The Holy Trinity of Death, Sex & Satan

[Nefastos]

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. Temporal & spatial difference is a sad facade which comes crumbling down in the flashes of the past & the future at every day, but still that wall of separation of the moments and beings stands there, holding us in prison. This cardboard box world is hard, no, impossible to believe, & yet it remains. Like a paralyzing dream one can't fully shake away.

The three aspects of this same sacred path of returning to the absolute here in the world seem to be Death, Sex, & Satan. The first two are familiar to all, while the third gives us that trembling & awe of the constant re-emerging to the new truths, shattering our personal doll houses at every single moment, if we allow ourselves enough subtlety/intelligence to see it. Magic is just the red thread running through all of these, "the bride", as the fourth Shaktic aspect can be called. The three are naturally the basic trinity of all the religions, including the aspects of creation, destruction, as well as maintaining the balance.

I'd be interested to hear if my brothers or sisters, or our welcome but usually rather silent guests have the same or different opinions about the matter. For these three are also the things which are partly tabooed in the society, so the most fundamental urges must live underground. Society is obsessed with sex, true, and perhaps also with death & Satan. But does it really understand any of these? For the moment, not at all.

[RaktaZoci]

To the latter part of this inquiry, the sociological question is obviously somewhat interesting, but I'm not probably the best person to answer on regards to it, since it could be hard to maintain a biased stance. Of course it is true that these things are indeed a taboo in modern society and when especially death intervenes in the lives of the so called ordinary people it tends to shake the very foundation of life they thought they took for granted.

To me, all these three aspects hold significance. One of the first steps was the realization that one must learn to love death. Only in this way one can truly embrace life. When all could be, if need be, thrown into the an abysmal chasm, then a glimpse of the truth has been achieved, I believe.

I think that I understand this sort of yearning to the other side, or otherness, that Nefastos talks about. It is very easy to feel alienated from this world, and society. There was talk some time ago on the Finnish forum of what everyone thought would be their "spiritual goal" in life, plainly speaking. Many mentioned nirvana in this connection, which is of course understandable. Somehow I feel that such a goal for me would se something very distant or even unachievable. I am happy with this, though. I will do what is in my power on this Path that I have chosen and hopefully I can help other people along the way. That is what is my personal goal. Maybe it will change later, in other lives (if one chooses to believe in reincarnation).

On the second aspect, as it was discussed quite thoroughly under another thread, sex or sexuality, is something that is a very natural approach to my person. How this is seen in society, though, is something quite different than what the meaning for this sacred aspect is for me. This is a little bit hard a question to answer, since I think eveyone defines the term differently, but in some form or another, I think it has to be regarded for a balanced growth on ones path.

The last aspect is also difficult to define. It is important, obviously, as a sort of a rebelling impulse inside all of us. Of course it can also be seen as just "the same truth" hidden behind different masks, as Fosforos presents. If no-one would have the nerve to be the antagonist, the world would be a very dull place, even though this can be carried out in very erroneous ways too.

This trinity, when you see it at the first time, seems very satanic indeed. But when one focuses a bit of though on the lot and towards the different aspects of it it starts to make sense, suddently.

[Cancer]

My version of this trinity would be death, sex and art - or drama or myth - with Satan as a fourth, unifying aspect that runs through the previous ones.

Death = the silent world of inanimate objects and matter, where there is eternal peace and purity no matter what happens in the human lifeworld. It's been an important meditation practice for me to try to see into this world in a particular place and at a particular moment. When one succeeds in this, there is a vision of unity and immortality, though this is not the only way to reach the vision, and not the only way it may feel like. Besides total inhuman silence, there may namely be a more active experience of love - of both loving and being loved - that is more closely linked with the next point.

Sex (in a broad sense) = the joy of existence. Isn't it just unbelievably wonderful to be alive here and now, to have a beating heart, lungs to breathe with, hands that can grab objects and feel and do stuff with them? Not to mention all the different, unexpected thoughts that can be thought, feelings that can be felt, all the pain and all the pleasure, all the people one can meet and talk with. This experience of unity and meaning is between the physical nature of death and the mental nature (meaning spiritual or psychologcal, whichever one prefers) of art / myth. It's animated matter, divine love manifest in even the most everyday things. I personally also connect it strongly with the Goddess, because Shakti, Shekhinah etc. represent the immanence of divinity. (And because, as a straight male, I find it natural to worship female gods. Ha ha.)

The final point is the least material, most spiritual one. (Of course, the dualism here is only instrumental: as I'm trying to illustrate here, all of these things "lead into" one another.)

Art = telos of the individual life and the world. I suppose the word could be "meaning" as well, but I'm particularly fond of this expression. The arts in a narrow sense (literature, painting, etc.) are about form, and this form is fundamentally the same in philosophical thought, and even in mathematics. It's the beauty of an equation, an insightful philosophical theory, or a good story; it's that unifying component in all of them which makes them appealing, harmonious. Recently, in a thread on the Finnish side, I wrote that for me the most, if not the only, meaningful thing in life is to make oneself a character in a story. For other people, establishing an honest and coherent philosophical worldview may have the same function; I believe that the fundamental drive behind both pursuits is the same.

