and cellular coding, after which he analyzes the best arguments the creationists have to offer. While dismissing
creationism as ridiculous, he agrees with British Museum palaeontologist Colin Patterson: ‘They [the creationists]
didn’t have the right answers, but they certainly asked a lot of the right questions.’ In addition to a 4-page
bibliography of technical works, Hitching provides an additional 4-page annotated bibliography of introductory
reading, keyed to points brought out in the chapters of his book. If you intend to think or talk about evolutionary
theory, this book should be considered TOS-1; if you don’t, then TOS-3.”
17F. The Body Electric: Electromagnetism and the Foundation of Life by Robert O. Becker, M.D. and Gary
Seldon. NY: William Morrow, 1985. (TOS-3) MA: “Becker is an orthopedic surgeon who gradually uncovered a
number of correlations between electromagnetic phenomena and the behavior of living tissue. In this tightly argued
and well-documented book, he discusses human brain evolution and behavior in terms of past and present EM field
influences, as well as the more general effects of EM radiation on living beings. This book is reviewed in detail in
Runes #III-3. From the text: ‘Francis Ivanhoe, a pharmacologist and anthropologist at two universities in San
Francisco, made a statistical survey of the braincase volume of all known Paleolithic human skulls, and correlated
the increase with the magnetic field strength & major advances in human culture during the same period. Ivanhoe
found bursts of brain-size evolution at about 380-340,000 years ago, and again at 55-30,000 years ago. Both
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periods correspond to major ice ages, the Mindel & the Wuerm, and they were also eras when great cultural
advances were made - the widespread domestication of fire by Homo Erectus in the early Mindel, and the
appearance of Homo Sapiens Sapiens (Cro-Magnon peoples) and gradual decline of Neanderthals (Homo Sapiens)
during the Würm ...’ [See also #19I/J.]”
17G. The Rise of Life by John Reader. (LVT-3) J. Lewis VI°: “Published as a coffee-table book, this history of
life from the time of core formation 4.5 billion years ago through the present day is highly readable. Within its pages
can be found evidences of the Gift of Set as life moves from one-celled presence to the succeeding rulers of the
Earth. Keep an eye out for this one; it is worth its $15.95 price, though it can be found for less at book warehouses.”
17H. Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness by Roger Penrose. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1994 (ISBN: 0-19-853978-9). (TOS-4) MA: “Penrose is a Professor of Mathematics at
Oxford, and this book is a strongly scientific effort to ‘get at’ the thing called ‘consciousness’ - which Penrose
ultimately acknowledges cannot be attributed to the physical machinery of the brain, nor of any artificial
intelligence systems in existence. It remains scientifically elusive. An interesting feature of this book is Penrose’s
discussion of what he calls the ‘Platonic Universe, in which mathematical concepts and truths inhabit an actual
world of their own, that is timeless and without physical location’. Penrose sketches his discussion in terms of the
*interrelationship* of this ‘Platonic U’ with the ‘Physical U’ of scientific observation (the Temple of Set’s ‘objective
universe’) and the ‘bridge’ of the ‘Mental U’ of observing/reflecting intelligences.”
17I. The Tangled Web: Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit by Melvin Konner, Ph.D., M.D.. NY: Holt,
Rinehart & Winston, 1982. (TOS-3) Patty Hardy IV°: “A thoughtful and cautious study of human nature,
particularly its destructive facets, from a biological perspective. The author realizes that humans are oddly
transitional, and calls for self-knowledge guided by a sense of wonder. He fears the political misuse of behavioral
biology, but he fears ignorance still more.” DW: “Magistra Hardy suggested this book for Category #16, Magister
Ronald L. Barrett for #17. Konner is currently Professor of Anthropology at Emory University, jointly appointed to
the Department of Psychiatry at the Emory School of Medicine.”
17J. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. NY: Harper & Row, 1990.
