I have just had an interesting few weeks, if you consider being a victim of attempted robbery, the probable target of a drive-by shooting, having cyber-terrorists violate the Newaeon web site, and receiving a computer virus via e-mail interesting. Now you may be wondering why I mention this as a preface to an article about William Breeze, a.k.a. Caliph Hymenaeus Beta, and the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. Am I blaming him for all of the above? No, of course not. However ... well ... we will get back to these matters in due time.
By the way, who is Bill Breeze anyway? One source told me that he was born in Paris, France and received his education at Harvard University. That sounds very impressive. On the other hand, his "best friend", Jack Hogg, [who considers the matter of magick, Thelema, and the O.T.O. to be nothing but nonsense, yet some time back he was nevertheless considering joining his friend's pseudo-o.t.o.] confided to one person that Breeze went to a nearby university and only took a few classes at Harvard, probably in business. So it is already beginning to look like he has embellished upon his education and past, and I daresay there are a few profiles on the man out there about as reliable as a politician's promise.
The first source already alluded to also said that he plays the acoustic and electric viola, that he developed computer interests in the 1970s, achieving passing noteriety for the "Hacker System" and that in the early 1980s he was founder and CEO of Cromwell Graphics System Corporation. I don't know if any of this is true, and I really don't care, but this same source said that in 1985 E.V. he was co-founder and Executive V.P. of Mystic Fire Video, but that in 1993 E.V. he left Mystic Fire to pursue literary interests - and if you have read anything on the Net that he has written [yawn] you'll know that he is not in danger of becoming a notable author anytime soon - well, not if there is any justice left in the publishing business! I suspect he found that he was never going to make it as a writer and thought that perhaps the best thing to do, after all, was to be the parasite he's probably always been and live off of the works of another, better man and writer, Aleister Crowley. Or was that his intention all along? For he was or is president of 93 Publishing and Spirit Vision, Inc., or so one source has told me.
Of course it should be well known by now that Bill Breeze was once associated with the Kenneth Grant Typhonian pseudo-o.t.o., at least in a literary capacity. However, in time he seems to have walked away from the Typhonian pseudo-o.t.o. and made his way to the now late Marcelo Ramos Motta and his S.O.T.O. Of course, a falling out was inevitable. Even if Breeze were a prince, Motta was a madman and only brown-nose butt-kissing devotees and other madmen who recognized him as their master could remain associated with Motta for any length of time. Otherwise, Motta eventually accused his "students" of plotting to murder him or something else just as implausible and booted them out of the S.O.T.O. - "cut contact" and "banned for life". However, leaving Motta may have been more Breeze's idea than Motta's, and this brings us to an interesting question. I really don't care about who Bill Breeze is. I am of the opinion that he is really, well, nobody. What concerns me more is what Bill Breeze is. And that brings us back to that interesting question.
Perhaps he finally found the magick! Ah, maybe with the Caliphate he found true Thelema, the real Ordo Templi Orientis?
No, anyone who really knows anything about the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. knows that the gang is no more the real Ordo Templi Orientis than any of the other groups mentioned above. And one is not likely to find any real magick within the Caliphate gang either. Although some members may, from time to time, bring a little of their own magick into the group, but these are usually the ones who take it back with them when they wise up and leave the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o., usually terribly disillusioned and disappointed. I know. I've spoken with quite a few ex-caliphate people who joined in good faith, with the highest hopes, only to find precious little magick and Thelema or even sincere fraternity in the gang. And, of course, Thelema is the rarest thing of all in the Caliphate gang. The hard-core members of the gang are the most unthelemic individuals imaginable.
Soon after Bill Breeze virtually came out of nowhere to take over the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o., much to the chagrin of Bill Heidrick [Frater Emet], who had high hopes of becoming the next "Caliph" after McMurtry's death, the "order" had begun a general sanitization process. Gradually, obvious to many, the Caliphate while claiming to be a Thelemic organization was also distancing itself from Aleister Crowley rather than to come to an understanding of the man, explain and defend the past O.H.O. of the O.T.O., the Logos of the Æon, To Mega Therion. Certain changes were made to clean up the group, and yet, oddly or perhaps because Breeze simply could not control everything, some things persisted. Initiatiations for female members are still attended to in greater numbers than for males - there's nudity involved. Mind you, I don't object to nudity. I object to the old æon "Fallen Christian" thinking that drives most of the people to be present while they are claiming to be Thelemites. As far as drugs go, well, Breeze at least created a public policy to cover his backside on this count. He's forbidden it, at least at certain times, under certain circumstances, and in this way when the illegal and controlled substances are employed by members he cannot be held accountable. One of his "lady" friends, Aisha Qadisha she calls herself, set up the Virtually Venus cyber-porn site, and surely Breeze is receiving a healthy portion of whatever profits they may be making. Immediately after I commented upon this in print, a huge portion of the site came down, all direct references to Thelema disappeared, all e-mail addresss and mailto links on the site other than the web mistress's were removed so that they could control all communications like good little old æon fascists, and then the site went back up, a little more carefully disguised and less obviously misrepresenting Thelema, but with the same old mixture of a few erotic pictures of a few attractive "ladies" and more badly done pornographic photographs of "women" who are something less than photogenic. And they are still selling the "dirty pictures", the porno videos, etc., as well as subscriptions to their online pornographic magazine. Oh, and by the way, the pornographic industry is booming. There is lots of money to be made in it, and this is of course why Breeze, through Aisha, got involved, for after all, it's the bottom line for him. So what if it cheapens the image of Thelema which they falsely claim to represent, catering to old æon and perverse ideas as to what women and sex are? And remember, there is a difference between artistic erotica and crass pornography. The bottom line here is money. Making it. Getting it. Accumulating it. Of course, again, Breeze has distanced himself, using Aisha, so that he thinks he is legally protected should things go sour.
