The Temple of Set in "The Occult Experience"

Ritual Magic in the Temple of Set

by Don Webb, high Priest Emeritus

The terms ritual or a ceremonial magic conjure up a smoky image of portly men in Golden Dawn robes mispronouncing Greek and Hebrew. An interesting entertainment perhaps, and certainly something to do before TV was invented.

The purpose of ritual is impress a direction on the Matrix of Darkness.

The Matrix of Darkness has two poles. It is "dark" because the contents are magical, unknown, and to the untrained preceptor frightening.

One pole if that part of yourself form which unexpected thoughts, feelings and actions arise. How often have major life changes come form what seem to be the least of whims? "I read that book. I went to that movie. I ate at that restaurant -- and I met my beloved, changed my religion, or decided what I wanted to major in at college." From that internal Dark comes forth things, clothed in Darkness that change our lives. The inner darkness is not infinite, although we may wish like Lautreamont's character Maldoror that it were so that we might enjoy endless change and metamorphosis.

The other pole is that part of the Cosmos we call the future. There too things are not tied down, there too the unexpected thing comes forth, and we are changed. Sometimes these unexpected things are vast and transpersonal like a war, other times more focused like an idiot that runs into your car. Here too possibilities arise. The future is not infinite, although we may wish like E. E."Doc" Smith that it were so, that we might enjoy endless progress.

But it is form these two apparently separate things, that we can make Change.

Now we can follow the prescribed rituals of another, and try to make ourselves and our world into another model. The Catholic Mass is one of the best examples of ritual designed to do this. It has kept the Church going despite the forces of civilization and hazard. This type of magic is trying to impose the Known, the Light on the darkness and is henceforth known as White Magic.

Or we can begin by seeing the true nature of that which we would Work with. If we've got a better handle on Darkness, we can get a better result. So we can impose Darkness on Darkness -- impose Change on that which Changes. This Black Magic is more potent for the simple reason that it is more resonate with the forces of change. One Black Magician can do what a hundred White Magicians can not. This does not lie in the elegance of his rituals, nor in the secret knowledge that she possesses, but in the nature of the Cosmos as a place of darkness. In this great and darkling Void, all is ready for our Creation.

Concerning Satanism

By Don Webb, High Priest Emeritus (1998)

The Temple of Set has begun the process of distancing form the term "Satanism," a cultural fad of the latter part of the Twentieth Century of the Common Era. The usefulness of this particular tool as a means to antinomianism is fading in our post-Christian society, just as it had no meaning in the pre-Christian society where the first explorations of the Setian
path occured.

The tradition of spiritual dissent will not, nor cannot, cease to be a part of the Left Hand Path. We need that first trial of standing up and saying "I am not as you!" Breaking that fetter is the the first Willed piece of friction that is Necessary to annihilate resistance at other levels of being.

The questioning of distancing ourselves from Satanism is not what the profane think of the word. The profane guided by the forces in the human psyche that tend toward naturalization (hatred and ignorance) will manage to hate us quite nicely.

The question is, does the label "Satanist" provide any meaningful form of spiritual dissent? In the Year I, of course it did. In a society polarized between clear culture and counterculture, LaVey's formula provided enough of a challenge to set the individual apart, but not an unsurmountable one. In our postmodern society with a lack of clear ruling paradigms, simple
rebellion is not enough.

The word "Satanism" does not fulfill that function. Firstly, unlike in the Year I, it is now a word of the populace. TV evangelists lead perfectly La Veyan lives (total environments, money from LBM, etc.), and "rebelling" teenagers sport the most hideous "Satanic" T-shirts. "Satanism" is actually one of the ruling paradigms. Secondly, in our postmodern society, the paradigm to revolt against is dependence. The populace looks for a label to do its lobbying through and whine to the rest of the weak world with. Listen to the news -- every interview is filled with, "We, in our group, think . . ." or "I want them to do something about it. . . ." "Satanism" reached its all-time low in an interview with a Texas "grotto" wherein a member whined for the camera, "If they're real Christians they'll leave us alone. All we want is to give our lives to the dark lord." "Satanism" is unfortunately fulfilling La Vey's dream as a symbol for a new identity, a tribalism lead by the few who still preserve a fetish for but not a true sense of self. Thirdly, although "Satanism" provides almost no spiritual friction (afterall, Butthead does it), it can provide an easy target for the brutal in our world. In short "Satanism" isn't an aid to the Initiate -- something much more RADICAL and Independent is called for.

Our distancing needs to be filled with the statement that we are seeking a more radical form of the LHP, that is less bound to current cultural perceptions, and is more in line with a metacultural elitism. We seek to be immortal gods, not junkies who get off on how much they can shock society. La Vey's formula is based on the resistance between the individual and the Here and Now. It is a good formula, and one that any institution serious about furthering the LHP must use as a Gateway for those who, suddenly awakened, must seek it out.

