A Reluctant Thelemite

I am a member of the O.T.O. and I am sometimes active in my local body. For me it is social engagement and also a mechanism through which I can get some degree of peer review and swap ideas about magic and occultism. While the methodologies that I use to perform magic are quite different than those of my fellow Thelemites, I feel a degree of alignment with the purposes and focus of many of the members of this order. I am a ritual magician with peculiar beliefs and practices, but despite my different approach and occult perspectives, I can find a welcoming place in the local body with my fellow lodge members. That being said, I can also state that I am probably a poor representative for any kind of classical approach to the O.T.O., since I am, at best, something of a reluctant Thelemite.

There are reasons for my one-off approach to magic and occultism, and even polytheism, when it comes to the classical Thelemite approach to these disciplines. In a few words, as one O.T.O. member once said, I “stink” of Witchcraft. That means my magical practices, occult ideals and polytheistic tendencies are grounded in my first love, which was British Traditional Witchcraft. Yes indeed, I do stink pretty foully of Witchcraft, and it colors everything that I do. It also makes me a reluctant Thelemite, since my whole approach to magic, paganism and the occult is firmly within the Witchcraft world-view. Allow me to explain what these differences are in greater detail. Let’s also keep in mind that I don’t consider myself an expert regarding Thelema or the canon of the O.T.O. As a reluctant Thelemite my understanding of this creed could be considered quite flawed.

As a Witch, I do not consider myself “one of the people of the book.” Witches don’t possess or adhere to a sacred document considered to be sacred writ and wholly unchangeable. We have a Book of Shadows, but that is a book of liturgy that was never meant to be changeless, since liturgical rites can and should be modified to make them better fit the times and the places where they are performed. As a comparison, the Catholics have radically changed their primary liturgical rite called the Mass, but they have not changed the Bible, particularly the New Testament. Yet Witches don’t have a testament or any kind of sacred writ, so as polytheists, our knowledge of the sacred is to be found in the actual experience and direct encounter with our Deities. Presence of Deity at a specific place and time represents the greatest mystery and the source of our spiritual faith, the other mysteries are about the fundamental attributes of human life (and all life in general), which is birth and death. It might be somewhat different for each and everyone of us, but that is the nature of a true polytheistic faith. Words get in way if they attempt to concretely define something that cannot even be adequately described.

Perhaps one of the primary characteristics of Monotheistic religions in the West is that they are exclusively a counter or protest religious movement against the status quo of the time. Jews created a counter movement against ancient Egyptian polytheism. Christians created a counter movement against classical Greco-Roman polytheism, Protestants rebelled against Catholicism, and Islam created a counter movement against Semitic/Arab polytheism. Each of these religions proposes an absolute Deity and an absolute religious truth, and although the Deity that they identify with is pretty much the same, their differences are the basis of a disagreement of opposing absolute truths. It is the foundation of monotheism (and the source of its problems) that a single absolute deity must be the one and only deity, and that the religious canon based on that deity must and should be written down into sacred writings, representing the one and only version of the truth.

Those of us who have rejected this notion of a single and absolute religious truth see the folly of these minor distinctions between monotheistic creeds and understand the need to achieve religious tolerance and a peaceful coexistence. (We do this for no other reason than to ensure our own survival.) I have also previously stated that the foundation of the world religions is based on the same kind of human interactions with the phenomenon of spirit, and that either they are all correct or none of them are correct. Since religions are continually nourished by people having personal religious experiences, one could conclude that the very existence of this phenomenon would preclude any kind of scientific dismissal. The truth is that billions of people have these experiences every day. Yet while the religious based myths are open to question among non-believers, if they remain in the context of religious myths then no one can actually refute them. They are subject to criticism especially if they are promoted as historical facts verified only by faith, such as how monotheistic religions represent their myths. A point of irony here is that science itself has been shaped by the monotheistic philosophies of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, so it could hardly function as a counter movement to the spiritual “opiates” of western religion.

One exception to this particular examination of monotheistic religions having sacred writings is, of course, Hinduism. The sacred writings of Hinduism, however, are more the exponents of liturgy, philosophy and meditation techniques, as well as embodying many religious myths and stories that are assiduously kept bounded in that wondrous domain. What Hinduism doesn’t have is a historical narrative of a single absolute deity intermixed with various associated absolute religious truths disguised as laws. Perhaps the most salient point that the religion of Hinduism makes is that there are a myriad of deities everywhere and no actual absolute truth, but many great truths bound together within the various cultic religious centers. Hinduism might be a good representative of what western polytheism would ultimately achieve if it continues for the next several centuries. While sacred writings are important to Hinduism, the foundation for that religion is to be found in the various shrines and religious cultic centers where the presence of deity is maintained at all times.   

Getting back to the theme of this article, I have made the point that monotheism relies on sacred writings and represents a spiritual break from or antithesis to the status quo. I have also stated that I have rejected the absolute qualities of the theology and canon of such religions, since they would seek to cancel out the truths that I possess based on personal experience with my Deities. If religious tolerance is to be maintained then those who are not part of a religion must reject these stated absolute truths and instead declare that they are actually relative. Taking this kind of stand makes me an outlier to all forms and creeds of monotheism. It also makes me a reluctant Thelemite.

