Ave! From: a newcomer

Salutations! My name is Emilio. I am a Spanish (Iberian)-American of 37 years of age hailing from Orlando, Florida, USA. Truth be told, I’m inexperienced in the realm of the occult and magic, and I’m here to learn as much as I can (that is, outside of the relevant texts to which I have access: a PDF of “Liber Azerate” and “The Book of Sitra Achra”) (and share my experiences, once had) about the path I have decided to tread, that being Anti-Cosmic Satanism.

As forementioned, I’m new to this, so I don’t have a history, really, aside from a few unfruitful attempts at runic magic (probably due to being “spiritually insensitive”, as my then-girlfriend had put it, and just going about it the improper way) in the early 2010s. In 2021 or 2022, I was introduced to the Left Hand Path by a German interlocutor with whom I had communicated in a group chat on Telegram. I had put it off until mid May when I had finally decided to walk the infernal path. Welp… initiation (at least according to the four primary feasts of the Satanic tradition mentioned in “Liber Azerate”) is not 'til Walpurgisnacht. That and I don’t yet have the necessary items for rituals and such, though my PDF copies of “The Lesser Key of Solomon”, “Grimorum Verum” and “The Book of Sitra Achra” should help to give me an idea. So on the interim, there is time for further education in the Dark Arts and preparation.

Come to think of it, I do have one thing to share that I am curious about. One afternoon, within the past two to three months, I was reading the last 2/3 or 3/4 of ‘Liber Azerate’; 1–3 hours later, I had closed my eyes and saw a blonde-haired woman with black corneas and sclerae vomiting upwards at a 45° angle and on each side of her a bloody pentagram. Mind you, I had been reading all day, that day. I wonder what that vision could have meant.

Now, as to how I found this site, well, I had Googled “working with different currents”, because I wanted to know if Current 218 could be worked in parallel or intermittently with whichever current that the material in “Black Seal of the Inner Circle” by Bale Brooks deals with. After some reading, and ‘cause both approaches, at one point or another, promote self-deification, I suppose both currents are or can be compatible/ complimentary (?). Do correct me if I’m wrong, though.

Cheers!

Welcome to the forum. :slight_smile:

The short answer is, yes.

Current 218 is the nice name for a specific cult and it’s offshoots allegedly dealing with criminal behavior which is why we do not name them here. Please be clear, recruiting for any group on this forum is strictly against the rules and will lead to a ban.

Given they are cults, you are their sheep if you follow them, you’d have to ask them if you can work other magick at the same time, or only what they tell you to,

If you’re not initiated into the cult and are independently reading the books, then you are a sovereign being, do whatever you want to do. You will find out by trial and error what works for you and what doesn’t. That’s how it is for all mages anyway, we all have unique energy and interact in our own way, there are general guidelines, but zero absolutes. The same universal principles underlie the veneer placed over them by different authors, magick is magick, how you approach it is up to you entirely.

Thank you! :slightly_smiling_face:

The short answer is, yes.

Ah. Thanks for clarifying. I will proceed, then. Also, regarding that vision I had, do you, perchance, have an idea of what it could have implied? That’s the first time I have ever had such a vivid image like that suspended behind my eyelids and from simply reading that particular (e-)book with only the aim of acquainting myself with the cosmology/cosmogeny, deities and mythos.

Current 218 is the nice name for a specific cult and it’s offshoots allegedly dealing with criminal behavior which is why we do not name them here. Please be clear, recruiting for any group on this forum is strictly against the rules and will lead to a ban.

Given they are cults, you are their sheep if you follow them, you’d have to ask them if you can work other magick at the same time, or only what they tell you to,

Recently, I read a bit of ‘Liber Falxifer III’, which I found on Internet Archive, and apparently, the current worked therein is 182. What you say makes sense, though, seeing that, by far, I have only seen such mention of numbered currents (energies) in N.A-A.218/Vlad/S. Khoshnood’s books. (I’m new to this spiritual approach. Priorly, when I worked with runes and Galdr, I simply called it “manipulating the energies of the cosmos“.) I am, however, aware of the MLO’s/TotBL’s (former?) criminal activity; I don’t condone such behavior myself. I understand (about recruiting forum members for the purpose of organizing and the consequent ban).

I’m not a part of his cult, no. (I value my relative freedom. :joy:) To my knowledge, although his books—with the exception of ‘Liber Azerate’—were written in English (presumably in an attempt to reach a larger crowd), his order is/was restricted to Sweden.

If you’re not initiated into the cult and are independently reading the books, then you are a sovereign being, do whatever you want to do. You will find out by trial and error what works for you and what doesn’t. That’s how it is for all mages anyway, we all have unique energy and interact in our own way, there are general guidelines, but zero absolutes. The same universal principles underlie the veneer placed over them by different authors, magick is magick, how you approach it is up to you entirely.

