1.
Aleister Crowley
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Aleister Crowley was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the prophet entrusted with guiding humanity into the Æon of Horus in the early 20th century, a prolific writer, he published widely over the course of his life. Born to a wealthy Plymouth Brethren family in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire and he was educated at the University of Cambridge, where he focused his attentions on mountaineering and poetry, resulting in several publications. Some biographers allege that here he was recruited into a British intelligence agency, in 1898 he joined the esoteric Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, where he was trained in ceremonial magic by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers and Allan Bennett. Moving to Boleskine House by Loch Ness in Scotland, he went mountaineering in Mexico with Oscar Eckenstein, before studying Hindu and Buddhist practices in India. Announcing the start of the Æon of Horus, The Book declared that its followers should Do what thou wilt, in 1907, he and George Cecil Jones co-founded a Thelemite order, the A∴A∴, through which they propagated the religion. Thelemite groups were established in Britain, Australia, and North America, in 1920 he established the Abbey of Thelema, a religious commune in Cefalù, Sicily where he lived with various followers. His libertine lifestyle led to denunciations in the British press, and he divided the following two decades between France, Germany, and England, and continued to promote Thelema until his death. Crowley gained widespread notoriety during his lifetime, being a recreational drug experimenter, bisexual and he was denounced in the popular press as the wickedest man in the world and a Satanist. Crowley has remained an influential figure over Western esotericism and the counter-culture. In 2002, a BBC poll ranked him as the seventy-third greatest Briton of all time, Crowley was born as Edward Alexander Crowley at 30 Clarendon Square in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, on 12 October 1875. His father, Edward Crowley, was trained as an engineer and his mother, Emily Bertha Bishop, came from a Devonshire-Somerset family and had a strained relationship with her son, she described him as the Beast, a name that he revelled in. The couple had married at Londons Kensington Registry Office in November 1874. Crowleys father was particularly devout, spending his time as a preacher for the sect and reading a chapter from the Bible to his wife. Following the death of their daughter in 1880, in 1881 the Crowleys moved to Redhill. At the age of 8, Crowley was sent to H. T, habershons evangelical Christian boarding school in Hastings, and then to Ebor preparatory school in Cambridge, run by the Reverend Henry dArcy Champney, whom Crowley considered a sadist. In March 1887, when Crowley was 11, his father died of tongue cancer, Crowley described this as a turning point in his life, and he always maintained an admiration of his father, describing him as his hero and his friend. Inheriting a third of his fathers wealth, he began misbehaving at school and was punished by Champney
2.
Hagiography
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A hagiography /ˌhæɡiˈɒɡrəfi/ is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader. The term hagiography may be used to refer to the biography of a saint or highly developed spiritual being in any of the spiritual traditions. Hagiographic works, especially those of the Middle Ages, can incorporate a record of institutional and local history, and evidence of popular cults, customs, and traditions. Hagiography constituted an important literary genre in the early Christian church, providing some informational history along with the inspirational stories. A hagiographic account of a saint can consist of a biography, a description of the saints deeds and/or miracles. The genre of lives of the saints first came into being in the Roman Empire as legends about Christian martyrs were recorded, the dates of their deaths formed the basis of martyrologies. In Western Europe hagiography was one of the important vehicles for the study of inspirational history during the Middle Ages. The Golden Legend of Jacob de Voragine compiled a great deal of medieval hagiographic material, Lives were often written to promote the cult of local or national states, and in particular to develop pilgrimages to visit relics. The bronze Gniezno Doors of Gniezno Cathedral in Poland are the only Romanesque doors in Europe to feature the life of a saint. The life of Saint Adalbert of Prague, who is buried in the cathedral, is shown in 18 scenes, the Bollandist Society continues the study, academic assembly, appraisal and publication of materials relating to the lives of Christian saints. Many of the important hagiographical texts composed in medieval England were written in the vernacular dialect Anglo-Norman, with the introduction of Latin literature into England in the 7th and 8th centuries the genre of the life of the saint grew increasingly popular. When one contrasts it to the heroic poem, such as Beowulf. Both genres then focus on the figure, but with the distinction that the saint is of a spiritual sort. Imitation of the life of Christ was then the benchmark against which saints were measured, in Anglo-Saxon and medieval England, hagiography became a literary genre par excellence for the teaching of a largely illiterate audience. Hagiography provided priests and theologians with classical handbooks in a form that allowed them the tools necessary to present their faith through the example of the saints lives. Of all the English hagiographers no one was more prolific nor so aware of the importance of the genre as Abbot Ælfric of Eynsham and his work The Lives of the Saints comprises a set of sermons on saints days, formerly observed by the English Church. The text spans the entire year and describes the lives of many saints, there are two known instances where saints lives were adapted into vernacular plays in Britain. These are the Cornish-language works Beunans Meriasek and Beunans Ke, about the lives of Saints Meriasek and Kea, Irish hagiographers wrote primarily in Latin while some of the later saints lives were written in the hagiographers native vernacular Irish
3.
Saint
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A saint, also historically known as a hallow, is a term used for a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness or likeness to God. Depending on the context and denomination, the term also retains its original Christian meaning, as any believer who is in Christ and in whom Christ dwells, whether in Heaven or on Earth. Depending on the religion, saints are recognized either by official ecclesiastical declaration, the English word saint comes from the Latin sanctus. The word translated the Greek ἅγιος, which derives from the verb ἁγιάζω, the word ἅγιος appears 229 times in the Greek New Testament, and its English translation 60 times in the corresponding text of the King James Version of the Bible. In the New Testament, saint did not denote the deceased who had recognized as especially holy or emulable. Many religions also use similar concepts to venerate persons worthy of some honor, the anthropologist Lawrence Babb in an article about Sathya Sai Baba asks the question Who is a saint. These saintly figures, he asserts, are the points of spiritual force-fields. They exert powerful attractive influence on followers but touch the lives of others in transforming ways as well. In the Bible, only one person is called a saint, They envied Moses also in the camp. The apostle Paul declared himself to be less than the least of all saints in Ephesians 3,8, in the Catholic Church, a saint is anyone in Heaven, whether recognized on Earth or not. There are many persons that the Church believes to be in Heaven who have not been formally canonized, sometimes the word saint also denotes living Christians. They remind us that the Church is holy, can never stop being holy and is called to show the holiness of God by living the life of Christ, the Catholic Church teaches that it does not make or create saints, but rather recognizes them. Proofs of heroicity required in the process of beatification will serve to illustrate in detail the general principles exposed above upon proof of their holiness or likeness to God. On 3 January 993, Pope John XV became the first pope to proclaim a person a saint, on the petition of the German ruler, before that time, the popular cults, or venerations, of saints had been local and spontaneous. Pope John XVIII subsequently permitted a cult of five Polish martyrs, walter of Pontoise was the last person in Western Europe to be canonized by an authority other than the Pope, Hugh de Boves, the Archbishop of Rouen, canonized him in 1153. Thenceforth a decree of Pope Alexander III in 1170 reserved the prerogative of canonization to the Pope, one source claims that there are over 10,000 named saints and beatified people from history, the Roman Martyrology and Orthodox sources, but no definitive head count. Alban Butler published Lives of the Saints in 1756, including a total of 1,486 saints, the latest revision of this book, edited by Rev. Herbert Thurston, SJ and British author Donald Attwater, contains the lives of 2,565 saints. Monsignor Robert Sarno, an official of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints of the Holy See, expressed that it is impossible to give an exact number of saints
4.
Plymouth Brethren
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The Plymouth Brethren are a conservative, low church, nonconformist, Evangelical Christian movement whose history can be traced to Dublin, Ireland in the late 1820s, originating from Anglicanism. Among other beliefs, the group emphasizes sola scriptura, the belief that the Bible is the authority for church doctrine and practice over. Brethren generally see themselves, not as a denomination, but as a network of like-minded independent churches, the Brethren would generally prefer that their gatherings be referred to as assemblies, rather than churches but, in the interests of simplicity, this article uses both terms interchangeably. An influential figure among the early Plymouth Brethren was John Nelson Darby, the movement refused to take any denominational name to itself, a stance that some still maintain. Brethren assemblies are divided into two branches, the Open Brethren and the Exclusive Brethren, following a schism that took place in 1848. Both of these branches are themselves divided into several smaller streams, with varying degrees of communication. The best-known and oldest distinction between Open and Exclusive assemblies is in the nature of relationships among their local churches, Open Brethren assemblies function as networks of like-minded independent local churches. Exclusive Brethren are generally connexional and so feel under obligation to recognise, disciplinary action normally involves denying the individual participation in the breaking of bread or Lords Table. Generally, this is a weekly, Sunday morning, hour-long service of prayer, singing, teaching, exclusion from it is a major issue. Discipline may also involve formal social ostracism or shunning to varying degrees, a numerically small movement known as the Needed Truth Brethren emerged from the Open Brethren around 1892, partly in an attempt to address the problem of making discipline more effective. Being accused of irregular or illegal financial dealings may also result in being put under discipline, in Exclusive meetings, a member under discipline in one assembly would not be accepted in another assembly, as the Assembly generally respects the decisions made by the other Assembly. Exclusive assemblies have developed into a number of different branches, when there is not universal agreement among the assemblies in a specific case of discipline, a particular act of discipline may not be recognised by all assemblies. Exclusive assemblies are also much more adherent to the shunning of the party, using as guidance instructions given in Leviticus 14. In extreme cases, members may be asked to shun or divorce members of their immediate families, another less clear difference between assemblies lies in their approaches to collaborating with other Christians. Many Open Brethren will hold Gospel meetings, youth events, or other activities in partnership with non-Brethren Evangelical Christian churches, more conservative Open Brethren—and perhaps the majority of Exclusive Brethren—tend not to support activities outside their own meetings. This group practices extreme separation and other Brethren groups generally accuse it of being a cult, most other Exclusive groups prefer not to be known by any name and are only given such designations by non-members. There are some movements with strong Brethren connections that are easy to classify. The ecclesiology, however, has more in common with that of the Exclusive Brethren, the term Exclusive is most commonly used in the media to describe one separatist group known by other groups as Taylor-Hales Brethren, who now call themselves the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church
5.
