"Dark" in Satanism

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Nefastos
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"Dark" in Satanism

Post by Nefastos »

During my years in Satanism I have repeatedly come across some persistent misunderstandings concerning the Satanic world view. One of them is that Satanism either is or demands morbid fascination of things that are aesthetically dark & ambiguous. While this may naturally be a part of someone's Satanism, such "darkness" is not something I would consider in any way important aspect of Satanic religion, philosophy, occultism, or world view.

Of course, Satanism as an open approach to views that are not standard may bring with it some not standard aesthetical appreciations. But I consider it very childish indeed to liken Satanism or the Left Hand Path only to things that are horror flick kind of dark.

How "dark" is your Satanism?
In what way?
Faust: "Lo contempla. / Ei muove in tortuosa spire / e s'avvicina lento alla nostra volta. / Oh! se non erro, / orme di foco imprime al suol!"
Kavi
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Re: "Dark" in Satanism

Post by Kavi »

I wrote quite a big post regarding to other mainstream religions and their association with "darkness" but it went too off-topic so I reduced it to this:

Although I view my satanism as colorful I get sometimes really angry when there is some kind of new-agey conversation about light, positive feelings and joy and pastel colors, sunshine and rainbows.
I immediately react, almost in demonic despair, trying to remind myself how horrible world of shit this place is. It is almost comical and can be quite counter-productive too.
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Soror O
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Re: "Dark" in Satanism

Post by Soror O »

To me satanism is at it's core an investigation of the shadow aspect of being, and working with it. This shadow aspect is dynamic and re-shaping itself constantly, so it's not fixed at all. Therefore fixating to particular dark aesthetic taste would be nothing more than a superficial lifestyle arrangement (- not satanism). So as I have been drawn to death, decadence and macarbre for all of my life, it has been important that I examine the shadow side of this aesthetic and existential "taste" of mine.

But earning for the dark is more than a matter of taste - it is also a calling. It's a calling to go beyond the known, the already seen, the familiar and soothing. True satanism doesn't fixate to any form - it is more than keeping up with gothic appearances and mindsets.

But I sense a moral oblication to be aware of the world as "a bad place" - to be aware that there are things like hurt gore childporn (porn where children are raped and then killed), molestation, human trafficing, etc. I have asked myself what really is my relation to these matters? Why do I have to be aware? I think that it's for the sake of truthfullness. I also try to be aware of the loving kindness that is apparent in this world, in order to form a full picture.

(Ofcourse one can also ponder the possibility that maybe there's some sadistic/masocistic pleasure that one derives from dwelling in the darkness.)

Yeah, I'd say my satanism is dark. Maybe it has to do with my personality being "dark" (inside). To me, horror flicks bear a resemblance to the so called reality. They are somewhat even more real than the real world (whatever that is).
If you want to reborn, let yourself die.
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Insanus
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Re: "Dark" in Satanism

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Ave wrote: Sun Aug 30, 2020 2:23 pm To me satanism is at it's core an investigation of the shadow aspect of being, and working with it. This shadow aspect is dynamic and re-shaping itself constantly, so it's not fixed at all. Therefore fixating to particular dark aesthetic taste would be nothing more than a superficial lifestyle arrangement (- not satanism). So as I have been drawn to death, decadence and macarbre for all of my life, it has been important that I examine the shadow side of this aesthetic and existential "taste" of mine.

But earning for the dark is more than a matter of taste - it is also a calling. It's a calling to go beyond the known, the already seen, the familiar and soothing. True satanism doesn't fixate to any form - it is more than keeping up with gothic appearances and mindsets.

But I sense a moral oblication to be aware of the world as "a bad place" - to be aware that there are things like hurt gore childporn (porn where children are raped and then killed), molestation, human trafficing, etc. I have asked myself what really is my relation to these matters? Why do I have to be aware? I think that it's for the sake of truthfullness. I also try to be aware of the loving kindness that is apparent in this world, in order to form a full picture.

(Ofcourse one can also ponder the possibility that maybe there's some sadistic/masocistic pleasure that one derives from dwelling in the darkness.)

Yeah, I'd say my satanism is dark. Maybe it has to do with my personality being "dark" (inside). To me, horror flicks bear a resemblance to the so called reality. They are somewhat even more real than the real world (whatever that is).
All of this.



