Confused about navigating the Tunnels of Set

Satanism, Luciferianism & Qliphothic Magick
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I apologize for the redundancy. (This text is copied from another thread, namely “Tunnels Of Set”. The thread, however, has been dead for six years, and I have yet to receive an answer, despite having “bumped” it.) If any moderators feel that this thread is excessive/unnecessary, feel free to delete it.

I would like to know how one goes about traversing the tunnels with all of the diagonal paths. (The knowledge will come in handy once I’m prepared to embark on the journey.) E.g. if I am ready to move onto Gamaliel (9) from Nahemoth/Lilith (10), I would take path 25, that of Thantifaxath. However, say I finish Lilith’s sphere and am ready to move onto that of Adramelek (Samael (8)). I would take the path of Raflifu (30), but then, I would be skipping Shalicu (31)?

The same goes for transitioning from Samael to A’arab’zaraq. I take path 27, but miss 28 and 29. I’m a tad confused here and could use a hint or two — which would be massively appreciated.

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As long as it’s open, then it’s completely fine to revive an old thread. That gets tricky when people try to ask questions of members who haven’t been here for years, but if you’re adding to the conversation it’s great to just keep the conversation going, and it’s really helpful to see what others already said and avoid repetition.

This servers to bump this but I’m afraid I don’t study Kabbalah, so I can’t help but hopefully someone else can.

@Theoricus any ideas?

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VK Jehannum has a blog somewhere that can be found by Google use. What you’d be looking for is Qlippoth initiation.

Thomas Karlsson can be found on Facebook and heads the Ordo Dragon Rouge, Order of the Red Dragon. He has a book called Qabalah, Qlippoth and Goetic Magic. It’s a terrific book and he just released a new edition.

Dion Fortune would not approve of the LHP, but in her order Servants of the Light, she had a magazine that was sent to members and one issue or a few had light shed on Pathworkings.
There were important pieces of information the Adept would memorize:
The path and it’s intelligence (and their meanings) from the Sepher Yetzirah.
The qlippas or sephiras at each end of the path, and information about each sphere.
The Astrological, planetary, or element associated with the path.
The name and title expanded of the path.

Finally, Lord Mantacore aka Nick Farrell, has a blog, a substack page and a Facebook account. He also has a couple handfuls of books he’s authored. Magickal Imagination and the Shem Grimoire are two examples.

I can look around a bit tonight or late tomorrow for more information.

My bet is there is a page on the internet that has what you’re looking to find.

Behemoth-X also has a Facebook account as well as VK Jehannum, Rufus Opus, Magister Ram Diaz also, as again, Nick Farrell and Thomas Karlsson. Hit em up :slight_smile:

Oh … On the main point, yes, you want to exhaust Pathworking each path before tackling the next sphere.
So on the well known kircher tree called the Tree of Life, youve mastered the previous sphere, after you get initiated into the next sphere. So by that, you are allowed to travel those paths that are open tojyou as the sphere you just got initiated into.

If you try to traverse other paths, you’ll get told no way Jose, being kicked to the curb.
So Malkuth to Yesod, only The World is open to you. As you graduate Yesod and are initiated into Hod, Judgement and The Sun are now open to you. As you graduate Hod and get initiated into Netzach, The Moon, The Star and The Tower are now open.

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Oh, Stephanie Connelly is on facebook, has her own blog, might be on substack and has written several books.

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Yea, I simply couldn’t find/get an answer to my question with respect to pathworking hereupon. The best I came across was whatever Google’s AI Overview (yes, I know…) feature stated after enough browsing, and that was that the paths, due to their chaotic nature, can loop around (e.g. I can be sent back to Nahemoth from Samael after finishing Gamaliel) or two or three paths can open simultaneously. I wasn’t completely satisfied with that answer, but it seems to make some sense, considering the nature of the Qliphoth. Thank you.

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I’ve let the tunnels be what they are at first and focussed mainly on the qliphoth themselves. Traversing the tree through the shells alone is hard enough and takes a long time, don’t expect to gainfully reach Thaumiel or even halfway in a matter of weeks . Also… it’s not a one-and-done kind of thing. This is a path you choose and can last you a lifetime or two. Especially considering the tree is a system to acclimate yourself to The Nightside, there’s actually a whole nightside universe to explore beyond it.

When you’ve learned and gained what you can from Thaumiel, you can always go back and explore the tunnels you haven’t gotten to. You should’ve gained enough knowledge and experience by then to be able to do that. If you need some assistence you can always turn to sources like Kenneth Grant’s “Nightside of Eden” (available for free in pdf form) or Asenath Mason’s “Tunnels of Set”

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Thank you for the load of info and for your effort into gathering them, Theoricus. I started reading Qabalah, Qliphoth and Goetic Magic several days ago, so it’s funny you recommended it to me. I’m hoping to get something more than what some glorified search engine (such as Google’s AI Overview feature) can provide me with out of it. By far, the e-“book” is good. I’m on page 42.

