developed in San Francisco by Priest R.K. Barrett. Council of Nine operations are being developed by the Chairman,
Magister Ethel, in Washington, D.C. Scientific research is being done by Priest Holt in Georgia. Ceremonial and
ritual magic matters are coordinated by Priest DeCecco in Massachusetts. Communications systems are being
evaluated by Priest Harris in Los Angeles. Long-range financial work is being done by our Treasurer, Magister
Seago, in Santa Barbara. Magistra Sinclair, also in Santa Barbara, will be administering our discount/ direct-
purchasing book-order system [to be instituted this summer].
The latest special agency of the Temple is the Department of Contingency Planning, headed by Priest Norton in
Michigan. The DCP is divided into a number of functional divisions, each concerned with specific matters with
which the Temple may have to deal in the future.
What makes these accomplishments all the more impressive is the fact that the Temple is still relatively small in
size. At this time last year the mailing list of the Church of Satan contained about 350 names, of which about 100
were either complimentary memberships or non-member subscriptions to the Cloven Hoof. Only the 250 regular
members were told about the Temple of Set, and then only about fifty of them were accepted into the Temple as
qualified initiates. The entire process of notification, information, application, and selection took about the first four
or five months, and since then we have grown by about 30 additional Initiates. This is due in large part to our
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refusal to advertise, employ sensational publicity, or otherwise seek members by any “mass” process. We believe
that each new Setian should be introduced to the Temple on an individual basis. Thus the Temple will grow
relatively slowly, but the quality and interest of its initiates will be high.
The problems we have encountered fall generally under the heading of “growing pains”. On occasion it has not
been clear what the extent and limits of a given official’s authority are, or what others should be involved, or what
standards Initiates of various degrees are expected to observe. There are a few people doing a lot of work and a lot of
people doing less. As yet we do not have a system for bringing the Temple of Set to the attention of qualified persons
who may not know one of our present Initiates. These are things we must work out as we go along, being careful to
avoid over-reaction to any one incident.
I am somewhat cautious in predicting the exact course of events in our second year, because so much has
happened in the last twelve months that was far beyond our initial speculations. Yet certain concrete goals can be
identified: Our first book-length document, The Book of Coming Forth by Night: Analysis and Commentary, is now
available to Initiates. By fall we hope to have the initial edition of the Ruby Tablet of Set, a cumulative encyclopedia
for our Initiates, ready for release. Designed in loose-leaf format, the Ruby Tablet will be added to and revised over
the years in order to reflect the very latest information at our disposal. Later this summer an expanded and revised
reading list will be distributed, and a limited system of book-ordering by mail at a below-retail discount will be
attempted. If it works well, we will gradually expand the system to every available book on our reading list.
Almost all of our informational papers will be revised and updated. High priority will go to increasing the
budget of the Scroll of Set. Via the Ruby Tablet additional material on ritual magic will be circulated. We hope to
put out some general guidelines on local financing, regional conclaves, and the rights and responsibilities of the
Temple as a tax-exempt religious organization. And, of course, all of the operations that the Temple has begun this
year will continue to grow in their own areas.
As a Setian you are welcome to participate in whatever activities of the Temple you find most interesting - or to
recommend new ones in which you might like to concentrate your own endeavors. For names and addresses of
officials in each area, contact the Priest or Priestess with whom you are working and explain your special interests.
But don’t sit back and expect the Temple to entertain you “$15 worth each year”, because that is not the way an
initiatory religious society works. The initiative for your advancement and education rests with you; the Temple is a
sort of “institutional accessory” to help you.
One year ago none of us expected that the Temple of Set would come this far in such a short time. What will it be
like in another year, another ten years, a hundred years? I can’t venture a specific guess, but I can tell you that it will
be totally unlike any institution this planet has ever seen before - except for the first Temple of Set. Xeper.
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A14: Psychic Hazards & Proper Use of Ritual Magic
- by L. Dale Seago IV°
Scroll of Set #I-3, November 1975
During the course of a recent guest appearance on a radio talk show, a woman called in on the telephone and
asked me if I were aware of the “psychic hazards” inherent in the practice of Satanism and Black Magic.
I must confess that her question jolted me a little. Having been so long and happily practicing these arts myself,
it becomes easy to forget occasionally that there are still some people who claim to have studied the subject in depth
and yet still adhere to such archaic, obsolete ideas. On examination of the ideas themselves, however, it becomes
apparent that these people simply do not understand the actual nature of the perils against which they so ardently
warn us. I therefore feel it is time for the matter to be presented from the inside, from the point of view of the
practicing Black Magician rather than that of someone who has only skimmed the surface of the subject.
