Ethics in the Sinister Current
It is extremely complex to talk about ethics without talking about morals because they are two things that touch each other. But allow me to give a small, simple definition; first, ethics is the philosophical study that studies moral rules, that is, what is right and wrong. As an element that belongs to philosophy, it is something that has many and diverse interpretations; I do not want to fall into the easy way of what is good and bad because, as I always say, these are human criteria, dragged by what the imperative religions ruled to create a system of control over the masses. Therefore, according to these religious laws, almost everything we do or think is fundamentally wrong because we are sinners and therefore need to be redeemed in some way by a higher power. This is fine for those people who are religious and decide that this is the way they want to deal with life. Point aside, it’s their problem, I’m not interested, and I’m not going to make a criticism or an endorsement; everyone lives as they please or as they can.
But what about us? With the magicians who practice a series of rituals, usually seen as dark, those who are walkers of the Left Path live a different philosophy. Usually, people, even those from the esoteric world, take for granted that a black magician, a practitioner of black magic, is a terrible, destructive, vile being who only seeks the evil of others, saying black magic is equal to a curse, to evil, to pacts with the demons of hell. This is what the popular imagination understands by black magic, but not only, even many people in the esoteric world see it that way. Of course, not only is this not the case, but when others refer to the black arts in this way, they are simply ignorant and not much else.
On the other hand, we have a growing group of people, many self-identified as Satanists, who want to get as far away as possible from things like black magic, satanic ritual, demons, or pacts, essentially claiming to believe in nothing. They feel identified only with a kind of nihilism, a bit in the Lavey style in his last years, but in essence, they do not do magic or practice rituals. Then we have those who do believe; some identify themselves as Satanists, others as worshipers of this or that demon, and they do the same thing, but with more taboo subjects, such as the use of blood and sacrifices, categorically denying let this be so and that they would never be able to kill a fly. They all seem marginal characters, misunderstood by a patriarchal, phallocentric and tyrannical society, which wants to oppress them and does not give them freedom in their religious practices. Many of these people are the ones who are in charge of flooding social networks and talking about ethics and morals among black practices, saying what is right or wrong, saying what should be done and what should not be done, and always claiming that they have the truth. They are the authentic “insert here satanist, Luciferian, magician, a worshiper of Lilith,” and they speak for the Left-Hand Path community.
Here I need to make some reflections; first, there is no community of the Left-Hand Path; the Left-Hand Path is a philosophy that brings together a series of points that speak of the spiritual development of the being; it is neither a way of doing magic, nor a way of punctual work, neither is it Satanism, nor is it demonolatry, nor is it Luciferianism, once again, it is a philosophy. Therefore, there cannot be a community, there will, in any case, be people who are magicians who identify themselves philosophically with this, and through this philosophical identification, they seek to make their practices coincide with these philosophical elements. That someone works with Lilith or worships Satan does not make this person part of the Left Path, we must stop confusing things because if not, people continue to come out to say any nonsense without understanding the minimum bases that this philosophy has.
On the other hand, neither the divinity nor the practitioners need spokespersons, each person should speak for himself, stopping saying that things are only as they see it or do it. No one can say that you have to be vegan, vegetarian, an animal rights activist, or be a feminist, or be of this political ideology to be a walker of the Sinister Path. This is stupidity that is happening in the world of social networks.
A magician who walks the sinister path, first of all, seeks to awaken his inner divinity, in this existence, not in the other, so he makes use of all the resources he has in hand to achieve his goals, the idea is to achieve the apotheosis/self-deification, but he lives in the here. Now, he does not renounce material life, he makes use of the flesh, the earth, and its pleasures; he can be a libertine or asexual; he can be gay, bi, straight, pan, trans, whatever he feels like, that does not define the path or its practices. He can eat meat or be vegan, but it is a personal choice, not an imposition of the path or someone else.
When we talk about whether something is ethical or not, it is very personal, everyone should create their own ethical rules, not buy already established packages, be it by a massive society, by an esoteric order, or by what the author of a book or so write someone on the internet. It may be that what I do is not ethical for the other, and vice versa, but it does not matter; it is a personal matter; let us not fall into another dogma in the name of the Sinister Path.
For those who know me, it is not news that I have traveled a path in Afro practices; I have done it for years of my life, as well as the cult of Saint Devil and Saint Death, in both magical currents, the blood, and slaughter of animals are used, I have done it, it worked for me, and it was good. Who can come to tell me that this was wrong? Who has the moral authority to come and question me? With this, I am not encouraging anyone to do anything that they do not want or that they do not consider correct or ethical for themselves; I am not saying that animal sacrifices must be made, but neither can it be ignored that this is done in many currents magical-religious, especially those that have an indigenous or Afro diaspora. Today it is still done in India, in the cult of the Goddess Kali, and this is perfectly well seen in that society. There are many other examples of this, elements that are seen as taboo for some people but perfectly valid for others.
With all this, I mean that everyone has to see what is ethical for themselves and continue with this behavior, but someone else cannot come and tell us what is right or wrong. Good and evil are relative to the eyes and, above all to the subjective interpretation of the person. We live in a society with rules, okay, so don’t do something stupid because there will surely be consequences, but removing activities considered illegal by criminal law, a black magician should be able to break social and religious taboos; it’s part of the left path, as it should also be free of dogmas if it does not continue doing the same as always, it is a little sheep that deceives itself believing that it is a ferocious wolf, but that it does not eat meat and is not capable of hunting, then …what kind of predator are you?
Now, each person has their background and history; part of the Left Path is the transgression of the cultural and religious norms; the practitioner must use antinomianism not as a means of rebellion against the establishment but as a tool for their own spiritual and magical performance. This is something different for each one of us and varies with life experience and age; a very modest person can find a deep state of liberation by going to a nudist beach and undressing before others, for a sexually repressed person can find liberation in an orgy, or a Christian can find power by performing a black mass. Still, all this always only works if these acts go against personal norms, not collective ones.
Once again, every magician must create their ethical standards and keep them to themselves, no one cares where your limits are or are not; it’s their own business. Perhaps my best recommendation is to have self-responsibility, for your actions and their consequences; it is a matter of simple logic, not karma, not divine punishment. You should never do anything bad for yourself, if a practice is not for you, you don’t do it, and that’s it, but it is worthwhile to understand that other people may be able to do it and that for this reason, they are not worse or better, they are different.
If we read a little in my previous article, the one that I talk about vampirism, one of the practices perhaps worst seen due to the lack of understanding of this path, we can start the debate again, where is the ethics in this? Which is the limit? The limit is in each magician/vampire, and the ethics will be the one that each one wants or considers; if that person suddenly «feeds» on his friends, his family, and his close people and believes that this is correct, well then for the person, and if another magician or vampire is bothered by it or sees it as something negative, then they shouldn’t do it.
I do not want to dwell much more on the matter; I think it is a topic that, as a result of what has been said about vampirism, was worth touching on, and I added some reflections and observations of what happens daily in the world today. My final thought is that we must get out of the dogmas, break with them, be free, live and let live, do what we consider useful in our practices, be self-responsible, and stop moralizing those who decided to go for another way or do things differently. The experience is personal, individual, and subjective.
Good Magic
Daemon Barzai