Next, a letter from KG to F.
Mellinger (FM), dated 9/15/51 e.v.
KG has commenced an effort to
instruct and regularize Metzger
under Mellinger's guidance.
Doubts remain about Metzger's
Reuss derivations. KG dismisses
Lekve's distrust of Metzger.
| I also liked the letter you
wrote Paragranus. It will be up
to him now to decide whether he
wants to visit you or not. On the
whole nothing is better than a
personal meeting. Many types of
men cannot convey their true
nature by letters. In fact, they
might be misleading. I'll be
interested to hear further about
this.
. . .
Metzger: He must be the heir of a
genuine tradition, deriving
directly from Reuss. So we can't
judge him so easily. And I have
reasons to believe that he is
being led directly to us. If you
feel, on meeting him, that he is
allright {sic}, give him our
Rituals. (He has the rituals ...
the German form from Reuss'
follower.) I can't accept Lekve's
judgment ... it is not always
reliable. Besides, Metzger is
young. |
Here is a separately surviving
postscript from 9/25/51 e.v. to a
letter from KG to an unknown
recipient. KG is enthused about
Metzger and still credulous about
A.S. to the point of near
absurdity. Germer was possibly a
bit blinded by an opportunity to
re-enter his old field of Crowley
publication in Germany.
| P.S. Ready to post the
enclosed, I find extensive mail
from Germany in the mail box.
From Frederic (Mellinger), Lekve,
and from Switzerland.
I had given F. authority to
initiate Lekve and the man from Switzerland into the O.T.O., and
go as far as he sees fit. The man
from Switzerland stems directly
from Reuss, and from Fraulein
Sprengel (see LXI vel causae) - a
very important connection. It is
imperative that that man gets the
true rituals from Baphomet and
takes up the Work in a positive
way. (Incidentally, he has a
group of people, established a
printing shop, and wants to print
some of A.C.'s works; also he is
starting an occult-spiritual-
magical Magazine and wants to have
as an introduction either an
article on A.C., or the
translation of Thelema Literature.
. . . |
KG continued to support
Metzger, not without some
trepidations. KG to GY, 11/15/54
e.v.
| Metzger is a man in whom I am
inclined to trust more than in
anyone else in the German groups.
Yet I have learned some lessons
and try to curb my weakness of
trusting everybody at once. . . .
Metzger is building up an
organisation with a printing
establishment as the sustainer in
the outer. he started with
practically nothing but the will
and the enthusiasm and the gift of
inspiring some people, especially
women to follow his own devotion.
I hope he will make good.
. . .
Metzger was a pupil of a man Dr.
Pincus, an initiate of O.T.O.
under Reuss, possibly without
formal charter from him. Before
Pincus died he took an oath from
M. to continue the Work. |
This letter from KG to GY of
12/5/54 e.v. implies that Metzger
tentatively agreed with the
program for normalization into
O.T.O. under monitoring by
Mellinger, but evidently has not
completed it after the passage of
three years. The letter is mainly
concerned with Metzger acquiring
more Crowleiana.
| Metzger: wrote me extensively,
and explains his situation, and
why he wrote you. To make it
brief: he accepts any modus we
dec... whether he gets material on loan, and for making copies, from
... or you, as long as he is
permitted to gradually build up a
complete of extant Crowleiana.
But, he says, from a practical
point of view, the amount of
postage, safety, and speed, it
would make it simple if you would
send him the stuff. Postage
between England and Switzerland is
cheaper. His group have a house
in the mountains in Switzerland,
which in a way is safer than here.
And they have adequate help for
copying - and making nice copies. |
Karl Germer assumed Mellinger
monitored Metzger's progress
toward O.T.O. regularization.
Germer quarreled with Mellinger
from time to time, as he did with
all his representatives. The Last
Will and Testament of Karl Germer
named Frederic Mellinger co-
executor with Sascha Germer for
the O.T.O. archives. There is
some evidence of a late rupture
between Germer and Metzger.
-oOo-
Largely owing to Karl Germer's
pathological distrust of his
American associates, a great
obscurity continued until the mid
1980's about Metzger's true
standing in or about O.T.O.
During that time it was widely
believed that Germer had chartered
Metzger as X° for Switzerland.
