CORRECT GNOSTICISM

Pistis Sophia

As an example for the people, the fall and redemption of a female being, namely Barbelos, are carried out in "Pistis Sophia". Barbelos represents the female aspect of the Father, a sort of Gnostic Mother-goddess, one with her daughter, Pistis Sophia, and at the same time androgynous, which of course for most Gnostics is an expression of completeness. Barbelos is identified with Maria, with the bearer of Truth, with Matter. By her uncontrolled lusts, [12] she brings about her catastrophic fall and the disintegration of the cosmos, and can only return to the Pleroma by means of the male assistance of Jesus.

The Barbelotic system is not uniform however. "Pistis Sophia" and "the Books of Jeû" accord the "Home of Barbelos" [13] to different Spheres/Archonts, [14] which can be interpreted on the one hand as ascetic and on the other as libertine depending on the fingering of various over-subtle dustmotes in the texts. This latter has been done by the Church father and Bishop of Salamis in Cyprus, Epiphanius (died. 403), in his script "Panarion haereses". Even though any explicit libertinism is rejected in "Pistis Sophia", we find in the literature reports regarding Barbelites who are accused of "obscene rites". [15] According to the Phibionites and Stratiotics, who are counted amongst the Barbelites, the desirable Lightseed is inherent in the Sperm and Menstrual blood [16] - this has certainly found its magical expression with Aleister Crowley's libertine spermo-gnostic Thelema. [17] "Pistis Sophia" accepted by Krumm-Heller (and the 2nd Book of Jeû") clearly turns against such rites. [18] "Such people will be [...] destroyed and dissolved," [Jeû:] "But their God is Evil."

Even though for both "la redencion reside exclusivamente en el acto sexual," [19] we find here then deep-seated divergences between Crowley's and Krumm-Heller's concepts of redemption, which may explain why they ignore each other, and why Krumm-Heller never even mentions the O.T.O. [20] The question remains however, why Krumm-Heller never expunged the Thelemic references in the Initiation and Mass rituals of the Fraternitas Rosicruciana Antiqua. Could it be that Krumm-Heller was not entirely averse to an entirely Crowley-free concept of "Thelema"? This concept appears as a male aeon in connection with Jesus in another Barbelotic script together with concepts of Nous and Logos (while Barbelos is accompanied by female Aeons).

Krumm-Heller appears to be one of the few Neo-Gnostics who feels chiefly close to the "Pistis Sophia," to Barbelos. [21] His Gnosis remains Christian and "ascetic" - his Masses contain no Reuss-Crowleyan Sperm passages, [22] no invocation of Kyrios Phallos nor mystic-tantric ceremonial representations of the Gestation of the Universe. [23] Since the French Neo-Gnostics, even though they profess to female-unfriendly Valentinism, [24] do consecrate women as priests and bishops, Krumm-Heller cannot befriend them at all.

These same grounds may well have moved Reuss to create his own Gnostic-Catholic Church, at least on paper.

Baphomet is, according to Krumm-Heller, an aspect of Abrasax, and thereby "Fuerza Cristónica" and "El Salvador del Mundo". Thelema is "la voluntad actuante en la luz". [25]

"Looking for God in exciting new ways" [26]

In "Die Gnosis", a two-volume work by Eugen Heinrich Schmitt, recommended by Reuss, we find the following criticism on Fabre des Essarts:
"Under "Sophronius", however, who, as Gnostic bishop of Beziers, published an explanatory catechism regarding the Gnostic church (by Sophronius, évêque de Béziers, I-IV, Paris 1899), the teachings fell into a doubtful catholicising current. Amongst other things the Transubstantiation of the Bread and the Wine, that is to say, the Fetish-faith of the Catholics, were taken on by "Sophronius", and sanctioned with curious figurines fashioned in coarse materials. The fact that such a position precludes any depth of contemplation, and that the whole decayed into a fantastical idolatry, requires no further detail here. The French occultists such as Papus and Sedir penetrate the matter with a much purer spirit and immeasurably more deeply and appropriately than these supposed Gnostics." [32]

In all the scripts of the French Gnostics Barbelos retains only sparse mention - even though recognition of Valentinus' authorship of "Pistis Sophia" is demanded. With the following catechisms [33] however, the basis is laid for a Neo-Gnosticism, now libertine, now agnostic, (the Ethnography whereof would unfortunately burst the confines of this study.). [34] In 1906 appears in Belgium, the libertine interpreted "L'Eucharistie" of Clément de Saint-Marcq, in which the Eclectic Theodor Reuss sees the Secret of the O.T.O. published: [35] the Union of Man and God by Assimilation (i.e. the consumption of Sperm), as taught by Jesus Christ. [36] Consumption of Sperm for magical reasons is anchored in the O.T.O. as the VIII°. The meaning of Sperm as Logos-bearer however, is not found until the IX° -- here vaginal secretions amongst other things, are added. Only through Crowley does the IX° mutate into a purely magical grade, in which the sexual secretions are smeared on talismans in order to conjure assistant spirits and demons.

