Theos-Talk Archives (November 2006 Message tt00156)

I have yet to read Keith Richmond?s book. I do not recall claiming ? as
opposed to saying ?it was claimed? ? that Vyvyan Deacon had an OTO
succession from Reuss. In fact, I think I said it was claimed that he had
a pre-Crowleyan OTO succession, which is not the same thing. I had access
to what remained to Deacon?s archives (most were lost during the bombing
of London in World War II; I have no idea of what happened to them after
his daughter?s death), but the fragmentary documents provided hints, but
little more.

As to any OTO link through Wedgwood, one is again left with hints.
Wedgwood was a member of the OTO, admitted in 1912 to the ?Holy Grail?
Lodge in Munich by Reuss himself at the request of John Yarker. Yarker and
Wedgwood seem to have had something of a close relationship: Yarker
conferred on Wedgwood a range of the multiplicity of Masonic (or, for the
benefit of Masonic readers, I might say, quasi-Masonic!) degrees over
which he had control, and some of them were then fed into Co-Masonry under
Besant and Leadbeater. Whether Wedgwood was simply the recipient of some
largely meaningless ?honour? by Reuss, or actually underwent initiation
and, if so, to what degree, I do not know.

Deacon?s papers claimed that he and Wedgwood had ?introduced? Leadbeater
to the OTO. Again, I do not know what this means. Deacon was a member of
the TS and the ES, and he and his wife became members of the Liberal
Catholic Church in its first year of existence.

The Crowleyan OTO existed in Australia under Frank Bennett (the subject of
Richmond?s book). There is evidence that Deacon has some contact with
Bennett but he clearly operated an entirely separate organization in
Sydney and Melbourne: this used various names, including ?Ordo Templi
Orientis? and ?The Christian Mystics of the Rose Cross?. I have documents
and some historical details of these. Deacon clearly had groups ? I have
lists of some of the members ? but the origin of his authority, if any, to
operate them remains essentially unknown.

Whether Leadbeater was ever a member of the OTO (presumably not under
Crowley, given Crowley?s opinion of him) I do not know. That Leadbeater
employed what might be described as ?tantric? or sex magic practices seems
to me quite clear. Although in ?The Elder Brother? I only speculate in
passing on this, in my doctoral thesis I explore the subject in much more
detail, using documentary sources I did not possess while writing the book
? e.g. privately printed pamphlets and correspondence from the eminent
English Theosophist, E.L. Gardner and his correspondence with Boris de
Zirkhoff, and some material collected by an eccentric Theosophist who
lived at the English TS centre, Tekels Park, where Wedgwood spent his
final years, Rex Dutta. Gardner had concluded that Leadbeater was involved
in magical experiments using ?the semen of man?. Dutta, who inherited
Gardner?s papers, commented, in a private circular, on ?The Elder
Brother?: ?Mr Tillett (pages 283-5) when he guesses at Tantrika Sexual
Black Magic, doesn?t realize the half of it.? For my thesis, I also made
use of a ?Private Supplement? produced by F. T. Brooks for his
?Neo-Theosophy Exposed? (1914) in which he explored the origins of what he
claimed to have been Leadbeater?s use of ?amatory sensuality, or erethism?
and ?deliberate seed-projection?.

Just how Deacon, the OTO, Yarker, Wedgwood, Leadbeater, sex magic and all
the rest of it fitted together, if it did at all, I do not know. I think I
have exhausted most of the sources outside, e.g., the ES archives at Adyar
(to which I do not anticipate being given access!).

Dr Gregory Tillett