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200 Ordo Templi Satanas
threw out all the other claims. A key piece of
evidence in this legal battle was the fact that the
original manuscript of Crowley’s Book of the Law
had turned up in a box in a basement in Berkeley.
By the time he died in 1985, Grady had turned
the OTO into a dynamic organization with an
active membership of several hundred individuals,
about half of them in California. One manifestation
of this was the Nuit-Urania Coven of the
New, Reformed, Orthodox Order of the Golden
Dawn, which practiced “Thelemic Wicca” under
the leadership of (among others) the Lady
Chandria, who succumbed to cancer in 1988. In
1988 the OTO reported a membership of 700 in
the USA and 1,400 worldwide.
At several points, the OTO has developed
internal organizations that are to some extent
“secret” and claim to carry on the traditions of the
old AA. In July 1981, this internal “secret society”
was called “The Knights of Baphomet,” which was
described as the Caliph’s Praetorian Guard. Three
or four years after that, that organization had
fallen apart, and the new “inner court” society was
called the AA.
Lon Milo Duquette was one of Grady’s “battlefield
promotion” Ninth-Degrees and the head of
Heru-Ra-Ha Lodge in Costa Mesa from 1978 on.
(He is still the official head of the lodge, but it has
been practically inactive since about 1988.) He
was given the title “First Emir” by the Caliph
(Grady McMurtry) and was, at one point, the
prime contender to be the next Caliph and the
next head of the order.
Another contender for this position was
William Heidrick of Berkeley, California. The
contest between Duquette and Heidrick threatened
to tear the organization to shreds; so in
September 1985, about three or four months after
Grady’s death, a compromise candidate who
prefers to be known only as Hymenaeus Beta was
made head of the OTO, and its headquarters were
moved to Manhattan. Since that time, the AA has
become more secretive, and the OTO has become
“squeaky clean” in its public image and has apparently
ceased to be a magical or even religious
organization. It has thoroughly (or at least
publicly) deemphasized the practice of any sort of
magick, sexual or otherwise. The OTO has
claimed that it continues to grow, but generally,
according to one long-time member, what
happens is that new members join, attracted by
Crowley’s lore and reputation, take a few months
to realize that the OTO no longer has anything to
do with Crowley, and then leave. The order
continues to carry their names as current
members for years.
See also Crowley, Aleister; Hermetic Order of the
Golden Dawn; Left-Hand Path; Magic and Magical
Groups
For Further Reading:
Crowley, Aleister. Magic in Theory and Practice. New
York: Castle, n.d. [ca. 1929].
King, Francis. Sexuality, Magic, and Perversion.
London: New English Library, 1971.
Randolph, Paschal Beverly. Eulis: Affectional
Alchemy. 5th ed. Quakertown, PA: Beverly Hall,
Confederation of Initiates, 1930.
Regardie, Israel, ed. Gems from the Equinox: Selected
Writings of Aleister Crowley. St. Paul, MN:
Llewellyn, 1974.
Ordo Templi Satanas
The Ordo Templi Satanas (OTS) was associated
with the Church of Satanic Brotherhood. Some of
its members were former members of the brotherhood,
with which it shared many practices, beliefs,
and organization. Its temples were located in
Indianapolis, Indiana, and in Louisville, Kentucky.
Its leader was Joseph Daniels (Apollonius), priest
of Hermopolis. The order existed for only few
years, after which it was disbanded.
See also Church of Satanic Brotherhood; Church of
Satan
For Further Reading:
Melton,J.Gordon.The Encyclopedia of American
Religion. 5 th ed. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1996.
There are three essays attributed to the OTS posted
at: http://www.satanservice.org/smakers.html
Our Lady of Endor Coven
Our Lady of Endor Coven, Ophite Cultus Satanas,
was founded by Herbert Arthur Sloane of Toledo,
Ohio, in 1948. It thus existed many years before the
Church of Satan. The philosophy of Our Lady of
Endor Coven is based on Gnosticism. The demi-