Most of the documents were lost,
and only rumors and Metzger's own
claims were available. Karl
Germer died in 1962 e.v., and his
death was very inadequately
reported. Neither Mellinger nor
McMurtry were told. Metzger
immediately published his
Oriflamme with an account of his
"election" by his own Lodge to the
office of O.H.O. of O.T.O.! This
was of course impossible. No
notice for such an election had
been given, and no agreement by
the surviving O.T.O. members of
rank had been sought. Some of the
members of the dormant Agape Lodge
in California sent Brother Monti
off to visit Metzger in
Switzerland to discover what was
going on. Brother Monti (Dr.
Gabriel Montenegro) had been
brought into O.T.O. membership at the end of the 1940's, as the last
member to be initiated into O.T.O.
in the USA during the Germer days.
He was one of the highest ranking
Freemasons in Mexico at the time,
and had been forwarded up to Agape
Lodge by the non-initiating
remnant of the old O.T.O.A.
formerly led by Dr. Krumm Heller
(Fr. Huiracocha), Head of O.T.O.
for Latin America from the Reuss
days. The story of Monti's visit
may have gotten a bit embroidered
through multiple tellings, but it
is odd enough. According to Grady
McMurtry, Monti was welcomed by a
brass band when he arrived in
Stein, Switzerland. All was "hail
and well met" until he reached
Metzger's Guest House Rose. Then
it came down to the question of
the hour: "Will the O.T.O. in
California accept Herr Metzger as
O.H.O. of O.T.O.?" Monti said
"No, but we can discuss other
matters". The welcome scaled
rapidly down to bread and cheese,
and Monti retired to bed.
Awakened by a strange sound in the
night, Monti quietly crept out of
his room to see what was
transpiring. Herr Metzger was
alone at a table in the dining
room. He was well lubricated with
more wine to hand and pounding on
the table, shouting: "I am the
O.H.O.! I AM the O.H.O.! ..."
Brother Monti quietly took his
leave in the morning. Very little
more was heard from Herr Metzger
in direct communication between
Switzerland and O.T.O. in
California after that. In the
late 70's, and in ignorance of the
document which follows, the O.T.O.
in California offered to recognize
some of Metzger's claims
unilaterally as a peace gesture,
though not of course the
ridiculous claim to his being
O.H.O. This offer was rejected by
silence, and a good thing it was
too, as will be made evident just
below.
Sascha Germer, Karl's widow,
tried to probate Karl's Will. She
had been robbed by a strong-arm
assault at her home in the
California mountains and believed
OTO members responsible (they weren't, one of the individuals
she identified as involved had
died some years earlier than the
break-in). In her dotage and
hysteria, Sascha refused to
consider any American O.T.O.
claims to the O.T.O. leadership.
She wrote to Gerald Yorke, M.
Motta and Metzger to try to settle
the O.T.O. portion of Karl's will.
Motta betrayed ignorance and
confusion. Yorke knew nothing
after the 1950's, and Herr Metzger
barraged her with scraps of
documents and high sounding
minutes of meetings cribbed from
the Reuss days, including a 1917
e.v. charter to a long deceased
O.T.O. representative in
Switzerland. Sascha went over
Karl's correspondence,
underscoring passages in the
letters that seemed to favor
Metzger's character and depreciate
US O.T.O. members. The problem
was complicated in that Sascha
Germer had never been an O.T.O.
member, according to her own
Journal. She attempted to probate
Karl's Will for O.T.O. in favor of
Metzger. That much was known by
O.T.O. members in California, but
the probate was abruptly abandoned
and not resumed until after
Sascha's death in the mid 70s.
The portion of Karl Germer's Last
Will and Testament relating to
O.T.O. was finally probated in
favor of the O.T.O. Association
under Grady McMurtry (Hymenaeus
Alpha) on 7/27/76 e.v.
This letter from Gerald York to
M. Motta, 2/19/75 e.v. gives a
typical view of the confusion of
the times:
| . . . I believe, but have no
concrete evidence that Paragranus
(Metzger) was chartered X° by
Karl. But he makes no claim to
the copyright in A.C.'s works,
which would accrue to him if he
were the only surviving national
head (i.e. a fully chartered X°).
. . . |
That's where the matter rested
until May of 1984 e.v. when Tom W.
of Berkeley came forward with two
boxes of papers. These had
apparently been reserved by the
Coroner following the inquest of Sascha Germer, and not handed over
with the rest of the O.T.O.
materials. The original
manuscript of Liber AL vel Legis
was returned to O.T.O. along with
these papers! That crowded out
other thoughts for quite some
time, but one special two-page
document in the boxes eventually
came to light:
| Mr. Gard Chisholm
Lawer
16 Court Street
Jackson, Calif., U.S.A.
| 1 Berlin 12
Giesebrechtstr. t.
