ALEISTER CROWLEY - Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

THE HERMETIC ORDER OF THE GOLDEN DAWN

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (or, more commonly, the Golden Dawn) was a magical order active in Great Britain during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which practiced theurgy and spiritual development. It has been one of the largest single influences on 20th-century Western occultism.

Concepts of magic and ritual at the center of contemporary traditions, such as Wicca and Thelema, were inspired by the Golden Dawn.

Dr. William Wynn Westcott

William Robert Woodman

The three founders, William Robert Woodman, William Wynn Westcott, and Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers were Freemasons and members of 'Societas Rosicruciana' in Anglia (S.R.I.A.).

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; however women were admitted on an equal basis with men.

The "Golden Dawn" was the first of three Orders, although all three are often collectively referred to as the "Golden Dawn".

Samuel Liddell  Mathers

The First Order taught esoteric philosophy based on the Hermetic Qabalah and personal development through study and awareness of the four Classical Elements as well as the basics of astrology, tarot divination, and geomancy.

Kabbalah - Tree of Life

Kabbalah, also spelled Kabala or Qabbālâ (Hebrew: קַבָּלָה‎ literally "receiving"), is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought.
Its definition varies according to the tradition and aims of those following it, from its religious origin as an integral part of Judaism, to its later Christian, New Age, or Occultist syncretic adaptions.

Kabbalah is a set of esoteric teachings meant to explain the relationship between an unchanging, eternal and mysterious Ein Sof (no end) and the mortal and finite universe (his creation).

The Kabbalah Unveiled
Samuel Liddell  Mathers

While it is heavily used by some denominations, it is not a religious denomination in itself. Inside Judaism, it forms the foundations of mystical religious interpretation.

Outside Judaism, its scriptures are read outside the traditional canons of organised religion.
Kabbalah seeks to define the nature of the universe and the human being, the nature and purpose of existence, and various other ontological questions.

It also presents methods to aid understanding of these concepts and to thereby attain spiritual realisation.

 קַבָּלָה‎ (Kabala) originally developed entirely within the realm of Jewish thought and kabbalists often use classical Jewish sources to explain and demonstrate its esoteric teachings. These teachings are thus held by followers in Judaism to define the inner meaning of both the Hebrew Bible and traditional Rabbinic literature, their formerly concealed transmitted dimension, as well as to explain the significance of Jewish religious observances. Traditional practitioners believe its earliest origins pre-date world religions, forming the primordial blueprint for Creation's philosophies, religions, sciences, arts and political systems.

Osmanli Armasi

Historically, Kabbalah emerged, after earlier forms of Jewish mysticism, in 12th- to 13th-century Southern France and Spain, becoming reinterpreted in the Jewish mystical renaissance of 16th-century in Palestine which was part of the Ottoman Empire. It was popularised in the form of Hasidic Judaism from the 18th century onwards. 20th-century interest in Kabbalah contributed to wider non-Jewish contemporary spirituality.

The Second or "Inner" Order, the Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis (the Ruby Rose and Cross of Gold), taught proper magic, including scrying, astral travel, and alchemy.

The Third Order was that of the "Secret Chiefs", who were said to be highly skilled; they supposedly directed the activities of the lower two orders by spirit communication with the Chiefs of the Second Order.

The Cipher Manuscripts

The foundational documents of the original Order of the Golden Dawn are known as the 'Cipher Manuscripts'; they were written in English using Trithemius cipher.

The Cipher Manuscripts are a collection of 60 folios containing the structural outline of a series of magical initiation rituals corresponding to the spiritual elements of Earth, Air, Water and Fire.
The "occult" materials in the Manuscripts are a compendium of the classical magical theory and symbolism known in the Western world up until the middle of the 19th century, combined to create an encompassing model of the Western Mystery Tradition, and arranged into a syllabus of a graded course of instruction in magical symbolism.
It was used as the structure for the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

The Manuscripts give the specific outlines of the 'Grade Rituals' of the Order and prescribe a curriculum of graduated teachings that encompass the Hermetic Qabalah, astrology, occult tarot, geomancy, and alchemy.

William Wynn Westcott, a London Deputy Coroner, member of the S.R.I.A. and one of the founders of the Golden Dawn, claimed to have received the manuscripts through Rev. A. F. A. Woodford, who was a colleague of noted Masonic scholar Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie.

Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie

The papers were to have been secured by Westcott after Mackenzie’s death in 1886, among the belongings of Mackenzie’s mentor, the late Frederick Hockley, and by September 1887, they were decoded by Westcott.

Masonic Emblem

The Manuscripts also contained an address of an aged adept named Fräulein (Miss) Anna Sprengel in Germany, to whom Westcott wrote inquiring about the contents of the papers.

Miss Sprengel responded, and after accepting the requests of Westcott and his partner and fellow Mason Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, who had helped translate the texts, issued them a Charter to operate a Lodge of the Order in England.

Mathers in turn asked fellow Freemason William Robert Woodman to assist the two and he accepted.

Mathers and Westcott have been credited for 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 ("Ruby Rose and Golden Cross" or the RR et AC).

The Manuscripts

The cipher used in the manuscripts, shown in a 1561 edition of Trithemius' Polygraphia. Another cipher known as "Theban" is given above it.

The folios are drawn in black ink on cotton paper watermarked 1809.

The text is plain English written from right to left in a simple substitution cryptogram.

Numerals are substituted by Hebrew letters – Aleph=1, Beth=2, etc. Crude drawings of diagrams, magical implements and tarot cards are interspersed in the text. One final page translates into French and Latin.

