The OTO Reality Check by Frater Osiris 2002 In the year 2000 I moved down to Portland

The OTO Reality Check

by Michael Osiris Snuffin (2002)

In the year 2000 I moved down to Portland, Oregon to be a part of the growing and thriving Caliphate OTO community in that area. Much to my dismay, I found that some of the members of the most active Lodge in Portland were afflicted with unrealistic ideas and elitist attitudes concerning the Caliphate OTO and their work within its borders. To redeem my fellow Brothers and Sisters in Portland from their own ignorance, and to help others in the OTO who also may be so afflicted, to you I offer the OTO Reality Check.

1. OTO Membership is not elite. If you are 18 and not a criminal, you can join the OTO. There are no special requirements or tests. Candidates must find two sponsors in order to initiate, but because all persons have an “indefeasible right” to initiate up to the Third Degree, getting those signatures is not difficult.

2. The OTO is not a Magical Order. A serious magical order offers magical instruction and requires demonstration of that knowledge before admitting the aspirant to the next degree. Advancement in the OTO (beyond the “free” degrees of the Man of Earth triad) is based on service to the Order, not knowledge. Therefore degrees in the OTO are a measure of time spent in the Order and not a hallmark of any magical attainment or knowledge.
While we’re on the subject, understand that the initiation rituals of the OTO and the Gnostic Mass are like recipes in a cookbook: follow the directions and you will get the desired results. No magical skill or knowledge is required to perform them.

3. The Ninth Degree secret is a carrot on a stick. The Ninth Degree secret, the OTO secret of Sexual Magick, is revealed only to initiates of Seventh Degree or higher. According to the annual demographics published April 2002 in the Thelema Lodge Calendar, less than 3% of total initiates are of Fifth Degree or higher. (That’s only up from 1.5% in 1992.) If you want to know the Ninth Degree secret, you’d be better off searching the internet for the Ninth Degree papers than joining the OTO.
One more thing: the Ninth Degree secret of sex magick may have been a secret 100 years ago, but today it is openly published in many books--if you know where to look.

4. OTO Initiations are not guaranteed. The six initiations of the Man of Earth triad of the OTO work by energizing the chakras of the candidate. The purpose of this energy work is to remove blockages in the chakra system and promote the healthy functioning and flow of energy within the initiate. However, a two-hour ritual is unlikely to magically remove an energy block that’s been around since childhood without some compliance on the part of the initiate. In other words, chakras may be closed just as quickly as they are opened unless the initiate is willing and able to work towards resolving the problem--and that’s not always the case.

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