The Scroll of Set - Issue Number 11

Issue Number 11
Volume I-11
July 1976
Editor: Margaret Wendall IV°
Copyright © 1976 Temple of Set

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[1] I Pledge Allegiance

= - by R. Amn DeCecco III°
[reprinted from The Cavernus #IV-1]

The question of where we stand in relation to religious, political and sociological reference seems pertinent to an outsider, and for that matter, to a Setian. In commenting here I can offer only my personal feelings and opinions, for each Setian is responsible to his/her own viewpoints. The aspects of my own philosophy may seem cynical and negative to some, realistic and reflective of modern thought to others.

To begin with, religion has historically communicated fear, awe, and passivity to its adherents, even though these are somewhat weakened in this new era of freedom and liberation. However there exist those of the macho-Christian type who continually exert narrow-minded, bigoted,and intimidating influence by means of their so-called majority hold over the masses. Some specifics would be censorship, government influence in passing what the “righteous” consider “moral laws”, and the wholesale brainwashing of countries’ inhabitants by insisting that persons should place their “God” above all else.

In this religious aspect we should not deny others the right to practice their own religion. When those religions interfere with the freedom and self-interest of others, however, they become tyrants: dictatorial oppressors of liberty, art, sensuality and all that contributes to the psychological and materialgrowth of the individual.

I’m sure we realize that there exist those who need their religion, whatever it might be. But let them wallow in their own self-righteousness and apathy! They are so self-unassured and mentally infantile that to lean on superstition and facade is tantamount to servility. We have all seen what the all-loving “God” has done for them by “His Will”. Wars of all nations have had “God” on all sides. Look at Ireland, Israel, Lebanon, and Egypt; remember the Crusades, Viet Nam, Korea, ad infinitum. Think of cancer, death, starving children and pestilence ... and you see God! A Setian is his/her own god - or his/her own cancer, whichever he/she nurtures.

Politically and socially mankind has made very little distinction from the religious enigma. Presidents, kings, halfbacks, and movie stars are all “gods”. As Colin Wilson has stated in his book The Philosopher’s Stone, “999,999 out of a million are all but hopeless.” This lot waste their lives pursuing nothing but death, or to put it more mildly, nothing but inane goals and ideals. Insurance policies, financial security, retirement and, yes, endless gods. All of this seems outside personal scope. They haven’t seen even their own reflection in the mirror. They see only the bright tie, the satin gown, or the two-toilets.

A Setian confronts a mirror and sees a god. Not some amorphous legend, not a pathetic, sallow-skinned yogi, but a wholesome, sensual, energetic being capable of decision, self-preservation, self-indulgence. A body full of him/herself.

Should mankind bow to a myth about a lazy carpenter’s son (probably a bastard anyway); to an oppressive government structure; to trite, mundane, shallow circumstances? Should we deify convention? Does not a superstar or astronaut smell of sweat and hang beads over the statue in the bedroom? All of these so-called “gods” are identical: productive not to themselves, as most would have you believe, but to an outside, pallid ideal: country - deity - honor. What is the honor in denying messages from inner caverns of the psyche, in donation of the physical & psychological aspects of humanity to misty, ephemeral “gods”? The real honor, in my view, is to donate all of the above to one’s self-esteem: to foil the masses by not using a tool such as “honor to God” to become important or a legend, but to use the ego to admit to yourself, while the masses adore you, that you are superior.

Renowned psychiatrist Thomas Szasz has said, “The goal of deception is the control and annihilation of the other: the result of self-deception is the loss of control, and annihilation of the self.” And: “The proverb warns that ‘You should not bite the hand that feeds you.’ But maybe you should, if it prevents you from feeding yourself.” A Setian deceives only him/herself. A Setian honors his/her own kind. “I pledge allegiance ... to myself.”

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[2] The Nineteen Parts of The Word of Set

= - by Robert Ethel IV°

Accompanying this article is a transcription of the “Enochian calls” from A True and Faithful Relation of What Passed for Many Years Between Dr. John Dee (A Mathematician of Great Fame in Q Eliz. and King James Their Reignes) and Some Spirits [whew!], with a preface by Meric. Casaubon, containing all necessary corrections [and there were a lot].

