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To: alt.satanism
From: Balanone@northern.wmeonlin.sacbbx.com (Balanone)
Subject: Re: Temple Of Set - the view in Sweden
Date: 10 Jun 94 10:19:21 -0800

On 07 Jun 94  14:54:00, moonchild@p6.moonchild.ct.se posted to All
concerning:  Temple Of Set - the view in Sweden  ...

 mo> Just recently I read a swedish-book called Det Okanda (transl: The
 mo> Unknown) by Hakan Arlebrand, and found this in the chapter concerning
 mo> satanism. 

 mo> The most influential groups which has developed from the satanic
 mo> church is The Temple of Set, which honour the egyptian god Set as a
 mo> prototype for the biblical Satan. The leader of the sect, Michael
 mo> Aquino, is one in the row of present-day magicians that represents
 mo> themselves as the succesor of Aleister Crowley. In difference of Lavey,
 mo> Aquino counts with that the spiritalpowers the satanist turns to is
 mo> real and not only psychological projections. In the 1975 Aquino broke
 mo> up with Lavey and founded The Temple Of Set. Set is according Michael
 mo> Aquino identical with the entity which to Aleister Crowley dictated
 mo> The Book Of The Law. Aquino has as a medium of Set written The Book Of
 mo> Coming Forth By Night. According to Michael Aquino Set proclaim that
 mo> the age of Satan began 1966.

 mo> Within The Temple Of Set there different orders, which all practise
 mo> black magic. The Temple#s most inner order is called The Order Of The
 mo> Trapezoid. This Order is trying to fulfill the germanic magical
 mo> traditions and binds it to the occult use which was practised within
 mo> parts of the SS during the Third Reich. In autumn 1984 Michael Aquino
 mo> visited the orderns-castle Wewelsburg in Germany, where SS earlier
 mo> gathered for secret rituals. In the castles northern tower, called
 mo> Walhalla, did Aquino preform black-magic rituals. 

A similar post appeared in the Xepera-L mailing list last month.
Let me see if I can work my way past the translation problems,
and clarify some possible confusion...

 PA> One of the groups that has been formed out of Church of Satan is
 PA> Temple Of Set the one with biggest influence, whose salut the egyptian
 PA> god Set as a prototype of the biblical Satan.

Yes, the Temple of Set's founders were members of the Church of Satan who
split away from that group. We feel we've evolved our philosophy, religion,
and magic well past those beginning, but the CoS is part of our history.

Yes, Set is the original Form of which the biblical Satan is a debased
caricature. But that's not a major aspect of Set. More importantly, Set
is the ideal and/or source of independence and intelligent/willful 
and conscious existence.

 PA> The leader of this
 PA> sect, Michael Aquino, is one in the row of magicians that put
 PA> themselves at the post as Crowley's successor's. 
 PA> Earlier were Aquino secondman in the satanic
 PA> church hierarchy. Separated from Lavey is Aquino counting on that the
 PA> spiritual-powers that satanists is turning to are real and not only
 PA> psychic projections. In the year 1975, Aquino left Lavey and founded
 PA> Temple of Set.

Yes, Dr. Aquino is a successor to Crowley, as the modern Magus, as well
as in other ways. Yes, Dr. Aquino was "secondman" (next to Diane LaVey,
that person within the CoS who was most involved in the CoS's administration).

I wouldn't say Dr. Aquino was "counting on that the spiritual-powers that
satanists [are] turning to are real..." but that they happen to be real,
and that is where part of the strength and truth of the ToS come from.

They did get the year, 1975, correct.

 PA> Set is according to Aquino identical with the entiety
 PA> Aleister Crowley dictated The Book of The Law from.

No, we generally accord Aleister Crowley's inspiration as at being 
known to us as HarWer, or Horu-Ur, an ancient Egyptian god image who
was Set's original complement in ancient Egypt. They are related, 
but not identical.

 PA> Aquino has as a
 PA> medium of Set written the book The Book Of Coming Forth By Night.

"Medium" implies a channelled work, and brings to me images of people
clasping hands around a table, while a medium moans and groans and
writes out what a "ghost" or "spirit" is commanding her to write.
Instead, let's say that _The Book of Coming Forth by Night_ is an
inspired work, which Dr. Aquino brought forth into being through 
ritual activation and enhancing of his perceptions of the Prince of
Darkness. On the question of how much of the _Book_ was written by
Dr. Aquino and how much was written by Set, Dr. Aquino has often 
remained reserved, preferring to let the reader and searcher make 
there own decisions about this.

 PA> According to Michael Aquino is Set proclaiming that the era of Satan
 PA> began 1966.

With Anton LaVey's founding of the CoS.  And the Aeon of Set began in
1975, as indicated above, ending the Age of Satan.

 PA> Within the Temple of Set there are different orders who all
 PA> practise black magic. The temple's inner circel is called The Order of
 PA> The Trapezoid.

Yes, there are different orders.  Since we call our magic "black magic"
(meaning individual-oriented magic, as opposed to "white" self-less 
magic, along with other distinctions), all of these orders practice 
our black magic.

Yes, one order is the Order of the Trapezoid, but I wouldn't call it
an "inner circle" -- Dr. Aquino founded this Order, but neither the
Chairman of the Council of Nine nor the Executive Director of the ToS
belong to this order (one order among many).  (Neither of the two 
previous Chairmen of the Council of Nine belong to the Order of the
Trapezoid either. The Treasurer does. The O.T. is one of the three largest
Orders within the Temple of Set.)

 PA> This order is trying to make use of the german magical
 PA> traditions and connect to the occult use that was used within some
 PA> parts of the SS during the Third Reich. In autumn 1984 Michael Aquino
 PA> visited the order-castle Wewelsburg in germany, where SS earlier
 PA> gathered for their secret rituals. In the castles nothern tower, called
 PA> Walhalla, did Michael Aquino preform blackmagic rituals. 

The Order of the Trapezoid does much else also, working heavily with Runes,
angular functions of all sorts of activities and environments, technological
magics, etc.  The German angle does seem to get more publicity than the
rest for some reason.

This newer translation uses the stronger words:
 mo> This Order is trying to fulfill the germanic magical
 mo> traditions and binds it to the occult use which was practised within
 mo> parts of the SS during the Third Reich.
No, the Order of the Trapezoid is not bound or limited to the occult
studies of the Third Reich, nor even to Germanic occultism.  Germanic
occultism is one of their specialties and concentrations, but their
studies go much further than that.

Balanone
   PP

... You can do anything thou wilt, at Aleister's Restaurant.
--
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