Organisations
There is no “official” Thelemic organisation or church. Aleister Crowley headed two major organisations in his lifetime:
- The A∴A∴ — an organisation devoted to individual development, where each member (below a certain level) knows only the member who introduced him and the members he introduced; and
- Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) — a fraternal organisation with roots in freemasonry, devoted to providing instruction in certain sex magick techniques.
After Crowley's death, these organisations ceased to exist. However, several people with connections to Crowley in both organisations have “claimed succession” and a variety of groups bearing those names exist today, often squabbling with each other. Various organisations claim to be A∴A∴ “lineages” and claim succession from Aleister Crowley, usually through a very low-ranking member. The largest of the groups claiming the name Ordo Templi Orientis was created in the 1960's by Grady Louis McMurtry, and today claims somewhere in the region of 2,000 members. Its religious presentation of Thelema is radically different to the one presented in this primer, its rites, rituals and structure being heavily influenced by Catholic Christianity. Another Ordo Templi Orientis variant, claiming that the “heart of magick” is contacting extraterrestrial aliens, is headed by Kenneth Grant. Many other smaller organisations exist.
