Fetish, Self-Induction, Stigma and RôleplaybyPeter-R. KoenigThis is a shortened and translated outline of a sub-chapter of Der O.T.O.-Phänomen RELOAD. [1][Picture at the right: Robert Deumié owned the Café Thélème in Montréal and was being appointed president of the firm O.T.O., Inc., and the "Caliph's personal representative" in Canada after William Breeze was elected Caliph. Deumié was expelled from the Caliphate for supposedly revealing some of their secret signs and rituals in a French-language film which was shown on television in Québec.] |  |
The fetish is a magically charged object or an idea which could be anything. It serves as access to the sublime, as a way to experience glamour in one's sense of self. The fetish, because it is larger than the individual, does not have any quality per se but refers to a set which has to be frequented regularly and repeated.
If this is not done, the fetish will be depleted. It is a means to preserve indiscriminate libidinous behaviour. Within the area we are speaking of, the gratification of sexual urges has been subjected to a change in function: it serves religious enlightenment.
Also Aleister Crowley, founder of a religion, and the O.T.O. mutated into a fetish for many.
Grady McMurtry adapted himself visually to the "Orientis" aspect of the Ordo Templis Orientis. He became member of a Sikh-Group, founded by Siri Singh Sahib Harb Hajan Khalsa aka Yogi Bhajan. Sikhism is a monotheistic religion retaining some Hindu ingredients such as reincarnation and karma. The caste system has been rejected as well as the worship of idols. Sikhs can be recognised by their turbans and their hair which they – including facial hair – never cut. The reputation of the Sikhs as especially courageous warriors dates back to the 17th century. The British Army favoured the Sikhs for recruitment as soldiers, and during India's fight for independence, the Sikhs were on both sides of the conflict. To this date Sikhs are regarded as the backbone of the Indian Army. 1984 Indira Ghandi was murdered by her Sikh bodyguards in revenge for the assault on the Golden Temple in Amritsar which had been occupied by Sikh fundamentalists demanding a separate Sikh nation-state.
Also in this instance the martial aspect of McMurtry's personality shows: He had volunteered for the army and participated in the Second World War in North-Corea as well as in Europe. Moreover, in a later allusion to a letter of Crowley's sent to him to Belgium where he was stationed in 1944 McMurtry claims: "I am Caliph because I am a soldier."[2]
Crowley for his part revels in Arabic and Muslim themes: His rituals written for the O.T.O seem to be peopled by figures straight out of the Arabian Nights.
Grand ceremonial events are staged, suffused by a secretive atmosphere generated by a jumble of ingredients – all means freemasonry has provided since time immemorial are employed to appeal to the senses. Strange insignia, long ribbons and black frocks flutter in solemn acts of initiation, weird knocking sounds are heard, assignments and missions are pronounced whose purpose remains hidden.
Sometimes initiates into the O.T.O. are blindfolded. Diffuse acts of consecration, sickly sweet vapours, partial nudity, and pathetical music create a sultriness calling the thought that the O.T.O. might be about sexual magic to the participant's mind. Turbans, tents, pillars are part of the repertoire; there is an orientalisation of the west, though reducing the orient to a backward cultural identity.[3] During other rituals whips and weapons are boasted, leather, sexware, uniforms are worn. I own a movie of a Crowley ritual, celebrated by the Caliphate in New York. One notices additional accessories. A woman in a bikini dances profligately on a coffin. It opens. And none other than a fully made-up Jesus Christ emerges.
However O.T.O. rituals of initiation don't go any step further than this. The same applies to the Fraternitas Saturni-rituals. In order to maintain de-sexualised emotions, the libido is focussed on the set, on the rituals, that is. Hence the particular attention given to the rituals of initiation. Again the classical stereotype comes into play: the O.T.O. is the mother, Crowley is the father. The members love the set (i.e. the rituals) the way they desire an idealised mother-child relationship. Hence the conspicuously strong feelings of insult coming from the father who is perceived as aggressive (Crowley or critics, depending on the perspective): The threat of castration looms.
