Within the context of the Church of Satan, “Lesser Magic” can be defined as social engineering or manipulation of people to further one’s own ends. Anton LaVey wrote an entire book on the subject, and his in home “Witch School” predates and proceeds the Church itself. His own life (and the lives of many of his heroes) is a textbook example of this.

What we’re going to talk about here is the actual objective mechanisms behind what can be called Lesser Magic, as currently understood by hard science today.

“Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is an approach to changing socially useful behaviors that employs scientifically established principles of learning to bring about these changes” (Kearney 19). ABA is the only objectively verifiable school of psychology, and is considered a hard, and not a social one. The basics are actually quite easy to understand for the reasonably intelligent, but even the definition found above contains some very precisely defined terms (that are not quite correctly defined by their common usage).

My time is short, and writing out an ABA 101 post is both boring for me and redundant to do – there are plenty of “layman” introductory sources to learn these things from. My current, in print and redily accessable (and cheap) favorite here is quoted above – Albert J. Kearney’s “Understanding Applied Behavior Analysis: An Introduction to ABA for parents, teachers, and other professionals”. Wonderful, yet short, introduction.

Go get the book – he introduces these concepts far better then I can, and why reinvent the wheel anyways? If you are cheap or can’t afford the book, google Applied Behavior Analysis. I don’t care if you deem me full of shit and this blog useless – this book belongs on the shelf of every Satanist. That’s a plain Amazon link above – I don’t need your money.

Get a feel for ABA, and suspend your uninformed opinion as to it’s validity. Next couple of posts will rely on this information.

This context requires some precise definitions to be comprehensible, even at a basic level.

(Edit: In private conversation, a prominent member of the CoS reminds me that the team is Lesser Magic, and not Lesser Black Magic. This is a failure in editing on my part, and has been corrected (and the catch appreciated))

(2nd Edit: one more correction became necessary, which actually illustrates the mechanism of Behavior Shaping via Rule-Governed (or Verbal) Behavior. Bonus question – can you describe this mechanism?)

Witness the Church of Satan and it’s membership, or at least, the public side of the Church found online. My entirely unscientific and self-serving survey indicates that there is a high number of artists in residence – and an artist is a Creator, a god in his or her own right. Most art is ideal for display on the Internet – you can reproduce an image of the creation for display on the web, and any knucklehead who browses your page can see the creation. The skewed sense of the Internet aside, there are multitude ways to be a Creator. Don’t fool yourself – We are all around you, and not all of us carry a paintbrush or write interesting and wonderful music. One with talent who owns that creativity can make a deep mark in this world.

A Consumer defines him or herself by what he owns – essentially, he allows others to define his being almost in toto. He or she is psychic silly putty, naturally lifting the newspaper print of Fear and Desire. Both Consumer and Creator are necessary – we need wool from the sheep to keep us warm, as well as meat for our bellies.

For a more directly Satanic treatment of this topic, I strongly suggest picking up Magister Matt G. Paradise’s book, Bearing the Devil’s Mark – you’ll find his essay “Producer or Consumer? Which one are you?” to be quite instructive.

So…which one are you? Producer or Consumer? Are you certain? Have you asked yourself this question lately?

This post is really low on the content scale – it’s point is simply to lead you to think about a topic of my design that, on first view, appears unrelated. The topic is this: if humans are no more than animals, and there are objective, scientific means to train animals, are humans really any different from other life forms?

More to the point – one of the very few differentiators between man and other beasts is the evolution of man’s forebrain, the organic source for language and what is known in a scientific context as Verbal Behavior. We can communicate through language, making understanding possible. If one can know how to train an animal, and one can verbally describe and understand the objective mechanisms that make this possible, is the human animal exempt from it’s operation?

Bonus question for the Crimson Card carriers here – both Anton LaVey and Peter H. Gilmore have some background in animal training – Dr. LaVey with the circus and his legendary pet lion, and High Priest Gilmore was raised in part by a father who worked as a dog breeder and groomer. Given the place of both men in the Church, do you think this shared background in and around animal training to be simply a coincidence?

Review the following news story concerning Peter Thiel’s new investments in New Zealand. At first glance, the article appears to be an exercise in speculation. Indulge me on this – it is much more then this. While articles of these nature are famously inaccurate in the details of the Is To Be, they tend to illustrate an important fact of business and the human jungle in general – even the apex predator is completely dependent on the strata below him. The apex predator has his kill in view, but by signaling other, lesser predators that there are complimentary opportunities available. These opportunities serve the apex predator in that they tend to provide the scaffolding below his master work, further supporting his success in the hunt and reducing his risk.

