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To: alt.satanism
From: Michael.Aquino@125-430.wmeonlin.sacbbx.com (Michael Aquino)
Subject: RE: Temple Of Set - the view in Sweden
Date: 10 Jun 94 17:30:11 -0800

moo> Just recently I read a swedish-book called Det Okanda (transl: The
moo> Unknown) by Hakan Arlebrand, and found this in the chapter concerning
moo> satanism.
moo> The most influential groups which has developed from the satanic church
moo> is The Temple of Set, which honour the egyptian god Set as a prototype
moo> for the biblical Satan. The leader of the sect, Michael Aquino, is one
moo> in the row of present-day magicians that represents themselves as the
moo> succesor of Aleister Crowley. In difference of Lavey, Aquino counts
moo> with that the spiritalpowers the
moo> satanist turns to is real and not only psychological projections. In
moo> the 1975 Aquino broke up with Lavey and founded The Temple Of Set. Set
moo> is according Michael Aquino identical with the entity which to Aleister
moo> Crowley dictated The
moo> Book Of The Law. Aquino has as a medium of Set written The Book Of Coming
moo> Forth
moo> By Night. According to Michael Aquino Set proclaim that the age of
moo> Satan began 1966.
moo> Within The Temple Of Set there different orders, which all practise black
moo> magic. The Temples most inner order is called The Order Of The Trapezoid.
moo> This Order is trying to fulfill the germanic magical traditions and
moo> binds it to
moo> the occult use which was practised within parts of the SS during the
moo> Third Reich. In autumn 1984 Michael Aquino visited the orderns-castle
moo> Wewelsburg in Germany, where SS earlier gathered for secret rituals. In
moo> the castles northern tower, called Walhalla, did Aquino preform
moo> black-magic rituals.
moo> / There is just one reference noted ; Drury - The Occult
moo> Experience;Magic in the New Age. New York Publishing Group Inc 1989.

A great many inaccuracies here, which I daresay would amuse Nevill Drury as
much as the Temple of Set. [Drury's _The Occult Experience_, though now
somewhat dated, is a thoughtful survey of worldwide occultism in the early
1980s. The videotape version is memorable for a sequence of the late Alex
Saunders ("king of the witches") accidentally setting his jockstrap on fire
while performing a fire-dance as a reincarnated Aztec. [He manages to put it
out gracefully.]]

Michael Aquino did not "break up with LaVey"; Anton LaVey formally broke up
with Satan in 1975, thereby rendering the Church of Satan inauthentic. Hence
Michael Aquino and the rest of the functioning international Satanic
Priesthood and Regional Agents of the Church resigned en masse to found the
Temple of Set.

While it is true that because of Crowley's fame & notoriety, many contemporary 
occultists like to invoke his name and/or claim succession from him, his
relevance to the Temple of Set is essentially as a historical philosopher and
magician. We do recognize his magical philosophy collectively as the "AEon of
Horus", just as that of the authentic 1966-75 Church of Satan as the "Age of
Satan" and the 1975-present Temple of Set the "AEon of Set". These terms have
esoteric implications as well, but for the most part are easily applied in
their exoteric sense.

_The Book of Coming Forth by Night_ is a working of Greater Black Magic, on
the North Soltice 1975, in which the Prince of Darkness withdrew his Mandate
from the Church of Satan and consecrated the Temple of Set as its successor.

The Order of the Trapezoid is not "the most inner Order" of the Temple of Set. 
It is the oldest, dating back to the earliest days of the Church of Satan.
However all of the Temple's Orders are of equal standing. Moreover, while Nazi 
occult research is indeed one of the Order of the Trapezoid's fields of
interest, it has a great many more, as have been researched and published over 
the years in its _Runes_ newsletter and other Order documents.
--
: Fidonet:  Michael Aquino 1:125/430  .. speaking for only myself.
: Internet: Michael.Aquino@125-430.wmeonlin.sacbbx.com