Greetings! I have followed your material on the Web with great interest.... I can assert the following. In June of 1987e.v.(the 6th I think) Sr.Andrea was the "high-ranking dignitary" at a meeting in the upper rooms of the Bloomsbury Tavern in London. The topic was precisely that of the setting up of a European Grand Lodge. There were a number of representatives from the mainland including Arild S. from Norway. G.Suster and J.Barter were also present, as were some Yugoslavians. Andrea behaved in so extraordinary a fashion during her visit that she came very close to being laid out flat by R***, but unfortunately D.Rietti talked her down from her very calm "white fury", (few have lived to tell the tale after seeing her eyes turn steely grey!). The event left many of us wondering just what it was we were actually aspiring to here! If Andrea was a good example of the COTO's "right stuff" then we were perhaps wasting our time. It was hard to accept that we were expected to show respect to that prima-donna, who did nothing to earn it. Suster felt that Andrea's position regarding the establishing of a proper Guild System suggested a "New Aeon Mafia" developing in International OTO to generate funds and launder money.
Perhaps he had a point. All in all it was a very odd couple of days. You seem to advocate a position in which free-access to all information might facilitate scientific discourse. I tend to agree in principle. The hoarding of "The Secret" is however not at all the only issue, for Information is NOT equal to Knowledge/Know-How. The OTO's are creating and maintaining a community of practice. Crowley seemed to think that the IXth Degree was potentially VERY dangerous. If ignorant use could be so disastrous on a much wider scale than the immediate sphere of influence of the practitioners, then it made good sense to enshrine the community of practice in a system of preparation for the informed use of that Secret. This I think was Crowley's belief, and is written all over his method. Is this still a valid approach to take, even if it is true? I do not think so.
For even were it the case that Crowley got it right, the Secret is out!! (Certainly I have a copy of the Emblems and their mode of use paper and there is little there that I had not worked out either myself or in Workings with my HGA.) So what is the point in keeping a community of practice cloistered off from the rest of we "unilluminated lepers" who are not within the Supreme Sanctuary of the Gnosis? I think they are fighting a losing battle. Perhaps it is a little hard to stomach that the Elite into which one has finally been admitted after many years of preparation would be better advised to go public and dismantle the very system of Degrees through which one has striven?! There is another point here though: What if those Degrees DO provide preparation? Have you read that Heidrick article on the inner working of the Degree System that he published in the Link in the early days? He made a claim there that a IXth Degree who had been through PI was as good as an 8=3 of AA in Power. D.Rietti claims that this was not written with McMurtry's say so and got him (McM.) slung from the Jane Wolfe Lineage of AA for a time.
[Apparently A.C.'s statement had actually included the word s "and when acting in the context of, and on behalf of the Sovereign Sanctuary."] Maybe so. My point is this - IF the Initiation through the Grades (which may or may not "take" in an individual instance) really does activate and wire up the Chakras as a Consecrated Tool, then they may well have a part to play in assisting the Aspirant. My own researches into the structures of those Rituals suggest as much at least in Intent. So Uncle Aleister may have been attempting to PROTECT the would-be "New Aeon War rior" from the damage that might result if these energies were unleashed without adequate safeguards. The combined practical know-how of the IX's would make each Act become an item in a growing body of knowledge, that would further assist in preventing unnecessary repeats of earlier and perhaps fatal mistakes. I see much to indicate that this was the ORIGINAL thinking. In today's world however the approach taken in OTO's is wrong headed in the extreme. If the Spirit of Crowley's Intent were kept to then the community of practice and the assistance of intervening degrees and all the rest, would be OPEN.
Since the Secret is known this is the ONLY way to prevent as much of the damage and mayhem that results from such heavy weaponry being in the hands of children. Education becomes the only sane key to the solving of the dilemma. Clearly Crowley was also making full use of the Secret in building a Magickal Machine to use in his Transpersonal War on Old Aeon Forces. OTO's making use of the Degree System ARE such Talismans. It is there in the elemental order of the grades. A banishing Pisces Banner. No doubt he hoped to keep the Secret for as long as he could to give his Talisman, and all the people in it, the time to achieve his objective. It is the combined output of the Supreme and Sovereign Sanctuary of the IXth Degree in all of its Workings that is used to power the Degree System through the Talismanology of Initiators Charters sealed with Crowley's Seal Ring there in the wax. Also in each of the Degree Certificates that are given to members new to a given Degree. I have clairvoyantly seen this link at work during certain of the Initiations of the Order. I wonder what the rank and file of the Man of Earth Triad would think and feel if they were told that they were being used as a big Anti-Pisces Talisman?
That they might never be invited into the Invoking Leo part of the Order at Fifth Degree and beyond? This comes down to paying for the privilege of being beaten up by the forces of inertia in the world around one. What price progress! What do you think? Am I missing something or am I broadcasting on the right wavelength here? Personally I joined the COTO fully believing that it was a corrupt manifestation and with the intent to destroy it. On the balance I still think that this is the case. I also think that I was very young and arrogant and it was probably the fact that I had no real idea what I was doing that saved me from worse harm! Maybe there will be evolution even in COTO. Maybe you are creating some of that with your presence. I am actually impressed to hear that Sabazius is at least opening himself to Opposition. Would that he had also continued the discourse with you, it would certainly have shaken things up. That readiness to face opposition was one of the processes that were shamefully absent from Breeze's tenure. Then again Breeze is on the record as saying that he would create no Xth Degrees that would not vote for him as OHO, and that sounds pretty damned corrupt in my book.
[Some say that he never did recover from rapid advancement through the Degrees. Rose A Starr has a letter from Caliph Bill to say that he was finding those days a little like walking around with 1500 mics of Acid in his system.] If you ARE interested in the goings on within OTO groups then there is a rich vein in Manchester in England around the OTOF. I provided them with their IXth Degree Papers so that all the relevant spaces were covered for the handing on by the Master Scorpio [Tegtmeier], and later found myself slung out for failure to report on my own private researches into matters which could have been relevant in that particular Sanctuary of the Gnosis. It didn't even have a full Sanctuary. It was still in the "acting Officers" stage at the time and I found the whole thing too absurd for words. I had no idea that it was to be a case of HAVING to share all results! I think that the position is invasive and open to potential abuse. I don't want my practises to wind up spread all over the "News of the World" for one thing. I'm still trying to get thrown out of the COTO. I don't want to resign, I want to be expelled. If Rietti can manage it, and you managed it, then there must be a way!
I have tried threats of litigation, threats of violence based on Liber Oz, and made it clear that I did only join it to destroy it on the basis of the subtle disturbances that had been sensed emanating from it from around '87ev onwards. Perhaps I should threaten to publish the Emblems Paper on the Web? What do you think? Will that do the trick?! Heidrick really does seem baffled by the motivation in this, but I hold that leaving a thing does not fully sever the link to it, rather it must also leave you, then it is mutual. What is the Historicity behind the Fraturnitas Saturni and the Pentalpha Degree stewardship of the full OTO? When Herr Tegtmeier/Master Scorpio passed this on to OTOF then might this have solved the whole issue of valid lineage? When Prospero and Phoenix (Rietti and Fraenkl-Rietti) took on an EGC Lineage at that time and "regularised" my Ordination was I then finally receiving a real bona-fide lineage going back to St.Peter?! Could this mean that I finally managed to be the first person ever expelled fro m a REAL OTO!! Now that would make my day.
Much as I supported the birth of that manifestation (they were abused by COTO, and they fought so hard over so many years that they deserved it in my opinion) that does not mean that I in any way support the attitude of the organisational structure, and maybe just maybe that involved in OTOF WILL one day evolve into a fully New Aeon form, and start to do its job in a less seperatist way. In any case it was a mammoth "up yours!" to the COTO, and that alone made it worth my while. One last subject before I wear you out with this barrage! On this matter of EGC and Lineage. If there is such a thing as a Talisman (and my experiments support that thesis) then a Succession is a valid Tool if there is a foolproof way of linking one individual after another into such a Talismanic chain. Our Genetic Heritage is the clearest example of such a chain in the everyday world. The reason for wanting it to go back into the pre-1904 days of the Old Aeon is then evident. If one is to alchemically change something, then a link is needed with that thing. Crowley believed that the Old Aeon Word of the last Magus, Joshua ben Miriam, was his supreme foe, that it was his task to destroy that Word and broadcast his own.
