The Unknown God: W.T. Smith and the ThelemitesThe first documentary study of Aleister Crowley's contemporary followers in North America, told through the life of their de facto leader, Wilfred Talbot Smith (1885-1957). Smith ('Frater 132'), the unacknowledged offspring of a prominent English family, emigrated to Canada where he encountered Charles Stansfeld Jones ('Frater Achad'), and through him, the works of Aleister Crowley ('Baphomet 'and 'Therion'). Although Crowley and Smith met only once, their twenty year correspondence proved to be a major link to the few and the faithful attracted to Crowley's work in the USA and Canada. THE UNKNOWN GOD is a fascinating and complex human story, intimately interwoven with the lives of most of Crowley's American disciples including C F Russell, Jane Wolfe, Max R Schneider, Jack Parsons, Louis T Culling, Frederic Mellinger and Grady L McMurtry as well as occult teachers like H Spencer Lewis (AMORC), Paul Foster Case (BOTA), and Wayne Walker (OM), Hollywood actors such as John Carradine and even the founder of the Mattachine Society, Harry Hay. Students of 19th and 20th century esoteric movements, including the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Theosophical Society and the Crowleyan Orders, will find THE UNKNOWN GOD worth reading. |
Contents
The Skeleton in the Cupboard | 1 |
First Steps | 8 |
British Columbia Lodge No 1 | 18 |
Isis Therion and Hilarion | 34 |
A Master of the Temple | 51 |
In the Red Room of Rose Croix | 61 |
Nemo abest | 85 |
The Detroit Working | 95 |
Jane Kath and Leota | 162 |
Salve Regina | 180 |
Rosicrucian Amity | 220 |
Chants before Battle | 246 |
TenOThree | 273 |
Apotheosis | 291 |
Epilogue | 341 |
B The Trail of O T O | 356 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Agape Lodge Aleister Crowley AMORC Angeles April August BAPHOMET Beast Book Brother Choronzon Choronzon Club Church of Thelema claimed copy correspondence Crowley to Jones Crowley to Smith Crowley's CSJ Papers Culling Culling's December Detroit diary Equinox felt Frater Achad Freemasonry Germer GJY Collection Gnostic Catholic Mass grade Helen Parsons Helen Parsons Smith HPS Papers initiation Jack Parsons Jane Wolfe January Jones to Crowley Jones to Smith Jones's June Kath knew Law of Thelema Leffingwell Leota letter Lewis Liber CXXXII magical March masonic Master Therion Motta never North Vancouver November O.T.O. degrees Oath occult October Order Ordo Templi Orientis OTO Archives Phyllis Phyllis Seckler Probationer profess house published Regina Regina Kahl Reuss ritual Rosicrucian Ruby Sara Schneider secret September Smith to Crowley spiritual suggested Temple Thelemites Theodor Reuss Theosophical thought tion took Tränker wanted Wilfred word wrote WTS Papers York