The Sinister Left & Fear of the Moon

This page: The etymological history of "sinister" and the usage of the term "left hand path" are used to highlight the basis these terms have in materialism, pre-religious fear and the dogma that resulted from prehistorical sun worship. I discuss Lex Talionis, Satanism's connections with ancient History including the symbolism of the Moon, alchemy, sun worship, and early Roman culture.

Contents:
1. Etymology of "Sinister", sexuality and the Left Hand Path
2. The moon
3. Conclusions

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1. Etymology of "Sinister", sexuality and the Left Hand Path

"SINISTER:
ADJECTIVE: 1. Suggesting or threatening evil: a sinister smile. 2. Presaging trouble; ominous: sinister storm clouds. 3. Attended by or causing disaster or inauspicious circumstances. 4. On the left side; left. 5. Heraldry Situated on or being the side of a shield on the wearer's left and the observer's right.
ETYMOLOGY: Middle English sinistre, unfavourable, from Old French, from Latin sinister, on the left, unlucky."₁

The etymology of the word "sinister" suggests an association between The Left and something indirectly Satanic. This association was clear in Christianity and especially during Medieval Times.

"Left-hand-path religions are concentrated on individualism, freethought, intelligence and oustanding abilities and gifts. The term "left hand path" may have entered the West's vocabulary from the East via either the teachings of Helena Blavatsky and the Theosophists or from the shamanist Tatar invasions. The association of the left with diabolism, devilry, outstanding talent, psychic abilities and the right with goodness is so ancient it defeats investigation. Christianity and Islam and all other major religions and cultures ostracize left-handers. It may result from the sanitary habits of societies and peoples in pre-modern times who used their left hand to clean themselves after defecation because the right-hand is normally the dominant hand, and it may also result from lefties being better represented amongst the freaks, geniuses and gifted people of the world. In either case it seems that the phobia of strange left-handed people lives in our language and culture."

"The Historicity of the term Left Hand Path" by Vexen Crabtree 2002 Feb 24

Left is Female
Stan Gooch highlights the fact that in the vast majority of cultures, from every continent from Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe and the Americas, the the "left" is normally associated with femininity and the "right" with masculinity. This is despite the fact that more males are left-handed, but let's not let mere facts interefere with the superstitius religions of the world, eh?! The reasons for this association are lost in time. Gooch points out that because the left hand is frequently weaker than the right that this might have lent itself to the comparison to womankind.

In Latin
The Left was already associated with the feminine and with the lunar sphere. Christianity accepted this as an association between The Left and Devilry. I am not sure why. Maybe due to the myths surrounding Eve, maybe because they demonized many aspects of many cultures and made devil's out of foreign gods... the liberal gods of the left were prime candidates for association with the Devil. However it came about, the Christians considered Left Handedness as diabolical. Even in recent centuries the Catholic Church used to punish Left Handedness, with many Catholic schools forbidding it and stating that left handedness is doing the Devil's bidding.

In order for this association to be made, in Christianity, and for other associations to be made between the Left and the Devil there must have been a precedent for the attributing of certain properties to the Left. How old is this association and from where does it come? A "left handed whore" was a Roman term for masturbation₄. "Left" has had sexual connotations in many ancient cultures including Hindu and Buddhist thought.

"Tantra practitioner Dinu Roman writes, "Tantra is also called Vama Marga, i.e. The Left Hand Path, due to the fact that women, who are of lunar influence, negative polarity or the left, play an essential role in this science"₂

2. The Moon

In monotheism the Lunar sphere is the domain of Satan, Jinn and Demons. The Solar sphere is the source of life, God. The solar association stems from very primitive religion, sun worship. The association with the night time, the moon, is therefore as old as religion itself. The night time, the dark, has always been associated with the unwanted elements of religion: That which defeats the sun.

Alchemy
Everlasting life. The point of alchemy, traditionally, has been to create a potion that will enable us to live forever. The moon, a symbol of death, is silver. The gold, the symbol of life, is golden. Within pop culture alchemy became known as the attempt to turn metal into gold: To purify the soul. Mithraism (which informed Christianity) uses this symbolism. The saviour of man bears down on us from the sun (Mithraism is personified sun worship) on a golden chariot of fire and creates a potion of everlasting life₃. Early alchemy and sun worship is the source of many religions traditions as well as the basis of modern science. Christianity, which does not generally accept the materialistic basis of religious thought declared alchemy Satanic and it was outlawed at various times during Christian history.

"In Western alchemy the moon represents the soul of the alchemist, to be worked on and transformed by its union with the sun"

"1000 Symbols" by Shepherd, Rowan & Rupert

Menstruation₅
The monthly cycle coincides with the female menstrual cycle, something which has been given some quite dramatic importance through the ancient religions. The moon, following the same cycle and even appearing red on the horizon from time to time, was easily used to measure when a female was due on her cycle and therefore was come to be viewed as female itself. Some of the mythical stories explaining menstruation are fascinating. Some later Christian ones (and others) are downright scary, many attributing it to the Devil itself, to sin, to failure and death and many other negative things. Early religion was very much male dominated, but it is also possible (due to the discomfort and blood) that female writers would have also considered the menstrual cycle to be related, somehow, to something foreboding other than mere emotion. This universal association, biological in nature, has enriched the symbolism of religious thinkers. Although we now understand such things scientifically and historically, rather than mythically, the symbolism still remains.

3. Conclusions

That which is sinister, of the Left, and the associations of the Left Hand Path are representative of the Moon. Primitive religions, sun worship, has recognized the moon for what it is: A symbol of death and blood. Satan represents the death of life, of the sun. Through the search for truth, Satanism represents the death of gods and theistic religious dogma. Death so far has always won. There is no eternal life. The sun may rise another day but eventually our sun (which symbolises the self and God) dies like every other sun. The moon, the symbol of the night, symbolizes the victory of everlasting darkness and of sexuality. The Left and The Moon have always perturbed Humanity. The history of terms like "Sinister" and "Left handed" has recorded this ancient subconscious fear. But this fear, in modern Satanism, is faced and accepted full on without the barriers that other religions erect.