The Diabolicon is a most unique document in the history of the Left-Hand Path. It is in one sense a simplified retelling of the divine insurgency, the Daimonic rebellion in Heaven and the Luciferian Exodus from it. Recently it has taken the place of Ragnar Redbeards ‘Infernal Diatribe’ in Michael Aquino’s revision of the Satanic Bible.

When I first read this section of the Aquino SB it filled me with a sense of divine justice. I remembered back to the days when I first discovered the Satanic Bible. I was 13 years old; it was 1983; I was an isolated and anti-social youth, and when I found that book those were some of the first words that began to kindle a new fire of hope within me. When I read the Infernal Diatribe, not only was I inspired with the strength to fight against the collectivism and defeatism in my daily life, but as well my sense of wonder was stirred by the suggestion that these words in the Book of Satan were actually the words of Satan himself.

Flash forward 15 years and it came out that the entirety of the Book of Satan was plagiarized from someone named Ragnar Readbeard. Not only were they not the words of Satan, but they were not even the words of Anton LaVey. How do you deal with that? Someone you considered a great spiritual teacher turns out to be a plagiarist? It was weird watching how others deal with it – many proponents seemed to kind of half-acknowledge it, like you could ‘kind-of’ plagiarize something, or maybe plagiarism is ok if you’re a High Priest of Satan who doesn’t believe it Satan. Well it’s not my mission to work out all that, I’ll just say it offers one helluvan opportunity for exercising your Double-Think muscles.

Suffice to say, when I saw Aquino’s Diabolicon replacing the Infernal Diatribe I had an immediate sense of cosmic justice. Here is a document that will allow you to at least entertain the possibility of divine inspiration; but it you can’t swallow that you can at least feel confident that the author – even if he be mortal man – sincerely believes in what he is writing about and it taking the time and effort to actually write it all himself.

Beyond all that, looking at the document itself, there are several things the Diabolicon outlines and integrates, all which are key elements to success and happiness on the Left Hand Path. Here are seven of them.

1. The Diabolicon establishes a Morality of Individualism

The events of the story center around the ideal that the individual is sovereign and that rational self interest and personal responsibility are some of the highest virtues. The Daimons of the Diabolicon are put in situations where the they must make decisions about what to do with the Black Flame in relation to Man, and it is this moral stance – a morality of personal sovereignty and self-empowerment – which guides them in making decisions.

For instance after seeing how the Forces of Masleh (Forces of Mechanicalism/The Lie) attempt to pervert the Gift of Sapience to Man, the are tempted to intervene themselves:

Many there were among us who felt anger at this ruthless mutilation of our Gift, and Beelzebub brought to question whether we also should not descend among man an contest this usurpation of his Will. But I said, Were we to lead man in this venture, we ourselves would declare his failure, and he would believe our Gift to be weak indeed. Messiah must see that free Will is beyond the concern of God, and that man will finally win his own destiny apart from all dictated schemes. – Satan ArchDaimon

In the end they realize that interfering with the Free Will of another being is the most immoral act imaginable. This corresponds with the Mazdan idea about the fundamentally voluntary nature of conscious existence and that the fundamental nature of evil is coercion.

2. The Diabolicon has a Clear Metaphysics

The metaphysics of the Diabolicon clearly indicates that human self-consciousness levels are the result of a metaphysical intervention from higher forces in the interest of conscious evolution. The source is external; it is substantial, and the resulting metaphysical state of humanity as fundamentally sovereign beings gives form to and directs the evolution of the morality. In other words, if we were created as free individuals, then acting in favor of the freedom and individuality is ever the way of virtue.

At the same time, the metaphysics of the Diabolicon are largely Aristotelian. Newton and Galileo are mentioned, as well as the idea that the design of Man – a microcosm – gives clues to the structure of the cosmos – a macrocosm.

