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- From: ashton@netcom.com (ashton)
- Subject: Re: Berkeley OTO and Wicca
- Message-ID: <1993Jan24.122303.20331@netcom.com>
- Sender: ashton@netcom.com (ashton)
- Reply-To: ashton@netcom.com
- Organization: Abbey of Thelema, Babalon by the Bay, OZ
- References: <ll95miINNdmk@news.bbn.com> <H2yeXB1w165w@brewich.hou.tx.us><C115FJ.CC1@techbook.com> <1jegl5INNra7@cat.cis.Brown.EDU> <73820@cup.portal.com>
- Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 12:23:03 GMT
- Approved: As Thou Wilt
- Lines: 53
-
- Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
-
- Thyagi@cup.portal.com (Thyagi Morgoth NagaSiva) writes:
-
- >Robert Mathiesen writes:
-
- >One of the loose ends in my research so far pertains to a school of witch-
- >craft operating in Berkeley, CA, around the year 1960. Reading Parsons,
- >and knowing that there has long been an OTO lodge in Berkeley, leads me to
- >ask -- Was this school of witchcraft perhaps run by the OTO lodge, or by
- >some of its members, or former members? Are there any old-timers on the
- >net who would know, or anyone who would be able to put me in touch with
- >someone who would know. Many thanks for any help you are able to give.
-
- >Response:
-
- >I am certainly not an 'old-timer' (having been born in '61), yet I have
- >been studying old extant texts of OTO (Thelema Lodge) Newsletter
- >and have met many of the people who were around lodge within the last
- >10 years, some of them 'old-timers' to be sure.
-
- Whelp, since I live here in Berzerkely under Thelema Lodge I asked some
- 'old timers' (and did they take offence!). So - without naming names
- (and you know who you are) there was nothing going on until 1967-68 ev.
- Sure, Hippies, Wackos, Leary, and Wilson - but no focused group ritual
- work (and I'd rather hear differently). One person said - you can read
- about it all in _Drawing Down the Moon_ (really!). They knew of nothing
- in the area, started their own from books, and no one came out of the
- woodwork to play. So - NROOGD is about the same time as the other
- Wiccan groups.
- As to the OTO, Most of the the 'old timers' (LOP Slop) came in around 1977
- ev. Sure Grady and ? were living in the hills here (Dublin ?), but the
- current crop (gee, is that like a me-on?) didn't take initiation until
- then. (And grow into the wonderful political organization that we so
- enjoy today :-> ).
-
- >Much cross-over TODAY exists among long-time members in the
- >Berkeley area (e.g. Ebony's class on Witchcraft at 'Ancient Ways').
-
- Humm, Not so sure about Witchcraft. He teaches cycles of Ceremonial
- Magick and Egyptian Magick on Tue nights at Ancient Ways on Telegraph.
- (He says he'll be teaching there on Tue untill the subject dies.)
- The Egyptian classes are recommended, even if just for his divergences
- (and aftermass), as are the very entertaining tours of the Rosicrucian
- museum.
-
- A really nice piece of work on the origins of Witchcraft is
- _Crafting the Art of Magic: A History of Modern Witchcraft 1939-1964_
- Aidan Kelly, Llewellyn, 1991.
-
- Love is the law, love under will.
-
- AShTON
-