Thelema Lodge Calendar for February 1993 e.v.

Thelema Lodge Calendar

for February 1993 e.v.


   
   The viewpoints and opinions expressed herein are the responsibility of the contributing authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of OTO or its officers.

   Note to update: the addresses and phone numbers in these issues of the Thelema Lodge Calendars are obsolete since the closing of the Lodge. They are here for historic purposes only and should not be visited or called.

Copyright © O.T.O. and the Individual Authors, 1993 e.v.

Thelema Lodge
Ordo Templi Orientis
P.O.Box 2303
Berkeley, CA 94702 USA

February 1993 e.v. at Thelema Lodge

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

Announcements from
Lodge Members and Officers


EDITORIAL

A Fraternal Sister in Need


    Tragedy often hits us when we least expect it. Here in the Bay Area a new year brings us toward a brighter future which we haven't experienced in quite a few years. When it all looks like we can finally settle in and get down to business, the gods throw us a curve. Someone very dear to us who has been around the OTO 'seemingly forever' was struck by a car while walking across the street. It's been a tough battle for her, and for the first few days everyone in the Bay Area was holding their breath hoping she would pull through. She is doing a little better; but the road back to health is going to be a long, arduous battle. It's not going to be easy; and unfortunately the full extent of injuries is not fully known. We don't know what permanent damage there is. All we do know is that any serious blows to the head take their toll, and all we can do at present is sit, wait and hope. Time will tell. It is truly a tragedy.
    We can write a lengthy piece on Lola DeWolfe and all the accomplishments which she has done for our Order, more in fact than most achieve; but that is not the purpose of this editorial.
    We have a Fraternal sister in need. That should say it all. Over the fifteen years or more that I've been a member I have heard many requests for help coming from fellow Brothers and Sisters. Some needs are greater than most and others seem just like a request for 'send me money just because'. It's hard to care when you read these types of requests for help, and you are sitting across the country very comfortable. You may not have a desire to get involved. You may be asking yourself, "Who is Lola, that I should care? I don't even know her!". That should not be your attitude. A fellow sister is in need.
    Ask yourself a simple question. If it happened to you, would you want the Fraternity that you joined there behind you to help? Remember, we are all in this together no matter where we are located from Massachusetts to Florida and all points of the compass. That is what makes us strong, and such strength is needed right now to aid someone very dear to our Order. We are not asking for vast sums of money, although whatever you can spare will be greatly appreciated. If each one of us gave only a dollar the thousands of us across the globe could make a difference. Even sending her cards of appreciation and well wishes will brighten her stay in the hospital. (Send them care of Thelema Lodge at our P.O.Box) Please, put yourself in her shoes and try to picture the pain and fears that are going through her mind right now. If ever she needed us ... this is the time.
    Fraternally, Achad Osher 583 VIII°
    Thelema Lodge Master


Help Lola Fund


    The establishment of a "Help Lola Fund" has been suggested by some of our Thelemic sisters and brothers.
    Most of us have heard by now that on December 28th, Lola was hit by a moving vehicle as she was crossing a street in a crosswalk, and was thereby left unconscious, with severe head and other injuries. She was in intensive care for one week, and is only now recovering consciousness, but will remain hospitalized for an indefinite period.
    The purpose of money contributed is to pay bills while she's in the hospital and to help her get on her feet until she can be self-supporting again. She will need our assistance in order to do this.
    Anyone wishing to contribute to this fund can make checks payable to Luscha {.....} (her daughter-in-law) and mail them to Thelema Lodge, P.O. Box 2303, Berkeley CA 94702 USA or call the Lodge at (510) ...-.... for more information. Please be sure to specify the donation as "Help Lola Fund".


February Events & Notes


Jerry's Logorrhea


    Once again the Lodgemaster rants forth! Rumor has it that attempts will be made to discuss Liber Al without dissolving into a centre of pestilence. This should be interesting folks! The topic is by demand and the lecture begins at 7:30pm on Saturday, February 20th.


Certificates


    Are you missing a certificate for a degree you received in the past at Thelema Lodge or the Bay Area? If your certificate has never been received, please contact the Lodge Secretary, Henry Herndon. You must provide the following information: Name, degree initiated, date of initiation, location of initiation, and the name of the initiator. The deadline for receiving the above information is February 24, 1993.


Liber XV


    There are two Gnostic Masses scheduled for this month on Sundays, February 14th and 21st. The ritual begins at 4:18pm; the doors open by 3:33pm. All are welcome to attend, as these events are open to the public. In addition to the practice of Liber XV, a workshop on the ritual will be held on Thursday, February 18th at 7:00pm. The topics will vary depending on the needs of the individuals who attend.


Crowleyanity


    In the establishment of a new tradition on those Sundays which do not have a scheduled Gnostic Mass, the Lodge will have "Open House" at 3:33pm with impromptu discussions of Crowley's life and writings.


Thelemite Du Jour


    The exploration of the course of Thelema in the printed word continues on February 4th at 7:30pm. The first evening was a success with much laughter and lively discussion into the night. Come and join us for an evening reading and listening to essays written by authors other than Crowley. Topics will range from the historical and well-known to the obscure as Henry pulls from his archives. Attendees are also encouraged to bring their favorites along and share with the group.


