The Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) in Melbourne, Australia is fighting back against slanderous charges of pedophilia and ritual murder made by Dr Reina Michaelson, founder of the Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program.

“An anti-child-sex campaigner accused an occult religious group of hosting parties at which naked children acted as waiters and at which members had sex with and murdered children, a tribunal was told yesterday. The obscure group Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) claims Dr Reina Michaelson and the Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program described it in a website article as a satanic cult that sacrificed children and ate their organs and blood.”

The story itself is very confusing, it seems Dr Reina Michaelson has been making claims for some time that there are widespread pedophile rings operating in Australia. Hold on, it gets stranger. It seems Australian conspiracy-oriented sites have published material written by Michaelson that seemingly implicates the OTO in this alleged pedophile/murder ring. Michaelson doesn’t deny writing the material attributed to her, only that the site(s) published the article “without her knowledge or consent or authority”.

O.T.O Australia has already won a court victory over the conspiracy web site (a judgment they are still working to get enforced), and they now turn their attention to Michaelson who they say unfairly lumped them in to her delusional fantasy of a massive Satanic pedophile ring. Michaelson’s lawyer is defending her by saying that since she is telling the truth about Thelema she can’t be prosecuted under Australian law.

“Michaelson’s “defense” essentially reiterated her original claims. Denying any wrong doing at all she claims not to be the author of the original document published on her website and has tried to invoke the defenses provided for in the legislation – claiming her publication was a bona fide religious activity and done in the public interest. She claims that her “exposure of the nature or the true nature of a religious teaching or religious text (and in particular the Book of the Law and the book Magick in Theory and Practice…) does not constitute an act of vilification.” Michaelson’s barrister defended the Christian Catch the Fire Ministry, a Christian group, in a previous case where two of its members vilified Islam. In that case the barrister argued that Islam was an unlawful religion because it advocated violence. That argument, rejected by the court, has been recycled against Thelema. She repeatedly clumped “Thelema and Satanism and Crowleyism” together – perhaps in her world view all three are the same.”

The hearing, which started yesterday, has been put on hold while both parties make a last-ditch effort to settle out of court. But I somehow doubt Michaelson will back down now, I’d wager her beliefs won’t allow her to make a public statement that the O.T.O. is innocent. People with her brand of mania have to be either all right or all wrong. To disprove one element of her conspiracy theory would topple the house of cards. So expect more Thelema-related news stories coming from Australia soon. I have to wonder if Aleister Crowley would be amused at the infamy the Australian branch of his religious organization has gained.

Tags: Paganism