This article has no footnotes or references to sources; interested
readers are referred to Peter-Robert Koenig's books, such
as the online English version of 'The OTO
Phenomenon'.
How do you incarnate an Égrégore? Homunculise it!
"Aleister Crowley's treatise on the making of a homunculus
was couched
in terms of a secret ritual for the IX° members of the O.T.O. It begins
with the premis that the human ego reincarnates into a "new tenement"
when the foetus is in its third month of gestation. One classical
method involves removal of a woman's fertilized ovum and continuing the
gestation ectopically. Crowley is characteristically vague about the
details, however, throwing in a few alchemical allusions.
The modern magickal method is another thing entirely. Crowley advises
selection of a female partner whose horoscope is suited to the nature
of whatever homunculus is desired. The magician and his mate "copulate
continuously" until impregnation results; then, the woman is withdrawn
to a desolate place where appropriate incantations are vibrated (e.g.
the banishing formulae of the Sephiroth) five to seven times a day.
The woman is "constantly educated by words and by books and by pictures
of a nature consonant" to the spirit being evoked - the method of Liber
Astarte (bhakti yoga). Delivery is somehow held up or pushed forward to
assure the child an appropriate ascendant sign, and when the infant is
born, it is immediately dedicated, purified, and consecrated to the
incarnated spirit."
James M. Martin, in ABRASAX, Texas 1993.
But when Jack
Parsons worked together with Ron L. Hubbard to make a
so-called 'Moonchild' (Crowley's name for a
homunculus), Crowley reacted with displeasure.
Having been deserted by two women in a row, Parsons decided to have
no more truck with human females, and to invoke an elemental in female
form to serve his sexual and ritual purposes. He used the 'Calls'
contained in the Enochian system of magic devised by Dr. John Dee
during Elizabeth I's reign to summon the 'powers of the elemental
tablets'.
In this method, the name of the elemental to be invoked is written on a
diagram of a truncated pyramid, and the correct Enochian Call is
recited. The elemental is supposed to respond instantly, so great is
its desire to incarnate in human form. The (male) magician uses his
erect penis like a magic wand as a source of power, and his semen as
the physical basis from which the elemental can form a visible body.
Parsons performed his invocations for eleven nights running in 1946,
after which a woman called Marjorie
Cameron came into his life; she was
apparently as docile and obedient as elementals were supposed to be.
Crowley reacted angrily to news of these goings-on because he knew that
a true adept must not allow himself to be seduced away from a love of
the Infinite into a love of inferior spiritual beings. Parson's life
came to an abrupt and premature end in 1952; while he was working at a
laboratory at CalTech, he dropped a phial containing mercury fulminate,
and was killed in the resulting explosion.
PEOPLE MADE OF STONE
One of the most interesting occult organisations in the world (and
perhaps the only truly magical one) is the Fraternitas Saturni (FS).
Theodore Reuss, who claimed to be the heir of Carl Kellner, had
chartered a German offshoot of his O.T.O.; it was called 'Pansophia',
and was led by Heinrich Tränker
X°. The FS grew out of this organisation between 1926 and 1928. Among
its more notable members was Albin Grau, who devised the design for the film 'Nosferatu'.
Here are some stills from that film:
The FS magical system was directly linked to its grade-structure; after
WWII the system was augmented from an original ten-degree system to one
of thirty-three degrees (in imitation of Masonic degrees), though there
were still only ten essential and inherently magical degrees. These
were: 8° and 12° (devoted to accumulation of magical power and
projection of the Égrégore), 9° (for female sex-magic, attributed to
the Moon and Yesod), 18° (for male sex-magic), and 19°, 20°, 25°, 26°,
31°, and 33°. This structure of thirty-three degrees was invented to
avoid the risk of Tränker taking legal action against the FS for
plagiarism; the remaining twenty-three degrees were merely placebos.
The 18th and 33rd degrees were considered to be essential for the FS's
continued existence, while 18° sex-magic could be
- and still can be - performed outside the FS by the non-initiate.
