As was true of the orders and temples of ancient Egypt and Greece, there must be two vital aspects of Xem: the
known and the secret, between which is the bridge of initiation. The process or system leading to that bridge is
already established, and shall be the subject of an entire Key to follow.
The Daemons are, the Daemons were, and the Daemons shall be again. They came, and we are here; they
sleep, and we watch for them. They shall sleep, and we shall die, but we shall return through them. We are
their dreams, and they shall awaken. Hail to the ancient dreams.
- Michael A. Aquino, “The Ceremony of the Nine Angles”
in Anton Szandor LaVey, The Satanic Rituals
- 326 -
A50: The Book of Opening the Way: Key 3
- by Ronald K. Barrett V°
XIV/1979
The Æon of Set has become a magical complex far beyond what was originally envisioned in the year X. The
components of this complex are distinct in their functions, and are intricately interwoven. The components are the
institutional temple, the Temple of Set, the Priesthood of Set, the initiatory degrees, the Executive Director, the
Council of Nine, the High Priesthood, Majestic Man or King/Pharaoh, and Xem.
The institutional temple is the manifestation of the Temple of Set in the temporal or mundane world. It is the
administrative/legal/corporate vehicle in which the Elect may move as a body of Setians among mankind. It is the
institutional temple that a potential Setian “joins” initially to pursue personal magical aspirations. The institutional
temple is vital to the work of the Elect, for it provides the protocol, the by-laws, the treasury, etc., without which the
Elect would be constantly struggling with mundane “ways and means”, thereby forfeiting valuable time and effort
that should be spent in Setamorphosis (both organizationally and individually).
The Executive Director is an extremely important figure in the institutional temple, because he ensures that it
operates efficiently and smoothly. Without the Executive Director, the High Priest of Set and/or the Council of Nine
would become bogged down with administrivia of a non-magical nature, and the institutional temple would displace
the true Temple of Set. It is not difficult to understand why the scribes in old Khem had such a prominent position
in both the temples and the royal house.
The Temple of Set is the magical organization which is perceived by the temporal world as the institutional
temple. It is the reality behind the appearance. It is the true house of Set. It is also true that each of the Elect is in
himself a Temple of Set, since each embodies the Black Flame. It could be said that the collective Temple of Set is
macrocosmic, and that the individual Setian is the microcosmic Temple of Set. Just as a single cell in a physical body
carries the genetic code to the entire body, so it is with the Temple of Set and Its Initiates. The whole is the sum of
its parts, and its parts reflect the whole. This in no way is intended to imply the absorption of individual being or the
surrender of unique identity or of free will. Rather this is indicative of some common denominators among only the
Elect which include individual being and will, as well as the essence of Set. This is also indicative of the absolute
uniqueness of the Temple of Set.
Within the institutional temple the High Priest of Set is the corporate president, and it is he who determines the
policy that the Executive Director will carry out; but the High Priest is more precisely the functional head of the
Temple of Set in its metaphysical reality. It is the task of the High Priest of Set to perceive and administer the will of
Set within the Temple of Set. This is so that the Elect can move with the magical current of the Æon as it winds its
way through the future.
The Council of Nine is the “heart” of the Temple of Set, which advises the High Priest by Its “sense of Set” or
maat. The Nine could be compared to the higher emotional center, because the Council advises by higher senses,
feelings, and intuitions. These feelings are not to be confused with the petty and unbalanced emotions of our lower
human cousins, for such advice would then be unreliable at best, and the Elect would fall to the depths of human
games and politics. The Council of Nine, then, is the “reactive” principle to the “active” principle of the High Priest
of Set; and the two create a principle of balance.
The Priesthood of Set consists of all III° Initiates, and is the “hypostyle” or inner Temple of Set. Only Initiates of
the Priesthood are actual members of the corporation. The lay members are the “peristyle” or outer Temple of Set,
and are I° and II°. 127
Xem is the naos/inner sanctum or “holy of holies” of the Temple of Set, but just what these mean is the subject
for further discussion - as is “Majestic Man”. 128
The entire magical complex is separated into two basic aspects, which, while they are separate, are not divided.
The two aspects have been referred to as the “Two Lands”. The Two Lands are symbols of our dual planes of being:
visible/invisible, light/darkness, manifest/abstract, Ra/Set. HarWer is intentionally not mentioned as was HarWer
not included in the original Xem Working.