II° Ritual Workshop


    On Wednesday, February 24th at 7:00pm we will meet to explore the historical roots of and to practice the II° Ritual. All persons of this degree are welcome to attend.


Lodge Business


    The Lodge of Perfection meets Sunday, February 7th at Noon. Be sure to note the new time! We will hold P.I. Initiations at that time and then proceed with the meeting as usual. In March the Lodge of Perfection meetings will be changed to the first Saturday of the month in order to avoid conflicting with the Gnostic Mass.
    The Thelema Lodge Meeting will be held on Monday, February 8th at 8:00pm. As always, the calendar will be scheduled at that time and all members are encouraged to attend. A Crowley-piece will also be read and discussed after the 'business' part of the meeting is concluded.
    Initiations will be held on two Saturdays this month: IV° and P.I. will be held on February 13th and II° will be held on February 27th. All people wishing to attend these initiations should call the Lodge for details.


Crowley Classics


       Aleister Crowley's letters often contain important observations on Thelema and Magick. Several of his books are based or styled on correspondence (Aleph, MWT), and he often used letters to prepare drafts of important Libers (Apotheosis to W.T.Smith). Here's an example with mixed O.T.O. business and observations on secrecy which might have grown into a chapter in a book, but for the lateness of its writing. Sections have been quoted from this letter at various times to illustrate points of O.T.O. history and biography, but here's the whole thing for it's instructive content. Even though Crowley raises serious questions regarding the validity of secrecy here, equally serious questions remain unaddressed in this letter. It's a far cry from using a typist who doesn't know Magick from moon-shine to publishing a proprietary ritual or instruction for all to see and read. Liber Apotheosis is still a properly secret A A ritual, after all, despite public typists and a partial pirate publication. Privacy of individuals is not addressed here. Another point not addressed is the slander and libel some secrets are err to when publicly distorted through ignorance or malice. Signs, grips, words and matters of oath are private by essence and function.
    [Carbon copy to Grady McMurtry of a letter from Aleister Crowley to Karl Germer. Matter enclosed in curly brackets has been added by the Editor. Matter in parenthesis is original.]

19 June '46
Care Frater,
    In case this letter should miss you in New York, I am having an extra copy made and sending it to Frater H.A. (Capt. Grady L. McMurtry, 1661, Sacramento Street, Apt. 3, San.Francisco 9).


   
    Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
    You fail to make my flesh creep with yours of June 12. It is inconceivable after all these years, but you seem to fail to understand how Magick works. The safeguards are automatic.
    The reasons for the apparent secrecy of which we make so much are really unnecessary. Let me put it to you like this: -
    First of all, I hand out these terribly destroying documents to the first typist that I find handy without taking the slightest precautions and without a qualm. You might think that I was myself breaking my oaths. If there were any real need of secrecy how easy it would be for me to send every 3rd or 4th page of the documents to as many different typists and re-assemble them afterwards. But it simply is not worth while taking the trouble.
    What are the odds against a typist understanding the importance, the value, the practical application or even any kind of significance whatever in those documents? The chance is negligible.
    But, we will now suppose that the complete document from one chance or another fell into the hands of a complete stranger who is interested in the subject, and who has the intelligence to appreciate the value of those documents.
    Even so, what is the chance that that person will also have the original magical capacity, the magical power, and the magical training to carry out these instructions? Again, it is negligible.
    But granting all this, what use can that person make of the information in any way contrary to his own True Will? It simply cannot be done.
    For mischief to arise therefore one would have to imagine that these documents fell into the hands of an already prominent member of some Black Lodge or other. Consider the reaction. The nature of the formula would appall him; it would be as if a man who was looking for the formula of the secret arrow poison of the South American Indians so as to get rid of a rich aunt at the right moment got the prescription and on translating it found it was merely a cure for mumps. What would be his position: he would give a sharp bark of disappointment and tear up the whole thing with a curse.
    But in the case of anyone who is in legitimate possession of those documents the matter assumes an entirely different aspect. He has fixed his True Will publicly by oaths so that he cannot possibly use the formula in opposition to those oaths. All he would do by attempting any such misconduct would be to invoke the Thaumiel, the Qliphoth of Kether, which translated into modern jargon would mean that he was in for schizaphrenia {sic}.
    You apparently seem inclined to reproach me for having trusted Frater 210 {Jack Parsons} as deeply as I did, but I did this on purpose in accordance with an ancient and well-known magical formula.
    Our Work is not to be considered in the same light as that of some ordinary business concern where it is possible to steal property or secret information and get away with it. In our case the deeper I trust a man the deeper he is committed to the appropriate penalties should he betray that trust.
    It has nothing to do with inflicting penalties and all that sort of thing. If you will read the last paragraph of The Vision and the Voice you will see what the position actually is, and if I were to take any overt measures of a penal character, I should myself be cutting myself off from the perfect protection which I should otherwise enjoy.
    If I have an Atom Bomb in my pocket it is silly for me to go out and buy a derringer, and to do so in such a case would simply be to deprive myself of the right of using my bomb.
    Now we come to the subject of authority. My original appointment of you as my Viceroy and Plenipotentiary covers everything, even apart from you, Frater H.A. has an authority which enables him to supersede Frater 210 whenever he pleases. The only limitation on his power in California is that any decision which he takes is subject to revision or veto by yourself.
    I do not wish to advise either you or Frater H.A. to take any definite action. You are more or less on the spot and in a position to form your own judgment and to exercise your authority as you deem fit.
    From the information in your letter from Frater R.L. it seems that Frater 210 attaches some importance to his supposed authority in the Lodge. Here then is your big stick. You can suspend him or expel him or your can summon him to appear for trial before the Grand Consistory whose members you yourself nominate, and act accordingly.
    I think the above may be considered as covering the main points of your letter of June 12. For minor matters I will write separately,
                         Yours ever,


