A brief explanation
Initiate of Set
More posts disappearing! By George. Ah, well, to answer a few questions which
were previously here. I am currently hospitalised here in Cairo, having gone
through a heart surgery. I have lived here 4 years, so Miss Vlek perhaps you
understand now why I "volley" posts back and forth.
As for "The Black Flame" {which Mssr. Ludvig mentions in a post of his, now
gone I see, along with many others}, well Mssr. Ludvig, I find no mention of
"The Black Flame" or "A Black Flame" in any of my extensive Setian studies, nor
those of my colleagues. Setians do possess qualities which make them unique
among the remainder of mankind. However, once again, there is nothing in any
ancient text pertaining to "The Black Flame". Your Mr. Michael
Aquino and other charter members of the TO"S" are Americans. Americans have a
strong penchant for religiosity, embellishment, and other assorted similar
nonsense. Your cohorts of the Temple telling you that you possess "The Black
Flame" is akin to an American Southern Pentecostal being told he has "received
The Annointing", and then commences to "speak in tongues". He had to be told
he had received "The Annointing", just like you had to be told
you have this "Black Flame" thing, before he or you believed it. A True Setian
KNOWS he or she is of Set. One need not join or submit to a stamp of approval
like a flank of cold beef, let alone BE TOLD, that one is a Setian. One knows
it already, probably since early childhood. Those who must be told they are
this or that, who didn't self-realise it, AREN'T. No one need tell a Setian he
or she is a Setian....the Setian KNOWS this already.
But, Mssr. Ludvig, seeing how you continue to email me privately when in fact I
have repeatedly informed you that these private emails are being deleted
without having been viewed, and yet you persist....well, I think that says much
for your level of awareness {and if this is evidence of your having "The Black
Flame", the rest of humanity has nary a thing to fear!}.
That is the grist of my argument. Carry on.
SVsite
A few years back it was being stated by members of another
organization, that Peter Gilmore got the name of his magazine, "The
Black Flame" from their organization's use of the same term. This is
untrue. The TOS also uses the term Black Flame. This is not a modern
invention.
From the ZOHAR: Black Fire is a term for the Absolute Light and
Wisdom; "black" because it is incomprehensible to our senses; it is not
light (photons) as we know it. It is, however, PERCEIVED as a kind of
light.
LIVING FIRE: Hermetic figure of speech for a Deity concept (not a
being, but a force) meaning LIVING FIRE. It is like the slang
expressions: "fiery speech" or "let's get fired up." It refers to
vitality or a vital force, aliveness. Theurgies (remnants of
Pythagoreans) regarded Fire as the symbol of the Deity within, the
Serpent within. The Kundalini specifically.
Sanskrit: KALI was regarded early on as one of the Seven Tongues of
Agni, God of Fire, hence "black fiery tongue."
The symbol LaVey chose long prior to any successors using it was a
pentacle with a VAJRA in it (lightning bolt). Doc had this as his own
amulet which was different from the Baphomet. That Vajra IS the flame,
in Tantra the five-fold flame lighting up the Five Fold Truths on the
pentacle - in Tantra these are the Five Dharmas (truths). In E. Star:
Blazing Star.
At the time I saw an ad for a magazine called simply "The Black Flame"
and then saw the star with the vajra in it, I had no idea this was
connected to the Church of Satan. I thought it was a Tantrik
magazine! I recognized the symbol immediately and knew exactly what it
meant. It's from my own culture!
--
Visit #satanmuse the Official Chatroom of
Rev. HrVad's Dark Doctrine Web Site!
http://www.apodion.com/vad/dark/
And for an Unusual Satanic Site check out
http://www.geocities.com/satanicreds/
Satanic Reds is a Council Member Org.
http://www.geocities.com/sataniccouncil/mainmenu.html
"May the Dark Forces within and without you bring you increase."
-----------Dr. Anton Szandor LaVey
SLAVA NAM! SLAVA SATANYE! SLAVA CHYERNOMU PLAMYENI!
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Dark Cloud
I respect you and your ability to become an official chaplain in the U.S. Army,
although I personally think religious institutions of any denomination being
recognized by the U.S. government is blatantly unconstitutional. But
congratulations
on being able to include your organization among the ubiquitous xian denominations.
I have never studied any aspects of the Temple of Set, it always seemed to be
way too esoteric to me. The Satanic Bible, on the other hand, was very easy to
obtain and made perfect sense to me when I first read it at 16. I am not
critisizing your organization, I simply know so little about it. I do have your
FAQ on my computer and will make an effort to read it.
Your philosophy is starting to seem more familiar because the latest Marilyn
Manson album "Holy Wood" goes back to the old days of Golden Dawn, OTO, Thelema,
etc., and I had the impression that the TOS uses many of the same ideas. I am
still not ready to give up my Satanic Bible, though. Perhaps there is a way to
perform philosophical alchemy to blend the two sets of ideas.
Dark Cloud (formerly Diablo, the Devil)
Dr. Michael A. Aquino
Hash: SHA1
In article <901fq7$m9t$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>,
SVsite <tanija...@my-deja.com> wrote:
>ORIGIN OF THE BLACK FLAME
>
>A few years back it was being stated by members
>of another organization, that Peter Gilmore got the
>name of his magazine, "The Black Flame" from their
>organization's use of the same term. This is untrue.
>The TOS also uses the term Black Flame. This is not
>a modern invention.
>
>From the ZOHAR: Black Fire is a term ...
Use of the term "Black Flame" in the Church of Satan did
not come from any Judaeo/Christian texts, but began
with the _Diabolicon_ I wrote in Vietnam in 1970.
Thereafter that term, as well as other concepts from the
_D_, was used fairly frequently in both ritual and
philosophical contexts within the Church. For
example, I added it to the Ninth Angle of my
"Ceremony of the Nine Angles" in _The Satanic
Rituals_, as well as to the Oath that I wrote for
the Adult Satanic Baptism, also in that volume.
>The symbol LaVey chose long prior to any
>successors using it was a pentacle with a VAJRA
>in it (lightning bolt). Doc had this as his own
>amulet which was different from the Baphomet.
>That Vajra IS the flame, in Tantra the five-fold
>flame ...
Nope again. Anton used the pentagram/lightning
bolt simply because he liked the look of it and felt
the bolt was a strong power statement. FYI he
originally wore a circular copper medallion with
black enamel, with the pentagram painted in
white and the LB painted in red (not black). Then
a friend make the silver pendant for him, and he
switched over to that.
