TUNNELS OF SET BY ASENATH MASON

The All-New Finale To The Qliphothic Trilogy

22 Color Illustrations    Advanced Sigils    Demonic Profiles

Live to order at midnight Monday night

Unlike the other gods and goddesses of Sitra Ahra, the Spider Goddess is not derived from any Qabalistic sources. The first mentions of her as a goddess having a pivotal role in the mysteries of the Dark Tree are found in Kenneth Grant’s Typhonian Trilogies, which include a number of interesting pieces of information about the Spider Current, such as The Wisdom of S'lba and The Book of OKBISh. In the Typhonian/Draconian Tradition, Arachne is the Queen of Space and the Weaver of the Web in the Void. The web of Arachne should not be mistaken for a normal spider’s web structured upon a plane surface, though. Extending across the Void, it has an intricate symmetry that links all existing planes and dimensions with infinitely tenuous threads of light, manifesting to a Nightside traveler as a network of tunnels and vortices. These threads act as the bridge between the Dayside and the Nightside, waking and dreaming, conscious and unconscious.

Each pathway within the Tunnels of Set has different powers and represents a different concept, revealing a unique aspect of the universe (macrocosm) as well as the consciousness of the practitioner (microcosm). For this reason they can be compared to a web of cells in the subconscious mind, which in most people are inactive and dormant, but can be awakened through Qliphothic meditations and exploration of the concepts represented by these realms. Each tunnel corresponds to a path on the Tree of Life, forming its dark counterpart. However, like the Qliphothic realms themselves, the tunnels cannot be seen as a coherent linear map that leads from one point to the other. Instead, they contain the chaos and immensity of the Nightside, each one leading to many different dimensions at the same time, like in the web of the Spider Goddess. For this reason we are approaching this work from the perspective of the Spider Current, working with Arachne as the guide and the ruling force of the whole network of tunnels.

The name “Arachne” is derived from Greek mythology. According to the myth, she was a mortal woman, a weaver proud of her skills, who angered the goddess Athena by challenging her to a weaving contest and was cursed by the goddess to weave for all time. Since that moment Arachne’s name has become ascribed to spiders (Arachnida), and all spider-like creatures are believed to be her children. The myth, however, has a much greater significance from the esoteric perspective. The power of the Spider Goddess is the magical “venom” that is deadly to mundane consciousness but essential in the formula of initiation as it triggers the process of transformation through the inner alchemy of the mind. Just as a spider weaves the web, so we all weave our lives, making choices and shaping the structures of our universe. Through successive injection and absorption of her venom, the Qliphothic essence of the goddess, we learn that all matter forming these structures is illusion and can be poisoned, dissolved, molded, and shaped as we wish. The Spider Goddess shows us how to gaze straight into the Void, beyond all that we perceive as “reality,” into the abyss of non-manifestation where nothing and everything exists at the same time and where we gain access to the very roots of our own universe. This all happens through the initiatory journey into the Tunnels of Set.

In this sense, the labyrinth of pathways connecting the eleven Qliphothic realms corresponds to Arachne’s Web of Fates. The Spider Goddess resides in the center of the Void, and while assuming her god-form we too become the focal point of our own world, gaining the ability to look at things from the perspective of the center. She shows us how to gaze through the veil of illusion and see the web itself, how to change and manipulate it at its roots, and by invoking her essence and absorbing her venom, we ourselves acquire the power to weave the web, thus becoming the true center of the universe and the very source of all manifestation. For this reason, the whole system presented in this book is based on the practitioner’s ability to move through the Web of Fates, to explore the correlations between the particular pathways, and to absorb their lessons and manifest their powers for the sake of self-empowerment. Arachne is also invoked at the beginning of each set of workings, and her ritual replaces the opening rite that was used in Qliphothic Meditations and Qliphothic Invocations & Evocations.

In Tunnels of Set, each working begins with the Opening of the Web of Fates and transforming ourselves into a vessel for the Spider Current. While in the previous two volumes we worked with Lucifer and Lilith as the Dark God and Goddess of Sitra Ahra, here the god-form presiding over the labyrinth of tunnels underlying the eleven Qliphoth is Arachne. She appears to travelers entering the Tunnels of Set as a guiding force and it is she that provides foundations for this work and eventually brings it to completion. The ritual itself has a similar function as the one in the previous volumes - it helps with raising energy needed for manifestation of this work on the physical level and provides the starting point for all journeys into the tunnels themselves. It will fortify your subtle body with the Spider Current, which is necessary to withstand the immensity and harness the lessons of each pathway, and it will adjust your psychic senses to the energy and vibrations of these realms.

Depending on a tunnel, the experience of the Web of Fates will differ, showing the Spider Goddess with the multiplicity of her faces and endowing the practitioner with powers essential for the journey into a particular realm. Therefore, while in some rituals she will appear in her spider form, in others she may be ophidian or have a dragon’s features, and in still others she will assume a human shape. In some workings she will greet you as a friend and ally, and in others she will brutally attack you, testing your defenses and ruthlessly exposing your weaknesses. You will see her as a beautiful woman and a terrifying monster, a guide and an enemy - all this for the purpose of preparing you for the experience of the tunnel you seek to explore in your travels. The Web of Fates will also assume many different forms, referring to familiar things in your environment as well as showing you abstract and chaotic nature of the Void itself. More information about these manifestations is provided in the particular chapters, though. You will also learn more about Arachne from the book itself and from your own work with the tunnels, for which I wish you good luck!

To introduce you to Tunnels of Set, download your FREE chapter eBook of Lafcursiax right now. In it, you will receive the entire passage, color illustration, sigil, and more. This will let you know exactly the forms of magic rituals that you will perform through Tunnels of Set.

I welcome you to place your order for this third and final volume, Tunnels of Set, on Tuesday, October 27.

Darkest Blessings,