Yea, I am just reading primarily ‘Liber Azerate’, ‘Book of Sitra Achra’ and ‘Black Seal of the Inner Circle’. The only one I’m working with, currently, is ‘Black Seal…’. True. Magick is magick. Energy is energy. And I think it was you who said that the energies are the same and that we just use different lenses and perspectives (I have been reading around this forum, yes. :grin:). I agree. I also agree with what you said later in the response, that one needn’t necessarily communicate with deities, being that the energies are there and have always been there. Have you heard of “resonators“ (geometric shapes that conduct and direct (etheral?) energy) before? There may very well be some truth to sacred geometry.

Once again, thanks for clearing this up for me and thank you for your honesty. Hope you’re doing well. — IDO

Not that much. I looked up this Black Book and it seems half a rehash of known methods and half grandiose bombast and poetry. For some people, it’s the poetry and theater that help[s them get into the right headspace, but that’s not how I operate, I’m a very earthy and practical person. Unfortunately, per the reviews on Amazon, the author didn’t bother to give all instruction or cite where he got the workings from, so it’s difficult to look them up yourself. All in al this probably isn’t the best work for beginners as you’ll need more books to find out how to work it. One review mentioned it’s printing is poor quality so that it’s hard to read with the text too far into the spine. Overall I suspect this is a cash grab half written by AI to capitalize on current affairs. It was only published this July 2025 and there are few reviews though.

We have a book recommendations thread if you’re interested of books the mages on this forum have tried and found useful, including ones good for beginners that explain the foundations of magick.

We also have free tutorials for the basics here…
You’ll want to get your spiritual hygiene sorted out, and start work on developing your astral senses.
Then when you can know you have a decent chance at avoiding impostors and parasites then try the first contact guides we have on here.

After that, please let us have your introduction HERE [ ← click me! ], which we need per the forum rules and see our posting guidelines in the FAQ.

Points to cover:

  • Do you have any practical experience in magick?
  • If so, what exactly do you practice and how long have you practiced?
  • Do you follow any specific system or tradition?
  • What are your areas of interest?

Not that much.

I’m probably looking too deep into it. I suppose I’m captured by the vision, because it occurred right after I had finished reading ‘Liber Azerate’ and I have never in my life had such a vivid image.

I looked up this Black Book and it seems half a rehash of known methods and half grandiose bombast and poetry.

I’ll have to flip through it, then, and examine the material. I hate the thought of spending any amount of money on trash. As for grandiosity and poetry, well, I suppose it can help enhance the experience a tad for some. Language of such character appears in ‘The Book of Sitra Achra’, after all. But then, tBoSA is a little more involved than Black Seal, based on what you’re telling me about the latter.

I’m a very earthy and practical person.

I do get that impression from you. I struggle reading through these texts myself, being a naturalist/materialist.

Unfortunately, per the reviews on Amazon, the author didn’t bother to give all instruction or cite where he got the workings from, so it’s difficult to look them up yourself.

I recall reading such reviews. Then, there are the laughable videos on Youtube with those reviewing the book wearing Guy Fawkes masks… F***ing cringe… I can understand the insufficient instructional information if the book is of an esoteric type. So far, from the ones I’ve read, most, if not all, esoteric grimoires conceal or somewhat obscure the true meanings and instructions. This elusive Bale Brooks claims that ‘Black Seal’ is an occult book — it’s even stated within the first few paragraphs.

One review mentioned it’s printing is poor quality so that it’s hard to read with the text too far into the spine.

My copy doesn’t suffer from that flaw. However, it does suffer from too small of text, so it is a little hard to read. That and a grimoire (or any occult book, for that matter) clocking in at only 158 pages?

Overall I suspect this is a cash grab half written by AI to capitalize on current affairs. It was only published this July 2025 and there are few reviews though.

I wouldn’t be surprised. And what I’ve read of it, by far, does read as though it was written by a f***ing chatbot, though the AI app I used denied it when I asked about its human authenticity. :joy: Current affairs?

  • Do you have any practical experience in magick?

I tried working with runes (Elder Futhark to be exact, and they were etched in bloodstone) and Galdr in the early 2010s, but the work at the time didn’t bear fruit, among other things, so I gave up.

  • Do you follow any specific system or tradition?

Norse-Germanic Paganism/Heathendom.

  • What are your areas of interest?

Anti-Cosmic Satanism; invocations/evocations and “manipulating the energies of the cosmos”, as it were (i.e. energy work).

Thanks for the links and recommendations.

Amazon lets you read a sample, and that was where I saw the poetic part. Another review on a random blog noticed the mix of voices - first dramatic then practical. That change in voice is why I think the author didn’t write all this himself.

