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The September, 1912 issue of the Oriflamme included a similar listing of a ten-degree system:
Thus, by 1912, Crowley and Reuss had condensed the system of Craft and high-grade Freemasonry into a workable system of ten numbered degrees which incorporated the teachings and symbolism of a number of additional occult and mystical societies. Kellner’s three degree Academia Masonica formed the VII°, VIII° and IX° of this system. The tenth degree (X°), “Rex Summus Sanctissimus,” or “Supremus Rex,” designated the National Grand Master General of O.T.O. for a particular country, region, or linguistic group. The ultimate authority in the Order worldwide was vested in the Frater Superior or Outer Head of the Order (O.H.O.). The National Grand Masters General had the authority to appoint their own representatives, called “Viceroys,” in other countries with the same dominant language. Viceroys could also be accorded the X° by the O.H.O. The National Grand Masters General were expected to conduct the business of O.T.O. in accordance with the O.T.O. Constitution, but largely without day-to-day supervision by the international headquarters or “Central Office.” The Manifesto of the M∴M∴M∴ included photographs of Crowley’s manor-house in Scotland, called Boleskine, which served as a “Profess-House” of the Order. It also included a list of dues and fees for each degree, as well as a list of “affiliation fees,” whereby Freemasons could affiliate directly at the level corresponding to their own degree in Masonry. These lists were reprinted in the 1914 issue of the Oriflamme, along with the degree titles from Crowley’s Manifesto translated into German. In 1912, the system of O.T.O., despite its various influences, remained principally Masonic. In the Jubilee Edition of the Oriflamme, Reuss stated that O.T.O. “is not a masonic order, pure and simple, but every member of our Order, man or woman… must proceed through the craft degrees of Freemasonry, also those of high-grade Freemasonry, before they can be illuminated and initiated members of our Order.” However, the United Grand Lodge of England, to whom Crowley technically owed Masonic allegiance, objected to the performance of the Craft Degrees in England outside of its jurisdiction, and objected to the admission of women into Freemasonry. Therefore, Crowley included the following statement in his Manifesto of the M∴M∴M∴:
On February 15, 1913, Crowley adopted a constitution for the M∴M∴M∴, subject to the General Constitution of O.T.O. On March 19, 1913, Crowley and Reuss jointly chartered James Thomas Windram (Mercurius, 1877-1939) as the O.T.O.’s official representative in South Africa. Later in 1913, while visiting Moscow, Crowley composed the Gnostic Mass, which he “prepared for the use of the O.T.O., the central ceremony of its public and private celebration, corresponding to the Mass of the Roman Catholic Church.”
Crowley wrote about his revised rituals to Arnold Krumm-Heller (Huiracocha) on June 22, 1930:
In 1915 or 1916, Aleister Crowley wrote “An Intimation with Respect to the Constitution of the Order” (Liber CXCIV), which developed the ideas set forth in Reuss’s 1906 O.T.O. Constitution, Crowley’s 1913 M∴M∴M∴ Constitution, and in Crowley’s Manifesto. Gérard Encausse died on October 25, 1916. Charles Henri Détré (Téder, 1855-1918) succeeded Encausse, and also appears to have received the X° of O.T.O. for France, but he died only two years later. In 1916, Reuss moved to Basel, Switzerland. While there, he established an “Anational Grand Lodge and Mystic Temple” of O.T.O. and the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light at Monte Verità, with the term “anational” indicating that it had no affiliation with any particular country. Monte Verità was a utopian commune near Ascona founded in 1900 by Henri Oedenkoven and Ida Hofmann, which functioned as a center for what the historian James Webb would later call the “Progressive Underground.” On January 22, 1917, Reuss published a manifesto for this Anational Grand Lodge, which was called Verità Mystica. On the same date, he published a revised version of his 1906 O.T.O. Constitution, with a “Synopsis of Degrees” and an abridgment of The Message of the Master Therion appended. In his revised constitution, Reuss included many of the provisions of Crowley’s M∴M∴M∴ Constitution of 1913. However, in this document, as in many of Reuss’s documents about O.T.O., he emphasized the Masonic character of the Order. In May of 1917, Crowley’s Lodge in England