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TEMPLE OF SET
Post Office Box 470307
San Francisco, CA 94147; U.S.A.
MCI-Mail: 314-3953
Telex: 6503143953
GENERAL INFORMATION AND ADMISSIONS POLICIES
(c) 1986 Temple of Set
- Updated 1/XXVI AES -
Thank you for your inquiry. The Temple of Set is an institution
unlike any you have previously encountered. Before you can make an
informed decision concerning possible affiliation, it is necessary
for you to consider the history of the Temple, its basic tenets, its
current design and programs, and the benefits and obligations
incurred by each Setian.
HISTORY OF THE TEMPLE
While the Temple of Set as an organization was formally incorporated
in 1975 CE, its magical and philosophical roots are prehistoric,
originating in mankind's first apprehension that there is "something
different" about the human race - a sense of _self-consciousness_
that places humanity apart from and above all other known forms of
life.
Ancient religions - of which those of Egypt are generally
acknowledged the eldest - either exalted or feared this self-
consciousness. Those which exalted it took the position that the
human psyche is capable of opposition to and domination of the
forces of nature. Those fearing it warned man that such a
presumption of independence would be sinful and dangerous.
Therefore, they said, such "will to power" should be concealed,
sublimated - and if necessary punished and exterminated - that
mankind might return to an Eden-like "state of nature" untroubled by
the burdens of having to take responsibility for decisions,
judgments, and actions based upon an essentially personal
determination of "good" and "evil".
The psyche-worshipping religions were more intellectually demanding
than their nature-worshipping counterparts, since it is more
difficult to reason a path through one's span of conscious existence
than it is to be swept along by a current of semi-rational stimulus
and response. The reasoning religions - or schools of initiatory
philosophy - attained levels of abstract knowledge that made them
mysterious to the masses. In a few societies, such as Egypt and
Greece, such groups were respected and admired. More often, however,
their exclusive elitism and "supernatural" activities made them
objects of resentment and persecution.
While all philosophical schools embraced the psychecentric
consciousness to some degree, there were a very few that made it
avowedly and explicitly the focus of their attention. The divine
personifications ("gods") of such schools have come down to us as
symbols of what most Western religions, worshippers of non-
consciousness, consider the supreme "evil": the Prince of Darkness
in his many forms. Of these the most ancient is Set, whose
Priesthood can be traced to predynastic times. Images of Set have
been dated to ca. 3200 BCE, with astronomically-based estimates of
inscriptions dating to ca. 5000 BCE.
The original Priesthood of Set in ancient Egypt survived for twenty-
five recorded dynasties (ca. 3200-700 BCE). It was one of the two
central priesthoods in predynastic times, the other being that of
HarWer ("Horus the Elder"). Unification of Egypt under both
philosophical systems resulted in the nation's being known as the
"Two Kingdoms" and in its Pharaohs wearing the famous "Double Crown"
of Horus and Set.
Originally a circumpolar/stellar deity portrayed as a cyclical
counterpart to the Solar Horus, Set was later recast as an evil
principle by the cults of Osiris and Isis. During the XIX and XX
Dynasties Set returned as the Pharaonic patron, but by the XXV
Dynasty (ca. 700 BCE) a new wave of Osirian persecution led to the
final destruction of the original Priesthood of Set. When the
Hebrews emigrated from Egypt during the XIX Dynasty, however, they
took with them a caricature of Set: "Satan" (from the hieroglyphic
_Set-hen_, one of the god's formal titles).
After the eclipse and extinction of the original Priesthood of Set
during the Osirian dynasties of Egyptian decadence, few "Satanic"
groups have been able to survive long enough, or to carry on their
activities openly enough to rise to significant heights of
sophistication. Most remained at the level of primitive "devil-
worship" or "witchcraft" - ironically the very stereotype assigned
to them by monotheistic religious establishments. Adoption of such
"blasphemous and diabolical" practices by ignorant people who were
crying out to unchain their souls as best they could only made them
easier targets for persecution, which was generally meted out with
sadistic enthusiasm. It is historically estimated that some 13
million accused Satanists were tortured and burned to death in
medieval and Renaissance Europe alone. Many European museums still
display the grisly, almost unbelievably cruel devices used in such
torture, and detailed records of the "trials" and "confessions" of
the victims survive in shameful abundance. Cases of torture, murder,
and genocidal extermination of "infidels" and "heathens" in other
areas of the world similarly abound - and stand collectively in
testimony to the appalling legacy of the world's major monotheistic
religions. It must further be remembered that the more "tolerant"
climate of modern times did not come about through the wishes of
conventional churches themselves, but rather through their
increasing rejection by a mankind exhausted by religious warfare and
terrified by the wanton viciousness of such establishments as the
"Holy Office" (better known as the Inquisition).
