Satanism Today - An Encyclopedia of Religion, Folklore and Popular ...

14 Aquino, Michael A.
demons who, though many were originally not so
bad, had become hardened in their evil. For
example, in Summa Theologica he says,
And it must be said that there is sorrow in
them; because sorrow, as denoting a simple
act of will, is nothing else than the resistance
of the will to what is, or what is not. Now it is
evident that the demons would wish many
things not to be, which are, and others to be,
which are not; for, out of envy, they would
wish others to be damned, who are saved.
Consequently sorrow must be said to exist in
them, and especially because it is of the very
notion of punishment that it be repugnant to
the will. Moreover, they are deprived of
happiness, which they desire naturally.
While condemned to hell, Thomas asserted
that demons would float in the air until the day of
judgment in the form of incubi (male demons)
and succubi (female demons). Like other medieval
thinkers, Aquinas believed that demons could
seduce human beings, particularly in the dream
state. He further speculated that should a succubi
conceive after having intercourse with a man, the
result would be a giant, like the Nephilim
mentioned in Genesis 6:4.
Aquinas also perceived dark forces at work
behind many cases of dream divination. He
distinguished between lawful dreams proceeding
from natural causes or divine revelation and
dreams proceeding from demons: “But if divination
of this kind arises from a revelation by
demons with whom there is an agreement either
openly because they have been invoked to this
end, or implicitly because a divination of this
kind is extended beyond what it can possibly
reach, the divination will be unlawful and superstitious.”
This negative judgment derives ultimately
from Deuteronomy 18:10, mistranslated
by Jerome to say, “Let there not be found among
you him who observes dreams.”
See also Demons; Incubi and Succubi; Nightmares
For Further Reading:
Alger, William Rounseville. The Destiny of the Soul.
A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life.
New York: Greenwood Press, 1968.
Edward, Paul, ed. The Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
New York: Macmillan, 1967.
MacGregor, Geddes. Angels. Ministers of Grace. New
York: Paragon House Publishers, 1988.
Magill, Frank N., ed. Masterpieces of World
Philosophy. New York: HarperCollins, 1990.
Maritan, Jacques. The Sin of the Angel. An Essay on a
Re-Interpretation of Some Thomistic Positions.
Westminster, Maryland: Newman Press, 1959.
Pegis, Anton C. Basic Writings of Saint Thomas
Aquinas. New York: Random House, 1945.
Tugwell, Simon. Human Immortality and the
Redemption of Death. London: Darton,
Longman and Todd, 1990.
Aquino, Michael A.
Michael Aquino (b. October 16, 1946), founder of
the Temple of Set, was born in San Francisco,
California. After earning a B.A. (1968) in Political
Science from the University of California, Santa
Barbara, he was commissioned in the army as a
Special Operations Officer (Intelligence, Special
Forces, Psychological Operations, Civil Affairs,
and Politico-Military Affairs).
Just before a 1969–1970 tour of duty in
Vietnam, he joined the Church of Satan, founded
by Anton LaVey, and was ordained to its priesthood
upon his return to the United States.
Assigned by the army to Fort Knox, Kentucky, he
organized a local “grotto” in nearby Louisville,
then gradually became the senior coordinator of
grotto activities throughout the United States.
In 1975, because of a decision by Anton LaVey
to give away church priesthoods, Aquino and most
of the existing national leadership of the church
resigned. Shortly thereafter they founded the
Temple of Set as an intended continuation and
evolution of the church into a context intentionally
divorced from Judeo-Christian mythology.
Aquino served as the Temple of Set’s High Priest
until 1996, at which time he retired from the
office, while remaining an active member.
The Temple of Set teaches that what
Christianity has called “Satan” is a corruption of
the Egyptian figure of Set. Set is not understood as
a god of evil, but rather the personification of the
individual consciousness or psyche. Members
(“Setians”) can explore the temple’s philosophy
individually, or through local groups called