To Democritus I spoke, and I saw the radiations of energy freed from matter both build and break man’s world. And man neglected not his own design, for in minute life he found clue to his own, and scarce hints of the original creation. And Asmodeus led mathematicians and astronomers to the wonders of the firmament, and I walked within the thought of scholars on quiet evenings. And that man not attempt mastery of his environment before himself, I spoke of government to Khem and Hellas, to the dynasties of Ch’in and Ashanti and Tenochtitlan, and within great capitals and mean villages alike I spoke of the brotherhood of all man, and of his correlation to the forces of Earth and those of the Universe beyond Earth. -Asmodeus

3. The Diabolicon Suggests a Social System based on Free Will.

Totally in line with Magus Crowley’s teachings on Thelema, Man is a creature of Free Will. It is part of his design and purpose. To discover and actualize his own Free Will is part of his reason for being and part of his destiny.

What, man, art thou? Why thy presence? Because thy own purpose determines that of the Cosmos itself, though otherwise it may have been suggested the creation, perpetuation, and exercise of the Satanic marvel that is free and unbounded Will. – Satan ArchDaimon

It all comes down to purpose, and that purpose is the exercise of purpose which is complete freedom of will.

Later it is all laid and logistically verified as they find their new home – Pandemonium.

Here shall freedom be absolute, for Hell Itself shall reflect our several Wills, never to be patterned apart from them. And in truth Hell was not constant, for each of us conceived it differently, and the result was a riotous pandemonium, with substance and motion behaving in a most bewildering and perplexing manner. – Beelzebub

“Here shall freedom be absolute” = “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.” Doubters and nay- sayers always respond to this with the charge that it is impractical, but in establishing Pandemonium the Daimons sweep such doubt away. Not only is it practical but it is natural, beautiful and in truth we were designed to live this way.

4. The Diabolicon posits the existence of a force.

Throughout the text this force is referred to as the Black Flame. It also describes the components of the Black Flame as substance, energy and purposefulness. – This equates to the S.E.T. formula I discuss in the book Daimonosophy, and also illustrated in my fictional work The Erbeth Transmissions. Dr Aquino also further illustrates the concept of a substantial Black Flame in his Star Wars re-imagining “Star Fire” – in which It is revealed that the word Sith is a reference to the Black Flame – and ancient substance which has an energizing and transformative effect on self-consciousness, and is ultimately Supersubstantial.

I am Belial, who bring to thee the third great key of Hell, by whose power ye shall confound all the laws of Heaven and Earth. Before thee shall chaos fall, and thou shalt wield for thyself the great mysteries of the macrocosmos. I speak to thee of that which is called the Black magic, for it is true spawn of that great Black Flame which first brought thy Will to life long ages ago. To council with Satan I also was called, and the Lord of Light said to me, Into thy charge, Daemon of essence, I give the essence of my own being, the Black Fire whose power alone can effect creation by force of Will. Against thee who wield the Black magic no law shall stand, and thus I call thee Belial, who art One Without Master. And as I have bequeathed this essence to thee, so let it come finally to man, who shall overcome the great balance and bring to the Flame a change, for in supremacy it shall become Red with the perfection of the Will of man.

You can further equate it with other esoteric energies like Vril, Chi, Prana or Orgone, but in the end the scientific validity isn’t as important as the benefits of simply adopting the Aristotelian mode of interpreting phenomena. Note that his is distinct from the Platonic mode where it is presumed a certain class of phenomena take place in an intangible non-material realm of ideas. The Aristotelian mode of the Diabolicon presumes all phenomena to be occuring in a real and substantial world accessible to all conscious beings.

5. The Diabolicon addresses the nature of immortality

The Satanic view of immortality espoused in LaVey’s Satanic Bible is very much in line with the Ragnar Redbeard proclamation that your immortal spirit will live on in the brains and sinews of those whose respect you have gained.

As hungrily as I devoured the SB when I was younger, I was always kind of dissatisfied with this idea that my own life beyond Earth was contingent on people on Earth continuing to think or talk about me. You see this in the idea espoused by ex Satanic Temple Priest and founder Brian Warner, who once said you die twice – once when you die, and then again when the last person who remembers you on Earth dies. They illustrated this same concept in the movie Coco which uses Mexican Day of the Dead characters to demonstrate a similar concept.

The good thing about this sort of practice is it indicates you can’t really work on a next life without working on this life. You have to be decent and moral and die an honorable death so people will want to talk about you after you’re gone.