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
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The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was an organization devoted to the study and practice of the occult, metaphysics, and paranormal activities during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Known as an order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was active in Great Britain and focused its practices on theurgy. The three founders, William Robert Woodman, William Wynn Westcott, and Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, were Freemasons, Westcott appears to have been the initial driving force behind the establishment of the Golden Dawn. The Golden Dawn system was based on hierarchy and initiation like the Masonic Lodges, the Golden Dawn was the first of three Orders, although all three are often collectively referred to as the Golden Dawn. The Second or Inner Order, the Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis, taught magic, including scrying, astral travel, the foundational documents of the original Order of the Golden Dawn, known as the Cipher Manuscripts, are written in English using the Trithemius cipher. The documents did not excite Woodford, and in February 1886 he passed them on to Freemason William Wynn Westcott, Westcott, pleased with his discovery, called on fellow Freemason Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers for a second opinion. Westcott asked for Mathers help to turn the manuscripts into a coherent system for lodge work, Mathers in turn asked fellow Freemason William Robert Woodman to assist the two, and he accepted. Mathers and Westcott have been credited with developing the ritual outlines in the Cipher Manuscripts into a workable format, Mathers, however, is generally credited with the design of the curriculum and rituals of the Second Order, which he called the Rosae Rubae et Aureae Crucis. In October 1887, Westcott claimed to have written to a German countess and prominent Rosicrucian named Anna Sprengel, Westcott purportedly received a reply from Sprengel granting permission to establish a Golden Dawn temple and conferring honorary grades of Adeptus Exemptus on Westcott, Mathers, and Woodman. The temple was to consist of the five grades outlined in the manuscripts, in 1888, the Isis-Urania Temple was founded in London. In contrast to the S. R. I. A. and Masonry, women were allowed, the Order was more of a philosophical and metaphysical teaching order in its early years. Other than certain rituals and meditations found in the Cipher manuscripts and developed further, for the first four years, the Golden Dawn was one cohesive group later known as the Outer Order or First Order. An Inner Order was established and became active in 1892, the Inner Order consisted of members known as adepts, who had completed the entire course of study for the Outer Order. This group of adepts eventually became known as the Second Order, eventually, the Osiris temple in Weston-super-Mare, the Horus temple in Bradford, and the Amen-Ra temple in Edinburgh were founded. In 1893 Mathers founded the Ahathoor temple in Paris, in 1891, Westcotts alleged correspondence with Anna Sprengel suddenly ceased. He claimed to have received word from Germany that she was dead or that her companions did not approve of the founding of the Order. If the founders were to contact the Secret Chiefs, apparently, in 1892, Mathers professed that a link to the Secret Chiefs had been established. Subsequently, he supplied rituals for the Second Order, calling them the Red Rose, the rituals were based on the tradition of the tomb of Christian Rosenkreuz, and a Vault of Adepts became the controlling force behind the Outer Order
6.
Aeon of Horus
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In the religion of Thelema, it is believed that the history of humanity can be divided into a series of aeons, each of which was accompanied by its own forms of magical and religious expression. The first of these was the Aeon of Isis, which Thelemites believed occurred during prehistory, and finally the third aeon, the Aeon of Horus, which was controlled by the child god, symbolised by Horus. In this new aeon, Thelemites believe that humanity will enter a time of self-realization and self-actualization, within the Thelemite religion, each of these aeons is believed to be characterized by their magical formula, the use of which is very important and fundamental to the understanding of. It was characterized by pagan worship of the Mother and Nature, in his Equinox of the Gods Crowley describes this period as simple, quiet, easy, and pleasant, the material ignores the spiritual. Lon Milo DuQuette remarked that this aeon was the Age of the Great Goddess, continuing with this idea, he remarked that this period was when the cult of the Great Goddess was truly universal. She was worshipped by countless cultures under myriad names and forms and it would also be a mistake for us to conclude that the magical formula of this period manifested exclusively through the worship of any particular anthropomorphic female deity. The classical and medieval Aeon of Osiris is considered to be dominated by the paternal principle and this Aeon was characterized by that of self-sacrifice and submission to the Father God while man spoke of his father and mother. Crowley says of this Aeon in his Heart of the Master, Formula of Osiris, whose word is IAO, so that men worshiped Man, thinking him subject to Death, even so conceived they of the Sun as slain and reborn with every day, and every year. Crowley also says of the Aeon of Osiris in Equinox of the Gods, The second is of suffering and death, christianity and all cognate religions worship death, glorify suffering, deify corpses. The modern Aeon of Horus is portrayed as a time of self-realization as well as a growing interest in all things spiritual, the Word of its Law is Thelema, which is complemented by Agape, and its formula is Abrahadabra. Individuality and finding the individuals True Will are the dominant aspects, its formula is that of growth, in consciousness and love, concerning the Aeon of Horus, Crowley wrote. The crowned and conquering child, who not, nor is reborn. Even so goeth the Sun, for as it is now known that night is but the shadow of the Earth, so Death is but the shadow of the Body, that veileth his Light from its bearer. But it would be a mistake to view this new aeon simply as another tick on a great cosmic clock, the Age of Aquarius, profoundly significant as it is, is only one aspect of a far greater new spiritual age. Some Thelemites believe that the Aeon of Maat will eventually replace the present one, according to one of Crowleys early students, Charles Stansfeld Jones, the Aeon of Maat has already arrived or overlaps the present Aeon of Horus. Chaos magic is seen by some as having evolved from portions of the Thelemic religion, relevant personalities and organizations, Peter J. Carroll, Ray Sherwin, and the Illuminates of Thanateros. Not all Thelemites believe in a succession of Aeons. Sometimes Crowley compared the Word of Horus with other formulas, whose reigns appear to overlap with the Aeon of Osiris and/or Isis
7.
Abbey of Thelema
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The Abbey of Thelema refers to a small house which was used as a temple and spiritual centre founded by Aleister Crowley and Leah Hirsig in Cefalù in 1920. This idealistic utopia was to be the model of Crowleys commune, while also being a type of school, giving it the designation Collegium ad Spiritum Sanctum. The object was for students to devote themselves to the Great Work of discovering and manifesting their True Will, in 1923 a 23-year-old Oxford undergraduate by the name of Raoul Loveday died at the Abbey. His wife, Betty May, variously blamed the death on his participation in one of Crowleys rituals or the more probable diagnosis of acute enteric fever contracted by drinking from a mountain spring. When May returned to London, she gave an interview to a paper, The Sunday Express. With these and similar rumors about activities at the Abbey in mind, after Crowleys departure, the Abbey of Thelema was eventually abandoned and local residents whitewashed over Crowleys murals. The villa still stands today, but in poor condition, filmmaker Kenneth Anger, himself a devotee of Crowley, later uncovered and filmed some of its murals in his film Thelema Abbey, now considered a lost film. Recently, other murals were uncovered, and pictures of them were posted on the Internet, Abbey of Thelema remains a popular name for various magical societies, Witchcraft covens, and Satanist grottoes. Danish artist Joachim Koester created five colour and five black and white photographs of the villa, Kenneth Anger revisited the Abbey in 2007,52 years after his 1955 visit, and made a short video which can be found as an extra on the Anger Me DVD. Thélema Abbey - Official website from Sicily Photos of the Abbey from 2005 Abbey of Thelema movie on IMDB Photos from cefalù No resurrection without psychoplastic re-shape
8.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
9.
