Temple of Set Reading List: Category 18
Life and Death
Reprinted from: "The Crystal Tablet of Set" (c) Temple of Set 1989 CE Weirdbase file version
by TS permission by Michael A. Aquino, Ipsissimus VI* Temple of Set
To the profane, life and death are automatic, inevitable, and unalterable. Hence they take the influence of the life/death continuum on human affairs for granted. To the magician, life and death can be influenced and eventually controlled altogether. The Victor Frankenstein of yesterday becomes the genetic engineer of tomorrow. New forms and mutations of life will become possible, death may cease save through accident, and the Self may evolve into a Self-contained state of existence unhampered by a physical shell chained to the entropy of the objective universe. Xeper. 18A. "The Immortalist" by Alan Harrington. NY: Avon Books #380-00201-125, 1969 [recently revised and updated]. (TS-3)
MA: "In this brilliant book Harrington argues that the presence and the fear of death are root causes for much if not all of human behavioral characteristics. Non-human animals cannot conceptualize and anticipate death, hence are not governed by it. Harrington then catalogues the surprising number of ways in which death- awareness grips human philosophy, presents data on efforts to arrest death, and finally ventures hypotheses concerning a non-death-obsessed environment. A scientific rejection of the Osirian ethic. I originally reviewed #18A in the Church of Satan's newsletter "The Cloven Hoof" #V-1: 'The Secrets of Life and Death', reprinted as Appendix 71 in #6N." 18B. "The Immortality Factor" by Osborn Segerberg, Jr. NY: Bantam Books #553-08183-195, 1974. (TS-4)
MA: "This is a somewhat more technical approach to the questions addressed in #18A, with emphasis on the physiological aging and regeneration processes [see also #17F's discussion of this], the creation of life, and the ecological considerations of a controlled life/death environment [shades of "Logan's Run"]. Well-researched and carefully-argued." 18C. "The Book of Opening the Mouth" by E.A. Wallis Budge (Trans.). NY: Benjamin Blom, 1972. (TS-5)
MA: "The Spell for Life Unbounded by Time, caricatured as the 'Scroll of Thoth' in the classic Boris Karloff film "The Mummy" and also by Bram Stoker in "The Jewel of Seven Stars" (basis of the motion picture "The Awakening"). As with other TS-5 codes, this text is not to be read or used casually or irresponsibly. The motion picture "Deathdream" (Quadrant/Impact Films, 1972) can give you a good idea of what can happen when you tinker with necromancy without appreciating the consequences of 'success'." 18D. "Our Eternity" by Maurice Maeterlinck. NY: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1914. (TS- 4)
MA: "A revision and expansion of Maeterlinck's 1911 essay 'Death'. The highest form of inductive logic directed towards the major issues of existence and survival of the egocentric consciousness after material death. Key to the effectiveness of #18C. [Maeterlinck is also the author of #2I.]" 18E. "The Mysteries of Life and Death: An Illustrated Investigation into the Incredible World of Death" by Professor Keith Simpson, OBE, FRCP, FC Path, et al. NY: Crown (Crescent Books, 1980). (TS-3)
MA: "At first glance this appears to be a rather morbid 'coffee-table' book, but it soon becomes apparent that it is quite a bit more. For one thing, the contributing authors are among the most respectable and distinguished in their fields, which range from philosophy and criminal psychiatry to pathology and forsenics. Here is the entire concept of death for you to examine: mythology, physiological aspects, psychological considerations, and cultural legacy. There are chapters on assassination, disease, the soul, strange & bizarre funeral & entombment practices, suicide, artistic influences, war, etc. After you get over feeling queasy [the photographs & illustrations pull no punches], you will be fascinated to discover just how little you actually knew about the phenomenon of death [hence life], and just what the limits of human knowledge concerning it happen to be." 18F. "The Savage God: A Study of Suicide" by A. Alvarez. NY: Random House, 1972. (TS-3)
MA: "An incisive, objective, and empathetic investigation into the psychology of suicide, accompanied by a survey of suicide themes in historical literature. Said the "New York Times" of this book: 'To write a book about suicide - to transform the subject into something beautiful - this is the forbidding task that Alvarez has set for himself; he has succeeded!'"