I took that job on myself; I would keep it until 2003.
Since joining the Church of Satan in 1969, I had become a voracious occult- and outré-book
devourer and collector. My bookshelves overflowed into my closets, and the makeshift shelves
therein were ultimately packed three-deep with the Good, the Bad, and the Arguable. This was
both useful and problematic for a Temple of Set Reading List. Useful because over the years I
had pretty much zeroed in on the best stuff. Problematic because some of that best stuff wasn’t
readily available in normal bookstores, or was comparatively expensive when it was. In my RL
introduction, accordingly, I encouraged Setians to make the acquaintance of old-book stores,
book-search services, and the interlibrary loan services of community and university libraries.
Back then that took a good deal more dedication, perseverance, and time than today’s instant
Internet quests!
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The categories of the Reading List upon which I decided reflected the wide range of interests
of the Temple of Set. They have remained unchanged in the subsequent three decades, except
that I and others have added some items and - following the revival of the Order of the Trapezoid
- a category on the ancient north European runic arts & sciences was created.
The Reading List appears herein as Appendix #12. Within the context of this memoir I am
including it as one of the best ways to illustrate both the wide-ranging interests of the Temple
and the focus & depth of resultant investigations. [Note also that passages of this narrative, and
within various other Appendices, make reference to Reading List entries by their code number.]
By now it can be seen that the Temple of Set’s approach to individual initiation, as well as to
its own identity as the Temple of Set, was far more multifaceted than most nonSetians [and
many shellshocked new Setians] appreciated. As can be seen from the contents of the Jeweled
Tablets, the collected issues of the Scroll of Set, and the numerous papers of the Temple’s
Orders, Elements, Pylons, and individual Initiates, the Reading List was appropriately a point of
departure, not an end in itself.
That departure was made easier by Priest Ronald K. Barrett and his Anubis Pylon in San
Francisco, who inaugurated the Ap-uat Library Project (ALP) to further identify, track down, and
either acquire or otherwise make available to Setians for specialized learning and research.
Wrote Barrett in the October 1976 Scroll:
The Anubis Pylon has been organizing a new element for the Temple of Set which includes
book research, data bank, and experimentation coordination. This new element is designed to
assist individual Setians, pylons, and other elements by collecting and providing information that
will save footwork, effort, and time.
Starting 1 October Xl ALP will be able to provide upon request book lists by subject matter or
author which may include [but not be limited to] the High Priest’s reading list. These book lists are
for informational purposes only and will not carry a recommendation. Book reviews sent to ALP
by members of the Temple will be included in the ALP Newsletter.
It will also be possible to order some books directly from ALP, as some publishers are offering
discounts to the Temple. Magistra Sinclair in Santa Barbara will be in charge of the book orders,
but all orders must be sent initially to ALP in San Francisco for processing and paid in advance.
Details will be provided in the newsletter, as they are too involved to include here.
Another function of ALP is assistance in coordinating research and experiments by recording
who has knowledge of what, who is doing what, who wants to research what, who can help whom,
etc. The effectiveness of this depends equally upon the input and output of information. You will
greatly enhance the potential of this program by writing out your answers to the questionnaire
below and mailing them in to ALP. All answers will be kept confidential, and only your names and
interests will be used for referrals.
The newsletter mentioned above will be a summary of accumulated general data, book
reviews, special reports and articles, etc. There will be no regular publishing date for the
newsletter - neither will there be a standard rate of subscription. The price will be based on 10
cents/page and announced in the Scroll when each new issue is ready. The first issue is now in
process and should be available around November 1st.
Send any inquiries, requests, book reviews, comments, etc., and your answers to the
and/or inquiries will be handled on an individual basis.
ALP Questionnaire
Name, Title/Degree, Date, Occupation/ Profession(s).
What have been your past fields of study (formal and/or informal)?
What are your current fields of study (formal and/or informal)?
What subjects do you prefer for casual reading?
Please state the nature of any experiments you have conducted or participated in and the
outcome, if known.
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Please state the nature of any experiments and/or research you might like to conduct.
Please list any periodicals, magazines, etc. that you feel would be beneficial for a library of the
Temple of Set to subscribe to, and explain why.
What books, articles, etc., would you recommend to other members of the Temple of Set?
Please include all pertinent information: title, subject matter, author, publisher, etc.
Please state any ideas or suggestions you might have for this project.
May we refer you to other members whose interests parallel your own?
How might this project best serve you?
Thus, a year after its founding, the Temple of Set was off to a pretty energetic start, as I
recounted in my first annual report to the membership in the June 1976 Scroll (Appendix #13).