"You are my Creator, but I am your Master — Obey!" [Mary Shelley, Frankenstein]
The most salient feature of the FS is its Égrégore. Its thirty-third
degree is called "GOTOS", which derives from the term 'Gradus
O.T.O. Saturni', and somewhat resembles the office of Outer head of the
Order (OHO) in the O.T.O.. The OHO is the link between the Order and
its 'Secret Chiefs' - its Égrégore, or the Inner Head of the Order
(IHO); The OHO is the IHO's mouthpiece. But unlike other versions of
the O.T.O., the FS worshipped its Égrégore in the physical form of a
statue-bust whose form was received mediumistically by a female member
of the Order. While the O.T.O. Égrégore is generally identified as
Baphomet (though some claim it is Aiwaz - and H.J. Metzger considered that
it was the 'Stélé of Revealing'), Crowley never conceived Baphomet to
be an incarnate entity. Yet the FS did, calling its Égrégore "GOTOS
UTUIT" (the latter word apparently means "OTO-it"). The bust of Gotos is regularly anointed with
special unguents.
The 24° FS has as it central 'secret' the 'knowledge' of the Beast's
true nature; its name is supposed to be "Gregor", while it retains the
number 666. But why Gregor? To explain this it is necessary to examine
he founder of the FS, Eugen Grosche. He chose as
his magical name Gregor A. Gregorius, or else Gregor E Gregor(ius). This suggests
Grosche considered that he himself was the Great Beast of Revelation,
and the Égrégore of the FS at one and the same time. At the precise
moment that Grosche achieved the 33° (at Easter in 1960) Gotos became
GOTOS, in the same way that Crowley became Baphomet, XI° in 1912. This
is the secret of both the O.T.O. and the FS - both orders exist for the
sole purpose of empowering and exalting their founders, or their heirs in
the office of OHO.
As Grosche (like Crowley) had a decidely low opinion of women, he was
never able to find his soul-mate in the flesh. He therefore
felt compelled to create GOTOS in an effort to achieve a form of
androgny - at least after his death. As Grosche/GOTOS was male, he
created a 'Lucifer-Noctifer' circle of XI° magicians around him as a
source of energy; Crowley got his XI° energy more directly by fellating
people (in Turkish baths, for instance).
Dis Grosche intend his daughter to be a moonchild? She was called
Alraune, a name that must have some reference to a 1911 novel of the
same name by H.H. Ewers. In this novel, the technique is described of
taking the semen of a freshly hanged man, and 'planting' it in a
prostitute's womb - voilà, the first test-tube baby. Grosche seems to
have been greatly inspired by the lascivious tone of Ewer's novel, when
he produced his own work of fiction, 'Exorial'.
It is idle to speculate whether Gotos and the GOTOS are different
beings; suffice to say that there is a real magical formula which
enables the Égrégore to absorb the energies of all the Order's members.
The FS therefore has only one aim: the feeding of a vampire.
Is this Thelemic? Grosche wrote: "The brothers of the FS are not
Thelemites." ("Blätter für angewandte okkulte Lebenskunst" Nº 93,
p. 2.) The apex of Saturn Gnosis lies beyond the concepts of Thelema and
Agapé.
So did the FS consider itself to be a continuation of the Knights
Templar? 643 years to the day after Jacobus Burgundus Molensis (Jacques
de Molay the last Master of the historical Templars) was burnt at the
stake, the Grand Lodge of the FS was formally established - on March
18th 1957. On every anniversary of this date, de Molay's shade was
invoked "in nomine demiurgi Saturni" (FS Decree Nº 8, dated
January 31st 1958). Grosche also alleged that he was born on March 11th 1888,
thus further linking him to de Molay, who was born on March 11th 1314.
Kenneth Grant, who corresponded with
Grosche from 1950 to 1955, has founded a 'cult of LAM' (as has the Spanish
O.T.O.A.); LAM is supposedly a relative of Aiwass based on an enigmatic
pencil-sketch of an entity by Crowley. LAM shows his "lion-face" in mediumistic trances, and it has
been reported that a statue-bust of LAM has "recently" been "revived"
with anointings of semen in Europe.
GOTOS WHISPERED RUNIC WISDOM
The term 'GOTOS' was not apparently original to Grosche; it was in use
among the Ariosophians (Rudolf J. Mund, "Der Rasputin Hitlers", Vienna,
1982.)
GOT written in runes is [got], and it was claimed by the Ariosophists
to be one of the most ancient 'Ario-German word-roots'. It was assumed
that [got] was derived in turn from the even older Indo-Germanic
word 'ghuto'; the most common manner of writing or
speaking in runes was called 'goto'. The pronunciation of the [o]-rune
varies; it can stand for 'u' and 'o', or sometimes 'a'.