So what is Bill Breeze protecting with his written commandments against drug use, using his woman as a buffer between him and his pornographic web site and so forth? Well, first and foremost he is protecting himself should anything go wrong. The people running interference for him are, in his crassly capitalistic mind, expendable. Secondly he is protecting his business interests.
Another thing that really began in earnest when Breeze took charge of the gang was the copyright nonsense. Based upon a few letters that young Grady Louis McMurtry received from Aleister Crowley referring to him as his "Caliph" and giving him control of the original Pasadena, California Agape Lodge only, if Karl Germer okayed it, and he did not, McMurtry and his people instituted him as the "Caliph" of the long dormant United States Ordo Templi Orientis. Never mind that the so-called "Caliphate Letters" do not appoint McMurtry O.H.O. [Outer Head of the Order], and never mind that the term "Caliph" never had meaning in the O.T.O. and is not synonymous with the specific term of O.H.O.; forget that the Constitution of the Order was entirely ignored, and that McMurtry was neither duly appointed nor elected to office. The Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. is not, after all, either Thelemic or democratic, but entirely fascistic, even to the point of having had a dictator step in and take control while his minions plot behind his back to take his place and overthrow the government that they had helped to put in place. Eventually Grady's old age, drug and alcohol abuse caught up with him and he died. His cohorts fought for power, sometimes right over his deathbed, without even having the courtesy to allow the man to first die, and suddenly, Bill Breeze, a low degree member of the Caliphate gang who was once associated with Kenneth Grant and Marcelo Motta after him, is X° and one would presume IX° O.T.O. and hailed as the new Caliph, creating a dynasty of sorts by assuming the "magical name" of Hymenaeus Beta and trying, for a time, to hide behind that name, using lines in the O.T.O. Constitution, up until then virtually ignored, to justify his anonymity. And what about that anonymity? Did it indeed prove Breeze to be a man without ego, a man not interested in leading another personality cult? No. The people around him still knew who he was, and he's always had his groupies and all the little perks of a petty cult leader. What the anonymity did, however, or was supposed to do, was to make it easier for him to run his business with less direct contact and conflict, better enabling him to bug out should the going get tough. And that brings us back to the matter of the supposed copyrights of Aleister Crowley's work.
It is worth nothing here that Grady McMurtry was not the only individual Crowley, in his last years, desperately considered as a candidate for his successor. He, in fact, considered numerous people, and proof of this pops up from time to time by way of letters that then seem to mysteriously disappear. However, one such letter written to Mr. Kenneth Grant has been presented by P. R. Koenig [a.k.a. Konig] on his web site, and it is a far more impressive letter than the so-called Caliphate Letters upon which the Caliphate ludicrously bases so many of its claims.
Aleister Crowley, during his lifetime, published most of his works himself in sumptuious editions that he then sold and gave away without the benefit of copyright, thus throwing the vast majority of his work into the Public Domain. Before Crowley died he named John Symonds as his literary executor, although only a few of his later works had been copyrighted by Karl Germer under the name of the O.T.O., and despite the fact that A.C. hardly knew the young Mr. Symonds at the time. We now know through a study of Symonds' book, The Great Beast, that the friendship he offered Crowley in his last days on earth was false, for a few years or so after A.C.'s death Symonds wrote his book which is nothing more than capitalistic profiteering and rude character assassination. Nevertheless, Crowley, desperate for people he could trust to carry on his work and protect his legacy after his death, chose John Symonds as his literary executor. On the other hand, he also awarded copyrights to the Ordo Templi Orientis. But here's the thing: the California court system did not actually name the Caliphate as the Ordo Templi Orientis, as they claim, and even if the court had done so it would not have made it a fact. The fact is that McMurtry, Hymenaeus Alpha, the first "Caliph", assumed control and was neither duly appointed nor elected, so his right to the title and office of O.H.O. never existed. Now Bill Breeze, Caliph Hymenaeus Beta, assumes his office based on this sham. In point of fact, the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. is not the genuine Ordo Templi Orientis that virtually died with Aleister Crowley in 1947 E.V. and Karl Germer in 1962 E.V. Therefore, the entity known as the Ordo Templi Orientis which had some rights to the few copyrighted works by Aleister Crowley cease to exist, and the group [or I should say groups as the Caliphate is not the only one falsely claiming to be the O.T.O.] calling itself the Ordo Templi Orientis is not what it claims to be and therefore has no rights whatsoever to the Crowley copyrights, few though they are in actual fact. However, this has not stopped Bill Breeze and his cronies from trying to control those copyrights as well as the publication and distribution of everything Aleister Crowley has written. It has even been reported to me recently that Breeze, directly or by way of a pawn in his game, has claimed that The Book of the Law - a publication in Class A, virtually a "divinely inspired" book, in this case written by Therion's personal "god" or Daemon, Genius, et al, his True Self, Aiwass, and transcribed by Crowley - was not written by Aiwass, that it came entirely from the mind of the man, the persona of Aleister Crowley. This, of course, caused some uproar in the so-called Thelemic community, I am told, and understandably, for it crushes the cornerstone of Thelema. And why would the practically self-appointed Frater Superior of the order do such a thing? Think! Aiwass has no copyright forms filed at the Copyright Office in Washington, D.C. There is absolutely nothing that gives anyone any right or apparent right to control anything written by Aleister Crowley's Holy Guardian Angel, and so, like the Judeo-Christian Bible, The Book of the Law is and must remain in the Public Domain. Ah, but if Breeze were successful in proving that Liber AL vel Legis, otherwise known as The Book of the Law was a work that came entirely from the mind of the man, Aleister Crowley, and he can convince everyone through his constant declarations, intimidation and use of confusion [the weapon of the satanist as well as the black brother, I must point out], that he and only he has the right to publish and distribute or sanction the publication of Crowleyana, for a fee or a cut of the profits, then he can also control the publication and distribution of The Book of the Law. Now I want you to think about that. What if, for instance, say, only the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope in Rome had the right to publish and distribute The Bible? How would that effect all of Christianity in society? What restrictions would it put upon Christian thought and ideology? Indeed, if Breeze has his way, what restrictions would it put upon the growth of Thelema in society? Ah, but of course, the growth of Thelema is of no concern to Bill Breeze and his cronies at the top of his dungheap.
