The postulates of Canaanism

We recognise the complete freedom of will of every person, and complete responsibility for it. Nothing and no one — not gods, not spirits, not traditions — relieves an adept of personal responsibility for their choices, their acts, and the consequences of both.

Freedom without responsibility is the chaos of weakness. Responsibility without freedom is servitude.

For questions of cosmology and the structure of the world we take Kabbalah as our base, as the most precise instrument for explaining the processes of the universe on the material and the subtle planes. We do not, however, accept it unaltered: we rethink it from the position of the Sitra Achra.

We recognise the Ancient Near East as the place where the powers of the Other Side were first realised, and where the original archetypes of the Sitra Achra were reflected most precisely. We do not, however, confine them to that territory: the chain of faces may manifest in any culture and any era, without limit.

Canaanism categorically rejects the Abrahamic demonisation of the deities of the Other Side. We neither recognise nor accept the description of these deities as "demons", as "fallen", or as embodiments of absolute evil.

That demonisation is a historical instrument of suppression and of the usurpation of the original archetypes. The deities of the Sitra Achra are independent, powerful and self-sufficient manifestations of the Other. Any attempt to keep them in the status of "demons" is unacceptable within our tradition.

The principal aim of our stream is to spread and develop the ideas and the deities of the Other Side in the material world — in Malkuth — in all their variety, with no restriction to particular forms or faces.

Canaanism promises neither salvation nor rest. It offers eternal becoming, through conscious participation in the processes of Creation and through the realisation of one’s own will.

The adept becomes a co-creator of reality, the bearer of a unique aspect of the Other Side, and wholly responsible for what exactly they embody and receive in this world.

The final aim of an adept of Canaanism is not only partnership with the gods of the Sitra Achra, but the full realisation of their own divine potential. The adept seeks to become a living bearer and conductor of the spark of the Other, a conscious co-creator of reality, and a sovereign god within their own microcosm.

In its macrocosmic aspect, self-deification means conscious participation in the great work of restructuring the universe according to the original laws of Tohu. Through will, gnosis and magical work the adept helps return the world to the principles of free will, multiplicity and unbounded potential. Every act of conscious creation and of deliberate destruction of demiurgic illusion weakens the sephirotic structure and strengthens the presence of the Sitra Achra in Malkuth. The adept becomes a local manifestation of Nachash El Acher — one who awakens the Powers of the Other Side and renders them the praise and honour they are owed. This is not chaotic destruction, nor the doing of harm, but the directed correction of distortions made by the Demiurge.

In its microcosmic aspect, self-deification is the complete integration and actualisation of the divine spark within. The adept performs an inner alchemy: dissolving false identities, integrating the Shadow, waking the primordial flame, throwing off every yoke, and asserting absolute sovereignty.

The result is that a person ceases to be a passive "creature" and becomes an independent creator of their own reality — a god in miniature, whose will can create, transform and rebuild both within and without. Microcosm and macrocosm mirror one another: transfiguring themselves, the adept transfigures the world, and the reverse.

An important qualification: self-deification in no way means licence, nor the justification of crime, of harm to other people, of the violation of natural ethical bounds, or of chaotic egoism. Divinity in Canaanism is inseparable from the highest responsibility. Freedom of will always walks with full responsibility. Whoever uses the idea of self-deification to justify base acts, weakness or harm demonstrates not divinity but spiritual infantilism, and remains far from the true path of the Other Side.

The Other Side must manifest not only in the astral but in dense matter. To bring the impulse of the Sitra Achra into what was made on the demiurgic model, we are obliged to use Malkuth — the dense world as instrument, as conductor, and as the field of realisation.

Wealth, power, art, the body, science and technology are all spheres for embodying the powers of the Sitra Achra. To reject the material world is to limit the manifestation of the Other Side.

Contrary to settled opinion, the gods of the Other Side do not seek the destruction of material reality and the causal universe. They seek to rebuild it according to the original laws of Ain and Tohu — the laws of free will and full responsibility, which the Demiurge Ain+ curtailed to suit himself.

Every adept is a sovereign person. Canaanism welcomes the forming of horizontal communities of strong individuals, bound by a shared Stream and by mutual strengthening rather than by hierarchical submission.

An adept is obliged to work with their Shadow — with every suppressed aspect of the personality. No one led by their Shadow can be free.

Silencing and suppressing an aspect only lets it gather greater force in the depths of the unconscious and poison the life it belongs to. Accepting and integrating the Shadow gives true wholeness and brings a person nearer to the Other Side. Honesty with oneself is placed above comfort and social acceptability.

Creative work — art, music, literature, architecture — is a direct act of co-creation with the deities. Canaanism encourages the making of what is new, vivid and powerful, and what reflects the aesthetic of the divine archetypes. All genuine art is an act that advances a deity.

Every practitioner of Canaanism is obliged to develop direct perception of the subtle planes: meditation, the stilling of inner dialogue, astral sight, astral projection, astral work, and a thorough study of the structures and operating laws of those planes.

