A

Ritual Magick

★1881★

Abbey of Thelema

Box 666 Old Greenwich, CT 06870-0666

The Abbey of Thelema is an independently functioning initiatory magical group that provides a point of contact with The Order of the Silver Star (a.k.a. the A. A., Astron Argon (Greek) or Argenteum Astrum (Latin)), otherwise known as The Great White Brotherhood. The leader of the Abbey, Gregory von Seewald, has in turn been delegated to the Authority of the Triad, which originally was conferred upon George Cecil Jones (D.D.S.), Aleister Crowley (O.M.), and George Stansfeld Jones (O.I.V.I.V.I.O.). The abbey provides for instruction in the A. A. following the magical practices and studies that were perfected by its foremost founder, Aleister Crowley. New members of the Order are expected to show their serious intentions by acquiring and reading a number of books in magick and mysticism, including the entire set of The Equinox, the magazine Crowley began in 1909 as the official organ of the A. A. Following an exam on his/her basic knowledge of magick, the student may become a Probationer and begin the path of magical training. There are 11 magical grades or degrees.

The secret, and secret practice (long ago publicly revealed), of the Ordo Templi Orientis (the other magical group Crowley headed) was sex magick. It was taught in stages as members attained the seventh through ninth degrees. However, in the A. A. system as taught by the abbey, the Probationer who has reached the Zelator grade is invited to begin study in this practice. The sexual, magical practices constitute the essence of a second division of the Abbey, namely, the Sovereign Penetralia of the Gnosis, to which those who desire to follow the practice adhere.

A. A. members who have attained a level referred to as Zelatores maybe invited to membership within the Order of Thelemites(a.k.a. The Order of Thelema), which was conceived in the 1920s by Crowley. Various charters, in the form of constitutions, were conferred upon A. A. members of that era. These constitutions have recently been recognized and the order of Thelemites has emerged from dormancy. The Order is not a mystical, magical, or occult order in the ordinary sense of these words. Its purpose is to enable its members to succeed in life by teaching them the correct attitudes toward life and how to avoid wasting time in lines of effort for which they are unsuited.

As the Abbey of Thelema is a secret Order, much of its teachings and practice are not revealed to outsiders. The leader of the Abbey, Gregory von Seewald, serves as Praemonstrator of the A.A., Outer Head of the Sovereign Penetralia of the Gnosis, and Abbot of Thelema for The Order of Thelemites. The Abbey of Thelema is affiliated with the Holy Order of RaHoorKhuit(H.O.O.R.), The Holy Gnostic Catholic Church (H.G.C.C.), and the Ordem dos Cavaleiros de Thelema (O.C.T.) in Brazil.

Membership: There are fewer than 100 members of the abbey, but it has members in Australia, Canada, England, Germany, Brazil, and Yugoslavia.

Sources:

One Star in Sight. Old Greenwich, CT: Abbey of Thelema, n.d.

★1882★

American Gnostic Church

Box 1219
Corpus Christi, TX 78403

The Americn Gnostic Church was founded in 1985 by Rev. James M. Martin. It has served and continues to serve as an umbrella organization for several closely related spiritual movements, each claiming some form of illumination by stellar-gnosis. The church's ministry has a special concern for connections and cognate deities in both the Gnostic systems and the Oriental religions. The latest groups with which it maintains a relationship are the Servants of the Star and the Snake, a tantric-thelemic "federation" of magicians, sorcerers, witches, pagans, shamans, and Natha yogis who network online and through several periodicals, and an S.S.S. SIG or special interest group, the Order of Napunsakas in the West (O.N.) which maintains an Outer Order for all non-heterosexual tantrikas and an Inner Order open only to males, known as the Cultus Skanda-Karttikeya (C.S.-K.). Both Tantra and Thelema (the system developed by Aleister Crowley) have sex magick as an essential component in their magical teachings.

Sources:

Crowley, Aleister. The Law Is for All. Phoenix, AZ: Falcon Press, 1985.

——. Magick in Theory and Practice. New York: Dover Publications, 1976.

King, Francis, and Stephen Skinner. Techniques of High Magick. New York: Destiny Books, 1976.

★1883★

Aurum Solis

1203 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.
Chicago, IL 606606

Aurum Solis, the Order of the Sacred Word, was founded in England in 1897 by Charles Kingold and George Stanton as a school of Western Kabbalistic magick. Like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Aurum Solis teaches a system of high magick,i.e., a disciplined approach to self-transformation. Its system, much of which has been published in the five-volume set The Magical Philosophy by Melita Denning and Osborne Phillips, centers upon the myth of the sacred king (i.e., the magician), who chooses of his own free will the path of sacrifice but subsequently rises again and passes into the light of attainment.

Melita Denning and Osborne Phillips are the pen names of Vivian Barcynski and Leonard R. Barcynski, who until recently served as grand master and administrator general of the order. Both had encountered the order while living in England and participated in its reconstitution in 1971. They brought the order to America in 1978 when they moved to St. Paul, Minnesota. Under their pen names they have authored numerous books on various occult topics.

Membership in the order is by invitation only, though inquiries are invited. In 1987 Carl Weschcke assumed the sole authority for the order as its Grand Master but has since resigned. The present status of the orfer is unknown. The teachings remain available mainly throught the earlier writings of the Bychinskis.

Membership: Not reported.

Sources:

Denning, Melita, and Osborne Phillips. The Magical Philosophy. 5 vols. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1974-81.

——. The Magick of Sex. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1982.

——. The Magick of the Tarot. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1983.

★1884★

Bavarian Illuminati

(Defunct)

The Bavarian Illuminati was founded in 1776 by the infamous Dr. Adam Weishaupt, a professor of canon law at the University of Ingoldstadt in Germany. The group associated with the Masons and gained a reputation as a secret revolutionary body. The group was present in England as the Hell-Fire Club headed by Sir Francis Dashwood. (This English group is supposedly the source of a flirtation with Masonry by the founding fathers of the United States, who allegedly placed the Illuminati pyramid and the Eye of Horus on the Great Seal of the United States.)

A modern version of the Order of the Illuminati was established during the 1970s with headquarters in San Francisco, California, and Nantes, France. It was one of a variety of half-serious/half-joking organizations created by magician-author Robert Anton Wilson, more recently a resident of Ireland. Wilson has authored a series of books on magick and occult philosophy using the Illuminatus metaphor, but drawing its content from the twentieth century Thelemic magick of Aleister Crowley and modern psychical and consciousness studies. Since Wilson's leaving the United States there are no formal representatives of the modern order, though it could be seen to have continued informally among Wilson's large reading audience. Even in the 1970s, the order existed only as a loose confederation of independent but like-minded magicians. It existed primarily to pursue Thelemic magick, as Wilson thought of Aleister Crowley as the twentieth-century inventor of the Illuminati tradition. Adherents were also devotees of Eris, the goddess of chaos and discord. The Order was a confederation of like-minded magicians who help each other over any times of problems in magical practice.

Sources:

Holmes, Donald. The Sapiens System: The Illuminati Conspiracy. Phoenix, AZ: Falcon Press, 1987.

Wilgus, Neal. The Illuminoids. New York: Pocket Books, 1978.

Wilson, Robert Anton. Cosmic Trigger. Berkeley, CA: And/Or Press, 1977.

——. The Illuminati Papers. Berkeley, CA: And/Or Press, 1980.

——. Masks of the Illuminati. New York: Pocket Books, 1981.

——. Schroedinger's Cat. 3 vols. New York: Pocket Books, 1980-81.

★1885★

Bennu Phoenix Temple of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

(Defunct)

A short-lived attempt to revive the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn emerged in the early 1970s, led by John Phillips Palmer. The Bennu Phoenix Temple continued the tradition of the H.O.G.D. prior to the revelations of its secrets by Aleister Crowley. Crowley was viewed as a former member "impervious to discipline…consequently degraded to the Paths of the Portal in the Vault of Adepti and expelled." The group also follows the tradition which rejected S. L. MacGregor Mathers' leadership. He is believed to have fallen to the dark powers of the left-hand path.

The Bennu Phoenix Temple followed the ten rituals of the Order of the Golden Dawn and used forms of the rituals published by Israel Regardie. Sex magick was allowed if practiced within the context of marriage. Sex magick outside of marriage with a homosexual partner or as a mystic masturbation was strictly condemned. Homosexual behavior was regarded as impure. Drugs and animal sacrifice were also forbidden.

Sources:

Regardie, Israel. The Golden Dawn. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1969.

★1886★

Builders of the Adytum

5105 N. Figueroa
Los Angeles, CA 90042

Builders of the Adytum (B.O.T.A.) is a western mystery school whose teachings are based on the Holy Qabalah and Sacred Tarot. According to B.O.T.A., the Holy Qabalah is the Mystical (occult) Wisdom Teaching of ancient Israel. The great prophets of the Old and New Testaments were versed in the Qabalah (including Jesus of Nazareth) and received their spiritual training therefrom. The Holy Qabalah is based on a diagrammatical and symbolic glyph called the Tree of Life. It is a pictorial-symbolic representation of the One God and man's relationship to God and creation. The Tarot is a pictorial textbook on Ageless Wisdom.

B.O.T.A. was founded in 1922 by Dr. Paul Foster Case, one of the American members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, for the study of practical occultism. A recognized world authority on the Tarot and Qabalah, Dr. Case was given the task by the Inner School of re-interpreting the Ageless Wisdom into terms understandable to the modern western mind.

The primary purpose of B.O.T.A. is to teach and practice the doctrine of the Oneness of God, the brotherhood of man, and the kinship of all life patterned after the Ageless Wisdom mystery schools of spiritual training as particularly exemplified by the Holy Qabalah. Occult orders, such as B.O.T.A., have as their major objective "the promotion of the welfare of humanity." The great Masters of Wisdom, from whom flow the inspiration and spiritual impetus of this work, refuse to have anything to do with any Order which fails to recognize the primary importance of this great objective, for they devote all their energy and influence to that end. Their conception of the meaning of "the welfare of humanity" is embodied in the following seven-pointed program: 1. Universal Peace; 2. Universal Political Freedom; 3. Universal Religious Freedom; 4. Universal Education; 5. Universal Health; 6. Universal Prosperity; and 7. Universal Spiritual Unfoldment.

In order to promote the welfare of humanity, we need first to look to the units of which humanity is composed. Selfish personalities make their unhappy contribution to a selfish social structure. Chaotic thinking and immature emotions affect the mental and emotional levels of all humanity. We do not live unto ourselves alone. To the degree that the aspirant becomes a more effective unit in his personal environment, then to that degree does he bring spiritual powers into action for all humanity and prepares himself to serve Life in ever greater measure.

