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The Saturnian Path and Xeper

André Harke

This article will elaborate on a unique, independent and modern Saturnian Path, based on Saturnian qualities and the figure of Saturn, as a map of the Setian Initiate’s soul. 

My understanding of the Saturnian Path is quite different from how the path is sometimes understood in other initiatory organisations. In some of them, the inner state within the Initiate oftentimes is not in focus. The state of being of the Initiate is more like something that will be changed individually when working along a curriculum or a degree system.

An initiatory degree system, in my view, should however be focused exactly and only on the Initiate’s state of being and the reflection of Xeper, within the Initiate. Xeper is strictly something that can only be achieved individually and on individually chosen ways.

Xeper

If Xeper is the expansion of the Self, then there are two different kinds of Self expansion and thereby two different kinds of Xeper and Remanifest that can be distinguished. 

- Xeper as the horizontal expansion of the Self:

The horizontal expansion of the Self is an expansion of skills and an expansion of the personal radius of operation. Within the perception of the day-to-day experience, Xeper transforms one into a more complex and skillful being. In this perspective, Xeper seems to be “horizontal”, that is to say, within bodily life. 

The Initiate learns new things, becomes more skillful and therefore creates an expansion of their personal radius of operation and by that, as well, an expansion of impact and awareness. 

The personality overcomes itself and expands beyond its natural border. The radius of operation and the inner reality grow beyond natural, physical laws (where Working Magic becomes possible). The Magician consciously chooses their way of life and is no longer heteronomously following their socialization or governed by their primordial limitations. 

The horizontal expansion of the Self also means that the Magician knows about the existence of their non-natural and individual true Self - the Daimon, the awakened Psyche - beyond the personality suit. In other words, the Magician knows that behind their personality and self-aware being the soul continues much further, beyond bodily life. 

However, this way of self-evolution does not mean that the Magician’s being moves closer to its core or that they are able to link to the Daimon in everyday experience. This only describes the experience of the non-natural Self immersed in a physical world. 

- Xeper as a vertical expansion of the Self: 

The vertical expansion of the Self is a desired act of self-evolution, which takes its impact from the depths of the Self to its heights. 

The emergence of Xeper within Initiation is the expansion of the Self on the vertical axis. These are evolutionary steps which lead to the depths of the psyche as well as its heights. Initiation leads to further awareness of one’s own psyche, to the individual, non-natural core of existence.

The vertical expansion of the Self means to attain a deeper access to one’s own individuality and to change in accordance to this new awareness on the individual Self. This expansion of the Self means as well to get deeply interwoven with the inner emergence of the Black Flame.

- The two directions of expansion, within the scheme of Saturn: 

On the Saturnian Path, the horizontal expansion of the Self is connected to Saturn. The expansion of skill, knowledge and one’s radius of impact within the objective universe are Saturnian qualities par excellence, namely those of discipline and solitude. The Initiate needs to establish both qualities within the Self to create that horizontal expansion of the Self. 

The vertical expansion of the Self is connected to Uranus because the inspiration of the Black Flame for one’s own higher aspects of the Soul are needed. In this symbolism, the Black Flame is the Luciferian light which leads to a higher self-awareness and a higher understanding of the relationship between the subjective ideal and the objective form.   

To change the Self in accordance to the individual’s will, the expansion of the Self in both directions is necessary. To come into being as a new, more individual Self, which as well has new connecting points to the objective universe and by that also is surrounded by new images of the objective universe, needs both - knowledge and skill, as well as, higher awareness and self-reflection. Only then the inner event of Xeper can change all stages of the Self and the Self unfolds and comes into being in accordance to the Self. 

The expansions in both directions are connected to each other, and the experience of Xeper cannot really be divided out into different parts. 

Describing the two directions separately however, allows for the connection of Xeper and the Saturnian Path to become obvious. The Saturnian qualities the Initiate will create as individual characteristics within themselves are necessary to do the work that is needed for the horizontal expansion of the Self. 

Strictness and discipline are unavoidable characteristics in order to expand knowledge and skill: the ability to change the perspective on life within the objective universe, to realize the potential of events within and beyond the Self and to use it to create the manifestation of one’s own will to Xeper. 

The horizontal expansion of the Self is the basis for the inner work (the vertical expansion of the Self). The vertical expansion is based in a certain state of mind and experience. 

Saturn, the guardian of the threshold, is connected to work and discipline and by that, to the horizontal expansion of the Self. A further attribute of the horizontal expansion of the Self is the linear cycle of the expansion of knowledge and skill. This is well reflected in Saturn who has always been associated with a god of harvest. 

