The Cloven Hoof, Issue 122

The Cloven Hoof

Fourth Quarter, XXII Anno Satanes Copyright 1987 C.E. by the Church of Satan, P.O. Box 210082 San Francisco, Ca 94121 U.S.A.

Vol. XX, 4 122nd Issue

FAREWELL TRINITY AND REMEMBER LOS ALAMOS

Entire contents by Anton Szandor LaVey

"New and improved" takes on menacing double-meaning during this raging WWIII. It's of primary importance that we are sold things (and ideas) this year which may, to a person with his memories intact, look suspiciously like what we bought awhile back. Forgetfulness, relinquishing of your past, is demanded by the State--anyone who chooses to disobey this rule is subject to substantial emotional and financial penalties. Everything must be merchandised as "new", whether it's really new or not. If there are any deviates around who might point out that it's the same thing, just repackaged, their dosage of television soma should definitely be increased.

With T.V., brainwashing has become reflexive. I've suggested to some of the people working close to me that perhaps I should make it one of the tenets of the Church of Satan to limit television viewing to four hours a week. Needless to say, the reaction I've received hasn't been overwhelmingly enthusiastic. "I wonder how many Satanists could honestly live with that?" 1 wonder. We're expected to ingest the daily soaps to learn how real people are supposed to behave. Property, commitments, loyalties, friends, family are all expendable to an independent, self-posessed person who's on his way up. Goods are immediately translated into their cash value, regardless of any intrinsic value they may hold beyond that. Quick turnover constant profits. Buy to sell, not to save. Those who want to cherish, to remember, aren't conforming to the rules. Consumer-citizens most inclined to remember great details are most susceptible to what our society would judge madness. (In contrast, the madness of expendability is perfectly acceptable.) There is no emphasis on recollection of the past unless the topic is impersonally packaged for sale to new minds--or perhaps, sold back (in selected and edited form) to those who were there in the first place. Each new bit of data or heavily edited nostalgia kicks out a true memory that was there, just as each new crop of people invalidates the oid.

Forgetfulness has always been, before this time, a fearsome punishment. Theseus was strapped in the Chair of Forgetfulness--apparently a terrible torture to classical Greeks (it probably had a T.V. set in front of it). Legends abound which tell of lovers left with only memories to carry them through ensuing years. In films and literature (Citizen Kane. Seven Footprints to Satan, etc.), Satanic characters fixate on one small icon or fetish which they hold dear, either because of some past association or because they find it aesthetically enduring. Today, instead of being considered a punishment, forgetfulness seems to be the trend. Leave your past behind and start a new life--get out and do new things (new lives and new things cost money). Old people sell homes they've lived in for 40 years and move to small, "more manageable" apartments--poorhouses with pools and saunas. Then they spend their money on glorified cattleboat tours. In the old days, people could die with their money and memories intact. Now, by the time you croak, you're supposed to be a destitute vegetable, a dried-up turnip fit only for a few more bucks in morticians' fees (Alzheimer's and AID's works better than buzz bombs or ICBM's). Don't you even dare try to hang on to your memories. That's seditious. Again the question comes to mind--"Who gains?"

It doesn't bother me as much that a consumer war is happening as it does that no one seems to want to acknowledge that it's happening. All my life, I've been the kid who sees the Emperor isn't wearing any clothes. I'm disdainful of people who reactively stick their heads in the sand. We may not be able to change what's going on, we may not even want to, but we don't have to blind ourselves to it. Don't pretend it's not happening.

I get easy answers when I ask about changes in weather conditions--it's the Chernobyl Effect. What an opportunity to blame the Russians for another one. When I ask about the strange similarities in timing and types of illnesses, the ostrich-people dutifully explain that it's the season for that sort of thing. These same ostriches resist my theories with all the determination they can muster: "So many people couldn't keep such a conspiracy a secret for so long."

Did everyone expect Pearl Harbor to be bombed? How about Hiroshima? "How could such big secrets be kept?" they ask dully. "Surely word would have leaked out. People would know about it beforehand. No one can keep such monstrous secrets." Or can they?

"People" keep "monstrous" secrets all the time. They can't even be honest with themselves--so keeping certain secrets is easy. If it means losing money unless they keep the customers believing particular things, people will keep their mouths shut. If it means being hated, and rejected for what the secret hides, then it's easy. When one considers how treacherous, conniving, and deceitful most people are, it's a wonder that things aren't more unpredictable and baffling than they are.

Waiting for the other shoe to drop? It dropped a long time ago. You just didn't hear it.

Give the Children a Chance

What about hysterical "warnings" to parents about "signs to watch for", lest their kids drift into Satanism? And presuppositions that "once involved, there's no escape." Or, "They like to get them when they're young and pure, so they can indoctrinate them into the cult, those who aren't killed in rituals."

These are ways of making sure that kids are monitored, so they won't deviate from the mindless conformity of their elders, for the audience reached is just that. The whole stratification process feeds upon itself. Intelligent parents seldom support hysteria in the first place. In other words, if the parents are stupid, make the children stupid too. Don't give them a chance to think for themselves.