Common to all sex-magicians and sperm-gnostics (whether ascetic or libertine), is that in the sperm the center of the human-god destiny is seen. As Homeopath, Krumm-Heller only needed to apply the following "magic" thought: In Homeopathy, the head, the brain is the center and portrayal of the godly order, the source of all things. For the sex-magicians the spermatozoon is the representation of the Sun/the Universe. "The glans of the penis corresponds most naturally to the form of the human brain." [37] The consumption of Sperm, however, is not homeopathic (see below discussion in the text example of Clément de Saint-Marcq).

Theodor Reuss and Aleister Crowley found well-fertilised Gnostic soil for their libertine seed, [38] even though neither goes into great detail about their sources. [39] It is particularly noteworthy that Reuss completely ignored the rich literature of the French Gnostic occultists, even though he had been in contact with Papus since at least 1901. [40]

Is he holding to the later rather restrained statement of E.C.H. Peithmann, regarding who exactly is a Gnostic?: "He who requires to draw up neither logical conclusions, nor historical researches, nor even moral considerations." [41] [More on Peithmann below]
Of course any academic Gnostic publication must be a traitorous thorn in the eye of the Neo-Gnostics, since therein are the worked up details of the Spermo-Gnostic practice, the which is not exactly encouraging for recruitment. Peithmann elevates himself above the mists of the academic Gnostic publications: "For the seeker, none of these scripts that are available in bookstores come into consideration." [42]

Theodor Reuss' mandatory reading for O.T.O.-Members [43]

Eugen Heinrich Schmitt's, "Die Gnosis", (Leipzig 1903, sequel in 1907) [45] unfolds itself similarly Gnostic and equally as un-academic. Schmitt tries to explain the various Gnostic systems, turning clearly towards the occult orientated readers and against the interpretations of the church fathers, who deliberately mutilated their textual examples. "Pistis Sophia" occurs regularly in his work, Spermo-Gnosis however not at all. Schmitt corresponded with Jules Doinel du Val Michel and writes in the foreword in Fabre des Essarts' "Unity of the Gnosis of all schools." Fabre's Catholicism in the Gnostic-Catholic church, however, he meets with scepticism (see citation in previous sub-chapter). Similarly to C.W. King, Schmitt touches on Freemasonry, the Illuminati, Theosophy, and cites names such as Hugo Vollrath, Franz Hartmann, Nietzsche, Rudolf Steiner, and many others. The Baphomet of the Templars remains for him however "completely in the dark." [46]

Reuss' O.T.O. behaves itself as Christian-Gnostic [47] and even Crowley used Christian-Gnostic elements up to 1912 [48] and only built up his own O.T.O.-branch with newly invented (so-called Thelemic) word-shells from 1914. [49] Neither does "Do what thou Wilt" originate from Crowley himself, nor his "Love is the Law". The first can be found with Augustinus, Rabelais or Nietzsche [50] - the latter in a letter from Kellner to his hotly adored wife Maria Antoinette Delorme. "The closest way to the absolute truth is 'Love'. It is the Law of all Laws." [51] In Reuss' mandatory reading of G. Herman (Max Ferdinand Sebaldt, alias Maximilian Ferdinand) "Sexual-Magie. Genesis. Sexual-Mystik", (Leipzig 1899-1903) one finds the sentence "Love is the fulfilment of the Law" (p. I:14). At least one year before Crowley 'invented' it.

Herman's 5 volumes appear to be Reuss' main source for the "Bausteine zum O.T.O.-Tempel". With references to Blavatsky, Stanislaw Przybyszewski, Schrenck-Notzing and other Occultists [52] Herman undertakes a well-informed Tour de Force through the occult-scientific activities and publications up to 1900. There are not only sparklingly detailed descriptions of the physical make-up of the sexual organs, but also guidance to moral behaviour with regard to masturbation, coitus interruptus (both reprehensible) and propaganda towards "expedient use of the force of the creator" and that in service to "sexual and racial hygiene". It touches not only on the theme of "plague of Jews" but also gives guidance on the breeding of "suprasexual" psychocratic noblemen. This "Übermensch" finds the "Way to redemption not in the contempt of sexual activity" rather in the "beauty of the sexual instinct". "Marital duty" becomes "Religious duty", and thus once more the "main work of the new female: motherhood". Which "techniques" does Herman offer? One averts threatening masturbation, by touching one hand to the back of the head (cerebellum) and the other to the genitals. "Thereby we achieve an equalisation of the nervous tension." The noble Übermensch, "Germanic, earthly, robust," practices Karezza (Herman refers to the Christian Oneida-Community), when he isn't saving his sperm for the breeding of "Nobel-borns". "The whole nervous system is strengthened and empowered by the retention [of sperm] or absorption of sperm [without Ejaculation]" These are the "sexual-religious duties" of the "third gender," that delights in erotic love with women or men in equal measure. According to Herman, pure homosexuality (whether female or male) brings about physical consequences (or has these as its cause). The consumption of sexual secretions (Reuss' and Crowley's favourite theme) is however also found in his chapter on "Defloration und Necrophilia" as "a sort of bipolar eating mania" devoid of religious meaning. Satanism is felt to be "a phenomen on of Worldcity-degeneration leching after new stimuli."