The rituals
The importance of the initiation rituals should not be underestimated. They represent motherly love (the order is the mother, the leader is the father) and in the course of their defence, the big guns are brought in. For example: it is not even allowed to offer one of the books containing these rituals for sale on Amazon or Ebay as second hand books. Threats of legal actions follow immediately. "Fahrenheit 418."[4] This enhances the fetish aspect – and consequently raises the price of those books.The following passages are part of the declaration of consent the Caliphate demands for admission to the rituals:
"I understand that every attempt is made to minimize the existing risks that are inherent in the nature of some of the activities involved through the use of proper equipment, safe facilities and sound safety practices. However, I also understand that these risks cannot be eliminated completely.
I realize that as a participant in the initiation ceremonies and other activities of Ordo Templi Orientis I could possibly incur bodily injuries. Due to the nature of these activities, injuries may be minor to fatal in nature. Some specific bodily injuries that are not uncommon to similar types of activities are listed below:
Stoppage of breathing; heart failure; stroke; spine and neck injuries (either of which could result in paralysis); broken bones; cuts and lacerations; bleeding; eye injuries (which could result in blindness); convulsion; unconsciousness; abrasions; fainting; sudden illness; cramps; loss of wind; drowning; and contracting of communicable diseases. In addition, there is a potential for accidents or illness while traveling to and from events.
I also realize that as a participant in the activities of Ordo Templi Orientis I could possibly incur non-bodily injuries, including, but not limited to: emotional, psychological, and social injuries; and damage to, or loss of, personal property.
I understand that the lists above are not intended to be inclusive of all injuries that may occur, but rather to inform me of the type of risks inherent in my participation in the activities of Ordo Templi Orientis, so that I can make a voluntary choice to participate or not participate.
I hereby affirm that I am voluntarily participating in any or all of the activities of Ordo Templi Orientis with full knowledge of the potential risks which they present, including risks of bodily, emotional, psychological, and social injury, property damage, and death, and I hereby agree to accept any and all risks of such bodily, emotional, psychological, and social injury, property damage, and death.
I agree to release and hold harmless Ordo Templi Orientis, Ordo Templi Orientis U.S.A. and their agents, volunteers, officers, employees, and directors, from liability for bodily, emotional, psychological, and social injury, property damage or death arising from my participation in the activities of Ordo Templi Orientis. I also agree to maintain confidentiality regarding the proceedings of the private religious initiation ceremonies of Ordo Templi Orientis and the documents related to those ceremonies. I give this release and indemnification in exchange for the opportunity for me to participate in the activities of Ordo Templi Orientis.
I certify that I have read this agreement, that it has been explained to me, and that I may be giving up legal rights which I may otherwise have. I acknowledge that I am at least eighteen (18) years of age."[5]
Potential VI° are asked, "you must notify us immediately if any of the following are true:
- You have _any_ sexually–transmissible, orally–transmissible, or blood–borne disease; or you contract any such disease between now and the time of your initiation.
- You are a hemophiliac or have any form of anemia or hypoglycemia.
- You are unable, for whatever reason, to consume alcohol.
- You will be taking any prescription or non–prescription drug at the time of your initiation; especially any drug with a blood–thinning effect, or that may produce undesirable side–effects when taken with alcohol."
The question as to the danger posed by the O.T.O. rituals which are harmless in themselves, and which e.g. include slight incisions reminding of boy scouts' rituals, arises.
In 2005 I discussed this with Bill Heidrick. Should a psychological emergency occur during an initiation, so he said, it must be cancelled immediately and professional help has to be sought. I mentioned memories of torture and abuse (flashbacks) which an initiation might trigger in members from war zones. Moreover I pointed to phobias, i.e. unsubstantiated constant fears of particular situations and things, to people suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, who chronically relive the stressful moment caused by an actual experience typically inducing mortal fear.
He was evasive when I asked whether the initiators are sufficiently trained to notice an impending psychological threat to those about to be initiated or whether they are properly equipped to deal with an emergency during the rituals. He only said that after all emergencies are "obvious", and insisted on dropping the subject.
