Ordo Templi Orientis Phenomenon

"Ljuben je zakon" or "ljubav pod voljom"? The O.T.O. in former "Yugoslavia" O.T.O. srbija P.R. Koenig

In the absence of any other evidence, it is fairly safe to assume that Thelema was introduced to what was then Yugoslavia by one Robert Nemecek, who was then a musician in a well-known (in Yugoslavia) band called 'Rock Machine'. Today Nemecek has a senior position at one of the largest Yugoslav television stations.

 Emir Salihovic [see below] in an email dated November 2000:
 "I heard about Robert Nemecek, but I doubt he introduced Thelema to
 socialist Yugoslavia. I think there's more evidence that Zivorad
 Mihajlovic-Slavinski from Belgrad did that. He published his first book
 in 1973, I think, and he was already mentioning Golden Dawn, Crowley
 etc. In 1976 he published his book "Psychonauts of interior worlds",
 where he devoted a whole chapter to Crowley, OTO, sex magic etc. In the
 same book he wrote extensively about Kenneth Grant also. It is well
 known that Oliver Legradic, and his predecessor (I forgot his name),
 were members of Slavinski's "Psychotronics Society" and learned about
 Crowley from him. It was simply that those people later contacted
 Caliphate, became members, and brought OTO to Yugoslavia."
 

The 'Caliphate'

It was Oliver Legradic (Khonsu) who introduced the 'Caliphate' to Yugoslavia, at Ljubljana in Slovenia, in 1982. The founder of the 'Caliphate', Grady McMurtry, eventually paid a visit to the country in 1983, and some fifteen groups under 'Caliphate' obedience were created there, comprising about 200 members in all. The 'Abrahadabra Camp' (see below) was founded around 1985 in Belgrade by Goran Dordevic (Persifal), who led the group until 1989. (There was actually another person called Goran Dordevic in this group). Apparently, many members of this group underwent a lot of disturbing sex and drug experiences, which merely served to confuse them; one individual who did the 'Caliphate' initiations was sporting an old Nazi swastika badge (actually a tie-pin) on his robe. One witness recalled of this:
"That memory sticks [to] me painfully. My family has jewish ancestors ... Nazis and fascists scare me and anger me very much. The OTO has an uncomfortable relationship with this."

In 1988, a Yugoslav 'Caliphate' member called Vladimir Madic founded a firm called 'Esotheria' in Belgrade for the purpose of publishing editions of Crowley's writings. He was expelled from the 'Caliphate' in 1993, apparently because he was not paying them sufficient 'royalties' (see below).

The Abrahadabra Camp

Goran Dordevic founded the 'Abrahadabra Camp' in about 1985 with an initial membership of ten people. After February 1988, they celebrated the Crowleyan 'Gnostic Mass' on a regular basis. Here is a chronology of their activities:
March 16th and 26th 1988: 0° and I° initiations conducted by Legradic at Vladimir Madic's house near Belgrade. Madic was made a 0°.
Between March and April 1988 the group engaged in simple group activities, particularly Yoga exercises. In June that year, they performed Crowley's verse-dramas 'The Rites of Eleusis' in private. They managed to do these things despite being faced with the problem common to all new occult groups of having no proper temple - so the rites and initiations were done in the cramped confines of members' homes and flats.
By July 1988, the group were meeting every Wednesday to practice the Pentagram and Hexagram rituals, as well as doing meditations, working Liber Samekh, and studying Crowley's Liber AL (the 'Book of the Law') and Liber Israfel. Instructional lessons were given on the Tarot and the magical correspondances of colour.
On July 2nd and 3rd that year, a seminar on Yoga was held.
On July 25th 1988, all the members met to celebrate what was described as a 'Gnostic Baptism' - in fact, a ritual made up of extracts from the Gnostic Mass and Liber Al. It was intended to be a group initiation into the 'Caliphate' version of the Gnostic Catholic Church. This unusual rescension of the Gnostic Mass finished with a group-sex session between (among others) 'Persifal', 'Sr. Venus' and 'Sr. Aqvarius', which scandalised the other members present.
On August 12th that year, the group gave its first public performance of the Gnostic Mass. Another public performance followed on september 24th, with a cast-list of Oliver Legradic as the priest, 'Sr. Venus' as the priestess, and Goran Dordevic as the deacon. 'Sr. Venus' was at that time Camp Master Dordevic's girlfriend; when Legradic became Oasis Master she promptly transferred her affections to him.

 Emir Salihovic [see below] in an email dated November 2000:
 "At that time I was meeting those people. I was interested in joining
 Caliphate officially, but Legradic rejected me on the grounds that I
 was a friend with Julijan Naskov, whom he disliked. Anyway, as the
 bishop of OTO EGC, Legradic baptised me into EGC, with several more
 people. In March of 1989 I even did one Mass with them, acting as the
 Priest. I almost regularly attended these Masses. But the bastards
 didn't call me to join when they had that group-sex session :)) Oh,
 yes, I was really hot about Sr. Venus, as everybody else... :) "
 

Vladimir Madic and Maja Mandic had a general impression of the Belgrade group as friendly and creative, although the magic wasn't of the highest quality; this was before Legradic took control.