The term 'gots' was a familiar form of 'got'. In Old High German
diminutives were made by adding the suffix
'-zio' to a word, though this was not pronounced as spelt; thus the
familair form of 'gots' would have sounded like 'gotos'. Traces of this
may still be found in some Austrian dialects: "in Gots Nom" = "in God's
name". The familiar form is meant to hint at a deep relationship
between the person using the term and the 'got' or 'goto' (which are
the same); 'got' being the more recent and shorter version of 'goto' ot
'ghuta' (depending on the dialect).
It was also speculated that 'ghuto' was derived from a hypothetical'
Indo-European verbal root 'GHAU' turned into a substantive; 'GHAU'
meant 'to invoke', and so the term 'gotos' was seen as a hint at a
being which could be invoked.
It was a simple step from these abstruse etymological speculations to
accepting 'gotos' as technical terminology for any and every entity
that could be invoked - even Baphomet.
In old German dialects, 'got' was the general term for a numinous being
- the kind of primal power that affected everything, without having a
definite shape of its own. 'Got' was not to be mixed up with Wotan or
Odin, which were already concrete formulations. 'Got' thus corresponded
to the Indian 'Atman', while the gods were seen as mortal beings.
BE BLESSED WITH THIS DIVINE SEMEN
In the FS, the IHO or Égrégore GOTOS was charged with power in three
ways: by blood, by semen, and by the planetary spirit of Pluto. The
desired results of the charging were mean to have Plutonian effects,
even though the magical names and sigils of Pluto were not known - so
nobody was able to invoke his planetary spirit. Thus the FS (which
undoubtedly went beyond whatever Franz Bardon had discerned) had to
work by remotely stimulating the vibratory plane of Pluto; to do this
they invoked the planetary spirit of Saturn (Zazel), and that of Mars
(Bartzabel). So there was nothing new under the (dark) sun with Pluto.
The energies of the GOTOS were analysed as being Saturnian externally
and Martial internally, while it used Lunar influences to manifest
itself (with its hints at sexual 'secrets').
Because of this, Easter was thought the most preferable time for the
GOTOS to be born. Easter derives its name from Eostre or Ostara, the
Germanic goddess of sex and fertility, and the FS thought that she was
worshipped with extravagant human sacrifices and blood-letting.
In practical terms, the three planetary spirits of Saturn, Mars, and
Luna were reduced to just Saturn and Mars in daily dealings with the
GOTOS; Lunar rites were reserved for actual manifestation. 'Grand Rites
of Saturn' were celebrated when Solar influences were strongest, while
the FS performed a 'Missa Soli' when the Moon's power waxed; the statue
of GOTOS was placed in the west, since this hinted at the fading of the
light.
It is apparent from FS documents - such as the 'Evocation Symbols of
the Luciferian Hierarchy' written by an FS Grand Master, and all
18° material - that these devotees of Saturn were deeply involved in
power-storage and power-spirals.
HOW MANY Gotoses CAN BE THE GOTOS?
The first Gotos was Eugen Grosche, made Gotos-GOTOS at Easter, 1960.
Under his leadership, only two people were initiated into the
sex-magical 18° [facsimile of the charters in In Nomine Demiurgi
Saturni, Munich 1998]. One was the German Walter Englert, (also a
X° and another OHO). After Grosche's death Karl Wedler ('Giovanni')
was raised to the 33° on April 17th 1965 by the then female Grand Master of
the FS Margarete Berndt ('Roxane'), who died shortly afterwards. The
office of Grand Master was obviously of secondary importance in the FS,
as became plain when Walter Jantschik - a mere 8° - was appointed to
this position in 1968.
Giovanni was only the second FS 33° after Grosche; after the latter's
death a triumvirate was meant to govern the Order. But this was merely
a deceptive cover for the fact that Giovanni was chief. According to
the FS statutes issued on April 13th 1963 (and signed by Grosche,
Berndt, Wedler, Walter Englert, and others) the degrees from 28° to 33° can
only have one member each. Yet Giovanni soon made another person 18°
and 33° -
Guido Wolther ('Daniel'), the third 33°. And on March 4th
1989 another Gotos was enthroned.
