Esoterror Warcult is an experimental online hypersigil and associated collective of artists and occultists who create provocative images that are influenced by Eastern warrior philosophy. Our Community Manager Natasha Maria sat down with “A” to discuss the philosophy behind their work and more.
[“I’m Natasha Maria, and I am the Community Manager here at Trigger Warning. (also Natasha Maria on Facebook) I have been a major fan of your work for a while now. I’m fairly read in Eastern beliefs and philosophy, particularly Kashmir Shaivism, and admire what you have done. Personally, I am inclined to meta angles regarding politics, usually on a pessimistic slant if I were to categorize. Your group of pages stood out to me due to their unique aesthetic and mission, as well as being refreshingly more ‘aware’ than most of the tired and lacking right-wing pages out there. The purpose of these questions are to succinctly capture the essence of Esoterror Warcult and Atomic Khanate.”]
NM: Where do you get the inspiration for the iconic images that you create? Can you describe the process through which you create them?
Esoterror Warcult: For the more regular edits, it’s mostly just a matter of following my aesthetic sense and having a good eye for inherent symbolism. The job is as curatorial as it is editorial.
I am familiar with some psych research that required evoking emotional states in the participants. Available to these researchers are packs of images that are rated for the intensity of emotional content. I always think back to these sets of images and how the image I am working with may have been rated or used.
The “Virtual Occult Technology” (VOT) images may be the ones I’m most proud of, as these are largely all original. I can’t think of anyone else producing anything of a similar nature. The ones with directions are based on actual mental exercises, but the narratives that some of them take on are spontaneous.
A few people have noted a Neon Genesis Evangelion influence on these images in particular, though I have to say I have never watched it. The font that I use is largely to blame for this connection, as it is very similar to the Evangelion font.
The initial influence on the Virtual Occult Technology aesthetic was actually Klingon computer consoles from the older Star Trek movies. You can see this influence most clearly on the Oblivion Tomes and the Derealization Sequence.
The last thing to talk about is the mantra work that I do in the images. I work largely with Astra mantras from the Rig Veda. Astras are divine cosmic weapons, though I also use some mantras from Vajrayana Buddhism as well as mantras associated with Kali, Vishnu, and Vishnu’s Nrsingadeva and Kalki avatars. These have become the most time consuming and tedious thing that I do, but they are incredibly effective. The Indra’s Vajra VOT, the Warcorp Artilect/Tetsuo Iron Man-based images, and the Order of the Severed Head image with Mishima’s severed head are the best examples of how the mantra work has evolved.
NM: While you have posted the Warcult Aesthetic Manifesto, which I highly encourage people to read, can you summarize the primary objective of Esoterror Warcult and its associate pages which constitute the Atomic Khanate?
Esoterror Warcult: No, though there are some things you should know about how I communicate information through the page.
The content is very rich with meaning, symbolism, and ideas, yet there is little to no actual ideology or informational content posted on the page, with the exception of the aesthetic manifesto. Our content is for the uninitiated as well as higher-level adepts. It is intended to nudge the uninformed on a path towards truth, as well as to prompt the already-informed to reach the next level of knowledge and praxis. What does this have to do with me being a dick and not spoon-feeding people ideas? For the uninformed, I am presenting ideas as raw and unadorned as I possibly can. There is as little for their mental baggage to get hung up on, and from there they are in a position to go forward and learn more.
As for the already-informed, these people should be able to assemble the pieces on their own and figure stuff out.
Our approach to information falls somewhere between open-source anarchism and elitist mystery cult. Every bit of information is available to anyone willing to do the work to gain that knowledge. This is why many of the mantras in the images are somewhat obscured and unreadable. Effort must be expended to gain knowledge, even if that effort is just messaging the page and asking questions. It really is as simple as that.
I can give you the grand motive behind our page and thee Atomic Khanate network at least: to promote not an ideology, but a new paradigm of thought. If there is one thing that unifies all the pages and our group, it is this.
As for the page itself, anyone with a little ability can gather a flock of sheep to shepherd over. Being a cult leader is easy in the Internet age.
I don’t want to shepherd over a flock of sheep. I want to build a den of wolves.
NM: You have stated you are archeofuturists. How do you see the future of the United State and Europe playing out over the next decade or so? How could archeofuturism play a role in this?
Esoterror Warcult: I guess I’ll just talk in very wide strokes regarding this. Collapse, conflict. Conflict is nothing new, the future is always conflict. Yet being able to actually witness the beginning stages of mass civilizational collapse is truly a special thing.
Archeofuturism is just logical and natural. For the Archeo, more and more people are looking back to their people’s traditions and beliefs, both because the veil of materialism is more tattered than ever, and also due to comfort. Wrapping yourself in the ways of your people and history can be very comfy. I don’t discourage this, though I would warn against becoming too comfortable in anything.
For the Futurism, well. Imagine unironically not making best use of the technology of your time. Imagine if Indo-Europeans rejected the spoked wheel because it was new and transformed war from what they previously knew. Imagine if Iron Age goons decided to stick with bronze.
Technology is always a slippery slope. What are you afraid of, luddite? Are you unsure of your footing and balance? Are you weak? Can you not keep yourself from slipping down the mountain? Then by all means, remain a luddite so you’re easier to eliminate.