Golden Dawn Tarot

The Ciphers contain the outlines of a series of graded rituals and the syllabus for a course of instruction in Qabalah and Hermetic magic, including Astrology, Tarot, Geomancy and Alchemy.

It also contains several diagrams and crude drawings of various ritual implements.

The Cipher Manuscripts are the original source upon which the rituals and the knowledge lectures of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn were based.

The actual material itself described in the Manuscript is of known origins.

Hermeticism, Alchemy, Qabalah, Astrology and Tarot were certainly not unknown to 19th century scholars of the Magical arts; the Cipher is a compendium of previously known Magical traditions.

The basic structure of the rituals and the names of the Grades are similar to those of the Rosicrucian orders Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia and the German 'Orden der Gold- und Rosenkreuzer'.

Founding of First Temple

In October 1887, Westcott purported to have written to Anna Sprengel, whose name and address he received through the decoding of the Cipher Manuscripts.
Westcott claimed to receive a wise reply which conferred honorary grades of Adeptus Exemptus on Westcott, Mathers, and Woodman and chartered a Golden Dawn temple consisting of the five grades outlined in the manuscripts.

In 1888, the Isis-Urania Temple was founded in London, where the rituals decoded from the cipher manuscripts were developed and practiced.

In addition, there was an insistence on women being allowed to participate in the Order in "perfect equality" with men, in contrast to the S.R.I.A. and Masonry.

This first lodge did not teach any magical practices per se (except for basic "banishing" rituals and meditation), but was rather a philosophical and metaphysical teaching order.

It was called "the Outer Order" or "First Order" and for four years the Golden Dawn existed only in this order.

The "Inner Order", which became active in 1892, was the circle of adepts who had completed the entire course of study for the Outer Order.

This group eventually became known as the Second Order.

In a short time, the Osiris temple in Weston-super-Mare, the Horus temple in Bradford, and the Amen-Ra temple in Edinburgh were founded. A few years after this, Mathers founded the Ahathoor temple in Paris.

The Secret Chiefs

Secret Chiefs of the Golden Dawn

In 1891, Westcott's correspondence with Anna Sprengel suddenly ceased, and he received word from Germany either that she was dead or that her companions did not approve of the founding of the Order and no further contact was to be made.

If the founders were to contact the Secret Chiefs, therefore, it had to be done on their own.

Tomb of Christian Rosenkreuz

In 1892, Mathers claimed a link to the Secret Chiefs had been formed and supplied rituals for the Second Order, called the Red Rose and Cross of Gold.

Christian Rosenkreuz

These 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.

Later in 1916, Westcott claimed that Mathers also constructed these rituals from materials he received from Frater Lux ex Tenebris, a purported Continental Adept.

Some followers of the Golden Dawn tradition believe that the 'Secret Chiefs' are not necessarily living humans or supernatural beings, but are rather symbolic of actual and legendary sources of spiritual esotericism, a great leader, or teacher of a spiritual path or practice that found its way into the teachings of the Order.

Shambhala

The Secret Chiefs are said to be transcendent cosmic authorities, a Spiritual Hierarchy responsible for the operation and moral calibre of the cosmos, or for overseeing the operations of an esoteric organization that manifests outwardly in the form of a magical order or lodge system.

H.P. Blavatsky

Their names and descriptions have varied through time, dependent upon those who reflect their experience of contact with them. They are variously held to exist on higher planes of being or to be incarnate; if incarnate, they may be described as being gathered at some special location, such as Shambhala, or scattered through the world working anonymously.
One early and influential source on these entities is Karl von Eckartshausen, whose 'The Cloud Upon The Sanctuary', published in 1795, explained in some detail their character and motivations. Several 19th and 20th century occultists claimed to belong to or to have contacted these Secret Chiefs and made these communications known to others, including H.P. Blavatsky, C.W. Leadbeater,  Aleister Crowley, and Dion Fortune.

Continuing Developments

William Butler Yeats

Maud Gonne

By the mid 1890s, the Golden Dawn was well established in Great Britain, with membership rising to over a hundred and including every class of Victorian society.

In its heyday, many celebrities belonged to the Golden Dawn, such as actress Florence Farr, Irish revolutionary Maud Gonne, Irish writer William Butler Yeats, Welsh author Arthur Machen, English author Evelyn Underhill, and English author Aleister Crowley.

In 1896 or 1897, Westcott broke all ties to the Golden Dawn, leaving Mathers in control.

It is speculated that this was due to some occult papers having been found in a hansom cab, in which Westcott's connection to the Golden Dawn came to the attention of his superiors.

Aleister Crowley

Arthur Machen

He may have been told to either resign from the Order or to give up his occupation as coroner.

After Westcott's departure, Mathers appointed Florence Farr to be Chief Adept in Anglia, and Dr. Henry B. Pullen Burry succeeded Westcott as Cancellarius - one of the three Chiefs of the Order.

Mathers was the only active founding member after Westcott's "departure", however, due to personality clashes with other members and absences from the center of Lodge activity in Great Britain, challenges to Mathers' authority as leader developed among the members of the Second Order.

Crowley and the Golden Dawn

Hermetic Order
of the Golden Dawn

Alchemy

In 1898, Crowley was staying in Zermatt, Switzerland, where he met the chemist Julian L. Baker, and the two began talking about their common interest in alchemy.
Upon their return to England, Baker introduced Crowley to George Cecil Jones, a member of the occult society known as the 'Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn', which had been founded in 1888.
Crowley was subsequently initiated into the 'Outer Order of the Golden Dawn' on 18 November 1898 by the group's leader, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers (1854–1918).