Works of Aleister Crowley
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Aleister Crowley was a highly prolific writer, not only on the topic of Thelema and magick, but on philosophy, politics, and culture. He was also a poet and playwright and left behind a large number of personal letters. The following list contains works published and edited by other hands after Crowleys death, many of the important works of Aleister Crowley are in the form of Libri, which are usually short documents consisting of core teachings, methodologies, practices, or Thelemic scripture. Class consists of books or essays which are the result of ordinary scholarship, enlightened, class consists of matter which is to be regarded rather as suggestive than anything else. Class consists of the Official Rituals and Instructions, class consists of manifestos, broadsides, epistles and other public statements. Some publications are composite, and pertain to more than one class, the following list encompasses both Libri and other works, including those compiled or edited after Crowleys death by others. 777 and Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley, Including Gematria & Sepher Sephiroth, ISBN 1-56184-035-1 Aleister Crowley and the Practice of the Magical Diary. ISBN 1-57863-372-9 Amrita, Essays in Magical Rejuvenation, ISBN 0-87728-210-2 The Book of the Law. ISBN 0-87728-334-6 The Book of Lies, which is also falsely called Breaks, ISBN 0-87728-516-0 The Book of Thoth, A Short Essay on the Tarot of the Egyptians. ISBN 0-911662-50-2 Collected Works of Aleister Crowley 1905-1907, ISBN 0-87968-130-6 Commentaries on the Holy Books and Other Papers. ISBN 0-87728-888-7 The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, An Autohagiography, london, Boston, Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 0-85207-131-0 Diary of a Drug Fiend, ISBN 0-87728-146-7 Eight Lectures on Yoga. ISBN 0-941404-36-6 Enochian World of Aleister Crowley, Enochian Sex Magick, ISBN 1-56184-029-7 The Equinox. York Beach, ME, Weiser Books. ISBN 0-87728-719-8 The Equinox of the Gods, ISBN 0-87728-210-2 Gems from the Equinox. Phoenix, AZ, Falcon Press. ISBN 0-941404-10-2 The General Principles of Astrology, ISBN 0-87728-908-5 The Goetia, The Lesser Key of Solomon the King. ISBN 0-87728-847-X The Heart of the Master, ISBN 0-919690-00-9 The Holy Books of Thelema. ISBN 0-87728-579-9 Khing Kang King, The Classic of Purity, Being Liber XXI, ISBN 0-913576-16-6 Konx Om Pax, Essays in Light. ISBN 0-933429-04-5 The Law is for All, The Authorized Popular Commentary of Liber AL vel Legis sub figura CCXX, ISBN 1-56184-090-4 Liber Aleph vel CXI, The Book of Wisdom or Folly
10.
Leila Waddell
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Leila Ida Nerissa Bathurst Waddell, also known as Laylah, was a daughter of Irish immigrants to Australia, Mr and Mrs David Waddell of Bathurst and Randwick. Part-Maori, she was a beauty and became a famed Scarlet Woman of Aleister Crowley. Waddell was born in Bathurst, New South Wales and she was the daughter of Mr. David Waddell of Bathurst and Randwick and Mrs Waddell of Bellevue Hill. A pupil of Mr. Henry Stael, Miss Waddell taught violin at the Presbyterian Ladies College, Sydney and she made her public debut at the organ recitals of the then city organist Mr. Arthur Mason. In 1906 she joined as a soloist The Brescians, a party from Europe, in 1908, Mr. West introduced her to London and she achieved success as the leader of the Gipsy Band in “The Waltz Dream” at Dalys Theatre. As The Ragtime Gipsy, Miss Waddell won fame in vaudeville throughout England and it was while in London that she met Aleister Crowley. She later toured Europe with a party which she formed of six girl violinists with a talent for stately dancing – The Ragged Ragtime Girls – and also with trios, the vaudeville troupe also visited America and Russia, promoted by Crowley. In America she studied under the great teachers including Leopold Auer and she traveled across the country appearing in all the great cities. She was familiarly addressed by Crowley as Laylah, and was immortalized in his 1912 volume The Book of Lies, Crowley referred to her variously as Divine Whore, Mother of Heaven, Sister Cybele, and Scarlet Woman. They studied the occult and took mescaline together, Crowleys famous Book of Lies was largely dedicated to Waddell, with poems like Duck Billed Platypus and Waratah Blossoms. A photograph of her in ritual is reproduced in the volume, Waddell herself was an accomplished writer, magician, and a founding member of the original company of the Rites of Eleusis. Laylah was, arguably, Aleister Crowleys most powerful muse, as she inspired numerous poems in addition to chapters in The Book of Lies. Crowley based two of his stories on Leila – The Vixen and The Violinist. In 1915 Crowley stood at the base of the Statue of Liberty and declared an Irish republic in a long, the relationship with Crowley disintegrated as a consequence of his infidelities. In 1923 Waddell returned to Sydney to nurse her ailing father and she performed with JC Williamson Ltd Orchestra at Her Majestys Theatre and the Criterion, and with the Conservatorium and Philharmonic Societies Orchestras. In between times she resumed teaching, this time at the Convent School of the Sacred Heart in Sydneys Elizabeth Bay and she died, unmarried, of cancer at age 52. The Sydney Morning Herald noted, Besides possessing an excellent technique, Miss Waddells style as a violinist was particularly marked by charm, list of occultists Libri of Aleister Crowley Works of Aleister Crowley Sex Magick Babalon Thelemapedia. Leila Waddell recognised at Bathurst 200 Celebration
11.
John Bodkin Adams
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John Bodkin Adams was a British general practitioner, convicted fraudster and suspected serial killer. Between 1946 and 1956, more than 160 of his patients died in suspicious circumstances, of these,132 left him money or items in their wills. He was tried and acquitted for the murder of one patient in 1957, the trial was featured in headlines around the world and was described at the time as one of the greatest murder trials of all time and murder trial of the century. It was also described at the time as unique because, in the words of the judge, the trial had several important legal ramifications. It established the doctrine of double effect, whereby a doctor giving treatment with the aim of relieving pain may, as an unintentional result, shorten life. Secondly, because of the publicity surrounding Adamss committal hearing, the law was changed to allow defendants to ask for such hearings to be held in private. Finally, though a defendant had never required to give evidence in his own defence. Adams was found guilty in a subsequent trial of 13 offences of fraud, lying on cremation forms, obstructing a police search. He was removed from the Medical Register in 1957 and reinstated in 1961 after two failed applications, Scotland Yards files on the case were initially closed to the public for 75 years, and would have remained so until 2033. Following a request by historian Pamela Cullen, special permission was granted in 2003 to reopen the files, Adams was born into a deeply religious family of Plymouth Brethren, an austere Protestant sect of which he remained a member for his entire life. His father, Samuel, was a preacher in the local congregation and he also had a passionate interest in cars, which he would pass on to John. In 1896 Samuel was 39 years old when he married Ellen Bodkin, aged 30, in Randalstown, John was their first son, followed by a brother, William Samuel, in 1903. In 1914 Adamss father died of a stroke, four years later William died in the 1918 influenza pandemic. After attending Coleraine Academical Institution for several years Adams matriculated at Queens University Belfast at the age of 17, there he was seen as a plodder and lone wolf by his lecturers and, partly because of an illness, he missed a year of studies. He graduated in 1921, having failed to qualify for honours, in 1921 surgeon Arthur Rendle Short offered Adams a position as assistant houseman at Bristol Royal Infirmary. He spent a year there but did not prove a success, on Shorts advice, Adams applied for a job as a general practitioner in a Christian practice in Eastbourne. Adams arrived in Eastbourne, Sussex, in 1922, where he lived with his mother and also his cousin, in 1929, he borrowed £2,000 from a patient, William Mawhood, and bought Kent Lodge, an 18-room house in Trinity Trees, a select address. Adams would frequently invite himself to the Mawhoods residence at time, even bringing his mother
12.
