The Temple of Set II

by Michael A Aquino

  attempted by Ethel and Holt, although I understand a few more Setians are still being propagandized.

  Why did something like this happen to the Temple? More importantly, what can we learn from it to prevent or

  at least minimize similar problems in the future? Dr. F.I. Regardie commented to me that schisms born of ego-

  inflation are an almost inescapable feature of magical orders. He has witnessed many others in his time,

  commencing with the breakup of the Golden Dawn at the turn of this century.

  Let me begin by recalling the experience of the Church of Satan. As it began to grow beyond the scope of a San

  Francisco organization, it too encountered revolts and attempted schisms. At first Anton LaVey rode through these

  as fairly as he could. But, as there seemed to be no end to the incidents, he grew increasingly cynical and

  disillusioned, first about the integrity of the C/S as an organization and then about the sanctity of the degree system.

  He spoke more and more about the necessity to evaluate Satanism as a “movement”, not as an institution, and of the

  failure of the degree-system to draw meaningful distinctions among individuals.

  To make it more difficult for incidents to spread beyond a local level, Anton severely curtailed conclaves, inter-

  member communications, and local/regional publications. Finally, in May of X, he decided to exploit the degree-

  system for purposes of financial and material profit.

  It was at this point that those Satanists who believed in the authenticity and sanctity of the C/S and the degree-

  system resigned to form a “Second Church of Satan” which, after the North Solstice X, came into being as the

  Temple of Set.

  At one point during the XII-XIII crisis, Ethel argued that what he was doing was essentially no different from

  “what I had done to Anton LaVey in 1975”.

  Strictly speaking, however, Ethel had come full circle back to Anton’s position that the organization was non-

  productive and the degree-system meaningless. Whereas Anton had determined to reap practical benefits from his

  conclusion, however, Ethel opted to attempt a new organization and degree-system based not upon a recognized

  Mandate from the Prince of Darkness, but rather upon Ethel’s self-proclaimed concepts of what they should be.

  From a conceptual standpoint, this is the basic distinction between the Temple of Set and Ethel’s Order of the

  Inverse Pentagram (O.I.P.): Ethel bases his claim to the title of Magus and the inspiration for the O.I.P. solely upon

  his own ideas while I understand the degree-system, including the V°, as authenticated and sanctified by a higher

  intellectual presence: Set, the Prince of Darkness. Accordingly I understand my function as a Magus to be that of an

  agency through which a magical principle ( Xeper) is defined and explained by the Will of Set. I further presume

  that the Temple, like the Golden Dawn, A.’.A.’., and Church of Satan before it, is the embodiment of a Mandate

  greater than simply the collective desires of its Initiates. It is precisely what its name implies: the Temple of Set.

  - 306 -

  This distinction makes it far easier for Ethel to explain the O.I.P. than for a Priest of Set to explain the Temple of

  Set, since Ethel is dealing with a known quantity while the Temple is dealing with many concepts so overwhelming

  that we can only approach them by induction and approximation.

  The O.I.P. is nothing more than a social club for materialists who enjoy ceremonial pageantry, and this fact

  bespeaks the ultimate futility of its posture: If it remains true to its proclaimed atheism, then its priesthoods, rituals,

  and mysteries are just so much play-acting. But if it attempts to introduce any sort of external authentication into its

  practices, the O.I.P. betrays its origin as nothing more than a cold-blooded attempt to exploit Murray’s illness, the

  climate of trust and open communication within the Temple of Set, and Ethel’s high office in order to cripple and

  supplant the Temple with an authoritarian dictatorship.

  These are strong words, and I use them deliberately, because I want you to see behind the rhetoric to just was

  really at stake. When the final crisis in the Church of Satan arose, there was no way for the institution to be saved in

  defiance of Anton LaVey, because he maintained absolute legal, financial, and organizational control of it.

  When I drafted the Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws for the Temple in July of X, therefore, I determined to

  design an institution so open and so counterbalanced that misuse of it for anyone’s personal aggrandizement

  would be virtually impossible.

  Accordingly organizational power was carefully divided between the Council of Nine, the High Priest, and the

  Executive Director via an interlocking system of checks and balances. All funds have been kept in corporate savings

  and checking accounts requiring multiple signatures for transaction, and the legalizing of the Temple as a California

  non-profit corporation was accomplished to make it just that much more difficult for someone to abuse it or exploit

  it. [Complete sets of the Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws are provided to every III°, and every Setian is

  welcome to view them.] Finally since our inception we have endeavored to maintain a climate of openness and trust

  that would inhibit cliques and predatory factions from gaining a foothold.