This had nothing to do with the Black Flame, either
in the _D_ or in any other context.
I assume Gilmore appropriated the name either
from the _D_ or from derivative uses of it within
the original Church (such as the Oath). As a gesture
of my personal respect for the term, I have never
referred to Gilmore's newsletter by that name.
Michael A. Aquino
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SVsite
seen it somewhere. Or come up with it on your own. That is also
possible. Why not? It's something gained in an inner sense of
knowledge, and then described. Don't other cultures have a description
for something that tastes sweet? And so in English, they'd call it
sweet?
What I point out is only that OUR use of the term existed prior to any
new orgs out there and is/was well known. It would only be reasonable
then, for me to think TBF was a Tantrik based mag (until I saw it...).
We do speak English in the USA (to our credit:).
It is not a modern invention - and some orgs DO use it from having
known it from the earlier traditions and not from anything COS
related.
Fyi, I own a mold of a very large pentacle, interwoven the right way,
with vajra inside. AND for a Baphomet.
I don't know where Gilmore got the name. No use asking him...
In the Tantra, the Black Flame is indeed the Vajra as it is surrounded
in Darkness (Vajrayogini) - that would be in the Yoga of the Void. In
English, I'd be hard put to find a more descriptive name of "SELF" than
that except, Black Fire. "I AM Black Fire." Hence the vajra, which is
kundalini flow in you, IS the Black Flame - in our tradition.
LaVey seems to have used a lot of stuff.
TJ
In article <20001128213029...@nso-fw.aol.com>,
--
Dr. Michael A. Aquino
Hash: SHA1
In article <4J%U5.773$1O....@newsfeed.slurp.net>,
"Dark Cloud" <dia...@rio.bravo.net> wrote:
>I respect you and your ability to become an official chaplain
>in the U.S. Army,
Woops. I did do quite a bit over the years to get Satanism
and the Temple of Set recognized as legitimate religions by
the Defense Department - and I daresay I have the scars to
prove it. But I was never an Army chaplain. [That's a branch.
Mine was Military Intelligence.]
Chaplains are authorized on the basis of numbers of military
personnel of that faith. There have never been enough of us
Devil-Worshippers to get Congress to add a chaplain wearing
a Baphomet or Pentagram of Set on his uniform lapels in
place of the cross. On the other hand, our nation's highest
decoration, the Medal of Honor, is an inverse pentagram ...
I often pondered what fun it would be to reserve the post
chapel for a Black Mass now and then. Open to all
personnel, of course. Probably be the best-attended
religious service the building had ever seen. Certainly
the most lively, and with better music. Oh, well. In
the meantime, personnel can always go to a local
showing of _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_.
>although I personally think religious institutions of
>any denomination being recognized by the U.S.
>government is blatantly unconstitutional.
Kind of a Twilight Zone thing. The government recognizes
religious institutions as such to formalize its disconnection
from them. Churches, temples, and synagogues similarly
apply for, accept, and cooperate with government
recognition because it officially places them under
First Amendment protective status. If you don't
have this "stamp", then you can be called a cult or
a gang and denied 1stA standing. When Jesse Helms
howls against Satanism, Wicca, etc., the first words
out of his mouth are that they are "*not* religions".
That makes them OK to hunt down and kill, see?
>I have never studied any aspects of the Temple of Set,
>it always seemed to be way too esoteric to me.
I keep thinking it's way too esoteric for me too. Talk
to a god one evening and just look what happens.
>The Satanic Bible, on the other hand, was very
>easy to obtain and made perfect sense to me when I
>first read it at 16.
Its polemic parts - the Books of Satan & Lucifer - were
a lively kick in the ass to what had come to pass for
"theology" and "social custom" in America of the later
1960s. Anton was at his best when he was attacking
hypocrisy, stupidity, or just unthinking conformity.
An irony of the _SB_ is that during its first splash
ca. 1969-71, it was generally maturely received.
Those who read it seemed to be quite able to keep
a sense of proportion about such things. No one went
screaming down the street because of it.
When it next got noticed in the 1980s, it seemed that
everyone who read it went apeshit. Omygawd it was
at the scene of this crime!, or I found it in my son's
underwear drawer!, or looky here on this tabloid
TV show what *I've* got in my trembling hand! etc.
Go figure.
>I am not criticizing your organization, I simply know
>so little about it. I do have your FAQ on my computer
>and will make an effort to read it.
Well, we worship a +/-5,000-year-old god who looks a
bit like an anteater, conjure up assorted daemons now
and then through Nameless Rites & Unspeakable Orgies,
argue about stuff, party, and gradually map the secrets
of the Universe (and any others we come across). Our
website is: www.xeper.org
>Your philosophy is starting to seem more familiar
>because the latest Marilyn Manson album "Holy Wood"
>goes back to the old days of Golden Dawn, OTO, Thelema,
>etc., and I had the impression that the TOS uses many
>of the same ideas.
Don't tell that to Anton LaVey's ghost; he'd probably
blow a fuse. MM has never been a Setian. Nikki Sixx
of Motley Crue was, in the early days before that band
had to sanitize its Black Magical image. But the hidden
rock music mysteries of the Temple of Set are actually
to be found in the Jefferson Starship from _Blows
Against the Empire_ up through _Planet Earth
Rock & Roll Orchestra_. As Paul Kantner put it,
"Let's go!"
>I am still not ready to give up my Satanic Bible, though.
>Perhaps there is a way to perform philosophical alchemy
>to blend the two sets of ideas.
Actually we did that in 1975 ...
Michael A. Aquino
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Dark Cloud
<20001129031426...@nso-ft.aol.com>...
>-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>Hash: SHA1
>
>In article <4J%U5.773$1O....@newsfeed.slurp.net>,
>"Dark Cloud" <dia...@rio.bravo.net> wrote:
>
>>I respect you and your ability to become an official chaplain
>>in the U.S. Army,
>
>Woops. I did do quite a bit over the years to get Satanism
>and the Temple of Set recognized as legitimate religions by
>the Defense Department - and I daresay I have the scars to
>prove it. But I was never an Army chaplain. [That's a branch.
>Mine was Military Intelligence.]
>
>Chaplains are authorized on the basis of numbers of military
>personnel of that faith. There have never been enough of us
>Devil-Worshippers to get Congress to add a chaplain wearing
>a Baphomet or Pentagram of Set on his uniform lapels in
>place of the cross. On the other hand, our nation's highest
>decoration, the Medal of Honor, is an inverse pentagram ...
