about
Correspondence
Offline correspondence
AMORC, BOTA and others…
Long before the internet, there were Western Mystery schools that had long range teachings. These were made possible through the mail. This correspondence type system would offer monthly teachings for a subscription cost. If a person lived near a temple, they could perhaps get more depth by following through with physical initiation. Most, however, likely used the correspondence courses alone.
The course material was often simplistic. Touted as being powerful teachings, a reader is given small tidbits of data to try each week – these amount to very tiny sections of a text and spread over the course of several years.
A.M.O.R.C. is one of the most known for this type of teaching. They are a Rosicrucian themed belief system that rotates out small doses of information/teaching through the mail. They created a subset of their organization to cater to those interested in Martinism, which also rolls out teachings in a short bites each month.
Lessor known is the Western Mystery school of B.O.T.A. (Builders of the Adytum). B.O.T.A. is based on the occult teachings of Paul Foster Case, who had a deep understanding of the Tarot. However, the teachings of this group go beyond the Tarot.
I suppose my main complaint about the teachings of these correspondence groups, is they tend to give little for the cost, and in the end they focus around human desires. Many of these teachings request a seeker find something they desire and manifest it into their life.
Manifestation theology does work, because it’s based on the principals of magic (Intent, Desire and Will), but in the end one is distracting their path with materialism. The only true paths I’ve found, are those that seek to detangle from the earthly realms.