(TOS-1) DW: “If the crisis of 1975 had not caused the rapid change from Indulgence to Xeper, but things had
happened gradually, we would have Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of Flow. The way to happiness lies not in mindless
hedonism but in mindful challenge. This is about the art of obtaining happiness by learning to control the psyche
and seeking new challenges for the self. It is about Xeper, written from the perspective of a non-magician. A great
book, and one that you can give to your nonSetian friends.”
17K. The Stars my Destination by Alfred Bester. Various editions beginning 1956. (TOS-5) DW: “Gulliver
Foyle is lost in space, floating away from the wrecked rocket. He discovers a great secret, and in using it changes the
world forever. What he does is to put the secret into the right hands, and by giving it away accomplishes his goals
from the meanest to the greatest. It provides a better look at Revelations 13:13, and reveals the real reason why the
Temple of Set is a scary organization. ‘Gully Foyle is my name,/ And Terra is my nation./ Deep space my dwelling
place,/ The stars my destination.’”
* * *
F17A. 2001: A Space Odyssey. MGM/United Artists, 1968. MGM/UA VHS #MV700002. (12-1022).
Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke. Directed/produced by Kubrick. (LVT-1) MA: “As noted in
#17A, the conceptual roots for 2001 go back 1-1/2 decades to Childhood’s End, though this was [for obvious religious
reasons] not advertised with the film’s release. Even so it is surprising that the film did not draw fire from
conventional religion, its theme being that mankind is essentially an experiment on this planet by an alien
intelligence. The simple device of changing the ‘Devil’ Karellen [or Set] to a Golden Sectioned monolith made the
plot sufficiently abstract to be non-threatening. Besides, most audiences were less interested in the Nietzschean/
Setian implications of the film than they were with HAL the computer [supposedly more advanced than IBM, so his
name was created by ‘the next higher letter’], space scenes with Strauss waltzes, and the final ‘stargate trip’ scene.
Seen through Setian lenses, 2001 remains a beautiful essay on the Gift of Set.” J. Lewis VI°: “The message of 2001
took many a person around many a mulberry bush on its arrival on the theater circuit. I saw it shortly after its
release while in the company of several Christian brothers and priests, and grew weary of hearing the monolith
being described as ‘God’. They missed the point completely: The monolith served as a god-like instrument, but
readers of #17A get a far better picture of what was actually occurring. [Setians attending Set-VIII visiting Universal
Studios got to see HAL and the Discovery during the holiday. The monolith was not available at the time, but we
managed to interact with the real thing later on during the Conclave.]”
F17B. Five Million Years to Earth. British, 1968. DW: “This sci-fi adventure in the Quatermass series shows
the Gift of Set in a thriller format. Workers unearth a spaceship (powered by an inverse pentagram) in a remote part
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of London (named ‘Hob’s End’ after the Devil said to have appeared there in ancient times). It’s part of a Martia
n
plot: The Martians look like ‘demons’ (an idea reused in #F19C2), and they’re coming back through a
Remanifestation of their ideas. Sadly Satan loses, but this is a great treat for Pylon film night.”
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Category 18: Life and Death
Leben und Tod
as of February 26, 2003
To the profane, life and death are automatic, inevitable, and unalterable. Hence they take the
influence of the life/death continuum on human affairs for granted. To the magician, life and death can
be influenced and eventually controlled altogether. The Victor Frankenstein of yesterday becomes the
genetic engineer of tomorrow. New forms and mutations of life will become possible, death may cease
save through accident, and the Self may evolve into a Self-contained state of existence unhampered by a
physical shell chained to the entropy of the objective universe. Xeper.
18A. The Immortalist by Alan Harrington. NY: Avon Books #380-00201-125, 1969 [recently revised and
updated]. (TOS-3) MA: “In this brilliant book Harrington argues that the presence and the fear of death are root
causes for much if not all of human behavioral characteristics. Non-human animals cannot conceptualize and
anticipate death, hence are not governed by it. Harrington then catalogues the surprising number of ways in which
death-awareness grips human philosophy, presents data on efforts to arrest death, and finally ventures hypotheses
concerning a non-death- obsessed environment. A scientific rejection of the Osirian ethic. I originally reviewed
#18A in the Church of Satan’s newsletter The Cloven Hoof #V-1: ‘The Secrets of Life and Death’, reprinted as
Appendix 71 in #6N and also available in the Order of the Trapezoid section of the Intranet.”
