The Solar Lodge of the Ordo Templi Orientis was a

magical organization A magical organization or magical order is an organization created for the practice of ceremonial or other forms of occult magic or to further the knowledge of magic among its members. Magical organizations can include Hermetic orders, Wiccan ...

in California that was established in 1965, and withdrew from initiatory activity in 1972. It was loosely based on ideas from the then-defunct

Ordo Templi Orientis Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.; ) is an occult Initiation, initiatory organization founded at the beginning of the 20th century. The origins of the O.T.O. can be traced back to the German-speaking occultists Carl Kellner (mystic), Carl Kellner, He ...

, but used the curriculum of the A.'.A.'. established by

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pro ...

. The precursor to Solar Lodge was set in motion by Ray Burlingame ("Frater Aquarius"), when he initiated Georgina "Jean" Brayton ("Soror Capricornus") in 1962. Burlingame was a Ninth Degree member of Ordo Templi Orientis. The O.T.O. as re-founded by Grady McMurtry in 1969 has never accepted Solar Lodge as a valid body of O.T.O. and considers the Solar Lodge "clandestine", much as Freemasons consider the O.T.O. a form of clandestine Masonry. In 1965, shortly before his death, Burlingame instructed Brayton to initiate other people, which she did, expanding Solar Lodge in the 1960s to include over 50 members. By 1967, the Lodge owned several small mansions, a gas station, a bookstore, all in Los Angeles, and a desert property known as Solar Ranch in the Sonoran desert. In 1969, the Lodge ran a bookstore in

Blythe, California Blythe is a city in eastern Riverside County, California, United States. It is in the Palo Verde Valley of the Lower Colorado River Valley region, an agricultural area and part of the Colorado Desert along the Colorado River, approximatel ...

; it operated Solar Ranch near

Vidal, California Vidal, California is a small unincorporated community located in southeastern California, in San Bernardino County on U.S. Route 95, north of Blythe, California, United States and south of Needles. The town is west of the townsite of Earp, ...

; and it owned a gas station in Vidal with a cafe, motel, bar, house, gas station and grocery store. In 1969, the members of the lodge were charged with mistreatment of the six-year-old son of one of the members in a case that came to be known as " The Boy in the Box". Brayton, her husband, and other officers performed "interstate flight to avoid prosecution," traveled to Mexico and Canada, and eventually engaged in a publicity campaign that alleged a conspiracy against them by law enforcement officers and the courts. Initially, a few members went to jail for 6 months on a felony conviction, a few went to jail for 3 months on a misdemeanor conviction, and a few had their charges dismissed. When Brayton and her husband were arrested, she pleaded ''no contest'' and was sentenced to three years of probation along with a $500 fine. Shiva, Frater. ''Inside Solar Lodge - Outside the Law''. Teitan Press, York Beach: 2007. Pg. 132.

Notes

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References

*''Los Angeles Times'', "Boy in the Box" headline. July 30, 1969. *Frater Shiva. ''Inside the OTO.'' Allied Health & Science Institute. Los Angeles: (c)1974.
Charles Manson and the Solar Lodge
background information about the Solar Lodge Magical organizations Ordo Templi Orientis Secret societies in the United States