Regarding my novels and poetry, they speak for themselves. For those that need some indication that I have actual training in literary skills, I do have an undergraduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh in psychology and creative writing, and a Master of Fine Arts in fiction writing from the University of Pittsburgh where I studied under Chuck Kinder, the late, great, literary master that Michael Chabon’s Wonder Boys and the film of the same name are based on. My books are published through Six Gallery Press.
A VASTLY abbreviated conceptual lineage of the three major influences on my spiritual practice are as follows:
Sigmund Freud/Carl Jung – Wilhelm Reich – Jon Piekeros/Eva Piekeros (Pathwork) – Barbara Brennan
Eastern Religions (Hinduism/Buddhism/Taoism) – Theosophy (Madame Blvatsky) – Western Mystery Tradition (Freemasonry/ Western Magick) – Order of the Golden Dawn – Aleister Crowley/OTO
Eastern Religions (Hinduism/Buddhism/Taoism/Shinto) – Usui Reiki Ryoho (combination of systems of Usui and Eguchi- Hayashi’s Reiki Practice – Hawaya Takata’s Reiki System (Usui Shiki Ryoho) – my Reiki teacher Jeff Greenwald
Brennan’s Lineage: I was not directly initiated in her tradition, but took language of Higher Self, lower selves, and really like her chakra system (her founding tradition, Pathwork, also heavily influenced my personal spiritual mythos but that is not part of my teachings)
Reiki Lineage: My instructor had been initiated in both the Usui Reiki Ryoho (Japanese) and Usui Shiki Ryoho (American) traditions. The daily practice of meditation and intuitive bodywork for hand healing learned here are the two foundational techniques of my spiritual practice, and the concept of Reiki as Essence of Being restricted by Byosen (imbalance) mirrors directly mine and Brennan’s concepts of Higher Self (Reiki) being restricted by lower selves (Byosen/imbalance)
Crowley Lineage: I use Crowley’s combinations and subdivisions of several western systems including Tarot, astrology, Hermetic Kabbalah, Enochian, and his version of the chakra system to subdivide parts of the psyche/soul/spirit to help direct and classify what occurs in within while doing intuitive bodywork (a concept I call Spiritual Subdivisions). I also of course borrow much of my personal symbolism from Thelemic iconography and texts in my work.
While I have practiced and developed the method I am now teaching as Templars of the Ruby Star on my own based on these influences for over 20 years (starting around 2005), I am currently a member of two other magickal organizations: OTO and Omnimancy.
I joined OTO in January of 2016, and have currently initiated up to the degree of Perfect Initiate or PI, which concludes what Crowley called the “Man of the Earth” triad of the order. While there are two more “triads” in the initiatory cycle, I do not wish to advance any further for very specific reasons.
For one, I already entered with a decade long spiritual practice of my own, and aside from interesting synchronicities detailed in my biography All My Whores are Madonnas and All My Madonnas are Whores, I joined primarily because I wanted to do research for my works Diary of a Scarlet Woman and A Comedy and/or Tragedy of Pan: Commentary by Dr. Hunter Lumiere, and Templar of the Ruby Star. The reason I even initiated at all rather than passing through as an observer was that I had always used Crowley’s model of the chakras that he lays out in The Equinox 3 Volume 10, where he associates these chakras with various degrees of the Man of the Earth Triad of OTO, and wanted to strengthen my inner integration in these areas. While I still use these chakra associations in teaching the levels of my system, please note that otherwise my practice resembles in no way any OTO theory, structure, or initiation.
That said, the other reason I stuck around OTO was because I do find the Man of the Earth cycle of initiations a phenomenal means of bringing large parts of your soul/psyche to the surface for processing. They come highly recommended by me as a supplement to my practice (and vice versa). If you are engaging in deliberate work on an aspect of your soul/psyche, it is always best to address it from as many angles as possible – and ideally see a qualified mental health professional to have an impartial third party help process what bubbles up from the surface (especially if they have a more phenomenological than pharmaceutical bend to their discipline).
Another reason that I don’t wish to advance further in the OTO initiation track is that they are invite only, and involve primarily roles of governance in the order. There is not an inch of my body (on any plane) that makes me wish to become part of the governing body of any magickal order or religion. My Templars of the Ruby Star system is a spiritual practice, not a religion or magickal organization. This means that I am teaching philosophy and skills to anyone that wishes to take classes, and them leaving them to their own devices to actually utilize those skills for their own benefit. The noble responsibility of running a building and herding the magickal cats that come in and out is the karma for other saintly souls out there. At this point I am chartered to initiate within OTO up to the third degree, and that is more than enough service for me to an organization I did not personally found.
