The Temple of Set II

by Michael A Aquino

  anything! In point of fact, we don’t know the extent of what we don’t know.

  We obtain knowledge by interpolation and by projection . Interpolation in reasoning is also known as

  deductive logic; projection as inductive logic . [For a review of the concept of logic -and errors to avoid -see my

  “Much Ado About Logic” in Cloven Hoof #IV-2.] The most general shortcoming of both systems of

  knowledge acquisition is that they work only with known data. New theories in complete accord with

  known data may in fact be quite [or partially] wrong, but this cannot be discovered until the theory bumps into fresh

  data which does not fit the mold.

  I go into this for two reasons. The first is that we must never allow the Temple of Set to relax into fixed

  concepts. The key to the ultimate success of the Temple is Xeper in its intellectual pursuits as well as in its Initiates.

  The second reason is that, in the course of this communiqué, I will be clashing head-on with a gentleman by the

  name of Einstein. He himself was forethinking enough to define his discoveries as “theories”, but their dazzling

  nature has tended to enshrine them as de facto laws, questioned at dire peril. What they explain, they explain well.

  The danger lies in projecting them too far beyond the known phenomena by which they were first interpolated.

  Consider this well.

  By its very design the Temple confronts two essential problems. The second problem is to identify,

  comprehend, and effect Setamorphosis. Solving this problem promises to be exciting, stimulating, and ultimately

  very rewarding. The first problem is to survive long enough to solve the second problem. And this task,

  unfortunately, may be tedious, depressing, and possibly dangerous.

  Consider the following passage from the Book of Coming Forth by Night:

  I seek my Elect and none other, for mankind now hastens toward an annihilation which none but the

  Elect may hope to avoid. And alone I cannot preserve my Elect, but I would teach them and strengthen their

  Will against the coming peril, that they and their blood may endure. To do this I must give further of my

  own Essence to my Elect, and, should they fail, the Majesty of Set shall fade and be ended.

  When I first read this passage, I was inclined to interpret it as a reference to the general ecological crisis that

  the human race as a whole faces in the next 50-100 years per the research of the Club of Rome, Jacques-Yves

  Cousteau, and other Temple contacts. Stated in its most basic form, this crisis comprises the outrunning of Earth's

  life-support systems by a humanity that is reproducing itself out of control. The Club of Rome assumes [in The

  Limits to Growth and Mankind at the Turning-Point] that world order will break down in frantic competition for

  available resources, resulting in a great deal of initial carnage (25%+ of the world population) and then a new era of

  repressive, primitive feudalism. More pessimistic predictions see the introduction of massive thermonuclear

  weaponry during the crisis period, with the resultant extermination of all life on Earth.

  There were two things that bothered me about this initial interpretation of the passage. One was that such an

  ecological crisis would occur on such a tremendous scope that its sheer inertia would prevail against anything even

  an enlarged and strengthened Temple of Set could do to prevent it. The other was that any sort of “escape” by the

  Elect seems highly improbable. In spite of the wistfulness with which romantics grope towards a new Exodus to

  space [consider the strong emotional appeal of Star Trek and Space: 1999 in this light], a colonial-scale space effort

  is all but ruled out by the increasing demand for resources to be diverted to the growing Earth-crisis itself. And even

  if some neo-Noah’s ark were planned, selection of the privileged few would be quite impossible. [Most likely the

  project would be destroyed by the disappointed majority; shades of Pythagoras and his rejected “deficient

  intellectuals”!]

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  The passage does not say “escape”, however; it says “avoid”. This raises the possibility of the Temple of Set

  surviving during the crisis and aftermath period in spite of the fact that it continues to be located on this planet. In

  the event of a nuclear holocaust, of course, nothing of the sort would be possible. But I am inclined to think that the

  crisis will attain full force in a more gradual way, resulting in increasing anarchy and then a violent authoritarian

  backlash. The final scenario would be one of the world divided into a number of crude police-states, with an

  intellectual atmosphere something like that in 1984. There have been countless examples of this political/social

  pattern throughout history, the most recent being the current century’s fascist regimes in Germany, Italy, Japan,

  South America, and Africa. Indeed the trend towards authoritarian government is increasing right now while we

  watch, as democratic/republican systems prove more and more incapable of coping with growing pre-crisis stresses.

  This past summer I discussed this situation with the Executive Director at a meeting in San Francisco. I then

  brought up the concept that Isaac Asimov had introduced in his famous science-fiction trilogy Foundation/

  Foundation and Empire/Second Foundation.

