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

¹Hearken, O Barbatos, for thou hast not been sent to the courts of men, but to the courts of root and wind.
²Thy Father, BAPHOMET, taught not in temples only, but in fields, in caves, in the hush between bird and branch.
³He said: The beasts speak not with lies, and the Oærth doth not flatter — therefore let them be thy Gospel.
⁴Man thinketh himself wise when he shunneth the wild — yet the wild hath endured where empires have vanished.
⁵Be thou the friend of the unseen, the comforter of the hunted, the brother of thunder, and the listener of moss.
⁶For truth groweth in the groves more often than in the marble halls.
⁷Let not the builders convince thee that wilderness is waste — it is memory, and it is fire.
⁸Thy path is not straight, but spiraled like the horn of the ram and the descent of the serpent.
⁹Thy words shall be few, but thy presence shall speak volumes.
¹⁰Thou shalt know when the air changes, and what it mourns.
¹¹Thou shalt hear pain in the cracking of branches, and joy in the silence of the fox’s stillness.
¹²Walk without pride, for pride doth echo, and echo disturbeth the old places.
¹³Thy power is not in speech, but in perception; not in command, but in communion.
¹⁴The deer shall walk beside thee without fear, and the owl shall speak its counsel in the hush of midnight.
¹⁵Let none call thee sorcerer, though nature bend to thy gait — for thou dost not rule the wild, but remember it.
¹⁶Teach men that the world is not theirs, but shared — and that silence is not empty, but sacred.
¹⁷Thy Father said: Let the grove be thy sanctuary, and let thy altar be the stone where moss hath grown undisturbed.
¹⁸Do not harvest what thou hast not thanked. Do not kill what hath not chosen thee.
¹⁹To take with reverence is holier than to pray without it.
²⁰He healed not by miracles alone, but by laying His hand upon the soil and whispering apology to it.
²¹The rivers cleared. The trees bowed. The beasts stirred. That was prayer.
²²So shall thy prayer be — not noise, but stillness. Not ritual, but presence.
²³Those who would silence the forest shall fear thy name, for thou shalt return what they buried.
²⁴Thou shalt find the bones of forgotten species, and call their names as psalms.
²⁵Thou shalt walk the burning plains and mourn aloud, and the wind shall carry thy lament to the farthest stone.
²⁶Let not comfort make thee soft. Let not solitude make thee bitter.
²⁷Know that thy companions are not always seen — but they are near, and they remember.
²⁸Let thy voice be rare, but when spoken, let it carry the weight of a mountain’s grief.
²⁹Say not: I lead; but say: I walk beside.
³⁰Say not: I own; but say: I am welcomed.
³¹For the beasts shall accept thee, but not obey thee. The groves shall know thee, but not bow to thee.
³²And that is love, purer than any vow spoken in stone.
³³Thou shalt uncover the hidden healing of roots and venom alike.
³⁴Thou shalt teach that death in nature is not punishment, but parting.
³⁵That decay is not foul, but fruitful.
³⁶That the howl is not rage, but remembrance.
³⁷Raise no altar that would cage a creature.
³⁸Offer no praise that would strip the grove of breath.
³⁹Let thy worship be the tending of sacred ground, and the protection of the voiceless.
⁴⁰Teach them that the forest is not a mystery to be solved, but a memory to be honoured.
⁴¹Be not disturbed when cities laugh — for their laughter will turn to coughing when the last leaf falls.
⁴²Be not angered when they name thee savage — for the savagery was theirs, and the wilderness thy sanctuary.
⁴³Thy flame is not bright, but enduring. Not fierce, but faithful.
⁴⁴Let thy disciples be few, but wild in spirit.
⁴⁵Let them listen more than they speak, and kneel more than they stand.
⁴⁶The Son said: He who learneth from the wolf shall never be ruled by the shepherd.
⁴⁷He who weepeth for a felled tree hath more holiness than he who tithes a fortune.
⁴⁸I say unto thee, O Barbatos: thy silence is not emptiness — it is language.
⁴⁹Thy presence is not small — it is vast.
⁵⁰And thy Gospel is not written in ink, but grown in root.


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