psychologists, and clinical social workers; and 4,655 district attorneys, police
departments, and social service agencies. They reported 12,264 accusations of ritual abuse
that they had investigated. The survey found that there was not a single case among
them where there was clear corroborating evidence for the most common accusation, that
there was “a well-organized, intergenerational Satanic cult who sexually molested and
tortured children in their homes or schools for years and committed a series of murders,”
said Goodman. (Daniel Goleman, New York Times, reprinted San Francisco Chronicle
11/1/94)
• - does not exist in the United Kingdom, as reported by the British Government’s
Department of Health in 1994, after a three-year investigation. “There is no evidence that
these [“Satanic ritual abuse”] have taken place in any of the 84 cases studied ... The study
of cases in detail showed that the Evangelical Christian campaign against new religious
movements has been a powerful influence encouraging the identification of satanic abuse.
Equally important in spreading the idea of satanic abuse in Britain are the professional
‘specialists’, American and British. Their claims or qualifications are rarely checked. Much
of their information, particularly about cases in the United States, is unreliable.” ( The
Extent and Nature of Organised and Ritual Abuse, HMSO, 1994)
And so it was finally over for Setians, Satanists, Wiccans, neopagans, and similar targets of
one of the most sustained, horrific, and vicious witch-hunts since the Middle Ages.
- 135 -
But it was not over for many of the proponents and profiteers. What they realized was that
there was still publicity to be milked, and massive amounts of money to be made through claims
and lawsuits - only now from targets much more accessible and vulnerable than nonexistent
“Satanic cults”. Now accusations and “recovered memories” were directed against parents and
close family relatives, whose proximity and opportunity were undeniable and indefensible. A
short time later the international Catholic Church, whose priests have extensive educational
contact with parishioners’ children, became an even more popular and lucrative target - the
more so since, unlike the “SRA” myth, this church was indeed found to have a major child sexual
abuse problem.
From the time of its founding in 1975, the Temple of Set had determined that one of the
features of the Church of Satan it would not emulate was that institution’s courting of publicity.
While somewhat entertaining, as well as being free advertisement for new Satanists, the constant
public appearances by both Anton LaVey and the national Priesthood had not only sapped the
time and energy of both, but had seduced all of us into more “media whoredom” than we cared
to admit. Indeed it was in part the Church of Satan’s struggle to live up to its absurdly-inflated
“legend” that precipitated Anton’s effort to dismantle the actual organization in 1974 in favor of
an invisible, untraceable “Movement” whose image he could spin without fear of contradiction
by reality.
The Temple of Set couldn’t care less about publicity; in fact it actively sought to avoid it. We
were building an initiatory environment and “toolbox” for Setians, not for nonSetians’
entertainment or diversion. If that meant we grew only by word-of-mouth, and that with
painstaking deliberation, so much the better.
This policy served the Temple just fine - until the completely-unexpected anti-Satanic
witchhunts of the later-1980s. Suddenly the almost complete mystery of the Temple of Set made
it the world’s most-feared suspect institution, displacing yesterday’s hats such as the Trilateral
Commission, the Illuminati, and the Freemasons.
Much to my annoyance, therefore - and also in obvious response to the “SRA” attack on Lilith
and myself - I began accepting speaking engagements as well as radio and television interviews.
Over the next several years I explained and re-explained the Temple of Set, Setian philosophy,
and “why we had nothing to do with stereotypical anti-Judæo/Christian Devil-worship” to Oprah
Winfrey, Geraldo Rivera, and a seemingly-endless host of their fellow journalists. Other Temple
officials, among them Stephen Flowers, Robert Menschel, and Patty Hardy, also accepted similar
engagements. Not lost on me was the considerable personal risk they took by appearing before
fearful, often hostile audiences.
There were a few moments of incidental slapstick. On one occasion Stephen Flowers and I
were invited down to Killeen, Texas to appear on a “Satanic crime” panel at a multistate law-
enforcement convention. To illustrate the difference between “Hollywood Satanism” and what I
intended to describe as the real thing, I began [against both Stephen’s and Lilith’s advice] with a
film clip from The Devil’s Rain in which Ernest Borgnine, after transforming into a hideous goat-
demon, magically burns the eyes out of William Shatner [who, fortunately, got them back in time
for the Star Trek movie revival the next year]. When I switched off the projector and turned the
lights on, I was dumbfounded to see an auditoriumful of starkly-horrified policemen, sheriffs,
and even the Texas Rangers!
Later during that panel discussion, Pat Pulling, president of “Mothers Against Dungeons &
Dragons” (another obvious Satanic conspiracy to destroy the minds of America’s youth) was
asked if she considered me a “good Satanist”. She responded, “I’m sure he’s a good man. I can’t
bring myself to use the words ‘good’ and ‘Satanist’ in the same sentence.”
