XeperAustin

At the beginning of 2017, the Bull of Ombos met at the Blanton Museum to explore a small exhibit of Andy Warhol art, film, and archived materials, following up with a lively discussion of renown, fame, and how we can Work to create our own legacies. I was particularly struck by the discovery of Warhol’s time capsules, which were new to me.

Warhol packed away around 300,000 pieces of personal ephemera into over 600 boxes, which have recently been opened and catalogued by the Andy Warhol Museum.

Image via NPR.

Image via BBC.

I started to think about the small items of magical significance that pass through each of our lives over time. All the notes, stones, cards, and found objects that take on so much potency because they were with us at an important time and place, and how these items become imbued with such mystery and power.

There are some of these items I’ve been holding on to for years, and countless others lost to time. So when I couldn’t stop thinking about those time capsules, I went out and bought a simple black craft box, and started a 2017 time capsule for the Bull of Ombos Pylon.

Throughout the year, I added any magical items that felt significant to me, and reminded the members of the Pylon to hold on to any things they might want to add. At our final meeting of 2017, the box was placed on the altar during our Working, and each person in attendance placed something inside.

As magicians, we can choose to manage our own legacies by paying mindful attention to what it is we create and put out into the objective universe. Playing an active role in building your Name is unquestionably an important form of self-creation, giving us the opportunity to choose which of our works and deeds will represent us when we cannot represent ourselves.

This may take the form of art, writing, music, or one’s initiatory teaching, all of which are distinctly personal creations, imbued with the Essence of the magician, with the potential to help that magician transcend the limitations of time and space.

But our magical objects need not be 1,000 page grimoires or an epic concept album. Even small collections like our Pylon time capsule, sealed and preserved, will carry the Name and magic of the Bull of Ombos into the future. The capsule holds some of the magic we created in 2017, small items empowered with big memories, waiting to be discovered again.

The following is a post from Bull of Ombos Pylon member Bishop Crowley.

In today’s world, one need only look upon the electrical god(s) to see how utterly asleep the world is. Facebook likes, Instagram followers, and anything else that serves to detract from the truth now drive human life. We live in a world of spoon fed information, twisted news sources, and not so social media. What happened to the days of direct personal human interaction, when people ventured outdoors to play and socialize, when education and knowledge were important?

Electronics and the social media outlets have effectively lulled most of the world to sleep. During this time of unconsciousness, it is easy for people to overlook the truth. This truth is that there are only half truths. When something is happening in the world there is a bigger story than the one that is generally being distributed. There are two sides to a single coin and the key is learning to look at both sides, and to look at the thin sliver of ultimate truth between the two sides.

This way of looking at information applies to everything from one’s career, to family life, finances, and politics. Social media is an algorithm for everyone and everything. If that algorithm detects that a user likes certain information, and leans one way or another, then that is what they will be fed through streams, posts, and ads. Learning to see this truth and the patterns can result in a consciousness that was once hidden.
Social media will one day become the major source of information for the world. This is already happening if one stands back and analyzes the trends. YouTube is getting into news and live television as is Facebook, Google, and Apple. In 10 years, I would expect that the majority of the news and information will be written, streamed, and viewed all online. This opens the doors wide open when it comes to the interpretation and digestion of information. This will create great distortion for those who lack the ability to sift through the data objectively. Now is the time to start learning to open your eyes and to seek out the truth behind the smoke.

As Setians we choose to rip the covers from our eyes and awaken. We mold the world around us rather than be influenced or manipulated like puppets by societal forces outside ourselves. I am often reminded of a scene in one of my favorite music videos where a simple, but profound statement is displayed on the bottom of the screen. “Behold the Demi-God, he wields the power to entrance and enslave.” It goes on to say, “Through industry, man can learn to harness the same power, and attain all that which he desires.” In this sense, a Demi-god is someone/something that creates things that enslave; think Mark Zuckerberg, or Steve Jobs, men who have created technologies that do indeed enslave.

What this statement tells us is simple – those who control the industry control the masses. Today’s industry is media and the light-speed dissemination of information. The evolution of media has been a long time in the making. Julius Caesar is credited with starting the first “newspaper” which was basically a stone tablet with information written on it. The tablets were then placed strategically throughout a city. The next evolutions to follow were magazines, radio, television, and of course the Internet. Unlike its predecessors, the Internet is so ingrained in daily life that it is impossible to remove oneself from it completely. Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, all impress views and opinions upon the masses.

Once one learns to see these things for what they are, they can learn to use them as a tool. I personally unplugged from everything that had to do with social media for about a year. During this time, I found that I was happier, and had more time to work on personal projects. As a form of Initiation this was profound. I was no longer worried about posting pictures, hitting the like button, or reading about something that someone else did. I was able to create. I actually manifested more usable time during the day. My disassociation from social media allowed me to take an objective look at the world. By unplugging I could form my own opinions without the constant avalanche of information.

Now I am ready to venture back into the world of social media, but with a different purpose and from a new perspective. Social media is a beneficial tool if it is used as such. I choose to use social media to my advantage and to the advantage of the Temple of Set as a whole. I have created a website, a Twitter account, a Facebook profile, and an Etsy shop, all of which are intertwined as my single Internet presence. I jumped head first into the realm that I cast away a year ago. The reason is simple – I need a place to promote my ideas, my creations, and to advance my Xeper. It’s strange in that my first initiatory thoughts on social media were to get away from it all together. Doing so gave me the perspective and the knowledge to see the next phase of Initiation, which is to create and slowly work towards self-independence. I want to use these technologies to break free from the normal 9-5 career, in so, I will be dependent upon myself, and none other. If I can do what I love to do, then as the saying goes, I will never work a day in my life.

