Society Ordo Templi Orientis International
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
The Society Ordo Templi Orientis, or Temple of the Orient, O.T.O. (a clearer explanation of the initials is given to Initiates of the II°), is at presently Internationally represented by the O.H.O., the Outer Head of the Order, whose immediate delegates for the profane world are the Holy Kings and Queens, and the Directors of the Society Ordo Templi Orientis. (O.T.O.) The purposes of the Society Ordo Templi Orientis are simple, and are succinctly described in Liber CL. Greater Understanding of the need for those purpose, however, as well as greater efficiency in the struggle to establish them, need application and study. Therefore a Reading Curriculum has established to satisfy the basic necessities of Candidates to the Order.
Reading Curriculum
All Books written by Aleister Crowley.
The Commentaries of AL by Aleister Crowley & Marcelo Motta
Official Preliminary Documents of the O.T.O. Includes Marcelo Motta's famous Letter to a Brasilian Mason & other papers essential to comprehension of political theory for Thelemites.
Gold Coins, Precious Jewels and Sparkling Diamonds. These three Commentaries are written by David Bersson & present new perceptions & material that has never before presented to Thelemites.
Golden Bough by Frazer
Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin the Mage
Books on Feminism: essential for both male & female members to study the tendencies of the Thelemite Current in the world regarding the woman girth with the Sword.
(Confer Liber AL, Chapter III, verse 11.)
Books on Ancient Egypt; essential for Thelemites studying the Link with Antiquity.
The Trachtenberg Speed System of Basic Mathematics by Ann Cutler and Rudolph McShane. This volume has proved valuable for the preliminary discipline in the study of the Kabbalah.. (Confer Liber AL; Chapter I, verse 25.)
Dress for Success and The WomenÍs Dress for Success Book, by John T. Molloy.
Serious students are referred to the Book of the Law, dress ye all in fine apparel. The above two books are the sensible and pellucid books for Thelemites on fine apparel presently in existence. They are not presented in this Manifesto as dogma but only as a possible basis for a Thelemite Wardrobe. We can only look forward to a time when books on fine garments will be written by Thelemites. (Confer Liber AL, Chapter I, verse 51.)
The Structure of the O.T.O.
The Society Ordo Templi Orientis, (O.T.O.) is organized in Lodges to which may belong men and women of all races and social levels. Any human being who can pass through the Initiatic Ordeals has a right to the First Degree. The Lodges are under the responsibility of Masters of Lodge, who may be of any race, sex or social position and who are monitored by regional Directors. In some cases a Outer Circle Lodge Master III°, is under the Authority of a IV° Director.
The Outer Circle Lodge Master is a State Representative and the Director is in charge of more than one State. (This, in the U.S.A.) The Society Ordo Templi Orientis is divided into Three Circles:
Outer Circle: Includes the I° through III°.
Initiation to the next Circle can only be done by recommendation of a Director to the Supervisor General or O.H.O. with official invitation.
Inner Circle: from the IV° to VI°
Secret Circle: from the VII° to IX°
Beyond these Grades there are two more of a purely Administrative nature: the X° , to which belong the Hierophants, Kings, and Queens who are National Grand Masters and the O.H.O..
(The Kings and Queens are never paired: Confer Liber AL, Chapter II, verse 15, the last line.
If a woman becomes a Queen she is assigned a Hierophant from the Hidden Hierarchy.)
The O.H.O. is the International Grand Master. And the XI°, whose Authority is purely Spiritual, is out of the normal structure of the Order unless emergency calls He or She forth. His or Her function in the world is absolutely secret to all those but the National Grand Masters and none of them know if they really know! No member of the Order can publicly acclaim their Grade openly after IV° expect the National Grand Masters & the XI°.
The XI° observes no rules but acts under emergencies according to His or Her Oaths from the Inner & Secret Circles. The size and extent of Our Movement is permanently secret to the profane world. Our Secret Head, (who may or may not be the XI°), communicates directly only with the National Grand Masters who communicates directly with our Directors, (or in some cases Outer Circle Lodge Masters, III ° who communicates only with our Lodge Masters, who communicates with our Lodge Members.)
