Philosophy

Philosophy

The philosophy of Dragon Rouge consists of the left hand path and its ideology. The left hand path is based on a philosophy which defines two main spiritual paths. One is the right hand path. It has influenced most forms of religion and mass movements. Its method is the light magic and its goal is the annihilation of the individual and to become one with God. The other path is the left hand path. It denotes the unique, the deviant and the exclusive. Its method is the dark magic and antinomianism (to go against the grain). The dark magical goal is to become a god.

The left hand path and dark magic is not a path of salvation that anyone can accomplish. For most people the established religions are more suitable. The left hand path is a demanding path that takes for granted that the adept is prepared to be disciplined, patient, responsible and courageous. We are strongly dissuading psychically unstable persons from taking this path. The same goes for people who are interpreting the philosophy as if we are now already gods and able to do our free will. To reach a free will and thus become like a god is a goal. We are not gods. We can become gods. In this aspect Dragon Rouge differs from many esoterists, new age ideologists and satanists who believe that we are already gods and do just have to realize it. We believe that we are carrying the divine inside us like a potential, but that we can only awake and develop this side through hard initiatoric training.

Man can pass through two births. In connection with the first birth we become individuals in relation to the mother. We are born physically. The light religions are preaching a return to the child state where one gives up freedom, will and responsibility to gain safety. Man can pass through another birth. In connection with his one we become individuals in relation to existence. We are leaving a life predetermined by outer conditions and are reaching a free will. Instead of being creations we become creators. Initiation rites among shamans, witches and magical societies have through the ages been a path to this second birth. The goal of the initiatoric magic of Dragon Rouge is a second birth and a self creation process that leads to the divinity of the individual.

Nightside Spirituality

"Downwards I veerto the holy ineffablemysterious night"

From "Hymns to the Night" by Novalis alias Friedrich von Hardenberg (1772-1801).

Dragon Rouge regularly receives the question why we are interested mainly in the dark forces in different religions, cultures and traditions. Are not these forces associated with evil, and is there not a sufficient amount of evil in the world already?

It is of great importance to be aware already at the outset of the fact that the dark and evil forces that are described in the myths must not be mixed up with the grey evil that strikes us as soon as we read a newspaper or watch the news on television.

This grey evil that surrounds us in our world is mainly committed by frustrated and confused individuals, power mad politicians or criminals, unable to control petty desires. This evil has in reality nothing whatsoever to do with the metaphysical evil that we encounter in religious documents. Man has in fact a unique predilection for brutality and excessive violence which distinguishes him from other animals. We seem to be sole creators of death camps, mass rape, meat factories and extensive killing for amusement purposes. The grey evil is human, all too human, while metaphysical evil is black as night and completely inhuman.

The grey evil characteristic of humanity is not seldom justified with goodness. How often do we not see terrible cruelty in the name of goodness? Hundreds of thousand of women was executed during the witch burnings when the Christian clerics attempted to fight Satan and the powers of evil. The Bible encourages genocide and a number of other cruel acts, which causes a critical reader to ponder on who is in fact good and who is really evil. Already the old gnostics in the third century had a hard time getting the picture together and came to the conclusion that God is evil and not good. Gnostic groups like the Cainites and the Ophidians instead worshiped the enemies of God like Cain, the Serpent in the Garden of Eden and the Fallen Angels.

The forces of evil appearing in the myths are revolting, questioning, overthrowing and pioneers. The metaphysical evil is hard and shimmering like a black diamond and as distant in its annihilating force like the black holes of the universe. It is both sharp as a razor and smooth like silk. What is most terrifying with the dark forces is their age and remoteness, and the fact that they seem to brood on knowledge that are too much for mankind to behold. The writer H.P Lovecraft catches this atmosphere with the words that initiates one of his gothic stories. "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far."

