different or mutated. The act of accomplishing this is called magic.
In the year X the Elect responded to the changes brought about through the will of the Prince of Darkness, and
the Temple of Set came to be known as such. The Book of Coming Forth by Night is full of references to past,
current, and future changes up to and including mankind as a whole. It can be seen that, as has already been
pointed out, whether or not one chooses to recognize the ongoing changes has nothing to do with occurrence of
those changes, and it is very likely one of the major factors considered in the statement: “I seek my Elect and none
other, for mankind now hastens toward an annihilation which none but the Elect may hope to avoid.”
Funk & Wagnall’s defines “annihilation” as “utter extinction”. Consider then that this worrisome statement
could well mean that mankind as we now know the species is going to change right out of existence - excepting the
Elect, who know and understand the Principles at work, and use them to help bring about their own Coming Into
Being as Xem. To possibly support this idea, let me jump ahead to the end of the Working: “We are not to view the
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annihilation as an old world dying - but rather as Xem being reborn out of itself with the Temple of Set as the
vehicle.”
This statement from the Xem Working deserves more comment than what I am prepared to give in this Key, but
please take note of the positive emphasis of the change rather than the negative. The Elect may hope to avoid the
annihilation by taking inevitable change and, by force of will, cause the Principles to bring about the Great Work or
alXemy.
Going back to the annihilation statement in the Book of Coming Forth by Night, note the exact quote and place
emphasis on the word “now”. In this context it appears as though the arrival of the Æon of Set somehow heralds or
initiates the hastening. The Utterance of Xeper in X impacted upon the world and began the process of Becoming, of
evolution for the “Elect and none other”, of annihilation through change for mankind. The Utterance of Xem gives
direction to the Elect for the process by defining what we are Elect to Become. [“but I would teach them ...”]
Long ago another Word was given through Magus Crowley which was to be the essential tool needed for the
Work ahead. That tool would have to be given early enough that a degree of expertise could be acquired in the use of
it. That Word of course is “Will”. Now that we know the basics of the properties and potentials of this force, Set
states that [as regards his Elect] he must “strengthen their Will against the coming peril...”.
Between the first and third Words, however, a bridge had to be made to (a) determine those bold and zealous
enough to perform the work ahead, (b) close the gap between the early initiates and the oncoming Temple of Set,
and (c) refine the understanding of magic and will prior to using them in the work upon and before us. For this
Anton LaVey took upon himself the task of a Magus, and Uttered the Word “Indulgence”.
All of the Words are separate and unique, and have made/are making their impact upon the world, yet any one
without the other three is rendered incapable of reaching full potential. The current magical formula combines the
last two Words and utilizes all four. There is no riddle in having two Words [or four] active in a single æon, for they
outline the Setian initiatory path. Of the formula Xeper ir Xem, however, let me repeat that Xeper is initiating,
causing change, Becoming for its own sake. Xem then gives direction to the changes that are willed, and that is why
Xem is always higher, more specific, and causes balance between being and potential being. Xem is that which is
recognized, realized, and understood by the Elect being perceiving higher being. Xem is the self ahead of itself.
To make that “one step beyond” at any given point or time, the Elect must be without fear, for it is very likely
our deadliest enemy. Fear can negate perception of the next step or perhaps even worse, fear can distort perception
and cause unhealthy mutation. Fear also destroys the necessary force of will necessary to take that next step, and
causes a desire to cling to the known, the familiar, and the illusion of stability. Therefore let the Elect who resolve to
become of the gods also resolve to conquer fear that they might Xeper ir Xem.
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A53: “That Word”
- by Michael A. Aquino VI°
The Black Pyramid
Scroll of Set XX-3, June XXIX/1994
A lot of tortured verbiage has been written about Xem over the years. To me it always was a very simple, clear,
and brilliant concept: the creation of an artificial “focus” for Xeper by each individual, much after the fashion of
Nietzsche’s “horizon-building”, in order to give personal Xeper some cohesion, some direction.
Consider Xeper as a sort of light-bulb, with the individual as the bulb and Xeper as the emitted light. The
individual is thus “expanding/evolving = Becoming” in a total sense - well-rounded, one might say! Its drawback is
that it is non-focused, that it is diffuse. It is accordingly difficult for the individual to comprehend the development
of his state of being, because too much is happening too subtly. The result can be bewilderment, frustration: the
feeling that something wonderful is going on with oneself but not being able to encapsulate or define the entire
experience. Xeper is thus “plagued by the vague”!
Xem as originally Uttered by Magus Ronald K. Barrett acted as a kind of lens to focus Xeper: to take the “radiant
light” and turn it into “cohesive light”, like a laser, directed towards a personal goal which the Setian constructed “at
his personal horizon”. As Xeper is constantly expanding, so the Setian’s “personal horizon” constantly recedes;
hence Xem must constantly be “re-targeted”.