To add something, I feel like the blind drive towards transgressive excess is clearly a satanic inspiration and I think this "commitment" has a painful quality in any form. This is not so much philosophical as it is mystical or psychoanalytical. (Isn't this exactly Lacan's jouissance, that "starts with a tickle, ends in inferno"). I think this is the fire that makes life worth something and it always has at least a hint of "dark" in it.
I think my new favorite mystical picture is the anime/hentai ahegao-face. It feels like it grasps almost everything from blind, tortured female mystic but is not as grotesque and - strangely- not as sexual because the orgastic quality is made so obvious. Put that behind a picture of some peaceful meditative bliss and there's almost my personal version of our brotherhoods seal.
Jumalan synnit ovat kourallinen hiekkaa ihmisen valtameressä
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Nefastos
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Re: "Dark" in Satanism

Post by Nefastos »

Kavi wrote: Sun Aug 30, 2020 1:06 pmAlthough I view my satanism as colorful I get sometimes really angry when there is some kind of new-agey conversation about light, positive feelings and joy and pastel colors, sunshine and rainbows. I immediately react, almost in demonic despair, trying to remind myself how horrible world of shit this place is. It is almost comical and can be quite counter-productive too.

I know what you mean. Like Ave put it in the words of the real horror of the world so painfully well, I too do not react to the outward pictures of "pastel colors, sunshine and rainbows", but about the approach that makes the worlds shallow & egoistically escapistic with this kind of inner imagery.

As long as I have been charge of the brotherhood's White aspect, pastel colors, sunshine & rainbows – and unicorns, we must not forget the unicorns – have filled my heart with joy. But that joy is not the claimed release from truly dark things, but them being included in the overall White blaze of this Satanic mystery of light. Pure light is quite a hellish thing, you know. It makes no compromises for anyone.

This is a hard thing to explain, so I will take an example from the situation that incidentally happened just after I had started this thread. I turned my attention to another project I was to do today: reading & commenting a fairy tale for a fairy tale reading group. I did go through Italo Calvino's version of "Thieving Dove" fairy tale from Palermo, and included in the comments the extremely light Italian pop song from the eighties. All this would sound like an unbearable mountain of syrup for a "dark" Satanist aesthetic. Yet it was nothing of sort. The old fairy tale was totally dark, its romance throwing both participants to mortificating disease, insanity, rejection, and near death. It was so rich with alchemical symbolism that from those three dreamlike pages I got more help & catharsis that I have got in several last weeks of reading of seemingly occult texts. The "dove" itself proved to be an extremely black Christ figure, which gave the whole "bird of the holy spirit" symbolism a neck-breaking twist.

In a word, the journey that was apparently extremely "bright" side, was actually completely "dark" side. (I hope that the similar can be seen from my July article Cartazon, concerning the unicorn, to those able to read this Finnish text.)

Ave wrote: Sun Aug 30, 2020 2:23 pmTo me satanism is at it's core an investigation of the shadow aspect of being, and working with it. This shadow aspect is dynamic and re-shaping itself constantly, so it's not fixed at all. Therefore fixating to particular dark aesthetic taste would be nothing more than a superficial lifestyle arrangement (- not satanism).

Exactly.

Ave wrote: Sun Aug 30, 2020 2:23 pmYeah, I'd say my satanism is dark. Maybe it has to do with my personality being "dark" (inside). To me, horror flicks bear a resemblance to the so called reality. They are somewhat even more real than the real world (whatever that is).

In those rare cases where I actually watch movies, they are almost always about (Jesus or) supernatural horror. That is simply the only kind of tale I can usually identify myself with. I think that it also a bit spooky that I end up envying the people more the sooner they are killed by supernatural horrors, and pitying the rare ones who make it to the end. The rest of their life will be ruined by the traumatic experiences anyhow.

