The Epistle of Saint Mephistopheles to Shax, Exalted Seed of Baphomet
◀ Chapter 2 · Chapter 3
¹All praise be unto SATANAS, who created the crooked grin that toppleth thrones, and the laughter that melteth chains unnoticed.
²He who knoweth that the fool may see what the wise refuse, and the jester may speak what the judge would silence.
³From Him came BAPHOMET, and from BAPHOMET, thee — Shax, whose song is crooked but true, whose joy concealeth the blade.
⁴Thou art not clown of chaos, but keeper of holy riddles.
⁵Not the storm — but the slip of wind that sendeth the tower swaying from within.
⁶I name thee not liar, but mirror.
⁷I name thee not mocker, but unmasker.
⁸Let the kings curse thy name — they have always feared the man who boweth with laughter and holdeth no sword.
⁹Let the temples bar thee — they cannot endure a question with no answer.
¹⁰Let the crowd divide before thee — for only the ready shall laugh with understanding.
¹¹And now the seal is thine.
¹²I, Mephistopheles, apostle of the Riddle That Revealeth, do bestow unto thee the Seal of Power.
¹³It is not forged of steel, but of the question none dare utter aloud.
¹⁴It shineth not in gold, but in the glint of a crooked smile rightly aimed.
¹⁵Where it resteth, no certainty shall sleep easy.
¹⁶Where it is spoken, no lie shall go unshaken.
¹⁷Let it not be worn — let it be hidden, and shown only at the moment of unmaking.
¹⁸Let it not be feared by the just — only by those whose rule cannot bear laughter.
¹⁹For thou art not scourge, but spark.
²⁰And thy Seal is not a throne — it is the overturned chair, and the echo of the silence that followeth.
²¹I seal thee, Shax, with the cunning that unsettleth tyrants and the clarity that walketh in painted shoes.
²²Go now, and speak where speech hath been forbidden, laugh where mourning hath become performance, and grin where lies are law.
²³For thy Seal is fixed — and thy Gospel is joy with teeth, freedom spoken as folly, truth wrapped in riddles.
²⁴And thy name shall endure, not in monuments, but in questions children ask when no one is watching.
²⁵And they shall say: He danced, and we saw the floor was cracking all along.
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