[Editorial remark by Robert Latulippe in January 2003: The Atari computer I used to print out the letter I sent you has perished in a fire a few months back and I had a lot of difficulties getting access to a computer to read my old files. Fortunately, I have a few friends who are computer wizards and was able to get the text ready on word pad for you. I had to slightly modify the text and remove the computer symbols that appeared at the weirdest places. Otherwise, the text is a perfect copy of the written document.] 19 July 1993ev Robert Latulippe Anno IVi *** **th avenue, *****, Quebec, H7V-2Y3 To: Secretary General, PO Box 32, Riverside, CA 92502, U.S.A. Care Soror Helena Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Fait ce que voudras sera le tout de la Loi. Although I have spoken to you, on the telephone, about the following problems, it has taken me some time to officially write about them since I wanted to make sure that I remained unemotionnal and factual about them. The accusations I am about to make concerning David Poole are very serious and I had to seriously meditate on them before I began writing. The problems I have with David began a long time ago. I have kept them quiet in the past so as not to create waves in the OTO, but unfortunately I can no longer continue to do this. I have spoken to him on several occasions, about our differences, but it didn't do anything to solve the growing conflict. You can't discuss something with somebody if that person refuses to listen or continuously blames other peoples for his own mistakes or short comings. It is a very frustrating experience. There are many points of contention and I am not sure where to begin, so I will do as Humpty Dumpty said to Alice; "Start at the beginning and go on to the end then stop."Things were going well in the beginning. David had just become the Oasis master and had my full support. We were also very good friends. We had begun initiating Minervals at St.Mark's Masonnic Memorial Temple and began publishing Pan Gaea together. He had published several issues of Pan Gaea previously on his own but had encountered several financial problems. We reached an agreement in which I would cover his publication debt (which amounted to approximately $200.00) and I would become his partner and owner of 50% of Pan Gaea. Now I was in no way profiting from this since all benefits left over after paying for publication costs were to be donated to OTO. Some months later, in front of the assembled Oasis, he claimed that Pan Gaea was the property of OTO. I kept quiet for the moment but when I finally got him alone I reminded him of our agreement. That's when he told me that he had already given over the rights of Pan Gaea to the OTO and without even consulting me, his associate! I was pissed off. I didn't mind handing over Pan Gaea to OTO, but he had no buisness doing it unilateraly! Since the original agreement had been verbal, I later wrote it down on paper and had him sign it. This document (which is still in my files) states that I own 50% of Pan Gaea. He could do whatever he wanted with his half, but no way was he going to touch my half. Later still, he continued to claim that Pan Gaea was the property of OTO notwithstanding our agreement and this is when things started to turn for the worst between David and myself. That was when I started to notice that David never respects his agreements, written or not! A few months ago I finally signed an agreement in which I donated my share of Pan Gaea to OTO. (To OTO, not David Poole.) Today, David accuses me of having turned against him after receiving my IV* initiation and he also says that it was after this initiation that the problems between us started. First of all, I never turned against David, he turned against me! Second, the problems started a long time before my IV*, David seems to have a very short memory! As David and I began working for the Oasis, I was made treasurer. We had rented space for use as the Oasis center in Montreal and as treasurer I was one of the signatories of the lease. (David was the other person who signed.) Things went well until the following events took place; He closed the bank account that Robert Deumie had opened contrary to our corporate bylaws. The OTO bank account in Quebec had to be with the Bank of Montreal. David opened an account with the bank but in a branch that was totally unaccessible to anyone but himself. It takes me 50 minutes to travel from my home in Laval to my work place in downtown Montreal via public transportation. It took me nearly two hours of travelling just to get to the bank branch where the OTO account had been opened. When I told this to David, his only response was that it was closer to his work place and didn't care if I could access it or not! That's when I realized that I was treasurer in name only, not in fact. I had no control over OTO funds and could not verify the books. All he ever showed me was the monthly bank statement which told us how much we had left in the account. Then when the time came to file the yearly report to the GTG, he plopped a whole bunch of papers and bills on my desk and expected me to sort it out! I did my best at first but couldn't do a very good job of it, there were expenditures for, I don't know what and David couldn't remember where the money