Valor,
you know the tablets as I do; the ruby one contains most of the "real" stuff they have to offer. The higher ones are mainly about adminisitrative stuff of little actual value to the LHP initiate. The TOS guys seem to proceed the "normal" way - gathering interesting stuff from all kinds of people that compose the members. And the more useful things mainly comprise real life experiences; like, say, learning from a professional salesman how to take in people. Such a guy knows what he is talking about because he is DOING it. The rest, mainly occult stuff about "the black flame", "prince of darkness", "mandate" and so on, is dispensable IMO.
But hey - you don't need "Setians" for that. Concerning martial arts, you could contact some martial arts master (like you seem to be yourself). Or if you want to learn something about the power of the sea, then go and drop into a sailing club. Interested in meditation? There are countless of non-"Setian" schools who teach it. The point is that the TOS acts in the same manner anyway. There are no big, shiny, deep secrets which you will not also find outside its walls.
I myself avoid dull people and seek out interesting ones. They don't have to be "Setians", they just must be interesting people I can share stuff with and learn stuff from. The only thing I largely have to drop is "Setian babble". But that is only packaging, not the content. Is a book worth more if it is not wrapped into an old newspaper, but in gift wrap paper? IMO not. And I escape group think because I do not focus on one single group. Someties, that makes me having to quit some group - but hey, as long as I have learnt the useful stuff, why keeping on to linger around anyway? The P in LHP does not mean "parking-lot" (-;
The price, of course, is that I don't get such people served on a silver tablet just by sending out some email. No, I must seek them out in real life. I must know how to attract them "in the wild". While this is not as convenient as the silver tablet, it is certainly a useful ability in itself. It is a kind of "real" magic.
You see, "real" magic, not some occult hopping around, getting some cargo cult started. Magic is not about rituals, you don't need to know any of those so-called "important" stuff, like the banning pentagram ritual and so on. You don't need to read big books by Crowley and others. You just need to know how to bend reality, and how to draw something from anything that happens.
Let me state a little example. Last weekend, I was on a darkwave/gothic festival with international attendance. I was in the mood of speaking French, one of the four languages I speak fluently, and I like it very much. So I took some fantasy army uniform with me, bearing the French flag. I knew that being in camo on a festival where black clothes dominate would draw attention, and the flag would draw attention especially from francophone people. Well I even succeeded in meeting a francophone Canadian (here in Europe, on a festival!) which was very interesting because I never had heard Canadian French before. I did not do some occult "ritual", I just bent reality. Well that was an easy one, but you get the impression of what I mean by "real magic".
If things happen which I do not like, and this happens more than just casually (I'm not almighty yet, so.. *g*), than I sit back and ask myself what I did to attract such things. Not in the sense of "who is to blame", more like "what goes around, comes around". If deal with kettles, I can expect to get black hands, and if I don't like that, I better avoid them. Even if it is not me who had blackened them. That may be something like "higher black magic" or so. You see, stepping back in your life, checking your position, checking your heading, and determine another course if necessary. You don't need to recite some occult gobbledeegook. Except of course, for the pleasure of the asthetics of some occult stuff, if you are inclined so. I am, from time to time, but I know that this is mainly a theatre piece where the audience is - me. Well, why not enjoy a piece of my own (-;
So being a member of <insert big flashy freak organisation here> is certainly a way, but not better or (in the end) even faster than doing things yourself. The ability to do so, in fact, is an important lesson to learn. You can learn to go by watching a TV documentation, read about it, talk about it.. but you could just stand up. Probably, you would fall down the first times. Well, in that case, you can learn something else besides going: standing up after you fell instead of staying down. Take that metaphorically (-;
Summary: if you focus on being a Setian rather than on coming across as one, your Xeper will run on any fuel.