                                   {The carbon is not signed}


    Crowley had a high mind for the big questions, but tended to be a little unworldly on some matters - notably that question about an A-Bomb in the pocket obviating the merits of other options. You can't tip off the A-Bomb without taking yourself and the world into account. Even a small pistol is generally less wise than a Legal Writ, for self-defense.
                                                                 -- Ed.

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Archivist Anecdotes

Friends & Acquaintances
of Aleister Crowley

Part II

Ian Fleming


    Ian Fleming was born May 28th 1908 in England. It is written that he 'was a large, healthy, exceedingly naughty child'. Although most people are probably more familiar with the books he's written about James Bond the British Secret Agent 007, it is also a fact that during World War Two he was one of the heads of the Department of British Naval Intelligence and was involved with many different top secret operations himself.
    One such story began on May 10th 1941 when Adolf Hitler's Deputy, Rudolf Hess, took off alone in a Messerschmitt bound for Scotland. Some historians claim he was bringing a secret 'peace offering' to end the war which the British Government decided not to except. It was during the interrogation that Hess spoke in strange ramblings which some viewed 'occult'. Ian Fleming who was involved with those interrogations decided he needed help. It is best to quote from his biography (The Life of Ian Fleming by John Pearson, The Companion Book Club, London 1966) at this stage.
    'Fleming surpassed himself by appealing to one of the most notorious men in the whole of the British Isles. For many years he had been fascinated by the legend of wickedness which had attached itself to the name Aleister Crowley, necromancer, black magician and the Great Beast 666. This immensely ugly old diabolist and self-advertiser had thrown himself into certain more unsavory areas of the occult with a gusto that must have appealed to Fleming, and when the interrogators from British Intelligence began trying to make sense of the neurotic and highly superstitious Hess he got the idea that Crowley might be able to help and tracked him down to a place near Torquay, where he was living harmlessly on his own and writing patriotic poetry to encourage the war effort. He seems to have had no difficulty in persuading the old gentleman to put his gifts at the disposal of the nation.' (pg.117)
    Aleister Crowley wrote a brief letter back to Ian Fleming, the Director of Naval Intelligence; it read:

Sir:
    If it is true that Herr Hess is much influenced by Astrology and Magick, my services might be used to the Department in case he should be willing to do what you wish. I have the honour to be, Sir,
                         Your obedient servant,
                                             Aleister Crowley

    Included with the letter Aleister Crowley sent a copy of his latest patriotic poem 'England Stand Fast'. To quote further from Fleming's biography, 'It is a pity that this had to be one of Fleming's bright ideas which never came off: understandably, there was hilarity in the department at the idea of the Great Beast 666 doing his bit for Britain.' (pg.118) So in the end Ian Fleming's idea was vetoed and Aleister Crowley's services were never used. Such is life.
    Years later in 1952 when Ian Fleming wrote his first James Bond novel, entitled Casino Royale, he remembered Aleister Crowley; and since 'he always knew a good villain when he saw one' (pg.118) he decided to borrow some of his characteristics. So when he needed an evil figure in Casino Royale he dredged up from his past images of Crowley. He gave his villain the name Le Chiffre and he described him as fat, white, slug-like and with sadistic impulses, constantly using a benzedrine inhaler and with an insatiable appetite for women. It is also written that 'parallels exist between them (meaning Crowley & Le Chiffre). Both called people 'dear boy', and both, like Mussolini, had the whites of their eyes completely visible around the iris'(pg.211). Does this sound like Aleister Crowley?
    Yes, it is likely that Ian Fleming borrowed a few of Crowley's characteristics for the evil and sinister figure of Le Chiffre but that is about as far as the similarities go. You should rent the movie Casino Royale and judge for yourself. Ian Fleming died in 1964 at the age of fifty-six.

------ Frater Archivist

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from the Grady Project:

Oblivion

Oh sweet adultrous harlot of the skies
I yearn to thee with heart of burning fire
And pray that I might lie between thy thighs
To find in one mad, all consuming quire
The passion promised in thy tender eyes.

That I might find, oh sweet incestrous one
The flame uniting heart to soul and mind
And having found this love of two and none
Cast off the shell that maketh mankind blind
Unto the glory of the dawning sun.

And having found my rapture in thy kiss
Oh daughter of the evening's purple charms
To know the beauty, and the carnal bliss
Of total dissolution in thine arms
My Babalon. Veiled by the dread abyss.

