Modernity of the WLHP

[Onyx]

For many years I rejected WLHP ideas outside of CoS doctrine. This changed when I actually started researching things for myself, and came to appreciate the wide range of ideas which have emerged since Anton LaVey shaved his head in 1966.

While we stand on the shoulders of giants, the above-ground WLHP is still very young, and is unique in that it consists of theists, atheists, and agnostics alike. We are free to borrow from the wealth of knowledge accumulated during the past 50 years (and from the past) and decide what is right for ourselves. Much progress has been made in a comparatively small amount of time in this regard.

I would personally like to see more cooperation and exchange of ideas than endless quips and quarrels over who is right or wrong. People are entitled to their opinions, but disrespect has no value.

What does the future of the (above-ground) WLHP look like to you?

 

[Ahanit]

If you see La Vey as beginning of LHP I think you define it to short, Yes he made it Publik and more present but he is really not the beginning of LHP nor beginning of WLHP.

Please excuse me but in my long years of Studieng Magical Paths I found different paths who are LHP- WLHP but are more than 500-700 years old, and there are older inscriptions which can be interpreted LHP (The problem is that they are often incomplete ).

I think it is not a good Idea to deny the existance of the older paths, because we can learn many things from them.

So is the Ritual of Königsberg dated short before the the "Deutscher Orden" was reformed by Albrecht von Hohenzollern. THe Land of the Order became the new Evangelic "Herzogtum Preussen"... There where some connections between the Celebration of the Ritual and the Reformation.

The Ritual of Königsberg is the top of a Middle Age mountain of Alchymical an Magical studies which can be defined as LHP...

It costs us (not only me we where a little group of interested) much time and also Money to find the connections within Original Books, the found Ritualistik Material (Which is not Displayed in the Museum but only found in the museum holdings)...
Those things are not presented Open, because of Christian oppression in the past and also today. No one wants to make open that there was an "Underground of knowing".

The Problem with this underground and I think the Why you and many other think LHP is a modern invention is, that not only many writings and book are destroyed through inquisition, time and Wars, but also that many are not available for public. Those who are available have often be coded, and you need a key to get all Information you want.

One wonderful Example is the Book of Abraham von Worms. The Abramelin. I have not seen one english translation which is correct translated from the original texts nor have I seen much modern German Examples who have not mistakes in it. There is one modern Reprint with the original text in Middle Age German, where you can see the keywords and use the old keys on it, which show you the truth about what you are doing....

And that is the last Problem, there are not many left who can read the old Dialects, nor read old Handwriting or Old Gothic Printing Letters.... But that is needed to study the Old LHP paths.

I Understand everyone who only takes the modern writings and I understand why the one or the other Hopes or believes that its all, because it needs many work to go into the deepth of LHP History, but please do not deny the existance of the old paths, because you are not able to read it.

to bring it to Public can not be the Criteria of existance.

 

[Onyx]

Thank you, I edited the post to make it more clear that I meant "above-ground" activities. I didn't meant to imply that Anton LaVey was the beginning of the WLHP.

 

[Ahanit]

Ah than excuse me that I understand it false...

 

[VioletVortex]

I'm not a universalist, I believe that Satansim should be a personal path as opposed to something to be followed publicly.

I think society is on the tail end of people becoming more open to the Left Hand Path; after a few years or decades, spirituality in general will likely be pushed underground by the lack of people who actually care about it. That is very unfortunate, but I hope the underground practice of LHP religions remains strong.

 

[Adramelek]

I'm not a universalist, I believe that Satansim should be a personal path as opposed to something to be followed publicly.

I think society is on the tail end of people becoming more open to the Left Hand Path; after a few years or decades, spirituality in general will likely be pushed underground by the lack of people who actually care about it. That is very unfortunate, but I hope the underground practice of LHP religions remains strong.

I think if more folks truly understood the premise of the Left Hand Path and its Universe of limitless potential, a lot more people would be seeking after the mysteries, and hell, who knows, religions and philosophies like the Temple of Set could become say 72 years from now the new mass religions of the world. Schools of philosophy, Initiation, Magick could make a re-emergence in the world... oh, what do ya know, they already have.

Iron Wizard, as to the first part of your above post. Agreed, a universalist I am not.

Satanism, Temple of Set, Luciferianism, Left Hand Path, are personal paths. It is up to the individual practitioner to be however open he/she wants to be about themselves in the world without. Also, we must Understand the world around us, which gives us the wisdom of how best to move and work our Magick in the world, which will strengthen and refine our Essence. This Understanding and wisdom gives us the power to conquer and dismay all challenges in the work-a-day world of light and darkness, and all Spiritual Black Dimensions.

 

[VioletVortex]

I think if more folks truly understood the premise of the Left Hand Path and its Universe of limitless potential, a lot more people would be seeking after the mysteries, and hell, who knows, religions and philosophies like the Temple of Set could become say 72 years from now the new mass religions of the world. Schools of philosophy, Initiation, Magick could make a re-emergence in the world... oh, what do ya know, they already have.

Iron Wizard, as to the first part of your above post. Agreed, a universalist I am not.

Satanism, Temple of Set, Luciferianism, Left Hand Path, are personal paths. It is up to the individual practitioner to be however open he/she wants to be about themselves in the world without. Also, we must Understand the world around us, which gives us the wisdom of how best to move and work our Magick in the world, which will strengthen and refine our Essence. This Understanding and wisdom gives us the power to conquer and dismay all challenges in the work-a-day world of light and darkness, and all Spiritual Black Dimensions.

Yes. The Left Hand Path is based around an individual spiritual philsophy. I consider myself a "follower" of the lesser known European Left Hand Path. I reject dogma, and I don't think it would be in accordance with the nature of the Left Hand Path to dogmatize it.

If you were to have a spiritual organization with a hierarchical structure that told it's followers how to follow the Left Hand Path, it would become what Christianity is. I think communication between those taking the Left Hand Path is a great thing, it should be encouraged, but I don't feel that it should be structured into a dogmatic system.

 

[Ahanit]

A real LHP Organization can not be dogmatic, one excludes the other. But The theme Hierarchical Structures I think I understand now after long thoughts about... An Organisation must be organized, someone must try to collect the wisdom and knowledge the Individual has, so that it can be shared with others. This is how the individual walker of an LHP can profit of an Organisation. The Individual walking the LHP has often not the wish of great expression of his tasks, it talks in small groups, the organisation is needed to give more range.

Ok we can now ask why more range has any value to the Individual.
LHP is on one hand learning by doing, on the other, on the second learning out of failier and the greatest disziplin is learning out of the experience of others... Why do you want to make the same failure like XY and risk damage, when you know the Prob that will come through maybe a special working you want to try you can rewrite it in a more safe Form. But for knowing that you need exchange. Not only out of books but exchange with other Practitioners.

Ahh we can use RF
ÄHM no Excuse me but I have some concerns to give the one or the other text, working etc into a Public Forum, where I do not know who read it and who may try to work with it. I have no control about if you can understand and/or go through it without harm or not. In this Forum also read peple who are RHP or something else, If they will try some of my workings they will get lost in themselfe. I know it I have seen more than one who has gone to far without enough Practice. The hierarchical structures of an Organisation have also a Filter Funktion. THe most higher degrees -above Adept I think looking at ToS- have more Experience and know the People within so they can assess if one is far enough or not for the one or the other text/Work etc... And so the sharing is more controlled than in an Environment like here.

Enough of my thought about Organisations please excuse the interruption, the theme was modernity of WLHP

 

[Adramelek]

Yes. The Left Hand Path is based around an individual spiritual philsophy. I consider myself a "follower" of the lesser known European Left Hand Path. I reject dogma, and I don't think it would be in accordance with the nature of the Left Hand Path to dogmatize it.

The Temple of Set is a modern LHP Initiatory School of the Black Arts, it has an organizational system; by-laws, protocols, it has a Degree system, but there is no dogma. The ToS is a group of like minded, but extreme individuals who share ideas and approaches to the path and Magick. Nobody tells you it must be done this way or that way. One accumulates the knowledge, experiments and works with and develops those techniques and practices which best works for him/her on the Path of Darkness. A premise of the ToS is the creation of ones own belief system.

"The Self-Created god Creates Creations."

Xeper.

 

[Onyx]

ÄHM no Excuse me but I have some concerns to give the one or the other text, working etc into a Public Forum, where I do not know who read it and who may try to work with it. I have no control about if you can understand and/or go through it without harm or not.

I know it I have seen more than one who has gone to far without enough Practice.

In my "ritual trappings" thread, I suggested to share ideas but not specific details. I have also shared some invocations which are pretty general in nature. But while I hope they are inspiring, people should write their own words, and/or adopt the ones they like as they choose.

While I believe the sharing of ideas is generally constructive, some discretion should be used. A generic outline for a ritual might be useful to many, but something too specific probably wouldn't be. Some practices may have prerequisites also.

 

[Ahanit]

Thats what we are doing, we are talking about the general and the one or the other frame... all OK
But but sometimes I wish to ask people about special parts of something and If they have an idea an inspiration to me how to go forward. That I can not make here in Publik because I had to explain, to go away from the frame into the detail... I can sent it private to the one or the other , but there is no group instinkt working at the riddle like it is within an Organisation like ToS... you understand.... But i think i have a solution for that Problem, and I think you are one of those I can talk about with private... when I have gone a little bit deeper into the "Formula of Energies"

 

[Onyx]

A premise of the ToS is the creation of ones own belief system.