It depends on the author it seems. Off the top of my head, and only from my own collection, authors like Corwin Hargrove, Damon Brand, Jareth Tempest, E.A. Koetting, all supply VERY detailed instructions, often in the first chapters… so much so that when people post asking how to do it we just say basically “RTFM”. People skip the reading thinking it’s dull but them miss that part.

Depends. If you check out Tarl Warwick’s reproductions of out of print medieval wokrs, some of them are very short - but again they save space but skipping the beginner stuff and assume you know what it all means another way. E.g. “The Book of Forbidden Knowledge: Black Magic, Superstition, Charms, and Divination” is 106 pages.

Would you please write your into in the Intros thread. It doesn’t belong mixed into this discussion.
We are a discussion forum, so we try to keep topics to one coherent subject. This is important to us, hence the rule and it is also useful as in future people will sometimes look up your intro to see how to level their responses.

Would you please write your into in the Intros thread.

I already posted it there.

Amazon lets you read a sample, and that was where I saw the poetic part. Another review on a random blog noticed the mix of voices - first dramatic then practical. That change in voice is why I think the author didn’t write all this himself.

I couldn’t find samples of the book on Amazon, but someone did post a photo (I’m still on chapter 1, so I’m not familiar with the part of the book he photographed), and really… the writing looks half-assed and as though Bale employed AI to write a certain percentage of it. Shame on him. I’ll try it out, anyway. The worst that could happen is nothing, no result; for an incomplete work bears incomplete or no fruit.

It depends on the author it seems. Off the top of my head, and only from my own collection, authors like Corwin Hargrove, Damon Brand, Jareth Tempest, E.A. Koetting, all supply VERY detailed instructions, often in the first chapters… so much so that when people post asking how to do it we just say basically “RTFM”. People skip the reading thinking it’s dull but them miss that part.

From reading around this forum, I’ve stumbled upon the name of E.A. Koetting quite a few times. I’ll definitely look into these authors and their work. I’m guilty of having done that myself, I must admit. LOL! So I go over the part at hand until I “get it“.

Depends. If you check out Tarl Warwick’s reproductions of out of print medieval wokrs, some of them are very short - but again they save space but skipping the beginner stuff and assume you know what it all means another way. E.g. “The Book of Forbidden Knowledge: Black Magic, Superstition, Charms, and Divination” is 106 pages.

I’ll check it out.

They put the button underneath the book cover image:

Maybe this is one of those where you do all the heaving lifting and this provides what you could call inspiration. You were drawn to it for a reason, and even if the reason is to learn what is not great for you, so you can recognize it next time.

Yeah - E.A. Koetting is the co-founder of Become A Living God and his company pays for this forum to exist. (Us forum mods are volunteers though.) Maybe people are here because they work with his books - my own ito to Western Grimoiric tradition is because of his Book of Azazel.

The main site at www.becomealivinggod.com offers books, magickal tools, merch and ritual for hire. His Odysee channel is E.A. Koetting

It’s a lot, but after a while you see the patterns repeating and it’s all variations on a theme - the same energy and mechanisms underlie everything. You will form your own worldview of what those are.

Ah, now I see it. I’m using my mobile phone, so I had to tap on “request desktop site“ to see the button and read the sample. Well, what can I say? That’s more or less the end of the first chapter, where I left off. And I still haven’t yet done the “three ring“ ritual, because I have not been in too good of a mood lately (I don’t screw around with “dark“ shit when I’m not calm/feel inner peace — which is my definition of a good mood, as I’m usually a grumpy bastard) or taken the time to finish the (Pythegorean) numerology bit.

Speaking of which, what is your opinion on numerology? And in case you find it interesting and have the time, here is the video in which “resonators” are discussed: https://youtu.be/tvAztPnLBeM?si=1J1f8J-EPNGkraGR?t=1h30m (You may have to wait or fast forward to the 1 hour 30 minute mark, which is where it begins.)

Maybe this is one of those where you do all the heaving lifting and this provides what you could call inspiration. You were drawn to it for a reason, and even if the reason is to learn what is not great for you, so you can recognize it next time.

Perhaps so… but the real impeller, the true inspiration, was hitting rock bottom followed by a surge of “dark” inspiration to make more music, but of a darker character and this in unison with a sudden desire to explore the occult, and so I found/downloaded ‘Liber Azerate’ and started reading. 1 year later, a sequence of yet more negative events transpired; that’s what pushed me towards Anti-Cosmic Satanism. I know it makes no sense, at the moment, but with the passing of time, maybe it will. I found ACS the most accessible due to Jon Nödtveidt’s (Dissection) adherence to it (as well as its availability on Internet Archive. In case you wanted to know, I found the link to it via the Wikipedia entry on J. Nödtveidt), and him and his band being a favorite of mine, it was only natural for me to research him and find out what he was into and what inspired his music.