went, there was money coming in but I could not determine from what source and again David could not tell me from where since he did not keep any records or copies of all the receipts. I did my best to balance things out then gave it over to David washing my hands of it. I was not going to be blamed for his mistakes. During my association with David in OTO I agreed to pay for half of all expenditures pertaining to matters regarding OTO. (At this time I was also paying for half of Pan Gaea's expenditures and all other expenditures in my personal life, quite a lot of money was involved here.) As far as I can tell, I have respected this agreement until David expelled me from the Oasis. (There is one exeption to this which I will come to shortly). If the books show otherwise, I wouldn't know since I never saw them, then David lied to me! He told me that the expenditures was so much for the month and I paid half. Several other events took place between David and myself during OTO's stay in the Ontario street center, All of it prior to my IV* initiation; There were several arguments between us on various subjects. He claimed to have a right to his opinion and I told him that when one dosen't know what he is talking about, one dosen't have a right to an opinion. Time proved me right and when I confronted him with it, he either denied having argued the subject or told me to fuck off! This kind of attitude is extremely frustrating and only served to aggravate a situation which was worsening every day. When the Frater Superior visited Montreal and our Center, David blatantly complained to H.B. that I had a bad attitude and was intolerant of other people's opinions. I wanted to rearrange David's face but refrained from doing so. At one point we had an argument about a Beatles song. I said that the song was composed by John Lennon whereas he claimed it was written by Paul McCartney. I didn't want to have any more arguments as the ones described above so I changed my tactics and defied him to put his money where his mouth was. We agreed on a $10 bet. After verification we found that I was right (again), but he refused to pay the bet under the pretext that OTO brothers did not have to pay bets to one another. Is this official OTO policy? The amount of the bet is not what matters here as it was symbolic. What is at stake here is a question of principles! Again he did not respect his agreement! I have a little brother, his name is Richard. Richard earns his money by buying used computers, repairing them, and selling them as used but in good working order. David bought a computer from him, and agreed to pay for it in monthly installments. After some time, David had paid for most of it but several hundreds of dollars were yet to be paid and David was delaying payment on the pretext that he had financial difficulties and needed time. Richard agreed to give him time to pay but after several months, David was still not paying and continued to delay. Richard was getting pissed off as he also had a life and had his own bills to pay. He needed the money! So Richard came to me since David was my friend. I spoke to David about it and he told me he refused to pay the balance of the money owed since the computer was "hot". First of all the computer was not hot. If it was, David could have gone to the police but did not do so. He could have had the serial number checked and would have discovered that it wasn't or ever was "hot". Anyway, I told my little brother that I would pay the balance of the money owed. (I don't remember the exact amount, it was approximately $200.00) I then informed David of the agreement and added that I would deduct the amount from what I was paying OTO for the rent of the Center on Ontario street. When the time came to pay the last $100, (I had a $100 dollar bill at hand) my brother was to come to my home to collect it. David showed up 20 minutes before my brother did and asked me to give him the money so that he could pay my brother but not the full amount. David wanted me to help him screw my own blood relative. David said that he needed the money and promised that he would pay the rest at a later date. By this time, I knew fully well that David's word could not be trusted so I refused, saying that I had made the agreement with my brother, and that I would respect my word. David then complained that I should be helping him, an OTO brother, rather than keep any agreement with someone who was not OTO, whether that person was damily or not. Again, I refused! Then David said, "Money talks you know!" I answered back "Indeed it does, and since it's my money, I will do the talking!" Things remained quiet until my b rother arrived, but before I could say anything David had gotten up and told my brother that he couldn't pay the amount and that Richard had to wait, as if the money was coming out of his pocket which it wasn't! Richard knew fully well who was paying the last of the debt and gave me an evil eye, thinking I had just screwed him. I took out the $100 dollar bill, gave it to Richard saying that I always kept my word. That satisfied my brother but not David who then proceeded to "beg" for at least a $20 dollar loan. Out of good heartedness, my brother loaned him $20 bnut I felt shame like I never did before at the fact that a person I had considered to be a friend