Uranus on the other hand, is the spiritual expansion, which leads to an awareness no longer based on the physical universe or the need of the physical universe. Even though these changes do not need the physical universe, they still have to manifest within the objective universe, in order to become full circle within the experience and life of the Initiate. 

- The process of Xeper

In my personal experience it feels like the Black Flame within the Self enables a higher self-awareness, which in turn enables the individual, through the process of Initiation, to realize the non-natural Self, to get rid of illusions and to manifest inner truth.

The Black Flame expands along the path of Initiation and throughout the Self and one’s own awareness is getting a deeper access to aspects of the Self/Soul. 

The Black Flame is the “Force and Fire” to the Magician: the force by which the Magician transforms and changes the Self and, through that, the objective universe, in accordance to one’s individual will. The fire is the vivid, eternal and individual life-force that burns away illusions and crystallizes them into truth. 

Through Xeper, all aspects of being, its borders and different parts, “become” to reside within, and finally reach beyond these borders to connect to the dark source that we call the Black Flame. Also, the connection to the forces, which command the objective universe beyond the natural and seeming limitations, changes deeply and becomes more transparent. 

Xeper is experienced as one moment within a long-term process becoming full circle. In that moment, the Initiate changes on all levels and by that inner change, the surrounding objective universe will change too.

Both, the vertical and the horizontal expansion of the Self is needed in order to be able to experience this moment in that the process of working Initiation is becoming full circle. 

Both ways represent the experience of willed, evolutionary steps in a circle of Xeper - Remanifest - the realization of Runa - the next experience of Xeper and so on. The circle itself is Runa - because Runa is the attraction of that that pulls us to find the next step of coming into being, the next Xeper. 

To consider this as an inner, personal experience during one’s personal life, the circle (Runa) between Xeper and Remanifest is an upward helix of self development or of coming into being. Within this process, the Magician realizes forces, which they were able to perceive previously only through an entity beyond the Self but are now integrated and part of them, they are aspects of their Self that belonged until that point to the domain of the unknown. 

The Self wanders along this upward helix of evolutionary steps, permanently overcoming its previous form by expanding the order of the Self. The moment the Self realizes the existence of the higher octave of the Self (Daimon), the non-natural being as the central core of existence, the awareness and with it the personality crosses the border between sleep and being truly awake regarding the state of its consciousness. This leads to a Remanifestation of the non-natural existence of individuality. The Magician becomes aware of and realizes the nature of being, the true existence. 

The pure, individual Self is first just known to the Self as a transcendent aspect of one’s being, but finally becomes connected to the awareness, so that the higher octave of the Self comes into being by becoming the same as the “I am”. 

In this whole circle, to “become awake” implies becoming aware of new aspects and coreferences. Seen from a wider perspective, this means that the border of natural existence is crossed and the higher octave of the Self comes into being within the Initiate in every moment where it is needed. 

The existence is realized and seen from the perspective of the higher octave – a perspective that lies far beyond bodily existence. Set as the great Initiator of being is realized in an objective way towards his existence as the creator and idol of personal evolutions. 

Within that process, Set is involved as being beyond the Self and works like an idol or a form of the ultimate Individuality. Set becomes a projection surface to the Self, until the Initiate realizes that those qualities, projected onto Set, were unknown aspects of one’s own Self, and of which one becomes aware on the path of Initiation.

The focus on the individual’s state of being and Xeper creates a completely different approach to the Saturnian Path. The Saturnian Path within the Geheimes Haus des Saturn offers a practical approach to an individual experience of Xeper.  

Black Flame

As was mentioned above, the Black Flame means a higher self-awareness within the Self, which enables one to realize the non-natural Self, which in turn means to get rid of illusions and to realize inner truth.

The Black Flame emerges and manifests within and beyond the Self. 

Within the Self, the Black Flame is a force that is acting transformative on the Self, by raising consciousness. Raising consciousness onto a higher state results in a higher awareness of the Self, which is based on a higher ability of self-reflection.

Raising consciousness also means elevated perception of one’s surroundings, the objective universe. This emerges as a realization of the potential in common events and situations, to act in accordance to the individual Will. This is to realize whether a situation is useful towards implementing the Will of the Initiate within the objective universe, i.e. the Initiate’s surrounding world.

To describe the emergence of the Black Flame beyond the Self is more complicated. 

