BAPHOMET XI


Liber CI

{Book 101}

O.T.O.

An Open Letter to Those Why May Wish to Join the Order


Enumerating the Duties and Privileges


These Regulations Come into Force in Any District Where the Membership of the
Order Exceeds One Thousand Souls



Issued by Order:


BAPHOMET XI O.T.O., HIBERNIAE IONAE ET OMNIUM BRITANNIARUM, REX SUMMIS
SANCTISSIMUS


An Epistle of BAPHOMET to Sir GEORGE MACNIE COWIE, Very Illustrious and Very
Illuminated, Pontiff and Epopt of the Areopagus of the VIII Degree O.T.O.
Grand Treasurer General, Keeper of the Golden Book, President of the
Committee of Publications of the O.T.O.


Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.


It has been represented to Us that some persons who are worthy to join the
O.T.O. consider the fees and subscriptions rather high. This is due to your
failure to explain properly the great advantages offered by the Order. We
desire you therefore presently to note, and to cause to be circulated
throughout the Order, and among those of the profane who may seem worthy to
join it, these matters following concerning the duties and the privileges of
members of the earlier degrees of the O.T.O. as regards material affairs. And
for convenience we shall classify these as pertaining to the Twelve Houses
of the Heaven, but also by numbered clauses for the sake of such as
understand not the so-called Science of the Stars. First, therefore,
concerning the duties of the Brethren. Yet with our Order every duty is also
a privilege, so that it is impossible wholly to separate them.


OF THE DUTIES OF THE BRETHREN



FIRST HOUSE


1. There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt. Yet it is well for Brethren to
study daily in the Volume of the Sacred Law, Liber Legis, for therein is much
counsel concerning this, how best they may carry out this will.


SECOND HOUSE


2. The private purse of every Brother should always be at the disposal of any
Brother who may be in need. But in such a case it is a great mischief if the
one ask, and the other consent; for if the former be really in need, his
pride is wounded by his asking; and if not, the door is opened to beggars and
imposters, and all manner of arrant knaves and rogues such as are no true
Brethren. But the Brother who is possessed of this world's goods should make
it his business to watch the necessity of all those Brethren with whom he may
be personally acquainted, anticipating their wants in so wise and kindly and
delicate a manner that it shall appear as if it were the payment of a debt.
And what help is given shall be given with discretion, so that the relief may
be permanent rather than temporary.

3. All Brethren shall be exceedingly punctual in the payment of Lodge Dues.
This is to take precedence of all other calls upon the purse.


THIRD HOUSE


4. The Brethren shall be diligent in preaching the Law of Thelema. In all
writings they shall be careful to use the prescribed greetings; likewise in
speech, even with strangers.

5. They shall respond heartily to every summons of the Lodge or Chapter to
which they may belong, not lightly making excuse.

6. Brethren should use every opportunity of assisting each other in their
tastes, businesses, or professions, whether by direct dealing with Brethren
in preference to others, or by speaking well of them, or as may suggest
itself. It seems desirable, when possible, that where two or more Brethren
of the same Lodge are engaged in the same work, they should seek to
amalgamate the same by entering into partnership. Thus in time great and
powerful corporations may arise from small individual enterprises.

7. They shall be diligent in circulating all tracts, manifestos, and all
other communications which the Order may from time to time give out for the
instruction or emancipation of the profane.

8. They may offer suitable books and pictures to the Libraries of the
Profess-Houses of the Order.


FOURTH HOUSE


9. Every Brother who may possess mines, land, or houses more than he can
himself constantly occupy, should donate part of such mines or land, or one
or more of such houses to the Order.

10. Property thus given will be administered if he desire it in his own
interest, thus effecting a saving, since large estates are more economically
handled than small. But the Order will use such property as may happen to lie
idle for the moment in such ways as it may seem good, lending an unlet house
(for example) to some Brother who is in need, or allowing an unused hall to
be occupied by a Lodge.

11. (Yet in view of the great objects of the Order, endowment is welcome.)

12. Every Brother shall show himself solicitous of the comfort and happiness
of any Brother who may be old, attending not only to all material wants, but
to his amusement, so that his declining years may be made joyful.


FIFTH HOUSE


13. Every Brother shall seek constantly to give pleasure to all Brethren with
whom he is acquainted, whether by entertainment or conversation, or in any
other manner that may suggest itself. It will frequently and naturally arise
that love itself springs up between members of the Order, for that they have
so many and sacred interests in common. Such love is peculiarly holy, and is
to be encouraged.