18B. The Immortality Factor by Osborn Segerberg, Jr. NY: Bantam Books #553-08183-195, 1974.
[Deutschland: WU: 25/12684] (TOS-4) MA: “This is a somewhat more technical approach to the questions
addressed in #18A, with emphasis on the physiological aging/ regeneration processes [see also #17F’s discussion of
this], the creation of life, and ecological implications of a controlled life/death environment [cf. Logan’s Run]. Well-
researched & argued.”
18C. The Book of Opening the Mouth by E.A. Wallis Budge (Trans.). NY: Benjamin Blom, 1972. (TOS-5) MA:
“The Spell for Life Unbounded by Time, caricatured as the ‘Scroll of Thoth’ in the classic Boris Karloff film The
Mummy. As with other TOS-5 codes, this text is not to be read or used casually or irresponsibly. The motion picture
Deathdream (Quadrant/Impact Films, 1972) can give you a good idea of what can happen when you tinker with
necromancy without appreciating the consequences of ‘success’.”
18D. Our Eternity by Maurice Maeterlinck. NY: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1914. (TOS-4) MA: “A revision and
expansion of Maeterlinck’s 1911 essay ‘Death’. The highest form of inductive logic directed towards the major issues
of existence and survival of the egocentric consciousness after material death. Key to the effectiveness of #18C.
[Maeterlinck is also the author of #2I.]”
18E. The Mysteries of Life and Death: An Illustrated Investigation into the Incredible World of Death by
Professor Keith Simpson, OBE, FRCP, FC Path, et al. NY: Crown (Crescent Books, 1980). (TOS-3) MA: “At first
glance this appears to be a rather morbid ‘coffee-table’ book, but it soon becomes apparent that it is quite a bit more.
For one thing, the contributing authors are among the most respectable and distinguished in their fields, which
range from philosophy and criminal psychiatry to pathology and forsenics. Here is the entire concept of death for
you to examine: mythology, physiological aspects, psychological considerations, and cultural legacy. There are
chapters on assassination, disease, the soul, strange & bizarre funeral & entombment practices, suicide, artistic
influences, war, etc. After you get over feeling queasy [the photographs & illustrations pull no punches], you will be
fascinated to discover just how little you actually knew about the phenomenon of death [hence life], and just what
the limits of human knowledge concerning it happen to be.”
18F. The Savage God: A Study of Suicide by A. Alvarez. NY: Random House, 1972. [Deutschland: Der
grausame Gott, Verlag Hoffman u. Campe, Hamburg, 1974] (TOS-3) MA: “An incisive, objective, and empathetic
investigation into the psychology of suicide, accompanied by a survey of suicide themes in historical literature. Said
the New York Times of this book: ‘To write a book about suicide - to transform the subject into something beautiful
- this is the forbidding task that Alvarez has set for himself; he has succeeded!’”