The placing of HarWer within our Setian philosophy has been guesswork at best. HarWer has been regarded by
some Setians as our own “Devil”. HarWer has been theorized into physics by other Setians, and by still other Setians
127 RKB chose to refer to the Priesthood of Set as the “Order of Set”, which I have corrected in these reprints to avoid confusion
with the Temple’s official Orders. His portrayal here of the Temple having “inner” and “outer” divisions was also purely personal,
not reflected in the Temple’s original design or organizational documents. He took the analogy from Isha Schwaller de Lubicz’
Her-Bak, which represents the “peristyle” and “hypostyle” as parts of a single continuum for initiates. In the Temple of Set,
however, the II° is regarded as the attainment of personal initiation, with the higher degrees indicative of individual being
beyond the exclusively-personal. - M.A.
128 There is no “holy of holies” of the Temple of Set, unless one wishes to regard the divine consciousness of each initiated
individual thus. The Temple of Set does not “contain” itself inwardly in any way; its entire force is rather external, into the
initiation of each Setian. - M.A.
- 327 -
HarWer is seen as the natural order of the Universe. However all of these ideas have not really appealed to the
Elect’s sense of Set because they were not entirely true.
To make a rather profound answer on this subject of HarWer, there are two questions that need to be asked:
(1) “Who/what are we?”
In “Geneset” Magus Michael A. Aquino points out that man is a creature within the natural order,
but that he need not be subject to all of natural law. Man’s intelligence has made him “completely
inconsistent with every other life-form on this planet” and “with the known laws of evolution” and “with
natural law” itself. Man can “think creatively, spontaneously, abstractly, and æsthetically”. He can
“conceive, design, and construct non-natural concepts, arguments, processes, and objects”. And he can
“distinguish between the natural and the nonnatural, something that would be a logical impossibility if
the human brain were itself entirely natural
”.
The Diabolicon in each dæmonic Statement discusses this very curious creature - man - and his
past/present/future reason for being. It seems that man has both natural and unnatural aspects, and
that while he belongs entirely to neither aspect, he is not entirely free of either aspect. Instead man
stands with a foot in each of the Two Lands (which are opposites). “So, if humans are freakish things
which have developed independently of natural law, why?” 129 What about his curious and dual being
makes him so important to the Prince of Darkness? The answers are within the questions.
(2) “Who/what is HarWer?”
According to the Book of Coming Forth by Night, HarWer is Set’s opposite self - a strange and
fitful presence. HarWer was Set when Set was once part of the Cosmos “and could achieve identity only
by becoming what the Cosmic Order was not”. HarWer therefore is not the Cosmic Order. HarWer
cancelled the imbalance, “leaving a Void in which true Creation could take form as Set”. HarWer was
created so that Set might define himself. Also note that HarWer must exist while Set exists.
Set has made reference to his “Gifted Race” and to his “Elect”, which automatically implies that there is another
race. The word “race” means a distinct group of people -- not mankind. It seems that there are both Elect/Gifted
and non-Elect/non-Gifted, but what determines the difference between them? Philosophy does not make a “race”.
The difference lies in the word “gifted”. The Gift of Set is the Black Flame, that which burns in its own freedom. Only
those who have been given the Black Flame are among the Elect or Gifted Race. The Elect have sprung out of
mankind and are among mankind, yet are distinct from mankind as a whole.
While the Black Flame makes an initial difference in the Elect, it will do no more than that unless it is used, and
it can only be used through will, which must be controlled/ “conquered”. The Gift unused is literally useless; and
without consciousness of its unique essence, it will cease to burn. To kindle its power without controlled will may
cause it to consume the Black Magician who houses the Black Flame.
The Elect, by using the Flame’s transforming powers, have begun Setamorphosis/ Xeper/willed evolution. As we
walk the Two Lands, how “strange and fitful” we must appear in the realm of light with our Dark aspects and
likewise in the realm of Darkness with our Light aspects - we who are both and neither.
But why are the Elect so important (like HarWer) to Set? A clue is locked within the ancient symbolism of Set
and HarWer uniting the Two Lands. This symbolizes the Great Work in Xem, but it is not the result of the Great
Work. It is the fusion of the Principles of light and darkness, matter and spirit, etc. The result is not a combination
of the two, but rather a new thing altogether. This Great Work is as delicate as trying to fuse matter and anti-matter,
and just as dangerous; hence the warning of Belial in the Diabolicon.
Those Elect who have begun this Great Work are Xem and are Coming Into Being (a new kind of being) as gods
whose names are unknown. Having completed the Great Work, they will no longer be Xem, for they will have
transformed into the new beings or gods whose names are no longer unknown. They will have beheld Leviathan.
The non-Elect human cannot participate in our work because of his fear of the unknown, lack of will, lack of
conscious intelligence, and the non-existence of the Black Flame within him. He is symbolized by the neter Ra -
principle of finite man who is born, makes his way across his finite life, has dominion over his finite realm, is
majestic in his finite accomplishments, but eventually grows old and dies, cycle after cycle, æon after æon. He
cannot escape the grip of natural law - the cyclic principle of birth/life/death. The Diabolicon states that the natural
order will continue its cycling until it freezes in absolute stasis, which is the exact opposite of chaos. As non-Elect
man has chosen to ignore the teachings of his own imagination, the reality of his own alienness, and the proof of his
potential, so is he victim to the illusion of impossibility, and, what is worse, he has grown content with it.
