The Temple of Set II

by Michael A Aquino

  Persons would join simply to gain access to the Scroll, the Ruby Tablet, etc., with no interest or intellectual

  commitment beyond that. Hence the II° Recognition as a precondition. This forces the would-be “armchair

  occultist” to either come out of his shell or be processed out of the Temple after the end of the 2-year I° time limit.

  So when an individual is properly recognized as an Adept, what then? What do we mean by the title? What can

  and/or should the individual do as a consequence? What lies ahead, and where does the III° fit into the picture? Let

  me address each one of these questions in turn:

  In the terminology of initiatory magic, an Adept is one who understands and can successfully employ the

  philosophy and techniques of the school or discipline in question. That the title may have been abused by charlatans

  from time to time is of no import, any more than the occasional abuse of the title “doctor” reflects adversely on

  properly-qualified Ph.D./M.D. recipients.

  Is a Temple of Set Adept immediately qualified as such by this definition? Of course not. The II° is conferred as

  a recognition of potential for Coming Into Being as an Adept, not as an “end of the achievement award”. There is

  no such thing as a “complete” II° within the scope of the Temple, since the concept of Xeper is one of expanding

  comprehension and magical evolution. To say much the same thing in Socratic terms, it is far easier to say what an

  Adept is not than what one is.

  So you have just been recognized as an Adept. What do you do now? A II° stele and card will be sent to you

  automatically, but you must order the II° medallion and the Ruby Tablet from Magistra Wendall. At that point the

  direction in which you Xeper is completely up to you. As is the case with the Scroll, the Ruby Tablet is designed to

  be a two-way channel of communication. You can use it for information and reference, and you can submit ideas

  and research of your own for inclusion in it.

  You will discover very quickly (if you haven’t already) that the concept of magic in the Temple of Set is a very

  broad one. A person who seeks in ceremonial magic a small, cozy eccentricity in which to build a psychological nest

  is destined to be disappointed, because an axiom of magic is that the most accurate assessment of any phenomenon

  is the one which treats it in the widest possible context. The magician is one who can “see the big picture” and

  determine the appropriate controls for guiding it towards desired ends. Such control will seem “magical” to

  someone who sees the same situation from an incomplete perspective. This is well illustrated in John Fowles’ The

  Magus.

  Since the vistas before an Adept are so overwhelming, some new lI°s experience a sort of “magical agoraphobia”.

  This is predictable and understandable. The solution is simply to work out a comfortably-paced program of interests

  and priorities. Then one can Xeper at a rate which is both enjoyable and stimulating. Caution must be taken to avoid

  becoming “intoxicated” by the experience to the extent that one becomes a “magical addict”. [If that is allowed to

  happen, the Adept’s perspective on the mundane world will suffer distortion, magical operations will come to lose

  their objective effectiveness, and the Adept’s sphere of magical influence will shrink to purely-subjective

  dimensions.]

  I often advise magicians to balance their esoteric interests with some demanding activity in the mundane world,

  so that they may “step outside of their magical personalities” and see themselves in social context. Aleister Crowley

  was climbing mountains when he embarked upon his magical career; Anton LaVey was a lion-trainer in a circus; I

  was an officer in a paratrooper division. Today in the Temple some of our most successful magicians are those with

  surprisingly-exoteric outside interests.

  - 290 -

  Why is there so much talk about communications systems in the Temple? Because magic must be

  communicated to exist. You may argue that this is not true - that one can experience a purely-personal magical

  phenomenon. But I would say to you: Until you have rendered that experience into language, you yourself will

  neither be able to understand it nor be able to do anything with it. And the moment you succeed in translating it for

  yourself, you have made it understandable by other Adepts.

  Such an accomplishment distinguishes a magician (who communicates his visions and draws meaningful

  conclusions from them) from a mystic (who floats in a dream-world which neither he nor anyone else can

  understand). Once again Crowley is a prime case in point, because he was able to communicate his magical

  philosophy so profoundly that he himself was immortalized by it.

  So the oft-repeated advice for you to write ... letters, articles, essays, poems, stories, newsletters, books ... has a

  valid, magical motive behind it. No matter how helpful your writings may prove to others, you will be the prime

  beneficiary, because you are thereby forcing your thoughts to crystallize into language ... and then you will begin to

  really understand and evaluate them.

  Have you ever paused to wonder why it takes such an effort of will to write a paper or letter? It is precisely

  because the process demands that you force vague, ethereal emotions, feelings, and sensations into inductive or

  deductive statements. [One encouraging note: The task becomes easier with practice.]

  Occasionally I am asked whether a II° is expected to “progress towards” the III°. The very question is a

  misconception of the degree system. The III° is not a “continuation” of the II° into a higher echelon of expertise. In

  fact I think I would be correct in saying that there are a number of II°s who are more skilled in their areas of magical

  specialty than all of the III°+ - including myself.