Samuel Liddell
MacGregor Mathers

The ceremony itself took place at Mark Masons Hall in London, where Crowley accepted his motto and magical name of "Frater Perdurabo", a Latin term meaning "I shall endure to the end".
Towards the end of 1899, the Adepts of the Isis-Urania and Amen-Ra temples had become dissatisfied with Mathers' leadership as well as his growing friendship with Aleister Crowley. They were also anxious to make contact with the Secret Chiefs themselves, instead of relying on Mathers.

Florence Farr

Among the personal disagreements within the Isis-Urania temple, disputes were arising from Florence Farr's 'The Sphere', a secret society within the Isis-Urania, and the rest of the Adepts Minor.

Crowley was refused initiation into the Adeptus Minor grade by the London officials.

Mathers overrode their decision and quickly initiated him at the Ahathoor temple in Paris on January 16, 1900.

Upon his return to the London temple, Crowley requested the grade papers to which he was now entitled from Miss Cracknell, the acting secretary.

To the London Adepts, this was the last straw.

Now loyal to Mathers, Crowley (with the help of his then mistress and fellow initiate Elaine Simpson) attempted to help crush the rebellion and unsuccessfully tried to seize a London temple space known as the 'Vault of Rosenkreutz' from the rebels.

Crowley had also developed personal feuds with some of the Golden Dawn's members; he disliked the poet W.B. Yeats, who had been one of the rebels, because Yeats had not been particularly favourable towards one of his own poems, 'Jephthat'.

Farr, already of the opinion that the London temple should be closed, wrote to Mathers expressing her wish to resign as his representative, though she was willing to carry on until a successor was found.

Mathers replied on February 16, believing Westcott was behind this turn of events.

Once the other Adepts in London were notified, they elected a committee of seven on March 3 and requested a full investigation of the matter.

Mathers sent an immediate reply, declining to provide proof, refusing to acknowledge the London temple, and dismissing Farr as his representative on March 23.

In response, a general meeting was called on March 29 in London to remove Mathers as chief and expel him from the Order.

In 1901, W. B. Yeats privately published a pamphlet titled 'Is the Order of R. R. & A. C. to Remain a Magical Order ?'.

After the Isis-Urania temple claimed its independence, there were even more disputes, leading to Yeats resigning.

A committee of three was to temporarily govern, which included P.W. Bullock, M.W. Blackden and J. W. Brodie-Innes.

After a short time, Bullock resigned, and Dr. Robert Felkin took his place.

In 1903, A.E. Waite and Blackden joined forces to retain the name Isis-Urania, while Felkin and other London members formed the Stella Matutina, Yeats remaining in it until 1921, and Brodie-Innes continued his Amen-Ra temple in Edinburgh.

Structure and Grades

Much of the hierarchical structure for the Golden dawn came from the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, which was itself derived from the Order of the Golden and Rosy Cross.

First Order

Introduction—Neophyte 0=0

Zelator 1=10

Theoricus 2=9

Practicus 3=8

Philosophus 4=7

Intermediate—Portal Grade

Second Order

Adeptus Minor 5=6

Adeptus Major 6=5

Adeptus Exemptus 7=4

Third Order

Magister Templi 8=3

Magus 9=2

Ipsissimus 10=1

The paired numbers attached to the Grades relate to positions on the Tree of Life.

The Neophyte Grade of "0=0" indicates no position on the Tree.

In the other pairs, the first numeral is the number of steps up from the bottom (Malkuth), and the second numeral is the number of steps down from the top (Kether).

The First Order Grades were related to the four elements of Earth, Air, Water, and Fire, respectively.

The Aspirant to a Grade received instruction on the metaphysical meaning of each of these Elements and had to pass a written examination and demonstrate certain skills to receive admission to that Grade.

The Portal Grade was an "Invisible" or in-between grade separating the First Order from the Second Order.

The Circle of existing Adepts from the Second Order had to consent to allow an Aspirant to be initiated as an Adept and join the Second Order.

The Second Order was not, properly, part of the "Golden Dawn", but a separate Order in its own right, known as the R.R. et A.C.

The Second Order directed the teachings of the First Order and was the governing force behind the First Order.

After passing the Portal, the Aspirant was instructed in the techniques of practical magic.

When another examination was passed, and the other Adepts consented, the Aspirant attained the Grade of Adeptus Minor (5=6).

There were also four sub-Grades of instruction for the Adeptus Minor, again relating to the four Outer Order grades.

A member of the Second Order had the power and authority to initiate aspirants to the First Order, though usually not without the permission of the Chiefs of his or her Lodge.