As there is a problem with Xeper in being difficult for the individual to apprehend in himself, so there is also a
problem with Xem. It is that the moment one creates a horizon which is necessarily limited in its “breadth”, if not in
its “distance from the observer”, one sees only a part of the whole. As one fashions the laser-beam of Xem to
approach that horizon, one utilizes only a part of one’s entire Xeper accordingly.
Consider this analogy: With Xeper one is standing out under the night sky, seeing an ocean of stars. With Xem
one looks through a telescope. What one sees through the telescope is clearer, sharper, bigger; and the mind can
make more sense of it. Over a period of time an astronomer can look at lots of individual stars, galaxies, etc. through
his telescope, all of which is a scientific experience. But it would be meaningless without his original experience and
apprehension of the entire night sky. Similarly, without focused, telescopic research, his original sensation of the sky
would remain vague.
So that’s the way Xem began in the Temple of Set. I thought it was a downright dandy V° concept, and RKB had
a dandy time with it. So did lots of other Setians.
The problem with Xem came about, in my humble opinion, simply because some Setians got so excited about
their respective Xem-focus that they insisted on other Setians aligning to the same focus. I would go so far as to say
that this also affected RKB himself, and that his holding of the High Priesthood made it a little too tempting to just
“order people to align themselves to his Xem”.
Yes, a Magus is supposed to undertake his Task through reason,
logic, and philosophical brilliance. And I would say that RKB worked at this extensively and impressively. But after a
few years I think he got a bit tired of it particularly with some Setians who seemed to want him to “go over it just one
more time” and finally yielded to the temptation to use his Temple office to say, “Just do it and shut up or get out!”
Some did it and shut up; others got out with the result that the Temple was down to about 30 members by the
time of the Set-IV Conclave crisis. RKB was matter-of-fact about this; anyone who wasn’t “right with Xem”, so to
speak, ought not to be hanging around as a drag on the rest of the Temple.
Exacerbating the situation was the tendency for others to follow RKB’s example in “how to enforce a V° Word”.
Magister Lynn Norton made a great show of “Uttering the Word Per-t” which was later exposed as an intentional
fraud by him and was even more high-handed than RKB in demanding that Setians march to its tune or else. At the
Set-4 Conclave, for example, he refused to discuss Per-t openly, saying that he would talk only to the Masters of the
Temple about it and that other Setians would have to sit at their feet to be fed such elements of it as might be
suitable for them.
As High Priest RKB devised a standardized written examination for the II°. At first it was voluntary that III°s
take it too; later RKB made it mandatory for them as well.
As with Xem itself, the test started out as a good idea with the best intentions, then “got its knickers in a twist”,
as our British cousins might say. RKB developed it to remedy a problem he perceived in the II°-Recognition process:
that it was too “fuzzy”. People were being Recognized to the II° on the grounds of “vague feelings” by a III° which
neither the III° nor the II° could quite put into words. RKB felt that every II° should demonstrate competence in
certain standardized magical knowledge-bases, hence the II° test which required the reading of certain magical
books drawn from the Temple reading list and RKB’s own library.
At first the test was to be used more on an open-ended basis, as a kind of general diagnostic tool. This was
necessary given the highly-subjective, highly-personalized nature of Black Magic. This approach was still too “out of
focus” for the Magus of Xem, however, so the II° was officially re-defined as “mastery of White Magic” and the
answers to the test strictly standardized. [Black Magic simultaneously became the assignment of III°s.] III°s were
now also required to take the II° test, and each test would be graded by RKB exclusively.
The result, as with Xem, was a forced alignment of each Setian to RKB’s personal magical skill standards and
priorities. It was, in a word, a disaster. After Set-IV one of my first actions as High Priest was to scrap the entire
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concept, return the tests to their takers, and return the Temple to its previous policy of 100% individualized
Recognitions. And of course White Magic went back out the window to the Right-Hand Path where it belongs.
[Setians are still expected to know about it - indeed more about it than the RHP droolers who stumble around
tangled up in it! - but as a phenomenon to be assessed from an objective, outside perspective, not as something to
be personally practiced.]
Finally there were the Orders that developed during the RKB High Priesthood. They were drastically different
from the Orders in the Temple of Set today. Each was headed by a Master IV°, but the I°/II°/III° members were all
considered to be “apprentices” to that Master. Also each Order kept strictly to itself. Other Setians could not know
what it was doing or participate in it at all. RKB’s own Order, the Order of Anubis, became in effect the “secret elite”
of the Temple. Anubians routinely knew about RKB’s thoughts and plans for the Temple as a whole long before
anyone else even the Council of Nine. The result was a Temple fragmented into uncooperative and suspicious
cliques.
