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[from http://www.dnaco.net/~raensept/oit/tosinf2.htm ] Subject: More About the Temple of Set What is the Temple of Set? ____________________________________________________________ The Temple of Set is today's leading religious and philosophical initiatoryorganization of the left hand path. (At least we think it is.) The Temple of Set is a philosophical organization. Its activitiesrevolve around the philosophies represented by the ancient Egyptianprinciple of Xeper(roughly translated as "self-improvement" or "self-creation"), and theideals represented by our modern understanding of the being named Set,once called a god by the ancient Egyptians. The Temple of Set is an initiatory organization, dedicated to thegrowth and development of its members. We recognize several levels ordegrees of initiation, and identify our members by their degree. Thishelps our members recognize and work with their relative peers. It alsohelps our less experienced members identify the more senior initiateswhen they have difficult questions with which they need help. The Temple of Set is a religion, incorporated in and recognized as areligion by the state of California and the federal government of theU.S.A. Its priesthood represents not only the Temple and itsorganization, but they also represent the being we call Set. We are anunusual religion in several ways: 1. We have no permanent building or church, believing that each of ourmembers can follow the religion on their own, wherever they happen tobe. 2. We do not "worship" Set (or anything else) as most religions woulduse that word. As a religion we believe in Set and work with Set, but doso more as if he were a father, elder brother, or close friend, ratherthan a god. (We believe in no god of any sort.) 3. We don't require religious belief of our junior members. Thephilosophy of Xeper and the process of initiation are more important tous than the religion. The term "left hand path" suggests a philosophical orientation whichfeels that the individual is extremely important. The individualinitiate pursuing Xeper is more important than our society in general,any peer group, and any organization (including even the Temple of Setitself). Responsible individualism and freedom are goals to which theorganization lends its energies. What are Setians doing here? ("Setians" is the generic term which applies to all members of theTemple of Set.) The Temple of Set and all individual Setians focus our attention onvarious methods of self-improvement, on the creation of a better self.The primary goal of all Setian gatherings is to give us an opportunityto share our knowledge with each other. One of the many activities of self-improvement available to us todayis the use of computer and network technology for improved communicationbetween like-minded people. A goodly number of Setians take advantage ofthis technology, and participate in private (internal to the Temple ofSet) and public newsgroups and mailing lists. Much of our information shared is in the form of working documents,drafts, and other items which aren't "ready" to be shared with the worldat large yet. Other of the information is heavily dependent uponlanguage and symbolism which we've developed within the Temple of Set,and documents using such language and symbolism would be largelyunintelligible outside the Temple. These documents are shared strictlywithin the Temple of Set. However, we also have some documentation which is suitable to beshared more broadly, and those of us interested in doing so arecollecting or preparing such documents for display on the WWW. We tend to be a fairly proud group of people, and enjoy displayingwhat we think we know. One benefit to this is that others ofintelligence can show us additional items of knowledge to advance ourunderstandings, or can show us mistakes that we've made. We thereforewelcome feedback on any documents which are included on this web site. What do Setians do? The central philosophy of Setianism is Xeper. Much of our attentionis therefore directed at finding and exploring ways of increasing ourXeper, of achieving various forms and amounts of Xeper. Several important methods of doing this involve communication,communication between Setians, and communications with others. This website is an example of communication with others, as is the Xepera-lmailing list we host. Other opportunities for Xeper include meetings, from informalget-togethers to local Pylon(1) meetings,Order(2) meetings, regional conclaves, and the annualInternational Conclave. Activities at such meetings include seminars, lectures, discussions,etc. Many such meetings are designed for or aimed at all members, andsome of them will include only a handful of members, depending upontheir interests. Like any organization, we also have organizational meetings, where wediscuss the administrative workings and the future of the organizationitself. We also enjoy chatting with each other informally, and spend alot of unscheduled time doing just that at our organized gatherings. We've found that in addition to our meetings, one tool which is veryhelpful to our Xeper is that of ritual and psychodrama, the acting outof something symbolic of our progress and our goals. We thereforeschedule several dramatic activities, again with varying sizes ofparticipants. Many of these can be thought of as traditional rituals asfound in many magical traditions, while others bear little resemblanceto traditional magical rituals. We "dress up" in costume for these dramatic activities, and duringthose times we can look very strange indeed. If you happen to be at thesite of one of our gatherings, and should happen to see a few dozen orso people in black robes, or a couple costumed as if they were ancientEgyptians, Vikings, Indians, or whatever, don't worry -- we're eithergoing to or coming from one of those activities. What do those necklaces and medallions mean? The Temple of Set is an initiatory organization, dedicated to theinitiation and growth of its members. That dedication to initiation, to the philosophy of Xeper, and toSet, is represented by our primary symbol, the Pentagram of Set (apoint-down pentagram within a circle). To help our members identify eachother so we can work together, and to help them identify which level ofinitiation