Sept. 25, 1963 |
| Re: Estate of Karl Germer,
deceased
Dear Mr. Chisholm,
I received your letter of
September 20, 1963, enclosing a
copy of the Petition for Probate
of Will in the above matter which
Mrs. Germer intends to sign and
file. You are asking for my
criticism of the petition. here
it is:
For the following reasons, I
must object to the statement in
the petition: "The will was
executed in all particulars..."
1) as you know, the Will states
(regarding the property of the
Order Ordo Templi Orientis) "that
this is passed to the Heads of the
Order" and that "Frederic
Mellinger act as co-executioner
{sic, the will states "executor"}
of this part of the Will".
2) Mrs.Germer decided - without
asking for my opinion in this
important matter pertaining to
"this part of the Will", nor
contacting me at all - to accept
Herr Metzger's strange "Manifesto"
(printed this spring) as gospel
truth and to recognise him as
"Grand Master X° of the Order and
Sovereign Grand Master
General"(sic!). Neither Mrs.
Germer, nor Herr Metzger (who for
the last six years had regularly
treated me with mailing me his
pamphlets, which shows that he
well knew my address) notified me before March 28th 1963 of Karl
Germer's death (on October 25th,
1963) {sic, should be 1962}, nor
his sham "election" on Jan 6th
1963. My questions regarding
Metzger's authority to assume the
above titles and his right to call
a "convocation of Prince
Patriarchs" to the village of
Stein, Switzerland, for his
"election" were never answered by
either Mrs.Germer nor Metzger.
Nor could I obtain an explanation
about negotiations carried on
between the two during the five
months before they contacted me.
They have thereby decidedly
violated (and not "executed" as
the Petition states) the Will of
the deceased.
Karl Germer had never in his
life met at all Herr Metzger. On
June 25, 1951, he wrote me about
M. having contacted him by letter,
asked me "to advise that group",
and left it entirely to my
judgment to give Metzger some
instruction possibly leading "that
young man" to some advancement in
the Order.
Herr Metzger revealed to my
mind - unintentionally, of course
- wherefrom he derived the courage
to claim the high office in the
Order by a childish "coup d'etat";
namely, by printing on the front
page of his sham "Manifesto" the
following motto's:
"To be or not to be, that is
the question."
and "Hier stehe ich, ich kann
nicht anders," that brave word of
Martin Luther. - Thereby he
pointed unwittingly to the only
authority he has to show for his
dictatorial aspirations: his
inflated Ego. But Mrs. Germer was
duly impressed, and slyly nodded
her assent, ignoring the "holy"
(as she stated) but apparently
uncomfortable Will of her late
husband re my role as co-
executioner.{sic}
Yours very truly
{signed}
(Dr. Frederic
Mellinger)
cc: Mr. Elwood Rickless
Attorney at law,
8, Avenue Bertie Albrecht
Paris -8E, France
Registered |
That certainly addresses the
question on Metzger's claims to
being in O.T.O. under Germer and
Crowley. It does not entirely
answer the question of who Metzger
really was. Was he like some
modern pretenders now in France,
Italy and other places who
fantasize and attempt to "re-
create" O.T.O., based on reading
books, summoning spirits or
drugging themselves out of mind?
Was he something more?
Obfuscations regarding Metzger's
actual connections may never be
removed; his possible relation to
the Reuss O.T.O. is through
Pincus, and most unclear. Metzger
was unsuccessful in his litigation
to establish his claim in
Switzerland, unlike the successful
1985 e.v. litigation by O.T.O. in
the USA.
Even though Metzger has gone on
to his Greater Feast, his group
survives. Perhaps one day the
lesser mysteries will be brought
to light; but Mellinger's letter
leaves no doubt that Metzger
failed to advance in membership in
O.T.O. under Germer and did not
become Germer's successor and
O.H.O. of the Order. - Ed.
Previous Primary Sources Next Primary Sources
From the Outbasket
The following response has been
edited for publication from recent
correspondence with Grand Lodge.
JK of CA asked about the chapter
on Bloody Sacrifice in Crowley's
Magick in Theory and Practice
Magick in Theory and Practice, the
chapter on "...Bloody Sacrifice
and Matters Cognate". Actual
physical sacrifice is usually
pointless, but true sacrifice is
in dedication (sacrifice=to make
sacred) of one's own self and
abilities to a higher end.
