The following information is relevant to those considering applying as Associate Members. Membership Please understand immediately that your membership in the yahoo group does not make you a member of the Subtlety or Force Encampment (heretofore: SoFe). SoFE is a chartered Camp of the OTO and has several manners of associating on a hierarchy of membership. I would like to take the time to detail membership technicalities. Simply being a member of the Yahoo Group is no formal connection to SoFE, it simply allows for access to our files, links, calendar, and the message board. Anyone who has bothered to join this yahoo group is encouraged to attend an event at some point. If one wishes to become a formal associate member they will fill out a SoFE Associate Membership Application (located in the File section of the Yahoo Group) and turn it in along with $10. This fee covers one's monthly associate membership dues and is payable monthly after the application's approval. The review process is simple and open: we try not to exercise elitism when it comes to donations. This fund goes to activities directly related to SoFE. Being an "associate member" one has access to our library, temple, and special functions (at the discretion of the Master). Please note that our library policy requires annual donations be made to our library in order to check out books. Also, one has the most lofty privilege of telling their friends, "I'm an associate member of the Subtlety or Force Encampment!" Being an associate member of SoFe DOES NOT make one a member of OTO. OTO is an initiatory Fraternity founded on the principles of the Law of Thelema and the fact of Universal Brotherhood. IF you TRULY desire to become a member of OTO, SoFE is capable of officially performing the very first of its initiations. If you desire this, contact the moderator of this group at master@sof-oto.org. I want to make it very clear that these initiations are held in the highest regards and are not a pass-time for the entertainment of pseudo-spiritual shells of witty simians. Unless otherwise noted (on the calendar), not being a member does not restrict one's abilities to attend events. We welcome and encourage attendance from non-members without pressure to become a member or take initiation. Initiation and membership are not for everyone, but any non-idiot can benefit from the topical classes and discussions we offer. Dues Information All initiates of the OTO pay yearly USGL dues. All members of a Local Body pay local dues. Members of a local body need not be members of the OTO. Associate Members of the Subtlety or Force Encampment need not be initiates of OTO. All Associate Members of this Camp must pay local dues. TO WHOM YOU PAY These dues are payable monthly directly to the Treasurer and none other. She accepts cash, check, and money orders. All checks and money orders must be made out to "Subtlety or Force". DUES AMOUNTS Monthly dues are as follows- Associate (non-initiate) member = $10 Monthly Minerval member = $20 Monthly First degree or above member = $30 Monthly Officers (all of whom are First Degree or above) = $40 Monthly Bodymaster = $50 Monthly SUB OFFICERS Sub officers are task-oriented officers who are effectively sub secretaries. These persons are allowed to pay Officer dues and thus gain privileges normally appropriated to full Officers. These include attending luxurious officer meetings, having formal weight in body affairs, and receiving body help for OTO travel (eg Kaaba, CIT, Pastoral Counseling, Symposiums, etc..) DISTANCE MEMBERS IF you are far, as in more than an hour's fair drive away, and find yourself incapable of attending at least once a month, you have the option of paying Distance Dues. Distance Dues were invented to encourage local participation, provide an avenue where OTO initiates can fulfill Sabazius' mandate that local dues be paid, and to encourage association and contribution throughout a region. Distance dues are HALF of what would normally be one's monthly dues. BACK DUES IF you owe more than two months of dues at any given time, you are considered locally "inactive." Being locally inactive for an associate member nullifies your standing as an associate member and thence all privileges associated therewith, including access to the library or temple. As an initiate, being locally inactive is severely discouraged and one is disallowed from attending all events, public and private. To become locally current, one must pay thrice their monthly dues amount, which will make them current for the current month and the following month. This privilege may only be evoked once. Afterwords, any missed months must be paid in full to recover active status. INACTIVE MEMBERS OF OTO To those of you who fell out of active status with OTO (by not paying dues), we encourage you to begin paying USGL dues again. Therefore, for every payment made to OTO to catch up on back dues will count towards a month's dues so long as the amount is equal to or greater than the given month. Therefore, an inactive initiate may vicariously become locally dues current by paying USGL dues. This privilege will be extended for three months. A longer