Out here in Silicon Valley, Thiel is a Moby of a Venture Capitalist, birthing several Internet-based household names. In the spirit of full disclosure, I’ve had the pleasure of consulting for some of his most famous ventures, and some of them (in their current incarnations) are customers of the company I find myself currently employed with. I’ve met the man, but I would not delude myself into thinking he knows me, nor I him. He is clearly in a social and business strata above me. This may not always be true, but it most certainly is for now – counterproductive pride often being my own personal stumbling block, I must make this clear, if only to myself. He is an apex predator in the technology world.

In the jungle, the predator employs many tactics to court the kill. Strength, cunning, speed – all contribute to the continuance of the strong. The art of invisibility and surprise is a majorly successful tactic in business – there is the first, and there is the dead. Much of the practices and laws concerning business deal specifically with the enforcement of Needful Silence, everything from the concept of client privilege to one of the most powerful Workings of Greater Magic, commonly called the Non-Disclosure Agreement. There are countless methods employed regularly to protect one’s actions from prying eyes, the most employed and effective of which are completely legal, moral, and near universally practiced. All predators of any value are watched.

So why did Thiel start a public paper trail of ventures and investments in such a manner that reasonably accurate speculation becomes inevitable?

No apex predator exists in a vacuum. The predator requires a prey (or opportunity, in less blood-thirsty terms), but also needs to be surrounded by the lesser struggles of the other animals. The smart animal will see Thiel making a move, and move themselves to capitalize on it. These complementary ventures, in turn, supports Thiel’s goal. Vendors clamoring to sell him services and support (driving costs down). Investors looking to get in on the ride (thinning out risk). Headhunters and employee placement firms (providing the human capital so critical to success). Even smaller, local businesses like the dry cleaners, the grocery store, the coffee house – these small ventures will provide a good life for the lesser, yet enterprising animal, while serving as the environmental attractants for the people Thiel will need to execute his ventures. Each venture develops a lattice of bonds and relationships that serve to support Thiel’s greater goal.

What does this illustrate? The lessons are many, but the most obvious are three: Firstly, it is not only the practice of Silence that facilitates success, but also, the experience of when and how to break this silence – timing makes a huge difference. Make no mistake – this story was calculated to be possible only when Thiel was far enough ahead of the game that competing predators could profit from his ventures, but not at his expense. Communication and media are powerful tools, and the wise utilize them to great effect. Secondly, the successful predator must always seek to understand the opportunities around him, and actively Look for them. In business, this is most often accomplished by the courting and development of relationships and alliances with other predators for mutual benefit – even for the apex, the most productive Alien Elite, business is all about the relationships – never, ever forget this. Finally, and most importantly – though you may personally loathe certain people in your jungle, though you may find little value in their company and elect to spend your time and energy elsewhere, treat all with respect and decorum at all times – today’s bottom feeder may be tomorrows invaluable ally.

Here endeth the lesson.

I find it useful to break these practices into areas of interest, as the practice of taxonomy is a most powerful tool for clarification of thought. These areas, in order of importance, are:

• Physical
• Mental
• Emotional/Magical
• Creativity/Fetish Indulgence
• Relationships/Alliances

Posts are being written and edited that cover all of these areas.

The real value of a businessman isn’t just his accomplishments, but the alliances and relationships he has carefully courted and built over the years in order to Get Things Done. No man is an island, no man is “self made”, and the ones who claim to be are either fools, liars, or are selling you something. Finance execs, in particular, run all their railroads this way – the accounts they service are rarely new, but rather, are the result of relationships built as the exec climbed the ladder over the years. These accounts aren’t loyal to (say) the Bank of Dumberica – the BoD is simply where the exec currently works at, and one bank is often as good as the other. If the exec moves to another institution, or (even more lucratively) starts his own financial consultancy firm, those huge accounts in his stable will follow him to his next stop. Loyalties in business are almost always personal – it’s not the bank that gets the client rich, it’s the exec pulling the strings at the bank who has done the real work.

