College of Thelema/Temple of Thelema

The College and Temple of Thelema are two intimately intertwined organizations that have grown out of the teachings of magician Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) dating to the 1970s. The Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), the major organization headed by Crowley, fell on hard times following his death. His successor as Outer Head of the Order, Karl Johannes Germer (1885-1962), did little to build the work, and by the 1960s it had become largely moribund, especially in the United States. Several attempts to revive the work were launched in the years following Germer's death.

Phyliss Seckler (Soror Meral) had been an early member of the OTO in America. In 1973 she opened the College of Thelema as a education program in Western esotericism, with a special emphasis upon the system of thelemic magic as developed by Crowley. As it developed, the college's program included four consecutive courses in psychology, the philosophy of thelema, qabalah, astrology, and magic. The entire course takes approximately two years to complete. In 1976, Seckler also began issuing In The Continuum, one of the more substantive thelemic journals. It continued for 20 years, its last issue coming out in 1996.

The Temple of Thelema, an initiatory magical order, was established upon the teaching delivered through the college. The temple offers a more systematic course of training for students who wish to begin the practice of magic and learn the disciplines and mystical realities that are integral to thelemic magic. Seckler adapted to the older grading system of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn to conform to thelemic principles. Also, contemporary findings from psychology, especially transpersonal psychology, has been integrated into the curriculum, and an attempt to remove the sexist bias, a basic assumption of most Western magical teachings, has been made. The student follows a program of intellectual accomplishment, meditation, and magical ritual. Students are also involved in the healing work of the temple and participate in various initiation ceremonies as they progress.

The exact content of the program of the college and temple are held confidential for participants only, though it is in line with the teachings of Crowley that are available in his many writings. Crowley claimed that in 1904 he received, through a process similar to what is now called channeling, The Book of the Law, from a praeternatural intelligence named Aiwass. The book announced a new era for humankind, the Aeon of Horus, the Crowned and Conquering Child (of Isis and Osiris). The revelation called upon people to follow their True Will (Thelema), and to allow their passions to be conformed to their Will. Magic is the instrument for finding one's true Will and the magical life; living in conformation to that True Will (destiny) follows.

The temple and college may be contacted at P.O. Box 415, Oroville, CA 95965. In 1998 there were seven centers in the United States and one in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1997, a periodical, the Black Pearl, has succeeded In the Continuum. It has a website at http://www.thelema.org/.

Sources:

Crowley, Aleister. Magick: Book Four, Parts I-IV. York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, 1994. [Includes The Book of the Law, a brief text that has been reprinted numerous times.]

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

In the Continuum (bi-annual) (1976-1996).