So what about these dangers, then? Do they in fact exist? Yes, they do, in much the same sense that if you tell a
child a frightening story, he will have a nightmare. [To see just how appropriate an analogy this is, examine in the
light of logic and contemporary scientific knowledge the philosophical bases of the average Wiccan or other “white-
light” occultist’s beliefs.]
The principal hazards cited by occult “authorities” generally fall into two categories: the summoning or
inadvertent arousal of uncontrolled forces or entities which will turn up and destroy the would-be magician, and
possession by some malevolent force or entity. The proficient black magician recognizes both concepts as the
absurdities they are, yet these things do seem to happen to some who attempt to use magic. Why?
The first reason is the manner in which the average person approaches the practice of sorcery. He is the victim
of a Judæo-Christian religious and moral tradition which conditions him to believe that man alone is nothing, that
he must place his trust and reliance in a power or being outside himself. He is also led to believe that sorcerous
delvings are sinful and forbidden and will lead to the inevitable destruction of the student. A resultant attempt to
justify such experimentation is the current emphasis on “White” magic.
If the student has been lucky enough to avoid a Judæo-Christian type of indoctrination, he is still generally
ensnared by a magical orientation based on the same principles and teaching that some forces are “good” and others
“evil”, and that he should concern himself exclusively with the good or “positive” and a
void the evil or “negative”. It
is easy to see how this approach to morality and magic leads to frustration and to the repression of perfectly natural
feelings and desires - such as lust and anger - into the subconscious. These may later erupt from within as twisted
monsters, dæmons, elementals, or powerful compulsions and obsess the student. St. Jerome’s account of his
temptation in the desert is an excellent illustration of this:
How often when I was living in the desert, in the vast solitude which gives to hermits a savage
dwelling ... how often did I fancy myself among the pleasures of Rome! ... When I had no companions but
scorpions and wild beasts, I found myself among bevies of girls. My face was pale and my frame chilled with
fasting, yet my mind was burning with desire and the fires of lust kept bubbling up before me when my flesh
was as good as dead.
Indeed, the entire history of the Middle Ages is a case in point, as G. Rattray Taylor so well points out:
In the earlier part of the Middle Ages what we chiefly find is frank sensuality, with which the church at
first battles in vain. Then, as it improves its systems of control, we find a mounting toll of perversion and
neurosis.
Springing as they do from the depths of the subconscious mind, these monsters may be powerful indeed. The
student, unwilling to admit that such things could arise from within himself, naturally prefers to perceive them as
some sort of Influence from Outside. The student who encounters such phenomena is often too shaken to
experiment further, and, bound by repressive conditioning, never penetrates past these shadows to confront the
awesome majesty of his true nature.
So much for these “monsters from the id”. If the practice of sorcery is correctly approached, you will probably
never be confronted by them. If you are, then recognition of their actual nature should enable you to easily dispel
them. If it does not, then you are the type of person who is likely to become possessed.
Possession is supposedly the control of a human being by some outside intelligence, demon, or even the Devil
himself. Now, logically speaking, one would think that any Devil worth his salt would find better things to do with
his time than invade someone’s body and terrify his friends and neighbors into scurrying for the nearest clergyman
and Getting Right with God. Such a project would be senseless and self-defeating.
We will understand the situation more clearly if we once again look within ourselves rather than outside. What I
have said above concerning subconscious repression of elements of the psyche which are regarded as undesirable is
just as applicable here, but so is an additional factor: the desire for attention and recognition. Let’s face it - being
possessed by the Devil, here and now, is far more exciting than having been Bridey Murphy or an Atlantean High
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Priest in a fantasized former lifetime. In addition, possession frees the “victim” from all responsibility for his
actions: he is not the one who murdered his mother [whom he secretly hated for years]; it was the dæmon who
controlled him.
Possession allows one to express himself in socially-unacceptable ways and get away with it. It allows one to
bathe in attentive sympathy or to provoke fear in those one dislikes, and gives one an excuse and sense of purpose
for his otherwise-useless existence and his inability to cope with the pressures of life. In short, possession is never
the “victim’s” problem; rather it is his subconscious solution to problems and conflicts which he cannot resolve in
any other way. A good idea catches on quickly, too: remember the rash of “possession” cases following the release of
The Exorcist?
The approach of the Setian to the sorcerous arts is from a basis of rational awareness which allows him to avoid
the pitfalls which entrap others. He places no reliance or dependence on any force outside himself. A materialist, he
recognizes from the outset that the powers with which he deals are his own. He perceives “God” as simply the
natural order of things: a mindless, non-conscious, impersonal cosmos which is in no way concerned with him or
with anything he may do.
