Hermann Joseph Metzger |  |
Metzger was born on 20 June 1919 at 21:25 o'clock in the farming village Zezikon. There is nothing known about his childhood except that he had a strong mother.
On 15 October 1939 he moved from Lugano (the Italian speaking part of Switzerland) to Zuerich where he changed his address several times until his death in 1990.
He described himself in one of his first
letters to Karl Germer: "Since my early youth
I had to fight against peculiar difficulties. My family situation
caused a lot of psychological complexes. I was raised so severly that
my erotic impulses had been awakened very early ...
The political
aspect of my life can't be separated from the religious one. Primarily
I was catholic although rebellious already at the age of 12. After
wanting to become a priest (which was supported by family's friends) I
turned towards the crassest materialism, that is: atheism and
communism - also rebelliuous against fascism and Nazism which I had
studied at their sources in Italy and Germany. I was politically active
(propaganda and organisation) for several organisations in Switzerland.
Although feeling that my mission was based upon other grounds before,
only my arrest in the political context opened my mind for the
area of "suggestion" and "hypnosis" ...
Having become suspicious
about each and everyone, I had to make up my mind. Broken minded, broken
hearted and with a broken soul I had been left by friends, teachers
and authorities -- so having become humble and knowing that I know
nothing I had to re-start from zero. ... At this time I met my fatherly
friend Dr. P[inkus] and I swore to
myself to sacrifice my future life for the movement and its spiritual
development."
Friedrich / Frederic Mellinger described him thus: "While he has a keen and realistic
intelligence, he surprises with an attitude of a mystico-magical
miracle-man in modern attire. He reminds physiognomically of Groening,
the famous German healer a la Rasputin, only with more suave features,
a childish smile glorifying his rotten teeth of a Tibetan rodent."
Ellic Howe who also had met Metzger: "I find it difficult (or
impossible) to take Metzger at all seriously. In fact I regard him as a
harmless nonentity. In fact he is a fairly typical occultist."
The Inner Circle around Metzger (who adored August Strindberg's life
and work) consisted of: Annemarie Aeschbach (born 1926, now OHO of the
Swiss O.T.O.), his wife Rosalie Metzger (1909-1972), Anita Borgert
(born 1918), Anna Bertha Werder-Binder (born 1922), Sophie Huber and
Dorothea Weddigen.
It was F.L. Pinkus who taught Metzger the art
of hypnosis. Alias Peter Mano (the name concurred with the then famous
stage hypnotisist Hermano who performed in Zuerich in 1938-39), Metzger
tried to earn his money as a "stage magician" and became member
of an artist guild in 1943 in Zuerich. The surviving members of that
guild remember that Metzger has been known as "doing everything on
stage". At the same time he drew horoscopes on a commercial
basis.
The telephone directory mentioned Metzger's profession as
"author". His first publication alias Peter Mano was the
enthusiastic article "Mirin Dajo - seen differently" in the 1947
periodical "Die Arve" (Zuerich, no. 3, page 20). Mirin Dajo alias
Arnold Gerrit Henskes (1912-1948) was a dutch fakir who had himself run
through with floretts. 'Peter Mano' also wrote about "the astrology
as timless psychology of the micro- and macrocosm". 1947 also was
the year, when Pinkus and Alice Sprengel
had died, Metzger had taken over Pinkus' "Psychosophische Gesellschaft"
(continued also under the name "Genossenschaft Psychosophia"), had
founded his own O.T.O. and had started to publish his magazine
"Mitteilungsblatt des Psychosophischen Institutes".
25 September, 151. A certain Percy Hopkins, alleged student of medicine
in Munich, alleged representative of a certain Donald McFarlane (alias
Donald Waters) wrote to the Swiss O.T.O., allegedly on behalf of a
"Self-Realization Fellowship" (S.R.F. - "founded in 1920 by
Paramahansa-Yogananda") in California. On the headed stationary
appeared: "O.T.O. -- M.M.M. -- S.R.M. -- Section: Germany".
"... We are busy finding people to carry the work on since 1948,
based on the old documents ...". Obviously, Hopkins knew via
McFarlane from Theodor Reuss' Golden Book that there was a Charter for
Ida Hofmann, Alice Sprengel and Clara Linke. And now Metzger was
expected to pay again for confirmations, new charters, fees and the
like.