Stephen and I left Killeen the next day after being presented with Honorary badges in its
Police Department.
- 136 -
As the “SRA” urban myth fizzled out in the 1990s, so did the need for such appearances - and
of course by now the Temple of Set was no longer a mystery to anyone, though arguably still
somewhat incomprehensible. During one commercial break on his show, Geraldo Rivera asked
me if I would please stick to words of no more than two syllables so as not to lost the television
audience.
Upon resuming the High Priesthood after the departure of Ronald Barrett, my original
intention was just to rebuild and update the Temple, then pass it again to the next generation of
Setians. The dangers of the 1980s changed all that. I felt myself far better to cope with them on
behalf of the Temple than anyone else, so I determined to stay on post until I was satisfied that
the danger was past. By the mid-1990s this was safely evident.
Looking back on that experience, I am reminded of a poem of my mother, [later Setian
Priestess] Betty Ford, composed at age 13:
Forced Entrance
There came a time when they were not content
To shriek against the portals and the shrine.
They crushed the silver gates, and in they went,
Hot-handed, on a search for the Divine.
And the white portals opened ceaselessly,
And the great purple curtains flapped and fell,
And the great mass of people swept to see
Naked Untruth, but how they could not tell.
Still they found nothing godlike, but a throne
Empty and time-worn, in an empty hall,
And a white heap of manuscripts, alone,
And the Sun’s rays that fell, nor ceased to fall.
And, in one sheltered crevasse they went by,
A flight of stairs that wound into the sky.
- 137 -
15: A Passing-By
The abasements of the 1980s notwithstanding, the history of the Temple of Set from my
resumption of the High Priesthood in 1981 to my retirement from it in 1996 was a period of
unmarred pleasure and pleasantness for the Temple of Set. There were occasional differences of
opinion among Setians given our widely-cast net of interests; unsurprisingly none of these
deterred or disrupted the primary goals of expansion of the Order/Pylon/Element system and
the development of the Temple’s publications and access to them.
When I first conceived this memoir, it was my intention to include names and commentaries
concerning every significant Setian magician and philosopher who raised the Temple to its
present plateau of excellence. I soon realized that, particularly in the post-1981 window, this
would be an impossibility; there are just too many of them, and their influence cannot possibly
be summarized in a few paragraphs. So I will defer that task to the Temple’s other historical
archives, particularly the Scroll of Set and the several Order, Element, and Pylon publications.
My goal in this Temple of Set thus became far more modest: to recount the early, formative
stages of the Temple’s construction, and to summarize what might be called “Setian philosophy”
in its most simplified form. The former (Part I) thus concludes with this chapter, while the latter
commences immediately following it (Part II).
In the June 1996 Scroll of Set I finally laid aside my High Priesthood thus:
Sexem-fs em utu arit er-a tep ta. “He has gained the mastery of what was set forth to
be done for me upon Earth.” - Stele of Set, X ÆS
The Heb-Sed Festival of XXX/1995 resulted in many memorable works and events, and each of
us who passed through it emerged enriched and fulfilled by its aurora.
In my own case it brought about extensive meditation on my own role within and
responsibilities to the Temple, as I have Understood them to be since the North Solstice Working
of X/1975. I have come to the conclusion that the sacred charge given to me as High Priest of Set
has now been fulfilled, and that upon the North Solstice of this year I am therefore called to retire
from this office.
Subsequently I will continue to handle routine administrative tasks of the office in a transition
capacity until a successor has been confirmed by the Council of Nine. I will of course work
cooperatively with that successor and with the Executive Director to ensure that the transition of
all Temple operations is as efficient and seamless as possible. I suggest the forthcoming Set-XVII
International Conclave this November as an opportune occasion for ceremonial observance of the
new High Priesthood.
Henceforth I will accept no offices in the Temple, but will of course remain active and
contributive as an individual Initiate. I desire, for instance, to continue and expand my historical
and archival work, as in the recent Scroll project, to make more and more of the treasures of the
- 138 -
past two decades of the Æon easily and coherently available to the Setians of today and tomorrow,
through both Glinda and other media as opportune and appropriate.
At the time of the founding of the Temple, I Understood the High Priesthood to be not a
lifetime station for the individual so entrusted, but rather a reflection of whichever Initiate within
the Priesthood appeared most singularly to be the High Priest or Priestess of Set at a given point in
time. Such a person would possess and display a unique intimacy with Set, and from this would
radiate a passionate guardianship over the Priesthood consecrated to him, and more generally
over the Temple dedicated in his name.
