Anton Long

[Eilene Balque]

TheOrder of Nine Angles (ONA or O9A) is a militant Satanic left-hand path occultist network that originated in the United Kingdom but has since branched out into other parts of the world. Claiming to have been established in the 1960s, it rose to public recognition in the early 1980s, attracting attention for its neo-Nazi ideology and activism. Describing its approach as "Traditional Satanism", it has also exhibits Hermetic and modern Pagan elements in its beliefs.

According to the Order's own claims, it was established in the Welsh Marches of Western England during the late 1960s by a woman who had previously been involved in a secretive pre-Christian sect which survived in the region. This account also states that in 1973 a man named "Anton Long" was initiated into the group, subsequently becoming its grand master. Several academic commentators who have studied the ONA express the view that the name "Anton Long" is probably the pseudonym of the British neo-Nazi activist David Myatt, although Myatt has denied that this is the case. From the late 1970s onward, Long authored books and articles which propagated the Order's ideas, and in 1988 it began publishing its own journal, Fenrir. Through these ventures it established links with other neo-Nazi Satanist groups around the world, furthering its cause through embracing the Internet in the 2000s.

The ONA advocates accelerationism and promotes the idea that human history can be divided into a series of aeons, each of which contains a corresponding human civilization. It expresses the view that the current aeonic civilization is that of the Western world, but it claims that the evolution of this society is threatened by the "Magian/Nazarene" influence of the Judeo-Christian religion, which the Order seeks to combat in order to establish a militaristic new social order, which it calls the "Imperium". According to Order teachings, this is necessary in order for a galactic civilization to form, in which "Aryan" society will colonise the Milky Way. It advocates a spiritual path in which practitioners are required to break societal taboos by isolating themselves from society, committing crimes, embracing political extremism and violence, and carrying out acts of human sacrifice. ONA members practice magic, believing that they are able to do it by channeling energies into their own "causal" realm from an "acausal" realm where the laws of physics do not apply, and these magical actions are designed to help them achieve their ultimate goal of establishing the Imperium.

The real identity of "Anton Long" remains unknown for both members of the Order and to academics who have studied it.[35] However, in a 1998 issue of the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight, it was claimed that "Anton Long" was a pseudonym of David Myatt, a prominent figure in the British neo-Nazi movement.[36] Born in the early 1950s, Myatt had been involved in various neo-Nazi groups, initially serving as a bodyguard for Colin Jordan of the British Movement before joining the Combat 18 militia and becoming a founding member and leader of the National Socialist Movement.[37] His text on A Practical Guide to Aryan Revolution, in which he advocated violent militancy in aid of the neo-Nazi cause, was cited as an influence on the nail bomber David Copeland.[38] In 1998, Myatt converted to Islam and remained a practicing Muslim for eight years, in which time he encouraged violent jihad against Zionism and Israel's Western allies.[39] In 2010, he announced that he had renounced Islam and was practicing an esoteric tradition that he termed the "Numinous Way".[40]

Goodrick-Clarke supported the idea that Myatt was Long,[41] with the religious studies scholar Jacob C. Senholt adding that "the role of David Myatt [is] paramount to the whole creation and existence of the ONA".[42] Senholt presented additional evidence that he believed confirmed Myatt's identity as Long,[43] writing that Myatt's embrace of neo-Nazism and radical Islamism represented "insight roles" which Myatt had adopted as part of the ONA's "sinister strategy" to undermine Western society,[44] a view endorsed by scholar of Satanism Per Faxneld.[45] In 2015, an ONA member known as R. Parker argued in favour of the idea that Myatt was Long. As a result of Page's publication, the sociologist of religion Massimo Introvigne stated that the ONA has "more or less acknowledged" that Myatt and Long are the same person.[40]Myatt himself has repeatedly denied allegations that he has any involvement with the ONA.[46] and that he has used the pseudonym "Anton Long".[47] Religious studies scholar George Sieg expressed concern with this association, stating that he found it to be "implausible and untenable based on the extent of variance in writing style, personality, and tone" between Myatt and Long.[48] Jeffrey Kaplan, an academic specialist in the far right, has also suggested that Myatt and Long are separate people,[49] while the religious studies scholar Connell R. Monette posited the possibility that "Anton Long" was not a singular individual but rather a pseudonym used by several different people.[50]

