textfiles/occult/OTO/tsinf1

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.