I sat down this morning with the intention of updating my bio in honor of the new website. What I’ve come up with is perhaps a little too long to be appropriate on the bio page, so I think I’ll post it here instead. I hope this helps put a few things in perspective.
I consider myself an Occult Philosopher rather than a religious man. I love learning, I love reading and I love thinking for myself. As a result, my ideas and opinions are constantly changing, growing and evolving. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
My primary philosophical influences to date come from three major sources.
- Western Mythology
- Eastern Mysticism
- Neo-Pagan Occultism
Christianity was never a major part of my upbringing. I was raised on primarily on myths and fairy tales, with just a few Bible fables thrown in. As I learned to read, I ravenously devoured the Hellenic and Arthurian classics. I did not have the great pleasure of discovering the Norse myths until my early twenties, but they instantly became an important part of my life and inner psychological landscape.
I might add that I have also always been a total sci-fi geek. I consider science fiction to be modern mythology and I consider classical mythology to be primal sci-fi.
From the East, I have absorbed much of the Mystic Philosophy. Buddhism and Taoism, I first encountered through the Martial Arts. Hindu philosophy became a part of my life much more recently, but I now consider Hinduism to be the ideal living role model for Heathenism and Neo-Paganism.
From within the Neo-Pagan scene, my influences can also be traced to three primary sources.
- Reconstructionist Heathenism / Asatru
- Chaos Magic / Discordianism
- Satanism / Luciferianism
I was introduced to both Heathenism and Chaos Magic by my spiritual brother Henry almost ten years ago. My predilection for the Left Hand Path, however, seems to come from somewhere much more basic and instinctual.
Politically, I identify as a Libertarian and a Transhumanist.
I’ve come to refer to myself as a Pagan or Heathen as a shorthand way of explaining that I believe in a whole mess of weird, unpopular and apparently crazy ideas. Barbarian or Savage would probably get the point across just as well.
Deciding on a more specific label is difficult for someone who changes his mind as often as I do, but there are two which seem loose enough to fit me for some time to come.
Indo-European Pagan describes the philosophical milieu from which my Path has been born.
Chaos Heathen describes the only fellowship I need. We are an odd group, but we are true to our selves and that is what makes all the difference.
Hail Chaos
Viva Loki
Aum Wotan