Let me take a break here to state something clearly for the readers of this editorial review who may have become members of the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. Breeze's people will have you believe that I hate all of you for one petty reason or another. I don't hate anyone in the occult or Thelemic community. I have no personal axe to grind, I have no personal animosity even towards Bill Breeze. I am simply doing my job, accomplishing an important part of my True Will, and my concern is for Thelema and the memory of Aleister Crowley, the future of Thelema, and of course the future of the society that so desperately needs Thelema at this stage of history. Many of the individuals who join the Caliphate do so for the wrong reasons, it is true, and it is both the natural and the human thing to do. Some of them join because they want to be a part of something bigger and more powerful than they feel themselves to be, feeling impotent, small and useless, ignored in society and insignificant. This is how most "cults" attract their followers. Some are simply looking for companionship, connections with other people, in most cases people of like mind, who think at least somewhat as they themselves think and believe. Some people join because they heard that there was free sex and drugs to be had, there are parties to go to, thinly disguised as initiations and such. Some join because it's the in-thing to do at the moment - faddists enjoying the latest fad, which is why so many celebrities quickly joined the First Satanic Church in San Francisco back in it's heydey in the 60's when Anton LaVey managed to recruit members such as Sammy Davis Jr. The reasons, the wrong reasons, for joining a "cult" or pseudo-religion or sham fraternity are many and all petty. However, a certain number of individuals have joined the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. in the false belief or the vain hope that it is indeed the real, the genuine Ordo Templi Orientis, or at the very least with the naive hope that it could become that. They really do have a kind of "faith" in Thelema. They really did join hoping to contribute to society and the future of humankind. They sincerely believed that this group that calls itself the Ordo Templi Orientis could make all the difference in the world and return humankind to a new Golden Age on this planet, and bring society closer to the next æon of Truth and Justice. Some of these people are new to the Caliphate and have either not awaken to the truth or are only now starting to see the light. Many of these people have already realized the truth and left the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o., often bitterly disappointed, angry, feeling stupid and smaller than they felt before, feeling used, many so completely disillusioned that they have turned their backs on Thelema entirely under the belief that the Caliphate actually represented the philosophy. Some of these awakened ones realized that Thelema is not to blame and still consider themselves Thelemites, and a number of these individuals have come to understand my purpose, my True Will, at least in part, and have chosen of their own accord to assist me in one way or another. So, no, of course I do not instantly hate every single person who has joined the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. or any other such groups. We all make mistakes. Given so few choices it is easy to choose wrongly. We are all, you and I, only human, after all. However, the true test is not whether or not you joined such a group as the Calphate pseudo-o.t.o., but what you have done to or for Thelema and society while you were a member and if you decide to remain with the gang or if you see the light, follow your conscience, and both personally and formally abandon the sham fraternity to follow Thelema and your own Star rather than some profiteering leader who is only using you to achieve his petty, personal goals.
And so, Bill Breeze, a.k.a. Caliph Hymenaeus Beta, seeks to control the copyrights, the publication and distribution of everything Aleister Crowley has written. That much should be obvious to everyone, agree with me or not, but he is not doing it "for the Order" or "for Thelema". He is doing it for himself and perhaps the few cohorts at his side. He is doing it for personal profit. Consider this, you who have joined the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o.: what have you actually received for the ever increasing fees and dues that you pay regularly? For the most part, the vast majority of you only receive their publication, a newsletter that is constantly promising but never delivering regularity, and within its pages is little of worth. Oh, occasionally a little Crowleyana is dribbled out in its pages, an occasional bone or table scrap thrown to the dogs, as they seem to view matters, Crowley material elsewhere available and often better and more accurately edited, although the Caliphate is working hard to stop this to become the sole distributor and corner the Crowley market. Oh yes, some members receive a meaningless degree to write in beside their "magical name", attend an initiation ceremony, usually badly performed, that, if it actually does seem to initiate only does so upon the strength of the aspirant's own merits. Remember this: Even Aleister Crowley, Past O.H.O. Baphomet of the O.T.O., stated that all initiation is essentially self-initiation, and any ceremony performed by others is merely their way of confirming this, of recognizing what you have already achieved on your own, by your own sincere perseverance, diligence and hard work. So why would you pay someone else to do for you what you have already done for yourself? As a member of the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o., what have you actually received in return for all of the dues and fees you have paid that you could not have obtained or achieved on your own? At best, only an illusion, and trust me, you can have your illusions at a much lower cost as well, especially since the cost of your membership in a gang like the Caliphate is higher than the total amount of money you pay in fees and dues, higher than you imagine, for you are virtually selling your soul, giving your precious non-refundable time on earth to a group of people who are misspending your time for their own benefit.
Okay, so in truth you, the sincere aspirant to Thelema, find that you are receiving nothing of any real substance for the fees and dues you pay, the time and energy you may be putting into Caliphate projects, and what little you may receive is really nothing. The question then is this:
The answer is simple. Bill Breeze and those closest to him. While you are stuggling to earn your bread-and-butter money, paying your dues and fees, Mr. Breeze is travelling all over the United States and Europe. Oh certainly he can probably "prove" that he is using your money to further the goals of the Order, he attends an "initiation" here and there, he establishes a new Camp or Lodge or whatever, he puts in an occasional appearance, putting his stamp of approval on this or that, but is this his primary reason for travelling through the U.S. and Europe? No. It seems Mr. William Breeze is an avid collector of rare works by Aleister Crowley, works that he bids on at times, competing with the likes of Jimmy Page. I am told that he and Jimmy were getting tired of bidding against one another, raising the price of the rare Crowleyana higher, and that they had come to some kind of an agreement here, but that is beside the point. Be that as it may, Breeze is buying a lot of rare and expensive Crowley material, Crowleyana, and the question is here twofold:
How can Bill Breeze afford to travel so much and buy expensive rare books by Aleister Crowley? Where does he get the money?
