What do you know about the Temple of Set? Quiz

Answer: LaVey announced that degrees within the Church would become available in return for contributions in cash or other material goods

Prior to this announcement, degrees beyond I° were conferred based on considerations of merit. Aquino and his colleagues felt that LaVey's decision to sell the degrees was a debasement of the concept and a betrayal of his principles. LaVey's house was shot at on at least one occasion, but he was never shot himself. Neither of the other statements are at all true.

Answer: "The Book of Coming Forth by Night"

"The Book of Coming Forth by Night" is written as if from the first person of the Prince of Darkness, who announces a new "Age of Set" to succeed the "Age of Satan" announced by LaVey, and authorised Michael Aquino to establish the Temple of Set. "The Diabolicon", an earlier work by Aquino, and also claimed by him to have been inspired by the Prince of Darkness, was written while Aquino and LaVey were still on good terms. "The Book of the Law" was written in 1904 by Aleister Crowley, who claimed it was dictated to him by a discarnate entity. Michael Aquino has written his own commentary, which sets out his own interpretation of this book. "The Necronomicon" refers to a fictitious book of magic spells referred to in a number of novels by H.P. Lovecraft.

A number of spoof versions of the Necronomicon have been published, none of which have anything to do with the Temple of Set.

Answer: True

Zeena Schreck née LaVey, Anton's second daughter, served as High Priestess of the Church of Satan during the 1980s, but she severed ties with this organisation in 1990. She later joined the Temple of Set and was appointed High Priestess in 2002 but resigned after a couple of months over disagreements with other Temple members.

Answer: The psyche becoming aware of itself and its own limitless potential to exist beyond the material world

The Temple of Set teaches that the human psyche is somehow separate from the natural world and able to transcend it in order to realise itself as an immortal being. The Temple also teaches that the idea of becoming "one with the universe", as taught by "Right-Hand Path" schools of mysticism, is actually a state of self-deception.

The concept of an "operating thetan" actually derives from Scientology and forms no part of Temple teachings.

Answer: Set

The answer is pretty obvious, I hope it did not seem like a trick question! According to Temple teachings, Set, the name of an Egyptian god, is the oldest known name for the Prince of Darkness. "Set" is preferred to the Hebrew "Satan" due to the latter's associations with Judaeo-Christian belief.

Initiates of the Temple prefer to call themselves "Setians" rather than "Satanists." Even though a fictional character created by H.P. Lovecraft, a ritual invocation of Cthulhu actually features in "The Satanic Rituals" by Anton LaVey!

Answer: That LaVey had been a genuine magician who became deeply cynical and finally corrupt

Aquino claims that he knew LaVey well and that the latter expressed a sincere belief in the reality of the Prince of Darkness on many occasions. Aquino therefore does not think it credible that LaVey was just making it all up. LaVey did not make a great deal of money from his Church, so if he intended it to be a con game it was not very successful.

Answer: God represents the non-consciousness of nature

The Temple teaches that "God" represents the mindless, impersonal cosmos. Attempting to become "one with God" is therefore a path to personal oblivion. Initiates believe that conscious existence involves setting oneself apart from "God" or the mindless objective universe.

Answer: False

Initiates are strictly forbidden to harm or kill animals in their rituals. This prohibition is shared by LaVeyan Satanists.

Answer: Antinomian

Antinomian means rebelling against conventionally accepted social values, and reflects the Temple's focus on self-directed individuality as opposed to being controlled by externally imposed agendas, or "following the herd." This word is very easy to confuse with antimonian, which means pertaining to the chemical element of antimony. Antigonian is not a real word, but if it was it would be the adjectival form of Antigonia, a fish genus. Antipodean is a term that is sometimes used to refer to inhabitants of Australia and New Zealand, which lands are referred to as being the world's antipodes.

Answer: That it is not at all valid and not a part of Temple teachings

In his commentary on "The Book of Coming Forth by Night", Aquino stated that "Set implicitly rejects the entire Hebrew mythos" ("The Temple of Set," p. 200), and that the Cabala appears nowhere in the Temple of Set.