Do what thou Wilt,

Rather than theory and esotericism, I wanted to take a few moments to discuss the practicality of Set to Thelemic ideology and practices. If there is no meaning or use to Set being involved with Thelema, then it really does not matter if he is or is not there. I will also give a personal practical example for each. Note that Set does not need to be any kind of secret God in AL for this either, he does not have to be Aiwass. Set is inherently tied to both the old Set/Horus/Ra/Nuit myths and the Osiris/Isis myths, and plays an extremely important role in both of them both then and now.

Initiation – Horus

Set is a god of initiation, especially within the context of the Osiris myth. Whereas Isis was the first Aeon, Osiris the second, and now we have Horus the Child, inevitably Horus must grow up. The force against which Horus struggles to grow is Set. It is true that we must embrace the Aeon of the Child, but there must be limits to childishness, both behavioral and temporal.

There are many signs that we are in a childish Aeon. We play with forces beyond control, create global wars because we cannot accept other views or share material things. We experiment with music and do the most ridiculous things imaginable like eat tide pods. Right now people are having to be told to wash their hands, and governments have to intervene to make sick, grown children stay home. While drugs before the 1900s were generally viewed positively and often used even for medicine, we now use it all freely despite now knowing the dangers.

Set, whether a deity or archetype, is what can stop things like this, what forces us to grow up. The atomic bombs in WWII should have taught us to stop playing with such weapon advancement, instead we had a Cold War of a nuclear standoff that never really ended. Instead of learning and growing we kept hoarding and fighting, like children. There must be a limit to childhood. It is against Set which Horus matures, against the untamable and necessary darkness. Even Horus the Elder, who is near identical to Hadit(h), balanced himself against Set before one was seen as good and the other evil.

Personal Example: I used to be a really aggressive and hateful Satanist. This was right after I left my birth religion at 16. Using satanic symbols just made me more childish – burning bibles, whining about religion, ranting on yahoo answers… Once I started working with Set I was able to mature past this, he can have that darkness I needed without being full on satanic in any way. Horus the Child has to do egoic will, which is really what a child is dealing in. Yet we are meant to overcome it, like this Aeon is meant to be overcome. I actively sought ways to mature past this stage – I still struggle some but am much better. In the past I would go 20 pages deep in an internet debate just angry and not turning the other cheek, stressing myself out. Maturity was necessary.

Initiation – Osiris

Set is also the slayer of Osiris, the Aeon of the Dying God. If we are simple children before the death-worshiping religions, we are susceptible to their influence and corruption still. This is literally what happened to our ancestors. Plenty of people try to slay this old Aeon in numerous ways, with minor success. New ageism, Occultnicks, “fluffy” traditions, all seek to move past Osiris but don’t actually have the courage and/or strength to slay him. Just that “violent” imagery may turn them off. Horus the Child certainly does not have the strength and courage to do so. That strength is the strength of Set. This strength should be magically embodied in overcoming his old nemesis, Osiris.

Further, following the Aeon of Horus is supposed to be another, an Aeon of Maat. This implies that we are not supposed to stay children at all, this Aeon was never to be eternal. Therefore, initiation is implied to be necessary within Thelema. Whether the beings of AL are seen as literal or symbolic, a force and symbol of that initiation is needed, and is not found without Set.

To quote Crowley:

“Isis and Osiris are given over to incest and adultery. Horus leaps up thrice armed from the womb of his mother. Haprocrates his twin is hidden within him. Set is his holy covenant, that he shall display in the great day of Ma’at.”

Personal Example: Haha I suppose this is backwards from the Horus one because it embraces Set’s more “satanic” side, to use that term. In my case, I renounced my Judaism formally at around 17 years old. Sure I did not consider myself Jewish anymore, but renouncing in front of others is an official move in the religion. My family did not necessarily love it but accepted it warmly. It was a ritualistic slaying of the Old Aeon within me.

Initiation – The Self

The above two points naturally still have some esotericism – they rely on certain mythologies involving the actions of gods. With Set we can go a step further, for he was needed for the king to reach immortality in early Egypt. The Book of the Law talks much about how we are kings and will not die. Whether a god or archetype again, Set was a defender of the king and psychopamp which guided him to the imperishable stars – Nuit – after death. Therefore he was directly associated with individual initiation.

Personal Example: I was a social worker for many years, and the entirety of the job was helping people in a quest for initiation. Whereas Horus the Younger may have been the children, and Osiris/Isis the parents’ old form of “parenting”, Set was the force to actually get in there and create change. I would often invoke him before going into dangerous situation, and at the time just wore a Was scepter 24/7.

The Shadow and Subconscious

An extremely important part of magic is to become aware of one’s darkness. Whereas Horus and Ra are the solar deities/archetypes of Thelema, the stellar/nighttime Nuit does not really fit the bill for the abyss of the mind. Set does. In fact he is already important to some forms of Thelema in his form of Typhon the sea-monster.

There is no possible way for magic to work if you are not aware of your faults and flaws, the shadow of Carl Jung. As an example, we tend to be infuriated when others do something which we hate in ourselves, without actually recognizing the flaw in ourselves and that it’s the cause of our infuriation. Horus must actually defeat Set here, face Set’s monstrous form of later Egypt, and drag it into the light. In this shadow sense, Set is not so much a tool but an adversary, though “As Kings ye fight!”. He should realistically be associated with Da’ath on the Tree of Life.

