Tag: OTO
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Reflections on the OTO: Part V — The Non-Fraternity
In 1993, I took my third degree initiation in the OTO. At the same time, one young man—Brother WZ—took his first degree. Soon after, Brother WZ came down with a life-threatening illness that required he be placed on life-support at the best equipped hospital in the state of Alabama. Now, I was in school at…
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Paganism has a Counseling Problem and It is Destroying Communities
One of the biggest problems facing the neopagan community is the general lack of qualifications of its clergy. Sure, someone may become a third-degree high priestess of a Wiccan coven or achieve the seventh degree of the OTO and prance about calling himself a bishop but, without proper training in pastoral counseling, what do these…
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Reflections on the OTO: Part IV — The Hypocrisy
One thing the OTO will often fall back on is that it is a “volunteer organization” — when it suits the people in the upper echelons. The OTO, they will quickly point out when criticized, is composed of people who volunteer their time to the Order; lower degree members should be grateful that the higher…
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Reflections on the OTO: Part III — The Slandering
After I left the OTO, a malicious campaign was launched to teach new members in the Atlanta area that I was not to be trusted, was prone to violence, and was an abuser of women. Specifically that I was guilty of sexually assaulting a woman during an initiation. Me. The guy who put the “Ho”…
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Reflections on the OTO: Part II — Drug Abuse
Until I joined the OTO at 19, I was a casual smoker of marijuana. By the time I left the OTO, I’d sampled every “strange drug” I could and was starting to develop a psychological immunity (burn out) to pot. Of course, witnessing my immediate superior in the Order–the then-camp-master-later-oasis-master of Midnight Sun Camp/Oasis–shoot-up cocaine…
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Hellier: Season Two’s End
This is the third part of a short series. The first part may be viewed here, and the second part, here. What good can I say of Allen H. Greenfield? I no longer think he actually initiated this or manipulated this from the start. I do, however, know that Allen has built a large network…
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The Problematic Nature of Amazon’s Hellier
Amazon’s docuseries, Hellier, details an investigation by three apparently terribly ignorant “paranormal researchers” into the presence of small “goblins” living in a mineshaft near the moribund mining town of Hellier, Kentucky. Despite being rife with pseudoscience and obvious bad actors (as in agents, not hired thespians), the show emphasizes the growing and alarming disparity between…
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Cults & Cult-Like Organizations: Ideation, Identity, and Ostracism
When I left the cult called Ordo Templi Orientis and began to speak the truth of its dysfuntional leaders and internal problem, I wasn’t exactly stunned when people I’d never even known began to attack me personally. Threatening emails, random phone calls in the middle of the night, and even efforts to get me fired…
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Cult Mentality
So, the website of Marco Visconti–a cult survivor who got out of Ordo Templi Orientis–is under a denial-of-service attack after his most recent revelation. This is an organization that claims to promote the freedom of man. The upside to this is that, whoever is doing this, will eventually experience cognitive dissonance–a feeling of malaise that…