the Ordeal by Alexandra Sarris

In this episode, we descend from the philosophical abstractions of the Academy into the cold, stark reality of Lovecraft Grove—where initiation is no longer the contemplation of transcendent ideals but the brutal, unflinching confrontation with the Self in the darkness of a winter night. We explore how Alexandra Sarris III°—the initiate, the seeker, the one who demands judgment—seized the teachings of the Temple of Set and submitted herself to the ultimate test of the Ordeal, declaring that the engine of spiritual transformation is not the accumulation of knowledge but the dynamic, terrifying interplay of fear and courage, death and rebirth, judgment and self-knowledge.From the rejection of comfortable spiritual abstraction and the embrace of lived, embodied experience to the revelation that Xem is not a place but a mode of being, from the terrifying pronouncement of "Dead" and the symbolic weighing of the heart to the triumphant yet quiet declaration that "Truth has no compromise," from the ordered chaos of the Neters and the hidden light of Set beneath the bushel to the eventual realization that Maat is not an external judge but a guest welcomed into the heart—we trace the monumental, deeply contested, and astonishingly intimate legacy of the Ordeal and ask: In a world that still seeks shortcuts, still craves certainty, and still avoids the cold darkness of its own soul, do we have the courage to demand judgment of ourselves, or will we retreat into the comfortable illusion that we have already arrived?🎧 ABOUT THE RUBY TABLETThe Ruby Tablet Podcast is a philosophical and spiritual journey through the essays of the Temple of Set, exploring the great traditions of human thought—from ancient Egypt to the present day. Each episode is a deep dive into the ideas that help shape the Self and fan the Black Flame.🔗 SOURCES & READING LIST:Essay: The Ordeal (V2 - A17.25 - 1)Author: Alexandra Sarris III°Date: March 24-25, XIVSubject: Xem — Ordeal📚 RECOMMENDED READING:The Book of Opening the Way, Key 2 (Ruby Tablet item V2-A17.2-2)Her-Bak: Egyptian Initiate (Maat and the weighing of the heart)The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) — The Weighing of the HeartPeter J. Carroll, Liber Null & Psychonaut (Chaos magick and the dissolution of the self)Phil Hine, Condensed Chaos (Practical initiation and the confrontation with fear)Julius Evola, The Hermetic Tradition (Initiation and symbolic death)John G. Neihardt, Black Elk Speaks (Vision quest and the ordeal of the seeker)Mircea Eliade, Rites and Symbols of Initiation (The universal structure of initiatory ordeals)Aleister Crowley, Magick Without Tears (Self-mastery and the path of the initiate)Michael A. Aquino, The Temple of Set: History, Philosophy, and Practice (Xem and the initiatory framework)🏷️ HASHTAGS#TheOrdeal #Xem #Initiation #Maat #Anubis #Set #TempleOfSet #LeftHandPath #RubyTablet #TheRubyTabletPodcast #PhilosophyPodcast #SpiritualJourney #WeighingOfTheHeart #TruthHasNoCompromise #OrderedChaos #LovecraftGrove #Neters #EgyptianMythology #BlackFlame #Xeper #SelfKnowledge #InitiationRites #Ordeal #Fear #Courage #DeathAndRebirth #SymbolicDeath #Consciousness #HighestMan #Hermeticism #Occult #Esoteric #AncientWisdom #ModernMystery #Setianism #HiddenLight #Lucifer #LightBringer #UnderTheBushel #Awakening #SelfTransformation #SpiritualAlchemy #Podcast #OccultPodcast #Philosophy #EgyptianInitiation