And man was long satisfied to measure himself within this limit, for he was intoxicated by his ability to
harness the forces of the Cosmos to his whim. But Astaroth said, Close not thy eyes having seen only this
much, for, were thou to bring all the systems of God to thy use, still would thy comprehension be bounded
by the limits of these laws and the acceptance of the divine order as the finality of thy race.
129 “GeneSet”.
- 328 -
So I confronted man, saying, Throughout the Universe hath the once single Will of God been succeeded by
the balance of perfect opposition, wherein the forces of the Angels of Heaven and those of the Daimons of
Hell act to mutual frustration, serving in concert only to uphold the great barrier of Will between order and
chaos. And man is the child of imbalance, who shall resolve the issue between Heaven and Hell, and who,
unmatched by racial antithesis, shall transcend the rule of the order of God and establish the eternal
freedom of the Satanic Will.
And I said, Not through thy physical and philosophical sciences art thou to achieve this thing, for thy mind
and Will must be trained anew in empirical conception. Man must create his own order independent of all
external imposition. And not until he masters this power may he aspire to the end of his Satanic
evolution.130
For this Key, the important things to remember from the above statement are (a) man being the child of
imbalance, (b) man shall resolve the issue between Heaven and Hell or the Two Lands, (c) man must create his own
order (“...yet am ordered in and of my Self”) and man must master his own power.
What power?
I am Belial, who bring to thee the third great key of Hell, by whose power ye shall confound all the laws of
Heaven and Earth. Before thee shall chaos fall, and thou shalt wield for thyself the great mysteries of the
macrocosmos. I speak to thee of that which is called the Black Magic, for it is true spawn of that great Black
Flame which first brought thy Will to life long ages ago. 131
Only man can hope to perfect being, for man is the only being of both natural law and conscious intelligence -
the Two Lands. But man needs help to accomplish the Great Work. Set cannot stop the direction of the natural order
without assuming its place, else all would go back to chaos. Only man can resolve the issue, but not just any man:
only those who are worthy to be Elect or to receive the Black Flame.
Long ago Set experimented (magically) with a natural creature that it might perhaps do what Set could not, and
man came into being. This man was a composite of opposite aspects, but his natural or physical aspects were still
subject to natural law. This new man was innocent and open-minded, and received teaching through his sense of
Set. This strange new creature at first did not cower from its otherness and welcomed knowledge of its new-found
self. Soon it was seen that knowledge alone was not enough for this creature of dual aspects and the work ahead that
only he could perform, and so to the most advanced of mankind Set gave of his own essence, and within them the
Black Flame ignited.
After a time and with the power that burned within, those men who had been Elect to receive this Black Flame
fou
nded temples which were (both in essence and in structure) consecrated to Set for teaching and protecting the
mysteries of being and preparation for use of the Gift of Set. The temples were schools based on initiation, not
houses of worship.
Out of the temple system, the Great Ones eventually evolved. The Great Ones had become beings higher than
man, and they were awed and respected as gods. So great was their understanding and their unique perception and
their being, that they had actually become Principles of their knowledge. Each Principle, working in concert with the
other Principles toward the Great Work was the “function” of the Principle. Principle + function = neter (a working
Form of a purpose). As the Great Ones did function according to the Principle, they took their names accordingly;
hence the names of the neteru did Come Into Being. Remember that function occurs within the collective effort
toward the collective evolution; work is the individual effort toward individual evolution.
That they might pass on knowledge of their Principles and functions, the Great Ones established their own
priesthoods. Within these they taught according to the understanding of their initiates, for they were not easily
comprehended. Their beings evolved to such extent that their knowledge had to be passed down through the highest
initiates of their priesthoods to the lowest. And all of the priesthoods remained true as aspects of the Priesthood of
Set, which was the body of Elect dedicated to the Setian purpose. They were all within the Temple of Set,
complementing the Great Order as Principles functioning in multiple stages of evolving being.
After more time the Temple had formed a civilization based on Maat, Xeper, and - under the guidance of Set
through the Great Ones - Xem. Set had through his own essence, will, and guidance helped to bring these Great
Ones into being. The greatest of them he chose through whom he would define his self. This great one would
manifest the Principle of Set in the realm of natural order (Light). He would personify the Majesty of Set, and he
would be a living symbol of the highest form of Xeper( a) in the Two Lands. He would be the symbol of the Elect
The Temple of Set II Page 80