turned out to be a mooch! I was also shocked that an OTO Oasis Master would consider ti ehticly correct to cheat people who were not OTO. It was this event which marked the beginning of my lack of respect for David! Later he accused me of not respecting my agreement concerning the payment of my share of the rent of the center, forcing him to cover it himself. Yet he knew perfectly well to what end I didn't pay my share for those months. If he would have repsected his agreement with my brother, I wouldn't have had to cover the last payments on David's new computer out of my own pocket. I smoke hashish. My dealer is a personal friend of mine of the past 15 years. his name is Martin. I have never used other people's money to buy hash. I don't have to. If I want to get high and have no money, Martin will sell me the hash on credit and won't worry about it since I have always reinbursed him. I introduced David to Martin and regret it to this day. He insulted Martin and his wife to such a point that Martin wanted to have his legs broken! Since I had introduced David to him, Martin even considered terminating his friendship with me, instead he only warned me that he never wanted to see David's face ever again. Notwithstanding this, the point I want to bring up is the fact that I saw David use money that was given to OTO for initiation fees, to buy cocaine! I have witnessed David do this on several occasions. He later claimed that he gave the money back to OTO, which is possible, but I cannot confirm this as I could not check OTO's financial records. If David wants to enjoy a cocaine trip, that's his buisness not mine but, it annoys me to no end that he used OTO money to do so! If you do not beleive me, you could send somebody over whom I will introduce to Martin and then let him/her ascertain the truth of my statement. The last serious event to take place while OTO had the Ontario street Center, was when David wanted to break the lease. I told him several times that a lease was a contract and that the landlord would probably not accept to have it broken in which case he could sue David and I (We both signed the lease). I seriously warned him that if David broke the lease without the consent of the landlord and I got sued for it, I would resign from OTO and sue David! Eventually the landlord sold the building and David made an agreement with the new landlord to break the lease. What OTO got instead was a small room at the back of a book store which was wholly inadequate to our needs. David managed to get out of the Ontario street lease without causing undue damage to OTO but again it confirms that David -never- respects his word, written or not! The change in adress of our center brought new problems which greatly contributed in the breakdown of our friendship. There have been numerous petty insults, insinuations, denigrations and offensive humour of which I will pass over without mentionning. What I will talk about concerning this period which goes from the moving to the new local to my expulsion from the Oasis are three major and serious events. The first of these concerns the "April Wooten Affair". April is a Minerval in OTO. While at the new center, April and I had a discussion concerning "Wicca" (I state again, Wicca and not OTO). During this discussion April told me that she had a serious problem with Wicca in that they went "sky-clad". She wasn't interested in any esoteric group that went sky-clad. Later, when I got David alone, I told him what April had said and I warned him he would probably have difficulties in convincing her to take her first degree. Things stayed as such for some time until a weekly meeting of the Oasis when David accused me before all the assembled members that I had broken my OTO oaths by revealing 1st degree secrets to April Wooten and as such, I could no longer be trusted as a brother in our order. I was shocked! I asked him to prove his accusation by revealing who had told him this. He refused saying that he couldn't reveal the source, it was a secret. I hassled him for months so that he would finally tell me where he got his information. Then one day he told me that I was the person who told him using the discussion I had with April as "evidence". Now that is a Lie!I told David it was just not true but he refused to retract the accusation. I have come to the conclusion that this entire affair was a lie from beginning to end for the sole purpose of demeaning me before the OTO. I also consider the lie to be a deliberate and diffamatory attack on myself and I know to what end! On several occasions, David accused me of "taking too much space in OTO". You see, I have this thing with crowds, I am a highly magnetic person. All I have to do is start talking about things occult and all of a sudden I have a crowd about me listenning to every word I say. I don't do this on purpose, it just happens. You could ask about it to John Laliberte (an OTO 1st degree) who witnessed it himself in a totaly different environnment. I had introduced John to the Martinist Order here in Montreal, an order of which I am a 3*. The group I brought John to was a beginners circle which discuss esoterics and which serves the Martinists as a means for attracting new members. John has a very powerful christian background and the Martinist would be for him a good order