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.
Book of Revelation
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Its title is derived from the first word of the text, written in Koine Greek, apokalypsis, meaning unveiling or revelation. The Book of Revelation is the apocalyptic document in the New Testament canon. The author names himself in the text as John, but his identity remains a point of academic debate. Modern scholarship generally takes a different view, and many consider that nothing can be known about the author except that he was a Christian prophet, Some modern scholars characterise Revelations author as a putative figure whom they call John of Patmos. The bulk of traditional sources date the book to the reign of the emperor Domitian, the book spans three literary genres, the epistolary, the apocalyptic, and the prophetic. It begins with John, on the island of Patmos in the Aegean and he then describes a series of prophetic visions, including figures such as the Whore of Babylon and the Beast, culminating in the Second Coming of Jesus. The title is taken from the first word of the book in Koine Greek, ἀποκάλυψις apokalypsis, the author names himself as John, but it is currently considered unlikely that the author of Revelation was also the author of the Gospel of John. All that is known is that this John was a Jewish Christian prophet, probably belonging to a group of such prophets and his precise identity remains unknown, and modern scholarship commonly refers to him as John of Patmos. 70 AD is the date of writing according to Martha Himmelfarb in the recently published Blackwell series. Revelation is an apocalyptic prophecy with an epistolary introduction addressed to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia, Apocalypse means the revealing of divine mysteries, John is to write down what is revealed and send it to the seven churches. The entire book constitutes the letter—the letters to the seven churches are introductions to the rest of the book. While the dominant genre is apocalyptic, the author himself as a Christian prophet, Revelation uses the word in various forms twenty-one times. The predominant view is that Revelation alludes to the Old Testament although it is difficult among scholars to agree on the number of allusions or the allusions themselves. Revelation rarely quotes directly from the Old Testament, almost every verse alludes to or echoes older scriptures. Over half of the stem from Daniel, Ezekiel, Psalms. He very frequently combines multiple references, and again the style makes it impossible to be certain to what extent he did so consciously. Revelation was the last book accepted into the Christian biblical canon and it was considered tainted because the heretical sect of the Montanists relied on it and doubts were raised over its Jewishness and authorship. Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, disciple of Origen wrote that the Book of Revelation could have been written by Cerinthus although he himself did not adopt the view that Cerinthus was the writer and he regarded the Apocalypse as the work of an inspired man but not of an Apostle
