The Primary Utterance

On the North Solstice of 1975, Magister Templi Michael A. Aquino faced a crisis. Despite having long been a supporter of the decisions made by Anton LaVey related to the activities of the Church of Satan, a decision was made regarding how the Church would issue its Degrees that he could not abide by. Anton LaVey stated that he was looking towards indicators of material contribution as a mark of the Priesthood of Mendes, opening the impression that he was interested in selling the title. Magister Aquino, who had been a primary coordinator for the then-current Priesthood of Mendes, saw this as a violation of the uniquely Initiatory aspects of the Degree and resigned from the Church of Satan. The story, and the primary materials related to the decision, can be found in Dr. Aquino’s Church of Satan.

Troubled by this seeming destruction of the Church of Satan under Anton LaVey, Magister Aquino found himself at the center of attention of the now former members of the Church of Satan, who also resigned. Initial plans were made to continue their Work as Satanists in the LaVey mold, but something did not quite seem right about doing this. On the night of the North Solistic Aquino conducted a Rite of Contact with Satan. What came was a series of insights condensed into the text known as the Book of Coming Forth by Night. 

There are a variety of implications in the relatively short text of the Book of Coming Forth by Night. The text, along with an analysis and commentary from Dr. Aquino and his reflections upon the experience and his coming to grips with it, can be found in his Temple of Set. Among its messages includes the idea that Satan was a mere caricature of something older and more robust. This being accepts the title of Prince of Darkness and, more specifically to Aquino, identifies itself with Set, the Egyptian god of expanded boundaries and transformed consciousness. He states that after a period of purification began with Aleister Crowley, there were Initiates prepared for a more significant challenge during a period of great crisis. It also stated that Aquino was now Tasked as High Priest of Set and Magus of Xeper with the ren or magical name of Ra-En-Set, “He Who Speaks as Set.”

While initially working towards a deeper understanding of Xeper a few years ago, Dr. Aquino was kind enough to indulge me by scanning the original text of the Book of Coming Forth by Night. I was interested in seeing the original version of the glyph used the night of the Aeon of Set’s opening rather than the later clip art used in The Ruby Tablet of Set. I suspected that there might be something important there. The versions of Xeper in the text are hand-drawn versions of

The text received that night contains two uses of the Egyptian glyph for Xeper. The first is to mark the Year X – Xeper at the beginning of the text. The second is at the end of the text, where the Latin characters “Xeper” flank it on the left and “Become” on the right.

This is the verb root hpr itself, with its universal mutability while remaining eternal and unchanged forever. It marked the essential idea of Xeper, which can be applied in an infinite number of ways but which forever retains its purity of essence. I can think of no better metaphor for the Utterance of Ra-En-Set as the Magus of the Aeon of Set than this. As all conjugations of hpr derive ultimately from the pure verb-root itself, so too do all Words within the Aeon of Set ultimately derive from this Unnatural Fire brought from Heaven that illuminated Ra-En-Set’s mind.

In his Analysis and Commentary, Dr. Aquino provided the most essential definition of the Primary Utterance of Xeper. “Summarily the Word Xeper refers to the transformation and evolution of the Will from a human to a divine state of being — by deliberate, conscious, individual force of mind.”