Solar Lodge
Solar Lodge was a secret society in the United States that was established in 1965 and withdrew into initiatory inactivity in 1972. It was loosely based on ideas from Ordo Templi Orientis and used the curriculum of the A.'.A.'. established by Aleister Crowley.
The precursor to Solar Lodge was set in motion by Ray Burlingame ("Frater Aquarius"), when he initiated Georgina "Jean" Brayton ("Soror Capricornus") in 1962.[1] Although Burlingame was a Ninth Degree member of Ordo Templi Orientis, he did not hold a charter to initiate new members or found new bodies, consequently O.T.O. has never accepted Solar Lodge as a valid body of O.T.O.[2]
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.[3] 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; it operated Solar Ranch near Vidal, California; and it owned a gas station in Vidal with a cafe, motel, bar, house, gas station and grocery store.[4]
In 1969, the members of the lodge were charged with mistreatment of the six-year-old son of one 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. [5]
Notes
- ^ Shiva, Frater. Inside Solar Lodge - Outside the Law. Teitan Press, York Beach: 2007. Pg. 6.
- ^ Shiva, Frater. Inside Solar Lodge - Outside the Law. Teitan Press, York Beach: 2007. pp. 5-6.
- ^ A list of 58 members is found at http://mystic-history.angelfire.com/02solar.htm.
- ^ Shiva, Frater. Inside Solar Lodge - Outside the Law. Teitan Press, York Beach: 2007. Pg. 91.
- ^ Shiva, Frater. Inside Solar Lodge - Outside the Law. Teitan Press, York Beach: 2007. Pg. 132.
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