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To: alt.satanism,alt.magick.tyagi,alt.politics.satanism,talk.religion.misc,alt.pagan,alt.satannet
From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nocTifer)
Subject: Magick vs Ecology, Control vs Harmony (was Setian/Satanic Magick)
Date: 12 Jan 1999 11:17:00 -0800

49990111 IIIom Hail Satan!

Norma :
#># Self-Mastery, followed by Mastery over one's environment, come 
#># from the study and application of the sanest and most practical 
#># methods and materials one can obtain.
 
nocTifer:
#> mastery over one's environment is indicative of insanity, not virtue.

Balanone :
#  ...can you explain your reasoning here? 
#  I can see how insanity can lead to or cause an extreme need to 
#  over-control one's environment, sometimes to success, and 
#  sometimes to the delusion that one controls the environment.

hyper-control is the pitfall of the magician, and the
anxiety surrounding the loss of that control when playing
with powers which one does not truly understand as
represented quite well in 'The Sorceror's Apprentice' is the
challenge we face today as our technical expertise increases
while our moral sense remains undeveloped.


#  But actual and passable mastery over one's environment is 
#  indicative of technological advance and intelligent choice. 

intelligence is valuable, but without compassion to balance
it, that intelligence becomes a maleficent cataract which
conceals the evils of our misshapen corruption.


#  I don't attempt to exert complete control over my environment 
#  (I prefer to have the inspiration and joy that hazard can 
#  provide), but I do attempt (and generally succeed) to exert 
#  enough control over my environment to see that I'm comfortable 
#  and able to do what I want (read a book, walk the dog, even
#  post to alt.satanism) without having to worry overly much 
#  about environmental dangers. 

this is an awkward and clunky means of achieving what you
want, and I'm not saying you have many options provided to
you by others of our species. however, the human species is
out of harmony with the other species of the planet. in our
over-reproduction, over-consumption and technological skill
we are quickly making of Eden a veritable Hell. I don't call
this mastery, but insanity, in the context of continuation.


#  This level of control is symptomatic of today's technological 
#  advances and my care in choosing my geographic location by 
#  its attributes. I consider that a sane approach to the environment.

within any given situation there may be sane choices made
short-term that, given long-term application, would be
insane. I am agreed with you that what you are doing
conforms to a rational approach to modern living, but my
comment has to do with the focus on domination and control
without some movement toward harmonization with that which
sustains us both energetically and AESTHETICALLY. these are
presently overlooked as inconsequential and remedial without
basis, and our continued fuck-up is not made more rational
by those of us who aren't attempting to create alternatives
for future generations (impacting our fertility, how we live
with the land and other animals and plants, etc.).


# Would you disagree?

influence on and "mastery over" seem like two different
things. I agree that technological influence allows a degree
of comfort and facilitation of achieving certian short-term
ends, but there are long-term costs to these ends which, in
short, are not sustainable by human beings who have any
degree of concern about either a) human living conditions or
b) the availability of living space for nonhumans of any
size and comparative predatorial class. 

'mastery over' implies a complete control which I deem

insane on the basis of our severely disconnected state with
respect to relationships we have to the world of life (as
compared to the world of death we are creating in urban
garden-specked attempts to cement our lives into stasis in
an obvious denial of our mortality). that is, we are
immature as a species, and technological enhancement of our
stupidity doesn't make us any smarter in its use, it just
makes the damage that we can do to everything around us
amplified.

if Norma or others had used the phrase "mastery of" as
compared to "mastery over" I would have been less critical,
since the mastery of an environment can imply coming to a
perfect relationship with it whereby its ecology may be
sustained (rather than subjected to our domination and
exploitation for short-term benefit). 

but oppression is exactly the kind of inequity that I see 
Satanism as coming to OPPOSE, not to merely create a new 
one where the New Elite assume the dominant role and set
about exploiting the weak based on their superiority.

it is for this reason that I adore the Romantic Satan who
liberates human beings from oppressive circumstance, the
Promethean human-ally against an oppressive divine dictator,
and find it equally valuable to see him in sophisticate
apparel as in a variety of theriomorphs. this Luciferian
Satan isn't just a gate-keeper on human power and freedom,
but also seeks this benefit for other animals too, being the
Lord of This World and truly appreciative of wildness in all
its various manifestations.

blessed beast!
nocTifer
-- 
tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (emailed replies may be posted); cc me replies;
http://www.abyss.com/tokus; http://www.luckymojo.com/mojocatSPELLS.html