again. Few musicians are aware of these, even fewer people are aware of this. Rituals that are based around music
and media are extremely powerful and cause the celebrant to flow with the environment they are in leaving the
enviroment outside of the ritual chamber. This is an area that needs further exploration.
There have been many musicians within the Temple, but very few of them have spoken about this. It is time for
this to change. The creation of music and media has come into the hands of more people, and because of that there
is more poorly-produced and understood music and media make available today.
The name of the Order comes from Taliesin, Chief Bard of Britain and Celtic shaman, a historical figure who
lived in Wales during the latter half of the sixth century. His verse is established as a direct precursor to the
Arthurian Legends. and Taliesin himself, shaman and shapeshifter, is said to be the direct forebear of Merlin.
Initiates of the Temple of Set who hold the degree of Adept or higher may seek admittance to the Order of
Taliesin by writing to the Grand Master, but be forewarned: this is not an Order for people who just like music. It is
an Order for those with a good understanding of music and media who want to learn more in exchange for offering
what they know.
The Order of Taliesin will work in the following areas as well as others as the Order grows:
1. Music composition and performance
2. Audio recording and production
3. Multimedia composition and production
The Order of Taliesin was not created to be a large Order, but to take the natural Black Magical skills in every
musician and develop and expand upon them.
If music be the staff of life, play on!
- 430 -
A84: The Order of Uart
- by Linda Reynolds IV°, Grand Master
Originally named Order of Python, this Order was founded in 1979 by Magistra Linda Reynolds and then-
Magistra Nancy Flowers. Their intent was for it to be an Order for the exploration of art and magic. In 1997 Priestess
Heather Lee Ayres, who had been in the Order since shortly after its conception, was named Acting Grand Master by
Magistra Reynolds. Priestess Ayres felt it absolutely necessary to Remanifest the creative essence out of its long
stagnation for the Order to survive. The Python was magically laid to rest and cremated, with the UART manifesting
from its ashes.
Uart is an Egyptian term that means “the artist’s quarter”: a place of bifurcation or division (i.e. the Guild/
Temenos structure within the Order. If seen as two words, U and Art means the “well of the Flame in the Great
Oasis”, the source of Dark inspiration and imagination within the Temple of Set.
The work of the OU is based upon the “Nine Perceptions of Heka-An”: the initiatory significance of art that was
revealed to Priestess Ayres on March 21, 1997. These Nine Perceptions are:
1. Art in itself is a valid form of expression.
2. Art is a record of one’s initiation.
3. Art is the Magical Link between the subjective and objective universes.
4. Creativity is a process of the Black Flame.
5. Art is a historical record of culture.
6. The artist becomes immortal in the objective universe.
7. The artist becomes immortal in the subjective universe.
8. The state of mind achieved during an act of creation is a gateway for communication with the Prince of
Darkness.
9. Throughout the act of creation, the mind of Set can begin to become known.
Artists - members of the Order - may work with one or any combination of these perceptions that best suit their
individual path, but are expected to minimally produce ARTifacts to carry the history and culture of the Temple of
Set into the coming millennia, affect the objective universe through their work by unleashing it into the world via
gallery shows, publication, performance in a theatre, etc., reflect their evolving Set nature in their work, and
participate in the Order’s Xeper by putting forth their ideas and projects within their Guild or to the Order as a
whole. These are the criteria for being recognized as a Master of the Uart.
Within the Order are nine Neter Guilds that work within a specific area of art. These are Acting/Performance
Art; Computer Graphics/Photography; Dance; Drawing/Painting; Music; Sculpture/Jewelry; Textiles; Magical Tool
Making; and Writing. Each artist works within a primary Guild but is not limited to that specific artform. As long as
one is productive in a chosen Guild, one is free to work in as many as driven to.
Within these Guilds are temenos (studios) which are each artist’s personal working space, wherein all artforms
that the artist works in are made manifest. A temenos is the subjective magical universe, while the studio is the
objective place of business. Just as each Setian is the center of the universe, each temenos is the core of the Uart.
The Order produces an annual work presented to the Temple, and publishes a newsletter entitled Art en Ptah
(“Document of Ptah”) as submissions warrant.
The Uart is open by invitation to II°+ Initiates of the Temple of Set who are ablaze with the fire of creation, are
compelled to know and express themselves by and through their artwork, and who work their most powerful magic
through their art.
Dual Order membership is acceptable as long as it does not diminish the interaction and focus of the Initiate’s
work in either Order.
Obtaining entrance to the Uart is a process that begins by interested Initiates submitting to the Grand Master
via the Temple office: (1) a sample of their artwork (photographs or copies are acceptable), and (2) a written brief
manifesto of what/why/how they intend to proceed with their work in the context of their initiation, the Uart, and
the Temple of Set.
