An Army psyops officer also founded an occult temple, and 86 released files document both sides of his career.

An Army psyops officer wrote MindWar on bending an enemy's will and founded a temple on remaking the self. Influence was his craft.

Lt. Col. Michael Aquino studied psychological operations for the U.S. Army and wrote MindWar, a paper on shifting PSYOP toward an adversary's will. He also rose in the Church of Satan and founded the Temple of Set, whose writings teach magic as a way to shape the psyche and the world. A FOIA release lists 86 files on him. The withheld ones are where the curiosity lives.

• What it could changeFull release of the withheld files would show how far his ideas on influence traveled inside the Army.
• How it touches todayMindWar circulated among government offices and commands interested in psychological operations.
• Our futureThe line between persuasion and ritual may matter more as influence tools get stronger.

• MindWar proposed shifting PSYOP toward influencing an adversary’s will and was circulated among government offices, agencies, commands, and publications interested in PSYOP.files
• Aquino’s Setian writings described magical practices and theories of reality as means of developing the individual psyche and influencing the world.theofficialurban
• The evidence supports a striking parallel between his professional study of influence and his religious study of transformation, but it does not document that Setian ritual became an Army method.theofficialurban +2