The Temple of Set II

by Michael A Aquino

  snake-oil salesmen but by many of their audiences as well.

  The panel discussion reminded me of nothing so much as the Mad Hatter’s tea party: Whatever Kantner or I

  said to dispute the accusation was simply ignored by the fundamentalist and his callers [who, since so many

  addressed him by his first name, I suspect were exhorted in advance to storm the telephone lines].

  It began with the accusation that the picture on the cover of the Starship’s Spitfire album shows “the whore of

  Babylon astride the Beast of Revelation”. Kantner looked pained. “The dragon is a symbol of wisdom and nobility in

  China,” he said, “and the girl is a Chinese girl.”

  Another charge leveled by the fundamentalist was that the song “A Child is Coming” on Blows Against the

  Empire contained the backwards phrase “the son of Satan”. [The song was written to commemorate the anticipation

  of Kantner’s and Grace Slick’s daughter China.] A tape was duly played backwards on the show. I for one heard

  nothing except backwards music and garbled singing.

  It would have been a slapstick comedy evening except for the unpleasant surprise that quite a few people

  evidently believe in such nonsense. It was this blind irrationality that gave me a bit of a chill. In a slightly less 1st-

  Amendment society than this one, this would be enough to blacklist the Paul Kantners, or even to imprison and kill

  them. I am reminded, per John Fowles’ Aristos, that the reason Christianity no longer tortures and kills heretics is

  not because it has become more tolerant or benevolent doctrinally, but rather because secular society forced it to

  stop.I had come to the show anticipating an opportunity to discuss some of the fascinating notions on Kantner’s

  Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra album. Since I spent all of my mike-time doing little more than denying that

  there were packs of crazed devil-worshippers conducting nameless rites and human sacrifices with Starship music

  in the background, I had no opportunity to delve into magic. Nor, I think in retrospect, would most of the radio

  audience have been able to understand very much of it. So here comes what KFRC missed, being notes towards

  Project Andromeda -or- How the Devil Really Talks to You Through the Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra:

  “The Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra,” says Kantner on the album lyric sheet, “is a San Francisco band

  that, in the near future, develops a computer-assisted telepathic amplification technology. In using the machineries

  on everything from their audiences to forms of weather control and extrasensory spying, they attract the attention of

  various government and police agencies and right-wing religious forces.”

  Let’s start with telepathy. Since I wrote “Psi in the Sky” for the Cloven Hoof 10 years ago, I have crisscrossed

  ESP looking for bedrock amidst all of the Uri Geller stage magic and Jeanne Dixon mumbo-jumbo. The idiocy that

  still makes it into “respectable” print never ceases to amaze me - most recently Targ & Harary’s Mind Race. Targ is a

  Stanford Research Institute physicist who says that he has worked for a decade on a “multi-million-dollar program

  of psychic research financed by the Defense Department and intelligence agencies”.

  Targ’s pet project consisted of “remote viewing” experiments, on which I happened to be briefed last year at the

  State Department in Washington, D.C. It was unconvincing, not only because the statistical data are not really

  conclusive, but also because the transmission of information to the brain simply doesn’t occur outside the visible

  spectrum. Light-waves from the central fountain in Washington Square Park (alleged to have been “seen” by one of

  Targ’s subjects) are atmospherically dispersed long before reaching Palo Alto, California.

  There’s a lot we don’t know about the brain’s internal design, but how information travels into and around it is

  no mystery. Electricity - the same stuff that makes flashlights work. Please note that the electrical impulses

  rocketing around in your head are very weak: To light a flashlight bulb you would have to generate about 30 million

  times your present level of brain current. Fascinating experiments in ESB (Electrical Stimulation of the Brain) have

  been done by Dr. Jose Delgado of Yale University and are cited in RL#19F. Delgado’s probes, using tiny amounts of

  current, were capable of changing moods, stimulating memories, and even causing motor actions despite the

  conscious will of the subject to resist. If the human skull were not a good insulation against external electricity

  [which it is], you would have a grand mal seizure and an explosion of utterly arbitrary thoughts every time you

  drove under a high-tension wire.

  Without going into exhaustive detail, therefore, both light waves and the stuff of which thoughts are made don’t

  travel cross-country. If the Pentagon and the intelligence community did in fact spend several million dollars on

  snake-oil, P.T. Barnum must be rolling merrily around in his grave.

  Now let’s take a look at why Paul Kantner’s notion of a “computer assisted telepathic amplification technology”

  isn’t nearly so fantastic as it seems at first glance.

  The electrical energy in your brain occurs in waves measured according to cycles per second (CPS). 1-3 CPS =

  Delta waves, characteristic of deep sleep. 4-7 CPS = Theta waves, characteristic of high emotion, violence, and

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  frustration. 8-12 CPS = Alpha waves, characteristic of meditation, relaxation, and “searching for patterns”. 13-22

  CPS = Beta waves, characteristic of frontal brain activity, deliberate effort, and logical thought.

