In ancient Egyptian mythology, the god Set is an ambiguous and controversial figure, at the same time being one of the central characters of the divine pantheon. According to experts, initially Seth was positioned as an extremely positive hero, a kind of warrior of light, the only one of the gods who could overcome the forces of darkness and world evil. However, over time, his image began to take on more and more sinister, demonic features and, in the end, Seth turned into the embodiment of universal evil, the patron saint of darkness, death and all kinds of evil entities. The cult of this deity was massive in Ancient Egypt, many of his images were found during archaeological excavations on ritual objects, where he appears as a humanoid creature with the head of an animal, most often a wild donkey. Some researchers are inclined to argue that Seth can be considered the ancient Egyptian prototype of Satan, in the capacity in which the Fallen Angel is commonly perceived today.
The image of Set was taken as a conceptual basis for the creation of the occult organization "Temple Of Set", which arose in 1975 in the United States. The ideological inspirer and leader of the new movement was a certain Michael Aquino, a former member of the Church of Satan, who decided to leave this community because of disagreement on many issues with its leaders. According to Michael, Seth appeared to him in a dream, revealing some general concepts about the true paths, following which, each person is able to gain divinity and, as a result, immortality. To achieve this goal, the adepts of the "Temple of Set" who call themselves "Setians" use several practices based on ideas about the mysteries held in honor of the god Set in Ancient Egypt.
The "Temple of Set" is often ranked among the satanic communities, although the leaders of the organization, especially in recent times, deny their belonging to such movements. The philosophy of the Temple includes several points, the main of which are constant self-improvement, self-education and spiritual experiments. The image of Satan (Set) is perceived by the Setians as an ideal in all respects an entity that does not have a specific incarnation, the qualities of which every adept should strive to achieve. In addition, the postulates of the Temple have some similarities with the philosophy of the occultist and black magician Aleister Crowley, who once proclaimed the thesis "do what you want and it will be law." In other words, for the transformation of the human essence into the divine, according to the Setians, it is necessary to adhere to the direction of the so-called. "Reasonable egoism",when personal needs and desires of a person are always put above public.
Statue of the god Set.
The means for achieving spiritual development in the Temple of Set is a mixture of ancient occult practices and modern psychology; the process itself is called Xeper (hefer), which can be interpreted as "becoming". Rather schematic descriptions of the techniques used by the Setians can be found in the book "Black Magic in Theory and Practice" by the already mentioned Michael Aquino. Upon reaching a new stage of spiritual enlightenment, the adept moves to the next step in the hierarchy of the Temple, of which there are six, from an ordinary "Setian" to the highest rank, "ipsissimus" (something like, "utters the word"). It is worth noting that applicants for joining the organization undergo a fairly rigorous selection and, after being enrolled in the ranks of the members of the Temple, are subjected to a two-year trial period.
At the moment, the Temple of Set is a non-profit organization officially registered in the United States; representatives of this community live in some other countries, including Russia. The number of followers of the philosophy of Michael Aquino has never been constant, the bulk of the followers of the movement are fairly wealthy people. Among the numerous such groups, the Temple of Set has the status of an elite community, its leaders do not strive for cheap popularity, and their activities, in most cases, are of a closed nature.