1. Bota Builders Of The Adytum

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I'm an associate member (that means I take their correspondence course). BOTA is an offshoot of the Golden Dawn started by Paul Foster Case. You can take correspondence courses on the Qabalah, Tarot, and general Hermeticism more or less following what you'd learn at a Golden Dawn organization. I think the particular 'flavor' of BOTA is that all the Enochian magic has been stripped off of their curriculum, and also that they function as a religious temple with open services, etc. In my opinion, it's more mystical/symbolical than magical for most members, since only a few get to be invited to 'chapter' groups that perform ceremonial magic.I think this small group might function more or less like a classical GD temple, but I have no information on it.

Paul Foster Case was deeply influenced by his masonic and Alpha+Omega training, and it shows in the BOTA teachings. There is much about self-knowledge and self-improvement in the curriculum, and I believe anyone would benefit from it to some degree.

The correspondence course is insightful, very didactic and has a slow, even pace (it would take you about 15 years to go through all the lessons in order). All in all, a very good occult school, especially if you're interested in the Tarot. If you're interested in a little more information, you can download their 'Open Door' brochure at. I've never heard someone speak poorly of BOTA and that says a lot in occult circles where everyone shits on each other's personal style of esotericism. The fact is, they have street cred in a culture where even the masters don't get shit. So, I looked them up.

Their founder, Paul Foster Case, really knew his stuff and by his stuff I mean he was fluent in Hebrew and took Kabbalah as serious as a heart attack. Anne Davies, his successor, I'm less sure about. In brief, if Qabalah and the Tarot are your bag, and you focus on self improvement and personal enlightenment through these tools, then look no further than the BOTA. If you're wanting a standard Hermetic, Golden Dawn style initiatory order, you're better served elsewhere. BOTA's claim to fame (in addition to quality qabalah/tarot instruction) is it's a correspondence course. You don't meet in a Hall of Adepts and call the corners.

Or, at least, most members don't anyway. I've been considering them as well. I was recommended the group by a connection online, in part as an exploration of the Tarot deck as a meditation tool, rather than simply as a divination tool. The BOTA deck is a bit different from the standard RWS deck, and comes uncolored. The book 'Highlights of Tarot' offered on their site gives a brief description of each card (a page or two in some cases, less for the minor arcana), and there is a coloring guide. However, their introductory materials, if you sign up with them, will guide through more in-depth lessons.

They recommend not going farther in the deck than your current lesson. Since I'm curious about the meditation aspects of tarot, it's tempting. I may sign up at some point; but I'm still undecided. What has been said by the others is correct. I've been in it for 3 years and did their initiation, lead a local study group and play organ for their attunement rituals. You can't beat the first three years of courses they offer on tarot.

Bota Builders Of The Adytum

It's a perfect introduction for a total noob and you should sign up if you are considering it, you can't go wrong. After the tarot lessons, Paul Foster Case's successor Ann Davies shoehorns a set of lessons of her own in there that turned me off so much I decided to pack it up and move on from B.O.T.A. Dealing with long time members over the last few years has shown me that those who stick around for the long haul tend to be rather gullible, superstitious, non-critical (but nice none the less) folks who just like to parrot jargon and go through the motions.

It's not a cult, but all the machinery is in place for people to make it into one if they are so inclined.and they do. It's a good place to begin. When you get to Ann Davies set of lessons you'll smell the rat that just starts to stink more and more over time. Paul Case only wrote 5 years worth of excellent lessons.she tacked on another 10 years worth of more or less fluff.

It's not woo woo magical.it's more of a very thorough examination of the theory and symbols behind esoteric thought. If you're studious you'll get a lot of bang out of it. I should also mention that there are free PDFs online of nearly all of Paul Foster Case's books which include nearly all of the information that appears in the lesson material. Give them a browse to see if it's your style. They aren't a substitute for actually doing the lessons however. The way they are organized and paced eases you in very gently so you are on track and steadily growing the whole time instead of dazed and confused by information overload.