The ability to see, feel and hear information from the subtle plane is what makes practice succeed and one’s own knowledge verifiable.

In the study of the gods of the Sitra Achra we recognise the authority of both scholarly historical knowledge and verified gnosis. The latter carries the greater weight. We reject both the blind dogmatism of the reconstructionists and the chaotic "anything goes". The truth lies in a held tension: deep respect for the roots of the Ancient Near East, and the nerve to adapt the tradition to the present.

The requirements on verified gnosis are these: it does not contradict the deity’s original archetype; it has been checked independently by several experienced practitioners with developed astral sight; and it yields stable, repeatable results.

Canaanism builds its tradition on living experience. Books and historical sources are only the starting point. True knowledge is born in direct contact with the deities. Every new face opened through verified gnosis enriches the Pantheon of the Stream.

An adept of Canaanism does not stop at prayer and petition. They are obliged to be not only a server but a magus, who regularly performs ritual work by their own power: rites on personal force, addresses to spirits, the building of covenanted relations, and the use of every available instrument to change their reality on purpose.

An adept of Canaanism works with any spiritual being solely on the principles of respect, freedom and mutual consent. They categorically reject every form of forcible binding and control.

Instead, the adept builds sound covenanted relations with the spirit from the first stage of the work. The interaction always rests on open, honest and respectful dialogue, in which both sides keep their freedom and their autonomy.

Besides rites for personal needs, an adept of Canaanism regularly practises the stream’s principal latric work. These sacred acts are the foundation of deep interaction with the gods and powers of the Other Side.

Kadosh ha-Shem — the hallowing and magnification of the name of a particular deity, or of several.

Theurgy — sacred ritual work through defined acts that glorify a deity, directed at creating a point of entry (an altar) for the deity’s fluid into the material world, and the adept’s contact with it.

The Opening of the Gates — a sacred ritual act directed at releasing a great quantity of a deity’s fluid into Malkuth, which strengthens and fortifies its core and its arch-ideas in the material world.

An adept of Canaanism regards the gods of the Sitra Achra with deep respect and with awareness of their real power and autonomy. They do not petition them over every small or foolish matter, and do not shift responsibility for their own life onto a deity.

A practitioner of Canaanism remains the sovereign creator of their own reality, but does not disdain the help of divine powers in matters that are substantial and important.

An adept of Canaanism builds relations with the gods of the Sitra Achra on partnership, not on servitude or blind submission. The exchange is always mutual, and rests on the principle: what is better for the deity is better for you, and what is better for you is better for the deity.

Canaanism meets other magical traditions with pragmatic openness, but without blind syncretism. We accept whatever serves to strengthen the powers of the Other Side and to establish the World of Multiplicities (reshut ha-rabbim).

Canaanism categorically rejects the ideological foundations of the Right-Hand Path, seeing in them a system for suppressing multiplicity and freedom of will.

That rejection, however, remains one of worldview and of spirit. We support no form of violence, vandalism or religious extremism. Canaanism is a path of strength, not a path of hatred.

Engagement with those who hold Right-Hand Path worldviews rests on clear demarcation, respect for personal freedom of choice, and intellectual honesty.

Canaanism’s relations with the other streams of the Sitra Achra (218, 182, 133, 66 and others) rest on mutual respect and on supporting one another’s development, so long as no claims are pressed between them.

Each stream carries a unique aspect of the Other Side, and Canaanism sees in that variety a reflection of the designs of Nachash El Acher.

Canaanism is first of all a magical tradition, founded on personal gnosis, practical ritual work and direct engagement with the powers of the Other Side. It is not a religion, a sect, an ideology or a system of spiritual control.

An adept keeps complete freedom in choosing their social circle, their family and friendships, their profession and their way of life. No one in the stream has any right to demand that an adept break ties with the people close to them, isolate themselves from society, or change their life against their own will.

The following are categorically inadmissible in Canaanism: any financial pressure, obligatory donations or "tithes"; any demand for unconditional submission to anyone; the practice of ostracism, "excommunication" or emotional pressure; the withholding of information and any ban on critical thought; any form of extremism, of incitement to ethnic, social or religious hatred, of calls to violence or to other unlawful activity; and the use of the stream’s ideas and practices to justify extremist, radical or illegal acts.

Canaanism categorically rejects every expression of extremism, violence and radicalism. The path of the Other Side is understood solely as a spiritual and magical tradition of personal development, and is not a political, ideological or extremist platform.

Every adept has the absolute right to leave the stream at any moment, without consequence, pressure or manipulation.

Canaanism is built solely on voluntariness, personal responsibility, respect for the law in force, and mutual respect. Any attempt to use the stream’s ideas and practices to control other people, to manipulate them psychologically, or to justify unlawful acts is treated as a gross violation of the Postulate of Free Will and is unacceptable.