Well, I read and I read, and the more I did, the more I realized that it resonated with me and my philosophy.

Yeah - E.A. Koetting is the co-founder of Become A Living God and his company pays for this forum to exist. (Us forum mods are volunteers though.) Maybe people are here because they work with his books - my own ito to Western Grimoiric tradition is because of his Book of Azazel.

Interesting. I’m here because of what appeared in my search results when I inquired about working with different currents, as stated in my OP. Whether or not this forum is suitable for my approach, only time will tell. By far, I like it.

The main site at www.becomealivinggod.com offers books, magickal tools, merch and ritual for hire. His Odysee channel is ** E.A. Koetting*

I read around the website a bit, particularly the “bookstore“. Some of his and many of the other authors’ books discuss matters that N.A-A.218 did in ‘Liber Azerate’, Liber Falxifers I–III and possibly ‘The Book of Sitra Achra’, but at a far lower price (I’d call it a bargain, really) and far greater availability. Ah, and thank you for linking me his Odysee account.

On a related note, his books… What is the “cloth“ cover? I saw hardcover and paperback, but cloth? Is it like a velvet or something?

It’s a lot, but after a while you see the patterns repeating and it’s all variations on a theme - the same energy and mechanisms underlie everything. You will form your own worldview of what those are.

As I stated above, I noticed consistencies between his and the others’ work and that of N.A-A.218. At the end of the day, maybe it just comes down to semantics, calling the same energies by different names and personifying/anthropomorphizing them like ancient cultures did — e.g. the Norse Thor and Slavic/Scythian Perun are one and the same, a god of war and storms.

About Tarl Warwick’s book, ‘Book of Forbidden Knowledge’, I saw that it’s based and expanded upon the original by Johnson Smith — of which I was able to find a PDF. Will that suffice?

It’s a hardback with a matte fabric surface and embossed lettering, similar to how older books are that have dust jackets in used bookstores.

Yes, but I wasn’t recommending a purchase, that was just an example of how a book that claims to have so much, can have just 100 pages. Tarl Warwick makes a point of preserving older grimoires and making them more accessible, it pays almost nothing and is a labor of love. Lots of old grimoires are more curiosities than useful, especially those with blinds.

Blinds are deliberate nonsense and/or symbolism designed to hide the books true meaning from the uninitiated (those who were told what the symbols refer to). In some the blinds disguise the book as a religious work to avoid being banned by the church. So when, in Grimorium Verum, it tells you to go get the severed head of a criminal, bury it with beans in it’s orifices, dig it up and eat the beans to become invisible lol - yeah don’t to that, it’s a really gross blind meant to put you off and hide any actual working.

It’s a hardback with a matte fabric surface and embossed lettering, similar to how older books are that have dust jackets in used bookstores.

Ah, I see. While we’re still on the subject of binding materials, I was looking around on Etsy this morning (was up too early. Way before dusk) and found a copy of ‘The Book of Sitra Achra’ bound in snake skin going for $47,000. Of course, it’s a rarity with only a handful of such copies produced. Gorgeous, elegant work, but hell, what a price… And that book is the most expensive in this merchant’s (MetatronPublishing) inventory.

Tarl Warwick makes a point of preserving older grimoires and making them more accessible, it pays almost nothing and is a labor of love.

As it ought to be. I’m thinking of writing not a grimoire, but a booklet making connections and drawing parallels between various occult myths and traditions and various ancient European myths and traditions and publish it for free; only because I’ve been thinking about these things quite a bit over the last few weeks.

Blinds are deliberate nonsense and/or symbolism designed to hide the books true meaning from the uninitiated (those who were told what the symbols refer to). In some the blinds disguise the book as a religious work to avoid being banned by the church. So when, in Grimorium Verum, it tells you to go get the severed head of a criminal, bury it with beans in it’s orifices, dig it up and eat the beans to become invisible lol - yeah don’t to that, it’s a really gross blind meant to put you off and hide any actual working.

Thanks for elaborating upon “blinds“. When I first read your response and saw that word, I was a tad confused. So I reckon that, in this context, blinds = cloak. Nnoo, I haven’t gotten that far in ‘Grimorum Verum’, but thanks for the heads up on what to expect later in that book. :joy: It sounds like quite a dumb thing to do, not to mention the toxicity of raw beans and the body’s inability to digest them (especially raw). The church banned having brain cells, similar to how school stifles true, free creativity and independent thought (thankfully, they never managed to break me). All of ancient Europe’s knowledge - destroyed (Library of Alexandria being one major archive of knowledge).