  We’ll come back to brain waves in a moment, but first a word about another principle: resonance. Resonance

  is a very interesting concept and deserves a precise definition:

  (1) a vibration of large amplitude in a mechanical or electrical system caused by a relatively small

  periodic stimulus of the same or nearly the same period as the natural vibration period of the system.

  (2) the intensification and enriching of a musical tone by supplementary vibration that is either

  sympathetically or mechanically induced.

  In Runes #I-2 I provided a short profile of Dr. Nikola Tesla, the “mad scientist” who went past the boundaries of

  “recognized” science with, among other things, experiments in resonance. Biographer Margaret Cheney relates:

  He attached an oscillator no larger than an alarm clock to a steel link 2’ long and 2” thick. “For a long

  time nothing happened, but at last the great steel link began to tremble, increased its trembling until it

  dilated and contracted like a beating heart, and finally broke.” Sledgehammers could not have done it, he

  told a reporter, crowbars could not have done it, but a fusillade of taps, no one of which would have harmed

  a baby, did it.

  Pleased with this beginning, he put the little oscillator in his coat pocket. Finding a half-built steel

  building in the Wall Street district, 10 stories high with nothing up but the steelwork, he clamped the

  oscillator to one of the beams. “In a few minutes I could feel the beam trembling. Gradually the trembling

  increased in intensity and extended throughout the whole great mass of steel. Finally the structure began to

  creak and weave, and the steelworkers came to the ground panic-stricken, believing that there had been an

  earthquake. Before anything serious happened, I took off the oscillator, put it in my pocket, and went away.

  But if I had kept on 10 minut
es more, I could have laid that building flat in the street. And with the same

  oscillator I could drop Brooklyn Bridge in less than an hour.”

  Now a little-known but interesting fact is that brain-waves are subject to the principle of resonance. Energy-

  waves reaching your brain through any medium - eyes, ears, or flesh - will tend to induce your brain-waves to cycle

  at the same wavelength. A common example of visual resonance is the seizures that some people experience when

  exposed to a light flickering at 10 CPS.

  The audio spectrum - being the range of sound vibrations which human hearing can consciously detect - is from

  15 CPS (bass) to 20,000 CPS (treble). The infrasonic range - 10-15 CPS - is too low to be consciously detected but is

  nonetheless capable of inducing resonance in the brain. Below infrasound [and sometimes encompassing it] are

  Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) waves, which are powerful and durable enough to travel through the Earth for

  communication with submerged submarines.

  The relaxation which you paradoxically feel when listening to the deep, heavy throbbing of drums and bass

  guitars at rock concerts is the same as that felt by American Indians listening to the large dancing-drums

  accompanying their ceremonial campfires. Resonance is produced which inclines your brain-waves towards Alpha,

  and if the rate of the beat seems particularly pleasing to you, I recommend that you take your pulse. My guess is that

  it will be close (somewhere around 70 CPM), which your system will find subconsciously soothing. [If you wish to

  calm a crying infant, rock its cradle at about that speed, or hold it to your breast so that it can hear the beating of

  your heart. Try it!]

  Now Theta happens to be a very interesting range. Soviet research into PK phenomena has yielded the fact that

  PK activity is generally associated with a sudden surge of Theta activity at the 4 CPS level. Theta activity is also more

  common in the brains of young children than in those of adults, which may have something to do with the rumor

  (which I cannot call more than that) that “poltergeist” activity is usually catalyzed by the presence of a child in the

  house.

  Now let us suppose for a moment that we have a rock-and-roll band whose amplifiers, speakers, and acoustical

  equipment are already well-suited for infrasonic wave generation. Such a band - call it the Jefferson Starship or the

  Planet Earth Orchestra, or anything you want to - is currently making people very happy with lots of Alpha-wave

  resonance. But what if that same band, via computer-assisted technology, produced either sustained or timed/

  calculated Theta-waves at energy levels strong enough to induce resonance throughout a concert hall containing

  thousands of people. And suppose all of those people focused their wills on the same thing. And suppose that the

  energy pattern emerging from those minds-in-concert (neat pun) were received, amplified, and retransmitted at

  substantially higher energy levels via fairly conventional electronic relay technology ...

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  ____________________________________

  Part III: Nameless Rites at Bunny Flat

  First published: Runes #II-5

  September XIX/1984

  Mount Shasta

  Natural caves in the ancient mountain. Earth rites - deep human racial memory - a huge primeval fire/

  forces of nature/tapped/pagan hints of many souls in attendance. PRIMORDIAL challenge/Telepathic

  regeneration, bonfire ceremonies - Lilith-rebuild in the heat - naked/wet/sleek. Hours blend to days - music

  blends to light. Be careful as you seek the light - Fish in the ocean/drawn to the light of the surface/Must

  beware the hovering sea birds. The closer to the surface the more dangerous Becomes the search learn the

  way and always check above you as You pass through the doors of Castle Perilous. tour/survive - money -

  escape - water music - drifting ...

  Mount Shasta began in the age of the great migrations, when the peoples who had crossed the ice

  brought their earth rites to the heart of the great mountain. Before dates, before time, before calendars,

  certain women and men sought out the cave and infused it with deep racial memories of forgotten fire.