The Abrahadabra Oasis

On the orders of the 'Caliph' William Breeze, Abrahadabra Camp was elevated to the status of an 'Oasis', with Legradic as its Master. In point of fact, Legradic had fallen for Soror Venus's charms, and had moved from Ljubljana to Belgrade.
January 16th 1989: Formal opening of the Oasis and performance of the rituals of the Pentagram, Hexagram, Star Ruby, and Liber Reguli. Then the O.T.O.'s 'Manifesto' was read out, and events concluded with a study of the Tarot trumps.
On January 26th, the former offices of the now-defunct Camp were dissolved, before still more study of Tarot trumps.
At the February 1st meeting, Legradic announced his wish to run a seminar on the Gnostic Catholic Church, before the Tarot trumps studying resumed.
February 10th saw performances of the Pentagram and Hexagram rituals, that of the Star Ruby, and a reading of Chapter Seven of Liber Ararita - these "on the occasion of the death of Fr. Marcur". They went on to study the M.M.M. part of Liber IV (otherwise called 'ABA'), and did an 0° ritual. Some of the brethren from Novi Sad had presented the Oasis with the gift of a home-made magic wand.
February 18th: Legradic and others made comments on Liber CLXI and studied the 0° ritual.
The following day on February 19th, a number of Abrahadabra's members were holding their own workings independent of the 'Caliphate' in Frater 'Artur's' flat. It is notable that everyone present at this gathering was later expelled from the 'Caliphate': Dordevic, 'Artur', 'B.', 'Sr. Felis' amongst others.
March 1st: Legradic expounded the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.
March 7th: At a meeting held in Belgrade's Youth Centre, Legradic, 'Fr. M.' and Ziorad Mihajlovic Slawinski discussed Crowley's Liber IV (otherwise called 'ABA').
8th of March: an Oasis meeting.
March 15th: Legradic gave a talk on the Star Ruby, before a general discussion about 'Fr. E.A.O.A.'s' Liber XXV.
March 22nd: The Æon of Horus was honoured with a special celebration of the Gnostic Mass.
Then on April 2nd, Legradic announced that the Oasis would soon be closed down, as the Abrahadabra group was about to be raised to the dignity of a fully-fledged 'Caliphate' O.T.O. Lodge; membership fees were to be increased, and all future meetings should be audiotaped, he said.

The Abrahadabra Lodge

On April 9th 1989, William Breeze, during the course of a trip through Europe, elevated Legradic to the V°, and installed the Abrahadabra Lodge.
The following day, and again on April 30th, the Lodge celebrated Gnostic Masses.
Then on June 13th, regular public meetings were instituted at a restaurant; non-members were allowed to attend.
June 15th saw the expulsion of Frater 'Artur', one of the group's longest-standing members, by Legradic; this was supposedly because 'Artur' had been stirring up trouble by gossiping about Legradic and his girl-friend.
Gnostic Masses were then performed regularly, on June 17th and 28th, on July 23rd, and on August 8th. It was at this time according to Vladimir Madic, that 'Khonsu' started experimenting with sniffing glue - Madic was woken up in the middle of the night by Legradic's incoherent phone-calls.
September 10th: Legradic led both 0° and I° initiation-ceremonies.
September 12th, 13th, and 14th saw more Gnostic Masses.
On September 21st, trouble reared its head again: Legradic had been borrowing money from a member called Frater 'Prvoslav', and had apparently not been repaying his loans. Angrily, 'Prvoslav' showed him the door at a Lodge meeting - and Legradic had to do as he was told - unfortunately for him the meeting was being held in 'Prvoslav's' flat. In revenge, Legradic expelled 'Fr. Prvoslav'.

 Emir Salihovic [see below] in an email dated November 2000:
 "Prvoslav later left OTO anyway. He even moved from Belgrade. He was
 nice man, but I think that he suffered from some kind of light mental
 disorder. I was living in his flat for about a month."
 

Between May 1990 and the outbreak of war in the summer of 1991, nothing dramatic seems to have happened; Legradic then closed the Belgrade Lodge and moved to Slovenia. The war split the Yugoslavian 'Caliphate' into four factions; the Slovenian and Serbian groups were able to carry on working uninterrupted, while the Croatian and Bosnian groups suffered greatly. There is now an alleged policy in place that no further initiations will be held until 2001.

Two other people not yet mentioned were important for the development of the 'Caliphate' in Yugoslavia; one was Milan V. from Vrsac, the other was 'Joca' from Novi Sad. They were devoted to the cause for several years, but were later sidelined apparently because of their "strange" behaviour.

Confronted by the terrible war situation in 1993, William Breeze's conscience was pricked enough for him to found a so-called "Balkan War Fund" to help the beleaguered 'Caliphate' members there. Part of the money collected from 'Caliphate' members elsewhere in the world was forwarded to the organisation's representative in Ljubljana, who had Bosnian refugees staying in his house; another portion was reserved to pay for medical tests for Bosnian refugees - while the remainder was allegedly sent to people in "the South Slavic States".

Five Bosnian members (together with one couple's child) were able to leave Bosnia and go to live in a safer area; this was some time in 1996. The official 'Caliphate' magazine "The Magical Link" claimed that the majority of their Yugoslav members left the new Bosnian territories after the "peace"; but actual witnesses to these events state that it was apparent that the membership was largely Serbian and came from wealthy backgrounds.

In 1999 a television journalist Sasa Damnjanovic reported more recent 'Caliphate' goings-on:
"Now you have the new kids in town - but it is a small country, and a small organisation. There is little money to spare (for the Great Work), and maybe still some fear; so it is like it was under the 'Caliph' - bad work. You know the sort of thing: do a little Pentagram ritual and you are a magician of the IX°!"