A few years ago, in Germany an Iranian woman was initiated into the O.T.O. During the ritual she remembered having been tortured in her home country.[6] Possibly the ritual was the I°, during which one has to sit in darkness in water in order to be born anew. The ritual was immediately broken off. Similar stories are told by members who served in the wars in Iraq or in the regions of former Yugoslavia. Here we speak of the post traumatic stress syndrome. There are two opinions in the Caliphate: Heidrick generally allocates therapeutic character to the initiatory rituals, reasoning that those rituals had been designed by freemasons during "very troubled historic times." Other members of higher grades admit though, that rituals had never achieved any therapeutic effect. On the contrary: "I can tell dozens of horror stories which left initiates with lasting appalling memories which may well need therapy to rectify."[7]
2008 the Caliphate accepts to at least introduce acting priests and priestesses of the Crowleyan Gnostic Mass to the principles of "Psychiatric diagnostic categories, and basic approaches to assessment of mental illness and chemical dependency issues". They contemplate "tools for working with crisis intervention, grief counseling, conflict resolution, and sexuality issues." To reach this aim the Psychology Guild creates so called Pastoral Counseling Workshops.[8] Of course in emergencies the police shall be called immediately.
In the O.T.O. initiatory rituals there is a similar instant of drinking blood, as purportedly practiced in a certain Masonic high grade ritual at least until 1932. If giving credit to freemason Karl R.H. Frick, the person to be initiated into the XI°,[9] the Highly Enlightened Chosen Fellow of the System of the Great National Lodge of the Freemasons of Germany, actually drank the blood from his brothers' incised thumbs from a crystal flask.[10]
In the III° ritual of the O.T.O. the initiate drinks a little bit of blood and laudanum from a chalice. In the K.E.W. ritual (Knights of the East and West – a kind of intermediary grade between the IV° and the V°) the candidate dribbles some drops of blood on a piece of cloth. In the VI° a St. Andrew's Cross is incised into the candidate's arm, the blood caught in a chalice. In the V° the candidate must have a rose tattooed on his chest.
There are blood rites for Thelemites even outside the context of the O.T.O. Crowley designed the Mass of the Phoenix. In spite of the Thelemites' distaste for Christendom and fight against the term "Black Mass", which supposedly is a mere parody and belittling of the Catholic Mass, in my eyes the Mass of the Phoenix however misses being a parody only by a hair's breadth.
Holy Thy name and undefiled!
Thy reign is come; Thy will is done.
Here is the Bread; here is the Blood.
Bring me through midnight to the Sun!
Save me from Evil and from Good!
That Thy one crown of all the Ten
Even now and here be mine. AMEN."
Afterwards one incises a magical sign into one's chest with a ritual knife, presses the light cake made according to the sexmagic recipe on it to absorb the blood and eats it.
As I enflame myself with prayer:
There is no grace: there is no guilt:
This is the Law: DO WHAT THOU WILT!"[11]
More blood and sperm flow in further Crowley-rituals which also have hardly anything to do with O.T.O. Liber LXVI Stella Rubeae[12] for example.
In addition to this, fetishes visually associated with sexuality attract attention. Doesn't sperm look a little like ectoplasm – something inexplicable oozing from body orifices as visible on very old photographs?
Contact or body relics figure prominently, too. Body relics are particles of a saint's body, contact relics are objects having been in contact with a saint. So once even the idea came up to plunder the grave of O.T.O founder Theodor Reuss in order to take possession of his skull as a powerful magical relic.[13] In Switzerland, Hermann Joseph Metzger's teddy bear, shoes he wore, plates he used as a child, his fez and the magic wand from his long past days on stage can be admired behind glass in the museum of the Swiss O.T.O.
A different kind of fetishisation takes place where so-called Satanism and Crowley are projected onto a hotchpotch of a set composed of desecration of cemeteries, ritualistic crime, Heavy Metal and Black Metal. In the mainstream this kind of fetishisation is particularly cherished: self-styled experts, journalists and their largely uninformed audience revel in such fetishes. Toying with fantasies of generally violent and especially blood- and death rituals is very popular. Of course the prospect of an ensuing media scandal turns into a fetish in itself for all those involved.
Here we touch upon the third topic: the building of an identity by stigma. For now though, very briefly another thought:
Self induced schizophrenia
... "Sound and Vision in Trance" that is, although I do not really take to this expression as it recalls the Nazi- ideologist Mathilde Ludendorff, who in 1933 thought to have smelled out a rats' nest of "Induced Madness by Occult Teachings" within the O.T.O.[14]In brief: Many occultists, in particular Crowleyans, attempt to either create or get in touch with new or alternate realities. The occultist intent on self-induced schizophrenia prescribes himself the description of the symptoms. Similia similibus curantur. He brings about the symptoms of classical schizophrenia by force, hoping to turn into a homo superior as a consequence.
