stating.
In the case of the fledgling Temple of Set, the premises of its identity and authenticity were
clearly in the realm of belief: mine in the truth of my own apprehension of the Book of Coming
Forth by Night, and other Setians’ in trust of that belief of mine, at least until such time as they
might experience comparable direct apprehensions of Set. For now the tacit consensus was to
give Magus Michael Aquino plenty of time [and rope] to resolve this mystery of Greater Black
46 Fowles, John, The Magus (Revised Edition 1977). Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1965, page #185.
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Magic, and in the meantime to see how this new Temple of Set might exercise its talents in the
less-ethereal pursuits of its Lesser cousin.
Lesser Black Magic as defined by the Church of Satan referred to the use of obscure laws of
nature, and/or clever manipulation of situations or perceptions, to facilitate or achieve the
magician’s purpose. Thus it was an extension of stage or “carny” magic at its most simple, and
the control of entire populations at its other extreme. Until fairly recently in history LBM had
been practiced only at a modest, localized level, and then as an implicit personal skill rather than
as a deliberate, scientific system of power and control. It was as such a skill that it was explored
by scholars such as Niccolo Machiavelli in The Prince.
The Church of Satan’s membership interest in LBM had never gone much beyond
impressing/manipulating the opposite sex or nudging a job promotion. Anton LaVey liked to
claim dramatic control-workings for himself, the shock-and-awe of which escalated after 1975
until he was grappling with a DERO-like conspiracy of opponents worldwide. 47
It was apparent to me that the Temple of Set would, in the normal course of its future, be
taking a far more methodical and sophisticated interest in LBM than had heretofore been the
case. That raised the question of ethical guidelines. If we intended to teach new Setians the
principles of LBM and encourage them to apply those principles without the Temple, some self-
conscience of rightness/wrongness was essential. Ordinary human societies have laws, mores,
and customs to pre/proscribe specific types of behavior. Since the principles and techniques of
LBM are generally unknown by those societies, however, there are many gaps in existing law,
and socialization generally, capable of addressing them.
During 1974-76, as it happened, I was pursuing a Master’s degree in Political Science at the
University of California, Santa Barbara. One of my specialty fields was Political Theory, which
involved numerous seminars in philosophy. This could not have come at a more fortuitous time,
as it sensitized me to ethical issues and options in a variety of social contexts.
Two of my professors, William Ebenstein and Raghavan Iyer, were especially influential.
Ebenstein, a student at the University of Vienna and the London School of Economics, had gone
on to a distinguished teaching career first at Princeton and then at UCSB. Over the years he had
authored several benchmark works in political theory, several of which remain influential today.
Ebenstein liked my work in his seminars, but was clearly distressed over my refusal to agree
with him that philosophy began with the Greeks. By late 1975 my own research had convinced
me that Egypt deserved this honor, which I argued in more than one graduate paper. We finally
reached an amusing but acceptable compromise: He introduced me to Henri Frankfort’s Before
Philosophy, which paradoxically surveyed “pre-philosophy philosophies” throughout many pre-
Greek civilizations of antiquity. [Frankfort also wrote another work, Kingship and the Gods,
which provided important linkages from Plato’s philosopher-kings to the governmental
principles of Egypt.]
Raghavan Iyer had journeyed from his native India to England, where he took his doctorate
in philosophy at Oxford University before assuming a professorship at UCSB. The author of
several brilliant textbooks concerning Gandhi, Plato, and both theoretical and applied politics,
he was also a revered sage in the Theosophical Society, for which he had written many esoteric
papers. [Many of these can be found today on the Internet at http://theosophy.org.]
Iyer and I hit it off almost immediately insofar as both of us were fascinated with political
science in both exo- and esoteric contexts. During many of his seminars, and the informal
coffeehouse gatherings that often followed them, he and I would argue passionately about the
47 In 1945 the science-fiction magazine Amazing Stories published a tale about DEraged RObots lurking in
subterranean caves, which, anticipating L. Ron Hubbard’s fictional “dianetics”, was believed as reality by credulous
cultists henceforth.
- 53 -
music of the spheres, immortality/transmigration of the soul, and Atlantis while other students
just gazed at us and shook their heads in bewilderment.
Iyer certainly did not doubt the existence of pre-Greek philosophy - he and Ebenstein
maintained a respectful professional distance in the Department - but it vexed him a good deal
that I had been suckered in by the teachings of that disreputable occult charlatan and crank
Anton LaVey. I on the other hand made no secret of my consternation that he had been suckered
in by the teachings of that disreputable occult charlatan and crank Helena Blavatsky. This
resulted in a steady stream of “A-” grades for me throughout my studies with him. He once
remarked that any other student turning in work of my quality would get straight “A”s, but in
view of my initiated potential he felt honor-bound to goad me with that “-”. So I took it as a
compliment, and indeed would have been alarmed if at some point it had disappeared.