Again right after Set-IV I shook this rug out quite a bit. Since then Orders may work internally on matters of
special interest to them, but the products of their wisdom are expected to be easily accessible to the entire Temple
via open newsletter subscriptions, open Conclave presentations & meetings, etc. Order members are not expected to
be “apprentices to the Grand Master”, but are rather free agents with a common field of interests and specialties. No
one Order is a “privileged” one, and certainly no Order has higher or earlier access to Temple policy information
than the Council of Nine or the Priesthood of Set generally.
Well! All of this seems so clear in hindsight, doesn’t it? It was not so apparent when the Temple of Set was first
experimenting with Xem, nor with the II° test, nor with RKB’s Order system. I myself thought each was a good idea
in its original form, and so did most other Setians. As things gradually got screwed up over a period of time, it was
confusing to be caught somewhere between the initial, positive impressions and the developing negative realities.
As I look back on the period of stress and crisis which came to a boil at the Set-IV Conclave, I can point my
finger at a number of individuals who by then were clearly conspiring to usurp the Temple for their selfish
aggrandizement. I was disgusted at such profaning of a sacred trust then, and remain so today.
However and I respect the prerogative of others to disagree with me on this point I do not consider RKB a
“traitor” of this type. I think that his is the classic case of the Curse of a Magus overcoming his Task made more
tempting by the powers of the High Priesthood of Set which were at his fingertips. [The Temple learned from this
too, and after Set-4 we rewrote major sections of the By-Laws to prevent such concentrations of authority in the
hands of any one official.]
The Task of a Magus is to Utter [define, explain, demonstrate] his Word. The Curse of a Magus is that such a
Word, being outside the philosophical “universe” of existing initiates, will be alien to them, hence [at least initially]
unintelligible and incredible.
You see why Magi get heartburn easily particularly when they themselves must first grapple with the “blinding
flash” of the Word in question, as Anton LaVey referred to it. As a Magus who has been through this “blinding
flash”, Task, and Curse myself, I am often wryly reminded of a comment by the musician Miles Davis: “I’ll play it for
you first and tell you what it is later.”
In a sense Anton screwed up the Church of Satan when he took his Word to a personal and selfish extreme, and
the same could be said of RKB. We can condemn the unfortunate result; I think, however, that we would be arrogant
indeed to condemn the Magus in question for daring to set out upon such an uncharted and hazardous journey.
Ultimately the Temple of Set is better for the RKB era, per the aphorism: “That which does not kill me makes me
stronger.” And I continue to consider Xem an authentic V° Word within the Æon of Set. As with any V° Word, it has
extraordinary and unsuspected power. If you use it wisely, it can do great things for you. If you fiddle around with it
carelessly, it can do not-so-great things to you.
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A54: The Set-2 International Conclave
- from the Scroll of Set, August 1980
Set-II and XemSet: This was Surely Home
- by Constance L. Moffatt III°
Set-II was a most magical and magnificent experience for all who attended. Almost every Setian present who
had attended Set-I made comments to the effect that this second International Conclave had something that last
year’s did not have. One of the prime reasons was probably the initial fact that we were at home, on sacred ground,
at XemSet.
Most of us had also grown magically and metaphysically in the year’s time, and this was very evident in our
discussions - both formal and informal - and in our workings. Since most of us had met in the past, or become
acquainted through correspondence, we greeted each other like long-lost relatives and felt quite comfortable and
relaxed alone with “our own kind”. On a mundane level the surroundings were exquisite, and the tremendous work
and love that went into preparing for our stay were extremely visible.
The first official get-together was a hospitality room at the motel, hosted by the Khaibit Pylon. It was here that
many friendships were renewed.
The caravan of cars left for XemSet at 9:00 the next morning; there all were once again greeted by Magus
Ronald K. Barrett and Priest Ricco Zappitelli, the official hosts of Set-II. After coffee and homemade coffee cake, the
first Conclave meeting was called to order in the shade of giant trees. A most moving tour of XemSet followed. The
beauty and symbolism of the land and its artifacts were explained by Magus Barrett.
Even Setians must eat. And who knows better how to prepare for such activities than Priest Zappitelli and his
helpers from the Bay Area? After a spread of food fit to feed an army, the meetings of the Order of Set and the lay
membership were held in separate locations (XemSet is comprised of 20 acres, which gave us lots of room to move
around in). While Magus Barrett, assisted by Magistra Lilith Sinclair (official coordinator of the Conclave),
conducted the III°+ gathering, Adept Chuck Weiss led the I°/II° meeting.
If we thought lunch was massive, we were not prepared for the evening dinner. Priest Zappitelli and his team
outdid themselves, with literally tons of various kinds of fried chicken and all the good things that go with it.
The Temple of Set II Page 83
