Keeping order Sekhet Bast Ra offers an oasis to people seeking a different sort of spirituality.
Driving south on N. Pennsylvania Ave., just before N.W. 23rd St., is an old shopping center that hosts, most notably, a Domino’s Pizza. But just a few doors down, at 2714 N. Penn. Ave., in the otherwise-threadbare frontage, is a striking mural of a winged goddess that almost begs one to stop and investigate.
This is the home of the Sekhet Bast Ra Oasis, the local chapter of the Ordo Templi Orientis religious fraternal order.
Not familiar with the OTO? You’re not alone. While its heyday was the 1910s, the order’s Oklahoma City chapter—called an “Oasis”—has been around since 1984. The chapter’s administrator — or “body master” — said he began it to provide an outlet for people seeking a different kind of spiritual enlightenment.
“I had always been interested in the occult and alternate religious traditions, even though I started off as a ‘good little Christian boy,’” said the body master, David, who asked that his last name not be used. “In the back of my mind, I knew I needed something else.”
http://www.okgazette.com/oklahoma/article-19107-keeping-order.html