                              12/4/43

          "Oh melancholy brothers
          Dark-dark-dark-"
          Death is the way of thy birth
          Pain is the curse of thy mirth
          Sweet is the kiss of the earth.
-- 777                      
-- Grady L. McMurtry                 

Previously published in Kaaba I:4, April 1979 e.v., in Ecclesia Gnostica I:1, 1984 e.v., and in The Grady Project #2, December 1987 e.v.

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Qabalah

Sepher Yetzirah

(2nd Installment)

    [Adapted to conform to the Golden Dawn correspondences in 1976 e.v. with parenthetic notes by Bill Heidrick from the Kalisch and Stenring translations. This rendering of the S.Y. is made in the public domain as a way of paying dues of another kind. The notes are in curly brackets: {}, and are not part of the original text. The Sepher Yetzirah is the ultimate basis of the Golden Dawn system of correspondences embodied in Crowley's Liber 777.]

Chapter Four.

Section One.


    The seven double letters, TawReshPehKafDaletGimelBet with a duplicity of pronunciation, aspirated {with a strong outward breath} and unaspirated {without a strong outward breath. These two modes of pronunciation are represented by the presence or absence of a dot in some forms of written and printed Hebrew, the dot or point being called Dagash and placed in the center of the letter} serve as a model of softness and hardness, strength and weakness {At the time of the writing of the Sepher Yetzirah these seven letters were pronounced each in two ways: with outrush of air or with inward sound. They are models for opposite qualities and for the seven planets with their benign and malignant effects. Modern scholars differ as to which of the Hebrew letters originally had this double quality of pronunciation, Mordell holds that a form of Hebrew much older than the writing of the Yetzirah had a different usage of this double pronunciation. He has accordingly attempted to reconstruct a "more ancient" version of the Yetzirah {See Bibliography}. Modern Hebrew dialects retain a few of these double pronunciations and add new ones.}

Section Two.


    Seven double letters, TawReshPehKafDaletGimelBet shall, as it were symbolize Life, Peace, Wisdom, Wealth, Beauty, Fruitfulness and Dominion {Note: this is the list according to the researches of the G D. The qualities are those listed in the Sepher Yetzirah, but the order of the list is different. The same is true for associations to the seven planets - for a comparison of the several orderings for these seven Double Letters which are to be found in the different versions of the Yetzirah, see the Stenring translation noted in the Bibliography}.

Section Three.


    Seven double letters serve to signify the antithesis to which human life is exposed. The antithesis of Life is Death; of Peace, Strife or War; of Wisdom, Folly; of Wealth, Poverty; of Beauty, Ugliness; of Fruitfulness, Sterility or Childlessness; and of Dominion, Dependence or Slavery.

Section Four.


    The seven double consonants are analogous to the six dimensions: height and depth {Bet for Above, Gimel for Below}, East and West {Dalet for East, Kaf for West}, North and South {Peh for North, Resh for South} and the holy temple that stands in the center {Taw}, which carries them all.

Section Five.


    The double consonants are seven, TawReshPehKafDaletGimelBet and not six, they are seven and not eight; reflect upon this fact, inquire about it, and make it so evident, that the Creator be acknowledged to be on His throne again {Although this particular statement is often taken as a slap against the speculations of the Gnostics, who were very much at the peak of their activity at the time in which the Sepher Yetzirah was written, there are other meanings. If the seven double letters are assigned to the lower seven Sephiroth of the Tree of Life, this may be an injunction to study the fifty gates of understanding; which are the meditations of each of the lower Sephiroth taken as containing divisions corresponding to all the lower seven Sephiroth - seven times seven or forty-nine plus one, the fiftieth, to refer to the throne of the three higher Sephiroth. Alternately, this may be an injunction to meditate on the spatial or other configurations of these letters as a means of attaining a vision of the letter Taw as the throne of the Creator.}.

Previous Part of the Sepher Yetzirah                   Chap. Four to be continued.


Primary Sources

   Herman Metzger:
    Frater Paragranus, Herman Metzger, died in 1990 e.v. at an advanced age. His status with regard to O.T.O. was always a puzzle. From a doubtful claim to being somehow affiliated with the Reuss era O.T.O. through a claim to being the O.H.O. of O.T.O. following the death of Karl Germer, Fr. Saturnus, in 1962 his stock fell to that of discredited pretender. Francis King, author of many books about the O.T.O., took him for the head of the Order for a time.
    This brief presentation will raise more questions than it will answer, but the most important will be made clear. We will focus on Metzger's claims to being: 1) high in the O.T.O. under descent from Aleister Crowley. 2) being Head of the O.T.O.


    [Some of the letters excerpted below are on thin paper carbons with damage on the right margin. This has resulted in lost words at the ends of lines, indicated here by ellipsis in line. Ellipsis also indicates excerpts from a larger body of text. Parentheses are original, curly brackets are notes by the Editor.]