The “Enochian calls” have been shrouded in mystery and secrecy, and just plain buried under heaps of garbage and misinformation, since they were first set out, in comparatively recent times (16th century), by John Dee and Edward Kelley. Not only were Dee and Kelley befuddled, but the Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley [may he rest in peace] so confused the issue, whether by intent or by ignorance, as to make their ideas all but useless.

Let’s take a look at some of this befuddlement, starting with the pronunciation.

From page 120 of the Casaubon work, concerning the “angelic language”: “E. K. [Ed. Kelley] He seemeth to read as Hebrew is read.” From page 101 of the Equinox #I-8: “Pronounce Elemental language (also called Angelic or Enochian) by inserting the next following Hebrew vowel between consonants, e.g. e after b (bEth), i after g (gImel), a after d, etc.”

These two statements, one from the earliest extant source, indicate that the Enochian language should be pronounced similar to Hebrew. One might reason that even though Dee had, by necessity, to couch his ideas in Judaic/Christian terms to keep from being immolated by those peaceful people that populated the area at the time, he did not need to corrupt the pronunciation of the calls. Perhaps on the face of it this seems reasonable, but looking back over the occultists of the ages, who have been notoriously silent and/or misleading, one begins to wonder. Why should John Dee give anyone the proper pronunciation of the calls? Further, perhaps Kelley was trying to mislead Dee.

Now, on to Crowley. Crowley obviously read the Casaubon work and probably even possessed a copy. He either accepted Kelley’s statement at face value, or, and this is more likely, used it to build a facade. Why should the Master Therion, the reincarnation of Edward Kelley by his own admission, the master at couching ideas in utter confusion, give anyone the proper pronunciation of the calls? He wouldn’t! Judging by the way Crowley inserted the vowels for his version of the calls published in the Equinox, it is doubtful that he believed in the Hebrew method.

As Crowley’s Equinox was not, at least for most of us, our first introduction to the calls, let us take a quick peek at Dr. Anton LaVey and the Satanic Bible , the first place that the calls were published for the masses. LaVey did some very interesting things to them. In Enochian, for example, he changed “laida” to “Saitan”, maintaining that Saitan was the Enochian name for Satan. This has absolutely no basis. It would have been perhaps more correct to use the name Choronzon to replace laida. [”... for so is the true name of that mighty Devil ...” Casaubon, p. 92]. Further in English Dr. LaVey changed such words as “descend” to “ascend” giving the whole thing an illusion of Satanism. However the translations that have suffered a “Satanically correct unvarnishing” reek of Judaic/ Christian symbolism. It is obvious that Dr. LaVey merely doctored the extant translations. This is as good a place as any for a comparison of the four main versions of the calls, which can be found in Figure #1 [omitted in this reprint].

Line A is from the Casaubon work, pages 79-86; line B is from the Satanic Bible, page 161; line C is from the Equinox #I-8, page 103; and line D is from Regardie’s Golden Dawn Vol. 4, page 333.

It will be noted that in line 2-A appears the word “Vonpho.” Vonpho, according to Dee, translates to “of wrath” [Casaubon, page 86]. In lines 2-B and 2-C, Satanic Bible and Equinox respectively, “Vonpho” does not appear. In the translation of the first call in the Satanic Bible, the words “of wrath” are not found, though they are in the Equinox.

Alas, poor A. Quiller, Jr. Ah, Gladys! There’s the Divel in the woodpile for sure!

Are the calls of Light or Darkness? Were they received of angels or of devils? We’ll dig our talons into this shortly. On with the analysis ...

Let’s clarify a point and confuse a couple of others. How does one obtain “zod” from “z?” On page 75 of Casaubon is found the following:

Say ... Gaudium ... Moz. I find it is a name ascending and answereth to the two
ascending and answereth to the two extremes of I ad in this manner:

I d z
a o
m
D[ee]. I pray you, is Mozod, a word of three letters, or of five? Nal[vage] ... In wrote three, it is larger extended. [D. z extended is zod.]