ALEISTER CROWLEY - the Abbey of Thélème

THE ABBEY OF THELEMA

The name was borrowed from François Rabelais's satire Gargantua and Pantagruel, where an Abbey of Thélème is described as a sort of "anti-monastery" where the lives of the inhabitants were "spent not in laws, statutes, or rules, but according to their own free will and pleasure."
This idealistic utopia was to be the model of Crowley's commune, while also being a type of magical school, giving it the designation "Collegium ad Spiritum Sanctum", A College towards the Holy Spirit.
The general program was in line with the A∴A∴ course of training, and included daily adorations to the sun, a study of Crowley's writings, regular yogic and ritual practices (which were to be recorded), as well as general domestic labor.
The object was for students to devote themselves to the Great Work of discovering and manifesting their True Will.
Crowley had planned to transform the small house into a global center of magical devotion and perhaps to gain tuition fees paid by acolytes seeking training in the Magical Arts; these fees would further assist him in his efforts to promulgate Thelema and publish his manuscripts.
Two women, Hirsig and Shumway (her magical name was Sister Cypris after Aphrodite), both became pregnant by Crowley at the Abbey. Hirsig had a miscarriage, but Shumway gave birth to a daughter (11/12/20), Astarte Lulu Panthea.
From 1931, Astarte was raised in the US by Helene Fraux. Astarte would grow up to have four children of her own, including jazz pianist Eric Muhler. On arrival in Sicily, Hirsig had a two-year old son named Hansi and Shumway had a three-year old son named Howard; they were not Crowley's sons but he nicknamed them Dionysus and Hermes respectively.
At some point, Hirsig suspected Shumway of magickal foul play, and Crowley found supporting evidence of it in Shumway's magickal diary (everybody had to keep one while at the abbey for reasons explained in Liber E).
Appalled, Crowley banished Shumway from the abbey, however, she soon returned to take care of her children.
In 1923, a 23-year-old Oxford undergraduate by the name of Raoul Loveday (or Frederick Charles Loveday) died at the Abbey.
His wife, Betty May, variously blamed the death on his participation in one of Crowley's rituals (allegedly incorporating the consumption of the blood of a sacrificed cat) or the more probable diagnosis of acute enteric fever contracted by drinking from a mountain spring.
(Crowley had warned the couple against drinking the water, as reported in biographies by Lawrence Sutin, Richard Kaczynski and others.)
When May returned to London, she gave an interview to a tabloid paper, 'The Sunday Express', which included her story in its ongoing attacks on Crowley.
With these and similar rumors about activities at the Abbey in mind, Benito Mussolini's government demanded that Crowley leave the country in 1923.
After Crowley's departure, the Abbey of Thelema was eventually abandoned and local residents whitewashed over Crowley's 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 (1955) 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.

ALEISTER CROWLEY - the Ordo Templi Orientis

CROWLEY and the ORDO TEMPLI ORIENTIS

According to Crowley, Theodor Reuss called on him in 1912 to accuse him of publishing O.T.O. secrets, which Crowley dismissed on the grounds of having never attained the grade in which these secrets were given (IXth Degree).

And this, of course, takes us to the German connection.

Theodor Reuss

Theodor Reuss (June 28, 1855 – October 28, 1923) (see left) was an Anglo-German tantric occultist, anarchist, police spy, journalist, singer, and promoter of Women's Liberation; and head of Ordo Templi Orientis.



Reuss - Early Years

Ludwig II
König von Bayern

Reuss was the son of an innkeeper at Augsburg. 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 Wagner's '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 music-hall singer under the stage name "Charles Theodore."

In 1876 Reuss married Delphina Garbois from Dublin, and moved to München in 1878. Their marriage was annulled, due to bigamy (Hergemöller, 1998).

They had a son, Albert Franz Theodor Reuss (1879–1958), a self-educated zoologist who lived in Berlin (Krecsák and Bohle 2008).

In 1885, in England, Reuss joined the Socialist League as an anarchist.
He had been quite involved as a librarian and labour secretary.

Wappen des
Königreichs Preußen

On May 7, 1886 he was expelled as a police spy in the pay of the Prussian Secret Police.
This took place in a sectarian atmosphere, with tensions between anarcho-communist Josef Peukert and the Bakuninist Victor Dave where such accusations were often made without substance, however, this accusation 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, which also accused Dave of being a spy, however, in February 1887 Reuss used the unwitting Peukert to track down Johann Neve in Belgium, who was then arrested by the German police.
This was major coup for the police as Neve had been smuggling arms and propaganda into Germany.
He died shortly after in a prison in Munich, perhaps murdered.

The Ordo Templi Orientis

Bavarian Order of Illuminati

In 1880, in Munich, Reuss participated in an attempt to revive Adam Weishaupt's Bavarian Order of Illuminati.
While in England, he became friends with William Wynn Westcott, the Supreme Magus of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia and one of the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
Westcott provided Reuss with a charter dated July 26, 1901 for the Swedenborgian Rite of Masonry and a letter of authorization dated February 24, 1902 to found a High Council in Germania of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia.
Gérard Encausse provided him with a charter dated June 24, 1901 designating him Special Inspector for the Martinist Order in Germany.

Carl Kellner

Ordo Templi Orientis

In 1895, he began to discuss the formation of Ordo Templi Orientis (see left) with Carl Kellner and in June 1902 the two agreed to proceed with the establishment of the Oriental Templar Order by seeking authorizations to work the various rites of high-grade Masonry.
When Carl Kellner died in 1905, the leadership of the Academia Masonica of O.T.O. fell upon Reuss's shoulders, and he incorporated all his other organizations under its banner, developing the three degrees of the Academia Masonica, available to Masons only, into a coherent, self-contained initiatory system, open to both men and women.

 'The Book of Lies' 

Rudolf Steiner

He promulgated a constitution for this new, enlarged O.T.O. on June 21, 1906 in London (his place of residence since January 1906) and the next month proclaimed himself Outer Head of the Order (O.H.O.).

