“Perhaps the last practicing Setian, the 8th Century Abulfaiz Dhu'l Nun, changed his name to Thuban the Black (Thuban being the name of the star Alpha Draconis). Thuban as Pir, or Chief of his Order, was called "King or Lord of the Fish" (the fish being a Typhonic animal). Thuban was third in teaching succession after Daud of Tai and Maaruf Karkhi (in the order of the Builders). Thuban founded the Malamti, or "blameworthy" order of Sufi, which has certain similarities with Freemasonry. The Masonic Pillar of the Temple "Boaz" (the black pillar) may be "Albuazz", a form of Thuban's name Abulfaiz.”

—The Seven Faces of Darkness (1996, Runa-Raven Press)

Dhu'l Nun was said to have learned the secret of the hieroglyphs in the following way:

At a certain market in Egypt, there stood a statue of a Pharoah pointing toward a rock. On the finger of the statue was inscribed, "Strike here for treasures." People had battered the hard rock for many years. It was very hard and little progress was made. Dhu'l Nun, seeing that this was not a profitable avenue, began to look for other meanings. He noticed that the shadow of the finger traced a line along the pavement exactly at a point between two paving stones. He pried up the stones and found several items of strange manufacture, which when he deduced the methods used for their construction, he was able to regain the lost arts of the Pharaohs.

This story has many meanings for the Order of Setne Khamuast. Some of them include the word "Egypt”. One of Dhu'l Nun's nicknames was "the Egyptian". Well, he was ethnically Egyptian, but more to the point "Egypt" in Sufi literature means "worldly". It is the domain of matter and darkness—the first domain to be mastered. He didn't find his enlightenment in some rare temple or special spiritual study. He found it in the world. He found it by looking where other people didn't look. And when he found it, he had to discover the methods by which the artifacts had been made. We in the Order of Setne Khamuast likewise have to figure out the methods by which these things from the past are made. That Work will regain us the lost art. There are other meanings hidden here as well.

Now it is unlikely that anyone living in the ninth century (Dhu'l Nun died in 860) could actually read the hieroglyphs. What his story tells us is two things. One, that there was some kind of transmission between his time and the Ophite and Sethian Gnostics of the fourth century. Two, that it was a "dead" transmission. In other words, someone was mouthing the words, but knew not their Meaning. Such has always been the fate of religions, and unless each of you choose the fierce approach to Truth rather than the easy approach, it will happen to the Temple of Set.

Dhu'l Nun is known for a famous teaching parable, from which the Order of Setne Khamuast draws its Graal rite...

The Khidir, the teacher of Magi, came to Moses and warned him that Allah was pissed off at mankind, and was going to punish them by driving them mad. Allah was going to do this by poisoning the waters. So the wise could hoard up water now, and thus remain sane.

Many did so. They sealed the water away in special jugs marked with the six pointed star of stasis. They were sure they could remain sane. But as they went forth in the world, they noticed that men now spoke in strange ways and they could not understand the actions of men. They noticed that men now acted in strange ways, and they could not understand what men did. And men, hearing the wise either grew angry, or full of pity for, the wise.

So, one by one, due to loneliness and to economic reasons (and to fear of the madmen), the wise gave up drinking pure water and drank the waters of the Earth. They forgot all about their special store of water, and slowly they became like the rest. The rest of mankind welcomed them with open arms—seeing them as madmen who had regained their sanity.

Now we Understand that the "Khidir" is the future Self. Compare the Egyptian word, "Khet" a nominal form of Xeper = "He who comes after." The Khidir both warns about the price of Initiation—scorn, loneliness, shame—but this is also a historical warning from the last Setian.

We who would rejoin the Order of Setne Khamuast have a special Graal rite drawn from the teaching story upon the words of this, our last member of the Third Ordering.

Fill a cup with especially pure water.

Look at it in Fear. I mean real, true fear. What if drinking it could make you sane in an insane world? Are you truly that interested in Truth that you would risk losing your family and friends and jobs? Become Afraid, tremble. No faking for this Rite (you must do this Alone).

Then, if you are ready say, "Come now Truth, banished from this world for centuries, come now Sanity that sets me apart as one damned, come now He/She Who Comes Afterward to Teach me my Purpose. Come into the untainted water!"

Then Drink.

Then say, "Hail to thee Dhu'l Nun, hail to thee Hypatia, hail to thee Jeu the Hieroglyphist! The flint of Truth strikes the Iron of my soul so that others will hail me for the sparks I send forth now. Hail those future ones who hail me!"

Then watch the folly of the world for the rest of your days and grow Wise.