has been achieved by each other, at formal gatherings we wearthis symbol on different colored medallions, normally worn on necklacesof some kind. There are six levels of initiation recognized within the Temple ofSet, each with its specific color medallion. The first degree member wears a white medallion. This is a period oftrial membership, in which the member begins to explore ourphilosophies, our practices, and our society. The member can decidewhether our organization is one which will help the member's personalgrowth, and if not he is welcome to leave at any time, with our goodwishes. Likewise, during this period we determine whether the memberwill function well within our society, will benefit from our activity,and will eventually be able to help others in the organization withtheir personal growth. If not, then their membership is terminated,hopefully with no hard feelings. We title this degree "Setian," which isalso the generic name for all of our members. The second degree wears a red medallion. This is a member who hascompleted the trial membership and has been found to be compatible withand a valued contributor to the Temple of Set, just as we have beenfound to be useful to the member's own growth. These members are free towork with our philosophies and to participate in our activities to thefullest. More members are in the second degree than any other level ofinitiation. We title this degree "Adept," declaring them able to pursueany and all goals applicable to their personal growth. The third degree wears a black medallion. This is a member who notonly has shown all of the qualities of an advanced second degree member,but who has also been chosen by Set to serve in his priesthood. Thismember has demonstrated abilities in working with and representing Setand the Temple of Set. We title this degree "Priest." If you have anyquestions concerning the Temple of Set (the organization, ouractivities, beliefs, or members), these members are the best qualifiedto answer your questions. The fourth degree wears a blue medallion. The fifth wears a purplemedallion. The sixth wears a gold medallion. The distinctions betweenthese grades of initiation are very meaningful within the Temple of Set,but for most purposes you can consider them as variations upon the thirddegree. What about ... Despite our general policy of keeping a low profile, sometimes rumorsabout us do get spread, generally by people who dislike or fear us forsome reason (perhaps because so little is known about us, or simplybecause of our non-Christian belief system, or for other reasons). Ifanyone (perhaps someone else at a location of one of our formalmeetings, or someone you meet on the 'net, or some other acquaintance)should ask you any of the following questions, it's good to be able togive them the correct answers. "Is this a cult?" No. Some people may define "cult" to mean anynon-Christian religion, and then yes, we don't believe in the Christianreligion. But most people reserve the word "cult" to you mean somethingdangerous to society or its members, and no, we're not a cult since weare beneficial to our members, and we're not anti-social by any means. "Are you Satanists?" Probably not. Some of our people were members ofthe Church of Satan in the early 1970's, but we feel our practices andphilosophies have evolved so much past that point that we have little incommon with modern Satanism. Many modern Satanists say we are notSatanists. If by "satanism" you mean the worship of a Satan, oranti-Christian belief, then most definitely we are not, since we do notbelieve in the Christian god, Jesus, nor devil, and we have littlereason to be "anti-Christian." If by Satanism you mean an antinomianfreedom from the unreasoning limitations of various elements of society,then by that definition we would qualify. "Are you witches?" That depends upon your definition of a "witch." Wedo explore activities which many people would call "magic," such astelepathy, divination, and methods of strengthening our souls andspirits through mental and spiritual discipline. However, modern witchesusually believe that their magical powers come from one or more gods orgoddesses, and many Christians believe these powers come from the devil.We don't believe in any such gods or goddesses or devils. Most modernwitches claim we are not witches. Perhaps the most important point to know and remember about us isthat we believe a primary requirement of self-improvement and individualXeper is to be honorable and ethical. We do not tolerate any illegalactivity. We do not tolerate any illegal drugs, and we frown uponexcessive use of legal substances like tobacco and alcohol. We believein individual freedoms, and respect everyone else's desire to live lifethe way they want to, asking in exchange only the freedom to be able tolive life the way we want to. We do enjoy companionship and camaraderie. At our various conclaves,many of us will gather in private rooms, local restaurants, and thehotel lobby, and we'll just talk for hours, about almost anything. Someof our people will even sometimes forget to go to sleep, being sowrapped up in talking to people they see only once or twice a year. We enjoy life, we enjoy growth, and we enjoy each other. If you spendtime with Setians, you'll find that most of us smile a lot, honestsmiles, reflecting the enjoyment we find in life. More information about the Temple of Set can be obtained byclicking here,or a hard-copy can be obtained by sending a self-addressed stampedenvelope to the Executive Director, Temple of Set, P.O.B. 470307, SanFrancisco, CA 94147, USA. Serious students of the occult who wish to join our onlinediscussions may subscribe to theXepera-l mailinglist. ____________________________________________________________ Notes 1. Pylon: Setians who live in the same areasometimes organize a local pylon in which they can meet togetherregularly for discussions, study, ritual work, and other activities. Order: IV° Setians, Masters of theTemple, may found Orders within the Temple of Set. If you were to thinkof the Temple of Set as a college of higher learning, the Orders couldbe seen as departments within the school, each concentrating on specificflavors of exploration. ________________________________________________________ EOF
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