As I have stated, monotheistic religions have a common cause or origin in that they are religious protest movements against the status quo. Yet in many ways, Thelema is also a protest movement against 19th Christianity, particularly the strict dominionist practices and beliefs of the Plymouth Brethren. Crowley’s natal church was the Plymouth Brethren, and it could be said that the religion that he founded was a particular antithesis movement to that kind of strict Protestant Christianity. Yet Aleister Crowley was not content to just break from his family’s church and faith in order to engage with a different religious perspective, much as what many of us did back in the 70's and 80's. He created a powerful anti-Protestant Christian movement that used the tropes of that religion to found his own religious perspective. He called himself the “Great Beast - 666” and reveled in the very symbols of the Apocalypse as laid down in the New Testament book “Revelations.” It was the Protestant Christians who made this book into a kind of revealed truth about the forthcoming end times, and the Plymouth Brethren were particularly engaged with this theme. The themes and ideation of the book of Revelations were suffused into the Book of the Law and also powerfully colored Crowley’s experiences as depicted in the Vision and the Voice, where he evoked the spirits of the Enochian Aethyrs. Crowley believed that he was the prophet of a New Aeon who would bring forth a new religion that would countermand and even abrogate the religions of the status quo. This was also affirmed by various passages of the Book of the Law.

If we take Thelema as based on Crowley’s exegesis then we can see that it becomes a specific protest movement against Protestant Christianity. It takes the themes and tropes of Christianity, especially the messianic formulations of the end times, and inverts them so that the New Aeon represents the end of Christianity and the birth of Thelema. The Great Beast becomes a prophet of the New Aeon, the Whore of Babylon becomes the chief priestess and initiator. The Crowned and Conquering Child is not Jesus, the Lamb of God, but the Anti-Christ as the proponent of the New World Order. The Book of the Law thus becomes the sacred writ of this new creed, and the canon is established as a kind of prophetic absolute truth - not to be changed or modified. While the practice of magic and exploratory occultism are the primary religious practices of this new creed, and coincidentally there are no attempts at purifying or forcibly unifying the beliefs of those who nominally accept this creed and perform this magic and speculative occultism, the model for Thelema is based on the monotheism of Protestant Christianity. What that means is that this apparent inclusiveness could change to become a kind of rigid exclusiveness based on the sacralization of the writings of Aleister Crowley. Some have gone so far as to see in the Book of the Law a kind of inculcation and promotion of a form of religious fascism.

Despite its promotion as a limited kind of polytheism (based on a trinity of primary Deities and two human representatives), Thelema is similar to a kind of monotheism, thus having more in common with its adversarial creeds than with what would be considered a purer or detached kind of revised polytheism. Crowley was vigorously and angrily reacting against his natal faith and the church of his family, and this unfortunately has impacted everything that he wrote. An objective examination of Crowley’s writings and even the Book of the Law shows this to be a clear and even obvious case. These anti Christian elements of Thelema are problematic to me because I have rejected the tropes and creed of Christianity altogether. What I don’t want to do is to have to revisit them once again in the guise of a supposedly polytheistic and occult based religious system.

Curiously and ironically, we are today suffering from the affects of the dominionist creed of Evangelical Protestant Christianity that was spawned by the Plymouth Brethren. That version of Christianity has invaded our nation’s politics and has bolstered the white supremacy movement to produce the troubled combination of right-wing politics and the ascendancy of the presidency of Donald Trump. Perhaps Thelema might be considered an antidote to the terrible times that we live in, but it would have to become much more popular than it is to culturally oppose and defeat Evangelical Christianity. Then there would be the problem that in order to be so popular, Thelema would have to be modified to be ever more like Christianity, which would certainly end my interest in it.

Since the current O.T.O organization allows for a plurality of beliefs and perspectives within its ranks, I can belong to this organization without having to strictly adhere to its canon and beliefs. I am certainly a practicing magician and occultist who is seeking to discover the truth for myself. I acknowledge many of the ideas put forth by the religion of Thelema, but I also have a lot of doubts and points where I am not in alignment with that faith. I am puzzled by the Book of the Law, liking some passages, rejecting others, and then finding yet other passages that are confusing or unclear to me. Since I don’t accept any specific book as representing my beliefs or my faith, I am unable to accept the Book of the Law wholly and completely as holy writ representing my religious beliefs. I suspect that other Thelemites also question various passages of the Book of the Law, and that the necessity of following or adhering to one’s true will (“Do What Thou Wilt Is The Whole of Law”) abrogates any kind of surrender to a strict adherence to this book. I also belief in “Love” as the primary force that draws us all together and mitigates our differences, but I believe that a complete surrender to this emotion is folly, therefore, “Love Under Will.” 

In accepting these basic premises one could say that I am a Thelemite, but I would claim to be one that is plagued by doubt, different perspectives and different religious experiences. I cannot accept the creed of Thelema without also keeping these differences and objections at the fore-front of my mind. If I belonged to a Christian or Islamic sect, I would have been forcefully ejected quite some time ago, since I would have refused to adopt a strict adherence to the basic creed. I also still have the terrible habit of asking too many damned questions, and this certainly got me kicked out of Sunday school when I was a troubled and disruptive adolescent.

