This is a photo of me, Frater Thabion, putting my gold seal on Wally Wallace's O.T.A. Charter, issued on September 29th, 2026. The charter is actually a Fourth Degree Chistophoris certificate which entitles the Rosicrucian initiate to found and operate an O.T.A. Lodge. Wally, V.H. Frater Agnosto, has been a Fourth Degree for years, He is in fact, a Seventh Degree. He held off asking for a charter until he had completed the program. Wally is the star of the Associate Member program. He joined in 2020, number 300, came out here on 17th of November and received his Pastophoris and four years later he recieved his Seventh Degree Propheta. You can see his wonderful temple equipment and decorations on our website. We are sending him his red hat, his Seventh Degree silver cross along with his charter. Wally should be an inspiration to all of you Associate Members. Magick means work but the work is fun. Let's Do those lessons and exercise reports and get on with the program.

V.H. Frater Thabion

Tuning the Wheel

Reflections on the Seasonal Rites as a Living Tradition

by Lawren Freebody Runyon

There is a world of difference between reading a ritual and living it.

On the written page, a ceremony is only a script comprised of words, gestures, stage directions. A reader can trace the mythology and recognize the symbolism. But out in the Henge, beneath the vast, shifting canopy of the sky, the senses open like doors, and the world walks in: the unexpected wind, the precise quality of light, the green or the gold of the month. The season, too, has heard the summons. The season, too, has come to take its rightful place in the Circle.

The Seasonal Rites of Baal and Astarte were never meant to be simple dramatic recreations of ancient Canaanite myth. From the start they were designed as a cycle. Early accounts tie the stories of Baal, Astarte, Mot, and the others to the changing year, the elements, and the alchemical processes linked to the quarters of the Magick Circle. The primal forces of Baal’s thunder, Astarte’s fierce love, and Mot’s barren stillness were always associated with the changes of the seasons. The earliest Adonia text describes the Summer Solstice rite as part of a planned cycle of seasonal ceremonies, with later rites carrying the drama through descent, death, renewal, and Sacred Marriage.

As the Circle is established, the quarters invoked, the words spoken, the chants repeated, and the celebrants move together around the Henge, energy is raised. The repeated circling, voice, attention, emotion, and shared intent combine to build a powerful energetic field within the sacred space.

It is an honor to take one of the principal roles, but Poke has written the ceremonies so that everyone present is…