#2
What does the membership receive out of Breeze's Crowleyana hunts and acquisitions?
I think the answers should be obvious to any person capable of thought and deduction. And has Thelema been securely established in society by Bill Breeze and the Caliphate? Absolutely not. It best serves Breeze's ends to keep the pseudo-o.t.o. and Thelema as nothing more than another fringe cult, one that does not draw too much attention, which, if it did attract attention from the general populace would, in turn, catch the interest of people who might investigate him and his activities, people and organizations with the money and connections to launch a thoroughly and pervasive investigation. The Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. is nothing more than the tiny fringe cult that it was over twenty years ago when Grady McMurtry used it to cater to his own petty, personal and addictive desires. In short, my dear friends, the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. is nothing more than a business run by Mr. Bill Breeze, a money making machine for him and his closest comrades, his "friends", such as they are, and at the expense of everyone who joins, some with the sincerest of hopes, at the expense of truth, at the expense of Thelema and at the expense of the very future of our society.
Here is something else you should think about in relation to Bill Breeze and the Caliphate gang. Why is it becoming increasingly difficult to locate books by Aleister Crowley? They are practically vanishing altogether in the regular, large bookstore chains, and many titles are even becoming difficult to find in occult bookshops devoted to such volumes. One reason is that Thelema is not being promoted in any way in the real wold outside of the relatively small occult community by the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o., and this is quite contrary to the actual goals of the genuine Ordo Templi Orientis, a temporal order which is supposed to gain power in society. The only "power" gained is business and financial power for Bill Breeze, not the order and not Thelema. And there is a reason why Crowley books are becoming more scarce, a little dribbled out by Breeze from time to time, mostly rehashed versions of material that had already been published, while various other editions are being killed, these Caliphate sanctioned editions carrying Breeze's comments and introductions on their back, promoting Breeze's money making machine, the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o.
If Crowley's works become more rare, more difficult to obtain, and if virtually one man controls the copyrights to everything Aleister Crowley has written, and that one man is in possession of a huge cache of rare works by Aleister Crowley and can control publication of those works while profiting from said works, just think of the money that Bill Breeze can make from the sale of the writings by Aleister Crowley.
And finally, let me return to the beginning here and explain why I opened this review and commentary on Bill Breeze and the Caliphate gang by informing you that recently I had been the victim of an Internet scam to acquire my credit card number, was the victim of a drive-by shooting, had a computer virus sent to me, and had this web site, Castle of the Silver Star, violated, cutting off your access to the Simon Iff stories and the site of a sincere Thelemite who was/is offering freely for your benefit nicely and accurately edited works of rare Crowleyana.
The individual, perhaps part of a group, that sent me a bogus e-mail message in .txt format along with an .html form that apparently came from my ISP, CompuServe, requesting verification of my name, address and credit card number, obviously came from someone very computer literate, someone no doubt expert in such things as computer hacking. Due to a series of unfortunate coincidences, against my better judgement and normal suspicions, I was actually suckered into this scam. However, thanks to a friend of mine, Tom, I became aware of the nature of this scam in time to cancel my credit card before the number could be used. I alerted CompuServe of the fraud perpetrated in their name, providing them with all of the material that had been sent to me and which I had kept on file, and then I provided the State Attorney General's Office with the same material, both on disk and in print-out form. The matter is now being investigated by the proper authorities. This is a very serious crime.
As for the drive-by shooting: a car's windows were blown out by the bullet, a car belonging to a neighbour in my apartment building, a car that was parked close to under my apartment window. My lights were on, but I was not at home, so if indeed the bullet was intended for me the shooter was inept, and that alone helps to identify him. Of course the bullet may have only been intended to frighten me, but if that's the case it failed twice since I was neither home to be hit by the ill aimed bullet and it would take more than that to frighten me. I've already stared into the barrel of a gun at least twice, once even daring the would be robber to shoot, making a fool of him and laughing in his face. Obviously he did not pull the trigger. The reason? He controlled the loaded gun, most certainly, but facing possible death, I controlled him. As to who it was who fired the bullet or ordered the drive-by shooting, I can only say here that I find it suspicious in light of David Besson's threat to kill me, published elsewhere on this web site, and the e-groups site that he has virtually locked me out of, which I am told is named "shootthebastard@egroups.com", and which regularly trashes me as behind my back as it can get, with absurd and provable lies such as the lie claiming that I quit school in the 10th Grade, proving Bersson a petty coward as well as a madman.
By the way, I am informed that Bersson [a.k.a. Cliff Steven Maverick and a host of other pseudonyms with various P.O. boxes and e-mail addresses, often used to praise himself in print using these other names] has claimed that I am a "loser" because I tar driveways for a living. In the first place, I have never in my life tarred a driveway nor worked with tar in any way, so how he came up with this lie I'll never know. I do, however, in managing an apartment building for a meagre pay and free rent, sometimes sweep and vacuum floors, repair plumbing, attend to electrical problems, and so forth, but no job in and of itself makes any man or woman a "loser". All work, especially for the benefit of others, conscientiously pursued to the best of one's ability, is honourable work, and one should not give into the elistest thinking of individuals who believe that some work is honourable and some is not simply because a person must get his hands dirty in the process. The world would be in serious shape without sanitation engineers and recycling centres. And if no one cleaned out the public lavatories, well, just imagine what you would have to put up with because of the rude and disgusting behaviour of some people! In fact, I have told a few individuals that when I finally decide to open up the first real Abbey of Thelema everyone will, of course, have to take turns at various chores like house cleaning, and that I will scrub the floors and toilets just as frequently or more frequently than everyone else there. I am of the opinion that to stay in touch with others and remain well grounded one should not do or avoid anything that would tend to encourage one to believe that one is above this or that or somehow superior to others. Likewise, I think that allowing religions tax exempt status has led to far too much abuse of the law, the creation of too many businesses under the guise of religion, and that as a consequence all religions should have to pay taxes like any other group of people or organization, but that's another matter that so far has nothing to do with the Caliphate psuedo-o.t.o. At any rate, I found Bersson's remarks, under whatever name he made them, amusing, for while he is calling me a "loser" he is also bragging, it has been reported, about having a medical degree, and if this be the case, why is he then slinging hash in a local restaurant, working as a cook? If I had a medical degree, I probably wouldn't be making much money at my profession anyway, but I would at least be practicing medicine in some capacity, probably in a depressed neighbourhood that desperately needed a physician. So I ask here, who is the "loser"?