It is thus no single criterion, but a mix of them which characterizes the High Priesthood.
Perhaps most pointedly, it is by no means simply a measure of sincerity, integrity, or personal
dedication to one’s Priesthood. Were this the case, all true Priests and Priestesses could assuredly
add the “High”-prefix. Nor is it primarily a measure of seniority, wisdom, experience, and
initiatory Understanding, else every Master of the Temple would certainly be so called.
The Heb-Sed gave me the opportunity not only to consider my own High Priesthood, but to
reflect upon all of the Masters as possible successors. I have done so and shared my thoughts with
the Masters of the Temple, whose discussions and deliberations will similarly flow into the Council
of Nine during its formal nomination and confirmation process.
I have now been an Initiate of the Priesthood for 26 years and High Priest for a Working period
of 18 years [as Magus Ronald K. Barrett held the office for the 3 years mid-79 to mid-82]. It has
been an exhilarating, inspiring, and above all soul-transforming experience. I believe I have done
my very best to do “what was set forth to be done”, and I am so very proud of the Temple and so
very appreciative of the opportunity to work with and learn from all the Setians over the years,
Initiates who have passed through its pylons, and what a majestic, delightful, and authentic
reflection that is!
From the moment of its [re]creation in 1975, we have instinctively felt the Temple of Set to be
something unprecedented on this world. It crystallized a premise at once more ambitious and
more subtle than that of its Church of Satan prelude. And unlike the cynical pessimism of the
Church, the Temple has always had about it a wondrous exuberance, an electrifying optimism, a
promise of wonders and marvels to be enjoyed by all who ventured through its pylons. We may
not have anticipated all of these discoveries accurately on our first exposure to them - and on
occasion some Initiates have found the light too intense for their self-possession - but such
growing pains as we have experienced have never eclipsed the magic and magnificence of the
Æonic current. And no one who has experienced initiation as catalyzed by the Temple, whether
temporarily or over an enduring period, has been unaffected by it.
No initiatory system exists in a vacuum. The great temples and orders of history all were
enhancements of, or reactions to social currents and critical events in their time. The Temple of
Set has similarly remanifested amidst the dramatic and stormy fluctuations of Western civilization
from the 1970s to the 1990s: “the best of times, the worst of times”. Never before in recorded
history have so many social absolutes disintegrated into relatives, while at the same time
technology has exploded into uncontrollable and addictive extremes. Never before has the
individual been able to gather information so quickly, communicate so efficiently, travel so easily.
Yet paradoxically humans have never felt so anonymous, powerless, and alienated: infinitesimal
cogs in a giant Metropolis machine of history careening onward out of control.
In and by the Temple of Set we have asserted something in each initiated human which is
immortal, ineffably noble, and blissfully sublime. We have worked with it, played wi
th it, dreamed
about it, and found in it something which we could indeed worship with unashamed reverence -
when all around us the remnants of the world’s conventional religions are so desiccated as to
hardly be worth even the shadow of contempt.
Ultimately, then, what the Temple of Set has done has been to restore to us an awareness of
the great dignity of individual consciousness. Once we are awakened to this, all else that we do
flows from it as remanifestations of the respective neteru.
This too is why the real Temple of Set can never be perverted, corrupted, or destroyed. The
institution we have built over the years to symbolize, facilitate, and operate the Temple was and
remains a tool of convenience, a means of bridging the realms of magic and nœsis to those of
science and dianoia. The better we refine the bridge, the more efficient we make the tool, the more
- 139 -
fluent we become in this adventure and the easier it is to teach its techniques to others. But
destroy the bridge and you have still not in the least damaged the Gift of Set itself.
In Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy the First Foundation proved invincible because its
existence was mandated by a principle larger than itself - in that case hypothetical metacycles of
civilization called “psychohistory”. The Temple and Æon of Set are similarly mandated by the
transcendent principle of what Eric Hoffer called “the unnaturalness of human nature”, as well as
by the capacity and drive of this “unnature” to evolve towards divinity: Xeper.
While the Judæo/Christian tradition has demonized and tried to pervert or exterminate this
quality, greater philosophies and philosophers have sought it, romanticized it, exalted it. It is
Nietzsche’s “horizon building”, the Taoists’ “secret of the Golden Flower”, the Grail, the Agathon,
the Philosopher’s Stone, Runa:
I must, before I die, find some way to say the essential thing that is in me, that I have
never said yet - a thing that is not love or hate or pity or scorn, but the very breath of life,
fierce and coming from far away, bringing into human life the vastness and the fearful
passionless force of non-human things ... - Bertrand Russell, quoted in Colin Wilson’s The