However, "Satanism" is not the exterior model. Rebellion is VERY meaningful when the Two Partners rule the world. Focus and Independence are the antinomian paths of today and are the gateways that attract those who would joins us in ruling the Age. For this, we must, as magicians and philosophers, carefully design our exterior gateways. We choose to attract a leaner, meaner Initiate. Not one who is glad to come to us because we have stepped away from "Satanism" like an old lady avoiding a puddle in the street, but one who fully sees we have gone beyond to a more radical taboo-breaking experiment, whose effects last longer than this life only.

Let us further our rich historical background in studying antinomianism. Let us seek after the tradition of the LHP beyond those found opposing a Judeo-Christian culture (for example, reading Svoboda's Aghora: At the Left Hand of God). The Creation of a newer and more radical Dark is an activity not only for discussion, it is a Mission arsing out of our Bond with Set.

As for those who would dwell under that banner and carp at us in our Change -- let us come to view them as the rich forest loam, and hope that amidst their rot some seeds may sprout to produce new and different schools which, although they may lack our precision, will be lesser gateways for those who would break with the weakness of the world. There will be great rejoicing in their camp, since they will perceive our exit as a victory. Of course for the large part they weren't around when we used the word "Satanist" to provide the friction and strength we need to become the international organization we are today. The sun never rises on the Temple of Set. What that camp knows not, and cannot know, is that by the Power of our Mandate we lay upon them the Curse of Truth; that is to say, the Curse of Not Forgetting, so that they shall come to revalorzie their symbols, and that they too will be drawn toward a better understanding of the Prince of Darkness.

Having strengthened the word "Satanism," we leave it as a runestone to transform those unfit to join us.

Horns Across the Water: Satanism in Britain and America

by Michael A. Aquino,Ph.D High Priest Emeritus


Retrospectively, it is difficult to say why British and American Satanic movements haven't interacted more with one another over the last two decades. The two principal American Satanic institutions - the Temple of Set and its forerunner, the Church of Satan - both inherited key components of their symbolism and ritual practices from British occult predecessors. And since we have enjoyed twenty-two years of success in the U.S. and Canada, it would seem natural that we would have developed overseas contacts in the U.K. With the exception of a few isolated memberships from time to time, however, such
cross-fertilization never took place.

During the same two decades, American Satanists have seen very little evidence of a strong Satanic culture in Britain. British occultism seems perpetually polarized into two principal camps, the Wiccan (in which one may lump neo-Druids and other assorted back-to-nature New Agers) and the quasi-Masonic (in which one may lump Rosicrucian, Thelemic, Theosophical, and other assorted Cabalistic/ceremonial movements). Wiccans - if yours are like ours - huffily deny any conncection with Satanism, although they are quite happy to affect and exploit the SATANIC glamor of the term "witch". And while Rosicrucian
movements are frequently labe:ed "cults" - hence "evil" - by conventional churches, anyone who has studied them realizes that, if anything, they are even MORE pious where the "Great Architect of the Universe" is concerned. Even Thelema, popularly regarded as the "bad boy" of Rosicrucianism, shies away from the Left-Hand Path. Although Crowley never hesitated to invoke Satanic imagery when it suited his whimsical or satirical purposes, he certainly did not consider either himself or his philosophy as Satanic in the traditional sense.

Contemporary America's first taste of something resembling an undiluted British Satanism came from the U.S. publication in the 1960's of three of Dennis Wheatley's Satanic novels: THE DEVIL RIDES OUT, TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER, and THE SATANIST. Wheatley borrowed liberally from G.'.D.'./A.'.A.'. terminology, of course, but still managed to portray his LHP villains as straight line Satanists rather than as Thelemites. Wheatley's Satanists were elegant, powerful, mysteri-
ous, and [except for the inevitable triumph-of-God finale] insidiously successful in whatever they wanted to do. This was a powerful aphrodisiac for certain American occultists who were impatient with "parlor" esoterica. A San Francisco sorceror named Anton LaVey founded the Church of Satan in 1966, and the spectacular success of "ROSEMARY'S BABY" a couple of years later catapulted the Church into national prominence.

The Church of Satan borrowed more atmosphere than substance from Wheatley. It had been conceived not as an "inverse-Christianity" movement, but rather as one dedicated to responsible and guilt-free self indulgence. Judaeo-Christianity was castigated for its hypocrisy and repression; otherwise it was considered irrelevant. Although the Black Mass was included in the Church's ceremonial inventory, it consisted of highly stylized psychodrama rather than ritual murder, crucified bats, or turnip-attacks on virgins.