Judging from the above quote, “z” is pronounced “zod”, at least according to Nalvage [and it has yet to be determined whether or not he knew what he was talking about]. This presents a problem. In the eighteenth call in both the Satanic Bible and the Equinox is found the word “moz”. As both works claim to give the student the correct pronunciation, this can only be an error on Crowley’s part. The translation given is “... ivemeda aqoso adoho Moz, od maoffasa”. ivemeda = is called, aqoso = in thy, adoho = kingdom, Moz = joy, od = and, maof fasa = not to be measured. Note that the “od” following the comma has its proper corresponding word in the translation, indicating that the problem is not a misplaced punctuation mark.

Now for the confusion. How does one get “zodenurezoda” from “Zurza?” “Zodurezoda” maybe, but”zodenurezoda?” I have no answer. Further, from line 8-A in Figure 1 we find “UL,” while in lines 8-B, 8-C, and 8-D we find “lu.” This is probably another mistake on Crowley’s part, simply copied by LaVey, and HarWer only knows how Regardie got it. It is easy to see how this could happen, since in Casaubon the first four calls are presented backwards, and are accompanied by Dee’s notes transposing them. Hence LU transposed is UL. Crowley, or someone, apparently missed this.

Pages could be written on the mistakes to be found in Crowley’s calls, not to mention those that LaVey “borrowed” from him [almost word for word, right down to the punctuation and the capitalization], as compared with Casaubon, but I believe that the above provides sufficient illustration.

On to other matters ... The 12th, 13th, 16th and 17th calls in Casaubon are thoroughly confused. The 12th call contains parts of the 13th, 16th and 17th calls, and the 13th call contains part of the 17th. By use of the translations given on pages 199 and 200, one is able to reconstruct the proper calls, as I have done. It will then be noted that the 14th and 15th calls are not listed in Casaubon, with the exception of their opening couple words as found on page 200, and the standard closing as found on page 79. It is not clear as to what manuscripts of Dee’s Crowley consulted, or whether he merely expounded on what was given him when he joined the Golden Dawn. Anyway, someone apparently consulted Dee’s works to come up with the missing 14th, 15th, part of the 13th, and part of the 16th calls. Either that or they simply made up the necessary parts according to the extant calls, much as Magus Aquino made up the necessary language of the Old Ones in the Lovecraft section of the Satanic Rituals.

Back to the little dude in the woodpile. From Casaubon: “What is here presented unto thee (Christian Reader) being a [sic] True and Faithful Relation, etc. (as the Title beareth, and will be further cleared by this Preface) though by carriage of it, in some respects, and by the Nature of it too, it might be deemed and termed, A Work of Darkness ...” [preface, p. 1]

“... his only (but great and dreadful) error being, that he mistook false lying Spirits for Angels of Light, the Divel of Hell (as we commonly term him) for the God of Heaven.” [preface, p. 26]

“... it doth clearly appear throughout all the book that Kelley ... had generally no other opinion of these Apparitions but that they were meer illusions of the Divel and evil Spirits ...” [preface, p. 30]

“If evil, wicked, Iying Spirits (as we have reason to believe, and no man I think will question) how came they to be such perswaders to Piety and godliness ... The Divel is very cunning; a notable Politician.” [preface, pages 35-36]

Now, if Casaubon is to be believed, then the calls are the speech of the “Divel” rather than of God. Here we come to the idea that Dee had to corrupt the calls and the circumstances surrounding them into appearing to be the work of God, in order to save himself. Therefore in Enochian one would be paying tribute to the Devil, while in English he would be paying lip service to God. Perhaps one must appease the masses in order to control them. Remember, Christ himself called them sheep!

Casaubon’s statements in his preface are not the only evidence that the calls are of the Powers of Darkness. Note that “Vooan” is used for invocations to fallen spirits (according to both Dee and Crowley), and the Casaubon book is the only one of the four mentioned above that uses it. Crowley changed it to “Vaoan”, LaVey copied Crowley, and HarWer helped Regardie. Let’s trudge on ...

Where did the calls come from? Did either Dee or Kelley simply make them up? Did they receive them from some mystical source, or was there some literary source available at the time that has since been lost? Many questions can be asked about the calls; only a few can be answered definitively. With a little fact, a lot of theory, and my tentacles firmly gripping my befrazzled brain, I march on ...