>
>I often pondered what fun it would be to reserve the post
>chapel for a Black Mass now and then. Open to all
>personnel, of course. Probably be the best-attended
>religious service the building had ever seen. Certainly
>the most lively, and with better music. Oh, well. In
>the meantime, personnel can always go to a local
>showing of _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_.
Thank you for your response, and I love the Rocky Horror Picture Show, I
have probably viewed it 100+ times over the years.
>>although I personally think religious institutions of
>>any denomination being recognized by the U.S.
>>government is blatantly unconstitutional.
>
>Kind of a Twilight Zone thing. The government recognizes
>religious institutions as such to formalize its disconnection
>from them. Churches, temples, and synagogues similarly
>apply for, accept, and cooperate with government
>recognition because it officially places them under
>First Amendment protective status. If you don't
>have this "stamp", then you can be called a cult or
>a gang and denied 1stA standing. When Jesse Helms
>howls against Satanism, Wicca, etc., the first words
>out of his mouth are that they are "*not* religions".
>That makes them OK to hunt down and kill, see?
I have seen far worse "cults" such as the Amish, yet no one ever picks
on them even though they deprive their children of proper education and
force them to do tedious manual labor that is illegal for children of
regular American society.
>>I have never studied any aspects of the Temple of Set,
>>it always seemed to be way too esoteric to me.
>
>I keep thinking it's way too esoteric for me too. Talk
>to a god one evening and just look what happens.
I've talked to too many gods under the influence of various drugs.
>>The Satanic Bible, on the other hand, was very
>>easy to obtain and made perfect sense to me when I
>>first read it at 16.
>
>Its polemic parts - the Books of Satan & Lucifer - were
>a lively kick in the ass to what had come to pass for
>"theology" and "social custom" in America of the later
>1960s. Anton was at his best when he was attacking
>hypocrisy, stupidity, or just unthinking conformity.
As I mentioned, religion is a constantly evolving concept. I am
only 33, so the 1960s era is fairly familiar to me (even if just
from writings and documentaries). I have much more trouble
comprehending stuff pre-dating the 1940s. I don't want to appear
ignorant, but culture is a very complex thing that people are
totally immersed within, and when it changes even slightly we
become lost.
>
>An irony of the _SB_ is that during its first splash
>ca. 1969-71, it was generally maturely received.
>Those who read it seemed to be quite able to keep
>a sense of proportion about such things. No one went
>screaming down the street because of it.
>
>When it next got noticed in the 1980s, it seemed that
>everyone who read it went apeshit. Omygawd it was
>at the scene of this crime!, or I found it in my son's
>underwear drawer!, or looky here on this tabloid
>TV show what *I've* got in my trembling hand! etc.
>Go figure.
That was when I first discovered it! Around 1984-1985 was when I
first remember finding it at my local bookstore and bought it.
>>I am not criticizing your organization, I simply know
>>so little about it. I do have your FAQ on my computer
>>and will make an effort to read it.
>
>Well, we worship a +/-5,000-year-old god who looks a
>bit like an anteater, conjure up assorted daemons now
>and then through Nameless Rites & Unspeakable Orgies,
>argue about stuff, party, and gradually map the secrets
>of the Universe (and any others we come across). Our
>website is: www.xeper.org
Marketing is everything. Even if you have the best product ever produced
it is doomed to fail unless you market it properly. And you can convince
people to buy dog shit if you advertise it well enough (no insult intended).
>>Your philosophy is starting to seem more familiar
>>because the latest Marilyn Manson album "Holy Wood"
>>goes back to the old days of Golden Dawn, OTO, Thelema,
>>etc., and I had the impression that the TOS uses many
>>of the same ideas.
>
>Don't tell that to Anton LaVey's ghost; he'd probably
>blow a fuse. MM has never been a Setian. Nikki Sixx
>of Motley Crue was, in the early days before that band
>had to sanitize its Black Magical image. But the hidden
>rock music mysteries of the Temple of Set are actually
>to be found in the Jefferson Starship from _Blows
>Against the Empire_ up through _Planet Earth
>Rock & Roll Orchestra_. As Paul Kantner put it,
>"Let's go!"
See, you are already losing me culturally. I vaguely recall a band
called "Jefferson Airplane/Starship" but I can only remember one single
song that got played to DEATH in the 1980s, "We Built this City". It
was so sickening that the mere mention of that band makes me want to
vomit. Maybe they were good for the 1960s/1970s era, but from my
perspective that era sucked musically so that is not saying much.
>>I am still not ready to give up my Satanic Bible, though.
>>Perhaps there is a way to perform philosophical alchemy
>>to blend the two sets of ideas.
>
>Actually we did that in 1975 ...
Hmmm...how?
Kevin Filan
"Dark Cloud" <dia...@rio.bravo.net> wrote:
AAAACKK!!!!!!
The band you're talking about is "Starship," which featured none of the
original members of Jefferson Airplane (Grace Slick didn't join until
their second album, the excellent "Surrealistic Pillow"). Starship was
quite possibly the worst band of the 80s ... a decade which had a
plethora of awful bands.
Jefferson Airplane formed in 1965 or thereabouts, and featured lead
vocalist Marty Balin, guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady
(who later went on to form Hot Tuna), rhythm guitarist Paul Kantner,
and drummer Spenser Dryden. Jefferson Airplane was a
great "psychedelic" band; while they had a few singles ("Somebody to
Love" and "White Rabbit" are probably the most famous), they were best
experienced live. "Bless Its Pointed Little Head" is a live recording
of Jefferson Airplane which shows them at their height.
Airplane fell apart due to excessive drug usage and rock-star egos; by
1971's "Bark" Balin had left the band and there was creative
fragmentation between Kaukonen/Casady (whose playing featured a strong
blues influence) and Kantner and Slick (whose music was becoming
more "science-fictionesque" and using many of the power chords which
would later become a staple of 1970s "arena rock"). After "Bark"
Airplane disbanded. After his solo album "Blows Against the Empire,"
Kantner reformed "Jefferson Starship" with Grace Slick and Airplane
vocalist Marty Balin. Their albums "Earth" and "Red Octopus" had a
couple of hits you may have heard ("Ride the Tiger" and "Miracles" are
particularly well-known). But by the 80s they had pretty much run out
of creative steam (thanks in no small amount to Kantner's continuing
cocaine addiction and Slick's uncontrolled drinking). By the time
Kantner left they had become "Starship," the folks who inflicted "We
Built This City" on us.