Dedicated work with the Tarot techniques as embodied in the B.O.T.A. curriculum has as its aim the transmutation of personality. A transformed personality will bring with it the ability to change its environment closer to the heart's desire. A fulfilled life becomes a positive radiating center, an effective channel through which the Higher Self can function, and a living example for others. The particular potency of the Western Mystery training system lies in its use of symbols which are a universal language that directly instructs subconsciousness with its pictorial wisdom.

B.O.T.A. is the outer school behind which stands an inner mystery school, offering instruction for students who wish to participate in the esoteric work. Qualified students may become members of a Pronaos, many of which are found in the United States and various other countries, and are referred to as Pronaons. After initiation in a Pronaos, members may participate in the group ritual work of B.O.T.A.

The external affairs of the order are managed by the Board of Stewards. The Proculator General is the primary link between the outer and inner schools. Prior to 1976, the only groups open to the general membership were in Los Angeles. However, during the next decade approximately 50 study groups and working groups (Pronoas) were formed in 19 states. Groups also appeared in Montreal and Toronto, Canada; Great Britain; the Netherlands; New Zealand; Columbia; and the island of Aruba, in the Caribbean.

Membership: Not reported.

Sources:

Case, Paul Foster. The Book of Tokens. Los Angeles: B.O.T.A., 1947.

——. The Tarot. Richmond, VA: Macoy Publishing Company, 1947.

——. The True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order. The Author, 1928.

Davies, Ann. Inspirational Thoughts on the Tarot. Burbank, CA: Candlelight Press, 1983.

——. This Is the Truth about the Self. Los Angeles: Builders of the Adytum, 1960.

Frazer, Felix J. Parallel Paths to the Unseen Worlds. Los Angeles: Builders of the Adytum, 1967.

★1887★

CIRCLES International

PO Box 279
Plainfield, IN 46168

CIRCLES International is the American (and English-language) affiliate of the Cercle International de Recherches Culturelles et Spirituelles (International Circle for Cultural and Spiritual Research). The International Circle was founded in France earlier in this century as a New Age initiatic association inspired by the Templar tradition. Integral to the understanding of the organization is the idea that each era is unique in the way the cosmos impacts the inner consciousness of humanity. New eras are defined by astrological ages. The previous age was keynoted by Jesus' admonition to "love one another." The keynote of the present Aquarian age is the desire for personal integration. In this age, the path formerly trod primarily by mystics and sages will become common to a large number of the human race. While many seek to bring peace to the warring factions of their mind, few have attained any positive results.

CIRCLES emphasizes two important truths regarding the discovery of a spiritual path that would lead to personal integration. First, each individual must find his/her own path, rather than slavishly follow a predetermined "true" path. Second, the discovery and treading of the path can be greatly enhanced by modern psychological insights. In this light, CIRCLES does not present doctrines and dogmas, but a variety of techniques that each member may use as they awaken to their own personal truth.

CIRCLES is open to all aspirants who are willing to live by the command, "love one another" and who are dedicated to the ideals of chivalry, world peace, and the reduction of human suffering. These goals are pursued by practice of the spiritual and psychological technologies. Members are encouraged to discover the way they can most effectively express the various spiritual values, including unconditional love, in daily life.

New members of Circles join the Outer Circle and participate in its work on three levels. In a (1) general research council, members pursue studies on a particular subject and attempt to apply results in a practical context. As part of a (2) commission, work of the research councils on related topics is synthesized. In the (3) Academy, which organizes all the work of the Outer Order, the member may pursue research in one of several colleges: the College of Arcane Sciences, the College of Mundane Sciences, or the College of Creative Sciences.

Members may also participate in the Inner Circle, where the traditional teaching of the Templars as understood by the Order are presented. Involvement begins with the Order of Sovereign Templar Initiates (OSTI). Since all instruction of the Inner Order is oral, attendance at the monthly gatherings of OSTI units is required of Inner Circle members. New members of the order may attend Inner Circle meetings but are not to participate verbally for the first year. Work in the Inner Circle progresses on a degree basis. There are two degrees in OSTI. It is followed by three degrees in the International Order of Pythagoreans. At the center of the order is the Universal Order of Melchisedech, into which some members may be invited.

CIRCLES International is headed by the Sovereign Grand Master, Fr. Raymond Bernard. Each country is organized as a Grand Commandery under a Grand Commander appointed by the Sovereign Grand Master. Regional divisions within a country are organized into Grand Preceptories headed by a Grand Preceptor. A Grand Preceptor can operate in the absence of the Grand Commander. Local groups are variously designated commanderies or templar research circles.

Membership: Not reported.

★1888★

Clan Invisible

Current address not obtained for this edition.

Clan Invisible is a small magical order which has emerged in the larger context of the spread of thelemic magic as revealed in The Book of the Law, revealed to Aleister Crowley in 1904. The Book of the Law is often summarized in the statements, "Do what thou will shall be the whole of the law," and "Love is the law, Love Under Will." Along with respect for the Law of Thelema or Will, the clan promotes fitness of the mind and body through the philosophies of Taoism and practice of the martial arts. It also practices a technique for gaining access to parallel dimensions utilizing dream walking, past-life regression, alchemy, and divination.

Unlike some thelemic groups, the clan does not use a grade structure; however, newer and more advanced aspirants are recognized and the former will be referred to the latter for assistance in the development process. The clan is administered by the Secretet.

Membership: Not reported.

Sources:

http://www.angelfire.com/ut/Invisible/.

★1889★

College/Temple of Thelema

PO Box 415
Oroville, CA 95965

The College and Temple of Thelema are two interrelated structures which focus on the thelemic teachings as passed to Phyllis Seckler (Soror Meral), an early American member of the Ordo Temple Orientis and student of the magical system of Aleister Crowley. The College of Thelema was opened in 1973 as a magical and spiritual education program offering instruction in the basic teaching of the Western esoteric tradition, especially in the thelemic mode as developed by Aleister Crowley. From 1976 to 1996, the college published In the Continuum, a journal featuring important (and rare) writings by Crowley, as well as other magical materials (copies of back issues are still available from the college). All teachers of the college are bound to the precepts and philosophy as revealed in Liber AL vel Legis (The Book of the Law) and Crowley's work as the Prophet of the current Aeon of Horus.

In 1904 Crowley claimed to have received the channeled dictation of The Book of the Law from a praeterhuman intelligence who declared its name to be Aiwass, and identified itself as "the minister of Hoor-paar-kraat," i.e., the instrument of the Egyptian God of Silence. The Book of the Law announced the dawning of a new spiritual era for humanity. The primary message of the book is contained in the Greek words thelema (will), or True Will inherent in each person, and in agape (love), referring to the passionate love of the Divine as a basis for authentic human love. For thelemites, the Great World is a matter of finding one's True Will and expressing loving within that context.

The curriculum of the College of Thelema is broken into four consecutive courses dealing with the practical application of psychology, thelemic philosophy, qabalah, astrology, and magick. Once enrolled, the student has two years to complete the course.

The Temple of Thelema was established upon the principles and methods of the College of Thelema, of which it is a part. The temple is an initiating order, a modern Mystery School, that focuses on the systematic teaching and training of its members in the spiritual disciplines of magick and mysticism. The old grade ceremonies of the legendary Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn have been recast in conformity to thelemic symbols and principles. A "Three Ray" model of balanced development (Wisdom, Love, and Power) includes intellectual training, meditation, and magical ritual at every stage of progress. Initiation rituals, other ceremonies, and the ongoing group healing work are also a central aspect of the curriculum. While the actual content and ritual process taught is reserved for members of the order, a general understanding may be gained from reading Crowley's readily available magical writings.

Following a pattern set by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in the late nineteenth century, the work of the temple is divided into a series of steps based on a Qabalistic diagram called the Tree of Life. In each of these degrees of training, the member is given the opportunity and responsibility to explore himself/herself from a different point of view, climaxing in a stage of synthesis, or integration.

There are marked differences between Temple of Thelema and the original Golden Dawn order. For example, more practical instruction has been added in the early degrees that incorporate much that has been learned in the last century concerning personal transformation, and steps have been taken to remove the remnants of the previous era's sexist assumptions.

Membership: Not reported. In 1998, there were seven centers of the Temple of Thelema, all in the United States, and a branch of the college in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Periodicals: Black Pearl.

★1890★

Eglise Gnostique Catholique Apostolique

℅ The Diocese of the Midwest
5215 Randolph St. W.
Bellwood, IL 60104

The Eglise Gnostique Catholique Apostolique (the Gnostic Catholic and Apostolic Church) was brought to America in 1970 with the appointment of Roger Victor-Herard as the primate of the church for North America, but has its roots in the gnostic/mystical groups of eighteenth-century Europe. Through the centuries, Gnostic Christianity (a form of Christianity considered heretical by the Roman Catholic Church) disappeared from public view. However, in the wake of the Reformation in the sixteenth century a number of groups, such as the Rosicrucians, appeared that claimed to possess the teachings of the ancient wisdom (i.e., the gnosis). By the end of the eighteenth century (in the relative freedom created by the French Revolution) attempts were being made, initially among several French Roman Catholic clerics, to reestablish the Gnostic church, and as early as 1800, a Msgr. Mauviel was consecrated as a bishop and established the Johannine Church of Primitive Christians.

A short time later, a second gnostic thrust was initiated by Eugene Vintras (1807-1875), whose gnostic movement ran into trouble with a revived Roman Catholic Church. In 1848 he claimed that in a vision Christ had consecrated him to the Papal office and given him a new liturgy. After a brief period outside of France he returned to found, in 1865, the Sanctuary of the Interior of the Carmel of Elie in Lyon.

The Eglise Gnostique Catholique Apostolique, inspired by this growing gnostic milieu, can be traced to 1904 when Julius Houssaye (or Hussay) was consecrated by Paolo Miraglia-Gulotti, an Italian bishop who had been consecrated by Archbishop Joseph Rene Vilatte of the American Catholic Church. Houssaye was a gnostic, who under his ecclesiastical name of Abbe Julio published several occult texts. He passed the leadership of the Gnostic Church to Louis Francois Giraud, who he consecrated in 1911. Two years later, Giraud consecrated Jean Becaud, who took the ecclesiastical name Tau Jean II, and later as the first Patriarch of the church developed a considerable following in the city of Lyon. In 1918 he consecrated Victor Blanchard (Tau Targilius) who became head of the church in 1934. Blanchard, in part responding to pressures from the rise of Nazism, helped spread the Gnostic Church into Portugal, and on to Brazil. In 1945 Blanchard consecrated Roger Menard (Tau Eon II), who in 1946 consecrated Robert Ambelain (Tau Jean III). Ambelain consecrated Andre Mauer (Tau Andreas) who assumed the role of Patriarch of the church.