We possess no record of the calls prior to Dee and Kelley. As Kelley was supplying the calls to Dee, he would be the obvious suspect if a deception were taking place. Assuming that the calls were not just the product of Kelley’s earless imagination. and certain statements in Casaubon together with various references in the Book of Coming Forth by Night and other developments preclude this, we must suppose that they were received from some outside source. It is extremely doubtful that there could have been a written source in the possession of Kelley and/or Dee. The calls, being the Word of Set, if written down by his priests in ancient Egypt, would have been written in hieroglyphics or perhaps some secret code.

Very little work had been done with ancient Egyptian artifacts by the 16th Century, and, had hieroglyphics been used, there would have been absolutely no way that Dee and/or Kelley could have translated them. The Rosetta Stone was not discovered until 1799. Perhaps, like the Rosetta Stone, the hieroglyphics were translated into some known language, such as ancient Greek. but this is very doubtful. Had the Nineteen Parts of the Word of Set existed in written form in ancient Egypt, they probably would not have survived the mass turkey trot of the Osirians, or the anti-Set purges of the XXII-XXV Dynasties. Virtually everything pertaining to Set was destroyed, and surely something as important as his Word would have been sought out for special elimination.

Had a secret code been used by the priests, and had it survived in written form, the possibility that Dee and/or Kelley could have understood it are nil. It makes absolutely no difference that Dee was a master cryptographer.

Some 200 years after Casaubon published the calls in A True and Faithful Relation, MacGregor Mathers and the Golden Dawn came bounding onto the scene. Shortly thereafter, in bounced Aleister Crowley, who eventually became the Magus of the Æon of HarWer. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Back to Dee and Kelley ...

And now the theory part comes in. By some unknown method Dee and/or Kelley gained contact with HarWer. HarWer gave them the calls and perhaps the corrupt translations. I say “perhaps” because there is the idea that the English translations of the calls were a code developed by Dee for use in his espionage work for Elizabeth and her ongoing piffle with Philip II and Spain.

Anyway HarWer provided the calls perhaps with the hope of establishing his Æon. It may be that the Dee/Kelley Judaic/ Christian hangups somehow prevented the Æon from coming into being. It is unimportant whether or not Dee and Kelley knew of HarWer, or merely thought that theywere dealing with devils or angels.

An interesting point may be found in the 19th call. In this call we find: “MADRIIAX DSPRAF LIL CHISMICAOLZ ...” LIL is translated as the “first air”. The first air, or ayre, consists of the regions of the earth called Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia [Casaubon, page 153].

In 1900, more than three centuries after Dee and Kelley did their work with the calls, Aleister Crowley began his extensive research with them. The Vision and The Voice was completed prior to his receiving the Book of the Law and the dawning of the Æon of HarWer in 1904. [There is an interesting account of this in Crowley’s Confessions.]

There may very well be a tie-in between certain usages of the Nineteen Parts of the Word of Set and the dawning of the Æon of Harwer, the Age of Satan, and the Æon of Set. Suffice it to note that the Age of Satan came about, in part at least, due to LaVey’s work with the calls from Crowley’s Equinox and his making them available to thegeneral public, which bears relation to certain statements in the Book of Coming Forth by Night. And Magus Aquino’s work with the then so-called Enochian Keys aided, at least to some extent, in the reception of the Book of Coming Forth by Night and the establishment of the Æon of Set.

"... and vanquish thus the feeble and corrupt Keys of Enoch which were but a shadow of my true Word and are an affront to me." - The Book of Coming Forth by Night

Since the Book of Coming Forth by Night was first published in the Scroll, several people have asked me [and Magus Aquino] the meaning of the above statement. Does it mean that the calls are of no further use? Definitely not! Basically what it means is that the calls, as published by Crowley and as used by the Church of Satan are a corrupt representation of the true calls that make up the Word of Set. Hence we do away with all of the perversions, misinterpretations, embellishments, etc., that have marred the Word and return to the pure calls as presented in Casaubon. It may be that these calls are not themselves untainted, but at least they are closer to being pure than anything else we have.

A great deal of work remains to be done. The translations are forthcoming should it be the Will of Set. I am sure that many more articles concerning the calls will appear in the Scroll by myself and others. The Word of Set shall once again be pure. May the blessings of our Dark Lord be upon you, my brothers and sisters of the Left Hand Path.

