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The Temple of Set II

Page 26

by Michael A Aquino


  if the High Priest reverses the Master’s decision within 30 days following notification.

  Section 12.03. Authority

  The Sentinel of a Pylon exercises complete authority over that Pylon subject to these By-Laws, any policies

  of the High Priest concerning Pylons published in the Jeweled Tablets of Set, and approval of the Sponsor

  (if the Sentinel is II°).

  Section 12.04. Admission/Expulsion

  SubSection 12.04.1. Decision

  Pylon admissions or expulsions are decided by the Sentinel. Such Pylon admissions or expulsions will

  not affect the standing of the individual involved as an Initiate of the Temple of Set. All Pylon

  admissions and expulsions must be promptly reported to the Executive Director by the Sentinel.

  SubSection 12.04.2. Additional Pylon Memberships

  A member of the Temple of Set may belong to a maximum of one Pylon unless the Sentinels of that

  Pylon and any proposed additional Pylon(s) agree that additional Pylon membership is acceptable.

  Section 12.05. Access to Activities

  Only current Initiates of the Temple of Set shall be admitted to Pylon activities, the only exceptions being

  that prospective members or member spouses/significant others may be admitted to non-ceremonial-

  working meetings and social gatherings by advance permission of the Sentinel.

  Section 12.06. Insignia

  Pylon insignia may be worn either together with Temple of Set insignia or alone. When worn together with

  Temple insignia, the Pylon insignia must not conflict with, displace, or cover it.

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  Article 13. The Scroll of Set

  Section 13.01. Definition

  The electronic and/or physical newsletter of the Temple of Set shall be called The Scroll of Set. Any

  reference in these By-Laws to “the Scroll” refers to this newsletter.

  Section 13.02. Content

  Content of each issue is determined by the Editor. Documents submitted for inclusion by any IV°+ Initiate

  will automatically be included providing that they are submitted to the Editor in normal submission format

  and prior to the deadline for the desired issue.

  Section 13.03. Distribution and Reproduction

  The Scroll is distributed to each Setian as a right of current membership. The Scroll may not be shown to

  and discussed with non-Initiates of the Temple. III°+ Initiates may authorize limited, selected copies or

  extracts of its contents for reasonable purposes, as long as these do not disclose the identities of Setians

  without their prior approval.

  Section 13.04. Editor

  SubSection 13.04.1. Appointment

  The High Priest shall appoint the Editor. Such an appointment must be approved in writing by at

  least five voting Councillors to the Chairman, the High Priest, and the Executive Director.

  SubSection 13.04.2. Term of Office

  The Editor shall serve without fixed term until resignation or removal from office. He may resign

  from office by notifying both the Chairman of the Council and the Executive Director in writing.

  SubSection 13.04.3. Removal

  The Chairman of the Council or the High Priest may remove the Editor from office if he feels that

  there is just cause for doing so. Such a decision must be approved in writing by at least six voting

  Councillors to the Chairman, the High Priest, and the Executive Director.

  SubSection 13.04.4. Finance

  The Editor may serve with or without compensation, as determined by the Chairman of the Council.

  He shall be reimbursed for reasonable expenses of his office as determined by the Executive Director.

  Article 14. The Jeweled Tablets of Set

  Section 14.01. Definition

  Official reference documents of the Temple of Set will normally be included in The Jeweled Tablets of Set,

  an electronic and/or physical publication divided into six component collections:

  SubSection 14.01.1. The Crystal Tablet of Set

  The Crystal Tablet of Set includes papers generally relevant to all Initiates of the Temple of Set and

  particularly pertinent to Setians I°. The Crystal Tablet is distributed to each new Setian upon

  affiliation as part of the admissions packet, and updates are available to all Setians at cost. It will be

  Edited by the Executive Director. The Crystal Tablet may be shown to and discussed with non-

  Initiates of the Temple, and III°+ Initiates may authorize limited, selected copies or extracts of its

  contents for reasonable purposes.

