Gabriel Montenegro [y] Vargas
Fraternitas Rosicruciana Antiqua
Ordo Templi Orientis
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Mexico's F.R.A. was represented in the person of Gabriel Montenegro y Vargas / Zöpiron and Theòphilos, who was born in Zapotlan in 1907. He claimed to have received "the highest initiations from Toltec priests". "At 14 years old he left home. In San Francisco and San Jose he attended institutes of higher learning, and still young in years, graduated as a Doctor of Medicine from Sierra State University [which was a fraudulent
'degree-mill'] [...] He was friends with Aleister Crowley, Roy Leffingwell, Dr. Swinburne Clymer, Heinrich Tränker, Karl Germer, Arnoldo Krumm-Heller, and many others."
[Walter Englert and Paul Rüdiger Audehm: 'In Gedenken an Dr. Gabriel Montenegro', in "Zion" Vol. I Nº 7, Frankfurt 1969, p. 88.] Montenegro requested that all his documents be destroyed upon his death. He may not have been a Franz Kafka, but whatever remnants can still be found in the orbit of the O.T.O. shall be presented here all the same. |
Montenegro developed close ties with Jane Wolfe and Karl Germer but never formally joined the inner hierarchy of the American Ordo Templi Orientis. As he wrote with characteristic detachment:
“I never joined the Lodge formally, though I visited and lectured frequently.”Helen Parsons Smith, widow of Wilfred T. Smith, remembered him as a thoughtful correspondent and spiritual peer: “Some time after the death of my husband, Fra...132 [W.T. Smith], I met another Thelemic Brother, Fra... Theophilos [...] Dr. Montenegro was a prize pupil of Fra... Huiracocha [Arnoldo Krumm-Heller] [...] who had initially appointed him his heir. However, a parting took place.” |
[From: 'Materialien Zum O.T.O.']]
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On 21st November, 1960, Gabriel Montenegro and his mistress Helen Parsons-Smith commented to Grady Louis McMurtry on his claim to the 'Caliphate' as “fantastic claims” and over the so-called ‘Caliphate letters’, they said: "there is nothing in it that could be construed in any way, then or henceforth, as intention of appointment to you, as his [Crowley’s] spiritual and temporal heir as you infer [...] you failed to see the point."
[From: 'Materialien Zum O.T.O.'] |
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During the 1950s, Montenegro was in contact with several senior Thelemites in California, including Helen Parsons Smith and Roy Leffingwell. He was reportedly involved in key discussions during 1959, where questions of succession — including McMurtry's tentative claims — were raised. While not an X° himself, Montenegro's opposition carried symbolic weight.
In a 1960 letter, he reminded McMurtry: “Your claims to succession are based on private letters and assumptions, not on ritual or official declaration.”McMurtry replied, somewhat defensively: “I have never made a claim to being the legitimate successor to the Caliphate.” (27 January 1960)Montenegro’s private letters reveal growing discontent with factionalism and personality cults: “The flame must burn in silence, or not at all.” (July 1969) |
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From 1966 until he died, Montenegro (Frater Theòpilos) corresponded with two European Thelemites, members of H.J. Metzger's O.T.O. in Switzerland: Günther Naber (Frater Beatus) in Ueberlingen and later Allensbach, and Walter Englert (Frater Telepharos) in Frankfurt. Englert was responsible for much turmoil within the Fraternitas Saturni and Metzger's
O.T.O. — As Naber did not speak English he had the correspondence translated by X (possibly Oscar Schlag).
Here just a few examples from 'Materialien Zum O.T.O.':
Transcriptions of these and other letters.
   
[Englert and Audehm: 'In Gedenken an Dr. Gabriel Montenegro', in "Zion" Vol. I Nº 7, Frankfurt 1969, p. 88.] See: Paul Ruediger Audehm.] 
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