the most fascinated about. Sex is the great creative force in universe, the serpent fire that illuminates us but that can bind us as well. For serpent "fire" I think we can also use "watery" symbolism because this force seems to stream towards the lowest channel as water does. So through love we must carefully and patiently purify this force for it to come a divine creative impulse instead of a source of prolonged suffering.

Satan is the great adversary. If we embrace something in a dualistic way, Satan is the great "other" and "shadow" which brings forward "the abandoned otherness" to us. Satan holds the keys of unity and of true spiritual advancement. We cannot be too one-sided, the other side must be understood as well because truth is unity behind our human dualism.