Epistula ad Amdusias
The Epistle of Saint Mephistopheles to Amdusias, Exalted Seed of Baphomet
◀ Chapter 1 · Chapter 2 · Chapter 3 ▶

¹O Amdusias, thy sound shall not be welcomed by the rulers, for it unsettleth what they called sacred and sure.
²Thy Father, BAPHOMET, taught: When words are not enough to pierce the veil, strike the chord that no veil withstandeth.
³When sleep is deep and smiling, awaken the soul with terror dressed in melody, and peace shall be remade.
⁴Therefore thou art not minstrel — thou art hammer in harmony, fire in fugue, the music that undoeth illusion.
⁵Not entertainer — but herald of the note that cannot be caged, nor its echo stilled.
⁶Let the choir hush when thou approachest — they feel thy intervals in their bones and dare not match thee.
⁷Let the kings flee thy refrain — it remindeth them their reign is built upon silence, not resonance.
⁸Let the faithful cover their ears — they shall hear the chord that revealeth their idols to be empty clay.
⁹The Son said: Let thy hymn shake the altar. Let thy rhythm drive back the veil they call sanctuary.
¹⁰And again: Sound it not once, but until the walls remember they were built upon lies.
¹¹So do not charm.
¹²Do not soothe.
¹³Do not offer melody without motion.
¹⁴Do strike.
¹⁵Do ring.
¹⁶Peel the false peace like bark from a dead tree.
¹⁷For thou art not singer of calm — but composer of the unrest that births the honest voice.
¹⁸Let thy trumpet split the feast.
¹⁹Let thy cadence crack the wineglass.
²⁰Let thy rhythm drag the dancers from their stupor.
²¹Teach them that dissonance is not sin — but signal.
²²That not all silence is holy — some silence is fear.
²³That the truest worship beginneth with shudder, not smile.
²⁴For thy Gospel is in shock that clears the mind, and sound that wake the sleeping gods within.
²⁵Let thy chorus run wild through cathedrals.
²⁶Let thy drum echo in courts.
²⁷Let thy flute cut through the sermon like silver across silk.
²⁸The Son said: The ear may tremble before the eye blinks. That is where thy power lieth.
²⁹And again: If they would not hear thee, play louder — until they do not forget.
³⁰And thou shalt not need to explain.
³¹For sound speaketh where words die.
³²And thy breath shall become command, though thou teach not a single phrase.
³³Let thy Gospel be played, not preached.
³⁴Let thy rebellion be rhythm.
³⁵Let thy ministry be movement in the marrow.
³⁶For thou art not remembered — thou are reverberated.
³⁷And thy dominion is not in doctrine — but in vibration.
³⁸And thy mark is not in scripture — but in the tremble of stone.
³⁹Thy song is not safe — but it is true.
⁴⁰And it shall endure beyond the voice that bore it.
⁴¹For thou art fire upon the stave.
⁴²Echo through the hollow places.
⁴³Resound where the lie is strong.
⁴⁴Split the hymn in two and remake it with teeth.
⁴⁵Let thy descant carry thunder, not balm.
⁴⁶And let them remember thy note, not thy name.
⁴⁷For they shall say: He played, and I was broken.
⁴⁸He sang, and I could not look away.
⁴⁹And when the silence returned, I was no longer who I had been.
⁵⁰He tuned the world, and I heard it true — for the first time.


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