Behold the genius of your creation!
- 431 -
A85: The Order of the Vampyre
- by Lilith Aquino V° & William T. Butch IV°, Grand Masters
The Order of the Vampyre is an order which embraces the concepts of vampyric presence as a means to personal
power and potential immortality. Vampyrism is a unique Black Magical condition that in and of its very nature
requires a posture which enables a natural and effortless exchange of power from the lesser to the greater. In normal
communication this power is evidenced by the psychological control exerted over others. Through our Black Magic
this power is evidenced by accessing what is known as lucid dreaming, and increasingly gaining mastery over that
state of Becoming which is desirable in its own right.
Vampyrism goes back to time immemorial, and true vampyrism can be traced back in many cultures around the
world, and is therefore known by many different names. A true vampyre knows that he does not achieve the posture
of effortless power through the mundane act of physical blood-drinking. In fact to pursue such acts would mean that
he did not understand his own condition, let alone vampyric Black Magic.
Through Xeper, the Word of the Æon of Set, members of this Order will strive to bring to life those qualities and
aspects of our potential which have long been considered to be dead or latent.
Communication is a cornerstone of our work. Members of the Order will communicate effectively in order to
maintain that concert which will be our collective effort.
The Order’s founders undertook research that brought them into a dialogue with, and the a
cquaintance of
existing vampyric characteristics and archetypal forces. They were examining, testing, and proving to themselves
through direct experience how many of the alleged vampyric powers - such as invisibility, manipulation, the power
of sound and breath, etc. - were real and were useable. Many of these same powers are of course harnessed by non-
OV Setians.
Through the great Black Magic, and in ways that are special to the Children of the Night, we seek to further
enhance and augment such powers. On a lesser level these powers will be evidenced in social communications,
resulting in personal power as measured by social position, wealth, and personal freedom. On a greater level, by
achieving control of the lucid dreaming state, these powers will be the direct experience of vampyres in a world of
their own creation, which can also be potentially shared.
Vampyres can be hideous as well as noble by nature. Vampyres can also be - and are - glamorous. Those who are
members of the Order of the Vampyre will learn to perfect such skills as the application of cosmetics, the use of the
voice in subtle ways (including the embedding of commands in one’s phrases), and the act of holding another’s gaze
to influence, to distract, to control. All of these are designed to enhance the creation of the vampyric posture such
that power flows to the vampyre for both lesser and greater goals.
It is our desire that our school for vampyres address the vampyre at all levels, and that our teachings have a
practical application in the world. Hence all of these are steps towards the formation of a more compleat Setian, a
more compleat vampyre.
As such, powers of imagination and visualization are employed by members in this Order. Therefore art, music,
and literature can and will be used as tools for our Order members. Within our school for vampyres will arise those
who specialize in certain aspects of vampyrism and its proper application. These schools within our school, as well
as other directions and things yet to come to this Order, are to be decided by its Masters and members.
There will be those who first learn more about the Arkte Element here, who then become warriors. There will be
others who first learn of the MetaMind Element here, and who will then specialize in it. Each of these schools within
a school will either be an official office or function of the Temple of Set, or will be informally controlled or helmed by
a Master or senior member of the Order.
Applicants will be considered for admission to the Order by an existing Master of the Order (preferably), or by a
III°+ member of the Order at large, or by one of the Grand Masters themselves. In most cases, if a Master of the
Order deems a Setian is appropriate for the Order, that Setian’s membership will almost always be guaranteed. In
all cases, however, the decision to admit a Setian will be at the sole discretion of one or both Co-Grand Masters.
Either or both Co-Grand Masters will decide favorably on the applicant if he/she is (a) particularly well-suited for
the Order and (b) has the necessary amount of time and degree of commitment for such specialized work. Questions
concerning membership into the Order, or about aspects of the vampyric being, may be addressed to any Master of
the Order (preferably), also to any III°+ member of the Order at large, or to either Co-Grand Master.
- 432 -
A86: The Order of the Wells of Wyrd
- by Rebecca Lance IV°, Grand Master
An ash I know, Yggdrasil by name
With water white is the great tree wet;
Thence come the dews that fall in the dales,
Green by Urdh’s well does it ever grow.
Thence come the maidens mighty in wisdom,
Three from the dwelling down ’neath the tree;
Urdh is one named, Verdhandi the next -
On the wood they scored - and Skuld the third.
Laws they made there, and life allotted
To the sons of men, and set their fates.
With these lines from the Voluspa is introduced a magical working model of the interaction between space and
time:At the axis of the Universe stands a tree, Yggdrasil by name. In its branches lie the worlds of both gods and men.