There remains "before all things the sewing machine is the great seductress to lonesome sensuality", Herman's citation from Pouillet's "L'onanisme chez la femme" (Paris 1880) and mandatory reading for Reuss' O.T.O., as follows (scene: a factory for military uniforms):
"In the midst of the regular whirring of about 30 sewing machines, I suddenly heard a machine running at a much higher tempo. I turned to the relevant seamstress, a brunette of 18 to 20 years. While automatically tending to the piece of work she was sewing, her face brightened, her mouth fell open slightly, her nostrils trembled, her feet moved the pedals with steadily increasing speed. Shortly thereafter I noted a fixed gaze, her eyelids sank, her face became pale, and she threw back her head. Hands and feet suddenly paused and stretched themselves: a suppressed cry, followed by a deep sigh, lost itself in the noise of the surroundings." [53] Thus far on the topic of eroticism and uniforms as building blocks of the O.T.O. temple.

The Templar's Reich - The Slaves Shall Serve. Aleister Crowley - Ordo Templi Orientis - Fraternitas Saturni - Theodor Reuss - Hanns Heinz Ewers - Lanz von Liebenfels - Karl Germer, Arnoldo Krumm-Heller - Martha Kuentzel - Friedrich Lekve - Hermann Joseph Metzger - Christian Bouchet - Paolo Fogagnolo - James Wasserman.

O.T.O.: Without Value - Sans Valeur

It is possible to assume that Krumm-Heller follows the Gnostic ideas of Peithmann, [59] who wishes to liberate the Seed (thus also the Logos) by means of a "pure sexual life [...] removed from servitude" to Matter. [60] The sexual magic of the F.R.A. is accordingly based on the aversion to ejaculation. [61] Peithmann's demand, that the generation of children is to be refrained from, is not followed consistently by Krumm. He appears, like Reuss, to have found a balance between libertine way and ascetic gnosis.

This is in accord with the homeopathic teachings of the moderation, the Golden Middle Way of the Ancient Greeks, for the purpose of maintaining the balance on all levels of human existence. In contrast Aleister Crowley's libertine Gnosis, demands Optimum by means of Maximum. [62] Christian feelings of guilt and Gnostic rejection of the worldly penetrate even for Crowley: "Pleasure as such has never attracted me. It must be spiced by moral satisfaction." [63]

E.C.H. Peithmann: Gnostic Catechism -- Asceticism

"The Nassenes or worshippers of the true Brazen "Serpent"

Sexual abstinence: For such reasons the Nassenes celebrate the secrets of the "Great Mother" [...] they most strictly forbid any sexual relations between the Man and the wife." [68]

"The Lightseed, the Holy Spirit, the Logos spermtikos, is the organ of true Knowledge [...] In the descent of the redeemer the first act of salvation is carried out upon the fallen wisdom in the upper world. His second or main work is carried out upon Earth, where by his mere appearance but also by his preachings, he reveals his unknown and unwitnessed Father. To his believers he brings new powers, so that they can despise and conquer the angels of the sexually creative Demiurge. The demons are dissolved and the disciples united with the Master, by means of the descent, Hell is tamed and judged, the devils are deceived by his humility and his despised form." [69]

Just as Reuss in the O.T.O., Peithmann mixes up Gnosis and Hatha-Yoga in his Church.

"Man and wife [...] can only redeem one another. One cannot abstain from the assistance of the partner if he wishes to be finally freed from the "Wheel of rebirth". The lections of the mystery school, existing in Südhemmern i. Westf [Those interested are requested to contact the "Gnostische Mysterienschule" Südhemmern i. West enclosing postage.] such as the course on gnostic breathing, the magical, mystical or esoteric courses are not intent on achieving some sort of amazing and spooky manifestation as in certain Tibetan schooling, rather they go towards the Immediate Work. The immediate return of the "lost son" to God - that is the objective of the Gnostics. [...] [72] According to their most secret, purely verbally transmitted instructions, the main effort is to create a flow of power to the roof of the skull. By this exercise it is intended to make available the entire sum of energy that is usually expressed in the animal, that is the sexual act. [...] The creation of a glow in the body is known as "Tumo. In the secret teachings the most effective Tumo plays the role of a gentle fire, that warms the generative fluid and leads the powers therein through the fine nerve-channels into the roof of the skull, where instead of carnal lusts, mental and spiritual bliss are generated." [73]

Peithmann distinguishes the upper and lower Christ. Without going intensively into the question of the corresponding gnostic superstructure: "Nothing dawns on him [a critic], when the Gnostics disown the jewish Messiah, despise the world-dominators and their lusts, revile the lords of sexual procreation, belie the external ressurrection of Christ and reject the bodily creations of marriage." [74]
Peithmann, however condemns homosexuality, as "Sodom's Sin [...] bestial aberration of Gomorrah". [75]

Even though Peithmann assembled his own Cosmogony from the fullness of the available Gnostic primary materials, his simple Gnostic catechism bears more than a passing resemblance to that of Louis-Sophrone Fugairon/Sophronius (even down to the chapter divisions and headings). This appeared only five years before in Paris: the relatively demanding "Catéchisme Expliqué de L'Eglise Gnostique."