Although we cannot, in a Manifesto meant for the general public, unveil the nature of the Work of the Grades, especially in the Inner and Secret Circles, a brief description of the titles (which indicate the main activity or some cases a blind) of each of the Grades may be useful to intuitive temperaments.
I° Attraction to the Solar System (Birth).
II° Thelemic Behavior on Earth (Life).
III° Lordship or Ladyship of Earth (Death).
IV° Freeman or Freewoman.
V° Squire of Damsel.
VI° Knight or Dame.
VII° Novice. Watcher. Sentinel.
VIII° Deacon or Deaconess. Inspector. Herald.
IX° Priest or Priestess. Judge.
X° Holy King or Holy Queen. Outer Head of the Order.
XI° This Grade has neither title or description. It corresponds to a certain High Grade in the A.·.A.·.
In reality, there exist only Three Grades for those of us who are called Thelemites. These correspond to the Circles: Man of Earth includes from the I° to the III°, Lovers from the IV° to the X°, the members of the XI° to hold an office below their Grade in the hierarchy, but they cannot reveal that they hold the XI° Such was the case of Karl Johannes Germer.
The Society Ordo Templi Orientis monthly fee is five percent of the monthly income of any member and this five percent is accumulated by the members of the Lodge Master & thirty percent of this goes to the Director and ten percent of this goes to the Grand Master. If a Lodge only has one member the full five percent goes to the Grand Master. Expense accounts can be delegated to any member of any Grade at any time by permission by any member of the Secret Circle with approval of the Grand Master.
Contributions are not screened, but if by a concurrence of circumstance it becomes evident that some member is deliberately contributing less than five percent of his or her total monthly income, that person is immediately expelled and barred from readmission. Besides the monthly fee, members are encouraged to contribute to the smooth workings of the Lodge to which they belong, either with toil or gifts. Advancement in the Grades, however, does not depend on donations, or from the size of one's monthly fee: it is gauged from the evidence of moral and intellectual dedication to the Order. Advancement in the Grades brings increased responsibility, and therefore demands strength of character and purity of motives. The Keynote is Service. Both the Reading Curriculum and the rules established in this Manifesto are subject to change by Us at any time.
Love is the law, love under will.
Frater Superior
Written by David Bersson
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
By way of introduction to Society Ordo Templi Orientis let me state publicly that I have initiated many changes that I consider to be valuable to the future not only of the Order but the arising of the Law of Θελημα.
Keep this in mind, that one subtle difference changes the aura and magical direction of the Path of the Order in many multitudes of ways. Yet, one hundred such carefully calculated changes can alter the Womb of the Mother giving birth to a whole new Child who this time, fulfills the conditions of awakening as the crowned & conquering child. For every subtle change, the vibration of the member in all Grades will change. Directions and byways will naturally open up that CANNOT exist for any but those whose participate in such a magical gesture.
Let's give one example. I have made it a rule that no one is permitted to use 93 or 93 93/93 as a Thelemic Greeting at any time. This rule was established to comply with the Book of the Law to assure we do not change the style of a letter. Serious students are referred to Liber AL, Chapter II, verse 54. This rule, which everyone embraced by my direction completely altered the aura of the Order. Discipline was generally more concise. People were enthusiastically giving the Law as a challenge and a greeting. Outsiders from other Thelemic Organizations would be surprised and shocked by my members reaction when they tried to greet them with "93". Members would privately inform me how the vibration of these other Thelemic Orders remained on a very low and frivolous level.
I have arisen to burst your bubble and to attempt to bring you to reality. This reality may come as a shock to all of you. For I do not perceive the Law of Θελημα like anyone that has ever come forth from the wilderness of Initiation. Therefore I fully threaten all of you with the deadly changes that only a Master can conjure from the depths of spiritual insight. I have openly challenged the way the O.T.O. has been and in the past has been laid forth as not consistent enough with the Book of the Law.
