* Concerning the Second Degree.

Doors. I would like to discuss

methods that will help you open
hard. Certain things have come

The Second Degree has many

a few of these, and give some
them if you are willing to Work
in place for the Second Degree:

He or she has learned a system to communicating the idea and

ideals of transformation, experimentation, and self-discovery.

She or he has learned that there are virtues peculiar to their

Selves and they are not immoral beasts nor slaves to the
morality of others.

He or she has learned deeply knowing certain things actually

impel their thoughts and deeds toward certain half-mysterious
goals.

She or he has learned that the Work of Magic is hard. It

consists of transforming the soul/mind into something like a
target state, but not quite becoming exactly the target, but
allowing more of actual Essence to be expressed by becoming
something very close to the target. This is tricky business.

He or she has learned that the Work of Magic can transform the
outer universe in ways harmonious to their transformed selves.

Anytime a human receives knowledge that really changes them

that is to say opens Doors, there is a certain fear factor.
People actually regress for a while and dive into older less
effective behavior. Seeing a new Adept do this brings fear and
despair to a new Priest, who assumes that transformation of the
soul always brings about better actions in the outer world.
The Adept, who has prepared herself for such sleep, has the
ability to wake into a new world, that is far more one of her
own choosing than she may have ever thought possible. Many fail
to this. Oftentimes the new Adept will fixate on some silly
goal that will save them from even discovering what Doors may
exist for him and him alone much less gathering the Strength
to walk though those Doors. Such goals can be fixating on a

getting in a certain Order, being the cleverest poster on

Setian-L or deciding that one should pursue the Priesthood.

I will offer an exercise that can help an Adept (of any number
of years of being an Adept or even of having obtained greater
Degrees) some aid in waking up.

To do this Working you need to find a friend that you can share
your Workings and thoughts with. You can communicate with your
partner in any way you wish face-to-face, phone, e-mail etc.
You will examine nine questions over eighteen weeks. During
that time you stay away from Temple e-mail as much as you can.
E-mail is great for fun or communicating facts. It is lousy
for self-change. We have the wisdom of a farmer who knows that
if we are digging up a seed everyday to see if it has sprouted
the seed will not only not sprout it will die. Yet despite
this wisdom we constantly post things like I am working on
X. Other people chat about it, we are socially caught Gee, I
had better work on X or people will think Im a weenie. We
cant even deal with the fact that generally we dont even know
for sure what aspects of ourselves we need to work on.

Your partner can be someone that youve known for years and
live across the street or someone you only via e-mail that
lives in another country. He or she may be more or less
experienced than you. Who you choose to Work tells you a good
deal about yourself.

You and your friend will need to do workings, once a week for
eighteen weeks. You dont have to do them in the same physical
space, but you should try and do them at the same time. You
should share your texts and your thoughts with each other and
NO ONE ELSE until say six months after the Workings is done.
Each pair of weeks has a two types of workings. One is the
hard one, where you ask yourself for the strength, courage and
wisdom to deal with an issue that you probably have been hiding
for yourself all of your life. The other Working is the easy
one where you give a future version of yourself a Blessing
like money to get out a jam, or health, or Awakening, or Wisdom
etc. Figuring out what to give yourself and what to ask of
yourself is something that you and friend need to do together.
The order of workings easy/hard is up to you.

You should have a fame rite in which you set up the following
conditions:

I forgive myself for all the mis-steps of my past. I ask to

learn about my true weaknesses and true strengths and I ask to
gain enlightened union with that self-generated Force uniquely
my own that has Guided me correctly thus far. Each day and
each night I expect an Awakening for the rest of my life. With
such magic as I posses, I Bless my partner N. in this Work that
he/she may know the Secrets that are his/hers to Know, and find
the Doors he/she is unaware of. I ask the Eternal Set to gaze
on me during this Work that I may Know ways that His Work and
mine may intersect. I look for a bigger picture, a longer view
of my life, and a deeper Understanding of what has been Hidden
from me.

Of course you will alter the text as you like. Anything I

leave unspecified you will have to figure out between you.

Each pair of weeks you will spend a few hours doing diary work
on the topics at hand. You will tell yourself each night that
your dreams will tell you about the topics, and you will write
down such dreams as you remember. Try not to analyze the
dreams, you can do that better later. You will supplement your
thinking on the topics in whatever ways appeal to you (such as
Tarot card divination).
You will note strange things that
happen. You will work with your partner on creating your
rites.