The open, experimental culture of the late 60's and early 70's in the United States was stimulating to the growth of the Church of Satan. It developed local Grottos in many major cities, and its Priests and Priestesses were always in demand for lectures, media appearances, and symposia. By the early 1970's it had grown to a total membership of about 250 individuals, and was well on its way to becoming a permanent fixture in American society.

The Church of Satan didn't successfully transmigrate to the U.K., however, and never had more than one or two British members. Its activities were primarily U.S.-focused, and no real thought was given to encouraging overseas affiliations.


Then, in 1975, disaster struck. Anton LaVey suddenly announced that the Satanic Priesthood and all higher initiatory degrees in the Church would henceforth be available in return for cash contributions. Previously they had been strictly achievement-determined, and the Satanic Priesthood in particular had been regarded as a sacred office. Virtually the entire functioning infrastructure of the Church resigned in protest and created the Temple of Set to carry forward the principles of Satanism in their uncorrupted form. At the same time the symbolism and imagery employed were removed from the constraints of the Judaeo/Christian idiom. Set became the recognized image for the Powers of Darkness in their earliest historical personification by humanity, and many of the ceremonial Workings of the Temple oncorporated Egyptian, rather than medieval or Renaissance
European imagery accordingly.

The Temple of Set, however, is not merely or even principally a neo-Egyptian institution. From its founding it has endeavored to apprehend and incorporate the principles of what Judaeo/Christian culture caricatures as "Satanism" from all cultures and philosophical patterns of thought. Specialized Orders within the Temple exist much as academic departments in universities, to enable Setians to focus their personal initiatory efforts in areas most interesting and meaningful to them. While there are local groups (Pylons) within the Temple, similar to the old Church of Satn's Grottos, the Temple is configured to function primarily on an interpersonal basis. Most of its members are geographically remote from one another, co our administrative services emphasize maximum use of the electronic and postal mails.

This would seem to be an ideal situation for international interaction with the U.K., but once again the Temple devoted more time to building up its Untied States base of activity than to overseas expansion. And, in another deliberate departure from the Church of Satan, the Temple declined media exposure almost without exception - the rationale being that such activities had at least to some extent turned the Church of Satan - not unlike many other modern occult personalities or movements - into a "media whore" whose worth tended to be judged by press coverage. Disgusted with media-whore occultism in general, the Temple founders determined that we would concentrate on our own magical and philosophical development, and let the Temple grow primarily by the individual recommendations of satisfied Initiates. That accounted for the growth of the Temple in North America, but was not conducive to overseas exposure.

Visiting London in 1983, I looked around for individuals or organizations suitable for contact. In the U.S. we usually begin with specialized bookstores. Most London bookdealers, however, responded with something between mild distaste and outright horror when even the topic of Crowley was brought up, much less Satanism. Eventually I found my way to the Atlantis Bookshop, which by all accounts was the most diabolical bookstore in the city - but even its "Satanic" inventory was comparatively sparse and outdated. I left some Temple brochures with the old gentleman behind the counter, but his shocked reaction to the existence of a large, institutional Satanic religious organization didn't reassure me that they would be prominently displayed. [I should append that in 1987 I revisited Atlantis, now under new management, and was graciously received.]

The turning-point has apparently come with the British release of Nevill Drury's Australian book THE OCCULT EXPERIENCE, which includes a chapter on the Temple of Set. [THE OCCULT EXPERIENCE was originally a documentary film - remarkable not only for its first coverage of the Temple of Set, but also for Alex Saunders accidentally setting his Aztec jockstrap on fire, New York city shamans howling and waving rattles, H.R. Giger's mother telling him to behave himself, Wiccans freezing skyclad in the snow, and the Fellowship of Ithith.]

THE OCCULT EXPERIENCE has prompted a number of inquiries, and several new affiliations, from the U.K. Each year the Temple holds a Conclave where Initiates can meet for business, fellowship, and magical Workings. Although our fall 1988 Conclave is already set for Toronto, we are thinking of London for the fall 1989 event. This would enable as least some trans-Atlantic Setians to meet their British brethern, and would also bring a Conclave within easier reach of our Initiates in Belgium, Germany, and Spain.

A unique philosophical identity for Satanism is not really all that hard to establish. It focuses upon humanity as an actor exercising and strengthening its conscious opposition to the non-conscious inertia of the cosmos, not as a part of that cosmos whose salvation lies in the direction of increased assimilation into it. Here the Satanist is closer to Machiavelli, Hobbes, Nietzsche than to Crowley, and deliberately cultivates what Eric Hoffer referred to as "the unnaturalness of human nature". Once this principle is postulated, an entire corpus of initiatory development - the TRUE Left-Hand Path - opens before the aspirant. It is precisely upon this exhilarating adventure that first the Church of Satan and then the Temple of Set have been embarked these past 22 years. Therein, we feel, are to be found the true secrets of human psychic evolution and deification.