Knowledge is indeed a two edged sword that constantly lures man to travel further, but which also can destroy man if he would journey too far. A recurrent theme in myths and in religious documents is the fact that the evil forces are in possession of deep wisdom that man, and even the gods, are prepared to do anything to get hold of. From the Apocryphal Book of Enoch we can learn that the greatest crime of the fallen angels is that they teach man such things that takes place in heaven and in the First Book of Moses it is the cunning serpent who offers man the fruits of knowledge that can turn them into gods. The Titan Prometheus, in the Greek myths, steals the fire from the gods and gives it to mankind and is therefore punished by the high god Zeus. In the nordic mythology it is the powers of chaos, the primordial giants, that are in possession of the greatest wisdom. The sir are constantly seeking to take advantage of the abilities of the heroes or to take part in their wisdom, although it takes both treachery and violence from the gods to accomplish this task.

The doubleness of knowledge is personified in the Faustian man who seeks the truth at any cost, no matter if it leads straight to damnation. According to the legend the erudite renaissance magician Dr. Faust made a pact with the Devil to gain all the knowledge of the world in return for his soul. The Faustian dilemma is the fact that knowledge comes at a high price, especially if we are unable to handle it correctly. The legend of Dr. Faust reveals that the spiritual seeker is forced to turn to the dark forces to quench his thirst for wisdom. Mephistopheles, the Serpent in the Garden of Eden or the Fallen Angels are breaking the limits and are mediators of forbidden knowledge. In the old books of the black arts we can read about a great number of demons which the magician can conjure for different purposes. Although some demons can assist with such practical things as getting women to undress before the magician, most demons can give knowledge about science and answer questions. The word demon can be traced to the Greek word Daimon, which denoted entities who existed between the world of man and the world of the gods. They were mediators of messages between the worlds and in Socrates the Daimon signifies the higher self of the guardian spirit of man. Only when the demons were identified with the Fallen Angels did they reach the status of utterly evil.

The bright side represents an ideal order in religion and in myths, while the dark side represents the wild overgrown infinity that hides beyond the limits of order. The polarity between the bright and the dark is reflected in the conflict between the ideals of classicism and Gothicism. The classical ideals are founded on clarity, reason, light and rules.The gothic ideals are metaphysical and are founded on archaic visions, dreams, the dark and obscure, inspiration and infatuation.

The thinkers of the renaissance viewed the Goths as a sign of the ruination of culture. The gothic was believed to be the utmost anti pole to the classical civilization and the classical ideals of beauty. According to the classical taste the gothic represented something insipid and overgrown, threatening and terrifying. During the end of the 18th century the Gothicism would be reevaluated, however, and the gothic architecture was again appreciated. German intellectuals like Herder and Goethe embraced Gothicism as an aesthetic ideal. Both in England and The Continent artists and writers were fascinated by Gothicism. What had been associated with darkness and the barbarian during the renaissance was now a great source of inspiration. The English romantics sought out the gothic and a feeling of enthusiastic terror instead of the pure, light and structured ideals of the Classicism. In a text from the 18th century one can find a list of things that could cause this feeling of terror. It was "gods, demons, hell, spirits, human souls, enchantments, wizardry, thunder, floods, monsters, fire, war, plague, starvation etc.". During the 19th century a ruin romanticism was developed in art, in which graveyards and ruins of gothic churches are grown over with the untamed nature under the pale full moon. Exploring the dark became a way to increased knowledge about the hidden nature of man and the Gothicism became a form of expression of mans shadow side.

Turning to the dark side to find spiritual experiences has been equaled to damnation in the western monotheistic tradition, but if we look at religions with a less sharp division between light and darkness we will find that the dark has also been viewed as a source of illumination. The goddess Kali is one of the foremost deities in the Indian Tantrism. Monotheistic religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam has emphasized a male sky god and other supernatural beings has been associated with the Devil. The female divine force has in particular been connected with the dark side. The bright side characterizes most mass movements and exoteric religions, while the dark side emphasizes the unique, the deviant and the exclusive.

