The Path
By Thomas LeRoy, Founder of the Sect of the Horned God
With the three Abrahamic faiths, the Right-Hand Path is not a “path”, but a final destination. They followed a “light” generated by someone else to reach that place of collective bliss where the idividual self is destroyed. We that travel the Left-Hand Path, though, are individuals ever searching. We are aware of the fact that we may never reach the end of or path. We will, more likely than not, be walking it for the rest of our lives, ever questioning, learning, growing. We also create our own light, allowing us to travel in the dark, instead of waiting for that guiding light. We not only keep our eyes on the road ahead, but we are also aware of our surroundings, ever ready to decry those false ethics and stifiling morals that may bar our path.
My personal angle of the LHP philosophy is that of the Epicurean. I can only rely on what my five senses tell me, meaning that the supernatural is simply a creation of the imagination. Angels, demons, gods and monsters need to be seen, heard, touched, smelled and, maybe, tasted before I will accept them as fact. A want, or need, in my heart for these things to be true is not enough for me. No matter what the romantics may tell you, truth is not found in the heart, but in the mind. For the heart hungers to believe, but the mind wants to know. Also the reason I am such a hard-core truth seeker is because gullibility is not a worthy LHP attribute. It will set you back by causing you to take misleading detours.
Not many on the left-hand path have companions. More often than not it’s a solitary journey. In my case, however, others have accompanied me. We call this group the “Sect of the Horned God”, the Horned God symbolizing what is of the natural world. Man as animal. Carnal. We in the Sect travel together out of an innate solidarity, not because of fear-based dogmas. We are not sheep in a flock. We, instead, are individuals that encourage one another to keep moving forawrd. We are aware that this is not done for altruistic reasons, but because having others to learn from, lean upon, makes the individual’s path easier. –TL
The “S” Word
By Thomas LeRoy, Founder of the Sect of the Horned God.
Since the beginning of time, there have been disparaging words for every kind of person there is. Most ethnic groups, from the Native-American, Irish, African-American, Asian and so on, have had that word, or words, used as a put down. An example would be the “N” word for our black brothers and sisters. Or “faggot” for our gay friends. There’s “dyke” for lesbians. It’s endless. My own beautiful wife, Mistress Babylon, is Romany (no, not Romanian!), but they are better known as that derogatory name created in the Middle-Ages by those who thought they were from Egypt: the Gypsies.
Now, there is a minority out there, a rather small group, that have their own “word”. You may have encountered these people, or may be one yourself. They tend to be a bit misanthropic, very individualistic, seem to gravitate toward the “dark-side” of life, and would rather devour the herd than join it! They live their lives on their own terms and are willing to suffer the consequences for their actions. They tend not to believe in a “Higher Power”, instead believing in themselves, nor are they afraid to suffer the wrath of any (imaginary) God, or Gods.
These rebels have been around since time in memorium. They have played a part in world history. They were those independent spirits that were burned at the stake for not following by the rules of the Church. They sparked the fuse of the Enlightenment, and have had such names as Voltaire, Ben Franklin, Nietzsche and even Mark Twain. But it wasn’t until the 1960’s that Anton Lavey took that word and decided to own it!
And what is that word? I think you know by now.
It’s Satanist!
Just as other groups have owned their “word” and defuse its power, Anton did it, but the outcome was a bit different. He held up a mirror called the Satanic Bible, and if you saw your reflection in it, you knew what you were. A Satanist! That word, though, in some ways, alienates our kind even more when we admit what we are. It scares most people. But, in truth, this plays into our hands. We don’t want the herd to accept us. We don’t want to relate to their inane, mind-numbing, ripe with bovine fecal-matter, mentality. It is a good word, a strong word! It cuts through the crap and gets to the heart. It empowers!
So use that word, my friends, if that’s who you are. Be proud. Fuck with the sheep out there. Make them fear you. You are are the wolf.
And who are they?
They’re just wool and mutton!
My “Satanists” friends, wear it with pride.
“Word!”