You get out of them what you put in. Meditating on tarot is a wonderful transformative experience. I'm not quite sure how I feel. There is a lot of emotional weight behind this point, because I'd gotten involved with them briefly and was initiated as an EA in masonry, and then became demonically oppressed.

The only thing that sort of stood out as a red flag for me was in lesson 15, when PFC says that the devil does not exist, and then this sentence pops up later in the same lesson: '. And was later incorporated into Set and other notions of His Satanic Majesty.' One of my goals however, was to be able to help others. I then became really demonically oppressed and the idea was suggested to me that the experience was actually a part of the plan to be able for me to better serve others. Which leads me to this question: was this the divine providence of God giving me a rough experience that I would be better able to serve, or was it a two-fold purpose- that is was it to show that BOTA is some demonic non-sense but at the same time also serve to help me better serve?

Probably a rare situation, but it gives some very interesting insight for what I feel is a lot of people that are involved in occultism and are trying to do well, but aren't quite sure where the power is coming from. Demons, satan, becoming demonically oppressed, 'power' coming from somewhere you don't trust. I think you bring a lot of fantasy, anxiety and personal religious hang ups into it that are not objectively there.

I'd say leave it alone if dealing with esoteric religious subjects spins you out. It's just a subject to study like any other. If you meditate or do rituals or whatever yeah it's going to bring up 'demons' just like psychotherapy might. It's you though, your own attitudes and beliefs that you are up against not some outside supernatural oppositional force you are up against in your daily struggles. I think this is what Paul Case was talking about when he describes the devil as not existing. The devil is a word for what you experience when you take illusion as reality.

Read about Maya. A vice becomes a virtue when you can defeat it, and there is no virtue without a vice to oppose it, but the two are the same thing looked at with different attitudes. I'm not sure exactly what happened to be honest, but to give you some context I did the EA initiation ceremony in Masonry and broke the Masonic oath out of panic and confusion.

I'd already been in B.O.T.A. For a few months at the time prior. This may have 'opened the door' so to speak. I believe it is important to completely understand the meaning of a ritual prior to completing it, as it may be possible for things to appear of minor consequence when they are actually central to the meaning of the ritual. I suspect what happened is that the violation of the oath provided a psychic opening for me to be 'attacked', but my view on this now to be honest is why would one even swear an oath that can result in insanity or death if one violates it? The oath in Masonry appeared to be an arbitrary restriction and robbery of free-will; as for what I learned in B.O.T.A. I don't go around giving out the knowledge because I understand that some people would abuse the knowledge given.

The secrecy in B.O.T.A. Actually made sense; the secrecy in Masonry didn't make any sense to me at the time to be honest. I just viewed it as a form of control- and there are also some subtle things I disagree with in the first degree oath. Nothing outright malicious- the charge to an E.A.

Is actually beautiful and is apparently not a secret at all. Just some differences in my personal philosophy and Masonry's. I quite dislike the rampant patriotism that one would find within Freemasonry. I enjoy being able to form my opinions based on the actions of the place I happen to reside in without being an abject slave and mindlessly supporting every decision my country makes.

Hi Aetherous, So before I answer this, I should state a little something about my experience with the group. I feel that is important as it will better inform you as to if and how much credibility you should assign to my position. I studied with the BOTA for about six or seven years, however long it took to complete the course, 'The Great Work' (including some breaks throughout). I was also a Pronaos member in two different parts of the US. It was there that I learned the oral history of the BOTA and where I made the friendship of a number of advanced members (some probably well known by their books) and eventually invited to join the FLO, who carry on the original initiatory work of the BOTA (which has been largely discontinued, except for New Zealand and perhaps a very small contingency in Los Angeles). To understand the nature and role of the BOTA courses, one must be aware that the Hermetic tradition is transmitted personally by adept to pupil. Many people feel inner resistance to this statement for a variety of reasons, yet that has no bearing on the reality of the statement.