It would be pleasant indeed to share this adventure with fellow Satanists from those magical islands in the North Sea which can justly claim to be one of the world's true centers of civilization. We would like to see the Temple of Set become truly international. And if British Satanists yearn for the elegant malevolence of Charles Gray in his portrayal of Dennis Wheatley's Mocata ["I will not be back...but SOMETHING will!"], well, we shall not try to disappoint them in that regard either.

Set in Egyptian Theology

by Patricia Hardy, High Priestess of Set


Set was one of the earliest Egyptian deities, a god of the night identified with the northern stars. In the earliest ages of Egypt this Prince of Darkness was well regarded. One persistent token of this regard is the Tcham scepter, having the stylized head and tail of Set. The Tcham scepter is frequently found in portraits of other gods as a symbol of magical power.

In some texts he is hailed as a source of strength, and in early paintings he is portrayed as bearer of a harpoon at the prow of the boat of Ra, warding off the serpent Apep. Yet the warlike and resolute nature of Set seems to have been regarded with ambivalence in Egyptian theology, and the portrayal of this Neter went through many changes over a period of nearly three thousand years. Pictures of a god bearing two heads, that of Set and his daylight brother Horus the Elder, may be compared to the oriental Yin/Yang symbol as a representation of the union of polarities. In time, the conflict between these two abstract principles came to be emphasized rather than their primal union.

Set's battle with Horus the Elder grew from being a statement of the duality of day and night into an expression of the political conflict among the polytheistic priesthoods for control of the Egyptian theocracy. This was rewritten as a battle between Good and Evil after Egypt expelled the Hyskos in the 18th Dynasty. Some say the Hyskos were Asiatic invaders, and others say they were an indigenous minority that seized control of the nation. This tribe ruled Egypt for a time and happened to favor the Set-cult, seeing a resemblance to a storm-god of their own pantheon.

The Set cult never recovered from this identification with the Hyskos. Images of Set were destroyed or defaced. By the time Greek historians visited Egypt, wild asses, pigs, and other beasts identified with the Set cult were driven off cliffs, hacked into pieces or otherwise slaughtered at annual celebrations in a spirit akin to the driving out of the Biblical scapegoat. The report of these historians is often thought to be a valid account of aa timeless and immutable theocracy , but just looking at the frequency with which the ruling capital moved to different cities (each being a cult-center) is enough to dispel this idea. One controversial Egyptologist has suggested that the worship of Set might have predated the concept of paternity. Later cults incorporating a father god would reject this fatherless son. This introduces another bizarre factor in the transformation of the Night/Day battle between brothers into an inheritance dispute between Set and Horus the Younger. Any book on Egyptian myth you pick up contains the gory details of this cosmic lawsuit, which includes things that make DYNASTY look like a prayer breakfast. I have always been intrigued, though, that while all books affirm that Set tore Osiris to pieces, everybody knows about Osiris, and it is quite hard to collect the pieces of the puzzle that is Set. Egyptologists have never agreed what the animal used to symbolize Set actually is. Since the sages of ancient Egypt did not use an unrecognizable creature to represent any other major deity, we may guess that this is intentional, and points, like the Tcham scepter, to an esoteric meaning.

References:

Budge, E.A. Wallis. THE GODS OF THE EGYPTIANS.
Grant, Kenneth. CULTS OF THE SHADOW.
Graves, Robert. THE WHITE GODDESS.
Ions, Veronica. EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY.
Massey, Gerald. THE NATURAL GENESIS.
Russell, Jeffrey Burton. THE DEVIL.

Xeper, The Eternal Word of Set

by Don Webb, High Priest Emeritus

I am the Magus of the Word Xeper (pronounced Khefer), an English language coinage expressing an Egyptian verb written as a stylized scarab and meaning "I Have Come Into Being." This Word generates the Aeon of Set, and is the current form of the Eternal Word of the Prince of Darkness. To Know this Word is to know that the ultimate responsibility for the evolution of your psyche is in your hands. It is the Word of freedom, ecstasy, fearful responsibility, and the root of all Magic.

An Aeon is a world. As human beings we are familiar with many "worlds." We can talk about the "world of Thomas Jefferson" or the "world of Newton." Magical worlds are created by Words -- by the verbal power of mankind to express a divine principle -- which through the effect of that Utterance on the objective universe brings about the creation of the world. The Word serves as a gateway for the mind seeking to enter the world it defines, and the effect of an Utterance of a Word will cause many worlds to be reconfigured in order to Hear it. The Aeon of Set is Created by the Word "Xeper." Xeper is an Egyptian verb meaning "I Have Come Into Being." Xeper is the experience of an individual psyche becoming aware of its own existence and deciding to expand and evolve that existence through its own actions. Xeper has been experienced by anyone who has decided to seek after his or her own development.