Thelema
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Thelema is a religion based on a philosophical law of the same name, adopted as a central tenet by some religious organizations. The law of Thelema is Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law, Love is the law, love under will. The law of Thelema was developed in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley and he believed himself to be the prophet of a new age, the Æon of Horus, based upon a spiritual experience that he and his wife, Rose Edith, had in Egypt in 1904. An adherent of Thelema is a Thelemite, the Thelemic pantheon includes a number of deities, primarily a trio adapted from ancient Egyptian religion, who are the three speakers of The Book of the Law, Nuit, Hadit and Ra-Hoor-Khuit. Crowley described these deities as a literary convenience, the religion is founded upon the idea that the 20th century marked the beginning of the Aeon of Horus, in which a new ethical code would be followed, Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. This statement indicates that adherents, who are known as Thelemites, should seek out and follow their own path in life. The philosophy also emphasizes the practice of Magick. The word thelema is the English transliteration of the Koine Greek noun θέλημα will, from the verb θέλω to will, wish, want or purpose. As Crowley developed the religion, he wrote widely on the topic and he also included ideas from occultism, yoga and both Eastern and Western mysticism, especially the Qabalah. The word θέλημα is rare in classical Greek, where it signifies the appetitive will, desire, sometimes even sexual, but it is frequent in the Septuagint. Early Christian writings occasionally use the word to refer to the human will, and even the will of Gods opponent, the Devil, one well-known example is in the Lords Prayer, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. ”It is used later in the gospel, He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it. In his 5th-century Sermon on 1 John 4, 4–12, Augustine of Hippo gave an instruction, Love. In the Renaissance, a character named Thelemia represents will or desire in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili of the Dominican monk Francesco Colonna, the protagonist Poliphilo has two allegorical guides, Logistica and Thelemia. When forced to choose, he chooses fulfillment of his sexual will over logic, the only rule of this Abbey was fay çe que vouldras. In the mid-18th century, Sir Francis Dashwood inscribed the adage on a doorway of his abbey at Medmenham, where it served as the motto of the Hellfire Club. Rabelaiss Abbey of Thelema has been referred to by later writers Sir Walter Besant and James Rice, in their novel The Monks of Thelema, françois Rabelais was a Franciscan and later a Benedictine monk of the 16th century. Eventually he left the monastery to study medicine, and moved to the French city of Lyon in 1532, there he wrote Gargantua and Pantagruel, a connected series of books
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Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica
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Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica, or the Gnostic Catholic Church, is a Gnostic church organization. It is the arm of the Ordo Templi Orientis, an international fraternal initiatory organization devoted to promulgating the Law of Thelema. Thelema is a philosophical, mystical and religious system elaborated by Aleister Crowley, the word Catholic denotes the universality of doctrine and not a Christian or Roman Catholic belief set. The chief function of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica is the public and private performance of the Gnostic Mass, according to William Bernard Crow, Crowley wrote the Gnostic Mass under the influence of the Liturgy of St. Basil of the Russian Church. Its structure is influenced by the initiatory rituals of the Ordo Templi Orientis. Its most notable separation from similar rites of other churches is a Priestess officiating with a Priest, Deacon, in addition to the Eucharist, baptism, confirmation, marriage, and last rites are offered by E. G. C. Marriage is not limited to couples of opposite gender, about the Gnostic Mass, Crowley wrote in The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. The Ritual of the Gnostic Catholic Church, I prepared for the use of the O. T. O. The central ceremony of its public and private celebration, corresponding to the Mass of the Roman Catholic Church and it is the single most commonly performed ritual at O. T. O. Bodies, with many locations celebrating the Mass monthly or more frequently, bodies make some or all of these celebrations open to interested members of the public, so the Mass is often an individuals first experience of the O. T. O. Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica has a structure of clergy, assisting officers. Before 1997, the two systems were more loosely correlated, but since there have been strict rules concerning minimum O. T. O. degrees required to serve in particular E. G. C. Membership in Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica is similar to the Roman Catholic Church, clergy must be initiate members of O. T. O. While laity may affiliate to E. G. C. through baptism, novice clergy are initiate members who participate in the administration of E. G. C. Sacraments, although they have not yet taken orders, the first ordination in E. G. C. is that of the diaconate. Second Degree initiates of O. T. O. who have confirmed in E. G. C. can be ordained as Deacons. The sacerdotal ordination admits members to the priesthood, sacerdotal ordinands must hold at least the K. E. W. degree of O. T. O. A degree only available by invitation, the Priesthood is responsible for administering the sacraments through the Gnostic Mass and other ceremonies as authorized by their supervising Bishops
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Fraternitas Saturni
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Fraternitas Saturni is a German magical order, founded in 1926 by Eugen Grosche a. k. a. Gregor A. Gregorius and four others and it is one of the oldest continuously running magical groups in Germany. The lodge is, as Gregorius states, concerned with the study of esotericism, mysticism, today its purpose is in working on the spiritual evolution of humanity by means of development and advancement of the individual being. This is to be attained by mental and ethical schooling of the personality, the FS adopts a system of degrees, ending with the 33rd as highest degree to reach this goal. The lodge claims further no political or economical objectives and it propagates ideals of freedom, tolerance and fraternity. The Fraternitas Saturni was founded in the wake of the so-called Weida Conference in 1925 and it succeeded the Collegium Pansophicum, Orient Berlin, a Rosicrucian magical order founded by Heinrich Traenker, a notable German occultist of the time. The Weida Conference was meant to consolidate Aleister Crowleys claims to be the Outer Head of Ordo Templi Orientis, the conference consisted of Crowleys entourage of Leah Hirsig, Dorothy Olsen, and Norman Mudd and the members of Heinrich Traenkers Pansophia Lodge. Traenker had served as a X° National Grand Master of the German O. T. O. under Theodor Reuss up until Reusss death, also attending the conference were the notable film pioneer Albin Grau and Gregor A. Gregorius. The conference was not an event and Traenker withdrew his support of Crowley. Following these differences the Pansophical Lodge would be closed in 1926. Those brothers of the Pansophia Lodge who accepted the teachings of Crowley would join Grosche in founding the Fraternitas Saturni -, on Easter 1928, the Fraternitas Saturni was officially founded in Berlin. The Lodge made an acceptance of the Book of the Law. The FS still thought of him as an important teacher and included the Law of Thelema in most of its teachings and this resulted in the FS developing a different take on the idea of Thelema, which is reflected in the rituals and magical techniques of the brotherhood. The emphasis of the FS lies more on astrological and Luciferian teachings, rather than on Qabalah, because of its unique approach to modern occultism, the FS is considered by many modern authors to be the most influential German magical order. In 1936, the Fraternitas Saturni was prohibited by the Nazi regime, Gregorius as well as other leaders of the lodge emigrated in order to avoid imprisonment, but in the course of the war Grosche was arrested for a year by the Nazi government. After World War II Gregorius reformed the FS, the end of World War II saw the reactivation of Fraternitas Saturni. First from Riesa in Eastern Germany and later from Berlin, Gregorius tried to contact the Brothers, by 1957 lodges existed in Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Stuttgart, with the Grand Lodge in Berlin. In 1960 the FS had, according to its membership list, about 100 members, following Grosches death in 1964, the lodge experienced confusion concerning the position of Grandmaster
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Ordo Templi Orientis
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Ordo Templi Orientis is an international fraternal and religious organization founded at the beginning of the 20th century. English author and occultist Aleister Crowley has become the member of the order. This Law—expressed as Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law and Love is the law, similar to many secret societies, O. T. O. Membership is based on a system with a series of degree ceremonies that use ritual drama to establish fraternal bonds. O. T. O. also includes the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica or Gnostic Catholic Church and its central rite, which is public, is called Liber XV, or the Gnostic Mass. The early history of O. T. O. is difficult to trace reliably and it originated in Germany or Austria between 1895 and 1906. Its apparent founder was Carl Kellner, a wealthy Austrian industrialist, theodor Reuss collaborated with Kellner in creating O. T. O. and succeeded him as head of O. T. O. after Kellners death. Under Reuss, charters were given to occult brotherhoods in France, Denmark, Switzerland, There were nine degrees, of which the first six were Masonic. Although these rites are considered to be irregular, they, along with the Swedenborg Rite formed the core of the newly established Order, Reuss met Aleister Crowley and in 1910 admitted him to the first three degrees of O. T. O. Only two years later, Crowley was placed in charge of Great Britain and Ireland, and was advanced to the X°, in 1913, Crowley composed the Gnostic Mass while in Moscow, which he described as being the Order’s central ceremony of its public and private celebration. In 1914, soon after World War I broke out, he moved to the United States and it was around this time that Crowley decided to integrate Thelema into the O. T. O. System, and in 1915 prepared revised rituals for use in the M∴M∴M∴, in 1917, Reuss wrote a Synopsis of Degrees of O. T. O. The same document shows that the degree of O. T. O. is also known as the Holy Royal Arch of Enoch. In 1919, Crowley attempted to work this Masonic-based O. T. O. in Detroit, the result was that he was rebuffed by the Council of the Scottish rite on the basis that O. T. O. Rituals were too similar to orthodox Masonry, Crowley subsequently rewrote the initiation rituals of the first three degrees, and in doing so removed most of those rituals ties to Masonry. He did not, however, rewrite the fourth degree ritual, Crowley wrote that Theodore Reuss suffered a stroke in the spring of 1920. In correspondence with one of Reuss officers, Crowley expressed doubts about Reuss competence to remain in office, relations between Reuss and Crowley began to deteriorate, and the two exchanged angry letters in November 1921. Crowley informed Reuss that he was availing himself of Reuss abdication from office, Reuss died on October 28,1923 without designating a successor, though Crowley claimed in later correspondence that Reuss had designated him
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Typhonian Order
