THE ARCANE ARCHIVE
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To: alt.satanism,alt.magick.tyagi,talk.religion.misc
From: tyagi@veracruz-gw.customer.itw.net (nocTifer)
Subject: (Z) CoS/ToS History/Gossip (was CoS Elist...)
Date: 29 Nov 1997 14:26:22 -0500

49971129 aa2 Hail Satan!            (Xposted between Satanist-L and Zazas)

nocTifer re examining the material power of the CoSatanist priesthood:
#> I'd think this would be a way to discern how far Anton's stories about
#> changing the clergy requirements to force Aquino out really went (I
#> admire it, even if it was just a ruse). 

a Satanist-L subscriber asked me to explain this in more depth:
sure.  I'd thought it was fairly common knowledge, but I've taken some
time to review the various feuding materials betwixt CoSatanists and
ToSsers.  I hope to be corrected if I have it awrongly understood.

it seems that the vision of the goals and authority-standard of the
CoS was not made clear from the onset.  people did what they wilt 
and as suited their particular interest, until it became evident
that many of those joining the org were interested in a kind of
esoteric coffee-clatch pyramid-scheme a la the Golden Dawn or some
other masonic framework.  this apparently did *not* sit well with Anton,
especially seeing that it was drawing attention away from the central
church participants (him, whoever else) and contributed toward a plane
of interaction and authority (intellectual) which he did not find valuable.

a good deal of time was being spent discussing and assimilating 
information researched or developed by the priesthood engaged in this 
activity (notably Aquino and some others, numbers disputed by the two 
rivals) and I'm guessing that rudimentary doctrines were being tested
out at the time -- something important to the pyramid-scheme but not
controlled or directed by the High Priest (LaVey).

in order to squelch this offensiveness in the bud, so to speak,
Anton decreed that the priesthood would be based not on any sort of
esoteric assimilation, but upon material influence in the world or 
material contributions to the church (again, the story seems to vary).
there were specific articles in the Cloven Hoof which could be quoted
if I had them in my library or had retained ASCII copies through the 
various technical calamities to strike the Haus computer files.  

in any case, the intent seems to have been to 'ground' the CoS in
material bases of authority, and this was characterized by the rebel
priests as 'selling the priesthood'.  I'm not aware that this assertion
was ever directly refuted.  it was this that catalyzed the exodus of
the priests of CoS.   they would later form the ToS after Aquino's 
_Book of Coming Forth By Night_ was penned.

the point I was therefore trying to make above was about the interpreta-
tion that the priesthood would be based on material influence and power
in the world (which is, I think, the original association).  if this
criteria was actually used, then it should result, over a period of
years, in a growing number of priests who wielded material power, and 
we should be able to measure the church's success and integrity by 
locating the priesthood and evaluating how much worldly power they 
commanded.

of course this is based on *interest*.  it would require that those who
had such power were actually interested in being members of the CoS.
why they would want to become members (compare this to the masons) is 
still not clear, and we will find that those who are at least initially 
drawn to be members that are given priesthood positions are initially more
likely to be those who seek ephemeral 'Bad Boy' status to add to their
celebrity, such as musical entertainers.  this is precisely what has 
been happening (King Diamond, Marilyn Manson, Boyd Rice?, etc.).  it 
could be said that this is a mark in *favor* of the policy of the  
church, since it may be preliminary to breaking into more substantive
power circles (geniuses and artists sometimes become members of weird
groups, and some of these go on to become powerful people in the world,
dragging the weirdness into influential spheres).

it is therefore of valuable when asking 'WHO GAINS?', given this policy,
to look at the material power of the present priesthood.  this will tell
us how closely Anton's vision is being implemented and whether the church
as a whole is ascending in social and material influence.  if it was merely
a ruse to get Aquino and the transphysical esotericists out of the CoS,
then the policy will have not been implemented and the org will remain
controlled by cronies and splinter into further factions based on internal
feuds and disagreements as it ages.

blessed beast!
________________________________________________________________________
nocTifer: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com  ---  http://www.abyss.com/tokus
TOKUS-COE Office: 408/2-666-SLUG --- Mother Church (CoE) coe@netcom.com
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