by IAO131
Recent debates about racism and sexual harassment have sparked a lot of conflict in the OTO and in occult circles in general. One trend that has been emerging lately is a far-right element in society in general, and occult circles in the microcosm, of more vocally defending neo-Nazis (as at Charlottesville), more vocally denigrating and dehumanizing immigrants and LBGTQ individuals (including members of their own communities), and generally being more willing to be public with attacks against those who dare question them.
Inevitably, the far-right emphasizes “free speech” for spreading their hateful ideologies while simultaneously decrying any kind of criticism as “censorship,” as if the criticism does not have the same benefit of free speech. Of course, they are free to defend neo-Nazis rallying who cry “Jews will not replace us” but we are not allowed to point out how they are engaging in apologetics for Nazism.
The intolerant always prey on the liberties afforded by an open society, such as free speech, while not actually believing in the fundamental tenets they disingenuously use to promote their arguments. Their equation of criticism with censorship is one obvious sign of this disingenuous approach.
It should be remarked that Aleister Crowley himself essentially wrote about this same paradox several decades before Popper. He wrote:
“Every Star has its own Nature, which is ‘Right’ for it. We are not to be missionaries, with ideal standards of dress and morals, and such hard-ideas. We are to do what we will, and leave others to do what they will. We are infinitely tolerant, save of intolerance…”
“Intolerance is evidence of impotence.”
Crowley seemed to realize that, in general, we are to mind our own business and leave others to mind theirs. However, there are certain intolerant groups and elements of society that actively seek to oppress others. This is notably shown in OTO’s own program synopsis as being in “opposition to tyranny, superstition, and oppression.” One cannot simply promote one’s own freedom without regard to the external world, one must also seek to destroy those barriers to freedom in groups, ideologies, and individuals that promote tyranny, superstition, and oppression.
In the end, the OTO has to decide what it stands for: Does it stand for absolute free speech and tolerance of even the most extreme ideologies? Does it take the radical stance that “Do what thou wilt” means literally any ideology is acceptable? Or does it remain in line with its Prophet who held the policy of “infinite tolerance, save of intolerance”? The truth is that OTO has already taken a stand against the former and for the latter; in other words, they have explicitly stated they are against extreme, intolerant ideologies such as hate groups:
In August 2017 after the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville (and subsequent defense thereof by some prominent members on the fringe-right), OTO USGL issued a statement from the Supreme Grand Council which includes a specific condemnation of ideologies of racial superiority. They wrote in their statement:
“Therefore, the U.S. Grand Lodge of Ordo Templi Orientis hereby formally and unequivocally rejects all such ideas. O.T.O. draws strength from diversity; we welcome the participation and friendship of Thelemites of all sexes, genders, “races,” and ethnic groups, and from all cultures; and we are committed to opposing their unfair treatment, within and without the Order. We further remain committed to opposing ideas and doctrines–whether religious, political, philosophical, or pseudo-scientific–that tend toward the enslavement of the human spirit, which indwells “every man, every woman, and every intermediately-sexed individual.”
In January 2018, United States Grand Lodge OTO formally amended their vision and values statements. In particular their updated values statement reads:
We believe that a membership free from unfair discrimination is essential to accomplishing our Mission, and reject doctrines that promote bigotry, prejudice, and intolerance.