  Recognition to the III° may indicate no philosophical or magical refinement from the II° level at all, although it

  may seem that way because an Adept’s magical expertise will normally continue to grow from the time of II°

  Recognition. Rather the III° is a recognition that the individual possesses a certain very singular quality identifying

  the Priesthood of Set.

  It is difficult to say whether the III° is something that can be attained by effort or whether the characteristics

  that identify a Priest or Priestess are imparted from outside the self. Most likely it is a combination of the two.

  A final point about Temple of Set degrees that I should like to clear up involves their permanence. These degrees

  are not awards or certificates of completion that are bestowed; they are a recognition of an individual’s state

  of being. And an individual can exercise the freedom of will to move in any direction or combination of directions.

  Hence it is entirely within the realm of possibility that a III° may “move” to the II° without any punitive or

  degrading connotations whatever. The same holds true for “travel” from other degrees. If this principle is not

  realized, then the true nature of the degree-system is being corrupted into a one-way, ratchet-like process.

  When you think about it, you will see why such a concept would be inconsistent with the presupposition of free

  will and the requirement that a Temple degree reflect an individual’s actual state of being. The Temple By-Laws do

  make it more difficult to withdraw a degree than to Recognize it, but this also has a basis in reason. The higher the

  degree, the more difficult it is to make a judgme
nt concerning what the recipient must do to violate the scope of that

  degree. So there is a sort of “built-in benefit of the doubt” accorded with each degree. Only in essentially clear cases,

  then, are degree imbalances considered for correction.

  I hope that this has helped to clear up some of the considerations involved in the II° - which in some ways is the

  “Alpha and Omega” of the Temple. If you have other questions on the topic, feel welcome to discuss them with any

  II°+. Unlike other esoteric societies, the Temple maintains no artificial games of secrecy about its degree system. We

  don’t have to. The “secrets”, such as they are, cannot be communicated to those who are not able to understand

  them. And those who can understand them should know about them.

  - 291 -

  A35: The Integrated Self

  - by Alexandra Sarris II°

  Scroll of Set #III-6, February 1978

  The Set/HarWer dichotomy exists in the microcosm as well as in the macrocosm. In our own way each of us

  carries within us this balance - within our own minds.

  The Setian has realized before becoming a Setian the complexities of the human mind, if only through exposure

  to theories or conceptions of Freud, Jung, and the like, and their divisions of the human mind. Psychology and

  psychoanalysis are favorite topics as human beings endeavor to “find themselves” through one theory or another.

  They vaguely grope toward an understanding of their subconscious and unconscious selves, hopefully reaching a

  resolution of the turmoils within themselves.

  It is, I think, only within the realm of the Setian, however, to understand and solve the problems inherent in the

  subconscious and unconscious Aspects, through our unique viewpoint and methodology. I propose a new

  interpretation of the mind and its structure [as seen by Setians], although the model itself has been used in

  somewhat different form.

  In the diagram provided, four elements are shown: the Core Self (CS), the Function Personality [FP], the

  Magical Entity [ME], and the various other Aspects (A).

  The Core Self sits at the center of the wheel, much as it exists at the center of our mind; it is the coordinator, the

  hub, the ultimate self. The function personality is our mundane self - what the Core Self needs to keep us

  functioning and surviving in this outer world. The anonymous Aspects are the various Aspects of self beyond the

  function personality (which is itself an Aspect, though the most dominant and hardly the best). The [trapezoidal]

  “Magical Entity” is our channel from the Core Self to the Aspects and beyond.

  Let me enlarge further on these elements. The Core Self exists in all of us, the basis for our being, our center of

  the mind. In some cultures it may be called a “soul”; the Egyptians named it the ba.

  Surrounding the Core Self are the Aspects, spinning and revolving like satellites around a planet, ever changing

  and growing. Each one provides a different dimension of relationship to the Core Self and to the function

  personality, and all are fed by the energy of the Core Self.

  Without the Core Self, Aspects would not exist. They form our idiolects. Each person has a different set; some

  Aspects are more distinct than others, and often they overlap. All of them appreciate being out in conscious reality

  once in a while, but that role is reserved for the function personality - the dominant Aspect that does yeoman service

  in the mundane world 95% of the time.

  We all know, some too well, the function personality. We rise with it, survive, and go to sleep with it. This is our

  public face. Yet there are times when it slips and another Aspect peeps through: a different entity - softer, harder,

  more romantic, etc. The anonymous Aspects also may be summoned by the function personality at times.

