The Temple of Set II

by Michael A Aquino

  We are not to view the annihilation as the death of an old world, but rather as Xem being reborn out of itself,

  with the Temple of Set as the vehicle. XemSet shall be the beginning of the restoration of facilities for Xem, and not

  a reproduction of a style of architecture called “ancient Egyptian”. The attitude of all who are there - residing or

  visiting - is to be in keeping with the principle governing Xem or higher man - that being Xeper.

  - 322 -

  A48: The Book of Opening the Way: Key 1

  - by Ronald K. Barrett V°

  XIV/1979

  This which is to be revealed of Xem will require an effort of will to understand. It will be necessary to utilize

  wisdom and a higher sense for comprehension.

  This is written for the minds and hearts of Black Magicians and none other, for only they possess the intuition

  and insight required. There shall be ancient and occult language used with new meanings, and a new language used

  with ancient and occult meanings. It is each magician’s task to comprehend truth ( maat) and to become it.

  To consider undertaking the changes and creation that are necessary within the being to Xeper and to create

  Xem, it is most important to seriously consider all the implications. Xem shall require a great amount of

  zealousness, of magical work, of self-discipline, of self-inspection, and no compromise.

  It is up to each aspirant to determine his own willingness and readiness to meet the challenge of entering Xem.

  Once begun, there is no going back, for it is a new dimension of being that is initiated. If turning back once begun,

  the aspirant will lose all that has been gained; and worse yet, that which was gained will become as a malignancy for

  which there is no cure.

  It must be further understood that with this new dimension of being which is ever evolving, the work shall not

  be accomplished by employing human standards, which are but games, petty religion, and politics. Neither is the

  work to be construed in an organizational concept like any other on Earth. Rather it is the constant construction of a

  metaphysical/magical/philosophical state of being and state of beings - with the principles of Xeper and maat as the

  cornerstones.

  Withal the will cannot and must not relax. Those who cannot or will not understand these things should wait

  until they recognize Xem. But to wait too long might cause the will to grow weak, and they might be imprisoned in

  lower states of rest and preservation.

  Those who decide to work and accept that which comes with the work will Xeper and actualize Xem. To hesitate,

  to rationalize in human terms, to feel negativeness or fear or lack of confidence may negate Xeper.

  The aspirant must be conscious of that which he is and is not, which he knows and knows not, which he does

  and does not, which he wills and wills not, which is maat and is not maat. The aspirant can be conscious of all this,

  but he must work for it.

  The Elect who shall work toward Xem must also know that alone the work cannot be completed. The Elect must

  realize that the work shall require assistance from Set and the other Ancient Ones, for Xem is many-sided. In order

  to work with them, the Elect must be constantly aware of themselves and consciously aware of Set - as well as the

  Old Ones with whom they shall work. Xem shall not otherwise be accomplished.

  To Become and to maintain the new level of being while aspiring even higher is an enormous task. To

  incorporate human weaknesses, imperfections, emotional insecurities, and other personal flaws into the Xeper

  process will result in those impurities being later magnified, intensified, and manifested in Xem. This would ensure

  disaster for the magician, extreme danger to the Elect in Xem, and the possible effacing and ending of the Majesty of

  Set. It becomes the task of the aspirant to Xem to not hesitate nor relax in the first steps of the new initiation. The

  Elect must will to work, to turn their magic in on their selves for the purpose of creating and changing into higher

  beings. Since there are few points of reference other than ourselves, Set, and the neteru, it will be vital to eliminate

  fixed opinions, animosities, psychological or emotional crutches, and fear of the unknown.

  When the aspirant has decided to Xeper toward Xem and has prepared the self with an attitude of initiation, he

  is ready to stand before Maat and to weigh his heart against her truth. This is not unlike standing before a “magic

  mirror” that reflects the true being. This must be done as initiation begins. As a result of the working, the state of

  being will manifest itself in nobility or imperfection. The being will be seen as it is, for that is its truth and its

  position regarding Xem and Xeper. This is an important aspect of the first Key, and it will be used time and again

  with the other Keys which follow.

  These Keys will not teach; neither can Xem be taught. Xem must first be recognized, then realized, and finally

  actualized by each aspiring magician. Not all shall understand and not because they cannot, but because they choose

  not. Understanding accompanies the desire to work toward Xem, to Xeper. Maat is apparent to those who willingly

  stand before her, for her concern is with the heart and its balance. Each aspirant must will his work of Xeper. Those

  who do not Xeper will be as blind to Xem as they are to Maat.

  To initiate an understanding of Xem and Xem’s implications, it is vital to learn with the intelligence of the heart,

  which shall in turn teach the intellect a new language. It is a language of higher being, of philosophy and magic. Its

  forms are the symbols of essential thought and the art of the inner eye.

