Here’s an excerpt from Jason Miller’s Magick Monday Newsletter for this week.
“How can you have prayers to the devil, then turn around and recommend someone pray to St Michael to conquer Satan and the devil. It makes no sense! Which side are you on?”
Simply put, I am on humanities side.
All over the world there is a dichotomy of spirits that appears. Hot and Cool in some African traditions. Wrathful and Peaceful in Buddhism. Good and Evil in Christianity. None of these quite hit the nail on the head, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t useful lenses. My own way of looking at this was taught to me by St Cyprian when I was learning how and why to work with both Angels and Demons.
Want to know the difference between Angels and Demons? Angels act in accordance with collectivism, obedience, cohesion, understanding, and approach the passions of life with an attitude of renunciation or avoidance. Demons, which in Christian terms are just fallen Angels, act out of individualism, disobedience, dispersion, obtrusion, and approach the passions of life with an attitude of indulgence and revelry. This is speaking generally of course, as there are plenty of examples of hot passionate angels and cool calculating demons.
In other words, they are just like people, but because they operate in ways that are more subtle and in some ways are more powerful than the way people operate, it can make the issue more complex.
The sad thing is that most of the time people need exactly the opposite of what they are drawn to. Those who seem to gravitate towards demons are often those who could use a good dose of “this is not just about you and what you think”. Those who gravitate towards Angels and like to think of demons as evil, could use a good dose of “freedom is just as important as justice and collective good”.
Angels and religion or demons and personal-practice can both become toxic mires if you let them.
As a devotee of St Cyprian I have often done a Black Liturgy that celebrates the gifts of the Serpent and Cain on a Saturday night, then attend Church on a Sunday morning to celebrate the grace of the Eucharist.
So it is a matter of keeping a balance?
No.
A lot of you will not want to hear this, because horns and batwings are cool and Satan has better music, but most of the time its not the demons you need, it’s the Angels and the Saints (or equivalent in whatever spiritual world you inhabit). A little more cohesion than, a little more selflessness, a little more understanding, and a little more renunciation and avoidance of tempting passion-filled things is what I think we should mostly err towards.
There is a reason that in the Black School we start with some very heavy Christian practices but end the second year with a Black Liturgy. If you can’t handle the former, the latter will just do you harm.
That said, it really is up to you what and how you handle your spiritual life. I just wanted to answer that question. Sometimes you need a good bit of Satan in your life: knowledge and passion and power despite the cost. At other times, you tell that fucker to calm down and STFU, ergo the prayer to St Michael.
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