THE ORDO SATURNI
At the end of the 1970s, Dieter Heikaus ('Set-Horus') founded the
Ordo Saturni (OS), which was made up of members from the old FS. Gotos
Giovanni acted as the new Order's patron, and willy-nilly most of the
high-grade members migrated over to the OS. When Heikaus was made Gotos
in 1989, it became necessary in magical terms for all existing 18°
members to lend him their powers - the secret word of the 18° was
'Baphomet' - but only one 18° proved to be ready, willing, and able, a
Swiss member called Emil Furrer ('Domani'). Englert and at least two
others declined to help, while Daniel (18° and 33°) had apparently
already vanished, and was rumoured to be in a mental hospital.
(Postscript, 1998: he's still there).
The original bust of the GOTOS was destroyed by Daniel, and since then
the OS has had to make do with a number of "simulacra". Some of the
original Gotos regalia and paraphernalia only came into Heikaus's hands
in 1992; the Wand of the FS Hierarch (33°) is still gathering dust in
the Fraternitas Saturni's archives, while Giovanni still has the
Hierarch's jewel of office. (Photographs of these items will be found
in Materialien zum
OTO, Munich 1994).
The Ordo Saturni is legally registered as an association at Bremen, but
its membership fees apparently end up with another group, the Esoteric
Study Society, which is registered at Bersenbrück; this effectively
makes the OS penniless, since its members have no say in how this money
is used. In the innermost circles of the OS, yet another secret Order
may be found; it is called the Order of Set, and is located in
Osnabrück. There is not the space in this article to discuss the
complex relationships between the various Orders devoted to Saturn,
Set, Shaitan, and Satan. It will suffice to quote Grosche's
interpretation of G.N.O.S.I.S.: "Gnostici Noscuntur Omnem Scientiam
In Satana" ("Satanische Magie", Wolfenbüttel 1926, p. 35).
NOSFERATU'S BABY
Due to the physical death of Grosche, GOTOS was left without a master.
Several members of the OS have reported details of Saturnian sex-magic
to us; they have also told of the plan to incarnate a combination of
the GOTOS, Eugen Grosche, and the Beast 666 in the flesh as a child,
based on a combination of astrological calculations with acts of IX°
and XI° sex-magic. This project seems to have resulted from an oath
sworn by Grosche's inner circle before he died. Indeed, it was claimed
that "the OS and the Pentalpha Circle [18°] continue the
sex-magical work of the old FS." - ("Pentalpha" Nº 2, Bersenbrück,
circa 1982).
It seems to be a business of cycles: Gotos was enthroned at Easter
1960; add thirty-three years, and one Saturn-cycle after Grosche's
death on January 5th 1964, and you arrive at 1993. In the interim, the
GOTOS's successors charge themselves up with energy as Gotos. Of
course, one feels bound to ask if GOTOS Junior is going to feel very
happy in the confines of the "Mundane Saturn Monastery" (Heikaus's new
house, paid for by those membership-fees migrating from Bremen to
Bersenbrück to Osnbrück). Is it absolutely certain that the parents of
this moonchild aren't HIV positive? And who is its legal guardian -
whoever ejaculated the sperm, or the magical father?
The need of a homunculus for constant supplies of energy raises other
doubts. Since 1960, there has been a constant and debilitating loss of
membership from the FS and then the OS; the remaining kernel of members
have been compelled to work harder and harder. The situation has been
further complicated in more recent years, because several members of
the so-called 'Caliphate' O.T.O. (an American
group founded in 1977) have infiltrated the Ordo Saturni and started promoting their rather more
banal solar-phallic ideas.
© Weiss, Domainko, Koenig, 1993/98. It was also a speech delivered for C.E.S.N.U.R. at the London School of Economics in 1993
Translation adapted
by Mark Parry-Maddocks in May
2001
Ceská verze: SATURNSKÁ GNÓZE
Versiune romana: SATURN GNOSIS: Adevaratul Fraternitas Saturni
In Nomine Demiurgi Saturni 1925-1969 First installment of 400 pages of saturnian documents
In Nomine Demiurgi Nosferati 1969-1998 Another 400 pages dealing with the History of the F.S.
In Nomine Demiurgi Homunculi Further 420 pages about the F.S.
Context: Peter-R. Koenig: Der O.T.O. Phänomen RELOAD
Johannes Goeggelmann / Frater Saturnius: Beispiel einer Skandalisierung durch den Boulevard. Adolf Hemberger, Horst Knaut, Friedrich–Wilhelm Haack. Completely updated.
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