THE ARCANE ARCHIVE
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[from http://www.radio-free-setian.com/_history/austen.html ]

[from David Austen? -- tyaginator ]

Subject: The Image Cracks

   From: Maat138174 (maat138174@aol.com)
   Subject: Temple of Set....Balonne's FAQ...the Image Cracks
   Newsgroups: alt.satanism
   Date: 1997/09/02

   Temple of Set....Balonne's FAQ...this image cracks.

   How many of us who read the alt.satanism and magic news groups view item
   after item from the Temple of Set.

   One of the most vocal is Balonne and his volumes of mailings.
   It appears that all is not well in the Temple of Set and that a number of
   resignations loom on the horizon.

   In the last two years Michael Aquino stood down as High Priest and
   installed Don Webb in his place. Webb, a sci-fi writer from Austin Texas,
   has the charisma of a cold fried eye and little or no leadership ability.
   Add to that formula Balonne, also known as Shuti but actual name Robert
   Menschel of Citrus Grove. Ca, who is Chairman of the Council of the Nine
   (the Temple's governing body,), who has the mentality of a petty
   bureaucrat, you can imagine the Temple of Set is approaching crisis point.

   There have been a number of internal crisis within TS over the time Web has
   been in power. The most serious came last year when the grand Master of the
   Order of the Trapezoid (TS's senior order) tried to separate the order from
   the Temple proper. The Grand Master (Ronald Barratt..a student and former
   US Army Ranger) endeavoured to create a Church outside of the Church with
   him in absolute power.

   Doubtless this was a precursor to the long awaited split by Stephen Flowers
   aka Edred Thorson, to become the High Priest of the Runic Church, after a
   deluge of e mails from the membership, including an e-mail from Michael
   Aquino accusing Barrett of theft and so on, Flowers pulled out of the deal
   and dropped his protégée in the mire.

   Where was the Temple's High Priest in all of this? he was actually
   swallowing the whole deal, hook, line and ledger. What was Barratt's
   punishment?
   
   Nothing he was actually allowed to stay on in his role as Grand Master by
   Webb. Well better luck next try Ron! Webb is generally accepted by most
   Temple Setians to be nothing more than a ventriloquists dummy for Flowers
   in any event.

   Ronald Barratt is however and interesting character and very much the
   instrument through which Stephen Flowers manipulates the Temple of Set.
   Barratt is a Master of the Temple, his election to that post did not go
   smoothly on the first vote and was thrown out. Enter Stephen Flowers who
   then, so I am told, threw a tantrum threatening the Council of Nine members
   and even had a Blistering row with David Austen, the Temple's senior man in
   UK). Aquino re-presented Barrett's election and under threat of more
   problems from Flowers, passed. Better still with in hours of the degree
   being conferred Flowers stood down as Grand Master of the Trapezoid and
   installed Barratt.

   Barratt has been a pain ever since and now hangs around, post OT rip-off as
   an unwanted spectre at the feast. Kept in place only by Webb, Menschel and
   Flowers plus a few sycophants much to the greater embarrassment of the
   whole.

   Barratt, apparently backed by Stephen Edred Flowers, accused Austen and
   another US Male member, of buggering male TS Initiates. Webb and Menschel
   did nothing about the accusations

   Ever the hypocrite Ronnie has always made sure he has had his share of
   women. In the last few months he has risen through the ranks, out went a
   female Adept who had kept his bed warm and in came a Priestess Pamela
   Pimentil, what can one say?

   However the tale gets nastier.

   It seems that UK Initiate David Austen is on Webb/Menschel's excrement
   list.

   David Austen is the Temple of Sets UK Initiate and wether you like Austen
   or not all the UK occult folk have an admiration for the way he has
   tirelessly built the Temple of Set in the UK, with out him there would have
   been no Temple outside of the continental Americas.

   Sadly Austen made an erroneous posting (scheduled for one of his US lovers)
   on one of the Temple's mailing lists with a reference to a member of the
   Barratt Flowers clique one Brian Hodges of Burlingame CA. Hodges had been
   the source of accusations the previous year he repeated after hearing them
   from Flowers and Barratt, his `ordination' was postponed but eventually
   performed despite objections.

   Even more unfortunate for Austen was the mailing contained a reference to
   `sushi'. It does seem that Hodges has taken up a relationship with a
   recently ordained Priestess Mariko Kawaguchi, also of Brulingame, CA.,
   Austen and several initiates were unaware of the relationship. Ms Kawaguchi
   has been well serviced by several bay Area members of TS and her paramour
   Hodges, backed and egged on by Barratt have been screaming racial slur and
   so on.

   Under the weak and failing leadership of `Magus' Don Webb the Temple of Set
   meets in the City of Munich in Germany for their International Conclave,
   presumably hosted by the Initiates Roland Winkhart or Peter Friedel based
   in that Country.

   Doubtless Webb will role around the floor babbling in tongues claiming
   possession by Set, as is his predeliction to do so and Balonne tells
   us..'the Temple of Set does not worship Set', perhaps its an illustrative
   performance. Sad to say they will probably debate the nuances of Sushi as
   applied by the paranoid Kawaguchi. Alas the puritan Balonne is not aware
   that sushi is an update on a gay slang term prelevant in the 70's, which in
   turn had its origins in the BBC Radio's Julian and Sandy saga of the late
   60's, e.g. FISH meaning `woman'.

   Amusing, tragic whatever degree or term you apply Balonne's Balony of a
   serious institution is contrary to the vicious and faction riven group
   reality shows to be true.
  
EOF