Aquarius Lodge

O.T.O.A. in the Balkans has a long history. After he was consecrated in Chicago in 1970s by Patriarch Bertiaux to the episcopate of the Gnostic Church, a writer of occult literature and occult teacher from Belgrade, Serbia, named Zivorad Mihajlovic-Slavinski, returned to then Yugoslavia, and established his own gnostic church, Ecclesia Gnostica Alba (White Gnostic Church or E.G.A.). Later on, he also became representative of the O.T.O.A. for Yugoslavia, under the SGM Manuel Lamparter.
However, Slavinski never used his O.T.O.A. charter fully, and under SGMA Courtney Willis a new charter for representation of O.T.O.A. in Yugoslavia was given to an occultist known as Master Leo, who established the first formal O.T.O.A. lodge there, simply called "YU O.T.O.A. Lodge". The Lodge had about a dozen of members from all Yugoslav republics, today sovereign states: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Macedonia.

After he decided to devote himself only to his own private esoteric work, Master Leo in 1991 transferred his authority as YU O.T.O.A. Lodge Master to Lodge's secretary at the time, Fra. Alha.

After he became Lodge Master, and after SGMA Willis approved him, Alha changed the name of the Lodge to "Shiva-Set-Saturn Lodge" and even edited and published the first newsletter for the lodge members, "Saturn Gnosis".

However, the war in former Yugoslavia, in 1992-1995, stopped Alha's public O.T.O.A. work, although he was giving esoteric classes and seminars for small groups of students in Belgrade during that time, during which he also published a book on certain aspects of his esoteric work, called "Path of the Gnostic Light", what was an esoteric and gnostic system founded in 1985 by Master Leo.

It was after 1997, when Alha returned to his hometown of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, that his O.T.O.A. work gained in momentum.

Alha realised that this new, fourth phase of development of O.T.O.A. in the Balkans also asked for a new magical identity, so he renamed the Lodge again, this time calling it "Aquarius Lodge", honouring in that way Master M. Aquarius, author of Monastery of Seven Rays lessons and esoteric source of our magical system.
Alha also asked SGMA Willis for a new Lodge charter, which was reissued to him in March of 2004. In 2006 Alha visited Michael Bertiaux in Chicago and was ordained Gnostic bishop of Ecclesia Gnostica Spiritualis, taking Episcopal name Tau Elohael, and received esoteric initiations into Choronzon Club, Bertiaux's private club for magical and esoteric instruction.

The vision of Aquarius Lodge, which is nowadays centered in Belgrade, Serbia, is to be a vehicle for transmission of teachings of Michael Bertiaux and Monastery of the Seven Rays in the area of the Western Balkans.

As a Lodge Master, fra. Alha offers esoteric classes, Gnostic sacraments and experiments in initiation to all who are interested and who feel an inner call to approach this inner sanctum of the mysteries, and taste spiritual food from this altar.

Frater Alha
OTOA Grand Master
"Aquarius" Lodge