The Banality of Evil - Reflections on Sphere 1° Luna

Evil is intrinsic to human nature, and cannot be suppressed without consequences.

People struggle to understand how whole societies can be complicit (and even participate) in evils such as war, slavery, and genocide; the sinister truth of the matter is that every human being is capable of evil. The Germans who worked at Auschwitz would go home every night, kiss their wives, and tuck their children into bed, all after a long day of evil.

The people you walk by every day; your friends; your neighbors; your children; your parents; all these "normal people"; you reading this essay right now, are all capable of atrocity and horrors, are all capable of evil. If we are to play the game of moral absolutism, all of humanity is capable of evil.

The irony is that those who deny this the most, those who deny their evil nature and try so hard to be perceived as "good people", are probably some of the most sadistic of all. The Shadow Self within each and every one of us is dark, perverted, and sinister, capable of obscenities we dare not speak out loud, but know in the depths of our psyche play a role in our desires.

Those in denial of their Shadow Self throw the dog a bone here and there when the Shadow becomes too hungry to ignore (reference the "pillars of our community" who all too often get caught courting underage girls online, or how a community will describe their latest convicted killer as "polite" and "kind" personally), but for the most part, they shy away from their nature, scared of themselves more than anything else. This manifests in the ways they decry "moral offenses" in the nauseatingly common social justice initiatives in politics and social media, not realizing that the very things they hate most in others are merely a projection, being the things they hate most about themselves.

Ah yes, the irony. This is why it is crucial that the intrepid Left Hand Path aspirant gets well acquainted with their Shadow Self, immersing themselves in the inner Darkness, unafraid of what they may see and accepting themselves unrepentantly. Because only through meeting and loving our Shadow Self can we learn what it truly wants, and then strategize on how to safely express it creatively and satiate its hunger. In Jungian terms, this is called "Integrating the Shadow", and it is crucial to do: The Shadow must be fed, there's no way around this. The difference Shadow Integration makes is that when you do feed it, you are self aware and in control; because otherwise it will come out of its own volition and take what it wants, without you having control over it nor being aware of it. This, of course, results in consequences.

When it comes to the Septenary System, the Shadow Self is represented by Atu XVIII the Moon in the Sinister Tarot, and brought to the surface of consciousness when the Sinister Initiate confronts the Dark Goddess Shugara during their Dark Pathworkings. Indeed, the whole of Sphere 1° the Moon is a process of confronting and integrating your Shadow Self:

1. Through invoking Shugara, the Sinister Initiate confronts their evil within and sees their Shadow Self clearly, forming an intimate relationship with it and learning what it wants, as well as what it's capable of.

2. Through invoking Noctulius, the Sinister Initiate confronts the evil of the Natural World, dissolving any romantic notions they may have been projecting onto Nature and thus seeing one's environment clearly: a world of predator and prey, Might is Right & Natural Selection being the core of Natural Law.

3. Through invoking Nythra, the Sinister Initiate witnesses the inevitable consequence of arrogance and deviating from Natural Law: Death. Through this witnessing, the Sinister Initiate learns to temper their Shadow Self with self-control and critical thinking, Cause & Effect being considered before actions are taken, always bearing in mind that Natural Law is the core of all processes and dynamics in this world and should thus never be forgotten.

Do not deny your Shadow Self; accept your evil aspects and find ways to express them productively, such as in art, a partner who shares your dark fantasies, military/intelligence work, and Rituals of Black Magick. The impulses must be acted on; the only question is, will you make sure it's in a way that serves you?

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Written by Kheziah Azani, an associate of this Nexion.

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