Grace Slick was one of the major influences on the whole "Goth" look
with her long black hair and striking eye makeup. (My girlfriend
reminds me that she probably got that look from Warhol's "Factory"
girls. I had a chance to see Jefferson Starship in 1983, and remember
that even then, when they were swirling around the bowl and releasing
stuff like "Jane" and "Lightning Rose," she had a powerful stage
presence and an amazing voice).
Some really good introductions to one of the greatest creative
collectives ever to come out of San Francisco would include:
JEFFERSON AIRPLANE:
Surrealistic Pillow
Bless Its Pointed Little Head (live) <My personal favorite>
Bark <interesting mainly because you get to watch a band disintegrate
before your very eyes, but also features a few brilliant Kantner songs>
JEFFERSON STARSHIP:
Red Octopus
Earth
I'm sure the esteemed Dr. Aquino will have a few more recommendations
to make: a fondness for Jefferson Airplane and for Kantner's music
appears to be one of the few things we have in common.
Peace
Kevin Filan
Dr. Michael A. Aquino
Hash: SHA1
File: JStarShp
SERIES: PAUL KANTNER AND THE JEFFERSON STARSHIP
- - by Michael A. Aquino VI*
(c) Temple of Set 1975-1991 CE
_____________________________________
PART I: RETURN OF THE PANTECHNIKON
First published: _Runes_ #I-3
Order of the Trapezoid
November XVIII/1983
A week or so ago I received a surprise phone call from an NBC
reporter in Los Angeles asking me what I knew about sinister/
occult messages being "reverse-mastered" on rock music albums.
"Nothing to be gained by it, even if it is occurring," I said, "since
it would be far more effective to insert magical messages
straightforwardly." "Do you know any group that does that?"
asked NBC. "Sure," I said. "The Jefferson Starship's been doing
it for over a decade." "Yes, we heard that you had some connection
with the Starship," said NBC. "Anything to that?"
Suddenly I I had visions of Charles-Manson-and-the-Beatles
"exposes", followed by Jerry Falwell picketing the Starship's
Earth-base over on Fulton Street. "Paul Kantner and I
corresponded briefly in '75-78," I said, "but that was about it.
None of the Starship are or were affiliated with the Temple of
Set, and none of them has been involved with conventional
Black Magic." NBC sounded disappointed, but gradually perked
up as our discussion led into some of the other exotic interests
of the Temple.
In fact the story of the Temple of Set and the Jefferson Starship
is a good deal weirder than Charles Manson's fixation with
"Helter Skelter", and far more Black Magical in the bargain.
As with so many other things concerning the Temple, however,
it is so complicated that an answer to Mr. NBC would have
churned up his phone bill well beyond its already 3-hour bite ...
18 years ago in August a new band opened in San Francisco at
a small nightclub named the Matrix. Calling itself the
Jefferson Airplane, it soon became the most prominent band
of the Haight-Ashbury "acid rock" culture. The themes of its
songs [and first 6 albums] were those of the late 1960s: love,
political protest, and psychedelic fantasia. Flying my
loudspeaker-equipped psychological warfare chopper around
Vietnam in 1969-70, I used to treat U.S. fire-support bases to
a sky-blasted (12-horn/12,000 watt) tape of "Volunteers of
America" or "Somebody to Love" before my trademark,
Simon & Garfunkel's "Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine".
In 1970 I returned to San Francisco, was ordained to the
Satanic Priesthood, and encountered a very singular new
album which I wrote up in the Nineveh Grotto's _Blacklist_
newsletter. Bearing Paul Kantner's name and "Jefferson
Starship" (rather than "Airplane"), it was called _Blows
Against the Empire_. Kantner's compositions, arranged in
a loose sequence, told the story of a group of young counter-
culture Americans, increasingly alienated and frustrated
by the climate of the Johnson/Nixon era, who ultimately
decided to hijack an orbiting starship just constructed by
the government and go streaking off into the cosmos en
route to the Andromeda Galaxy. At the end of the
accompanying libretto booklet was a proclamation:
"We intend to hijack the first sound interstellar or
interplanetary starship built by the people of this planet.
A time of 3-7 months will be needed for tantronic
conversion of the machinery to make it usable for
practical travel - involving light years. We need people
on Earth now to begin preparing the necessary tools.
There will be room for 7,000 or more people. If it seems
that your head is into this, please write & talk about
something for a bit. You will not be contacted immediately.
Please just prepare your minds & your bodies. Experiment -
move your mind. Practice telepathy & telekinesis - if you
feel it. _Search out Atlantis. It lives and breathes inside of
you. Join us - a plunge into reality._ - Starship Foundation"
Unfortunately _Blows Against the Empire_ was rather
ahead of its time. The fad of the day was not space migration
but the "Jesus Freak" movement. The "Jefferson Starship"
went back to being the Jefferson Airplane, and for the next
4 years produced 4 albums - _Sunfighter, Bark, Long John
Silver_, and _Baron von Tollbooth & the Chrome Nun_ -
characterized by increasing musical expertise and a
kaleidoscope of themes and images. By now Grace Slick and
Paul Kantner were all that remained of the original 1966
band, but the availability of guest crew for the Airplane
seemed endless.
Kantner's 1971-73 songs appeared to deemphasize space
travel in favor of magical and mystical concepts, ancient
Egypt, and weird, futuristic fantasies. In _Bark_ (1971)
he had first focused on the summer of 1975 as an occasion
of special importance, but seemed reluctant to be specific.
As late as May 30, 1975, when asked what he thought was
about to occur, he responded: "I think it is going to be
obvious by the end of the summer where this country is
going. I'd be really surprised if it isn't. Several different
possibilities, depending upon whether you are optimistic
or pessimistic. Either you are going to have Gerald Ford
for another 30 years and it will keep getting progressively
worse, or it will explode in a civil situation, or it's going to
get better. And there is a great chance of it getting better
from any number of natural and supernatural origins."
"I don't know," commented Grace Slick. "I've asked Paul a
number of times what he means in the lyrics. He says, 'I
don't know - any way you take it.' I'm sure he means well,
but I really don't know what he is talking about. I think
the political situation all over is so screwed up that nothing
is going to come together, and actually once a week
something else falls apart. Then next week something else
falls apart, and the next week something else. It doesn't
seem to go 'Blam!' all at once."
In terms of mundane history 1975 proved to be neither
more nor less noteworthy than its predecessors and successors.