AIG and other banks are rightfully concerned that they will not be able to retain finance execs if they cannot pay the six and seven figure bonuses that these people demand. Even in these “rough” financial times, the exec simply will leave, taking his accounts with him. By not spending millions in bonuses, the banks and firms stand to loose many billions of dollars in accounts. This is already happening – I’ve many friends who do IT consulting in the financial world, and all of them are completely swamped with calls from finance folks who are setting up shop on their own. It is this exodus of talent from the larger firms and banks that may ultimately spell their downfall, and if you think the economy is screwed now…

It is unwise to assume that a group of people higher up in the financial food chain then oneself go through life, playing by the same rules as the Common Idiot. This is how the game is played, and those few who have demonstrated their worth in the ring play by these rules. Pay them their bonuses now, or pay them your financial well being later… the choice is up to you. Ensure you’re making a fully informed one. And if you’re just starting out in your career, treat people well, build those alliances, and guard your contact list with your life.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

1. It’s founding by Dr LaVey in year One, Anno Satanas, coinciding with the publishing of the Satanic Bible – the philosophical underpinnings of Satanism.
2. The casting out into the desert a rag tag group of black clad, ant-eater worshiping poseurs. Dr. LaVey assets that progression in the hierarchy of the CoS is to be determined by real accomplishments in one’s own life.
3. The passing of Dr. LaVey in 1997, which culminated in Magus Peter Gilmore becoming the 2nd High Priest of the CoS
4. Today, where more thoughful Satanists are expanding and refining Dr. LeVay’s principals and philosophies. Examples include recent writings by Magus Gilmore and Magister James Sass – particularly the concept of “Deep Satanism”

It is the intention of my own writings here to continue the newly born refinement of Satanic ideas for those who care to employ them. An arrogant statement for certain, but I am completely confident that I can back my shit up with results.

Here’s the proof: I was born the poorest of white trash. Today, as a result of the practical application of what I will be writing here, I make a quarter million dollars a year in salary, plus bonuses – and I’m not even close to the top of my game. Results in the Real World are the ultimate mark of accomplishment – I possess real power against the Sheep of the World, and exploit them as much as my little Black Heart can manage.

Contrary to many people who are most prominent in the CoS today, I DID NOT join the Church of Satan at a young age. For certain, I recognized myself totally in the Docktor’s writings as early as age 16, when I first encountered the Satanic Bible. I feel fortunate that, sense that time, I have had the good fortune to completely and totally confirm the CoS’s philosophies in the practical, day to day existence of my life – they are real because I’ve experienced them to be true, in my own life and the lives of others. This is not a statement of judgement or condemnation of those amazingly accomplished Satanists who have accieved much in their own worlds – it’s simply a statement of the process in my own.

I most arrogantly state that my own life experience has very much to offer the CoS and it’s members. I will be sharing my own experience here, both for the growth of my own very healthy ego and for CoS member’s benifit. I make the outlandish claim that my own shit is completely backed up by scientific, objective fact, and will site a sampling of this work to back my play.Furthermore, it is my own opinion that stratification exists everywhere, including members of the CoS – it takes but a burger flipping job to obtain membership, and burger flippers tend to be either very young or complete idiots. Take from this site what you are capible of taking, and know your own limitations. Excel, and exceed them, or fuck off.

Thus endeth the lesson. Take it or leave it – I don’t care. Just know that, this very day, I am exploiting not only the sheep of this world, but you. My work is objectively true, just as much as the science is currently capible of being known.

Challenge my shit, but be warned – I will crush your opinions with objective Fact at every opportunity.

Contrary to popular, “folk” vernacular, “business” is not (only) the exchange of currency for goods and services. For certain, this transaction is an important part of this. Here in the Boardroom, goblet in hand, legs spread widely as our gorgeously hot companion (or strikingly handsome, as the case may be) willingly swallows us to ecstasy, anticipating our chance to return the favor… sorry, got distracted there.

Anyways, we here use a different, more Satanic definition – “business” is defined as the creation, cultivation, and leveraging of mutually beneficial relationships and the successful, purposeful execution of tasks that are mutually beneficial to that alliance. More bluntly stated, business is the process by which the strong feed on the weak, the clever and cunning become the strong, and if the cleaver are thoughful enough, they remain clever while attaining that strength. It is nature, red in tooth and nail, with a “professional” veneer – the smile, the handshake, the business suit. 

Brutal, but crushingly honest. This is not to say that these actions and relationships are done for purely exploitive purposes – only that there is no real altruism, and that when properly executed, one can do nothing but benefit from the transaction. This definition reflects the total acceptance that we’re all animals, but it doesn’t negate honor, integrity, and ethics (at least, not without consequence – responsibility to the responsible, always). 

Thus endith the lesson. Time to get back to what’s going on under the table here in the Boardroom.