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The Typhonian Order, previously known as the Typhonian Ordo Templi Orientis, is a self-initiatory magical order based in the United Kingdom that focuses on magickal and typhonian concepts. It was originally led by British occultist Kenneth Grant and his partner Steffi Grant, the original O. T. O. was founded by the wealthy German industrialist Carl Kellner. After Kellners death in 1905, Theodor Reuss became Outer Head of the Order, in 1920, Reuss suffered a stroke, leading Aleister Crowley to question his competence to continue as Outer Head of the Order. By 1921, Crowley and Reuss were exchanging letters, culminating in Reuss expulsion of Crowley from O. T. O. Crowley then informed Reuss that he was proclaiming himself Outer Head of the Order, Reuss died in 1923 without naming a successor, and Crowley was subsequently elected and ratified as Outer Head of the Order in a Conference of Grand Masters in 1925. World War II then intervened, destroying the European branches of O. T. O. karl Germer was incarcerated by the Nazis. By the end of the war, the sole surviving O. T. O, organization was Agapé Lodge in California, where Germer moved after he was released from internment in 1941. After Crowleys death, Germer was his successor for some time. Karl Germer disliked this new manifesto so much that he expelled Grant from the O. T. O. Grant responded by declaring himself the Outer Head of the Order, assuming the XII° degree, a document published in 1998 in Volume 2, Number 2 of Starfire purported to demonstrate that Crowley appointed Grant as Outer Head of the Order in 1947, before Crowleys demise. A statement published in March 2009 in Volume 2, Number 3 of Starfire, however, acknowledges that it has subsequently established the document was a fake. The Typhonian Order is among the most well-known Thelemic magical orders, in particular, it has influenced Dragon Rouge and was instrumental in the creation of Nemas Maat Magick movement. In Brazil the movement known as Shaitan-Aiwaz Lodge was based on the structure of Typhonian Order and is led by occultist Fernando Liguori. P. Crowleys depiction of Lam does indeed presage descriptions and representations of entities which have come to be known as the grey aliens in U. F. O. It must be emphasized that the Typhonian Order does not appear to interpret its alleged contacts with praeter-human intelligences in a literal fashion. Rather, Lam and entities from the Cthulhu Mythos are conventions of a sort which enable humans to interact with something non-human, organizationally, it is believed that the Typhonian Order has shifted from a formal hierarchy to a less hierarchical structure. Ordo Templi Orientis Left Hand Path Evans, Dave, Aleister Crowley and the 20th Century Synthesis of Magick
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The Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn
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The Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn is an esoteric community of magical practitioners, many of whom come from pagan backgrounds. The OSOGD was founded by Sam Webster in 2002 and based on the principles of the open-source software movement, the organization grew out of a series of workshops on ceremonial magic held by Webster in 2001. According to Sam Webster, The Open Source Order is founded on the principle that true spirituality is omnipresent, sufficiently skilled practitioners can and do modify the practices to serve specific purposes or to take advantage of the century-plus development in the craft to improve their effect. In temple work, the OSOGD uses Egyptian, Enochian and Thelemic godforms in preference to the Judeo-Christian Archangels typical of the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. According to the Manifesto, OSOGD teaches a progressively tiered system of spiritual development designed to invoke the Higher or Divine Genius latent in every human being. To actually join the Order, a person must have access to its Lodge. The Order does not conduct distance initiations, and requires that all initiates attend initiation rituals in person, the Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn draws heavily from Eastern sources, Thelema, Paganism, and the works of Aleister Crowley. Interview with Sam Webster of the Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn on Thelema Coast to Coast #28, new-time religion in NewsForge, The Online Newspaper for Linux and Open Source. Open to Revisions Search Magazine, Volume 6, Issue 19, retrieved July 27,2009 Krengel, Eric. Open Source Religion Explored Again -- Beyond the Western Traditions, January 16,2007 OSOGD, the Manifesto of the Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn. Not In Kansas Anymore - A Curious Tale of How Magic is Transforming America, ISBN 0-06-072678-4 Website of The Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn
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Kenneth Anger
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Kenneth Anger is an American underground experimental filmmaker, actor and author. Working exclusively in short films, he has produced almost forty works since 1937 and his films variously merge surrealism with homoeroticism and the occult, and have been described as containing elements of erotica, documentary, psychodrama, and spectacle. He has also focused upon occult themes in many of his films, being fascinated by the English poet and mystic Aleister Crowley, and is an adherent of Thelema, the religion Crowley founded. He began making films when he was ten years old, although his first film to gain any recognition. The controversial nature of the led to him being put on trial on obscenity charges. A friendship and working relationship began subsequently with pioneering sexologist Alfred Kinsey, moving to Europe, Anger produced a number of other shorts inspired by the artistic avant-garde scene on the continent, such as Rabbits Moon and Eaux dArtifice. The latter would become infamous for its many dubious and sensationalist claims, many of which were later disproven, following his failure to produce a sequel to Lucifer Rising, Anger retired from filmmaking in the early 1980s, instead publishing the book Hollywood Babylon II. At the dawn of the 21st century he once more returned to filmmaking, producing shorts for various film festivals, Anger was born in Santa Monica, California, as Kenneth Wilbur Anglemyer on February 3,1927. His father, Wilbur Anglemyer, was of German ancestry, and had been born in Troy, Ohio, while his mother, Lillian Coler. The pair had met at Ohio State College and after marrying had their first child, Jean Anglemyer, in 1918, followed by a second, Robert Bob Anglemyer, in 1921. That year they moved to Santa Monica to be near Lillians mother, Bertha Coler and it was here that Wilbur got a job working as an electrical engineer at Douglas Aircraft, bringing in enough money so that they could live comfortably as a middle-class family. Kenneth, their third and final child, was born in 1927 and his brother Bob later claimed that being the youngest child, Kenneth had been spoilt by his mother and grandmother, and as such had become somewhat bratty. His grandmother, Bertha, was a big influence on the young Kenneth and it was she who first took Kenneth to the cinema, to see a double bill of The Singing Fool and Thunder Over Mexico and also encouraged his artistic interests. She herself later moved into a house in Hollywood with another woman, Miss Diggy and he developed an early interest in film, and enjoyed reading the movie tie-in Big Little books. He would later relate that I was a prodigy who never got smarter. He retrospected his attendance at the Santa Monica Cotillon where child stars were encouraged to mix with non-famous children and through this met Shirley Temple, with whom he danced on one occasion. It was in 1935, he would claim, that he had the chance to appear in a Hollywood film. Set photographs and studio production reports in fact contradict Angers claims, Angers unofficial biographer, Bill Landis, remarked in 1995 that the Changeling Prince was definitely Anger as a child, visually, hes immediately recognizable
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Marjorie Cameron
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Marjorie Cameron Parsons Kimmel, who professionally used the mononym Cameron, was an American artist, poet, actress, and occultist. A follower of Thelema, the new movement established by the English occultist Aleister Crowley, she was also the wife of rocket pioneer. Born in Belle Plaine, Iowa, Cameron volunteered for services in the United States Navy during the Second World War, after which she settled in Pasadena, California. There she met Parsons, who believed her to be the Elemental woman that he had invoked in the stages of a series of sex magic rituals called the Babalon Working. They entered a relationship and were married in 1946 and their relationship was often strained, although Parsons sparked her involvement in Thelema and occultism. After Parsons death in an explosion at their home in 1952, Cameron came to suspect that her husband had been assassinated, the group soon dissolved, with many of its members concerned by Camerons increasingly apocalyptic predictions. Returning to Los Angeles, Cameron befriended the socialite Samson De Brier, among her friends were the filmmakers Curtis Harrington and Kenneth Anger. Rarely remaining in one place for long, during the 1950s and 1960s she lived for periods in Joshua Tree, San Francisco, in 1955 she gave birth to a daughter, Crystal Eve Kimmel. Although health problems at times prevented her from working, she produced enough art, Camerons recognition as an artist increased after her death, when her paintings made appearances in exhibitions across the U. S. As a result of increased attention on Parsons, Camerons life also gained greater coverage in the early 2000s, Cameron was born in Belle Plaine, Iowa, on April 23,1922. Her father, the railway worker Hill Leslie Cameron, was the child of a Scots-Irish family, while her mother. She was their first child, followed by three siblings, James, Mary, and Robert. They lived on the north side of town, although life was nevertheless hard due to the Great Depression. Relating that one of her friends had committed suicide, she characterized herself as a rebellious child. Nobody would let their kid near me and she enjoyed going to the cinema, and had sexual relationships with various men, falling pregnant, her mother performed an illegal home abortion. In 1940, the Cameron family relocated to Davenport in order for Hill to work at the Rock Islands Arsenal munitions factory, Cameron completed her final year of high school education at Davenport High School, there having romantic relations with both a man and a woman. Leaving school, she worked as a display artist in a department store. Following the entry of the United States into the Second World War, in February 1943 she signed up for the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, prime Minister Winston Churchill in May 1943
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Lon Milo DuQuette
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Lon Milo DuQuette, also known as Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford, is an American writer, lecturer, musician, and occultist, best known as an author who applies humor in the field of Western Hermeticism. He and his partner Charles Dennis Harris, opened for Hoyt Axton, Arlo Guthrie, in 1972, he quit the music business and for the next 25 years he pursued his interest in mysticism, particularly the work of Aleister Crowley. DuQuette began writing professionally in 1988 and has since published 16 books, a 2005 gift of a ukulele re-ignited his interest in music. Two self-released CDs and a new record contract followed, in 2012, DuQuette released Im Baba Lon on Ninety Three Records, his first studio album in 40 years. On September 3,2012, Ninety Three released the follow-up and he is married to his high school sweetheart, Constance Jean Duquette. They live in Costa Mesa, California and have one son and he is perhaps best known as an author who injects humor into the serious subjects of magick and the occult. His autobiography, My Life with the Spirits, is currently a required text for two classes at DePaul University, Chicago, many of DuQuettes books have been dedicated to analyzing and exploring the works of Aleister Crowley, an English occultist, author, poet and philosopher. DuQuette occasionally appears on radio and television as a guest expert on subjects involving the occult and he is on the faculty of the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck, New York where he teaches The Western Magical Tradition. Since 1975 DuQuette has been a National and International governing officer of Ordo Templi Orientis, since 1996 he has been O. T. O. s United States Deputy Grand Master. He is also an Archbishop of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica, the arm of O. T. O. DuQuette, Lon Milo, & Aleister Crowley, Christopher Hyatt, Enochian World of Aleister Crowley, Enochian Sex Magick, DuQuette, Lon Milo, & Christopher Hyatt, Sex Magic, Tantra & Tarot, The Way of the Secret Lover, New Falcon,1991. DuQuette, Lon Milo, & Aleister Crowley, Christopher Hyatt, Aleister Crowleys Illustrated Goetia, Sexual Evocation, DuQuette, Lon Milo, Tarot of Ceremonial Magick, A Pictorial Synthesis of Three Great Pillars of Magick, Enochian, Goetia, Astrology, Weiser Books,1995. DuQuette, Lon Milo, Angels, Demons & Gods of the New Millennium, DuQuette, Lon Milo, My Life With the Spirits, The Adventures of a Modern Magician, Weiser Books,1999. DuQuette, Lon Milo, The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford, Dilettantes Guide to What You Do and Do Not Need to Know to Become a Qabalist, Weiser Books,2001. DuQuette, Lon Milo, The Magick of Aleister Crowley, A Handbook of the Rituals of Thelema, DuQuette, Lon Milo, Understanding Aleister Crowleys Thoth Tarot, Weiser Books,2003. DuQuette, Lon Milo, The Book Of Ordinary Oracles, Weiser Books,2005, DuQuette, Lon Milo, The Key to Solomons Key, Secrets of Magic and Masonry, Ccc Publishing,2006. DuQuette, Lon Milo, Accidental Christ, The Story of Jesus as Told by His Uncle, DuQuette, Lon Milo, Enochian Vision Magick, Weiser Books,2008. DuQuette, Lon Milo, Low Magick, Its All In Your Head and you Just Have No Idea How Big Your Head Is, Llewellyn Publications,2010
21.