Hopkins and McFarlane were unaware of the Swiss Reuss-charter for
H.R. Hilfiker and
Laban de Laban nor the strange X° Reuss-charter for Hoffman and
Linke (dated 1918), which was the alleged basis for Metzger's claim to
the Reuss-O.T.O. McFarlane made a phone call to Metzger, who pretended
to be busy. In the meantime, Metzger and Germer had decided that the
S.R.F. was a fake and as a result Metzger did not react to a further
letter from Hopkins dated 18th Ocotber, 1951.
The S.R.F. wrote the me in 1988 using the same logo on its stationary
as they had in their correspondence with Metzger (but without the
O.T.O.-etc. reference): "we have no knowledge of 'Reuss material' or
the 'Old European Thelemites'."
October 1951. Metzger travelled together with Annemarie Aeschbach first
to Friedrich / Frederic Lekve in Hildesheim, then to Hamburg
where Friedrich / Frederic Mellinger lived. Mellinger reported to Germer that 17
of Metzger's brethren had been initiated with the old Reuss rituals and
that Metzger had received the IX° through Pinkus "in a very original
form". Twelve years later, in a report to Sascha Germer, Metzger
described the events: "In October 1951 Metzger received the IX°
through Mellinger, witnessed by Aeschbach.". Indeed there exist
nine forms, signed by Germer and Mellinger, for Metzger and his group!
Germer also recognized his Charter from Reuss' group.
21 December, 1951: Germer wrote to Metzger: "It would be good if you
would keep in mind that the person who prints LIBER AL in the necessary
format (a great work of most importance), has consolidated his
position."
Metzger wrote to the widows of the deceased German thelemic leaders in
Europe, such as Crowley's self-proclaimed representative Friedrich / Frederic
Lekve, and travelled to Hamburg to get the estate of C.H. Petersen
(authorized by Germer to translate Crowley's books for Metzger). His
work as a printer and his efforts to manifest a real Abbey of
Thelema with the money of his Annemarie Aeschbach, caused Germer to
hold high hopes for "the man who, as far as I can see, is chosen
for a great and growing job"..
1 May, 1955: Metzger was appointed Custodian of the Aeropag of the
"World League of Illuminati"
(the Order of Leopold Engel) and sought to join up with what he saw as
the original source of the O.T.O. In his view, in 1902 the
O.T.O. under Reuss had split off from the Illuminati.
15 June, 1960: Germer wrote to Metzger: "Hindered from travelling,
it was impossible to check things in Europe personall. I was restricted
to your and others' letters until, through your action, you turned out
to be the Sole Aspirant to the Crown. You know well enough how much we
admired this."
25 October 1962: Karl Johannes Germer died. Upon hearing of the death
of Germer, on 6 January, 1963 Metzger proclaimed himself O.H.O. after a
election by his fellow IX° lodge members.
Alias Metzger alias Peter Mano, alias Paragranus alias Tabacum alias
Nemos, Metzger wrote circa 40 articles, speeches, prefaces and essays
for his 'own' publishing firm "Psychosophische Gesellschaft"
which served at the same time as roof for his collection of Orders:
O.T.O., FRA, IO, EGC and whatever (see note below), e.g. the
"Movie Club Thelema" with its own movie theatre (in 1966,
Kenneth Anger showed his films in Stein, personally being there as
well), the "Bakery Thelema" (on the wrap paper of the bread:
Crowley's Equinox book cover), the officially registered "Climate
Station Thelema", the "Laboratory Thelema" (spices, oils and
washing-up liquid for the vagina), the Restaurant and Hotel
"Rose", the "Cultural Centre Thelema", the library
with over 30,000 volumes since the early 1970s, a museum with
thelemic trivia, the printing machines, a photo
laboratory, an audio editing studio, a biotope with a
little pond and the unsuccessful "Apiculture Thelema".
Not all members had been happy with Metzger's behaviour. See
Gabriel
Montenegro's correspondence with European Thelemites in the
1960s.
Caused by Charles Mansons' involvment with Jean Brayton's Solar Lodge of the O.T.O. (a satellite of the dissolved 2nd Agape Lodge
in California), the worldwide media reported on the O.T.O. and in 1969 the
"Washington Post" wrote that a "Boy Tells of Chaining by Cultists".
With this newspaper clip Metzger travelled to the American Embassy in
Berne which reported to the Director of the FBI: "He stated that he
was afraid that these people were giving his organization a bad name in
the U.S., and he wished to emphasize that they had nothing to do with
his society."
