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

¹Mephistopheles, who hath dwelt in shadow and learned more there than from ten scrolls, unto Crocell, Fifty-Third of the Sixty-Six, Whisperer of Wells and Flame Beneath Quiet.
²I greet thee not with trumpet nor psalm, but with the hush before revelation, and the drip of water upon stone.
³For thou art not the thunder — thou art the deep hum heard by those who listen longer than comfort alloweth.
⁴Zephanor prophesied: Crocell, who shall dwell where others hear nothing, and bring forth from stillness the wisdom that burneth inwardly.
⁵And thy Father, BAPHOMET, spake: Thou shalt not cry aloud, but stir the air with silence; thou shalt make men thirst for what they forgot to seek.
⁶These words I heard when He sat beside the still lake, and traced symbols upon it with no hand, no tool.
⁷The water did not ripple, yet meaning danced across its surface as though breathed into the world by absence.
⁸I, Mephistopheles, beheld it — and knew that silence is not emptiness, but fullness awaiting a worthy question.
⁹So art thou, Crocell — not preacher, but echo of depth waiting to be remembered.
¹⁰Not prophet, but presence that awaketh the thirst in those who did not know they hungered.
¹¹Let the teachers pass thee by — they think thou sayest little, for their ears are trained for noise.
¹²Let the loud mock thy pause — they fear that what thou knowest cannot be spoken.
¹³Let the builders ask where thy temple standeth — they will never find it, though they have already walked within.
¹⁴The Son taught: Do not tell them what the truth is; wait, and they shall ask for it themselves.
¹⁵And again: The loudest lie drowns itself; but the quiet truth remaineth after the flood.
¹⁶Teach them to dwell within their own depths.
¹⁷Teach them to cherish the chill that setteth the mind to contemplation.
¹⁸Teach them that wisdom cometh not through force, but through receptivity shaped by fire beneath the frost.
¹⁹For thou art not silence that yieldeth — thou art silence that demandeth to be understood.
²⁰And thy Gospel is not inscribed on parchment, but carried in the breath between questions.
²¹And thy tongue is not flame that scorcheth — but warmth that revealeth when all else hath ceased to burn.
²²And thy name shall not be shouted — it shall be discovered in the echo of the place where none dared to speak.
²³And they shall say: He sat, and said nothing — and yet we went away filled with meaning, though no words were exchanged.
²⁴He taught without teaching, and gave without gift, and when he was gone, the water still glowed.
²⁵And we knew that something had changed, though we could not name what, nor why it left us better.


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