OTO 'Black Magic' cult Parsons, Hubbard "Going Clear"
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I haven't seen the documentary yet - but 'Going Clear', which is getting mainstream attention for it's scientology biopic, highlights L Ron Hubbard's past with Jack Parsons and reportedly describes the OTO as a 'black magic' cult.
Before founding Scientology, Hubbard befriended rocket and chemical engineer Jack Parsons who was a part of black magic cult Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), which followed the teachings of Aleister Crowley. According to "Going Clear," Hubbard became Parsons scribe and assistant on a magical operation to impregnate a goddess-like woman to create the anti-Christ.
www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/29/scientology-doc-going-clear_n_6939318.html
Is this something the OTO, or any Thelemic group, would wish to clarify publicly, perhaps get a retraction? Funny to see Crowley getting the same kind of press over a hundred years later. Also, the whole 'Parsons' thing including his 'magical operation' always seemed a bit bizarre to me. Jim, any insight on that too?
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"Black magic." Foolish, low men.
Thanks for sharing.
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This site has no connection to O.T.O., so I don't know what they may wish to do.
From your report,it doesn't sound like it affects anyone else.
Nor is it surprising to see anything referring to Crowley described this way. I've tended to shrug about this sort of thing for decades, it's like someone being against taxes.
Considering that there isn't a clear definition of "black magick," it seems to me that this is a matter of opinion, the expression of which is protected by the First Amendment; or, at least, it's a matter of definition. Perhaps uncomfortable, but perhaps not actionable.
For example, you could call me a schmuck and the only real conclusion I could come to from that was that you didn't entirely like me. (Hardly actionable.) As to whether you had said/written anything that slandered/libeled me, we'd first have to find out what you mean by "schmuck." To determine whether I was damaged by it, we might have to determine what people hearing you understood you to mean by "schmuck."
To many people, "black magick" means un-Christian things and, actually, that's pretty accurate.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"To many people, "black magick" means un-Christian things and, actually, that's pretty accurate."
The definition of many people for "black magic" might include "un-Christian" but it also very likely includes other things, like "un-some stuff which they might actually agree with us on." IMVHO.
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My only point is that this is an undefined opinion label. It doesn't matter if we like it, dislike it, or are indifferent to it. In a country that protects free speech as its most protected right, it's hard for me to see that an un-defined term diversely understood and founded on opinion is actionable. It's like schmuck.
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Understood.
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Jim, you're a schlemazel.
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Unfortunately I would say that the current leadership of the OTO appears to have fallen to the 'Black Brothers'.
Certainly HB and many of his X' minions are clueless when it comes to the finer aspects of Alchemy.
I am a P.I. Initiate of OTO, I have been a member for about 20 years. I have found that they have become very dogmatic and lost the deeper connection to True Gnosticism and Crowley's way of Magick.
When I began to train as a Priest in EGC, I found that the Bishops instructing me where ignorant about certain very important aspects of the Gnostic Mass, in particular the use of the Host.
Anyone interested in this can read an article I wrote on this subject on my blog: fnordzone.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/the-cakes-of-light-notes-on-eucharist.htmlIt is a shame that the OTO has ended up like this. It seems that the people who end up moving 'up the ranks' tend to be more of the egotistical types (black brothers) and that in turn pushes the more spiritual types away. After a while all you have is the black brothers at the top.
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Even though this site has no connection to O.T.O., I'm not eager to see it become a platform for O.T.O. bashing.
And I don't put your last post in that category. You gave an opinion, and it was technically on topic of the thread. I've left the link you posted.
I wanted to post this, though, to keep the thread from becoming a bashing thread.
Thanks