The EGC would have been his link to the original Word's heart. It is as simple as that. It is said in the Tradition that the Magus lives from the end of time to the beginning. If that is so then he had better secure his entry and exit points. (It has also been suggested that Parsons WAS the Antichrist, that in each New Aeon the Magus of the Old Aeon returns to pronounce His own Negation. Boom!) Finally (really), I don't think that Thelema is about the Gnostic "nasty place" at all. Pure Joy. No Sacrifice. No Restriction. Sorrows are Shadows. Ecstasy be thine! I think this is totally averse to the Gnostic Gnonsense. That's the only reason I was ever attracted to it, though it helped to find later that the dis-ease surrounding Thelemic Organisations had less to do with the doctrine than the centres of pestilence within them. It could have easily been enough to put me off for life. The Black School of Magick (typefied these days by the likes of Rietti the Black Magus and re-incarnation of Dr.Dee) with its "Existence may be Pure Joy but Being is Tragic" fudge is an even bigger pet hate for me, but I think I have already been overly verbose and taken up much too much of your time, so I will shut up now.
>(my description of the Bacuzzi events and Heidrick's comment) PRK: what did you not understand? XXX: I understand it all, I was just unsure of the relevance of my own experiences there regarding dates. I did not know whether my Andrea tale referred to the same time period as the events you described. PRK: may i add above paragraph into my correspondence-post on the Net (appropriately at the correct place in the communication between Heidrick, nigris and me)? XXX: Yes, please do, however I would like to put in full names, e.g. Gerald Suster, James Barter, and Arild Stromsvag, also I would like to add the following to the end of the paragraph,..."I remember it particularly well because I chaired the meeting." Crowley seemed to think that the IXth Degree was potentially VERY dangerous. PRK: i consider this nonsense regarding the *secret" itself. do you really think that consuming sexual fluids can cause harm? XXX: Not at all! What Crowley thought is more my point here. I doubt very much that it was the consuming of fluids that worried him, it was what could be achieved thereby when the proper state of Being was activated at the same time!
IF it is the case that alterations in external reality can be created on a repeatable and thereby scientifically validatable basis by the use of such a technique, then it could be VERY dangerous if ignorantly used or abused. I think that it was this viewpoint that most exercised Crowley's mind. He was horrified at the thought that power of the level he had come to equate with the Operations of Abramelin and the like, might become available to ALL without proper training. His own use of such power was always seen by him as the carrying out of a "Holy Office" and never for the mere pleasuring of his ego. He believed that "magickal power of the first rank" which is what the IXth Degree is supposed to reach by opening up Beriah in the Tree of Life, was only Lawfully applied in such a context of Office, on behalf of the Universe and with the Holy Guardian Angel as guarantor. To Crowley the Black Brothers were already on a downward spiral once they reached Chesed and stared the Abyss in the face, if they had looked on such power as theirs to use as they saw fit, for they would then find it very hard to leave these Siddhas behind in the Crossing.
The consuming of Fluids without the necessary one-pointedness of mind and spirit, would not yield sufficiently charged talismans, and it was the technologies through which this charging might be effective that he also sought to keep secret. PRK: i tend to think that all those techniques that have been wrapped about spermo-gnosticism have the possibility to become "dangerous"..... but certainly not the decision to define parts of the human body as divine! XXX: Agreed. PRK: it NEVER was a secret, anyway. Crowley stole it and it was in the OTO more XXX: What of his Chapter 69 in the Book of Lies, before he had access to Order Materials? PRK: or less openly since 1906 when Chevalier de Saint Marcq published his "L'Eucharistie" of which Reuss said that it contained the central secret of the OTO. XXX: I think that Crowley's development of the Secret may have been what he was trying to protect, though he was also using the claims to Ancient and Historic Lineage, the Charters and all the rest as vehicles through which to promulgate the New Word which he came to believe was present in Liber Al vel Legis.
He seems to have believed that the Menstruum of the Word also changes and that this had been Blood rather than Sperm, and that the multiplicity of the Sperm made the New Aeon Magick that much more powerful than the Old. [Also on a Practical Magick level, if (in a particularly gross example) let us say one needed to perform a human sacrifice to ensure the success of a new building in the Old Aeon, then some poor peasant wound up under the foundations; whereas in the New the same result could be achieved by one act of Sex Magick and the sacrifice of the Magickal Child to that Intent! Less effort for a similar end result equals less entropy increase. Entropy equates with the Dweller of the Tenth Aire in Crowley's System.] XXX: What if those Degrees DO provide preparation? PRK: do they provide preparation because some rituals are said to do so only or if their is really some "magick" behind? XXX: Again it seems that the argument would be that effective Sex Magick capable of transforming Society at large, as opposed to the transcendence of the Individual, requires a Subtle Body or Body of Light capable of carrying a large amount of Current.
If too much throughput is happening then there are problems such as those experienced by Gopi Krishna with Kundalini. I do not think that there was anything new in this position either. The initiations of Tantra probably serve a similar end. I have personally experienced what it is to have too much energy flow in my system, and it would certainly not be useful in the midst of an attempt to maintain the poise and focus of intent that any form of Magickal endeavour requires. This is essentially an engineering problem. The Degrees worked in that approach to OTO would presumably only be of assistance here if there were some Magick to back them up, how else is a process taking place on the subtle plane in the Yogic Body going to be initiated and controlled? From what I can work out about it the method comes down to a set of agreements with the Powers of the Planets and of the Directions to act upon a given Aspirant's subtle vehicle in a given way over a given period of time, and to continue to act according to the Oaths and the self-balancing Penalties thereof into perpetuity.
For as long as a Magickal Link can be maintained with that subtle process, for as long as those Powers are willing to maintain the process, so should the Magick continue to work. The energy to drive that system however has to come from somewhere, and that is the role of the Sovereign Sanctuary in fulfilling the obligations of its Office. So I comprehend the subtle logic behind it. XXX: He made a claim there that a IXth Degree who had been through PI was as good as an 8=3 of AA in Power. PRK: the only reason behind heidrick writing this was to openly publish his claim to the 8=3 and IX*. XXX: Could well be. Why else write it without discussing it? There must I feel have been some unpleasantness about this particular publishing for Rietti to have heard about it. PRK: this was certainly NOT the reason why McMurtry was expelled from Jane Wolfe's/Phyllis Seckler's wing. she expelled him because she witnessed that McMurtry was selling phony AA- and OTO-charters. this is written by her and i published the pertinent facsimiles in my "Materialien zum OTO". XXX: I must have a look at those facsimiles! Though I may once again be hitting chronology problems here.
Somewhere in R***'s files is the original copy of the Link and if I can dig that out then I can date it. She joined COTO when Breeze was still in a minor Degree and he performed her Minerval. He annoyed the locals in Canada so much with his attitude that one of them told the authorities about his lack of legal status to remain in Canada and he was given his marching orders! He later took his revenge from on high as Caliph, and had that member slung out... the joke however was on him, for as R*** later communicated to him, he threw out the wrong person! So much for lofty ideals and Holy Offices held by beneficiaries of the Current, and for living noble lives of Chivalry and Balance! Getting back onto the topic, I think the story went that he was later re-instated for what had been written by Heidrick under his formal authority but without his agreement. Does this mean that he was finally thrown out for good? Rietti claims that his old Teacher was a very full 8=3 indeed. He tells a story of him pulling a brick out of the Berlin Wall and saying "in ten years the Wall crumbles!" and points out that this shows the scope of an 8=3's power and authority.