It was Tau Andreas who named Pedro Freire as Primate of South America. Then in 1970, Dom Antidio Vargas, a bishop of the Brazilian Catholic Church, consecrated Pedro Freire as Patriarch of the Eglise Gnostique Catholique Apostolique. As Mar Petrus-Johannes XIII, he succeeded Tau Andreas. Mar Petrus-Johannes XIII encouraged the spread of the church in the Americas and encouraged Roger Victor-Herard (d. 1989) to initiate work in the United States. In 1970 he named Herard (as Tau Charles) the Primate of the North American branch of the church. In 1977, Mar Petrus-Johannes XIII died. The synod decided against naming a new Patriarch. At that point in time the American branch became autocephalous (independent). The church is administered by the presiding bishop, Tau Charles Harmonius II who has been president of the board of directors since 1984.

The Gnostic Catholic Church perpetuates a gnostic interpretation of Christianity and has instituted a sacramental ministry to that end. In the gnostic view, the world is the end product of successive emanations from God. Humanity is trapped in this material world. Through the gnosis (or secret wisdom) we may receive initiation and a way back to God. Christ, the Logos, has been God's agent in salvation by his bringing the gnosis to us. The church is the custodian of the gnosis.

The church is divided into several dioceses, the one in the midwest serving as its national headquarters.

Membership: In 1995 the church reported approximately 3,000 members in the United States and 200 members in Canada.

Educational Facilities: Athenea Theologica, Bellwood, Illinois.

Periodicals: Journal of the Athenea Theologica.

★1891★

Fellowship of Ma-Ion

(Defunct)

In 1904, Aleister Crowley received The Book of the Law, which became the new revelation for Thelemic magicians. The revelation included the prediction of a "child" who would "discover the key of it all." In 1915 Crowley carried out a series of sex magic workings with Jane Foster. Nine months later Charles Stansfeld Jones (d. 1950), known within thelemic circles as Frater Achad, proclaimed his assumption of the magical grade of Master of the Temple. Crowley accepted Achad as a magical child, i.e., a product of his own magical workings. Over the next eighteen months, Achad worked out the kabbalistic formulas which allowed Crowley to interpret some of the obscure passages of The Book of the Law.

In spite of Crowley's acceptance of Achad as the child, in 1919 they broke relations, never to be associated again (though they periodically corresponded.) Achad wrote several books based upon his speculations on the kabbalah (qabala), but his interpretations never gained wide acceptance. Achad moved to London in the late 1920s. He initiated a period of intense selfreflection which issued forth in a new perspective which he termed the "arising of the Silver Star," artistically depicted as a silver pentagram in a blue circle. In 1932 he composed a set of magical rituals and in the spring opened the Immanual Lodge. The work of the lodge bore magical fruit sixteen years later when Achad proclaimed the arrival of the Aeon of Ma, the manifestation of Truth and Justice. (Maat was the ancient Egyptian goddess of Truth and Justice.) The Aeon of Ma superceded the Aeon of Horus proclaimed by Crowley in 1904. The Aeon was never announced publicly, but communicated to a few magicians in private letters.

According to some sources, a small following who responded to the proclamation of the Aeon of Ma and who followed Achad's unique interpretation of the kabbalah formed an informal Fellowship of Ma-Ion which had members in both England and America. No verification of the existence of this group has been located. In the 1970s, in the wake of the publication of much of Aleister Crowley's materials and material on the Aeon of Ma(at), several groups have arisen which have developed a Maatian perspective, but these have arisen without any connection with or even knowledge of a Fellowship of Ma-Ion. (See separate entry on Ordo Adeptorum Invisiblum.)

Sources:

Achad, Frater [Charles Stansfeld Jones]. The Anatomy of the Body of God. New York: Samuel Weiser, 1969.

Achad, Frater. The Egyptian Revival. New York: Samuel Weiser, 1969.

King, Francis. Ritual Magic in England. London: Neville Spearman, 1970.

★1892★

Foundation, A Hermetic Society

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The foundation was organized in 1971 by W. E. Stone, Jr., for the purpose of establishing a definite procedure for the study of ritual magick. Study was based upon the work of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, as updated and edited. Insights of such magicians as William E. Butler, William G. Gray, Gareth Knight and Israel Regardie were utilized. Membership i the foundation was not solicited, but the leadership was quite open in sharing its findings with a wider audience through published articles and open lectures. In 1972, there were fewer than 20 members. The organization lasted only a few years.

The foundation offered students a method of ceremonial magick as a "determined effort to establish a working relationship through himself between his lower and higher selves." The form was modernized in line with what was viewed as the natural evolution of the art. Group work was stressed; several working together increase the power available. Beginning as a neophyte, the student passed through four degrees to the portal series. Along the way, he learned the basics of occultism, meditation, astrology, Tarot, Kabbalah, various forms of divination and psychic development. The portal series was training in pure magick. Headquarters were in Houston, Texas.

★1893★

Franz Bardon Foundation

Current address not obtained for this edition.

Franz Bardon (d. 1958) was an Austrian teacher of Hermetic initiatory magic. His important texts were published in the 1950s in Germany, shortly before his death, and translated into English in the 1970s. Bardon's three major books included a basic text on Hermetic magic, a commentary on the Kabbalah (which he spelled Quabbalah), and a system of spirit evocation. In spite of his absence, his books found an audience among English-speaking readers, and the foundation was begun in 1986 to propagate Bardon's teaching, provide a network among students of the books, and offer instruction in his system.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: The Franz Bardon News.

Sources:

Bardon, Franz. Initiation into Hermetics. Wupperthal, Germany: Deiter Ruggeburg, 1970.

——. Die Praxis der magischen Evokation. Freiburg/Breisgau, Germany: Verlag Hermann Bauer, 1956. English ed. as The Practice of Magical Evocation. Wupperthal, Germany: Deiter Ruggeburg, 1970.

——. Der Schkussel zur wahren Quabbalah. Freiburg/Breisgau, Germany: Verlag Hermann Bauer, 1957. English ed. as The Key to the True Quabbalah. Wupperthal, Germany: Deiter Ruggeburg, 1971.

★1894★

Fraternitas L. V. X. Occulta

Box 5094
Covina, CA 91723

The Fraternitas L. V. X. Occulta, also known by its English name, the Fraternity of the Hidden Light, was founded in Covina, California in 1982 but traces its lineage to the American section of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (OGD). According to the present leadership of the fraternity, at one point in the early twentieth century, the head and three other officers of the OGD reorganized the order as a mystery school dedicated to being a transitional order to assist in bringing in the New Age or Age of Aquarius. The present heads of the fraternity have inherited this tradition, and have during the mid-1980s assumed a more public profile.

The fraternity has three main objectives: to act as a modern day repository of the ancient wisdom; to train members for selfless service to humanity through application of the ancient wisdom; and to promulgate the ancient wisdom. Teachings are drawn from the writings of Hermes Mercurious Trismegistus, the legendary Egyptian magus, and the Qabalah (or Kaballah). Instruction is also given in tarot, alchemy, astrology, and occult psychology.

The fraternity is organized in three levels. An outer level trains new initiates in the growth into wisdom, love, and power. The second order is composed of those initiates who have developed harmony and balance within themselves and received illumination and whose higher self is in control of their lives. The third level consists of the Great Adepts and Masters of the ages who guide the fraternity from the inner realms.

Members work through a curriculum of graded instruction in the occult, as well as through instruction in meditation and ritual. Rituals are used to invoke quantum changes in the consciousness(i.e., high magic). Probationers pass through a period of at least three months in which a basic knowledge of the occult must be acquired. They may then apply for full membership. Present head (steward) of the fraternity is Paul A. Clark.

Membership: In 1995 the fraternity reported five temples and members in 17 countries worldwide.

Periodicals: The Hidden Light. • The Threshold The Path of Return. • The Halls of Thoth The Book of the Rose.

Sources:

Clark, Paul A. The Book of the Rose. Covina, CA: Fraternity of the Hidden Light, 1985.

★1895★

Fraternity of Light

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Fraternity of Light was formed in Philadelphia by a small group of Qabalistic magicians. It draws on the tradition of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, but has no organizational connection. The fraternity teaches that individuals are essentially a spark of divine consciousness which exists eternally and periodically cloths itself in a series of sheaths or bodies, the most dense of which is the physical. At death, the spark and its several bodies leave the physical and three days later the less dense bodies separate from the more dense. The spark may be attracted to a vortex created by two individuals during the sex act. If conditions are right and the woman's egg is fertilized, then the spark will begin to build a new set of bodies which enter the baby's physical body at the time of birth.

This evolutionary process which repeats itself many times is termed reincarnation. When the spark evolves enough, it no longer needs a physical body. Eventually everyone will complete the evolutionary process. The work of the fraternity is toward assisting people to speed the normal course of evolving. To this end the fraternity offers a set of lessons and involvement in ritual practice.

The lessons of the fraternity consist of a philosophy course in two levels. Probationers may, after completing the course, join the fraternity as neophytes and are accepted into either the Order of the Holy Grail or the Coven of Diana. The order offers course work in a Celtic approach to magic. The coven explores witchcraft, mysticism, and moon magic. Membership in both groups is prohibited. After completion of either the coven's or the order's study course, the initiate may become a full member of the fraternity through the Order of the Golden Sword. Membership begins with a 20-lesson series in ritual magic. Members at all levels must agree to refrain from the use of any illegal drugs.

The fraternity also schedules a regular series of rituals, both weekly and quarterly; additional rituals at the solstices and equinoxes; and individual initiations. As members become involved in the ritual life, they are introduced to the Scroll of Daath, the fraternity's holy book. Copies are available only to fraternity members who receive them on loan. Members leaving the fraternity are asked to return their copy.

The Fraternity of Light differs from many magical orders by its focus upon the All-Mother in its rituals. Integral to this focus is the importance of the high priestess as the chief spiritual guide and ritual leader of the group. Women participate fully at all levels of the fraternity.

The fraternity is headed by the Group Guide, the High Priest, and the High Priestess. Within the core of the fraternity are two secret circles. The Circle of the Pentacle is an elite group which manages the fraternity and does advanced work and study. The Brotherhood of the Cup is engaged in esoteric (magical) work under the direction of the Group Guide and the Inner Plane Adepti(i.e., those advanced sparks who have evolved beyond a need for a body and who guide the work of the fraternity from their present elevated state.)