Additionally, as part of my own magical exegesis I discovered that Thelema was only one of a four-part gnostic perspective on magical truth. The other three were Agape, Eros and Thanatos. These would represent Will, Love, Desire and Death, respectively. The central unifying gnostic attribute was Astreas, or the Star, which represents the fusion of all four gnostic qualities into a singular spiritual expression. Every man and woman might be a star, but then so are the deities, and so is the representation of the One. It was this theme that inspired me to write up five different Mass rites and their associated liturgies, and I continue to work with them to this day.

I do find common cause with Thelema and Thelemites, and I also find their magical workings and occultism to be quite excellent and relevant to my own. I consider Aleister Crowley to be one of my many spiritual ancestors and I still read his writings to this day. I have a different perspective and also different practices to be sure, but I also have a basic understanding that dovetails quite nicely with Thelema as I understand it. As long as Thelema and the O.T.O. promotes self-discovery and doesn’t try to coerce a single definition and creed upon its members, I believe that I will continue to work with them and be a somewhat active member. I might be a reluctant Thelemite, but I do acknowledge those with whom I have common interests, practices and beliefs. May this relationship continue during this difficult and challenging time in which we live.

Frater Barrabbas

Thelema, Magic, Witchcraft and Crowley

I decided to write this article up while I am recovering from contracting Lyme’s disease. Last month my lady got it, and late this month I have been the recipient. It’s been a summer of sickness interfering with nearly everything we wanted to do, but at least there are medical solutions and little possibility of permanent damage. Even so, exerting myself only marginally is quickly tiring, but I just wanted to post my opinions about the topics of Thelema, Magic, Witchcraft and Aleister Crowley. All of these topics fit together, particularly since they have been discussed on Face Book by various pundits and opinionators. Some of these opinions are quite off-base, so I felt I should publish some of my own perspectives responding to what I think are erroneous beliefs.

One of the first discussions that I wanted to tackle, and that has been promoted by various individuals, is that Aleister Crowley, far from being the be-all and end-all of the 20th century WMT (Wester Magical Tradition) was really a hack and not much of magician at all. It seems that it is now quite popular and fashionable to trash the founders of the various occult and magical traditions and thereby diminish their contributions to our present magical knowledge. If you want to get some attention from other internet occultists, just trash-talk one of their founders. It will get you lots of attention, oddly both supportive and also quite hostile. It also stirs up people’s emotions and sets up yet another controversy that is discussed endlessly to death - sometimes for months on end. When I see these kinds of inflammatory pronouncements, it leaves little doubt in my mind that some people have far too much time on their hands.

Dismissing occult and magical founders is a popular pastime, but it’s also where some folks get to rewrite history and enter into a world divorced from reality. Trash-talking founders is the equivalent of spreading misinformation about them, and for the authors of such obnoxious opinions a not-so obvious personal edification. The fact is that Crowley wrote quite a number of books in the first half of the twentieth century that are still being read, studied and used today. Many of these books are considered classics, even though they were written nearly 100 years ago.

Aleister Crowley was a controversial individual when he was alive, but to this day I feel that few biographers have ever really captured what the man was really like. Everyone who had known him (and either loved or hated him) “painted” a different picture of this man, and some of these descriptions were completely different or contradictory. He was a complex man who had many virtues and also many failings. Some have condemned him for his immorality, others have pointed to the fact that he died a drug addict. His followers have praised him as the prophet of the New Aeon and the greatest magician of all time. I am less sanguine about Crowley, but I do believe that he deserves a lot of credit for the current and on-going occult and magical revival.

It is my belief and opinion that Crowley is solely responsible for bringing the practice and study of magic from the 19th century into the 20th, which was no small feat. He also started a trend that led to the creation of the modern pagan religious revival. Those who would denounce his accomplishments should look to their own meager legacy and potential impotence. If I were able to at least produce a quarter of his literary output and have some impact on magicians in the next 100 years I think that I would consider myself quite accomplished. I will likely leave this world without achieving even that modest level of accomplishment.

Even though Crowley left behind a large and deep legacy of his occult and magical writings, his work stands as incomplete and lacking in certain areas. Of course, this is true of all founders, and it is up to those who follow afterwards to pick up this lore and expand it so that it becomes comprehensive and complete. The fact that this has not happened yet is only because it has taken many individuals decades to fully understand and master the legacy that he left behind. I suspect in time that many individuals will begin to write up the fruits of their years of study (if they haven’t already) and incrementally expand the knowledge and practice of Thelemic magic until it is a more thorough and complete system.

However, many of the Thelemites that I have personally met seem to have a grasp and practical knowledge of the entire spectrum of both thaumaturgy (low magic) and theurgy (high magic). Compared to many individuals that I have met or read about working other traditions, it would seem that Thelemites are more knowledgeable and capable regarding the arts of magic and the occult than anyone else. This is, of course, my opinion, but I think that Thelema and the OTO/AA have a better record of teaching individuals how to be real and functioning magicians than any other organization. Keep in mind that the teaching part is what naturally happens in an OTO lodge and is not a part of any official regimen. The AA, however, is a tradition that specifically trains individuals to be magicians. I have compared it to getting a PhD in practical and theoretic magic.

