Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
Ouroboros Encampment O.T.O. is a newly chartered body of Ordo Templi Orientis located in the city of Glasgow.
The name, Ouroboros, comes from the ancient symbol of the snake or dragon eating it’s own tail. It has long been regarded as a symbol representing the great cycles of life, death & renewal as well as the eternal unity of all things. It has been connected with many strands of mysticism, Gnosticism and Alchemy and can be found in the ancient societies of Egypt and Greece.
Aleister Crowley includes the Ouroboros in his excellent The Wake World (see The Drug and Other Stories (Wordsworth Editions Ltd. Sep 2010) where Lola confronts the scene:
“Round the big meadow there lay a wonderful snake, with steel gray plumes, and he had his tail in his mouth, and kept on eating it and eating it, because there was nothing else for it to eat, and my Fairy Prince said he would go on like that till there was nothing left at all. Then I said it would get smaller and smaller and crush the meadow and the palace, and I think perhaps I began to cry. But my Fairy Prince said: “don’t be such a silly!” and I wasn’t old enough to understand all that it meant, but one day I should and all one had to do was to be as glad as glad.“
The Ouroroboros is no stranger to Glasgow as there are a number of them carved in stone across the city. The pictures on this website were taken from the Necropolis that is at the heart of ancient Glasgow. There is another on the Kelvin Building at Glasgow University.
Our aim is to offer a wide range of events, lectures, workshops and socials on a frequent basis in Glasgow. If you are interested in any aspect of O.T.O. we very much look forward to hearing from you.
Love is the law, love under will.