From thelema93-l-owner@hollyfeld.org Mon Sep 22 12:09:28 1997 Received: from veracruz-gw.customer.itw.net (veracruz-gw.customer.ITW.NET [208.211.5.42]) by bay2.bjt.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id MAA27424 for ; Mon, 22 Sep 1997 12:09:27 -0700 Received: from www.hollyfeld.org ([204.130.199.143]) by veracruz-gw.customer.itw.net (Netscape Mail Server v2.02) with ESMTP id AAA250 for ; Mon, 22 Sep 1997 15:14:29 -0400 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by www.hollyfeld.org (8.8.4/8.8.4) id OAA11811 for thelema93-l-outgoing; Mon, 22 Sep 1997 14:39:55 -0400 X-Authentication-Warning: www.hollyfeld.org: majordom set sender to owner-thelema93-l@hollyfeld.org using -f Received: from access1.lan2wan.com (access1.lan2wan.com [205.177.8.10]) by www.hollyfeld.org (8.8.4/8.8.4) with ESMTP id OAA11808 for ; Mon, 22 Sep 1997 14:39:48 -0400 Received: from paulhume.lan2wan.com (pm1-6.lan2wan.com [205.177.8.46]) by access1.lan2wan.com (8.8.5/8.7.3) with SMTP id OAA27072 for ; Mon, 22 Sep 1997 14:57:49 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <3426B856.4B21@lan2wan.com> Date: Mon, 22 Sep 1997 14:26:30 -0400 From: Paul Hume Organization: William Blake Oasis X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0C-KIT (Win95; I) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: thelema93-l@hollyfeld.org Subject: Re: References: <01BCC77A.3708EA80.j.wightman@policymaster.co.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-thelema93-l@hollyfeld.org Precedence: bulk Reply-To: thelema93-l@hollyfeld.org Status: RO Jim - 93, > > Excuse me for being stupid, but what exactly is OTO? > OTO stands for Ordo Templi Orientis, and by some remarkable twist of bad Latin, this has often (dating back to Karl Kellner, the Order's founder, and appearing since then in Order literature) been rendered Order of Oriental Templars, as well as (correctly) Order of the Temple of the Orient, or of the East. Founded around the turn of the 19th century by Kellner, led, after him, by Theodor Reuss, Crowley succeeded to head the order in the 1920's, though there was a schism at that point, with some lodges rejecting his leadership. Within the Order as led by Crowley, the Book of the Law was used as the sole VSL, and the initiations rewritten to apply specifically Thelemic views of the degree teachings. OTO, from its inception, maintained that it possessed (and possesses) a particular formula of sex magick which casts light upon Masonic and other esoteric symbolism. Crowley further refined "The Secret," to be an effective engine for advancing the purpose of the Order, which is the establishment of the Law of Thelema. After Crowley's death, he was succeeded by Karl Germer, a point of lineage most people agree on (though even there, I believe Mr. Grant maintains that Germer missed Crowley's intentions for the Order) and after Germer's death the splits which generated most of the current controversy arose. As you can see, there is a wide range of opinion on whether there is any "true" OTO, and if there is, which. I will note that I am an initiate of what is sometimes called the Caliphate OTO, its lineage descended through Grady McMurtry, and by that membership I'd say I manifest my own decision regarding the issue, to my own satisfaction anyway (and as I am the only person I feel a need to satisy in this regard, it works fo me (g)). > And is everyone aware of the similarity between Crowleys teachings and the teachings of LaVey? You mean the parts Anton explicitly co-opted, the bits it would appear he ripped off (by which mean used almost verbatim but without acknowledgement), or the parts that seem original with him, which you apprently feel resemble Crowley's? Not my cuppa, and I feel Lavey, and on a more elevated plane, Aquino, miss some of the music even where they have the words, but it may just be that I am tone deaf in those keys. Was there a point to the question, by the way? Paul ____________...oooOOO---thelema93-l@hollyfeld.org---OOOooo..._____________ To subscribe send: 'subscribe thelema93-l' to majordomo@hollyfeld.org To unsubscribe send: 'unsubscribe thelema93-l' to majordomo@hollyfeld.org http://www.hollyfeld.org/heaven