was raided and closed down by the police, allegedly over charges of “fortune telling” against one of the members. However, Crowley’s work for Viereck’s anti-British publication The Fatherland may have caused the authorities to suspect Crowley’s Lodge of unpatriotic activities. All Lodge records were seized. Crowley was forced to temporarily resign the Grand Mastership in favor of C.S. Jones to ease the situation for the remaining members. The Lodge was never completely restored. In Ascona, Reuss held an “A National Congress for Organising the Reconstruction of Society on Practical Cooperative Lines” at Monte Verità from August 15-25, 1917. This Congress included readings of Crowley’s poetry (on August 22) and a recitation of Crowley’s Gnostic Mass (on August 24 — for O.T.O. members only). The announcement for this congress stated: “There are two centres of the O.T.O., both in neutral countries, where enquiries can be lodged by those interested in the aim of this congress. One is at New York (U.S. of America), the other at Ascona (Italian Switzerland).” Crowley was living in New York at the time; so, evidently, he and Reuss were the only active National Heads of O.T.O. in 1917. Reuss had his secretary, “J. Adderley” (Isabel Adderley Oedenkoven), send a copy of the announcement, along with a copy of Crowley’s Manifesto of the M∴M∴M∴, to the United Grand Lodge of England, hoping that the Grand Lodge would send a representative. It did not; but William Hammond, the Grand Lodge Librarian, wrote to Reuss after the congress and asked for additional information. During Reuss’s correspondence with Hammond, Reuss reminded Hammond that they had met in 1913/14, and Reuss had provided him with copies of the Oriflamme and Crowley’s Equinox, which, he said, “give details about O.T.O.” Reuss was clearly impressed with Thelema. Crowley’s Gnostic Mass, which Reuss translated into German and had recited at his Anational Congress at Monte Verità, is an explicitly Thelemic ritual. In an undated letter to Crowley (received in 1917), Reuss reported excitedly that he had read The Message of the Master Therion to his group at Monte Verità, and that he was translating The Book of the Law into German. He added, “Let this news encourage you! We live in your Work!!!” On October 24, 1917, Reuss issued a charter to Rudolf Laban de Laban-Varalya (1879-1958) and Hans Rudolf Hilfiker-Dunn (1882-1955) to operate a III° O.T.O. Lodge in Zurich, called Libertas et Fraternitas. On November 3, 1917, de Laban became the Grand Master of the Anational Grand Lodge Verità Mystica. Later that month he closed Verità Mystica and moved his center of operations to Zürich. In March of 1918, Crowley published the Gnostic Mass in The International. Reuss published his German translation of the Gnostic Mass the same year. In a note at the end of his translation of the Gnostic Mass, Reuss referred to himself as, simultaneously, the Sovereign Patriarch and Primate of the Gnostic Catholic Church, and Gnostic Legate to Switzerland of the Église Gnostique Universelle, acknowledging Jean Bricaud (1881-1934) as Sovereign Patriarch of that church. The issuance of this document can be viewed as the birth of the Thelemic E.G.C. as an independent organization under the umbrella of O.T.O., with Reuss as its first Patriarch. World War I ended on November 11, 1918. De Laban left Switzerland in November. In February of 1919, the Libertas et Fraternitas Lodge dropped its O.T.O. connections and became strictly a Masonic Lodge. It later became regularized under the Swiss Grand Lodge Alpina. Although no O.T.O. bodies remained in Switzerland, Reuss continued to confer O.T.O. degrees upon individuals. While Reuss persisted in asserting the Masonic authority of O.T.O., Crowley continued to move M∴M∴M∴ further from Freemasonry. In October of 1918, Crowley prepared another substantial revision to the Order’s initial rituals, this time altogether abandoning the term “Masonry” and the characteristic emblems, signs, grips, etc. of the Craft degrees. He presented his revised rituals to Reuss for order-wide adoption. In March of 1919, Crowley issued The Equinox, Volume III, No. 1 (the “Blue Equinox”), which contained a number of important O.T.O. documents, including:
Crowley’s Liber LII: The Manifesto of the O.T.O. was based nearly word-for-word on Crowley’s 1912 Manifesto of the M∴M∴M∴. Thelemic salutations were added, references to officers were updated, references to “guineas” were changed to their equivalents in dollars, two names of contributing organizations were deleted (The Rosicrucian Order and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn); the table of fees and the photographs of Boleskine were deleted, the statement “It [O.T.O.] does not in any way infringe the just privileges of duly authorized Masonic Bodies” was added after the list of contributing organizations, and the Masonic disclaimer quoted previously was changed to:
On May 10, 1919, Reuss issued a Warrant to Hans Rudolph Hilfiker, Dr. E. Pargaetzi, R. Merlitschek, and M. Bergmaier to form a Supreme Council of the Cernau Scottish Rite for Switzerland in Zürich. On the same date, Reuss issued a “Gauge of Amity” document to Matthew McBlain Thomson, founder of the ill-fated “American Masonic Federation.” The document recognized Thomson as a IX° member of O.T.O. On September 18, 1919, Reuss was reconsecrated by Jean Bricaud, thus receiving the “Antioch Succession,” and re-appointed as “Gnostic Legate” to Switzerland for Bricaud’s Église Gnostique Universelle. Crowley returned to England in December of 1919. In 1920, Reuss published his Program of Construction and Guiding Principles of the Gnostic Neo-Christians: O.T.O. In this document, Reuss set forth his ideas for a (highly regimented) utopian society. The principles of this society were to be based on ideas from Thelema (The Book of the Law and aphorisms of the Master Therion are quoted and explained); along with more traditional ideas from Rosicrucianism, Gnosticism, and Yoga; and the “progressive” socio-political ideas prevalent at Monte Verità. On July 17, 1920, Reuss attended the Congress of the “World Federation of Universal Freemasonry,” held at the Libertas et Fraternitas Lodge in Zürich. This conference[3] was intended to take up the work of Papus’s “International Masonic and Spiritualist Conference” held in Paris in 1908. Reuss, with Bricaud’s authorization, advocated the adoption of the religion of Crowley’s Gnostic Mass as the “official religion for all members of the World Federation of Universal Freemasonry in possession of the 18° of the Scottish Rite.” Reuss’s efforts in this regard were a failure, and he quarreled with Matthew McBlain Thomson (who was elected Honorary President of the International Masonic Federation) over jurisdictional issues. Reuss left the congress after the first day. C. S. Jones had resigned from O.T.O. in 1919, but had continued to correspond with Reuss; and on May 10, 1921, Reuss chartered Charles Stansfeld Jones as X° for the “United States of North America.” On the same date, he chartered Heinrich Tränker (Recnartus, 1880-1956), who headed several esoteric organizations within a movement termed “Pansophia,” as X° for Germany. On July 30, 1921, Reuss issued another “Gauge of Amity” document, this time to Harvey Spencer Lewis, the founder of A.M.O.R.C., the San Jose, California based Rosicrucian organization. This document also recognized H. S. Lewis as a VII° member of O.T.O. Crowley had met Lewis previously in 1918 in New York, and was not impressed with him. Reuss returned to Germany in September of 1921, settling in Munich. On September 3, 1921, Reuss chartered Carl William Hansen (Kadosh, 1872-1936) as X° for Denmark. In October of 1921, upon Dunn’s resignation, Crowley appointed Frank Bennett (Dionysus, 1868-1930) as his Viceroy to Australia. Crowley’s SuccessionThere is some reason to believe that Reuss suffered a stroke in the Spring of 1920, but this is not entirely certain. Crowley wrote to Wilfred Tablot Smith in March of 1943:
[ « back to TOC ] O.T.O. under Aleister CrowleyAleister Crowley served as the Outer Head of the Order from 1922 until his death in December of 1947. Crowley’s first act as O.H.O. was to reconfirm the charters of Charles Stansfeld Jones and Heinrich Tränker as Grand Masters for North America and Germany, respectively. Heinrich Tränker & Eugen GroscheTränker, on Jones’s recommendation, invited Crowley to formally assume leadership of O.T.O. as well as of the various organizations included in the Pansophical movement, at a conference to be held at Hohenleuben, near Weida, in the summer of 1925. The other attendees of the conference were: Helene and Heinrich Tränker (Recnartus, 1880–1956); Karl Germer (Saturnus, 1885–1962), at the time Tränker’s secretary and publisher; Albin Grau (Pacitius, 1884–1971); Eugen Grosche (Gregorius, 1888–1964); Martha Künzel; Henri Birven; a gentleman named Oskar Hopfer; Aleister Crowley (Baphomet, 1875–1946); Crowley’s associates Dorothy Olsen (Soror Astrid), Leah Hirsig (Alostrael), Norman Mudd (Omnia Pro Veritae); and others.
