Is Satanic cult leader Michael Aquino dead? According to the cult leader’s official website, he’s passed away. Yes it says September, but they go off of a different calendar.
Aquino founded the Temple of Set in 1975 after leaving Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan due to his unhappiness with the direction of the group. A statement on the Temple of Set’s website says that been suffering from ill-health for some years. It’s unclear when exactly Aquino died. A Reddit thread dedicated to Aquino’s death first appeared on June 29.
The Temple of Set statement says that Aquino “remanifested from his physical body” on “Sunday, September 1, LIV of the Aeon of Set.” Religious studies expert Dr. Dave Bromley of Virginia Commonwealth University told the BBC in February 2014 that groups such as the Temple of Set are known to follow their own calendar.
The public-at-large was first exposed to Aquino during his appearance on The Geraldo Rivera show in 1988. The episode was titled, “Devil Worship: Exposing Satan’s Underground.”
According to Aquino’s Amazon profile, Aquino was a retired Lt. Colonel, Psychological Operations in the United States Army. Aquino says that he was a “Green Beret” and a graduate of the U.S. Army Intelligence School and the U.S. Army Space Institute. Aquino says that he received multiple awards during his military career. He retired from the U.S. Army in 2006. Aquino’s Amazon page credits him with writing dozens of books on satanism. Aquino’s IMDb page shows that he has contributed to various documentaries on satanism since 1972, the most recent coming in 2020.
The following is from his official website Xeper.org
Let it be known that on Sunday, September 1, LIV of the Aeon of Set, Ipsissimus Michael A. Aquino, Ph.D. Remanifested from his physical body. As he had let the world know, he had been experiencing declining health for several years. This period also saw a tremendous outpouring of written material, public interviews, and important correspondence within and beyond the Temple of Set.
Among those titles completed during this time was his trilogy MindWar, MindStar, and FindFar, covering his thought about the transformations of human conflict in order to better preserve human life, the transformations of the Self, and the long-range facing the world. In addition to this, he completed his Initiatory memoir, Temple of Set, and a more personal memoir Ghost Rides. He also left behind materials to encourage a deeper understanding and application of non-Setian Initiatory traditions in the form of IllumiAnX: Rosicrucianism Reawakened and The Satanic Bible: 50thAnniversary ReVision.
Ipsissimus Aquino’s thoughts on death have become more widely known with the publication of MindStar. The physical death of the body, or the khat to use the Egyptian term, acts as the loss of only one aspect of the greater complexities of the Self. The rest of the Self, particularly the akh, continues, both in this world through the influence set in motion while living, and beyond in a new exploration of the Unknown. In a sense, one enters into the realm of the neteru, where one’s Xeper guides and shapes what you may become.
We as human individuals, however, will experience considerable emotional and intellectual outpourings as the result of a loss like this. It is to be expected and honored that these experiences arise. Be mindful of how you chose to express these moments, and remember as much of an impact as Ipsissimus Aquino has had upon your life and Initiation, there are those for whom this is a far more personal, and private, loss.
Xeper – Become.
Hail Ra-En-Set, who Uttered the Eternal Word!
Hail Ipsissimus Michael A. Aquino!
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