The keywords: Symptoms similar to those of an affective psychosis, endogenous depression, of organic diseases of the brain or psychoses associated with epilepsy of the frontal lobe.
Not the primarily inner psychological disorders of classical schizophrenia (e.g. thought disorder, ego weakness, the flooding of consciousness by primary processes and so on) are aimed for but rather processes which influence the pattern of relationships in accordance with the intention of the occultist, for everything should happen "under the will". Occultists want to receive visions and hear voices. They seem to welcome anything –the use of drugs, yoga or any other mind-altering or mind-expanding means.[15] They develop a fully-fledged craving for hearing voices and receiving visions.
Let us proceed from the patterns of relationships the life of a self-induced schizophrenic rests on, the cabbala, the delusion that everything is connected to everything, that everything is the same. Self-induced schizophrenics need to live in a world where the sequence of events unfolds in a way rendering their extraordinary communication behaviour comprehensible and enabling them to find partners in communication. Self-induced schizophrenia is after all intended to make sense. Moreover they wish to share their everyday experiences which might include the cabbalistic convergence of the unity of an alien life form and a tomato (because possibly the term "alien" carries the same cabbalistic numerical value as the word "tomato").
Obviously this leads to disrupted communication with those who do not participate in these patterns, e.g. non-occultists. Yet still the desire to be somehow connected to the rest of the world, and noticed, remains. Follows resocialisation by choosing to build an identity based on stigmatisation.
Resocialisation. Identity through Stigma
Here we speak of the rôle society appoints to occultists: they turn into Satanists, outsiders, outlaws, lunatics, guinea pigs for academics, dangerous characters for experts and journalists, and into a general and obscure threat for the population. Every occultist is more or less aware of those assignations and therefore more or less consciously either identifies with them or flirts with rebellion against these rôle assignments. Yet he remains as unable to detach himself as Crowley and Thelema do not manage to shake off Christendom.As soon as rôles have to be accepted and institutionalisation and formalisation begin to co-determine experience, the trend to isolation within the occultists' lives intensifies. The rituals consolidate the feeling of alienation and it starts to set. This process of freezing keeps pace with the adaptation demanded by society or even turns into a substitute for adaption.
Consequentially an echo effect comes to bear upon occultists and society and they and their critics start digging their heels in.
The more occultists are imagined to be out there, the more experts and journalists regard their own identity as validated and vice versa. Within the pool of beliefs dealing in hallucinated conspiracies, factuality shrinks and dissolves in a whirl of manipulated information written in water all those involved mistake for solid ground.
Because of the progressive rigidity in attitude and the loss of playfulness the opposing parties appear frozen solid. O.T.O. rituals seem ridiculous and void, experts and journalists fanatical and obstinate (unless they are occultists in the closet grooming their religion or order for the mainstream or academia).
In 1994 Claudia Kowalchyk embarked on a year-long research into the New York O.T.O. lodge and subsequently wrote "A study of two 'deviant' religious groups: The Assemblies of God and the Ordo Templi Orientis". Note: This study investigates only the Caliphate in New York. The result can be outlined in brief by stating that members are mostly white, well educated, were raised Roman Catholics, have no children and are 36 years old on average. Their stay within the O.T.O. averages a mere six and a half years, and among them are significantly more men than women. Some of the women, suffering from the consequences of sexual abuse detect that only in the O.T.O. their plight is recognised. Many members have endured a miserable childhood and find a kind of therapy within the O.T.O. Some even manage to kick their drug habits only thanks to their membership. Such is, approximately and heavily summarised the outcome of Kowalchyk's study, which also maintains that the optimistic outlook of the Thelemites has relieved the suffering of their existential fears.[16] In place of feelings of isolation from from society, membership in the O.T.O. offers a kind of protection within stigma. Nonconformism works as a shield against stigma.
As a niche within society the O.T.O. remains part of society and those who do the stigmatising are regarded as inferior and of less value, whether authorities, media or colleagues at work.[17]
According to Ms. Kowalchyk's research, the O.T.O. appeals above all to young people with a history of a problematic parental home, difficult relationships and drug habits who also present themselves as self-styled outlaws although completely accepting the limits of the set of state or government laws and functioning accordingly.
