Thelema-5

Thelema is more active and vibrant today than it has ever been, and Crowley’s image, life, and work are increasingly more accessible. This is evidenced not only by the increase in popular culture references with each passing year, but also through attention from scholarly and academic research bringing new light to the cultural phenomenon, past and present, that both Crowley and Thelema represent. This new fascination with Crowley’s life and work has introduced thousands of new people to Thelema and encouraged thousands more to reevaluate Crowley after decades of association with the now dated devil-worshipping legend of popular culture.

While there are many, many people who consider themselves Thelemites and fall under the category of solitary practitioners, Crowley’s legacy in the present day primarily continues through the organizations with which he was involved: the O.T.O. and the A A .

Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.)

One of the most visible legacies of Crowley’s magical writings and teaching lives within the first magical order to accept the law of Thelema, the Ordo Templi Orientis—the Order of Eastern Templars, or Order of the Temple of the East. In form, the O.T.O. is founded on Masonic lines, with degrees that gradually lead the initiate toward the greater understanding of its mysteries.

Following Crowley’s death in 1947, the leadership of the O.T.O. was passed to Karl Germer (Frater Saturnus), a lifelong supporter of Crowley who had grown up in Germany and emigrated to the United States after the second world war. Germer died fifteen years later in 1962, unfortunately leaving the Order without a named successor. It was not until 1969 that Grady Louis McMurtry (Hymenaeus Alpha) resurrected the Order based on the authority of letters from Crowley himself. Under McMurtry’s leadership, the O.T.O grew out of California’s San Francisco Bay area and spread to other major cities across the United States. The current head of the Order, Hymenaeus Beta, is largely responsible for bringing the Order into the prominence that it enjoys today, as well as the large volume of scholarship he has provided and fostered on Crowley’s life and works.

Unlike traditional Masonic organizations, the O.T.O. admits both men and women, provided they are free and of full age according to the country in which they reside. The structure of the Order is divided into three distinct strata, based on The Book of the Law, “For there are therein Three Grades, the Hermit, the Lover, and the man of Earth.” 143 Each initiate begins in the Man of Earth triad, which consists of the following grades: 144

Degree	Designation	Cycle
0°	Minerval	The Ego is attracted to the Solar System.
I°	Initiation	The Child experiences Birth.
II°	Consecration	The Man or Woman experiences Life.
III°	Devotion	He [She] experiences Death.
Degree	Designation	Cycle
IV°	Perfection (also given as “exaltation”)	He [She] experiences the World beyond Death.
P.I.°	Perfect Initiate	This entire cycle of Point-Events is withdrawn into Annihilation.

Crowley notes that all subsequent degrees of the Order are simply elaborations on the Second Degree (Consecration), as this degree represents the life of the individual. “The Rituals V°-IX° are then instructions to the Candidate how he should conduct himself; and they confer upon him, gradually, the Magickal Secrets which make him Master of Life.” 145

The Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (EGC), or Gnostic Catholic Church, also operates within the scope of the Ordo Templi Orientis, with authority over celebrations of the Gnostic Mass.

As of this writing, the O.T.O. has thousands of members across the globe.

Further Reading

The Equinox, Volume III, No. 10

Liber LII—Manifesto of O.T.O.

Liber CI—An Open Letter to Those
Who May Wish to Join the Order

Liber CXCIV—An Intimation with Reference
to the Constitution of the Order

Contact Information

http://www.oto.org

A A

Separate from the social organization of the O.T.O., the A dots A dots (Argentium Astrum,146 or Silver Star) is specifically a solitary organization dedicated to the spiritual advancement of the individual. Initiates of the A dots A dots are tested on the grounds of real magical and mystical attainment before being allowed to progress to the next level, and every individual—at least in principle—knows only his or her mentor and those initiates he or she might oversee.

The structure of the A dots A dots is also divided into three initiatory strata, which from the lowest to highest are the Order of the Golden Dawn, the Order of the Rosy Cross, and the Order of the Silver Star, as given in Crowley’s own prospectus on the Order, One Star in Sight: A Glimpse of the Structure and System of the Great White Brotherhood A dots A dots .147 The Order has eleven grades and depends on real and demonstrable spiritual attainment within each grade to progress, with each grade being associated with a specific sphere on the Qabalistic Tree of Life, just as its predecessor the Golden Dawn had done, and from which it borrows its structure. The corresponding numbers indicate the degree and sephirah (of the Tree of Life), respectively.

The Order of the Silver Star

Ipsissimus 10°=1°

Magus 9°=2°

Magister Templi 8°=3°

The Order of the Rosy Cross

Babe of the Abyss—the link

Adeptus Exemptus 7°=4°

Adeptus Major 6°=5°

Adeptus Minor 5°=6°

The Order of the Golden Dawn

Dominus Liminus—the link

Philosophus 4°=7°

Practicus 3°=8°

Zelator 2°=9°

Neophyte 1°=10°

Probationer 0°=0°

There is also the grade of “student,” before even “probationer,” whose task is to acquire a general knowledge of spiritual systems of attainment.

The A dots A dots in its current manifestations are independently directed by several separate claimants, with different students of Crowley’s having taken up the mantle of his esoteric order. I have listed two initiatory branches herein, with the caveat that there are others that may be more suited or geographically convenient to you.