A Florida man running for a U.S. Senate seat as a Libertarian admitted Monday to sacrificing a goat and drinking its blood in a pagan ritual two years ago.
According to a report, Augustus Sol Invictus, a 32-year-old lawyer, performed the ritual after walking from central Florida to the Mojave Desert in California, where he spent a week fasting and praying.
“I did sacrifice a goat,” Invictus said in an Associated Press story posted in the Orlando Sentinel. “I know that’s probably a quibble in the mind of most Americans. I sacrificed an animal to the god of the wilderness … Yes, I drank the goat’s blood.”
Invictus, whose name in Latin means “majestic unconquered sun,” has been accused by Adrian Wyllie, the former chairman of the Libertarian Party of Florida, of being a fascist white supremacist whose goal is to start a second American civil war.
Wyllie resigned earlier this month in order to draw attention to Invictus’ “violent fascist and neo-Nazi ideologies,” which he elaborated on in an Oct. 1 statement on Facebook.
“I strongly believe that we must ensure that these violent ideologies are not associated with the Libertarian Party in any way,” Wyllie wrote. “Libertarians should always be the first to rise up against hatred, subjugation and violence. Since I could not in good conscience remain silent about this man or his followers, I had no choice but to resign.”
Wyllie mentioned a conversation he once had with Invictus that made him believe the man was a danger to his party.
“In a private, face-to-face meeting with Mr. Invictus, I asked him directly, ‘Do you actually intend to kill millions of people and start a civil war?'” Wyllie wrote. “His answer to me was, ‘It’s my religion.'”
“I would never disparage anyone on the basis of their religion. But, since Mr. Invictus cites his religion as the motivation for his violent intentions, I believe it must be scrutinized,” Wyllie continued.
Invictus defended himself to the Associated Press, saying that though he does not actually plan on inciting another civil war, the government is in the process of warring with its citizens, and the situation is bound to escalate.
“The only question is when are the citizens going to start fighting back?” he told AP. “I don’t think I’m the only person who sees a cataclysm coming, but I think I’m the only person saying it, and I think that scares people.”
“You do not initiate force,” Invictus continued. “If the government is waging war on citizens, we as citizens have the right to self-defense on government.”
This line of thinking is what led Wyllie to resign, pleading to his party not to elect Invictus to the Senate.
“It is my sincere hope that the Executive Committee of the LPF reverse their position, and provide the new leadership with the authority to disavow and nullify this clear and present threat to our party, our nation, and our freedom,” Wyllie wrote.
“I write this in an attempt to convince the LPF that it must recognize the evil it faces, and have the courage to resoundingly reject it.”
