THE DEVIL HIS DUE

[Andrew]

The Wiccans tell us that "whatever you cast out comes back to you threefold." In this they are, as usual, only half right. The truth is actually far less prosaic, and a great deal more simple. It is the prime law of gambling, magic, and sex. Hell, it's the prime law of life.

Simply put, "you play, you pay."

Oh yes, we can "philosophize" until the cows come home. We can define "white magic" as altruistic, beneficial, and benign. We can call "black magic" sinister, selfish, and brutal. We might--with Crowley--tell ourselves that White Magic is the spiritual quest for the Higher Self, and Black Magic is the blind and piggish rolling in the mud of the material world. But all of this mental masturbation only feels good. It never bears any fruit. The truth that every magician knows in the pit of his or her belly, whether they have the balls (metaphorically so for our Satanic Ladies) or not to admit it, is that all magic is black. Black as sin, black as midnight, black as pitch. And it always, always, has a price.

I have read critics of people like Aleister Crowley and Anton LaVey remark that if they were such great magicians, why didn't they die rich? Loved? Adored by all? The instant I hear such things pass the lips of morons I know they haven't a clue how magic works. They haven't the foggiest fucking idea.

A good magician will tell you, it all comes down to Balance. LaVey called it the "Balance Factor." And I quote; "...To the Satanist "God"--by whatever name he is called, or by no name at all--is seen as the balancing factor in nature, and not as being concerned with suffering...the powerful force which permeates and balances the universe..." In the Book of Belial, he talked a bit about making it work for you. But here is the thing; every life is a balance of the good and the ill, the ups and the downs, the smooth sailing and the choppy seas. For the vast majority, the plusses and minuses cancel each other out. True, some get more of one or the other, but this is to be expected along any bell curve.

Now, the difference between the "Right Hand Pather" and the "Left Hand Pather" is a lot more basic than the constant squabbles amongst occultists lets on. The Right Hand Pather is content to let the balance be. He tells himself that it's all in God's hands, or if an atheist (and yes, damnit, there are Right Hand Path Atheists) that it should all be "left to chance." Aunt Emma is dying of cancer. He doesn't like it, but he consoles himself with "it's a part of life."

The Left Hand Pather--and for me, boys and girls, this term has always been synonymous with "Magician"--is not content to let it be. He's not willing to let dear old Aunt Emma kick the bucket. So he pushes, he pushes hard. The balance shifts, the universe swings out of whack. Aunt Emma makes her come-back.

But let's not forget simple physics. "Every action is followed by an equal and opposite reaction." You push, and the universe is gonna push back. The harder you push, the harder it pushes back.

Little pushes--the spells to get parking spaces or the traffic lights turn green--only push back a little. Expect to get caught in a traffic jam next week. But the big pushes can fuck you up.

In this, magic is not unlike gambling. And hell, why not? The Tarot began as a betting game, and as much as those pompous Hermetic twits might want to forget it, Hermes was not only the patron god of Alchemists and Magicians but also gamblers and thieves. Both magic and gambling are about making bets, taking risks, rolling the bones. Small bets translate into small wins and small losses. Big bets mean big wins and losses. You don't need to be a brain surgeon to get that.

Back to Crowley and LaVey. Did it ever occur to their obviously armchair detractors that they were staggering magicians in that they both launched new ways of thinking, new ways of being? What a small and petty price to pay was their ends in poverty and quiet ignominy.

Because if you wanna play, you gotta pay. That simple. The difference between Magicians and other folks is that Magicians pick their battles. Normal people roll with the blows. Magicians say, "I am gonna win this and pay by losing that later." Crowley and LaVey knew exactly the DevIl's Bargains they were making. They chose their wins and paid the price for balance.

Hence the Wiccans are full of shit...and yet somehow not totally wrong. You play with magic, it will come back and bite you in the ass. It doesn't matter if it's a curse or a blessing; it doesn't matter how good your protective circles or your banishings are. What matters is how far you dare throw the universe out of whack.