in which he could be free to practice his religion as he saw fit without jeopardizing his position in OTO. After several peoples had had their say, I spoke two sentences about the subject under discussion, and suddenly I was the center of attraction. This had happened to me in Wicca (I'm a 1st degree witch), and in OTO. David has always resented this as he feels that he should be the center of attraction! He told me so himself. Two months after he had expelled me from the Oasis, he4 still could not tolerate the fact that OTO members had more respect for me than for him, so he sent Norman Laforce (a 2nd degree OTO, if I remember correctly) to tell me to move over, "I was taking too much space"! I hadn't been there for two months and it still annoyed him! YOu can ask Norman about it and see for yourself that I am not exaggerating. I consider that this whole April Wooten affair is nothing but an underhanded attempt by David to pass me off as not trustworthy. He even accused meof being responsible for April's departure from OTO by scaring her off! I asked April about this, it's very easy for me to do this as she works inthe same building as I do in downtown Montreal. She assured me that I was definitely not the one responsible. SHe did not tell me what made her leave OTO, but the snort she made when I mentioned David's name inclines me to suspect that he had a lot to do about it. Notwithstanding what the futur holds for either David, me or OTO, _I demand a written retraction and apology for this accusation and I want a copy of it sent to all Pheonix members, active and non active since he did make the accusation before all the members!_ The next serious event concerns an annual meeting of the OTO Corporation which was held on April 5th 1992ev. Prior to the meeting David had told me that he did not wish to preside and asked me to do it in his place. Since I could not properly inform the members about the financial status of the Order as I had no access to the records, he would do this instead. I accepted and proceeded to prepare for the meeting. A few minutes before the meeting was to begin, he informed me that he was going to preside the meeting. I should have expected this since David (as I have stated several times above) never respects his word. When I told him about what he had said about having me preside the meeting, he retorted that it had only been a suggestion and it didn't mean a thing. So I left it at that and it would not have bothered me at all if he hadn't tried to ridiculize me before the members when it came time to discuss the financial status of the Corporation. He "insinuated" that a certain treasurer had not done his job and that David also had to file the financial reports to grand lodge above and beyond his own job as president of the Corporation. Again I said nothing so as not to make waves or show the members that there was a serious problem between David and myself. But again he tried to pass me off as untrustworthy and as an incompetent. I don't have to tell you that I was beginning to get really pissed off. Now we come to my expulsion from the Oasis. And I mean "EXPULSION". David later tried to make people beleive that I had walked out but that is a lie! I don't remember the exact date, but I had just finished working and was very tired when I arrived at the inadequate Center on Crescent street. There were several people present; Michael London, Jason Cardinal and John Laliberte amongst others. I was having a discussion concerning magick with John while looking at a copy of the new Topaz that had just been published. I had received a copy of Topaz in the mail but had not had the time to read it. There was a copy of it on the table so I was browsing through it. Suddenly David ripped it out of my hands saying that I didn't need need it as I already had a copy! Now I was starting to get real mad but kept it bottled up. I told him that he could at least have asked me if I had read it or at the very least get some information before jumping to a conclusion that I did not need it. He laughed at me claiming that he never jumps to conclusion and that I had a serious attitude problem, he also said that he knew I had a problem with him the moment he saw my face that day! Again I shut up, not wanting to cause a scene, and let me tell you it was very difficult as I was about to boil over. I bottled up my anger turned to John to resume our conversation on magick and tried to calm myself down. I was succeding in this and got my mind working on something else. John and I were talking about the first degree robe and how it should be made, and if it should have a hood or not. I was explaining to John that it shouldn't have a hood as per a discussion I had with Dr.Stein and Lon Duquette when I went to Chicago for my IV* initiation. Then David budded in the discussion claiming that John should make the robe with a hood. I turned to David and told him as calmly as I could That I got my information from higher up, I also tried to explain to him the discussion I had in Chicago without revealing anything of importance to the lower degrees that were present. Davod retorted that he didn't care for what Dr. Stein or Lon DuQuette said, John was going to make a robe with a hood "because he said so"! That was it, I couldn't control myself anymore and blew up! I