At the same time that Breeze founded the Balkan War Fund, he expelled Vladimir Madic and his allies in April 1993; it seems that Breeze thought that Madic & Cº, having started 'Esotheria', hadn't come up with enough 'royalty' payments to the 'Caliphate' for publishing Crowley material during the Balkan war. In fact, in the absence of any other resources, Madic had paid Legradic in the form of books (worth the equivalent of 5,000 US dollars), even though Legradic himself hadn't lifted a finger to help with publication. Madic was a witness to the fact that all the Yugoslavian 'Caliphate' funds (whether from membership fees or elsewhere) had been embezzled by Legradic for himself.

In May 1997, Breeze again tried use a lawyer to threaten these "unfaithful" ex-members into giving him money, but since then a Serbo-Croat translation of Crowley's O.T.O. rituals has been published, which Breeze completely failed to block.

Before the break-up of Yugoslavia under the Tito régime, it was difficult to write openly about occult or esoteric subjects; so a lot of groups would add a few Marxist lines to their texts to avoid accusations or arrest. Only with the fall of Communism in the country, was it possible to speak or write freely.

Unhappily, with this freedom there came penalties; ever since 1994 a number of newspapers in the former Yugoslavia have mimicked their European brethren by describing the O.T.O. as Satanists. In 1998 the Yugoslav parliament (under Milosevic) debated a new law - which has yet to go on the statute-books - which would control the activities of religious bodies. One clause in this law would prohibit all 'Satanic' and 'Gnostic' sects as harmful; the O.T.O. would undoubtedly fall under this definition of 'Satanic', since several of its members have been interrogated on more than one occasion by the Yugoslav secret police (more correctly called the 'National Security'). The authorities obviously suspected that 'Esotheria' and Madic's local radio programme 'Terra Mistica' were a front for the O.T.O., and were used to recruit members.

But to date O.T.O. groups in the former Yugoslavia have escaped being listed in parliamentary reports, either because they are simply too small to attract official attention, or because control of religious minorities is seen mainly as a political tool only).

   Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 
   Subject: O.T.O. in YU

   93!
   (I hold a widely spread opinion that this is a greeting that
   expresses most deep respect to a person adressed)
   I am a person mentioned in a some letters from people that were
   involved in YU O.T.O. called Artur, which should be fra. ARTHuR,
   actually.
   After a many years of occasinal reading of the interesing materials
   on your site, which I beleive read only a small percent, I have to
   give you some more precise data. It concerns a very few details,
   but it is obvious that some of the people have their own
   misconceptions which should be, for the sake of truth, cleared.
   1. Concerning the expulsion of the members of ABRAHADABRA lodge
   from Caliphate, we were only expelled from the lodge by fra. Khonsu
   under the obvious influence of spirit, glue and his late wife,
   sorror Venus. I checked the facts personally with O.T.O. HQ. Me and
   other fratres et sorrores are still member, though not active.
   The only person expelled was Mr. Madic (fra Ekanath) for reasons
   that are correctly shown in the letters that you quote.
   2. The famous group sex orgy after a Gnostic mass, held at Mr.
   Madic's place was not an orgy at all. What happened is that some
   six members of the camp (it was still a camp then) spontaneously
   started to provoke each other into some mild petting which
   culminated in pseudolesbian petting exhibition involving two
   sorrors, Venus & Aquarius. Both of them were classical examples of
   sexual provocatresses, psychologicaly troubled, but it is not mine
   to explain. Most of us were provoked by them many times, since we
   all were actually friends, and a rather good ones. They undressed
   their blouses, showing breasts, and actually fighting for a title
   of a alpha-female in the group. They did not realise that the third
   one already established her status, which later on came obvious,
   and she was a most often a priesstes, and a most desired one by all
   of us who acted as a priests. It was Vlada Madic's girlfriend,
   Maja, who even nowadays is a well known person in Belgrad occult
   circles. This event, which 6 persons attended, and I was not
   interested, since I was in the other room with another girl, ;)))
   and only came in once to tell them that I was busy, so they
   proclaimed me a Black Guard, and asked me to make sure that nobody
   came in. There were still some of the people in the flat, after a
   mass. Present were s. Venus, s. Aquarius, Maja Mandic, f. B., f.
   Parsifal, and Vlada Madic. All of the involved, including me, later
   on had trouble with fra. Khonsu, when he married sorror Venus. We
   were, among the rest of stupid accusations, blamed for inventing
   and spreading the rumour about s. Venus having an orgy with all of
   us. Rubbish. Nobody ever gave any importance to this event, but it
   obviouslu ment something to late s. Venus. It seems that Legradic
   never really realised that this childish fun took place in reality.
   I personally feel sorry for a poor girl although she gave me a lot
   of trouble with no reason at all. But it was her life and she did
   with it what she felt she should.
   3. B., V. Madic and me received some night calls from Legradic that
   we were expelled from an order, so I imediatelly called Bill
   Heidrick an asked him about that, he had no knowledge or any
   document about it. After some 10 years, when I left country for
   some time for bussines reasons, I had an email contact with him
   when he assured me that if only I started to pay my fees, I would
   agan be a member in "good standing". Since I was not involved in
   any Caliphate works, I prefered to stay silent. So did others.
   4. The first book published in Serbia by O.T.O. members was Book 4.
   The printing was financed by fra. Parsifal and me, and in the
   redaction Legradic was also involved, and so was formally Vlada
   Madic, although he did almost nothing, but he was learning how to
   do it, and later on started his own publishing company, Esotheria.
   Fra P. and I dod almost all the work, and translations were done by
   ex-members of the Abrahadanra camp, which by the time started their
   own camp in Zavidovici, B&H. They are the members mantioned in a
   part about fleeing from the country, and now they live in Canada.
   What happened is that fra. Khonsu took all of the print to
   distribute it arround the country, to members and the other
   interested in Theleme. The book was sold in few months, and we
   never got any money from it. Only when it became obvious, fra P.
   took almost by force last few dosens of copies from Legradic, and
   in that way, selling these last ones we succeeded to get back only
   the money we put into it. Since I borrowed money for that, I was
   actually in minus, and also since I beleived that I will get some
   money from it, I did not work for some moths, so the whole thing
   came as a rather bitter wakeup.
   When I publicly asked Legradic about what actually happened, and
   whether there is any money, he took a drop of Abramelin oil (well,
   actually, a mixture, a drop diluted in lots of olive oil ;))) on a
   thumb and "ritually" pressed it on my forehead, thereby banishing
   me from a Lodge. The reason he gave was my undermining his
   authority as a Lodge master. I did not reply, it was below any
   conception I ever had about honour. Which was more important, I did
   not care anymore, since I already saw what he was doing. The only
   thing I regreted at that time was the certainty that if I adressed
   any of the senior officers in HQ, it was my word against his. And I
   knew that other Lodge members would not back me up. Later when it
   came to writing a letter to Caliph, most of them acrually turned
   yellow. I knew it earlier.
   Fra. Parsifal, probably the person that deserves most credits for
   O.T.O. popularity in Serbia, and even more, in ex YU, took the rest
   of the books from f. Khonsu to save our investment, and since he
   did not obey masters order to work against me, he was accused for
   breaking an oath of. III deegree, which is a classic abuse of power
   on behalf of that bastard. This word I do not use emotionaly, since
   I am not interested anymore, I am just trying to use the proper
   expresion for this semihuman creature which obsessed the whole of
   YU O.T.O. He never grew up from an adolescensy, and after I lost
   him from sight he only sunk deeper. After he lost his wife, Venus,
   maybe something changed, but I have no idea. Evenmore, it is not my
   bussines.
   5. The group that gathered working in my flat, as it is said in a
   passage on Abrahadabra Oasis, from 19th of February was not a adhoc
   gathering of unsatisfied members of the Oasis and later Lodge. It
   was our old magic group from which actually the O.T.O. in Belgrade
   emanated. In summer 1984 us 5 member of "Psychotronic society" that
   was founded by Zivorad Mihajlovic Slavinski, started experimenting
   with ceremonial magick, not knowing much about Thelema, but very
   soon we learned about and studied it passionately. The group was
   fuonded in my appartment by one who later on became fra. Parsifal,
   then one Dusan Licina, also a brother later on, who died heroicaly
   in Bosnia as a medic. He was married to a sorror Aquarius. Also
   there were two friends from a nearby municipality of Pancevo, who
   never joined O.T.O. but stayed in E.G.A. of Slavinsky, and there
   was of course me. This group flourished through years, involving
   many people from Belgrade, some of them now famous in art circles,
   we had guests from all the parts of the world, contacts with all
   kinds of traditions. For instance, when we were deeply involved in
   O.T.O. in 87, and 88, before Oliver Legradic came to Bg. we had as
   a regular guest John Myrdhin Reynolds, Tipetan mystic, teacher and
   translator, who also is a friend of Caliph. ;) We all attended his
   and Namkhai Norbu's Dzog Chen seminars, we studied Yoga, Tantra and
   who knows what. On the Yoga seminar mentioned in Madic's account I
   introduced to the rest od brothers an modern alternative technique
   of Rebirthing by Leonard Orr, and so on. The group kept working on
   even after the collapse of O.T.O. in Belgrade. Not to forget that a
   prominent member was one B. who is also mentioned. He was actually
   a leader at a time. I took on when he left. But in the beginning
   there was no leader. We all just did our Will. And so is today,
   though we do not meet officially, but we are still friends, all of
   us, with an exception of one sister.
   6. Frater Prvoslav is in a way not fairly described by Emir, who
   happens to be a friend to. ;))) Prvoslav is simply not a fool.
   Thats all, he doesn't care for politenes and he was really ready to
   beat the bastard Legradic at the time. Some brothers stopped him.
   Later on he turned a genuine mystic, lived in a cottage by some
   lake, and now works with wood, carving religious motives. He
   actually lives Thelema more than a lot of others, although his art
   is motivated by ortodox christian icons.
   7. Milan V. and Joca, that are also mentioned are respectively,
   Oliver Legradic's Best man, and a first boyfriend of s. Venus. They
   both strayed into mental disorder of some kind.
   8. All of the reports of Zivorad Mihajlovic Slavinsky are not
   really accurate, except the mere facts, but that is another story.
   Suffice to say that he was a pioneer of psychic journeys in ex YU,
   and he still works a lot. He has two sides, and it can be an
   interesting story. If you want to know, I can supply facts, but it
   is a damanding work. He is the best partner when it comes to
   practical work, and a dangerous enemy when it comes to money and
   power.
   
