HYMN TO SATAN

I
animate all who fight against servitude

The
heroes and martyrs of liberty and progress in every

age
have drunk of my spirit

I
inspire the revolter, the scorner, the sceptic,

the satirist

I
distribute the tree of knowledge

I am the
lightning of the human mind

I am the
soul of the world

I level
the thrones and altars and annihilate binding customs

With a
goal of restless aspiration, I urge men on

until
they outgrow faith and fear

until the slave stands erect before the
tyrant

and defies his curse.

(Composed
during the Renaissance, when people were at last beginning to break free of the
state religions which had oppressed and brainwashed them for one and a half
millennia.)

From the Dark Lily Journal No 1, Society of Dark Lily
(London 1987).