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So what is Satanic then?
Now this
is an interesting concept that can be difficult for the
slow folks to grapple with, but one can easily view the world through a
satanic lens without considering oneself a Satanist,
or referring directly to it.
Something can be satanic without
necessarily being explicitly about Satanism
This may seem paradoxical but
I will explain.
We can discuss the satanic from many different angles,
but I only have time to discuss one.
What is Satanic is not a mere reversal of Christianity. For example, the Lord's
Prayer being said backwards is
still the Lord's Prayer, and the Lord's Prayer is a supplication to a divinity.
It is a beggars bowl to a supernatural creature clamoring for intercession in
personal security, the provision of food and a pleading that the Lord God steer
the supplement away from
doing bad things.
I mean it's a
total rejection
of personal responsibility
for the most fundamental
of human needs.
An explicitly Satanic equivalent maybe Baudelaire's The Litanies of Satan, where
he takes the Lord's Prayer and kind of blasphemes it up a bit, exchanging Mary's
name with Satan.
But something a little more inspiring me
might be Carducci's Hymn to Satan.
I've truncated it to a few
lines in English
To you
my darling verses are unleashed
you I invoke, O satan
monarch
of the feast.
Put aside a sprinkler priest, and your litanies! No priest, Satan does not
retreat. You breathe, O Satan in my verses, when from my heart explodes
a challenge to god
Of wicked pontiffs, bloody kings; and like lightning you shock men's minds.
Sculpture painting and poetry first lived for you, Ahriman, Adonis
and Astarte,
When Venus Anadyomene blessed the clear Ionian skies
As Martin Luther threw off his monkish robes,
so throw off your shackles, O mind of man,
An crowned with flame, shoot lightning and thunder; Matter, arise;
Satan has won. Hail, O Satan O rebellion,
Oh you avenging force of human reason!
All the hallmarks of
the satanic worldview are there,
indulgence, the beauty and wonder of the material world, a rejection of the
oppressive faiths, a championing of human exceptionalism
and finally
the triumph of reason.
Personally my preference would be
no mocking prayer or long-form poem
however fun or inspiring they may be.
I like poetry well enough, but if I was in the company of friends and
family, a more implicitly satanic equivalent of a prayer
could be a simple toast:
Here's to cheating, stealing, fighting and drinking!
If you cheat,
may you cheat death,
if you steal, may you steal a woman's heart, and if you fight, may you fight
for a brother, and if you drink
may you drink with me!
These simple five lines are nothing but a series of Satanic themes
the first line is bombastic but what follows is a
carnal celebration living in the here and now.
You can keep heaven,
I'll be down here with the Lord of this Earth.
Film Noir
is Satanic.
Al Jolson and Richard Strauss are Satanic.
Sex dolls and homosexuality are Satanic. Rejecting the world is a trademark of
all the world's major religions.
Those who hate life
pray for the blessing of it to end,
those who love life
toast to its joys.
Living for the here and now, reveling in the world as it is
tragic, flawed, beautiful and indulgent is Satanic.
To my wife, with whom I've just celebrated
my fifth wedding anniversary!
To my dear friends Peter and Peggy
who've just celebrated their thirtieth!
SALUT! L’Chaim! Cin Cin! Skål!