  To begin learning with the intelligence of the heart, it is necessary to change the mental outlook and the normal

  way of thinking. Not all knowledge pertains to the first three dimensions or the mundane world, and neither can the

  language of higher being be precisely translated into merely mundane concepts.

  Before the learning process begins, there must be a starting point. There can be no answer to anything unless

  first there is a question. The question, to inspire a valuable answer, must come from the heart and not from the

  - 323 -

  intellect. It should also be known that the knowledge gained and the benefit thereof will be limited to the intensity

  towards which it was aspired. Therefore the significance of the question must be contemplated with wisdom, which

  also is of the heart.

  The question must be a quest for knowledge and a question in which the entire will is concentrated and the self

  is conscious. Only an answer can make a question possible; therefore every question contains its own answer.

  Thus it was that Xem came to be pronounced; thus it is that Xem shall be known.

  Not unlike the Diabolicon, many of the secrets of Xem are cloaked in myths - but of ancient Egypt ( Khem)

  rather than of the Hebrews. And so it is to Khem that some of Xem’s initiates shall frequently turn. Their intention

  will be to strip away the veil which hides the mysteries beyond. This veil is extremely complex and confusing, and

  that fact only strengthens the importance of learning the language of Xem, that language which can only be learned

  with the intelligence of the heart and which must be preceded by question.

  The frequent concentration on Khem by Xem’s scavengers does not imply an attempt by them to rebuild Khem.

  Xem is a continuance and not a reversion to anything that has gone before. Instead the concentration there is for the

&nbs
p; taking apart of Khem, stone by stone and myth by myth, to finally reveal the secrets of Khem’s origin - Xem. This

  shall also be done so that Xem might continue where it left off. Uniting the magical past and future within Xem shall

  be part of Xeper.

  To embark upon this quest as Egyptologists have done will afford only mundane/ historical data and

  information. While that information is useful, it is not the essence of the quest. Knowledge and understanding are

  the purpose of this particular quest.

  The quest for the secret knowledge can only be made by magicians through magical work and philosophers

  through the higher senses or wisdom. So it is that the quest will go beyond Egyptology and the popular sciences

  (which are largely superficial) into the very essence of these: Xem and metaphysics.

  The quest for each Initiate must be twofold, and will resemble assembling a great metaphysical/multi-

  dimensional puzzle:

  • First, the usable pieces must be found from a universe of sources and then placed together. The network

  of the pieces is just as important as the whole. To complicate this even more, Xem is only as it becomes.

  What Xem will be is obscured to the individual Initiate, limited by his understanding, effort, level of

  being, and of course time and space.

  • This brings up the second aspect of the quest, which should be quite obvious. The Elect must raise their

  own states of being to new levels constantly, and just as constantly maintain the highest level of being

  attained. Thus there is an internal and external question occurring simultaneously, each making the

  other possible - each raising the other.

  It is vital to note that the process is not automatic just because one is a Setian. The process will only occur for

  those Elect who work. Xem and the levels of being are ever unknown until attained.

  It should not be thought that the quests are limited to ancient Egypt, for there are keys all around and

  throughout the times of mankind. But more important than where the keys are found is the knowledge of how to use

  them once they have been found.

  For those who would know, let their eyes and ears turn inward to seek their question. Let them learn the

  language of being so that this same being might recognize Xem through maat. The only truth is that of being, but to

  evolve that being one must know his own self. One cannot be otherwise ordered in and of oneself. One cannot chart

  the way through Xeper if he does not know where he is at present - which changes constantly.

  Those who shall elect to undertake this monumental work to realize and actualize Xem, and who shall recognize

  the self, and who are determined to become and be what they are become, shall also be ready to take the step that

  separates but does not divide. And that step is initiation into Xem.

  - 324 -

  A49: The Book of Opening the Way: Key 2

  - by Ronald K. Barrett V°

  XIV/1979

  Xem is not an organization that one might consider joining, and yet it has had and will have an order and

  orders. Just what these are depends on what the Initiates create with their wills. Certainly these cannot be perceived

  from a three-dimensional perspective, nor can/should Xem be created by any other than those who are initiated into

  Xem’s mysteries and secrets. Xem is an abstraction which the Elect shall attempt to manifest and then transform.

  There are internal or hidden keys and external or mundane keys, esoteric and exoteric clues which must be used,

  but before these keys can be used to unlock the secrets, one must take a great step in personal evolution. This step is

  conscious and willed, and is called initiation. This initiation is an ordeal of change.

  The initiation was shown in the original Xem Working as the hall of judgment, wherein the heart of the aspirant

  was weighed against Maat’s feather. Failure of the heart to be in balance with truth resulted in the aspirant being

  handed back to Osiris. Aspiration or good intentions are insufficient to Xeper. Xeper is never a relaxed will, and

  only Xeper can transform being. Xem gives direction to Xeper, and initiation into Xem ensures balance.

