rodneyorpheus: wicca magickal beginnings

Rodney Orpheus (

rodneyorpheus) wrote,
@ 2008-09-02 12:19:00

Current mood:	busy
Entry tags:	magick, oto, religion

wicca magickal beginnings
I've just finished reading Wicca Magickal Beginnings by Sorita d'Este and David Rankine. I've never been involved with the Wicca movement except in a very peripheral fashion so a lot of it was very new to me. It's an excellent book, very well researched, and really gets to grips with what has always been a very controversial subject: the true origins of the modern Witchcraft movement.

Needless to say the authors have to tread a very thin line indeed to avoid throwing out the baby with the bathwater, but they succeed admirably. What really has astonished me though is how much Thelema is in there, and has been from the beginning. Huge chunks of many of the most basic Wiccan rituals are lifted straight from Liber AL, the Gnostic Mass, and The Law of Liberty. Now I'd heard before that there were some parallels, but the sheer amount of OTO stuff in Gardnerian Wicca is phenomenal. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, given the letters that Gardner wrote re OTO round the time of Crowley's death, which show that he was clearly more interested in OTO than was previously thought.

Another interesting point is that the witches' chant of "Eko Eko..." was apparently first published by JFC Fuller in 1921! Not only that, it was published in Form magazine, edited by Austin Osman Spare... Fascinating stuff.

Definitely a book worth getting if you're at all interested in Thelema and Wicca.

(18 comments) - (Post a new comment)

	cygninae 2008-09-02 12:06 pm UTC (link)
	I was aware of large chunks of the Great Rite being very similar if not identical to the Gnostic Mass. So I'll certainly be picking up a copy of this, hopefully in a couple of weeks time, as we should be able to meet up with them then. Was lovely to meet David, and very much looking forward to meeting Sorita too sometime. (Reply to this)

	al_qhadhulu 2008-09-02 12:31 pm UTC (link)
	Did the authors mention Gerald Gardner was a IV* & PI of OTO with certificate signed by Crowley? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	rodneyorpheus 2008-09-02 12:34 pm UTC (link)
	Actually it appears he was a VII* - see the link to my OTO Timeline above. I'm in correspondence with the authors now about some additions to the sections re OTO in the book. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	al_qhadhulu 2008-09-02 01:15 pm UTC (link)
	Hmmm, I need to look at Gardner's Charter to initiation Minervals, again. Does it indicate VII? While I find plausible evidence in Crowley's own diary re: Gardner's IV & PI, where is the plausible evidence to support the assertion of Gardner's VII* or payment of "10/10" whatever that means? (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

rodneyorpheus
2008-09-02 01:34 pm UTC (link)

10/10 is 10 guineas i.e. 10 pounds and 10 shillings. What was the going rate for OTO dues back then? If it was 1 guinea per Degree level, 10 guineas would actually equate to IV* now that I think about it (1+2+3+4).

I'm actually unsure where the original copy of that VII* note comes from, so I could be wrong about it.

Do you have access to a copy of the IV* charter or Crowley diary note about it? I'd appreciate any evidence that would ensure that the timeline is as accurate as possible.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

richard_kaczyn
2008-09-02 02:15 pm UTC (link)

You can see the charter here: http://www.geraldgardner.com/archive/charter/images/full-large.jpg, which clearly refers to Gardner as a Prince of Jerusalem.

Crowley's 1947 diary is very brief: Crowley wasn't making his usual long entries, and I think it shows his declining health. Anyway, this diary only includes four references to Gardner:

On May 1, his initial meeting with Gardner, reads: "Miss Eva Collins Dr. G.B. Gardner, Ph.D. Singapore. Arnold Crowther Prof. G. a Magician to tea. Dr. G. R. Arch." This last entry, "R[oyal] Arch" is likely the entry that

al_qhadhulu is referring to. A week later, on May 7, we have the entry "Wed 7. Dr. Gardner about 12. Tell him phone Wel 6709." (I wonder who that is?) On the 14th, we have "Wed 14. G.B.G." (Gerald Brosseau Gardner, I presume, rather than C.F. Russell's magical group). Finally, on May 27 is the entry "Tues 27. Gardner here." That's it for the diary entries referring to Gardner.

In my papers from the Warburg, I have a note that Gardner wrote to Crowley on June 14, 1947, paying him 10 guineas to affiliate to VII*. I cannot locate my photocopy of this letter to examine, so it's conceivable that Gardner wrote this in error. However, if you look at the O.T.O. initiation fees and dues in Crowley's day, 10 guineas *is* the VII* initiation fee (Minerval through Lodge of Perfection were one guinea; IV was two guineas; CPI and KEW were one guinea each; V* was three guineas; senate was two guineas; VI, GIC and PRS were each five guineas, and VII was 10 guineas).