  In this novel a psychohistorian (one who calculates the probable course of the future based upon

  interpolation and projection of past social patterns and human psychology) predicts the gradual decline and fall

  of the galactic empire and a subsequent era of feudal anarchy. In order to preserve the sum of accumulated

  knowledge throughout this period, he institutes a Foundation of scientists and technologists on a remote planet at

  the edge of the galactic spiral. Through its technological skill and relative isolation from the mainstream of the

  revolutions and wars, the Foundation survives the disintegration of the empire and even establishes a certain

  hegemony of its own. But, through a freak accident, the Foundation is almost conquered by a mental mutant. It is

  saved through psychohistorical manipulation by a Second Foundation, secretly instituted and maintained in the

  heart of the old empire by the original psychohistorian. The Second Foundation then feigns its own destruction,

  allowing the First Foundation to continue on its way without feeling threatened.

  What I call the “Star Trek syndrome” is a desire to emulate the First Foundation by getting the hell off the

  planet with a small group of technological elite. For reasons cited earlier, this course of action is not open to the

  Temple [or anyone else]. But it may well prove possible for an organization with the unique characteristics of the

  Temple to emulate the Second Foundation. Consider:

  The Second Foundation survived secretly because its avowed purpose - caretaking of the main library of the

  old empire - was thought unimportant and irrelevant to the warring factions. Its actual configuration as a team of

  psychohistorians was unknown, even to the First Foundation.

  The Temple of Set to the public is a quaint peculiarity - a group of religious nuts who worship some old

  Egyptian god. Hence it is not a likely target of authoritarian repression. If anything, association with the Temple

  would tend to gain one a public reputation as an antiquarian eccentric, therefore politically harmless. That the

  Temple is Coming Into Being as an extraordinarily sophisticated organization does not become apparent until one

  has joined and advanced to the III°+ level. Such
is the Election of the Priesthood of Set that it would be impossible

  for an unqualified person to attain such recognition. [This is just as well, because I would not envy the fate of a false

  Priest of Set.]

  The prospect of a secret society existing in the midst of a secular culture is not a novel one. Case studies may

  be drawn from the Templars, Rosicrucians, Illuminati, Golden Dawn, A.'.A.'., Church of Satan, etc. The approach

  has been successful to the extent that it has been either strictly secret or philosophically camouflaged. In modern

  times, strict secrecy is no longer possible [even for the high-echelon units of government]. Moreover the sort of

  organizational structure necessary to enforce strict secrecy would make the Temple an increasingly threatening

  entity in the eyes of authoritarian governments.

  Let us look more closely at the notion of “philosophical camouflage”. The idea here is to develop a vocabulary

  and philosophical frame of reference which are useful for conveying the most sophisticated information between

  Initiates, but which merely seem nonsensical and ridiculous to the non-initiate.

  This is not the same thing as a cipher per se, which is a code that anyone given the key can read.

  Philosophical camouflage is unbreakable when expertly used, and in its most advanced form it cannot even be

  explained to an interrogator. This is because the concepts and relationships which comprise the linguistic system

  must all be communicated and understood before the system as a whole makes any sense. And those concepts and

  relationships each require a Setian mind for understanding. Thus this entire system possesses its own “failsafe”

  device.Should you attend a convention of technologists in some field other than your own, you will quickly discover

  that many terms unfamiliar to you are being used casually. Such terms are both professional jargon and precise

  technological concepts. One must be an “initiate” (educationally and/or professionally) to understand the

  conversation. The Temple is in a position to adapt this phenomenon to our own purposes, which encompass magic,

  futurist analysis, and our own brand of Asimov’s psychohistory.

  Because of the special position of religion in both society and the human psyche, the Temple can expect

  relative tolerance and freedom of internal action during at least the earlier stages of authoritarian social systems.

  [By strict definition, authoritarian systems require only behavioral cooperation. Totalitarian systems require

  mental and philosophical endorsement as well. Thus it is when things reach the totalitarian stage that churches and

  initiatory societies come under fire. Examples: Stalinist Russia & Nazi Germany.]

  Because of the absence of strong social dogmas in bringing about or controlling the ecological crisis, I suspect

  at this time that repressive measures will not come to the totalitarian extreme. The Temple should therefore be able

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  to maintain its own “religious eccentricity” without overt attention or persecution. To the extent that our

  philosophical camouflage is successful, we will be able to enjoy internal freedom to pursue the Second Problem.

  Externally our Initiates will be able to participate pragmatically in whatever social systems they find themselves

  located.

  The profile and survival techniques of the Second Foundation within the decaying, authoritarian galactic

  empire were not described in any detail. Nor did the Second Foundation possess or feign religious philosophies per

  se.

  A very interesting blueprint for the manner in which religious philosophical camouflage may be used in an

  authoritarian system exists in a book which the Executive Director sent to me a short time after our conference. It is

  Robert A. Heinlein’s The Day After Tomorrow. In this novel religious concepts are deliberately used as political and

  social weapons against an oppressive government, the concepts themselves being only a sham. In the Temple, by

  contrast, our concepts are quite genuine. But the way in which a religious structure may defend itself against social

  repression with the aid of its intrinsic concepts is well illustrated here.

