[excerpted from http://www.cris.com/~Amon1/satanism/watcher8.txt (reformatted by tn)] PERPETUAL HERESY (author uncited) Satanism has been defined as the 'Carnal Doctrine'. Its catchphrase has been stated as 'indulgence'. If there is no more to Satanism than this, it is difficult to justify its continued existence other than as a hobby for the bored, a scam for the con-artists and a rationalization for trivial selfishness. Satanism as the expression of carnality during the West's Medieval phase was indeed heretical. The Church declared the carnal to be sinful. Satanism as the adversary of the Church's repressive system was indeed fulfilling its historic and cosmological function as a rebellion against the status quo. The celebration of fertility had been at the centre of pagan belief and worship since prehistoric times. Suddenly the virile peasant was confronted with an alien dogma which declared such belief to be meriting eternal damnation, and held up the 'pale Galilean' as god. Satanism was the pagan response to christian repression, the orgies of the sabbaths cathartic releases from the pervasive, stale atmosphere of Jesus and his church. If Satan was the enemy of the Church, then he was the ally of those it oppressed. If the Old Gods of fertility were devils in disguise - as claimed by the prelates - then let them continue to be exalted as such. Indeed the image of the Devil came to be that of Pan, the horned and cloven-hoofed god of fertility. Even in 1966 when LaVey founded the Church of Satan the Carnal Doctrine was still a relevant expression of rebellion against moral stasis. For several decades now, however, fleshly indulgence has been ascended. The moral codes have been trodden under cloven hooves. The christian commandments relative to sexuality are broken without hesitation by all but the most puritanical and neurotic (i.e. those from which christianity has traditionally drawn its most fervent support). All save these now recognize sex as one of the primary physiological drives, as vital to one's health as eating. Affirming the Carnal Doctrine today is about as relevant and heretical as affirming the need to eat sufficiently. The Carnal Doctrine ceased to be specifically Satanic when it replaced the old moral codes several decades ago. In fact the carnal doctrine is today a well-and- truly entrenched part of the status quo. Satanism in some quarters is therefore overdue to move along. Yet many self-styled 'Satanists' continue to refer to Satanism as the 'Carnal Doctrine', and their slogan of 'Indulgence'. The adversarial role of Satanism thereby becomes redundant, Satanism becomes irrelevant, a travesty of itself. It is therefore time for the Satanist to reconsider whether he is taking such realities into account, or simply adhering to something which was long ago incorporated into the System, and which is therefore no longer specifically Satanic (i.e. heretical). How, then, shall the Satanist return to his role as the upsetter of stasis? Instead of the 'Carnal Doctrine' let us now describe Satanism as 'Perpetual Heresy.' Now is the time for a return to the traditional essence of Satanism in order to reformulate its creed as relevant to the present. Just as Satanism confronted the repressive Church system of yesteryear, today we are confronted by other stifling dogmas and moral preconceptions as pervasive now as the sexual repression of the Medieval church. Satanists should stand as the standard bearers of 'forbidden knowledge' today, as they have in the past, and quit expounding what is already generally accepted. Indeed, the judaeo-christian mythology established Satan as the bearer of forbidden knowledge to humanity, as per the Genesis legend of Adam and Eve and the Tree of Knowledge. The apocryphal Book of Enoch, additionally, relates that when 'the sons of god' (i.e. the Fallen Angels) descended to Earth to mate with 'the daughters of man' (as alluded to in Gen.) the tyrant god Jehovah engulfed the Earth with the Deluge because they had imparted 'forbidden knowledge' to man. While the Greek fertility god Pan has traditionally been identified with The Devil, and was aptly symbolic of Satanism's Carnal Doctrine, Prometheus is another figure of Greek mythology which, today especially, more aptly embodies the Satanic principle. I would go so far as to contend that the Prometheus legend more richly embodies the Satanic principle than even the Hebrew mythos from where we draw the name of the arch Adversary. For in the Greek legend we find Prometheus defying the tyrant-god (in this instance Zeus) by imparting to man not only the gift of fire, for which he is best known, but also knowledge of astronomy, writing, domestication of animals, seacraft, medicine, metallurgy, all those arts which