Membership: Not reported. The fraternity has never been large, and has an estimated membership of less than 100.

Sources:

Gerber, Jack. "Paganism Is Where? In Philadelphia." Gnostica 4, no. 9 (July 1975).

The Path of Light. Philadelphia: Fraternity of Light, 1974.

★1896★

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

PO Box 1757
Elfers, FL 34680

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (H.O.G.D.) is an organization dedicated to the continued preservation of that body of knowledge known as Hermeticism or the Western Esoteric Tradition. The order promotes the teachings of the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the magical fraternity founded in London in 1888 by William Wynn Westcott and S. L. MacGregor Mathers. Although the Golden Dawn ceased to exist under that name in 1903, its teaching activity continued for a number of years under the names of two spin-off organizations, the Stella Matutina and the Alpha et Omega.

As originally designed by its founders, the Golden Dawn was to be an Hermetic Society dedicated to the philosophical, spiritual, and psychic evolution of humanity. It was supposed to be a school and a repository of knowledge concerning the principles of occult science and the various elements of Western philosophy and magic. Symbolism used within the H.O.G.D. came from a variety of religious sources and people from very diverse esoteric religious paths found themselves at home with the Golden Dawn.

The Golden Dawn system teaches students abstract esoteric concepts as well as the practical applications of ceremonial magic. The curriculum includes the study of Qabalah, astrology, divination, inner alchemy, Egyptian magic, skrying (clairvoyant reading), and Enochian magic.

Membership: Not reported.

★1897★

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (Regardie)

270 N. Canon Dr., Ste. 1302
Beverly Hills, CA 90210

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the Ordo Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis (R. R. et A. C.) are two divisions of an initiatic and magical order which were founded by several high-ranking Freemasons in 1888 and 1892 respectively. The order has been credited with constructing a brilliant synthesis of mythical and magical material from varied sources of the Western magical tradition. When the order was discontinued early in the twentieth century, its work was carried on by organizations founded by several of its members, and most of its materials have been published. A most important event was the publication of its main rituals by Israel Regardie.

In the early 1980s, Regardie, then considered by many in the occult world the last contact point with the era of the Golden Dawn and its notorious child Aleister Crowley, and Cris Monnastre "magically" resurrected the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the R. R. et A. C. In 1982, under Regardie's guidance, Monnastre founded the Osiris Khenti Amenti Temple. Over the succeeding years other temples were opened.

As the twentieth century comes to a close, the Ordo Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis operates temples of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn around the world. The United Confederation of Independent and Autonomous Temples, officially known as the Confederatio Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis (C. F. R. C.), consists of temples from around the world, descending with initiatic and/or chartered lineage and affiliation from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, as reinstituted by Regardie and Monnastre. Within the confederation, it is believed, have been reunited initiatic and/or chartered lineages deriving from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Ordo Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis, and the several groups formed from them early in the twentieth century, specifically the Stella Matutina, the Ordo Rosae Crucis, Alpha et Omega (Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega), the Holy Order of the Golden Dawn (deriving from A. E. Waite), and the Order of the Sacred Word.

The order offers ritual initiation as well as instruction in the Rosicrucian system of ceremonial magic. It is claimed that this system facilitates personal as well as spiritual development through a systematic program of ritual initiation and the spiritual disciplines of ceremonial magic (a powerful tool for self-realization and transformation).

The order distinguishes itself from several other groups claiming roots in the Golden Dawn which engage in what the order views as dubious practices, in particular "initiation by proxy" or "astral initiation." All initiations marking the progress of the student are done while the student is physically in the presence of the initiator, during which time, it is believed, the actual transmission of magical energies occurs.

Membership: Not reported.

Remarks: In 1982, Cris Monnastre was given a number of Israel Regardie's personal magical accoutrements, among which were Regardie's Elemental Weapons, a complete Rosicrucian chess set, and a Rose Cross that he inherited from Elsa Barker (an important historical link in the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega between Mathers' Ahathor Mother Temple, No. 7, in Paris and the temples of the A. O. in the United States). She has donated these items to the R. R. et A. C.

Sources:

Regardie, Israel. The Golden Dawn. Chicago: Aries Press, 1937-40. 4 vols.

——. The Middle Pillar. Chicago: Aries Press, 1938. 154 pp.

——. My Rosicrucian Adventure. Chicago: Aries Press, 1936. Rept. St. Pau;. MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1971. 168 pp.

——. What You Should Know about the Golden Dawn. Phoenix, AZ: Falcon Press, 1983. 186 pp.

★1898★

Hermetic Order of the Morning Star International (Golden Dawn-Canada)

4035 E. Guasti Rd., Ste. 306
Ontario, CA 91761

The Hermetic Order of the Morning Star International Golden Dawn-Canada (in the 1980s as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn International) is a worldwide fraternity dedicated to the "Great Work," the higher development of spiritual growth through the magical way of life. The order believes that magic is a powerful system of inner growth and spiritual development. As a Mystery school, it is designed to take the student step-by-step from where they are at present to the door of Adepthood. The Adept in the making learns the "secrets" of listening and hearing to what is thought of as one's inner voice of Light, often called the "Higher Genius" or "Holy Guardian Angel."

Students are taught through a series of graded lessons from the starting point of Neophyte. Each grade has a series of lessons, over 175 of which constitute the lessons for the Outer Order (neophyte to philosophus). Students receive the lesson for their grade, which they work on at their own speed. The student is tested on each grade before being passed into the next grade. The movement from grade to grade is marked with an initiation ceremony which is held in the Temple of Isis Mighty Mother in Southern California or in cases in which a person cannot come to the temple, initiations may take place through what is termed an "astral initiation."

The actual teachings of the order are given to members only, but flow from the now generally well-documented teachings of the Western Mystery tradition which have found a popular expression in the material produced by and written about the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Through the twentieth century, almost all of the rituals and teaching materials of the lesser and outer school originally produced for the Golden Dawn early in this century have been published, and during the 1980s several groups have appeared that directly draw upon these materials. Lessons of the Morning Star include the study of Mystical Christianity, Qabalah Egyptian Mysteries, philosophy, Tarot, Greek Mysteries, alchemy, astrology, astral travel, clairvoyance, and ritual magic.

V.H. Frater T.D.L., the Imperator, and V.H. Soror T.F., Prae monstratrix, are the current leaders of the order. The website is http://www.Golden-Dawn.org.

Membership: Not reported. There are temples in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

Periodicals: Sword of Wisdom.

★1899★

Holy Order of RaHoorKhuit

Box 24691
Tampa, FL 33623

The Holy Order of RaHoorKhuit (H.O.O.R), conceived in 1978 and founded in 1991, is an outer order of Thelema established to fulfill and teach the concepts and principles of the method of theurgy (magic) known as Thelema. The teachings of Thelema (from the Greek word for "will") derive from Liber Al vel Legis (a.k.a., The Book of the Law), a small volume dictated to the eminent magical theorist and practitioner Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) by a preter human intelligence known as Aiwass in 1904. The teachings of Thelema are generally summarized in several of the statement from Liber Al: "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law" and "Love is the law, Love under will."

In essence Thelema teaches that every human being is a complete, unique, and divine entity (a star). Each person has a unique purpose (destiny), which is the law. Each person's function is to follow one's destiny. Love serves as the agent, under the regency of will, which binds all things in their course. Thelemites see the law of Thelema as a law of freedom casting off the authority of priests and demanding that individuals learn to listen internally, by which method the will is discerned. The individual is thus empowered to decide upon the course of his/her own life—associations, movements, living arrangements, etc. "Do what thou wilt…" does not mean "do anything you want." Rather, it suggests that having discovered one's destiny/purpose, that destiny/purpose becomes the sole guide for action in the world. H.O.O.R. also teaches a method of theurgy which facilitates the discovery of the will and provides guidance for dealing with all aspects of life on planet earth.

The order is headed by Ray Eales (b. 1958), who took the lead in its formation. H.O.O.R. is organized in lodges, membership in which is open to all. Progress is through grades attained by study, accomplishment, and initiation. The lodges serve as instruments of fellowship, education, and the encouragement of society in the adoption of thelemic principles. The order is closely associated with the Abbey of Thelema, headed by Gregory von Seewald.

Membership: As of 1997 there were more than 100 members of H.O.O.R.

Periodicals: Warriors LVX.

Sources:

Preliminary Thoughts on H.O.O.R. Old Greenwich, CT: Holy Order of RaHoorKhuit, 1994.

★1900★

International Academy of Hermetic Knowledge

PO Box 4384
Charlottesville, VA 22905

The International Academy of Hermetic Knowledge was founded in 1991 as the outer court of an older magickal group, the Holy Order of the Winged Disk. The Holy Order was inspired by the predynastic teaching of ancient Egypt and its teachings are given only by oral instruction. Its teachings are secret and shared only with members.

The International Academy is the organization through which the teachings of the Holy Order are released to the public. The occasion of its formation was the observed development of a growing popular interest in alternative spirituality (Wicca, New Age, Eastern philosophy, and Magic). The Academy's curriculum concentrates on practical techniques for spiritual development.

Through the Academy, the esoteric knowledge of the Holy Order has been written down in a book, The Practical Arcanum, and a series of monographs that are distributed to the Academy's students. The monographs were written by Phaedron, the Hierophant of the Holy Order. People are invited to Academy membership initially for a year. They are tested on their mastery of the information in the monographs. Those who pass the tests and wish to continue, may pursue a second year and third year. Work in the Academy puts its students in contact with the Holy Order and opens the possibility for membership in that organization.

Membership: Not reported.

★1901★

Monastery of the Seven Rays

Box 1554
Chicago, IL 60690-1554

The Monastery of the Seven Rays is the organizational umbrella given to the various magical activities focused in the person of Michael Bertiaux, (b. 1935) a noted Chicago occultist-magician. Bertiaux is the inheritor of the French Martinist tradition which he received through his magical training in Haiti and by his ordination and consecration as bishop of the Neo-Pythagorean Church.

Louis Claude de Saint-Martin (1743-1803) was a Roman Catholic raised in France. As a soldier, he met Martines de Pasqually, a disciple of Emanuel Swedenborg and Rosicrucianism. De Pasqually founded an occult order, the Order of the Elect Cohens, which Saint-Martin joined in 1768. After de Pasqually's death in 1774, Saint-Martin became the focus of a group of occultists. He began to write books (published posthumously), and a movement, the history of which is still known only in fragments, was born.

