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The history of the text
Taken from the back cover summary:1
In 1936, at the height of the anti-fascist struggle, French Surrealist Georges Bataille and his closest friends took leave of the revolutionary milieu to form a fanatically religious secret society under the symbol of the acéphale – a headless figure clutching a fiery heart and a sacrificial knife. They conspired to achieve headlessness at every level: the headless society, the human being freed from reason, the defeat of the three-headed monster of Fascism-Christianity-Socialism, the ecstatic rupture of the Dionysian frenzy, and the literal beheading of Bataille himself. This is their journal, fully (re)translated and compiled in English for the first time.
Taken from wikipedia:2
Acéphale is the name of a public review created by Georges Bataille (which numbered five issues, from 1936 to 1939) and a secret society formed by Bataille and others who had sworn to keep silent. Its name is derived from the Greek ἀκέφαλος (akephalos, literally "headless").
Dated 24 June 1936, the first issue was only eight pages. The cover was illustrated by André Masson with a drawing openly inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's famous drawing of Vitruvian Man, who embodies classical reason. Masson's figure, however, is headless, his groin covered by a skull, and holds in his right hand a burning heart, while in his left he wields a dagger. Under the title Acéphale are printed the words Religion. Sociologie. Philosophie followed on the next line by the expression the sacred conjuration (la conjuration sacrée).
The first article, signed by Bataille, is titled "The Sacred Conjuration" and claims that "Secretly or not... it is necessary to become different or else cease to be." Further on, Bataille wrote: "Human life is exasperated by having served as the head and reason of the universe. Insofar as it becomes this head and this reason, insofar as it becomes necessary to the universe, it accepts serfdom."
The second issue of the review begins with a large article titled "Nietzsche and Fascists", in which Bataille violently attacks Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, Nietzsche's sister, who had married the notorious antisemite Bernhard Förster — the wedding had led to a final rupture between Nietzsche and his sister. Bataille thereby called Elisabeth Elisabeth Judas-Förster, recalling Nietzsche's declaration: "To never frequent anyone who is involved in this bare-faced fraud concerning races."
The same issue contains an unedited text of Nietzsche on Heraclitus from Die Philosophie im tragischen Zeitalter der Griechen (Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks), as well as an article from Jean Wahl titled "Nietzsche and the Death of God," which is a commentary on a text from Karl Jaspers on Nietzsche.
The other issues also centered on Nietzsche. The last one, prepared but ultimately not published, was titled "Nietzsche's madness" (La folie de Nietzsche). These references to Nietzsche were directed against the philosopher's appropriation by Nazism - despite Nietzsche's opposition against antisemitism - as one of its seminal thinkers, leading to Nietzsche's unpopularity at the time in France.
Apart from Bataille, who signed most of the texts, Roger Caillois (issue 3 and 4), Pierre Klossowski (issue 1, 2, 3 and 4), André Masson, Jules Monnerot (issue 3 and 4), Jean Rollin and Jean Wahl (in the second issue) also participated in the review.
History according to the writer of this review:
During the late 20s, and early 30s, Surrealism – a response to Nihilism as proposed by Nietzsche and various other philosophers and the end of the first world war– arose around various musicians, artists, authors, and playwrights, with notables ones being Dalí, Magritte, and John Heartfield (though the latter identified as a Dadaist and less as a surrealist, and the former being seen as an apologist of fascism3). This movement arose alongside absurdism4, which focused upon similar problems – such as the question of the nature of reality and the rejection of traditional norms in associated fields – and is frequently seen as the expression of the unconscious mind and “surreality” upon reality itself. During the mid-1930s, Bataille was part of a series of groups that were known for their activism of the age, as well as their association with various anarchist and socialist groups. In an effort to help create “a new mythology” for which the post-WW1 age can grapple with, Bataille and his group of comrades wrote, over the course of a few years, a series of essays and pamphlets outlining their desires, as well as various redemptive texts regarding Nietzsche combating Nietzsche's sister’s association of Nihilism with Fascism.