So what does the drive-by shooting and David Bersson have to do with Bill Breeze and the Caliphate? Nothing, at least upon this level of consciousness, but there is something behind all this, something natural, automatic, impersonal that does not want to see Thelema established in human society, but that subject is for an article far more esoteric than this review and commentary. It was only mentioned to show what lengths the pseudo-thelemites are willing to go to in order to shut me up. David Bersson has already threatened my life, ordered an ex-member's flat broken into, papers and books stolen, and ordered his minions to beat up the young fellow, a member of his group, who purchased his Gold Coins for the lady who allowed me to read it for the purpose of review, but at that time his people backed down and talked him out of that illegal and most unthelemic action. Bersson's people have also, a local occult bookshop owner reported to me, stolen her private mailing list, a thing which caused her some grief, so to think that David Bersson would stop at any illegal act would be foolish. By the way, he is currently under investigation and his activities in New Mexico, before he moved to Pittsburgh, are being looked into even as I write this. Doubt me, David? Good.
Then of course there was worm.explore.exe which came in worm.explore.zip, apparently the latest computer virus we have all been warned about on the television news and by friends via the Internet. I received a text message apparently from Gregory von Seewald, who has finally decided to accept the late Marcelo Motta as a legitimate representative of the A.·.A.·. and allied himself with Ray "Slippery" Eales and his H.O.O.R. and David Bersson and his continuance of Motta's pseudo-o.t.o., the S.O.T.O. I suppose he has reason to want to "get even" with me since I have not spoken kindly of him in print, although truthfully, and spurned his attempts to suck me into his delusions and that sham A.·.A.·. The message apparently came from VonSeewald@aol.com, this is indeed the name of his e-mail account, and some time before this, when everyone was talking about the Melissa virus, he sent me a "Melissa.jpg" which turned out to be the spinning seal from this site frozen and corrupted looking, the intention being to scare me and make me believe that I'd just been attacked by a virus. He failed in his attempt because my work with computers and the information I receive from friends and associates who know more about computers than I will ever know is educating me, despite the fact that as a technological Neanderthal I am still dragging my knuckles somewhat. However, if indeed Gregory von Seewald sent this computer virus to me, which I destroyed instantly in the perscribed manner having been amply forewarned by the news and friends, I sincerely doubt he would ever admit to this. At most he might say it was "only a joke". Some joke... But did Gregory von Seewald send the computer virus, or did someone else send it by way of his e-mail account?
As I understand it, this virus infects a person's hard drive and uses his e-mail program's Address Book to spread out to others, sending itself from his account, so that actually someone else may have first attacked von Seewald's hard drive to reach me and perhaps others. I noted instantly that I received this directly after putting one Kjetil Fjell in place via an e-mail exchange. And who is he? Well, some of you think you know who he is, but as a member of the Caliphate do you know what he is?
Kjetil Fjell first contacted me via e-mail on the 2nd of May of this year, 1999 E.V. "While I don't consider myself a fan of your efforts, I do react to the trend within the circles of David Bersson and his cronies, to falsely spread rumours and lies about people they don't like," he opened his first message with. He then went on to point out that "It's rather clear that Cliff Steven Maverick is David Bersson in disguise (they show the same type of grammatic errors and lack of proper spelling abilities)" and he proceeded to inform me that Bersson was calling me a "beggar" because I am "begging" for money. In point of fact, I have never "begged" for anything in my entire 48 years of life, although I have, in a few places, invited interested parties, if it be their Will, to assist Newaeon in it's work in behalf of Thelema. That is a different matter indeed. So I basically thanked Kjetil and explained that Bersson's e-group talk was only monkey chatter and not worth much concern. Of course I had to wonder if he was really trying to be helpful, knowing beforehand that he has been a member of the Caliphate gang for some years now, or if he was merely trying to focus my efforts on David Bersson and the S.O.T.O., believing that I had an ego that he could manipulate, and thus take some of the heat off of the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o.
Kjetil Fjell gave me the impression that he was not as happy with his membership in the Caliphate as one would think, but perhaps he had inadvertantly done this or perhaps with his feigned fraternal approach this is what he wished me to believe. Be that as it may, he told me that he is 25 years old and will be 26 in August in his message dated May 6th, 1999 E.V., that he is Norwegian, thus the name that sounds odd to most Americans, and lives in Norway, studying at the Norwegian University of Technology and Science. This is an important fact to remember. He also told me in this message that he had been a member of the Caliphate for 6 years, which would mean that he had joined around the age of 19, still wet behind the ears, and he went on to say that he hasn't "had anything serious to complain about." Of course my comment upon this was that he lives in Norway, he is not in the thick of things here in the United States, and he is fairly isolated from most of the shenanigans of the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. and may not be aware of everything they are up to. It should also be noted that the Caliphate began his indoctrination at an early, rebellious and impressionable age and that he still lacks the maturity and savvy that time and experience bestows upon most individuals, and he may actually believe he is on the side of right and doing good. If so, Kjetil will be among those who will one day find themselves drowning in a sea of despair, wondering how it could have all proven to be a lie with no hope to grab onto as they sink below the waves of hoplessness that will wash over them. [The "prophet" has spoken! I smile impishly.]
