Theos-Talk Archives (November 2006 Message tt00149)

Hi 

While I don't have it in front of me, Keith Richmond in his recent 
biography of Frank Bennett, 'Progradior and the Beast' critiques the 
idea that Vyvyan Deacon was associated with any OTO.  

>From what I've been able to dig up online, one other good point made 
about your claim of some years ago which appears on Peter Koenig's 
OTO site - that Deacon had received his authority from Reuss himself -
  was that if Reuss did pass a transmission to Vyvyan Deacon, it 
would have occurred when Deacon was thirteen years old at the most.  
Deacon was born in 1895 and left Britain by 1908.  I query the 
likelihood of that.

I wonder if it is more likely that Deacon received a transmission via 
Wedgwood or Leadbeater, but was told by whoever initiated him not to 
publicly refer to his initiator in connection with the OTO ?

I believe there  was also mention of Deacon having a family 
Rosicrucian lineage through the Browning family - not sure if that is 
something Vivienne Browning noted in 'Uncommon Medium' or whether it 
is in your book.

It's an interesting area, anyway.  I wonder if any remnants of either 
of Deacon's lineages survive in Sydney ? 

Regards

Ben  


> I was especially intrigued that Miss Fuller devoted a full page 
to "disproving"
> a claim she asserts I made in "The Elder Brother" ? that Leadbeater 
was
> associated with Aleister Crowley's "Ordo Templi Orientis". It seems 
to me that,
> prior to criticizing what someone has written, it would be a good 
idea to read
> what they have actually written! The section of my book to which 
Miss Fuller ?
> inaccurately ? refers is a speculation about the origins of 
Leadbeater's sexual
> teachings (pp. 279-285). Certainly James Wedgwood was a member of 
the "Ordo
> Templi Orientis", but under Theodor Reuss and prior to Crowley. I 
speculated ?
> indeed, described it as a "mystery" ? if there had been some link 
between
> Wedgwood and the "Ordo Templi Orientis" and Leadbeater, and if a 
strange
> occultist in Sydney, Vyvyan Deacon, who ran a version of the "Ordo 
Templi
> Orientis" and claimed his authority to do so not from Crowley (whose
> representative in Australia was Frank Bennett) but from an earlier 
source, was
> involved. Deacon was engaged in a curious mix of magic, sex and 
drugs, and was
> associated in some way with both Wedgwood and Leadbeater. Just what 
the
> association was remains, as I concluded, something which will 
probably never be
> known. I had access to Deacon's archives, and spoke with his 
daughter at length,
> but fascinating hints were all that could be found. I was given an 
exotic bronze
> head of Pan, a ceremonial dagger and some other magical 
paraphernalia owned by
> Deacon by his daughter. Crowley's views on Wedgwood and Leadbeater 
are clearly
> documented ? and not at all flattering.
> 
>