This text became a “cult hit” amongst various anarchist and socialist groups, compiled, recompiled, translated, and retranslated over the course of the next couple of decades, never reaching full print with a publisher, either due to it’s association with human sacrifice, the desire to completely disassociate with any form of centralized authority, or its outrageous claims regarding the nature of reality that are outlined in what can only be described as a series of surreal dreams. The text itself is protected under “anticopyright” – which can only be seen as forefather of copyleft5 – and tells the reader to “reproduce freely”. In the forthcoming essay, I will reproduce what I deem necessary, but will keep the majority of the actual text obscured, as is “tradition”6. The text itself is a highly religious text that attempts to remain “apolitical”, but given the nature of the authors, the specificity of the headless god, and the clash with multiple political groups, one can only surmise that it is as apolitical as existence7.
Very few authors, especially given it potentially abhorrent nature and the surrealism of the text, will claim this text as a source of inspiration, but various authors have notes of this text sprinkled throughout their philosophy. Notable examples that can be seen as having drawn inspiration – though again, not directly, only through a series of deductive inferences – are Jacques Derrida, Jacques Lacan, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari. It can be argued that various neo-magical societies such as the Illuminates of Thanateros are spiritual revivals of The Acéphale, but Carroll’s work does not seem to directly or indirectly reference any text compiled in Acephale.
My personal experience with the Acephale started with a text known as Nietzsche and The Fascists8 written by Georges Bataille himself, which – according to my own gnosis regarding nihilism, coupled with my experiences from Michel Camus, Samuel Beckett, and various other absurdists – led me to seek out this text. It wasn’t until a visit to an anarchist book fair in [redacted] that I came across the text proper, distributed by a local group. Luckily, during the writing of this review, I found a copy in The Internet Archive6 which, while offers a different translation, does include the same ideas behind the text. This text was pivotal in my evolution as a magi, and thus I consider it a text worth reading, if not for the specific narrative that is posed in the text then at least for the meta-narrative that followed the evolution of the anarchist mythology and the related magics.
The Text Proper9
Subdivided into the various pamphlets released over the course of the half decade, it begins with an introduction by the translators – dubbed “Some Anarchists”10 – which does a hell of a lot better job outlining the history, surrounding culture, and ensuing ripples than I could ever.
The introduction starts with a suitable quote by Søren Kierkegaard: “What had the face of politics and imagined itself to be political, will one day unmask itself as a religious movement”11 - a quote echoed in the first lines of the Acephaleac texts themselves. This introduction describes the growth of Bataille – a staunch atheist and materialist – from his beginning as a revolutionary to the start of this movement, and parallels it with the acceptance of Nietzschean Nihilism and the psuedo-gnostic10 delivery of the modern Dionysus.
Followed up immediately by The Program – a series of anarchist affirmations which includes:
What is a Sacred Conspiracy without a couple of Sacrifices – an aptly named title for the next set of pamphlets by the group, which includes the previously mentioned Nietzsche and the Fascists8. Outlining the differences between the various groups which have come to claim him as their spiritual guru, the group attempts14 to encapsulate the philosophy of Nietzsche, nihilism as a whole, the idea of the Übermensch, and how these ideas are incompatible with Fascism15. To quote the text, “Nietzsche himself said that he felt only repugnance for the political parties of his day, but ambiguity remains on the subject of fascism…” but pursues the idea that Nietzsche's ideas are not political, but rather “addressed free spirits, incapable of letting themselves be used.”16
Being the most political of the Acephalaec texts, Acephale 2 continues to discuss Heraclitus, “a human being [who] was unbelievable” and how “he and none other were the true fulfiller and perfecter of the Delphic17 dictum, ‘Know thyself.’” Which is then followed immediately by Propositions on Fascism. This is the first true description of the acephale, representing the antithesis of the fascist aesthetic through “eternal integration that deifies, and an eternal disintegration that annihilates God in itself.” Bataille waxes poetic about democracy before reaching the superimposition of the Übermensch and the Acéphale, claiming that “[t]he acéphale mythologically expresses sovereignty committed to the destruction, the death, of God…” and that “because of Revolution, divine authority ceases to found power; authority no longer belongs to God, but to time, whose free exuberances puts kings to death.”19
The rest of the text is some quotations and notations from Karl Jaspers’ work “Nietzsche: An Introduction to the Understanding of His Philosophical Activity”20, an exaltation about “Human Realization” and further notes on the Death of God21.