J. F. C. Fuller
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With 45 books and many articles, he was a highly prolific author whose ideas reached army officers and the interested public. He explored the business of fighting, in terms of the relationship between warfare and social, political, and economic factors in the civilian sector, Fuller emphasized the potential of new weapons, especially tanks and aircraft, to stun a surprised enemy psychologically. Fuller was highly controversial in British politics because of his support for the organized fascist movement and he was also an occultist and Thelemite who wrote a number of works on esotericism and mysticism. Fuller was born in 1878 at Chichester in West Sussex, the son of an Anglican clergyman, Fuller was commissioned into the 1st Battalion of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry, and served in South Africa from 1899 to 1902. He helped plan the attack at the 20 November 1917 Battle of Cambrai. His Plan 1919 for a fully mechanised offensive against the German army was never implemented, after 1918 he held various leading positions, notably as a commander of an experimental brigade at Aldershot. Chief instructor of Camberly Staff College from 1923, he became assistant to the chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1926. In what came to be known as the Tidworth Incident, Fuller turned down the command of the Experimental Mechanized Force, the appointment also carried responsibility for a regular infantry brigade and the garrison of Tidworth Camp on Salisbury Plain. He was promoted to general in 1930 and retired three years later to devote himself entirely to writing. After retirement, Fuller served as a reporter during the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, on his retirement in 1933, impatient with what he considered the inability of democracy to adopt military reforms, Fuller became involved with Sir Oswald Mosley and the British Fascist movement. As a member of the British Union of Fascists he sat on the partys Policy Directorate and was considered one of Mosleys closest allies and he was also a member of the clandestine far right group the Nordic League. In the 1930s the German Army implemented tactics similar in ways to Fullers analysis. Like Fuller, theorists of Blitzkrieg partly based their approach on the theory that areas of large enemy activity should be bypassed to be surrounded and destroyed. Blitzkrieg-style tactics were used by several nations throughout the Second World War, predominantly by the Germans in the invasion of Poland, Western Europe, N. Tukhachevsky et al. in the 1920s based on their experiences in the First World War and the Russian Civil War. Fuller was the only present at Nazi Germany’s first armed manoeuvres in 1935. On April 20,1939 Fuller was an honoured guest at Hitlers 50th birthday parade, afterwards Hitler asked, I hope you were pleased with your children. Fuller replied, Your Excellency, they have grown up so quickly that I no longer recognise them, during World War II, 1939-45, Fuller was under suspicion for his Nazi sympathies. He continued to out in favour of a peaceful settlement with Germany
22.
Kenneth Grant
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Kenneth Grant was an English ceremonial magician and prominent advocate of the Thelemite religion. A poet, novelist, and writer, he founded his own Thelemite organisation, born in Ilford, Essex, Grant developed an interest in occultism and Asian religion during his teenage years. Crowley instructed Grant in his practices, initiating him into his own occult order. When Crowley died in 1947, Grant was seen as his heir apparent in Britain, founding the London-based New Isis Lodge in 1954, Grant added to many of Crowleys Thelemite teachings, bringing in extraterrestrial themes and influences from the work of H. P. This was anathema to Germer, who expelled Grant from the O. T. O. in 1955, in 1949, Grant befriended the occult artist Austin Osman Spare, and in ensuing years helped to publicise Spares artwork through a series of publications. During the 1950s he also came to be interested in Hinduism, exploring the teachings of the Hindu guru Ramana Maharshi. He was particularly interested in the Hindu tantra, incorporating ideas from it into the Thelemic practices of sex magic. On Germers death in 1969, Grant proclaimed himself Outer Head of the O. T. O. this title was disputed by the American Grady McMurtry, Grants Order became known as the Typhonian Ordo Templi Orientis, operating from his Golders Green home. Grants writings and teachings have proved a significant influence over other currents of occultism, including magic, the Temple of Set. They also attracted academic interest within the study of Western esotericism, particularly from Henrik Bogdan, Grant was born on 23 May 1924 in Ilford, Essex, the son of a Welsh clergyman. By his early years, Grant had read widely on the subject of Western esotericism and Asian religions. He had made use of a magical symbol ever since being inspired to do so in a visionary dream he experienced in 1939, he spelled its name variously as Aashik, Oshik. He was never posted abroad, and was ejected from the army aged 20 due to a medical condition. Grant was fascinated by the work of the occultist Aleister Crowley and he also requested that Michael Houghton, proprietor of Central Londons esoteric bookstore Atlantis Bookshop, introduce him to Crowley. Houghton refused, privately remarking that Grant was mentally unstable, persisting, Grant wrote letters to the new address of Crowleys publishers, asking that they pass his letters on to Crowley himself. These resulted in the first meeting between the two, in autumn 1944, at the Bell Inn in Buckinghamshire, after several further meetings and an exchange of letters, Grant agreed to work for Crowley as his secretary and personal assistant. Now living in poverty, Crowley was unable to pay Grant for his services in money. In March 1945, Grant moved into a cottage in the grounds of Netherwood
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Leah Hirsig
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Lea Hirsig was a Swiss-American notably associated with the author and occultist Aleister Crowley. Hirsig was born into a family of nine siblings in Trachselwald, Canton of Bern, however, they moved to the United States when she was a child aged two, and she grew up in New York City. Growing up in the city, she was taught at a school in the Bronx. Crowley and Hirsig felt an immediate and instinctive connection, Leah asked him to paint her as a dead soul and in fact Crowley painted several portraits of her. In 1919, after seeking out Aleister Crowley due to her interest in the occult, she was consecrated as his Babalon or, Scarlet Woman, taking the name Alostrael, Leah Hirsig wrote in her 1921 diary, I dedicate myself wholly to The Great Work. I will work for wickedness, I will kill my heart, I will be shameless before all men, Leah had previously been married to Edward Hammond, by whom she had a son, Hans Hammond. She then helped found the Abbey of Thelema with Crowley in Cefalù, soon after moving from West 9th St. The Crowleys arrived in Cefalu on 1 April 1920, of her time there, Frater Hippokleides writes, At the Abbey, Hirsig was instrumental in guiding Crowley, the Prophet of the New Aeon, to a deeper understanding of the Law of Thelema. At a time of despair, Crowley wrote, “What really pulled me from the pit was the courage, wisdom, understanding, only so could will be pure and perfect. Crowley wrote one of his most confronting poems, Leah Sublime, in Leah Crowley he found an ideal magical partner. He called her vagina the Hirsig patent vacuum-pump, with Crowley, Leah had a daughter, whom they named Anna Leah Crowley. She was born on 26 Jan 1920 in Fontainebleau, France, hirsigs role as Crowleys initiatrix reached a pinnacle in the spring of 1921 when she presided over his attainment of the grade of Ipsissimus, the only witness to the event. By June 1924, while Hirsig—the Scarlet Woman—stayed loyal to Crowley during money troubles and painful surgeries for his asthma symptoms and she wrote in her diary that his rasping voice so jarred me that I wanted to scream. After a few months Crowley broke it off, presenting her with a new Scarlet Woman by the name of Dorothy Olsen, but this did not lead Hirsig to abandon her commitment to Thelema. ”Hirsig spent the winter in Paris, France, where her financial problems continued. Crowley biographer Lawrence Sutin rejects the assertion of earlier writers that she worked as a prostitute and she continued to work for Crowley and the promulgation of Thelema for at least three years. Hirsig later rejected Crowleys status as a prophet, while recognizing the Law of Thelema. Ultimately she returned to her work as a schoolteacher in America, john Symonds, Crowleys most hostile biographer, claimed to find rumors of her converting to Roman Catholicism. Hirsig died in 1975 in Meiringen, Switzerland, aged 91 and she was the namesake of the 1989 song Leah Hirsig, by San Francisco rock band The Ophelias, in which she is described in the chorus as sweet mother of the living light
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Charles Stansfeld Jones
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Charles Stansfeld Jones, aka Frater Achad, was an occultist and ceremonial magician. An early aspirant to A∴A∴ who claimed the grade of Magister Templi as a Neophyte, initiate, serving as the principal organizer for that order in British Columbia, Canada. He worked under a variety of mottos and titles, including V. I. O, Parzival, and Tantalus Leucocephalus, but he is best known under his Neophyte motto Achad, which he used as a byline in his various published writings. Jones was born in London on April 2,1886, having been recruited through The Equinox in 1909, Jones was the twentieth person to join Aleister Crowleys A∴A∴ order. Jones motto as a Probationer was Vnvs in Omnibvs, and his supervising Neophyte was J. F. C, when Fuller later withdrew from the A∴A∴, Aleister Crowley took over as Jones superior. Jones advanced to Neophyte, taking the motto Achad, which he was subsequently to use for most of his published writings, Jones took the Magister Templi obligation and notified Crowley. The news came as a revelation to Crowley. Nine months earlier he had involved in a set of sex-magical operations with Sr. Hilarion in an apparently unsuccessful effort to conceive a child. Crowley noted the nine-month interval and concluded that Jones birth as a Babe of the Abyss qualified him as the child of Crowley. He welcomed Jones to the Third Order, and declared him to be his beloved son, Crowley and Jones frequently discussed the Ouija board and it is often mentioned in their unpublished letters. Throughout 1917 Achad experimented with the board as a means of summoning Angels, in one letter Crowley told Jones, Your Ouija board experiment is rather fun. You see how very satisfactory it is, but I believe things improve greatly with practice, I think you should keep to one angel, and make the magical preparations more elaborate. Over the years, both became so fascinated by the board that they discussed marketing their own design. Charles Stansfeld Jones wrote a book called Crystal Vision through Crystal Gazing, inspired by the fifth point of the Task of a Zelator in the A∴A∴ system, Jones sought from Crowley the authority to begin O. T. O. Baphomet awarded Jones all O. T. O. degrees through the Seventh expedentiae causa in 1915, Jones was not given the IX° until he demonstrated a knowledge of the Supreme Secret of the Sovereign Sanctuary of the Gnosis in correspondence with Crowley. On his admission to the Ninth Degree, Jones took the magical name Parzival, Jones became Grand Treasurer General after Crowley removed George Macnie Cowie from the post in 1918. Crowley and Jones soon came to disagreement about the management of Order funds, Crowley did not accept Jones resignation, however, and Jones was eventually made Grand Master for North America by Theodor Reuss. Jones and the German initiate Heinrich Traenker were the Grand Masters who confirmed Crowley in his succession to the office of Outer Head of the O. T. O. in 1925
25.
Carl Kellner (mystic)
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Carl Kellner was a chemist, inventor, and industrialist. He made significant improvements to the process and was co-inventor of the Castner-Kellner process. He was a student of Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, and Eastern mysticism and he was the putative founder of Ordo Templi Orientis. Carl Kellner is reputed to have developed the Ritter-Kellner process while working for Baron Hector Von Ritter-Zahony in 1876, in 1889 he established the Kellner-Partington paper pulp Co in association with Edward Partington. The process for making soda and chlorine by electrolysis of brine using a mercury electrode was developed independently by Mr Hamilton Y. Castner and Dr Carl Kellner in 1892 and they established the Castner Kellner company jointly to exploit their patents in 1895. It is not known when he obtained his doctorate but he used the title of PhD from 1895, Kellner had become a Freemason in 1873, being initiated at the Humanitas Lodge on the Austro-Hungarian border, taking the motto of Brother Renatus. In 1885, Kellner met the Theosophical and Rosicrucian scholar, Dr. Franz Hartmann and he and Hartmann later collaborated on the development of the ligno-sulphite inhalation therapy for tuberculosis, which formed the basis of treatment at Hartmanns sanitarium near Saltzburg. During this period Kellner became interested in the esoteric aspects of Freemasonry. Hartmanns obituary of Kellner describes that in 1902 Kellner and these adepts are attributed with having initiated Kellner into the use of sexual magick. Kellner was also influenced by a French followers of the American occultist Paschal Beverly Randolph, Kellner developed a desire to form an Academia Masonica which would enable Freemasons to become familiar with all existing Masonic degrees and systems. In 1895, Kellner began to discuss his idea for founding this Academia Masonica with his associate Theodor Reuss, during these discussions, Kellner decided that the Academia Masonica should be called Ordo Templi Orientis. T. O. They may have believed that sex magic was. the key to all the secrets of the universe and to all the symbolism used by secret societies. Kellner did not approve of the revived Illuminati Order or of Engel, Reuss and Kellner together prepared a brief manifesto for their order in 1903, which was published the next year in The Oriflamme. However whether Kellner ever lived to see O. T. O, becoming more than just these early plans is debatable, since he died in 1905, not long after the first announcements were made
26.
Grady Louis McMurtry
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Grady Louis McMurtry was a student of author and occultist Aleister Crowley and an adherent of Thelema. He is best known for reviving the organization, Ordo Templi Orientis. He lived in parts of Oklahoma and the Midwest, and graduated from high school in Valley Center. He then moved to Southern California to study engineering at Pasadena Junior College, among them was Jack Parsons, who shared his enthusiasm for science fiction, and who introduced him to Thelema. In 1941 McMurtry was initiated into the Minerval and I° of Ordo Templi Orientis, in February 1942, two months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, McMurtrys entire ROTC class was called to active duty, and he served as an officer in Ordnance. He took part in the Invasion of Normandy, the liberation of France and Belgium, and he was recalled to active duty to serve in the Korean War, eventually reaching the rank of major. He was recalled again for another tour of duty in Korea in the early 1960s, six months prior to completing 30 years of Reserve service, he was mustered out as a lieutenant colonel during a RIF and lost what would have been an earned pension. He continued his studies as a civilian between tours of duty, with both a degree and a masters degree in political science from the University of California. Giving him the name Hymenaeus Alpha in November 1943, in September and November 1944, he received letters from Crowley referring to him as Crowleys Caliph. Crowley died in December 1947, and Germer was recognized as the head of O. T. O, at the time the only functioning Thelemic O. T. O. Body in the world was Agape Lodge in Southern California, which was headed for a time by McMurtrys friend Jack Parsons, McMurtry planned to start a lodge in Northern California, but his deteriorating relationship with Karl Germer put an end to his plans. This order was reiterated in writing in November 1960, McMurtry unwillingly complied with the order, and he was disillusioned enough by this turn of events that he ended his direct involvement with O. T. O. In 1961 he moved to Washington, D. C. where he became completely out of touch with other O. T. O. members. On October 25,1962 Germer died from cancer at the age of 77. His widow, who was not a member of O. T. O, retained material possession of the O. T. O. s extensive archives. Though individual members carried on with their activities, the central organization, for all intents and purposes. There were a few individuals, notably Kenneth Grant of Britain, Hermann Metzger of Switzerland, and later, Marcelo Ramos Motta of Brazil, who claimed succession to Germer. McMurtry was unaware of any of these developments until 1968, when he received a letter from Phyllis Seckler, Secklers letter was to inform McMurtry that the archives in Germers widows care had been burglarized the previous year by persons unknown
27.
Jack Parsons (rocket engineer)
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John Whiteside Jack Parsons was an American rocket engineer and rocket propulsion researcher, chemist, and Thelemite occultist. Associated with the California Institute of Technology, Parsons was one of the founders of both the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Aerojet Engineering Corporation. He invented the first rocket engine to use a castable, composite rocket propellant, born in Los Angeles, Parsons was raised by a wealthy family on Orange Grove Avenue in Pasadena. Inspired by science fiction literature, he developed an interest in rocketry in his childhood, in 1939 the GALCIT Group gained funding from the National Academy of Sciences to work on Jet-Assisted Take Off for the U. S. military. Following American entry into World War II, in 1942 they founded Aerojet to develop and sell their JATO technology, after a brief involvement with Marxism in 1939, Parsons converted to Thelema, the English occultist Aleister Crowleys new religious movement. In 1941, alongside his first wife Helen Northrup, Parsons joined the Agape Lodge, at Crowleys bidding, he replaced Wilfred Talbot Smith as its leader in 1942 and ran the Lodge from his mansion on Orange Grove Avenue. Parsons was expelled from JPL and Aerojet in 1944 due to the Lodges infamy and allegedly illicit activities and he and Hubbard continued the procedure with Marjorie Cameron, whom Parsons married in 1946. After Hubbard and Sara defrauded him of his savings, Parsons resigned from the O. T. O. Amid the climate of McCarthyism, he was accused of espionage, in 1952, Parsons died at the age of 37 in a home laboratory explosion that attracted national media attention, the police ruled it an accident, but many associates suspected suicide or assassination. Although academic interest in his career was originally negligible, in subsequent decades historians came to recognize Parsons contributions to rocket engineering. S. He has been the subject of biographies and fictionalized portrayals. Marvel Whiteside Parsons was born on October 2,1914, at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles. His parents, Ruth Virginia Whiteside and Marvel H. Parsons, had moved to California from Massachusetts the previous year and their son was his fathers namesake, but was known in the household as Jack. The marriage broke down soon after Jacks birth, when Ruth discovered that his father had numerous visits to a prostitute. Parsons father returned to Massachusetts after being exposed as an adulterer. Parsons father later joined the forces, reaching the rank of major, and married a woman with whom he had a son named Charles. Although she retained her ex-husbands surname, Ruth started calling her son John, Jack was surrounded by domestic servants. Having few friends, he lived a childhood and spent much time reading, he took a particular interest in works of mythology, Arthurian legend
28.
