I have been reading and studying a lot about the so called “Left hand path” over the last while. The study has been both very rewarding and equally annoying. The main reason for annoyance is that so many LHP books start off great, full of great insights, practical ideas, theories to free your mind and then about half way through it starts talking about Vampires or something equally Teenage fantasy.
Now, I am all for using Vampires as symbols for something else or to represent parts of the mind or whatever. The problem is that that’s not how they are being used. They are being quite serious.
Now before you think I am picking on Vampires, I’ll point out that I wanted to be Lestat when I was 14 (and part of me still does). It not Vampires, it’s any of these type of ideas that seem to fill the Left hand Path.
For instance, I quite like the idea of Lucifer as a Light Bearer and teacher, Opposer of the Demiurge or The One Who refused to Bow down. But when it starts getting mixed up with goth fantasy novel stuff like in Michael Ford’s work, it just gets on my tits. Let’s learn about the path of freedom but make sure to dress up in scary clothes and perform rituals that read exactly like a terrible B Horror movie. Ford’s Luciferianism is basically horror movie Satanism, and that’s not what I am looking for. I don’t think he is aiming at my demographic anyhow.
Again, have to point out, that I am talking about me. If Michael Ford is your thing, then of course, that’s brilliant. I am not saying it’s a bad path, I’m just saying it seems silly and immature to me, so I can’t get anything out of it. I am sure many do, and it fits their needs perfectly. To them it is neither silly or immature, it’s clever and powerful.
I haven’t really found a good path for me. Which as a Chaos Magician is to be expected and I suppose celebrated as it leaves all path open to me at any given time. I do however wish that I could spend sometime following a LHP that didn’t leave me feeling totally stupid. I mean, where is all the fun and laughter and happiness and joy? The traditional RHP is all bowing down, worship and following rules, shouldn’t the LHP be all party, rejoicing and celebration? I think people in general (including myself) take our occultism too seriously, whatever the path.
I somewhat like E.A. Koetting (there I said it) but when it comes to selling Snake Blood Oil and some of the more teenage horror movie stuff he gets into, it just cheapens the whole thing and makes me feel like discounting his entire paradigm. Which is wrong. He does have some good insight. I recommend listening to some of his public talks where he is a bit less razzle-dazzle and more humble and on point. I am reading his Evoking Eternity and although so far I have not found anything new in it, it presents the ideas well. He does indeed know his stuff even if occasionally he mixes things up like Reflexology and Kinesology or gets arrested for Meth possession.
I also have been hanging round with Dragon Rouge (illegally I’ll mention, but that just adds to my LHP bad boy image, right?) and I really, really got a lot from it. Until the Vampires. To be fair, I only got to the Vampire bit last night and I haven’t gotten past the heading, so it mightn’t be the Vampire I fear. We’ll see. Someone did a thesis on Dragon Rouge too which you can find on Scribd, which is really well done.
I enjoyed Thomas Karlsson’s Qabalah, Qliphoth and Goetic Magic, it was a really knowledgeable look at the Tree of Knowledge VS the Tree of Life. It had some great insights and went down the Demon trail without the John Carpenter soundtrack. Worth a read if Qabalah is an interest to you.
I started on Stephen E Flower’s Lords of the Left Hand Path last night, which seems like it will be a fantastic read. I see no mention of Vampires in the content pages. I’ll update you all as I go.
Finally, I had the thought, almost forceful thought, that Lucifer is female. Anyone else get that? Might just be me.
Until next time.