It did prove to be a very significant year for the band itself,
as its latest album, _Dragonfly_, had mushroomed into an
unprecedented hit. Coincidentally it had been released
under the signature of "Jefferson Starship". The theme
which had been ahead of its time in 1970 was now perfectly
timed, aligned, and focused. The United States had just
emerged from the Scylla of Vietnam and the Charybdis of
Watergate into energy shortages and ecological doomsday
forecasts. Escapism was pervasive, beginning with revivals
or the old _Star Trek_ television series and culminating a
year later in the popular hysteria that greeted George
Lucas' _Star Wars_.
Everyone in the music/literary world had an explanation
for the Jefferson Starship's sudden success. It was the return
of Marty Balin, or it was the new sophistication of the music,
or Grace Slick's voice was now repaired/perfected. All such
analyses blissfully ignored the elegantly simple fact of the
name-change. Everyone was now longing to escape to space,
and here was a genuine space-band to sing us on our way.
Until 1975 the Jefferson Airplane had been significant to me
primarily as an "old San Francisco friend", nostalgically
comforting to hear as I roamed about the planet. But the
crisis and destruction of the Church of Satan, the _Book
of Coming Forth by Night_, and the creation of the Temple
of Set on the Summer Solstice of 1975 suddenly made Paul
Kantner's predictions very intriguing indeed. I sensed the
presence of a Magical Link. From their disconnected
beginnings in San Francisco nine years earlier, both the
Jefferson Airplane and the Church of Satan had passed
through a "lens" in 1975 and emerged as something totally
different. The only one of the original thirty copies of the
_Book of Coming Forth by Night_ not sent to the hierarchy
of the Satanic Priesthood, therefore, went to Paul Kantner.
As the Temple of Set began to emerge in its newfound identity,
Kantner's curiosity was aroused. "Beware the respectable,"
he wired me. "Interested in your explorations of 7 deadly sins.
What do you pursue in your community? I'm coming through
soon, perhaps, and care to explore the limits. What can you offer?"
"Essentially," I answered, "the Temple of Set is a machine to
facilitate the exchange of information and ideas between
Setians; it is a means, not an end. The real value of the Temple
lies in the _minds of the Setians themselves_." But Kantner's
question continued to provoke me. He was in quest of "the
limits" - presumably of human consequence. He himself was
pursuing this quest through the medium of musical expression,
and very successfully so. How might a "machine" like the
Temple of Set embrace such a quest? The projects and
priorities of the Temple being what they were, I didn't have
a chance to devote serious time to the problem for another
two years - during which time the Starship launched two
more albums, _Spitfire_ and _Earth_.
Since the Winter Solstice of X/1975 the Temple of Set had
been researching the concepts of human evolution
and extra-terrestrial migration, the results of which were
sent to the Priesthood in a series of five working papers
under the general title _Setamorphosis. Setamorphosis-V_
crystallized the research into a proposal entitled _Project
Atlantis_, addressed to both the Priesthood and Paul Kantner:
"The object of Project Atlantis is to execute a three-phase
operation designed to provide a base for simultaneous
transmission to both Earth and outer space. Such transmission
is to be entirely artistic and without any military or utilitarian/
scientific influences or applications whatever. Project Atlantis
is to be controlled by a non-profit corporation specifically
designed for this purpose, with directors designated by the J.S.
and the T.S. but with no other legal or financial ties to either
organization or to any other outside agency or institution ...
"_Phase I_'s object is to conduct a single, suborbital transmission
from space ca. 1982 by means of the NASA Space Shuttle,
which is expected to be operational by 1980 and available
for private experiments on a time-sharing basis shortly
thereafter. This package may consist of: (1) Transmission
of specially recorded, or re-transmission of live music to
Earth by the Jefferson Starship. (2) Transmission of the
same program to Alpha Centauri and the Andromeda
Galaxy in the form of uncoded music or mathematically-
encoded impulses. (3) Transmission of test patterns to
evaluate communications links between elements of the
Temple of Set First and Second Foundations. (4) Transmission
of encoded signals by the Temple of Set to Alpha Draconis,
Sirius, and the Crab Nebula.
"_Phase II_, ca. 1985, would be a series of scheduled
transmissions of a mix similar to that of Phase I, through
relay from Earth to an orbiting satellite designed, orbited,
and operated by Project Atlantis itself. Difficulties may be
encountered because of many nations' propaganda and
censorship policies towards an independent satellite with a
trans-world reach. A PSYOP analysis will be conducted
accordingly, as will feedback analysis of its influence.
"_Phase III_, programmed for 1990, will consist of enhanced
experiments of the order of Phase II, conducted from a manned
space station specifically designed for Project Atlantis and
controlled by it, subject only to recognized international
space treaties. The station will be as inaccessible as possible to
any government, military instrument, or interest group. Its
sole orientation will be towards the musical, magical, and
recreational principles of Project Atlantis. It is conceived as
the starting-point for experiments beyond Project Atlantis itself."
Paul Kantner wired back his enthusiasm for the preliminary
study, and I began to correspond accordingly with contacts in
NASA, RAND, Princeton's Space Studies Institute, the World
Future Society, and the Smithsonian. The preliminary study,
prepared in November 1978, identified some serious problems:
"The Environmental Fund in Washington, D.C. projects an
average annual world population increase during the Project
Atlantis time-span of 87.3 million. This figure's significance
lies in its effect upon the freedom of action of U.S. individuals
and institutions, including the tightening of domestic budgets
[including NASA]. The Soviet Union will have a temporary
military advantage over the United States from 1983 to 1985,
during which time the U.S.S.R. is projected to be under serious
alliance and economic strain. In addition to social pressure
against the 'selfish' use of an orbital space station for the
recreational/artistic use of a relative few, we would face
significant danger of a military threat, considering that
nuclear delivery systems are targeted by satellite. In view
of the estimated $3,000 per 1.5 square feet of space on the
NASA Space Shuttle, we may contact OTRAG in New York
and Stuttgart for its estimates. Preliminary data for Phase
III will be initiated through NASA's LDEF program."
Alas, Project Atlantis was doomed. Controversy bordering
on outright fear was developing within the Temple of Set,
many of whose Initiates weren't certain they were ready for
orbit, much less a trip to M31. If our seasoned Black Magicians
were getting cold feet, one may presume that the Starship
crewmembers were similarly dubious about translating
their Captain's "quaint fantasy" into something very real -
and in collaboration with the dark & diabolical Temple of Set!
