The Temple of Set II

by Michael A Aquino

  - A Kingdom of Priests

  - Daniel’s Fifth Kingdom

  - Historic Proof of Israel’s Migrations

  - Let’s Preview the Diagnosis

  - Suppose We are Israel, What Difference Does it Make?

  - Adam was Not the first Man

  - Your Heritage

  - God’s Great Race

  - Your Genetic Inheritance

  - Babylon’s Money

  De Camp, L. Sprague, Lovecraft: A Biography. New York: Ballantine, 1975.

  Farago, Ladislas, Aftermath. New York: Avon, 1974.

  Pauwels, Louis and Bergier, Jacques, The Morning of the Magicians. New York: Avon, 1968.

  Angebert, Jean-Michel, The Occult and the Third Reich. New York: Macmillan, 1974.

  Aquino, Michael A, The Book of Coming Forth by Night: Analysis & Commentary. Santa Barbara: Temple

  of Set, 1976.

  Sargant, William, Battle for the Mind: a Physiology of Conversion and Brainwashing. New York: Harper &

  Row, 1971.

  Psychological Operations Techniques and Procedures. Headquarters, Department of the Army,

  Washington, D.C., January 1974.

  Ellul, Jacques, Propaganda - the Formation of Men’s Attitudes. New York: Vintage Books/ Random House,

  1973.

  - 272 -

  A24: From The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm

  - by Linda Parinello [Reynolds] I°

  Scroll of Set #II-6, February 1977

  I began reading this book expecting to find some clues in my search for what is commonly labeled the “ideal

  personal relationship”, or at least affirmation that my present relationship is the ideal one! What I uncovered,

  however, is quite apart from what I was looking for.

  While sifting through the author’s theories on love as the answer to the problems of human existence, I found

  more and more acknowledgment of the fact that we as Setians are truly striving for goals much higher than mere

  human existence can ever offer!

  While mankind has essentially [and allegedly] emerged from the animal kingdom, from instinctive

  “adaptation”, Setians have already far surpassed that achievement. Mankind has been gifted with reason. An

  awareness of himself, his past, his possibilities for the future. But instead of taking the ultimate advantage of this

  awareness of himself as a separate entity, he instead fears it - fears his separateness and imagined helplessness

  before the laws of nature and society.

  Fromm says, “The deepest need, then, is the need to overcome his separateness.” Is this true for the Setian? I

  don’t think so! Man has lived through many ages and cultures faced with the same question - how to overcome

  isolation and separateness - how to conform to achieve acceptance and oneness with his fellow man and the

  mindless universe.

  If I am like everybody else ... if I conform in custom, dress, ideas, to the pattern of the group, I am saved; saved

  from the frightening experience of aloneness.

  Somehow, I feel you’ll agree with me that the terror lies in that shepherd conformity and not in any individual

  behavior! The tragic thing is, most people don’t even recognize this overpowering instinct to conform. They go

  through life pitifully believing that their ideas and beliefs are their own. [Fortunately they just happen to coincide

  with the popular beliefs in vogue at the time!]

  One example of this for me is what I call the “Haight-Ashbury Syndrome”. These poor, misinformed “flower

  children - these pseudo-intellectuals - dropped out a while back and stated that they had achieved individuality! No

  longer would they conform to the dictates of our society and government. They claimed to achieve, by the use of

  drugs [and filthy surroundings] an expanded consciousness, an awakened state - true liberation! Women’s Lib,

  Cosmic Awareness, Holistic Approach, est, karma ... all terms and methods these “individuals” used to show their

  pathetic need for difference. The reality is however, that there is no individuality left at all. As Fromm states,

  “Equality today means ‘sameness’ rather than ‘oneness’.” These tragic people will call you “up tight” if you don’t

  carry around your issue of Rolling Stone, smoke grass, dress and live like a slob, or attend courses and seminars on

  “liberation” staffed by smiling, non-thinking automatons.

  Setians, rejoice! The Gift given you is more valuable than life itself, for it is life - on a much greater level than

  mankind as a whole can ever hope to achieve. Gone is the fear of separateness and aloneness, for in your magical

  workings, who else but yourself as an individual can break through the dimensional barriers and communicate with

  the very same entity who saved you from the hideous death of mindless conformity!

  This gift has been called an “experiment” ... but I will go further and call it “an experiment of love”. As Fromm

  states, “Love is an active power in man; a power which breaks through the walls which separate man from his fellow

  man, which unites him with others, makes him overcome the sense of isolation and separateness; yet it permits him

  to be himself, to retain his integrity. In love, the paradox occurs that two beings become one and yet remain two.”