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Jane Wolfe Soror Estai » Jane Wolfe « |
Agapé Lodge No. 1 had been established in 1915 in Vancouver, B.C., Canada under the authority of Jones and Crowley. In the 1930s, Wilfred Tablot Smith (Ramaka, 1885-1957), a charter member of Agapé Lodge No. 1, moved from Vancouver on instructions from Crowley to work with Jane Wolfe (Soror Estai, 1875-1958), who had been a student of Crowley’s at Cefalu, to establish Agapé Lodge No. 2 in Los Angeles, California. Smith and Wolfe gathered a group together in Hollywood, California, and along with Regina Kahl (1891-1945), began to celebrate the Gnostic Mass on a weekly basis on Sunday, March 19, 1933. Agapé Lodge No. 2 held its first meeting in 1935. Agapé Lodge contributed greatly to Crowley’s publishing efforts, and Crowley appointed W. T. Smith (Ramaka) as X° for the U.S.A. Later, Agapé Lodge No. 2 moved to Pasadena, California, and was headed by John W. “Jack” Parsons (Belarion, 1914-1952), a respected chemical engineer and aerospace pioneer. Parsons was instrumental in the founding of both the California Institute of Technology’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and of Aerojet General. |
Wilfred Tablot Smith Frater Ramaka |
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When World War II broke out in 1939, international communications became increasingly disrupted and civilian travel was limited. Crowley became very dependent on foreign representatives, being unable to travel himself.
Dr. Henrich Arnold Krumm-Heller |
Karl Johannes Germer (Saturnus, 1885–1962), Crowley’s German representative, was arrested by the Gestapo and confined in a Nazi concentration camp for “seeking students for the foreign resident, high-grade Freemason, Crowley.” Released early in the War through the efforts of the American Consul, Germer traveled ultimately to the United States, where, as Grand Treasurer General and Crowley’s second in command, he conducted much of the business of O.T.O. On March 14, 1942, Crowley wrote to Germer: “I shall appoint you my successor as O.H.O. … A complete change in the structure of the Order, and in its methods is necessary. The secret is the basis, and you must select the proper people.” The other European branches of O.T.O. were largely destroyed or driven underground during the War. The Latin American branches of Krumm-Heller’s F.R.A. maintained a light contact with Germer until the early 1960s. By the end of the Second World War in 1945, only Agapé Lodge in Pasadena, California was still functioning. There were isolated O.T.O. initiates in various parts of the world. Although Crowley received visits from O.T.O. members in England, no Lodge work had been conducted there since the police raid of 1917. Initiations were very rare outside of California. Arnold Krumm-Heller in Mexico performed no O.T.O. initiations, but sent a candidate, Dr. Gabriel Montenegro (Frater Zopiron orTheophilos), to California for initiation. |
Karl Johannes Germer Karl and Sascha Germer |
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During the Second World War, two Californian O.T.O. members, Grady Louis McMurtry (Oct. 18, 1918 – July 12, 1985) and Frederick Mellinger (Merlinus, 1890-1970) (Mellinger was originally a refugee from Nazi Germany), traveled to Europe on military assignments. McMurtry went earlier and visited Crowley on several occasions while on leave. Mellinger visited Crowley after McMurtry was rotated back to the United States.
Major Grady Louis McMurtry Hymenaeus Alpha, 777 |
There was a good rapport between Crowley and McMurtry, and Crowley respected McMurtry’s military experience. In 1943, Crowley personally conferred the IX° of O.T.O. upon McMurtry and made him a Sovereign Grand Inspector General of the Order, and gave him the Magical Name he was to use from then on, Hymenaeus Alpha, 777. In 1944, Crowley began discussing with McMurtry the possibility of assuming the “Caliphate.” Crowley wrote to McMurtry on Sept. 28, 1944: “I hope you will prefer my plan for your career as my Fides Achates, alter ego, Caliph, & so on.” On November 21, 1944, he wrote to McMurtry again:
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The title “Caliph,” while perhaps appealing somewhat to the sense of humor of both men as a pun on the abbreviation for California (the State of McMurtry’s residence and the location of Agapé Lodge), is from the Arabic word Khalifa, meaning “deputy.” It was historically used in early Islam to designate the successor to the Prophet, the worldwide Commander of the Islamic Faithful. Crowley’s use of the term as applied to Germer and McMurtry was parallel for O.T.O.
