World War I ended on November 11, 1918. De Laban left Switzerland in November.
In February of 1919, the Libertas et Fraternitas Lodge dropped
its O.T.O. connections and became strictly a Masonic Lodge. It later became
regularized under the Swiss Grand Lodge Alpina. Although no O.T.O.
bodies remained in Switzerland, Reuss continued to confer O.T.O. degrees
upon individuals. While Reuss persisted in asserting the Masonic authority
of O.T.O., Crowley continued to move M∴M∴M∴
further from Freemasonry. In October of 1918, Crowley prepared another
substantial revision to the Order's initial rituals, this time altogether
abandoning the term "Masonry" and the characteristic emblems, signs, grips,
etc. of the Craft degrees. He presented his revised rituals to Reuss for
order-wide adoption. In March of 1919, Crowley issued The Equinox,
Volume III, No. 1 (the "Blue Equinox"), which contained a number of
important O.T.O. documents, including:
- Liber LII: The Manifesto of the O.T.O.
- Liber CXCIV: An Intimation With Respect to the Constitution of the Order
- Liber CI: An Open Letter to Those Who May Wish to Join the Order
- Liber CLXI: Concerning the Law of Thelema
- a revised version of Liber XV: The Gnostic Mass.
Crowley's Liber LII: The Manifesto of the O.T.O. was based nearly word-for-word on Crowley's 1912 The Manifesto of the M∴M∴M∴. Thelemic salutations were added, references to officers were updated, references to "guineas" were changed to their equivalents in dollars, two names of contributing organizations were deleted (The Rosicrucian Order and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn); the table of fees and the photographs of Boleskine were deleted, the statement "It [O.T.O.] does not in any way infringe the just privileges of duly authorized Masonic Bodies" was added after the list of contributing organizations, and the Masonic disclaimer quoted previously was changed to:
The O.T.O., although an Academia Masonica, is not a Masonic Body so far as the `secrets' are concerned in the sense in which that expression is usually understood; and therefore in no way conflicts with, or infringes the just privileges of, the United Grand Lodge of England, or any Grand Lodge in America or elsewhere which is recognized by it.
On May 10, 1919, Reuss issued a Warrant to Hans Rudolph Hilfiker, Dr.
E. Pargaetzi, R. Merlitschek, and M. Bergmaier to form a Supreme Council
of the Cernau Scottish Rite for Switzerland in Zürich. On the same date,
Reuss issued a "Gauge of Amity" document to Matthew McBlain Thomson, founder
of the ill-fated "American Masonic Federation." The document recognized
Thomson as a IX° member of O.T.O. On September 18, 1919, Reuss was reconsecrated
by Bricaud, thus receiving the "Antioch Succession," and re-appointed
as "Gnostic Legate" to Switzerland for Bricaud's Église Gnostique Universelle.
Crowley returned to England in December of 1919. In
1920, Reuss published his Program of Construction and Guiding Principles
of the Gnostic Neo-Christians: O.T.O. In this document, Reuss set
forth his ideas for a (highly regimented) utopian society. The principles
of this society were to be based on ideas from Thelema (The Book of
the Law and aphorisms of the Master Therion are quoted and explained);
along with more traditional ideas from Rosicrucianism, Gnosticism, and
Yoga; and the "progressive" socio-political ideas prevalent at Monte Verità.
On July 17, 1920, Reuss attended the Congress of the
"World Federation of Universal Freemasonry," held at the Libertas et Fraternitas
Lodge in Zürich. This conference was intended to take up the work of Papus's
"International Masonic and Spiritualist Conference" held in Paris in 1908.
Reuss, with Bricaud's authorization, advocated the adoption of the religion
of Crowley's Gnostic Mass as the "official religion for all members
of the World Federation of Universal Freemasonry in possession of the
18° of the Scottish Rite." Reuss's efforts in this regard were a failure,
and he quarreled with Matthew McBlain Thomson (who was elected Honorary
President of the International Masonic Federation) over jurisdictional
issues. Reuss left the congress after the first day.
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