Joining the O.T.O. could satisfy the desire to either fulfil the rôle of the outlaw or confirm this self-styled identity.[18] Public interest in the activities of the O.T.O. manifests itself in numerous publications pointing out antidemocratical and antisemitic statements e.g. in Crowley's work as well as passages possibly disturbing "the religious peace." Some rôleplays – such as the crucification of a frog as prescribed for the initiation into the VI° – might infringe upon the animal protection act.
With the propagation of peculiar and exotic drugs Crowley's "bible" at least challenges criminal law in most countries, the use of the lightcake containing fresh blood brushes up against strictures meant to curb contagious diseases.
Worse even, some texts advocating total sexual liberty including the respective sexual education for children[19] open the floodgates for fantasies of sexual acts which are outlawed by the majority of judicial systems.
Ms. Kowalchyk also argues that Thelema works partly as a successful therapy for a number of problems. Members from a fraught parental home are offered immediate increase in power as well as an identity within a community of like-minded chosen ones. They receive confirmation of what they had somehow been aware of since early childhood, i.e. that they belong to something better, special, superior and singular. They are proud to be members of the order. The self chosen stigma of the O.T.O. community is cultivated, the rôle of the misunderstood and excluded enjoyed, the image of the bad boy nursed. In the office one merely bites one's tongue whenever one is scolded by the boss. At home in the temple one gets rid of unpleasant everyday problems by conjuring them away in magical rituals or discusses them with a supernatural being who in exchange offers mysterious statements.[20]
To my mind the concept of Thelema attracts people with an exaggeratedly positive self image, an inclination to self-delusion (homo est deus) and an endeavour for perfection with a martial tinge (for only the stronger will survive).[21] The veiled reality within which many Thelemites are living (their socially and culturally impaired milieu) forces them into an identification with Crowley to whom one can hardly and by no stretch of the imagination ascribe a coherent personality.
Identification with the founder of a religion whose bible advocates the intake of "wine and strange drugs," who finds religious elation by consuming sperm in saunas, is nurtured by one's own biography full of ego-, sex- and drug problems. Similar to some other new religions not mentioned here, the terminology of the thelemitic world view aims at the elimination of rational thinking and thinking conforming to society. It almost seems that this manner of camouflage is the true meaning or as they say: "The method of science, the aim of religion."
The idea of therapy within the context of the O.T.O. if at all, could be applied in regard to an adaption to the social norm.
O.T.O. Thelemites speak of family,[22] duty, privileges and the urge to make the world a better place (by as much sex as possible as I was personally told by an IX°). Why then are Thelemites so wildly concerned with conjuring demons, Egyptian and therefore quite dead Gods, why are they performing rituals reminiscent of the Addams Family kids' performance in bad school productions?
All this appears to be about gridlocked stereotypes.[23] Similar to what Nietzsche, admired by Thelemites, had found fault with in regard to western culture: the void in one's own culture is filled with exotic habits, the arts, philosophies, religions and sciences. Occultists are wandering encyclopaedists within their own universe.
Wherever money and possessions do no longer count as capital, knowledge of occult techniques does. Thelema as a complex and elitist system flatters the Thelemites' intelligence and elevates their status and self-esteem, not necessarily in the eyes of a largely disinterested mainstream but amongst each other and within the wider occult community which after all does not only consists of Thelemites. Modern occultism is a product of mass media as well as of the internet, and each and every statement on occultism is watched as closely by the occultists themselves as by their observers. Thus all activities contain the constant flirting with the idea of publication, an audience and self-portrayal.
Science fetishists often block out sexual or drug-related matters when dealing with lifestyle and motivation of the occultists. So in fact observers of sects and scientists assist sexual magicians and sperm Gnostics in forcing sexuality back into the unconscious mind. This way irrationality is mystified and exempt from reflection as irrational concepts evade the dry recipes of academia.[24]
Sect watchers however, often self-styled scientists, can choose from a wider set of rôles offered by society.
Still they, too, have to relegate the threat of sexuality to the unconscious. It seems to me it is then substituted by the so-called satanic.
The delegation to the unconscious, i.e. the nurturing of megalomaniacal ideas and delusions of grandeur does not only give birth to manipulations of perception but can go as far as to the delegation of writing studies on the topic to insiders.
Too hot the potato to have one's own fingers burnt. This is what happened with the publisher of an encyclopaedia on Gnostic Bishops. His answers to my questions concerning content grew from evasive to downright bizarre until at long last he owned up and admitted that his students had concocted it all.