Theodor Reuss
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Albert Karl Theodor Reuss was an Anglo-German tantric occultist, freemason, alleged police agent, journalist, singer, and head of Ordo Templi Orientis. Reuss was the son of an innkeeper at Augsburg and he was a professional singer in his youth, and was introduced to Ludwig II of Bavaria, in 1873. He took part in the first performance of Wagners Parsifal at Bayreuth in 1882, Reuss later became a newspaper correspondent, and travelled frequently as such to England, where he became a Mason in 1876. He also spent some time there as a journalist and as a singer under the stage name Charles Theodore. In 1876, Reuss married Delphina Garbois from Dublin, and moved to Munich in 1878 and their marriage was annulled, due to bigamy. They had a son, Albert Franz Theodor Reuss, a self-educated zoologist who lived in Berlin, in 1885, in England, Reuss joined the Socialist League. He had been involved as a librarian and labour secretary. On May 7,1886 he was expelled as a spy in the pay of the Prussian Secret Police. This took place in an atmosphere, with tensions between anarcho-communist Josef Peukert and the Bakuninist Victor Dave where such accusations were often made without substance. However, this came from the Belgian Social Democrats, and was raised here by Henry Charles. Peukert and the Gruppe Autonomie published a rebuttal of these allegations which appeared in the Anarchist, however, in February 1887 Reuss used the unwitting Peukert to track down Johann Neve, an arms smuggler, in Belgium, who was then arrested by the German police. In 1880, in Munich, he participated in an attempt to revive Adam Weishaupts Bavarian Order of Illuminati. While in England, he became friends with William Wynn Westcott, Gérard Encausse provided him with a charter dated June 24,1901 designating him Special Inspector for the Martinist Order in Germany. In 1888, in Berlin, he joined with Leopold Engel of Dresden, Max Rahn, in 1895, he began to discuss the formation of Ordo Templi Orientis with Carl Kellner. The discussions between Reuss and Kellner did not lead to any results at the time, allegedly because Kellner disapproved of Reusss connections with Engel. The French occultist and physician Gérard Encausse was one such contact, although not a member of a regular Masonic order, he had founded two occult fraternities, the Martinist group, lOrdre des Supérieurs Inconnus and the Rosicrucian Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Croix. In addition, he was a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Encausse provided Reuss with a charter dated June 24,1901 designating him Special Inspector for the Martinist order in Germany. He also assisted Reuss in the formation of the O. T. O, Gnostic Catholic Church by proclaiming the E. G. C
29.
Wilfred Talbot Smith
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Wilfred Talbot Smith was an English occultist and ceremonial magician known as a prominent advocate of the religion of Thelema. Living most of his life in North America, he played a key role in propagating Thelema across the continent, through Charles Stansfeld Jones he was introduced to the writings of Thelemas founder, Aleister Crowley. He subsequently joined Crowleys Thelemite order, the A∴A∴, and the Thelemite wing of the Ordo Templi Orientis, in 1915, he joined the O. T. O. s British Columbia Lodge No. 1, based in Vancouver, and rose to one of its senior members. In 1922 Smith moved to Los Angeles in the United States, where he, Jane Wolfe and they founded an incorporated Church of Thelema which gave weekly public performances of the Gnostic Mass from their home in Hollywood. Seeking to revive the inactive North American O. T. O. in 1935 Smith then founded the O. T. O, Agape Lodge, which subsequently relocated to Pasadena. He brought a number of prominent Thelemites into the O. T. O, Smith retreated to Malibu, where he continued to practice Thelema until his death. Smith was born as Frank Wenham in Tonbridge, Kent, on 9 June 1885. He was the son of Oswald Cox, a member of a prominent local family who resided at Marl Field House, and one of his domestic servants, Minnie Wenham. From 1899 to 1901, he studied at Bedales School, where he developed his hobby of book binding. With few ties in Britain, he decided to emigrate to Canada, arriving in Nova Scotia in 1907 and he had come to loath Christianity and the Victorian moral systems that he associated with it, instead he began reading about Eastern religion, yoga, and Western esotericism. While at work, he met Charles Stansfeld Jones, a Thelemite who shared Smiths interest in these subjects, intrigued, Smith paid to join Crowleys Britain-based magical order, the A∴A∴, in doing so obtaining more of Crowleys writings. He began performing many of the practices encouraged by the group, including yoga, Smith entered into a relationship with a woman twenty years his senior, Emily Sophia Nem Talbot Smith, although it remains unclear whether they ever married. With Nem and her daughter Katherine, Smith moved into a house designed by the Thelemite architect Howard E. White. Located at 138 East 13th Street, North Vancouver, Smith converted the attic into a temple for Thelemic rituals. Smith also decided to join the Ordo Templi Orientis, an organisation whose British branch, the Mysteria Magica Maxima, was run by Crowley. In January 1915, Smith signed up to the MMM, in May, he took part in the Lodges public performance of the Rites of Isis, which it was hoped would attract further members. In a private capacity, he continued performing his A∴A∴ practices
30.
James Wasserman
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James Wasserman is an American author and occultist. A member of Ordo Templi Orientis since 1976 and a designer by trade. Wasserman began working in 1973 at Weiser Books, then the world’s largest bookstore, while working at Weiser, he met and befriended legendary filmmakers and occultists Harry Smith and Alejandro Jodorowsky. Wasserman worked with Brazilian occultist Marcelo Ramos Motta to publish the Commentaries of AL in 1975, additionally, he supervised the 1976 Weiser publication of The Book of the Law, the first popular edition to append the holograph manuscript to the typeset text. Wasserman left Weiser in 1977 to found Studio 31, where he produced the Simon Necronomicon, in 2008, it was reissued in a high-quality 31st anniversary edition by Ibis Press. This new edition includes some corrections and improvements to the color plates, a member of O. T. O. since 1976, Wasserman founded one of its oldest lodges, Tahuti Lodge, in New York City in 1979. He has played a key role within the Order in publishing the literary corpus of Aleister Crowley, in 1983, he worked with two other members of O. T. O. to produce The Holy Books of Thelema, a collection of Crowley’s Class A writings. In 1986, his essay “An Introduction to the History of the O. T. O. ” appeared in The Equinox III, in 2009, he and his wife Nancy published To Perfect This Feast, a performance commentary on the Gnostic Mass. Revised for an edition in 2010, the book is now in its third and final edition. Wasserman is described by Dan Burstein as a founder of the modern Ordo Templi Orientis” in his guide to Dan Browns novel Angels & Demons. In 2012, Wasserman wrote In the Center of the Fire and he contributed an essay entitled The New Aeon in the New World, The Law of Liberty in the Wild West. Eleven other ranking members of the Order contributed essays on a range of topics such as Thelemic doctrine, magical practices, Order history. Wasserman’s work in O. T. O. and his numerous writings point to a philosophy based on individual liberty and this more modern conception of Gnosticism dispenses with the myriad variations of the term as it is applied to numerous sub sects within major religions long ago. Modern Gnosticism simply presupposes the ability to forge a link with the highest level of divinity. Wasserman further advances the notion that political liberty offers humanity the best conditions for spiritual growth, in 2009, he discussed his book Secrets of Masonic Washington at the National Press Club in Washington, D. C. In 2012, his performance of Liber Israfel was broadcast on The Discovery Channel in a program entitled Secrets of Secret Societies. In 2013, Swirling Star Lodge filmed a 50-minute talk he presented on a history of the O. T. O. Instructions for Aleister Crowleys Thoth Tarot Deck, “An Introduction to the History of the O. T. O. ” in Crowley, Aleister
31.
Jane Wolfe
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Jane Wolfe was an American silent film character actress and Thelemite. Of Pennsylvania Dutch stock, Wolfe was born in the tiny Pennsylvania borough of St. Petersburg in Clarion County, as a young girl she went to New York City to pursue a career in the theatre but soon became involved with acting in the fledgling motion picture industry. She made her debut in 1910 at the age of 35 with Kalem Studios in A Lad from Old Ireland under the direction of Sidney Olcott. In 1911, Wolfe was part of the Kalem Companys crew in New York City who relocated to the new production facilities in Los Angeles. There she kept records about her magical practice, which were published by the College of Thelema of Northern California as The Cefalu Diaries. After not appearing on screen for 17 years, in 1937 Jane Wolfe had a role in a B-movie Western named Under Strange Flags. Wolfe used the Ouija board and credited some of her greatest spiritual communications to the use of this implement, Jane Wolfe died in the Southern California city of Glendale eight days after her 83rd birthday. Jane Wolfe at the Internet Movie Database Jane Wolfe at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films Jane Wolfe at the TCM Movie Database Jane Wolfe at AllMovie Book Jane Wolfe, Her Life with Aleister Crowley
