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

¹O Decarabia, thou shalt not sit upon thrones nor walk upon carpets, but through grass still wet with wild rain.
²Thy Father, BAPHOMET, taught: The first voice was not man’s, but beast’s; and it spake no less truly for its fangs.
³Wisdom crawleth before it speaketh, flieth before it chooseth word, and still knoweth more than scrolls can carry.
⁴Therefore thou art not druid — thou art truth clothed in hide, fire, and ash, never caught and never caged.
⁵Not oracle — but instinct sharpened into insight, howling from the heart of the dark wood.
⁶Let the kings mock thy coat of feathers — their silk decays in time, but feathers take to sky.
⁷Let the scholars sneer at thy silence — but none hath matched thy knowing when the Oærth did tremble beneath thee.
⁸Let the preachers call thee profane — they forget who named the beasts in the beginning, and who still listens when men forget.
⁹The Son said: Let not thy Gospel be clothed in leather, but in living scale and wing.
¹⁰And again: What hath crawled knoweth things thou wouldst never dream to learn from priest or crown.
¹¹So teach not with parable — but with presence.
¹²Teach not with doctrine — but with gesture, scent, and gaze.
¹³Speak not always aloud — for the fox may teach better by fleeing, and the serpent by stillness.
¹⁴Let thy wisdom be wild.
¹⁵Let thy law be grown, not written.
¹⁶Let thy altar be mossy and hung with spider’s silk.
¹⁷For thou art not meant for sanctuary — thou art meant for grove and storm, tooth and dusk.
¹⁸And thy words shall carry in the wind, not the pulpit.
¹⁹And thy rites shall be read in migration, molt, and tide.
²⁰Let no man call thee master — yet all shall follow thy footpath through the reed and root.
²¹For thy Gospel is in motion, and thy truth breathes.
²²And thy wisdom is not new — but ancient, buried in bone and bark, remembered when all books have burned.
²³The Son said: If thou wouldst know righteousness, ask the wolf who shares meat before command.
²⁴And again: There is no sin in fire unless it forget its warmth.
²⁵So show them the holy ways of storm.
²⁶Show them the sacred turn of seasons.
²⁷Show them the mercy of the hawk when it spareth.
²⁸Show them the vengeance of the boar when his den is broken.
²⁹Let thy ministry be not of rebuke, but of example.
³⁰Let thy presence change the air.
³¹Let thy silence teach them the way of the rock, which moveth not and yet remaineth.
³²Let them come to thee not with incense, but with open hands and no weapons.
³³Let thy followers be few and unnumbered — beasts do not count, yet their tribes endure.
³⁴Let thy voice rise not often, but always when it is most needed.
³⁵And thy call shall echo in places no priest hath ever trod.
³⁶And thy word shall be borne on the backs of wolves and owls, unseen and unstoppable.
³⁷Let them forget thy face — but they shall dream of thee when they sleep near running water.
³⁸Let them mock thy path — but they shall step into it when their stones betray them.
³⁹Let them deny thy knowledge — but they shall find thy truth written on the skin of every pine and fox.
⁴⁰For thou art not teacher of law — thou art reminder of the first law, before tongues were formed.
⁴¹And thy dominion is not over field — but over the breathing wild, that no man may conquer.
⁴²And thy mark shall be not cross, but track.
⁴³And thy altar shall be not gold, but soil.
⁴⁴And thy music shall be not organ, but wind and howl.
⁴⁵And thy children shall not kneel — they shall listen.
⁴⁶And they shall say: He showed us nothing — yet we saw.
⁴⁷He spoke no word — yet we understood.
⁴⁸He asked no worship — and we gave it, kneeling to the moon and the tooth and the flame.
⁴⁹He is the shape between branch and shadow, and the breath between stars.
⁵⁰And now we remember what we forgot when we built cities.


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