That same year he published Lingham-Yoni, which was a German translation of Hargrave Jennings's work Phallism, and issued a warrant to Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925, who was at the time the Secretary General of the German branch of the Theosophical Society), making him Deputy Grand Master of a subordinate O.T.O./Memphis/Mizraim Chapter and Grand Council called "Mystica Aeterna" in Berlin. Steiner went on to found the Anthroposophical Society in 1912, and ended his association with Reuss in 1914.

Returning to Crowley, Reuss opened up Crowley's latest book, 'The Book of Lies' (see right), and showed Crowley the passage.

Reuss and Crowley

While living in London, Reuss became acquainted with Aleister Crowley.
In 1910, he made Crowley a VII° of O.T.O. (based on Crowley's previously held 33° in the Scottish Rite), and in 1912, he conferred upon him the IX° and appointed him National Grand Master General X° for the O.T.O. in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland by charter dated June 1, 1912.
Crowley's appointment included authority over an English language rite of the lower (Masonic) degrees of O.T.O. which was given the name Mysteria Mystica Maxima, or M∴M∴M∴. In 1913, Crowley issued a Constitution for the M∴M∴M∴ and the Manifesto of the M∴M∴M∴, which he subsequently redrafted and issued as Liber LII (52), the Manifesto of the O.T.O. In 1913, Crowley wrote Liber XV, the Gnostic Mass for Reuss's Gnostic Catholic Church.
Crowley also dedicated his Mystery Play 'The Ship' (1913) and a collection of poetry, 'The Giant's Thumb' (1915) to Reuss.
In 1913 he became Grand Master of the Rite of Memphis-Misraïm, a masonic group which previously included the revolutionaries Louis Blanc and Giuseppe Garibaldi amongst its ranks.
In 1914, at the outset of World War I, Reuss left England and returned to Germany.
He worked briefly for the Red Cross in Berlin, then, in 1916, moved to Basle, Switzerland. While there, he established an "Anational Grand Lodge and Mystic Temple" of O.T.O. and the 'Hermetic Brotherhood of Light' at Monte Verità, a utopian commune near Ascona founded in 1900 by Henri Oedenkoven and Ida Hofmann, which functioned as a center for the Progressive Underground.
On January 22, 1917, Reuss published a manifesto for this 'Anational Grand Lodge', which was called "Verità Mystica."
On the same date, he published a Revised O.T.O. Constitution of 1917 (based in a large part on Crowley's 1913 Constitution of the M∴M∴M∴), with a "Synopsis of Degrees" and an abridgment of "The Message of the Master Therion" appended. Reuss held an "Anational Congress for Organising the Reconstruction of Society on Practical Cooperative Lines" at Monte Verità August 15–25, 1917.
This Congress included readings of Crowley's poetry (on August 22) and a recitation of Crowley's 'Gnostic Mass' (on August 24).
On October 24, 1917, Reuss Chartered an O.T.O. Lodge, "Libertas et Fraternitas" in Zürich. This Lodge later placed itself under the Masonic jurisdiction of the 'Swiss Grand Lodge Alpina'.
In 1918, Reuss published his German translation of Crowley's 'Gnostic Mass'.
In a note at the end of his translation of 'Liber XV', he referred to himself as, simultaneously, the Sovereign Patriarch and Primate of the Gnostic Catholic Church, and Gnostic Legate to Switzerland of the Église Gnostique Universelle, acknowledging Jean Bricaud (1881–1934) as Sovereign Patriarch of that church.
The issuance of this document can be viewed as the birth of the 'Thelemic E.G.C'. as an independent organization under the umbrella of O.T.O., with Reuss as its first Patriarch.
Reuss was clearly impressed with Thelema.
Crowley's 'Gnostic Mass', which Reuss translated into German and had recited at his Anational Congress at Monte Verità, is an explicitly Thelemic ritual.
In an undated letter to Crowley (received in 1917), Reuss reported excitedly that he had read 'The Message of the Master Therion' to a gathering at Monte Verità, and that he was translating 'The Book of the Law' into German.

This sparked a long conversation, which led to Crowley assuming the Xth Degree of O.T.O. and becoming Grand Master of the English-speaking section of O.T.O. called 'Mysteria Mystica Maxima.'

Crowley would eventually introduce the practice of male homosexual sex magick into O.T.O. as one of the highest degrees of the Order for he believed it to be the most powerful formula.

Crowley placed the new degree above the Tenth Degree – not to be confused with any title in his own Order – and numbered it the Eleventh Degree.There was a protest from some members of O.T.O. in Germany and the rest of continental Europe that occasioned a persistent rift with Crowley.Reuss, however, was clearly impressed with Thelema.

Crowley's 'Gnostic Mass', which Reuss translated into German and had recited at his Anational Congress at Monte Verità, is an explicitly Thelemic ritual.

In an undated letter to Crowley (received in 1917), Reuss reported exitedly that he had read 'The Message of the Master Therion' to a gathering at Monte Verità, and that he was translating 'The Book of the Law' into German.

He added, "Let this news encourage you ! - We live in your Work !"

Crowley's influence over German occultism subsequently waned, however, and there was an inevitable secessionist movement by many German occultists, resulting in the establishment of a new group, the Fraternitas Saturni.

The Fraternitas Saturni was founded in the wake of the so-called "Weida Conference" in the year 1925.

It suceeded the "Collegium Pansophicum, Orient Berlin" (Pansophia Lodge), a Rosicrucian magical order founded by Heinrich Traenker, a notable German occultist of the time.