Awareness of Xeper usually begins with a moment of rebellion against the spiritual status quo. In this sense Xeper is a "Satanic" word, and the condition that led to its re-emergence on this Earth began in the Working called the Church of Satan. Its properties transcend and are in some ways opposed to that matrix. It is the nature of Self-Creation that it continually Re-creates its matrix in the objective universe so that the subjective universe can evolve and expand. To experience that moment of Xeper, of emergent self-divinity one must Love two things with all of one's heart. The first of these is Freedom, because only in Freedom can one take the steps (if initially only mentally) that create and limit the Self. The second thing one must Love is Knowledge. This isn't the same thing as information; this a transformative Understanding of those things within us and beyond us that determine who we are.

The symbols of Xeper are the scarab beetle and the dawning sun. The beetle is symbolic of self trust and hard work. The beetle goes through very different stages from egg to larva to pupa to beetle. Each stage has its own Work, a particular way of gathering energy and materials, particular ways of transforming them. It senses its own evolution and works toward it -- even though the momentum of that evolution will change its shape radically -- taking it at the appropriate time into unknown worlds and new modes of Being. The dawn is symbolic of the way the world is perceived. Unlike the followers of conventional religion who posses guidebooks that explain the world away, the Seeker after Xeper is looking for an intensification of his or her own Being so that the world may be made intelligible in his or her own light. In this darkling universe there are no lights save for those you create through your hard work, your spiritual rebellion, your seeking after the mysteries of your own choosing. When that light dawns, it will by its very nature not only give you moments of clarity about the things in your life closest to you, it will likewise show you new horizons -- horizons for you and you alone to explore. This Secret was known symbolically to the Egyptians -- they identified their god Xepera, the Self-Created One with Hrumachis, the god of the Horizon. This Secret was also known (at a divine level) by Aleister Crowley, who predicted that the Aeon of Hrumachis would surpass his own.

Set, the Egyptian god of Darkness, is the Divine origin of the Word. Set's name ultimately means the "Separator" or "Isolator." His chief enemies are the gods of Stasis and Mindlessness. The first of these is Osiris, Death himself. Set's slaying of Osiris has a twofold significance for the seeker of Xeper. Firstly this represents the slaying of old thought patterns, the dethroning of those internal gods that we have received from society. On a second level this was the act by which Set, alone of all the gods of ancient Egypt, became deathless. The Left Hand Path is a quest to Become an immortal, potent, and powerful Essence. Set's other enemy is the demon of mindless chaos, Apep. Set is said to slay this creature every night just before dawn. This symbolizes overcoming self doubt and delusion, of acting at the times of greatest despair, or not being lulled to sleep by the powerful self-hypnotizing engines of mankind. Set achieves (on a divine level) this isolation from the universe so that he may say, "Xeper" = "I Have Come Into Being." Each of these breaks -- the break from the dead past (by slaying Osiris) and the break from the confused present (by slaying Apep) -- is done for the sake of a self-determined future. One of Set's cult titles, Set-Heh, means God of Unending Futurity.

Set did not receive the aid of other gods in his two quests, nor does Set give aid to those who seek to emulate these quests on a human level. Those who struggle (like Set) with the principle of Xeper are of his Essence. Their actions are essentially the same. Those who want to share their quests and pool their knowledge seek after Set's chief tool of His Aeon, the Temple of Set. It is the most concentrated environment for the study of Xeper, both as noun and verb. Xeper can not be studied as an abstract intellectual idea, it must be experienced. One can read about Justice, or one can hope for it, but to truly Know Justice you must bring it into Being. One can read about Xeper, as your interest in secret things has brought you to do. You can hope for it. Or you can seek the solitary self-transformation that will cause you to experience it. The Temple of Set represents a concentration of the Aeon; like Set himself, it does not answer prayers, and by its very Being provides challenges for those who would seek after the Word of Xeper. It is the embodiment of the Emerald Dawn enVisioned by the Fraternitas Saturni. We are not necessarily a "Satanic" order, other than we Understand that for Initiation on the Left Hand Path to be effective for those who have just begun Work on that path, the antinomian aspect of the Work does Need to be fulfilled by some means. The imagery of the Black Arts provides that Need for many, but it likewise can be limiting as it is mastered. Our predecessor was caught by this trap, and we hope by exploring the manifestations of the principle of Xeper in many cultures and times and in our own creations to have much further horizons. Diabolical imagery is useful only in a culturally bound antinomian sense; beyond this it represents a new stasis to be discarded.

