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The Temple of Set is a Left Hand Path organization. It reveres the psyche, and seeks its unification, empowerment, and isolation from the Cosmos, both in the world of Becoming and in the afterlife. Its philosophy and practice are a Remanifestation of the ancient Priesthood of Set, and are encoded in Xeper, a trans-personal principle that is best translated into English as "I Have Come Into Being." This word refers to the Realization of potentials within the Self, possesses the only ontology Recognized by the Temple of Set, and is the root of our metaphysics. We see the possibilities for our self-development arising out of Gift from the Prince of Darkness, and our reciprocal responsibility is to Become a suitable companion for Him.

As a Left Hand Path religion we avoid all practices that broaden the gap between gods and men. As such we don't pray, we don't perform sacrifice, and we don't kneel in the presence of a Sacred Other.

The only sacrifice we do perform is a voluntary sacrifice of self to Self that takes the form of words. Setians seek to control and sanctify their own minds, and the method for this is to refine our power of intent. For a Setian to say "I will do this thing for myself" is a sacred utterance. Doing the act and realizing how one has changed is the quality we call Xeper. The only true advancement of the individual comes from those actions, rationally chosen based on the experiences and wisdom that come from such self-sacrifice.

We do not believe that there is any merit in the sacrifice of another, or of animals, or of any thing.

Such concepts belong to the realm of Nature-bound religions, which we hold to be in error.

Because the only tools that are available to us come from the phenomena of Life, we hold that Life is sacred, because it provides the medium whereby we can Xeper.

After our commitment to our own Xeper, we hold life sacred in four expanding areas.

• Firstly we hold as Sacred the Life of our own bodies, which we treat as Temple to the god we might become. We do this to secure a long life, in which we may develop and refine ourselves. This is the realm of the Sovereign Self.
  
  
• Secondly we hold as sacred the Life of other Setians, and we will practice our magical and healing arts to insure their vitality. We do this to increase the potential of the Prince of Darkness finding suitable companions.
  
  
• Thirdly we hold as sacred the Life of humanity. Our self love and our self dissatisfaction is expressed upon humanity, since humanity represents a macrocosm we have individuated. Each Setian, as part of his or her own development must determine the actions and reasoning arising from this view.
  
  
• Fourthly we hold as sacred the Life of all beings. The Life of the world nurtures us, provides us with anagogic insights, and entertains and enchants us with its beauty. We are not merely passive observers of this, but active in the very areas that will increase our enjoyment and enlightenment. Our obligation to Life is again, determined by the individual Setian as mediated by his or her own cultural milieu, and experience. We respect the rights of each Setian in personal application in this matter, and trust that they will respect our rights in not universalizing their opinion in endless dialogues on the subject.
  
  
• These are philosophical postings subject to a great deal of personal refinement. The actions that lead to such refinement should provide a great many clues to each Setian about the Darkness that lies within each and every one of them, and should be a key to many forms of personal action—many of them beyond the proper scope of Temple discourse.

The minimum institutional requirements of these ideas is that it is a Duty of every Setian to publicly speak out against those groups who would lie about us by attributing human or animal sacrifice to us. It is likewise the Duty to report any known animal cruelty or abuse to the proper authorities.

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© 2002 Temple of Set, Inc.