If the "Enlightenment" of the 17th and 18th centuries succeeded in
reducing Christianity - the dominant monotheism of Europe - to a
secular moral metaphor, it was not until the late 19th century that
the so-called "Black Arts" began to be tolerated, and then only in
their most simplistic and socially innocuous forms. From Freemasonry
came a ceremonial magical offshoot - Rosicrucianism - which became
increasingly more sophisticated in the Rosicrucian Society of
England (S.R.I.A.) and then in the famous Hermetic Order of the
Golden Dawn (G.'.D.'.).
In 1904 an Adept of the G.'.D.'. named Aleister Crowley broke away
from that disintegrating body to form his own Order of the Astrum
Argenteum (A.'.A.'.). To the Rosicrucian/ceremonial magical
philosophy of the G.'.D.'., Crowley added first a strong emphasis on
attainment of the highest level of self-consciousness ("Knowledge
and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel") and later the
Masonic/sexual magic practices of Germany's Order of Oriental
Templars (O.T.O.). The latter practices, together with Crowley's
cavalier lifestyle, brought him public notoriety. His organizations
survived his 1947 death only in highly-fragmented and doctrinarily
degenerate factions.
In 1966 a San Francisco sorcerer named Anton Szandor LaVey founded
the Church of Satan as a medium for the study of the Black Arts and
as an ethical statement repudiating the religious hypocrisy of
conventional society. The Church remained principally a San
Francisco phenomenon for its first four years, then during 1970-1974
branched out across the United States and Canada with local
"Grottos" headed by those ordained to the Satanic Priesthood (the
Priesthood of Mendes).
The Church of Satan's attitude towards magic was more pragmatic and
utilitarian than that of such mystically-based organizations as the
G.'.D.'. and A.'.A.'. It saw no need for exhaustive studies into the
often incoherent and inconsistent concepts of the Cabala, nor did it
see anything extraordinarily significant in sex-magic. Rather it
chose to approach the occult arts and sciences more rationally and
even scientifically, employing "Occam's razor" to design and conduct
Workings of ritual magic that were simple and direct, yet effective.
In this the Church was generally successful, but it continued to
experience increasing difficulty with the basic nihilism and
negative connotations of its religious imagery. It could not escape
the self-assumed limitation of being "anti-Christian", and of course
the parameters of philosophy and metaphysics have been extended far
beyond the primitive and superstitious conceptual and symbolic
limits of the Judaic/Christian tradition.
It also proved to be a misfortune of modern Satanism that, en route
to divinity, the psyche is prone to superficial egotism. The Church
suffered periodically from petty crises and scandals among the
general membership, and finally Anton LaVey lost confidence in its
organizational viability. In 1975 he made a decision to redesign it
as a non-functional vehicle for his personal expression,
exploitation, and financial income. This decision was emphatically
rejected by the majority of the Priesthood, who immediately resigned
from the Church in protest and denied its legitimacy as a true
Church of Satan henceforth. The senior Initiate, Michael A. Aquino,
invoked the Prince of Darkness in quest of a new Mandate to preserve
and enhance the more noble concepts which the Church of Satan had
conceived and outlined. That Mandate was given in the form of _The
Book of Coming Forth by Night_ - a statement by that entity, in his
most ancient semblance as Set, ordaining the Temple of Set to
succeed the Church.
The Temple was incorporated in California as a non-profit church in
1975, receiving both state and federal recognition and tax-exemption
later that same year. It has since remained the sole Satanic
religious institution possessing these legal credentials.
THE CONTEMPORARY ENVIRONMENT
In the United States the 1960-70s CE, despite [and in part because
of] periodical psychopolitical strains such as the Vietnam War,
generally represented a period of flourishing liberalism and freedom
in personal affairs. Exploration and innovation were tolerated and
encouraged in society. It was a time of breakthroughs in civil
rights; of increased respect for racial, ethnic, sexual, and
religious groups. There was controversy; but on the whole it was
constructive and progressive in tone. By the end of the 1970s,
despite continued growing pains, Western culture appeared to have
moved decisively into the Age of Aquarius.
The 1980s, however, heralded a sharp and surprising reversal of this
climate into conservatism and intolerance. The most coarse,
fundamentalist branches of Christianity gained converts and sought
political power. And controversial minority groups were assaulted
with fresh waves of discrimination and repression.