It is certainly one that most in the BOTA would find difficult to accept, which is quite odd given that both Paul Case and Anne Davies had both received the spiritual transmission from an adept. So it is reasonable to ask then if the oral transmission is required, what purpose does the BOTA work serve? The answer is that it is essentially pre-initiatic in nature. The Hermetic adepts count among their names the 'Fire Philosophers'.

A curious name for fire burns and it is a destructive force unless wisely used. That which is impure shuns the fire and avoids it. So this bit of symbolism contains in it much that is interesting and one of those things is that the Hermetic adepts are often shunned by society. Not because they stand out, are rude, or are odd in their mannerisms. Rather, their very presence irritates and repels the common man because they radiate a force which the lower personality rightly finds threatening.

It is a force of love, truth, and goodness. This poses a difficulty then. The adept seeks ripe students, but most are not yet ready to light their torches from his.

They are not even 'green apples'. Dvd bita e os animais. Most inquirers of occult knowledge come to it seeking fulfillment of base desires. They have no idea of the true nature of the path or what it entails, and most suffer from psychological imbalances that could play out destructively if given power, like a pubescent boy with matches:-) Enter the genius of the BOTA correspondence curriculum which begins firstly with a short course on fulfilling one's desires.

An effective occult method is taught from the very beginning which enables students to pursue their base desires. No apologies are made for this for none are needed. This course is called 'Seven Steps' and it is in my mind, the single most effective introductory course in occultism that has ever been written. Applied rightly (and of course, by an individual who it is God's will to see through these desires), something rather magical happens as a result of the application of this knowledge. I will not discuss this openly for I believe it is valuable for each person to experience for themselves. Paul Foster Case, like all Hermetic adepts, dealt in trickery and slight-of-hand (slight-of-mind, really).

When the student believes they are working on one thing, they are really fulfilling a purpose that is only seen later, in hindsight. The BOTA curriculum then proceeds with an introduction to the Tarot, a course consisting of 11 lessons. Here the student is very gently brought into acquaintance with the Tarot. And again in line with the nature of trickery, they are taught a principle of Hermetic meditation which gives them a key in recognizing a genuine Hermetic adept (though this is never stated openly).

Tarot Fundamentals builds upon this foundation and over the course of a year, develops an intermediate understanding of Tarot. I say, 'intermediate' but you should understand that one who dedicates them to this course will know far more about Tarot than the average occult student. This course is the cornerstone of the BOTA's rightly deserved reputation.

Paul Case was an adept, but he was also a male with a bias towards the logical, rational part of the mind. So Anne Davies wrote and inserted the next course, 'Developing Supersensory Powers'.

I personally loved this course as it brought the Tarot to life, where before I had simply seen the outer forms and symbols. Skipping ahead, we get to the Master Pattern, the Tree of Life, and the 32 Paths of Wisdom, all perfectly acceptable courses on the rudiments of the Qabalah. At this point, one will find that the information being presented is of a more academic nature. While it was certainly a valuable source of information at the time, since then so many good works have been written on this subject that the hungry student may question why it took them three years to arrive at this point when they could have simply read a couple of books and gotten the same knowledge (the less hungry students will still appreciate the consistent, bite-sized lesson format however, so I do think it has its place). Next is Sound and Color.

At this point the wheels began to fall off the cart for me. Not that the principles or method aren't useful, but one begins to become aware of the hyper-intellectual influence of the Golden Dawn at about this point. For me, this course forced me to begin asking some serious questions about the nature of this teaching as well as where it came from. It was at this point that I grew brave enough to question what I was being taught and began to explore for myself alternatives to the material.