NM: Your pages are educational regarding the historical figure Baron Ungern. For our readers, could you explain how he is important in regards to Atomic Khanate?
Esoterror Warcult: Ungern is pretty central to Atomic Khanate as a whole. Just a little history behind AK: things started last year when the mastermind behind the Realm of Living Buddha Whom Death is Incarnate page recruited me and another person to found the page. I wrote rhetoric and ideology while the other guy was the artist. The central theme behind that page is militant Buddhism as inspired by the Mad Baron and his exploits. From there, Realm’s main guy got with Nuclear Dharma’s main guy and formed the Atomic Khanate group, and around the same time myself and Realm’s artist founded Esoterror Warcult as a kind of side project and to expand the AK network.
Ungern is very much a central figure for us. Warcult hasn’t directly dealt with Ungern as much as Realm or the AK group, but he is an influential figure to me all the same. It is important to view Ungern as an example of someone who invoked and embodied some form of divinity. Indeed, in some places, he is venerated as an avatar of Mahakala.
I would warn against simple veneration, however. Emulation is always superior to veneration. Veneration without emulation is an insult to Ungern’s legacy, which is a legacy of action. If you ask me, the only way to venerate Ungern is to emulate his power and his spark of divinity.
If you know a little bit about Ungern (and I would encourage anyone reading this to do their research), the sometimes clashing mix of people and ideologies in AK makes more sense. In AK we have a strange heady brew of Buddhists, Orthodox Christians, Hindus, Tengriists, Pagans, occultists, futurists, and primitivists. Some esoteric nationalists, and some anarchists. This turns some people off, because they want another group that reflects their own beliefs back towards them, because they’re stuck in a purity spiral, or because they want everything to be ETF 3.0. (I’m not going to expound on what ETF is, it’s either something you know about or don’t, but you’ll surely find out what it is if you become a citizen of the Khanate.)
What people don’t understand is that the chaotic nature of AK is exactly what is needed. AK is an engine of synthesis. AK is the first step into the future.
NM: Collectively, what three texts would the Esoterror Warcult/Atomic Khanate suggest others read for their own spiritual benefit?
Esoterror Warcult: Well I can’t really speak for all of AK. I know what would probably go on the AK list, but I haven’t actually read the books that I know would be on the top 3, so I’ll just speak for Warcult here.
1. Obligatory Bhagavad Gita. This is obvious, but I’d recommend it even if I had no connection to Vedic or Hindu thought. The narrative revolves around the question of righteous war and our duty to wage it. Pretty relevant.
2. The Hermetic Tradition by Julius Evola. A very good introductory book for this stuff. It’s not perfect and a couple of things may be a little outdated, but Evola is always a good read, and this is honestly one of his best books, It’s a great primer.
3. The Bible. After you’ve read the Evola book, keep that information in mind and read the Bible in the chronological order it was written.
NM: We are currently living in the Kali Yuga, which is a time of incoherence and entrapment. How would the Atomic Khanate best suggest people cope in this time of metaphysical darkness?
Esoterror Warcult: Christ, this is cliche as fuck, but unironically Ride the Tiger/Surf the Kali Yuga dudes, cowabunga.
Listen, I know a lot of people who are just constantly distraught at the state of the world. I get it, everything is shit. Everything is material and shallow. People live decrepit and cancerous lives.
Get over it. Being a quivering ball of neurosis is the antithesis of strength. There is that one very cliche quote, something about “it is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a sick society.” This quote just makes me think of my experiences in Leftbook and how they’ll justify not seeking help for any bit of mental illness that plagues them. If you can’t step out into the world without descending into a blithering rage, then sort yourself out.
Either Ride the Tiger over the empty husks of the weak, or get underneath the Tiger’s claws yourself. Having the correct ideology will not automatically save you from your internal weakness. Consider this: this is exactly how things are supposed to be. This is the Kali Yuga. What exactly do you expect from the world around you?
If you can exalt the correct paradigm of thought and manage to be a functional human, then you are one of the great people of your time. If you can exalt the correct paradigm of thought but are constantly in mental anguish to the point where you cannot interface with the world, then you need to sort yourself out before people better than you declare you useless.
Be mighty, be right. Be angry, but be joyous.
NM: What are your favorite bands and musical genres? Do you have any artists you would like to plug?
Esoterror Warcult: Coil are my favorite group, I like a Nurse With Wound quite a bit too. I like a little bit of everything from the spectrum of industrial, but my favorite is probably Death Industrial. Bands like Brighter Death Now. I also like a bit of jazz fusion from the 70s, and listen to Mahavishnu Orchestra.
Back to industrial: check out Talk Show and their new album Heaven and Earth Society on Bandcamp.
NM: Is there anything else that you would like to share with the readers of Trigger Warning?
Esoterror Warcult: Check out the Vajracore page. They’re the one AK page I didn’t get to mention.
NM: Thank you again, and keep up the amazing work!
Natasha Maria is the Community Manager of Trigger Warning. She is an egoist, occultist, and esoteric philosopher with interests ranging from archeofuturism to transhumanism to horror fiction. She enjoys long romantic walks through the abyss.