began insulting him like I never insulted anyone before. I have him shit and called him every nasty and despicable word in the dictionary. I even called him names that weren't in the dictionary. I was so enflammed with rage that I don't remember 9 out of 10 insults I threw at him. Then I got a grip on myself and decided that I needed air to calm down. I took my coat and was about to leave when he got up and said that he didn't have to take this and that he was throwing me out of the Oasis and that if I left I wouldn't be paying my shar eof the Oasis expenses anymore. He answered that he had the authority to throw me out and that he didn't want me around anymore and that he didn't want my money. I then took out the check I had in my pocket (which was my share of that month's rent) tore it up, threw it in his face and left. As I was leaving he leveled another insult at me: He said in a very sarcastic tone that it had been a pleasure working with me while it lasted. Later David spread the rumour that I hadn't been expelled from the Oasis but that I had walked out. This is a lie! For the record I will state again that "David Poole expelled me from the Oasis, _I DID NOT WALK OUT!"_ There were other serious events concerning David and myself in regards to my IV* initiation which I have not written about above. The reason being that I do not remember if the initiation took place while the OTO center was on Ontario street or on Crescent street. Nevertheless the events surrounding my latest initiation in Chicago show a serious problem in David's attitude towards others. First of all, when I received notification of the initiation date, I didn't have all the money necessary for the trip. David offered to put the air fare on his company's credit card. I accepted on condition that I would pay for it prior to his having to pay "American Express". I made damn sure of the date on which he had to pay and prepared my budget in consequence. I was initiated on October 12th 1991ev, I paid him the $395 dollars on October 18th of the following week. I paid him prior to his having to pay for the credit card. Today he is claiming that he did me a big favor by lending me the money for the trip. This is a lie! He did not pay a single dime for my trip as I reinbursed his card in time as agreed. when informed of this, he claims that he had paid the card before I gave him the $395 dollars. If this is true, then he lied to me about the date of payment. Either way you look at it, he lied to me! In consequence, my hands are clean, I do not consider him to have loaned me the money at all, I paid for it as I had said that I would pay for it. The only favor he did for me was to put the fare on his credit card, that's it! He tries to make people beleive that he paid for the fare so as to make me feel guilty, which won't work, or to make me beleive that I owe him more gratitude than he deserves. Another problem with David concerning my initiation is that now he claims that if he wouldn't have stood up for me, I would not have been invited for my IV*. He said that I was "blackballed" in OTO for which reasons he refused to elaborate. I thought that invitations were issued only for the KEW or higher degrees. As for his statement that I would never have received my IV* if it wasn't for him leaves me perplexed. _Is this true?_ When, on October 18th, I paid him the $395, he asked me to do him a favor and make it a round $400. He said that the "loan" would help him buy a bit of food for his kids. I thought that the $5 was a small amount for kid food but didn't ask questions and gave him the money. As soon as the money passed hands, he said that the $5 was for my share of a pizza he bought I don't remember when and refused to aknowlwedge that he owed it to me. Now I easily forget small amounts of money, wether it's owed to me or if it's money I owe other people. So I probably would have forgotten the $5 and left it at that, but his remark hit me as a blatant insult and again, as a breech of his word. Because of this breech, there is no way I could have forgotten it! To this day it still hasn't been paid back. And now we arrive to the period after my expulsion from Pheonix. This is were events really come to a head! I have seriously tried to get through to David about the problems I was having with him, but he dosen't respond, neither to reasonning, arguments or insults. I just couldn't get through to him! So I changed my tactics; I decided to hit him in his wallet! I withheld money owed to him as payment for insults received. I told him this to his face, in a straightforward manner so that he would not be able misunderstand what I was talking about! I don't remember the exact amount involved, but it was between $35 and $50. I blatantly told him what were the insults in question then threw him out of my home! After some time in which I thought he had learned his lesson and tried to redeem himself, I gave him his money. I was wrong! He didn't learn anything and accused me of trying to rip him off. David has a nasty habit of denying his mistakes, any mistake, and to blame others for the problems he has called down up on himself. He even had the audacity to complain about the fact that I had thrown him out of my home, and that he didn't like it. I answered back that I didn't appreciate the way he expelled me