This brings me to the next controversy, and that is the criticism that Thelemites in general have to branch out and acquire other magical techniques from other sources (such as Hoodoo, the old grimoires and the PGM) in order to perform thaumaturgy or low magic. I think that I have touched on this topic in the previous paragraphs, but it still seems like an innocent observation that has some pretty damning ramifications. I guess the complaint is that Thelemic magic is somehow hollow, incomplete and missing the whole standard mechanisms for making magical changes in the material world and thus changing the outcome of one’s fortunes. I don’t know where this argument started, but it is specious and completely wrong.

I happen to know plenty of Thelemic magicians who can work magic on all levels, both thaumaturgy and theurgy without having to pillage from other sources. Crowley’s descriptions of Golden Dawn magic are probably the most cogent and practical explanations available, even in the present times. His writings on Enochian magic were less thorough, but in combination with them and the actual Dee diaries, a number of Thelemites have produced a comprehensive system of Enochian magic that is completely usable. Essentially, any magical system that has the mechanisms for Elemental, Planetary and Zodiacal magic should be able to perform operations that can impact the material plane.

If Thelemites have also been culling other forms of magic, such as the PGM, the old grimoires and other ethnic or cultural sources (Hoodoo, Voudoun, Palo, Tibetan, Hindu, Chinese-Taoist, etc.) it is because they are fascinated and engaged with all things magical. A truly gifted magician will leave no stones unturned in order to fully master the Art of Magic, and that is my interpretation of what they are doing. To promote an interpretation that discredits Thelemic magic because its members don’t remain within their own supposed traditional boundaries is patently ridiculous. All of the various systems of magic in use today have been borrowed, appropriated and modified from other systems of magic at some point in time. Some have kept the traditional exponents pure (as far as they know), some have invented wholly new ways and techniques, while others have pulled various rites and workings from various traditions together to build hybrid systems relevant to the individual, locale and the times. All of the these approaches are legitimate because they all work and achieve the desired results. So, I think that I have pretty much debunked that spurious opinion and showed that it is misinformed at best, and even malicious at its worst.

Now we come to the final point of this article and that is the relationship between Thelema and British Traditional Witchcraft. Some have persisted in declaring the urban myth that somehow Crowley wrote the Book of Shadows and was therefore, the author and godfather of Modern Witchcraft. This has been shown time and again to be completely false. While it is true that Gerald B. Gardner visited Crowley twice some months before his death, and he might have been given the rites and the permission to start up an OTO lodge, there wasn’t any further collaboration between them.

I also doubt that Crowley gave Gardner any rituals or an OTO charter, particularly since a few members of the OTO have shown that the charter owned and displayed by Gardner was likely a fake. Considering the terrible spelling and grammar errors in Gardner’s original work and those amplified in the Book of Shadows, I greatly doubt that Crowley had any hand in writing the rituals used by Gardnerian Witches. The two initiatory ordeals were obviously based loosely on the Masonic Entered Apprentice and Fellowcraft initiations. I know this to be true because I did an in-depth analysis comparing these initiatory rites. Gardner needed prototypes upon which to develop his own Witchcraft initiations, and these two rites were perfect. If Gardner would have had copies of the OTO initiations in his possession he would have likely used them as templates instead.

The Great Rite, however, was based on the Thelemic Gnostic Mass, and in fact, Gardner rather shamelessly plagiarized the section where the priest adores and kisses the priestess residing on the altar. Later renditions of Gardnerian rites in the Book of Shadows tended to remove the obvious references to Crowley’s lore, but some of the original lore was still kept around for the sake of posterity. We can look at this lore today and see where it originally came from.Gardner had access to some of Crowley's writings, and he likely had a copy of the Gnostic Mass in his collection of papers at some time.

So, while the writings and lore published by Aleister Crowley had a powerful impact on Gardner, and that he sought to appropriate some of it for his own rituals, doesn’t mean that he either had in his possession the initiatory lore of the OTO or that somehow Crowley wrote up the rituals used in the Book of Shadows. I believe that had Crowley wrote up the lore for Gardnerian Witchcraft it would have been far more elegant and lyrical than it is today. (Certainly the spelling, vocabulary and grammar would have been impeccable.) What lyricism can be found in some of the lore of Modern Witchcraft was added a bit later by Doreen Valiente. This is just another case of someone being strongly influenced by Crowley’s published writings and seeking to use them in emulating their own magical and pagan perspectives. I think that many of us have done this at some point in our magical and occult careers.

One other point to consider is that Witchcraft magic is incompatible with Thelemic or Golden Dawn magic, even though Gardner appropriated the GD Opening by Watchtower rite to fashion his own circle consecration rite. Because he mixed antique pagan ideas about sacred space with the concise mechanism for opening a GD temple for magic, he produced a hybrid system that has a completely different perspective. Some GD magicians have complained that the invoking pentagrams in the circle consecration rite are performed incorrectly at the watchtowers and that the whole thing should collapse and be rendered useless because of the flaws in its construction. Of course, as in many cases the intent of the magician can trump a poor design, so even the Wiccan circle consecration rite works quite well although it is not as elegantly constructed or written as the GD version.

The purpose and function of these two rites are different enough that the rules of one doesn’t apply to the other, which is something that confounds a lot of the dialog between magicians and witches about magic today. Needless to say, if Crowley had written this ritual it would have been a lot more like the GD version, and the purposes for its use would have been analogous to the rite practiced by them. They are quite different, and that makes Witchcraft ritual magic and GD/Thelemic ceremonial magic quite distinct, at least in my opinion.