Essentially the French Gnostics breath a similar Spirit: "Comment l'homme a-t-il désobéi à la loi concernant sa reproduction? Par des accouplements illicites, non seulement entre homme et femme, mais avec les femelles de l'anthropoïde précurseur. L'Eglise gnostique n'a-t-elle pas instituté des degrés d'initiation qui font parcourir à ses membres les diverses étapes de la vie religieuse? Oui, et ces degrés sont au nombre de sept, savoir: le borborianisme, le coddianisme, le nymphionisme, le stratiotisme, le phibionisme, le zacheïsme et le barbelitisme." [76]
Joanny Bricaud later changes the names of the individual grades, the Barbelites become "Servants of the brazen Serpent or of the Star."

Peithmann even names the following "true Gnostics" in exactly the same order: the Borborians, Coddians, Stratiotics, Phibionites, Zacchaeans and Barbelites. [77] He cites Fugairon nearly word-perfectly and adopts the "Grade system" of the French Neo-Gnostics. The source of this enumeration is Epiphanius, Panarion XXV 2,1-XXVI 13,7, in which the Spermo-Gnostics are introduced. Never is it made clear however, whether Peithmann rejects the libertine practices attributed to these groups, or whether he practices them himself: that is to say - the offering of Sperm to Christ (through consumption) and the use of menstrual blood as the "Blood of Christ" for "spiritual nourishment". The main issue is the avoidance of siring children.

In his discussion of Eugen Grosche's "Magische Briefe: 8. Brief. Sexualmagie" (Wolfenbüttel 1927), Peithmann's only complaint is that the libertine sex-magician Grosche (founder of the Fraternitas Saturni) remains silent upon the topic of the "complete love of the Pneumatics" (People of Spirit), otherwise entrusting the misogynistic little book to the "advanced reading public". [78]

More on Peithmann in the article about the Wandering Bishops

Even more Seeds of Light

A few years later Kurtzahn takes up the quill once more. In 1925, in the foreword to his "Die Gnostiker" (once again appearing in the Baumann Verlag Bad Schmiedeberg) the "Pistis Sophia" is accorded the status of an "actual" Gnostic scripture. Like Peithmann (whom Kurtzahn refers to as a contact address) and Krumm-Heller, Kurtzahn now admits to performing Karezza. In the aforementioned book, the misogynistic Kurtzahn cites one Valerie Gyigyi as "contemporary Gnostic", who distinguishes herself by a "high degree of insight." "The strong half is the man, who also received his seed as Law, whereas the weaker half even now bleeds from that place where the knot of Life once sat." [82]
This Ms Gyigyi had found a place 11 years before in Reuss' "Parsifal und das Enthüllte Grals-Geheimnis" wherein Reuss revealed himself as her "Master".
[83] The Sperm alone "is Spirit-bearer and as such only of Man" Kurtzahn now continues. "Man retains his Seed and uses it, the 'Son' the Light-seed, the lower Christ [as met in Peithmann's texts] as the way to the FATHER. For himself as well as for his woman." "Only through the Man can the woman be redeemed and that by the [purely spiritual] moistening with the seed of light." Kurtzahn clarifies the Way to Redemption: Man and woman lie together in a state of sexual arousal, open, by the use of breathing techniques [84] a new nerve-centre in the breast (i.e. a Chakra), and draw the Light-Seed over the laryngeal-Chakra into the pineal gland, exactly as taught by Kellner and Reuss. [85]

During this Gnostic marriage "under no circumstance may an ejaculation seminis be permitted, stronger yet after a gentle immissio membri virilis in vaginam it is only allowable to make a gentle movement under complete willed control of both partners." [86] [Love under Will?] The rest of this pro-theosophical book is a dealing in death and the Devil, Gnostic textual examples and the revelation of crass misogyny. In the latter Kurtzahn sees himself supported by Hans Blüher. In the advertisements: Peithmann's 'Gnostischer Katechismus', Reuss/Crowley's 'Gnostic Mass' and Reuss' 'Aufbau-Programm der gnostischen Ur-Christen O.T.O'.

More on Kurtzahn in the article about the Wandering Bishops

Chevalier Le Clément de Saint-Marcq: "L'Eucharistie"

Who is this Saint-Marcq? In 1804 the Parisian Doctor Bérnard-Raymond Fabre-Palaprat (1773-1838) believes to have discovered the papers of the "original" Templars and establishes his Templar order one year later. He consecrates the radical socialist and former catholic Ferdinand-François Châtel (1795-1857) as a bishop and since this time history seethes with the offspring of this Order and its church. [90] One example is the poet Joséphin Péladan (1858-1918), who annealed his order ("Ordre de la Rose-Croix du Temple et du Graal," that bears the early O.T.O.-Lamen since 1895) [91] with that of Gérard Encausse/Papus'. The succession of the Order of Fabre-Palaprat lives on in Papus' "Independent Group of Esoteric Studies" and its Belgian branch KVMRIS. One of the "secretaries" of the KVMRIS is the Chevalier de Saint-Marcq. [92]
Since Aleister Crowley was surely mindful of Saint-Marcq in his chapter on "The Eucharist" in "Magick in Theory and Practice" (Paris 1929), [93] several (translated) excepts follow.

