THE
ARCANE
ARCHIVE

a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining
to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects.


TOP | SOCIETIES | THELEMIC | ORDO TEMPLI ORIENTIS

Hyper-Real OTO?

To: thelema93-l@hollyfeld.org
From: catherine yronwode 
Subject: Re: Hyper-Real OTO? (was The O.T.O.?)
Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1999 11:38:08 -0700

nagasiva@luckymojo.com wrote:
> 
> 49991110 IVom
> 
> Hierorophos@aol.com:
> # ...the O.T.O. was founded by a specific person, at a specific time,
> # with a specific aggenda in doing so.
> 
> and apparently this is under contention. some claim that it was 
> founded by a man named Karl (or Carl) Kellner, 

I think his name was Carl -- he was Swiss, not German. The trouble seems
to have arisen because folks -- including Crowley, who also consistently
mispelled the names of his Hindu friends and acquaintances -- assume
that Switzerland is primarily Germanic, when in fact it is almost
equally Italian and French in culture. The papers presented by Po\eter
Koenig show that the man's name was Carl Kellner. A good mnemonic is to
recall that Carl Gustav Jung -- a Swiss contemporary of Kellner's --
also spelled his name with a "C." In fact, the links between the two
Carls are intriguing, given that they both hung out and even gave
classes and lectures in the then-hot occult tourism town of Ascona,
Switzerland (the Sedona, Arizona, of its era) and they both focussed at
the time on "Aryan" and "solar phallic" theories of culture. 

It is not entirely clear to me whether Carl Kellner was a co-founder
of the OTO or was rather a teacher of yoga and solar phallic theory who
greatly influenced Theodor Reuss. Reuss was, in any case, one of the
founders (or perhaps the only founder) of the OTO. I have heard
arguments on both sides of the issue of Kellner's participation in the
OTO. If my opinion is sought, i'll venture that -- because of his
intensive on-the-spot research among family members rather than his
winning literary style or capacity for polite discourse -- i tend to
give the most credibility to Peter Koenig's opinion in this matter. 

> others that a man named Reuss
> created Ordo Templi Orientis as a kind of esoteric excuse to have sex
> club parties in dance halls.

Well, here we are venturing into hotly disputed territory. It is
contended that both Theodor Reuss and Aleister Crowley -- like Anton
LaVey the Satanist after them -- hired professional strippers (called
"dancers" or "models" then) to take part in their "rituals." Crowley's
help-wanted ads in "The Stage" magazine calling for auditions for women
dancers to perform in his "Rites of Eleusis" in London are a matter of
record. In other words, it appears that these men did not seek to
perform actual magical rites involving their own compatriots, male and
female, but hired paid, professional strippers to play the parts of
"priestesses" before a paying public which may have consisted in part of
libertine men who were "initiated" by viewing a live-sex-act or
titty-show.  

> # Of course the essential teaching of that order is of antiquity
> # ...the order still has a spiritual core that can actualize
> # itself in its intiates regardless of temporal leadership?
> 
> does it? or is the essential core masonic? magical? social?
> there appears to be a diversity of opinion on the matter.

>From what i have read in the new Naylor book that sets forth the texts
of the rituals of the OTO -- both those written by Reuss and by Crowley
-- virtually all the rites are shallow, schoolboyish rip-offs and
plagiarisms of Craft Masonry and/or the Scottish Rite (the latter is not
Masonry per se, but is a French-originated fraternal order which only
Masons may join; its rites are based on the metaphor of the Knights
Templar, and it is therefore referred to a Templar order).  

> # i wonder if that spiritual core is gradually becoming something
> # alive in and of itself feeding the current of the new aeon in
> # various ways unseen even by the practitioners of its workings?
> 
> there has often been talk of a "93 Current" which is probably
> related to the promulgation of the Law of Thelema understood
> in a variety of ways by the people hoping to push for it.
> maybe this is the writhing thing you're talking about?

Now, as to Thelema, that is a different matter. I do see an increased
familiarity on the part of the general public with the concept of
"will," but i personally do not connect it to the growing influence of
the OTO or that non-Thelemic abomination, the EGC. 

> # Is the name O.T.O. becoming an talisman of the teaching that
> # resides in that organization?

Not among my friends and acquaintances in the magical and occult
communities -- many of us see the OTO as a form of pseudo-Masonry that
teaches a type of dead-end mysogyny as "spermognostic" dogma. As for
Thelema itself, that, as i said, is another matter, and one well worth
investigating, once the hold-overs of Crowley's racism, sexism, and
drug-abuse are eliminated from our understanding of what a Thelemic
culture could and might still be. 
 
> # Is it becoming an Aetheric pattern for  magicians to tap into
> # to guide them in not only their individual works, but their
> # group workings as well?
> 
> there's a lovely idea. I've contended (and others have occasionally
> mentioned) that "OTO" is a kind of egregore or archetypes, perhaps
> even a transdimensional 'Higher Order' which is only approximated
> by the various contenders for this name. the usual argument from
> the Crowleyan OTO folx is that this is the role of his AA (or the
> various Great White Brotherhood knock-offs previous to this), yet
> the division may only be a psychosis of the poet.