  Sound familiar? I feel that I can reword that entire quote, applying it directly to our ritual experiences - our

  “Set-experiences” - and who could deny it? Haven’t we broken down the walls which separate our essence from the

  essence of Set? Haven’t we felt the separateness and isolation give way to an overwhelming sense of fulfillment and

  sharing in ritual - each of us as an individual, retaining our own distinct power of will, and yet, in joining with the

  Essence from beyond the Pentagram, that paradox once again occurs: “Two beings become one and yet remain two.”

  We must remember, also, that this could never occur were it not for the fact that you as a Setian can exercise a

  quality which has almost disappeared from the surrounding mundane society - that of inner freedom and

  independence. Without this individuality and your awareness and use of it by means of your ever-increasing power

  of will, this “miracle”, this dimensional breakthrough, could never take place.

  Reading further, I found more and more supportive evidence to my “experiment of love” idea. Fromm states,

  “Love is an activity, not a passive affect; the active character of love (its first aspect) can be described by stating that

  love is primarily giving.” Not, of course, in the exploitive or sacrificial sense, but rather as an outward expression of

  one’s own potency. In your act of giving, you will experience strength and power. In giving of his essence, Set also

  exercises and experiences his power, compounding and complementing it in us. He gives us what is alive in him and

  thereby enhances and enriches his own aliveness - an endless cycle and one for which we can be eternally grateful. It

  indicates a faith in his own powers, courage to rely on them to help us to achieve his goal for us that of evolution, of

  Setamorphosis - and finally, joy in the knowledge that through the giving of his essence, there is never a depletion

  but always a growth and enhancement through our growth!

  - 273 -

  The second aspect of love - responsibility - also is indicated quite clearly in our relationship with our benevolent

  friend. A self-imposed responsibility to us, which could have easily degenerated into domination [read again the

  Diabolicon] has always remained a constant benefit to us because of the third aspect of love stated by Fromm: that

  of respect -
the knowledge of our uniqueness, our individuality, and the ability to allow it to remain that way without

  interference. Set will go so far as to inform us of our powers and the secrets to their use, but we are loved; we must

  grow and achieve and evolve on our own. Without exploitation, with guidance, and without interference. Our

  individual evolution, though it is an enhancement to the Powers of Darkness, was never meant to be subservient to

  those Powers.

  “Speak rather to me as to a friend. Do not bend your knee nor drop your eye ...” Xeper.

  - 274 -

  A25: Things That Go Hump In The Night

  - by Lilith Sinclair IV°

  Scroll of Set #II-7, March 1977

  Incubus: A spirit or dæmon who has carnal relations with mortal women.

  Succubus: A spirit or dæmon who takes the shape of a woman and tempts or has carnal relations with

  mortal men.

  Incubus. Succubus. Depending on one’s point of view, those two words induce shivers of delight and

  anticipation, or great terror and repulsion. Traditionally practitioners of the Black Arts were said to welcome and

  thoroughly enjoy the sensual attentions of these dæmon lovers, while their white-light counterparts feared them

  greatly and strove to resist being seduced and ravished by the licentious creatures. Since they almost always

  succumbed in the end, however, it is safe to assume that their great show of resistance was but token in nature and

  served to allow them to enjoy the delights of the flesh with a clear conscience, as it were. After all it certainly wasn’t

  their fault if the lustful dæmons were stronger than they and overpowered them!

  Interestingly, as the sexual climate became less repressed and grew more open and permissive, these “attacks”

  by rapacious dæmons diminished in frequency until they are now all but non-existent in today’s swinging,

  cosmopolitan society. That tells you a good deal about the true nature of our subjects right there.

  To the Black Magician, however, the Incubus and Succubus are creatures of delight, to be summoned at will. It

  is harmless fun as long as the sorcerer or sorceress recognizes them for what they are, creations of his or her own

  mind, with no existence other than that which we choose to give them. They are not separate, tangible entities, and

  do not become so until we call them into existence by the creative power of our own wills. When we cease to think of

  them, they cease to exist, until the next time we fashion them through imagination and desire.

  For the novice magician this confusion between objective and subjective existence is a common mistake as he or

  she moves slowly and sometimes painfully through the learning process. Are there any of us who do not look back

  upon our own fledgling years and cringe at the mistakes we made? Remember some of the asinine ideas we had? We

  all know this phase, but the point is not to get bogged down there - to pass beyond it with awareness of the pitfalls

  we avoided, as well as those into which we blundered.

  The evolution of the will and clarity of perception it brings enable us to see that things such as dæmon lovers are

  brought into being by our own heightened powers. This does not make the physical sensations any less real or

  satisfying. On the contrary, they can become highly intense and quite pleasurable. Kept in perspective, it can be a

  healthy, enjoyable experience.

  The key words here are “kept in perspective”. If this is lost sight of, the magician ends up behaving like a

  stereotyped caricature, going off in all the wrong directions and wasting precious time & energy. By the time we

  have evolved to the level of Setians, all such running-in-circles should be done with.