Nowhere did this "new Inquisition" strike more directly than at "New
Age" religions in general and at Satanism in particular. Invoking
the same vile tactics that they have used over the centuries against
alternative creeds, fundamentalists now began to disseminate hate-
propaganda accusing Satanists of the most hideous crimes imaginable:
human & animal sacrifice, cannibalism, the kidnapping/sexual
abuse/murder of children. That none of this was in the least true
mattered not at all to fundamentalists. If the Big Lie could be
repeated loudly & often enough, it would catch hold. Suddenly it
became dangerous to be an avowed Satanist in communities infected
with anti-Satanic hysteria. The campaign eventually spread to
several other countries as well, among them the United Kingdom,
Italy, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, and Germany.
Why should the same post-World War II generation that had grown up
in the open atmosphere of the 60s-70s tolerate, even encourage a
relapse into the brutish hatreds and persecutions of the Middle
Ages? Perhaps for the very reason that it was a generation
unprepared for what might be termed humanity's "religious impulse".
During the 60s-70s religion was generally dismissed as something
quaint and obsolete: superstition embarrassing to an age of science,
computers, and Project Apollo. "God was dead", and Christianity was
invoked merely as an excuse for Christmas revelry and other
entertainments (such as _Jesus Christ Superstar_ & the "Jesus Freak
revolution" of 1970). Even the formation of the Church of Satan in
1966 was somewhat anti-climactic: It didn't arise in response to a
"threatening" Christianity - for Christianity already appeared to be
a dead horse. The carcass was there to be kicked around a bit for
the sake of theatre, but there was no expectation that it had any
energy left to get up and kick back.
The "religious impulse" proved to be important to both Satanists and
non-Satanists. In the case of Satanists it brought about an
increasing interest in exploring the "human equation" and the
metaphysical and psychological roots of the great Satanic/psyche-
centered philosophies of history. The psychodrama and "social
Satanism" of the early Church of Satan gradually evolved into
something much more profound and introspective: an exploration into
the essence of the individual consciousness. Even had Anton LaVey
not provoked the crisis of 1975, it is clear that the evolution of
Church of Satan into something like the Temple of Set - a completely
non-Christianized, positive "high Satanism" - would have proceeded
inexorably.
Non-Satanists, meanwhile, found themselves adrift in a society whose
Judaeo-Christian moral values had disintegrated into materialistic
hedonism. In such an "arid wilderness of steel and stone" there
arose a longing for "something/anything spiritual" - and the
remnants of Christianity were there to offer the appropriate opium.
In the 1980s, however, there was a difference: This new herd of
Christians had not received an education enabling it to see
Christianity in historical context. Rather it perceived Christianity
as a completely novel experience - and so it was far more trusting
and vulnerable to Christian propaganda than the previous, more
worldly generation had been. The result was an eruption in the 1980s
of a fundamentalism as primitive and brutish as that of the Middle
Ages. Now, as before, it needed a scarecrow - and "Satanism" was a
word with an appropriately scary sound. Christian fanatics who knew
[and cared] nothing whatever about _actual_ Satanism suddenly
embarked upon passionate and financially profitable campaigns
against the scarecrow.
Complicating the situation was the perennial impulse among alienated
youth and antisocial elements to deliberately shock society by
flaunting its bogymen. If prudish elements of the community were
going to terrify themselves with "scarecrow Satanism", then Heavy
Metal rock music would affect this same image, as would the
occasional psychotic criminal and teenage gang. Fundamentalists
happily held up such phenomena as "proof" of the scarecrow's
existence.
The Temple of Set, as the world's preeminent Satanic religious
institution, found itself in the awkward position of having not only
to defend authentic Satanism against the shrill screams of the
scarecrow-merchants, but also to reject superficial glorification of
the scarecrow that would return Satanism's image to nothing more
than anti-Christian "Devil worship". In recent years both challenges
have been addressed, but not without the cost of time and energy
drained from the Temple's own magical and philosophical interests.
As we enter the 1990s CE the immediate danger has been largely
averted. We have been able to establish the truth about Satanism
sufficiently to expose the falsehoods of the scarecrow-merchants in
all but the most ignorant backwaters of society. That same society,
however, continues to flail about for the moral anchor that the
large mass-religions claim to offer. Christianity's strength lies
today, as throughout its history, in the _absence_ of intellectual
education and mental effort which it demands of its sheep. It has
also become quite accomplished at exploiting humanity's fear of
death, sexual neuroses, and other irrational hatreds and
insecurities.
This is therefore a time of critical importance for Satanists. Our
knowledge of our marvelous philosophy has never been more advanced,
yet we pursue it in the midst of a confused, superficial, and
emotional social environment. It is not the task of Satanism to be a
"savior of the masses" - but rather to help suitable individuals to
apprehend and attain their own divinity. The wisdom with which our
Initiates exercise this divinity may well determine whether humanity
advances to the stars - or succumbs to the entropy of the universe
as one more inconsequential aberration of nature.