It is at this point that I start to wonder if I should continue the assessment of this text, as this is where the text becomes the proper Occult work. Simply put, this is the invocation of Dionysus – the Acéphale incarnate – and the expansion upon the “Dionysian mysteries”. As it is, I can ultimately explain how these final texts are the culmination of years of preparation by the group, and how they finally reach their epitome of euphoria, but that would simply not do it service. The text compiled in what is only named Acephale ¾ is really only something that can be perpetually experienced – the death of God, the reincarnation of self, the liberation from God, the shackling to Time – by the individual reading it. The text ends with five aptly named meditations – or affirmations, depending on how you perceive them. I will provide the first, as it aptly summarizes the text, but I implore the reader to endeavor through this text themselves. You will not escape unscathed.
[1] There is no ISBN for this text, as it was published without intent for sale. However, on the inside cover a “Those responsible may be reached at headless@acephale.info” can be found. The resulting text can be found at the acephale.info website.
[2] M
[3] Salvador Dalí is well known for his ties to Nazism/Fascism and his general misogyny, but a “simple” search can bring up a wide variety of articles which have more information on this matter. One of which can be found via Vice:
[4] Absurdism was a movement which paralleled Dadaism and Surrealism, but focused mostly on the “absurdity” of life, or the creation of one’s own meaning in life in the face of existential nihilism. Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Albert Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus are some key examples of this movement. More info can be found through:
[5] Copyleft is widely used among software circles, as well as various anarchist groups as a whole, which practically places all “copyright” rights within the “public domain”. This entitles all iterations of the text, code, or art form, to provide the same level of rights going forward. More can be found at
[6] While the text is an anti-copyright text, up until the writing of this review, it was damned near impossible to find a copy on the internet, let alone for sale. This comment has since been redacted, but preserved to keep the flow of the article.
[7] There is a heated debate surrounding what is and isn’t political in this modern day, and ultimately, it is the belief of this humble author that all facets of life, when compiled into a society, are ultimately “political” in nature, in so far as people still argue that the “rights of life” can be argued against. If you want an expansion on this, message me privately.
[8] Can be found at: , I will attempt to reference this website for translations of this work, but may forget to.
[9] A few translations can be found at: I will also attempt to provide various other links to the works individually.
[10] Anarchists are notorious for obscuring the groups which provide such services – either in fear for their security or simply to minimize issues surrounding “IP claims”. This is referring to, obviously, those which translated and compiled this specific work.
[12] While Bataille et al do not specifically claim Gnostic texts as influences, various authors assessing the Acephalaec texts do contribute them to be gnostic-esque or at least contain similar trappings as gnostic thought. Given that Gnosticism is a wide-array of beliefs that cannot be ultimately contained to a singular idea, the author thought it was most prudent to claim that they resemble gnostic scriptures in theory, but may not resemble them in practice, thus the label of psuedo-gnostic.
[12] A translation may be found at:
[13] Bataille was known for rebuking every group until this point, and being rebuked himself by those very self-same groups. This can be expanded upon in the following:
[14] The author is of the opinion that they very rightly succeed.
[15] If you are not aware of the history of fascism – in pretty much all its iterations – and Nietzschean Nihilism, there are better authors than I that can expand upon this. However, the short of it is, Nietzsche’s sister married a known anti-semite who was pivotal in the creation of fascism, both Italian and German, which caused most fascists to adopt Nietzsche as their own, as they have done many times with Hegel and other German philosophers.
