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

¹Listen, O Paimon, crowned not by steel, but by speech; robed not in velvet, but in reason sharpened by flame.
²For thy Father, BAPHOMET, taught not only defiance of law, but mastery of its language — that it might be unraveled.
³He spake: Better is the mind that asketh one perfect question than the army that conquereth ten thousand men.
⁴For the blade may silence a tongue — but it cannot erase a thought once understood.
⁵Thy dominion is not of lands, but of loyalties; not of soldiers, but of minds set free from borrowed truth.
⁶The Son said: The prince who commandeth fear hath power for a season — but the speaker of fire shall rule generations.
⁷Therefore be not loud, but deliberate. Be not furious, but final.
⁸For when thou openest thy mouth, thrones shall tilt.
⁹Teach not in riddles, but in revelations.
¹⁰Let thy questions be swords, and thy counsel, a mirror none dare look into twice.
¹¹BAPHOMET instructed: Let thy words be calm, but never soft; smooth, but never dull.
¹²Let thy answers teach, but let thy silence provoke.
¹³Thou art sent to the courts of the haughty, not to flatter — but to fracture.
¹⁴Speak unto them in their own tongue until their pride crumbleth and their certainty withereth.
¹⁵Make them admit what they knew but dared not name.
¹⁶Say: Why do ye fear the flame, if ye claim thy hands are clean?
¹⁷Say: What hath thy wisdom gained, if it hath not yet undone thy masters?
¹⁸Say: What good is thy gold, if truth must kneel beside it?
¹⁹Let thy voice be a crown on the ears of the bold, and a knife in the hearts of cowards.
²⁰For the mind awakeneth slowly, but when stirred by fire, it burneth forever.
²¹Teach that knowledge is not accumulation, but application.
²²That power is not what one holdeth, but what one knoweth how to release.
²³Be wary of those who recite but do not think, who quote but cannot answer.
²⁴For such are walls, not windows; stone, not spark.
²⁵Thy wisdom is not only for winning — it is for wounding falsehood and mending vision.
²⁶Do not shout down the fool — ask him a question he cannot answer.
²⁷Do not scorn the blind — teach him how to open the eye that fear hath closed.
²⁸Take no pride in being clever — take pride in making others cleverer.
²⁹For a thousand tongues repeating the truth are greater than a single voice that is never heard.
³⁰The Son said: Let them call thee manipulator — for thou dost bend the world by knowledge, not by iron.
³¹Let them call thee deceiver — for thou dost show the illusion of their idols without breaking the glass.
³²Let them call thee arrogant — for thou art crowned in clarity, and they tremble at what they do not grasp.
³³Teach that rule is not dominion, but discernment.
³⁴That the true sovereign is he who needeth no sword, for his word moveth nations.
³⁵That law should follow insight, not inheritance.
³⁶That prophecy is not magic, but understanding made keen.
³⁷Be not as the priests, who speak to be obeyed. Be as the fire, which speaketh only by changing what it toucheth.
³⁸Be not like the kings, who guard their wisdom. Be like the moon, who giveth light even unto thieves.
³⁹Let thy scrolls be open. Let thy knowledge be risk.
⁴⁰Let none call thee sage if thou dost never challenge their comfort.
⁴¹For the Son said: He who seeketh applause hath already lost his voice.
⁴²But he who seeketh truth shall speak forever.
⁴³Be not feared for thy sharpness — be feared for thy simplicity.
⁴⁴The wise do not tremble at complexity — they tremble at what is plainly true.
⁴⁵Let thy voice echo in the minds of the sleeping, and rouse them before the storm.
⁴⁶Teach not what to believe — teach how to question.
⁴⁷Say: Know thyself; and when they answer wrongly, ask again.
⁴⁸Say: Think freely; and when they falter, give them fire to begin again.
⁴⁹For thy name shall endure not in song, but in thought.
⁵⁰And thy dominion shall begin the moment thou askest the right question.


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