Someone else's answer to my question as to whether he had read my main work[25]: "No, I am sorry to say that I have not read your book, but bought it at least which is important (for the publisher)." This after said person had published a lengthy review on exactly that book.
So it seems perfectly normal that reviews or prologues are written as favours whereas in private the reviewer admits that he either was not interested in the topic or is in denial. I am aware of a rather famous professor who has rented out his name in return for a large sum in order to have a contemporary standard work add to its prestige.
Rôleplay
At this point I would like to illustrate the rôles of those involved. Let us proceed from Leo Navratil's early work on schizophrenia and art ("Schizophrenie und Kunst", Navratil 1965). Every now and then he describes patients living within an altered system of religious perception and self-reference. This has little to do with the anamnesis or the assessment of the case. The religious aspect is merely a possible expression of the disorder, but not the disorder itself.Dealing with victims of ritual abuse one must beware of the mistake to declare the expression of the disorder (in fact the counterbalance intended to reinstate the best possible order) to be the disorder itself. Just as the drawing of a schizophrenic is not the illness.
Let us construct an example: In a fit a schizophrenic person draws a picture in which he copies Brigitte Bardot from an image in a magazine.
It is of no importance whatsoever what the onlooker thinks of Bardot: she is neither the cause of the schizophrenia nor the trigger of the fit nor is she the schizophrenic disorder itself.
But it is exactly this kind of confusing the one with the other some experts and journalists seem to succumb to. They do not recognise that a psychological disorder seeks different ways of expression. Rather they convert the expression at face value into the cause of the disorder which could be the consequence of a trauma. The expression is no proof of what kind the trauma was. It does not prove either that the trauma has been caused by Satanists.
It is the job of the experts to offer the facts about Brigitte Bardot or the O.T.O. and it is the job of the journalists to report on it free from prejudice.
It is the responsibility of the police and the judiciary to investigate crimes. If there are indications of such.
ENDNOTES
[1] Based on Andreas Huettl, Peter-R. König: "SATAN – Jünger, Jäger und Justiz", Grosspösna 2006. See page 195, 330, inter alia. http://homepage.hispeed.ch/O.T.O./english.html.
[2] http://www.parareligion.ch/white.htm#_edn33.
[3] See also Kristin T. Schnider: "Buying a Stairway to Heaven", http://www.parareligion.ch/sunrise/kts.htm.
[4] http://www.parareligion.ch/dplanet/or/or9b.htm.
[5] "Informed Consent, Release and Indemnity", (version of 13. 4. 2011) Small children do not become members of the O.T.O. Children are not initiated because they lack the full experience of a completed childhood. To them the rituals would be no more than a kind of excursion with their parents and thus without the true character of an initiation.
[6] As a lot of Masonic and pseudo-Masonic rituals, thus also those of Crowley’s O.T.O., contain death oaths and sections apt to be described as psychodrama or scary, the officiants are encouraged to react to such passages with an "infectuous giggle." Undated email by William Heidrick, who also likes to point to astral and karmic consequences after breach of an oath – meaning Karl Germer’s painful death, http://www.parareligion.ch/sunrise/book.htm.
[7] Jerry Cornelius, email, 15.10.2005.
[8] "Neshamah" I;2, Sacramento March 2008 and its mention in "An Introduction to Pastoral Counseling in E.G.C./O.T.O. Settings" by David G. Shoemaker on http://lib.oto-usa.org/agape/index.html, Agapé, Volume 10;1.
[9] Not identical with the IX° of the O.T.O.
[10] Karl R.H. Frick: "Das Reich Satans. Satan und die Satanisten 1", Graz 1982, page 224 and following pages.
[11] http://www.ashami.com/eidolons/A_Guide_to_the_Office_of_Deacon, http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/crowley/lies/47.htm.
[12] The following guideline to a rite, developed in 1913, contains a finishing line which seems to fall right out of context: "There shall be no sound heard but this thy lion–roar of rapture; yea, this thy lion-roar of rapture". http://sacred-texts.com/oto/lib66.htm
The line either refers to the position of the lion of Hatha-Yoga (Simhasana) or might be an ironical allusion to the epistle of 1 Peter 5;8: "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."
[13] "Keep trying to find out where T.Reuss is buried." "if we can find his grave, dig it up, and retrieve the skull & some bones, and return them to the G.L. [Grand Loge], a lot of power will manifest throughout the order." Christopher Dietler/Zardoz to Walter Jantschik, letters dated 2.6.1983 and 18.3.1983.