As for the subconscious, we must learn to control the chthonic waters of the sub/unconscious. This is a two-sided coin. On one hand we really need to utilize the subconscious, because in that lies the key to True Will. Following True Will is not of the conscious mind, but about aligning the subconscious with the will. It is in the subconscious where the secrets to True Will reside also, waiting to be brought to light. Remember that it is pure will without lust for result. In this sense Set is a connection between the conscious mind (Horus) and the All/Nuit (his mother), and it is from Nuit which True Will comes.

On the other hand, it must be tamed. A personal problem I encountered coming from atheism was that I could not do ritual, as I had for so long told myself it was stupid and ridiculous. It had been ingrained into my subconscious that his was something stupid, and so I felt stupid doing it. I had to drag this to the surface, engage in some introspection and get over the fear – to just to it. For this I utilized Set, especially in his Typhonian form.

Personal Example: I have pretty bad depression. In the past I could barely function even with decent meds, I was so bad at points that I looked up how to kill myself painfully. This was mainly because of subconscious-driven thoughts about how I was hated, how useless I was, how unattractive… – basic depression stuff ha. I had to teach myself to recognize these thoughts and to acknowledge they are not true – a balancing of Horus and Set. Then I had to essentially make Set work for me, reprogram the subconscious. A specific example, I used to often think I wanted to die and wallow on it. Now through training and magic, when such a thought comes up (which is less rare), I redirect it to “no, I don’t want to die, I just wish X was not happening/a problem/etc.” It is also helpful with my chronic pain. This is really the basis of all therapy, especially cognitive and behavioral therapy. Invoking Set helps with all of this.

The Midnight Sun

To quote Frater Achad:

“The Sun does not die, as the ancients thought; it is always shining, always radiating Light and Life. Stop for a moment and get a clear conception of this Sun, how He is shining in the early morning, shining at midday, shining in the evening, and shining in the night. Have you got this idea clearly in your minds? You have stepped out of the Old Aeon and into the New.”

One thing I disagree with is that the ancients did not understand this, at least the Egyptians did. They knew the sun always shone, and at night the circumpolar stars – realm of Set – were there. But the importance here is that Thelema is the most solar religion. Whereas most solar religions have a god that dies and is reborn, the Sun of Thelema never dies but burns eternally. The midnight sun was explicitly Set, also associated with Ursa Major, guarding the ship of Ra from Apep.

Therein is another key, the defense of the Sun from Chaos and nonexistence. We may be spiritually stars, but at least in this life here we often face the chaos, fear the dimming of our light. In that is the strength of Set, again whether god or archetype. You cannot let yourself be swallowed by it, even if your own inner light feels faint. Every man and woman is a star, and Set is the defender of that star from dimming – he should be invoked in these time.

Also, Crowley:

“If you are walking in darkness, do not try to make the sun rise by self-sacrifice, but wait in confidence for the dawn, and enjoy the pleasures of the night meanwhile.”

Key to actually living this is understanding the Sun burns eternally, including the Sun that is your soul. The night should not be feared, whether literally or spiritually. With Set comes strength to whether hardships, both that eternal Chaos of Apep and the stormy chaos of every-day life.

Personal Example: I previously mentioned battling my depression. Understanding Set and this concept of the midnight sun really helps me when I get stuck in a rut. I would say the worst thing for me is that things feel like they will never end. Pain will never end, having to be away from my wife will never end, this apocalypse and job crash will never end… The simple fact is that is not true. Even if someone lived 100 years and every day was miserable, the sweet bliss of death and Nuit await. And for most of us not every day is bad. Understanding and utilizing the midnight sun helped me increase positivity when I need it most, like chronic flareup.

Ritual

Another interesting tidbit is that the book calls out specific ways to worship Nuit. These are not only “under the night sky” and “in the desert”, but specific places in the sky. For instance when she says “with the god and the adorer I am nothing… they do not see me… I am heaven”, that is a reference to the circumpolar stars, separate from the zodiac and migratory stars. Since pre-history these stars were magically potent to human beings, and if you are like me and like tapping into that ancient power, those specific stars are a good place to start.

Even if you do not believe in literal spirituality, it must be understood that symbols build power. For instance, you can have a statue of Thoth, and even if there is nothing objectively to it but matter, the informed individual can immediately tap into those specific traits – knowledge, wisdom, writing, etc. I used to even have a Thoth at my writing desk when I was a hardcore atheist.

Where Set comes in is that he is explicitly tied to this worship of the north stars. Utilizing him in this worship, literally or figuratively, only makes it more potent. This all means that when worshiping Nuit, the night sky in general is good, the norths stars better, and Set with Nuit Best. Other circumpolar deities to add to this would be Taweret, Sobek, Anu, etcs.

Personal Example: Such an invocation once completely changed my life from a mopey atheistic Satanist to an esotericist seeking the joy in life.

Conclusion:

I just wanted to touch on some practical uses for Set within Thelema, or even just general occultism. These practical uses include: maturing and initiation, slaying the old Aeon, understanding the shadow side, taming and using the subconscious, entering the mindset of the New Aeon of the Eternal Sun, overcoming chaos and dark nights of the soul as well as every day stress, and using him in the worship of Nuit. This is not a comprehensive list. To repeat, note that Set does not need to be any kind of secret God in AL for this either, he does not have to be Aiwass. Set is inherently tied to both the old Set/Horus/Ra/Nuit myths and the Osiris/Isis myths, and plays an extremely important role in both of them both then and now.

Love is the Law, Love under Will