The Black Flame becomes recognizable beyond the Self but in connection to the Self, if the Will of the Initiate emerges within the objective universe. Especially if it becomes clear that the events within the mechanical universe that led to that manifestation of Will came into being before the act of Working Magic. The events in the mechanical universe that lead to the manifestation of the Will very often came into being already when the Will is created within the subjective universe of the Initiate. 

The emergence of the Black Flame beyond the Self becomes especially recognizable in connection to the inner Black Flame. This is experienced as a special feeling of importance in very common situations. If the Initiate follows these “emotional bookmarks”, they often seem to lead to circumstances that are life changing, challenging and instructive to the Initiate. These experiences of circumstances that are life changing, challenging and instructive are the basic circumstances that allow for the Initiate to transform towards Xeper. 

The Black Flame emerges as a force within and beyond the Self and seems like a matrix in which that manifestation (within the mechanical universe) and Xeper (within the Self as higher self-awareness) is able to emerge.

Personal Process

I personally remember that the combination of new knowledge which I got access to as a new Initiate and the experience of that knowledge by its usage within my life, led to the realization of the Black Flame within me. 

Following that path, the inner emergence of the Black Flame became more and more familiar. This can happen because one is realizing the higher self-awareness in more and more situations. 

When most aspects of the Self/Soul are reflected in this higher self-awareness, i.e. when the Black Flame is experienced within the Self - the Self really becomes touched by it. The state of being in which the Black Flame is experienced can be created by awareness and focus. The Black Flame can be focused on as an aspect of the Self in order to use it for self-reflection and self-desired changes within the Self. 

This touch of the Black Flame and its expansion within the Self created a deep change within me. All the goals I had for my life, all the things I wanted to reach and experience became questionable. For all of my desires and goals I had to ask whether they were useful for the individual Xeper of myself. If not, they are mere illusions to feed the ego and/or are connected to the mechanical universe, however they would be meaningless for my real “I” (the Self). 

All my goals, all my desires refocused, supportive and in accordance to Xeper - which in a way is logical, because ultimately nothing else is any more meaningful than the coming into being of one’s own, non-natural Self.

During the past three or four years, nevertheless there slowly emerged an inner paradox, which was very complicated and frustrating. I do know that the Black Flame is active within me but its emergence slowly felt completely different to me. Suddenly, my personal way to Work Magic didn’t seem to work anymore. 

Then, during conversations with other Initiates, we spoke about how the image a person has of their own is completely different from the image other people may have of one’s own person. This difference originates in the fact that other people experience one’s person just in that moment and by looking at it through their own momentary personality lens. The self-image is however completely shaped by one’s own perception of one’s own personality.

The important point that another Initiate explained to me was that I cannot see or realize how I seem to be for other people because I simply cannot see myself from a distant perspective. 

In that moment I realized that it is the same with the Black Flame and with the way the Black Flame is emerging in me: If the Black Flame has touched all aspects of the Self over the years, the actual impression of the inner Black Flame disappears from the perception of the Self. It disappears for the inner self-awareness because it is everywhere within the Self - we cannot see our own consciousness, only its reflection on separate projection surfaces. 

At that point however, the Black Flame starts to emerge beyond the Self, in things other people are saying to us and about us, in situations they can experience, too. The self-reflection and higher self-awareness then work beyond the border between the subjective universe and the objective universe. The process of manifesting change within the Self expands over that border, into the direct surrounding universe, too. 

In some way it seems that there is no inner contradiction in the focus on Xeper anymore. Earlier on, those contradictions were the subjective place of working Initiation and experiencing Xeper by overcoming these contradictions. Along the way of Initiation, inner contradictions shift to ones in the relationship between the subjective and the objective universe. 

For that reason, the manifestation of change (the resolution of contradictions) is not happening within the Self only anymore, but is taking place on the border of the Self, to the surrounding world. 

As soon as I made this realization, my way of acting in the world changed immediately, without requiring any more force. Before that, in the course of the past three years, I always had the feeling to work against manifestation within the objective universe. 

The dialogs and workings within the Geheimes Haus des Saturn especially taught and continue to teach me that my experiences in life are like teachers who are reflective to my Self and can be used, like the Black Flame, for elevated awareness on the Self. 

In this perspective, the experience of the objective universe of course still can be full of friction or opposing full manifestation of one’s will. But both, the subjective and the objective universe, can be used this way to expand the awareness on the Self which in turn is transformed by that awareness, which effectively is Black Magic.