In “The Hounds of Tindalos,” Frank Belknap Long proposed a division in time between “curved time” and “angular time.” “Curved time” was the conventional sense of time that humans, and presumably other biological organisms, experience. “Angular time” is experienced by a non-biological form of life that allows for giant leaps across space-time, jumping centuries and continents as needed. This idea strongly influenced the trajectory of magic leading to and through the Temple of Set, with core concepts in Ipsissimus Webb’s “Within You and Beyond You” drawing inspiration from it.
The Gift of Set has qualities related to “curved” and “angular” conditions. Those qualities of the Gift that deal specifically with perception and with the interface between the objective universe and our subjective universe can be thought of as dealing with the curved. These qualities are often overlooked or taken for granted, leaving individuals subject to their misapplication by default or the willed misuse of these qualities by others.
We overlook the uniqueness of the curved qualities of the Gift of Set due to the near total way they have shaped our cultures and environment as humans. Since at least the Neolithic Revolution, these qualities have been at the forefront of human survival, development, and social control. They have become primary tools for our continued survival in times of increasing complexity. However, their active use was traditionally restricted to the hands of small elites. Those who were indiscriminate in using these tools would be shunned or worse as a threat to their society’s continued existence.
Thankfully, we no longer live in times like that at all, at all.
For this section, I will discuss five critical curved qualities of the Gift of Set. These five essential qualities are Narrating, Perspectiving, Belief-ing, Modeling, and Germinating. Each of these qualities has a subset of skills and tools that will, for convenience, be kept to three critical concepts for these discussions. Additional resources will be provided at the end of this series section for those who wish to delve more deeply into these qualities and the skills and tools that utilize and enhance them.
Setemheb 