Great essay from some courageous folks at the Camp-In-Formation in Las Vegas. Thanks to Frater T∴ for permission to share this with you: * * * Cari Sorores, Fratres, et Amici; Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. There is an ongoing, growingly hostile discussion and and debate within the O.T.O. relative to the Order’s relationship to the A∴A∴, which “lineage” is the true A∴A∴, the status of the O.T.O. as a “teaching” order, etc. etc. These issues have existed as an unhealed wound in the heart of the Thelemic movement, and have recently come to a head based primarily on the following events: 1) The unanimous election of OHO Hymenaeus Beta, to the position of constitutional International Grand Master General, Caliph, Caput Ordinis, making him a full “autocrat”, no longer just the “acting” Outer Head of the Order. 2) The release of book The Angel & the Abyss by A∴A∴ Teacher J. Daniel Gunther. 3) The lecture series, being conducted internationally, by Frater Shiva, X○, J. Daniel Gunther, and others on the topic of Duplexity, that is, the interrelationship between the O.T.O. and A∴A∴ The online reactions to the above have ranged from superlatively positive to a level of rancor unseen since the last great controversial leadership shift when H.B. was first elected acting OHO in the mid-eighties. To the members of the Las Vegas Thelemic Community, and our nascent O.T.O. Camp-in-Formation, frankly, none of this may matter a damn, particularly if one neither knows or cares about the A∴A∴ and simply wants to enjoy life in our Current, as a member, an initiate, or “just” as a Thelemite. But allow me to be a bit counter-intuitive, if I may -- yes, the above seems awfully esoteric, all pretty heady stuff that couldn’t possibly affect the life of the “average” Thelemite in our Valley; however, upon careful examination, we can see that the entire culture of the O.T.O. has been, either for good or ill, under the influence of its relationship to the A∴A∴ In Australia, where there has been marked harmony and cooperation between the two Thelemic Orders, there has been an era of cultural activity unique in our global movement. In the USA, if we are being honest with ourselves, we have been developing in fits and starts as usual, but there has been now a couple of generations of particular initiates pushing the idea that O.T.O. encompasses those aspects of personal initiation that are under the aegis of the A∴A∴; or, they push “lineages” such as those connected to the College of Thelema, the TOT, etc. Against the one true A∴A∴ left to us in its living teachers, they hurl insults and acrimony, based on hearsay, personal attacks, and the deeds of the long dead (Marcelo Motta). Over time, based on my own experiences with the O.T.O. and many of its “homegrown gurus”, I have come to understand that this resistance, this hostility comes from those who have created their own little bastions of occult economic and “spiritual” power -- that is, they like to sell books as our Authorized Magickal authorities, or push lectures, or their periodicals, or, perhaps worse yet, their own limited conception of the Great Work as one worthy of supplanting those of “lesser lights”, the occult nobodies out there who don’t do a podcast or sell mugs. The counter, of course, is that of hypocrisy -- that one Magickal Authority is just as good another, that the work of Hymenaeus Beta, James Wasserman, or J. Daniel Gunther is on the same level of occult commercialism as Lon DuQuette or David Shoemaker. This is absurd, of course -- compare the textbook standards of Liber ABA, the scholarly and graphic tour de force that is Wasserman’s edition of The Egyptian Book of the Dead, and the groundbreaking The Angel & the Abyss by Gunther with DuQuette’s “Thelema for Dummies”, approach or Shoemaker’s pop psychology. The argument goes on to state that of course the O.T.O. is a teaching order, and to suggest otherwise is a myth, and that those who do so are pushing some kind of magickal tyranny. But the reality is this; there is no one in the O.T.O., or any of its Grand Lodges, not your Bishop, or your Initiator, or anyone, who will be serving as your Superior. There are innumerable mentor positions in the O.T.O., yes, related to the training peculiar to the work of the Order, but that is in no way similar to the Guru/Chela model of the A∴A∴ So, to hide this plain truth, the “homegrown gurus” use vagueness, obfuscation, and an inflated impression of their own magickal progress to waylay the occult consumer, and keep them in the Thelemic social context, wherein popularity and cottage industry economics indicate what they consider magickal “success”. (Note that there is an absolute prohibition on money in the A∴A∴, and no group work, that is, no social context as there is in O.T.O. ) All of this is noise, and an unfortunate side effect of having had a fuzzy definition of the relationship between O.T.O. and A∴A∴ for some many years in the U.S. Grand Lodge, particularly due to the intrigues of one Phyllis Seckler, held up by American factionalists as their champion, but whose creation of bogus “lineages” of A∴A∴ started much of the mischief along these lines that we face today, see In the Center of the Fire by Jim Wasserman for a true understanding of her principal role in the perpetuation of a fraud. So, with the election of H.B. as a fully-empowered, constitutional Outer Head of the Order, this means that this one last bit of reform now begins to bring both Orders into their “right relation” with each other, one dealing with the World External to Man, and the Path of Eternity (O.T.O.), the other the World Internal to Man, and the Path of the Great Return (A∴A∴). The lecture series mentioned above has this as its sole object, and are planned in the U.S. this year, but there have already been pockets of resistance, as they say. The noise, the personal attacks, all of this is to be expected, but necessary, I believe, to establish, globally, that “right relation”. But to anyone out there who doubts, who still doesn’t understand for themselves just why this is so important, I say, keep an open mind, do the research, don’t believe the hype, and know that the real work in Thelemic Magick is not online, or written down, or in the opinions of the great media mass, but that done, in Temple, by the individual. All of the books and writing and thinking doesn’t matter a damn comparative to the simplest work done by the Aspirant. I have been a Thelemite now over two decades, and a member of O.T.O. almost as long, and I have seen the fads come and go, the flash in the pan authors or personalities who left one “hungry” after reading their work, and the petty cults of personality often created in their wake. And I have also studied our Libri system, and our republishing program, and the editorial excellence set by H.B., Wasserman, et al, and yet, the first canon to truly inspire me in my desire to perform the Great Work, and become an Aspirant of the A∴A∴ was The Inward Journey series by J. Daniel Gunther. “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” Matthew 7:20 KJV Love is the law, love under will. Fraternally, T∴
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 01:54:01 +0000
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