It would be argued that children are too young to make wise decisions. That's true. But we're not talking about decisions. That's for parents to make. Satanism encourages evaluation and speculation. If those qualities are discouraged in a child, another zombie is created.

While the "cult of unreason" smokescreen merely covers a culture of unreason, a "cult of reason" is a real threat. We see around us a case of plain old character inversion. Sort of like an "Iron Curtain" which "keeps people from escaping" and "keeps freedom, from outside sources, from entering." In reality, the same "Iron Curtain" prevents contamination from outside sources. Most humans are swept away by any attractive and fresh option, however harmful it may be.

True Satanism, by its very nature, must always be a "cult of reason." If everyone could think on his feet, laws would be unnecessary, societies would be self-governing, the world's population would be considerably smaller, big money would be in the hands of even fewer. So, in the meantime, Satanism is the lifestyle of very special people.

We recognize that a "nation of philosophers" would never work--there must be consumers. But Satanism is meant to protect an option for individuality and creativity for those who need that alternative. Just as "gifted" children were once given special considerations (now the inept are), kids who show signs of nonconformity should be given a chance--an opportunity to exercise their polarized natures--through Satanism. The real dangers of Satanism, as far as children are concerned, is that it encourages them to think for themselves.

On the other hand, there are certain things Satanic parents should be aware of that indicate your child might be falling prey to creeping zombieism. In the interest of equal time, here is a list of "signs to watch for" in your normally Satanic child:

1) Too much TV viewing--especially "grown-up" shows, which do the most to indoctrinate children into blind adherence to prescribed surrogate "soap-opera" lives.

2) Excessive interest in technology.--Overenthusiasm regarding computers, bordering on dependence, can indicate your child is sacrificing his own organic methods of learning and feeling in order to communicate better with his computer, conforming to its will rather than developing his own.

3) No sexual fantasizing unless the fantasy is pre-packaged in a specifically sexual context.--Children allowed to learn about sex in their own way, free from zombie-ness, usually develop erotic sensations and preoccupations relating to non-sexual situations. Little boys who get an overwhelming urge to look up their schoolteachers' dresses, and fantasies that naturally grow out of these situations, are an important part a child's development. If this process is confined to prescribed sexual situations, a child's whole imaginative process, and consequently his ability to think for himself, suffers.

4) Inability to select, then retain role models past their height of popularity--a child must exercise his imagination to choose a role model, and exercise his concentration in order to maintain a fixation for any length of time, especially when all the other kids aren't at all interested in the same person or thing.

5) Obsessive trendiness--indicative of a child who's losing his ability to think for himself, and practicing the fifth Satanic Sin.

6) Strict obedience to institutionalized programs--again, indicative that he is relinquishing his powers of judgement to others simply because of their position as "authority."

7) Insensitivity to intrusive stimuli--lack of response to movement and sound around him (i.e. blocking an aisle, unmindful of others trying to pass, etc.)

8) A need for exteriorization of the self--a growing interest in "spiritual" matters, indicating an interest in blaming (or praising) outside sources rather than taking responsibility for his own actions.

9) Unwarranted self-aggrandizement.--The name of the game is to make everybody feel like a big shot. If your child has special abilities or talents, he should be praised accordingly. But he should know the difference between feeling a sense of importance because of the message on his T-shirt or bumper sticker and the sense of achievement playing Wagner on the trombone. A tendency to "invulnerability" is a bad sign. The knowledge of our own eventual mortality keeps us honest.

10) Overenthusiasm for team and spectator sports--a sign of watching life from the sidelines rather than living it. Teamwork has its place, but it also keeps participants in their place. Team sports are a microcosm of institutionalized life, great for the players, vicarious fun for the spectators, but repressive and boring for the disinterested.

11) Signs of depression caused by zombie peer pressure--It's your duty to let your child know that by being "different" he or she is superior--and explain why. Explain that it's sometimes painful to be a leader, but others' resentment and jealousy is an indication of their fear, which can easily change to respect--and emulation.

For the Record

"Ethical Satanism" is a redundancy, like saying "a little bit pregnant." It's assuming that the very premise of Satanism is unethical. If one accepts Christian definition, I suppose there is a difference. My definition is as a Satanist. My definition is what counts. Not my opponents.

The only purpose in "categorizing" Satanists is to sustain the old bullshit--to keep a place open for theologians and other useless citizens. There are only two kinds of Satanists: 1) Real Satanists (those who admit to same, while living rationally and logically), and 2) "Christian" Satanists, who do the things anti-Satanists have been defining for centuries; who practice their own brand of Satanism according to Christian principles. They are divided into the subcategories of a) Nuts who call themselves Satanists (or anything else), and b) "Ex-Satanists" who appear to be consummate liars with an urge to show off. Only a "Christian Satanist" needs to call himself an "ethical Satanist"--which he probably isn't.

To renew your subscription for next year's Cloven Hoof, please get your $20 in by the end of January, 1988. Have a satisfying Solstice season and revel in your immunity to the forced "Christmas spirit."

¿NOV SAMOZ KAPOP?