In this manner, I discovered that while the color correspondences of the BOTA were sound, the musical note correspondences were not. This presents a bit of a problem, as in order to participate harmoniously in group work, one must be fully proficient and adept in these correspondences. So if one wishes to participate in the group work (and the FLO is the only practical option for this in most cases), then they must be prepared to accept these color and sound correspondences without question. This brings us to the 'Great Work', a course dedicated to alchemy. This was for me a critical juncture. One thing which is not apparent to many in the BOTA is that Paul Foster Case did not know everything (horrors! It is not obvious partly because like a good magician, he was able to disguise his ignorance in various matters with clever distractions.

We see this in action in the 'Great Work', though it will only be obvious to those with sufficient experience with both Qabalah and alchemy. Here we find pages upon pages dedicated to complex and far-reaching gematria, inspired by quotes often taken completely out of context from old alchemical works. Unlike all of the previous courses, one comes away from each lesson, feeling more and more baffled by what Paul Case had written. Having fallen under the belief of the famous adepts infallibility, they conclude that here lie great secrets which they are simply not ripe enough to understand. I include below a link to a book which is very nearly identical to this course so that everyone can read this for themselves (if so inclined): Among the many mistakes made in this book are the constant references to Tattvas and Chakras as well as eastern meditative practices which were popularized in the day. Here is one of the clearer passages in this book.

I cite this one not because what he is saying here is not true, but the complex manner in which he conveys a very simple idea is emblematic of his style. The numbers representing the degrees of the angles of a Pythagorean Triangle correspond to Hebrew and Greek words connected with the Great Work. The line of three units meets that of four units to form a right angle of 90 degrees, and the number 90 is that of the word, Mem, 'water,' one of the commonest names for the First Matter. The same word is illustrated by the 12th Tarot Key, which Eliphas Levi explains as symbolizing the adept bound by his engagements. The number ofthis Key, 12, is connected with the alchemical process because the Great Work has 12 stages. 90, furthermore, is the number of Tzaddi, corresponding to the sign Aquarius, which as we have just seen, is connected with the objective of the Great Work, described by Levi as 'the full and complete conquest of man's faculties and of his hture.'

This conquest is made possible by mental processes summed up in the symbolism of Key 17, which corresponds to the letter Tzaddi. Even in Christian Gnosticism we have a hint of the same notion, for Irenaeus tells us that 17 is the number of God's people, or Spiritual Israel; that is, perfected humanity.

Another concept in the book (also popular in certain circles), is that the Great Work takes place in 12 stages which correspond to the astrological signs. Why are there 12 stages?

Why is it necessary to correlate them to the astrological signs? No clear answer is given. By itself, that does not indicate it is wrong. But a closer examination of each of the 12 stages then begins to unearth inconsistencies and vague notions, the ever reliable signs of one who does not know what it is they speak of.

Calcination is one of the stages in which he demonstrates some knowledge. Here on page 217, we begin to find a superficially true notion, yet one marred with vagueness and error. Ripley, in his Compound of Alchemy corrects error that even so long ago as his day, had crept into the practice of the art concerning CALCINATION. Says he: 'If, therefore, you intend to make gold and silver by craft of our philosophy, see that you do not take for this purpose either eggs or blood, but gold and silver, which, calcined wisely and not manually, will naturally bring forth a new generation, increasing their kind as does each thing.' Notice that the proper calcination is not performed manually, but wisely, that is, through an operation of consciousness.

The reference to eggs and blood is also important. Eggs are seed-forms, and are related to the functions controlled by the Mars center in the body. Blood is pumped through the body by the heart, regulated by the Sun center. Certain passages in the alchemical books have led some to conclude that the Great Work is a direct modification of the products of the gonads, and also a direct operation on the blood. The student should not be blamed if they fall for this nonsense. It was not until many years later that I saw it for what it was myself.

As for why this course is included in the BOTA curriculum, well that is also a very good question and one which has a very good answer. But not one I'm going to get into. I hope that answers your question, Aetherous. UFA Edited May 29, 2015 by FraterUFA.