XXX: IF the Initiation through the Grades... really does activate and wire up the Chakras as a Consecrated Tool, then they may well have a part to play in assisting the Aspirant. PRK: the "caliphate"people did a lot of those rituals without knowing about the chakras. they simply had no idea about rituals when they started their new OTO group. XXX: I can believe it. However, it is not needful to know these things to have them work. Chakra Dynamics is just one map of the space of the Yogic Body. The Tree of Life can also be used. The Astrological map can be used. So can any attribution of Gods and Goddesses and Powers Transcendent and Mundane to the Human Body as an earthly glyph of a Divine Impulse. Crowley knew his Chakras, there is a notebook in the Warburg from his visit to Allan Bennett and I think I remember seeing such knowhow written there, though that was more than ten years ago now. There is NOTHING in the Degrees of ANY Tradition or pseudo-tradition or systematisation of Initiation that cannot be achieved equally well through Self-Initiation. The difficulties then come with the attempt to pass on what has been achieved to others.
One has a quirky and uniquely individual map and no one else has access to the axioms and root terms. This is where the dogmatism has the chance to set in. Eventually it is all word and no spirit and the current has ossified. Here is the story of the his tory of every set of teachings. Here I think is the story of COTO. No longer a living and changing dynamic, but rather a shell, frantic in feeding upon others in an effort to remain changeless in itself. XXX: The combined practical know-how of the IX's PERK: there is no such "practical know-how". the ix° and the like are "worldviews". the combined "forces" of all gnostic sex acts should improve the evolution of the universe. that's the only "practical" secret of the Sovereign Sanctuary. XXX: How sad. A living Tradition naturally forms a body of knowledge about itself. Individual contributions build into a Corpus from which each new generation may draw, to which each generation may add. This enables NEW mistakes to be made, and learned from, rather than the empty futility of repeating the same old mistakes over and over. I had assumed that the IXth Degrees gathered together into the Sanctuary were inheritors of, wards and guardians of, just such a body of knowledge.
That this is not so pro ves the sterility of the Current in COTO. XXX: Maybe there will be evolution even in COTO. PRK: i saw/see evolution only in grant's OTO. XXX: I think that Grant's OTO is very much a LIVING Tradition, which in its own unique way is what I would expect a Sovereign Sanctuary of the IXth Degree to look like if one were to see it in that phase of its Work concerned with research of the Current. (As opposed to its activities in maintaining the Talismanic entity constituted by the lower triads and thereby maintaining its link with the Outer.) I'm not sure that Grant has any interest in the Transformation of Society in the Outer, which is the role of Outer Orders. I think that his Work has concerned the emergent forces in the sphere of Transcendent Magick. Orders such as AA are Transcendent. In the Sepher Yetzirah and the Bahir these matters come under the Dragon, Theli, the Vertical Axis. The Transformational, and the Preservational Work of the horizontal axes of Magick come under the Heart and under the Year respectively, and here we see Orders like OTO, and Wiccka both public and Hereditary.
I read these things into those texts because my own ex perience on these three Axes of endeavour suggest that this is the case. I am always ready to listen to other viewpoints however. I just haven't found any to compare this with as yet. XXX: Then again Breeze is on the record as saying that he would create no Xth Degrees that would not vote for him as OHO, and that sounds pretty damned corrupt in my book. [Some say that he never did recover from rapid advancement through the Degrees. Rose A Starr has a letter from Caliph Bill to say that he >was finding those days a little like walking around with 1500 mics of Acid in his system.] PRK: of course, i am interested in seeing documents that evidence above. are you willing to exchange such with material XXX: If I have anything of interest to you then I am more than willing to exchange it with you, or in fact simply to provide it... I am keen to support your work in these areas in any way that I can. You have done far more, with far greater effect than I was ever able to achieve in my dealings with COTO in the everyday world. The documenting of Breeze's statement is not as firm as I would like it to be.
He SAID it and both David Rietti and Arild Stromsvag ACTED upon those words by writing a letter attacking his position. This was during the early days of the Order in Norway before Rietti came to the UK around '84-'85e.v. Maybe it was in a local newsletter, maybe it went to the Link. Arild would certainly remember, and he has a Web Presence, but I don't know whether he would be "allowed" to talk to you. I was attempting to re-connect with him some time ago and he went quiet as soon as I mentioned Rietti. I think there is a great sense of betrayal there. The letter got them both into all sorts of trouble with the Caliph and Rietti claims that Arild later disowned him and the letter by saying that "big, bad David made me do it!" in exchange for advancement beyond Fifth Degree to leave the David in the starting blocks. Combined with the fact that the two were working the Transcendent Magick together back then, and with first hand knowledge of Rietti's ability and approach, I can well believe that Arild DID feel "forced" into it... in fact "spiritually blackmailed" would no doubt be the term to use.
Rietti was not claiming 8=3 then but I found nothing to seriously question that claim in later years, and those later tendencies to use his Understanding as a bludgeon rather than a scalpel are indicative. XXX: OTOF. I provided them with their IXth Degree Papers PEK: i do not understand. what authority do you have to provide someone with Degree papers? Or am i misunderstanding and you shared your copy of Francis King's book with them? XXX: Authority? I have none. Nor did I need to lay claim to any. I had also provided my copy of Francis King on occasion. [In fact Clive Harper/Fr.Alverda left the COTO Copy of the IVth Degree at home when he came to do IVths and Vths in Manchester on Nov.14th 1994e.v., and my copy of King saved the day.] I sold it to New Aeon Books in the end, which is the front for OTOF with their Supreme and Holy King for the U.K. as one of the two proprietors, and his Treasurer as the second... or so it was constituted a t the time, more than a year ago.
What happened was this: When the Master Scorpio handed on the OTO contained within his holding of the Pentalpha Degree to Prospero and Phoenix, a box full of Order Rituals and Documents, including a Fifth Degree Jewel and other Insignia, stood on the High Altar as a Link. Within that collection was the IXth Degree Emblems and Their Use Paper, which I provided from my personal collection. In spite of their later actions I am still very glad that I did this. XXX: myself slung out for failure to report on my own private researches PRK: that's the usual game within power orientated organisations: there is always somebody who wants all the control. of course, no "real" OTO wants diaries from its members. this is the AA. XXX: In AA the Diary is between the Aspirant and their Teacher alone. It is akin to the bond between a Client and their Doctor, Therapist or such like. I think that the idea was that such material should be shared as part of building a Body of Knowledge. With that I would ultimately have had no problem. However, the OTOF had no track record and the Rietti household does not keep secrets well.
The Diary kept by "Susanne" was once left in a cupboard in their downstairs room (she was Irene's student then) and a woman who was staying over took it out and read it, and reacted pretty strongly to some of what she read, concluding that Irene's involvements with women were being used to supply David with a steady stream of young women to make use of. It is hard not to see it that way, but then not one of them has ever failed to be asked "Is it your Will to be a part of this Working"... what did not need to be said openly was "and if you say no you will be responsible for the disasters befalling the Universe at large as a result of this lack of action." The fact that *** had been for an AIDS test was leaked a year or so ago, and we were blamed for it for a time. We were recently out of the fold and paranoias were being built up in the routine ways. We did some research and this was in no way "all over Stockport Pagan Moot" as had been claimed. To these people we were supposed to give our private Work?! I think not. I could get into the horrors that later transpired between S*** and the Rietti phenomenon while we three attempted to claim a life of our own, but then I would be rattling on for pages!
Maybe she can tell you some of it in German if you are interested? XXX: I'm still trying to get thrown out of the COTO. I don't want to resign, I want to be expelled. what is the difference for you? XXX: Via the First Degree it is held that an indissoluble Link is formed. It is not really my belief here that counts it is that THEY believe it, or at least Heidrick does. He said as much when Gerald Suster was suspended for a time for his treatment of a sister of the order when he returned from a year in Cyprus. [Oddly enough Rietti rang me just before he arrived and told me that this might happen and that I should warn her since I had arranged for him to stay at her house until he found a place. My letter arrived on her doormat the morning after! It was a nasty business and I have not spoken a friendly word to Gerald since('88). We had been close friends. There was the whiff of Magick in this one. Then again, I do not see who gained from it.] I want them to feel that they have been forced into yielding ground. Also there is an aspect of insurance in this. They may be right and I do not wish them to hold such a link.