Of course our communication was ill fated, but before things went bad, while he was still acting quite friendly towards me, and I am a man who is willing to be sociable even with "the enemy", as long as we are not on the battlefield at the time, things happened. Bad things, my friends. Very bad things.
I received an "alert" from my host, GeoCities, that iffintro.html, misspelled by them, but never mind that, had been deleted from this site. No explanation was given. Well, imagine having your home broken into and being robbed. Imagine being sexualy assaulted and molested. This gives you an idea of how violated I felt at the time, and, yes, more than a little angry. So why was this particular file, the Introduction to the Simon Iff stories, deleted? Apparently I had unknowningly broken a GeoCities rule. There are so many rules to know and obey, here, there and everywhere in our society, it is impossible not to innocently break one by accident. I had on that page a link to a commercial site, Teitan Press, and I had this link there only to be fair to Mr. Martin Starr, although he is devoted to the late Marcelo Motta and we must then disagree philosophically. However, he produces one of the four collections if Simon Iff stories in an excellently manufactured book, and the last I heard, for a reasonable price, his business practices ethical and professional according to the last reports I received. Therefore, to be fair to him and helpful to students, I put a link to his site on iffintro.html and this, apparently was the chink in Newaeon's armour that the Caliphate needed. This was pointed out to GeoCities along with the lie that I am unlawfully publishing material copyrighted by the Caliphate "Ordo Templi Orientis" on this site. GeoCities, should have (a) asked me to explaim my side of the story, and (b) informed me that I had inadvertantly broken a rule and asked me to remove the link to a commercial site. I would have gladly complied in both cases. One only needs to be reasonable and polite with me. At any rate, I protested, I explained matters. [For instance, the 4 collections of the Simon Iff stories are in the Public Domain, having been widely distributed without the benefit of copyright, generally, and for these past 20 years, after I saw how they were being hoarded by the Caliphate, I have been distributing them in print at great expense to myself, with the knowledge of the Caliphate but up until now unchallenged by them, insuring their Public Domain status for all to enjoy.] I also deleted the link to Teitan Press [Sorry Martin, the devils made me do it!] and that very evening got iffintro.html back up and operating, giving back to you, the readers and students of Crowley and Thelema, access to these stories that Aleister Crowley wrote, that the Caliphate tried to restrict your access to. But there was more to this action than that.
In that file, on that page, there was also a link to another GeoCities site:
That site contained a great deal of rare Crowleyana, mostly in .pdf format, produced by a devoted and sincere Thelemite who tries always to be fair, honest and upright, whose editing, typesetting and computer work is excellent, whose only wish was to provide you with as much Public Domain Crowleyana as he could, and at some great personal expense of time and money, I might add. By getting iffintro.html deleted the Caliphate also managed to restrict your access to this material that, for all anyone knows, for all the Caliphate can know, may be crucial and necessary to your discovery and accomplishment of your True Will. Such actions are highly unthelemic.
The next day, after I reestablished the linking page between the Castle's home page and the Simon Iff stories, I learned that the SoHo/Bistro/2252 site had been virtually shut down. GeoCities deleted the home page and locked the fellow out of File Manager and hadn't even sent him the "alert" they had sent me. He only discovered what had happened after hearing about my experience and then checking his site. Now there is no link to a commercial site on this Rare Crowleyana site, so how did the Caliphate encourage GeoCities to do this? As always, they threatened a law suit after lying about owning copyrights. This schoolyard bully tactic has been used by the Caliphate time and time again to discourage publishers from publishing Crowleyana, and to have Crowleyana sites not sactioned by them pulled off the Internet, defeating the American idea of Freedom of Speech and the Internet ideal of free access to information. They confuse the issue by talking about foreign copyrights and all manner of things - and in this context it should be remembered that the Simon Iff stories on this site were written on American soil, so the fact that the author was a British citizen, who, at the time, was at least pretending to revoke his citizenship, puts that matter in perspective - and in every way possible the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o., i.e. Bill Breeze and his closest cronies, using at times well-meaning but naive individuals as mere pawns in their game, to control your access to the Crowley material that you may need to discover and accomplish your True Will, your purpose for existing, are committing the only "sin" in Thelema through restriction and interfering with your Will. This also, of course, proves the Caliphakes to be hypocrites.
Soon after, undaunted, having suffered some at the hands of the cyber-terrorists known as the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o., for terrorism it most certainly is, a cowardly attack upon another and most unthelemic, unbecoming of a "king of the earth", a Thelemite, the fellow trying to provide you with rare Crowleyana, becoming more rare all the time, put his site back up on the Net via Tripod only to have the Caliphate come in and have it once more removed. Of course both GeoCities and Tripod should have challenged their claims and made them prove beyond doubt that (a) they really do own the copyrights they falsely claim to own, and (b) that they really are the "Ordo Templi Orientis" that has some rights to the few things copyrighted late in Crowley's lifetime. However, the easiest thing for the web site hosts to do was to delete files and await word from the naturally outraged "community" members to hear their side of the issue. I won't get into the ethics of a web site's behaviour in such matters, but it is natural for everyone to wish to avoid law suits. The Caliphate counts on that.
While it is true that it is difficult to get information out of web site hosts, the same cannot be said for individuals who deplore cyber-terrorism, bullying, lies and ungentlemanly behaviour.
From ormus@one.mind.net Thu Sep 25 07:46:42 1997
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Et cetera. The only change I made in the above was to eliminate a few angle brackets and replace them with flat ones to avoid confusing the computer in translating HTML code. This message was sent to me shortly after or perhaps before the Castle of the Silver Star was launched into cyber-space while I was still without a computer and working with the Carnegie public library computers. At that time I had a Hotmail account, the e-mail account Soror Rhia, formerly of the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o., had set up for me when she initiated this web site. The message went on a bit, although interestingly so, containing the following, quoted directly from that original message in .txt format.