-oOo-


    Our first letter is from Karl Germer (KG) to Gerald Yorke (GY), dated 7/26/51 e.v. Note that Germer betrays a remarkably silly credulity about Anna Sprengel, the mystery personality invoked in the Golden Dawn charter forgery scandal of the late 19th century. Note also that the parallel to Grant is intriguing in view of Grant's expulsion by K.G. on 7/20/55 e.v., after Grant manifestly failed to follow direction or exhibit the least understanding of the nature and constitution of O.T.O. See also this column in the TLC, Sept. '92 for the Grant history.


   I have taken up relation with what to all expectation must be considered as the G.M. of the O.T.O. in Switzerland; heir of Reuss' follower. This young man, apparently a parallel case to Grant's., knew Frauelein Sprengel personally in the last year of her life, and I may yet be able to get very valuable material from him. Too early to say now. Clymer, direct, and through his henchmen, tried to tie him to his outfit.


    Next, a letter from KG to F. Mellinger (FM), dated 9/15/51 e.v. KG has commenced an effort to instruct and regularize Metzger under Mellinger's guidance. Doubts remain about Metzger's Reuss derivations. KG dismisses Lekve's distrust of Metzger.


   I also liked the letter you wrote Paragranus. It will be up to him now to decide whether he wants to visit you or not. On the whole nothing is better than a personal meeting. Many types of men cannot convey their true nature by letters. In fact, they might be misleading. I'll be interested to hear further about this.
. . .
Metzger: He must be the heir of a genuine tradition, deriving directly from Reuss. So we can't judge him so easily. And I have reasons to believe that he is being led directly to us. If you feel, on meeting him, that he is allright {sic}, give him our Rituals. (He has the rituals ... the German form from Reuss' follower.) I can't accept Lekve's judgment ... it is not always reliable. Besides, Metzger is young.


    Here is a separately surviving postscript from 9/25/51 e.v. to a letter from KG to an unknown recipient. KG is enthused about Metzger and still credulous about A.S. to the point of near absurdity. Germer was possibly a bit blinded by an opportunity to re-enter his old field of Crowley publication in Germany.


   P.S. Ready to post the enclosed, I find extensive mail from Germany in the mail box. From Frederic (Mellinger), Lekve, and from Switzerland.
    I had given F. authority to initiate Lekve and the man from Switzerland into the O.T.O., and go as far as he sees fit. The man from Switzerland stems directly from Reuss, and from Fraulein Sprengel (see LXI vel causae) - a very important connection. It is imperative that that man gets the true rituals from Baphomet and takes up the Work in a positive way. (Incidentally, he has a group of people, established a printing shop, and wants to print some of A.C.'s works; also he is starting an occult-spiritual- magical Magazine and wants to have as an introduction either an article on A.C., or the translation of Thelema Literature.
. . .


    KG continued to support Metzger, not without some trepidations. KG to GY, 11/15/54 e.v.


    Metzger is a man in whom I am inclined to trust more than in anyone else in the German groups. Yet I have learned some lessons and try to curb my weakness of trusting everybody at once. . . .
    Metzger is building up an organisation with a printing establishment as the sustainer in the outer. he started with practically nothing but the will and the enthusiasm and the gift of inspiring some people, especially women to follow his own devotion. I hope he will make good.
. . .
Metzger was a pupil of a man Dr. Pincus, an initiate of O.T.O. under Reuss, possibly without formal charter from him. Before Pincus died he took an oath from M. to continue the Work.


    This letter from KG to GY of 12/5/54 e.v. implies that Metzger tentatively agreed with the program for normalization into O.T.O. under monitoring by Mellinger, but evidently has not completed it after the passage of three years. The letter is mainly concerned with Metzger acquiring more Crowleiana.


   Metzger: wrote me extensively, and explains his situation, and why he wrote you. To make it brief: he accepts any modus we dec... whether he gets material on loan, and for making copies, from ... or you, as long as he is permitted to gradually build up a complete of extant Crowleiana. But, he says, from a practical point of view, the amount of postage, safety, and speed, it would make it simple if you would send him the stuff. Postage between England and Switzerland is cheaper. His group have a house in the mountains in Switzerland, which in a way is safer than here. And they have adequate help for copying - and making nice copies.


    Karl Germer assumed Mellinger monitored Metzger's progress toward O.T.O. regularization. Germer quarreled with Mellinger from time to time, as he did with all his representatives. The Last Will and Testament of Karl Germer named Frederic Mellinger co- executor with Sascha Germer for the O.T.O. archives. There is some evidence of a late rupture between Germer and Metzger.