Saint-Marcq: "The host is not an image, nor symbol of divinity: according to catholic faith it is divinity itself, at the same time materially and spiritually present in the person of Jesus Christ, whose conscience and sensibility are entirely present and alive in the smallest particle of a consecrated host." Here the teaching, "that Christ entrusted into the ears of his disciples:" [Follows John VI, 47-55, from that: "He who eats of my flesh, and drinks of my blood, has eternal life."] [94]
"How does a man give of his flesh to eat and of his blood to drink without cutting himself or rending his limbs, without injuring himself, without damaging the integrity of his body? We have no choice. We are obliged to take that which science furnished us with: the procreative semen is a comestible material, semi-solid, semi-liquid, which therefore can be eaten or drunk; it is at once flesh and blood [...] it is always the same act repeated with the same words, and the same effects, which still brings to life among us, in thousands of different places, the figure of the founder of Christianity." Saint-Marcq now brings in texts from the Bhagavad-Gità, finding for example. "VII.8. I am, so speaketh God, the masculine force in the Man" or "IX.18. I am the immortal Seed" and draws in Egyptian and Greek examples. "This universal belief in the possibility of establishing a bond between man and God is therefor anything but a local superstition." Of course there is never any need for "congress with the opposite sex", for that would bring us to the XI°. [95]
Saint-Marcq calls this "agape, du grec agapo." Long before Crowley.

In 1910 the Chevalier's sequel appears: "Les Raisons de l'Eucharistie," from which however, nothing notable seems to be able to be drawn.

Interestingly, the homeopath Krumm-Heller also sees the Sperm as half-fluid/half-solid. This astral liquid is for him the "mediador," that is to say "Cristo," from which can be concluded that the power and the essence of the true conveyor can be found in the spinal marrow and the genitalia. [96] Yet Krumm-Heller strives for androgyny, needs the female and rejects masturbation and homosexuality.

Krumm-Heller: "En el acto sexual debe separarse a Dios de la bestia, al angel del macho bravio. La voluptuosidad carnal ha sido la que más ha denigrado al hombre, y hay que tener en cuenta que en ese momento, en un extasis de amor, debe confundirse con la Fémina [...] En cuanto a la Trinidad, el Padre-Dios en un extremo y la materia en otro, no pueden ser entrelazados sino por Cristo como nexo de unión. Pero el Cristo nada puede hacer sin el auxilio de la Serpiente, ya que la fuerza y el poder sólo residen en ella. En sus misterios encontramos pura fisiologia. El Padre es la cabeza, el cerebro increado. En su base y en el extremo opuesto, la material, el organismo duro concebido por la carne. En el medio, el líquido, el semen creado por si mísmo." [97]

Isopathy?

To potentiate sperm, however, would be unnecessary if the Logos was already immanent in the proto-tincture [German: Ur-Tinktur]. Further, since the human aspect is not being eliminated, but rather potentiated, and since miasmic/homeopathic predispositions are possibly not only passed on in the DNA, but rather that the influence of illnesses acquired during the life-time of the parent can also be transmitted via procreation to the next generation, (Syphilis for example), [99] so for these reasons Sperm should not come under consideration as a homeopathic gift/universal medicine, not even in potentiated form, without most precise prior pharmacological trials. This problem of the "Ideal Sperm" logically reveals itself in an HIV-infected substance. [100] The homeopathic view does not explain the introduction of Godliness. Up to now, however, no homeopathic pharmacological studies are known to have been carried out on Sperm, whether potentiated or not, and therefore all questions on the matter must remain open.

A possible connection of Spermo-consumption and healing could be construction in the context of isopathy. Where homeopathy works with foreign substances, bodily substances and products of illness, so isopathy presents foreign and bodily substances such as blood and urine (also in potentialised form) as illness-triggering agents (material/matter, pathogen). "Isos pathos" means "equal to the suffering". Here is revealed the spiritual relationship between Isopathy and Spermo-Gnosis. Regard the following:

The question too, remains, what Gnostic, homeopathic or isopathic effect is had upon the Host in Crowley's Gnostic Mass (if containing Sperm and menstrual blood) when, according to the practice of the "Caliphate", it is heated in the oven to 160° Fahrenheit (to neutralise the HI-Virus). Perhaps the Amrita really should coagulate?

Magie Sexuelle

R.S. Clymer's F.R.C. rejects Karezza. See "Clymer's reprint of Eulis (called The Immortality of Love, Quakertown: Beverly Hall Corporation, 1978, p. 72), [109] which shows that Clymer was very much anti-Karezza." In Randolph's text where is stated (p.72), that the Man "effectually control[s] the ejective action of the seminal vessels: but he is an unwise and suicidal man who attempts a thing so unnatural and injurious," Clymer introduced a footnote, that this method can lead to brain damage and an infected pro state and is even worse than Masturbation. Clymer expresses himself in a similarly excited fashion regarding Jean Mallinger's International Secretary to the FUDOSI, Marc Lanval, who supports Karezza. [110]

So it remains completely unclear which practices the Brazilian F.R.A./F.R.C. actually follows.
The main distinctions of Randolph's system to Reuss' and Crowley's: the O.T.O. protagonists used the female aspects of their partners (if at all) only as necessarey evil in their magic.