He and Irene Fraenkl-Rietti were expelled by the Supreme Council, which by then was just the three Grand Lodge Officers, after the "Inquisition" carried out by their Representative "Grand Inquisitor General" and 6th Degree Fr.Artau, otherwise Benjamin Fernee of York, had completed his investigation. He was incompetent and utterly outplayed. They set the battlefield, they set the time and date and manner of the visit, and they said what they had to say without reference to any of Fernee's more threatening questions. Not that I claim that they were wrong in this. I would sooner see someone judged on proper evidence sought out in an objective and detached manner and this was none of those things. It was a good old Medieval Witch Hunt! Clearly it strengthened their position and won them OTOF. One does not outwit two 8=3 of the Black School so easily. David Rietti is one of the best political players around, and I can but honour him for his immense skill even if I loathe and detest his method and the damage he did those close to me. They responded to the request from the Supreme Council for any final evidence in their favour by threatening them with legal action if ANY of the things said about them EVER appeared in public.
Then demanded that they be reinstated as IXth Degrees of the Order. The answer was expulsion. Now S*** was the note keeper at that meeting, and later transcribed the audio tapes kept by BOTH parties into typescript, so of course she has a full copy. We also have copies of the statements that went out around the forming of OTOF. You are welcome to any or all of these, though the typescript (which would be best read in conjunction with S***'s analysis of her own experience of five years as their closest partner to show just how masterly they are) is rather long and maybe better sent by post. (S***'s write up is not yet complete, it is part of her own healing process that she does this.) I did not know of a general expulsion of OTOF people from COTO. Before anyone formally joined OTOF they were asked to send letters to COTO resigning, and to make copies available to OTOF. In most cases this was done.
R***, M***, and I however did not actually resign, we preferred to proclaim our involvement in OTOF and in the New Aeon Wiccka, to threaten legal action against COTO if there were ever any documents made public linking us to claims made against the Riettis and threatening violence if our rights under Liber Oz were further transgressed Magickally or otherwise. We got no response. I wrote to Heidrick last year asking what I had to do to get thrown out, namely did I have to physically come and punch the Caliph on the nose?! He said that he did not see why I couldn't just resign. Oh well! XXX: Perhaps I should threaten to publish the Emblems Paper on the Web? What do you think? Will that do the trick?! PRK: i do not know but i heard that such happened before (the expulsion after posting the rituals): either do that or advertise my "How to make your own McOTO". I know someone who did an advertisement and was threatened with a trial and expulsion. otherwise, i personally know one of the "Caliphate"'s lawyers. and he told me that they are after money only. XXX: It sounds like the threat of SELLING some writings on Sex Magick including that Paper might be a good avenue, and including your advert too!
I might only have ONE COPY with an ISBN, and copies for the major UK lending libraries, (which is how copyright is done here,) but they would not have any way of assessing this threat. XXX: What is the Historicity behind the Fraturnitas Saturni and the Pentalpha PRK: In these letters, Metzger and Grosche agree to incorporate the OTO IN GERMANY into the 18th degree of the FS. that's all. Tegtmeier read it, XXX: Yet in April of '96ev when the handover happened NO mention was made of Tegtmeier as Grandmaster of anything. In fact it had been specifically stated that this event in no way suggested any endorsement from his superiors in that Order, and he even showed us his own Initiation Certificates evidence that he had the authority to do as he did. Though he provided no papers relevant to running an OTO. Did these events transpire later than '96ev then? Would Grandmaster status give him the right to transplant that agreement to the UK? It sounds unlikely in the extreme. Perhaps they hope to come to an arrangement with Metzger's heir at a later date. In fact I can remember them saying so on one occasion! If Rietti and Fraenkl-Rietti are 8=3 then I can only reckon Herr Tegtmeir as 9=2.
I experienced him outplaying them on a number of occasions, and with consummate skill. In fact I believe that he assisted we three in extricating ourselves from the Rietti clutches. Which was difficult. However he would never admit to this, it would not be useful to him to admit that he has anything but glowing respect for them. Rietti had been translating Ice-Magic as Tegtmeier wrote the German instalments. Or at least that was what Tegtmeier was paying him for, but in fact S*** was doing the translation and Rietti was adding the appropriate Magico-Philosophical gloss and then claiming the work as his own. She never did get to finish the third chapter. Rose let it slip to Tegtmeier over the phone that S*** had been translating the work, but we have no idea what mileage he later made out of this. I imagine that it would ha ve been argued that she was being "allowed to do the more pedestrian translation as a special recognition of how hard she had worked to establish the Order, and as a didactic tool in assistance to her Magickal development, that she might gain first hand from this new and exiting technology before it became generally available." Definitely.
That she was Magickally enthralled and obsessed by them and ready to do ANYTHING for them was the truth of the matter, but then what is Truth to the Magus? XXX: When Prospero and Phoenix (Rietti and Fraenkl-Rietti) took on an EGC Lineage at that time and "regularised" my Ordination was I then finally receiving a real bona-fide lineage going back to St.Peter?! PRK: i need to know more about this EGC line: please all dates, before i can tell you something about its validity. XXX: The statement goes like this, from memory, "as is traditionally the case, when an OTO lineage is bestowed, with it comes the responsibility and the obligation of an EGC lineage also, with our reception from the Master Scorpio of an OTO lineage, which we shall incorporate in Panama [N.B. using S***'s money - she financed MOST of this] as OTOF, we thereby accept an EGC lineage to be run as a separate organisation." On that basis was our prior Ordination into EGC and the related EGU re-confirmed and regularised under the new and lawful lineage of EGC held through the OTOF Joint Headship. They claim that they will dissolve the whole thing if it is not viable within five years, and that they aim to withdraw from running it then.
I expect it will go to a personal AA student of theirs, with little freedom to act independently... whether the one concerned would believe that assertion or not. PRK: it seems that i simply know too little about your personal journey in the OTO reality. XXX: I'm trying to do this as we progress. R*** was 5th Degree and KRE at the time of the split, and was to be the International EGC Treasurer under Prospero and Phoenix. I was also a 5th and KRE and to be one IXth Degree Opponent to the UK King in OTOF, and S*** was a 5th and groomed for International Secretary of OTOF. We were all three of us Ordained in EGC. R*** in Canada. She worked the Mass every week for two years there, and ran a New Aeon Wiccka Circle too. I was Ordained by Clive Harper along with David Rietti in York Minster Cathedral's Chapter House. Since he was given his some two minutes before me he pettily claimed "seniority" for ever after! They were very big on the seniority thing. Irene Fraenkl-Rietti had her Ordination before the first Mass in Manchester, with me as Priest with my arm in a sling after a motorbike accident the night before! That was August '88 and they relocated here that December.
She then claimed seniority over R*** as "the first Priestess of EGC Ordained in England in over 40 Years!" It was all very pompous yet surprisingly effective in keeping control. We did maybe fifty Masses over the years and had a Congregation as large as 120 for a Wedding, and as small as 14 on one occasion when we clashed with Glastonbury Festival and the family holiday season. There were about 60 on the books as paying members at our largest and that still didn't cover our costs. I was Dean of the Brigantia Sacred Grove. There was a definite sense of community, but it was largely engendered in an "us against them" way.... Then again, just because you are paranoid doesn't mean that they aren't out to get you, and the COTO WERE! We were being FAR too successful, and Rietti's public statement to having sworn the 8=3 Oath after an OTO Ceremony in London in '87ev had gotten up many noses, especially Heidrick's who misrepresented this for years on Ben Fernee's faulty testimony that this was in an "open OTO Temple'... it wasn't, but he did USE OTO to gather those people together, including a few from TOPY.