Moreover the Jefferson Starship had confronted disaster of a
more immediate kind during a trip to Germany that year.
12,000 fans had rioted and destroyed over $200,000 of the
band's equipment. An exhausted and unnerved Grace Slick
had announced her departure from the group, and co-founder
Marty Balin was on the brink of following suit. The appearance
of each new Starship album was accompanied by reviews
lauding Balin's love songs and disparaging the "inevitable"
Kantner sci-fi pieces.
Project Atlantis, it seemed, would have to be postponed until
prospects for its success improved - from all input sources. Then
within three months I had retired from the High Priesthood,
and the New High Priest was nervous about flights in
conventional airliners. While awaiting a more opportune
launch-date, I decided to take Paul Kantner and Grace Slick to
Andromeda anyway - via _The Dark Side_. Slick was
transformed into a fire-daemon of Sith and a confederate of
Darth Vader's. [She sang beautiful music in _Dreams_, and
I was sorry I had painted such a terrifying picture of her.
Then she released _Welcome to the Wrecking Ball_, and I
decided I wasn't so far off the track after all.] I took the liberty
of destroying Kantner's body and transferring his mind to a
Pantechnikon (an "ultimate cyborg"). These two remarkable
creatures contributed to the outcome of the _Star Wars_
scenario in a sequence rather more startling than that
experienced by audiences of the Lucasfilm movie sequels.
* _The Dark Side_ is at:
http://www.xeper.org/maquino/index.html
It has taken Paul Kantner five years to get the Jefferson
Starship's engines back to full translite power. Grace Slick is
back on board, and this month has seen the release of Kantner's
_Planet Earth Rock & Roll Orchestra_, the 13-years-delayed
evolutionary successor to _Blows Against the Empire_.
[Appropriately _Planet Earth_ is subtitled _The Empire Blows
Back_.] I could tell you something about the plot, but then
your curiosity wouldn't drive you to acquire the album and
hear the music (which is the Key to the Link). [Select the
record, not the cassette, as only the former includes the
critical documentary inserts.]
The Temple of Set may be returning to its original scope, and
the Jefferson Starship may be soaring high again, but Project
Atlantis remains dormant. The projections in our initial
research have materialized only too well. A constricting
network of barriers to Phases I & II have arisen, while the
killer satellite technology of the Soviet Union and the military
capabilities of the Space Shuttle [whose program was saved
from scuttling by Defense Department interest] would make
Phase III a highly vulnerable undertaking. Space colonization
efforts pioneered by Gerard O'Neill, deliberately designed to
appeal to the corporate profit motive, have yet to yield
substantive results. Even so, space efforts by the military/
industrial complex are a far cry from the utopian beauty
and vision of Project Atlantis. At the other end of the spectrum
are the antics of Timothy Leary et al., whose simplistic space
migration fantasies tend to subject any serious attempt
towards non-M/I use of space to public ridicule [hence disinterest].
Are we then condemned to the placebo of fantasy? Must Paul
Kantner content himself with singing about space to audiences
attracted far more to the mind-dulling throb of rock concerts
than to his lyrical concepts and expressions? Must the bodies of
those who are developing Setian consciousnesses remain chained
to a biosphere governed increasingly by what Nietzsche described
as "the tyranny of the most inferior and the most stupid", even
as their intellects yearn towards the limits of existence? Not
necessarily. The Order of the Trapezoid will be concerning itself
with research towards Project Atlantis' successor. If it seems that
your head is into this, please write & talk about something for a
bit. You will not be contacted immediately. Please just prepare
your minds and your bodies ...
_____________________________________
PART II: [MUSICAL] NOTES TOWARDS PROJECT ANDROMEDA
First published: _Runes_ #II-1
Order of the Trapezoid
January XIX/1984
Like art, magic is supra-rational. Attempts to explain it - to reduce
it to logical statement or argument - always fall short of the
original and are thus inadequate and disappointing. Setians are
well-acquainted with how difficult it is to explain the atmosphere
of a Black Magical ceremony to someone with a conventional,
materialistic background. This supra-rational quality also
characterizes good music, whose impact on the senses similarly
cannot be reduced to words:
"Music and architecture - Is it not in these disciplines that we
find recorded the path of humanity's ascent? When I hear Wagner,
it seems to me that I hear rhythms of a bygone world. I imagine
to myself that one day science will discover, in the waves set in
motion by the _Rheingold_, secret mutual relations connected
with the order of the world. The observation of the world
perceived by the senses precedes the knowledge given by exact
science as well as by philosophy. It is insofar as percipient
awareness approaches truth that it has value."
I can't help wondering what Adolf Hitler, who uttered those words
42 years ago, would think of Paul Kantner and the Jefferson
Starship [Yes, the picture of such an encounter strains my
imagination too, but read on.] - because more than any other
contemporary musical group, the Starship has managed to turn
the human voice into a musical instrument. The individual
members of the band do not "sing the words to songs which
they play on instruments"; rather they _become_ the songs -
so much so that the words frequently become lost within a
swelling of sheer musical power. "When it works best," Kantner
says of the Starship, "we become a great churning air machine,
capable of moving people to the unknown, of making you cry,
laugh, march in silly parades." All Airplane/Starship albums
since _Blows Against the Empire_ have included printed lyrics,
so that dazed audiences would be able to interpret at least part
of what they had just experienced.
Rock music with complicated and sophisticated themes is never
going to be terribly popular, since it demands too much thinking -
and people don't go to rock concerts to think. Quoth Alvin Toffler
in his now-classic _Future Shock_:
"The religious fervor and bizarre behavior of certain hippie
cultists may arise not merely from drug abuse, but from group
experimentation with both sensory deprivation and bombardment.
The chanting of monotonous mantras, the attempt to focus the
individual's attention on interior bodily sensation to the exclusion
of outside stimuli, are efforts to induce the weird and sometimes
hallucinatory effects of understimulation."
So the Starship, while successful and indeed legendary, has never
quite been one of those hysterical/smash-hit/teen-craze groups.
Its better-known songs have been those with fairly familiar
themes of love, and psychedelia. If she sings a thousand other
songs, Grace Slick will always be remembered as the girl who
sang "White Rabbit".
And far out in the Twilight Zone of Starship esoterica are the
compositions of Paul Kantner, who sine-waves between visions
of mankind's ancient past and evolutionary future. Not too
many listeners seem to have devoted much serious thought
to the ideas in Kantner's lyrics, and this is not surprising given
their complexity. But what _is_ surprising is that his music
seems to have become the target of a modern-day witch-hunt.