So it's conceivable that Gardner met Crowley in May, 1947, and either a) took his PI degree (although unlikely that Crowley could have pulled this off at Netherwood), b) had his Royal Arch credentials in Masonry or Comasonry recognized by Crowley (who has been known to do this), or c) arranged for Gardner's P.I. initiation elsewhere (although short of flying to Agape Lodge, I can't imagine where!). Aiwass only knows what they talked about in the three subsequent visits in May. Following this, in June, Gardner paid the fees to advance to VII*. This would make sense given the letters after Crowley's death that suggested Gardner was head of OTO in England: Would they have done that for a P.I., even if he was the highest ranking member? In any event, I'd be happier if I had a copy of the June 14 letter rather than a note that I took down from the original.

Edited at 2008-09-02 02:21 pm UTC

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	rodneyorpheus 2008-09-02 02:24 pm UTC (link)
	I suspect that one of the reasons that everyone assumed Gardner to be running the OTO in England was that regardless of Degree he was the only person with a valid charter to actually perform initiations... I may actually add a note to that effect to the Timeline. (Reply to this) (Parent)

al_qhadhulu
2008-09-02 03:18 pm UTC (link)

richard_kaczyn has already identified, photos of Gardner's charter can be seen here.

If you like, I will email you a scanned image of Crowley's May diary entries (typed by Grant) which are generally accepted to refer to Gerald Gardner's IV* & PI. (same as stated by

richard_kaczyn).

Curious, besides Frieda Harris' single letter to Germer inquiring as to whether Gardner was head of the OTO and Germer's response that Gardner was no such thing, are there other letters suggesting Gardner as OHO?

"Tell him phone Wel 6709" - per WEH, that was Gerald Yorke's phone number.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	rodneyorpheus 2008-09-02 03:23 pm UTC (link)
	Would love that scan, thanks. Nowhere is it suggested that Gardner was OHO - however both Harris and Gardner himself thought that he was in charge of either Europe or the UK. As mentioned above AFAIK he was the only person in the UK who was actually chartered to initiate people into OTO, so that's not an unreasonable assumption. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	al_qhadhulu 2008-09-02 11:36 pm UTC (link)
	Well, the mail subsystem returned the email when I tried to send to rodneyorpheus@livejournal.com. Send me another email addie and I'll try again? felicia@brazenserpent.org (Reply to this) (Parent)

	richard_kaczyn 2008-09-02 03:37 pm UTC (link)
	"Tell him phone Wel 6709" - per WEH, that was Gerald Yorke's phone number. Cool, thanks (to you and WEH)! (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	rodneyorpheus 2008-09-02 03:41 pm UTC (link)
	Which of course begs the question: why would he need to phone Yorke? I assume to get copies of some materials... The OTO initiation rituals? The fact that Gardner was coming round about once a week certainly implies that he and Crowley had a lot to talk about... (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

richard_kaczyn
2008-09-02 04:13 pm UTC (link)

Sending Gardner to Yorke is indeed interesting, especially given that Yorke is the source of the claim that Gardner paid Crowley to write his Book of Shadows (a claim that doesn't stand up to available facts). Germer was in the US at that time, so not available for official copies of relevant papers. Although Yorke had dropped out of AA in the early 1930s, he remained a close supporter and was nevertheless a good source of Crowley's material. Of course, the call may have had nothing to do with OTO/AA...but then why send him to Yorke at all?

Yes, it's too bad that Crowley's diary is so abbreviated. Given the IV/PI reference on May 1 and the VII reference in June 14, it's possible that Crowley had been instructing Gardner in the interim.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

rodneyorpheus
2008-09-02 04:34 pm UTC (link)

I think that it's highly likely that they were hatching some sort of scheme - it may have been the amalgamation of OTO work with other pagan material to form the nucleus of the Witch Cult. That would explain Yorke's belief that Crowley wrote the Book of Shadows. Or it may simply have been Gardner volunteering to run OTO in England for the future.

Either way, I think it clear that *something* was going on, and that Gardner wasn't just popping round for tea and cakes.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

paulrhume
2008-09-03 04:00 pm UTC (link)

There is (I am told) a letter in the Ransome collection - someone typed up a transcript and sent it round in FIDO days - from Gardner to Yorke in Feb of '48. Crowley had died the previous December, while Gardner was in the US and had been very ill himself (I seem to recall he and his wife called on the Germers during this sojourn as well).

As best I recall, Gardner had only just learned of AC's death, and was writing Yorke to request the scripts for the MoE degree, ie. thru IIIo. He was himself under the impression that he was the ranking British initiate of OTO and that it was up to him to keep the Order initiating, but seemed to imply that he and AC had not closed that loop before his travels and Crowley's death.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	rodneyorpheus 2008-09-03 06:18 pm UTC (link)
	That definitely fits with the rest of the jigsaw. Useful info - thanks Bro! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	angel156 2008-09-02 06:08 pm UTC (link)
	Brother, Will you go to my friends and befriend Nataliewitch. She is a sister who is also very interested in this topic and has her own research. Also she is a huge fan ;-) Love Anita (Reply to this) (Thread)

	rodneyorpheus 2008-09-02 07:02 pm UTC (link)
	Done. Do tell her to feel free to contact me at any time. (Reply to this) (Parent)

(18 comments) - (Post a new comment)

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