The Weida Conference was meant to consolidate Aleister Crowley's claims to be the Outer Head of Ordo Templi Orientis and the expected World Teacher.

The conference consisted of Crowley's entourage of Leah Hirsig, Dorothy Olsen, and Norman Mudd and the members of Heinrich Traenker's "Pansophia Lodge".

Traenker had served as a X° National Grand Master of the German O.T.O. under Theodor Reuss up until Reuss's death.

Also attending the conference were the notable film pioneer Albin Grau and Gregor A. Gregorius.

The conference was not a smooth event and Traenker withdrew his support of Crowley.

The differences between Traenker and Crowley led to a schism in the Pansophical Lodge between the brothers who disagreed with Crowley and those who accepted Crowley's Law of Thelema, including Gregorius and Grau.

Following these differences the Pansophical Lodge would be officially closed in 1926.

Those brothers of the Pansophia Lodge who accepted the teachings of Crowley would join Grosche in founding the Fraternitas Saturni - but without Albin Grau.


Death of Reuss and the Succession

There is some reason to believe that Reuss suffered a stroke in the spring of 1920, but this is not entirely certain.

Crowley wrote to W.T. Smith in March 1943: "the late O.H.O., after his first stroke of paralysis, got into a panic about the work being carried on... He hastily issued honorary diplomas of the Seventh Degree to various people, some of whom had no right to anything at all and some of whom were only cheap crooks."

Shortly after appointing him his Viceroy for Australia, Crowley appears to have corresponded with his friend Frank (Allan) Bennett and discussed with him his doubts about Reuss's continuing ability to effectively govern the Order.

It would appear that Reuss discovered the correspondence; he wrote Crowley an angry, defensive response on November 9, 1921, in which he appeared to distance himself and O.T.O. from Thelema, which, as shown above, he had previously embraced. Crowley replied to Reuss's letter on November 23, 1921, and stated in his letter, "It is my will to be O.H.O. and Frater Superior of the Order and avail myself of your abdication—to proclaim myself as such." He signed the letter "Baphomet O.H.O."

Reuss's response is not extant, but Crowley recounts in his 'Confessions' that Reuss "resigned the office [of O.H.O.] in 1922 in my favour."

However, it does not appear that Crowley waited for Reuss's response to assume his duties.

In a diary entry for November 27, 1921, Crowley wrote: "I have proclaimed myself O.H.O. Frater Superior of the Order of Oriental Templars."

Reuss died on October 28, 1923.

In a letter to Heinrich Tränker dated February 14, 1925, Crowley stated the following: "Reuss was very uncertain in temper, and in many ways unreliable. In his last years he seems to have completely lost his grip, even accusing The Book of the Law of communistic tendencies, than which no statement could be more absurd. Yet it seems that he must have been to some extent correctly led, on account of his having made the appointments of yourself and Frater Achad (Charles Stansfeld Jones), and designating me in his last letter as his successor." 

In a letter to Charles Stansfeld Jones dated Sun in Capricorn, Anno XX (Dec. 1924 - Jan. 1925), Crowley said, "in the O.H.O.'s last letter to me he invited me to become his successor as O.H.O. and Frater Superior."

Reuss's letter designating Crowley his successor as O.H.O. has not been found, but no credible documentation has surfaced which would indicate that Reuss ever designated any alternative successor.

After his death, Crowley added Reuss to the list of Gnostic Saints listed in the Gnostic Mass.

ALEISTER CROWLEY - The Philosophy of Thelema

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THELEMA

Thelema is a spiritual philosophy (referred to by some as a religion) that was developed by the early 20th century British writer and ceremonial magician, Aleister Crowley.
He came to believe himself to be the prophet of a new age, the Æon (Age) of Horus, based upon a spiritual experience that he and his wife, Rose Edith, had in Egypt in 1904.
By his account, a possibly non-corporeal or "praeterhuman" being that called itself Aiwass contacted him and dictated a text known as 'The Book of the Law' or 'Liber AL vel Legis', which outlined the principles of Thelema.

The Thelemic pantheon includes a number of deities, focusing primarily on a trinity of deities adapted from ancient Egyptian religion, who are the three speakers of 'The Book of the Law': Nuit, Hadit and Ra-Hoor-Khuit.
The religion is founded upon the idea that the 20th century marked the beginning of the Aeon (age) 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 should seek out and follow their own true path in life, known as their 'True Will' rather than their egoic desires.
The philosophy also emphasizes the ritual practice of Magick.
The word "Thelema" itself is the English transliteration of the Koine Greek noun θέλημα: "will", from the verb θέλω: to will, wish, purpose.
In the New Testament as well as the works of Plato, Thelema includes the ideas of will, choice, inclination, desire, including sexual desire, and pleasure.
As Crowley developed the religion he wrote widely on the topic, producing what are collectively termed the 'Holy Books of Thelema'.

Egypt and The Book of the Law: 1904

In 1904, Crowley and his new wife Rose travelled to Egypt using the pseudonym of Prince and Princess Chioa Khan, titles which Crowley claimed had been bestowed upon him by an eastern potentate.

According to Crowley's own account, Rose, who was pregnant, began to experience visions while in the country, regularly informing him that "they are waiting for you", but not providing him with any further information as to who "they" were.

It was on 18 March, after Crowley sought the aid of the Egyptian god Thoth in a magical rite, that she actually revealed who "they" were – the ancient Egyptian god Horus and his alleged messenger.

