Cirith Ungol, Dakshineshwar, Dark Crescent, Dark Star, Draconis, Eternal Flame, Eye of Erbeth,
Fallen Angel, Fenris, Folkvangr, Gates of Albion, Gates of Ganzir, Gates of Hell, Hades,
Hlidhskjalf, Infernus, Kalevala, Kali Yuga, Lapponia, Legion, Luciferian, Magog, Melek Taus,
Metropolis, Mut, Nan Madol, Nephilim, Nephren-Ka, Nuit’s Arch, Nyarlathotep, Obsidian
Gateway, Pan, Pesh-Khent, Promethean, Prometheus (Germany), Prometheus (Oregon, USA),
Rising Force, Sa en Ankh, Sekhmet’s Oasis, Set Amentet, Seven Stars, Silver Spear, Smoking
Mirror, Tower of Belial, Tuatha de Danann, Tuonela, Ultima Thule, Ur, Urorm, Venificoperæ,
Victory, Xem, Xronos, and Yidniminkani. The descriptions and histories of these are generally
found in the Crystal Tablet of Set and the Temple’s various Internet resources; and of course
many of them contributed to the Scroll of Set and published their own newsletters and papers as
well.
The Elements
The term “Element” originated somewhat humorously. By the 1980s the Temple of Set had
settled into its Orders and Pylons subsystems comfortably enough, but eventually a need was
perceived for “something” that on one hand was neither as formal and initiatorily-focused as an
Order, nor on the other hand as compact and collegial as a Pylon. There were some specialized
areas of interest, not necessarily derivative of the Temple or Æon of Set per se, in which some
Setians just felt like cooperating. And since such non-initiatory interests were just as
comprehensible to nonSetians, why not invite their participation as well?
These “nameless things” were originally termed “Elements” by me just because of my military
background: In the U.S. Army the various organizational structures - squad, platoon, company,
battalion, regiment, division, etc. - are collectively called “elements”. So until a more imaginative
alternative presented itself, these were “Elements”. The name stuck, and so to this day the
Temple of Set officially includes Elements alongside its Orders and Pylons.
While once more a detailed discussion of each current Element would overwhelm this book,
here they are with at least a capsule description:
An Bradán Feasa: Transforms itself from its precursor, the Oghamic Studies Group, into
an Element dedicated to the examination, exploration, and application of the magic of the Gael.
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This includes the three nations of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic language family in guises
ancient, modern, and all that lies in between, from within the Æon of Set.
Apsû: Dedicated to the exploration and application of Mesopotamian magic and myth as
magical tools to Xeper.
Arkte: Named for the ancient Greek bear-goddess symbolizing protection of non-human
animal life, it exists for the defense & protection of animals, and for the bringing to justice of
those who harm them in any way [including “research & experimentation”].
Black Muse: Looking into the wonderful, strange, and magical phenomenon that is the art
of the muse - music.
Black Quill: Dedicated to writing subjective occult practical manuscripts as well as dark-
theme fiction or poetry to be copyrighted and self-published.
Coll-Kenaz:The visual Black Arts: creates space for Setian artists to discuss, conceptualize,
and showcase original art work[ings] that are both a record and a process of the Black Flame.
Dance: Explores the application of rhythm and dance as magical tools.
Dream Warriors: Dedicated to exploring and utilizing the dreamscape as a means to
Xeper. We create elaborate, shared dreamworks & group dream activities.
Fear: Develop the arts of creating change and making decisions as well as techniques to
effectively yet safely work the primal instinct of fear.
Guild of University Students: For Setians who are university students, faculty, and/or
those who have undergone the Xeper specific to students & teachers. Its goal is to provide a place
in Setian culture for them and to create a large body of academic articles and works in our
archives for Setian use.
Griffin Phyle: Provides a focusing tool for scholarly, artistic, and magical work with the
Greek magical papyri, the voces magicæ, operative phonology, and other related topics. By
name, image, and definition we have a strong interest in the mysterious power ( sekhem) of the
griffin.
Hawk-Faced Lord: For those who wish to study the Word of Thelema in the context of
Setian practice.
House of Eridug: To establish a knowledge of the cuneiform system and work within one
of the traditional fields of Mesopotamian magical scholarship: ashiputu, kalutu, and barutu.
House of Surt: A group of disciplined Black Magicians who are in the process of
transforming our particular martial arts into an individualized magical tool of self-mastery and
transformation, and the casting of spells used in the World of Horrors to manifest our desires
through our true will.
Infernal Southern Crux: Devoted to consecrating the night sky by taking the Southern
Cross and making it our own, a symbol of the crossroads of being & becoming, the mysterious
crossroads where the Devil is invoked at the midnight hour.
MetaMind: Speculative, theoretical, experimental, and practical investigation into the
extent, power, and potential of the conscious mind.