Frater Barrabbas 


New Rules #1: If you are going to advertise that you can teach and initiate magicians so that they may be elevated to an Ipsissimus (the highest degree possible: 10 = 1) then learn how to spell that word before you post the advertisement. Not being able to spell this word certainly doesn’t give your potential students (or anyone else) the confidence that you know what you are talking about.

Why I Rejoined the O.T.O.

Recently, after much thought and consideration I have decided to re-activate my membership in the O.T.O. I have been an inactive member since around 2003 because I just decided that I didn’t want to progress any further in the degrees and felt that the organization really didn’t have much to offer me. I am unfortunately rather lukewarm towards the philosophy and theology of what I call classical Thelema and I am just not into acting as if Aleister Crowley was a defacto prophet of the coming age. The various religious tenets of Thelema just didn’t over-awe me compared to what I saw other folks dong and feeling when they were engaged with it. I was, in my own mind, something of a “partially disaffected” Thelemite. I therefore had no reason to continue to belong to that organization, or so I thought.

However, what I might not have really understood is that many Thelemites question Thelema and feel that it is their right to agree or disagree with what Crowley wrote, or to interpret the Book of the Law in a manner that appeals to their sense of logic, justice and overall rightness. There isn’t sacred cannon (although there is a tradition and sacred writings) and members are encouraged to use their own powers of critical thinking to determine the nature of what they believe and how they practice those beliefs. In other words there isn’t a right or wrong way and there definitely isn’t a sectarian power to keep the faithful believing in strict accordance with an established creed. In fact, there really isn’t any dogma in the O.T.O. or in the theological speculations of Thelema.

What the O.T.O. does have is quite an impressive collection of magicians and speculative occult experimenters that covers the whole spectrum of occult studies, both West and East. Most, but not all, of the cutting edge magical practices and perspectives have come from individual practitioners who are either actively associated or who once were associated with the O.T.O. It would seem that in re-activating my membership I am just affirming an association with a peer group that represents, in my opinion, the best of breed for modern magick and occultism.

This means that I can belong to this organization and I have the freedom to engage in a local body if I choose as well as attend any Order sponsored events. I can also contact other members of the order and I believe that they would be more likely to help me (even if I were a complete stranger) because I am a brother initiate. I also have the freedom (as well as the responsibility) to interpret Thelema however I wish and thereby practice it in a manner that would seem to be in accord with my True Will. Others may disagree with me or how I interpret Thelema, but as long as I comport myself within the basic guidelines (bylaws) of the order and the local body, I shouldn’t have any difficulties.

While other organizations are quite binding and exclusive, tying the individual members to an organization and its leader, the O.T.O. has no such rules, limitations or boundaries. I can be a Thelemite, an Alexandrian Witch or even a Gnostic Bishop (outside of the EGC) and no one will either comment nor seek to excommunicate me from the order. I have quite a bit of latitude to develop my beliefs and to practice them however I feel inclined. There are, of course, some boundaries, but they are quite wide and represent ethical as well as legal responsibilities.

Perhaps the most compelling reason for me to re-activate my membership is because there is such a large population of highly competent and knowledgeable magicians and occultists in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota who also happen to be members of the O.T.O. I would like to associate and also work with them to help develop my own practices and beliefs. This seems like a good group of men and women who could act as a peer group to judge what I am doing and how I am doing it. While I could probably do this as an inactive member, I would still be barred from participating in any local body activities as well as the various conventions, such as Noticon. 

It seems like such a trifle to reactive my membership and thereby gain all of the benefits that such membership affords. I have often said that having a peer group is very important for an aspiring student, and that is also true for a long time practitioner such as myself. Even a senior adept is not immune to hubris or erroneous assumptions about magic and the occult in general. If this group of local magicians can inspire me to greater heights and also curb my more egregious flaws then such a group is worth joining and maintaining.

Anyway, while this event has touched off a lot of thought on my part regarding Thelema and the O.T.O. another author had previously come to quite the opposite conclusion. She had decided to quit the O.T.O. The author of that article, which appeared in a recent edition of the eZine Spiral Nature (June 18), wrote about her objections to the O.T.O. and cited the rigid and inflexible beliefs and practices held by its members as one of the several reasons for leaving the order. This, according to her, was particularly to be found in the area of gender representation in the ECG ritual vehicle, which is the Gnostic Mass,. You can find that article here.

I find it curious that the author, who calls herself Psyche, would pick apart the one ritual in the religious branch of the O.T.O. that has rather strict traditional roles associated with the primary celebrants. While it is true that you might not be able to find a situation where the Priestess would be portrayed by a male, or the Priest, a female, there have been plenty of women body masters and officiants of the O.T.O., and I might add, even a few Gnostic Bishops. In fact, I can attest that the order was something of nearly all-male kind of occult geek club back in the 80's and early 90's, but it has since greatly changed. This was due in part to a more rigorous change in the bylaws that made the local body as well as the Grand Chapter more equitable and gender neutral. However, those changes are not yet reflected in the actual rites of the ECG, and that could be because it is a kind of religious tradition.