14. All children of Brethren are to be considered as children of the whole
Order, and to be protected and aided in every way by its members severally,
as by its organization collectively. No distinction is to be made with regard
to the conditions surrounding the birth of any child.

15. There is an especially sacred duty, which every Brother should fulfil,
with regard to all children, those born without the Order included. This duty
is to instruct them in the Law of Thelema, to teach them independence and
freedom of thought and character, and to warn them that servility and
cowardice are the most deadly diseases of the human soul.


SIXTH HOUSE


16. Personal or domestic attendants should be chosen from among the members
of the Order when possible, and great tact and courtesy are to be employed
in dealing with them.

17. They, on their part, will render willing and intelligent service.

18. While in Lodge, and on special occasions, they are to be treated as
Brothers, with perfect equality; such behaviour is undesirable during the
hours of service, and familiarity, subversive as it is of all discipline and
order, is to be avoided by adopting a complete and marked change of manner
and address.

19. This applies to all persons in subordinate positions, but not to the
Brethren Servient in the Profess-Houses of the Order, who, giving service
without recompense, are to be honoured as hosts.

20. In case of the sickness of any Brother, it is the duty of all Brethren
who know him personally to attend him, to see that he want for nothing, and
to report if necessary his needs to the Lodge, or to Grand Lodge itself.

21. Those Brethren who happen to be doctors or nurses will naturally give
their skill and care with even more than their customary joy in service.

22. All Brethren are bound by their fealty to offer their service in their
particular trade, business, or profession, to the Grand Lodge. For example,
a stationer will supply Grand Lodge with paper, vellum, and the like; a
bookseller offer any books to the Library of Grand Lodge which the Librarian
may desire to possess; a lawyer will execute any legal business for Grand
Lodge, and a railway or steamship owner or director see to it that the Great
Officers travel in comfort wherever they may wish to go.

23. Visitors from other Lodges are to be accorded the treatment of
ambassadors; this will apply most especially to Sovereign Grand Inspector
Generals of the Order on their tours of inspection. All hospitality and
courtesy shown to such is shown to Ourselves, not to them only.


SEVENTH HOUSE


24. It is desirable that the marriage partner of any Brother should also be
a member of the Order. Neglect to insist upon this leads frequently to
serious trouble for both parties, especially the uninitiate.

25. Lawsuits between members of the Order are absolutely forbidden, on pain
of immediate expulsion and loss of all privileges, even of those accumulated
by past good conduct referred to in the second part of this instruction.

26. All disputes between Brethren should be referred firstly to the Master
or Masters of their Lodge or Lodges in conference; if a composition be not
arrived at in this manner, the dispute is to be referred to the Grand
Tribunal, which will arbitrate thereon, and its decision is to be accepted
as final.


27. Refusal to apply for or accept such decision shall entail expulsion from
the Order, and the other party is then at liberty to seek his redress in the
Courts of Profane Justice.

28. Members of the Order are to regard those without its pale as possessing
no rights of any kind, since they have not accepted the Law, and are
therefore, as it were, troglodytes, survivals of a past civilisation, and to
be treated accordingly. Kindness should be shown towards them, as towards any
other animal, and every effort should be made to bring them into Freedom.

29. Any injury done by any person without the Order to any person within it
may be brought before the Grand Tribunal, which will, if it deem right and
fit, use all its power to redress or to avenge it.

30. In the case of any Brother being accused of an offence against the
criminal law of the country in which he resides, so that any other Brother
cognisant of the fact feels bound in self-defence to bring accusation, he
shall report the matter to the Grand Tribunal as well as to the Civil
Authority, claiming exemption on this ground.

31. The accused Brother will, however, be defended by the Order to the utmost
of its power on his affirming his innocence upon the Volume of the Sacred Law
in the Ordeal appointed ad hoc by the Grand Tribunal itself.

32. Public enemies of the country of any Brother shall be treated as such
while in the field, and slain or captured as the officer of the Brother may
command. But within the precincts of the Lodge all such divisions are to be
forgotten absolutely; and as children of One Father the enemies of the hour
before and the hour after are to dwell in peace, amity, and fraternity.


EIGHTH HOUSE


33. Every Brother is expected to bear witness in his last will and testament
to the great benefit that he hath received from the Order by bestowing upon
it part or the whole of his goods, as he may deem fit.