C'mon, we all know this. There's not a fairy tale or myth in the world that hasn't warned you. Magic always extracts a toll. The Devil gets his due.

SOME EXAMPLES (For the hardcore who had the stomach to read this far)

1. I first learned the "you play, you pay" law at 15. My best friend and I were at that age, to put it mildly, outcast geeks. But damn if my friend didn't get the hots for his neighbor, the 17 year old cheerleader. Knowing I was into magic, he dared me to help him out. So on a midnight in October, he and I snuck off into the woods with all my Satanic gear to do the Invocation of Lust. Here we were, a couple of total dorks, one reading The Satanic Bible while another furious jerked off. No less than three days later, the cheerleader had a fight with her boyfriend and miraculously ended up screwing my friend. It was more than a violation of the laws of nature, it was a violation of all the laws of high school.

But of course, if you are real quiet and listen, you can hear the pendulum swinging back.

In short, while they conducted their secret sex games, the cheerleader started giving me the signal. Being fifteen, I started sleeping with her behind my best friend's back. It didn't end well.

2. One of the more dramatic workings in my life came when I received a phone call, in the dead of night, that my father had suffered a stroke. As he lived alone, he had been lying on his kitchen floor for three days before anyone found him. The damage, by that time, was catastrophic. The doctors told me to fly home because he would be dead within hours.

They obviously didn't know who they were dealing with.

My lover and I performed a ritual to save my father, to restore him to health. We both pushed hard. In a very "Hollywood" moment, I actually got myself so worked up I got a nosebleed. The next morning, I flew home.

Oh, my father lived through the night. Then they said he would be on life support forever. He wasn't. They said he would be bedridden all his life. He got up and learned to walk again. As of now, seven years later, he is almost completely his old self again.

Wait...here's that pendulum.

The lover I performed the working with was a nurse. A few months later, I got a new job and transferred to a new city. The plan was, my lover would fly back and live with my dad for awhile, looking after him for free room and board while i found a place for us to live. But the lover found a new lover, and decided to remain in my home town, looking in on my dad and starting a new life with someone who wasn't me. I lost one of the greatest loves of my life. But I kept my father.

Balance.

I have no patience for these fools who want to serve "Lord Satan." Both God and the Devil are metaphors for a universe indifferent to human suffering. The only difference is, God doesn't listen and the Devil does. He delivers. But you gotta pay a price. There must be balance, and he doesn't really care how nice you are to him. He doesn't take bribes, kiddies.

WORKING WITH IT
Look, the best way to avoid the heavy price is to use Lesser Magic instead, Failing that, place smaller bets. Had my lust spell been fore the equally nerdy and outcast girl in homeroom, the odds would have been so even that the price was barely noticeable. I went for the cheerleader, the long shot, and got burned.

But ultimately...and I suspect everyone reading this, as a Satanist, already knows this...magic is scary. If you need something Really Big, just be prepared to pay a Really Big Price. If you can't do that, enroll in the Church of your choice, accept "God's Will," and stop playing with fire.

[Andrew]

This one was powerful. That's the only way I can voice it. What you wrote in "Pricca" started reverberating in my head for two nights and this was the result. It is stuff I think deep down I have always known, but just didn't voice to myself. Consciously, at least.

But thanks for what you said. It means a great deal to me.

[Jack Faust]

"I personally don't believe in Karma or the whole Returning Three Fold routine."

Karma and the 'Three Fold Law' aren't the same. Only idiots applied to that concept.

Other 'Traditions,' which are by nature secretive, have a different interpretation:
"Hit me once, I deck you thrice."

Fucking Silver Ravenwolf and Llewellyn. Ah, well. The fluffies can run around saying whatever they want. It keeps the morons the fuck away from anything near to what I may or may not believe or be involved in.

Then again, what did anyone expect for 9.95$?

[Lili]

i've been called on this website before your "cheerleader," which kinda burned me up a bit. but then you go an write something like this, and i am proud to say "damn straight i am his cheerleader! go team!" besides, i am a woman, and if a gal can't stand by her man, even an ex, then who can?

seriously, i agree totally with varick. one of the best essays on magic i've read. now i know you are squeamish about publishing because you have an academic rep to protect, i get that. so i say do it under a pseudonym. you're sitting on a pile of essays on magic at least 200 pages long. publish, luv. great, great stuff.

