Pain

“There is no pain where strength lies.”

I disagree with this statement, originally made in Star Wars: Betrayal. I believe instead that strength arises from pain. Whether this is the pain of betrayal, injury, conflict, or otherwise, pain is a teacher, and the lessons should be learned well. Suffering forges the strong and culls the weak, leaving only the most worthy in the ranks to grow. This is why I believe that a Sith should neither fear nor flee from pain, but rather embrace it. Neither, however, should we seek it out unnecessarily. Pain will arise as a natural part of life. It is our duty to allow it to temper our mind, body, and soul, rather than to break it.

Mental pain, that which is brought on by traumatic events, betrayals, and other such non-physical injury, holds the lesson that no matter how strong we think we are, there is always a knife in the dark. It trains us to protect ourselves from those in whom we may errantly place faith and trust. This is perhaps the most valuable lesson for the modern Sith, as we do not often find ourselves on the field of battle. In the bittersweet embrace of mental anguish, we learn to lean only on ourselves, embracing and building our own inner strength.

Physical pain shows us where our weaknesses and vulnerabilities are. A cut tells us we failed to protect our flesh, a broken bone tells us we do not know how to fall. Every wound inflicted upon our body is a lesson in where we can improve to avoid such injury again.

Embrace the pain. Let it remind you that you still live. But do not seek out pain without cause. Needlessly damaging ourselves proves only that we are foolish, willing to suffer for nothing. We do not suffer for nothing, we suffer only for power. Remember also, Planning to break the fall is planning to fall. Sith do not fall. We endure. We do not prepare back up plans, but rather analyze the situation before rushing in headfirst. And above all, we do not sulk in our suffering for any longer than is required to learn the necessary lesson. We suffer, learn, and then grow and move on.

Centering

“A Jedi attempting to center himself is brought to the center of the universe through the course of his meditations. A Sith doing so is made the center.”

I have often thought about this. I do not know the true origin, but I believe it was in the novelization of Revenge of the Sith. As a practicing mystic, I have practices the three core arts (meditation, grounding, and centering) for most of my life. However, the descriptions in the original books I read never made much sense. After all, why would I want to ground myself, and then bring myself elsewhere through centering? It was only after embracing the Sith Path that I understood, I was not meant to do this. I was meant to make myself the center of everything. This is why such practices as meditation for our path tend to be a bit different. They are not about losing ourselves in the flow of the universe, but rather bringing the flow into our awareness and control. In recent weeks, I have taken a less direct approach in discussions and training concerning my views of the Force. I have tried to mute the Metaphysics of it in favor of appealing equally to the agnostic and materialistic adherents of the path. This was a mistake, arguably a crime. By nature, the Sith requires at least some degree of metaphysical belief and application, otherwise we would all just go read Machiavelli, Nietzsche, and Rand and be philosophers. But we didn’t want to be philosophers, we wanted to be Sith, and there is a degree of expectation with that title. Therefore, I say that embracing the Sith Path should mandate at least a daily meditation practice, even if it is simply planning your day, which involves a true centering: making yourself the center of it all.

The Nature of Power

The subject was raised today on what power really is, and while there are many answers to this, I believe there is only one that matters. Power is the ability to inflict your will upon reality, in whichever form that takes. For instance, power at work is holding a position that lets you do what you wish, to set your schedule, and to get things done when you need them. In life, this may take the form of influence, money, or connections. I also believe in the power of the occult, which is it’s own power. So the question is not, what is power, but rather what sort of power is best suited for your needs? Answer the rest, then the journey begins.

The Sith and Psychic Vampires

Building on my previous discussion, this path also tends to attract a high number of psychic vampires, those who, whether in the literal or metaphorical interpretation of the term, steal time, energy, and focus away from other due to their incredible level of self centeredness, often stemming from a need to be accepted and liked. However, this tends to work against them, their attempts becoming increasingly frustrated by the unwillingness of others to engage and feed their need to be liked. However, they are easy to spot and easy to deflect. Some of the hallmarks we have observed are:

Lack of personal responsibility- “I didn’t do anything wrong”

Constant 1-upping- “that’s good, but I did this and it was better”

Constant martyrdom/victimhood- “I don’t know why everyone is always mad at me, I do the things but I don’t get credit”

Taking advantage of you- “ignore everyone else, talk to me, help me with this”

Criticism/bullying- “I should have expected you to fail, you always let me down”

There are others, but these are major. However, as Sith, not only is it our place to not take the mantle of psychic vampire upon us, we are also held to a higher standard- we must be able to defend ourselves against such leeches. In light of this, I would like to share techniques taught by my own mentor, as well as other common coping mechanisms.

