The Black Flame: A Reclamation

First, a disclaimer: there is nothing new under the sun, and it would be arrogant to claim exclusive rights to the term “The Black Flame.” This symbol holds potent meaning across various contexts, yet I cannot, nor do I desire to, endorse every interpretation or association with it—primarily because I have no interest in researching them all! Instead, my intent is to share my own interpretation and the influences that shape it.

The Black Flame appears frequently within Left-Hand Path magical traditions—paths dedicated to self-apotheosis (whether as transcendence to godhood or the realization of inherent divinity) and reveling in subversion and antinomianism. Primarily associated with Satanism (more on that in a moment), The Black Flame draws on the Gnostic idea of a divine spark within each person, symbolizing this spark in those who resist hegemonic ideals.

My goal is to expropriate the concept of The Black Flame from “Satanism,” which, in much of its current form, is a juvenile, neoliberal pseudo-philosophy. Many modern Satanists, knowingly or not, have simply dressed up Randian "Objectivism" in black clothes and inverted pentagrams. The “subversion” in their rugged individualism, or so-called “American libertarianism” (in reality, neoliberalism), is no subversion at all; it is the very hegemonic ideal of our time.

Repositioning The Black Flame as a symbol of true subversion—left-wing or post-left anarchy, gender variance, heterodox spiritual beliefs, and a burning passion for collective liberation—makes it a symbol worth reclaiming, studying, and wielding. Areïon’s Warlike, Howling, Pure captures this perspective in a chapter entitled “The Black Flame,” opening with the line: “Anarchy is already a spiritual practice, whether its practitioners understand it as such or not.”

Stripped of the authoritarian artifice imposed by many so-called magical teachers, those of us who walk the path of Anarchy as a life-way and seek Magic as a means of shaping reality already share critical philosophical foundations. If each person possesses the ability to attain power through spiritual enlightenment and magical practice, then each of us must indeed be a god in our own right. How, then, could any one among us presume to be another’s master?

Self-deification as a philosophy—like its political sibling in Anarchist Individualism—is profoundly misunderstood. To declare myself a god, as an ordinary being, is to affirm that we are all gods. This recognition compels me to honor the divinity in others, to see each person as an autonomous and powerful entity deserving of respect.

This idea mirrors individualist anarchism which, unlike its distorted cousin in Randian Objectivism, does not elevate the individual above all others. Instead, it acknowledges that true liberation is the collective liberation of individuals, each free and sovereign within the whole.

The Black Flame is both a personal fire, demanding careful tending through theoretical knowledge and ritual (for political practice is often a ritual itself), and—like all fire—a force to be shared and spread. The hearthkeeper of The Black Flame is one who nurtures our collective imagination, stoking the will for liberation within us all. We gather around the hearth’s warmth when we need it, and each torchbearer—each individual walking this path—can carry its fire and light another’s torch. In this way, The Black Flame symbolizes both personal and collective knowledge, safety, trust, and growth.

One more essential quality of The Black Flame must be recognized: fire’s ability to catalyze radical change. Fire spreads, consumes the old, and clears space for the new. While we tend our small flames, we carry the transformative power of fire itself—the light to reveal, the heat to forge, and the force to dismantle and burn away systems that no longer serve us.

The Black Flame is a symbol of both personal empowerment and collective transformation. It calls us to reclaim our own divinity while honoring the sovereignty of those around us, to nurture our individual flames in a spirit of mutual respect and shared purpose. This path is one of continuous tending—of imagination, knowledge, and radical will. The Black Flame invites us to gather at the hearth of our shared liberation, to carry its fire with us as we seek to illuminate and dismantle the structures that stifle freedom and growth. For those who feel the call of this flame, it offers not only warmth but the potential for a deep, transformative journey toward a world reborn.

Step forward, torchbearer, and join us on this path.