Here’s a quick round-up of everything I’ve written on this blog in 2022:

On magical praxis:

• Overcoming obstacles in ritual magick: suspending disbelief
  I’ve received a lot of positive feedback about this one from some of my Chaos Magick friends.
• The Rite of Banishing: An antidote to unproductive delusions
  An overview of how I do banishing rituals and in what circumstances I’ve found them helpful.
• On “closed practices”
  A dash of politics as well as praxis, what with the cultural appropriation angle discussed here.
• How does magick “work” – and why might Satanic denominations clash over it?
  An argument that if atheistic Satanists actually took the time to understand what theistic Satanists do magick-wise, they might not find as much to object to as they initially imagine.

Other metaphysical stuff:

• “Gods” vs. “demons”: what do these terms mean?
  A consideration of secular perspectives, spiritual practitioner perspectives, and what the entities themselves think.
• On “past lives” and the possibility of reincarnation
  Wondering why I go by the name “Othaos”? There’s a hint in this entry.

On Satanic ethos more generally:

• On New Years resolutions
  It’s that time of year again, folks!
• The lost art of suspending judgment
  i.e. Why I hate idiots who beak off about how terrible some book is based solely on what their friends think of it.
• Satanism without the Satan: just politics, or something more?
  This entry has the dubious distinction of being this year’s most-hated as far as the Twitter reactions went.  The fallout proved an enlightening experience on the “wow, really glad to have abandoned my previous Satanic denominational affiliation now” front, though…
• Honor in Tenebrous Satanism
  Contains the longest Nine Keys excerpt of any entries I’ve written so far, so if you’re interested in my book, be sure to check it out!

A couple sources of inspiration…

• “The great sower descends…”
  Reflections on Mgla’s “With Hearts Toward None II”
• The dark Sufism of “The Black Path”
  I read a Martinet Press book so that you don’t have to.  It was actually pretty good, though!

…and a couple more personal entries

• Another progress update on Nine Keys publication (May 2022)
  Including a random plug for Graeber & Wengow’s The Dawn of Everything, because I liked that book a lot.
• Alterations to unproductive Twitter usage
  “I therefore hope we can just disagree like adults and not start Satanic jihad over it.”
  No such fallout to date, though, so hopefully that trend continues.

Lastly, a quick update:

Certainly there have been some bright spots this year, foremost being that my ever-ongoing string of synchronicities involving a certain black metal band has now wound up connecting me with an unexpectedly excellent consort.  In areas impacting my productivity, though, this has not been the best year for me.  Between having surgery, being ill no less than four times, and assorted work-related disruptions, many things have not gone as smoothly as I would have liked.

Nonetheless, on Xmas day I finished approving all changes that emerged out of the professional editing of Nine Keys of Abyssal Darkness.  The main things still remaining to do are largely in such areas as formatting, cover design, and other such pre-publication errands.  I also have a certain amount of additional work to do now in rendering past blog entries consistent with stylistic changes I’ve made to the book – something I’ll be posting updates about on my social media as things proceed in the next while.

As I discovered during this last year, it is perilous to predict a release date when one hasn’t written a book before and hence lacks a full grasp of what all is involved.  At minimum though, I do badly want to get to where I would be able to announce a release date by August 2023, if not before.

As always, thanks to everyone who has supported me on this blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter as my journey continues…

Here’s a quick round-up of everything I’ve written on this blog in 2021:

On the doctrine and practice of Tenebrous Satanism:

• Does advancing in Tenebrous magick require practicing meditation?
• How worried should I be that Tenebrous Satanism “draws inspiration” from Order of Nine Angles?
  Spoiler: I definitely sympathize with anyone concerned, but no, we are NOT Nazis, criminals or etc.!  If you are looking for my take on the Nekalah, the Dark Gods of O9A, I refer to them generally in this post and to a specific one, Nythra, in this post.

On my personal views and experiences as a Tenebrous Satanist:

• The significance of the Moon for occult endeavors
• My thoughts about the applicability of labels such as “Luciferian,” “theistic,” etc. to what I do
• Why the inverted cross is a valid Satanic symbol
  Note: I know “it’s the Petrine cross” – read my argument re: why it can still be “Satanic” anyway!
• On navigating the tension between science and magick
  Note: In the time since I wrote this, Twitter’s proved educational re: I did not know how much I did not know about astrology; my personal experience remains that thus far I have not found it useful + continue to be skeptical, but I may revisit that specific topic with more nuance and reflection sometime in the future.

Explorations of Satanic narratives:

• Intro to the “Is Empathy Satanic?” series
• The Serpent in Eden (Empathy 1)
• Satan in the Book of Job (Empathy 2)
• The Abyssal Void of Darkness and the Nekalah (Empathy 3)

Black metal bands who have inspired me:

• Uada
• Alghazanth
• Watain

To lastly touch on an update I issued in November: my day job’s situation is evolving in a direction that will cause it to totally monopolize my time from January to April.  So I suspect the June-August range of 2022 may be most realistic re: the earliest I anticipate Nine Keys of Abyssal Darkness going to print.

So that’s it for 2021. Big thanks to everyone who has supported me on this blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter throughout this initial part of my journey!