Last week I was invited to appear on a radio talk-show with
Kantner. Also on the show were one Catholic priest and one
fundamentalist pastor from the "Eagle's Nest Christian Fellowship"
in California's fabled Orange County. The issue of the evening
was - seriously! - whether the Devil is french-frying the minds of
today's youth with secret messages recorded backwards into
rock-and-roll music.
I thought I had seen it all after _The Exorcist_ movie came out
and scores of people around the country began being possessed.
But this "reverse-mastering" scam actually seems to be believed
- - not only by fundamentalist snake-oil salesmen but by many
of their audiences as well.
The panel discussion reminded me of nothing so much as the Mad
Hatter's tea party: Whatever Kantner or I said to dispute the
accusation was simply ignored by the fundamentalist and his
callers [who, since so many addressed him by his first name, I
suspect were exhorted in advance to storm the telephone lines].
It began with the accusation that the picture on the cover of the
Starship's _Spitfire_ album shows "the whore of Babylon astride
the Beast of Revelation". Kantner looked pained. "The dragon is
a symbol of wisdom and nobility in China," he said, "and the girl
is a Chinese girl."
Another charge leveled by the fundamentalist was that the song
"A Child is Coming" on _Blows Against the Empire_ contained the
backwards phrase "the son of Satan". [The song was written to
commemorate the anticipation of Kantner's and Grace Slick's
daughter China.] A tape was duly played backwards on the show.
I for one heard nothing except backwards music and garbled singing.
It would have been a slapstick comedy evening except for the
unpleasant surprise that quite a few people evidently believe in
such nonsense. It was this blind irrationality that gave me a bit of a
chill. In a slightly less 1st-Amendment society than this one, this
would be enough to blacklist the Paul Kantners, or even to imprison
and kill them. I am reminded, per John Fowles' _Aristos_, that the
reason Christianity no longer tortures and kills heretics is not
because it has become more tolerant or benevolent doctrinally, but
rather because secular society forced it to stop.
I had come to the show anticipating an opportunity to discuss some
of the fascinating notions on Kantner's _Planet Earth Rock and Roll
Orchestra_ album. Since I spent all of my mike-time doing little
more than denying that there were packs of crazed devil-worshippers
conducting nameless rites and human sacrifices with Starship
music in the background, I had no opportunity to delve into magic.
Nor, I think in retrospect, would most of the radio audience have
been able to understand very much of it. So here comes what
KFRC missed, being notes towards Project Andromeda -or- How
the Devil Really Talks to You Through the Planet Earth Rock
and Roll Orchestra:
"The Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra," says Kantner on the
album lyric sheet, "is a San Francisco band that, in the near
future, develops a computer-assisted telepathic amplification
technology. In using the machineries on everything from their
audiences to forms of weather control and extrasensory spying,
they attract the attention of various government and police
agencies and right-wing religious forces."
Let's start with telepathy. Since I wrote "Psi in the Sky" for the
_Cloven Hoof_ 10 years ago, I have criss-crossed ESP looking for
bedrock amidst all of the Uri Geller stage magic and Jeanne Dixon
mumbo-jumbo. The idiocy that still makes it into "respectable"
print never ceases to amaze me - most recently Targ & Harary's
_Mind Race_. Targ is a Stanford Research Institute physicist
who says that he has worked for a decade on a "multi-million-dollar
program of psychic research financed by the Defense Department
and intelligence agencies".
Targ's pet project consisted of "remote viewing" experiments, on
which I happened to be briefed last year at the State Department
in Washington, D.C. It was unconvincing, not only because the
statistical data are not really conclusive, but also because the
transmission of information to the brain simply doesn't occur
outside the visible spectrum. Light-waves from the central
fountain in Washington Square Park (alleged to have been "seen"
by one of Targ's subjects) are atmospherically dispersed long
before reaching Palo Alto, California.
There's a lot we don't know about the brain's internal design,
but how information travels into and around it is no mystery.
Electricity - the same stuff that makes flashlights work. Please
note that the electrical impulses rocketing around in your head
are very weak: To light a flashlight bulb you would have to
generate about 30 million times your present level of brain
current. Fascinating experiments in ESB (Electrical Stimulation
of the Brain) have been done by Dr. Jose Delgado of Yale University
and are cited in #19F. Delgado's probes, using tiny amounts of
current, were capable of changing moods, stimulating memories,
and even causing motor actions despite the conscious will of the
subject to resist. If the human skull were not a good insulation
against external electricity [which it is], you would have a
grand mal seizure and an explosion of utterly arbitrary thoughts
every time you drove under a high-tension wire.
Without going into exhaustive detail, therefore, both light waves
and the stuff of which thoughts are made don't travel cross-country.
If the Pentagon and the intelligence community did in fact spend
several million dollars on snake-oil, P.T. Barnum must be rolling
merrily around in his grave.
Now let's take a look at why Paul Kantner's notion of a "computer
assisted telepathic amplification technology" isn't nearly so
fantastic as it seems at first glance.
The electrical energy in your brain occurs in waves measured
according to cycles per second (CPS). 1-3 CPS = Delta waves,
characteristic of deep sleep. 4-7 CPS = Theta waves, characteristic
of high emotion, violence, and frustration. 8-12 CPS = Alpha waves,
characteristic of meditation, relaxation, and "searching for
patterns".
13-22 CPS = Beta waves, characteristic of frontal brain activity,
deliberate effort, and logical thought.
We'll come back to brain waves in a moment, but first a word about
another principle: resonance. Resonance is a very interesting
concept and deserves a precise definition:
- -- (1) a vibration of large amplitude in a mechanical or electrical
system caused by a relatively small periodic stimulus of the same or
nearly the same period as the natural vibration period of the system.
- -- (2) the intensification and enriching of a musical tone by
supplementary vibration that is either sympathetically or
mechanically induced.
In _Runes #I-2_ I provided a short profile of Dr. Nikola Tesla, the
"mad scientist" who went past the boundaries of "recognized"
science with, among other things, experiments in resonance.
Biographer Margaret Cheney relates (#20I):
"He attached an oscillator no larger than an alarm clock to a steel
link 2' long and 2" thick. 'For a long time nothing happened, but at
last the great steel link began to tremble, increased its trembling
until it dilated and contracted like a beating heart, and finally
broke.' Sledgehammers could not have done it, he told a reporter,
crowbars could not have done it, but a fusillade of taps, no one of
which would have harmed a baby, did it.