It is also a mystery to me that something which is deemed part of the “tradition” of a spiritual and magical order would be expected to rapidly change and mutate itself in accordance with the current trends. I have not found this to be the case in British Traditional Witchcraft, although the inclusion of members of the LGBT community has occurred rapidly (and recently) over the last couple of decades. Still, traditional witchcraft stipulates that a woman initiates and man, and a man initiates a woman, and that rigid gender biased versions of polarity are taught and used in rituals and ceremonies despite the sexual orientation of the members. I know a number of gay and lesbian folk who are quite happy practicing traditional witchcraft, and they have no qualms with what passes as tradition. Gender based roles are not exclusive to the BTW or the O.T.O. for that matter, they can be found nearly everywhere in our social institutional organizations.

Should we be open to experimenting with gender roles and magical sexual based polarities? Of course we should be open to anything that can expand our consciousness or help us to evolve as human beings. However, something that is part of the core “tradition” of an organization might be beyond the bounds of experimentation even though it could still be an effective and relevant trope. This doesn’t mean that such boundaries are to be deployed for any or all rites, most especially those that are written up for the purpose of experimentation. However, traditional rites and practices aren’t typically subject to experimentation.

Anyway, I find Psyche’s reason for leaving the O.T.O. to be curious because she took such exception at what is a traditional practice or rite. Traditional rites do change, but they usually change slowly over time, not rapidly due to new trends or social conventions. Even so, there is a place for having a completely experimental based magical and spiritual organization where every variation can be tried and tested.

I have belonged to a couple of groups in my occult career that did a lot of experimentation. In fact one of them started out with no traditional rites at all - they had to be written by the group. What was established in those groups, however unique, experimental and cutting edge, became something of a tradition in its own right over time. The really successful workings were brought into a kind of common practice and the ones that bombed were either analyzed to death or quickly forgotten. I believe that the better organization is the one that can be completely experimental, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some O.T.O, bodies out there that have the capacity for changing gender roles or experimenting with polarity. Still, we shouldn’t expect a tradition to break its own tradition. Someday, I will seek out the company of a few like-minded individuals who are driven by curiosity and a desire for pushing the envelope, and together we will discover some whole new vistas in the area of magic and occultism. For now, however, I will content myself with being a member of the O.T.O. 

Psyche says at the end of her article that she is still looking for a magical and spiritual community. In my opinion all she has to do in order to find like-minded individuals is to be engaged with the greater alternative spiritual community in which she lives. Forming a loose confederation of equal individuals (what I call a Star Group) is not particularly daunting, and once established, then the group can decide what is important and significant to them, writing up their own rituals and ceremonies to experiment and discover what works for them. I can’t think of a more challenging and equally fun project to engage one’s time, but it does require a maximum amount of creativity, research, flexibility and a good ritual writing ability, and, I might add, a fair amount of time and patience.

What seems likely is that Psyche doesn’t have the time, the connections or maybe the dedication to form her own group, at least not just yet. Perhaps in time, she will gather together a small group of magicians and occultists and start her own organization. That’s how I did it, and it was worth the time and effort to make it happen. For the rest of us who have neither the time nor the inclination, there’s always the traditional groups and organizations already set up with their established traditions, and I might add, biases and boundaries. At least with the O.T.O. you can, to certain extent, pick and choose what you want to practice and believe.

Frater Barrabbas

A Very Busy Spring

Looking at the calender, I am shocked by the fact that here it is nearly the end of April and I am deeply engaged with work, work and more work. I guess there’s no rest for the wicked, even though I haven’t even had any time to be wicked. The balmy days of March have become the nearly frigid days of April calends, even despite the flowers and leaves coming out early. It represents the peculiarity of the weather this far to the north. However, Beltain is coming, and following that, the celebration of May Day in the Twin Cities. This includes the madcap left-wing workers’ parade and the Heart of the Beast outdoor presentation. This year it will all take place on May 6, so perhaps the weather will have warmed up somewhat to make the occasion more enjoyable.

May Day is also when I must complete and turn in the revisions and resubmit my manuscript for the upcoming Llewellyn book “Magical Qabalah for Beginners.” I have added more text to certain strategic chapters to help make it more self explanatory and comprehensive, and I have also applied some of the new insights that I had when assembling my two classes on the Qabalah. Once I submit the manuscript with revisions, then it will be subjected to the more rigorous process of editing, where the manuscript will be refined, perfected and prepared for publication. The date when this book will be available is still Spring 2013, so I will inform you about the up-coming milestones, once they are achieved. Hopefully, I  will have a more definitive printing date in the near future.

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There has been quite a bit of hubbub on the Golden Dawn blogosphere, which seems to be typical of what has been occurring there as of late. The HOGD and A+O organizations are fighting a furious battle against obviously regressive reconstructive forces, which have been characterized by them as the McGoldenDawn. It brings to my mind the image of a kind of demented Ronald McGoldenDawn mindlessly and happily plugging his wares, along with the whole cohort of cartoon-like characters representing the varieties of fast-food occultism. We have been warned about this temptingly easy and cheap meal. It may temporarily fill you up, but in the long run, it will kill you with all sorts of industrial level diseases and malnutrition. I think that is a useful analogy about the current state of affairs. The additional revelation that the organization of SRIA (Societas Rosicruciana In Anglia, or the Soc Rose) is the godfather-like puppet master behind this conspiracy seems to make complete sense to me. Although, it also seems like a pathetically contrived conspiracy, since such a push against the A+O is doomed to failure. Also, those who are behind it don’t seem to be very intelligent or gifted.