In relation to this striving for beauty, harmony and meaning, Satan is the discord. S/he is the antagonist of the story or simply something that doesn't belong in it, that shatters the seemingly perfect system for understanding reality. S/he is also the total othersess of death, and the force that destroys unity, bringing about sorrow, but also the energy and joy of existence that I described earlier.

Note that my improvised system here is also yet another instance of the black-red-white / tamas-rajas-sattva - triad, with progress from darkness, matter and inertia to light, spirit and movement. Apparently I can't help thinking inside of this framework...

[RaktaZoci]

The arts in a narrow sense (literature, painting, etc.) are about form,

In relation to this striving for beauty, harmony and meaning, Satan is the discord.

Just a quick comment here, don't forget that music is art also. It is somewhat formless, even though vibrations on wavelengths are, in a sense, forms as well.

Also, in connection with musical terms, and the relation of a chord with a dischord, isn't the latter the aspect that "breaks the harmony", plainly speaking..(?)

[Cancer]

I wasn't forgetting about music: it's as formal as any art with its repeative patterns like melodies, beats, verse-chorus-structures etc. Form isn't necessarily physical: here it means something non-physical manifested in matter.

And yes, I did mean that one of Satan's functions is to break harmonies. That way, s/he urges people to find more lasting, more perfect forms for their world-views or myths. Without this seeming antagonism, beauty could not exist: totally static, totally "ready" forms are not beautiful, they just look and feel dead.

[Kenazis]

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. Big reason for this is that I don’t have faith in afterlife + my deep love for life, all its pains and joys, horrors and pleasures.
Sex is something equally sacred and profane. It is so basic function for living things (thinking sex in small scale here) that it’s extremely mysterious just because it’s utmost profanity. Sexual taboos are for nothing else than control and lack of understanding.
Satan for me is something that destroys and thus is a force that also gives the possibility to something new. It’s a force that makes all things empty and meaningless and is paradoxically a unifier in this sense. Total Emptiness, Utmost Darkness.
I see the trinity most naturally as the usual Birth – Life – Death (rebirth), Creator – Preserver – Destroyer, Thesis – Antithesis – Synthesis…etc. Also thinking different things through the concept of trinity is natural mental action for me.

[Nefastos]

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.

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

[Kenazis]

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.

Yes! That was very strong and wrong statement. Didn't wrote that properly. The sentence should be more like "Many sexual taboos have their root in "natural order", but many of them are for control and is based heavily on lack of understanding." For example homosexuality, incest, age differences /child vs adult, all have some common sense points why these originally have been "wrong", but today many that oppose these doesn't think about and go with "it's forbidden because it's forbidden" - mentality, that's often more harmful than understanding what's really "wrong" in these and accepting some forms of mentioned taboo activities. Thinking these through the lenses of biology, sociology, psychology, religion, all gives different reasons not to do these (but I see many of these can be also neutral things and sometimes good).

Example: a) 15 year old girl and 18 year old boy (man) = child sexual abuse. b) 18 year old girl (woman) and 50 year old man = acceptable. In a) the girl might be more adult in any way than the boy. In b) the girl might be (and in many ways is) psychologically child. Ok, offtopicking hardcore from trinity now.

[Kenazis]

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

Didn't think the colour- aspects, but the above makes sense to me. Sex / White- aspect has always been the most earthly, but also in some way very hard to get good and healthy grip to. Satan / Red - aspect has always been the the most familiar, joy-giving and easiest to cope with.

[Nokkonen]

I think that this triad is the way of the work indeed. For me, they point to an unity in immanence since all of these things are the stuff of life, the carnal, animal, scary parts in us, but also holy and pure, pointing the way to the Black Heart of Innocence as it is aptly described in some craft traditions.

Our society is totally obsessed with sex and death, but in very "non-whole" ways, if that makes sense. Some aspects are obsessively embraced, but the truly profound and transformative aspects are hidden away and sanctioned. Death, for example is avoided to a large extent and more and more people don't have any personal experience with it. On the other hand, much of the entertainment deals with violent ways to die but in a way that doesn't (usually) make an emotional impact on the viewer and raise the question on the nature of death. With sex, I'm sure you all know the score.

Personally, the idea of death is very dear to me because it puts life into perspective and urges one to think about the impermanence of everything and the importance of finding meaning to one's existence. Contemplating death is, to me, akin to seeing the stars on a clear night, and realizing one's place in the scheme of things. Like RZ said,

One of the first steps was the realization that one must learn to love death. Only in this way one can truly embrace life.

I agree with this wholeheartedly.

In regards to sex, my views go further than understanding sex=coitus, and I view it like Cancer who said

Sex (in a broad sense) = the joy of existence.

As opposed to death that goes towards unity through the idea of annihilation, sex approaches it through pleasure, creativity, life, and through shared experiences with the Other.

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.