"Pleased with this beginning, he put the little oscillator in his coat
pocket. Finding a half-built steel building in the Wall Street
district,
10 stories high with nothing up but the steelwork, he clamped the
oscillator to one of the beams. 'In a few minutes I could feel the
beam
trembling. Gradually the trembling increased in intensity and
extended throughout the whole great mass of steel. Finally the
structure began to creak and weave, and the steelworkers came
to the ground panic-stricken, believing that there had been an
earthquake. Before anything serious happened, I took off the
oscillator,
put it in my pocket, and went away. But if I had kept on 10 minutes
more, I could have laid that building flat in the street. And with the
same oscillator I could drop Brooklyn Bridge in less than an hour.'"
Now a little-known but interesting fact is that brain-waves are
subject to the principle of resonance. Energy-waves reaching your
brain through any medium - eyes, ears, or flesh - will tend to induce
your brain-waves to cycle at the same wave-length. A common
example of visual resonance is the seizures that some people
experience when exposed to a light flickering at 10 CPS.
The audio spectrum - being the range of sound vibrations which
human hearing can consciously detect - is from 15 CPS (bass) to
20,000 CPS (treble). The infrasonic range - 10-15 CPS - is too low
to be consciously detected but is nonetheless capable of inducing
resonance in the brain. Below infrasound [and sometimes
encompassing it] are Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) waves,
which are powerful and durable enough to travel through the
Earth for communication with submerged submarines.
The relaxation which you paradoxically feel when listening to
the deep, heavy throbbing of drums and bass guitars at rock
concerts is the same as that felt by American Indians listening
to the large dancing-drums accompanying their ceremonial
campfires. Resonance is produced which inclines your brain-waves
towards Alpha, and if the rate of the beat seems particularly
pleasing to you, I recommend that you take your pulse. My guess
is that it will be close (somewhere around 70 CPM), which your
system will find subconsciously soothing. [If you wish to calm a
crying infant, rock its cradle at about that speed, or hold it to
your breast so that it can hear the beating of your heart. Try it!]
Now Theta happens to be a very interesting range. Soviet research
into PK phenomena has yielded the fact that PK activity is generally
associated with a sudden surge of Theta activity at the 4 CPS level.
Theta activity is also more common in the brains of young children
than in those of adults, which may have something to do with the
rumor (which I cannot call more than that) that "poltergeist"
activity is usually catalyzed by the presence of a child in the house.
Now let us suppose for a moment that we have a rock-and-roll band
whose amplifiers, speakers, and acoustical equipment are already
well-suited for infrasonic wave generation. Such a band - call it the
Jefferson Starship or the Planet Earth Orchestra, or anything you
want to - is currently making people very happy with lots of Alpha-
wave resonance. But what if that same band, via computer-assisted
technology, produced either sustained or timed/calculated Theta-
waves at energy levels strong enough to induce resonance
throughout a concert hall containing thousands of people. And
suppose all of those people focused their wills on the same thing.
And suppose that the energy pattern emerging from those minds-in-
concert (neat pun) were received, amplified, and retransmitted at
substantially higher energy levels via fairly conventional electronic
relay technology ...
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GUlLLOTlNA
"Jefferson Airplane/Starship" but I can only remember one single song that got
played to DEATH in the 1980s, "We Built this City". It was so sickening that
the mere mention of that band makes me want to vomit.>>
LOL. My personal least-favorite band of the 80's was a tie: The J. Geils Band
and REO Speedwagon. Every member of these two disgraces to pop music should be
keelhauled, then receive 30 stripes of the lash, have all their gold records
broken over their heads....edge-down, then have to sit through 10 consecutive
showings of "The Price is Right", flayed, hung, drawn and quartered, then
burned at the stake after death for good measure.
But speaking of Starship, don't forget such aural treats as "Find Your Way
Back"....deathless in its ability to make one cringe in elevators and
grocery-stores.
L.
Antinomial666
>>because the latest Marilyn Manson album "Holy Wood"
>>goes back to the old days of Golden Dawn, OTO, Thelema,
>>etc., and I had the impression that the TOS uses many
>>of the same ideas.
>
>blow a fuse. MM has never been a Setian. Nikki Sixx
>of Motley Crue was, in the early days before that band
>had to sanitize its Black Magical image.
Nikki Sixx, who left while a l*, which of course was before he was (or would
have been, whichever the case may be) recognized to adept.
How "interesting", Dr. Aquino, that you speak of Mr. Sixx (with his fame,
wealth, notoriety) as having been a Setian, when all other former l* are --
I'll put it nicely -- of absolutely zero consideration to you, generally
speaking (but then, former ll*, lll*, or whatever else are of little value to
you as well). What an "interesting" double-standard! Care to explain?
Dr. Michael A. Aquino
Hash: SHA1
In article <20001130001734.20936.00002366@
ng-fc1.aol.com>, antino...@aol.com
(Antinomial666) wrote:
>How "interesting", Dr. Aquino, that you speak of Mr.
>Sixx (with his fame, wealth, notoriety) as having
>been a Setian, when all other former l* are of absolutely
>zero consideration to you, generally speaking (but
>then, former ll*, lll*, or whatever else are of little value
>to you as well). What an "interesting" double-standard!
>Care to explain?
In this case, I mentioned Sixx simply because the
conversation happened to be about rock musicians,
that's all. As for other past and present Setians, I am
in touch with many of them, enjoy their company,
and have often learned a great deal from them. I see
no "double standard" in this.
Like the Church of Satan before it, the Temple of Set is
a temporary experience for some, a more lasting one for
others. Ideally we try to configure it to serve both needs
for individuals, such that whatever time they do spend
with it is generally stimulating, interesting, and helpful
to them.
What the Temple cannot do, of course, is compensate for
personal inadequacy, laziness, rudeness, egotism, etc.
Some people come to the Temple with a chip on the
shoulder, and eventually leave it having managed to
keep that chip firmly in place. This is too bad, but in
the final analysis it's their decision.
Michael A. Aquino
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Spectre & TheBeatCat
Dark Cloud wrote:
> See, you are already losing me culturally. I vaguely recall a band
> called "Jefferson Airplane/Starship" but I can only remember one single
> song that got played to DEATH in the 1980s, "We Built this City". It
> was so sickening that the mere mention of that band makes me want to
> vomit. Maybe they were good for the 1960s/1970s era, but from my
> perspective that era sucked musically so that is not saying much.
I suddenly feel so old...
--
Spectre