Another thing: Must the Sephiroth be worked prior to the Qliphoth? I ask, as I’m not terribly interested in working with angels, not to mention the fact that I already possess some of the qualities of the Sephiroth (selflessness and humility, for instance). The path I’m drawn to and resonate with at my core rejects the Sephiroth.

Regarding Dion Fortune, I read it was she who had come up with the concept of linking certain Tarot cards with the tunnels.

Hit em up :slight_smile:

Will do. :slightly_smiling_face:

Regarding the last two paragraphs, firstly, it clears up my prior slight confusion about the Tarot–tunnel connection; secondly, what about the diagonal paths/tunnels? Is that to be revealed via dreamwork, meditation and so forth? I (mis?)understand that the tunnels are of a chaotic nature, they being sometimes random?

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The sepheroth don’t need to be done, necessarily in order to climb the Tree of Death, but it’s a good idea to do so.
One, you’re likely Left Hand Path, and its not necessary to be RHP to climb the Tree of Death, but you might unearth some answers to mysteries, and it can’t necessarily hurt to climb the Tree of Life, and there might be some unsolveable riddles on the Tree of Death that would be solved climbing the Tree of Life first.

The tunnels of set, the diagonal paths, and Qlippoth initiation were ideas that intrigued me, but my mental health couldn’t support them at the time. If I do do, I’m in a nursing home, so it would be an environment safe enough to do so at this stage.

Hopefully this answers your questions. I wish I could give you more concrete answers based on partaking in the nightside other than trying to evoke a few demons.

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Hails.

Traversing the tree through the shells alone is hard enough and takes a long time, don’t expect to gainfully reach Thaumiel or even halfway in a matter of weeks .

That has been my impression. Likewise, I figured that I would have to work through Thantifaxath in order to move from Nahemoth/Lilith to Gamaliel. (The Qliphoth (and Sephiroth) is seen as a tree shaped map; as such, I see the Tunnels as the roadways and the Qliphoth as the destinations. But perhaps my thinking here is flawed.) I intend on timing it according to intuition, and being that I’m new to this and am not a wreckless person, I would give each sphere at least (which is to say a minimum of) a month.

This is a path you choose and can last you a lifetime or two.

Am I - pardon my “French” - fucked if I am starting on the path at 37–38 years of age?

there’s actually a whole nightside universe to explore beyond it.

Some men want succubi with whom to have sex, and then, there are others like myself who would ask a succubus to show me what lies beyond the veil of cosmic illusions, especially after an experience I had in October 2016.

I have a PDF copy of K. Grant’s Nightside of Eden and I plan to buy Tunnels of Set later this year. I like Asenath Mason’s work. Draconian Ritual Book is a solid piece.

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Ah, I see. I am Left-Hand Path, yea. And, believe it or not, I come from “Atheism”/materialism. :joy: I actually wonder how many members on here were irreligeous prior to taking up the Dark Arts — or whichever type of spirituality they follow, really. I may create a thread for that, ‘cause I am rather curious.

At any rate, I started reading particularly Liber Azerate and The Book of Sitra Achra (both by the “controversial” figure N.A-A.218) last Summer. In fact, I did quite a lot of reading, and so much so that I got lost in all of it, which only caused me confusion. So, I had to step back and concentrate on the basics, those of course being meditation and the development of my astral senses.

And speaking of meditation, by far, every time I meditate, even if only for several minutes (I don’t count the locking of my attention onto my breath (anchor) and the slowing and deepening thereof into the time I spend in meditation), I’ll focus on my third eye after I’m settled, and at some point or another, I’ll start seeing… things. To describe a couple, well, the first time, just before opening my eyes, it was the slit pupil (surrounded by a faint orange and with a green pre-, supra-, and post-ocular and presubocular) of a dragon or other serpent; another time, it was a black and charcoal grey “demonic” scene followed by a purple pattern of light.

but my mental health couldn’t support them at the time.

Currently, the only things that have me stressed are my financial situation (which should be resolved in the near future) and the fact that I live where I live.

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Ah, and what about initiation dates? Must I wait until Walpurgisnacht, or can it be done whenever I’m ready to?

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Not sure about the outstanding questions.

There was another magician here that was an Adept in Black Magick, had evoked above and beyond the ones in the Lesser Key of Solomon. He could answer most of your outstanding questions.

It’s good that you’re a decided LHPer. It makes your work far simpler. If a particular date stands out to you, then choose that to begin, same as if a book tells you that, then choose that date. In the end it’s up to you, you’re the one that’s doing the work, then the date for initiation is upon you in the end. I would say choose the date yourself, and give yourself enough time to get your astral senses open.

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Sorry for the delay in responding, @Theoricus. Shit has been nuts, as of late. (Mundane nonsense…)

It’s good that you’re a decided LHPer. It makes your work far simpler.

For background, I have been playing guitar since 2003 (14 years of age) and have been a proper musician since 2006 with a strong affinity for Black Metal and Dark Ambient. From 2008 to 2010, I had fooled around with Satanic aesthetics casually drawing pentagrams and inverted crosses in my blood and signing my then-pseudonym in blood thinking nothing serious of it. In 2020/’21, I was introduced to the Cvlt of You (Adam Nox) and the broader Left-Hand Path by a German in a Telegram group chat going by the pseudonym Drachenlord Nord. I had put it off for years until last Summer.

