Path: typhoon.sonic.net!feed.news.sonic.net!newsfeed.media.kyoto-u.ac.jp!news-was.dfn.de!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!sn-xit-01!sn-xit-02!supernews.com!postnews1.google.com!not-for-mail From: musicman00873@aol.com (Lee Duncan) Newsgroups: alt.freemasonry,alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick.order,alt.magick Subject: Re: OTO and Masonry (was Aleister ...) Date: 17 Dec 2001 07:08:24 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com/ Lines: 45 Message-ID: <1bfe0d70.0112170708.158ae332@posting.google.com> References: <3c1c7d7e.452467@news.cwnet.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 64.12.104.38 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: posting.google.com 1008601705 5803 127.0.0.1 (17 Dec 2001 15:08:25 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: 17 Dec 2001 15:08:25 GMT Xref: typhoon.sonic.net alt.freemasonry:201982 alt.magick.tyagi:30573 alt.magick.order:6477 alt.magick:281020 333 wrote in message news:... > 50011216 VI om > > signine@nin[antispam]jas.org (signal nine): > > I know *of* a fair amount of members of the OTO who are extremely > > high-ranking freemasons. > > do you know what "extremely high-ranking" or "freemason" means? > there are many organizations which self-identify as masons, and > there are lots of different initiatic structures. how many degrees > do you think there *are*, for example, amongst masons? is "Master > Mason" maybe 33rd degree or something, as you see it? just curious. That's an excellent question. The term "high ranking Mason" is used often by anti-Masonic propagandists, and actually has little, if any, meaning. > >The OTO, however, is a Masonic order, down to the letter. > > funny, its officials disclaim this. why do you think it is hidden from > its own membership and its officers deny what you have claimed? are > you aware that early on the masonic character was claimed and then > this aspect of its claims (aside from other wild claims about holding > the Secrets of the Universe, Universal Medicine, whatever) was stopped? This, again, is correct. Theodore Reuss, original Frater Superior of OTO, listed it as an "Academica Masonica", but turned right around in the next paragraph distancing it from regular Masonry. Reuss himself was a regular Master Mason at one time, but seems to have been dropped NPD. Crowley, in revising the ritual of OTO, completely de-Masonicized the degrees from Minerval to Master Magician. From what I can tell, the OTO grades above the Master degree still mirror those of the Cernaeu Scottish Rite, and Ancient and Primitive Rites of Memphis and Mitzraim. However, the OTO does not claim to be a Masonic body, and is not affiliated with any regular Masonic Grand Lodge nor Scottish Rite Supreme Council. It is an autonoymous fraternal organization based, in its present form, on the teachings of Aleister Crowley and his successors (although, just who his successors were is the subject of many hilarious debates). :o) Sincerely, Lee Duncan, WM-elect Judson Lodge No. 319 AFM Greenville, SC "He has lived...the fruits of his labors live on after him." - Albert Pike