Many religions attempt to advertise themselves as a path of life for everyone, which can quickly and easily lead to salvation. Darker forms of spirituality can not in such a manner be sold as if it were a shampoo or new revolutionary cleaning product. The dark path does not claim to be for all. To tread upon the dark path one needs an ability to penetrate beneath the surface of words, symbols and images. Turning conceptions like good and evil upside down is not without danger and to conjure entities that has been feared for thousands of years might be devastating. Although someone might claim not to be religious the old religious structures do not let go that easily. In the early nineteen nineties an occultistic baptism was conducted in Sweden. It was generally known as a "Devil baptism" in the media. It is interesting to note that it received a lot of attention in spite of the fact that Sweden is one of the most secularised countries in the world. One can constantly see proof of the fact that religion continues to have an important impact on the world views of mankind even if this might not always be realized. The danger of entering the dark path is not in the risk of being condemned by religious literalists, but by being personally unable to see through the clichs and false descriptions that are being stamped on the dark symbols. The dark path has nothing to do with outer attributes and even less with acts in which animals, people or property are harmed. The dark path is a spiritual and existential process in which man opens up the gate to the darkest corners of the soul.

Entering the Qliphotic regions is a demanding process and far from all individuals owns the ability to confront what is hidden in the dark. The Qabalah illustrates how all old waste, both from man's psyche and from the creation of the universe are gathered in the Qliphotic underworld. Just as when we are digging in mundane soil we will confront all that has been left behind. At first we might encounter rubbish that has been swept under the carpet, so to speak, but if we dig deeper we will find treasures and fossils from previous ages. For those who dare to tread upon the tunnels of the underworld and the dark path there will be no easy ride but a demanding exploration that overturns all old values and conceptions.

Darkness is a reflection of what is hidden inside us. By gazing down into the abyss our soul will reveal itself in all its nakedness and it will cause us both to scream and to laugh. When the screaming and the laughing has faded we will discover that the most pivotal illumination and the strongest light can be found in the darkest depths. The Swedish poet Erik Johan Stagnelius wrote that "Night is the mother of day, Chaos is the neighbor of God": By seeking our way back to the night and to chaos, we can find the source of our own rebirth and self creation. Man can progress from being a creation to being a creator and like the fallen angel in Milton's "Paradise Lost" declare "Here we may reign secure, and in my choyce / To reign is worth ambition though in Hell: / Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav'n."

Visio Vires Actio

The three main principles of draconian magic:

Vision.The magician is a visionary that gazes into the limitless and channels inspiration to his actions.

Force.The magician strives to use the potential force that is hidden in man and in nature.

Action. The magician transforms vision to reality through action.

Five Elementary Draconian Principles

All is one. Ouroboros or the dragon that bites its tail shows the eternal return and that the beginning is the end and the end is the beginning, in the small is the great and in the great is the small, the one is the all and in the all is the one. That which is above is like that which is below.

All is force. The universe is force in different forms. Force is movement. The force reveals itself through the seven rays or levels of vibrations which represents the seven colours in the spectrum. The Dragon is the force and when the Dragon manifests itself with seven heads, they are representing the seven rays. The force is manifested through the elements: plasma (fire), in the form of gas (air), liquid (water) or matter (earth). In itself the force represents the fifth element (the ether, the quintessence). The symbol of the quintessence is the Dragon.

All is possible. All boundaries and limitations are illusions. Only the visions and force of man creates limits. To follow one's true will is the only law. Man can become a creator of himself.

All is floating. Reality is constantly changing. Order is illusion. Through movement and action man achieves the life and force to create his life. Stagnation leads to ruin. To rest in the arms of the Dragon is to follow the stream of force.

Everything exists. Nothing exists. Reality is a question of energy and perception. Nihilism is an expression that reveals lack of energy. Meaning exists if energy exists. Everything can be true and become true through a focusing of the right vision though the right force and right action to the right goal.

