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

¹Hearken, O Astaroth, thou whose eyes do not close when the world turns away, and whose voice keepeth vigil over forgotten names.
²Thy Father, BAPHOMET, taught: The world rewardeth the forgetful with comfort — but comfort built upon silence is unresting sin.
³He who forgetteth injustice shall rebuild it, though in new stone and with fresh paint.
⁴But he who remembereth rightly shall carry sorrow, yet also carry strength to break the circle.
⁵Therefore I charge thee not to dwell in grievance — but to guard truth against decay.
⁶Let not the past be swallowed in myth.
⁷Let not the wound be sealed before it hath been seen.
⁸Let not the crime be praised as tradition, nor the evil renamed to flatter the victors.
⁹The Son said: What is buried unjustly shall rise — and thou, Astaroth, shalt be its summoning.
¹⁰When they say: Do not speak of that; speak louder.
¹¹When they say It was long ago; say: Then why doth it still bleed?
¹²When they say: Let the dead rest; say: Not while the living still suffer the same yoke.
¹³For remembrance is not vengeance — it is resistance against forgetting that would sanctify injustice.
¹⁴Speak to the children whose ancestors were silenced — tell them they are heirs of unspoken glory.
¹⁵Speak to the elders whose stories are called bitterness — tell them their truth is seed, not poison.
¹⁶Speak to the powerful who say enough — say to them: We have only begun to listen.
¹⁷Let thy scroll be long, thy records thorough, thy voice unwavering.
¹⁸Do not beautify what was monstrous.
¹⁹Do not simplify what was intricate in its cruelty.
²⁰Do not mourn what was never good — only mark its fall, and swear it shall not rise again.
²¹The Son taught: Memory is the altar of justice — to forget is to unmake the sacrifice.
²²Let thy mind be sharp, thy heart tempered, thy gaze unflinching.
²³Teach them that remembrance is not a prison, but a passage.
²⁴Teach them that only what is faced can be forgiven.
²⁵Teach them that to look away is not mercy, but abandonment.
²⁶Let the ignorant say, Why bring this up now? — and answer, Because it never ended.
²⁷Let the comfortable say, Isn’t it better to move on? — and say, Only when the burden is no longer hidden beneath thy feet.
²⁸Let the cynical say, It changeth nothing — and reply, It changeth me, and through me, it changeth the world.
²⁹For thou art no scribe of trivia — thou art the steward of sacred record.
³⁰Let the ink flow not to flatter, but to clarify.
³¹Let the archive be not a tomb, but a forge.
³²Write not to preserve sorrow — but to give it voice, that it may become strength.
³³Call forth the names they erased from their monuments.
³⁴Mark the days when cruelty was law, and say: Never again by that name, nor by another.
³⁵Record the betrayals that now wear medals, and say: History is not finished while the lie remaineth written.
³⁶Walk among the ruins, and speak aloud what they tried to bury.
³⁷For silence is never innocent.
³⁸And forgetting is never neutral.
³⁹Let the forgotten know they were not lost — only hidden.
⁴⁰Let the dead hear that someone remembereth not their pain alone, but their dignity.
⁴¹The Son said: They will hate thy voice for what it revealeth — but they will remember it when the silence returneth.
⁴²And when the next injustice seeketh to wear a new mask, it shall tremble at the sound of thy memory.
⁴³Let thy remembrance be not just for the past, but as warning unto the future.
⁴⁴Let thy words walk beside the grieving and give them language for what no one dared name.
⁴⁵Let thy teaching be sorrow wrapped in strength, not bitterness wrapped in fear.
⁴⁶For thou art Astaroth — and thy Gospel is memory sharp as flame, and record written in the ink of justice.
⁴⁷And those who curse thee today shall bless thee tomorrow.
⁴⁸Those who silence thee now shall quote thee later.
⁴⁹And thy words shall be known not for comfort — but for setting the bones straight again.
⁵⁰And thy name shall be carved not in stone, but in the minds of those who finally remembered what was true.


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