One Truth and One Spirit: Aleister Crowley’s Spiritual Legacy

483 Pages·2018·6.66 MB·English

by  Keith Readdy

Advance Praise for One Truth and One Spirit
Keith Readdy has alchemically united his passion for Aleister Crowley's A
∴ A ∴ and O.T.O. with his academic training in Western esotericism. He
tackles the thorny question of whether Thelema is a religion, a spirituality or
a philosophy. He summarizes the evolution of Thelemic doctrine in the
teachings of both Crowley and modern-day exponents like J. Daniel Gunther
and Fratres Shiva and Phanes. He recounts the convoluted history of Thelema
since Crowley's death—no easy feat! And he analyzes the role of publishing
as the vehicle for preserving and promulgating the message of Aleister
Crowley as the prophet of Thelema. It's rare for a book to offer something for
everyone, but One Truth and One Spirit packs in so many thought-provoking
details that anyone with an interest in Aleister Crowley or Thelema will
encounter valuable insights throughout its pages.
—Richard Kaczynski, author of Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley and
Forgotten Templars: The Untold History of Ordo Templi Orientis
* * *
I have often maintained that for Thelema to be taken seriously, we need to
develop a culture of rational discourse. The possibility of such discourse
depends on Thelemites using scholarly methods to develop how we approach
our history, doctrine, and practices as Thelemites. In other words, it turns
Thelema into a contributing subject, rather than being merely an object of
study. Keith Readdy has accomplished something very special with this
book. It covers the doctrines, organizations, and the often problematic history
that is associated with the Law of Thelema. I fully believe that in the future,
this book will be regarded as one of the pillars that made rational discourse
possible within our community. —Kjetil Fjell, Psy. D., Specialist in
Neuropsychology.
* * *
Keith Readdy simultaneously untangles and harmonizes many seemingly
contradictory forces within modern Thelema to yield a vision of unity long
desired.—Daniel Pineda, author of Book of Secrets
* * *
By properly approaching Thelema as a New Religious Movement, Keith
Readdy, in his study One Truth and One Spirit, sets the stage for a clear-
sighted engagement with Aleister Crowley's spiritual legacy. While Crowley
himself has been the subject of more than a dozen biographies, the doctrinal
aspects of the system, of which he considered himself the Prophet, received
much less hermeneutical treatment. The author, trained in the academic study
of Western Esotericism, provides a solid theoretical overview of Thelema
and traces the historical development of the system from its inception up to
the present moment. It is in particular this latter aspect of the book, where the
author attempts to distinguish between history and mnemohistory between
facts and narratives, that is going to be controversial and challenging to some
readers. The issue concerns legitimacy and authority among various factions
within the Thelemic movement, and the author offers an erudite and
convincing exposition of his views on the matter. The book will be of great
interest not only to the adherents of Thelema, irrespective of their personal
allegiances and persuasions, but to all interested in the history of Western
Esotericism and New Religious Movements.
—Gordan Djurdjevic, Ph.D., author of India and the Occult
* * *
Everyone interested in Crowley's institutional and philosophical legacy—and
especially members of Thelemic bodies—will benefit from reading Keith
Readdy's extensive study. Its strengths lie in clarifying Thelema's growth as a
religious movement, in expressing its peculiarities as religion, philosophy,
and magical order, and in adumbrating Thelemic ethics, along with the
tangled history of the A ∴ A ∴ and O.T.O.
Readdy traces the development of Thelema as a system after its initial
prophetic impulse in 1904, making helpful distinctions between “religion”
and “spirituality.” Above all, he delineates the fate of Crowley's two
principal orders after his death in 1947 in the context of a discourse on
“duplexity.”
Thelema's reliance on its publishing history is clearly presented, as is the
long battle for possession, or re-possession, of Crowley's institutional legacy
—principally his copyrights—waged between Karl Germer's protégé
Marcelo Ramos Motta and Crowley's intended successor to Germer, Grady
McMurtry. Tensions and hostility between Jane Wolfe's former “pupil”
Phyllis Seckler (representing A ∴ A ∴ interests), and husband McMurtry
(representing O.T.O. interests), receive detailed treatment, building on James
Wasserman's autobiographical account Into the Center of the Fire (2012).
The issue of A ∴ A ∴ “lineages” is a primary interest of the book's latter
part.
Readdy illuminates the disconcerting reality of schism in the O.T.O. and
continuing vexation in the A ∴ A ∴ system over adherence to Crowley's
original intentions. Readdy's concise, lucid treatment of the O.T.O.’s
internalized Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica is a boon to understanding the
complex Thelemic synthesis as manifested in practice.
Above all, while the author writes as an infra-movement adherent and
specialist—accepting Crowley's privileged spiritual authority—he issues a
summons for a rational case for the extension of academic interest in
Thelema from the burgeoning chapel of Western Esotericism, so to engage
with mainstream philosophy, sociology, psychology, political science,
behavioral and cognitive sciences, even environmental studies.
Thelema has apparently reached a new stage in its 114 year development,
and Readdy's book is both symptomatic of this, and arguably vital to its
continuance. The time-factor is interesting. Most lasting religious
movements go through a century or so of inward, incubatory drama before
emerging on the greater stage of life. Readdy presents Thelema as a system
ready to take its full place in the world.
—Tobias Churton, author of Aleister Crowley: The Biography and Aleister
Crowley in America
* * *
An essential account of the history of the O.T.O. in modern America. A
compelling and well-researched book that rewards repeated reference.
—Paul Feazey, webmaster of LAShTAL.com

Published in 2018 by Ibis Press
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Copyright © 2018 by Keith Readdy
Materials by Aleister Crowley, photographs,
and other quoted archival resources © Ordo Templi Orientis.
JAF POB 7666, NY, NY 10116. All rights reserved.
Photos of Cameron and Jack Parsons
Courtesy of the Cameron Parsons Foundation.
Don Snyder photo courtesy of the Don Snyder Estate.
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Reviewers may quote brief passages.
ISBN: 978-0-89254-184-3
Ebook ISBN: 978-0-89254-677-0
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available upon
request
Book design and production by STUDIO 31
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Printed in the United States of America
[MP]
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DEDICATED TO
ANGEL LORENZ
(1981–2015)
“THE BEETLE”
Who in our teenage years introduced me to Aleister Crowley as we
became friends. Who later encouraged me to pursue the Great Work and
served as an early guide. And who, later still, I would have the honor to
officially call “Brother” in every sense of the word.
I await meeting you again,
in this incarnation or the next.