Paul Köthner/"Raphaël" with the Theosophist Hugo Vollrath already published Randolph's/Burgoyne's "Light of Egypt" 1908. (2. Revised edition 1924). [111] This raises the suspicion that Krumm came across at least this "Starwisdom and Alchemy" - Thanks to the recent new German edition of Pascal Beverly Randolph's supposed "Magia Sexualis", the German reader can once against be oriented as to what religiously dressed-up sexuality has to do with the magical charging of amulets, menstrual blood, magical mirrors and the animation of statues. [112]

Comparison with the Lectorium Rosicrucianum [21]

FOOTNOTES

1. See also K.R.H. Frick: "Das Reich Satans" (1), Graz 1982 [back]
2. This even applies to Scientology which identifies itself as Gnostic, L. Ron Hubbard, 5th June 1984, "False Purpose Rundown" [back]
3. Sloterdijk/Macho: "Weltrevolution der Seele" I, München 1991, 19 [back]
4. ibid., 42 [back]
5. Even though this is almost a recipe for Crowley's Hosts, the citation is sourced from a 1500 year old script. Schmidt (pub.), Pistis Sophia, 251 - exact sourcing in the following text. [back]
6. In Manicheism the Material is Evil, a place of corruption. Even though Manicheism expresses itself explicitly as ascetic in its scriptures (no meat, no marriage, no sex), there are other interpretations. For example in: "Die Gnosis" Volume 3, published by. J.P. Asmusen and A. Böhlig (Zürich/München 1980), 194. It is a fixed aspect of Manicheism that the "Angel" unites itself with the Archont (explanation in next footnote) and thereby releases its "evil". By means of the wedding of the Good with the Evil, the soul is washed clean and what remains "mixed with all species on Earth". (Source as before, 224) [back]
7. For example, the snake biting its own tail can be found on the cover of Reuss' "Aufbauprogramm und Leitsätze der Gnostischen Neo-Christen OTO" (Kleiner Reuss-Reader, doc. Appendix in the print version only). The Snake symbolises the sexual union of Man and God: Sexmagickally it is the Spermatozoon. [back]
8. See Reuss/Crowley: "Liber Agape", eg in Naylor/König: "O.T.O. Rituals and Sexmagick", Thames 1999 [back]
9. See the Eucharistic Ritual in "Ein Leben für die Rose", 174. Another Online version [back]
10. 3rd edition, Buenos Aires Press 1985, 13 (1st Edition 1931) [back]
11. Carl Schmidt: "Koptisch-Gnostische Schriften", Volume 1, Leipzig 1905 (4th edition Berlin 1981). E.C.H. Peithmann certainly uses the Schmidt edition for his gnostic catechism. [back]
12. Note Krumm-Heller's misogyny in the chapter "Female Trouble" [back]
13. Could this refer to the Johannine distinction between In-the-World and Of-the-World: the non-place where Gnosis is born? [back]
14. Archonts are the powers that enslave man and inhabit the Universe, which is itself divided like an onion-peel. The Singular Archon is the Demiurge, the World-creator. The Babylonians and Mayans as well as Homer, Aristoteles, Ptolemy, Plato and many others, (in fact every philosopher and philosophical school) have provided their own model of these powers, until Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) rang in modern Astronomy in 1543 with his "De revolutionibus orbium caelestium". This shifted the Gnostic universe inside, and its protagonists sometimes even offworld. [back]
15. Epiphanius (died. 403), Panarion 26: cited for example, in Robert Haardt: "Die Gnosis" (Salzburg 1967), 66. "Die Gnosis" Vol 1, published by E. Hänchen and M. Krause (Zürich/München 1969) also gives an informative overview of the testimony of the church fathers. [back]
16. Leonhard Fendt argues against the Spermo-Gnostic Barbelites in his "Gnostische Mysterien" (München 1922/1980). It appears however that Krumm-Heller is not deeply familiar with the gnostic literature, else he would have drawn a boundary against these Barbelites. [back]
17. In Thelema we find a union between "Gluttony" and "Repast of Love to the end of sexual union" of which the Carpocrates and Ophites are accused - Kurt Rudolph "Die Gnosis" (Göttingen 1980, 2. Edition), 269: Hans Jonas: "Gnosis und Spätantiker Geist" (Stuttgart 1934), 361 [back]
18. Schmidt, 251, 304 [back]
19. Krumm-Heller, Iglesia Gnostica, 71 [back]
20. In this time Peithmann also distances himself from Crowley. [back]