from the Oasis and that was my way of paying him back for it. He then accused me of taking revenge, an accusation I laughed at then told him to his face that it was revenge then quoted the Book of the Law: "Now let it be first understood that I am a god of War and Vengeance. I shall deal hardly with them. (Liber Al III,3)". Since I wasn't paying for the Oasis anymore, I decided to do what I had been contemplating for a few years now. I decided to go to University. I used the money that was now freed from OTO payments and paid for my tuition in Religious Science. Beleive it or not, this annoyed David who came to me on several occasions to complain that going to University was a waste of time and that it would be better if I gave my money to OTO! What does he think I am? A masochist? Does he actually think that I will let him walk all over me and that I'd pay him for it? And now, worst still, he has adopted an attitude towards me where nothing I can do is good enough, nothing I say has any validity! I will give you two examples; I was reading a book for one of my courses, it was "L'Homme et le Sacre" by R.Caillois. He sees the book on my desk and starts denigrating it. claiming that he read it and that it wasn't worth anything! Really? I didn't beleive him so I tested him. I asked him what the book was about. He couldn't answer claiming that he had read it a long time ago and forgot what it was about. That's a lot of BS! All he had to answer was: The books describes the relationship between man and things sacred and profane, or at the very least say something to that effect. The fact that he couldn't answer proves to me that he was lying and was only trying to demean the subjects of my studies and did this out of pure maliciousness. The other example is the use I make of a French dictionnary. There are two major dictionnaries in use in French speaking countries; the "Larousse" and the "Petit Robert". I use the later, it is by far the better of the two. It is also the accepted dictionnary used by the "Academie Francaise". (In case you are not aware of it, the Academie Francaise is an oligarchy of between 30 and 50 people who are the ultimate authority on the French language. They and only they decide what is an accepted word in French and how it is to be spelled and used. once their decision is made, all francophones of the world have no choice but to bow to the Academie and accept their judgment. There are no appeals possible, and their decision is final.) David criticized the dictionary saying it wasn't worth anything. But the only motivations he has in saying this is his prejudice against anything French and the fact that I am using it. If I would have used the Larousse, he would have denigrated that one and lauded the Petit Robert! And just in case David tries to deny these statements, let me say that there is a witness to these two events. His name is Mark Thuot, a non active Minerval who often comes to my home to play on my computer. There are many more examples of David's lies and insults, but I have used these two specificly because he did it before a witness. In January of this Year (1993ev) I made a final contract with David regarding the acqisition of the Equinox vol.1 #1-10. The agreement called for monthly payments of $100. I respected this agreement to the letter with the exeption of the last payment which was given one day late. But for the last three months of the agreement (Febuary to April), David never ceased to try to modify the agreement. He couldn't as I was wise enough this time to start the agreement with a written document. It was a receipt for the first payment (given in cash). All following payments were done with checks, which are considered by law to be valid receipts. In two letters sent to me, David "demanded" bigger payments than the $100 agreed upon, claiming that was the agreement which of course it was not. Then, as I was refusing to budge from the original agreement, he accused me of not respecting my word. (He is still trying to blame other people for his faults.) He claimed that he had payments to do with his supplyers and that he had been extremely patient with me. What a laugh, but still I refused to budge. He even went as far as to threaten me of canceling the agreement. I wasn't intimidated and still I didn't budge. I informed Bill Heidrick, by telephone, of David's lack of buisness ethics, then verbally told David that I would take him to small claims court he if he tried in any way to modify the agreement by even the smallest iota. I was even prepared to resign from OTO so as to be free to do this! He finally stated that this whole situation was a pain up his "cul", litteraly translated as "ass" and asked me if this was my version of the XI*! The first of these two letters was written on an OTO letterhead yet there is nothing in it pertainning to OTO. I did not buy the Equinox from OTO I bought them from his personal company "Lady Nuit Distributions". The second letter, also on OTO letterhead, had only one paragraph pertaining to this agreement but still he had no buisness involving the OTO in this affair. The only reason for which he used OTO letterheads was to be able to boast about his newly acquired V*, as if it would impress me and of course it did not! He accused me of being jealous of him, which I am not since