[Eric T. Schuetz]

Andrew, I agree with her on this. A pseudonym is not uncommon at all in the writing industry, and with essays like yours, it gets to someone as easy as the fresh aroma of Grandma's Apple Pie after it comes out of the oven. I dare say, a hint of LaVey's writing style in the how you deliver details, yet do not get "wordy". You don't down grade the reader by making it easier, you just write it "naturally", without flash, flair and pomp.

I say, "Publish".

[ODIUM]

Andrew;

My muse and inspiration. This is one of those fellows that if sufficiently pissed off always delivers the "SILVER STAR" - ( * wink * ).

Proof positive that integration of life events as a totality of being pursued yeilds the strongest results; and that volatile psychological states can be channeled into a creative outlet.

I will say this and this alone;

Andrew, in the short time that I have known him, here and elsewhere, has benefitted me more than any other personage I have come in contact with during the course of my life.

Not only was this post brilliant, it was lucid and down to earth. Most pertinently it was...real.

This is the mark of one who has mastery of their craft, as they speak not upon the precepts of only quotations or lingo-jargon --BUT FROM WITHIN...FROM EXPERIENCE!!!!

There are no guarantees in life, and magic is a game of chance. You roll the dice and you have to go with or against the patterns that come thereafter. If you cannot perceive what is in front of you, you may have to take a backseat for a spell.

The dice might come up snake eyes, or they might not. The balance factor is imbued in all of nature, I'd further that by saying that it's the foundation and motivating factor in all of life....the snake which eats it's own tail.

There is no tomorrow...unless there IS a today.

This is where lesser magic comes into play. One has to be able to read the patterns of life like a chess player. Actions MUST be decisive and the second you relinquish your resolve for the peace and comfort of "green pastures" is the moment within a moment, the second within forever, that you get screwed.

Then you must re-configurate, re-strategize. Magic is all about psychology; a psychology of the self; and in dealing with life / the world.

Lesser and greater "magics" eventually bleed into one another, but not without planned structure and that structure lays within the framework of what is deemed... lesser magic.

One without the other is merely manipulation, the other without the one is simply a head in the clouds mental masturbatory pursuit leading into illusions of solipsism and pipe dreams.

Real magic is right here, right now and carries with it all the trials and tribulations of a mind & heart invested in the virile pursuits of LIFE.

There is no time to soften ones approach, for good, bad or indifferent;

"Here and now is our day of torment! Here and now is our day of joy! Here and now is our opportunity!" -TSB, p.33

Thank you Sir Andrew for wielding the "SILVER STAR" so well; for it's reverberations are tantamount to a synthesis in excellence.

Sin'cerely,

Odium

[Andrew]

I wonder if you actually read the piece.

"Does this mean for every good deed, or altruistic white magic spell, or good thought I cast out I get three times the goodness back?"

No. It means, if you cast an "altruistic white magic spell" you are gonna pay a price, not get a reward. Heal your mom, and you might get yourself sick. So make damn sure healing your mom is worth it.

As for being "blessed with the most powerful civilization the world has known" you might wanna crack a history book. The Romans thought the same. So did the Brits, and their empire--despite the lack of nuclear weapons--was by comparison richer and larger.

"Might Is Right wouldn't work if every Mighty person did what he had to do to be mighty only to be crushed by some cosmic law of retaliation. And this would mean the entire Book of Satan of the Satanic Bible is a bunch of hogwash, because we all know its a near verbatim copy of Ragnar's Might Is Right."

Don't you worry your pretty little head. America will get theirs. Everyone always does. It's like when you are young, you think you can eat and drink whatever you want. Then you wake up one day royally fucked. The same goes for nations as well. Sooner or later, love, it all catches up with you.

Oh, and by the way, only the first dozen pages of the Satanic Bible reference "Might is Right." You might wanna read those two books too.