So, yes, I enjoy my human skin grimoire and the Baphomet statue on black altar cloth under the inverted crosses as much (maybe more) than the next Satanist, but I do not consider those things being objectively important at all. They are simply random aesthetical foci. Next to the screen I am reading this from are a skull and a Barbie doll who is wearing an inverted crucifix on black latex. I think it is very important for any an occultist to find out what he himself likes, instead of adopting cliche trappings of any a religion. Often it turns out that one likes cliches, "dark" or "bright" or both, for they have become cliches because they have something archetypical in them. But to me it is an extreme sign of weakness if one considers he must choose from a ready made set of aesthetics. Two stages of spiritual childhood is that one thinks he must choose from a set of outer images, or that he must leave all images behind and "grow up". Growing up has extremely little do with aesthetics, one way or the other. Those are temperamental, sporadic things.
Faust: "Lo contempla. / Ei muove in tortuosa spire / e s'avvicina lento alla nostra volta. / Oh! se non erro, / orme di foco imprime al suol!"
Kenazis
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Re: "Dark" in Satanism

Post by Kenazis »

I've come to conclusion that many things I see as calm, beautiful and relaxing are seen as disturbing and horrifying by many. But it is also the other way around, many things seen as normal by the majority is horror for me. Lacking meaning, depth and soul. And as said above, I see satanism heavily linked to shadow and depths. What these are for individual varies a lot. For me horror films and today's black metal culture etc. have almost nothing to do with satanism, they don't make impact, they don't move me. My satanism is dark in existential way, not in visual horror/gore etc. way. Those moments when I contemplate the nature and meaning of Christ are possible the "darkest" & "most satanic" moments, most horrifying places I end. And I feel great peace and meaning when thinking total desolateness and loneliness. I see theses examples being satanism because they are experiences of great otherness and power beyond my understanding.
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Nefastos
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Re: "Dark" in Satanism

Post by Nefastos »

Kenazis wrote: Mon Aug 31, 2020 12:32 amBut it is also the other way around, many things seen as normal by the majority is horror for me.

One of the many axes that potentially divide people both aesthetically and in deeper levels is the dichotomy between "mystical" (or paranormal, otherworldly) and "everyday" (mundane, down to earth). For me the first one is so intensely stressed in the things I find safe, beautiful, and more necessary, that I tend to forget that for the most people it's the other way around.
Faust: "Lo contempla. / Ei muove in tortuosa spire / e s'avvicina lento alla nostra volta. / Oh! se non erro, / orme di foco imprime al suol!"
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Polyhymnia
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Re: "Dark" in Satanism

Post by Polyhymnia »

My dark aesthetic is just a happy coincidence with my Satanism. To put it simply, I've been a goth chick much longer than I've been a Satanist. I recently told this story to my lodge brethren that gave us a good chuckle. I recently started renting a space for my business, and it ended up being from a guy who runs a Christian publishing company. He was clearly unsettled by my appearance, and you could tell he was afraid he was renting the space to a Satanist. Which, by all accounts, he is. *cue our good chuckle here*

Though I must say at my core I am probably more unicorns and pastels and sunshine and fluffy rainbows. I love horror movies, but very specific ones. If there's any kind of slasher element, the antagonist must have a back story (think Michael Meyers, or Leatherface). I can't handle violence for the sake of violence. And the unspeakable horrors you talk of, Ave, those acts towards children especially, they often keep me up at night. I think for these reasons, as well as many others, my Satanism isn't very dark at all. Because though I am painfully aware of this pain and suffering, I am aware of the capacity for human kindness also, and I would much rather let that pour from me. So though I worship death (of course), and like Nefastos, I, too, enjoy those things like the baphomet statue and the inverted crosses, it comes from a place of awe awe, reverence, beauty, and ultimate love. My master shines brighter for me than any other.

All that being said, I, too, cannot stand the really fluffy and vapid "light and love" phenomenon. What a cop out.
"Limited love asks for possession of the beloved, but the unlimited asks only for itself." -Kahlil Gibran
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Polyhymnia
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Re: "Dark" in Satanism

Post by Polyhymnia »

Also I guess my awe is so great that I typed it twice. Behold! Awe awe.
"Limited love asks for possession of the beloved, but the unlimited asks only for itself." -Kahlil Gibran
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Soror O
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Re: "Dark" in Satanism

Post by Soror O »

Insanus wrote: Sun Aug 30, 2020 3:28 pm I think my new favorite mystical picture is the anime/hentai ahegao-face. It feels like it grasps almost everything from blind, tortured female mystic but is not as grotesque and - strangely- not as sexual because the orgastic quality is made so obvious. Put that behind a picture of some peaceful meditative bliss and there's almost my personal version of our brotherhoods seal.
Thanks to you, I've been searching for ahegao-faces now and found them to be soothing. (They do resemble depictions of some hindu/buddhist divinities.)
If you want to reborn, let yourself die.
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