One sign of our success that gave me particular pleasure: at our first annual membership
renewal date we lost only one Setian I°. During its lifetime, by contrast, the Church of Satan had
experienced roughly a 50% annual turnover rate. 49
Despite all of the organizational work, Setians actually found some time to just get together
for socializing, dining, and even a little Black Magic. Over the South Solstice 1976 weekend in
December, for instance, another conclave was held in San Jose, hosted by the Bubastis Pylon. A
very pleasant day was devoted to touring the Rosicrucian Park headquarters of the AMORC, a
remarkable complex of ancient Egyptian architecture, somewhat incongruously right in the
midst of residential neighborhoods.
At this time the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art had also negotiated the most
impressive exhibition of artifacts from Pharaoh Tutankhamen’s tomb ever to tour the United
States. As it traveled around the country to various museums, groups of Setians met to attend
and admire it. For those who for reasons of budget or distance could not visit the Tut Show in
person, the Temple of Set purchased and circulated gratis a complete set of color slides of all the
exhibit artifacts, along with an audio narrative of them by the Metropolitan Museum’s Director.
Somewhat less successful, commencing in mid-1976 and continuing for the next year (as best
I can make out from the documents i
n question) was one of the Temple of Set’s two comic
pratfalls in its ancient Egyptian explorations. Magistra Margaret Wendall, a devotee of Egypt’s
calendar, proposed that the Temple of Set adopt it instead of the conventional Gregorian one.
Well, why not? It sounded like fun, and might have the added benefit of keeping nonSetians in
the dark about the scheduling of Temple events.
Unfortunately the new/old system of days and months (“7 Pharmuthi XXI”) also managed to
confuse all of us to the extent that we didn’t know what was happening when either! Some
months later - however long it really was no one knows for certain - we slunk grouchily back into
Gregoriana.
At one of our first conclaves we also experimented with Egyptian eye-makeup - the heavy,
black extended outlines that one sees on ancient statues, wall-reliefs, and Hollywood monster
movies. As part of a total appearance makeover, I daresay, it might look impressive. Mixed with
any elements of modern attire, mustaches & beards, Afro- or other 1970s- hairdos, 5 o’clock
shadows, etc., the effect was beyond hilarious. [I will give the Setian ladies credit for doing a
better job of their makeup, but of course they had a head start (no pun intended).] Only a few
slapstick photos have survived, and no, one is not going to be included in the Plates section of
this memoir! Well, maybe ...
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6: Jackal Rising
Brien’s First Law: At some time in the life cycle of virtually every organization, its ability
to succeed in spite of itself runs out.
Brontosaurus Principle: Organizations can grow faster than their brains can manage
them in relation to their environment and to their own physiology; when this occurs,
they are an endangered species.
From its very beginning the Temple of Set was much more than the extended vision and/or
philosophy of a single individual. Initially, of course, it consisted of those Initiates of the Church
of Satan who, like myself, had rejected Anton LaVey’s May 1975 decision to commercialize the
Church; and who, after reading the Book of Coming Forth by Night, had decided that the
concept and orientation of the Temple of Set resonated with them.
Such resonance took as many different forms as there were individuals.
• Some saw the Temple as essentially a continuation of the previous Church’s Satanism,
albeit re-tinted to ancient Egyptian hues.
• Some saw it as a rejection of Satanism altogether in favor of a reach-back to ancient
Egyptian mythology and philosophy.
• Some saw it as an entirely new vision of the future, borrowing only such trappings
from Satanism and/or ancient Egypt as might be useful or artistic for illustrative
purposes.
• Still others had no preconceptions or agendæ, and were content to let whatever-this-
thing-might-be just simmer in the frying pan until it began to smell and taste good.
This heterogeneous, collegial, unhurried, and pleasant atmosphere set the tone for what the
Temple of Set would generally continue to be to the present day, and I think goes a long way
towards explaining why it has not fallen victim to either Brien’s First Law or the Brontosaurus
Principle. Where the Temple has occasionally sailed through rough seas has usually resulted
from, or at least been catalyzed by some individual’s or group’s desire to create a narrower, more
uniform focus. Such ambitions have generally arisen with the best of intentions: a wish to
energize the Temple more, to see all Setians of all degrees as exemplars of excellence, to
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accentuate the Temple as an occult institution or as a social presence. Unfortunately for such
crusaders, yet I think fortunately for the Temple’s underlying authenticity and substance, efforts
to marshal Setians are rather akin to herding cats.