18G. The Jewel of Seven Stars by Bram Stoker. NY: Kensington Publishing Corp (Zebra Books #416), 1978
(originally published by Rider & Company, UK, 1912). (TOS-5) MA: “After writing Dracula Stoker set out to do for
ancient Egyptian magic and immortality what he had done for medieval vampirism, and JSS was the result -
certainly his second greatest creation. Though well-received in England, JSS remained almost unavailable and
unknown in the USA until this small paperback firm brought out this edition. The book recounts the story of Queen
Tera, a mysterious sorceress of old Khem, one of whose hands was seven-fingered. Superstitiously hated and feared
by the ordinary priesthoods and court cliques, Tera used her arts to discover the great spell for immortality drawn
from the Seven Stars of the Thigh of Set, and enchanted it into her tomb through the Xepera-shaped Jewel of Seven
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Stars. Subtly, sensitively, Stoker evokes in the Initiate reader the success and triumph of Tera - though to the
uninitiate it will seem that she failed. [See also my “My Last Three Books” in Scroll #XVIII-2, April 1992.] See
* * *
F18A. Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb. Hammer Films. MA: “Recently restored/released on DVD [with some
informative and amusing interviews with cast & crew]. Despite its lurid title, it is actually a film version of Bram
Stoker’s The Jewel of Seven Stars - and a much more faithful treatment of the novel than the later and better-known
Charlton Heston remake The Awakening. The only irritant is the ending: Whereas Stoker’s novel ends on a
romantic, mystical note, BMT concludes [as does Awakening] with a ‘monster movie shock scene’ completely absent
in the original. Cast includes Andrew Keir, Valerie Leon, James Villiers. Directed by Seth Holt. See #18G.”
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Category 19: The MetaMind
Der Metamind
as of February 26, 2003
The Æon of Set heralds the expansion and extension of Elect minds into yet a third stage of
intellectual evolution - a point of perspective as far removed from that of mankind as mankind’s is from
Pithecanthropus. [No doubt the prospect will seem as incredible to humans as a forecast of their
Coming Into Being would have seemed to Pithecanthropus.] Many phenomena casually called “ESP” are
in fact the first symptoms of what may be termed the Metamind. Setians should gain an understanding
of the human mind’s characteristics, physiology, and potential - then apply Metamental experiments to
appropriate situations. “The most exhilarating thing in the world, I think, is the ability of the
Setamorphic Metamind to correlate all its contents.”
19A. The Philosopher’s Stone by Colin Wilson. NY: Warner Paperback Library #0-446-59213-7, 1974. (TOS-1)
MA: “A novel concerning the Metamind - with a Lovecraftian accent. A more intellectual treatment of the theme
than Wilson’s better-known #7E [although #7E has a more colorful plot]. An expansion on much of the historical
and bibliographical data in #19A may be found in Wilson’s earlier book The Outsider (Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1956). Subsequently Wilson wrote #4A and became thoroughly confused when he tried to explain the
Metamind as a natural phenomenon.”
19B. The Psychology of Man’s Possible Evolution by Peter D. Ouspensky. NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1969.
[Deutschland: Die Psychologie des möglichen Menschen, Barth-Verlag Bern, Edition Pleyaden, Berlin, 1981]
(COS-1) (TOS-1) (SHU-1) AL: “Should be read especially by those members whose magical ability is hampered by
flaws in their balance factor.” MA: “A series of lectures which explain the Gurdjieff approach to the concept better
than G. himself was able to do. If you’re unfamiliar with G., see Gurdjieff by Louis Pauwels (NY: Weiser, 1972). See
also the section on G. in #4A.” DW: “This is a great book for Pylons to discuss - one lecture per meeting. For those
who catch the Gurdjieff bug, I recommend that they later read Ouspensky’s In Search of the Miraculous (NY:
Harcourt, Brace & World, 1949).”
19C. The Fourth Way by Peter D. Ouspensky. NY: Random House (Vintage), 1957. [Deutschland: Der Vierte
Weg, Sphinx Verlag, CH-Basel, 1983] (TOS-4) MA: “An advanced commentary in the form of questions and answers
concerning the material covered by #19B. The greatest value in both this book and #19B lies in the subsequent
practice and use of the techniques by the magician.”
19D. Tao of Jeet Kune Do by Bruce Lee. Burbank: Ohara Publications, 1975. (TOS-4) Lee: “To realize freedom,
the mind has to learn to look at life, which is a vast movement without the bondage of time, for freedom lies beyond
the field of consciousness. Watch, but don’t stop and interpret, ‘I am free’ - then you’re living in a memory of
something that has gone. To understand and live now, everything of yesterday must die.”
19E. The Brain Revolution by Marilyn Ferguson. NY: Bantam Books #553-08412-225, 1975. [Deutschland: