Last year, I made a big stink about Stephanie Olmstead-Dean being removed from her position as Body Master of William Blake Lodge on trumped up charges. I railed against the EC, I got myself suspended, and was repeatedly told I didn't know "what was really going on."
Regardless, she was reinstated, and staid that way for ... almost three months before once again she was removed from the Body Master position on trumped up charges. This time for being a member of a Thelemic organization that had just launched, and listed on its web site the Gnostic Mass as a ritual they would be performing, although altered to represent different forces, and balance out the feminine and masculine. It wasn't even Liber XV anymore.
AND ... They hadn't performed it. The list of rituals on the site was still in the notional phase. There was, at the time, no stated policy in place within the OTO or EGC that had been communicated to clergy indicating it was grounds for removal if you performed the Mass for an unaffiliated Thelemic organization. When she found out, they removed that ritual from the planned rites of the group, but it was apparently too late.
Seizing the opportunity, whatever clandestine force who hates that Stephanie should lead William Blake with the success she has demonstrated over the years used this opportunity to remove her, once again from her position.
I want to be really angry about it, but shockingly, I am not even surprised anymore. Some shadowy figure(s) have been working on getting William Blake Lodge out from under Stephanie's obviously eldritch claws, and having failed once, would not let go and went in again. Rumor has it they pulled the EC president out of a mandatory retreat to press the magick "kick Steph out" button. Because,
priorities.
Steph is one of the nicest, sweetest, most dedicated hard-working members of the OTO. She dressed up as a T-Rex for the King at Notocon, provided classes, workshops, actual traditional magical rituals, and continuously increased her local body membership, while growing one of the largest building funds of any Oasis or Lodge in the Kingdom of the United States. Her service is impeccable, her attitude was always positive, and she never spoke ill of her treatment at the hands of whomever has manipulated her out of her position.
She's exactly the kind of person the OTO should be cultivating, and yet she is obviously the target of some hidden vendetta from people in the "Lover's" or "Hermit" triads.
Why the fuck would anyone want to be a part of an organization that targets the hard-working and effective leadership over false reasons that just don't make sense?
Beats me. I'm done. If you get something out of your participation in the OTO and EGC, good on ya, hope you don't piss off the wrong people, and may your time in the Order be recognized for what you've done.