As Ebenstein had guided my research into ancient political and philosophical thought
towards careful, painstaking standards, so Iyer introduced me to the metaphysics and cosmology
underlying that same field of study. Both, of course, I took back with me to the Temple of Set,
which I increasingly saw as a Pythagorean/Platonic academy destined to go far beyond
conventional social and organizational limits. We would not only undertake true initiation as
individual Setians, but the Temple itself would become a metastructure both to enhance our
personal efforts and to etherealize its own metaphysical reality.
Meanwhile in the ordinary world outside these ivory towers, other influences were at work in
society which would also shape aspects of the fledgling Temple of Set. If the 1950s had been a
decade of Eisenhower-era conformity to traditional American values, the 1960s had ruptured
this comforting norm with the twin shocks of the John Kennedy assassination and the Vietnam
War. Disillusionment and social alienation led to mass movements of popular rebellion and
revolution, which seemed for a brief time to actually be changing the Old Order for a more
peaceful and loving New Age. But that in turn lost its energy and innocence with the
assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, and the ultimate hippie nightmares
of Charles Manson.
By the 1970s many visionaries and utopians had given up on Earth’s human civilizations
altogether and were looking for another Way Out - which turned out to be a Way Up, to outer
; space. George Lucas’ 1977 Star Wars arrived just in time to touch a match to this escapism; the
movie became a worldwide sensation like nothing before or since. In addition to reenergizing its
predecessor Star Trek, it also jump-started real interest in space colonies and emigration,
through such cooperatives as the L5 Society and the World Future Society [in both of which I
held academic-level membership].
L5, named for the 5th Lagrangian libration point of gravitational equilibrium between Earth
and the Moon, was thought to be the ideal location for a permanent human space colony. The
Society, founded in 1975 just two months after the Temple of Set, took its inspiration from the
space-colonial writings of Gerard K. O’Neill, most notably The High Frontier. As at the same
time America’s new space shuttle was popularly regarded as the precursor to openly-available
civilian space transport, L5 seemed entirely reasonable and practical. [Twelve years later the
political paranoia of the 1980s, with its militarization of the space shuttle and other space efforts,
doomed L5. It disintegrated into the National Space Society 48 , an Earthbound NASA fan club,
which it remains to this day. Like the decaying bride in Great Expectations, the NSS still speaks
wistfully about space colonization, but the excitement that it was really soon to happen is gone.]
1975 also marked the revival of one of San Francisco’s most famous Haight-Ashbury era rock
bands, the Jefferson Airplane - now, in synch with space, the Jefferson Starship. Like the Temple
of Set, it seemed mesmerized by the significance and power of that year, celebrated in its songs
48 http://www.nss.org
- 54 -
such as “Ride the Tiger” and “War Movie”. I had sent one of the thirty original copies of the Book
of Coming Forth by Night to the Starship’s Paul Kantner, commencing a friendship and
exchange-of-vision which has endured to this day. [Some sparks of this, originally published in
the Scroll of Set and Order of the Trapezoid’s Runes, etc. appear here as Appendix #9.]
Over the Halloween weekend the first of what were to become a spectacular series of
international conclaves of the Temple of Set was held in Santa Barbara, as recounted in the
December issue of the Scroll:
Friday evening (Halloween): Those who had arrived by Friday evening were treated to dinner
and a reception at our High Priest’s home. Wall certificates were presented to those who attended.
Those who were not present Friday evening were invited to lunch with the High Priest on
Saturday, and received wall certificates at that time.
Saturday afternoon (November 1): The highlight of the discussion period was the presentation
of the final papers which make the Temple of Set a nonprofit, tax-exempt California religious
corporation. The High Priest explained that federal tax-exempt status should now be easily
obtained.
Also of note during this session was the choosing by lot of the terms of office of the Council of
Nine, which are as follows: Priest Thomas S. Huddleston - 9 years, Priest Ronald K. Barrett - 8
years, Magistra Lilith Sinclair - 7 years, Priest Amn DeCecco - 6 years, Priestess Jinni Bast - 5
years - Magister Michael A. Grumboski - 4 years, Magister Robert Ethel - 3 years, Magister L. Dale
Seago - 2 years, and Magistra Margaret Wendall - 1 year. It must be noted that these people do not
automatically leave the Council at the end of these terms. They will be reconsidered at that time. If
their continued service on the Council will benefit the Temple of Set, they will serve another nine
year term.
Saturday evening (November 1): The Conclave Banquet was held at Squire Richard’s Pub in a
truly Old English setting, with “wenches” serving table and a minstrel who sang to us.
Saturday evening Ritual (November 1): The Conclave Ritual was held at 11 PM. A specially-
made candelabra, with a candle representing each degree of membership in the Temple of Set, was
lit. Those members of the Council of Nine who attended were presented with insignia of office
( Tcham scepters handcrafted by Priest Murray). The highlight, however, was the presentation to
the High Priest of a sword, the Double Crown, and a crook and flail.