21. In the Lectorium Rosicrucianum the PS is also given much space. The gnostic system of LR is an extremely complex ascetic Valentinianismus, in which Christ is a false Saviour, the Archonts become Race-gods and even Barbelos becomes male - the son of shattering. Members of LR call themselves "Self-freemasons" whose internal organs become sensitive receivers for gnositc electro-magnetic powerlines. In the 1960s the group published the magazine "Ekklesia Pistis Sophia" (Further Lit.: J.V. Rijckenborgh: "Die gnostischen Mysterien der Pistis Sophia," Haarlem 1992, "Das Evangelium der Pistis Sophia" (2. Edition) Bad Teinach-Zavelstein 1991) - see separate opinion of the LR at the end of this article.
    In the conglomerate of the Ordo Templi Orientis Antiqua the Absolute emanates a trinity, that is the source of both Lucifer and Sophia: male-female polarity. If Michael P. Bertiaux (chief of the OTOA) follows the views of Abbé Boullan, then the sexual act is either a taint or the sacrament of sacraments, depending on whether the participants are following the holy rule. Since the OTOA has the union of so many different systems, everyone can serve himself "ad libidum". See P.R. König: "Der OTOA-Reader", Bavaria 1994 [back]
22. See also Tränker's "Agape" in "Ein Leben für die Rose", 153 [back]
23. See "Der Grosse Theodor Reuss Reader", 226ff. [back]
24. The Nassenes and Valentinians are of the opinion that only men can enter the "Heavenly Kingdom". Kurt Rudolph: "Die Gnosis," Leipzig 1980 (2), 292 [back]
25. Rosa Cruz 1;27, Berlin, April 35, 8 [back]
26. David Bowie in "Lucy Can't Dance" on "Black Tie White Noise," Savage Records 74321'13697'2, 1993 [back]
27. Das OTO-Phänomen, 223 (= out of print: new edition: "Der O.T.O. Phänomen Remix", Bavaria 2001). The translation published by E. Amelineau is recommended in Joanny Bricaud's magazine "La Gnose" (ex. Paris, Januar 1910, 36). As with the Lectorium Rosicrucianum the text is attributed to Valentinus. [back]
28. Following the example of the Roman-Catholic church the gnostic patriarch is elected by the "Très Haut Synode des Evêques Gnostiques" - and of course with the well-wishes of the "très Saint Plerôme": Joanny Bricaud: "Homélie," Lyon 1908, 3. A gnostic bishop is therefore "selected" and "elected" at the same time. See P.R. König: "Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica", Bavaria 1998 [back]
29. Who together with Gérard Encausse (amongst others) was elected bishop on 18/9/1892 by the 2nd Patriarch of the Gnostic Catholic Church (Bernard Raymond Fabre des Essarts/Synesius) [back]
30. In three volumes up to 1900 [back]
31. Series of articles "La Magie dans le Gnosticisme" in: "La Gnose," Year 1909-10; Facsimile in König, Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica [back]
32. Leipzig 1907, II:402-403 [back]
33. For example 1909-1910: "Catéchese Gnostique," 1913 "Bref Exposé de la Doctrine Gnostique" a representative selection also in: Le Forestier, L'Occultisme (Reprint Milano 1990) - see also the creeds introducing the article on the "Wandering Bishops". The French gnostic pamphlets are facsimiled in König: "Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica", München 1998 [back]
34. König, Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica [back]
35. Birven to Gerald Yorke, Letter of 12.3.1950: "Kleiner Theodor Reuss Reader" (Parsifal-Text), 75. This does in fact refer to the "secret" of the homosexual XI° which therefore was indeed anchored in the O.T.O. BEFORE Crowley appeared in the O.T.O. realms! [back]
36. Also to this point - Massimo Introvigne: "Il ritorno dello gnosticismo," Varese 1993, 155ff. [back]
37. Actually it should be the Prostata. Citation from the OTOA-Reader, 96 [back]
38. Also according to Bricaud calling on John (and not on Peter): "Le gnosticisme s'offre comme la religion desirée. La Gnose est la synthèse complète et definitive de toutes les croyances et de toutes les idées dont l'humanité a besoin" (Homélie, Lyon 1908, 4). Of Christian-gnostic orientation, Bricaud wished to introduce Reuss' and Crowley's Gnostic Mass as the obligatory 18° Mass of the Freemasons in 1920. Facsimile in "Der Grosse Theodor Reuss Reader", 264 [back]
39. Reuss, Parsifal, in: Kleiner Reuss-Reader, 75 [back]
40. "Materialien zum OTO," 16 [back]
41. Peithmann: "Gnosis," in: "Hain der Isis" 3, Berlin 1931, 74 [back]
42. Alias Gnosticos: Die Weltanschauung der Gnostiker, in: Zentralblatt für Okkultismus, Leipzig 1929, 331 [back]
43. "Der Kleine Reuss Reader", Aufbauprogramm und Leitsätze der Gnostischen Neo-Christen O.T.O., 75-76 [back]