Metzger and his lover Anita Borgert filed suit against Horst Knaut and
dragged him through several Courts. But in 1976 Knaut had to pay
damages only for his assumption that it was after the Gnostic Mass when
the orgies took place. Eventually, Knaut published a book in 1979 (Das
Testament des Bösen) where he summarized all his boulevard articles in
the soft porn magazines. It is this book that inspires still today some
of the anti-cult "researchers" who think that the O.T.O. groups are a
nest of pedophiles and satanists.
In the 1970s there were more academics researching the O.T.O. than
there were members worldwide. Alongside the protestant priest
Friedrich-Wilhelm Haack: Karl Frick, Helmut Moeller, Oscar Schlag,
Fritz Bolle, Ellic Howe, Gerald Yorke, Francis King, Harald
Szeemann.
They solved their problems nonetheless. Since 1982, Annemarie Aeschbach
paid taxes for over half a million Swiss Francs, new members from the
nearby Austrian border rejuvenated the Sunday breakfeasts at the tables in
Stein but Metzger's health went downwards.
In 1989 the Gasthof Rose was again maintained by Annemarie Aeschbach.
Obviously the rejuvenation through Austrian members was successful.
Annemarie Aeschbach, one of Metzger's closest friends, is leading the
Swiss O.T.O. until she has finished the
training of her successor, Josef Olaf R. (born 10th February, 1963), a
teacher, a freemason since 1988, and a member of the masonic "Quatuor
Coronati" since 1990.
See also Karl Germer's correspondence
with Friedrich / Frederic Mellinger. And
Thelema in Appenzell ? -- Translation and
adaption from a chapter on the Swiss O.T.O. Protagonists in
"Das O.T.O.-Phänomen" (containing an interview with Hansruedi Giger) --
German original
online Pope Paragranus
Old European Thelemites
September 1954: Metzger printed The Book of the Law. Germer "was
jubilant about this".
3 October, 1954: As a result of this, Germer gave Metzger a letter of
privilege for all further enterprises: "You don't need to defend
yourself: your work is what counts.".
Since March 1955, on the basis of above, Metzger was allowed by Germer
to print "We, the authorized heirs to the Master Therion" on the
inside of his beautiful publications of Crowley's books (which
sometimes also contained prefaces especially written by Karl
Germer).
October 1957: Metzger first became Bishop and then, in 1960, Patriarch
of the Gnostic Catholic Church.
Before long, however, Germer began to describe Metzger as
"half-crazy" on account of his typographical blunder relating to
The Book of the Law, and Marcelo Ramos Motta began to send long,
imploring letters to Switzerland.
The Abbey of Thelema in Stein, Appenzell
Metzger never had much money (e.g. in 1986 he paid taxes for
10,000 Swiss Francs income and 30,000 Swiss Francs capital: which shows
him living far under the subsistence level) and had to be supported by
the rich Annemarie Aeschbach. It was her who paid for everything in
Stein, also for the specially erected chapel for the Gnostic
Catholic Church of which Metzger was Patriarch since June 1960 (after
Herbert Fritsche's
death). When the church bell was brought into the Chapel, a ceremony
was held, that is a march through the near village Stein accompanied by
the village people. Since the early 1950s, the Gnostic Mass is
regularly celebrated on Sundays.
The Swiss Army authorities did not supply any information (for data
security reasons) but when Metzger served in 1956, Friedrich / Frederic Mellinger
edited Metzger's magazine "Ex Oriente Lux". Metzger also published the
serials "Equinox", the "Oriflamme", the "Oriflamme Lectures" and the
"Ketzerbrevier".
Scandal in the yellow press
At the same time, Metzger's offshoot group in
Germany run by Walter Englert
attracted the attention of German journalists. A certain Horst Knaut
researched also the Fraternitas Saturni
and visited protagonists like Walter Jantschik, of course Metzger and
his allies and many other Swiss and German occultists. Knaut published
his "findings" in 1972 in soft porn magazines which led to police raids
in Stein and caused the fall of the Swiss Abbey of Thelema. After the Fall
The financial reserves of Annemarie Aeschbach seemed to
be used up. Metzger distanced himself in the local church newspapers
from the "madness of the madman Crowley" while parts of the
unused countryside on the spot of the Abbey of Thelema was put up
for public auction. The public seminars ended in 1980, as well as the
publication of the Oriflamme magazine. Metzger's lover Anita Borgert
left Stein, the Gasthof "Rose" was rented to the World Wildlife Fund
and Metzger contacted the Swiss Lodgemaster of the Fraternitas Saturni,
Hermann Gilomen whether he wanted to take over the whole Abbey. In
vain, Gilomen considered the whole enterprise as too exhaustive.