I went full circle on an idea, but rather than start over on the same path, I am on a very different road that will prove beneficial to my initiation. Social media can be good, and it can be terrible, depending on how one decides to utilize it. Take news and articles that are found on social media sites and cross-reference them. Make sure the sources are reputable, and don’t be pulled into gossip. Learn to recognize the sources of reliable information. In media as in life, people only show you what they want you to see. As a Setian, I learned and continue to learn to find the source. I want to know why Fox, CNN, Yahoo, or some other outlet wants me to see something. Am I getting the full truth? One good question to ask oneself is “Am I awake?” Am I actively using my intellect to decipher and understand what is given to me, or am I just allowing it to permeate my mind? If it is the latter, then this is the time to learn to look deeper and analyze.

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Bishop Crowley’s personal blog can be found here.

His Etsy shop can be found here.

Photo by Cleo.

Sacred Solitude is a new Setian blog, specifically for our counterparts in the far northern regions of the globe.

How does a frozen landscape combined with super-short periods of daylight inform an initiates worldview? Read and find out! (We’ll be here enjoying our 50F “winter” in Central Texas!)

Here is a fantastic blog post from our High Priest, on the Pylon system within the Temple of Set, including information about what a Pylon is, how a Pylon is organized, the purpose of a Pylon, what Pylon meetings are like, and a little bit about the legacy of the mighty Bull of Ombos Pylon.

Photo by Ed Schipul

It’s now been nearly a month since the floods started. Houston, my hometown, is no stranger to storms and flooding. I watched from 150 miles inland as my friends and family braced for another big hurricane, stocking up on food and supplies, preparing to “hunker down” and ride out yet another wind and rain-soaked weekend.

As the world knows, things went a bit differently this time. Due to an utterly bonkers storm path, Houston was flooded with an unprecedented 11 trillion(ish) gallons of water over several days of torrential rain.

Photo by Fernando Garcia

I watched from Austin, feeling utterly helpless on one hand, and also full of pride at the resilience and will that Houston was showing to the world. Houston is a misunderstood city, and the vibe of the place has to be experienced before anyone can even begin to grasp its complexity. Houston has hustle, motivation, and gritty creativity. Houston grinds hard.

Photo by Patrick Feller

About a week after the storm, I got the opportunity to spend a few days there working, to fill in for people who had lost their homes. Driving into the city at night, I was expecting to see darkness and devastation. Instead, I was amazed at how normal everything looked. There were road closures and a lot of areas were still flooded, but overall the city’s resilience filled me with happiness and pride.

When I prepared to come home to Austin later that week, I asked myself why I had felt such a need to come back, and what I had gained from doing it. I had occasionally gone back to Houston for family or social functions, but I had never felt such a Need to go there.

In the end, going back to where I came from revealed my transformation in a very concrete way. Living and working there for a short time was like stepping into a time machine, inhabiting my old life for a few days, and then stepping back into the present and seeing very clearly the contrast between who I am now and who I was then.

Photo by Fernando Garcia

I realized that Houston will always be my hometown, and that I will always respect and appreciate its unique power. That moving on doesn’t have to mean turning my back on the place, because Houston is where I learned my hustle, my grind, my will – things that will never leave me, qualities that define me.

I know that I’ve brought some of my hometown’s magic to Austin with me, and my presence here has transformed the magical current of the capital city in some way. There’s no question that Houston transformed me, and I will always look to the southeast with love.

The Sentinel of Houston’s Metropolis Pylon has started a Setian blog which can be found here.

This post about Houston is of special interest and I highly recommend it.

Photo by Michael D. Beckwith

The Temple of Set hosts a number of annual gatherings of its members, from smaller regional groups, usually hosting 10 or fewer, all the way up to the International Conclave, which sees Setians attending from all over the world. It’s often said that an initiate of the Temple cannot truly understand and experience the Temple of Set until they’ve attended one of these gatherings.

While it’s certainly possible to engage in a perfectly acceptable and meaningful Initiatory process over a great distance, while never occupying the same physical space as another Setian, the incredible power of spending time in the presence of a group of Setians can’t be overstated.

Over the space of three to four days, we might participate in workshops, present our current work to each other, and of course DO magic…some well-planned, some spontaneous. (I recently attended a Black Mass that was executed beautifully, with less than 24 hours’ planning).

No less important, though, are the in-between times. A Setian might find herself having lunch with a Magus, and finally get the opportunity to ask for some clarification on that Word. A candid conversation between two initiates who never knew they were facing the same challenges, leads to new breakthroughs. And of course, the unspeakable power of laughing together.

Photo by Jorge Láscar

All of these things, and many more like them, compose what is known as The Living Temple. Those of us who regularly find ourselves in the company of other Setians understand well that the Temple of Set is more than the sum of its teaching and its members. It doesn’t exist in our documents, our website, or our archives.

The true fullness of the Temple of Set is experienced in the living, breathing, evolving presence of other people. Our gatherings are where our real magic is born.