                     I hope these lines will help to clarify some
                     things, and if you need more, I am ready to
                     give further info. But, when I try to get some
                     more detailed idea from your site, it gives me
                     headache, considering the mere size of the
                     material.... ;)
                                           Yours sincerely,
                                           Nebojša Mirèetoviæ,
                                           fra. ARTHuR

The Typhonian O.T.O.

Zivorad Mihajlovic-Slavinski was born in Belgrade on December 4th, 1937; he was a clinical psychologist by profession. From 1970 onwards, he published a series of books on esoteric and occult subjects:

 Yoga: Psychic Training
 The Keys of Psychic Magic
 Hermetic Symbols
 Encyclopedia of Parapsychology and Hermeticism
 Psychonauts of Inner Worlds
 Psychotronics: A Theory and Practice of Parapsychology
 Translations of Aleister Crowley's Liber Al and Liber Aleph
 The Course of Gnostic Occultism (published by Vladimir Madic)
 Excalibur
 In 2003/04 he published his first novel called "The Dawn of Aiwaz" 
   ("Praskozorje Ajvaza"). 

"I have 23 published books. Some of them are translated into English (take a look at Amazon), Italian, Turkish, Portuguese, Slovenian and Russian." [Slavinski in an email, February 2008]

While acquiring a manor-house for his community in Belgrade, Mihajlovic became a bishop in Michael P. Bertiaux's Ordo Templi Orientis Antiqua, and an X° in Kenneth Grant's 'Typhonian' O.T.O. in 1990. He founded what he called his 'Psychotronics Association', and is usually considered something of a spiritual pioneer in the former Yugoslavia; 'Ecclesia Gnostica Alba' (EGA) once had over a hundred members. See the main page on the 'Typhonian' O.T.O..

Members of the EGA claimed to have achieved spontaneous consciousness of Aiwass, the tutelary spirit of Thelema, through their rites, which also enabled them to 'receive' something called the "Algolian language", which they then learnt to speak. The Algol in 'Algolian' does not refer to the Arabic star-name Algol, but "a dimension on the borderland of the transplutonic Isis" - Isis being the name of an as yet undiscovered planet in Grant's mythology. [Unfortunately, 'Algol' is also the name of an early computer programming language]. The vocabulary of Algolian was mainly 'received' by Milena Jovanovic (a member of Slavinski's Gnostic Church) and Alda Meuna, his wife; Philip, his 13-year old son also helped in their 'researches'. Aiwass explained that he was trying to influence the science of Planet Earth through the person of Nikola Tesla (the eccentric electrical genius). The words 'Aiwass' and 'Aiwaz' (the mystical and magical spellings respectively) seemed to play a very important rôle in the language; it was asserted that 'Aivaz' was a common surname in the Lika province of Bosnia, where many Serbians lived. Slavinski thought that "Aivaz and LAM are the same Intelligence, ... the Aivaz energy-stream materialises as Lam when emerging through human awareness." This was in the same vein as Kenneth Grant's remeniscence: "In 1945, Crowley proffered his portfolio and made me choose any picture I liked ... I drew out the portrait of LAM, and, as I did so, Crowley muttered - sotto voce - Aiwass!." [Some say for possibly "Eyewash!"]

Here is the opinion from a source in the former Yugoslavia:

 Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2000
 From: 'Kreshimir Markovich'
 Subject: Croatian caliphate
 You can quote me as 'Vilenjak'. That means, roughly, 'Faery' and that
 is my nickname on occult-related Internet discussions.
 You had been falsely informed that Croatian caliphate OTO is not
 functioning. If you are interested in that part of OTO history, see
 www.iridis.hr/theba or www.pubwww.hr/cro_oto links. Croatian OTO is
 alive and kicking - with active bodies in Zagreb, Split and Ivanicgrad
 (town near Zagreb). Only Bosnian BABALON 149 Oasis in Zavidovici (city
 near Tuzla) was destroyed on material plane during the War. Roughly in
 Autumn of 1992, when Serbians smashed Croatian defences in North Bosnia
 and attacked Tuzla Muslim enclave from the back... but I will ask for
 better information.
 OTO body (Mirrah lodge) in Zagreb have public EGC mass every week,
 Babalon ritual and Baphomet mass (also public) every month.
 Zagreb has Mirrah lodge, and members of that body had rented small
 apartment for masses and communion. Mirrah is name of a quasar. Every
 Saturday we have EGC mass (with public invitation, very liberaly
 granted), on full moon Babalon ritual and Baphomet mass on new moon.
 After group rituals we usually have a party.
 Master of Mirrah lodge is Ranko Blazekovic. I will collect other
 information in next week or two. OTO in whole of Croatia have about 100
 members. But I will send you more detailed information soon.
 Ivanijgrad have LA-AL camp and Ra-Hoor-Khuit camp. People there are
 very active, and besides EGC mass for initiated members they do
 invocation of Heru-Ha-Ra monthly.
 Split have Theba Oasis and Baphomet Oasis. Theba has great web pages
 on www.iridis.hr/theba which will be translated into English soon.
 I apologize because of sending you incorrect link two times. Correct
 address is pubwww.srce.hr/cro_oto."
                                  ***
 Zivorad Mihailovic Slavinski is known in the former Yugoslavia as a
 publicist and the author of books of dubious quality. I know of people
 who developed serious problems by doing the exercises written in his
 book 'Training of the Indian Yogi and Fakir'. He also translated the
 texts of the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram (Golden Dawn version,
 incomplete and with mistakes) and of the Middle Pillar (this had
 serious mistakes) and published them as the 'Secret of Psychic Magic'.
 He had a lot of members in the Ecclesia Gnostica Alba. But in that
 organisation he was only teaching techniques pirated from Charles
 Berner ('Direct Enlightenment'), and the 'Excalibur' books, Ramana
 Maharshi's 'Vicara', Sedona and Scientology - all sold at extravagant
 prices (at least by standards in the former Yugoslavia.
 What they did, in fact, were the so called "Enlightenment Intensives".
 