Having been a fan of Dissection for about two decades already and having been listening to them quite frequently since 2020, it should come as no surprise that I eventually grew curious about just what Jon Nödtveidt was into. I found a PDF copy of Liber Azerate in 2022 and downloaded it, but didn’t read it until last Summer. Then, the visions came. How? Who knows? I have been putting some effort into my own version of “shadow work” since 2019, over the years having built up a worldview of my own. For as long as I can remember, I have always been a misanthrope with these dark impulses/urges and often feeling anger, dread and depression. And it is needless to say that my worldview had been finally solidified.

I don’t hail from a particularly religious home. My father was a Roman Catholic who never again attended church after high school and my mother was a (nominally) Jehovah’s Witness who intermittently attended her religious brainwashing. Furthermore, there were no crucifixes or other [Judeo]-Christian symbols or idols in the household. I never bought into any of that shit, really. One experience in October 2016 as well as what I have seen by far during my meditations, several instances of claircognisance and the empirical evidence of energy conduction (using oscilloscopes to measure “resonators”) I had seen has convinced me. Now, I’ve seen other weird phenomena, but that is outside the scope of this.

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It’s in the book, so Walpurgisnacht it is.

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I’ve started at 47 :grin:

But I think I created some confusion. It’s not that it takes you a lifetime to get from Lilith to Thaumiel (although for some it might). However, working with the tree, revisiting shells and tunnels and exploring anything beyond the tree is enough to fill lifetimes.

You’re right, you can see it as a roadmap. But traveling from station to station (yes that’s a David Bowie quote…) does not have to entail a special focus on the tunnels. It can be kind of an almost automatic thing while doing the work in a shell until the signs are there to move to the next one. Which is what I did at first. So for instance, Belial has aided me to cross the gates of Daath. Ghogiel and Thaumiel came on at the same time for me (Hecate, my overall guide I have not fully worked through Ghogiel and Thaumiel, but intuition inspired me to work the tunnels under guidance of their rulers)

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You’d be surprised how well a more atheist philosophy works in combination with black magic. A lot goes hand in hand with Jungian views and even some of Nietzsche’s theories. Timothy (from Balg) wrote an interesting book about it a while back. Whenever my more atheistic friends actually ask about my spiritual practice out of interest. I usually add a lot of Jungian terminology so they can understand it all a bit better on their terms

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I’ve started at 47 :grin:

Holy Hell. And here, I was thinking I was the only one late to the party, so to speak. LOL!

But I think I created some confusion. It’s not that it takes you a lifetime to get from Lilith to Thaumiel (although for some it might). However, working with the tree, revisiting shells and tunnels and exploring anything beyond the tree is enough to fill lifetimes.

I understand you. If there was any confusion, it was negligible. But yea, I see how it can become a lifelong journey. From what I can see, there are quite a few qualities that each deity possesses that the mage can ask them to teach them. So say I invoke Naamah and ask her to teach me the basics of (black) witchcraft and, then, later on invoke her with the request of teaching me talismanic or death magic. Speaking of her, I also read that initiating myself into Naamah’s Qlipha will start opening my astral senses. Is that, perchance, true?

You’re right, you can see it as a roadmap. But traveling from station to station (yes that’s a David Bowie quote…) does not have to entail a special focus on the tunnels. It can be kind of an almost automatic thing while doing the work in a shell until the signs are there to move to the next one. Which is what I did at first.

True. It answers the question. The tunnels can either be worked individually or I can just let it be and be open to whatever may open up before me, the latter of course being the most wreckless/dangerous. :joy: That’s what I’m planning on doing: basing progress on intuition.

I have another question, this one regarding incense. My mother is an asthmatic and cannot smell incense, especially the resin type, and unfortunately, I live in the suburbs. Musk is used in many of the rituals in ‘Liber Azerate’, especially those involving Lilith. I have a bottle of patchouli musk cologne. Do you think it’s permissible to spray my altar with that as an alternative?

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For certain. There is definitely alot of psychology in Black Magic. Half of what certain deities have as qualities can be integrated. For example, I can learn how to control/manipulate others from Belfegor, I can learn how to transmute any empathy I have inside into cruelty/antipathy from Naamah, Asmodeus can help me with overcoming fears and become a better fighter…

I don’t know enough Jung. I best start reading up on his stuff. There is a channel called Altrusian Grace Media on Youtube that has llonnggg videos on the archetypes. The only reason I haven’t watched them is due to how daunting the endeavor is. I’ll do it, though. One day. Hahaha!

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Two last questions:

  1. I read that initiating myself into Naamah’s Qlipha will start opening my astral senses. Is that, by any chance, true?

  2. My mother is an asthmatic and cannot smell incense, especially the resin type, and unfortunately, I live in the suburbs and, to top it off, am her caretaker. Musk is used in many of the rituals in Liber Azerate, especially those involving Lilith. I have a bottle of patchouli musk cologne. Do you think it’s sufficient to spray my altar with that as an alternative?

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