It also suits me to acknowledge to the students of my practice that there are other systems out there where I still consider myself somewhere below the top. It reminds us that we are all on our own endless path of growth, and the ideological cities of others are mere stops along the way where you pick up the supplies you need and move ever forward. Any practice, philosophy, or organization that feels like it has all the answers is either unaware of itself or trying to foster dependency. To paraphrase William Blake, we must create our own systems or be enslaved by the systems of others.
Besides all this, it is a common misnomer that OTO at any level actually teaches you anything about how to be a magician and engage in a spiritual practice of any kind. The only things a local OTO body is required to put on are the Gnostic Mass and Initiations. Anything else is up to the creativity and Will of the local members. If you get a lot of people that practice classical Golden Dawn/A.A style ceremonial magick, you’ll get lots of workshops and classes that teach and do that kind of magick. If you get a bunch of Chaos Magicians that wish to tinker with definitions of reality, that is your lot. If it’s a bunch of energy workers, there will be a lot of people doing energy work and teaching classes about it. And so on with Reclaiming Witchcraft, Masonry, or any other order drawn to OTO for whatever reason.
However, it is equally true that if no one at the body is doing magick, none will be happening there aside from the mass and initiations. If you get a lot of people that just want to get drunk and talk about crypto zoology, you will have that kind of menagerie. If you have a bunch of people that like to read and talk about magickal theory and numerology without putting it to much practical use, you’ll have quite the study hall. If everyone there likes to knit and talk about their feelings, stitch and bitch away. Of course, the ideal is a community of people with various talents – magickal and otherwise – that play show and tell with what they have to the point that everyone learns and steals techniques from each other to make them their own.
In the meantime, I recommend going to OTO for the life changing initiations that will bring your soul to the surface from the inside and out, and creating your own reason to stay. If you do something cool there, you’ll attract other people that like to do the same kind of things and grow the community closer to something you want. Just remember lest you – like myself – were expecting and hoping for a den of ancient mystical decadence, the modern OTO is a very sober space where all non-federally legal drugs are not permitted, making it one of the tamer spots in my life next to work at my day job. It is a wonderful place to form friendships and community – it just may not be the place you’ll have the most fun with the people you meet there. If initiates of my practice are looking for a place to have/form community outside of the workshops I give, OTO is a great place to start as its initiations already directly compliment my system (and vice versa).
The other practice I work with presently is Omnimancy, which I have been involved with since around 2023. I’ve currently reached what they call the “research level” of their system, where they’ve presented most of the basic techniques and the student is expected to create more original work on their own. There is not as much that can be said about this system except that it works in an energetic and animistic mythos of operation (aka paradigm) that deals with doing magick to get results in actual life (better jobs, romantic partners, etc.). This kind of system is in sharp contrast to my practice of a more psychological mysticism, which involves essentially entering the depths of the world within to heal yourself so that you may more positively impact your life and environment. While it carries with it the warning of all practices of a materialistic ilk that external gratification – though quite delightful and worth pursuing – seldom delivers the happiness we think it will, Omnimancy is the most effective system I’ve encountered of magick of this kind. Techniques of Omnimancy help minimize the psychological backlash common to many forms of external results driven magick, and as thus make it a perfect compliment to a more development driven system such as mine, allowing you to more quickly refine your outer life after milestones of inner integration and clarity gained from the work I propose. This is, to me, magickal graduate school for those that wish to refine technique beyond the more basic building blocks I present with the Templars of the Ruby Star system – as long as they can remember not to lose their practice of introspection for the shiny promise of external success. Beyond this, the system is so unique that it is better to let its creators and masters speak for themselves.
In all cases, you do not have to have any interest in OTO, Crowley, Omnimancy, or any of my influences to benefit from my practice or my writings. My books are pieces of literary art meant to be enjoyed for their aesthetic value regardless of any magickal messages beyond that. The only exceptions are Templar of the Ruby Star, my commentaries on the Holy Books of Aleister Crowley, and the manuals on intuitive bodywork I print for students of my practice. I hope they all aid you in your own Surrender to the Love within and without.
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