From beneath its roots springs a well of silvery water - the Well of Wyrd, Urdh’s Well. Any actions from within the
Worlds, any events, any “doings” or “sayings”, manifest as drops of water that fall like silvery drops of dew from the
branches of Yggdrasil into the Well of Wyrd at the base of the tree.
The tree is tended by three Norns - Urdh, Verdhandi and Skuld. Urdh - what has become; Verdhandi - that
which is becoming; and Skuld - that which should become. The Norns tend the waters of the Well. They set the fates
of men, and water the Tree with the waters of the Well.
The cycle is clear: the past flows to the future, which in turn becomes part of a formative past. It is important to
note that in this model there is no room for a predetermined “future”. New actions, new layers in the Well are not
merely stacked on top of each other as a linear archaeological record of the past. Each event, each action that occurs
in the Tree drips down and mixes throughout the waters in an integrative fashion. The past- a fluid repository of all
actions and events in the tree - is mutable, ever-changing. The potential future that flows from it fluxes as well.
The Initiate, as a self-contained manifestation of the Black Flame, has the opportunity to work directly with this
flux and flow. Each willed moment is a magical event. The present is that infinitesimally thin interface between
what-has-been and what that moment can become. The present is a transformative moment because it directs the
flow of Wyrd and transforms all that has gone before, and all that will follow. Reception-transformation-re-
expression.
Wells
The Well of Wyrd is just one of many mythical wells to be explored within the Order.
In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil, the World tree, has three distinct roots extending into three wells. The Well of
Wyrd as a whole is actually composed of the tripartite series of these wells. A root surrounding Ginnungagap feeds
from Mimir’s Well. This is the well into which Odhinn sacrificed one of his eyes, that he might see into the worlds
and obtain wisdom. It may be said to be the Well of Perception.
A root extends into Niflheim and is associated with the well Hvergelmir. Hvergelmir is known as the Roaring
Kettle, or Seething Cauldron. In its bubbling, seething waters are the source of integrative synthesis.
Urdh’s Well nourishes and sustains the root which extends into Asgard, the realm of the Aesir. In old Norse,
Urdh’s Well is known as Urdhar-brunnr. The term “Brunnr” has been translated into English as “well”, but the word
is much more potent than that. Brunnr represents a spring or a well that is centrally located. It also represents the
source of that well, the power that allows the well to fill, and the container of the well itself.
There is a difference between water that arises from a spring in a marsh and spreads out over the ground, and
water that arises through a deep shaft cut in stone, or through a rift in the rocky earth. The water that is not bound
or contained spreads out over the ground and rapidly becomes mud. Water that arises through a defining source,
however, retains its purity and its connection to that source. “Brunnr” represents not only the waters of the well, but
their source, and that aspect of containment or boundary that allows the
well to retain its purity and magical charge.
The only etymological descendant of “brunnr” found in English is the word “bourne”. Hence the name of the
Order’s newsletter, Bourne of Wyrd.
For the Initiate to become an effective interface between what-has-been and what-should-be, he/she must
increase powers of awareness: Awareness of the worlds, awareness of limitations and boundaries, awareness of
mind and body.
The foundation work of the Order is largely composed with increasing these awarenesses, and learning how to
work with the resultant new perceptions.
- 433 -
The cosmology described in the preceding paragraphs is intrinsically Norse, but it illustrates a concept that is
universal: the flow of patterns and the movement of the patterning principle as it sculpts a new future out of all
actions that have become.
In the Order of the Wells of Wyrd, we will call this flow-from “what has been”, to “that which could become” -
the Flow of Wyrd. Work within the Order will center around apprehending the Flow. To attempt to comprehend
Wyrd is to attempt to understand the very thing that allows happenings to manifest. Most of us were raised
primarily from within the comforting rational causalities of Newtonian physics. Drop the apple; it falls. To
comprehend Wyrd, however, is to attempt to perceive a paradigm of causality that transcends linear cause and
effect. It is beyond microscopic and cosmic. It is both and neither.
For Initiate of the O.W.W., the ultimate magical goal is to learn to direct the Flow of Wyrd in a willed fashion.
Each of our initiatory paths flowers from within a matrix of Wyrd. Apprehending and directly working with this
matrix will be the Great Work of the Order. We must learn to bring to the waters those things that will sustain our
magical worlds and nourish the manifestations of our Wills.
Avenues of Exploration
The avenues of exploration of the Order are multifold, and will not all be outlined here. It is expected, however,
that the following three basic avenues should be explored by each Initiate.
(1) Subjective States
To fully apprehend Wyrd, the Initiate may chose to actively explore receptive and subjective states: altered or
The Temple of Set II Page 106