Xeper. Now an Egyptian verb, like an English verb, can have several forms depending on its number, tense, voice, and mood. (Unlike an English verb, Egyptian verbs also have gender.) You can have a verb such as run which can be conjugated (I run; you run; he, she or it runs; we run -- I am running -- I ran -- etc.). There are about 140 forms for an English verb (I remember this because my Junior High School Latin teacher often made us write the full conjugation of English verbs when he was mad at us). We happen to know the tense and person of the verb Xeper from the sentence Xepera Xeper Xeperu. It is first person, stative. Now while you're trying to remember your High School grammar as to what tense "stative" is -- you won't. We don't have the tense in English. It refers to a past event that modifies a current state. We do have first person, of course; that means that "I" did it.

The proper translation of the verb Xeper is "I Have Come Into Being." Now there are some implications of this that we in the Temple have not yet considered. Firstly the verb refers to a moment that has happened that explains why we are here. When you write or speak or think the word "Xeper" you are talking about something that has taken place. You are not talking about something taking place at the moment of the speech act. Xeper is not a continuous process. It is a series of events, whose presence we sense either through reason, or through divine apprehensions. We are aware that something has occurred to give the particular Being we have at any moment. We are aware that whatever the great shaping potential of that something we don't have that potential at this moment. In short we are aware that we have had a moment wherein we acted as gods. We did something divine -- we had some peak experience -- we made some life-altering choice -- and it has produced the creatures we are now. Now this produces two great realizations. First, we are aware that we have a capacity beyond wherever and whenever we are right now to both Limit and Create ourselves. All moments of Xeper both Limit and Create ourselves -- or to use both of those ideas at the same time, all moments of Xeper Isolate ourselves from the Cosmos. Second, we want to do this again. Humankind wants the Divine. In erroneous religions this desire is a return to the Divine in one way or another (either by union or by being in the divine presence in some place with far too much harp music). Well that doesn't work -- you can't go back to the state where Xeper last occurred. You can't go back to a previous divine state any more than you can fold an oak back into an acorn. You can only go forward to another divine state. If you want to both achieve and experience your godhood, you've got to go forward. In our Earthly incarnation we never fully experience the divine moment, only through magical introspection do we discover that we have passed through them, and can therefore say (with both happiness and terror) "I Have Come Into Being." In the Bremmer-Rhind papyrus this idea is reflected in the fact that Xepera's first two children are Shu (Reason) and Tefnut (Peak Emotions). Through these two Human experiences we can detect the divine, and having detected it learn to Work with it to have more divine experiences.

Now the first question is -- how do I have more divine experiences? Xeper happens to every sapient being (note I didn't say every intelligent being, I'll return to that point in a future article). Most humans (and most of us most of the time) stumble across those experiences that would set up the conditions so that they could later say, "Xeper" if they had a large enough brain to hold the concept. The experience might be going into a drugstore to buy a malted milk and meeting the person that becomes your spouse for the next fifty years. Well that was divine moment, it both Limited and Created your Life. A Christian would say it was the hand of God, a Hindu would invoke Karma. But we know who did it -- that man or woman we face in the mirror everyday. The scary thing for all humans -- and in fact the reason they/we invented religion in the first place -- is that most divine experiences occur blindly. So most humans either ask some fairy tale on bended knee not to give them bad experiences, or if they're a little braver try to influence them with magic, or try to deny them by exerting the meaningless nature of the Cosmos. But the Setian, knowing that only through such experiences can he or she find the metamorphosis that our philosophy finds both achievable and desirable, seeks out the divine experience. I can't tell you where to find yours. If you did what I did, you would mainly find that it didn't work. That is because of the individualistic nature of Xeper (remember? -- First Person verb).

This tells you many things about Xeper, the verb. It is not continuous. All events do not feed it equally. It is not fully under conscious control, rather consciousness and emotion arise from it; but can and must be used to seek more of it. This means that Xeper is not simple self-development or self-improvement, but that those things chosen rationally can put us in the place where Xeper can occur. All sapient beings experience Xeper, but those who can name it and Understand its purpose have a much better chance of achieving it. The paths to it are absolutely personal, but some of its properties (such as being fed/triggered by peak experiences) lead to certain group functions as facilitators. It Limits you -- Divine decisions always involve a road not taken. It Creates you -- Divine decisions always lead to much more than can be rationally deduced. When you can say "Xeper" you are in some way a different person.

The noun "Xeper" -- that thing we speak of us as our "Xeper" -- is likewise an Egyptian noun. It is usually translated into English as manifestation. Or "The thing that happened." The plural of the noun is Xeperu. When we talk about our "Xeper" we are talking about a very large thing indeed -- and we usually (in our normal sluglike mode) give very little thought to it. Yet if we simply Become aware of Xeper -- our personal magical and philosophical horizons greatly expand. Many magicians in the Temple of Set take justifiable pride in the magical items they create. It's easy to see one's magic in a necklace one makes. However as magicians what we do is a make a very large magical object, existing on many levels of reality. Our entire lives considered at any moment is a Xeper, a manifestation. If you can think of all the things that you've wrought -- changes in your mind/body complex, your recognition, your reputation -- all of those things that represent what you have brought to this Earth -- as a giant talisman -- then you've got a handle on Xeper, the noun. Many of you may have written a Rune to pull something -- gold or love -- out of the Unmanifest. That Rune is a tiny, tiny version of the great talisman your Xeper is. The creation of Xeper is the Working whereby we attract what we're going to get in this life, and the divine memory we will have of this life.