However, I think that the overall motivating factor for individuals to attack the A+O is because they are terribly jealous and filled with a deadly envy. This is due to the fact that the A+O organization has a wealth of new materials that have never been published or revealed to the public, and they also have the trust and care of the secret chiefs. Thus they are blessed in a manner that no other Golden Dawn group has been blessed in the last century. So if David Griffin wishes to be overly dramatic, comical and passionate about the defense of his organization, then he has every right to be that way. Not being in his shoes, I don’t really know how I would react if I were in a similar situation. So to judge him harshly as some have done is to do the entire Golden Dawn a great disservice. (Just imagine yourself in his place, and ask yourself what would you do to protect the honor and integrity of the A+O?)

Just to give you an idea of how bankrupt certain reconstructionist groups have become, all you need to do is to compare them to myself and the humble little organization that I am helping to run. The Order of the Gnostic Star has a handful of members and a great wealth of ritual and liturgical lore. Most of this lore was designed and developed in directions and from sources that are not to be found in books or any other materials. In the library of the Order are a series of unique ritual systems consisting of hundreds of rituals and liturgical rites. Every year, more materials are being added to this foundation. How is that occurring?

First of all, the whole basis to our work is completely experiential, and the focus is mostly theurgic ordeals. We work our ritual magick to converse with spirits and aspects of Godhead within our spiritual hierarchy, and thereby discover new connections, new insights and new techniques. This new material is used to develop new lore, which in turn helps those who are using it to discover new insights. This process is self-feeding, producing a cycle of creativity that seems to be boundless. We obviously have some very dynamic inner plane connections that are powerfully active, making our tiny organization one that has a constantly evolving and growing foundation of lore.

Therefore, we are happy to keep our noses in our own business, and for the time being, seem to need nothing outside of that work to sustain us. Since we are gifted with this potent egregoric connection, we don’t spend any time grousing about other groups or declaring that this group or that is fraudulent. In fact, I am quite happy and satisfied with the progress that our own work is following, and I have discovered that it is often quite all-consuming. I don’t have time to be jealous of anyone else’s work, and I feel that someone like David Griffin is to be honored for what he is doing in regards to the lore of the A+O.

Since I have access to David, he does tell me some of the things that he is doing (or at least as much as he can considering that I am not under the Rose, as it were), and I don’t feel envious, jealous or spiteful. I am hoping that all of David’s work is a smashing success, since that will benefit many occultists and initiates following the Western Mystery tradition. He certainly doesn’t seem to be doing it to magnify or edify himself, so that makes him different than some of the other GD leaders whose opinions and diatribes I find myself constantly bombarded with whenever I search the internet. All of this reminds me of the way that Republican pundits declared that they wanted the newly elected president of the U.S. to fail, just because he wasn’t the leader of their party. If the president of our country is a failure, then we all suffer accordingly. I think that the same analogy can be used in examining how a number of pundits in the Golden Dawn community seek to vilify and disparage David Griffin and the A+O. Instead, we should wish him and his organization well, since it can only benefit everyone if he is successful.

David is very busy doing his work, which I might add is quite massive, and he has to interrupt that work to respond to the inanity and mendaciousness of those who are fighting against him and his organization. I can only wonder how much more he could accomplish if everyone just focused on their own work instead of seeking to glorify themselves as they attempt to uproot and demolish the very overall organization that they are supposed to be building and defending. They obviously have too much time on their hands, and they also seem to have a paucity of new lore and breakthrough insights. They are running on empty, since the Regardie Golden Dawn material is nearly exhausted in its capacity to enlighten or help determine self-mastery. Anyway, it all seems very simple to me, but then again, I have no stakes in the war of egos, but would see great merit in whatever new groundbreaking materials would become available to those of us who are initiates. I suspect that the one group who will truly amaze and astonish the western occult world in the near future will be the A+O, and not the overly glorified stooges of the McGoldenDawn franchises.

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Very recently I saw a comment on one of my older blog articles about Michael Bertiaux. Incredibly, Allen Greenfield, who was the author of that comment, has whined that I have defamed his very fine reputation with rumors of his supposedly infamous initiatory relationship with that man. While I personally don’t know what transpired between Allen and Michael, I did hear quite a lot of salacious speculation from individuals who had inside knowledge of that affair. I can only report what I heard and also what I knew then about Bertiaux.

Michael never freely gave away any of his magickal secrets, lore and lineages. He always made someone pay a price of some kind for what he had to offer. Typically, it was some kind of gratuitous exchange, and it could be as supposedly harmless as giving him a picture of yourself and perhaps other personal possessions. (Although what he claimed to do with that picture and those personal possessions would trouble even a hardened magickal operator.)  Michael claimed that he sought some kind of compensation from his students as a natural part of his teachings, and that he could and would function like a psychic vampire if given the opportunity. He has even stated this fact in his written work (referring to some victim students as “human batteries”), so it shouldn’t be surprising to anyone if he did behave that way.