By the end of the eighteenth century, a branch of the Martinist Order had been established in Haiti. This group continued to function after Haiti gained its independence. It tended to blend with voodoo. In the 1890s, there was a revival movement in the Martinist Order, emphasizing a purist strain of Gnostic philosophy. In the years between the world wars the Gnostic Church was established in Leogane, Haiti, and was brought to the United States after World War II. In general, the Gnostic philosophy emphasizes a secret knowledge that humans can attain, and denies the divinity of Christ.

The Monastery of the Seven Rays, which became widely known through its advertisments in Fate Magazine in the 1970s, is a magical order drawing upon modern thelemic magick (derived from the writings of Aleister Crowley), voodoo, and the nineteenth-century French gnostic-occult tradition. Bertiaux wrote the lessons which teach a basic magical system and lead the student into the higher levels of magical working.

The Neo-Pythagorean Gnostic Church is the ecclesiastical structure which, along with six other fraternal and psychically oriented structures with which it is interlocked, focus the Martinist occult/mystical tradition in North America. The tradition began in France, was brought to Haiti, and from there came to the United States in the mid-1950s. Bertiaux was consecrated by Bishop Hector Francois Jean-Maine, a Haitian who had received orders from the Spanish Albegensian Church which in turn had orders from the French gnostics. The famous French occultists Joseph-Antoine Boullan (1824-1893) and Eugene Vintras (1807-1875) are included in the lineage.

The Neo-Pythagorean Gnostic Church is a ritual theurgic body in which the eucharist is the center of initiation. Through it, the invocation of angels and planetary spirits is made, and spirit communication often takes place during the mass. Purity of ritual is emphasized, and no tallow (i.e. nothing that carries the suffering of animals) is used in the candles. All members of the clergy are clairvoyant and often have visions during mass. Also, during worship a mystical language is intuitively (i.e. clairvoyantly) perceived and mystically spoken.

A Gnostic hierarchical system is headed by the Absolute, similar to the Kabbalist Ein Soph. The Absolute emanates a Trinity, which in turn is the source of Lucifer and Sophia, the basic male/female polarity. Lucifer is the morning star, inferior to Christ but not to be confused with Satan. Sophia is paid homage in the cult of the Virgin, the archetypical divine being. She is often revered as Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Satanism and black magick are strongly opposed.

The church is subject to a supreme heliophant (in 1984, Dr. Hector Francois Jean Maine, residing in Madrid). The American jurisdiction is under Bishop Pierre-Antoine Saint-Charles of Boston, who has direct authority over all Haitian-American members. Michael Bertiaux in Chicago is over the Caucasian-American members and Bishop Marc Lully of Chicago heads overseas development in South America and the West Indies. In 1979 Bertiaux exchanged consecrations with Bishop Forest Barber of the Catholic Apostolic Church in America.

Associated with the church are the Ancient Order of Oriental Templars, the Arithmosophical Society, Zotheria, and the Esoteric Traditions Research Society. The Ancient Order of Oriental Templars is a lodge with credentials derived from the pre-Crowleyite Ordo Templi Orientis in Germany. It teaches a 16-degree system of magick. The Arithmosophical Society concentrates on Saint-Martin's philosophy of numbers. Numbers form a key to Saint-Martin's system of magical correspondences and tie Saint-Martin to Pythagoras. Both Zotheria and the Esoteric Traditions Research Society are outer courts of the various esoteric structures.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: Esoteric Ontology Newsletter.

Sources:

Baca, Docteur Bacalou [Michael Bertiaux.] Lucky Hoodoo. Chicago: Absolute Science Institute, 1977.

Grant, Kenneth. Cults of the Shadow. New York: Samuel Weiser, 1976.

McIntosh, Christopher. Eliphas Levi and the French Occult Revival. New York: Samuel Weiser, 1974.

★1902★

New England Institute of Metaphysical Studies

(Defunct)

The New England Institute of Metaphysical Studies was founded in the early 1970s by Ron Parshley and Mark Feldman as a correspondence school dedicated to the pursuit of occult knowledge. It was the Institute's perspective that Aleister Crowley placed magick in a system open to all. Through its own P-F Publications, it published the five-volume Theorems of Occult Magick by Feldman and Parshley as a study in Crowley's teachings. It also offered seventeen courses in occultism, divination, witchcraft and magick. A quarterly newsletter was sent to all students. Also associated was Tamlacht, published three times a year by Victor Boruta of Linden, New Jersey. Headquarters were in Methuen, Massachusetts.

Sources:

Feldman, Mark, and Ron Parshley. Theorems of Occult Magick. 10 vols. Methuen, MA: P-F Publications, 1971.

★1903★

Order of the Lily and the Eagle

5594 S. Prince St.
Littleton, CO 80120

The Order of the Lily and the Eagle is a Western initiatic school working in the ancient lines of Judeo-Christian and Egyptian thought to the Hellenic mystery schools of Orpheus, Pythagoras, and Socrates. It also combines it's teaching of St. Martin, alchemy, the Kaballah, contemporary science, and psychology.

The order's teachings deal with the transformation and liberation of personality. It guides those who seek to know themselves, so their lives can be used to aid the well-being of others. The order, by means of enlightened advices, helps its members create their own understanding through experience, reasoning, meditation, and introspection.

The group also published Eon/The Path of Initiation. The group's web site can be found at http://www.innerinitiative.com/order_or_the_lily_and_the_eagle.htm.

★1904★

Order of the Thelemic Golden Dawn

1636 N. Wilcox Ave., Ste. 418
Los Angeles, CA 90028

The Order of the Thelemic Golden Dawn was founded in 1990 as the Thelemic Temple and Order of the Golden Dawn in Los Angeles by David Cherubim, its Frater Superior Chief. It is a magical/religious/scientific order devoted to the teachings of Aleister Crowley, and exists to assist in the initiation of persons into the magical life of thelema. Thelema (or will) was the basic concept of Crowley's magical system. The order offers seven grades of initiation from neophyte to Ipsissimus, each level representing one of the seven chakras of the human body in the Indian tantric system, one of the seven planets of traditional astrology, and one of the seven metals of alchemy.

The order has attempted to interpret The Book of the Law, the volume Crowley wrote in 1904 which became the basis of his proclamation of the new Aeon of Horus in which his followers now consider we are living. Regarding ritual, it believes that the injunction that "rituals shall be half-known and half-concealed," is to be understood that the initiation rituals should be developed in response to the nature of each initiate. Thus each initiation of a member becomes a unique event.

The members of the order together constitute a religious body of Free Warriors who are seeking to extend the Dominion of the Law of Thelema; that is, they are attempting to establish on earth the principles of The Book of the Law on earth. The methods for accomplishing this task are occult research, practical mysticism, ceremonial magick, and tantric alchemy. The order also offers members a system of self-initiation, based upon the Qabalah (Kabbalah) and the Tarot.

The order has been created in an environment in which the great majority of Crowley's writings (including the rituals of the Ordo Temple Orientis, which he headed) have been published and are readily available. It is assumed that members have or will gain a solid background in Crowley's thought.

Membership: In 1997, there were 200 members in the United States, 20 in Canada, and 100 in Brazil. There were temples for initiation in the United States and Brazil.

Sources:

http://www.tgd.org/.

★1905★

Order of Thelema

PO Box 511
Chula Vista, CA 91912

The Order of Thelema was a Thelemic magick group which rejected the attempt by various branches of the O.T.O. to establish their authority by reference to a line of succession from Aleister Crowley. It was structured as a Crowleyan study group. There was no system of rituals except those things which members interpreted from Crowley's revelatory bible, Liber Al vel Legis (The Bookof the Law), each according to his own will. The group believed that Aleister Crowley still operated close to this plane of existence as a present and active force, and that it was possible for him to reach the order by psychic means. The written words of Crowley were the only source of Thelemic Law. Strong support was given the perspective of The Book of the Law. Headquarters of the Order of Thelema are in Chula Vista, California. The word "Thelema" means will.

★1906★

Ordo Adeptorum Invisiblum

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Ordo Adeptorum Invisiblum (O.A.I.) is a British-based thelemicist order aligned to the Maatian magical "current." It has grown out of the proclamation of the magical Aeon of Ma (or Maat) proclaimed in 1948 by Frater Achad (Charles Stansfeld Jones). Maat is the ancient Egyptian goddess of Truth and Justice. The order looks toward a planetary manifestation of the presence of Maat. The coming of Maat has been heralded by the three twentieth-century trends: the great liberation movements leading to the recognition of human rights, the attempts to balance male-dominated Western magic and the non-elitist androgynous approach to magic practiced by Maatian groups. In recognition of their acceptance of feminist liberation concerns and the non-sexist nature of their magical workings, members of the O. A. I. have dropped the use of common designations of male and female members as "frater" and "soror" in favor of the single desination "persona."

The O.A.I. began in England in 1979 in the informal workings of three thelemic magicians (two women and one man). In 1980 they made a formal alignment to the Aeon of Maat and thus the O. A. I. came into existence. At the end of the year, the three original members separated. One went to Fez, Morocco, and the following year, one came to Chicago. The first members of the O.A.I were received in Chicago.

The order has developed as a very loose confederation of otherwise independent magicians pursuing their own magical experiments in alignment to the Maatian Aeon. Periodically, order members will gather for group rituals. New initiates are received after their successful performance of Liber Samakh He, a revised version of Liber Samakh, a thelemic ritual designed to promote conversation with one's Holy Guardian Angel (higher self). The order is non-hierarchial. Leadership can be exercised by any member and teaching is a matter of sharing the results of individual ritual workings with the larger membership. All members have access to all materials possessed by the order.

Membership: In 1985 members of the order could be found in England, the Chicago metropolitan area, and California. There are less than 100 members.

Sources:

Liber ANDANA. Chicago: Ordo Adeptorum, 1983.

Persona PVAD MASURUS 1043. Liber Samakh He. Chicago: Stellium Press, 1981.

Skia, Persona. O.A.I. Manifesto: Origin, History, Organization. Kenilworth, IL: Ordo Adeptorum Invisiblum, 1982.

★1907★

Ordo Lux Kethri

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Ordo Lux Kethri (the Order of the Kethric Light) was formed in 1982 by April Schadler Bishop and Michael Albion Macdonald, both former initates of the Builders of the Adytum, through which they claim lineage from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The order is similar in structure to the Rosicrucians and considers itself a fraternal order. Studies include Qabala (kabbalah), alchemy, hermetic meditation, and ritual magic. The initiatory grades, 10 in number, of the Golden Dawn system are followed. The hermetic teachings of Franz Bardon are used, especially his techniques of visualization and astral travel.

Membership: In 1987 the order had 14 members in one group. There was a second group, the Persephone Lodge in process of formation in London, England.

Sources:

Bardon, Franz. The Key to the True Quabbalah. Wuppertal, West Germany: Deiter Rueggeberg, 1971.