  The fate of my Gifted race rests in balance...

  - The Book of Coming Forth by Night

  Thus the judgment/initiation vision. Each aspirant must pass through to Xem, and being called Setian is no

  guarantee of passage. One must be Setian.

  Set is the leader only of higher man.

  - Xem Working

  This statement is strongly supported in the Book of Coming Forth by Night. The idea of judgment should not be

  confused with Right-Hand Path systems or philosophy that speak of moralism and altruism, etc., for these have

  nothing to do with maat.

  Initiation is the pylon gate to Xem which opens or blocks the way to that which is beyond. It is a step of Xeper,

  and one that can only be approached with deliberation. To some it may seem unimportant, ludicrous, or even

  ominous; but it is the only entrance to Xem.

  “Higher man must conquer fear” is the first challenge of the Xem Working, and likewise for one considering

  initiation. One may feel arrogantly secure and brave in the face of the familiar, but confronting one’s self can be a

  merciless ordea. And having seen the self (with its illusions of what it perceives to be) against Maat’s feather (that

  which truly is) can be very sobering to say the least.

  Here it is that the ordeal of initiation causes change. The aspirant is confronted with the challenge of

  constructive transformation or regression, which can only be a gesture of regression; for one cannot unlearn nor

  forget what was revealed of the self during the ordeal. The Black Flame is acutely out of place in the Osirian realm,

  and therefore the one who tries to regress has only two alternatives: (1) extinguish the Black Flame or (2) kindle that

  Flame and conquer the will. 126

  It could be said that, among other things, initiation is a shield against impurities being further incorporated into

  Xeper and becoming part of the magical framework of Xem. In this respect it serves the individual and the Majesty

  of Set.

  There is no method of initiation prescribed for Setians into Xem, for true initiation must be provoked and occur

  within the individual aspirant consciously and willfully. The Order of Anubis will provide initiation facilities and

  assistance at XemSet for those wishing to go through a planned ordeal, but those who prefer to go it alone can create

  their own ordeal using this Key as a guide to what must transpire.

  Those approaching Xem through their own evolution will recognize the signals that will call them to initiation.

  Only those who have conquered fear should undertake the ordeal, as stated before.

  The call to initiation is impossible to not recognize, for it comes as a longing, an inner need demanding to be

  fulfilled. It shall seem as a need for inner action, and there will be an unceasing impulse to force an esoteric issue.

  The aspirant will feel an obsession to know truth and to be. This will be unignorable.

  During the initiation, which may take one evening or one year, the being calls upon its self to reveal itself to its

  self. This shall require an awakened state from which one may see the truth of self balanced against maat, and this

  must be willed. One’s inner vision is carried well beyond normal limitations, and the aspirant may be forced to see a

  terrifying yet awesome glimpse of man, Xem, the neteru, the work ahead, as well as the fate for failure - and his ow
n

  relation to each of these. It is again a journey into the very essence of Maat and the self with regard to her. The being

  will definitely feel itself in the presence of the Old Ones.

  126 See the “Statement of Belial” in the Diabolicon.

  - 325 -

  The gates of Xem are opened to those who would see, and shall not be closed again. Initiation is the directing of

  one’s own Powers of Darkness inward to open the gates of self. Here the aspirant may find the true source of and

  answer to his question.

  Through initiation the aspirant can be born into a new dimension of being. It is being that was not. Here

  awakens a conscious intelligence that recognizes its own maat and freedom. The aspirant should also have a

  glimpse into the source of the magical current which is passing through mankind, as well as the self ahead of itself -

  the path of Xeper extending toward what can be.

  An important part of initiation is the call to the neter with which the successful Initiate will work; this may or

  may not be the result of telesmatic construction. The importance is in the function of the neter and not in the name.

  The neter will be recognized by its nature. If the aspirant has already established or recognized a strong affinity

  toward a particular neter, the reason or working relationship could quite possibly unfold. More on this shall be

  discussed in a Key concerning the neteru and their significance to the initiates and to Xem.

  The initiation into Xem is the beginning of the actual quest for the unknown and nameless one. The work is the

  preparation for and concludes only with the Great Work - which in itself is but a new beginning, having fulfilled the

  challenge set forth in the Diabolicon’s “Statement of Leviathan”. For this reason it would not be inappropriate to call

  the initiates of Xem “AlXemists”. Initiation is the preparation for the work toward finding the Philosopher’s Stone -

  Xem.Initiation then is the giant step toward true understanding of the mysteries and secrets of Xem. Xem’s

  foundation is in the abstract. To the uninitiated, Xem will always be veiled in mystery and will seem to them very

  much like the Second Foundation did to outsiders in Asimov’s Foundation trilogy. And they won’t be entirely wrong.