These beliefs are drawn and deduced from the deepest teachings and lessons of the Order, as issued by the Supreme Grand Council: We can infer clearly that any ideology that promotes bigotry, prejudice, and intolerance is antithetical to the mission of OTO. We may now turn to Trump and his supporters:
Trump is unambiguously a racist. At this point, everyone either already knows this or stubbornly refuses to admit it. Trump has very publicly engaged in racist rhetoric as well as enacted racist policies. There are innumerable examples, including that Trump was the primary promoter of the racist “birther” theory about Obama, he announced his presidential campaign by calling Mexicans murderers and rapists, said a Mexican judge cannot judge him because of his race, his and his fellow Republicans’ constant courting of white nationalists, and built his campaign on fear-mongering about Muslims while promising an illegal “Muslim ban” among many other examples of him generally normalizing racism. Anti-semitic attacks are at their highest levels in two decades; anti-Muslim groups have tripled since Trump launched his campaign and there have been more racist attacks against Muslims than after 9/11; he has systematically discriminated against LGBTQ individuals while in office. In fact it has gotten to the point that they are literally separating children from their parents for a misdemeanor and throwing the children in literal cages. I think it is not a stretch to call these actions tyranny and oppression.
Now I already hear the retort: “not every Trump supporter necessarily agrees with his overt racism and general bigotry!” and I wholeheartedly express my support for your right to freely express your views; you have the right to free expression. However, I do not believe it matters why you rationalize your support for Trump. It does not matter how many “conservative” beliefs you hold if you support Trump. Regardless of why you support Trump, you are supporting someone who has been explicitly anti-POC, anti-LGBTQ, anti-immigrant, and has very clearly stoked the flames of hatred against many types of diverse individuals. In other words: People who support Trump de facto support the tyranny and oppression of racist, enacts racist policies, anti-LGBTQ policies, anti-immigrant policies, and support white nationalists. At the very least, they look the other way and do nothing while these things happen. At the worst, they actively encourage these policies and behaviors. This is not some ideology one picks or chooses that has no consequences such as whether one prefers Coke or Pepsi, or boxers or briefs, which people can and should choose as they Will. This is about an ideology fundamentally based around intolerance: bigotry, hatred, and oppression of others — and therefore represents a threat to any society or organization based in tolerance.
I would argue that Trump supporters then need to make a hard choice. They need to decide between their allegiance to Trump and their allegiance to OTO. If you are in USGL OTO, I do not believe you can simultaneously support Trump and his bigoted rhetoric & policies while also supporting the USGL policies of “reject[ing] doctrines that promote bigotry, prejudice, and intolerance”. I do not believe you can support Trump and his constant attacks on diverse groups of people while also holding that “O.T.O. draws strength from diversity”.
In fact, I suspect that many of these Trump supporters do not believe in the OTO USGL vision and values statements mentioned above, silently loathe these ideas (or sometimes not-so-silently on social media), and likely hope to one day get rid of them. Either that or they live in constant cognitive dissonance that must be difficult to bear. In the mean time, I recommend those who see OTO members supporting Trump’s bigotry online to push back against them and make them pay a social price for their hatred (it works!): to call out their bigotry, remind them that their words are directly antithetical to the values of OTO and the spirit of Thelema, and that their intolerance will not be tolerated.
Addendum: It should be noted that while US Grand Lodge is virtually always at the forefront of OTO and constitutes approximately half of all international OTO members, USGL is the only Grand Lodge to issue such statements from the Supreme Grand Council or issued any alteration to their vision/values statements. No other Grand Lodge nor International Head Quarters has issued any similar pronouncements. Hopefully they will follow suit in letter if not in spirit in the fight against superstition, tyranny, and oppression. The threat of far-right ideologies of bigoted intolerance and hyper-nationalism is not unique to the United States, as seen recently in Brexit and the rise of far-right parties in Poland, Germany, and elsewhere in Europe recently.
Enjoying the articles? Support the Thelemic Union and help us keep our site running, ad-free, and hacker-free by pledging $1+ on Patreon:
Thelemic Union is open to all articles that are relevant to Thelema in some way. Send your submissions to thelemic[dot]union[at]gmail[dot]com
If I may, I’d like to recommend a thought exercise: write down (copy) the first ten amendments of the U.S. Constitution in a column. In a second column write down (copy) the 10 pillars of communism. Compare the two then read Liber Oz.