He had Suster mash up his Magickal ring as part of the ceremony, and with it Fr.Thanatos (his then public Magickal Motto) passed away, and headship of the London Encampment went to R*** as the Albion Oasis was born. The ring was to be ceremonially cast into the Thames where the ashes of Grady McMurtry had been scattered. This was done by Gerald and James. In this sense only was the event an 8=3 Claim. What had actually happened was that Suster had Magickally attacked Rietti and seen his best efforts go "ping" and achieve nothing. So after the First Thelemic Symposium in Oxford in October of '86ev when this happened, he drew the correct conclusion, namely that Rietti had claimed that his HGA FORCED him to do as he did and set the record straight in public. This he stated on that occasion. Privately he said that it was to be his task to be seen and to be shot at, so that weaker brethren could survive progressing in the Great Work over the years following his action.
Since then both he and Irene spoke AS 8=3 by Attainment when the plan to found the OTOF was formally announced at a special Mass in Hulme in Manchester, at Yule of '95ev with the Call of the Thirty Aires of the Enochian System (David claims to be Dee) used to call the Magickal Universe to Witness. He used R***'s New Aeon Wiccka to announce that he was speaking from The Urn of Salt on the Empress Path, and thereby close to completion of the Magus Grade of AA, also in '95. Whatever next!? XXX: regarding the Independent European GL: I heard that there were planned several other meetings, one of them failed because Norbert Straet of Aachen couldnt make the trip to London. I have only vague memories of these things. I had returned to Manchester in '88 and lost touch with happenings in London. PRK: What about the new Stockholm-Center of the "Caliphate"? XXX: This I know nothing here other than it exists and has someone in it with links to TOS or the like. PRK: Please tell me about Ben Fernee and Clive Harper (only in the OTO context). XXX: Furnee I will not describe for I do not want to make myself ill.... Clive Harper was always a solid and personable man. I cannot fault him.
He fell foul of the difficulties between Rietti and Grand Lodge while running the Albion Lodge and basically did his best. He's an Accountant by trade and a scholar of Magick and Wicca. He was closely involved with a publisher called Mandrake the last I heard of it, but there are two of them and I'm not sure which.... Mog Morgan of Oxford Golden Dawn is with one of them. Any way I do know that he has the accountant's eye for detailed record keeping and has extensive records on the Rietti Phenomenon. At least a dozen ex-OTO members left after exposure to them over the years, so naturally he has an interest. Rietti did his 3rd Degree and resents the fact that Harper progressed up through the COTO ranks and he did not. When Harper asked a seamstress of Rietti's acquaintance to make a special robe for him in time for a visit by Breeze it was reckoned that he was about to get his IXth as one of three in Europe, probably including Norbert in Germany and Arild in Norway, as preparation for National 10th Degrees to be made later. I do not know what happened to those plans, but it did start to fizzle out around the time that the dispute with Rietti was going ballistic.
PRK: Is is true that someone threw Breeze almost out of the window when he was in England? XXX: No! Really? I'm sorry they held back. Who coud have done such a thing? I wonder if it was when he came and took back the status that he had given to Fernee and his cronies in York. One of them was Bruce Derling. I do know that there was a mass resignation rumoured up there as a result. It seems that the Caliph felt that they had not been doing a very good job. He was right. PRK: You certainly are aware that John Symonds pretends to possess the copyrights on Crowley material. What did Breeze et alii think about that? XXX: I don't know his personal position but the common currency was that Symonds was working a scam with Grant, with each co-recognising and legitimating the other's claim. The Literary Executor could hardly claim Copyright if the man was in any case declared Bankrupt. In any case after 50 years the Crowley Copyright status in the UK should have become Public Domain, in '97. PRK: You heard of the alleged paying out Crowley's bankcrupcy back to the English Crown. of course, this is legally nonsense, absolutely XXX: Is that so? I don't really have any idea of the Legal situation here.
It was said that COTO had done this, but not through whose agency. Certainly R*** and Rietti had both been relieved of their Directorship of COTO UK Ltd. Which they had held with Clive Harper so that COTO had Legal Status in the UK as an Individual Legal Entity in its own right. Maybe that is how they did whatever it was that they were out to achieve, by buying the Estate back through the company.
PRK: i absolutely disagree with you and the alleged "proper state of being activated at the same time of the consumation". XXX: You may be right. I am generalising from the Charging of Talismans as such. The intensity and quality of the Charge makes a difference. Much of "Energised Enthusiasm" seems to point to similar preoccupations in Crowley's mindà (let me think some more on this one. I would prefer the Universe to work according to your thesis. As I write this I come only to a modified position that recognises that SOME effect always is presentà I will see where this takes me.) PRK: Crowley was made a VII° in March 1910. of course he had access to high degree papers before he published his book of lies. the book of lies was published in 1913 (as Russell proved). the story of crowley being accused by... XXX: That I didn't know. Quite a compelling argument. Of course A.C. would use anything and anyone as a means to his own ends, and certainly would have used this once he had access to it. PRK: Did you know that the OTO was NOT registered with the authorities when Breeze was in NY? XXX: No. PRK: He then moved again (i forgot the place) but also not for long. what do you know about that?
XXX: He said that he was moving to be near his Teacher. I imagine this would have been his NEW Teacher in AA, since Wilfred Smith had died. It was never clear just who this may have been. PRK: what do you know about Breeze's claim to the XI°? XXX: I know nothing about this, though Rietti jokingly referred to it on occasion, saying "Breeze could easily deal with the problem that we pose for him, he could make us Xith Degrees (he and Irene) and send us off to dwell in our own palaces!" PRK: can you tell me more about Stromsvag? I heard he once wanted to become member of Grant's OTO but YYY when he was refused he entered the ZZZ "Caliphate".... XXX: I never really got to know him. He had his Vth Degree with R*** and David Rietti in Aachen. I think he is a lecturer at the University. Rietti says that he "made him everything that he is, only to be betrayed by him." The Black School Doctrine sees people as machines to be built and controlled so I expect that Rietti spoke literally. PRK: What do you know about Norbert Straet? XXX: I met him on a later Aachen trip when Irene Fraenkl-Rietti and I got our Vth Degrees. He seemed like a bit of a sharp operator. Quite the politician. I know very little detail.
XXX: What happened was this: When the Master Scorpio handed on the OTO contained within his holding of the Pentalpha Degree to Prospero and Phoenix,.... PRK: can i see a copy of a document that has Tegtmeier's signature on it and that says that the 18* gives rights to found a new OTO? is there a "founding charter" of the OTOF that i can see? XXX: We were shown no evidence of this. It was simply claimed to be so. Often. Nor was there any signing of documents performed publicly at that ceremony. If anything was signed later then we were not made aware of it. We will forward all of the documents in our possession. XXX: Now S*** was the note keeper at that meeting, and later transcribed the audio tapes kept by BOTH parties into typescript, so of course she has a... I wonder who would claim copyright over that one? S*** wrote the notes and later transcribed the whole thing from tapes to wordprocessorà yet it was part of a Caliphate Investigationà and then there are the claims of those actually speaking at the timeà interesting. XXX: If Rietti and Fraenkl-Rietti are 8=3 then I can only reckon Herr Tegtmeir as 9=2.
PRK: why such? i am told that he wanted to become member of the "Caliphate" back in the 1980s but was refused because everyone thought he was only after the permission to publish crowley material. XXX: Tegtmeier has evolved a self-styled "new approach" to Magic which he calls "Ice Magic" and says is a new Paradigm. S*** and Rietti were translating the instalments of this work together. Though Tegtmeier has no interest in Thelema as such, and still less in the earlier Paradigms, such as Spirit (named spirits, Angels, Demons and so on) or Energy (such as healing, Orgone etc.) or Psychological (where he places Spare) or Information (Chaos appproaches using Imformation Matrices) he is still a very powerful operator. His books on Sigil Magick and on Sex Magick are basic but sound. His "Ice Magic" is very interesting indeed. I saw him overpower two people (the Riettis) who before that date I had never seen bested in any arena. He outplayed them, out-tricked them, and out-manoevered them at every step. He knew what was happening to S*** under their control without ever being told. He took her aside and asked her to tell him what was going on, and offered to help her.