Even further, I fully intend to continue with such changes until I am satisfied that all the old aeon elements are purged of their great impurities. This Great Work of assimilating more lines of the Book of the Law into the curriculum of the O.T.O. shall exceed the lifetime of my Leadership, be assured, for the Book of the Law continues to open up to other stars who can see what I cannot presently see, who have attained Trances that are not mentioned in our works and who have experienced corners and byways of the Path that are peculiar to their particular initiation. These perceptions will be added to the sum total of the curriculum as the complex of energy we call our Order further manifests strongly the Current of Θελημα. Verily, I have come forth to awaken the impossible that the impossible shall be reality.
It seems that in the early times of my initiatic processes, so long ago, when I first became a member of the Order, my overall perception of what the O.T.O. and its membership meant to me were considerably diverse from my calm and cool perception of its social and magical realities that presently dominates my present thoughts. Nevertheless, I now see the Order as a complex of energy that is an engine for the manifestation of the Current of Θελημα. I now see how to add to this "complex of energy" to make this war engine more efficient. My experience has given me new insight and real plans to use the Order as a Talisman which magick doth change phenomenal existence.
How times change, I think to myself, considering how I saw the Order in the beginning and how I see it now.
I remember remarking to myself after concise evaluation concerning those changes which policies will really matter, studying my motivations and the origin of them as I outlined it all. What motivated me originally came back to haunt me and I discovered that I was in a position to reach out for those goals. Naturally, such goals exceed the normal lifetime of the individual. Racial Initiation does speed the process of evolution. Goals toward that evolution are unlocked with the Law of Θελημα.
All these years now in the O.T.O. without Marcelo Motta and with the complete reins to direct the future of the entire Order I have a much clearer perception on what I conceive to be a foreseeable future.
Items of policy that others have yet to imagine, I have brought forth as new articles to enhance the efficiency of a theoretical diagram, some of which, had not seen the light of day until I created those magical links to assure their reality. Also, with the unique insights of my initiations, definite commands from the Book of the Law others could not see became a reality for me. I began to adjust the O.T.O. to comply toward them.
Such a shock it is for my enemies and ex-brothers, fallen as they all are and lost in a wave of sorrowful dogmatic stagnation, when I actually change world wide policy in the O.T.O. without a moment's hesitation. I decide what is to be done, I take it upon myself to do it, as I realize what I've decided would be closer to the Book of the Law. I note that this is not occurring with the failed splinter groups of the O.T.O. who continue in the same manner that it was originally conceived. Perhaps they, having no real initiation must grasp strongly for something consistent to assure themselves and their dupes they are, after all, justified with proceeding in spite of the overwhelming lack of evidence in their lineage and standing. Such amusing logic they present me with, that they have stayed with the tenets Aleister Crowley laid down originally and I criminally change everything to suit my fanatical whims. When I counter them easily stating that my attempt to follow the lines of the Book of the Law makes me more Thelemic than them, they sulk away in fear that this madman has cleverly evaded some main point. Such is the shaggy dog tale of the hurt ego making a mad dash for cover as I, the Great Lion show them that Θελημα does, after all, have very sharp Hawk Claws ready to rip the reality of their serene and calm delusionary world they try to call the O.T.O..
Perhaps it is true that they fell in the first place when the inflexible basis of their dogmatic thinking revolted against those whose Change is a formula rather than their standardized behavior of safety. Of course, greater is it the disturbance that makes us freer than the silence of the slaves whose only will is biological and whose only nature is base, brutish animal behavior.
Making such changes are based on the overall improvement of the individual member. A member has aspirations. We not only meet those aspirations by our curriculum but enhance them, inspire them, train them, prepare them, and introduce the aspirant to others of like blood. All with the Law of Θελημα as our guide.
The dream of every mystic is to associate with others who have common points of reference, to attain power and inspiration. With the Law of Θελημα we have precise perceptions where brothers fight along side each other. Social exchange in the Order is therefore a essential coordinate for future development as other points so cleverly conjured within the subtle lines of the Book of the Law.
Carefully considering all these frank outbursts of zeal regarding the changes that I have forged in the Order, I invite all those who would will membership into our circle to step forth and join forces with us on our quest to build the Order in a manner completely consisent with a Society where the Law of Θελημα erupts into the soul of the world.
Yea, the Law of Θελημα shall erupt into the soul of the world!
Love is the law, love under will