——. The Practice of Magical Evocation. Wuppertal, West Germany: Deiter Rueggeberg, 1970.

Macdonald, Michael-Albion. The Secret of Secrets. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Heptangle, 1986.

★1908★

Ordo-Temple Baphe-Metis

PO Box 1219
Corpus Christi, TX 78403-1219

The Ordo Temple Baphe-Metis (O.T.B.) was founded in January 1985. It is a Thelemic fraternal order "chartered" by fiat in Aleister Crowley's (1875-1947) Khabs am Pekht, though the O.T.B. is in no way connected to any of the branches of the O.T.O. either in America or Europe. In common with other Thelemic organizations, members of the O.T.B. must accept as a Holy Book, Liber Al vel Legis (or The Book of the Law), given to the prophet Ankh-fn-Khonsu (Crowley) by Aiwaz, his holy Guardian Angel, in Cairo in 1904. Additionally, Knights of the Order (which may be of either sex) promulgate the Law of Thelema, together with the Thelemic Bill of Rights, Liber 77 (Liber Oz). Grand Master Ekagratanath trance channeled the order's own Holy Book, Liber Ba NebTet (or Book of Baphomet), available, with commentary, to members only. Members of the order practice ritual and ceremonial magick. A study manual, The Way of the Warrior-Magus, is given to members.

The order operated the Invisible College, the designation of the home study course in ritual and ceremonial magick, alchemy, divination, and Hermeticism.

The order was closely related to the American Gnostic Church with which it shareed an overlapping leadership and publishes a periodical, Abrasax.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: Abrasax. • The Philosopher's Stone.

★1909★

Ordo Templi Astarte

PO Box 40094
Pasadena, CA

The Ordo Templi Astarte (Order of the Temple of Astarte-OTA), which also operates under the name Church of Hermetic Science, is a ritual magick group begun in 1970 to practice Kabbalistic Magick in the Western tradition. Based upon Jungian psychology, the OTA defined magick as a "system of ritual hypnotic induction (conjuration) that calls upon archetypal forms from the unconscious (evocation) and allows them to be visualized (manifestation) whereupon they can be used for numerous purposes ranging from the frankly psychotherapeutic to the more abstract system research and development."

The OTA traces its history to Aleister Crowley through Louis Culling. Culling claims to have a charter from Crowley for an autonomous lodge. This charter was given after Culling left C. F. Russell, who was deviating from Crowley's teachings. Culling turned the charter over to the OTA leadership before his recent death. The group also claims to possess the "secret rituals of the Ordo Templi Orientis in Crowley's original holographs." Though operating with a thelemic charter, the OTA does not consider itself fully thelemic. In describing the order, founder Carroll R. Runyon, Jr. has noted, " We operate a Collegium ad Spiritum Sanctum of the O.T.O. in our Philosophus Grade as a research and study program. In its own context, it is Thelemic; but we do not initiate or operate ceremonially under a Thelemic aegis. We have great respect for the works of Aleister Crowley, but we consider him a Master of the Art in much the same way that Sufis consider Jesus a Great Prophet—without calling themselves Christians."

The OTA is centered in a single lodge in Pasadena. During the 1970s there was for several years a second lodge in Pittsburgh. The lodge is headed by Carroll Runyon, also known as Frater Aleyin.

Membership: Not reported. There are less than 50 members.

Periodicals: The Seventh Ray. Send orders to Box 3341, Pasadena, CA 91103.

Sources:

Christensen, Cheryl JoAnne. Magical Epistemic Communities: The Construction of Specialized Social Realities in Bunyoro, Uganda and Los Angeles, California. Ph.D. diss., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 1975.

Ellwood, Robert S., Jr. Mysticism and Religion. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1980.

★1910★

Ordo Templi Orientis (Grant)

Current address not obtained for this edition.

Kenneth Grant emerged in the 1970s as the self-proclaimed leader of the British branch of the Ordo Templi Orientis. He had co-edited The Confessions of Aleister Crowley (1969), late head of the order, and had even earlier (in the 1950s) under the direction and charter of Crowley's successor, Karl Germer, established the New Isis Lodge in London. However, Germer's charter had given Grant the charter to work only the first three degrees. Grant began to work all eleven, writing his own materials where they were unavailable. Germer expelled him from the O.T.O. However, when Germer died, and with the O.T.O. almost extinct, they were few who could challenge Grant's leadership. In 1973 he published Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God, the first of six substantive books that began to explore the Qliphoth, the socalled backside of the Kabbalah, the mystical Tree of Life. His concentration on the magick of this shadowy realm of the consciousness both gave his brand of magick a unique quality and led other magicians, even Thelemites,to accuse him of tampering with black magick.

Except for the concentration on the Qliphoth in the experimental areas of magick, Grant's order follows much traditional O.T.O. tradition and practice, the secret material of the order having become public during the 1970s through the access given to the Crowley papers deposited at the Warburg Institute in London. Like the other thelemic groups, the O.T.O. (Grant) has as its aim the establishment of the law of Thelema. It does not undertake the training of novices and accepts for membership only those who have submitted a record of nine months' magical practice. They must also publish or disseminate Liber LXXVII, a brief statement by Aleister Crowley of some major Thelemic principles.

Organizationally, this branch of the O.T. O. has dropped the "quasi-masonic" structures typical of most magical groups, and its ten degrees are no longer conferred in secret, elaborate rituals. There is no set course to study. Advancement beyond the third degree is subject to the invitation of the governing body. Each applicant is aided to discover the great work which is her/his own true will.

The O.T.O. (Grant) came to the United States through individuals who contacted Grant after reading his several books. It grew and spread in the mid-1970s. For several years, a periodical, Mezla, appeared. However, in the early 1980s, Soror Tanith (J. R. Ayers), head of the O.T.O. in North America, resigned and no successor has been named.

Membership: Not reported. At present, there are no known lodges and less than 100 members of the O.T.O. branch headed by Kenneth Grant in the United States.

Sources:

Grant, Kenneth. Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God. New York: Samuel Weiser, 1974.

——. Nightside of Eden. London: Frederick Muller, 1977.

——. Outside the Circles of Time. London: Frederick Muller, 1980.

★1911★

Ordo Templi Orientis (Roanoke, Virginia)

(Defunct)

The Ordo Templi Orientis headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, had claimed to be the true O.T.O. It rejected the claims of the other groups which had emerged in the 1970s based on a charter or lineage dating to Aleister Crowley. Its head was Robert E. L. Shell who saw the mission of the OTO as preventing "hard-won knowledge from being lost in the upheavals and birth pangs of the Aeon Horus [the new era announced by Crowley in 1904]…."One must validate claims by proving allegiance to the law of Thelema, or the Will, the primary principle guiding thought and action for Crowley's disciples. The goal is the Great Work, the ultimate lifting of all humanity to the status of gods. Shell claimed contact with the secret chiefs, the entities (much like the theosophical Great White Brotherhood), who guided the order from the inner planes of existence.

★1912★

Sacred Keltic Church of America

4 Favour Ct.
Stafford, VA 22554

The Sacred Keltic Church of America is a Neopagan group which worships the deities of the ancient Celtic lands, popularly referred to as the Norse gods. The church was founded as the American Church of Teutonic Life in 1992 at Carthage, New York. It is headed by a Senior Lord High Priest Eugene D. Kyle who is also the President of the National Council of Elders.

Membership: In 1998 the church reported 135 members and seven clergy in the United States. They also have five clergy members who are in the military and currently stationed overseas.

Periodicals: Sacred Keltic Church of America.

★1913★

Servants of the Light (SOL)

℅ Fran Keegan
PO Box 6563
Syracuse, NY 13217-6563

Alternate Address International Headquarters: PO Box 215, St Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands, UK JE4 9SD.

Servants of the Light (SOL) is a contemporary Western Mystery school founded in 1965 by William E. Butler. Butler had begun his esoteric training in Dion Fortune's Fraternity of Inner Light, which in turn had developed from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (founded in the 1880s). He received further training from psychic Robert King, who later served as Director of Studies for the Servants of the Light until his death in 1978. Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki succeeded King in 1978 and became head of the school following Butler's death.

The purpose of the SOL is to assist in spreading esoteric knowledge in an ethical manner to all who want to receive it. It has a loose structure which allows for a great degree of independence and free thinking among the students. The SOL teaches through correspondence, and each student is assigned a personal tutor to assist him/her. The First Degree Course consists of 50 lessons of one month each. Each lesson includes written teachings, exercises, and meditations. Students keep a journal which is periodically sent in for assessment.

Lesson material is centered upon the Western esoteric tradition, and the early lessons include discussions of Kabbalah (and the related Tarot) as a basic system leading to numerous other topics. The SOL also claims direct psychic contact with the Inner Planes where the true directors, members of the Inner Hierarchy, of the school are believed to reside.

Membership: In 1998, SOL reported 2,600 members in 23 countries.

Sources:

Ashcroft-Nowicki, Dolores. First Steps in Ritual. Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, UK: Aquarian Press, 1982. 96 pp.

——. The Shining Paths: An Experimental Journey through the Tree of Life. Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, UK: Aquarian Press, 1983. 240 pp.

Butler, William E. Apprenticed to Magic and Magic of the Qabalah. Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, UK: Aquarian Press, 1990.

——. Magic: Its Ritual, Power and Purpose. London: Aquarian Press, 1952. 76 pp.

——. The Magician: His Training and Work. London: Aquarian Press, 1959. 176 pp.

★1914★

Servants of the Star and the Snake

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Servants of the Star and the Snake is a federation of ceremonial magicians, shamans, witches, neopagans, sorcerers, and tantrikas founded in the spring of 1995 for the purpose of networking and mutual respect. A tantric-thelemic organization, it has no degree system, no grades, no official reading list, no attainments, no hierarchy, no pope, no head, no soteriology, no holy books, no gurus, and no formal initiation. All of these accoutrements are regarded by the S.S.S. as "Old Aeon" and more appropriate for masonic orders or religious sects. The S.S.S. evolved from the remnants of the Ordo Templi Baphemetis (O.T.B.), which dissolved in the early 1990s. It is based upon the teachings of the cofounder of AMOOKOS (the Arcane Magical Order of the Knights of Shambhala), the late Sri Gurudeva Mahendrabath Paramahamsa "Dadaji" and the late Alain Danielou, but retains the thelemic character of the O.T.B. the federation is overseen by an administer-general, a revolving office. The current administrator-general is Bhaganatha AOM.

Associated with the S.S.S. is the Order of Napunsakas in the West.

Membership: Not Reported.

Periodicals: Lila (occasional).