New Years Eve
By Mistress-Babylon Consort
Ahh…New Years Eve. A date picked out of a hat that entails silly cocktail dresses and boozy kisses from drooly lips unknown. There was a reason I use to escape to the first empty restroom stall when at the local watering hole to avoid such encounters. Is it over yet? Too many years have elapsed since the meaning of this particular night lost its relevance. The Samhain turn of the season remains my marker of a turning year, a beginning and an end, and thus remains most logical in my own intpretation of universal cycles.
METAPHORICAL ASPECTS OF THE HUMAN CHARACTER or ‘THE HORNED GOD AND HIS BITCH’
By Thomas LeRoy, Founder of the Sect of the Horned God
“Myths are the dreams and poetry of humankind.
God and demons are aspects of who we are,
They are metaphors of our character.
Ritual allows us to dance to the song of myth, the poetry of the Gods.
Satan is poetry.”
It is believed by some that reverence for a ‘Horned God’ dates back to the Paleolithic and from then until the present He has had numerous titles and manifestations. His consort, known to us as the ‘Goddess’, also has many names, more than can be mentioned here. Besides representing the earth, Neo-Pagans see Her as the ‘Holiest of Holies’ while the Horned God has been relegated to the position of Her ‘boy toy’. The feminized Wiccans have a warped understanding of the Horned God. They may claim to revere Him, but most would rather He just go away so they can continue to believe in a world filled with ‘white-light’ and fairies. Now as most thinking people are aware of, all gods are metaphors for different aspects of the human character. If you are drawn to the ethereal, spiritual, along with fluffy bunnies, rainbows and being a part of the herd, then maybe the Goddess is for you. Grab your tied-dyed moo-moo and bongos and join Her, She’s waiting. But if you are grounded in reality, can think for yourself, have an independent spirit, have an affinity for what some may call the ‘darker side’ of life and would rather devour the herd than join it, then the Horned God is your man! You are a person that realizes that the world is not a pretty place and if you want to get anywhere in life you have to charge ahead, horns forward!
Besides playing the ‘matter/spirit’ aspects, the two deities also represent the ‘dark/light’ duality in the human psyche. Because of this we can’t fully ignore the Goddess. She’s that side that comes out when we make funny faces while tickling a baby. She’s also present when we let that little old lady get on the bus before us. But do not let us confuse the Goddess for altruism. We allow the Goddess to come out because it feels good. If it didn’t, we probably won’t do these things. But one should be careful as to the lengths they indulge in this side of their nature. Going too far does no one any good. It makes one weak, vulnerable, and filled with self-pity. So remember: Keep the bitch in check!
Since we in the Sect of the Horned God acknowledge we have a bit of that side, we have decided to call upon the Goddess in our opening ceremonies. And because we live in Western Society, both the Horned God and the Goddess are refered to in or ‘Calling of the Quarters’ by what we see as their most appropriate historical manifestions.
We start in Greece, cradle of Western Civilization, then move to the Celtic world ( whose religion the Wiccans stole!), then to the Roman and finally the Middle Ages (were the mentality of most Christians still thrives). This final quater is without question the most controversial because we call upon the Virgin Mary as the manifestation of the Goddess!
‘Virgin Mary? What the fuck . . . ? exclaims the person ignorant in history, little realizing that that is what the early Roman Christians renamed the Goddess. And the Horned God? It’s pretty obvious what they called Him, and still do to this day. Why did they give the Horned God the name of the supreme bad guy in their mythos? Because they hate what He represents. He represents power, lust, carnality, death and knowledge. He is the free-thinking individualist ready to live life on His own terms. He is our animal side, that aspect that keeps us tied down to the natural world, a world of matter instead of the spiritual. He is the antithesis of all that the Christians see as holy. And for their belief system to survive and for there to be calm within the herd, those traits of the human character have to be subdued. But the old time Christians weren’t stupid. They knew that the Horned God was a large part of what a human being is. By telling people that who they are at their core is evil, and you need to kiss the ass of Jesus to be free of that evil, they created an outstanding way of controling the masses.
But no matter what you believe, no matter what your faith, you can never, ever be completely free of the clutches of the Horned God.
Of Satan!
The Orders of The Sect of the Horned God
