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Archon 15
“pylons.” Unlike the Church of Satan, which advocated
a “law of the jungle” approach to society, the
Temple of Set inclines more toward Platonic idealism,
encouraging Setians to aspire to high standards
of personal ethics despite the moral and
cultural imperfections of the society around them.
Because of its descent from the Church of
Satan, the Temple of Set is often popularly
portrayed as “Satanic.” Aquino and other Setians,
while maintaining a proprietary interest in the
Satanic tradition, continually reemphasize that
they consider “Satan/Satanism” as degenerate
mythology only, of no relevance to Temple of Set
metaphysics or social philosophy.
Continuing his academic studies, Aquino
earned M.A. (1976) and Ph.D. (1980) degrees in
Political Science from the University of California,
Santa Barbara; and the M.P.A. (1987) degree in
Public Administration from George Washington
University. He taught political science at Golden
Gate University, San Francisco, from 1980 to 1986
as an adjunct professor.
In 1994 Aquino retired from the army as a lieutenant
colonel, at which time he was awarded the
army’s Meritorious Service Medal. He is married
to the former Lilith Sinclair, whom he met when
she was Priestess of the Church of Satan’s Grotto
in New York City, and who is also one of the
Temple of Set’s senior officials.
Because of Aquino’s high visibility as head of
the Temple of Set, he has been a focus for popular
anti-Satanic sentiment, particularly during the
Satanic scare of the 1980s. During one such
witch-hunt at the Presidio of San Francisco in
1987, he and his wife were accused by a Christian
chaplain of ritual abuse, but a subsequent investigation
refuted this. Neither of the Aquinos has
ever been charged with any crime whatever.
Aquino’s unique background in both the Church
of Satan/Temple of Set and such arcane governmental
fields as Intelligence and Psychological
Operations has often excited the interest of
conspiracy theorists and religious extremists, and
he remains an object of curiosity and controversy
in occult circles as well.
See also Church of Satan; Temple of Set
For Further Reading:
Flowers, Stephen E., Lords of the Left Hand Path.
Smithville, TX: Runa-Raven Press, 1997.
Mandelbaum, W. Adam, The Psychic Battlefield: A
History of the Military-Occult Complex. New
York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000.
Melton,J.Gordon,The Encyclopedia of American
Religion. 5th ed. Detroit, MI: Gale Research,
1993.
Archon
Archon, a Greek term meaning “ruler,” is the name
of a class of entities who played an important role
in Gnostic thought and who are roughly comparable
to evil archangels. Gnosticism refers to a
movement and school of thought that was prominent
in the Hellenistic Mediterranean world that
influenced Paganism, Judaism, and Christianity.
Its core teachings were that this world, and especially
the human body, were the products of an
evil deity—the demiurge—who had trapped
human spirits in the physical world. Our true
home is the absolute spirit, referred to as the
pleroma, to which we should seek to return.
According to the Gnostic myth of creation,
Sophia, one of the spiritual beings (one of the
aeons) residing in the pleroma inadvertently creates
another entity—often called Yaldabaoth—who
creates our familiar world (e.g., The Apocryphon of
John 2, in Robinson 1981, 9f.). This creation
involves the emanation of the seven levels of the
classical cosmos, corresponding to seven planetary
spheres of the Ptolemaic astronomical scheme. The
archons are the rulers who govern each of these
levels, and who act as guardians preventing the
sparks of light (i.e., the divine essence of individual
human beings) from returning to the pleroma. Part
of the knowledge imparted to the Gnostics is information
on how to bypass these archons on their
journey back to the pleroma (e.g., The First
Apocalypse of James V, Robinson 1981, 33f.).
One of the results of conceptualizing the cosmos
as being the creation of an evil divinity is that the
angelic beings in the heavenly spheres surrounding
the earth—the archons—are also evil. Familiarity
with Gnosticism allows us to understand certain
otherwise unintelligible passages in the writings of
certain early Christians, who were clearly influenced
by the Gnostic perspective; for example, the oftquoted
passage about spiritual warfare from the