Getting initiated?
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Ok so I take magick quite seriously I came to it from a perspective of something to do with the psychic energy / astral work that I was learning about. Now it more a major goal in my life along side career and better health. (I should put relationship but I think I've given up on that for a while. Time to enjoy singleness until my career is sorted (just finishing bachelors this year then going to try and get a job as a most-hated-member-of-society).
I've been practicing for a few years and I'm involved in one group in london (which seems to do little more than talk about each others problems). I then got involved in another group in Reading (and slowly dropped out of the group in London (though technically I'm a council member in London)) and this group in Reading yet wasn't very practical. I've worked my magick and got some of them that want to meet up and work on practical stuff to do so. score!
but still the rituals are usually done half drunk and people are there for a laugh, not for some serious ritual work. I'm skeptical, relaxed and I want to have a laugh as much as the next person but I don't think mid-ritual in the centre of the circle is the best place for it. For me that's a time to focus on the ritual work. Otherwise what's the point in crowley writing the first few chapters of Magick?
Is going for initiation in to a group like the HOGD, the AA or the OTO a bad idea for someone like me. Will they be too serious or will they be too relaxed for what I want? Are they practical? Other than initiation and gnostic mass do they do anything 'magickal' together?
I'm based in UK. What is there around London and west of London? If I was to get initiated how would I go about it for the AA or the OTO? (I'm already going to an Anticum for the Golden Dawn)
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Greetings,
Let me begin by saying that HOGD, A.'.A.'., and the OTO are all very different organizations with different objectives. HOGD, in particular, operating from an old aeon perspective. I would not consider them Thelemic. Are you? You mentioned magick, but what does the Book of the Law mean to you? If you truly believe that a new aeon has begun after the channeling of the Book of the Law, then I would see no reason to practice with an old aeon-based order. As for the A.'.A.'. and OTO, the only thing they really have in common is their acceptance of the Book of the Law. The beginning of the A.'.A.'. is strictly concerned with preparing the aspirant to obtain K&C with their HGA. The OTO is concerned more with their sublime secret which is central to all of their work. I would make your decision on which order to pursue based on the order's principles they stand for.
Please also keep in mind that this forum is designed specifically for the Temple of Thelema order. While some of ToT's members are also members of other organizations, you may not be able to obtain answers to some of your case-specific questions. You'll most likely be directed to that specific organizations website for inquiry.
As a way-head from here, I would recommend that you run searches for any subjects you may have questions about. You'll find that many things have been addressed on here previously.
Hope this helps,
-ANEA
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The book of the law to me is strange my feelings are contradictory. It's nonsensical rambling speak volumes. While I hear a passage which does not make sense or uses highly specific terms, my mind is lulled to a state of listening to poetry or listening to a powerful silence within its covers.
It's a work of poetry but it has a formidable power to me.
Ok so I understand that the HOGD is completely different from the other two but what are the other two about. I inquired as to joining the OTO and found out you're going to spend at least £450 to get in to the inner order (payment p.a. and initiation fee) soooo you can uderstand why I wasn't so sure). Spend an extra year studying the final grade and your cost shoot up £100.
And I knew so little about what happened in the OTO that I decided not to continue at that time. Unless I was to find out that I was getting the real deal. In which case £450 is nothing but one month's drinking money (for someone who imbibes the forbidden nectar known as alcohol).
So Communication and Communion (I assume your K/C was something similar) with the holy guardian angel is a major goal in my life. (While my interests in many traditions and involvemnet in many groups has me looking and hundreds of names for it and methods for invoking higherself, augoeides, HGA, body of light, inner buddha nature, shiva - the one that is most suited to me is the bornless ritual by Crowley. My work through the golden dawn is empty by comparison. It lacks that woof of energy which entoning crowley's words (in liber Samekh for any one on the board who doesn't know) provides.
But that's AA what's OTO doing. I already have a few emails between me and the secretary of the OTO which I can refer to but they say very little about stuff.
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quick note; as a member of OTO I think I can help a little.
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The OTO will not teach you to attain knowledge and conversation, it is not a teaching Order as such, more of a social Order, although the initiations themselves are designed to gradually unfold the Law and the basic lessons of life within an individual, either way the Great Work itself is left very much to the individual.
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although on the face of it the fees look costly, you are not going to have to pay them all at once, more likely it will be over a 5 year period at least, as you can take as long as you want between initiations, from that perspective the costs are negligible.
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As I mentioned before, the OTO is not a teaching Order, although it is a great way to meet others who are also doing the great work, and you will likely meet members of other magickal Orders within the OTO, after all, its not what you know, but who you know that often makes the difference.
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If you want spiritual attainment, i.e. you want to work your way up the tree of life as it were, I suggest you contact the Cancellarius of the A.'.A.'.; or the Golden dawn of your not feeling very new Aeon, although being a Thelemite I would tend to recommend one of the two Thelemic orders over the G.'.D.'. but as you Will. Bear in mind that the A.'.A.'. work is almost completely solitary except for occasional contact with your superior, so be prepared to become something of a Hermit.
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You might also try the TOT if you are in the states, I am not a member of that group, but I understand that they have a lot of group work as well as personal spiritual work, so this might be a happy medium between the social shenanigans of the OTO and the solitary work of the A.'.A.'.
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My stuff is mostly solitary at the moment.