[Terrsaa]

Hmmmm... Maybe some of you can help me out with this. Reading the initial post here, i am having some trouble understanding. It seems to me that the LaVey's Balance Factor is being misrepresented as some kind of Karmic system when compared to Newton's Third Law. The statement "If you need something Really Big, just be prepared to pay a Really Big Price." to me seems totally different from the Balance Factor as LaVey explained it and more along the lines of being correct in a physical sense or in the concept of the Pendulum.

When Karma is defined as an action, seen as bringing upon oneself inevitable results, good or bad, either in this life or in a reincarnation, it seems to me to fit better with the statements of:

"..every life is a balance of the good and the ill, the ups and the downs, the smooth sailing and the choppy seas. For the vast majority, the plusses and minuses cancel each other out.";

"..."Every action is followed by an equal and opposite reaction." You push, and the universe is gonna push back. The harder you push, the harder it pushes back.";

and "I am gonna win this and pay by losing that later."; rather than to any application of the Balance Factor.

The statement, "Both magic and gambling are about making bets, taking risks, rolling the bones. Small bets translate into small wins and small losses. Big bets mean big wins and losses." seems to me to relate more to LaVey's Balance Factor but still not perfectly.

Maybe it is simply that i employ a bit of Chaos theory in with my ideologies. i agree that a push of the cosmic energies will undoubtedly be capable of inciting great possible changes in future situations or equally not (as stated by "The Butterfly Effect" theory), but not necessarily that any expended energy will tip an imaginary scale or swing some cosmic pendulum which will at some later date come swinging back to he who gave the push. To me the interpretation of any kind of Karmic retribution is only ever post explanatory. Like Nostradamus' quantrains, we can never see their true prophetic meaning when trying to apply them to the future, but only when we turn an inquisitive eye on the past. "Hind sight is 20/20." so to speak.

The statement "Magicians pick their battles" seems more logically in tune with the Balance Factor. LaVey's Balance Factor includes the statements:

"One of the Magician's greatest weapon's is knowing himself; his talents, abilities, physical attractions and detractions, etc.; and when, where, and with whom to utilize them!"

and "... knowing the proper type of individual to work you magic on for the easiest and best results."

The Balance Factor that LaVey outlined in The Book of Belial was designed to impart to us that no matter how much we want to ahieve some things, they simply may not be plausible. Big gambles in life may indeed incurr big results, but in magic a gamble to far out of our range of success will more often than not result in a simple failure and not some future discourse. i do not see it to state that we can achieve anything no matter how improbable simply because we are prepared to accept some kind of cosmic retribution.

While i agree that the above post is firmly rooted in the idea of the continual seeking of the universe to balance itself, it do not believe it to be a proper representation of LaVey's Balance Factor.

Stating this i suddenly feel a great need to rummage through some books that i have packed away in storage.

[MTZ]

i would like to comment a bit on the article... very well put. i enjoyed reading it. i want to speak (write, whatever) about personification, though. there is a pendulum, yes... but it happens regardless. i am under the assumption that there is unifying support to the fact that all of this is some external force acting upon the individual. i refuse to believe that. we are no longer primitive enough to need to point the finger at something external such as "god" or "satan." as satanists, people have started figuring that out. this pendulum comes from the same place that the origin of religion comes from: answering questions that have no answer. we personify the events of a thunderstorm or the wrath of some non exsistant giant who waits in the clouds for us to fuck up and make complete examples of ourselves so that we can all become its children... and we are taught to fight THAT man. we aren't taught to fight ourselves, though. this pendulum happens because we allow it to happen. when one spell is thrown about we have a tendency to relax afterwards and let the results come pouring in, but we don't play it like chess. we expect shit to happen, so in a way, we are still creating our backlash. the energy created by life has the magickal potential to be a bullet, but that pendulum has to disconnect from the source in which it swings. then it will drop into the abyss, and if it has enough weight and velocity, it will smash all other things in its path. what do i mean with all of this? make your own path based off of your own decisions and your own rules. YOU are the devil. YOU are satan. YOU are God. there is no external source. truth happens according to your own mind. but don't be ignorant about certain things... if you want to believe you can fly, don't jump off of a cliff, but you can take a ride in an airplane, helicopter or hot air balloon. certain forces in nature are able to be overcome, just maybe not in your imagination's time or manner. every intentional act is a magick act. this includes going to a carnival and paying for the balloon ride. control your decent, control your self, and control the events around you but do not chalk it up to something external. if you are good enough, you can be that same external source of which you were once enslaved. there are kings and paupers, but then there are gods.