After asking the god Thoth (the Aeon Thoth ?) to clarify the matter, and getting Rose to identify the source of the message as Horus, Crowley took Rose to the Boulaq Museum, and asked her to point out Horus to him.

Then she pointed to a glass case in the distance, and insisted that this was what he sought.

It turned out to be a small funerary stele (XXVIth Dynasty) for a priest of ancient Thebes named Ankh-af-na-Khonsu.

The Stele of Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu i (also known as the Stele of Revealing) is a painted, wooden offering stele, discovered in 1858 at the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Dayr al-Bahri by François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette. It was originally made for the Montu-priest Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu, and was discovered near his coffin ensemble of two sarcophagi and two anthropomorphic inner coffins. It dates to circa 680/70 BCE, the period of the late Dynasty 25/early Dynasty 26. Originally located in the former Bulaq Museum under inventory number 666, the stele was moved around 1902 to the newly opened Egyptian Museum of Cairo (inventory number A 9422; Temporary Register Number 25/12/24/11), where it remains today.

This point of contact depicted a scene of the enthroned hawk-headed sun-god Horus with the priest making offerings before him; - above them are a falcon-winged solar disk, and the surrounding image of Nuit, goddess of the heavens, framing the whole composition.

Very significantly for Crowley, this artifact was listed in the museum catalog as Stele #666;   piece 666, the number that he had identified with since childhood - it later became known as the 'Stele of Revealing'.

θηρίον - (Therion - Greek:  beast) is a God found in the mystical system of Thelema, which was established in 1904 with Aleister Crowley's writing of The Book of the Law. Therion's female counterpart is Babalon, another Thelemic deity. He, as a Thelemic personage, evolved from that of the Beast of the Book of Revelation, whom Crowley intuitively identified himself with since childhood. Indeed, throughout his life he occasionally referred to himself as “Master Therion” or sometimes “The Beast 666”.
The  Ἀριθμὸς τοῦ θηρίου (Arithmos tou Thēriou - Number of the Beast) is the numerical value of the name of the person symbolised by the beast from the sea, the first of two symbolic beasts described in Chapter 13 of the Book of Revelation which is part of the Christian 'New Testament'.
'καὶ ἵνα μή τις δύνηται ἀγοράσαι ἢ πωλῆσαι εἰ μὴ ὁ ἔχων τὸ χάραγμα, τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θηρίου ἢ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ. 18Ὧδε ἡ σοφία ἐστίν· ὁ ἔχων τὸν νοῦν ψηφισάτω τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ θηρίου· ἀριθμὸς γὰρ ἀνθρώπου ἐστί· καὶ ὁ ἀριθμὸς αὐτοῦ χξϛʹ.

This is the 'Foundation Myth' of the religion of Thelema (which is the Greek word for 'the True Will', paired with Agape or Love, both of whose numerology totals 93; hence his system is known as the 93 Current).

Rose continued to insist that forces from beyond were seeking to contact him, and directed him to perform a ritual in a room with many mirrors and employing some correspondences alien to his Golden Dawn training, which he summarized as:

“To be performed before a window open to the E. or N. without incense. The room to be filled with jewels, but only diamonds to be worn. A sword, unconsecrated, 44 pearl beads to be told. Stand. Bright daylight at 12.30 noon. Lock doors. White robes. Bare feet. Be very loud. Saturday. Use the Sign of Apophis and Typhon.”

So, he acquired a translation of the text from the stele, rendered it into verse, devised what he called 'The Ritual of Invocation According to the Divine Vision of W. the Seer', and performed it upon March 20th, now known as the 'Equinox of the Gods' (and documented in his book of the same name, a full account of the experience, quoted above).

The result changed his life, the course of modern occult philosophy.

At the hours of noon on April 8th, 9th, and 10th in the year 1904, Aleister Crowley received the transmission known as 'Liber AL vel Legis': The Book of the Law, in the Victorious City of Cairo in Egypt.

While at first he claims to have rejected it, this philosophically revolutionary vision of a New 'Aeon' (Age) of Thelema was ultimately to radically transform his understanding of the universe, his practice of the Great Work, and his legacy to the innocently unsuspecting world.

Comparisons might be made with other transmissions even more recent: C.G. Jung's 'Septem Sermones ad Mortuos' (Seven Sermons to the Dead), poet W.B. Yeats’ odd work 'A Vision', Blavatsky's 'Book of Dyzan', and even 'OAHSPE' and the 'Book of Mormon'.

And if we remain even remotely willing to suspend our disbelief sufficiently to accept the validity of any of these, it would seem rather unfair not to extend the same courtesy to Crowley.

The full title of the book is 'Liber Al vel Legis, sub figura CCXX', as delivered by XCIII=418 to DCLXVI, and it is commonly referred to as 'The Book of the Law'.

Through the reception of this book, Crowley proclaimed the arrival of a new stage in the spiritual evolution of humanity, to be known as the 'Æon of Horus' - ( aeon here is not used in the sense of a spiritual entity, but rather as a division of time).

Crowley claimed he heard a disembodied voice talking to him, claiming that it was coming from a being Crowley named as Aiwass the Minister of Hoor-Paar-Kraat.

Crowley's disciple and later secretary Israel Regardie believed that this voice came from Crowley's subconscious, but opinions among Thelemites differ widely.

Crowley said that he wrote down everything the voice told him over the course of the next three days, and subsequently titled it 'Liber AL vel Legis' or 'The Book of the Law'.

In the preface to the 'Book of the Law', Crowley explains that the ideas presented within the book are symbolized by Egyptian Gods for 'literary convenience'.