  SubSection 14.01.2. The Ruby Tablet of Set

  The Ruby Tablet of Set includes papers generally relevant to all II°+ Initiates of the Temple of Set. It

  will be Edited by a III°+ Initiate. Access to the Ruby Tablet is restricted to II°+ Initiates, and will be

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  available to all II°+ Initiates at cost. III°+ Initiates may authorize limited, selected copies or extracts

  of its contents for reasonable purposes.

  SubSection 14.01.3. The Onyx Tablet of Set

  The Onyx Tablet of Set includes papers generally relevant to all Initiates of the Priesthood of Set and

  particularly pertinent to the Priesthood of Set III°. It will be Edited by the High Priest. Access to the

  Onyx Tablet is restricted to III°+ Initiates. The Onyx Tablet is distributed to each new Priest upon

  Recognition, and updates are available to all Priests at cost.

  SubSection 14.01.4. The Sapphire Tablet of Set

  The Sapphire Tablet of Set includes papers generally relevant to all Masters of the Temple of Set IV°.

  It will be Edited by a IV°+ Initiate. Access to the Sapphire Tablet is restricted to IV°+ Initiates, and

  will be available to all IV°+ Initiates at cost.

  SubSection 14.01.5. The Amethyst Tablet of Set

  The Amethyst Tablet of Set includes papers generally relevant to the Work of the V°. It will be Edited

  by a IV°+ Initiate. Access to the Amethyst Tablet is restricted to IV°+ Initiates, and will be available to

  all IV°+ Initiates at cost.

  SubSection 14.01.6. The Topaz Tablet of Set

  The Topaz Tablet of Set includes papers generally relevant to the Work of the VI°. It will be Edited by

  a IV°+ Initiate. Access to the Topaz Tablet is restricted to IV°+ Initiates, and will be available to all

  IV°+ Initiates at cost.

  Section 14.02. Structure

  Each of the Jeweled Tablets shall be divided into two volumes: I-Standing Documents and II-Varying

  Documents.

  SubSection 14.02.1. I-Standing Documents

  I-Standing Documents consists of documents defining the Temple of Set’s essential design and core

  philosophy. As such they cannot be included or removed from a Tablet, or modified within a Tablet,

  by the Editor or any other single official. Such inclusion/removal/modification can be proposed to the

  Chairman of the Council of Nine by any III°+ Initiate for the Crystal/Ruby/ Onyx Tablets, and by any

  IV°+ Initiate for the Sapphire/Amethyst/Topaz Tablets, which proposal must be approved in writing

  by at least six voting members of the Council, such approval to be communicated to the Chairman, the

  High Priest, and the Executive Director by those Council members individually.

  SubSection 14.02.2. II-Varying Documents

  II-Varying Documents consists of documents, other than Standing Documents, determined by the

  Editor to be appropriate for inclusion in the Tablet. Varying Documents may be recommended by any

  Initiate with access to the Tablet in question. Varying Documents recommended by any IV°+ Initiate


  will automatically be included in the Tablet as long as that Initiate remains an active member of the

  Temple of Set.

  Section 14.03. Tablet Editors [other than Crystal and Onyx]

  SubSection 14.03.1. Appointment

  The High Priest shall appoint the Editor. Such an appointment must be approved in writing by at

  least five voting Councillors to the Chairman, the High Priest, and the Executive Director.

  SubSection 14.03.2. Term of Office

  The Editor shall serve without fixed term until resignation or removal from office. He may resign

  from office by notifying both the Chairman of the Council and the Executive Director in writing.

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  SubSection 14.03.3. Removal

  The Chairman of the Council or the High Priest may remove the Editor from office if he feels that

  there is just cause for doing so. Such a decision must be approved in writing by at least six voting

  Councillors to the Chairman, the High Priest, and the Executive Director.

