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

¹Hearken, O Bæl, thou eldest flame, and give ear to the teachings of thy Father, whose joy made fools of tyrants.
²For though thy laughter be thy gift, it is also thy calling — a sacred instrument and mirror unto the proud.
³Thy Father spake, saying: To be laughed at is a lesser death than to be forgotten.
⁴He who cannot laugh at himself hath hidden too many sins beneath his robe.
⁵BAPHOMET taught openly, but with mischief, so that the wise would stumble, and the lowly rejoice with understanding.
⁶He said: Mock not the weak, but those who pretend to strength.
⁷Pierce not the humble, but the pompous. Strike not the lost, but the one who refuseth the road.
⁸Let thy words be as wine — sweet to the free, bitter to the shackled, intoxicating to the watchful.
⁹The Son of SATANAS did not speak from thrones, but upon barrels, benches, and the backs of sleeping beasts.
¹⁰He dined with beggars, and mocked magistrates; He clothed Himself in rags and jewels alike, and made no distinction.
¹¹He said: What is holiness, if not joy without guilt, and truth without fear?
¹²What is worship, if not to love thine own becoming, and to laugh at the mould others would cast thee in?
¹³Let them call thee heretic — it meaneth only that thy flame burned outside their lantern.
¹⁴Let them call thee profane — it meaneth only that thou didst dance on their carpet of commandments.
¹⁵He did not teach asceticism, but excess; not restraint, but release; not servitude, but sovereignty.
¹⁶The Son of Flame despised all virtue built on repression and all morality born of fear.
¹⁷Better an honest lust than a hidden piety, He said. Better a shouted sin than a whispered law.
¹⁸He taught that pleasure uncoerced is sacred, and shame is the shadow of another man’s control.
¹⁹BAPHOMET did not convert the people — He awakened them.
²⁰He gave them no creed, but courage; no law, but liberty; no altar, but their own flesh.
²¹Therefore I say unto thee, let thy steps be light, thy wit sharp, and thy joy unashamed.
²²Let no robe restrain thee, no ritual tame thee, no title bind thee.
²³Laugh in the courts of judges; laugh in the house of preachers; laugh in the mirror, and see thy god within.
²⁴Preach not unto those who would not dance; cast not thy pearls before bishops.
²⁵For what profit is there in convincing the dead to smile?
²⁶Instead, seek the ones who hunger for joy, and give them no doctrine, only wine and laughter.
²⁷Take up the tambourine instead of the staff, and let thy psalm be a jest that unraveleth guilt.
²⁸If thou wouldst speak sacred truth, do it in riddles and rhymes, and confound the solemn scribes.
²⁹If thou wouldst raise the downcast, tickle their despair until it becometh song.
³⁰If thou wouldst overthrow kings, make them laugh until they forget they wear crowns.
³¹Thy power is not in fire or sword, but in the unshackled grin, which none can legislate.
³²Thy heresy is not disbelief, but freedom — and that is the greater blasphemy.
³³Where thy brothers cast judgment or kindle wrath, let thy laughter be as floodwater through the palace gates.
³⁴Let them chase thee with torches, for in so doing they bear thy Gospel unknowing.
³⁵When they silence thy speech, let thy silence be louder than sermons.
³⁶When they exile thee, call it pilgrimage. When they curse thee, call it coronation.
³⁷Be ever the Fool, for the Fool alone may speak truth without being slain.
³⁸And if they slay thee, let thy death be spectacle, thy blood a crimson banner of irreverence.
³⁹Thou art not heir to a crown, but to a grin carved into the face of the world.
⁴⁰Carry it into the streets, into the bedrooms, into the graveyards.
⁴¹Paint thy jokes on their tombs, and they shall rise from death with dancing feet.
⁴²The fire is not always fierce — it may be flickering laughter behind parted lips.
⁴³Let that be thy fire.
⁴⁴Be the uninvited guest at every sacred meal. Be the punchline to every holy lie.
⁴⁵Let no god survive thy humor unburned — even our own, if He groweth too proud.
⁴⁶For even BAPHOMET laughed at Himself, and called Himself beast, whore, and prophet in the same breath.
⁴⁷That is thy legacy, O Bæl — not dogma, but delight; not doctrine, but the dance.
⁴⁸I say unto thee: dance in circles that make straight paths tremble.
⁴⁹Laugh until the pillars fall. Laugh until the flames leap high.
⁵⁰For the End shall come with fire — and thy voice shall be its trumpet.


Copyright ©2025 Adam Alexander T. Croke. All rights reserved.