What it worshipped and taught
The Book of the Law (Liber AL vel Legis), dictated in Cairo over three days in April 1904 by a discarnate intelligence named AIWASS to Crowley through his wife Rose. Central law: Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law; Love is the law, love under will. Gods of the New Aeon: Nuit (infinite space), Hadit (the point), Ra-Hoor-Khuit (the crowned and conquering child). Practices included Sex Magick (the OTO's IX degree), ceremonial invocation, the Gnostic Mass, and heroic drug use. The Abbey of Thelema at Cefalù ran on rigorous magical discipline, a blood-oath ritual, and Crowley's absolute authority; members cut themselves with a razor each time they used the word I.
Who was in it
Aleister Crowley; Rose Edith Kelly; Victor Neuburg; Leah Hirsig, the Scarlet Woman; Raoul Loveday, who died at the abbey in February 1923; his widow Betty May, whose press interviews destroyed it; Jane Wolfe; Karl Germer; Theodor Reuss; JACK PARSONS, the Caltech rocket propulsion pioneer; L. RON HUBBARD, who took part in Parsons' 1946 Babalon Working before founding Scientology (see 052).
Of note
Crowley's real historical weight is as an influence: on the OTO, Wicca, the Church of Satan, the Process Church, and, through Parsons and Hubbard, on Scientology. His personal following never exceeded a few dozen.
Its people
Aleister Crowley
To Mega Therion; the Great Beast 666; Frater Perdurabo
Prophet of Thelema; founder of the A∴A∴; head of the OTO · 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947 · active 1904–1947
Born to wealthy Plymouth Brethren parents, he inherited a fortune and spent it. A serious mountaineer, chess player and poet before he was an occultist. In Cairo in April 1904 he received The Book of the Law through his wife Rose from an entity called Aiwass, giving him the law 'Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law'. He founded the Abbey of Thelema in Sicily in 1920, where members cut themselves with a razor each time they said 'I'. Expelled from Italy by Mussolini after a follower died there. Bankrupt by 1934, addicted to heroin, he died in a Hastings boarding house. His personal following never exceeded a few dozen; his influence on everything after him is immense.
Before the law. Never convicted of anything. Lost a libel action he himself brought in 1934, which bankrupted him.
Where things stand. Deceased 1947. The OTO survives as a legally recognised religious body.
- 8–10 April 1904 The Cairo Working; receives Liber AL vel Legis.
- 1907 Founds the A∴A∴.
- 1920 Establishes the Abbey of Thelema at Cefalù.
- 16 February 1923 Raoul Loveday dies at the abbey; the press storm follows.
- April 1923 Expelled from Italy by Mussolini.
- 1934 Bankrupted by a failed libel action.
- 1 December 1947 Dies at Hastings aged 72.
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L. Ron Hubbard
LRH; the Commodore; the Source
Founder, Dianetics and the Church of Scientology · 13 March 1911 – 24 January 1986 · active 1950–1986
A prolific pulp science-fiction writer who published Dianetics in 1950 to enormous sales, went bankrupt when the foundation collapsed, and re-launched the material as a church in December 1953. He took part in the occultist Jack Parsons' Babalon Working in 1946 and left with Parsons' money and his girlfriend. He wrote the secret OT III material — the Xenu cosmology — in 1967, and the enforcement doctrines that define the organisation: the Suppressive Person declaration, Disconnection, and Fair Game. From 1967 he ran the movement from a fleet of ships in international waters. From 1980 he was in hiding, and he died on a ranch in California under an assumed arrangement, his death announced as a voluntary departure from the body.
Before the law. Convicted in absentia of fraud in France, 1978. Named an unindicted co-conspirator in Operation Snow White. A fugitive from US process at his death.
Where things stand. Deceased 1986.
- May 1950 Dianetics published; bestseller.
- December 1953 Founds the Church of Scientology in Camden, New Jersey.
- 1966–67 Founds the Sea Organization; writes OT III.
- 1967 Issues the Fair Game policy.
- 1973–77 Operation Snow White — the largest infiltration of the US government by a private body on record.
- 1979 His wife Mary Sue and ten others convicted; he is named an unindicted co-conspirator.
- 24 January 1986 Dies at Creston, California.
Checked 2026-08-24
Raoul Loveday
Frederick Charles Loveday
Died at Crowley's Abbey of Thelema · 1900 – 16 February 1923 · active 1922–1923
A 22-year-old Oxford history graduate with a first-class degree who went to Cefalù with his wife Betty May to study under Crowley. He died there in February 1923. The official cause was acute enteric fever, contracted from drinking water from a mountain stream Crowley had warned him against; Betty May told the British press it followed a ritual involving the drinking of cat's blood. Her account, published in John Bull, destroyed the Abbey — Mussolini expelled Crowley from Italy within weeks. The medical cause is not seriously disputed; the sensational framing is.
Before the law. No charges. No inquest finding of foul play.
Where things stand. Deceased 1923, aged 22. The only death at the Abbey, and the one that ended it.
- 1922 Travels to the Abbey of Thelema at Cefalù with his wife Betty May.
- 16 FEBRUARY 1923 Dies, aged 22. The attending doctor records acute enteric fever.
- 1923 Betty May's account in John Bull causes a sensation in Britain.
- April 1923 Mussolini expels Crowley from Italy; the Abbey closes.
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