34. The death of a Brother is not to be an occasion of melancholy, but of
rejoicing; the Brethren of his Lodge shall gather together and make a banquet
with music and dancing and all manner of gladness. It is of the greatest
importance that this shall be done, for thereby the inherited fear of death
which is deep-seated as instinct in us will gradually be rooted out. It is
a legacy from the dead aeon of Osiris, and it is our duty to kill it in
ourselves that our children and our children's children may be born free from
the curse.


NINTH HOUSE


35. Every Brother is expected to spend a great part of his spare time in the
study of the principles of the Law and of the Order, and in searching out the
key to its great and manifold mysteries.

36. He should also do all in his power to spread the Law, especially taking
long journeys, when possible, to remote places, there to sow the seed of the
Law.


TENTH HOUSE


37. All pregnant women are especially sacred to members of the Order, and no
effort should be spared to bring them to acceptance of the Law of Freedom,
so that the unborn may benefit by that impression. They should be induced to
become members of the Order, so that the child may be born under its aegis.

38. If the mother that is to be have asserted her will to be so in contempt
and defiance of the Tabus of the slave-gods, she is to be regarded as
especially suitable to our Order, and the Master of the Lodge in her district
shall offer to become, as it were, godfather to the child, who shall be
trained specially, if the mother so wishes, as a servant of the Order, in one
of its Profess-Houses.

39. Special Profess-Houses for the care of women of the Order, or those whose
husbands or lovers are members of the Order, will be instituted, so that the
frontal duty of womankind may be carried out in all comfort and honour.

40. Every Brother is expected to use all his influence with persons in a
superior station of life (so called) to induce them to joint the Order. Royal
personages, ministers of State, high officials in the Diplomatic, Naval,
Military, and Civil Services are particularly to be sought after, for it is
intended ultimately that the temporal power of the State be brought into the
Law, and led into freedom and prosperity by the application of its
principles.

41. Colleges of the Order will presently be established where the children
of its members may be trained in all trades, businesses, and professions, and
there they may study the liberal arts and humane letters, as well as our holy
and arcane science. Brethren are expected to do all in their power to make
possible the establishment of such Universities.


ELEVENTH HOUSE


42. Every Brother is expected to do all in his power to induce his personal
friends to accept the Law and join the Order. He should therefore endeavor
to make new friends outside the Order, for the purpose of widening its scope.


TWELFTH HOUSE


43. The Brethren are bound to secrecy only with regard to the nature of the
rituals of our Order, and to our words, signs, etc. The general principles
of the Order may be fully explained, so far as they are understood below the
VI; as it is written, ``The ordeals I write not: the rituals shall be half
known and half concealed: the Law is for all." It is to be observed that
punctual performance of these duties, so that the report thereof is noised
abroad and the fame of it cometh even unto the Throne of the Supreme and Holy
King himself, will weigh heavily in the scale when it comes to be a question
of the high advancement of a Brother in the Order.


OF THE PRIVILEGES OF THE BRETHREN



FIRST HOUSE


44. The first and greatest of all privileges of a Brother is to be a Brother;
to have accepted the Law, to have become free and independent, to have
destroyed all fear, whether of custom, or of faith, or of other men, or of
death itself. In other papers the joy and glory of those who have accepted
The Book of the Law as the sole rule of life is largely, though never fully,
explained; and we will not here recapitulate the same.


SECOND HOUSE


45. All Brethren who may fall into indigence have a right to the direct
assistance of the Order up to the full amount of fees and subscriptions paid
by them up to the time of application. This will be regarded as a loan, but
no interest will be charged upon it. That this privilege may not be abused,
the Grand Tribunal will decide whether or no such application is made in good
faith.


THIRD HOUSE


46. Members of the Order will be permitted to use the Library in any of our
Profess-Houses.

47. Circulating Libraries will presently be established.

48. Brethren who may be travelling have a right to the hospitality of the
Master of the Lodge of the district for a period of three days.


FOURTH HOUSE


49. Brethren of all grades may be invited to sojourn in the Profess-Houses
of the Order by Grand Lodge; and such invitation may confidently be expected
as the reward of merit. There they will be able to make the personal
acquaintance of members of the higher Grades, learn of the deeper workings
of the Order, obtain the benefit of personal instruction, and in all ways fit
themselves for advancement.

50. Brethren of advanced years and known merit who desire to follow the
religious life may be asked to reside permanently in such houses.

51. In the higher degrees Brethren have the right to reside in our
Profess-Houses for a portion of every year, as shown:



G.T.One month.S.G.C.Three months.

VI.Two weeks.VII.Two months.
G.T.One month.S.G.C.Three months.
P.R.S.Six weeks.VIII.Six months.