In closing I would like to offer the following quote from Casaubon, page 145: “Map.[sama] ... These Calls touch all the parts of the World. The World may be dealt withall, with her parts; Therefore you may do anything. These Calls are the keyes into the Gates and Cities of wisdom.”

Xeper.

Literature Cited:

1. Casaubon, Meric., A True and Faithful Relation of What Passed for Many Yeers Between Dr. John Dee and Some Spirits. London, 1659. The 2nd edition of this work, entitled Dr. John Dee’s Actions with Spirits, was issued by Askin
   Publishers, London, 1974.
2. Crowley, Aleister, The Equinox. Simpkin Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. Ltd., London (for #I-1-3), Aleister Crowley (for #I-4-5), Wieland & Co. (for #I-6-10). March 21, 1909 - October 1913.
3. LaVey, Anton Szandor, The Satanic Bible. New York: Avon, 1969. The Satanic Rituals. New York: Avon, 1972.
4. Regardie, Israel, The Golden Dawn (4th Edition). Minneapolis: Llewellyn, 1971.
5. Temple of Set, The Book of Coming Forth by Night . June 21/22, 1975.

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[3] Ye Public Notice/Bulletin Board

= - by Margaret Wendall IV°

I am pleased to announce that Priest Michael J. Waters has accepted the position of Assistant Editor of the Scroll of Set effective immediately. In the future, please direct all manuscripts and correspondence concerning the Scroll to him. The new deadline for material for the Scroll will be the 20th of the month two months before publication date. This will give Priest Waters time to read your material and ask any questions that need asking. It’ll also give me time to read the material and do a better job of typesetting, layout and proofreading. We ought to have a better Scroll as a result.

A word might be said here that Adept Alan Sturrock and Setian Patricia Turner are often a great help in actually getting Scroll in the mail to you. They’re part of the “team” too!

Whew! Eight pages of Scroll this month. It’s in lieu of another red, white, and blue document [which was being considered!].

But let’s face it: We who live in the United States have been bombarded with red, white, and blue commercialism for over a year. Aren’t you a bit tired of it? [Our printer is!] And we’ve no doubt inflicted some of this red, white, and blue commercialism on our Canadian and Australian Setian brothers.

So, instead of living color, Scroll is bringing you [in black and white] the product of many years of dedication and hard work by Magister Robert Ethel, and hopefully in a format that will be useful to you. [Are you one of those who, like me, mumbled some not-so-nice words when we had to use the “Enochian Keys” from the Satanic Bible and found them almost impossible to read by candlelight?]

I know I join Magister Ethel in the hope that his work will focus attention on the impact of the nineteen parts of the Word of Set. There’s also Priest DeCecco’s article. If we can’t be true to ourselves, we won’t be true to our country wherever we live.

But back to the Bicentennial. It’s something that just doesn’t happen everyday, and it is of tremendous importance to those of us living in the United States, so we do join the celebration. The Statue of Liberty is probably one of the best-known symbols of what the United States stands for, so her picture is featured. [Photo: The Statue of Liberty]

There are Bicentennial events which ought to be of some interest to Setians everywhere. [Illustration: American Revolution Bicentennial Seal]

The first is the loan by the British Government of the Magna Carta. This priceless document, written in 1215, is one of the things that help to link Americans, Canadians, Australians, and the British in a common love of freedom, justice and friendship. If you’ve never read the Magna Carta, you might want to look it up as part of your personal Bicentennial celebration. And if you have the chance to see it, don’t miss it.

The second event involves the lifting of an embargo against the export of koalas by the Australian government, and the gift of six of these little creatures to the San Diego Zoo. If you’re in Southern California, try to see them.

There’s another event which most of us in the US. and Canada take for granted every day of our lives. I refer to our common border, which is still the longest unguarded border in the world. True, there are customs checks, but it’s easy to travel between the two countries. There are no machine-gun- bearing guards or electrified fences. In today’s world this is really an event to be thankful for. [Incidentally, Canada celebrates Dominion Day on July First.]

The hieroglyphs on the scroll that Set is reading on our masthead say Sefdu en Set (The Scroll of Set).

[Illustration: Seven historic United States flags]