Peace, Tolerance, Truth
Wed, 24 Sep 1997, on thelema-93-l you had stated:
People who complain, for instance, that they cannot get their hands on certain documents are complaining because those documents have been restricted by the Caliphate. Simple. How many times has, for instance, the published book by Francis King, THE SECRET RITUALS OF THE O.T.O., appeared on the Net and been pulled off by the Caliphate? Often.Having been isolated in the Southern Oregon Valley of the Rogue, I have always assumed that the inability to obtain materials regarding especially the history of the O.T.O. to be due to geographical location ... being far from a civilized O.T.O. Lodge. I have been an initiate of the Caliphate O.T.O. since 1990, and still know relatively little as to the origins of that order, outside of those meager pieces published in the Third Series of the Equinox.
Granted, I have been able to piece together a teneble theory based upon accounts gleaned from those with an obvious axe to grind, i.e. the O.T.O.A. (and Michael Bertieux), Peter Koenig, the writings of Grant, to name but a few. However, there remains still alot to be explained.
Essentially, I am most interested in hearing more about such materials as are restricted by the Caliphate O.T.O. I feel that in order for the Caliphate O.T.O. to grow beyond a small, "clubish" clique, and take a more central role in society, we need to know our origins, so as to provide a better context upon which to build. Not to mention putting forth an effort to share information ... especially that information which is vital to promote growth. There was magick before Crowley, and there shall be after him ... but for Thelema to grow, and Thelemic Magick in particular, I feel that this information must be available to those who seek this knowledge unto the ends of furthering it beyond what it is (especially making it more applicable to the average person instead of just the aspiring magician!) Anyways, I am ranting.
Actually this gentleman was not "ranting". He was making an important point and one that the Caliphate turns a deaf ear to since the future of the O.T.O., society and Thelema is not what is important to Bill Breeze and his cadre of cohorts. But to continue with this Thelemite's message to me:
***Ironically, it was my last room-mate, Darrin Hyrup (Fr. 351) who was the one sending out the Kill messages and warnings on behalf of the Order whenever the SECRET RITUALS OF THE O.T.O. or the current Initiation Rituals were posted on the Net (from '90 till about '95). After which, Bill Heidrick would be notified, and would pursue the issue further with the offending (sic) parties.***Anyways, what I was originally writing for was that I would be most grateful to read your writings regarding Thelema and the O.T.O. If you could point to the best place to view them. Also, I am interested to know if you have an e-text version of the SECRET RITUALS OF THE O.T.O. by King, and/or LIBER AGAPE by Crowley (which I am told that the Caliphate won't even acknowledge as existing outside of the IX Degree or the A.A. ... it isn't listed once in the Archive Listing, or in any of the "Complete" lists of Libers!) which you might be able to e-mail me. I would be most indebted!
Thank you for your attention and your time.
Mark O. Garrison
Fr. ORMUS
I did try to contact Mark before writing this editorial comment and review, but my message was bounced back to me, his e-mail account as listed here apparently closed. If you're out there somewhere, Mark, drop me a line!
In light of recent events, after the rude and unthelemic acts of cyber-terroism, I remembered this e-mail message and had a devil of a time locating it, my computer disk files not nearly as orderly maintained as other files, so far. Finding it, reading it, I began to wonder who took over the duties of Darrin Hyrup after 1995 E.V., about four years ago as of this writing. I began to wonder who had initially contacted GeoCities and then Tripod and caused so much trouble for me and more so for my Brother-in-Thelema.
Adversity creates strange allies at times. It was P. R. Koenig who informed me that Kjetil Fjell is now in charge of Caliphate "Internet Affairs". I do not approve of Koenig's motives nor his tactics at times, but I have always said he is positively maniacal in digging up all kinds of information on the Ordo Templi Orientis and it's current batch of pseudo-o.t.o. pretenders. I then asked Kjetil point blank about this matter and he replied, after first evading my question and then ranting a bit about how he ceased communicating with me because of my constant and petty attacks against the Caliphate - never mind that I only voiced a few opinions elicited by him, and I wasn't even aware that he had cease to communicate with me as there was little time between our previous message and this later one.
"Which question?" He asked in his reply of June 14th, 1999 E.V., although I only asked one question:
You said you had been thinking of my role in the O.T.O., and I answered your questions re: my relationship with the O.T.O. If you are thinking of whether I was part of a proper regulation of copyright violation, I decline to answer. It simply is not you business. My function as a officer of the I.H.Q. is something which I keep strictly outside the realms of my personal life. Those who are in the need to know know of my involvement or non-involvement in the particular matter you mention.
This of course, to any intelligent, thinking person, confirmed it. Kjetil Fjell, replacing Darrin Hyrup, is the new Caliphate cyber-hitman. And of course it was my business since my web site, the Newaeon web site had been the victim of cyber-terrorisim that he, in behalf of the Caliphate, instigated. And pardon me all to hell if I take that a wee bit personally. Furthermore, I told him that he had no right to attack the Newaeon site if indeed "regulation of copyright violation" was the real issue here since everything on the Newaeon site is either copyrighted by me, G.M.Kelly, or Crowley material that is securely established to be in the Public Domain. It might also be noted that he seems to live his life by double standards. Between my personal life and my professional life in regards to Thelema, there is no difference. But wearing two faces is a common trait within the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o.
In a later message I told Kjetil that I was disappointed in him, and he replied that he didn't care if I was disappointed in him, I am not his man, he is his own man! My reply was to correct him and tell Kjetil that no, he is not his own man, he is Bill Breeze's man. And that was the last I heard or really want to hear from Kjetil Fjell.
It was directly after this that the computer virus was sent to me and summarily destroyed and deleted. Another act of ungentlemanly, hell, simply unmanly as well as unthelemic cyber-terrorism defeated.
And recently when someone objected to me referring to the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. as a "gang", I merely pointed out how they act very much like a petty street or criminal gang and explained that if the word fits, apply it.