 Many members of the Croatian 'Caliphate' are introduced to occult
 themes via books Slavinski has written (that is translated and compiled
 badly). But he was never relevant to serious seekers.
 No Serbian in Lika has the surname 'Aivaz'; that's a ridiculous
 fantasy of Zivorad 'Zika' Mihailovic. If you look at the language in
 Bosnia and central Croatia, you will see it was greatly influenced by
 Turkish during the rule of the Ottoman Empire. There is a Turkish word
 'avaz' which means 'herald' or 'news'; there is a daily paper in
 Bosnia's capital, Sarajevo, called 'Dnevni Avaz' which means 'Daily
 Herald' or 'Daily News' - you can find it in any Turkish-English
 dictionary if you want. Some of the Turks intermarried with Bosnians,
 and there are some Bosnian Muslim families with first or surnames
 related to 'avaz'. But not in Lika, the ancestral home of the Tesla
 family - but in central Bosnia!
 I found even more information in a bigger dictionary... the word
 'avaz' is of Persian origin, and is more authentically spelt as 'awaz';
 it meant 'voice'. If you remember how Aiwass was supposed to look, you
 can easily imagine that angel/demon at the beginning of Liber AL saying
 simply: 'I am the voice (awaz) of Ra-Hoor-Khuit'."

Appendix February 2008

Zivorad Slavinski formed a group called "Omega" in Belgrade, a sort of closed group engaged in experiments using techniques of what he calls "Spiritual Technology". This group gathers members from China to Brazil.
(N.B. During the seventies he had paid for the treatments and processes of Scientology like other people, even W. S. Burroughs. But he had never been part of the organisation so there is no direct link. Furthermore he always stated that the techniques of Scientology were interesting but the organisa-tion itself fascist in nature.)
Apart from his group “Spiritual Technology” there is his Ecclesia Gnostica Alba as a separate entity. The EGA is a registered church in Slovenia. In 1996, Slavinski dismissed most of its members, so today [2008] it is a somewhat small "elitist" organization, the members of which allegedly consist of doctors of the sciences, Ph.D's and similar university graduates. Even an ambassador is said to be one of its initiated members.

 From: "Vranic Predrag"
 Subject: On Aiwass surname in Bosnia
 Date: Sat, 3 Jan 2004
 Had to inform you that Ajvaz (Aiwass) is a real surname in both Serbia
 and Bosnia.If you need any kind of proof, the easiest one is to check
 mailing boxes and residents info at the building where OTPOR ( one of
 the main organized acters in so called "October Revolution" that
 pulled-off the Milosevic's regime) has its headquarters in the street
 called 'Knez Mihailova', Belgrade, Serbia.The more obvious proof
 couldn't be managed at this moment. Still, it bothers me that certain
 people uses false arguments fro m esotheric resources as a weapon for
 their low aims in campaign against one nation, in this case, Serbian
 nation.
 

The Gnostic Light Movement

On February 22nd 1980 Israel Regardie (once Crowley's secretary, and a prime mover in the Golden Dawn revival) told Julijan Naskov that he should contact the O.T.O.'s "European representative" - a person he called "our good friend" Hermann Joseph Metzger. Eventually, Naskov visited Metzger's Swiss Abbey of Thelema.

"In January 1982, Metzger told me that his O.T.O. was masonic. Since there was no active Masonry in Yugoslavia at that moment I could not become his representative. He also believed that any Yugoslavian O.T.O. would be monitored by the local police" as Naskov later recalled. When Metzger and Naskov started discussing the vexed question of who was OHO of the O.T.O., Naskov mentioned Marcelo Ramos Motta, which caused Metzger to get abusive, and ask Naskov to leave. When Naskov reported this to the very surprised Regardie, they decided that Naskov should contact another O.T.O. group - the 'Caliphate'. Having received a copy of the 'Caliphate's' usual form-letter expounding their whitewashed version of O.T.O. history as a result, Naskov lost interest. Likewise, a brief contact with Motta came to an abrupt end in 1983 with Motta's complaint that Naskov was using the wrong 'Thelemic greeting' to open his letters.

