This last weekend I attended NOTOCON XII, the United States national convention of Ordo Templi Orientis. I am a member of the now rather small club of folks who have attended every single national convention starting in 1997, when the United States Grand Lodge came into existence and decided to hold a conference. That first conference was held in Akron, Ohio and was hosted by Black Sun Lodge. This last weekend's convention was held in downtown Cleveland, Ohio and was hosted by the same local body.
I'll happily report that I had a great time, as always, and came back with some new ideas to play around with in my ritual work and OTO activity. It's always a lot of fun meeting OTO members from all over the country, and seeing how US Grand Lodge has grown since its founding all those years ago. The Gnostic Mass held at the conference was probably the largest one ever held, with (I think) somewhere between 200 and 300 communicants. Yes, that took awhile, since everyone communicates individually in our Mass.
This time around I wasn't presenting anything. I did think about it - my Heptarchial Evocation presentation at the last convention in Orlando was well-received. But I wound up missing the deadline for presentations and decided not to scramble and send something in late. I will submit something for the next one, though, probably either a Great Table or Thirty Aires operation. My new Enochian book should certainly be out by then.
If you want to read the official version of my Heptarchial presentation, you can order a copy of For the Chance of Union: Proceedings of the Eleventh Biennial National Ordo Templi Orientis Conference right here. It's similar to what's posted here on the blog, but cleaned up and refined a bit for print publication.
I want to thank everyone who helped make the conference a big success, especially the members of Black Sun Lodge who hosting this amazing event. NOTOCON is always a blast for me, and this one was no exception.
I'll happily report that I had a great time, as always, and came back with some new ideas to play around with in my ritual work and OTO activity. It's always a lot of fun meeting OTO members from all over the country, and seeing how US Grand Lodge has grown since its founding all those years ago. The Gnostic Mass held at the conference was probably the largest one ever held, with (I think) somewhere between 200 and 300 communicants. Yes, that took awhile, since everyone communicates individually in our Mass.
This time around I wasn't presenting anything. I did think about it - my Heptarchial Evocation presentation at the last convention in Orlando was well-received. But I wound up missing the deadline for presentations and decided not to scramble and send something in late. I will submit something for the next one, though, probably either a Great Table or Thirty Aires operation. My new Enochian book should certainly be out by then.
If you want to read the official version of my Heptarchial presentation, you can order a copy of For the Chance of Union: Proceedings of the Eleventh Biennial National Ordo Templi Orientis Conference right here. It's similar to what's posted here on the blog, but cleaned up and refined a bit for print publication.
I want to thank everyone who helped make the conference a big success, especially the members of Black Sun Lodge who hosting this amazing event. NOTOCON is always a blast for me, and this one was no exception.
260+ communicants, FWIW.
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