  SubSection 14.03.4. Finance

  The Editor may serve with or without compensation, as determined by the Chairman of the Council.

  He shall be reimbursed for reasonable expenses of his office as determined by the Executive Director.

  Article 15. Amendments to By-Laws

  Section 15.01. Effect

  These By-Laws shall become effective immediately upon their adoption. Amendments to these By-Laws

  shall become effective immediately upon their adoption unless the members in adopting them provide that

  they are to become effective at a later date.

  Section 15.02. Amendment Vote Requirement

  Subject to any provisions of law applicable to the amendment of By-Laws of nonprofit corporations, these

  By-Laws, or any other of them, may be altered, amended, or repealed and new By-Laws adopted by a three-

  quarters majority vote of all III°+ Initiates of the Temple of Set.

  Section 15.03. Amendment Vote Supervision

  A vote to affect these By-Laws in accordance with Section 15.02 shall be jointly supervised by the High

  Priest, the Chairman of the Council, and the Executive Director.

  Section 15.04. Amendment Initiative

  The High Priest may call for a vote to affect these By-Laws in accordance with Section 15.02 at his

  discretion. A vote must be called for upon receipt by the Executive Director of a petition signed by one-third

  of the III°+ Initiates of the Temple of Set. Upon receipt of such a petition, the Temple of Set shall

  immediately cease all programs and activities involving the issue(s) in question until the vote has been

  conducted, announced, and implemented.

  Section 15.05. Recording

  The original or a copy of these By-Laws as amended or otherwise altered to date, certified by the Executive

  Director, as corporate secretary, shall be recorded and kept in the Onyx Tablet of Set.

  Article 16. Interpretation of By-Laws

  Section 16.01. Interpretation

  Interpretation of the provisions of these By-Laws, where they are not clearly explicit, shall be by the High

  Priest. The Chairman of the Council may overrule such an interpretation. An overrule decision must be

  approved in writing by at least four other voting members of the Council to the High Priest, the Chairman,

  and the Executive Director.

  Section 16.02. Degree Identification

  As used in these By-Laws, the notation “+” following an initiatory degree means “this or any higher degree”.

  Section 16.03. Generic Gender Reference

  All degrees of membership and all offices within the Priesthood and Temple of Set may be held by persons

  of either sex. Use of masculine nouns/pronouns in these By-Laws is for simplicity only.

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  Section 16.04. Written Notice

  Any “written notice” referred to in these By-Laws may be given in person, sent by postal mail, by

  commercial courier, facsimile, electronic mail, or other commonly-used methods of written/typed

  communication. It is always the responsibility of the sender to ensure that the written notice was received

  by the recipients, especially when using methods, like electronic mail, which are not highly reliable.

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  A8: Letter, William F. Murrary to M.A. Aquino

  17 de June, X

  Dear Magister Aquino, Counselor & Friend;

  Salut!

  Before getting to the meat of the matter, let me quote to you a portion of a letter I am currently drafting to Dr.

  LaVey. I want you to he aware of something that has hit me with megaton force. “... therefore I wish to inform you of

  my intention to withdraw from ‘The Church of Satan, Inc.’ and return to The Church of Satan which has been in

  existence for many thousands of years.” To quote a recent bandied about quote, “ ’Nuff said?”!

  O.K., here we go. The phone has been coming off the hook here since Friday, 13 Jun. Of course I was in Elko

  over the weekend, but when I returned Sunday morn, dear mother had a note pad of many pages with notes

  regarding who called and why. Sandy, the mailperson is now delivering by the bag. No joke!