On November 11th 1980 Naskov believed he had already contacted Aiwaz, Crowley's Holy Guardian Angel; the same entity who earlier supposedly had an influence on Michael P. Bertiaux. Now, in September 1983, Naskov contacted the entity caled LAM, which resulted in an intense correspondence with Michael Bertiaux since the latter viewed LAM as the "subterranean burgeoning of Lucifer-Gnosis". Bertiaux wrote:

"Just as Gnostic metaphysics conditions the intellect to accept the political idealism of Plato and subsequent Greek metaphysics, so the field of esoteric logic brings about a special inclination towards an ideal order or collectivity of logical beings, whose main purpose seems to be the establishment of a system of definitions, useful for the reconstruction of the political world. These definitions are magical beings or occult spirits who inhabit the interconnected space-time network of esoteric and Gnostic logic. By means of magical meta-methodologies, the Gnostic agent draws these beings forth from the esoteric and Gnostic world tissues and concretizes them as metaphysical beings. This process of induction culminates in the intuition of space and time as metaphysical forms of Aiwaz and Lam, the twin pathways for the underground swelling of Luciferian-magnetic Gnosis, which is the form of the ideal ontology of the political order ... AIWAZ and LAM are the natural modes OF HUMAN EVOLUTION IN THE PRESENT AEON ... As humanity evolves, the Aiwaz energy complex goes through a metamorphosis and separates itself from the realm of Lam."

Bertiaux thought that AIWAZ was the master of beneficial powers and sex-magic, while Choronzon (Crowley's name for the 'Thelemic Devil') was the negative 'King of the Vampires': "So we have simply to tell the negative powers that we are one with their King and they will become our slaves." On January 29th AIWAZ informed Bertiaux that Julijan Naskov was to write a book about "non-Euclidian Sex Magick".

 Emir Salihovic [see below] in an email dated November 2000:
 "In the very beginning, Naskov called his magical system "The Red
 Gnostic Alliance", later on he changed the name to "Gnostic Light
 Movement". [...] The basis of Naskov's system was
 expounded in the so-called "Book of Gnosis", a manual comprising seven
 magical rituals/meditations, based on Thelemic symbols. Each one of
 those rituals had its sexomagical version. Gnostic Light Movement was
 considered as an outer order. I met Naskov for the first time in May of
 1985. He claimed that he channeled the structure of these magical
 orders in March or April same year. In July we did some magical
 workings together, for the first time. A man from Zagreb joined us. It
 was a kind of two day magical retirement. We did a number of magical
 rituals, invocations and meditations, including the invocation of Lam.
 As far as I am concerned, that work was fruitful for me: I had a lot of
 insights, interesting experiences... Very strange physical phenomena
 occurred during the invocation of Lam, I must say. I was only seventeen
 years old at that time. It was a kind of real magical initiation for
 me."
 

In 1989, Bertiaux, Lamparter and Courtney Willis gave Naskov permission to open a Yugoslavian OTOA Lodge and a branch of Bertiaux's Voodoo Order "La Couleuvre Noire".

In July 1990 there was a meeting of those interested in the Æon of Maat in London; those present included Maggie Ingalls ('Nema', who later wrote the 'Macedonian Lectures'), Michael Staley, Julijan Naskov, Ian Fries, and the editors of the English magazine Nuit-Isis.

The exigencies of the Balkan War and the media persecution of Thelemites there forced Naskov to establish his 'Gnostic Light Movement' otherwise known as the 'Zen-Gnostic Monastery' as a kind of umbrella organisation for his various Gnostic groupings. He apparently had to 'flee' from Banja Luka to Ljubljana, and then from there to Sarajevo, thence to Belgrade, then Rijeka and finally to Skopje. After 1992 he was succeeded as head of the Belgrade OTOA Lodge was Emir Salihovic (born 1968) who contributed a chapter the present writer's book on Holy Guardian Angels, Abramelin & Co. (1994).

 Emir Salihovic in an email dated November 2000:
 "In fact, before the war in Bosnia started, Naskov gave me a charter
 authorizing me to be the Master of whole OTOA in Yugoslavia. Also, he
 gave me a charter which authorized me to head Gnostic Light Movement,
 but under his supervision.
 In 1994 I published a book called "Gnostic Light Movement". Several
 people expressed their interest to join that magical group after they
 read the book. But, 70-80% of material in that book was my own magical
 work: insights, constructions etc. Maybe that was the reason why Naskov
 never used that book as the official GLM manual, although he used it to
 promote his work. For years we didn't have any kind of magical work
 together. Naskov formed a small group in Skopje, Macedonia, and as far
 as I understood, they didn't work on the lines of "old" GLM.
 Eventually, I decided to distance myself from GLM as an official
 organization (although it never reached the level of organization) and
 continue my work individually. I also formed my own group in Belgrade,
 and we were practicing ritual magick, studied magical formulae, did
 some "Maat magick" etc.
 At that time I got very much involved with Bertiaux system, and did a
 lot of Voodoo magick and sex magick of "8th degree". I performed
 self-initiations into degrees of Lave-tete, Canzo and Houngan, using
 official La Couleuvre Noire rituals which I got from Lamparter. I also
 wrote a new scheme for working OTOA degrees. In a letter, Courtney
 Willis approved me to work that way. But, I never initiated anybody
 into OTOA or LCN. It was the same period when I got a charter to run
 QBLH Alchemist Church and Ordo Astrum Argentum in Yugoslavia. I think
 Bertiaux mode of work is too difficult, obscure and confusing for the
 majority of people. I found new ways to work it in a way which is more
 acceptable, but as I said, I still didn't give any kind of
 "initiations". One of the reasons is that I should have Monastery of
 the Seven Rays material translated into Bosnian, and it's a lot of
 material and I have no time to do it. And I'm not rich enough to pay
 professional translator. I started to work on a new book, called "The
 Grimoire of the Star and the Snake". I have no clue when I am going to
 finish it."
 