there is nothing to be jealous of! So I wrote him back in a very insulting fashion putting him back in his place. I do not regret this letter, and I will not retract it. He deserved every insult I wrote to him. Now David is accusing other people of having ego problems, well I have to give David this much; he's consistent! He continuously denies his mistakes, he continuously blames other people for his faults (this is called projection), and never ever respects his word! It just doesn't stop! There is one person in Phoenix Lodge today, who to my knowledge, has a serious ego problem, and that's David himself! As I am now, by David's standards, not a member of Pheonix Lodge, I made a request to Grand Lodge to have a camp chartered. I informed David of my intentions and he accused me of backstabbing him! I was not in any way trying to cause David grief. All I wanted was a means by which I could _contribute constructively to OTO._ My intentions were made very plain in my request and in my phone call to you. There was nothing at all that was threatening to David, I just wanted to do something! I could work with EGC but here again David is tying to restrict me. Some time ago he told me that a couple from New York's OTO were coming to Montreal and asked me to help them organize a mass. I accepted but several problems occured; I am not on unemployment, I have resposibilities to my secular job and could not begin working with Jerome and his wife until the weekend. David kept them secluded at his place and contact with them was limited. When some free time was available for me to work with our distinguished visitors, David accused me of not having done anything so he took care of it. Yet he knows what kind of time constraints I have on my job and the weird schedule I have. I am not the only person he has done this to, asking people to do something and when they agree, he takes it away under all kinds of stupid pretexts. You should ask Denis Robert about it, I'm sure he has some very interesting stories to tell. When this mass was produced David made a total mess of it, Alan Stewart was there and although I disagree with a lot of what he says and does, I have to admit that this time he was right in critisizing David. Afterward David was struting like a rooster claiming he had done a great job which in fact it wasn't. Only the fact that Jerome and his wife had done their best, saved the mass from being a total failure. After receiving his V*, David came to my place boasting about his latest initiation, he then claimed that he would soon be a VII* and would supplant me as Bishop. I laughed at that one and told him to try and wished him luck. I don't mind working on EGC again, but with David around it's useless, he would only try to interfere and attempt to restrict me as he did for the camp I requested. He somehow feels that this would be a threat to his authority. He is trying today to produce a new mass, but he has excluded me from being present. In the latest Topaz (volume II, number 3), he specificly states that the mass is for Lodge members and their guests and this by invitation only! As I have stated above, by David's standards I am not a Lodge Member. He accuses me of not doing anything for EGC but when I try, he tries to stop me! As for the camp I requested, the reason he gave me for blocking it was that I didn't respect him! Well I have news for him, respect is a two way street. You can't expect respect from others if you are not prepared to respect them in return. Also, the fact that one has degrees and titles does not entitle one to be ipso facto respected. Respect is something that must be earned. David can (and does) boast about his degrees and titles all he wants, it won't help him. I have a lot more degrees and titles, in several different orders, than David will ever have in his entire life, but I don't boast about them exept to shut people like David, up! And I have never demanded any respect from anybody. If people respect me today, it's because I earned it! "Despise also all cowards; professional soldiers who dare not fight, but play; all fools despise! (Liber Al III,57)" I also want to quote a passage from the Yi King, "The joyous mood is infectuous and therefore brings success. But joy must be based on steadfastness if it is not to degenerate into uncontrolled mirth. Truth and strength must dwell in the heart, while gentleness reveals itself in social intercourse. In this way one assumes the right attitude toward God and man and achieves something. Under certain conditions, intimidation without gentleness may achieve something momentarily, but not for all time. When on the other hand, the hearts of men are won by friendliness, they are led to take all hardships upon themselves willingly, and if need be will not shun death itself, so great is the power of joy over men." (R.Wilhem, The I Ching, Princeton university press,New York,N.Y.,1967ev,p.224) I could tell you stories which have nothing to do with OTO, about people who sacrificed their jobs to help me, there is even one case where a friend of mine attacked a police officer who was threatening me, thus earning for himself a prison sentence and a criminal record. He did this out of loyalty to me. This so impressed my employers that it secured my job for a long time to come. The day that David can