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OTO Oaths

To: alt.magick,alt.magick.tyagi,alt.thelema,talk.religion.misc
From: 333 
Subject: Re: OTO Oaths
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 09:09:25 GMT

50021220 VII happy solstice!

unsure of this one:
>>> Does one have to take an Oath to join the OTO

not officially. you can be an Associate Member for a small
fee and some kind of address. send email to BHeidrick, who
occasionally posts here.

>>> and if so how is it worded?

there are supposed to be oaths for all the initiation
rituals. try Francis King's Secret Rites of the OTO or
Naylor's book (both probably OP and going for pretty
pennies these days) if you want some examples. or turn
to former members (there are more and more every day),
who may decide it is important to them to get the word
out. the oaths are crucial barometers of any order, as
they indicate the liberative or constrained character
of the predominant membership. the range of potential
interpretation and how much it may bind up your will
in pursuit of activities controlled by and regulated
by the OTO says something about its Thelemic quality
or lack thereof. see also "Duty", which the order-
mongers will immediately begin pointing you toward.

if you're not getting something, don't give up your power.
know what you're getting into. demand full information or
withold your allegiance.

>*Huh?

Joseph quotes Crowley:
># 	It is only when the Postulant has taken irrevocable 
>#	Oaths and been received formally, that he discover 
>#	what Fraternity he has joined.  If he have taken 
>#	false symbols for [true], and finds himself magically 
>#	pledged to a gang of rascals, so much the worse for him!"
>#
># 	Liber ABA chapter XII page 209, footnote.

many break with what they perceive to be rascals after learning
of their character and rationalizing their disloyalty as some
kind of justification for betraying their own word. I don't
recommend this. instead, find out whatever you need before you
join any organization. ask lots of questions, find out who is
likely to provide the best answers, who enforces whatever is 
outlined, and how. as LaVey advises, ask "Who gains?" and
follow the lines of power.

"Ka" :
>*So what does that mean?

it means that the OTO may be a gang of rascals. association
with popular (or notorious) writers won't redeem them. how
to discern this and what you will wish to do about it is
totally up to you.

>The only Oath i found online is supposedly for a III of OTO.

in OTO that's the 4th degree (the first being Minerval, the
second being First Degree, third Second, fourth Third, and
beyond it gets more complicated).

> Is this anywhere near correct or complete? What is the 
> Oath for Minerva ?

that's MinervaL, and you can look it up on some pirate web
site if they have eluded the long arm of the (c)OTO. :>
will it be accurate? the best way to find out if you really
want to know is to cultivate friends in high places within
the OTO who can't keep their disciplines but were provided
with their station on account of personal backscratching.
many of these have rolled over out of membership with the
change to the Beta Regime. note the international focus now.
keep in mind that those who are willing to betray their
oaths may be unreliable sources of information. corroborate
what you learn with other who try to ferrett this info out
into the open, like Brother Peter Koenig of the anti-McOTO
Squad (extensive website! watch the translations!).

>>   (8th degree 3rd order S * S * )
>
> *Huh?

could be 'Silver Star', in which case don't bother paying
it much attention (since it is a secret and invisible order
which doesn't admit of these orderly schemes -- it just
pretends to so as to quell the whining of mages).

333

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