Also remind yourself that Nazism (fascism) and Communism are one in the same. The former was applied within a nationalistic framework while the latter was international or meta-national but both are and always have been wholly and unequivocally LEFTIST…not unlike the bulk of those who publicly denounce President Trump at every turn.
Thank you!
I commend your well-written satire, which this comment surely must be.
Stupid bigot.
Umbra, you might want to educate yourself: http://www.cracked.com/article_25848_5-myths-about-nazis-people-still-believe-today.html
We that can see know not to believe to mainstream thought, don’t we? Absolute conquest will lead to a reversal especially after the great crossing. At the equinox of the Gods Ra-Hoor-Khuit is seated at his throne in the east. This is the Aeon of Horus, so get a new plan. The sheep have grown teeth. You understand what I mean, that is for you. The secret chiefs and the guardians of the gates have their own plan, those that have not overcome polarity will be consumed by the desire to control others.
Umbra, that old chestnut about the Nazis being leftist? I’ve formally studied the Third Reich in depth, and while there is some truth to the notion that the NDSAP had memebers who were seeking some socialist ends, they were largely marginalized once Hitler took control of the party. Later, the remainders of those elements were eliminated along with the rest of Hitler’s internal enemies during the Night of the Long Knives in 1934.
Naziism as we have come to know it is an anti-communist, authoritarian, system with a corporatist economic system, which esstenially means that private companies were owned by high-ranking party members. To say anything otherwise is to misunderstand at best and to he willfully ignorant at the worst.
Nazism was a tool to remove gold from Europe and USA, hiding it in Switzerland and Argentina, while colonizing and despoiling Antarctica. This is a play against the old kings. Most of the gold was borrowed from China and the Phillipines.
Communism & Nazism are not remotely the same. Your exercise is rubbish.
These schools of thought were tools to accomplish certain goals and manipulate masses. They are both quite disposable as the Magus needs no permanent form. We learn from the abyss that all is formed from nothingness so we become as water taking on the shapes of those very vessels we fill.
Thank you IAO131. Here in Germany/Austria we had the SGC’s Statement translated and publicly presented in order to clarify any public misconception. I believe that Liber OZ provides a handy reference for Thelema’s view of the rights of the individual. How best to secure those rights is indeed a political question. What sort of government would most protect and secure those rights enumerated in Liber OZ? A false framing which claims that there is only a choice between a dictatorship of the right or a dictatorship of the left betrays a tragic lack of imagination and/or education.
Regarding the right’s sudden concern for Free Speech; as Frater Sabazius in his “Observations on Liber OZ” accurately notes, “his right to ‘speak what he will’ does not shelter him from criticism, ridicule, lawsuit, or the loss of friendship”.
https://hermetic.com/sabazius/ozgloss
You are not a Thelemite as this is your Liberal political tyranny imposing itself over the Will oh others.
Your demands are a cancer and a violation of the Will of others. Next Time leave your adopted psychosis with the last ANTIFA rally you attended.
u mad
Did you know that Liber OZ was written explicitly & specifically against the Nazis? THEY are the ones we have a “right to kill”.
.
Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity. Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes.
No one is asking OTO to do anything.
This exposition of IRS code may be more appropriately directed at religious institutions of the Christian lineage
IAO131,
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Would you mind if I translated your text into portuguese? Could you host it? Here in Brazil we live a similar problem, we’ll have presidential elections on october and second on the polls is a military biggot similar to trump.
Love is the law, love under will
This article is completely inappropriate and a sign of the disequilibrium of the Caliphate. Take a page from the book of a truly adult and fraternal organization, i.e., the Masons, and eschew these divisive political essays.
Check the byline? The Caliphate didn’t write this. I did.
If the OTO wants to campaign against Donald Trump, a sitting US President, then perhaps it’s time the Internal Revenue Service reconsiders it’s tax exempt status.
I wish people would learn to read.
Unless I am wrong, aren’t you a leader in the OTO? Aren’t you in fact using your position of leadership in the OTO as a bully pulpit?