[14] First edition 1933, reprint, Pähl, 1970. Criticising the list of saints quoted in Crowley’s Gnostic Mass, Ms. Ludendorff also touches upon the context of fetishism: "Here we only need to mention – as everywhere in occult teachings so here, too – that those still surprised by the distasteful and shameless as well as the nonsense are 'humbled' by a list of names of great men of the past, supposedly having been members of the order. Exactly as in the Christian Church and as in Freemasonry in this case the following is pointed out to them: 'Do you wish to be greater than them, wiser than those great men who believed in this', so the priests say, and this is what the list is supposed to assert. Humbly the victim begins to prefer doubting his own values rather than those of the teachings which so many greats, so many noble spirits believed in. So just as in the freemasons‘ lodges a long line of such men is proudly listed within the O.T.O, of men who perhaps never were part of it or yet had been taken by surprise and, bound by oaths were unable to 'take their names off the book' as almost always decreed by these secret orders. Before the blasphemous communion starts, the dean names the great sages of all centuries who purportedly belonged to the order. 'Wolfgang von Goethe, Ludwig, King of Bavaria, Richard Wagner, Ludwig von Fischer, Friedrich Nietzsche' are listed amongst the Germans. Obviously the community cannot verify where fibbing might be involved and admires itself for being in such illustrious company. This again is of the highest importance in consolidating the stultification of the artificially sickened disciples, for now within their souls they upend the terms for wisdom and nonsense. What they thought nonsense before, now they take to be wise, what seemed prudent, clear and wise, they now take for worthless and false doctrine. But that exactly is the point of those who consciously stultify people! And to that end it truly pays to have lured the wise of the past into the order by having told them tall stories about entirely different teachings and aims, just as they did with the likes of Frederick the Great, Fichte, Lessing, Mozart amongst others, luring these men into the lodges only to later retain careful silence about their deep disappointment!" reprint of 1970, p. 90 .
[15] Triggering of strong emotions, hyperintense activities, situational stimuli (religious or sexual paraphernalia) increased present time and lowered past and/or future time orientation.
[16] A similar study in the German speaking area: Gerhard Mayer: "Arkane Welten. Biografien, Erfahrungen und Praktiken zeitgenössischer Magier", Würzburg 2008. Volume 6 of "Beiträge zur wissenschaftlichen Erforschung aussergewöhnlicher Erfahrungen und Phänomene", commissioned by the "Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health", a registered society. The term "Frontier Regions of Psychology" ["Grenzgebiete der Psychologie"] has been coined by Oscar Schlag, http://www.parareligion.ch/schlag.htm, http://www.parareligion.ch/sunrise/schlag1.htm.
[17] Niches in society such as alternative religions, where they are able to define their economical, cultural and social status, are occupied by modern bohemians, self-styled elites and self-styled outlaws.
[18] http://www.parareligion.ch/ecstasy.htm "The occultist strives after world dominion and ambivalently glides between destruction of the culture (through resistance to the ruling morality), and the preservation of the High- and Mass- cultures (as he requires their magical traditions). There exists no alternative to this totalitarian claim on the same level, or with the same claim to significance. This is why the occultist swings between transcendentally seeking cultural anticipation, and its counterpart, a hope for destruction of the existing culture."
[19] "Moreover, the Beast 666 [Crowley] adviseth that all children shall be accustomed from infancy to witness every type of sexual act." Israel Regardie: "The Law is for All", Arizona 1975, 114, http://hermetic.com/legis/new-comment/. Crowley: "Let children educate themselves to be themselves. Those who train them to standards cripple and deform them." "On the Education of Children", in: "The Revival of Magick", Tempe 1998, sekhetmaat.com/wiki/Documents/On_the_Education_of_Children. Crowley about a boy: "While the other in his orgasm receives the waters." "Let it be no sin to us to have buggered the virle bum." "While the priest thrusts his thyrsus between boyish buttocks, All is accomplished; come Holy Dove!" http://bluepyramid.tripod.com/index/id4.html. "The Equinox" IV;2, Maine 1998, 405.