The first thing to consider is your health. What do you know

about your body? What feels good? What bad thing do you do to
yourself? How many ideas and emotions come from physical
states? Etc. Examples of some activates you might do for the
easy rite would be host a hot tub party of your most attractive
friends and lead a day-dreaming session about the most
pleasurable activities you can dream up from skiing in Aspen to
hot air ballooning over Maui. The hard rite might be asking
your body to let you know whats going on right now, so that
you dont have heart attracts, strokes diabetes later on and
agreeing with your body to do what ever is needed to get it in
shape again.

The second topic is your family. Its a good time to ask

yourself what is the hidden factor in many stories that you
tell yourself about your family. Why did X event really
happen? Who have I let down? What do I want my family to
remember about me? What unique thing did I learn from my
family that I didnt learn through books?

The third topic is Set. What might he want anyway? Since

were pretty clear that he is not interested in worship why did
he bother to reveal himself at all? After all we could be a
much bigger, much more socially powerful and heck smarter group
if we were just interested in self-improvement. Why Set? Why
that Name? Is it male? Is it really the old Egyptian dude? Are
other names as good? How can you have a noetic experience of
that god?

The fourth topic is Horus. Horus is the god of Knowledge though

the Other. Sometimes we learn things from teachers, from
challengers, from random idiots in airports. This is the
Horian current, where the Wills of others sharpen or amplify or
dull our own. It provides all the social phenomena that hide
things form us (i.e. makes taboos), preserves huge secrets
(i.e. makes Egypt), or tests ideas (i.e. old men will regret
the good old days, young men will thing the newest thing is the
best, middle aged think theyre smarter because they shift
viewpoints). The Other creates duty for us and challenges.
Why was the Pharaohs, the Symbol of mankind, the reincarnation
of Horus? When in your life should you have made War or Trade
or exercised Rulership with Others but choose the wrong
option? When did you choose the right option? Why did the
First Beast become obsessed with correspondences? Is it noble
to heal the World of Horus? What is the meaning of Do What
Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law. Great Is The Might Of
Set, Greater Still He Through Us? How do our actions bring
more sentience/intelligence into the World of Horus? How can
you have a noetic experience of that neter?

The fifth topic is search for knowledge. Being magicians we

tend toward being lazy and often dont try our had at learning
harder things. What thing in the objective world do you
want/Need to know more about? Where can you get the hardest
data, the most scholarly material that you can find on the
topic? Can you place yourself where you can teach others the
topic, which is a great benefit to learning it yourself? On
the other hand as philosophers we do seek self knowledge

(sometimes even we dont want to). What does it tell you

about yourself that you have always been interested in a
certain topic? Why are you not working at job that uses your
knowledge of that topic? What is the most useful thing you
have found about yourself? What would you like to know?

The sixth topic is dynamic happiness. Many people ruin their

lives either by planning for happiness in the future (sure Im
working 80 hours a week now, but that vacation home will be
great when I retire) or by spending all their resources on
happiness now (sure Ill be broke tomorrow but I think Ill buy
another round for my good buddies). What is happiness in your
life now? What is happiness in your life ten years from now?
Where do you want to travel, what do you want to do for money,
who do you went to be with? How do you get there? How do you
have a better time of it on the way?

The seventh topic is the Art of Magic. What magical systems

have worked for me? What does that tell me about myself? What
were my most magical moments? Do I work to try and get more of
these? What magical systems should I learn? Do I read the
signals that I get from the world? Is my life open enough to
have magic in it? What magical things am I most and least
proud of?

The eight topic is that of self rulership. Should I rule myself

as a dictator, a democracy or an oligarchy? Am I too hard or
too easy on myself? What methods in my life have made me an
effective self-ruler? What can I learn from others about this?
Am I really open to learning how to rule myself, or do I just
think I really am smarter than the rest of the world? What
ineffective patterns rule me? How can I minimize or break
those patterns, or Transform them to my advantage?

You and your partner must come up with the ninth topic.

After the rite is over (notice I didnt even name it, if you
want a name for it you must come up with one) you should plunge
into Temple culture for awhile. Chat away on the lists, dont
let a topic go by that you dont put your $0.02 in. Do lots of
group Workings, etc. Research which Orders to join. Write
articles for the Scroll and so forth. But dont go bragging

just yet the longer you let your Work on you the stronger
youll be. Youll know when share your revelations.