I don’t hold any positions of authority on the local or USGL level, no. I am just really loud.
Sigh. will I get to the end of this thread ?
Hahahahahahahahahahaha!
another functionally retarded “liberal” ranting about imaginary nazis while ignoring the muslim and communist elephants in the room. huh.
Where are the muslim and communists elephants, again?
The nazis at Charlottesville and in the EU are NOT imaginary.
The differentiation and judgment on display is precisely what the Lankavatara Sutra (and every buddha including Jesus) say are what keep beings in ignorance. How can you expect to attain enlightenment if you believe in the illusion of self and other, of good and evil, right and wrong? If you don’t love your greatest adversary as much as you love your only child? The Tao is perfect, and to attain it, you have to “Be perfect like your father in heaven is perfect.” inscribedonthebelievingmind.wordpress.com
Thank you for writing this. I am now more than happy to give my dollars to Trumps re-election campaign rather than my local Lodge. 93!
93 – I may not support Trump due to his racism ( which was practiced by him even before he was the POTUS) and the fact that he does not support the future health of our planet and people in it ( Anti environmental) – I do not think that the O.T.O. should in any way declare support or non-support of any political figure. We may all be Sisters and Brothers but we are are also separate with our own ways of perceiving what is true,and are always growing, changing evolving etc. so the statement ” in the end, the OTO has to decide what it stands for” doesn’t make sense to me as we all have our own reality tunnel ( our true political stance ) being ‘ Liber OZ ” JS 93 93/93
93 For those well versed in our Hermetic language that with the given evidence including direct quotes by Donald Trump, that he is in fact , a ” Black Brother” and I seriously doubt there will be any changes to the contrary, I dont see how anyone could argue otherwise unless …..you know ..so 93 93/93
To think of humanities political spectrum in the graph of a line running from left to right is incorrect. Think instead of a circle where at the top the ultra left (radical socialism) and the ultra right (fascism) meet full circle. The ideas of both these extremes there then begin to mesh. Hence my ultra left self and our ultra right brother James can agree we both love our guns. He may want to privatize our federal government, whilst I would nationalize all the energy corporations, if not all corporations and the complete healthcare system of our country. We in tolerance respect each other and our differing ideologies. We may have a little fun in trying to get our ideas across to each other, but it is in the spirit of good fun. I would hope for the OTO to be secular and have the GBC for the religious lot of us but we seem to be moving in a different direction. Thelema Will embrace the non dual and transcend the polarising effects of the politricksters shit stink system. That is the war we will all fight together as brothers fight ye!
93- I love the OTO, but taking anti-racist stance is a bit late. Aleister Crowley used racist language with men he admired. OTO only recently changed their stance on race. As for locking children in cages, I guess that would be a good manipulation for the uninitiated, but for those of us who are in the know, of lineage and well connected in this world we know the truth is quite the opposite. His language is crude, and he is attacking some friends of the order, but he has had friends of all countries and races that he has shown kindness to. He has said appalling things. About hispanics, and he offended blacks with Central Park 5 comments. There is a secret war and I am of the middle pillar. I do not judge those that are beyond the rainbow. I could always see because I can read the language and all is in plain sight. How is thelema on the left when There is a red king: male energy, being inorganic, must be generated through adoration of the obelisk, which is right wing, masculine energy? Left blue is lunar and this is a solar phallic system which would place us in the red. Baphomet has right sun hand rising and left moon hand down, and this is the manner of all Templar systems, pansophistical dualism with masculine energy rising. The Magus sits draped in gold upon the middle pilar. We are the Tau that suspend Apollyon and Artemis at our arms and command the forces of the right and left. The eye of the storm is at rest with fury at all sides. I have traveled since a small child and I have seen the gates. Finis Ab Origine Pendet. I love you moor, so let’s just stay here forever. 93 93/93
Sorry that this article has to be written at all…Geez people get off the astral plane with so many here clinging to poor imaginative tropes and distortions of occult truths and start living life grounded without the need for ( fake occultism)
I like the 4th Political Theory, because it has a metaphysical component.