Xeper, the noun, is the extension of existence to a further level of Being. These extensions can be a thought that you've pulled to a developed conscious level from an intuition -- which would represent two levels of being in your Subjective Universe. These extensions can be what others think of you. The extensions are particularity evident in actions that represent a first or personal best effort at some thing. Hence if you really want to Xeper, conquer fear by doing something you didn't think you could. Or find a mystery and bring it to the surface of your understanding -- or better yet the understanding of others. Or create something new (the last would be an example of the verb for Create, S'Xeper). Since Xeper exists as a noun, you can interact with the Xeper of others -- you are effected (usually blindly) by the Work of past magicians, or if you have learned the art of Shaping and Seeking your own Xeper first you can consciously Work with other's products -- an excellent example of this would the Wewelsburg Working.

I'll leave you with one other word for your word-hoard -- the dual noun Xeperi. Egyptian nouns can be singular (one cat), dual (two cats) or plural (too many cats). The noun Xeperi can best be translated by synchronicity; although the standard translation is miracle. The Egyptians knew the Sign of something Coming Into Being was the meaningful co-incidence. We know too -- either bu Shu ("What were the odds of that happening?") or by Tefnut ("It sent shivers down my spine."). The noun Xeperi shows that manifestations are not continuous, but discrete -- actions at a distance -- or more simply, magic. Xeper has occurred when two discrete systems resonate with one another. Another form of Xeperi is that moment of communication of wordless magical information with one another. The most familiar form of this is through our interactions with the Aeon, and as before the more adept you are at Seeking and Shaping your own Xeper, the more you can positively interact with the Xeper of the Aeon, and help fulfill her purpose of exporting Xeper into the Objective Universe.

Think about these things. Think about them till that shiver runs down your back. Then put this aside for awhile and come back to it. Then, after the most personal and individual of experimentation you too can Know and Heed the Law: Xepera Xeper Xeperu = I Have Come Into Being, and by the Process of my Coming Into Being, the Process of Coming Into Being is Established.

I will speak on the Word's history, and I will ask you all to think on this Evolution in the objective universe, and then upon the Evolution of your own subjective universe -- how you, the reader, has experienced Xeper. With each evolution of the Word, note how it doesn't lose meaning, but gains through each historical test -- just as Xeper in your self gains as you gain new being.

The formula Xepera Xeper Xeperu has been traced by French Egyptologists back to the First Intermediate period. There it was a formula of power for finding meaning when the Divine Kingship, the most important source of order, had collapsed. This was probably the birth of the Left Hand Path -- the idea that meaning can only come from the individual. "Xeper" was the last fortress -- the mind and body of the individual. "Xeper" was the word of anyone who would not let the divine principle of Isolation and Evolution fail.

The second appearance was in Ramses III's time. The formula was used to empower travelers through the desert. "Xeper" was a touchstone for those who extend existence by passing boundaries. "Xeper" was the word of the extender of Egypt -- of the Known Order.

The third appearance was at the beginning of the Hermetic tradition. "Xeper" became the word of the individual magician seeking two types of power: power to see through the illusions of this world, and power for a coherent afterlife. These practitioners began a magical practice that went beyond the state goals of Egypt or Greece or Rome.

The fourth appearance -- connected with the purchase of Budge's Egyptian Language by a Priest of Mendes -- was very different. The Left Hand Path was up and running. The Word Worked on a matrix of its own making. Michael Aquino had to find the word (cast in Roman and Greek letters) in a translation from its last appearance. He didn't write the Rhind papyrus, any more than its author came up with the spell of Continuous Re-Creation. But his Utterance of that Word -- in a matrix conditioned by its last appearance -- produced a new access to energy and power beyond any previous utterances. Aquino's Utterance in 1975 e.v. was the Utterance of the Word of Aeons, defining the process that each sapient being must experience in order to change him- or herself. Xeper is the concept upon which the cycles of manifestation are actualized (in both the noumenological and phenomenological worlds). The actual activity of cyclical dynamism is generated by the formula of Xepera Xeper Xeperu, and my Remanifestation of the Word with my own Utterance of Xeper on the Spring Equinox of 1996 e.v. will raise and attune the imagination of the world to a new and permanent understanding of the principle.

My Utterance of the Word is in the tradition of Michael Aquino's. I am Uttering the Word into a Matrix of its own conditioning. The results should be stronger and further reaching than Michael Aquino's Utterance -- just as he or she that follows me will extend the Word further.