Esoteric Comments to the Three Basic Concepts of Draconian Magic

1. Vision: The word dragon comes from a Greek verb which means "to see". The word can also mean "to flash". Draconian magic is the magic of clear-seeing. Most people are living in a glass globe which is misted over by themselves. Through the mist they can only see the outlines of the world outside. The mist reflects the image of themselves and they are interpreting the world outside through their own reflection. They are caught in "a bubble of self-contemplation".

Man receives information about the other side only after having filtered it through the self. When we are reaching intellectual knowledge it is filtered through a number of categories that are creating our understanding. The three main categories that we are understanding the world through are time, space and causality (cause and effect). The categories are creating our universe. The picture that we are receiving through the intellect and the categories is what we are calling cosmos, order and the side of light. The ideal state of perfect logical and intellectual understanding in the categoric system is what in mysticism and religion have been attributed to the world of the gods. The world outside the glass globe is what is called chaos and the unknown. It is "the dark side".

It is also "the other side" or "the other" in relation to man who inside the glass globe is the starting point for his own understanding " the one", "the only one" or "the first". These are terms that usually are assigned to God. God or he gods are ideal images of oneself as one would like to see oneself and how one would like reality to be, in he mirror image. The other or the dark is the unknown outside. On this man are projecting fear for what is outside himself. The draconian path of clear seeing is by cleaning the globe from the mist so that the world outside is appearing clear and in its wholeness. The draconian path also makes transcendence outside the glass globe possible. The vision of the world outside is the drakon-principle :"to see".

2. Force: The vision of the world/worlds brings knowledge. Knowledge is force. Every closed system (which the world inside the globe is) has a limited amount of energy. The energy and the ability of perception are connected. This is why the draconian paths (Kundalini yoga, Odinistic initiation, Typhonian alchemy etc) are focusing the inner energy to heightened perception to reach clear seeing, which will bring the possibility to get energy from the outside. This inner force is called "the inner dragon" and the outer force is called "the outer dragon".

Everything is force and energy in different and on different levels of vibration. The world inside the globe is a stabilized system of energy in fixed form. The fixed energy is not accessible for man. Inside the fixed form is a core of pure free and moving force like the lava in the centre of the earth. This is the force that the magician is using and focusing to open a crack in the globe so that the world outside is accessible. In the world outside an infinite amount of force is now accessible for the magician. The magician uses the inner force to attain a vision of the outer force. This vision creates a charge of the inner force which increases the ability to see and access the outer force. It demands great force to see and to see gives great force.

3. Action: The third principle in the trinity of draconian magic is the necessary consequence and result of vision and force: action. Magic is the art and science to make actions, outer and inner that makes reality of a vision. If the vision seeking and heightened force of the magician is not used in concrete actions the magician will become burned out. Action is the necessary channel for the force that the magician is attaining through the vision of "the other side". Action is the expression of magic. Through the force of the actions the magician can make his visions real.

Draconian Aphorisms

The Dragon is the winged serpent. The Dragon unites the serpent with the eagle, what is below with what is above.

The Dragon is the four elements. The wings are Air. The reptile body is Earth. The scales is Water and the burning breath is Fire. Thus the Dragon is the fifth element the Spirit.

The Dragon is, in the form of Ouroboros, the serpent that bites its own tail. The Dragon is the beginning of the end and the end of the beginning.

The Dragon is beyond good and evil, night and day, female and male, plus and minus. The Dragon arises through the meeting of opposites. The Dragon is the polarity between plus and minus.

The Dragon is the symbol of Tao the Journey and the Journey is the goal. The Dragon is dynamic eternity.

The dark is the unknown, what is repressed from the conscious. In the dark is the hidden treasures of the soul.

If we light a candle a shadow appears. The more we strive for light the bigger shadow will grow behind us.

In darkness we can find fear. Through confronting darkness we are confronting fear and can be free from it. If we escape the darkness our fear will grow for what is in the darkness.

In Dragon Rouge a balance between dark and light, the creative and the destructive is the goal.