I would suggest getting a copy of “English Illuminati” By Alistair Lees, as well as any other SRIA materia on the early OTO. It was, from its inception, meant to be a very right wing organization. Rhuess did not fight with Crowley, on this topic, he simply created other organizations with new names. All dedicated to the same purpose as the OTO. which is to preserve the essence of the Yoni Tantra in the west.
The OTO is not well organized, there are several splinter groups. Liber 17 IAO is jealously guarded by one, an A.’.A.’. offshoot, based out of Arkansas, and doesn’t even advertize any relations with Aleister Crowley or magick for that matter. Ultimately, any organization which becomes political is doomed to fail. Few lodges can effectively even work the methods any longer, as Crowley did not list the various tantras that he sourced to even create his material, which Germer donated (along with liber 17) to his friend which had no interest, so created the offshoot named above.
Crowley borrowed from chan buddhism and the golden bough to create the basis for the magus degree, “kill a buddha to overcome the shadow self, and take his place as the great deceiver,” etc. When Samael Aun Weor resigned as a master of the temple, to teach the public, his methods (abramelin, or sexual stimulation without orgasm) were already out in the open in Mao Zedong’s journals, which detail his harem of women and his “growing yang” through months of activity without climaxing. Zedong used taoist alchemy and tiandihui practices which are in practice perfectly idential with the tibetian tantras and OTO methods. I wish he was better read in the west. He not only knew and succeeded with the techniques, he wrote that he was doing the world a great service by sending millions of materialists to death. You can read some of his work in English, in the book “shadow of the dalai lama.” Zedong wrote also of the esoteric basis of Marx to operate a “great work of destruction using a book.” Crowley references this also in book 4 liber ABA.
When politics and consideration of the opinions of other people’s politics become a focus, one has lost concentration on the Great Work, and choronzon has already entered into one’s work. Magick which is affected by politics has long ceased its efficacy to do anything but join with the crowd of people screaming that their life sucks due to someone else’s responsibility.
If one cares what other people think or do, they are not happy with their own way of life, and do not accept it unconsciously (because of not doing their true will) so seek acceptance otherwise where they might get it, from others.
S&F
CSW’s well-considered post shifted my opinion somewhat. It also highlights one of the sticking points in modern discourse: Namely, that many of our definitions are not understood as universally as we might hope.
In particular, the term “right-wing” is hopelessly up for grabs—particularly in the U.S., where the conservative party comprises libertarians along with religious fundamentalists and economic neoliberals.
As a rule, those on either side of such debates interpret broad categories in entirely dissimilar ways, express shared values in vastly divergent terms, and are then dismayed that the opposition could display such an apparent lack of common sense. Those who locate themselves toward the right of the political spectrum seem to conceive of the term “right-wing” as meaning something like “laissez-faire” and therein classify less meddlesome forms of government. Those of us on the left consider draconian authoritarianism to be a hallmark of any right-wing politics and therefore fear it.
When I read a statement such as that the early OTO was conceived of as “a very right-wing organization,” it carries an entirely different, and nonsensical, meaning for me than was likely meant by the person who wrote it, and both of these are likely different from what the term meant a century ago. Considering that so many on both the left and right value personal liberties and that readers of this site are likely very protective of our freedom of Will, the only hope we can have of resolving such issues is somehow to find a way once again to speak the same language with reference to the same “factual reality” as it were.
It might also be helpful to recognize that the deep faultlines that now factionalize many subcultures have, in a relatively short time, severely weakened the political clout of those subcultures. A moment’s thought about who might profit from such a state of affairs may be enough to convince us that we’re all being played one against another, and not at all to the benefit of any of us for whom it is necessary to declare sides.