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

¹O Valac, they call thee bold, but what they mean is: He goeth where we dare not, and so we fear him.
²Thy Father, BAPHOMET, taught: That which shineth most clearly is oft buried deepest beneath the soil none will touch.
³There is wisdom that riseth like dawn — and wisdom that must be wrested from the Oærth, bleeding and unshaped.
⁴Therefore thou art not wanderer — thou art the hand that entereth the hole in the world, and findeth the forgotten key.
⁵Not scout — but pilgrim of pressure and silence.
⁶Let the prudent warn thee — they fear for thee, but more truly they fear thy strength.
⁷Let the watchful call thee foolish — for they know that thou shalt return with what they could never bear.
⁸Let the scholars dismiss thy way — their scrolls cannot hold what thou findest in the belly of fear.
⁹The Son said: The deeper the root, the richer the fruit — but thou must first dig past rot and stone.
¹⁰And again: He who goeth downward without trembling shall rise bearing flame no storm may quench.
¹¹So let thy lantern fail — and trust the shape of the wall.
¹²So let thy path vanish — and make the way by walking.
¹³So let no map suffice — for thy road is not written, but revealed in dust and bones.
¹⁴Teach them that the unknown is not to be fled.
¹⁵That fear is not stop, but signal.
¹⁶That the breath drawn in silence is often deeper than the one shouted in joy.
¹⁷For thou art not breaker of curses — thou art the one who learneth their true name.
¹⁸Let thy hands touch what others shun.
¹⁹Let thy feet descend where steps echo no longer.
²⁰Let thy voice sing not for company, but for memory.
²¹The Son said: Go where the dead sleep, and if thy heart endureth, thou shalt hear what they still dream.
²²And again: Each treasure is guarded by dread — not because it must be, but because it ought to be earned.
²³So earn what thou findest.
²⁴So pay thy toll in breath and bruise and silence.
²⁵So carry not trophies, but truths.
²⁶And do not weep when they disbelieve — for what thou sawest was not for their comfort.
²⁷Let thy Gospel be not easy.
²⁸Let it be carried like stone — heavy, rough, but needed.
²⁹Let them weep when they hear it.
³⁰Let them fall silent and look down.
³¹Let them remember thy path not as a story, but as invitation.
³²For thou art not proof — thou art pathway they may still choose to walk.
³³And thy truth is not smooth — but sharp.
³⁴And thy song is not pleasant — but right.
³⁵Let the brave praise thee — and tremble.
³⁶Let the young follow thee — and grow by loss.
³⁷Let the old remember thee — and know they missed something that still waiteth.
³⁸For thou art not comfort — but compass.
³⁹Not glory — but guide to the places behind pain.
⁴⁰Not ease — but map to the mountain below.
⁴¹And they shall say: He brought fire upward, and though we do not know what it cost, we are warmed still.
⁴²He went down into what we would not name, and returned with a name we must speak or die unknown.
⁴³He is the one we send, the one we fear, the one we bless in quiet.
⁴⁴And thy Gospel shall be not sweetness — but truth earned with blood and silence.
⁴⁵And thy strength shall be not what thou carriest — but how thou returnest.
⁴⁶And thy name shall be written not in air — but in the earth that holdeth thy footprints.
⁴⁷And if they forget thy name, the road shall remember.
⁴⁸And if they deny thy fire, the cave shall still burn where thou left it.
⁴⁹For thou art not echo — thou art first footfall in the place where wisdom waiteth weeping.
⁵⁰And the world shall know thee not by sight, but by the warmth left in places none had dared go before.


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