Almost nine months to the day after that assistance was given by a laying on of hands (to the forehead and back of the head in one motion) she was free of the control of Moston. He also did the whole thing in a way that kept a perfect cover of "plausible deniability" in place. She could in no way use what he did to cause any trouble between him and the Riettis because anything that he said or did could be taken both ways. I saw Mastery at work on that night. We have had dreams of him on occasion since. Just as I did before he arrived à and he assisted me then in my battle with the Riettis. As far as I know he is very much alive. PRK: i need to know more about this EGC line: please tell me all dates, before i can tell you something about its validity. XXX: I seriously doubt that validity! Nothing was given as documentary evidence. It was a verbal claim that within the OTO within the Pentalpha Degree is an EGC Lineage (as per "tradition")à but the truth may well be that Rietti simply fancies himself as a Patriarch, and Tegtmeier has given him as much validity as his enemies in COTO possess, which may be in fact none at all!
PRK: this is not sufficient data. i need exact dates of all pertinent consecrations in order to say something about it. you know, neither the "Caliph's" OHO-ship is valid nor his bishopship. XXX: So of course, no such data has ever been made available to our knowledge. Maybe someone should write to OTOF demanding copies of documents to prove its claim, and do likewise with the attached EGC! We were all expected to swallow a lot of hype. PRK: but i NEED to know more about Fernee. I met him once in Rome/Italy XXX: Well. He ran a Bookshop in York for many years with his then girlfriend J***. Later she took on the shop and he kept the mail order business. He toadied his way up the Grades of the order. He wanted York to be the central nexus for COTO in England arguing that York was once Capitol. To that end he developed a set of rooms for initiations, but had no legal right to work there as he was paying squatters for the privilege! We unearthed this after a falling out that happened when he tried to talk people from Manchester/Rochdale into having initiations performed in York so that he could afford to keep the premises going.
He was aiming for Lodge Status and the Manchester members did not see why they should in effect help him to build an empire out of their hard work. The man is a weasel. Probably by Totem. When David Rietti went into a self-imposed suspension in '88ev for allegedly "tweaking M***'s nipple" during a IIIrd Degree Ceremony, Fernee said that he had seen the way that David looked at one of the sisters (L**) when she was getting changed, and he could imagine that he might have done it. He however chose to neither implicate him nor back him up. The way we used to perform the Third Degree Grip made it difficult to tweak anything, but I suppose in retrospect not impossible. This left them as confirmed enemies. Rietti said later that if he ever had the money to do it, he would have Fernee taken out one day. He is given to saying things like that. [Rietti called forth "The Angel of Vengeance" on those who bore false witness upon him, or on himself if he lied... none of his detractors stayed in the COTO to see him come out of that 6 month retirement-suspension. We took it that it was in this case an attempt to frame him.] It was believed in Manchester that Fernee got his advancement in COTO specifically to work against Rietti.
Finally he became a Vith and the COTO's "Grand Inquisitor General". He made a monumental mess of that job. Indeed, it was his ringing up Tegtmeier and seeking anti-Rietti statements that Tegtmeier cites a the turning point in his decision to bestow an OTO on Rietti. Rietti says that Fernee was angling to be taken on as a Student of AA under him, and that he had to tell him that he only took on those who the Powers told him to take one, and that he was out of luck (to my knowledge that IS how Rietti approaches his AA Work) and that Fernee resented him for ever after. Furnee denies this. Fernee was also a Priest of EGC and J** a Priestess, and I attended a few of their Gnostic Messes. They were uninspiring. We even had the police called on us because of the noise, but then that's York for you! (It wasn't late and it wasn't noisy.) I don't have a copy of it, but I'm sure that it was the usual lack of basic security around Fernee and his c*** that resulted in a tabloid newspaper (probably the "News of the World") taking photos of a Gnostic Mass through a window! The Rochdale Group had walked out on its leader B***, and he and his wife A** broke with the Riettis and affiliated increasingly with York, so she was Priestess that day.
I am unsure who the Priest was. Fernee reeks of ambition. When I was in Aachen waiting many hours for them to get around to doing my Fifth Degree, I had to pass the time with him. He said something then about some contact that he and J** had with M*. He was very cagey about it. It was all very private and so on. So maybe he also had links in Amookos. Or J** did. PRK: i also would like to know where Breeze usually stayed when in England, XXX: Mostly Clive Harper's. Though he spent time with the Porridge's of TOPY on at least one occasion. He sometimes had business out near Blackpool, only 50 miles from Manchester but NEVER visited us. Rietti was given the Word of the Equinox by him once, as recognition of his AA claims. This was motivated by Wilfred Smith. Must have been '87ev or thereabouts. PRK: do you know wehre does Breeze's money come from? XXX: I though he was still in the video business. PRK: is there any rivalry between Breeze and Heidrick? XXX: There were rumours of such. Then rumours that it was all happy again. Many rumours circulated from Rodney Orpheus as source, especially after he had been over to visit the Grand Lodge.
Rumours also that he had bedded the Caliph's wife - hard to separate truth from fantasy with the likes of Orpheus. He is another ambitious ***. He was furious when Lon DuQuette's Thelemic Book came out before his and upstaged him. PRK: what do you know about the background of Heidrick (family, money, education...)? XXX: Only that he has some land in Ireland left him by one side of his family, and that for many years this actally supported the COTO through him.
Rodney Orpheus XXX: He is a "Rock Star" with an ego to match. I think he used to be with "Sisters of Mercy" but now heads up "Cassandra Complex". Breeze is apparently a name-dropper so the guy was bound for quick advancement. He used to work for "Sorceror's Apprentice" and Chris Bray in Leeds. Back when they had just started out. He expects those around him to behave like "groupies" and then moans to his friends that his life is full of hangers-on and girls who only want him for his money and his fame. Poor dear! Big ideas, big ego. I'm sure that he will play a major role in any COTO deal in Europe. His own efforts to get it all organised and win a slice of it for himself seemed to come to little. He put in a lot of efffort to convince the leading lights of the Manchester membership that the Riettis were "dinosaurs" and that it would be a good idea if they distanced themselves from them if they wanted to get their due in the COTO and reach the Degrees that they deserved. His efforts were doomed from the outset as he was saying this to those, like S***, who were AA Students of the Riettis and had thereby "swore all" and were not about to transfer their allegience to Rodney!
PRK: what can you tell me about the relationship between fernee and breeze? is it quite possible that they once had or will have a fall out? XXX: The rumour was that this had already happened six months after the Inquisition because Breeze said they had done a poor job in York and took away authority for a Lodge from them. Certainly things were not friendly between them at that time. PRK: what should happen to have fernee giving up membership? XXX: He just has to realise that his ambitions will never be fulfilled. Once he decides that COTO is "just like all the rest of them" and will not recognise his "true potential and genius" then I think he will give up on it. Though he would want to have someplace else to go, and who would have him! PRK: what happens with all that money that comes in from royalties of crowley books (Weiser, Falcon, etc)??? i heard that breeze is buying houses and the like. XXX: I have no idea. Legal Fees certainly. Some went to relocation of Yugoslavs and to covering their Initiation expenses. If there need to be Profess Houses to be Constitutional then that might well be a part of his Grand Campaign to become the One True OHO and rule the world....
Rietti had a vision of a Knight Templar on horseback screaming "King Philip IVth of Spain has taken over the Knight's Templar!" It certainly came to seem that way. PRK: tell me something about james barter. why did you not describe the events about throwing McMurtry's ashes into the thames? XXX: My apologies on this one. My memory of what Rietti SAID are still that this was the way it happened. He does leave his mouth running on autopilot and spouts utter nonsense sometimes, almost as though it is an intentional thing to keep people on their toes. However, I saw a paper, I hope it is in the parcel that has gone to you, that this was NOT what happened... the ashes went into the sea IN THE U.S. and Rietti arranged his ceremony over here to co-incide with that. Suster smashed Fr.Thanatos' (Rietti)ring with the pommel of the sword and then he and Barter went with it to Cleopatra's Needle on the Embankment and threw the ring into the Thames, shouting "Die Thanatos!" Rietti then became Fr.Azrael instead. It was after the formal closing of those rituals when there was no longer an OTO Temple as such, that Rietti spoke on the matter of his 8=3 Oath. (This Oath is published in "John St.John" and also in Equinox 3(10) near the front.