 1. I am the AIWASS current 418 that emanates through you.
 2. Take my knowledge thus as I give it in full consciousness.
 3. I have already spoken to you about it back in the 80's in my month.
 4. Now you want to say that you hate the hand and the pen but I am
    stronger.
 5. Yes, your prophet is curious about my being a woman, but I am NUIT.
    Yes, I am Nuit.
 6. It is Me who talks to you not AIWASS.
 7. Creative power of your being invoked me and I want to send you a
    message.
 8. Work with me is very powerful and you must support/bear it. (Etc.)
 

Editorial Note: Julijan Naskov's entire archive of documents was sent to the present author at the outbreak of the Balkan war in 1991. Whatever else may be said about it, there is no doubt that his group was incredibly active; the interested reader will find some beautiful and revealing drawings by them in my "Der OTOA-Reader" pp. 120-128. Naskov visited me in 1992, having obtained a visa due to his work for an international chemical firm, and returned to Belgrade afterwards. He now lives in Skopje in Macedonia. On 3rd January 2001 he sent below corrections:

"Metzger never asked me to leave when I mentioned Motta to him. We talked for about two hours, about OTO and occultism in general. When I was about to leave, I asked Metzger if he knew about a gossip, spread around by Motta, that he substituted the name Nuit in Liber AL with the name Mary. He told me that's not true, he was angry and showed me a copy of Liber AL in which it was written Nuit, not Mary. It was interesting that during our conversation Metzger never answered a question before he consulted somebody by phone. He phoned five times during our conversation, and the only words I understood were OTO, Regardie, Naskov etc.
I remember very good. When I left his house on steps I ask him about THE BOOK OF THE LAW and he aks from Annemarie Aeschbach to take book to show me that. He did not want to get me copy of book free what he has in mind . SO what really happened is that what I wrote you here. After two hours comunicatio. Metzger did not comunicate english. when I left his house I asked him about that.
Also, the last sentence in second paragraph should be cut. I had correspondence with Motta about OTO and SOTO, and Motta used to blame other people in his letters, especially Regardie. He also wandered if I was monitored by the police. I was not interested in that way of communication and therefore I stopped communication with him. It was obvious that Motta suffered some form of mental disorder. It is not true that I used wrong Thelemic greetings, but Motta claimed that he used those greetings only when in contact with 'true' Thelemites. He didn't want to use it with me since I was not 'true' Thelemite according to him. And that was because I didn't buy his stories about OTO and occultism in general.
'On November 11th 1980 Naskov belived he had already contacted Aiwaz....'- that's the begining of the third paragraph. All of that paragraph is wrong. Peter, in occult circles I'm known as Master Leo, and that name should be used throughout the whole text, with an explanation who's the person. On November 11, 1980, after the intensive meditation on the first chapter of Liber AL, Master Leo chanelled a text called H-1, and at that time Master Leo believed it was chanelled from Aiwaz. But, in a communication from 1993 that entity identified itself as Nuit and as a source of communications from 1980. After the intensive work with the third chapter of Liber AL, Master Leo on March 26, 1983, established a contact with hawk-headed Lord (Horus), who revealed the secret of the verse 47 of the third chapter of Liber AL. And Master Leo never communicated with Lam!
In the Black Gnostic Snake men learn how to utilise their own energies, in the Black Gnostic Dove women learn how to utilise their own energies. In the Black Gnostic Star both of them learn to unite their energies. Division on homosexual and heterosexual magic is incorrect. There is no homosexual magic in my orders!
The complete system, all the orders plus the order K.A., bears the name Gnostic Light Movement. It is founded on the esoteric Zen-Gnostic Monastery, since the whole teaching is a mixture of Zen, Gnostic and Neognostic teachings".

 Emir Salihovic in an email dated November 2000:
 "Actually, the drawings published in "Der OTOA-Reader" (Male Chakram)
 are from Bertiaux system. I don't know who did the drawing of male
 genitals (good work, anyway), but it was I who marked 16 occult
 centers, according to the secret papers of Bertiaux's Monastery of the
 Seven Rays magical system. Those 16 genital chakras correspond with 16
 "exoteric" chakras of the whole body, and are used as centers for
 focusing ojas or magical power during magical rites. There are also
 certain interesting methods of magical massage of those centers, for
 purpose of evoking those energies, which are described in the papers
 for the initiates of the 4th year of study of the Monastery of the
 Seven Rays course of lessons. Interested readers can consult "The
 Voudoun Gnostic Workbook" by Michael Bertiaux. Those centers are
 described in the papers entitled "The Magical System", in the first
 section of the "Workbook" - "Voodoo Energies"."
 

After Julijan Naskov had handed his OTOA authorizations in Yugoslavia over to Emir Salihovic, there was a period of stagnation for the OTOA during the Balkan wars of 1991-1995. After that Salihovic revived OTOA work. In June 2006 he visited Michael Bertiaux in Chicago. Bertiaux ordained him as bishop of the Ecclesia Gnostica Spiritualis (registered in the State of Illinois as "Neo-Pythagorean Gnostic Church"), and initiated him into his Choronzon Club. Eventually, he created the Ecclesia Gnostica Pneumatica in the Balkans.

This is an outline of an article originally published in the German magazine "Abrahadabra" in April 1993, with additional material from my German book "Der OTOA-Reader" (1994), and "Abramelin & Co." (1995)
Adapted translation by Mark Parry-Maddocks

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More about all this in: Andreas Huettl and Peter-R. Koenig: Satan - Jünger, Jäger und Justiz

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