  The function personality derives its energy from the Core Self more than the other Aspects because it performs

  far more often. Unfortunately this public face becomes the private face; the function personality wants all functions

  and becomes completely dominant. The underling becomes a petty tyrant who would rule without regard to or

  willingness to understand what lies within, much as a “strange and fitful presence”, working its will as it sees fit,

  almost - since it has a logic and rationality of its own derived from its own limited, necessarily one-sided experience

  - expressing a “truth ever tinged in ... irrationality and inconsistency”.

  HarWer, embodying a fitful, irrational, and inconsistent being, could achieve identity only by being Set’s

  opposite self. Ironically the function personality shares the same traits; for without oneness, there can be no

  balance. Without an equal alternative, only one distorted viewpoint can exist, with no clear comprehension of the

  whole picture.

  Essentially when the function personality dominates to the exclusion of everything else, the being can only see

  down a narrow tunnel. Too many people see with these blinders and believe it real; others recognize that more than

  the function personality exists but choose either to ignore the situation or work toward resolving the damage

  wrought by the function personality. This may mean uncovering the subconscious scars and working out the

  anguish to one’s satisfaction and a better understanding of self. This process is a laudable one, but it does not

  - 292 -

  ultimately satisfy. [Indeed what is required is an integration of all elements into a “superbeing”, as will be discussed

  briefly later.]

  The function personality as tyrant believes that it is final arbiter of ideas - that all good and logical concepts

  derive from it. When it is strong, the Aspects have great difficulty in finding expression. [Thus, a rigid and narrow-

  minded function personality will not allow the creative and indulgent Aspects to emerge, rather, setting up its own

  expectations.]

  In this microcosm, the function personality expresses the reality of HarWer. It establishes its own rationality

  and logic; it acts as censor, choosing what it will hear, what it will understand, absorb, distort, ignore; and it protects

  itself by building walls, not only toward the outside world but also against its fellow Aspects and the Core Self. By

  doing so, the function personality stays dominant. Should these walls be breached, disaster will strike. From the

  outside, it can be devastating to the whole being; from the inside, it can allow the formation of a new reality.

  There is continual pressure from the Aspects and Core Self on the function personality. If the function

  personality becomes weakened through crisis, the other Aspects can burst into consciousness.

  Just as Set is the ageless intelligence of the universe, so is the Core Self the ageless intelligence of the being.

  Oddly enough the evolution from the Æon of Horus [with its concurrent imbalance and onesidedness] has in its

  progression to the Æon of Set [and balance] a parallel in the evolution of the Setian mind.

  Regard the elements. We have the Core Self (the ageless intelligence) with its Aspects, of which the function

  personality is the strongest and most relentless (the disordered intelligence); yet we have a bridge that leads from

  the Core Self to all Aspects - the Magical Entity, of which we have spoken little. Basically, the Magical Entity allows

  the Core Self to supersede the function personality, and reintegrate the Aspects into a new self.

  There are those who actively create their magical personalities, feeding them the energy to be in fact what theyr />
  are in imagination; and in this instance the Magical Entity may be conceived of as a construct of traits from the

  various Aspects surrounding the Core Self. For those whose magical selves arise spontaneously: Are these

  constructs, fashioned in the depths by the Core Self, or rather available and appropriate Aspects that fit the present

  and future need of the Setian?

  Whether we actively will a personality from an available Aspect that fits our goals, or whether we combine

  various attributes from different Aspects into a new Aspect, what we do have is the Magical Entity, our new and

  viable alternative to the function personality. We forge lines of force between this Aspect and the Core Self and the

  other Aspects.

  This Magical Entity also serves the purpose of bypassing the function personality’s barriers by attacking the

  barriers on an entirely different level than the function personality has dealt with. [The function personality is used

  to combat assaults on it at a mundane level, hardly a magical one.] The Magical Entity then becomes a channel of

  the Core Self as we send our energies through it and out by our will through the pentagram.

  This cannot be done by the function personality; it simply blocks or severely censors. The Magical Entity, which

  has none of those barriers, can channel the will through it. And yet the disputatious function personality intrudes,

  causing disruption as simply as in providing active doubt as to the validity of a working once out of the ritual

  chamber. [How many of us have said, “That really didn’t happen, did it?” And that: “It seems really ridiculous in the

  ‘light of day’.”] The function personality serves best at ridicule and chastisement, using these weapons of

  intimidation toward subservience to its will.

  And yet, when we are our Magical Entities, we find the arguments of the function personality specious and silly.

  Also the Magical Entity, by overwhelming the function personality, allows the energies of the other Aspects and the

  Core Self to become exposed. [In psychological terms, the subconscious, i.e. the Aspects and the unconscious, (the

  Core Self) are revealed.] These ideas and feelings become visible; no longer can we claim the ignorance of

  unconscious acts. Instead the creation of the Magical Entity allows us to go deep within ourselves and sift through