Crowley intimates as much in a
footnote in that chapter. On
another point, however, it is not necessary to divert energy in
order to avoid waste. That might
seem so superficially and in the
short run. When you are doing
your will, that is living the way
you are naturally constituted to
live, you have more energy. What
may be more common here is pulling
out of a trap. If you are making
a pointless or unproductive effort
for too long a time, it may be
necessary to withdraw from that
effort and let the mind and body
strike a better balance. I am
minded of childhood resistance to
doing arithmetic - some things
just would not be solved no matter
how hard I tried. The problem
wasn't native lack of wit or
anything of that sort; rather it
was a defeatist mental state that
kept carping about the math
problem being so hard that I
couldn't make any head way. After
a break, the problem would be
quickly solved almost
effortlessly.
-- TSG (Bill Heidrick)
Previous Outbasket Next Outbasket
Last Month's
Mystery Illustration
Our January Mystery
Illustration is an old
engraving in The Comprehensive History of England... by Charles
MacFarlane and Thomas
Thomson, Blackie & Son,
London, 1867 e.v., Vol.
III, p. 439, "Doorway of
Medmenham Abbey. - From
Book of the Thames". The
inscription over the doorway is
"FAY CE QUE VOVDRAS" or "Do what
thou wilt", a quotation from
Francois Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel. The place is the
entrance of the Hell Fire Club in
Bucks, England. The Hell Fire
Club was revived by Sir Francis
Dashwood, Chancellor of the
Exchequer, later Baron le
Despencer, Lord-Lieutenant of
Buckinghamshire and by Lord
Sandwich, Secretary of State
during the Grenville Ministry in
the 1760s e.v, from the defunct
club of the same name presided over by the Duke of Wharton in the
1720s. The club had faded out
forty years earlier, after Wharton
had induced Stanhope to die of a
fit of apoplexy during a debate in
the House of Lords over the "South
Sea Bubble" issue of that time.
John Wilkes, writer and editor of
the notorious North Briton and
Benjamin Franklin, Postmaster
General to and Ambassador Pleni-
potentiary from the American
Colonies, were both members. The
members dressed as monks, took
communion to a pagan divinity and
held orgies.
Hell Fire Chapter of O.T.O. was
an Oasis of the Order in the early
1980s in New York State.
Rabelais was the curate of
Meudon in France (1494?-1553); and
his satire of monastic conditions,
Gargantua and Pantagruel, had this
to say about the motto:
"In all their rule and strictest
tie of their order, there was but
this one clause to be observed:
DO WHAT THOU WILT
"Because men that are free,
well-born, well-bred, and
conversant in honest companies,
have naturally an instinct and
spur that prompteth them unto
virtuous actions, and withdraws
them from vice, which is called
honour. ..."
--- from Chapter LVII, "How the
Thelemites Were Governed, and of
Their Manner of Living."
Both Rabelais' book and the old
Hell Fire Club are considered pre-cursors to Thelema as we now
possess it in the Aeon of Horus,
not full exemplars. Moral: Check
out history, it's not always what
you think!
Mystery Illustration
Clues:
1. The place is in France.
2. This was how it looked in 1812,
but the room dates from at least
the 1400s.
3. If Crowley had let the ladies
in, the person born here would
probably be in the Collects.
Previous Mystery Illustration Answer and Next Mystery Illustration
FROM THE HISTORY HEAP
Back by popular demand!
FEBRUARY
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law -- Liber AL vel Legis I:40
| February 1, 1920 | Jane Cheron, one of Aleister Crowley's mistresses, allowed her home to be used for one of the 'Paris Workings' in which Crowley & Walter Duranty performed an act of buggery to the God Mercury. On this date she gave Aleister Crowley a beautiful embroidered silk of The Stele of Ankh-f-n-Khonsu which she had recently finished.
|
| February 1, 1945 | Aleister Crowley moves into Netherwood.
|
| February 1, 1967 | Anton LaVey, the Black Pope, held the infamous satanic wedding of John Raymond and Judith Case
which turned into a media sensation. The photographer assigned by the San Francisco Chronicle to cover the story was Joe Rosenthal, who also took the immortal shot of the soldiers raising the American flag on Iwo Jima during World War II.
|
| February 10, 1840 | The mythical founder of the Golden Dawn, Fraulein Sprengel takes the Oath of 5°=6 assuming the motto of 'Sapiens Dominabitur Astris' on this date.
|
| February 11, 1891 | The woman born on this date, Sascha Germer. was responsible for strewing Aleister Crowley's ashes into the mud at the base of a tree in Hampton, New Jersey.