The last line is about "interpreting every phenomenon as a direct dealing of God with my Soul"...) Clearly Fernee and later Heidrick took that ring bashing exercise as a use of the OTO Temple for Rietti's personal advancement. James Barter worked as a local government Officer in London at the time that I knew him. When I had my big bust-up with Gerald I lost contact with him too. He ran the Bennu Bird Encampment and later Oasis of COTO before leaving it with Gerald to set up "company of heaven". Gerald had his 419 Solution to ALII76 behind him then, and only needed to be convinced that OTO and AA were defunct to be ready to activate some papers that he told Alwina Taylor that Regardie had given to him with that stipulation. I really know no more than that about their work afterwards. We have many of the Bennu Bird mailings here. James was quite lavish with the office photocopier! I was present for the earlier workings. They were very creative. Not at all in keeping with the Caliphate's take on things. I will be copying these to you also in due course.
Breeze: XXX: He said that he was moving to be near his Teacher. I imagine this would PRK: hae?!!!! which Wilfred Smith???? I thought the "original" W.T. Smith died in 1957? Who's that Breeze-Master? XXX: I'm going on memory of what I heard from Rietti. I think the Smith I am talking about had an obituary in the Link a few years back. Apart from the passing on of the Word of the Equinox from Breeze to Rietti upon Smith's say so ('88?) I have no further information on this Smith. Rietti mused that Breeze might have taken a ****-dive because he lacked quality guidance afterwards. PRK: >early in 1997, a friend of mine posted a homepage claiming to be a "true" XI° (which he was, of course!). Breeze got upset and threatened the pertinent ISP (provider) to file suit because only Breeze could be the "true" XI°. XXX: IF Breeze had any right to create XIths, which is doubtful, then I suppose he could claim to be the only XIth with the right to be public about it. The attitude seems to be that the XIths should be completely in the background. To: "'Peter Koenig'" Subject: RE: hiccoughing glass spider dances on starry web (Part Two) Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 XXX: Norbert Straet? Quite the politician. I know very little detail.
PRK: nevertheless, what do you know? XXX: Well. When I got my Vth Degree in Aachen (and my robe pulled over the center Altar so that the glass fronted talisman on the top broke on the floor! Very much in keeping with the rubric of that Rite!) Norbert had us pay for Vth AND K.R.E. then later he changed his mind because one of the German members who was to have Vth and KRE was wanting to STAY at KRE and wait for an Electoral College in Europe, and ask to become one of the Eleven. So Norbert cancelled the KRE on that occasion and made him a Lodge Master instead. We were given lots of bluff and bluster about time constraints and the like but there was a hidden agenda and we were not fooled. They then told us that they had forgotten to tell us how much the Vth Degree Jewel was to cost, and that it came to the same amount as the intended KRE, so they were not going to give us back our money! It was a joke. Short term political double-speak damaging relations that might have been cordial. (The whole event was a joke in poor taste. I was even let into Vth Degree without demonstrating the IIIrd Degree Grip. They had changed it without telling us in the UK!
One hand instead of two... quite a different interpretation is then possible on the on the nipple-tweaking incident!) When Breeze was over to the UK to discuss the establishing of the Order on a surer footing in Europe, and was staying at Harper's, there was to be a meeting with Stromsvag and also Norbert. It was possible that they would be made Xth Degrees at that meeting if the details could be agreed upon. We had this over the phone from Clive. The meeting did not happen because Norbert's boat got cancelled and the next one would not get him over to England in time. (Rietti claimed that one of his Abramelin demons had vandalised the wiring on the boat to scupper this meeting! Of course if Norbert had really been keen then he would have transferred to the airport and flown instead.) XXX: It was a verbal claim that within the OTO within the Pentalpha Degree is an PRK: EGC but if rietti is a patriarch what would become of tegtmeier? XXX: Tegtmeier renounced all claim to that OTO and EGC once he had settled it upon the Riettis. He was to be recognised as an "honoured guest" and nothing more. There was to remain NO link between the two organisations.
It was stated that there were many differences of approach and of doctrine between Tegtmeier and the Riettis, and that the handing over of the new OTOF would in no way imply any acceptance of the praxis of the Saturn Gnosis by the Riettis. However, if a Grandmaster of the FS can elevate to the Pentalpha Degree, then he can cause any number of OTO's to be produced. Quite a thought! Especially if that is what Tegtmeier now claims to be. The most we ever heard was rumours that he might be second in command and had never wanted more than that. His "Ice Magic" seemed to be his main project. XXX: specifically to work against Rietti. Finally he [Fernee] became a VIth and the COTO"Grand Inquisitor General". PRK: what are the privilegues and the duties of such? XXX: See Liber 194. The Intimation towards a Constitution published in Equinox 3(10)... it is a bridge between 6th and 7th. An investigative post. XXX: He made a monumental mess of that job. PRK: details? XXX: I will send you a transcript of the Inquisition's visit to the Rietti household in one of these packages. We have located it, but need to print it off the floppy. Also I would like to add S***'s transcript and that will take a lot of typing!
Read together they show the Rietti "Teflon Coating" process at work. They are so good at it that one doubts even one's own memories! XXX: Indeed, it was his ringing up Tegtmeier and seeking anti-Rietti statements that Tegtmeier cites a the >turning point in his decision to bestow an OTO on Rietti. PRK: does this mean that tegtmeier was involved in the "caliphate" before that? XXX: No. Fernee telephoned him in Dusseldorf and launched into his anti-Rietti speach. Tegtmeier did not even know the man! Here was a self-proclaimed "Grand Inquisitor General" of COTO unable to show any credentials, ringing him up on spec and wondering if the rumours were true about a falling out between the Riettis and Tegtmeier. I think this may be in the Transcript, but I'm unsure, so I will continue. Tegtmeier assured Fernee that he was very good friends with David R. that he had never had ANY organisational authority over them in the first place, and that there had been no "falling out" between them. He then ordered a few books from Fernee's business so that he could use them as a Link back to him should he feel the need! He was rightly appalled that an investigation was being conducted in so unbalanced a fashion.
Fernee had NO INTEREST in hearing anything positive about the Riettis. He had already assured himself of their guilt without having sufficient evidence. It was a clear "Witch Hunt" in which the COTO sought evidence to excuse throwing them out. PRK:...was OTOF? why tegtmeier? why at exact this point of time? XXX: The reason was that they were already afraid of the association between Tegtmeier and Rietti which was established during McMurtry's great travel across Europe (with Rietti in tow as resident ***). McM said that they should both stick together. The COTO feared Tegtmeier's claims of Pentalpha authority, and he took to winding Heidrick up about it by posting to some Newsgroup or Discussion Forum or somesuch.... (this I was told. I saw none of it.) So Heidrick certainly knew of the threat.
PRK: are there any paper evidences of Breeze being expelled from Canada? XXX: Not that we know of. PRK: Tell me more about LaTulipe. That name sounds familiar but i can't locate it. XXX: He believes that he is descended from the Merovingians and in the view of those Priestesses he ordained into EGC under COTO (including R***) he was mostly out just to get into their knickers. R*** spoke to Breeze about his behaviour and suggested that she doubted the efficacy of her ordination as a result, and Breeze told her that he believed that the ordination would become powerful through USE, that by performing the Mass her ordination would become good no matter the possible ill-intent of the one who ordained her (this was all going on in Montreal.) PRK: the letter Breeze sent to R*** after that phone call is strange: why doesnt he mention any of those topics (expulsion)? XXX: I imagine she did not rate such inclusion. When she had told him he just went very quiet for some seconds and then said "I see", and carried on the conversation without further reference to that topic. The tone used suggested that he would be taking harsh action. PRK: the documents of the bishoprics are funny as well. they do not contain the term "OTO" in the beginning.
