A Hidden Society

There is an organisation within the world of WMA that you may not know much about. Its primary goal is not the furtherence of the martial arts of Europe, it has a number of other goals. I'm going to tell you some of the things they say about themselves.

They claim to be “dedicated to the creation of a more evolved human” and they claim to use “magickal rites” in the furtherance of this goal. They are not Wiccan, but they say “the wiccan practitioner and ceremonial magician would find some of our ritual familiar. We differ strongly from most other magical groups in that we invoke our deities purely as aspects of our collective energies; they have been created by us and we do not believe that they are separate and independent intelligences."

I'm trying to stick to quoting objectively from their literature, but I don't think I can. I am utterly gobsmacked by the ridiculous nature of their claims.

They have a “Magical System”, they are “dedicated to the preservation of honor, nobility, arcane wisdom, and martial excellence” they have their own language and have created an entire mythos upon which they base their idea of Chivalry.

They are of course The Order of Selohaar. Don't take my word for it, go look at their site. http://www.selohaar.org/ it's all there for everyone to see.

Most of us have enjoyed the occasional fantasy book or film in the past, some of us probably played role playing games in our youth, but it takes someone very special to dedicate their life to a Pseudo-Medieval Order of “Chivalry” based on their own terrible stories. In all honesty if that sort of thing appeals you'd be better of with Scientology.

That being said I may be wrong (I'm laughing inside at the very possibility), perhaps Sir Christian truly is sent to guide us all and one day we'll all be sitting around reformed concrete garden ornaments wearing poor quality heraldic tabards at one of our “gathers” and the world will truly be a better place. Maybe they will have managed to use their "Magick" (why the hell do wackos always have to put a k on the end of that word?) to create a more evolved human.

But I suspect not.

If you want to join a long established order with a system of morality then try The Freemasons, if you want to wear ridiculous clothes that look like something from an Errol Flynn movie then join the SCA. Of course if you can't get into the Freemasons, and aren't good enough to be awarded enough rank in the SCA then maybe you should join Selohaar, you'll fit right in.

If you're already in The Order of Selohaar, why not drop the crap and simply train the way the rest of us do. You'll get a lot more respect from a lot more people.