In 1946, Crowley entrusted McMurtry with documents of emergency authorization to take charge of the entire work of the Order in California, which included the only functional O.T.O. Body at the time. Crowley additionally appointed McMurtry his personal representative in the U.S.A., whose authority was to be considered as Crowley’s own. These two charters, dated respectively March 22, 1946 and April 11, 1946, were subject only to Karl Germer’s approval, veto or revision. Germer was well informed of McMurtry’s charters from Crowley, as he had attended the Agapé Lodge meeting at which McMurtry had presented them. In addition, in a letter to Germer dated June 19, 1946, Crowley informed Germer that “The only limitation on his [McMurtry’s] power in California is that any decision which he takes is subject to revision or veto by yourself,” thus removing the requirement for prior approval by Germer. On June 6, 1947, Crowley wrote to Germer:
On June 17, 1947, six months before his death, Crowley wrote to McMurtry and informed him that while Germer was to be Crowley’s successor as Head of O.T.O., McMurtry should hold himself prepared to succeed Germer. Crowley, while trusting in Karl Germer’s ability to govern the Order as his successor, evidently did not trust in Germer’s ability to find and designate an appropriate successor for himself. In what appears to have been an additional contingency measure in the event that McMurtry died or became incapacitated, Crowley also advised Frederick Mellinger to hold himself ready as a possible successor to Germer, in a letter dated July 15, 1947. However, Mellinger did not receive any assignments of the kind given to McMurtry, and Crowley never used the term “Caliph” in reference to Mellinger. |
Frederick Mellinger Frater Merlinus |
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Aleister Crowley (Baphomet, 1875 – 1947) died on December 1, 1947; and in accord with his wishes Karl Germer (Frater Saturnus, 1885 – 1962) became O.H.O. of O.T.O., serving from late 1947 until his death in 1962. Agapé Lodge continued in Southern California until 1949, after which the Lodge ceased to hold regular meetings. The records of Agapé Lodge, consisting of minutes of meetings, annotated copies of rituals, lists of members initiated to various degrees in O.T.O., correspondence, and financial records, were conserved by Jane Wolfe (Soror Estai, 1875-1958) and various members of the Lodge.
Following Crowley’s death, his will was probated and the executors began receiving his property for shipment to Germer. Germer received most of the materials from Crowley’s estate and eventually took them with him to his final home at Westpoint in Calaveras County, California.
Germer was a quiet and reclusive man, and primarily interested in publishing Crowley’s writings. Several O.T.O. members helped him with this, but, aside from promotion of those already initiated, no new initiations were given. Germer notified McMurtry and others that O.T.O. was to be incorporated and governed by a triumvirate of officers, but this incorporation was never accomplished under Germer’s headship of O.T.O. Germer did charter an O.T.O. Camp in England under Kenneth Grant, but closed the Camp and expelled Grant from O.T.O. membership on July 20, 1955 when he learned that Grant had become associated with Grosche’s Fraternitas Saturni, had circulated a manifesto for the a new Lodge of O.T.O. under the joint authority of Germer and Grosche, and had begun to modify the O.T.O. rituals, all without notice to Germer. Germer also took an interest in the efforts of Hermann Metzger (Paragranus, 1919-1990) in Switzerland. Metzger was a student of a surviving member of Reuss’s Swiss section of the O.T.O. named Felix Lazerus Pinkus (1881-1947), but had no original connection with Crowley’s O.T.O. Germer appointed Mellinger to supervise Metzger’s regularization into Crowley’s O.T.O., but Germer and Metzger fell into disagreement toward the end of Germer’s life. Frederick Mellinger wrote after Germer’s death that Metzger had failed to satisfy the program of instruction set forth for Metzger by Germer under Mellinger’s tutelage. According to one source, Metzger claimed to have chartered Gabriel Montenegro as X° for the United States. However, Montenegro never claimed any such authority, and never even mentioned any O.T.O. appointment from Metzger to his O.T.O. colleagues in the U.S. O.T.O. members in California actively sought to influence Germer to reopen public access to O.T.O. Concern was expressed in correspondence that a failure to initiate new O.T.O. members would result in the ultimate demise of O.T.O. In 1959, Grady McMurtry had called a meeting in Los Angeles, to which members of Agapé Lodge and others were invited, with the purpose of attempting to create a unified front to pressure Karl Germer into resuming OTO initiations. McMurtry was ready to invoke his authorizations from Crowley in support of this idea. Dr. Montenegro opposed the idea, and the others failed to lend any support; the idea was abandoned. Montenegro wrote to McMurtry on Nov. 21, 1960 to memorialize his opposition to the idea. Germer authorized McMurtry to form a nucleus of new O.T.O. public access, but Germer and McMurtry had a falling out over a personal loan and other matters. Whatever differences they may have had, there is not the slightest suggestion that Germer even considered vetoing or revising McMurtry’s charters from Crowley. McMurtry lost his job in California due to health problems and moved to Washington, D.C. in March of 1961. Here he taught Political Science at George Washington University while working as a Management Analyst for the U.S. Government. He also directed the Washington Shakespeare Society. |
Karl Johannes Germer Frater Saturnus |
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Karl Germer died on October 25, 1962 without having designated a successor. Germer’s last will and testament named his wife Sascha Ernestine Andre Germer and Frederick Mellinger the executors of his estate in the matter of property held for O.T.O. Sascha was an elderly lady of less than sound mind, and cut herself off from the surviving members of O.T.O. in California. Germer’s estate was never probated. Some ranking members, including Grady McMurtry, were not notified of Germer’s death for several years, causing a long delay before the question of succession to leadership of O.T.O. was properly addressed.
