BLACK MAGIC

The Death programs built into our genetic and hence behavioral and
emotional structure are the price we pay for the capacity for sexual
reproduction which alone allows for evolutionary change. Only
organisms which reproduce asexually, to replicate endless identical
copies of their very simple forms, are immortal. Two conjunctions
with the black power are of particular interest to the magician: the
casting of destruction spells and the avoidance of premature death.

So called "Chod" rites are a ritual rehearsal of death in which the
Death-self is invoked to manifest its knowledge and wisdom.
Traditionally conceived of as a black robed skeletal figure armed
with a scythe, the Death-self is privy to the mysteries of ageing,
senescence, morbidity, necrosis, entropy and decay. It is often also
possessed of a rather wry and world weary sense of humour.

Surrounding himself with all the symbols and paraphernalia of death,
the magician invokes his Death-self in a Chod rite for one of the
two purposes. Firstly the experience of the Death-self and the black
gnosis brings the knowledge of what it feels like to begin dying and
thus prepares the magician to resist the manifestation of actual
premature death in himself and perhaps others by, as it were,
knowing the enemy. A demon is just a god acting out of turn. In the
course of various Chod rites the magician may well experiment in
shamanic style by invoking into himself the visualised entities and
symbols that he associates with various diseases, to practice
banishing them. Thus the Death-self has some uses in medical
diagnosis and divination.

Secondly, the death-self may be invoked as a vantage point from
which to cast destruction spells. In this case the invocation takes
the same general form but the conjuration is usually called an
Entropy Rite. One should always look for any possible  alternative
to the exercise of destructive magic, for to be forced into the
position of having to use it is a position of weakness. In each case
the magician must plant in his subconscious a mechanism by which the
target could come to grief and then project it with the aid of a
sigil or perhaps an evoked servitor. Entropy magic works by sending
information to the target which encourages auto-destructive
behaviour.

Entropy magic differs from Combat magic of the Red Gnosis in several
important respects. Entropy magic is always performed with complete
stealth in the cold fury of the black saturine gnosis. The aim is a
cold blooded surgical strike of which the target is given no
warning. The magician is not interested in getting into a fight,
merely in a quick and efficient kill. The supreme advantage of such
attacks is that they are rarely perceived as such by the targets who
have nothing but themselves and blind chance to blame for the
disasters which even magnanimity in victory does little to assuage.
One disadvantage however, is that it is rather difficult to present
invoices to clients for effects that appear to be due entirely to
natural causes.

God forms of the black power are legion; if the simple form of a
cloaked skeleton with scythe does not adequately symbolise the
Death-self then such forms as Charon, Thanatos, Saturn, Chronos,
Hekate the Hag, Dark sister Atropos, Anubis, Yama and Kali may
serve.

Servitors of the black power are rarely established for long term
general use, partly because their use is likely to be infrequent and
partly because they can be danger to their owner, thus they tend to
be made and dispatched for specific single tasks.