Dear Peter-R Koenig,
So far my only experience has been with the Caliphate OTO, which I have been refering to simply as 'OTO'. I will likely make the distinction from now on. In any case, I am not opposed to the Caliphate OTO or I would have resigned. However, I have seen how politics and personalities can cause friction that distract members from focusing on magick. I became involved with the order in late 1989 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. In the summer of 1991 I moved back to S**, after which my involvement slowly tapered off due to the long distance. However, I did try to stay involved as much as possible. In the last half year I have been getting back in touch with other members. At the time I arrived on the scene there were three Caliphate OTO bodies in Edmonton - Nephthys Lodge (which I was involved with), Prometheus Oasis (now a lodge) and Heru-em-Anpu Camp (no longer in existence). These bodies were formed from one body due to a schism some time before I showed up. Because of the personality clashes that led to the schism, none of the three bodies worked together very much. There were occasional visits by a few members to another body, but mostly each kept to itself.
Eventually some of the bad feelings dissapated and there was more interaction, but not completely. Lately I have had little information from Edmonton, but I have heard that Nephthys Lodge is losing members due to personality clashes. They no longer have a permanent space for a temple, but that is partly bad luck - the city tore down the building they were in to put up a concert hall. Anyways, that is all politics. My point is that members would become preoccupied with the politics of the local situation. I did not like this, since the reason I became involved was to learn about and practice magick. I had no desire to become involved in any of the politics. But just being in the order meant being associated with one group or another - sort of a brand. I do not like the dogma involved with it either. Although I saw the intended purpose of this or that ritual or custom, I often felt that to do it was mere lip service. Unless one's heart is in it why waste the time? My desire was to cut through the 'crap' and get to the essence of the ritual or technique. (actually, the term ritual is somewhat undesirable since it implies repetition - possibly without much purpose) Yet I am still a member.
Since I moved to S** I have not seen the politics or the power struggles - I have been insulated here. I managed narrow my focus, leaving out topics that would distract too much or are irrelevant. Your correspondence with Fr. Sabazius was quite interesting. The Caliphate does not seem to have as solid a foundation as they would like people to believe. (Although I am a member of the Caliphate, I speak as an individual - I do not know enough history to attempt to defend it, and even if I did I should not have to... It should be solid enough to withstand attacks or it should withdraw any claims that are shown to be false) The Caliphate treats Thelema as a religion for the masses. Fr. Sabazius said this himself in the correspondence. But religion for the masses tends to be watered down. People (the masses) believe in religion so long as it does not intrude on what they want to do. I do not like the term 'religion' when it refers to a 'religion for the masses', since it makes me think of hypocracy and cattle being led to the slaughter. Perhaps this is a source of my dissatisfaction with the Caliphate... members blindly follow the religion Thelema - blind repitition of rituals, stroking one's ego.
This is not how I see Thelema - I do not see Thelema appealing to large numbers of people as world religions do. Instead, I view it as comparable to a more pure form of those same world religions - a form that has not been modified to make it appeal to large numbers of people.
