Welcome to the website of T. L. Othaos, author of Nine Keys of Abyssal Darkness (click for purchase info) and founder of Tenebrous Satanism.
Scroll down to read my latest blog posts, or check out these annual round-ups of all entries: 2022 | 2021
Sign up for my mailing list to receive a digest of recent blog posts every 2-3 months, as well as other updates, offers, etc.!
In both left-hand-path circles generally and Satanic ones specifically, I’ve observed a certain enthusiasm for Gnostic ideas. While there are facets of this that do make sense, I find it a bit odd and troubling. Why? Because I see Gnosticism as one of the most thoroughly anti-worldly religions to have ever existed. And that is, to my way of thinking, the opposite of what Satanism is about – even a spiritual/esoteric Satanism. Yes, we esoteric Satanists do borrow, appropriate and repurpose ideas from many occult sources. But when I see people insisting Kabbalah is irredeemable, yet embracing concepts from Gnosticism, let’s just say, I have questions. This post will thus explore some intersections and clashes between Satanism, Gnosticism and Kabbalah.
In light of the imminent publication of Nine Keys of Abyssal Darkness, I thought I’d preview some of my material. This post will therefore give a taste of the Fifth Key’s meditation practices. The meditation I describe here is called “Contemplation of the Nine-Angled Nexion”. I’ll be explaining the background of that name, what the meditation is meant to do, and what it generally entails.
An interesting phenomena with baneful magick is people being uneasy with it while also claiming not to believe it “works.” Such a position raises the question: if you don’t believe it works, why do you care if people do it? I suspect there may be an issue here with not understanding what the baneful practitioner is actually even doing. I’d therefore like to try to clear up what I’m fairly sure are atheistic misconceptions.
I’ve long found myself having conversations about Satanism with Buddhists, and had these conversations be strikingly fruitful. So I thought I’d offer some food for thought here re: parallels between these two religions. Obviously, they are strongly opposed regarding a number of important things. But it’s for this very reason that I think the surprising convergences are interesting to reflect upon.
Previously I was doing six month updates on what’s happening with Nine Keys of Abyssal Darkness. There wasn’t much to report last November though because the day job was massively getting in the way for awhile there. Probably three-quarters of the time since then hasn’t been great either. A lot of progress happened in the last few weeks, though. I’ve also recently gained more insight into what still needs doing. Hence, just a few notes here about that.
In my previous entry on baneful magick, I discussed whether there is a Satanic conception of karma. I concluded that for esoteric Satanists, there may well be such a thing. If so, though, it is a metaphysical principle, not a moral one. If any moral principle restrains a Satanist’s use of baneful magick, it is not to be found in “Satanic karma.” Are there moral principles relevant to Satanists that restrain the use of baneful magick, though? Such is the question at the intersection of baneful magick and Satanic ethics that the current entry will explore.
The more I’ve established a social media presence, the more I’ve come into contact with other Satanic, Chaos Magick and otherwise left-hand-path (LHP) practitioners. With this comes curiosity about others’ magickal praxis. I therefore thought I’d write occasional posts about specifics of my practice, to see what others may share re: similarities/differences. The following one is on the specific topic of incense preferences for meditation and/or ritual.
When a magickal current believes that baneful magick works, but you shouldn’t do it, karma is a commonly-given reason. The Threefold Law is a widely-known concept, even among those who reject it as simplistic or simply false. I think it is safe to assert that most Satanists have little use for moralizing metaphysics of this kind. At the same time, though, the notion of an entirely consequence-free universe seems foreign to esoteric worldviews generally. So is any kind of karmic belief plausible for esoteric Satanists? I would argue yes… but this Satanic karma will deviate significantly from how other esotericists typically imagine the “law of karma” working…
As stated in my bio, I am a passionate fan of black metal and similar genres of dark music. Therefore, from time to time, I like to share songs that I think especially capture the spirit of Tenebrous Satanism – and/or are of especial Satanic interest in broader terms. The subject of this post, “Inno A Satana” by Emperor, fits into the latter category. Awhile ago, I ran across an article discussing this song being a “bad example” of Satanic ideology. This struck me as an unfair dismissal, and in this post I’ll explain why.