command men's loyalty as I do, I will listen to his insults without saying a word! But he has a long way to travel before that happens. And now we come to the grand finale and the last grievences I have against David. At the annual meeting of OTO on April 17th 1993ev, David made several accusation about me to the assembled members. I wasn't there as I want nothing to do with David anymore! But several members who were there informed me of what transpired. The most eloquent witness was Denis Robert. David first informed the members that I was on Bad Report. He didn't say "Local" Bad Report and left the statement totaly ambiguous as to wether it was local or with Grand Lodge. If only one person would have misunderstood, I would have ignored the remark, but several members were absolutely certain that he meant with "Grand Lodge". I must come to the conclusion that the ambiguity was deliberate and malicious. He also claimed that I was "Borderline" in OTO, under surveillance and about to get the boot! He boasted that he was going to have me expelled from OTO and that my charter to initiate had been revoked. He then proceeded to compare me to Alan Stewart, that is, that I was insane, schismatic and working against the interests of the Order. Then came the final blow, David imposed coventry on me. He forbade the Lodge members to have anything to do with me under the penalty of dire consequences. If only one person would have revealed this to me, I would have brushed it aside as a wild exageration, but several people came to me with these wild rumours and asked me if it was true! Amongst these were Norman Laforce, John Laliberte, Denis Robert, Richard Therriault and William Lento. Some of these people weren't at the meeting either but had heard the rumours through the grape vine. These accusations made a big splash in Montreal and they spread like wildfire inciting me to beleive that David had made these accusations in places other than the annual meeting and to people other than OTO members. All this because I didn't have any respect for David? Something was terribly wrong here and I needed to find out what was going on. That's when I phoned you. As Secretary General you should know if these rumours were true or not! You told me that they weren't and that if I was on bad report, it was a local one and not with Grand Lodge. I don't care about any local bad report, it dosen't phase me in the least. So when the rumours persisted, I directed those who wanted to know the truth to contact you. I expect you must have received a few phone calls on the subject. When you informed David of these questions as you should, David was pissed off. He came to my house and gave me shit for having spoken to you. He said I had no buisness contacting you! He also accused me of "treason" to the Lodge because I often speak to Francois Cartier. (Francois is a close personal friend of mine. We've known each other for over twelve years now and David has no right forbidding me to contact him. Francois has been an excellent ear when I needed to talk to somebody, he has advised me in many matters and I have great respect for his intelligence and his experience. He introduced me to wargaming which is today, my main hobby. David sneers on this hobby, he says that no true magician plays wargames. I told him to say that to Aleister Crowley who played chess with a passion, and chess is the original wargame! Francois also holds my proxy in matters pertaining to EGC and I trust him all matters wether they have to do with OTO, EGC or the secular world.) When David came to give me shit for having spoken to you, he also claimed that he had only tried to help me in the Order. I retorted that any favor he would have done for me did not give him the right to insult me, lie about me, or otherwise attempt to restrict me. I am not his "dog" and I will certainly not play dead for him. He said that he had never insulted me or lied about me (another lie), then walked out. I haven't spoken to him since. There are many more things I could tell you about David, and the problems I have with him. But I will limit myself to the above. They are the most important. This letter is, in my opinion, the last word in this chapter of my life. I am now turning the page and beginning a new period of my life. I have kept an unemotionnal attitude while writing this letter and kept myself to what I consider to be the facts. I now want to finish it off by quoting a passage from a letter you wrote to David on August 27th 1990 ev when he became the Oasis Master in Montreal: "The Representative shall not have the authority to expel members or impose coventry on them, establish new bodies, change the status of existing bodies, appoint or dismiss local body officers (except for subordinate officers of the local body whereof he is the duly appointed Master), or any other actions which are the exclusive purview of the Supreme Council." Please excuse my english! Amour est la loi, amour sous volonte. Love is the law, love under will. ____________________________ Robert Latulippe, Frater Akrab, KEW/OTO cc/ Frater Superior, William Heidrick, Francois Cartier, David Poole. P.S. It is my personal opinion that any OTO Lodge Master who claims to be above Liber Al and Liber Oz, has no buisness being an OTO Lodge Master and should be deposed from office.