★1915★

Shrine of Sothis

(Defunct)

The Shrine of Sothis made its appearance in 1973 by way of some ads in psychic/occult periodicals. It taught a system of practical theurgy (magick) as the highest and most efficient mode of communication between man and his inner self. A complete set of lessons, which could be obtained on a correspondence basis, took the student step-by-step through the magical disciplines. The student was taught about the pentagram (a disc-shaped talisman), the gods, initiation, reincarnation, black magick, divination, the construction of talismans and invocation. The goal of the lessons was to lift the student into the realization of the "great concealed one," God. Students practiced daily devotions and orations in their own homes. Members joined by paying an initiation fee. Headquarters were in San Francisco. After several years of operation, the order dropped out of sight.

★1916★

Society Ordo Templi Orientis

PO Box 10789
Pittsburgh, PA 15203

The Society Ordo Templi Orientis, which had become disorganized following the death of Karl Germer (Frater Saturnus) (d.1961) who had succeeded Aleister Crowley as Outer Head of the Order, was reborn in 1969 when Grady McMurtry (Hymenaeus Alpha) asserted his authority as head of the O.T.O. McMurtry had been given two letters in 1946 from Crowley granting him authority to reform the order and act as Crowley's representative in the United States subject to the approval of Germer. Though these letters were originally intended to apply to the situation of the lodge in Pasadena, California, which Crowley had specifically asked McMurtry to investigate, they literally gave McMurtry broad emergency powers Crowley died in 1947, and the authorization was used with the cooperation of Crowley's successor, Karl Germer, and was never withdrawn. Germer's death in 1962 left McMurtry the only person with power to act.

McMurty also held that he was carrying out Crowley=s wishes, that Crowley anticipated Germer's succession problems, and that he openly discussed them with McMurtry.

McMurtry had been initiated into the Agape Lodge of the O.T.O. in Pasadena in the early 1940s, and during World War II, while stationed in England, was the only American O.T.O. member to be with Crowley. He rejected the claims of Kenneth Grant, the British leader of another O.T.O. group, noting that Grant had been expelled from the order in 1955. (More recently Grant dropped some of his claims to O.T.O. leadership). He also rejected the claims of Hermann Metzger, head of a Swiss-based O.T.O. organization, on the grounds of his "spurious" election without non-Swiss representation.

During the 16 years of McMurtry=s leadership, the O.T.O. grew into a substantial body with chapters and lodges across the United States and Canada and ten countries overseas. Full membership in the O.T.O. requires physical participation in the ceremonies of initiation and the payment of subscription costs and dues. A correspondence-only associate membership is available.

On July 14, 1984, the Supervisor General of the Society O.T.O. expelled McMurtry from the order for violating various duties that were detailed in the Constitution of the O.T.O. and was replaced.

Integral to the Society O.T.O. is the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (Gnostic Catholic Church). As part of his magical work, Crowley had been consecrated a bishop in the French Gnostic lineage of Charles J. Doinel (1842-1902) and he, in turn, passed that lineage to others in the order. Hymanaeus Beta, in addition to holding a consecration in the Antiochean succession of Archbishop Joseph Rene Vilatte, was consecrated in the Doinel line. He is designated as patriarch of the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica. Integral to the work of the society O.T.O. lodges is the regular performance of the Gnostic Mass composed by Crowley, and priests, priestesses, and bishops have corresponding rank in the Society O.T.O.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: The Magical Link. • The Equinox In the Continuum. Send orders to Box 415, Oroville, CA 95965.

Remarks: During the 1980s the legitimacy of the O.T.O. as led by McMurtry and his successor was challenged in court by Marcelo Ramos Motta, head of the Society Ordo Templi Orientis in America. In rulings in 1985 and 1988 (from the United States Supreme Court), McMurtry was found to be the Outer Head of the Order of the O.T.O.

Sources:

Crowley, Aleister. Equinox. 10 vols. New York: Samuel Weiser, n.d.

——. I.N.R.I. O.T.O. Introduction. Berkeley, CA: Ordo Templi Orientis, 1981.

Crowley, Aleister, and Frater 137. Source Book 93. San Francisco, CA: Stellar Visions, 1981.

Heidrick, Bill. Magick and Qabalah. Berkeley, CA: Ordo Templi Orientis, 1980.

The Holy Books of Thelema. York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1988.

O.T.O. Systen Outline. San Francisco, CA: Stellar Visions, 1981.

Hymenaeus Beta, ed. The Equinox 3, no. 10. New York: Thelema Publications, 1986.

★1917★

Society Ordo Templi Orientis in America

PO Box 1131
Albuquerque, NM 87103

Among those who made claim to the lineage of the Ordo Templi Orientis following the death of Karl Germer (d. 1962), who had succeeded Aleister Crowley as Outer Head of the Order, was Marcelo Ramos Motta, a Brazilian member of the O.T.O. He claimed that on his death bed, Germer appointed him Outer Head of the Order. In the years following Germer's death, he completed his initiatic work and assumed the magical status needed to become the leader of the work. In 1975, through the Society of the Ordo Templi Orientis (S.O.T.O.), as his branch was known, he issued the first of four massive volumes of the Equinox, each issue of which contained writings by Crowley, Motta and others. These were seen as a revival of the semi-annual publication issued originally by Crowley (1909-1913). Other publications followed.

The S.O.T.O. immediately ran into a conflict with the Ordo Templi Orientis (see separate entry) over the copyright to the writings of Aleister Crowley that had been left to the O.T.O. in Crowley's will. The S.O.T.O. claimed to be that organization, and writers and organizations not associated with the S.O.T.O. who wrote about or published Crowley's writings were denounced in various issues of the Equinox. The tension between O.T.O., S.O.T.O., and Samuel Weiser , (the publisher of the first issue of the new Equinox) led to several law suits. In 1985 a libel suit filed by Grady McMurtry (caliph of the O.T.O.) and others, concerning remarks made in the Equinox, against Motta and the S.O.T.O. resulted in the awarding of all copyrights and trademarks to the O.T.O. and turned back all claims by Motta to be the Outer Head of the Order of the Ordo Templi Orientis. It is the belief of its members that the S.O.T.O. is the true O.T.O. and to reject Motta is to reject Crowley.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: Equinox.

Sources:

Motta, Marcelo. Letter to a Brazilian Mason. Nashville, TN: Troll Publishing Company, 1980.

——. Manifesto. Nashville, TN: Society Ordo Templi Orientis in America, 1978.

——. The Political Aims of the O. T. O.. Nashville, TN: Ordo Templi Orientis in America, 1980.

——. Thelemic Political Morality. Nashville, TN: Society Ordo Templi Orientis in America, 1978.

★1918★

Temple of the Holy Grail

PO Box 3816
Santa Cruz, CA 95063-3816

Alternate Address Bp. George Boyer, Bishop Templar, 53 College Rd., Colliers Wood, London, UK SW19 2BP.

The Temple of the Holy Grail (T.H.G.) is an initiatory mystery school for individuals wishing to undertake private advanced esoteric training in order to anonymously serve human and planetary evolution. Training is offered by invitation to people already ordained or otherwise advanced in recognized groups, or to individuals who, having prepared themselves apart from organizations, manifest a devotion to the spiritual unfoldment of humanity and of the planet.

The T.H.G. teaches that the "Grail" mysteries existed in Western Europe long before the advent of Christianity as the "Graded Path of Initiation," comparable to the Lam Rim of Tibetan Buddhism. The mysteries evolved into an esoteric Christian school through the work of the legendary Graalmeister Treverezent in the ninth century and were later associated with chivalric orders, and the alchemical and Gnostic schools.

According to T.H.G. history, in the late 1800s a secret English Templar order in possession of an ancient Jewish terra cotta cup believed to be the true Eucharistic vessel of the Last Supper, now encased in gold, with two ancient silver auxiliary "grails," prepared to do the sacred Grail Rites that had been done once each century by the order and its predecessors in the year '88 (the mystical Christian Kabbalistic number). The purpose of the rite was to re-empower a channel for Divine Blessing upon the planet for the coming century and protect humanity from being overwhelmed by dark forces. The abbot of the order was an elderly man with great concern that the Grail chalices would be stolen by people who wished to use them for magical purposes.

The chalices were secretly transported to London, where the centennial rite (a theurgical Eucharist) was performed, but in spite of all precautions, all three chalices were stolen and used for black magical purposes. After the chalices were retrieved from the thieves, the gold of the True Chalice was melted down, and the pottery cup smashed into the earth. One of the auxiliary chalices turned up at an antiquities auction in Antioch and was purchased by the Metropolitan Museum in New York; it is now exhibited as the "Chalice of Antioch" with legends of it having been the "Holy Grail." The third chalice was never found.

In the 1980s, after two decades of spiritual training and progress, the unnamed person destined to become the present Grailmaster of the T.H.G., who knew nothing of these events, responded to interior guidance to construct a new chalice through white magical and theurgical preparations that required several years to complete. In August of 1988 he was inspired to travel without any knowledge of the final destination over 1,000 miles to a sacred site in Canada, where he used the chalice for a theurgical Eucharist to bless the planet and humanity. While returning home, he heard an interior voice naming him the "Grailmaster," a term unfamiliar to him. He then received teachings telepathically in lucid dreams from a Tibetan Lama which eventually became the First Empowerment of the First Order of T.H.G. Shortly after this, he discovered a written account of the Grail Blessing that had been done in 1888. He then began to understand what had been occurring: he had been instrumental in preparing a new vessel for the 1988 centennial Grail Blessing and the blessing had then occurred as scheduled.

Soon after these events, he was contacted by Bp. George Boyer of the Sanctuary of the Gnosis in London, who transmitted to the Grailmaster all of the charters, titles, and authorities necessary to preserve the esoteric European lineages deriving from the Grail traditions under the auspices of the Temple of the Holy Grail. Bishop Boyer also underwent the new initiations, and contributed to the teachings that the Grailmaster began to bring forth in the 1990s.

Part of the temple's authority resides in the apostolic authority of its leadership. Drawing on the community of independent bishops, all 18 historical apostolic and 22 European esoteric lineages flow by live transmission into temple orders. Additionally, the Grailmaster and temple are Keepers of the True Grail, which is the Divine Royal Blood (San Greal in Christian esoteric tradition, often confused with the Grail chalice itself). The T.H.G. believes that the Grail is the normally invisible and intangible divine sacrificial energy that nurtures evolutionary unfoldment in the physical universe and among beings developing in this level of existence. The power sanctifies matter. It is the philosopher's stone that transforms the lower into the higher, expands contracted heart-consciousness, and mediates inspiration, guidance, selfless service, and divine love.