-oOo-


    Largely owing to Karl Germer's pathological distrust of his American associates, a great obscurity continued until the mid 1980's about Metzger's true standing in or about O.T.O. During that time it was widely believed that Germer had chartered Metzger as X° for Switzerland. Most of the documents were lost, and only rumors and Metzger's own claims were available. Karl Germer died in 1962 e.v., and his death was very inadequately reported. Neither Mellinger nor McMurtry were told. Metzger immediately published his
Oriflamme with an account of his "election" by his own Lodge to the office of O.H.O. of O.T.O.! This was of course impossible. No notice for such an election had been given, and no agreement by the surviving O.T.O. members of rank had been sought. Some of the members of the dormant Agape Lodge in California sent Brother Monti off to visit Metzger in Switzerland to discover what was going on. Brother Monti (Dr. Gabriel Montenegro) had been brought into O.T.O. membership at the end of the 1940's, as the last member to be initiated into O.T.O. in the USA during the Germer days. He was one of the highest ranking Freemasons in Mexico at the time, and had been forwarded up to Agape Lodge by the non-initiating remnant of the old O.T.O.A. formerly led by Dr. Krumm Heller (Fr. Huiracocha), Head of O.T.O. for Latin America from the Reuss days. The story of Monti's visit may have gotten a bit embroidered through multiple tellings, but it is odd enough. According to Grady McMurtry, Monti was welcomed by a brass band when he arrived in Stein, Switzerland. All was "hail and well met" until he reached Metzger's Guest House Rose. Then it came down to the question of the hour: "Will the O.T.O. in California accept Herr Metzger as O.H.O. of O.T.O.?" Monti said "No, but we can discuss other matters". The welcome scaled rapidly down to bread and cheese, and Monti retired to bed. Awakened by a strange sound in the night, Monti quietly crept out of his room to see what was transpiring. Herr Metzger was alone at a table in the dining room. He was well lubricated with more wine to hand and pounding on the table, shouting: "I am the O.H.O.! I AM the O.H.O.! ..." Brother Monti quietly took his leave in the morning. Very little more was heard from Herr Metzger in direct communication between Switzerland and O.T.O. in California after that. In the late 70's, and in ignorance of the document which follows, the O.T.O. in California offered to recognize some of Metzger's claims unilaterally as a peace gesture, though not of course the ridiculous claim to his being O.H.O. This offer was rejected by silence, and a good thing it was too, as will be made evident just below.
    Sascha Germer, Karl's widow, tried to probate Karl's Will. She had been robbed by a strong-arm assault at her home in the California mountains and believed OTO members responsible (they weren't, one of the individuals she identified as involved had died some years earlier than the break-in). In her dotage and hysteria, Sascha refused to consider any American O.T.O. claims to the O.T.O. leadership. She wrote to Gerald Yorke, M. Motta and Metzger to try to settle the O.T.O. portion of Karl's will. Motta betrayed ignorance and confusion. Yorke knew nothing after the 1950's, and Herr Metzger barraged her with scraps of documents and high sounding minutes of meetings cribbed from the Reuss days, including a 1917 e.v. charter to a long deceased O.T.O. representative in Switzerland. Sascha went over Karl's correspondence, underscoring passages in the letters that seemed to favor Metzger's character and depreciate US O.T.O. members. The problem was complicated in that Sascha Germer had never been an O.T.O. member, according to her own Journal. She attempted to probate Karl's Will for O.T.O. in favor of Metzger. That much was known by O.T.O. members in California, but the probate was abruptly abandoned and not resumed until after Sascha's death in the mid 70s. The portion of Karl Germer's Last Will and Testament relating to O.T.O. was finally probated in favor of the O.T.O. Association under Grady McMurtry (Hymenaeus Alpha) on 7/27/76 e.v.
    This letter from Gerald York to M. Motta, 2/19/75 e.v. gives a typical view of the confusion of the times:


   . . . I believe, but have no concrete evidence that Paragranus (Metzger) was chartered X° by Karl. But he makes no claim to the copyright in A.C.'s works, which would accrue to him if he were the only surviving national head (i.e. a fully chartered X°). . . .


    That's where the matter rested until May of 1984 e.v. when Tom W. of Berkeley came forward with two boxes of papers. These had apparently been reserved by the Coroner following the inquest of Sascha Germer, and not handed over with the rest of the O.T.O. materials. The original manuscript of Liber AL vel Legis was returned to O.T.O. along with these papers! That crowded out other thoughts for quite some time, but one special two-page document in the boxes eventually came to light:

Mr. Gard Chisholm
Lawer
16 Court Street
Jackson, Calif., U.S.A.