  To be sure, some mistakes will still be made. We are, after all, human - some of us, that is. Erroneous ideas and

  misconceptions will occur. But basic perception and understanding of the true nature and power of the Setian will

  should be mastered at this point in our evolution, as well as the application of that will to the universe around us

  and recognition of its resultant effects. Failure to recognize this concept is an indication that more time is needed in

  the development and evolution of the magician. There are no short-cuts, no overnight wizards. Until and unless this

  is thoroughly understood, attempts to function as such will be largely ineffectual.

  Now go ahead and summon those nameless and unspeakable playmates, and may a good time be had by all!

  - 275 -

  A26: The Second Year

  - by Michael A. Aquino V°

  High Priest of Set

  Scroll of Set #II-10, June 1977

  As you can see from the Executive Director’s report, we have devoted much of our second year of operation to

  refining the systems created in the first year, as well as to introducing some new ones for testing. We have

  experienced some complete successes and some failures - all of which adds up to a year well-spent. [I mistrust

  “failure-free” situations; it is an unmistakable sign that little or no experimentation is tolerated, or that unfavorable

  results of experiments are being swept under the rug. A crucial part of the “atmosphere” of the Temple of Set must

  be the freedom to err without fear of lingering ostracism after corrective measures have been applied.]

  I think it is about time to explain the “model” of the Temple of Set to you in detail - the conceptual vision of this

  institution that I have in mind when I make decisions concerning its development. Once you understand what it is

  that we are heading towards, the intermediate steps - and the growing pains - will seem somewhat less mysterious.

  Let me begin by answering a question which arises quite frequently in discussions with new Setians and non-

  members alike: Just how - if at all - does the Temple really differ from other occult, magical, or religious groups?

  Isn’t it just “the same old story” with slightly different mythological trappings and a higher degree of organizational

  efficiency?

  There are three very important parts to the answer. The first part is that, before developing its philosophy, the

  Temple has attained a perspective on human history [both philosophical and practical] that is, in the strictest

  possible sense, all-inclusive and detached. We have made a careful study of human ideas and behavior for the

  express purpose of avoiding repetition of patterns, on the principle that those who do not understand and

  appreciate history are condemned to relive it.

  The detachment involved in this perspective is equally important. Objectivity in any analysis requires a

  complete lack of bias on the part of the analyst. [This is why computers are invaluable as analytical tools ... to the

  extent that they do not have human bias programmed into them!]

  The Setian mind differs from the human mind precisely in its ability to detach itself from the vast panorama of

  the “natural” course of events and to assess that panorama from an independent vantage-point. The crystal-clear

  “vision” that results - and the subsequent operations of the Setian mind upon that panorama to influence it - are the

  essence of what the natural, human mind can only understand as “magic” - because the principles involved are

  completely beyond the reach of its vision. This principle of complete historical scope and detached perspective is

  found in no other institution on this planet. It is entirely unique to the Temple of Set.

  The second part of the answer is that the Temple is gradually being configured to operate in an environment

>   that is distinct from that of material, natural events and non-comprehensible to those whose value systems are

  limited to the natural universe. This means that the behavior of the Temple will ultimately not be influenced or

  controlled by outside events, but will be based upon a matrix of principles and priorities determined by the Temple

  itself.

  Technically this also means that the Temple will never pose a deliberate threat to human political or social

  developments, because it will not be an interested party to them. It will merely take them into objective account

  when evaluating the material environment in which it must exist. In “escaping” from the natural course of human

  events, the Temple must never make the mistake of ignoring it. In fact we must understand and appreciate it far

  more thoroughly than the humans who exist completely within its confines if we are to neutralize its - and their -

  influence upon us.

  As in the relationship between Hari Seldon’s Foundation and the Empire, human society cannot claim that the

  Temple of Set poses a deliberate threat to it. But human nature is such that it fears anything outside of its

  comprehension and will actively attempt to destroy it rather than to tolerate it. We would be quite foolish if we did

  not appreciate this fact; on the other hand we must not allow that appreciation to give way to paranoia.

  The Temple must control events in such a way so that it is never perceived or isolated as a target. This is a task

  which has many ramifications. The first and simplest one is that the Temple must not distort its true admissions

  process - one of recognition rather than of attempted conversion or indoctrination. If we seek numerical growth as

  a measure of “success”, we will completely violate the principle of the Elect Setian mind as the only criterion for

  membership.

  Another aspect of distorted admissions is that humans who are exposed to the internal workings of the Temple

  will necessarily perceive them in a different way than we do - at best as nonsensical and at worst as a threat. When

  such humans are eventually processed out of the Temple, they will be suspicious and fearful of it. That it is illogical

  for them to hold that opinion will make no difference; they will form the vanguard of any “witch-hunt” that might