Ordo Templi Orientis Gregory Tillett

A.·.O.·.O.·.T.·.
A Statement Regarding the History of the Ordo Templi Orientis in Australia

The Ordo Templi Orientis was established in 1895, in part as a Western interpretation of certain Oriental occult teachings, and in part as a restoration of a tradition which had been largely forgotten in the West. Its original members were Freemasons, and in 1902 the authority of a Masonic Rite was conferred upon them for the establishment of a Grand Lodge in Berlin within which the Grades of the O.T.O. would be worked.

The Founders of that Grand Lodge were Carl Kellner, Franz Hartmann and Heinrich Klein. The Grand Lodge was formally constituted on January 22nd, 1906, and this Constitution was revised on January 22nd, 1917. National Grand Lodges were established for Germany (including Germany, Austria and Switzerland), and later for France (1908), the Slavonic Countries (1912) and Great Britain (1912).

Amongst the eminent figures who were, at one time, associated with the work of the Order were Gerard Encausse ("Papus"), Dr Rudolf Steiner, and Dr R.W. Felkin.

Following the death of the first Outer Head of the Order. Carl Kellner, in 1905, Theodor Reuss became the second Outer Head. During his period in office there was a rapid, and not altogether properly administered, expansion in the Order. It was Reuss who, in 1911, admitted Aleister Crowley to the Order and, in 1912, appointed him head of the Order for Great Britain. Crowley effectively took over the preexisting traditions of the Order and shaped them to suit his own interests. Following the death of Reuss in 1924, Crowley assumed the office of Outer Head, and, in all but those few branches of the Order which repudiated his claim to authority, wholly altered the original work of the Order so that it conformed with his own magical (or, as he would have had it, magickal) theories and practices. Crowley revised and rewrote the rituals of the Order, and his work attracted considerable notoriety. It is from the Crowleyan version of the Order that virtually all modern claimants to the title, tradition or working of the Order come, and to which virtually all who write about the Order refer.

The original, pre-Crowleyan Order had, however, been brought to Australi around 1908 by Vyvyan Deacon, who became the first Grand Master for the Order in Australia, having received his authority from the Outer Head, Theodor Reuss. Deacon (Frater Memnon) established the Order in Sydney and Melbourne and, during a visit to New Zealand in 1920-2l, attempted to lay the foundations of the Order there. Between 1914, when the active work of the Order in Australia commenced, and 1930, when Deacon returned to-London, the Order attracted, and influenced, a number of eminent Australians. Notable amongst them were several involved in the arts and literature.

The Order became dormant after the departure of its Grand Master, who died in London in 1938; his archives, authorities and regalia (such of it as survived the Blitz) were entrusted to his daughter's guardianship until a successor could be appointed.

Forty-four years later the guardianship was relinquished, and the authority and symbols of office were passed to Frater Memnon's successor. Frater Iacchos who, upon his appointment issued a decree, "Of The True Secret of The O.·.T.·.O.·.", in which he re-affirmed the original, pre-Crowleyan traditions and working of the Order.

The O.·.T.·.O.·. in Australia works the traditions of the Order established by its founders, revised only insofar as has been necessary to remove later accretions.

The Crowleyan Order was established in Australia in the 1920's by Frank Bennett (Frater Progradior) who had been trained by Crowley as a missionary to Australia. His work attracted a degree of hostile publicity, but failed to achieve any real influence. Its limited activity ceased when Bennett returned to England.

Two Crowleyan derivatives operate in Australia at the present time. One claims its authority from Grady McMurtry, who bases his claim to lead the Order upon documents deriving from Crowley's successor, Karl Germer. The other claims authority from Marcello Motta, whose bases for his pretensions to authority within the Order are unclear.

The Ordo Templi Orientis in Australia, deriving its authority from the late Frater Memnon is not associated with any other claimant to the title of the Order, or with any other fraternity. It works the traditions of the Order as they were established by its Founders.

Ordo Templi Orientis
Gregory Tillett
P.O. Box 362
Wentworth Building
University of Sydney
New South Wales
AUSTRALIA 2006