THE UNKNOWN KNOWN

	Despite others' attempts to identify a certain number with Satan,
it will be known than Nine is His number.  Nine is the number of the Ego,
for it always returns to itself.  No matter what is done through the most
complex multiplication of Nine by any other number, in the end the final
equation nine will stand forth.
	The true ages of times are cast in the likeness of Nine, with all
cycles obedient to its Law.  All matters of terrestrial concern may be
evaluated by the infallible resolution of Nine and its offspring.  Action
and reaction relative to humanity's tribal needs are contained within
successive nine-year periods:  the total of both (eighteen years) is called
a Working.  The beginning and end of each Working is call a Working Year,
and each midway point between Working Years displays a zenith of intensity
for the Working which has been brought about.
	Nine eighteen-year Workings equal an Era (162 years).  Nine Eras
equal an Age (1,458 years), which has been mistakenly called a millennium.
Nine Ages equal an Epoch (13,122 years).
	Each Age (1,458 years) alternates as Fire or Ice, each differing in
the means by which the Control presents its dictum.  During the Age of Ice,
man is taught to refrain from his pride and retreat from himself; then he
will be good.  During an Age of Fire, man is taught to indulge himself and
to tear himself open and look inside; then he will be good.  During an Ice
Age, God is above.  During a Fire Age, God is beneath.  Throughout each
Age, big things occur each eighteen years, for the Control must maintain a
cycle of action and reaction within the greater cycle of Fire and Ice.
	Meaningful and portentous messages are cast forth each eighteen
years, and are acted upon for the eighteen years which follow, at the end
of which a new statement appears.  The Ice Age from which we recently
emerged began in the year 508 "A.D." Just as the Zenith of passion for what
each Working has inspired occurs halfway between the Working Years, so the
greatest intensity of each Age's message occurs at its midpoint.  Thus in
the year 1237 "A.D." man's fervor for what the last Ice Age represented had
reached its summit.  That Age ended in 1966, and the new Age of Fire was
born.
	The twentieth century has prepared us for the future and the coming
of the Age of Fire was well heralded in the last Working Years of the Ice
Age.  The peoples of the Earth have been touched by the vehicles of 1894,
1912, 1930, and 1948, and communication has been well wrought.  The new
Satanic Age was born in 1966, and that is why His Church was built.
	The infant is learning to walk, and by the first Working Year of
his age - that is to say 1984 - he will have steadied his steps, and by the
next - 2002 - he will have attained maturity, and his reign will be filled
with wisdom, reason and delight.

                               REGE SATANAS!
                               AVE, SATANAS!
                               HAIL, SATAN!

From pages 219 and 220 of "The Satanic Rituals" by Anton Szandor LaVey.