XXX: Indeed! Though there was also the difference noted between the words used by Tau Erigena in ordaining S***, and those used by Archbishop DuQuette when ordaining Bridie Przibram, namely "Under the Authority of the Sovereign Sanctuary of OTO..." which Clive LATER took to using as though some regularisation had later been demanded by the "Holy Father". alleged alterations by Francis King [Secret Rituals of the OTO] XXX: Gerald Suster and I spent some time with King talking about the various papers that he had. We were keen to ascertain whether or not he had any AA authorisation from Yorke. Maybe Suster did eventually get something of use from King, I don't know. Our impression was that King had simply used what he had from Yorke, without alteration. (Incidentally, Suster does have some papers from Regardie that were only to be activated if Suster believed that OTO and AA organisations were corrupt beyond redemption. He did decide this and opened the packet and may have used this in establishing whatever lies behind "company of heaven". We had this from A***, who was his "Scarlet Woman" at the time.) PRK: will copy this "open letter" and send it to Stromsvag XXX: That I think will be VERY interesting.
It always upsets him to be confronted with things from his Rietti period. They were very close. PRK: would like to know more about the "Memphis-Misraim" in the "caliphate". what did they think? pretend? did they consider themselves to be THE real MM, or what? XXX: That's how Rietti made it sound. That MM was the English end of OTO and that we were its true heirs. He seemed very put out that the International Order was not paying court to him on that issue. It all went back to his promise to Grady in the AA context, that he would bring this Work back to the "Prophet's Homeland". PRK: what about the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light? XXX: I never heard anything siad about it. PRK: do you have a copy of the "manual" for oasis' and lodge-masters? I would like to have one since i am told that it makes the members like prisoners in a concentration camp. XXX: I know that R*** once had one for Rosae Rubeae Oasis, but we do not remember whether or not it was returned when she was closed down. If we have it then you will certainly have a copy sent to you. We will know this when we locate a certain briefcase with more of R***'s papers which is hiding somewhere in the attic at present! We WILL get to it.
PRK: what do you know about the relation between the College of Thelema and the "Caliphate"? I have been told that advancement in the "Caliphate" only is possible for those who are co-members of the COT... XXX: Good heavens... you know that would not surprise me! We never heard anything at all about COT. Rietti claimed that it was Philis Seckler's vehicle through which she controlled a number of lackeys who were in one Office or another in COTO. Apart from his words on this there was never any mention of it from any other source.
XXX: I have had very little time free myself these last few weeks, but have now reviewed the usenet controversies on The Letter. Heidrick really is trying his best to sound reasonable as he cries "Fake!" We are really and truely rivetted by this whole experience. It has everything. Drama, Irony, Poignancy... we eagerly await further developments. (Of course I know now that Grant had not been aware of The Letter, which makes me even more intrigued as it was not posted...) There is no transcript to be found in either R*** or my records of that London Meeting. The letters from Bacuzzi after it do however show that she was doing FAR more than Heidrick claims for her. She was indeed building Europe up as her own little empire. She even *** to us about what Heidrick looked like, saying that he was of medium build when in fact he has a.... [deleted]... I never could see why she should have lied about that. It must just be a matter of whether her lips are moving or not!
XXX: As for the activities of the Moston Mafia and OTOF... they have been very quiet of late. I heard that growth was good in Brazil. They have had some gatherings in the Boggart Hole Clough Park not far from the Rietti household... we have seen the dead fires afterwrds and offerings left at a certain tree. The Gnostic Mass is being performed about ten times per year in the rooms above New Aeon Books. Courses on Ritual Technique, Qabbalah, Austin Spare, and Wicca, and Nordic Religion have been publicised there. OTOF Initiations have been performed regularly. Tatooed Lady Body Art continues the business of Irene Fraenkl-Rietti/Phoenix, but she has been very quiet on the Tattooing and Body Piercing scene, in that she has not been taking her clothes off at any festivals or associated nightclubs... but then the last I heard the hormone treatments she needed were causing her to put on much weight. The members are asking just about everyone they come into contact with to come along to Masses as guests. All as one would expect. No real difference between now and the Manchester of the late eighties under COTO, except for the zeal and fanaticism of those who aim to inherit the mantle when the five years are up.
I doubt that Rietti will allow any comment to be made on The Letter before he does, and he will certainly play the waiting game. He is a Master Strategist and waited more than three years before communications with COTO could give him excuse enough to strike out alone with Tegtmeier's little gift... the COTO Inquisitorial Investigation at Moston is included in the package.
XXX: I heard that growth was good in Brazil. PRK: of the OTOF? tell me! XXX: Yeah, there was a whole bunch of them that wrote in at the beginning of OTOF, and Rietti was over the moon. The last we heard this was developing well. PRK: who's Adrian Bott? XXX: He is the proprietor of New Aeon Books, the first Supreme and Holy King for the OTOF**, and an ambitious *** of our long acquaintance. He believes that he is a Vampire Bat by Totem, and thereby hangs out on Goth related bulletin boards. I think his OTOF Name is Fr.Emrys, or at least it was.
XXX: The MMM tapes have arrived... this should be an enjoyable interlude. I'll comment when I have done some transcription. Another parcel is already in the post as of a few days ago, so you should soon have it. Mostly Initiation Rituals, including a Fifth Degree copy with Grips and Signs and Words in integral handwritten notes... maybe Lon DuQuette's notes to R***. Also the Transcript of the Inqusition's visit to the Riettis in Moston, taken from S***'s tapes. Those are the main items. It is only Fourth, P.I. and K.E.W., and also the K.R.E. bridge after Fifth Degree and before Sixth Degree that we have no C.O.T.O. copies of... though I may be able to find some old notes of Grips and Signs from our November '94ev Manchester Fourth and Fifth Degree event. As for K.R.E. we never had access to any paperwork for that one, but the Sign for Opening and Closing a Lodge was a part of it. Clive Harper took us through that one in High Wycombe.
Inquisition's visit to the Riettis in Moston PRK: when did that take place, exactly? XXX: Aha, I can at least fix this to sometime between February and September of 1995ev... but will have to do some checking of paperwork for precision! PRK: I was puzzled to find so many Christian references: what did the thelemites think of "The Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus", "The Litany of St. Joseph" and "The Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary" being attached to the Sovereign Chapter of Rose-Croix??? XXX: It was to be taken as reference to the Aeonic Magus of the LAST Aeon, as a reminder that these Great Cycles build each upon the others... also that the True Master was not at all the political hatchet job made of Him by Paulism. To: "Peter Koenig"
PRK: do they magical work or just drink YYY beer? ZZZ XXX: Would that they did just drink beer - between the monthly Gnostic Masses and Quarterly Initiations they still find time to get up to mischief. Abramelin is the favoured approach, also Goetia. The working of the Enochian Aires also stirrs things up. This makes Manchester a very heavy place to be if you are on the Rietti ****-list! He has ample opportunity to redirect the energies of any one of those events towards his favourite causes, and we still seem to qualify... would that they would just get on with it and leave us be. It is the Rietti approach to blacken and demonise anyone who has split away from him. He learned the methods as a Stalinist in his student days. "The Way of the Spiritual Bully and Blackmailer" (!)
PRK: i recently came across a letter from lola d. wolfe re McMurtry's European trip. there is an address of a certain david b.r. riette in norway. who's that? XXX: That's the man. He was McMurtry's *** on that trip. It was on that trip that McM got Tegtmeier and Rietti together and told them to keep in touch. In the meantime Rietti worked up the COTO presence in Norway with Arild S. and co. Lola just got the name wrong.
'Caliphate' Inquisition and the Ordo Templi Orientis Foundation