Sunday morning (November 2): Breakfast at Squire Richard’s Pub at what must be one of the
minor disasters of Santa Barbara history! Each person ordered something different, and a fuse
blew, throwing the toaster, the coffee maker (and probably the cook) out of order for awhile. All
felt the waitresses could have charged us an “entertainment tax” for the way they kept their
composure and even joked with us about the breakdown “we” had caused.
Much important business was accomplished; Setians who had been corresponding with each
other for a long time had a chance to meet face-to-face. New friendships were formed, and all who
attended left with a feeling that the Temple of Set is truly a Brotherhood.
Thanks are due first to Magistra Sinclair, who coordinated the conclave; to the High Priest,
who so graciously opened his home to us; to Priest Murray for the rite observed and long hours
making the candelabra, pentagram and insignia; to the motel personnel who made the stay
pleasant; and to the staff of Squire Richard’s who made our meals together most enjoyable.
Among the topics of discussion and speculation at this initial conclave was the meaning of the
further human evolution as implied by the Book of Coming Forth by Night. Was this to be
understood and interpreted as a purely initiatory development of consciousness, or as a physical
change of some sort, or as a species-migration phenomenon [as into space]? Until we resolved
this, Setians decided to look into all three options. On the South Solstice of 1975, I sent the
Priesthood my thoughts on the issue: Setamorphosis [Appendix #10].
Setians responded very positively to this rather extraordinary prospectus, indeed more so
than I had frankly anticipated. By the Vernal Equinox of 1976 there had been such a flurry of
organizational developments, to say nothing of brainstorming, that it was time for an update,
and so I sent the Priesthood Setamorphosis II [Appendix #11].
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Looking back on these documents and the escapist-fantastic visions they express, it may
seem, from a perspective thirty years later, that the Temple of Set was off to a spacecrazed start.
Well, it simply did not seem that way in the mid-1970s. Public access to space, consequent to the
successful invention of the space shuttle and the appearance of several non-governmental space
companies such as the West German OTRAG, seemed both practical and excitingly imminent.
And the prolific, space-colonization literature lent serious depth to such speculations generally.
2001: A Space Odyssey, with a Hilton Hotel on its spectacular space wheel, was just around the
corner - inevitably a site for a future Setian conclave! [Such dreams, incidentally, have persisted
to this day among the more visionary elements of humanity, resulting in efforts such as Space
Adventures Ltd. (http://www.spaceadventures.com). We may have that orbital/Lunar conclave
yet!
But in 1976, while we waited for OTRAG to start selling tickets, the Temple had other
concerns and interests here on Earth. We had by now completed most of the original
administrative tasks - elegant fire-enameled Pe
ntagram of Set medallions from the Wolf-Brown
Company, courtesy of Setian Robert Moffatt; public information/membership brochures; a
dazzling 3D-effect membership card created by Bill Murray, etc.
The Scroll of Set was purring along monthly, under Magistra Wendall’s Editorship, ably
assisted by Priest Michael Waters, Adept Alan Sturrock, and Setian Patricia Turner of the
Bubastis Pylon in San Jose, California. Content was kaleidoscopic: Setian yoga, religious/legal
issues, ritual magical theory, poetry, Egyptian studies, personal artwork, book reviews, reports
from various officials, conclave invitations and summaries, comparisons of Setian philosophy
with that of other occult systems, and even a commentary on the American Bicentennial
celebration and its nation-touring “Freedom Train”. Honorary Setian Forrest J Ackerman
contributed an article explaining why he ever got started collecting science fiction.
Concerning the more permanent literature of the Temple, there was initial consensus that it
should be private to the membership, not commercially published like the Satanic Bible and
Rituals. One of the more famous repositories-of-wisdom in traditional occultism had been the
mythical Emerald Tablet of Thoth, so why not a Ruby Tablet of Set [reflecting his totem-color]
in reality? Magister Robert Ethel volunteered to undertake it as a project. Eventually the Ruby
Tablet would become the II°+ component of an entire Jeweled Tablets of Set series, extending
from the Crystal Tablet of the I°+ to the Topaz Tablet of the VI°.
As of July 1976, presented at the First Eastern Conclave of the Temple in Washington, D.C.,
Ethel’s original draft of the Ruby Tablet was 41 pages long. Today it has mushroomed into the
multi-thousands, to the point where it can only be Internet/CD-based. Prior to the arrival of the
Internet, Adepts ordering the RT would be startled to see a huge stack of fat red binders awaiting
them at the post office or conclave.
Beyond the Temple’s internal literature, of course, there was a good deal of information of
interest to us in the commercially-published realm. A Reading List seemed like a good idea, and
The Temple of Set I Page 9
