Brother Omega has been a member of Scarlet Woman Lodge for over 25 years. His mother taught him meditation, folk astrology, card reading, ouija, and palmistry from a very early age, but he was otherwise isolated in rural Florida in a time before the internet. He found copies of used books in bookshops, including Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite and Waite’s Book of Black Magic and cross-referenced information from these books and old encyclopedias. He saw the name “Aleister Crowley” appear, but it took him another decade to find out more.

He spent four years in the Army, and continued his reading in psychology, philosophy, and imaginative fiction. A friend introduced him to Robert Anton Wilson’s Illuminatus Trilogy and he hooked up with Discordians. He moved to Austin in the mid-1980’s and found a smattering of witches, pagans, and other groups, but no Crowley.

He made the acquaintance of Timothy Leary briefly when he landed the job of escorting him around for the weekend. Leary told him about the Crowley holdings at the Harry Ransom Center, saying, “Study Crowley, his Magick is strong. But stay away from the OTO because they are dinosaurs!” This made Omega determined to find and join the Order. As he says, “Who doesn’t love dinosaurs!”

He continued his self-education and made use of the holdings at the HRC and finally found an address for the OTO. He mailed in his $25 and became an Associate Member. Omega took his Minerval initiation in 1994 e.v. He has since served as an Ordained Priest, Chartered Initiator, and twice as Lodge Master. He recently became an SGIG and a Bishop, and looks forward to embracing the office, and continuing to write and expand his personal practice.