[16] It is possible that this is the acephalaec cult attempting to remain “apolitical”, but this author thinks that this may be the weakest point when arguing against Nietzsche being subsumed by the fascists. That’s not to say that it does not outline how many forms of fascism endebt the individual to the state, or at least to a charismatic leader – which is the antithesis of the Acéphale – but that this is the weakest point when it comes to the argument against the subsumption.
[17] The delphic maxims are a series of “moral precepts” that were inscribed upon the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Know thyself is the most notable, but also included “Nothing too much”, and “Give a pledge and trouble is at hand”. More on these can be found at as well as various texts18.
[18] Yes, I know I’m referencing wikipedia a lot at this point, but this is a book review, not a proper text. It would otherwise take me months to hunt down proper sources regarding these ideas, and if you really want to do some proper digging, Wikipedia is a good starting point. Don’t take it at face value, and follow the citations.
[19] Time is a well-known enemy of Kaotes, Choronzon is the manifestation of Time itself. A good summoning ritual can be found at . I also suggest reading literally everything at that website if you’re interested in Chaos Magic.
[20] A partial scan of this work can be found at:
[21] A key component of Nietzschean philosophy, and the crux of Acephaleac religion, God Is Dead, God Has Been Killed, God Has Been Resurrected. In true Dionysion22 fashion, God will be killed and be reborn.
[22] The myth of the death of God echoes throughout the ages, and is seen in literally every culture, bar none. I cannot singularly name any mythology which does not include the death of their/a deity and their subsequent resurrection. Something about the changing of seasons, the rebirth of the self, the creation of the philosopher’s stone, the purification of the soul - the list goes on.
Taken from the back cover summary:1
In 1936, at the height of the anti-fascist struggle, French Surrealist Georges Bataille and his closest friends took leave of the revolutionary milieu to form a fanatically religious secret society under the symbol of the acéphale – a headless figure clutching a fiery heart and a sacrificial knife. They conspired to achieve headlessness at every level: the headless society, the human being freed from reason, the defeat of the three-headed monster of Fascism-Christianity-Socialism, the ecstatic rupture of the Dionysian frenzy, and the literal beheading of Bataille himself. This is their journal, fully (re)translated and compiled in English for the first time.
Taken from wikipedia:2
Acéphale is the name of a public review created by Georges Bataille (which numbered five issues, from 1936 to 1939) and a secret society formed by Bataille and others who had sworn to keep silent. Its name is derived from the Greek ἀκέφαλος (akephalos, literally "headless").
Dated 24 June 1936, the first issue was only eight pages. The cover was illustrated by André Masson with a drawing openly inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's famous drawing of Vitruvian Man, who embodies classical reason. Masson's figure, however, is headless, his groin covered by a skull, and holds in his right hand a burning heart, while in his left he wields a dagger. Under the title Acéphale are printed the words Religion. Sociologie. Philosophie followed on the next line by the expression the sacred conjuration (la conjuration sacrée).
The first article, signed by Bataille, is titled "The Sacred Conjuration" and claims that "Secretly or not... it is necessary to become different or else cease to be." Further on, Bataille wrote: "Human life is exasperated by having served as the head and reason of the universe. Insofar as it becomes this head and this reason, insofar as it becomes necessary to the universe, it accepts serfdom."
The second issue of the review begins with a large article titled "Nietzsche and Fascists", in which Bataille violently attacks Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, Nietzsche's sister, who had married the notorious antisemite Bernhard Förster — the wedding had led to a final rupture between Nietzsche and his sister. Bataille thereby called Elisabeth Elisabeth Judas-Förster, recalling Nietzsche's declaration: "To never frequent anyone who is involved in this bare-faced fraud concerning races."
The same issue contains an unedited text of Nietzsche on Heraclitus from Die Philosophie im tragischen Zeitalter der Griechen (Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks), as well as an article from Jean Wahl titled "Nietzsche and the Death of God," which is a commentary on a text from Karl Jaspers on Nietzsche.