  The effectiveness of these various safeguards can be seen, I think, both in the way in which the Ethel schism

  developed and in the operational profile of the Temple itself during and after the crisis. Although he was Chairman

  of the Council, a position with, among other things, the power to remove a corrupt High Priest from office, Ethel

  could not have established credibility for false charges among a majority of the Nine [who would have had to

  confirm any such action of his by vote]. Hence the Chairman’s office, although powerful enough to protect the

  Temple against an incompetent/megalomaniac High Priest, is useless as a platform from which to stage a “palace

  revolt”.

  Ethel’s only option was to disassociate himself completely from the checks and balances of the Temple

  structure, placing himself in a position in which he would be responsible only to himself. And that is what he did.

  Although he announced that his O.I.P. would be governed by a council, it would be as toothless as the old Church of

  Satan Council of Nine - at most a group of favored advisors who would have no institutional or legal power to

  challenge or overrule Ethel’s desires.

  Because the Temple By-Laws specify procedures for the replacement of all officials, designation of a new

  Chairman of the Council and Executive Director was orderly and systematic. The new Chairman was nominated by

  me per recommendations from the Councillors and then confirmed by formal vote of the Council. The new

  Executive Director was nominated by the Chairman and again confirmed by Council vote.

  Had such procedures not existed, and had the Priesthood not determined to apply them constructively,

  efficiently, and responsibly, it is possible that the Temple might have broken apart under the shocks that it received.

  Not only has it survived, however, but it has come through the ordeal with a greater sense of its own strength and

  character than had been apparent in the days when no such obstacles had been encountered.

  The materialist/atheist alternative that had been presented and the criticisms that had been raised concerning

  the religious philosophy of the Temple also forced Setians of all deg
rees to reexamine their positions.

  Some, who decided that they could not understand the propositions for the existence of Set or who grossly

  misunderstood the essence of that entity, but who enjoyed the pageantry of occultism, opted for Ethel’s O.I.P.

  Others left altogether. But still others, whether by reason or sensation or a combination of the two, came to the

  realization that there was indeed an essence of the Temple and the Æon that was unique and authentic. They not

  only admit to being Setians; they take so profound a pride in that affirmation that it transforms their entire mode of

  existence. They look at the past, the present, and the future with an insight and an understanding that, if not yet

  supernatural, are at nature’s intellectual extremes. And they are determined to expand and ultimately transcend

  those extremes to experience the phenomenon of Setamorphosis.

  We have learned the hard way that the pains we took to protect the Temple against abuse by cliques or

  individuals were justified. We had the machinery to deal with such contingencies; the Golden Dawn, the A.’.A.’., and

  the C/S did not. They came to an end, and we survive. “Those who do not study history are condemned to relive it.”

  We have also learned the hard way that the Temple cannot make silk purses out of sows’ ears. Persons who do

  not possess the qualities characteristic of the Elect cannot be taught them. Nor can persons who reject the exercise

  of those qualities be “rescued”, no matter what degree they have attained. We must content ourselves with

  recognizing those who appear to be Elect, then providing them with the contacts and research assists to develop and

  encourage their potential.

  - 307 -

  If one chooses to experiment with atomic energy, one must risk atomic explosions. And if the Temple proposes

  to unleash dormant powers of the will, it must risk explosions of that power which accidentally or deliberately injure

  it. There is no alternative.

  Consequently suggestions that the channels of information and communication in the Temple be more

  restrictive to lessen the chances of future Ethel-revolts cannot be accepted. We would then be following the path of

  the Church of Satan making our existence more comfortable at the expense of our true reason for existing at all. We

  must understand this now, and we must remember it in the future.

  Moreover crises of this sort are not merely instructive for the damage that they cause. The history of the Temple

  suggests that we are prone to critical episodes which test the evolutionary stamina of the institution and its Initiates:

  “Seldon crises” (as defined in Asimov’s Foundation trilogy ... on our reading list).

  The resolution of a Seldon crisis does not return everything to status quo. Rather it functions as a sort of

  evolutionary dialectic: The clash of a thesis (the pre-existing situation) and an antithesis (the crisis) results in a

  synthesis (a more advanced mode of existence). We can see this process very clearly in the present case, as the

  Temple is far more precise now both intellectually and magically than it was a year ago. So while our “normal”

  projects may have been stopped in their tracks for eight months, the Great Project has taken quite a leap forward.

  Now that the dust has cleared, we are in a position to bring our “normal” projects up to par. Later this summer

  the first edition of the Crystal Tablet of Set, an introductory document written for the I°, will be published.

  Originally designed to provide more sophisticated coverage of the same basic concepts addressed in the Satanic

  Bible, it has evolved into a text that is both more specific in what it does cover and more responsible in terms of its

  academic source.