Now this sort of exercise is like what you did as a First

Degree. That means it will catch the excitement and
determination of that degree. But unlike that degree, this
exercise isnt being conducted with the idea to impress a
Priest. This is doing magic for yourself something you may
have forgotten how to do during your first degree but you
certainly knew how to do to set in motion the string of events,
that caused you to join the Temple in the first place. This
Work will teach/remind you how to use the Temple, rather than
be used by it. This will be for many the first time that you
put your magic to long term use, the first time that you were
over your ego enough to admit that there are Doors opening
around you all the time and that you are often too blind to see
them or timid to cross them. It will be the first time that
you admit that you both Need to put things into motion
magically but not be in too tight a control of them. (Can you
image how bad your life would be if you your seven year old
self had been able to make the Wishes that determine what you
do now? Cotton candy every day seesh but your seven year
old self did make Wishes that do determine part of what you are
now as you will discover in parts seven and eight).

This type of Work will provide you many unforeseen dilemmas

that you didnt have to face as I*. Your partner may flake
out, your partner may discover that the Temple really isnt the
best place for them. You may discover that you cant motivate
yourself without the promise of a cookie. You may discover
that you have a lifetime of Work ahead of you in the Temple,
which is pretty humbling. (We all think were pretty cool when
we get our red cookie.) Youll have to make all sorts of
decisions and youll have to do them on your own.

During the work there are some general questions that you may
wish to consider: Is the Temple a School for me, can I learn
what I need, give a sincere thanks and then go? Is the Temple
a religion for me, can I achieve a noetic experience of Set and
accept the commitment to stay fresh and committed? How much
of my life is arranged for me by me? By chance? By other
magicians? Do I really know what it means to break bad
patterns in my life am I ready for the burden of freedom?
Why do I need others around for Self-work? Why do ancient

things matter, I mean, does it matter that Set was worshipped

along time ago in a country Ive never visited? Why do I keep
waiting for my life to really start? Do I know how to study
the myths of mankind for real advice rather than just to be
clever? Do I have the guts to change the world after I have
changed myself? Do I only hear bad messages about myself?
Am I looking enough in the greater world as opposed to the
small pond of occultism? Do I have big enough dreams? How
can I make myself strong enough to see things I am now hiding
from myself? What should this Temple be like in 666 years?
You might write those questions out on 3X5 cards and pull one
every couple of days.

The above exercise can be changed any way you like. I merely
give it as an example of what the Second Degree Needs to do.

*Concerning a couple of common errors. Many people in the

Temple feel that the Temple should be a source of recognition.
Thats recognition with a small r. It feels good when we do
something that the more noble of our fellows approve of.
Thats as true in the Temple as anywhere else. The Temple,
which allows the seeker after the LHP to get his life
organized, teaches people about certain needs. One of the
things it teaches them is that humans need recognition. This
need is be fulfilled by the Setian by real actions against the
resistance of the objective universe. This need will not be met
by the Temple. When people start looking to the Temple for a
sign that they are succeeding, they are beginning to fail.

Think of it this way. Suppose you joined a gym to get stronger

legs. If you got stronger legs and you could walk/bike further
outside of the gym, and people said what great legs you had
then you would be doing great. If all your attention was just
on how high you could set the weight machines, you will have
lost out. The Setian must always seek recognition in the
world, and when she or he finds it the Temple and its often
times silly politics will be seen for it is a really great
gym.

The Temple does not set standards on what you should do well in
the objective universe. It merely lets you have access to a
philosophy that tells you that doing well reveals your inner
self so that you can observe it better and it gives you

access to magic, which can help amplify your successes by

teaching timing and luck.

No makes it because theyve got a Blue cookie or a Purple

cookie or a Red cookie. People make it because the Temple
tells them they are Free to Try. It also tells them trying is
hard. That means that real magicians have to know struggle and
failure. If they never know these things, then they never
tried.

Now the questions arise if you see another Setian in hard times
should you Wish them well, or would that be interfering with
their destiny? Some people think they should withhold magical
aid, I think this is incorrect, because it limits the fun and
good feelings you can have and at the same time makes you feel
that your magic is all powerful.

The answer is that of course you should Wish you them well.
You are far too puny to change anything that is Essential about
another. Heck, it is almost impossible to change anything
Essential about yourself, which is why Initiation takes a lifetime. Wishing good things for your friends is part and parcel
being an enlightened magician. Whereas you are too weak to
change the manifesting of what is within another you are
Strong enough to smooth a path or increase good fortune.

Now why might you want to do this?

Most of the times in our lives we dont even have enough energy
to Wish something for ourselves, much less another. However we
do have our moments when we have more Magic than we seem to
Need. These times and tides of good fortune can be sent forth
to help certain processes just as extra money given to a good
cause may help your will in the world.

A slow build-up of positive magical energies circulating in the

Temple will make the Temple grow in might and main.

Magicians are never amazed of what can grow from small things.