The Book declares that a new Aeon (Age) for mankind had begun, and that Crowley would serve as its prophet.

As a supreme moral law, Nuit declared "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law", and that people should learn to live in tune with their "True Will". 

The story goes that although this event would prove to be a cornerstone in Crowley's life, being the origin of the philosophy of Thelema, he claimed at the time he was unsure what to think about the whole situation.

He wrote that he was "dumbfounded about what to do with The Book of the Law" and eventually decided to ignore the instructions that it commanded him to perform, which included taking the Stele of Revealing from the museum, fortifying his own island and translating the Book into all the world's languages.

Instead he simply sent typescripts of the work to several occultists whom he knew, and then "put aside the book with relief".

The Philosophy of Thelema

The Thelemic pantheon includes a number of deities, focusing primarily on a trinity of deities adapted from ancient Egyptian religion, who are the three speakers of 'The Book of the Law': Nuit, Hadit and Ra-Hoor-Khuit.

The religion is founded upon the idea that the 20th century marked the beginning of the Aeon (Age) of Horus, in which a new ethical code would be followed; "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law".

See THE BOOKS OF FOUNDATIONB - BOOK VI - πρᾶξις - Praxis

for a full discussion of the 'True Will'

This statement indicated that adherents, who are known as Thelemites, should seek out and follow their own 'True Will' rather than their ego's desires.

The religion also emphasizes the ritual practice of Magick.

The word "Thelema" itself is the English transliteration of the Koine Greek noun θέλημα "will", from the verb θέλω: to will, wish, purpose.

As Crowley developed the religion he wrote widely on the topic, producing what are collectively termed the Holy Books of Thelema.

He also included into it ideas from occultism, Yoga and both Eastern and Western mysticism, especially the Qabalah.

According to Crowley, every individual has a True Will, to be distinguished from the ordinary wants and desires of the ego and this includes the goal of attaining self-realization by one's own efforts, without the aid of God or other divine authority.

'Do what thou Wilt shall be the whole of the Law' for Crowley refers not to hedonism, fulfilling everyday desires, but to acting in response to the True Will - which relates to Glanvill's, Schopenhauer's (see right) and Hitler's concept of the Will.

The Thelemite is a mystic who bases their actions on striving to discover and accomplish their True Will.

When a person does their True Will, it is like an orbit, their niche in the universal order, and the universe assists them.

In order for the individual to be able to follow their True Will, the everyday self's socially-instilled inhibitions may have to be overcome via de-conditioning.

Crowley believed that in order to discover the True Will, one had to free the desires of the subconscious mind from the control of the conscious mind, especially the restrictions placed on sexual expression, which he associated with the power of divine creation.

The spiritual quest to discover the True Will is known in Thelema as the Great Work.

Thelema draws its principal gods and goddesses from Ancient Egyptian religion.
The highest deity in the cosmology of Thelema is in fact a goddess, Nuit (see left).
She is the night sky arched over the Earth symbolized in the form of a naked woman.
She is conceived as the Great Mother, the ultimate source of all things.
The second principal deity of Thelema is the god Hadit (see right), conceived as the infinitely small point within a circle, complement and consort of Nuit.
Hadit symbolizes manifestation, motion, and time.
He is also described in 'Liber AL vel Legis' as "the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star."
He identifies himself as the point in the center of the circle, the axle of the wheel, the cube in the circle, "the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star," and the worshiper's own inner self.
Hadit has been interpreted as the inner spirit of man, the Elixir Vitae.
When juxtaposed with Nuit in 'The Book of the Law', Hadit represents each unique point-experience.
These point-experiences in aggregate comprise the sum of all possible experience, Nuith.
Hadit, "the Great God, the lord of the sky," is depicted on the Stele of Revealing in the form of the winged disk of the Sun, Horus of Behdet (also known as the Behdeti).
However, while the ancient Egyptians treated the Sun and the other stars as separate, Thelema connects the sun-god Hadit with every individual star.
Furthermore, 'The Book of the Law' says: "Every man and every woman is a star."
In 'The Book of the Law' he says; "I am alone: there is no god where I am.".
He is "the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star.".
He is identified with kundalini; in 'The Book of the Law' he says, "I am the Secret Serpent coiled about to spring: in my coiling there is joy. If I lift up my head, I and my Nuit are one. If I droop down mine head, and shoot forth venom, then is rapture of the earth, and I and the earth are one. There is great danger in me...".
Hadit is the Fire of Desire at the Heart of Matter (Nuit).
The combination of the upward-pointing triangle of Hadit and the downward-pointing triangle of Nuit forms the Star of Spirit (the Hexagram). The union of the infinitely small Hadit and the infinitely great Nuit causes an explosive rapture which leads to samadhi.

His symbols are our Sun, the serpent, the Fire Snake, the star Sothis, the planet Pluto, the Will, the winged globe (see right), and the hidden flame.

The third deity in the cosmology of Thelema is Ra-Hoor-Khuit, a manifestation of Horus.
He is symbolized as a throned man with the head of a hawk who carries a wand.
He is associated with the Sun and the active energies of Thelemic magick.
Other deities within the cosmology of Thelema are Hoor-paar-kraat (or Harpocrates) (see right), god of silence and inner strength, the brother of Ra-Hoor-Khuit, Babalon, the goddess of all pleasure, known as the Virgin Whore and Therion, the beast that Babalon rides, who represents the wild animal within man, a force of nature.