First and foremost, the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. is not THE Ordo Templi Orientis. Neither the late Grady Louis McMurtry nor William Breeze were properly appointed or elected to office according to the original O.T.O. Constitution, and there are others, Kenneth Grant for instance, who have a better claim to the office of O.H.O. of the O.T.O. than either McMurtry did or Breeze does. Therefore, any claims THE Ordo Templi Orientis may have on the Crowley copyrights are claims that the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o. has no right to make.
Secondly, the vast majority of Crowley's works were privately published by him and distributed without the benefit of copyright, instantly throwing that work into the Public Domain, and what relative few works that were copyrighted during Crowley's last days by probably his last loyal brother in the real and now long dead O.T.O., Karl Germer, were made in the name of the genuine O.T.O. which ceased to exist quite a long while ago. Furthermore, if the matter of copyrights be pressed, Mr. John Symonds, named in Crowley's Last Will and Testament as his literary executor, would have more right to claim ownership of those copyrights than anyone in the Caliphate pseudo-o.t.o.
Furthermore, by their fruits ye shall know them: the Caliphate employs every dirty trick in the book, lies, confusion, bullying, threats to file law suits, cyber-terrorism, every filthy, behind the back sneak attack imaginable, ignoring every Thelemic rule of conduct to be found in The Book of the Law, proving themselves liars and hypocrites in the process, to restrict your access to Crowley material you may need to discover and accomplish your True Will, to restrict you, it's own membership [most of whom are nothing more than subscribers to their irregularly published newsletter] and others, and interfere with your Will. They will go so far as to commit acts of cyber-terrorism, having web sites pulled off the internet, destroying people's work, interfering with their Will, trampling upon the Constitution of the United States and the Thelemic Rights of Man to achieve their petty, personal goals. And of course with all that's been happening to me lately, I am wondering just how much further they are willing to go. With money behind it all, greed the driving force, one never knows!
And just what horrible things have I done? I have written some articles, voiced my opinions, presented my evidence, providing you with an alternate point of view so that you do not have to rely solely upon the "party line", and offered you a little free, Public Domain Crowleyana along the way, often at more expense to myself than I can afford, while sinking further and further into debt while Bill Breeze and his associates are doing pretty well on the fees and dues and more that they gather from hard-working people and the works of a man who is not alive to protest their parasitic lifestyle.
If you value the work of Aleister Crowley!If, since he has no heirs who wish to contest it, you believe that the works of Aleister Crowley should be free for all to learn from, to draw inspiration, strength and wisdom from, to enjoy as do the Christians their Bible!
Then deny Bill Breeze and the Caliphate gang their power torestrict those works that they did not create, that Our Father To MegaTherion gave to the world, gave to us, so that Thelema may prosper in the world, so that Thelema may transform the world by leading humankind to the Next Step in human evolution and usher in the next æon of Truth and Justice!
Deny the profiteers their profit in the work of a better man who is himself no longer capable of defending his work!
Deny the fascists their ability to restrict and limit our access to knowledge that we need to find our way in life, to discover and accomplish our individual True Wills!
No one is denying Bill Breeze, Heidrick, Scriven or the rest of the literary rapists the rights to their works, the results of their paltry literary efforts. They may control their own literary creations, but they must be denied the right to control another man's work! Bill Breeze and the Caliphate gang must be denied the ability to control our lives!
Deny the literary rapists of Aleister Crowley's works the power to control those works that he wished all the world to have free access to, read, learn from and be guided by!
Refuse to add to the Caliphate gang's power by refusing to allow them to continue sucking monetary strength from your veins!
Rape of Thelema!
In a recent exchange of e-mail messages I had written: "There are all the cults and pseudo-religions that eagerly use the tax exempt status in the U.S. for the fellows at the top to make money." The response to this that I received from a British citizen who has made a study of Caliphate operations:
You may be interested to note that OTO's religious tax exempt status IRS letter is dated May 1982, 501(c)3 and exempt. CA State exemption letter for the same is dated 31 March 1983, retroactive to March 1980 e.v. - that's for OTO International. The US Grand Lodge separately incorporated a few years ago and separately obtained the same exempt standing - except IHQOTO is not required to file FForm 990 and USOTOGL is. What this means is that they have applied for and receive special tax exempt status in the United States for being a non-profit religious group. Bill Heidricks's own words:"OTO copyrights on Crowley texts are treated as ordinary, mundane intellectual property, without regard to religious usage, under the law. That makes them the same in statute as any other book, be it fiction or factual writing."
Therefore, he is saying that their reliance on the Copyright Law is based on them as publishers . . . that the OTO is technically a business. I believe that if they do not relinquish their false claim on the copyrights there is a strong case for the OTO paying the back taxes owed since 1980 (19 years!!!) when they falsely claimed they were a non-profit religious group. A 1971 law giving the Christian Science Church an extended copywright to its central theological texts was declared unconstitutional by a federal appeals court. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington said the law giving the church a copyright is unconstitutional because it "offends the fundamental principles of separation of church and state." Caliphake cannot have the benefits of the Government's protection in both cases. That is unconstitutional and would crumble under scrutiny result[ing] in a Federal criminal investigation.
Not only The Book of the Law, the cornerstone of Thelema, but all of the works of Aleister Crowley, the founder of Thelema, are "holy books" directly or indirectly intended to guide Thelemites to an understanding of the philosophy, as well as a means of assisting Thelemites in the discovery and accomplishment of the True Will. And I ask you this: does any one individual or group own Moses, Jesus or the Buddha, or the works attributed or credited to them? Does anyone have their copyright brand on these World Teachers? No. And so it should be. Likewise, no one individual or group should be permitted to own Therion, to be the sole distributor of Aleister Crowley's works, the only arbitrator in matters relating to the Master Therion. Brand not the man nor his works with the C-in-a-Circle, restricting the sacred works of Our Father To Mega Therion! Only the crass, opportunistic capitalist without morals, without ethics, without integrity, lacking a conviction in Thelema and Crowley would want to brand the man and his works. And that individual then proves beyond a doubt that he is not a Thelemite.