Nietzsche Project: Nietzsche in his various social, philosophical, and metaphysical aspects.
Padmasambhava: Not to encourage its members to surrender to the tenets of some exotic
philosophy, but rather to provide an opportunity for those individuals to integrate the more
useful aspects of Tibetan Buddhist thought & practice into their initiatory work in order to
achieve a clearer understanding of the nature of their mind and the motivations which guide
their every thought & action.
School of Life: Inspired by the third degree of the old German organization Fraternitas
Saturni: “A grade bestowed upon those who have demonstrated immunity to the suggestions of
mysticism or spiritualism. They are down-to-earth, with a sense of beauty and harmony; they
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must be motivated to become expressive personalities and to master life in all its
forms.” (Flowers, Fire and Ice)
Sixth: About yoga. As with Set’s Pentagram, yoga affords the Initiate with an unlimited
initiatory path leading toward immortality. There are many flavors of yogic initiation.
Throughout approximately five centuries of recorded history, yoga continues to flourish as a
means toward the higher self.
Soa-Gild: To provide new Setians with a forum in which to learn and ask questions about
the fundamental aspects of the Temple of Set.
Soul: The history, concept, and mysteries of the soul.
Throne of Azathoth: Studying chaos as it is understood in physics, mathematics, statistics,
and other such fields providing tools for working on it. The goal is in applying the findings to
help the Initiate gain better control of the chaotic aspects of the objective universe as well to
enhance personal initiation in the subjective universe.
Trident: Dedicated to the exploration and application of Eastern initiatory technologies
from a Setian viewpoint.
Xibalba: To train and educate tlamatini (philosophers) of the Mesoamerican Mysteries, not
only for the sake of each individual’s own quest but also for the remanifestation of the Mysteries
themselves in our world.
Retrospectively the experience of the Temple of Set with its Orders, Pylons, and Elements has
been a positive and productive one. Each such group has commenced to meet a perceived
interest or necessity, and has either continued or eventually closed according to the same
criteria. Characteristically the Temple of Set has never been particularly concerned with the
question of orthodoxy where such explorations have been concerned; it has been assumed that if
Setians are interested in it and it’s not prima facie illegal or dangerous, it’s just another
expression and extension of Xeper.
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10: The Magi
At the commencements of both the Church of Satan and the Temple of Set, the V° seemed
ostensibly ex officio significant to those foundings. Arguably that was indeed the case with the
Church, which did not institute its formal I°-V° structure until 1970, four years after it had
begun. A V° was appropriate to set what Anton LaVey had done above and apart from the other
Masters of the Church.
But, the Book of Coming Forth by Night notwithstanding, the V° was not so simple in the
context of the Æon and Temple of Set. The V° Recognition of Ronald K. Barrett in 1978 was our
first venture into the concept of an æon-enhancing V°. But by 1996 the consideration of Magistri
Don Webb and Robert Robinson for Recognition as Magi raised fresh issues concerning just
what the V° is, including its relationship to the Temple of Set as an institution and the Æon of
Set as an environment. We had all experienced the evolution of the I°, II°, and IV° from their
1975 definitions; only the III° - as the sacred Priesthood of Set - remained eternal and sublime in
its distinction. That we had not devoted more thought to the V° is understandable, since there
hadn’t been too many V°s in the Temple’s history - and those who did appear seemed
embraceable by the 1975-vintage definition of this degree.
With the V° Recognition of Stephen Flowers we introduced the notion that V° initiation
occurs not merely within the environment of the Temple of Set proper, but also through other
media (such as Stephen’s independent runic activities, the Rune-Gild, the Ring of Troth, etc.).
The V° thus evolved into a level of initiation bridging the Temple per se and simultaneous/
coincidental influences within the Æon of Set.
This in turn forced us to look more closely at just what our current Understanding of an
“æon” was. Ca. 1975 it seemed fairly easy: The Æon of Set was a “magical & philosophical
climate” of which the Temple of Set was an organizational [re]manifestation. As the Temple
became more complex and diversified over the years, however, it was more difficult to pin down
“where it ends” in Initiates’ lives and something “climatic” persists.
In 1975 we had already modified the preexisting Crowley definition by postulating that an
æon is not a sequential episode of historical time [including all events therein]. Rather, we said,
it is a unique level of philosophical perspective: a way of looking at things and behaving with
regard to them. Hence Setians might see about them some people existing in the Æons of Isis,
Osiris, Horus, or Set - more often situational combinations of these. Thus the Æon of Set did not
replace its predecessors as much as provide an additional alternative to them.
We retained the Crowley notions that a Magus either (a) announces a new æon or (b)
enhances an existing/prevailing one. But did these options give the degree sufficient flexibility
for the multitude of ways in which it may manifest itself, especially in light of its being by
definition something unexpected, unprecedented?