The other issues also centered on Nietzsche. The last one, prepared but ultimately not published, was titled "Nietzsche's madness" (La folie de Nietzsche). These references to Nietzsche were directed against the philosopher's appropriation by Nazism - despite Nietzsche's opposition against antisemitism - as one of its seminal thinkers, leading to Nietzsche's unpopularity at the time in France.
Apart from Bataille, who signed most of the texts, Roger Caillois (issue 3 and 4), Pierre Klossowski (issue 1, 2, 3 and 4), André Masson, Jules Monnerot (issue 3 and 4), Jean Rollin and Jean Wahl (in the second issue) also participated in the review.
History according to the writer of this review:
During the late 20s, and early 30s, Surrealism – a response to Nihilism as proposed by Nietzsche and various other philosophers and the end of the first world war– arose around various musicians, artists, authors, and playwrights, with notables ones being Dalí, Magritte, and John Heartfield (though the latter identified as a Dadaist and less as a surrealist, and the former being seen as an apologist of fascism3). This movement arose alongside absurdism4, which focused upon similar problems – such as the question of the nature of reality and the rejection of traditional norms in associated fields – and is frequently seen as the expression of the unconscious mind and “surreality” upon reality itself. During the mid-1930s, Bataille was part of a series of groups that were known for their activism of the age, as well as their association with various anarchist and socialist groups. In an effort to help create “a new mythology” for which the post-WW1 age can grapple with, Bataille and his group of comrades wrote, over the course of a few years, a series of essays and pamphlets outlining their desires, as well as various redemptive texts regarding Nietzsche combating Nietzsche's sister’s association of Nihilism with Fascism.
This text became a “cult hit” amongst various anarchist and socialist groups, compiled, recompiled, translated, and retranslated over the course of the next couple of decades, never reaching full print with a publisher, either due to it’s association with human sacrifice, the desire to completely disassociate with any form of centralized authority, or its outrageous claims regarding the nature of reality that are outlined in what can only be described as a series of surreal dreams. The text itself is protected under “anticopyright” – which can only be seen as forefather of copyleft5 – and tells the reader to “reproduce freely”. In the forthcoming essay, I will reproduce what I deem necessary, but will keep the majority of the actual text obscured, as is “tradition”6. The text itself is a highly religious text that attempts to remain “apolitical”, but given the nature of the authors, the specificity of the headless god, and the clash with multiple political groups, one can only surmise that it is as apolitical as existence7.
Very few authors, especially given it potentially abhorrent nature and the surrealism of the text, will claim this text as a source of inspiration, but various authors have notes of this text sprinkled throughout their philosophy. Notable examples that can be seen as having drawn inspiration – though again, not directly, only through a series of deductive inferences – are Jacques Derrida, Jacques Lacan, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari. It can be argued that various neo-magical societies such as the Illuminates of Thanateros are spiritual revivals of The Acéphale, but Carroll’s work does not seem to directly or indirectly reference any text compiled in Acephale.
My personal experience with the Acephale started with a text known as Nietzsche and The Fascists8 written by Georges Bataille himself, which – according to my own gnosis regarding nihilism, coupled with my experiences from Michel Camus, Samuel Beckett, and various other absurdists – led me to seek out this text. It wasn’t until a visit to an anarchist book fair in [redacted] that I came across the text proper, distributed by a local group. Luckily, during the writing of this review, I found a copy in The Internet Archive6 which, while offers a different translation, does include the same ideas behind the text. This text was pivotal in my evolution as a magi, and thus I consider it a text worth reading, if not for the specific narrative that is posed in the text then at least for the meta-narrative that followed the evolution of the anarchist mythology and the related magics.
The Text Proper9
Subdivided into the various pamphlets released over the course of the half decade, it begins with an introduction by the translators – dubbed “Some Anarchists”10 – which does a hell of a lot better job outlining the history, surrounding culture, and ensuing ripples than I could ever.
