This book is an invaluable addition to the history of Thelema, providing a previously-unavailable level of detail on the principal group in the US that believed itself to be perpetuating a magical catena from Aleister Crowley during the late 1960s. It is quite readable, and mostly credible. Still, practicing 21st-century Thelemites with no particular interest in history may find it somewhat shallow and uninteresting.

The account is certainly worth the read by students and researchers of the phenomena of New Religious Movements, as it offers an insider's view of the full developmental arc of a ceremonial magic cult from inception to drug-addled senescence.

This book's title pretty much says it all. It covers the genesis of the Solar Lodge from the closing of the only O.T.O. Lodge n the U.S.A.., Agape' No.2 , in 1952 for "10 years " by the then Grand Master Karl Germer. This left a vacuum that was attempted to be filled by one of members Frater Aquarius, Ray Burlingame. It was in Fr.Aquarius' living room that real start of the Solar Lodge took place. He and his wife Mildred initiated Jean Brayton into O.T.O. and perhaps the A:.A:., Frater
Shiva isn't clear on this. Looking back it would be easy to see why maybe Fr. Aquarius felt it was necessary to do so. Agape No.2 had been closed for, at that point, over ten years and there didn't appear to be a hope for a return to activity.

Frater Shiva covers much in this relatively small book. He goes into the initial organizing and it's communal setup in living arrangements, though he makes the point that there were no orgies or free love to be had. He touches on their practices such as the Gnostic Mass, apparently held at least weekly for many years. As Fr.Shiva was the Grand Secretary General of the Solar Lodge he was responsible for the day to day running of the community in both it's administrative and educational and so has some real insights to share as to how successful they were.

It was interesting and refreshing to look at the Solar Lodge from the vantage point of an insider much less one of the Hierarchy. Fr. Shiva also goes into the sad implosion and slow degeneration of the community as the result of the " Boy in the Box Scandal " He also covers brief contact with Grady McMurtry, the Caliph of the reemerging O.T.O. and settles some questions that have been open for many years now.

Frater Shiva through out the book takes the Initiated view of the Solar Lodge and the events and people connected to it. A very excellent book to have if you any interest in Crowley, the O.T.O., Initiation in general, or the Solar Lodge. My recommendation, Buy! ( )

A mind-blowing expose of the life and times of Solar Lodge, right from the horse's mouth, so to speak! ( )