|
| February 11, 1906 | Aleister Crowley assumes the Oath of Adeptus Minor in the A A,
5°=6 taking the motto 'Christeos Luciftias'.
|
| February 13, 1935 | Karl Germer was arrested on the grounds of 'having continued communication with Aleister Crowley' and thus committed to the Nazi Concentration Camp called Esterwegen.
|
| February 16, 1923 | Raoul Loveday, Frater AUD aka Adonis dies at the Abbey of Cefalu, something to do with drinking cat's blood some say, others claim it was the 'water'. Three days earlier Crowley recorded in his Magical Record that he felt a current of magical force, 'heavy black and silent' threatening the Abbey.
|
| February 21, 1902 | Theodore Reuss is authorized to begin the Swedenborg Lodge of the Holy Grail No.15 in Berlin.
|
| February 21, 1943 | The first issue of The Oriflamme rolls off the press by the OTO in California.
|
| February 23, 1680 | La Voisin the 'Satanic High Priestess' is burned to the stake after confessing that she obtained over 2500 children during her life to be used as human sacrifices to 'satan'.
|
| February 24, 1902 | On this date Wynn Westcott authorizes Theodore Reuss to form a High Council in Germania of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, with Reuss as the Magus and Leopold Engel as Magus Delegatus Primus although it never took root, and by July of 1907 it folded.
|
| February 27, 1861 | Rudolf Steiner was born on this date in Kralijevec, Hungary.
|
| February 28, 1946 | On this date a great goddess appeared to Jack Parsons claiming, "yea, it is I Babalon, and this is my book ..." of which she began dictating. Thus came forth The Book of Babalon.
|
| February 29, 1880 | Aleister Crowley's sister, Grace Mary Elizabeth Crowley died on this date leaving young Alex an only child. |
Love is the law, love under will. -- Liber AL vel Legis I:57
A.O.583 VIII°
Previous History Heap Next History Heap
Events Calendar for February 1993 e.v.
| 2/4/93 | | Thelemite Du Jour 7:30 PM | | Thelema Ldg. |
| 2/7/93 | (See text) Crowleanity, LOP &c. | Thelema Ldg. |
| 2/8/93 | Thelema Lodge meeting 8 PM | Thelema Ldg. |
| 2/13/93 | Initiations, Call to attend
(VIth & PI (KEW on a date near by) | Thelema Ldg. |
| 2/14/93 | Gnostic Mass 4:18 PM | Thelema Ldg. |
| 2/18/93 | Liber XV Workshop 7 PM | Thelema Ldg. |
| 2/20/93 | Jerry's Logorrhea 7:30 PM
(Call to attend) | Thelema Ldg. |
| 2/21/93 | Gnostic Mass 4:18 PM | Thelema Ldg. |
| 2/24/93 | IInd Deg. Ritual Workshop 7:30 PM
(members only, IInd and up) | Thelema Ldg. |
| 2/27/93 | Initiations, Call to attend
(IInd Degree) | Thelema Ldg. |
| 2/28/93 | Crowleyanity 3:33 PM | Thelema Ldg. |
The viewpoints and opinions expressed herein are the responsibility of the
contributing authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of OTO or its
officers.
Thelema Lodge
Ordo Templi Orientis
P.O. Box 2303
Berkeley, CA 94702 USA
Phone: (510) 652-3171 (for events info and contact to Lodge)
Production and Circulation:
OTO-TLC
P.O.Box 430
Fairfax, CA 94978 USA
Internet: heidrick@well.com (Submissions and circulation only)
with a duplicity of
pronunciation, aspirated {with a
strong outward breath} and
unaspirated {without a strong
outward breath. These two modes
of pronunciation are represented
by the presence or absence of a
dot in some forms of written and
printed Hebrew, the dot or point
being called Dagash and placed in
the center of the letter} serve as
a model of softness and hardness,
strength and weakness {At the time
of the writing of the Sepher
Yetzirah these seven letters were
pronounced each in two ways: with
outrush of air or with inward
sound. They are models for
opposite qualities and for the
seven planets with their benign
and malignant effects. Modern
scholars differ as to which of the
Hebrew letters originally had this
double quality of pronunciation,
Mordell holds that a form of
Hebrew much older than the writing
of the Yetzirah had a different
usage of this double
pronunciation. He has accordingly
attempted to reconstruct a "more
ancient" version of the Yetzirah
{See Bibliography}. Modern Hebrew
dialects retain a few of these
double pronunciations and add new
ones.}