Balanone's Temple of Set FAQ

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3.0 -- Religion

3.1 -- The Temple of Set as a Religion

Is the Temple of Set a religion?

Yes, although belief in the religion is not required of I° or II° members. See the REF document for some discussion why I consider the Temple of Set to be a religion.

• Fr. Ignatius asked on the Xepera-L mailing list, May 22, 1999:

  If ToS is a "legally recognized" entity, is it then tax-exempt? And are ToS Priests able to perform legally binding marriage ceremonies? I was wondering because I know that gov't recognition of one's path as a *real* religion has been an issue in the neo-pagan community for quite a while.

  Yes, from its initial incorporation, the Temple of Set is a legal religious corporation within the State of California, and it is fully tax exempt. (I believe most of us would gladly do away with the tax exemption of all religious organizations, losing our own if it meant that all Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Scientologist, and other religions also paid their fair taxes. But as long as they are tax exempt, we'll save our money this way also.)

  Yes, Setian Priests are able to perform legally binding marriage ceremonies.

3.2 -- Set

Set is the most ancient name for the Prince of Darkness, given to the Prince of Darkness in ancient (pre-dynastic) Egypt. Whether Set exists as an independent metaphysical being, or whether he's a symbol for man's most individualistic attributes, is a topic always under discussion somewhere in the Temple of Set.

You may also be interested in essays concerning the Prince of Darkness provided by Balanone (The Prince of Darkness) and High Priest Don Webb (Concerning our Patron).

3.3 -- The Gift of Set

The Gift of Set means so many different things depending upon whom you speak to. To some it's the gift of Intelligence, to some it's Consciousness, to some it's the ability to step back from the current moment/place to see/think about what's happening. To some it's the ability to work (or at least conceive of) magic. etc. The Gift of Set is whatever happens to separate us (those with potential) from animals (those without quite as much potential), which is one of the grey areas that haven't been clarified very well (some of us not seeing very much difference between humans and "higher" animals).

There is more discussion of the Gift of Set in the REF document.

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