[Sethios]

Maybe it's late but I wanted to thank you for this post, I was searching for this long time because there are many books out there which have not defined it good enough.It's a must read for every magician.

[Sethios]

I read your article again...your stories remind me of Goethes ''Faust''. Dr. Faustus has a pact with Mephistopheles this being delivers him more knowledge, power etc. but it ends with Dr. Faustus dramatically death.
The Magician has to pay the same price depending on his desire it would not surprice me if some fools had lost their lives because they had not considered the rules.

[Eric]

I have undoubtedly found that magic (at least concerning this guy's lil' ventures in life) has no balance, whatsoever.
One receives back what one puts into it,plain & simple (.)
I have been practicing for around 20 years or so now and have not once received a few more weights on the seemingly negative end to balance out said scale.
Many folks cater to this theory and I have always chalked it up to one reaping what he/she sows.
The 2 are intertwined and in the end, one ends up balancing the the cosmic scales him/her self.
"If you build it they will come",lol...and if you build it,don't get carried off w/it and allow for mental outside interference.
During my successfulness in something positive to my advantage,I am saying right here/now that I have NEVER once received this balance factor. How can this be true?
Because I do not believe in it and thusly does not incorporate itself into my own workings.
This pop-belief in the balance factor plagues quite the majority of practicioners and has always been quite disappointing to this particular pup :(
It's a fabricated bi-product that one has wholeheartedly allowed into his/her mind and completely bites them in the ass in the end.
There is no cosmic justice,no cop w/the universal badge watching over you deeming what is right and what is wrong.
You decide that much. Saying it is one thing (sure,most of us all do) but what truely lies in the pit of your own heart is what really matters.
I hate to sound all gothic but there is an old fabled rule that seems fitting to this conversation..."A vampire cannot enter one's home unless he/she has been invited in".
Your call in the end as is mine.
Excellent read though,very enjoyable :)

[Night Ankh]

I found your post to be enlightening in some ways and comical in others, as I compared it to my own life's experiences. I have always told people to be careful what they wish for, because they will get it, but not necessarily in the way they want. That's sort of how I deal with Greater and Lesser Magic. Thou, I must admit, I have seen fewer repercussions from the times I have done either, than you seem to have. Admittedly, you appear to have a good head on your shoulders, when it comes to this topic. I wonder somehow, if in the part where you were helping your friend get laid, you didn't also wish that for yourself at the same time? Granted, this may be observed as a...what to call it...a wish beneath a wish?? Just curious how that may have played into the scenario, or not.
As for Greater Magic, I have only used that at points in time, where I felt it was best needed. The results were positive, with no kickback from the universe, of which I was aware. For example, I worked with this, for lack of a better word at the moment, bitch of a nurse. She went out of her way to try and cause me grief. Fine. I did the destruction of an enemy ritual, and the next day, she had a heart attack, never came back to work after that. Oh well. On the flip side, I had done compassion rituals for a family member, and they too had been able to pull out of a situation that others didn't think she could. But again, I failed to see the repercussions of this act. I'm NOT saying that there weren't repercussions, but that I simply didn't see them, at the time I suppose.
From my perspective, I do what I do, for my reasons. I respond to events, when taken/pushed to such a level that I feel the need, and just DO. Then I tend to carry on with life. Don't misunderstand me here, when using both Greater and Lesser magic, one needs to exercise caution, understand what it's all about, and have aquired the ability to master focus. Without focus, I believe this is one of the areas where some people get 'burned'.
Just my take here.