But then, if all your existence beyond is based on what other people think, it means you don’t REALLY have any control over it. If you’re a musician, actor or performer imagine if you’re actual life was dependent on good reviews – and you’ll quickly see how untenable and and not very reassuring this perspective on Life After Death really is.

Not so in the Diabolicon. There is a pattern suggested: improvement of the self in this life helps one to create the necessary perspective/desire needed to continue beyond existence in the Universe ‘that is.’ And it has something to do with Leviathan.

Leviathan is the absolute, man, and if thou would presume to realize what neither Heaven nor Hell may effect, know that when thou behold the presence of Leviathan, thy end hath been attained. Only through obliteration of the Universe that is may may seal his mastery of the Black Flame, for only thus may he know that he is not subject to a greater Will. Heaven must perish, Hell must perish, and man alone must remain ere the Black Flame becomes Red in the glory of its perfection. Then the Red magus shall behold only Leviathan, and he shall recognize that he has become the perfect mind, who shall remake the Cosmos in the eternal glory of his Satanic Will. -Leviathan

6. The Diabolicon resolves the the Miltonian Paradox– This is the old idea that Satan conquering would become God, and God dethroned would become Satan. This illustrates the problem you see with many ‘Theistic Satanists” who talk about ‘praying’ to Satan, refer to Satan as ‘The Father” etc. Folks like this simply haven’t thought through and resolved the Miltonian Paradox. They’ve simply decided that the God of the Christians does not represent them so they are replacing him with a better, cooler – maybe even more gothic – god that does represent them.

The problem here should be obvious – if you’re going to act in a grovelling subservient way to a Father God, then what’s it matter if your god is gothic or not? Your still wishing the same thing, you’re wishing for cosmic inclusion and someone to take care of everything for you. Your submitting to the collective and following the Right-Hand Path. It takes more than a change of wardrobe to get you off the Right-Hand Path.

This principle should be obvious – you can see it in the political cycle. Everyone thinks their new presidential candidate is going to shake things up when they get in to office, but then they get there and regardless of party affiliation the result is always the same, the status quo continues on and the size of government continues to increase.

The Diabolicon resolved this paradox when Lucifer makes it clear to everyone that he is not God and has no intention of taking over that throne.

Through the gates of Hell we passed, and many of us had supposed Hell to be a new Heaven, wherein Lucifer would become as God. But this was not to be, for the scene before us promised neither ease nor bliss. Everywhere was there imbalance and confusion, for no law ordered the shape of Hell. And Lucifer said, Lo see that I am not God, and that we are each of us an isolate being. Here shall freedom be absolute, for Hell Itself shall reflect our several Wills, never to be patterned apart from them. -Beelzebub

How many leaders or revolutionaries have the degree of conviction that having got to the throne, they say “no thanks,” let’s all just get on with our business. In the Lord of the Rings this is the equivalent of saying, “Not thanks, I don’t want the ring.” Too bad, you can’t throw the presidency into the fires of Mordor.

But according to the Daibolicon, that’s just what Lucifer did. He gave us the proclivity for freedom, fought for our right to keep it, and then didn’t get in the way of us continuing on with it.

7. It establishes the finality of the gift – that once given the gift of self-awareness can never be recalled.

Satan himself is not God, and Hell can offer no salvation to those who abuse the Gift of Satan. For the Gift itself is beyond the control of Hell once given, being subject to the Will of the Black magus alone -Belial

This is illustrated quite commonly in the Old Testament story of Adam and Eve. First there is the Forbidden Fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil – this is only another dumbed down metaphor for the Black Flame – the gift of self awareness. Becoming self aware means becoming like a god. And it’s put there by the serpent who clearly represents the Prince of Darkness in the Old Testament context.

The new awareness Adam and Eve get from eating the fruit makes them ‘aware’ of their nakedness, and the end result of it all is they realize they can’t go back – they have to leave Eden FOREVER!!!

In more recent times the same idea is represented in the popular film The Matrix with the Red Pill vs the Blue Pill, and once you take that Red Pill you are awakened to a reality you can never get back from.

The Red Pill is a great modern meme for illustrating this concept but for those of us who’ve been studying the Diabolicon for a while now, it’s just another way of describing and ancient truth – that the Gift once given is beyond the control of Hell, and you can never go back.