The introduction starts with a suitable quote by Søren Kierkegaard: “What had the face of politics and imagined itself to be political, will one day unmask itself as a religious movement”11 - a quote echoed in the first lines of the Acephaleac texts themselves. This introduction describes the growth of Bataille – a staunch atheist and materialist – from his beginning as a revolutionary to the start of this movement, and parallels it with the acceptance of Nietzschean Nihilism and the psuedo-gnostic10 delivery of the modern Dionysus.
Followed up immediately by The Program – a series of anarchist affirmations which includes:
- Form a community creative of values, values creative of cohesion …
- Take part in the destruction of the world that exists with eyes open to the world to come…
What is a Sacred Conspiracy without a couple of Sacrifices – an aptly named title for the next set of pamphlets by the group, which includes the previously mentioned Nietzsche and the Fascists8. Outlining the differences between the various groups which have come to claim him as their spiritual guru, the group attempts14 to encapsulate the philosophy of Nietzsche, nihilism as a whole, the idea of the Übermensch, and how these ideas are incompatible with Fascism15. To quote the text, “Nietzsche himself said that he felt only repugnance for the political parties of his day, but ambiguity remains on the subject of fascism…” but pursues the idea that Nietzsche's ideas are not political, but rather “addressed free spirits, incapable of letting themselves be used.”16
Being the most political of the Acephalaec texts, Acephale 2 continues to discuss Heraclitus, “a human being [who] was unbelievable” and how “he and none other were the true fulfiller and perfecter of the Delphic17 dictum, ‘Know thyself.’” Which is then followed immediately by Propositions on Fascism. This is the first true description of the acephale, representing the antithesis of the fascist aesthetic through “eternal integration that deifies, and an eternal disintegration that annihilates God in itself.” Bataille waxes poetic about democracy before reaching the superimposition of the Übermensch and the Acéphale, claiming that “[t]he acéphale mythologically expresses sovereignty committed to the destruction, the death, of God…” and that “because of Revolution, divine authority ceases to found power; authority no longer belongs to God, but to time, whose free exuberances puts kings to death.”19
The rest of the text is some quotations and notations from Karl Jaspers’ work “Nietzsche: An Introduction to the Understanding of His Philosophical Activity”20, an exaltation about “Human Realization” and further notes on the Death of God21.
It is at this point that I start to wonder if I should continue the assessment of this text, as this is where the text becomes the proper Occult work. Simply put, this is the invocation of Dionysus – the Acéphale incarnate – and the expansion upon the “Dionysian mysteries”. As it is, I can ultimately explain how these final texts are the culmination of years of preparation by the group, and how they finally reach their epitome of euphoria, but that would simply not do it service. The text compiled in what is only named Acephale ¾ is really only something that can be perpetually experienced – the death of God, the reincarnation of self, the liberation from God, the shackling to Time – by the individual reading it. The text ends with five aptly named meditations – or affirmations, depending on how you perceive them. I will provide the first, as it aptly summarizes the text, but I implore the reader to endeavor through this text themselves. You will not escape unscathed.
1
“I abandon myself to peace unto the point of annihilation.
“The sound of struggle lose themselves in death like rivers in the sea, like the radiance of stars in the night.
“The power of combat fulfills itself in the silence of any action.
“I enter into pace as into a dark unknown.
“I fall in this dark unknown.
“I become myself in this dark unknown.
“I abandon myself to peace unto the point of annihilation.
“The sound of struggle lose themselves in death like rivers in the sea, like the radiance of stars in the night.
“The power of combat fulfills itself in the silence of any action.
“I enter into pace as into a dark unknown.
“I fall in this dark unknown.
“I become myself in this dark unknown.
[1] There is no ISBN for this text, as it was published without intent for sale. However, on the inside cover a “Those responsible may be reached at headless@acephale.info” can be found. The resulting text can be found at the acephale.info website.