  Come where I am. An aerial spirit has entered through the walls that separate me from the world.

  Resplendent with light, purified by the four elements, pure as the genius of fire, lift the veil, crimson sky.

  - Paul Kantner, Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra

  The first questions asked by new Setians are usually (1) What is magic? and (2) How can I do it? One of the next

  questions is (3) Where can I do it? The stock answer is “anywhere”, and the customary launching-pad is a magical

  ritual chamber constructed in one’s abode.

  Yet I am quite serious when I say “anywhere”. This planet is bursting with suitably magical environments, and a

  bit of amateur detective work, coupled with just keeping your eyes and ears open, should be sufficient to alert you to

  more Satanic Sites than you'd ever dream were in your neighborhood.

  As a newly-admitted I° in IV/1969, I found myself not in San Francisco Babylon, but in Fort Bragg, North

  Carolina. A bit of delving in local libraries informed me of the existence of the nearby “Devil’s Tramping Ground”, a

  sterile circle in the woods around which Old Scratch was wont to pace while pondering his Great Works. Brave

  locals might visit it in the daytime, but none dared go near it at night. I did, of course, and it proved a superb site for

  a working.

  Magician’s block is something like writer’s block. There are many Setians who read enthusiastically about

  magic and magicians - and then sit around waiting to see others “do magic for them” or just waiting for more to

  read.As Black Magic emphasizes, that’s not how to become a magician. You've got to work actively with the

  principles yourself. At first they will seem awkwardly “mechanical” - and probably painfully so. On one hand you

  may feel ridiculous and self-conscious, particularly if you really screw up what you thought would be a most serious

  and solemn working. [I have.] On the other hand you might get so effectively caught up the working that it goes

  200% beyond what you planned, and you spend the next several hours pretty shaken up, wondering what on Earth

  [or under it] you let loose.

  Once you are in the habit of watching for magical opportunities, an endless parade of same will pass before you.

  When Magister DeCecco moved to Las Vegas some time ago, I thought I would call his attention to the Valley of

  Fire, a lightning-swept plain encircled by craggy peaks that would make Sauron of Mordor feel right at home. I

  might have saved myself the trouble, however, because DeCecco had already discovered the VoF on his own -

  because it is second [first!] nature for him to sense such things. And this is what I encourage you to do.

  This article is a sort of case-study about where one such investigation can lead. “Bunny Flat?” you say. Read on -

  A few Runes issues ago I got reasonably excited about Paul Kantner’s Planet Earth album. Took Runes readers

  on a trip through the mechanics of mind-functions and such. Now that's a very big turkey-breast, and there’s lots of

  it in the refrigerator left to eat; but a good magician doesn’t neglect the wings and drumsticks either. In this case one

  of the drumsticks was Mount Shasta. [The other one was Australia. I’ll get to Australia later.]

  While I may be “a leading figure in the contemporary American occult scene” [per Austr
alian author Nevill

  Drury], I confess I had paid zero attention to Mount Shasta until the arrival of Planet Earth. After reading the notes

  quoted at the beginning of this article, and listening to the music, my magician’s nose began to quiver - and so I

  went Shasta-hunting.

  A good deal of Shasta-data was already buried in my own library & files. It was quickly supplemented by more

  data and then by an expedition. The results of all this have swollen far beyond a Runes article, but here’s a quick &

  dirty summary. Now once again, the point of all this is not just to tickle you under the chin with Mount Shasta, but

  rather to give you an example of the kind of treasure-hunt you can go on whenever and wherever you choose -

  which is one of the ways you Become an Adept of the Black Arts instead of Mr./Ms. Average Human Bean.

  On February 14, 1827 a Hudson’s Bay Company fur scout named Peter Ogden reached the top of the Siskiyou

  Mountains in souther Oregon and saw for the first recorded time a peak about 50 miles to the south, towering

  thousands of feet above surrounding crags. In his diary he wrote: “There is a mountain of equal heights to Mount

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  Hood. I have named the mountain ‘Sastice’.” Eighty years later the white men would call it Mount Shasta, but when

  Ogden asked the Klamatte Indians he found at its base for its name, they answered: “He Who Sleeps in the Clouds”.

  For about the next 60 years Shasta remained just a big, beautiful mountain. But after Darwin’s Origin of Species

  was published in 1859, events began to be set in motion that would change Shasta’s image rather markedly.

  Among the phenomena most troubling to the Darwinists was the little lemur, since it [together with other fossil,

  flora, and fauna specimens] was found in such non-connected locales as Madagascar, India, Africa, and the Malay

  Archipelago. English Zoologist Philip Sclater hypothesized a primeval land-mass covering this entire area. In honor

  of the lemur he called it “Lemuria”. Little did he expect what a Frankenstein Monster he had created! Some of the

  more speculative scientists promptly added to the hypothesis. In the 1870s German naturalist Ernst Haeckel went

  so far as to propose Lemuria as the ancient home of the human race: