A Treatise on a Blacker Theism

What should become clear to the Satanist is that the finer points of theology are not of primary import. The raison d'etre of Satanism is the increase of personal agency through spiritual, intellectual, and corporeal self-empowerment. So long as the Satanist pursues evolution, he is looked upon fondly by the Devil. So all of this is of secondary import.

The first postulation to be addressed is the concept that this or that spirit is merely a manifestation of some archetype. This line of thought will be referred to as "archetheism." Archetheism is the basis upon which Michael W. Ford equated Kali, Hecate, Az, Jeh, and Lilith-- they are all manifestations of the 'Sinister feminine' ergo they should not be viewed as individuals.

But there is no such thing as a "Sinister feminine" because that's not how archetypes work. Here's an example of a legitimate archetype: the heroic outcast who defends the very ones who shun him. The adjectives "evil" and "female" paint a picture which is far too unspecific to be considered an archetype.

There is no Sinister feminine archetype, but there is the archetype of the femme fatale-- the scheming and murderous seductress. Lilith is certainly a Femme Fatale, but Hekate certainly is not. Hecate is a Virgin Goddess, which is why so many of the names of Her children (Mormo, Baubo, Empousa, Lamia) are also names of Her they are reproductions of Her own Essence. She does reproduce, but She does so asexually.

So Hecate and Lilith are certainly not the same archetype, let alone the same being. And now we turn to Pantheism.

This is the concept that all deities are merely facets of Deity. This is that Cochranian postulation which is echoed in Wicca and the Baphomet Codex by Ego Diabolus. This postulation is presented, especially by Wiccans, to mean that we are all worshipping the same Divine in different ways, and thus it is to be rejected.

As Theistic Satanist Diane Vera observed, if the deities are all part of the All, then they are only part of the All in the same way that causal organisms are also part of the All. Approaching a Tiamat and Tezcatlipoca like they were simply facets of this All would be like approaching Vera and Ford as if they were just facets of the same.

And now, we must also dismiss the concepts of egregores and "masks of the higher self." For example, when the 218 Current released Liber Falxifer, which presented a syncretism of Cain and Senor la Muerte, there were readers who were concerned that this Being was merely an egregore created by the 218 Current rather than a legitimate aspect of Cain.

Well, I have worked extensively with Cain, and one of my covenmates has dedicated herself to Qayen, taking Him as her Patron. It our my definite opinion that He has taken on this Falxifer/Reaper Aspect as a step in His personal evolution. It is also our opinion that He is indeed the same Being as Tubal-Cain, even though we are hesitant with soft polytheism.

My coven believes that Isis is the same Astaroth of the Qliphoth, and that Asmodeus of the Goetia is indeed Asmodeus of Sitra Ahra and Aeshma-Daeva of Ahriman. Immortal deities harbor agendas which are complex and multi-faceted, and so Hecate appears both to Wiccans and to the Temple of the Black Light's congregation. The idea that certain deities are just egregores or subjective or "masks of the higher self" is just an attempt to explain away perceived contradictions. You will be surprised at how willing immortals are to patronize us. If this sounds like a decisively theistic position, it is.

-V.K. Jehannum