Herman Jospeh Metzger Frater Paragranus |
Herman Jospeh Metzger (Pope Paragranus, 1919-1990) in Switzerland published a claim to being the Outer Head of the Order, based on a private election represented to have been held in Switzerland on January 6, 1963. Ranking members of O.T.O. outside of Switzerland, including Frederick Mellinger, whom Germer had appointed as Metzger’s mentor, were not informed of Metzger’s purported election until after the alleged fact. A copy of Metzger’s manifesto was sent to Wilfred Smith, who had been dead since 1957. Metzger was not generally accepted as head of the Order outside his own group. Sascha made a half-hearted attempt to send Germer’s O.T.O. property material to Metzger, but this was blocked by Mellinger in a letter dated Sept. 25, 1963 which denounced Metzger as a fraud. Metzger later incorporated his system of O.T.O. as part of a new organization of his own formulation, the “Ordo Illuminatorum,” which purported to be a revival of the order of the Illuminati. Metzger died in 1990. Kenneth Grant (1924-2011) also asserted a claim to being Outer Head of the Order; but he had previously been expelled from membership by Germer. Mr. Grant disputes his expulsion, claiming that he never recognized Karl Germer as head of O.T.O. However, Grant’s own writings from the 1950’s, in particular the manifesto of New Isis Lodge, refer to Frater S (Saturnus, i.e. Karl Germer) as the international head of O.T.O. Grant’s organization - the Typhonian Ordo Templi Orientis (TOTO) - asserts that O.T.O. had ceased to be a membership organization in its traditional sense of having Lodges and conferring degrees ceremonially. Grant’s organization also ignores the Gnostic Mass, which is, according to Crowley, “the central ceremony of [O.T.O.’s] public and private celebration.” |
Kenneth Grant » Kenneth Grant « |
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When McMurtry became aware of the critical condition into which the Order had fallen after Germer’s death, he was impelled to invoke his documents of emergency authorization from Crowley, and assume the title “Caliph of O.T.O.,” as specified in Crowley’s letters to McMurtry from the 1940s. For the two witnesses he believed were necessary for this act, he chose Dr. Israel Regardie (1907-1985) and Gerald Yorke (1901-1983). McMurtry referred to these two as the “Eyes of Horus,” as the two most prominent surviving personal students of Crowley. He advised them of his plans to reconstitute the O.T.O. using his letters of charter from Crowley, and requested their support, which was offered. McMurtry completed the activation of his Caliphate by June of 1969, with a letter to Hermann Metzger of Switzerland.