I happen to know one individual who was able to get consecrated by Michael Bertiaux and not have to give more of himself than what would be required just to be initiated. That person was my esteemed brother Lugh, who told me that he had to threaten Michael with physical harm in order to get him to behave himself. All I know is that if I had wanted Michael Bertiaux’s consecration and magickal lore, I would have had to give myself to him, body and soul. (Michael certainly made that clear to me and said as much.) That was the bargain, and I found it much too steep, while others eagerly sought what he had to give at any cost.

Of course, all of this happened thirty-four years ago, and at a time when Michael was in his prime. No one stays the same, and I am sure that Michael Bertiaux is very likely different today than he was back then. However, I have no interest in ever finding out, since I don’t need to bolster my episcopal lineage by tying it to him. I also have found very little useful material in his book, the “Gnostic Voudoun Workbook,” and the little material he gifted me before I cut ties with him. Keep in mind that I had to fend off Michael’s advances, and that he also behaved this way with my teacher, Bill Schoebelen, and anyone else who sought his knowledge and power in those times.

So I found Allen Greenfield’s claims of defamation to be quite ridiculous. How can I defame someone whose own spiritual and magickal corruption has become a monumental barrier to being anything other than a pathetic excuse for a human being. Allen, who was an honored seventh degree initiate of the O.T.O. and an inspector general, was kicked out of this esteemed organization because he publically claimed that the Outer Head of the Order was a fraud. 

I have had a number of encounters with Allen Greenfield over the last few decades, and I can say for a fact that everyone of them was quite negative, if not completely distasteful. I have described a few of those encounters in one of my previous blog articles, so you may remember me talking about him when spinning the tale about my past history. I might be a bit less disdainful of Allen if he hadn’t also sought to corrupt and negatively manipulate the local bodies of the O.T.O. in Atlanta. The sad fact is that there were two local bodies that were forcibly closed in the Atlanta area in the last couple of decades, and they can be pretty much attributed to the nefarious influences of Allen Greenfield. Perhaps now that the O.T.O. has kicked Allen out of their organization, the local bodies of the O.T.O. in Atlanta might actually be successful, but only if they keep him far away.

Perhaps it’s not ironic that I have met some really stellar individuals who are initiates in the O.T.O. over the long period of my occult career. Lon Milo Duquette is a brilliant and kindly gentleman, and Scott Stenwick is one of the foremost occultists and magicians that I have ever met. I went through the first four degrees of the O.T.O. and I have found that organization to be sound, successful and benevolently challenging. Many of the magicians that I have met who are initiates in the O.T.O. represent the cutting edge of magickal knowledge and expertise. I am proud to have been a member of that organization, and as an initiate, I would keep their confidences and implicitly respect those who are deemed their leaders. I have had other callings in the last few years, and allowed my membership to lapse after I had achieved the third degree, since by that time I had begun to follow an altogether different path than the O.T.O..

However, even though I follow a different path today, I still respect the tenets and practices of the O.T.O. and I consider the writings of Aleister Crowley to be one of the greater sources of my occult studies and researches. I don’t consider myself an exclusive Thelemite, but I have found a life-long respect for that philosophy. Still, I think that Allen Greenfield has shown himself to be completely unworthy of that organization in every way, and I believe that they had good reason to expel him with extreme prejudice. So how could I possibly besmirch someone who has made it a lifelong career to be a complete jackass to everyone around him?

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Some other interesting things to share with you, my readers, has to do with the recently translated Gospel of Judas. When the National Geographic came out with their translation, I didn’t jump on the band wagon and attempt to realize what that newly found codex actually means to us today. I admit, though, that I find the Gnostics of antiquity interesting and fascinating. So when another new Coptic codex comes along, I usually end up reading it. This time, back in 2007, I was involved in other things and didn’t get a chance to see the National Geographic special that painted a startling new image of the disciple who supposedly betrayed Jesus. It wasn’t until recently that I downloaded that special via Netflix, and I found its theme to be quite interesting.

Judas Iscariot has been vilified over the centuries as a greedy and selfish opportunist who exemplified the Jewish persona in the eyes of faithful Christians. Judas had become the excuse and euphemism for antisemitism, but with this new gospel, he was seen instead as the close confident of the messiah who was convinced by Jesus himself to betray him. Of course, this seemed a bit too good to be true, and as it turned out, a new and more careful translation has shown the opposite to be true.

The Gospel of Judas was written by Sethians, and it was a sinister literary tool crafted to discredit the apostolic succession of the twelve disciples, and so completely overturn the ascendancy of the emerging Catholic Christianity. I found this interesting bit of information in a book written by Dr. April DeConick, entitled “The Thirteenth Apostle.” This book is quite excellent, since it also gives the reader a thorough insight into the Sethian Gnostic tradition. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in Gnosticism. The Sethians freely mixed the Judeo-Christian religious system with an applied occultism and magick, which makes it appropriate and relevant today, more than 1,800 years later. You can find this book on Amazon dot com, at this link.

In the future, I will write a more thorough article on this book. Right now, I need to get back into my manuscript and finish up all of my work. I also have another magickal working that will be performed on April 30, so there will be some more interesting data on the ongoing Portae Lucis working that I am seeking to accomplish just before the Summer Solstice.

Frater Barrabbas