  Unlike the Satanic Bible it does not attempt to generalize the entire sweep of our philosophy. Rather it is

  designed to be the first in many linked stages of magical and philosophical doctrines presented to Setians. Editor

  and author of the CT is Magister L. Dale Seago, who has devoted much of his time during the past year researching,

  writing, and editing the document for release. Like other Temple publications it will be a “living” work, structured

  for efficient and economical revision as the process of Xeper continues.

  Expect to see some revisions, expansions, and additions to the Ruby Tablet of Set. Glinda and I are at work

  upon one rather ambitious contribution right now, and others (such as some conjectures, shall we say, concerning

  Chambers’ The King in Yellow) are pending. Many of you have mentioned RT drafts you’re preparing as well. The

  reading list, victim of two drastic overhauls since it first appeared, will probably undergo still another updating [and

  fattening]. And who knows? There may be still other RT-related surprises in store - perhaps sooner than you think.

  I have asked Magistra Wendall and Priest Waters to prepare, as their time permits, a general topical index to the

  Scroll of Set to date, so that the publication’s encyclopedic value will be enhanced. An enormous amount of the

  substantive research conducted by Setians since the year X has appeared in this periodical, and its intellectual depth

  is far greater than that of any other publication of an “occult” orientation. Any Setian who does not have the

  complete set of Scrolls to date should make it a point to acquire them, and all Setians who have them should

  occasionally review them for the many fresh insights they offer into the unfolding of the Æon. [I am surprised at

  how many bits of information I may miss at a first reading.]

  You have heard me emphasize the importance of the Scroll before, not as a means for the proclamation of

  dogma but as a forum in which Setians from all parts of the globe may address the entire membership on matters

  important to them and to the Temple as a whole. If we are determined to have and to sustain a Fellowship that

  spans vast reaches of geography, rather than a varying number of purely-localized groups with only a vague sense of

  the entire Temple, we must not only read the Scroll; we must speak through it to one another. [At the San

  Francisco Conclave Priest Waters asked me if I would contribute a regular column to each new issue after this one,

  and I agreed. But such contributions of mine will be kept as succinct as possible, so that all of you will have

  maximum access to the newsletter.]

  Conclaves too will receive fresh emphasis during this next year. There never seem to be enough of them to meet

  the enthusiasm sparked by them! In addition to local and regional gatherings, we hope to schedule the first truly

  Temple-wide Conclave since our founding, for the summer of XIV in Detroit. As much as we may endeavor to bridge

  the distances separating us with letters, calls, and publications, there are still so many factors in philosophical

  dialogue, magical workings, and personal relationships that cannot survive without first-hand contact.

  As our scope of operation continues to grow, we will proceed with the integration of electronic data-processing

  into both our administrative and our creative operations. At present [and for the last three years] our entire

  membership and Scroll mailing records have been handled by computer. And in addition to Glinda (whom you met

  in the November XII Scroll), there are now microcomputers at work in both Magister Grumboski’s data-processing

  headquarters and in the office of the Executive Director. Eventually we plan to develop interfaces for these, so that

  vast quantities of data may travel across the Temple almost instantaneously. You will p
robably see one of these

  computers handling registration/scheduling/locating at the National Conclave.

  And the day may not be far off when every Priest of Set and to some extent every Setian will be able to obtain

  both research material and single or group communications links simply by dialing a telephone number and placing

  the receiver in a standard, personal-sized terminal the size of a portable typewriter or television set. At that time

  printed documents and newsletters may become archaic, as would many letters of a routine nature. Not as fantastic

  a scenario as you might think.

  - 308 -

  On an interpersonal level the Executive Director, with the aid of data-processing, has just completed a project

  matching every Initiate of the Temple with at least two or three contacts of a higher degree, so that no one need feel

  out-of-touch or awkward about initiating dialogue. Again we feel that this is all the more important because of the

  relative isolation of many of our Initiates. Reports that have come in to date indicate that everyone seems to like the

  new idea.

  And so we commence our fourth year of Coming Into Being. As I look back at the first three, I see far more

  reasons to be satisfied with what we’ve accomplished than reasons to regret the jolts we’ve occasionally experienced.

  As Priest Tom Huddleston once so aptly remarked, “no one said this thing was going to be easy”. As we go at it with

  greater energy, coordination, and awareness, it’s going to get tougher. And there will be more Seldon crises, too, I

  suspect, if only to keep us on our toes when we think that we’ve finally thought of everything!

  When I began this report, I wondered whether I should make you any promises concerning the future of this

  Æon, which always seems so irritatingly open-ended. About the only thing I can come up with is a guarantee of lack

  of boredom. [Unless, as Ken Kesey used to say, you decide to get “off the bus”.] It is a future to be determined not

  just by you as a person, but by That within you which is [or may be] Elect.

  A short time ago I saw the motion picture Damien: Omen II. And I had something of a surprise, because the