Secret Societies in Marin

"Toward a Fraternal History of Marin County" includes magickal fraternities such as the OTO and a thought-provoking introduction to magick.

As it relates to the Ordo Templi Orientis the article poses some interesting intellectual challenges. For instance before reading this, I'd never considered for a moment that the OTO and the Ancient Arabic Nobles Order of the Mystic Shriner (AANOMS or Shriners) were two sides of the same coin in pursuit of the Great Work or that the Shrine in any way may have been the progenitor of the OTO.

It also challenges readers to consider that Crowley (whom the article never refers to by name?) many have been less an avatar of the New Aeon but rather a follower building on the more studied works of orientalists like Sir Austin Henry Layard, Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, C.W. Goodwin, Gaston Maspero, and Sir James Frazer, and in that regard is similar to novelists/poets such as Scott, Moore and Hitchens.

It's also interesting in the glimpse it gives us of other ritualistic societies practicing the Great Work, which appear to have grown in imitation of Freemasonry. Some groups are so obscure that many probably won't recognize names like the Patriarchs Militant, Knights of the Golden Eagle, Knights of the Maccabees, or Knights of Pythias.

Reviewing the bibliography, I'm amazed at the access this Mason had to primary source materials, especially the rituals of esoteric work utilized by the various secret societies. I have to wonder if each Masonic Lodge has such in-depth access to the ritual texts of so many other groups? And, what don't they know about the OTO?

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