Pro tip for this issue: skip to the playlist, get it running, start dissociating hard to the post-punk psychodrama it has in store for you, then flip back to the anatomy of the poison god and start choosing your way in a non-linear fashion through the various anatomical samples. I guarantee you will “pass” whatever exam you think you are studying for, with all this! THANK YOU SHEM for kicking us while we are down at the end of another year! A gibbering jolly jaunt ov a holiday special!
The Anatomy of a Poison God bears comparison to other analytico-theological outlays. I think you will find it is superior in many ways. Foremost being the HANDY NUMBERED SCHEMA which is generally lacking in such texts—for example, The Bible—which contains ad nausea descriptions of the Temple of Blah, and no pictures! Whereas Prophet-at-Large Shelley gives us a perfectly comprehensible illustration. Second thing to note is the INTEREST inherent in the poison deity itself. Theologically speaking we can immediately factionalize into believing it is a poisoner (see the serpentine POISON GLAND) and then debate further as acolytes the degree to which we ourselves ought to imbibe poison in praise of it, when, how much, etc. We can fight endlessly about first poison communions, poison late stage baptisms, and so on. Or whether this thing is not actually a poisoner at all, but POISONED, a martyr, a kind of spiritual food tester, who hath through its own “BLOODY BANQUET” eaten up our sins. The possibilities for spiraling are endless. What a cheerful affliction we’ve been granted by Shem!
And then, having our stomachs churned, we turn towards our AURAL CAVITIES, blessed by our very fine end of year UTOPIA playlist. You’ll find everything from apocalyptic post-punk to cyberhorror video game music. Perfect for clearing out rooms at end of year celebrations, or wringing one’s hands in shame at the death of the sun. I feel richer already!
ROMONDE’s epic continues here too. Perhaps this is the festive edition, speaking of borealises and white viruses and such? I imagine maybe a few of those “Remnants of the Faith” have thoughts on the poison god diagram above. If you’ve ever seen the Charlie Brown Christmas, you could imagine the speech given by Linus on the true meaning of Christmas is muted and swapped out by ROMONDE’s rant. Try it at home!
And finally we are given a bit of TRIVIA on another much beloved holiday special/tradition. Much like the Charlie Brown Xmas spawned backlash against metallic trees, the Black Crystal Mass screenplay starts its own holiday “trend” which we are still paying for, 7 years before it even happened. As usual, SHEM EXPLAINS EVERYTHING.
