Temple of Set

The Temple of Set is an occult society and (in the USA) a recognized religion. It considers itself today's leading religious and philosophical initiatory organization of the Left-Hand Path.

History

The Temple of Set was founded in 1975 by Michael Aquino, then acting High Priest of the Church of Satan, and a group of other, mostly high-ranking members who left that organization because of disagreements with its administration and philosophy.

The Temple has grown in many directions since the schism, and is now very different from the organization it left. Members of the two organizations have often engaged in flame wars against each other on the internet and generally protest their frequent generalization under the term Satanism.

In 2002, a further schism occurred when a group named The Storm broke away from the Temple of Set. As again a high-profile member led the split (in this case, the High Priestess and daughter of Anton Szandor LaVey, Zeena Schreck) and again disputes in philosophy as well as administrations were named reasons, most commentators have drawn direct comparisons to the former schism.

Aquino and high-profile members Stephen Flowers and Don Webb have published a number of books on their philosophy. Perhaps as a result of this, non-members of the Temple of Set have started to pick up their ideas and create different shades of Setianism out of them.

The name 'M. Aquino' is probably spurious and is a misnomer for 'Mikhail Antonov', like the 'Antonov' that designed aircraft in Russia-The Set group has other possible origins in a group of Russian Occult Isolationists living in upstate NY in the mid 1960s.

Philosophy

The Temple of Set considers itself a philosophical organization. Its activities revolve around the philosophies represented by the ancient Egyptian principle of Xeper (roughly translated as "self-improvement" or "self-creation", with alternate spellings of Khepher, Kefer, and other variations), and the ideals represented by their modern understanding of Set, once called a god by the ancient Egyptians.

The Temple of Set is an initiatory organization, dedicated to the growth and development of its members. Growth and development is understood as immersion in the Setian philosophy, personal maturity and skill in the art of magic. Setians recognize several levels or degrees of initiation, and identify their members by their degree.

Religious status

The Temple of Set is a religion, incorporated in and recognized as a religion by the state of California and the federal government of the U.S.A. Its priesthood represents not only the Temple and its organization, but they also represent the being they call Set. The Temple of Set is an unusual religion in several ways:

It has no permanent building or church, believing that each of its members can follow the religion on their own, wherever they happen to be.

They do not "worship" Set (or anything else) as most religions would use that word, nor do they worship any god as conventional religions use that term. Set, whose name likely has the ultimate meaning of "Initiation," causes change in the Universe by the simple fact of his Being. In seeking self-change and betterment, each member puts into motion those changes in the world that are Set's Work in the world of mankind. A Setian's bond with Set is one of self-interest. As a religion Setians believe in Set and work with Set, but do so more as if he were a father, elder brother, or close friend, rather than a god as defined by most religions. (Whether they call him a god or not depends upon their individual views and definitions of just what a "god" is.)

The Temple of Set does not require religious belief of its junior members. The philosophy of Xeper and the process of initiation are more important to them than the religion.

For more discussion about Setian philosophy, please view Setianism.

References

The Temple's official web site is at http://www.xeper.org/ and additional information can be found at http://www.balanone.info/ (the above information was initially contributed by Balanone).