period of time is excessive for the typical amount of back dues charged. This privilege may only be (by USGL Law) extended to public events. Until an inactive initiate is fully paid to USGL, they will not be allowed to attend private events. Those include Initiations, Initiation Classes, Private Gnostic Masses, or other locally private events such as Goetia Workshops or Excursions. WHERE DO DUES GO? They fund just about everything. Dues make up for about 50% of our annual income. The other 50% comes from Doomsayer's Digest sales. These dues go to paying for equipment costs for initiations, the Gnostic Mass, and certain types of public rituals and workshops. They go to the errant printing cost or office supplies costs. They go to funding the Gnostic Mass' roses and to some feasts. Effectively, they go to the internal administrative work and the external meeting and ritual labors. Our dues are well spent, and more than half of our income from Dues comes from the several Officers of the Camp. Any little bit truly goes a long way, so we heartily thank those Associates and Initiates who are prompt and giving with Dues, they keep the Camp alive. Library Policy This has been developed to address some confusion which exists surrounding our voluminous libraries and the level of access members have to it. Being an associate members allows you to, day or night, access our library to view and read books. This is part of the Associate's privileges purchased by their monthly dues. To check out books from the library, one must donate books. These books are not the random selections from your personal library, but instead books selected by myself based upon their relevance to our education in OTO, EGC, or Thelema. One must donate one book per year to the library. That book MUST be chosen from this list: SOFE Amazon Book List NO OTHER BOOKS WILL BE ACCEPTED (as satisfactions of this req)! If you'd like to see another book added to this list, write me personally. Otherwise, never assume another book will be accepted, because it won't. Additionally, after each degree of initiation one takes (if at all), it is necessary to purchase another book for the library from the private "wish lists". For those of you who have taken initiation but have not purchased books for the library, write the Bodymaster immediately to get those wheels turning. All books donated annually or post-initiation are the property of the local body. This means that they are property of the OTO. This means that they will be in the local body's possession indefinitely, but if something were to happen they would be added to the OTO's archives. The length one can check out a book is dependent upon their degree. Associate members can hold a book for 2 weeks maximum. Minervals may hold a book for one month. Initiates (of I* or above) may hold a book for two months. As many books are in high demand (given their appearance on reading lists or sponsorship requirements), borrowers are encouraged to be expeditious with whatever they check out. Any damaged books are the responsibility of the borrower. The borrower is encouraged to use the utmost care with whatever they should take. Any books checked out from a private collection (that being the archives of individuals rather than SOFE) must first be approved by the owner of that book. Any SOFE volumes need to be confirmed by the Bodymaster. Before one can leave with a book, one absolutely MUST MUST MUST sign that book out of the library. A clipboard is made available for this purpose. Alterations to this policy may be made at a moment's notice at the whimsical discretion of the Bodymaster. All associate members are expected to abide by this policy. Failure to do so may result in indefinite suspension of library privileges or membership within SOFE. Initiation Sponsorship The following requirements (or suggestions, depending on whom you appeal to for sponsorship) are designed to educate you in our intentions, clarify your intentions, and measure the quality of your commitment to pursuing your Initiation. Taking initiation is a legitimate milestone in one's life and the best we can do is assure that your intents are informed and reasonable. Take the following very seriously. Read: The Book of the Law The Law is for All The Equinox Volume 3 Number 10 (alternatively: all the links in the "OTO Reading" folder of our yahoo group & all the files in the "OTO Related Material" folder) All links and files in "OTO Reading" and "OTO Related Material" folders. The Weiser Concise Guide to Aleister Crowley All of the above is available at the Subtlety or Force Library; however, I encourage the Applicant to procure personal copies for the purpose of convenient continued study. All of these volumes will prove valuable longitudinally. Write: Three (5 page double spaced 12 pt times new roman essays) that address the following statements: "Why I want Fraternity" "Why I want initiation" "My understanding of Thelema" Do: Become a dues paying associate (non-initiate) member of your local body (for New Mexicans: the Subtlety or Force Encampment) Attend at least one Gnostic Mass Engage and interact with your local body by attending events