Satanism without Gimmicks

I know many metalheads who consider themselves extreme, yet whenever I approach them I gag from the stench of nine-to-five easy meat. They are easy in more ways than one. It's easy to wear metal shirts and piercings and tattoos, it's easy to play guitar and emulate your favorite band, it's easy to go to metal shows, chug a few beers and wallow in a cheap sense of community. But when you take away the appearances, gimmicks, and conditioned behaviour you're left with the wriggling wormy body of the Satanist's arch-enemy: THE SLAVE!!

Besides a mixture of amusement and sadness, my encounter with this new embodiment of the archetypal peasant made me reflect of criteria we can use to tell apart the real Satanist from the multicolored scum. By definition, the Satanist is a rebel, an outsider, a master of his own destiny. He's full of his own will and, depending on his mood, either anti-social or asocial. A lone wolf, he regards others as either inconveniences or useful tools, and befriends only a chosen few. By contrast, the Slave is eager to follow and obey the will of others, he can't bear solitude or any sort of personal responsibility, he's most at home in crowds, and dreams of shaking off his humanity and one day turning into a sex doll.

So, if we are to identify the real Satanists in a society at a given time we first have to ask: What are the most oppressive forces operating in this society? We live in an age of unfettered capitalism and wage slavery. The oppression characteristic of such a system is very dangerous and insidious as it doesn't come from a well-defined center of power, as in more classical totalitarian systems, but it's spread out in a network of tunnels and economic traps hidden by the attractive facade of free market ideology. In this context, language heavy with political import and other means of thought control are also tremendous and sophisticated instruments of coercion. In addition, things like one's family or friends or "tribe" have always been known to try to manipulate the individual by imposing requirements like carrying on the family name, participating in meaningless family events or defending various social traditions or customs the individual has no genuine interest in. 

In a capitalist society, the Satanist should be either grudgingly employed or unemployed and living on welfare. Anyone who willfully sells themselves for a full-time job is NOT A SATANIST, but A LIFE-DENYING SLAVE! The Adversary might work full-time when running out of options but he never does it happily or willfully and he knows he'll have to take his revenge for every second of such humiliation. The Satanist sells his labor while plotting his revenge. He controls his alienation with savage thoughts of bloody payback. Part-time and casual employment or living on welfare are always more seductive for a rebellious spirit. Rather than looking for him in an office building, there's a better chance of finding the authentic Opposer at the public library reading The Communist Manifesto, or down the river valley having sex, writing poetry or exchanging survival tips with the tented homeless.  

The real Satanist doesn't care about family or tribe or nation or any sort of community he contingently finds himself in. He only cares about himself, his will, his life. If you see a happy family man, behold, that is A WRETCHED SLAVE!! For a Satanist having kids is the equivalent of suicide, or even worse, a long-drawn sordid self-torture. The Satanist has a few like-minded friends but is always vigilant about the terms of those friendships. If a friend succumbs to the siren call of slavery he's immediately rejected before he starts spewing his nonsense and poisoning the elite group. The Aristocrat only socializes on his own terms and never wastes his time on worthless, boring people, unless he indulges his cruel desire to mock them and introduce them to their own weakness.

Ash from Nargaroth and a kindred spirit. 

The genuine Master is usually quiet and doesn't enjoy running his mouth and engaging in endless small-talk. Language is a trap, a form of thought control, a great force that constantly saps the powers of the individual. That's why the Satanist strives to be creative in his language use, and tries to resist and dismantle the disciplinary power implicit in the value-laden vocabulary uncritically used by his troglodyte contemporaries. False idols like God, Money, Nation, Love, are but amusing targets for the Rebel's steaming jet of urine. Like a true artist, The Satanist delights in the game of creation and destruction, destruction and creation. Art is the highest expression of freedom, and a good artist is always an original. Originality is a satanic ideal by definition because it involves the highest degree of self-knowledge. The artist is a creator of worlds rather than part of a world created by someone else.

Philosopher Martin Heidegger

The desk at which Martin Heidegger wrote is masterpiece Being and Time, a work that revolutionized western thought and invented a new language to describe the human experience. Martin Heidegger is a poetic hero by definition. 

As you can see, being a Satanist isn't easy. It's not for everyone. It's a life of almost unbearable lucidity, constant struggle with others as well as the shadows of others in one's self, a life of  endless, neurotic vigilance. Yet it is also a life of euphoric delight in one's creative powers, in one's strength to overcome one's self, learn and develop, and in one's capacity to find kindred spirits and imagine new ways of being free. So, if you're ready to go to a metal show, take a good look in the mirror at the symbols you're wearing and decide for yourself if you're worthy of them. What anti-social deed have you done lately? In what interesting ways are you different from the mindless scum that makes up society? Did you create anything of value in your life? Are you a hero or just a follower? If that introspection isn't going well, there's always the option of transcending yourself with a bullet or a knife.