Establish boundaries, and refuse to budge, no matter how great the guilt trip.

Limit interaction if boundaries become ineffectual.

Project the aura of a rock- making yourself unappealing to vampires is a great way to deflect them

If all else fails, separate entirely. There is no shame in removing someone who is nothing but a drain on your time and energy.

As Sith, we should be the ones fully at the helm of our energy. By practicing proper defense against these leeches, we are doing exactly that.

Dogma and the Sith

The Sith Path is a way of individuality. Making or discovering your own truth, forging your own way through your passion. However, there is danger in presuming that your way is the only way, which everyone should walk. Your way may not work for another, so forcing it onto them is at best a distraction and at worst, a setback for them. I recently encountered one of these. He was not only so sure his way was correct, his way was also Christianity airbrushed in red. His rant, while detailed and thought out, was not only entirely averse to every experience I’ve had on the path, but also antithetical to the experiences of several respected Sith. But he is so certain his way is right that I am not sure how he also holds to the code. The code specifically speaks of breaking chains, and Dogma is just such a chain.

This experience has, however, done some good in that it has made me wonder if even our codes and tenants are not worth reworking. I teach four codes in my core studies, and I discuss personal codes, but I wonder if the path would not be better served by a reconstruction of our code, or at least, a requirement of a personal code for each person? Have we become too married to the idea of one code to override the rest? I do not know. It is hard to say on one hand to disregard dogma while on the other using the same code we started with.

Shadow work prompt: How much has past trauma defined your personality traits today?

This is a tough one for me because I have not experienced ‘trauma’ in the way it is most commonly described. However, I have two deep roots that could be described as traumatic, and they have informed practically the entire rest of my life given both their level of intensity and the time when they occurred.

First, I do not entirely know or understand the circumstances surrounding my early years. What I do know is, I was an unexpected pregnancy, though not an unwanted one. My mother was in high school, my father was not. He was working constantly, and could not raise a child alone, and my grandmother did not permit him and my mother to be together. Somehow, I wound up with my grandmother’s ex husband and his new wife. He was great, in fact he was more of a grandpa to me than my mother’s actual father. But she was terrible. She constantly told me I was an orphan and my parents didn’t want me. Eventually, my father settled down, got married, and got custody of me. I’m not sure when I became fully aware of what orphan actually meant, but I do know that by the time I was an adult, I had become cognizant of the fact that a) I had never been an orphan, b) my parents didn’t not want me, but neither were able to care for me, and c) the only reason she had to to be that monstrous was malicious intent. It became clear that she did not want to be shouldered with such a burden, and that she was happy to be rid of me. When she died, I had no reaction, and my father called me a ‘cold hearted bastard.’ Until, that is, I laid out for him what she told me. But I do owe her one thing: growing up being told I was unloved and unwanted solidified in me the drive to never force my children to grow up that way. I have gone out of my way to make sure they know they are loved, supported, and accepted.

The second event came much later. I grew up with my conservative Christian father, so I did not know there were other religions. As far as I knew, there was Christianity, satanism, and atheism. When I was 12, however, I discovered that there were alternatives, and that the occult was alive and well and nothing like I’d been taught. For three years, I secretly explored, practiced, and researched, mostly at my mother’s house or in the little privacy I had at my father’s. It was a semi serious exploration, though I still went to church and did the things, and I was actually contemplating whether I actually liked my alternative religions or if the church really was my home. Then, my practices were discovered and my life changed. I lost all sense of privacy, trust, and curiosity, I was essentially locked down. Plus, I had several exorcisms and was even shipped out of the country on a missions trip to Brazil to find ‘deliverance’. My head was shoved into a toilet and I was told to vomit out the demons. That experience solidified my views firmly against the church, permanently, and I determined to continue my practice, secreted away from everyone. This was also the time I discovered the Sith Realist Path, and I embraced it. It required no ritual elements, only a belief system and lifestyle. I learned to hide, to lie, to deceive, and to wear a mask. Now, 15 years later, my life is deeply entrenched in the occult and my pagan religion. While I do not say that I am only a pagan because of this, I do say that I might not have become this involved in the religion if it were not for this.