52. Members of the IX, who share among themselves the whole property of the
Order according to the rules of that degree, may, of course, reside there
permanently. Indeed, the house of every Brother of this grade is, ipso facto,
a Profess-House of the Order.


FIFTH HOUSE


53. All Brethren may expect the warmest co-operation in their pleasures and
amusements from other members of the Order. The perfect freedom and security
afforded by the Law allows the characters of all Brethren to expand to the
very limits of their nature, and the great joy and gladness with which they
are constantly overflowing make them the best of companions. ``They shall
rejoice, our chosen; who sorroweth is not of us. Beauty and strength, leaping
laughter and delicious languor, force and fire, are of us."

54. Children of all Brethren are entitled to the care of the Order, and
arrangements will be made to educate them in certain of the Profess-Houses
of the Order.

55. Children of Brethren who are left orphans will be officially adopted by
the Master of his Lodge, or if the latter decline, by the Supreme Holy King
himself, and treated in all ways as if they were his own.

56. Brethren who have a right to some especial interest in any child whose
mother is not a member of the Order may recommend it especially to the care
of their lodges or of Grand Lodge. 


SIXTH HOUSE


57. In sickness all Brethren have the right to medical or surgical care and
attendance from any Brethren of the Lodge who may be physicians, surgeons,
or nurses.

58. In special necessity the Supreme Holy King will send his own attendants.

59. Where circumstances warrant it, in cases of lives of great value to the
Order and the like, he may even permit the administration of that secret
Medicine which is known to members of the IX.

60. Members of the Order may expect Brethren to busy themselves in finding
remunerative occupation for them, where they lack it, or, if possible, to
employ them personally.


SEVENTH HOUSE


61. Members of the Order may expect to find suitable marriage partners in the
extremely select body to which they belong. Community of interest and hope
being already established, it is natural to suppose that where mutual
attraction also exists, a marriage will result in perfect happiness. (There
are special considerations in this matter which apply to the VII and cannot
be discussed in this place.)

62. As explained above, Brethren are entirely free of most legal burdens,
since lawsuits are not permitted within the Order, and since they may call
upon the legal advisers of the Order to defend them against their enemies in
case of need.


EIGHTH HOUSE


63. All Brethren are entitled after death to the proper disposal of their
remains according to the rites of the Order and their grade in it.

64. If the Brother so desire, the entire amount of the fees and subscriptions
which he has paid during his life will be handed over by the Order to his
heirs and legatees. The Order thus affords an absolute system of insurance
in addition to its other benefits.


NINTH HOUSE


65. The Order teaches the only perfect and satisfactory system of philosophy,
religion, and science, leading its members step by step to knowledge and
power hardly even dreamed of by the profane.

66. Brethren of the Order who take long journeys overseas are received in
places where they sojourn at the Profess-Houses of the Order for the period
of one month.


TENTH HOUSE


67. Women of the Order who are about to become mothers receive all care,
attention, and honour from all Brethren.

68. Special Profess-Houses will be established for their convenience, should
they wish to take advantage of them.

69. The Order offers great social advantages to its members, bringing them
as it does into constant association with men and women of high rank.

70. The Order offers extraordinary opportunities to its members in their
trades, businesses, or professions, aiding them by co-operation, and securing
them clients or customers.


ELEVENTH HOUSE


71. The Order offers friendship to its members, bringing together men and
women of similar character, taste, and aspiration.


TWELFTH HOUSE


72. The secrecy of the Order provides it members with an inviolable shroud
of concealment.

73. The crime of slander, which causes so great a proportion of human misery,
is rendered extremely dangerous, if not impossible, within the Order by a
clause in the Obligation of the Third Degree.

74. The Order exercises its whole power to relieve its members of any
constraint to which they may be subjected, attacking with vigour any person
or persons who may endeavour to subject them to compulsion, and in all other
ways aiding in the complete emancipation of the Brethren from aught that may
seek to restrain them from doing That Which They Will.

It is to be observed that these privileges being so vast, it is incumbent
upon the honour of every Brother not to abuse them, and the sponsors of any
Brother who does so, as well as he himself, will be held strictly to account
by the Grand Tribunal. The utmost frankness and good faith between Brethren
is essential to the easy and harmonious working of our system, and the
Executive Power will see to it that these are encouraged by all means
possible, and that breach of them is swiftly and silently suppressed.


Love is the law, love under will.


Our fatherly benediction, and the Blessing of the All-Father in the Outer and
the Inner be upon you.


BAPHOMET X O.T.O., IRELAND, IONA, AND ALL THE BRITAINS