In the Liturgy of the Chalice, the essences of the Holy Grail are poured out as a potent blessing and nurture for the spiritual evolution of all beings in all worlds.

Members of the order proceed through the mysteries it perpetuates in an ordered sequence.

Membership: Not reported.

★1919★

Temple of the Vampire

Box 3582-E
Lacey, WA 98509

Temple of the Vampire, a magical order, emerged in the early 1990s, drawing on the Western Esoteric magical tradition and utilizing a vampiric metaphor. It practices what it terms the religion of Vampirism. Like many magical groups, its members tend self-consciously toward an elitism, and see themselves as above the mass of humanity who seek something more than the mundane. Such people are described as predators. They believe that vampires, people like themselves, created the world's religions to keep humankind docile.

Demythologized, the vampiric perspective is a rational religion, but one that acknowledges the hidden natural laws (the Powers of darkness) that are referenced in order to work magic. Magic is real and the vampire honors the results it produces. The religion is also focused upon this life, as death is the end of individual existence, there being no land of bliss or punishment (heaven or hell) to move on to after death.

The beginning vampire pictures two realities. The Daylight self is a skeptic who renounces superstition. The Nightside self practices magic using techniques related to members. The practice of magic leads to appropriation of the powers traditionally associated with the vampire (hypnotic control, shapeshifting, and even physical immortality). It also leads to contact with the Undead Gods and allows for the ultimate act of vampiric communion.

The teachings of the temple are summarized in The Vampire Creed and more fully stated in The Vampire Bible. Membership begins with the reading of The Vampire Bible and acceptance of its basic perspective. Purchase of The Vampire Bible and the signing of the creed allows one to be registered as a lifetime member. However, to be an active member is to begin to practice in magic and progress through the various levels of experience of the vampiric existence.

Members may join cabals, local groups of temple members. Cabals are now located in most states of the United States and a number of foreign countries.

Membership: Not reported. In 2002, the temple reported cabals in all of the states of the United States, and approximately 40 countries, including most of the countries of Europe. In addition there were cabals in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, South Africa, Malaysia, and Canada.

Periodicals: Lifeforce: The International Vampire Connection to CABAL.

Sources:

Temple of the Vampire. http://pw1.netcom.com/~temple/home.html. 7 May 2002.

★1920★

Temple of Truth

Current address not obtained for this edition.

One of the prime movers in the founding of the Ordo Templi Astarte was Nelson H. White, who served as its vice-president and, under his magical name, Frater Khedemel, served as its major apologist. In 1973, however, he left the Ordo Templi Astarte and he and his wife, Anne White (Soror Veritas) began the Temple of Truth (T.O.T.). The Temple differs from other occult orders in that it has no grades and no fixed curriculum. It has also dispensed with many of the ceremonial trappings of traditional ritual magick; emphasis is placed on individual independent study and spiritual development. Students adopt an individualized course after an initial series of classes. The teachings are basically Kabbalistic and follow the teachings in the Whites' books. As of 1988, the Whites had written and published more than 40 books on magick and the occult.

The T.O.T. is the magical order sponsored by the Light of Truth Church, a licensed corporation in California. The church is neither evangelistic nor fundamentalistic and recognizes the subjectivity of what most people call "Truth." Membership in both the church and the order is open to all persons, though periodically both will refrain from accepting new members if the White's teaching time is filled.

Headquarters of the church are in Pasadena, where the Whites operate a church-sponsored bookstore, The Magick Circle. The White Light, which began publication in the fall of 1974, has become one of the oldest continuously published magical magazines in the country.

Membership: Not reported, but in 1987 the newsletter reported a circulation of 200 copies. There is one center located in Pasadena, California. Individual students using the whites' material can be found in approximately 15 foreign countries, as well as Hawaii, Alaska, and Canada.

Periodicals: The White Light. Send orders to Box 93124, Pasadena, CA 91109-3124.

Sources:

White, Nelson, and Anne White. Collected Rituals of the T.O.T. Pasadena, CA: Technology Group, 1982.

——. Secret Magick Revealed. Pasadena, CA: Technology Group, 1979.

——. The Wizard's Apprentice. Pasadena, CA: Technology Group, 1982.

——. Working High Magick. Pasadena, CA: Technology Group, 1982.

★1921★

Temple ov Psychick Youth (TOPY)

Calder Sq., Box 10471
State College, PA 16805-0471

The Temple ov Psychick Youth (TOPY) is a loosely organized magical group that originated in 1981 out of the philosophical musings of musician Genesis P. Orridge. The beginning is marked by Orridge leaving a band, Throbbing Gristle, and starting the temple and a new musical group, Psychic TV. He wished to explore the nature of human limitations, conditioning, and potential and saw performance art as a tool for investigation. He soon concluded that he was doing magic. Early on, he reached the conclusion that humans possessed an endless potential and came to resent any constraints on it, a belief echoing Aleister Crowley's Book of the Law: "The word of sin is restriction."

As TOPY developed, it ascribed the problem of society to the extreme narrowing of human choice to a few freedoms and the sleep state in which most people existed, unaware of their vast potential. In this sleep state, society reaches a crisis as more and more increasingly zombie-like individuals are required to produce less. Religion and politics are the primary forces putting people to sleep. Temple membership consists of people who are awake to their possibilities and are constantly fighting constraints even as they realize their potentials.

The first realization in the wakening process is the individual's acceptance of mortality and a coming to terms with physical transience. The acceptance of mortality liberates. Also, Temple members expect to come into a relationship with their True Will (in a Thelemic sense) and act in accordance with it. As Crowley expressed it, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." From such an approach to life, an intuitive way of action, acting as one believes rather than from any public moral code, emerges.

Essential to developing such an approach is attention to one's sexuality. Rather than conforming to accepted public sexual norms, one should express sexuality as one believes. Since sex is the basic and universal motivator of human action, it is the most appropriate tool for initially claiming self-control.

A logical extension of its belief about the power of sex, the Temple asserts that ritual sex magick is the best means of liberating energy needed to progress. As one grows and changes within the ever-changing environment, magical activity allows constant adaptiveness. As one discovers and moves toward realizing one's True Will, ritual magick allows its actualization. Ritual magick pushes the individual to test his/her own limitations and often moves him/her outside accepted behavioral patterns. Ritual magick includes the mastering of altered states of consciousness which in and of themselves produce a new view of reality.

TOPY is unusual in the magical community in that it is not organized in a hierarchical fashion. Members are seen as equals whose varying skills and interests complement each other. They are united in a visionary psychick alliance. TOPY also rejects the idea of secret rituals (a belief which grows out of and is made possible by the publication during the last generation of all of the secret Crowleyan magical rituals). While the rituals used and created by individual TOPY members vary considerably, the working of sigil magick, a practice especially associated with the late Austin Spare, is by far the most common practice. Sigils are symbolic representations of a magical goal that are created by writing out a sentence articulating one's goal and then reducing that sentence to a simple symbol. The symbol/sigil is then energized by an act of magick during which the sigil is anointed with a set of body fluids spittle, blood, and sexual secretions and the attachment of body hair. The visualization of a goal and the magical work on that goal causes its realization, the basic belief of the Temple.

Membership: Not reported. There are several centers of activity in the United States.

Sources:

Burton, Tina. "Intuitive Magick"?: A Study of the Temple ov Psychic Youth, 1981-1989. Unpublished paper, 1989. 46 pp.

An Introduction to the Temple ov Psychick Youth. Brighton, Sussex, UK: Temple Press Limited, 1989. 24 pp.

★1922★

Thelemic Order and Temple of the Golden Dawn

℅ New Falcon Publications
1739 E. Broadway Rd., Ste. I-277
Tempe, AZ 85282

The Thelemic Order and Temple of the Golden Dawn was established in 1989 by Christopher S. Hyatt and David Cherubim. In the early 1980s, Hyatt, a student of the famous magician Israel Regardie (1907-1985) and founder of Falcon Press, conceived the idea of a new magical order inspired by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The Golden Dawn was the original ceremonial magic organization founded in 1880 in England, and had become the fountainhead of modern magical teachings. Regardie made much of the teachings of the order available to the general public in 1937-40 when he published The Golden Dawn, a multi-volume reprint of the basic documents and rituals. Regardie also wrote a number of books that have become standard reading for anyone doing ceremonial magick. Falcon Press was also responsible for reprinting many of Regardie's books in the 1970s and early 1980s. David Cherubim, a ceremonial magician, met Hyatt shortly after Regardie's death in 1985. The first initiations for the order were made in March 1990. Since that time, initiation ceremonies have been held each equinox and solstice.

While inspired by the older Golden Dawn, the new order differs in several important aspects. The older Golden Dawn, for example, had a distinctly Christian cast. The new order is Thelemic. It accepts the revelation of the new aeon that began in 1904 with the giving of The Book of the Law to Aleister Crowley by the entity Aiwass. The new aeon is named for Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis, and is designated the Crowned and Conquering Church.

The Law of Thelema (or Will) as enunciated in The Book of the Law asserts the right of every person to be the god that they are rather than follow false gods and their outmoded commandments. There are no gods but man. Each individual has a duty to discover their true purpose in life, and to create and assert that purpose. The order initiates members into the truth of their godhood and supplies them with means (ceremonial magick, tantra, astrology, yoga, tarot, and the Qabalah) of realizing their true will. The goal of the order is to create a new race of free men and women who will in turn build a new civilization based upon the Law of Thelema.

Membership is limited to people over 18 years of age. The order has a correspondence course for members unable to attend lectures in either Phoenix or Los Angeles. Falcon Press publishes the writings of Hyatt, Regardie, and other writers in basic agreement with the Thelemic teachings. Associated with the order is the Israel Regardie Foundation in Los Angeles, originally established by Regardie's student Laura Jennings.

Membership: In 1993 there were approximately 200 members in the order.

Periodicals: Newsletter.

Sources:

Crowley, Aleister, Lon Milo DuQuette, and Christopher S. Hyatt. Enochian

World of Aleister Crowley: Enochian Sex Magick. Phoenix, AZ: Falcon Press, 1991. 162 pp.

DuQuette, Lon Milo, and Christopher S. Hyatt. Aleister Crowley's Illustrated Goetia: Sexual Evocation. Phoenix, AZ: Falcon Press, 1992. 222 pp.

Hyatt, Christopher, ed. An Interview with Israel Regardie: His Final Thoughts and Views. Phoenix, AZ: Falcon Press, 1985. 144 pp.

New Golden Dawn: Flying Roll. Parts 1-15. Phoenix, AZ: Thelemic Order and Temple of the Golden Dawn, 1990-91.