Yeah, that's a very personal take on the situation. As a member of a
Co-Freemasonic organization -- one that Crowley himself claimed (in his
"Confessions") was unworkable and improper due to its inclusion of
female members -- i tend to view quite skeptically the many
free-floating claims for the OTO's wonderfulness and uniqueness. 

Rather, i participate occasionally in this e-lst because i am interested
in the contemporary application of Paschal Beverly Randolph's thelemic
dictum:
    "Will reigns Omnipotent; Love lieth at the Foundation" 
              ("Mysteries of Eulis," 1874)
-- which was obviously an influence on Crowley's famous rephrasing.
 
cat yronwode 

Freemasonry for Women ------- http://www.luckymojo.com/comasonry.html

Lucky Mojo Curio Co. http://www.luckymojo.com/luckymojocatalogue.html
   Send e-mail with your street address to heypresto@luckymojo.com
and receive our free 32 page catalogue of hoodoo supplies and amulets

____________...oooOOO---thelema93-l@hollyfeld.org---OOOooo..._____________
To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe" to thelema93-l-request@hollyfeld.org
To unsubscribe your@email.com send "unsubscribe your@email.com"
To unsubscribe from the digest send to thelema93-l-digest-request@hollyfeld.org
http://www.hollyfeld.org/heaven/elists/thelema93-l.phtml

The Arcane Archive is copyright by the authors cited.
Send comments to the Arcane Archivist: tyaginator@arcane-archive.org.

Did you like what you read here? Find it useful?
Then please click on the Paypal Secure Server logo and make a small
donation to the site maintainer for the creation and upkeep of this site.

The ARCANE ARCHIVE is a large domain,
organized into a number of sub-directories,
each dealing with a different branch of
religion, mysticism, occultism, or esoteric knowledge.
Here are the major ARCANE ARCHIVE directories you can visit:
interdisciplinary: geometry, natural proportion, ratio, archaeoastronomy
mysticism: enlightenment, self-realization, trance, meditation, consciousness
occultism: divination, hermeticism, amulets, sigils, magick, witchcraft, spells
religion: buddhism, christianity, hinduism, islam, judaism, taoism, wicca, voodoo
societies and fraternal orders: freemasonry, golden dawn, rosicrucians, etc.

SEARCH THE ARCANE ARCHIVE

There are thousands of web pages at the ARCANE ARCHIVE. You can use ATOMZ.COM
to search for a single word (like witchcraft, hoodoo, pagan, or magic) or an
exact phrase (like Kwan Yin, golden ratio, or book of shadows):

Search For:
Match:  Any word All words Exact phrase

OTHER ESOTERIC AND OCCULT SITES OF INTEREST

Southern Spirits: 19th and 20th century accounts of hoodoo, including slave narratives & interviews
Hoodoo in Theory and Practice by cat yronwode: an introduction to African-American rootwork
Lucky W Amulet Archive by cat yronwode: an online museum of worldwide talismans and charms
Sacred Sex: essays and articles on tantra yoga, neo-tantra, karezza, sex magic, and sex worship
Sacred Landscape: essays and articles on archaeoastronomy, sacred architecture, and sacred geometry
Lucky Mojo Forum: practitioners answer queries on conjure; sponsored by the Lucky Mojo Curio Co.
Herb Magic: illustrated descriptions of magic herbs with free spells, recipes, and an ordering option
Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers: ethical diviners and hoodoo spell-casters
Freemasonry for Women by cat yronwode: a history of mixed-gender Freemasonic lodges
Missionary Independent Spiritual Church: spirit-led, inter-faith, the Smallest Church in the World
Satan Service Org: an archive presenting the theory, practice, and history of Satanism and Satanists
Gospel of Satan: the story of Jesus and the angels, from the perspective of the God of this World
Lucky Mojo Usenet FAQ Archive: FAQs and REFs for occult and magical usenet newsgroups
Candles and Curios: essays and articles on traditional African American conjure and folk magic
Aleister Crowley Text Archive: a multitude of texts by an early 20th century ceremonial occultist
Spiritual Spells: lessons in folk magic and spell casting from an eclectic Wiccan perspective
The Mystic Tea Room: divination by reading tea-leaves, with a museum of antique fortune telling cups
Yronwode Institution for the Preservation and Popularization of Indigenous Ethnomagicology
Yronwode Home: personal pages of catherine yronwode and nagasiva yronwode, magical archivists
Lucky Mojo Magic Spells Archives: love spells, money spells, luck spells, protection spells, etc.
      Free Love Spell Archive: love spells, attraction spells, sex magick, romance spells, and lust spells
      Free Money Spell Archive: money spells, prosperity spells, and wealth spells for job and business
      Free Protection Spell Archive: protection spells against witchcraft, jinxes, hexes, and the evil eye
      Free Gambling Luck Spell Archive: lucky gambling spells for the lottery, casinos, and races