Grady Louis McMurtry Hymenaeus Alpha 777 |
Upon activation of the Caliphate, surviving O.T.O. members from the Germer and Crowley years were invited to join with McMurtry to resume regular operations of O.T.O. At that time there were less than a dozen surviving older O.T.O. members in the United States. Phyllis Seckler (Soror Meral), Helen Parsons (Soror Grimaud), Mildred Burlingame and Gabriel Montenegro indicated willingness to see the O.T.O. accessible to the general public. Ray Burlingame had died some years before, and Dr. Montenegro died on July 14, 1969, before an organizational meeting could be held. Frederick Mellinger had re-established his contacts with the Theosophical Society and had been essentially inactive in O.T.O. since approximately 1956, except to write his letter blocking the probate of Germer’s will in favor of Metzger in 1963. Mellinger died on August 29, 1970. In 1969 and 1970, McMurtry, Burlingame and Sorores Meral and Grimaud began to perform initiations. On December 28, 1971, the Ordo Templi Orientis Association was registered with the State of California to form a legal entity for O.T.O. Sascha Germer died in April of 1975, and in 1976 when her death became known, the O.T.O. Association under McMurtry obtained a court order for delivery of the remnant of the O.T.O. archives that had been in her custodianship. This order was issued, recognizing Grady McMurtry as the authorized representative of O.T.O., by the Superior Court in Calaveras County, California, and filed July 27th, 1976. Under McMurtry, as Caliph or acting Head of O.T.O., several attempts were made to attract new members to O.T.O. and to make the Order known to the public. In 1970, O.T.O. published Crowley’s Thoth Tarot Cards, illustrated by Lady Frieda Harris, from the Dublin address. Response was slow, but a few new members were initiated through efforts centered in Dublin, California at The College of Thelema and in San Francisco at the Kaaba Clerk House. The San Francisco activity collapsed, and one new member resigned. Activity continued for two years in Dublin, and then was transferred to Berkeley, California. |
In 1977, McMurtry held O.T.O. initiations at his home in Berkeley, California, and began a group there. O.T.O. was incorporated under the laws of the State of California on March 26th, 1979 e.v. Those who had claimed in print to be O.T.O. members or who were known to be former members were notified of the formation of this corporation, and given a period of time to file a claim to continued membership, according to a precedent established earlier by Karl Germer. The corporation attained Federal Tax exemption as a religious entity under IRS Code 501(c)3 in 1982.
A substantial effort was made to assume control of O.T.O. by Marcelo Ramos Motta (1931-1987) under the name “Society Ordo Templi Orientis (S.O.T.O.)”. Mr. Motta had been a personal A∴A∴ student of Karl Germer for a number of years, but had never formally obtained a charter to Initiate or operate a Lodge. In fact, he had never even been formally initiated into O.T.O. After Germer’s death, Motta asserted a claim to being Germer’s successor, and formed an O.T.O. group in his native country of Brazil. Motta at first recognized Kenneth Grant as head of O.T.O., but rescinded this recognition on learning that Grant had been expelled by Germer. Motta ultimately came to the United States to claim the Crowley copyrights. He first sued Samuel Weiser, Inc., a publisher of many of Crowley’s works, for copyright and trademark infringement; maintaining that he was the sole representative of Crowley’s O.T.O. This case was decided in Weiser’s favor by the U.S. District Court in Maine. The Judge found that Motta’s representations regarding O.T.O. did not meet the test of legal existence. O.T.O. under McMurtry was not a party to this case, and did not factor in the judgment. During the proceedings in Maine, O.T.O. under McMurtry served Motta with a suit to be heard in the 9th Federal District Court in San Francisco. The San Francisco case was concluded in 1985, with Motta again losing. O.T.O. under McMurtry was recognized by the Court to be the continuation of the O.T.O. of Aleister Crowley, and the exclusive owner of the names, trademarks, copyrights and other assets of O.T.O. McMurtry was found to be the legitimate head of O.T.O. within the United States. The 9th District decision also recognized O.T.O. under McMurtry as a legal membership entity. This decision was appealed and upheld. Grady McMurtry died on July 12, 1985, following the original decision of the 9th District Court, but the process of appeal established that O.T.O. continued as a corporation. |
Marcelo Ramos Motta |
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Rather than designate his own successor, McMurtry desired that his successor be chosen by vote of the Sovereign Sanctuary of O.T.O. after his death. The election was held on September 21, 1985, with the two surviving members of Agapé Lodge participating, and Frater Hymenaeus Beta was elected to succeed Frater Hymenaeus Alpha as Caliph and acting O.H.O. of O.T.O. Hymenaeus Beta continues in office to this day.
In early 1996, a new corporation was founded to carry on the work of the U.S. Grand Lodge of O.T.O, while the existing corporation reorganized itself as the International Headquarters of O.T.O. On March 30, 1996, Sabazius X° was appointed as National Grand Master General for the U.S. Grand Lodge.
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In addition to materials in the O.T.O. archives, the published writings of the following protagonists and historical researchers were consulted in preparing this essay: Calvin C. Burt, W.B. Crow, Isaac Blair Evans, Antoine Faivre, S.E. Flowers, René Le Forestier, Joscelyn Godwin, Dr. J.A. Gottlieb, Ellic Howe, Francis King, Peter-Robert König, Helmut Möller, William G. Peacher, M.D., Martin P. Starr, John Symonds, M. McBlain Thomson, A.E. Waite, James Webb, and John Yarker.