         1 Berlin 12
Giesebrechtstr. t.
      Sept. 25, 1963

    Re: Estate of Karl Germer, deceased


               Dear Mr. Chisholm,


    I received your letter of September 20, 1963, enclosing a copy of the Petition for Probate of Will in the above matter which Mrs. Germer intends to sign and file. You are asking for my criticism of the petition. here it is:
    For the following reasons, I must object to the statement in the petition: "The will was executed in all particulars..."
    1) as you know, the Will states (regarding the property of the Order Ordo Templi Orientis) "that this is passed to the Heads of the Order" and that "Frederic Mellinger act as co-executioner {sic, the will states "executor"} of this part of the Will".
    2) Mrs.Germer decided - without asking for my opinion in this important matter pertaining to "this part of the Will", nor contacting me at all - to accept Herr Metzger's strange "Manifesto" (printed this spring) as gospel truth and to recognise him as "Grand Master X° of the Order and Sovereign Grand Master General"(sic!). Neither Mrs. Germer, nor Herr Metzger (who for the last six years had regularly treated me with mailing me his pamphlets, which shows that he well knew my address) notified me before March 28th 1963 of Karl Germer's death (on October 25th, 1963) {sic, should be 1962}, nor his sham "election" on Jan 6th 1963. My questions regarding Metzger's authority to assume the above titles and his right to call a "convocation of Prince Patriarchs" to the village of Stein, Switzerland, for his "election" were never answered by either Mrs.Germer nor Metzger. Nor could I obtain an explanation about negotiations carried on between the two during the five months before they contacted me. They have thereby decidedly violated (and not "executed" as the Petition states) the Will of the deceased.
    Karl Germer had never in his life met at all Herr Metzger. On June 25, 1951, he wrote me about M. having contacted him by letter, asked me "to advise that group", and left it entirely to my judgment to give Metzger some instruction possibly leading "that young man" to some advancement in the Order.
    Herr Metzger revealed to my mind - unintentionally, of course - wherefrom he derived the courage to claim the high office in the Order by a childish "coup d'etat"; namely, by printing on the front page of his sham "Manifesto" the following motto's:
    "To be or not to be, that is the question."
    and "Hier stehe ich, ich kann nicht anders," that brave word of Martin Luther. - Thereby he pointed unwittingly to the only authority he has to show for his dictatorial aspirations: his inflated Ego. But Mrs. Germer was duly impressed, and slyly nodded her assent, ignoring the "holy" (as she stated) but apparently uncomfortable Will of her late husband re my role as co- executioner.{sic}
               Yours very truly
                    {signed}
             (Dr. Frederic Mellinger)

cc: Mr. Elwood Rickless
      Attorney at law,
      8, Avenue Bertie Albrecht
      Paris -8E, France

Registered


    That certainly addresses the question on Metzger's claims to being in O.T.O. under Germer and Crowley. It does not entirely answer the question of who Metzger really was. Was he like some modern pretenders now in France, Italy and other places who fantasize and attempt to "re- create" O.T.O., based on reading books, summoning spirits or drugging themselves out of mind? Was he something more? Obfuscations regarding Metzger's actual connections may never be removed; his possible relation to the Reuss O.T.O. is through Pincus, and most unclear. Metzger was unsuccessful in his litigation to establish his claim in Switzerland, unlike the successful 1985 e.v. litigation by O.T.O. in the USA.
    Even though Metzger has gone on to his Greater Feast, his group survives. Perhaps one day the lesser mysteries will be brought to light; but Mellinger's letter leaves no doubt that Metzger failed to advance in membership in O.T.O. under Germer and did not become Germer's successor and O.H.O. of the Order. - Ed.

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From the Outbasket

    The following response has been edited for publication from recent correspondence with Grand Lodge.


JK of CA asked about the chapter on Bloody Sacrifice in Crowley's Magick in Theory and Practice


    Magick in Theory and Practice, the chapter on "...Bloody Sacrifice and Matters Cognate". Actual physical sacrifice is usually pointless, but true sacrifice is in dedication (sacrifice=to make sacred) of one's own self and abilities to a higher end. Crowley intimates as much in a footnote in that chapter. On another point, however, it is not necessary to divert energy in order to avoid waste. That might seem so superficially and in the short run. When you are doing your will, that is living the way you are naturally constituted to live, you have more energy. What may be more common here is pulling out of a trap. If you are making a pointless or unproductive effort for too long a time, it may be necessary to withdraw from that effort and let the mind and body strike a better balance. I am minded of childhood resistance to doing arithmetic - some things just would not be solved no matter how hard I tried. The problem wasn't native lack of wit or anything of that sort; rather it was a defeatist mental state that kept carping about the math problem being so hard that I couldn't make any head way. After a break, the problem would be quickly solved almost effortlessly.

-- TSG (Bill Heidrick)

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Last Month's
Mystery Illustration


    Our January Mystery Illustration is an old engraving in The Comprehensive History of England... by Charles MacFarlane and Thomas Thomson, Blackie & Son, London, 1867 e.v., Vol. III, p. 439, "Doorway of Medmenham Abbey. - From Book of the Thames". The inscription over the doorway is "FAY CE QUE VOVDRAS" or "Do what thou wilt", a quotation from Francois Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel. The place is the entrance of the Hell Fire Club in Bucks, England. The Hell Fire Club was revived by Sir Francis Dashwood, Chancellor of the Exchequer, later Baron le Despencer, Lord-Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire and by Lord Sandwich, Secretary of State during the Grenville Ministry in the 1760s e.v, from the defunct club of the same name presided over by the Duke of Wharton in the 1720s. The club had faded out forty years earlier, after Wharton had induced Stanhope to die of a fit of apoplexy during a debate in the House of Lords over the "South Sea Bubble" issue of that time. John Wilkes, writer and editor of the notorious North Briton and Benjamin Franklin, Postmaster General to and Ambassador Pleni- potentiary from the American Colonies, were both members. The members dressed as monks, took communion to a pagan divinity and held orgies.
    Hell Fire Chapter of O.T.O. was an Oasis of the Order in the early 1980s in New York State.
    Rabelais was the curate of Meudon in France (1494?-1553); and his satire of monastic conditions, Gargantua and Pantagruel, had this to say about the motto:


    "In all their rule and strictest tie of their order, there was but this one clause to be observed:

DO WHAT THOU WILT

    "Because men that are free, well-born, well-bred, and conversant in honest companies, have naturally an instinct and spur that prompteth them unto virtuous actions, and withdraws them from vice, which is called honour. ..."
--- from Chapter LVII, "How the Thelemites Were Governed, and of Their Manner of Living."