The Prince of Darkness is seen as a finite intelligence greater than that of man, but is viewed as a guide and
mentor in no way “supernatural” and certainly not a “reverse Jehovah” to be blindly worshipped and obeyed. In the
Biblical myth, Satan was cast out of heaven because he decided that, rather than serve God, he wanted to become a
god himself. The Setian finds an allegorical inspiration in this and feels he can do no less if he is to be worthy of the
title. The Dark Lord having infused man with knowledge and intelligence, which is what separates man from the
natural order (the Biblical account, though a myth, is at least correct in that respect), man now has the key to turn
the universal inertia to his amusement and make of the Universe his playground: to become, in short, a divine being
in his own right.
To worship the Prince of Darkness in the Judæo-Christian sense of the term would restrict the magician’s own
evolution and the development of his own powers and capabilities; hence the Setian does all he can to become more
godlike by working to develop his mind and his abilities, and by learning to exert an increasing control over himself,
his environment, and his chosen sphere of social influence.
In a ritual context the Setian may use candles and incantations and call the names of various demons from a
number of different myth-cycles. He may even invent his own. However these are merely psychological props
engages in a form of controlled, constructive fantasy in order to attain very real objective ends. And, because he
recognizes it for the fantasy it is, he is able to manipulate it in any way he desires and control it rather than being
controlled by it.
The practice of Setian ritual magic, in a nutshell, involves the deliberate release of forces from the Dæmonic or
subconscious personality under conditions which are controlled by the magician. This has two principal effects on
the practitioner: first, instead of driving a wedge between the conscious and subconscious and setting them against
each other, it causes them to work together, unifying and strengthening the entire personality. This in turn results in
the development in the practitioner of abilities, powers of concentration, and forms of will completely unknown to
him before.
Magical rituals are not valid for influencing the Prince of Darkness; nor are they intended to do so. No entity as
advanced and sophisticated as Set is likely to be impressed by ceremonial theatrics. Ritual magic procedures are a
tool for the magician’s personal use, which he can employ as a means of learning to focus his will and accomplish his
goals. Once a certain evolutionary level is reached, he will find that they are no longer necessary to produce effects
which he formerly could not obtain without them.
Paradoxical though it may seem, it is at this point that ritual may become most meaningful to the practitioner.
He comes to perceive the dæmonic entities on whom he calls for aid as symbolic representations of aspects of his
own personality, and the ritual now serves to make him totally conscious of the glory of his own unique Self.
He realizes that he has no need to ask favors of t
he Prince of Darkness, for he now knows - and demonstrates in
every aspect of his existence - that the greatest gift of Set has already been bestowed upon him: the full awareness of
the power of his own Will. Such a Setian has become Elect.
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A15: The Gods of Christmas
- by Margaret Wendall IV°
Scroll of Set #I-4, December 1975
“In the latter days a pure virgin shall conceive, and when the child is born a star will appear. When you behold
the star follow wheresoever it shall lead you and adore the child, offering gifts with humility. He is the Almighty
Word which created the Heavens.” This prophesy came true on the Winter Solstice, December 25th by the Julian
calendar. The god was called the “Unconquered Sun” and founded a religion based on aspirations of moral purity
and the hope of immortality. He initiated several sacraments, among them baptism and the use of consecrated
bread, wine and water. His worship included both communion and fasts; the leaders of his faith - both men and
women - were celibate, and his priests were called, “Father”. He was regarded as the mediator between god and
man, and he gave his life to ensure mankind’s future happiness.
Jesus? No - Mithra, the founder of a religion at least 600 years older than Christianity. Mithraism, which
contains many elements borrowed by Christianity, was a very real threat to the early Christian Church Fathers, who
called it a “work of the Devil” to seduce men from what Christians considered the “true faith”. Mithraism was
forcefully suppressed in the Mediterranean regions by the time of Constantine.
He was born in a cave when his father went to the city to pay taxes. His birth was saluted by angels, and a light
shone in the heavens. His parents were visited by a prophet who proclaimed the new-born child’s divine descent.
His family fled to avoid persecution by a wicked king.
Jesus? No - Krishna, whose birthday is celebrated on the 25th day of Savarana, which corresponds to our
December, and which is the Winter Solstice. Krishna’s life parallels Jesus’; in Hinduism he is regarded as an
incarnation of god, and is called “He who takes away the sins of the world”. Millions of his followers still celebrate