The following individuals provided substantial assistance in the form of historical information and/or criticism: William Breeze, Martin P. Starr, Parsival Krumm-Heller, Soror Meral, Soror Grimaud, Lon Milo DuQuette, James T. Graeb, Bjarne Salling Pedersen, and P.-R. König.
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Notes
[1]The Hermetic Brotherhood of Light was a mystical society which claimed descent from the late 18th century Austrian Masonic/Rosicrucian body known as the Fratres Lucis. The Fratres Lucis, also known as the Asiatic Brethren or Initiated Brethren of the Seven Cities in Asia, was derived from the earlier GermanOrder of the Golden and Rosy Cross. The Hermetic Brotherhood of Light also appears to have had connections with the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, which was a mystical society which surfaced publicly in England in 1884 under the auspices of Max Théon (AKA Louis-Maximilian Bimstein, 1850-1927). The origins of the H.B. of L. are unclear, but there is some evidence linking it with the Brotherhood of Luxor, which was involved in the founding of the Theosophical Society as well as with the aforementioned Fratres Lucis; and with the latter’s 19th century English spiritualist namesake.
Born in Poland, Theon travelled widely in his youth. In Cairo, he became a student of a Coptic magician named Paulos Metamon. Theon came to England in 1870, where he recruited the violin-maker Peter Davidson (1842-1916) to establish an “Outer Circle” of the H.B. of L. They were joined in 1883 by Thomas H. Burgoyne (AKA Thomas Dalton, 1855-1895), who later wrote a book summarizing the basic teachings of the H.B. of L., titled The Light of Egypt. The function of this “Outer Circle” of the H.B. of L. was to offer a correspondence course on practical occultism; which set it apart from the Theosophical Society. Its curriculum included a number of selections from the writings of Hargrave Jennings and Paschal Beverly Randolph.
P.B. Randolph (Oct. 8, 1825 – July 29, 1875) was a noted medium, healer, occultist and author of his day, and counted among his personal friends Abraham Lincoln, Hargrave Jennings, Kenneth McKenzie, Eliphas Levi, Napoleon III, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, and General Ethan Allen Hitchcock. Randolph’s Order claimed descent from the Rosicrucian Order (by charter of the “Supreme Grand Lodge of France”), and taught spiritual healing, western occultism and principals of race regeneration through the spirtualization of sex.
[2] John Yarker was elected Absolute Sovereign Grand Master of the Oriental Rite of Mizraim in 1871. He was installed as Grand Master 96° of the Sovereign Sanctuary of the Ancient and Primitive Rite of Memphis for England by Harold J. Seymour on Oct. 8, 1872. Seymour had in turn received his letters-patent from Jacques Etienne Marconis de Negre on June 21, 1862. Yarker received letters-patent for the Cerneau Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite from Theo. H. Tebbs of the Combined Canadian S.G.C. of that Rite on January 12, 1884. Yarker was elected Imperial Grand Hierophant 97° of the Rite of Memphis on November 11, 1902.
[3] Those attending the congress were: Reuss (representing the Sov. Sanctuary of Memphis and Mizraim Rites for Germany, Grand Orient of the Scottish Rite in Germany, and the National Grand Lodge of the United Scottish, Memphis and Mizraim Rites for Great Britain and Ireland); H.R. Hilfiker, R. Merlitschek, and M. Bergmaier (representing the Grand Orient of the Scottish Rite in Switzerland [based on a Reuss Charter dated May 10, 1919]), Dr. E. Pargaetzi (representing the Sov. Sanctuary of the Scottish, Memphis and Mizraim Rites for France); A. Spilmer (representing the Grand Lodge of Colombia), H. Schütz (representing Prince Alexander of Greece, Grand Protector of Greek Freemasonry); John Anderson (representing the National Grand Lodge of Scotland); and Matthew McBlain Thomson (representing the American Masonic Federation, the Grand Lodge of Washington, D.C., and the Grand Orient of Cuba).
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Proof read and edited by Frater D.M.T. © Thelemagick.
Proof read and edited by Frater D.M.T. - Bahlasti Ompehda O.T.O., Budapest. (Anno Vii)
[ » Primary Source: History of the O.T.O. « ]
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[ SEE ALSO: History of the E.G.C. - {by T. Apiryon} ]
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