So in a very real way, my entire life is informed by exactly two traumatic experiences, but I have lived and worked in such a way that I am not controlled by these people any longer. Their actions hurt me, but ultimately I am happy with the way my life turned out. She is dead, which is the closest to forgiveness I can offer her, and my father understands that I am who I am because of his actions, and that regret I see every time he becomes conscious of it makes me smile.

A Brief Analysis of the Sith Path and the Nine Satanic Statements

The Nine Satanic Statements as they Relate to the Sith

Allow me to begin this by stating up front that I am not satanist, but I am familiar with the theology, and I am fond of it. That said, I’ve been contemplating the 9 statements and how they fit with the path. This is my brief analysis of that connection.

1. Satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence!

Our code begins with the line “Peace is a lie, There is only Passion.” Indulgence is the nature of our pursuit of personal passion. We deny ourselves nothing except that which holds us back.

2. Satan represents vital existence instead of spiritual pipe dreams!

Again, we are not a path of armchair philosophers. Achievement on this path is represented only by physical progress rather than some form of enlightenment or mental breakthrough. If you do not provide results, then all you can produce are excuses, which are unacceptable.

3. Satan represents undefiled wisdom instead of hypocritical self-deceit!

Every core study program I have ever seen on this path points to one thing: self examination. We require those who come to this path to examine themselves openly and honestly, even when it comes to their flaws. Self-deception is essentially the greatest crime we can commit on this path.

4. Satan represents kindness to those who deserve it instead of love wasted on ingrates!

This comes back to something I call the Sphere of Responsibility. We have those for whom we care for and would do anything for. The rest are ultimately irrelevant. Those outside of our circle must have some value to be worthy of our attention.

5. Satan represents vengeance instead of turning the other cheek!

While our path does not mandate vengeance, forgiveness is not an option either. Outside of the Sphere of Responsibility, mistakes may be corrected, but neither forgotten nor forgiven.

6. Satan represents responsibility to the responsible instead of concern for psychic vampires!

This again ties back to our sphere. Responsibility to the responsible is a poetic way to say that only those who are worthy of our time and attention are the ones who receive it.

7. Satan represents man as just another animal, sometimes better, more often worse than those that walk on all-fours, who, because of his “divine spiritual and intellectual development,” has become the most vicious animal of all!

This comes to something I wrote once about the code essentially being a guide to living instinctually. Realistically, we are taught to embrace our passions and our drives, rather than denying what we feel we want to do.

8. Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification!

Again, creatures of instinct. We pursue that which pleases us and eschew that which does not.

9. Satan has been the best friend the Church has ever had, as He has kept it in business all these years!

This one is not entirely suitable to us on the surface, until you consider that every Jedi course talks about the ‘dangers of the dark side’. So in a way, I suppose we do keep the Jedi filled with members afraid of ‘falling to the dark side.’

In summary, while it is not a perfect alignment, the Statements are in essence the Code, simply in a longer form. If we walk the way of the code, we will inevitably embrace several of these principles. But as with all things, there is more to either path than just statements and philosophy. If nothing else, Satanism is worth a cursory examination, though perhaps not a full dive unless that’s your thing.

This Holocron is now on Discord!

If you have a discord and prefer that layout, this Holocron has been ported to discord. Future updates will be posted here as well as there, so that both audiences will be able to find it. If you wish to join the Holocron, you may find it here:

https://discord.gg/PD6m4TzXS9

An Official Title

Today is an excellent day. My philosophical discourse has earned the recognition of the Modern Sith, and they have awarded me the official title of Sith Lord. This may be the first time a reputable Sith organization has bestowed the title on me, the others being self proclaimed or given by the Jedi, which does not hold much weight with me personally. But this is a good feeling.

Looking Back

It has been over a year since my last entry, and in that time, I have focused on the Lodge. I have learned a lot about myself in this time, which I will keep to myself. However, I have learned a key truth. Self declared Lords are, somewhat ironically, never accepted by the community. While this is suitable to most places, it is a paradox among the Sith. Seizing power is a cornerstone of the path, and yet we make those who claim a mantle prove themselves. This didn’t make sense to me when I was younger, but as a Lord and head of an Order, it does now. There is enough misunderstanding around the Path that we wish for those who would say they understand it to prove it. This is why a body of work such as this Holocron is important, it is proof of our path. In that vein, I will be working towards two things: copying these entries into a discord server, and keeping this Holocron updated. Stay tuned brethren.