The ONA arose to public attention in the early 1980s.[51] During the 1980s and 1990s it spread its message through articles in magazines.[30] In 1988, it began publication of its own in-house journal, titled Fenrir.[52] Among material it has issued for public consumption have been philosophical tracts, ritual instruction, letters, poetry, and gothic fiction.[53] Its core ritual text is titled the Black Book of Satan.[54] It has also issued its own music, painted tarot set known as the Sinister Tarot, and a three-dimensional board game known as the Star Game.[55] The ONA established links with other neo-Nazi Satanist groups: its international distributor was New Zealander Kerry Bolton, the founder of the Black Order,[56] who is described as an ONA adept in the group's published letter-correspondence,[57] and it has access to a private library of occult and far right material owned by the Order of the Jarls of Blder.[58] According to Monette, the group now have associates, and groups, in the United States, Europe, Brazil, Egypt, Australia, and Russia.[22] One of these associate groups is the U.S.-based Tempel ov Blood, which has published a number of texts through Ixaxaar Press,[59] while another is the California-based White Star Acception, which has been designated as the ONA's "Flagship Nexion" in the United States despite diverting from mainstream ONA teachings on a number of issues.[60]

During the early 1990s, the Order stated that it was entering the second stage of its development, in which it would leave behind its prior focus on recruitment and public outreach within the occult community and that it would instead focus on refining its teachings; its resulting quietness led some occultists to erroneously speculate that the ONA had become defunct.[61]In 2000, the ONA established a presence on the Internet, using it as a medium to communicate with others and to distribute its writings.[30]In 2008, the ONA announced that it was entering the third phase in its history, in which it would once again focus heavily on promotion, utilising such social media as online blogs, forums, Facebook, and YouTube to spread its message.[61] In 2011, the "Old Guard", a group of longstanding members of the Order, stated that they would withdraw from active, public work with the group.[62] In March 2012, Long announced that he would be withdrawing from public activity, although he appears to have remained active in the Order.[33]

Monette described the ONA as "a fascinating blend of both Hermeticism and Traditional Satanism, with some pagan elements".[35]Faxneld described the ONA as "a dangerous and extreme form of Satanism"[45] and as "one of the most extreme Satanist groups in the world."[63] Jeffrey Kaplan and Leonard Weinberg characterised it as a "National Socialist-oriented Satanist group",[64] while Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke similarly deemed it to be a "Satanic Nazi cult" which "combine[d] paganism with praise for Hitler".[65] He added that the ONA "celebrated the dark, destructive side of life through anti-Christian, elitist and Social Darwinist doctrines."[66] Considering the manner in which the ONA had syncretized both Satanism and Heathenry, the historian of religion Mattias Gardell described its spiritual perspective as "a heathen satanic path".[67] The scholar George Sieg however argued that the ONA should be categorised as "post-Satanic" because it has "surpassed (without fully abandoning) identification with its original satanic paradigm".[68]

The ONA describe their occultism as "Traditional Satanism".[69] Since the establishment of the ONA, the term "Traditional Satanism" has also been adopted by theistic Satanist groups like the Brotherhood of Satan.[70] Faxneld suggested that the Order's adoption of the word "traditional" possibly reflected a "conscious strategy to build legitimacy" by harking back to "arcane ancient wisdom" in a manner deliberately distinct from the way in which Anton LaVey sought to gain legitimacy for his Church of Satan by appealing to rationality, science, and his own personal charisma.[70] Elsewhere Faxneld suggested that the ONA's use of "Traditional Satanism" to differentiate themselves from the dominant forms of Satanism had comparisons with how those who describe themselves as practitioners of "traditional witchcraft" do so to distinguish their magico-religious practices from the dominant form of modern witchcraft, Wicca.[71]According to Jesper Aagaard Petersen, an academic specialist of Satanism, the Order present "a recognizable new interpretation of Satanism and the left-hand path",[72] and for those involved in the group, Satanism is not simply a religion but a way of life.[51]The Order postulates Satanism as an arduous individual achievement of self-mastery and Nietzschean self-overcoming, with an emphasis on individual growth through practical acts of risk, prowess and endurance.[73] Therefore, "[t]he goal of the Satanism of the ONA is to create a new individual through direct experience, practice and self-development [with] the grades of the ONA system being highly individual, based on the initiates' own practical and real-life acts, instead of merely performing certain ceremonial rituals".[74] Thus Satanism, the ONA assert, requires venturing into the realm of the forbidden and illegal in order to shake the practitioner loose of cultural and political conditioning.[27] Intentionally transgressive, the Order has been characterised as providing "an aggressive and elitist spirituality".[35] Religious studies scholar Graham Harvey wrote that the ONA fit the stereotype of the Satanist "better than other groups", something which he thought was deliberately achieved by embracing "deeply shocking" and illegal acts.[75]

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