Each Pharaoh attempted to extend the borders of the country further than his predecessor. I am extending the possibilities for Xeper further than Michael Aquino. My accomplishments will be less, the time of seeing an Aeon being born is very rare. My job will be to find and articulate more of the properties of Xeper, so that each student of the Black Arts will have new types of tools for their collaboration with Set.

If I manage to extend the boundaries and make there my Oath of Truth, then I will be seen as a successful Magus. If I fail, others will Utter "Xeper," just as mankind has been doing for the last four thousand years. It is the job of the Temple to keep the connections of the Word alive, so that long periods of ignorance come not again. In fact, if we fail utterly then the Word will not be heard on this earth again.

To those that dare the Black Magic, that will take up the uniquely personal challenge of Xeper, both as a spiritual quest for Self-deification and a psychological exploration of antinomianism, I send greetings, and the sure Knowledge that when you think of Set, He thinks of you.

XEPER

Concerning Isolate Intelligence

Don Webb, High Priest Emeritus

I would like to say a few things about Isolate Intelligence, the "thing" or "substance" of which we say Set is the God of.

The phrase has undergone a little modification over the years. Like all things when they are new, the Temple defined itself against what was already created and conditioned -- particularly the hedonist/critical strain of the Church of Satan, and the 0=2 formula of A. Crowley. (The former break determined the aesthetic and social purpose actions of the Temple, the later its ontology). Dr. Michael Aquino, our human founder, choose the term "Isolate Consciousness" to reflect a belief in the actual separateness of perception of sentient beings. When Stephen Edred Flowers wrote Lords of the Left Hand Path, he modified the term to "Isolate Intelligence" reflecting, he felt, even more of the idea of self-ordering.

An isolate intelligence has a job. Its job is to turn terror into Joy through Strength.

Certain shocks awaken the psyche to the knowledge that it exists apart from the impermanent universe. These shocks are not pleasant, and can either be accepted as a path to strength or rejected as pact with denial. Our selves don't live on in our children, our achievement, or (to use a trendy word) our memes. This is the intellectual shock. Then we begin to see that nothing on this Earth is permanent -- from your favorite restaurant to your first girlfriend -- all is subject to change. This is the emotional shock. Then you realize that your body won't be around forever. This is the physical shock. Your indigence has one unavoidable object of contemplation: its other -- and it has every objective indication that the other will survive it. Against this it has an inherent Knowledge that it can survive, if it furthers itself. This Knowledge, which alas can only be felt not rationally proven, is (in our sectarian language) the Gift of Set.

The three shocks create great despair in the soul. It leads to various mythologies or to bad coping mechanisms like alcoholism, or obsessive hobbies. Each of these are ways to momentarily soothe the soul, but for a very few heroic souls there is the harder job of simply changing how it perceives the universe.

If it can prove that it is an actor in the universe rather than a temporary spectator, it can take the fundamental condition of the objective world -- which is impermanence -- and use that state to its own benefit. The formula is very simple -- "If I can be permanent, and all is in flux, eventually all will conform to me."

This gives the soul a daily challenge -- what can I do to be stronger and happier? Each action in the Objective World what furthers this, infuses some part of yourself into that world. This absolute commitment to action is the only guide to Setian activity. Among certain immature LHP practitioners the fact that Setians think in order to act is seen as a "spiritual" trait. That which is of You ultimately belongs to You -- it will return in the fullness of time to You. This is not karma, a form of external justice; but the Mystery of the Self. The Self can (and must) start cycles of action in the impermanent world, and learn about itself form the feedback these cycles will bring to it. This is encapsulate in the formula: I Have Come Into Being, and by the Process of my Coming Into Being, the Process of Coming Into Being is Established. Or in the Egyptian of the Bremner-Rhind Papyrus: Xepera Xeper Xeperu.

It takes a strong, happy, and careful person to view that all they do will return to them, so that they might know themselves, as a thing of Joy. It is easier to believe that all of the cycles of one's life are due to some greater whole, of which you are but a part. But if you choose that belief, if you choose the path of irresponsibility, you ultimately will have identified with the principle that governs the world outside of the Self: impermanence.

Thus you will fade as do all things of this world, since the greater whole is a mindless vortex.

This choice to struggle against the universe is what separates the Left Hand Path from other ways of thinking. We see the Prince of Darkness as the First to make such a struggle, and we see His infusing of his Gift as way to enrich the universe -- for if it was only mind that was permanent, eventually all would reflect that mind, and it wouldn't have the richness of the actions of others to enrich its cycles.

We, like our patron, choose to Awaken others, so as they begin their cycles in this mutable world, our own are enriched with wonder and friendship and -- most importantly an ever growing Knowledge of the Possible. The later Knowledge is the prerequisite to Freedom.