His second family apart from the O.T.O. in Stein was the Artist's Guild
in Zuerich. His nickname there was "Why?" because this was his sole and
only contribution at the discussions. (In 1971, the complete Guild was
invited to Stein where they listened to the Rubber band sound and
enjoyed their beer.) -- In 1988, Theo Pinkus (son of Felix Lazerus
Pinkus, Metzger's spiritual father) noticed that Metzger had suffered
from a stroke and lost a lot of his memory. A puzzled Oscar Schlag told
following anecdote: Schlag visited Metzger in Stein in July 1989.
After a nice conversation Metzger turned towards Schlag and asked:
"Do you know Oscar Schlag?"
Metzger died on 14 July 1990. 35 people attended the funeral ceremony,
mostly young and seemingly wealthy members. The ceremony was not held
in the chapel in Stein but in the official chapel in St. Gallen.
Annemarie Aeschbach hired a trumpetist and an organist. The chief of
the Artist's Guild honoured Metzger's work as a stage magician
(something which upset Annemarie Aeschbach who later complained:
"Metzger did not work with tricks"). The Order's members did not
honour his life with exact dates, there were no thelemic key sentences
nor the mention of the O.T.O. and the like. A young woman laid three
roses on the coffin: "The white rose on your head means Wisdom, the
red rose upon your feet is Strength and the pink rose on your heart is
Beauty."
Like his wife's ashes, Metzger's ashes are kept on the altar of the
Gnostic Chapel in Stein at the Abbey of Thelema.Note:
Metzger's magazine "Oriflamme" no 103, November 1970: "The
Psychosophische Gesellschaft is the parent organization of the Ordo
Illuminatorum, the World League of Illuminati with its grades of O.T.O.,
F.R.A., Gnostic Church; and continues its existence ... The rules of
the Ordo Illuminatorum and the Statutes of the Psychosophische
Gesellschaft are in accordance with the Civil Laws of Switzerland."
And in October 1973, "Oriflamme" 138: "Thus in the 18th century
those who followed the tradition of the Ordo Illuminatorum, who laid
down the differing original elements in the Grades, understood
themselves to be an Academia Masonica. The grades of blue, green, red,
black and white white meant: the builders, who built the Temple; those
who perfected the temple and who mastered technical sciences; the
Rosicrucian chapter who studied nature and the secrets of creation; the
Temple Knights, who defended the temple, and the Priestly grades, who
tended the Graal in the temples. At the turn of the century, that is in
the time between 1890 and 1920, was the time of the last great schisms.
Since we are all called to and are based upon the historical ideals of
the Order, we are under obligation to them. All other branches from
this tree, whom we have reunited with the order since 1952, are cited
on historical grounds, and in order to insure a correct understanding
of the situation. The task we have undertaken is: to transfer the Order
on to the next generation in all its purity; that was the grounds why
the older Brothers ... -- even those of the split off branches -- have
passed on this heritage to us."
Das Milieu des Templer Reichs - Die Sklaven Sollen Dienen. Hanns Heinz Ewers - Lanz von Liebenfels - Karl Germer, Arnoldo Krumm-Heller - Martha Kuentzel - Friedrich Lekve - Hermann Joseph Metzger - Christian Bouchet - Paolo Fogagnolo - James Wasserman. Unbequeme Aspekte in der Geschichte von O.T.O. und Thelema
English Version The Templar's Reich
Versiune romana: Reich-ul Templier
Of Booksellers And Other Grand Masters of the
O.T.O.: Detailed biographies on
Heinrich Tränker, Karl Germer, Henri Birven, Spencer Lewis, C.H.
Petersen, Eduard Munninger -- and their relation with the O.T.O. under
Reuss, Crowley and Metzger -- containing Henri Birven's "Obituary on
Karl Germer" with interesting details about Crowley in Berlin in 1930
To the main page of Photographs and Documents
O.T.O. Phenomenon content page | main page | mail
More about all this in: Andreas Huettl and Peter-R. Koenig: Satan - Jünger, Jäger und Justiz
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