    Both Rabelais' book and the old Hell Fire Club are considered pre-cursors to Thelema as we now possess it in the Aeon of Horus, not full exemplars. Moral: Check out history, it's not always what you think!

Mystery Illustration

Clues:
1. The place is in France.
2. This was how it looked in 1812, but the room dates from at least the 1400s.
3. If Crowley had let the ladies in, the person born here would probably be in the Collects.


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FROM THE HISTORY HEAP

Back by popular demand!

FEBRUARY

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law -- Liber AL vel Legis I:40

February 1, 1920
   Jane Cheron, one of Aleister Crowley's mistresses, allowed her home to be used for one of the 'Paris Workings' in which Crowley & Walter Duranty performed an act of buggery to the God Mercury. On this date she gave Aleister Crowley a beautiful embroidered silk of The Stele of Ankh-f-n-Khonsu which she had recently finished.

February 1, 1945
   Aleister Crowley moves into Netherwood.

February 1, 1967
   Anton LaVey, the Black Pope, held the infamous satanic wedding of John Raymond and Judith Case which turned into a media sensation. The photographer assigned by the San Francisco Chronicle to cover the story was Joe Rosenthal, who also took the immortal shot of the soldiers raising the American flag on Iwo Jima during World War II.

February 10, 1840
   The mythical founder of the Golden Dawn, Fraulein Sprengel takes the Oath of 5°=6 assuming the motto of 'Sapiens Dominabitur Astris' on this date.

February 11, 1891
   The woman born on this date, Sascha Germer. was responsible for strewing Aleister Crowley's ashes into the mud at the base of a tree in Hampton, New Jersey.

February 11, 1906
   Aleister Crowley assumes the Oath of Adeptus Minor in the A A,
5°=6 taking the motto 'Christeos Luciftias'.


February 13, 1935
   Karl Germer was arrested on the grounds of 'having continued communication with Aleister Crowley' and thus committed to the Nazi Concentration Camp called Esterwegen.

February 16, 1923
   Raoul Loveday, Frater AUD aka Adonis dies at the Abbey of Cefalu, something to do with drinking cat's blood some say, others claim it was the 'water'. Three days earlier Crowley recorded in his Magical Record that he felt a current of magical force, 'heavy black and silent' threatening the Abbey.

February 21, 1902
   Theodore Reuss is authorized to begin the Swedenborg Lodge of the Holy Grail No.15 in Berlin.

February 21, 1943
   The first issue of The Oriflamme rolls off the press by the OTO in California.

February 23, 1680
   La Voisin the 'Satanic High Priestess' is burned to the stake after confessing that she obtained over 2500 children during her life to be used as human sacrifices to 'satan'.

February 24, 1902
   On this date Wynn Westcott authorizes Theodore Reuss to form a High Council in Germania of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, with Reuss as the Magus and Leopold Engel as Magus Delegatus Primus although it never took root, and by July of 1907 it folded.

February 27, 1861
   Rudolf Steiner was born on this date in Kralijevec, Hungary.

February 28, 1946
   On this date a great goddess appeared to Jack Parsons claiming, "yea, it is I Babalon, and this is my book ..." of which she began dictating. Thus came forth The Book of Babalon.

February 29, 1880
   Aleister Crowley's sister, Grace Mary Elizabeth Crowley died on this date leaving young Alex an only child.

Love is the law, love under will. -- Liber AL vel Legis I:57

                              A.O.583 VIII°

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Events Calendar for February 1993 e.v.

2/4/93Thelemite Du Jour 7:30 PMThelema Ldg.
2/7/93(See text) Crowleanity, LOP &c.Thelema Ldg.
2/8/93Thelema Lodge meeting 8 PMThelema Ldg.
2/13/93Initiations, Call to attend
(VIth & PI (KEW on a date near by)
Thelema Ldg.
2/14/93Gnostic Mass 4:18 PMThelema Ldg.
2/18/93Liber XV Workshop 7 PMThelema Ldg.
2/20/93Jerry's Logorrhea 7:30 PM
(Call to attend)
Thelema Ldg.
2/21/93Gnostic Mass 4:18 PMThelema Ldg.
2/24/93IInd Deg. Ritual Workshop 7:30 PM
(members only, IInd and up)
Thelema Ldg.
2/27/93Initiations, Call to attend
(IInd Degree)
Thelema Ldg.
2/28/93Crowleyanity 3:33 PMThelema Ldg.


    The viewpoints and opinions expressed herein are the responsibility of the contributing authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of OTO or its officers.

   Note to update: the addresses and phone numbers in these issues of the Thelema Lodge Calendars are obsolete since the closing of the Lodge. They are here for historic purposes only and should not be visited or called.

Thelema Lodge
Ordo Templi Orientis
P.O. Box 2303
Berkeley, CA 94702 USA

Phone: (510) 652-3171 (for events info and contact to Lodge)

Production and Circulation:
OTO-TLC
P.O.Box 430
Fairfax, CA 94978 USA

Internet: heidrick@well.com (Submissions and circulation only)

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