[20] See Huettl/König, SATAN, p. 267: Ms. Kowalchyk is not a member. Before she was able to begin with her study, all members of the O.T.O. had to get their boss‘ – William Breeze that is – permission, allowing them to speak to her at all. Ms. Kowalchyk proceeded in the traditional way. She visited the meetings of the lodge, regularly interviewed members and compared her findings with those from another "deviant religious group," a christian- fundamentalist grouping. Of course it can be assumed that Ms. Kowalchyk’s presence greatly influenced the O.T.O. members‘ behaviour. The setting alone influenced those members. Here we have a marginalised special religious group officially researched by a scientist, the members of which are under such pressure that they have to search the approval of their Patriarch and "Holy Majesty". Surely nothing detrimental to the image will happen nor be mentioned which the scientist could notice. The problem with most scientists writing about Crowley or the O.T.O. is that they have no internal matters at their disposal but rather conduct superficial conversations with members about publications availabe in bookshops, the bulletins also non-members receive. So, evidently, all hints as to sex and drugs simply go by the board.
– So what was startling during the reading of this study was the omission of drug consumption and the missing discussion of sexual matters. Kowalchyk’s study portrays those Thelemites as rather inhibited squares who even use rooms separated according to the sexes when changing for the rituals. Another point where I disagree with Ms. Kowalchyk: She particularly mentions the Thelemites’ optimistic attitude to life. I look at this in a completely different way. According to me Thelema is deeply pessimistic, somatophobic with its rigid laws, fatalist in its belief in the unknown and unfathomable acts of the gods and only offers a short-termed and very limited simulation of being in high spirits. What is one supposed to think of free sex as long as every orgasm has to take place "under the will" and is or has to be experienced as a religious act? And just how joyful is it, to experience one’s body while aiming one’s thoughts towards a magical goal during orgasm?
[21] For example: "The weak, the timid, the imperfect, the cowardly, the poor, the tearful – these are mine enemies, and I am come to destroy them," Liber Tzaddi, 25, http://www.sacred-texts.com/oto/lib90.htm.
[22] In the Swiss O.T.O. family ties are regarded as obstacles. Within the Caliphate the traditional family is discussed with regard to the sexrituals: "Occassional [sic] sex is of course up to the individuals involved, and in some instances officers may be in short supply; but human nature shows that a married or pair–bonded couple is a risk for the stability of both the family and the official body in the dual ranks of officers of the body. Where convenient, it's best to have officers from different family units [...] Marriage counciling is not an appropriate activity, being basic nosiness." "Magickal Link" III;3, Berkeley March 1983.
[23] Here I deliberately exclude the Typhonian O.T.O. In the T.O.T.O. there are no titles, no hierarchies, no institutionalised rituals, there is no personality cult.
[24] During the same period when occulture began to spread within academia or vice versa: when academia began to appropriate occulture, the internet became part of the mainstream. While occult academia remains beholden to elements of a reactionary mechanism such as prestige and money, the internet breaks open the monopolisation of knowledge and allows a sort of junk postmodernity to freely stream into the living rooms. However, the value of knowledge as well as the value of art which since AND according to Marcel Duchamps and Joseph Beuys is to be found everyhwere, were also subject to transformation.
In the area of the arts, installations, performances and the location of their stageing (galleries, museums) have replaced the old tradition of the original, while on the other hand the internet turns anyone into an expert and renders knowledge replicable ad infinitum. A new cultural technological gap opens, seemingly allowing a distinction between the serious and the dubious. Anything printed on paper is regarded as serious, while anything appearing on a screen is deemed spurious. Academia finds itself under pressure and the encyclopedias originating within the incestuous ccircles of occult academics proliferate faster and faster. This way intellectual standstill, radical conservatism, anti-curiosity are generated. Openness and questions are replaced by templates: Occultist navel-gazing. See also my "The Play Game Version of an O.T.O.-Fata Morgana" at http://www.parareligion.ch/2011/playgame.htm.
[25] The O.T.O.- Phenomenon REMIX: the earlier version of the three actual volumes of The O.T.O. - Phenomenon RELOAD, http://www.parareligion.ch/2011/reload.htm.
© P.R. Koenig, July 2011.
This is a shortened and translated outline of a sub-chapter of Der O.T.O.-Phänomen RELOAD.
The translation was provided by Kristin T. Schnider, 2002-2010 President of the Swiss German PEN Zentrum now its Administrative Director, until 2010 board member of PEN International.
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