  For some reason I have become in the eyes of many, a sort of Vicar-General of the Caldron, or to put it in my

  own elegant way, a wailing wall for odds and sods from all over the lot. Alas (as the case may be), I am reaping seeds

  of my own sowing. For the past six years I have; answered every letter, returned every phone call, gone out of my

  way for every bloke who needed a visit, handed out advice and admonishments (when called for) --because, like

  Popeye the Sailor, “I yam-what-I-yam!” Now, whether I an the recipient many times over of that famed Central

  Grotto decoration, “The Short End of the Stick” w/Splinter Cluster is an academic question. Though I must say that

  the letter I received from the group a la nom de plume “John Kincaid” re the nebulous nature of my Regional

  Agencyship was a monument of misinformation and downright fucking lies. All of this, of course, is stacked up in

  the useless lumber pile of the past. Having served its purpose, it is discarded.

  Warlock Mark Harris and his lovely wife, Janice (Now there is a marriage made in Hell!) are currently visitors

  to Carpathia. Mother Keller will he up here some time today. It is raining, the hot spell breaking, and for three days

  a great black crow or magpie has been circling the block and the house. Good signs, I would say.

  Three turgid paragraphs of preamble to open this letter. Not had, Bill, not had at all. Oh, well, it could have been

  worse. I can imagine your in-basket is overflowing, so is mine. So in some sort of order, mixing phone calls and

  letters but trying to keep them in sequence to the order of your “informational packet” which I hope will he a handy

  reference for you, and away we go;

  Bits and Pieces

  “Bill, if Dr. LaVey needs some money, why couldn't he sell off some of that is that is listed in that book that

  Wolfe wrote?”

  “If it is money, I’ll contribute something.”

  “And in this case my II° doesn’t mean a fucking thing!”

  “Who the hell does he think he is, the Pope? Shit, my dad bought all his degrees in the K.C. Is this what the

  Church of Satan is now?”

  “I cried all night!”

  “I am stronger, because of this, than I have ever been before.”

  “I think it is a joke.”

  “Is this what he meant when he talked about whoopie-cushions?”

  “I’ve been calling Central Grotto all day. All I get is that record
ing.”

  “Does Magister Aquino really mean that I can write to him?”

  “I saw this coming a year ago.”

  “When my wife and I saw Dr. LaVey at Central the night of the 23rd, we were really surprised. He seemed so

  tired. Except for some girl with the name of Hansen, there seemed to be no one else there. I felt that he just wanted

  some friendly people to talk to -and listen to. He made me feel like he was my long-lost father. He was so gentle. It

  was all I could do to keep from calling him ‘Tony’. God damn it, he seemed so tired.”

  “When we got hack to the car, I turned to (husband) and said, ‘Oh, my god, he seemed so alone. I wanted to hold

  him in my arms.’”

  “When we were driving back over the bridge, suddenly we both turned to each and in almost the same voice

  said, ‘Was that Dr. LaVey?’.”

  “Hey, Bill, is this some sort of backstairs revolution?”

  “Is it true, can anyone ‘lift the Mandate’?”

  “Poor Mr. (sic) LaVey, I am so embarrassed for him.” [Note: Seven other people expressed embarrassment. One

  of our Canadian members expressed it with such compassion: “I feel as though a very old and dear friend had

  unintentionally farted at the vicarage tea.”]

  “What do I do now? Join the Hell’s Angels?”

  “I see the hand of Diane LaVey in all this.” [Now that is an interesting thought.]

  “Hey, is what happened down in Santa Cruz connected with all of this?”

  “I saw all this shit coming when West II went down the tubes last year.”

  - 123 -

  “Who does he think he is - Richard Nixon?”

  So far, that is just a brief sample of what has been coming in. I think I can see a trend starting to develop. Agree?

  Perhaps I am wrong. It is really too soon to tell.

  Now this is what I have been doing. In my response to all telephone calls and in my answers to letters, I have

  been saying this: “Please do not react without chewing this over for a while. An emotional reaction is not what

  anyone needs right now. Besides, when you react emotionally, there is always the post operation of removing hoof

  from mouth! If nothing else, we are realistic and logical [or at least try to be]. Let’s base our reaction on this little

  story: When modern China opened its doors to western newsmen again, the then-current editor of the Singapore

 

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