  After reading the Asimov and Heinlein works, you may find it interesting to review the way in which the

  Catholic Church survived [and even prospered] during the medieval era. Special attention should be given to the

  methods and achievements of Pope Innocent III [see especially Sidney Packard’s Europe and the Church under

  Innocent III (NY: Russell Russell, 1967)]. While Catholic and Setian philosophies hardly coincide, we may learn

  some valuable lessons from the experiences of the medieval religious institutions.

  What form will the philosophical camouflage of the Temple assume? It is not a question which can be

  answered a priori. We will develop it as we go along. My guess is that it will draw strongly from the magical/

  religious/philosophical camouflage employed both widely and expertly by Aleister Crowley and John Dee. You are

  already familiar with some good source material on the former, so let's take a quick look at the latter.

  John Dee lived from 1527 to 1608 CE. During his lifetime he became an expert mathematician, geographer

  [studying under Mercator], and astronomer. He was intimately familiar with the work of Pythagoras, Plato, and

  Aristotle. He was sufficiently accomplished in chemistry to scorn the illogic of alchemy, and his official position as

  astrologer to Elizabeth I was largely a blind for extensive political intelligence work on her behalf. Because of his

  thorough familiarity with esoterica, Dee could phrase both his intelligence reports and his own experimental records

  & diaries in a fashion almost completely indecipherable by others. An example may be found in one of Dee’s 1585

  reports to Elizabeth:

  At the time, Dee was in Prague. A fellow occultist told him that a party of Frenchmen financed by the Spanish

  crown were being sent to England to sabotage the English shipbuilding program. The only clue available to Dee was

  that the party was instructed to arrive “before three yeares were ended and the nine men beginne their

  Perambulation”. He sent the following “record of a magical conversation with the spirit Madimi” to Elizabeth:

  Ma. "I am a poor little maiden, Madimi, but I rejoyce in the name of Jesus."

  D.

  “What is it that you can see?”

  Ma. “I see the coming of the end of the three yeare circle and the approache of the Nine Guardians of

  the Vert.”

  D.

  “What does that portend?”

  Ma. “Here is something that maketh me afraid. I see the Bible and a stick of hollie and the danger of

  perjury by someone. It is a test of loyalty.”

  D.

  Madimi’s gown changed colour from red to green and she shook it as though the skirt was a tree

  rustling in the wind. She went up and down with livelie gestures, dancing and pretending she was

  a tree bent this way and that in the breeze, as though she performed a charade.

  D.

  “Whose man are you?”

  Ma. “I am the servant of God both by my bounden duty and by his Adoption. For me the truth is

  sacred.”

  D.

  “What more do you see?”

  Ma. “I see the risk of fire, great fire.” Her dress changed colour to red again.

  D.

  “What is the significance of the three yeares and the Nine Men?”

  Ma. “The Nine are Guardians of the RF D. They must acte against fire by the creatures of th
e

  Scorpion. O.S.V.”

  D.

  “And the Nine must watch for the chimney of smoke?”

  Ma. “I must not guess the truth, but so it would seem. My sister has torn two leaves from the book

  which would have tolde me.”

  Dee’s familiarity with old Druidic customs had reminded him of one still in progress. The Druids had held the

  number 3 and multiples thereof in special regard. The Druidic year was 360 days, and once every three years nine

  government foresters made a circuit inspection of the royal forests. Crucial to the current shipbuilding effort was the

  Royal Forest of Dean, identified by both "RF D" and the reference to the Bible & stick of holly [used in that forest in

  another Druidic custom]. The “Scorpion” was Dee’s code word for Spain, and the Enochian sequence O.S.V. [“I reign

  over you”] brought the message to Elizabeth’s attention. The “chimney” refers to the customary right of forest

  - 156 -

  squatters to land on which they could build a chimney between sunset and sunrise. Elizabethan agents watched for

  and eventually discovered an attempt to bribe such squatters to burn the forest, and successfully thwarted same.

  The point here is threefold: (1) Dee’s freedom from suspicion and freedom of action as an “eccentric

  astrologer & occultist”, (2) his ability to put both Druidic lore and his own systems to practical use, and (3) the

  almost complete indecipherability of a message incorporating philosophical camouflage except by a fellow initiate.

  The basic facts concerning Dee’s life are well-documented and fairly easy to find. Not so his magical research

  and philosophy. He left massive papers comprising diaries and records of magical workings, but they are heavily

  laced with philosophical camouflage per the example just cited.

  The papers themselves are scattered between the British Museum, Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum, private

  Continental collections, and the Soviet Union. The papers acquired by Meric. Casaubon for Dr. John Dee’s Actions

  With Spirits are only a sample of Dee’s voluminous “angelic conversations”. Fortunately the Casaubon papers

  contain the Enochian Keys, which may possess an entirely self-contained philosophical camouflage system.