form the very basis of Civilization, and which were supposed to be denied to man by god lest such 'forbidden knowledge' upset the divine stasis. Prometheus, like Satan, was cursed by the tyrant-god, in this instance enchained to a mountain and his liver feasted upon by an eagle. Just as Jehovah cursed Adam and Eve and later brought forth the Deluge to punish Man for his acquisition of 'forbidden knowledge', here Zeus afflicts humanity with the various curses coming forth from Pandora's jar. There is nothing like 'forbidden knowledge' to upset established order of stagnation based on fear and ignorance. The Church certainly recognized this with its Index of Forbidden Books and persecution of heretics such as Galileo and Copernicus. All such heretics serve the Satanic principle, even those who still profess to believe in Yeshua, as they all contribute to the destruction of stifling dogmas, that humanity may advance in knowledge and culture. This is the Satanic principle, as stated by Kurt Seligman in _Magic, Supernaturalism, and Religion_ (1968): "Satan is an individualist. He upsets the commandments of Heaven which enforce a definite moral conduct. He inspires us with dreams and hopes. He endows us with bitterness and discontent, but in the end he leads us to the Better... He is that 'force which strives for the evil yet causes the good.'" Those 'Satanists' who today have failed to recognize, or admit, the fulfilment of the Carnal Doctrine have relegated Satanism to the level of pampered weakness, the ideal of the Yuppie, a cowardly existence to which they aspire under the guise of hedonism, of a contentedly pleasurably life devoid of struggle and perpetual Self-Overcoming on the way to the Nietzschean ideal (and the Satanic ideal) of Higher Man, prelude to the Over Man (godhood) which will only be expressed when Satanism rediscovers its origins. And it must be stated that these origins do not begin in the puerile generation of the 1960s, but of ancient origin, and were best articulated in more recent times by the Anti-Christ philosopher Nietzsche. This ancient heritage of Satanism is the uplifting of humanity to godhood, "to be as gods", as the Hebraic scriptures put it in Genesis. The Carnal Doctrine of Satanism during the Middle Ages (actually an instinctive response) was a detour, the pagan's healthy reaction to christian repression. Time to get back to original principles: to again hold aloft the Promethean Flame. We must consider the role of Satanism as 'perpetual heresy' in the world today. What are the dominant creeds and dogmas which are stifling human ascent towards godhood? We may answer that they are at this time primarily these: firstly, the dogma of universal equality, with the levelling it entails, pervading every aspect of Western society; then the current push towards a 'New World Order' being promoted by the revived Puritan/Hebrew Money alliance; the myth of the 'divine right' of Israel to rule the world, energized and sanctified by the legends of 'The Chosen People' and 'The Holocaust'. Like the prelates of the Medieval Church, the exponents of these dogmas repress all ideas considered heretical: genetic engineering, eugenics, indeed the very science of genetics itself in favour of sociological and environmentalist analyses; revisionist historical research which is questioning some of the most cherished beliefs of contemporary Judaism, with the response that 'heretical' books are being banned and burned, teachers are being removed from their jobs, scholars are being jailed, fined, beaten and killed for asking awkward questions. These are areas of 'forbidden knowledge' which today require the light of the Promethean Flame to be shed upon them. They are the sacred cows which need slaughtering to overcome stasis. What are some of the things that Satanists can do as free-thinkers and heretics? Support societies, journals and individuals promoting free-thought, anti-censorship, eugenics and genetic research, historical revisionism, national and cultural diversity in opposition to levelling universalism; back extremist causes which upset stagnation, whether of the Right or the Anarchist (because less dogmatic) Left and insinuate your own ideas; establish your own front groups and journals where necessary; and prepare yourself, your family and friends physically and psychologically for the apocalypse of the old order and the coming of a new Dark Age, that there may emerge from the darkness a spark of Luciferian light that will engulf the world as a purging and illuminating Flame. ====================================================================== excerpted from "The Watcher", [August] 1991CE, Issue No. 8 originally edited by: Graeme Wilson P.O. Box 38-262 Petone Wellington New Zealand EOF