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Should æons be envisioned as things in an evolutionary “hierarchy”, like Plato’s Pyramid of
Thought, with the simple at the bottom and the complex at the top? Or are they just different?
The danger on the other side of “all this” was that, if we were not careful, we could very easily
destroy any framework for making sense of magical philosophy (which æons are) simply by
introducing endless exceptions (which would inevitably appear). We needed to keep the concept
of an æon useful as it had been, but allow it to sensibly evolve as we developed increasingly
sophisticated means to define and appreciate it.
For instance the 1996 Don Webb V° Recognition introduced the proposition that two Magi
can Utter the same Word ( Xeper) in different ways. That was something new and fascinating.
Simultaneously the proposed Robert Robinson V° introduced a Word (Being) which is
seemingly two contradictory things at once. On one hand “being” has been opposed to
“becoming” as stasis vs. evolutionary change. On the other hand, Robert appeared to envision
“being” as a transcendent identity necessarily resulting from the dynamics of Xeper,
Remanifestation, et al.
That in turn begged comparison of Being to Ronald K. Barrett’s Xem, which was a conceptual
“focus” of Xeper. One might differentiate the two by saying that Xem is a kind of “Xeper
gunsight” for the Initiate to use in process, while “Being” is a theoretical or actual state of
transcendence resulting from Xeper. But this is just an example. Ultimately the definition,
significance, relevance, and application of “Being”, like any other æonic Word, comprise the
Task/Curse of the Uttering Magus to actualize.
This all comes down on the Masters of the Temple, who through their Understanding have a
responsibility to “anchor” definitions and concepts relevant to Setians, such that all of us can
speak a common language concerning them.
The statements of the Recognized Setian Magi since Ronald K. Barrett (whose Xem has
already been discussed in Chapter #6) appear as Appendices #88-92.
Recognition of a Magus or Maga V° by the Temple of Set is a painstaking, exhaustive, and
ultimately tentative process. Preconditionally the individual must have attained the IV°, because
that degree Recognizes one’s comprehensive and balanced Understanding of “that which is”.
Only then can any creative horizon (as Nietzsche termed it) or “Utterance of a Word of a Magus/
Maga” be proposed as a distinction from that preexistence. While the High Priest/High Priestess
must make any formal V° nomination to the Council of Nine, established custom has been for
the individual to informally discuss the Word generally among the Masters of the Temple. If
after a reasonable amount of time a positive consensus seems to be emerging, a formal Council
nomination can be made. Then the nominee undergoes extensive examination by all Councillors,
and only if there is unanimous approval is the V° Recognized.
Unlike the I°-IV°, however, V° Recognition is not a definitive certification by the Temple of
Set. Indeed by the very definition of the V° it cannot possibly be. It may more accurately be
thought of as a formal license to undertake the Task and overcome the Curse of a Magus; the
High Priesthood, the Council, and the Masters of the Temple are saying that they think such a
magical adventure is warranted and the new Magus or Maga capable of it.
The validation of this approach to
the V° may be seen in the success of those so Recognized
since the Temple’s founding. Even the two Magi who subsequently departed the Temple - Ronald
K. Barrett and Robert Robinson - stayed long enough to see the Utterance of their Words have
profound and wide-reaching effect upon many other Setians, extending long after their
departures.
As those who have also experienced it would, I am sure, agree, V° initiation is neither
something to be sought after nor pleasant if it does occur. It is like being dragged from the cozy,
relaxing library of an contented Master of the Temple and shot out of a circus cannon. More
traumatic than this abrupt change of environment is the obsession that accompanies an
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authentic V° initiation: One cannot do otherwise than pursue it with all of one’s energy and
fervor. The Magus not only Utters his Word; he becomes a living embodiment of it. Setians thus
apprehend such individuals as Magi; in profane society they might be vaguely, and mostly
mistakenly, revered or reviled as prophets, visionaries, mystics, or madmen.
But what the true Magi have really done is to each unlock one more door to the Setian’s
attainment of personal divinity.
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11: Roaming This World
I shall roam this world, and I shall come to those who seek me.
- The Book of Coming Forth by Night
In today’s “Internet era” worldwide communications, and recurring mutual involvements
(such as interactive websites and forums) born of such communications, are easy, inexpensive,
and commonplace. It is difficult to remember a time when all such efforts were slow, expensive,
and ponderous. Yet that is how things were in the 1960s-1980s, when postal mail and telephones
were the only practical long-distance media available.
Thus when the Church of Satan was founded in 1966, it remained an exclusively San
Francisco-meeting institution for the next four years, although by 1969 it had begun to respond
to nationwide media publicity by accepting mail-correspondence memberships and publishing a
postal-mail newsletter. Its first local “Grottos” - Babylon in Detroit, Nineveh in Louisville, and
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