The first year in particular of the Temple was marked by regular and abundant dialogue
among the founding Masters and Priests as to just how this new approach to initiation could be
defined, measured, evaluated, and administered. An entirely freeform, anarchic approach would
render any kind of collective degree-system confusing at best, incoherent and meaningless at
worst. It was easy enough to establish ordered procedures for initiatory degree-recognitions;
the hard part was ensuring a standard of integrity and quality whereby an Adept, say,
recognized for demonstrated competence in one “universe of interests” could be seen on a par
with another of quite different experience and abilities.
Indeed the five original Masters of the Temple exemplified such divergent perspectives:
Margaret Wendall was a practical, no-nonsense personality with interests in scientific
fields such as modern & ancient astronomy, [the then fledgling field of] personal
computers, and medieval Russian mythology. Throughout the years of the Church of
Satan, she had gained a national reputation for being among the most stable,
levelheaded, and rational of the Priesthood. Her Bubastis Chapel in San Jose was
similarly mature, tranquil, and commonsensible, as was her long-running newsletter
The Magic Cat. In 1975 she promptly volunteered her editorial and professional-
layout skills for the creation of the Temple’s Scroll of Set newsletter, establishing a
standard of excellence and æsthetics for that publication which has continued ever
since.
Robert Ethel of Washington, D.C. was a charming, ebullient artist whose Asmodeus
Grotto had attracted Satanists of a similarly eccentric, bohemian verve. He was also a
seasoned and widely-read occultist of “the old school”, whose opinions and judgments
reflected what he saw as the best mixture of many approaches to wisdom. An
ichthyologist and owner of his own aquarium business, his home was almost as exotic
as Anton LaVey’s, presided over by his gorgeous white cockatoo.
Michael Grumboski of Detroit had come to national notice in the Church of Satan by
being a strong advocate for integrity and “constructive repair” in first the Wayne
West/Babylon Grotto and then the John DeHaven/Stygian Grotto crises [see my
Church of Satan]. Looking rather quaintly like Walt Disney’s Ichabod Crane, “Shai”
was modest, unassuming, and invariably polite-to-a-fault. He shared Margaret
Wendall’s interest in computers, though on mainframe instead of personal hardware.
L. Dale Seago, most recently of Los Angeles, was the adventurer of the group. Previously
a Marine Corps noncommissioned officer in North Carolina and a martial arts Black
Belt, he had moved first to Texas, then to Los Angeles, where his Yuggoth Grotto had
attracted a colorful collection of old-guard Church-of-Satanists as well as avant-garde
artists, entertainers, and magicians. Strongly principled and fiercely loyal to causes
that inspired him, he moved to Santa Barbara shortly after the Temple’s founding to
complete a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of California, along
with a commission as a Military Intelligence officer in the U.S. Army. His essays about
the more complex issues and applications of Black Magic in the Scroll could always be
counted upon to raise the bar of research precision and intellectual excellence.
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Lilith Sinclair had soared to prominence as the darkly-beautiful and fiery Priestess of
New York City’s Lilith Grotto, famous both for her Grotto’s dramatic activities and
community presence and for her own public personification of the Church of Satan,
which had led one Pennsylvania cultural magazine to dub her “the occult superstar of
the east”. Moving to Santa Barbara in the early 1970s, she had gone on to become a
major national influence in the Church, particularly in its developing inter-Grotto and
regional programs. She brought to the Temple of Set a deeply intuitive and romantic
conviction that invariably lent a richness and depth to what could otherwise have been
a rather too-cerebral atmosphere.
Individually and cooperatively these founding Masters established a climate of
encouragement of and respect for personal idiosyncrasy in Setian initiation. They proved that it
was indeed possible to have widely-alien talents, interests, accomplishments, yet respect one
another fully and sincerely. In this Setians of today owe a debt to these original Masters that can
scarcely be overstated.
Quickly emerging in this rich new garden of initiation were the initial Priests and Priestesses
of Set. As in the old Church, these individuals were at the nerve center of all interactivity
between the Temple as an institution and the I°/II° membership. Each Priest, each Priestess
became in effect the “personification” of the Temple of Set to these affiliates. They were living
examples of what it really meant to come into being as an awakened child of Set.
Easily the most well-known and flamboyant was William F. Murray of Winnemucca, Nevada,
whose affable gregariousness throughout the Church of Satan had first amused, then alarmed
the LaVeys. In designing the Temple of Set, I had created the office of Executive Director as chief
administrative officer, to complement and counterbalance the High Priest as chief executive
officer. Bill slipped into the EDship as naturally and effortlessly as though it were an old pair of
Levis. He quickly organized, delegated, and coordinated the Temple’s several organizational
services: publications, records, communication networks, finances, calendars, and programs. All
this from a modest little white house in Winnemucca, itself a modest little way stop in the middle