[2] M
[3] Salvador Dalí is well known for his ties to Nazism/Fascism and his general misogyny, but a “simple” search can bring up a wide variety of articles which have more information on this matter. One of which can be found via Vice:
[4] Absurdism was a movement which paralleled Dadaism and Surrealism, but focused mostly on the “absurdity” of life, or the creation of one’s own meaning in life in the face of existential nihilism. Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Albert Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus are some key examples of this movement. More info can be found through:
[5] Copyleft is widely used among software circles, as well as various anarchist groups as a whole, which practically places all “copyright” rights within the “public domain”. This entitles all iterations of the text, code, or art form, to provide the same level of rights going forward. More can be found at
[6] While the text is an anti-copyright text, up until the writing of this review, it was damned near impossible to find a copy on the internet, let alone for sale. This comment has since been redacted, but preserved to keep the flow of the article.
[7] There is a heated debate surrounding what is and isn’t political in this modern day, and ultimately, it is the belief of this humble author that all facets of life, when compiled into a society, are ultimately “political” in nature, in so far as people still argue that the “rights of life” can be argued against. If you want an expansion on this, message me privately.
[8] Can be found at: , I will attempt to reference this website for translations of this work, but may forget to.
[9] A few translations can be found at: I will also attempt to provide various other links to the works individually.
[10] Anarchists are notorious for obscuring the groups which provide such services – either in fear for their security or simply to minimize issues surrounding “IP claims”. This is referring to, obviously, those which translated and compiled this specific work.
[12] While Bataille et al do not specifically claim Gnostic texts as influences, various authors assessing the Acephalaec texts do contribute them to be gnostic-esque or at least contain similar trappings as gnostic thought. Given that Gnosticism is a wide-array of beliefs that cannot be ultimately contained to a singular idea, the author thought it was most prudent to claim that they resemble gnostic scriptures in theory, but may not resemble them in practice, thus the label of psuedo-gnostic.
[12] A translation may be found at:
[13] Bataille was known for rebuking every group until this point, and being rebuked himself by those very self-same groups. This can be expanded upon in the following:
[14] The author is of the opinion that they very rightly succeed.
[15] If you are not aware of the history of fascism – in pretty much all its iterations – and Nietzschean Nihilism, there are better authors than I that can expand upon this. However, the short of it is, Nietzsche’s sister married a known anti-semite who was pivotal in the creation of fascism, both Italian and German, which caused most fascists to adopt Nietzsche as their own, as they have done many times with Hegel and other German philosophers.
[16] It is possible that this is the acephalaec cult attempting to remain “apolitical”, but this author thinks that this may be the weakest point when arguing against Nietzsche being subsumed by the fascists. That’s not to say that it does not outline how many forms of fascism endebt the individual to the state, or at least to a charismatic leader – which is the antithesis of the Acéphale – but that this is the weakest point when it comes to the argument against the subsumption.
[17] The delphic maxims are a series of “moral precepts” that were inscribed upon the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Know thyself is the most notable, but also included “Nothing too much”, and “Give a pledge and trouble is at hand”. More on these can be found at as well as various texts18.
[18] Yes, I know I’m referencing wikipedia a lot at this point, but this is a book review, not a proper text. It would otherwise take me months to hunt down proper sources regarding these ideas, and if you really want to do some proper digging, Wikipedia is a good starting point. Don’t take it at face value, and follow the citations.
[19] Time is a well-known enemy of Kaotes, Choronzon is the manifestation of Time itself. A good summoning ritual can be found at . I also suggest reading literally everything at that website if you’re interested in Chaos Magic.
[20] A partial scan of this work can be found at:
[21] A key component of Nietzschean philosophy, and the crux of Acephaleac religion, God Is Dead, God Has Been Killed, God Has Been Resurrected. In true Dionysion22 fashion, God will be killed and be reborn.
[22] The myth of the death of God echoes throughout the ages, and is seen in literally every culture, bar none. I cannot singularly name any mythology which does not include the death of their/a deity and their subsequent resurrection. Something about the changing of seasons, the rebirth of the self, the creation of the philosopher’s stone, the purification of the soul - the list goes on.