This was an important realization for me. We don't all come from the same photocopy machine, after all. Or the same cookie-cutter.

 

[VioletVortex]

The Temple of Set is a modern LHP Initiatory School of the Black Arts, it has an organizational system; by-laws, protocols, it has a Degree system, but there is no dogma. The ToS is a group of like minded, but extreme individuals who share ideas and approaches to the path and Magick. Nobody tells you it must be done this way or that way. One accumulates the knowledge, experiments and works with and develops those techniques and practices which best works for him/her on the Path of Darkness. A premise of the ToS is the creation of ones own belief system.

"The Self-Created god Creates Creations."

Xeper.

I've always felt that the titles used within Left Hand Path groups are formalities and have more to do with the person's role rather than a hierarchical system.

 

[Satans_Serrated_Edge]

What does the future of the (above-ground) WLHP look like to you?

As those that use the first letter in that acronym tend to be oblivious to the meaning of the other three, my answer would be - incoherent.

Same as it's present state.

 

[Aštra’el]

The Temple of Set is a modern LHP Initiatory School of the Black Arts...

These "black arts" you speak of... from your perspective, why are they called "black arts"?

 

[Ahanit]

The future of open public living LHP... It will be in future like it is today, some are organized some are alone
I think there will be no big growing, because LHP is a path you have to work, you have to go into yourself and activly change and transform... That is hard and fearing work. the human race is in largest part sheeps. they want to be entertained, they want easy paths, best served on a silver tablet. they will never be able to understand nor to follow the truth of LHP. And with all those smartphones (looking at youth), and the education system became more and more worse(looking at my stepdaughters school compared with my own time at school), I think it will become harder and harder to go the path into the self.

These "black arts" you speak of... from your perspective, why are they called "black arts"?

Good girls go to heaven bad girls go everwhere For me they are called black arts because you have to accept the darkness, you have to loose the fear about the darkness, because only the Darkness opens the path to the truth. every false light that disturbs the darkness will bring you away from the truth into the illusion

I know that this was not the original intension for the naming but this is what is the truth within the word

 

[Adramelek]

I've always felt that the titles used within Left Hand Path groups are formalities and have more to do with the person's role rather than a hierarchical system.

The Temple of Set, has as a Left Hand Path Initiatory School of the Esoteric, spiritual evolution, and Magickal studies, adopted as a part of its structure a variation on esotericism. One's Degree is much more than just a title, it is the Recognition by those of his peers that the Initiate has achieved a higher level of Understanding and Being in his Initiatory Quest. He has attained a more refined state of existence and proficiency in the realms of the Black Arts. The ToS, for instance, uses an esoteric grading system which is a reason why they use terms like 'Setian First Degree' instead of Freshman or 'Adept Second Degree' instead of Sophomore, and so on.

 

[crossfire]

The Temple of Set, has as a Left Hand Path Initiatory School of the Esoteric, spiritual evolution, and Magickal studies, adopted as a part of its structure a variation on esotericism. One's Degree is much more than just a title, it is the Recognition by those of his peers that the Initiate has achieved a higher level of Understanding and Being in his Initiatory Quest. He has attained a more refined state of existence and proficiency in the realms of the Black Arts. The ToS, for instance, uses an esoteric grading system which is a reason why they use terms like 'Setian First Degree' instead of Freshman or 'Adept Second Degree' instead of Sophomore, and so on.

It is up to the isolate individual Magickian whether or not he/she can Initiate/evolve in Being inside a group environment made up of like minded folks on the same path but of unique, individual vision, and understanding. Seems like, for the most part, the LHP RF community.

I think the internet is going to have an evolutionary affect upon esotericism. It's possible that esotericism may be redefined by each individual's ability to cut through propaganda via critical thinking, to find the true "inner meaning."

 

[Onyx]

People are entitled to their own opinions about what the terms "LHP" or "WLHP" mean. I'm not wild about either because they seem too general (like "Satanism"). So I'm going to put them in quotes from now on.

Many countries have "freedom of religion", at least from a legal standpoint. However, while I could probably get away with wearing a Christian cross around my neck to work, I would probably be fired for wearing a Pentagram. At least I wouldn't go to jail over it, though.

Some people have been executed simply because juries were superstitious, and prosecutors knew how to play them. And there are many who strive to interject their religious zealotry into politics, often with success. (This is especially true in local politics.)

Anonymity is possible in the online world, but I think that caution should still be used otherwise.

 

[Adramelek]

I think the internet is going to have an evolutionary affect upon esotericism. It's possible that esotericism may be redefined by each individual's ability to cut through propaganda via critical thinking, to find the true "inner meaning."

Agreed, but also there can be no replacement for actually meeting someone in person, face to face, looking them in the eye and observing their actions to determine if they are for real, or maybe their faking it.