44. So King represents on page 441 (front and back) a gnostic intaglio, that was already represented as a phallic intaglio in Richard Payne Knight's "Discourse on the Worship of Priapus" in 1786, this time compounded (page 37). Aleister Crowley named it the Baphomet-Gem. The text on page 75 of Knight's work describes the composition of the intaglio: The head of Pan is melded into that of a ram. The body with that of a cock and a coot. Above hangs the Sun-Star. With some imagination Pan's beard can be interpreted as the penis. According to Knight the whole thing represents "the universe between the two great prolific elements, the one the active, and the other the passive cause of all things" [back]
45. New Edition Aalen 1968 [back]
46. Citation from I:4, 10, II:174, 402 [back]
47. Kleiner Reuss Reader, Aufbauprogramm und Leitsätze der Gnostischen Neo-Christen O.T.O., 77 [back]
48. See Reuss' "Agape Liber C" stuffed up by Crowley with thelemic euphemisms [back]
49. Many of the ideas that Reuss and Crowley restamped for themselves are to be found for example in Heinz Hunger's excellent book: "Die Heilige Hochzeit" (Wiesbaden 1984) [back]
50. Augustinus: "Ama, et fac quod vis," Rabelais: "Fay ce que vouldras," Nietzsche: "Tut immerhin was ihr wollt, aber seid erst solche, welche wollen können" [back]
51. Thanks to Josef Dvorak for a photograph of this source. According to repeated statements, Dvorak himself owns hardly any materials regarding Carl Kellner and regards it as a great challenge to be able to make a great deal from very little, and to work his way around the country delivering hardworking lectures on that basis: (express letter of 27.2.95 and various telephone conversations). Dvorak's rejection of "Scienticification" is clearly mirrored in his works and productions. [back]
52. Herman knows of Eliphas Lévi's combination of Magic, Mysticism and Kabbala, "that have no great worth of themselves." [back]
53. Citations from I:11, 14, 44, II:102, III:126, IV:24, 115, 239, 241, V:39, 127-129, 167, 186-188, 197, 199 [back]
54. Henri Birven suggests that Peithmann himself drew his succession from Kenneth Sylvan Launfal Guthrie (born. 1871) (Birven to Gerald Yorke 12.3.50). His "Brotherhood of Eternal Covenant" however, appears to manage without apostolic succession. H.J. Metzger, the Swiss OHO, sees Peithmann coming from Louis François Giraud (died. 1951) "Materialien zum OTO," 318. Giraud was consecrated on 21.6.1907 by Vilatte as Priest, and on 21.6.1911 also by Vilatte as bishop. Bricaud was consecrated on 21.7.1913 by Giraud, by Constant Chevillon on 5.1.1936. Head of Giraud's church is Ivan-Gabriel Drouet de la Thibauderie. [back]
55. All published in Baumann-Verlag Bitterfeld and Leipzig, from 1905 in Bad Schmiedeberg, whose printing presses also bore Reuss' Oriflamme. Leopold Engel, P.Ch. Martens, Kerning, Karl von Eckhartshausen and many others have gone public in this place. [back]
56. Birven to Yorke, 12.3.50 [back]
57. Near literally also in "Rosa Cruz" 3, Berlin 27.6.1930, 232: "Hace muchos anos fui consagrado Obispo" [back]
58. Krumm-Heller in: "Revista Rosa-Cruz" IV:3, Berlin 1930, 229 and 232. Here Krumm-Heller calls the theosophic Church of Leadbeater a "false invention," that apes the roman catholic church. On Leadbeater himself - Gregory Tillett: "The Elder Brother," London 1982 [back]
59. Between 1932 and 1936 Peithmann alias Dr. Gnósticos pens unnumerable articles in Krumm-Heller's pamphlet series "Rosa Cruz". In Rosa-Cruz Nummer 9 of 27.12.1932 (Berlin) Peithmann even introduced the Master Gustav Meyrink as "nuestro patriarca de la Iglesia Gnostica", page 65 [back]
60. See also the comments on Peithmann in the article on the Wandering Bishops. [back]
61. Thaumaturgia, in Enseñanzas, 369 [back]
62. Crowley: "Da du fehlen musst, da du ein Mensch bist, so fehle durch Exzesse," "Suche, was Gift für dich ist. Durch Schmerz kommt wahrhaftes Vergnügen," "Fäulnis und Leiden sind Dinge zum Frohlocken, sind Mittel für Wahrheit und Schönheit," "Ich will Blasphemie, Mord, Notzucht, Revolution," Citation from Metzger's Equinox-Volumes. [back]
63. Confessions, 60 [back]
64. E.C.H. Peithmann: Gnostischer Katechismus, 2. Volume, Bitterfeld and Leipzig 1904, 85 [back]
65. It is not known whether Krumm-Heller practiced vegetarianism [back]
66. Or that the Sperm was not to be used only for the generation of children, which was the libertine interpretation [back]
67. Peithmann: "Was ist der Mensch?" 3rd part of the Gnostic Catechism, Schmiedeberg and Leipzig 1905, 23, 27, 55 [back]
68. Peithmann: "Biographia Antiqua - 4th Series, I. Die Naassener," Schmiedeberg 1903, 3, 5, 14 [back]
69. Peithmann: "Gnosis," in Henri Birven's magazine "Hain der Isis," 3, Berlin 1931, 73, 77 [back]
70. "Unverwelkliche Schönheit des Körpers [...] Vollkommenheit der Körperformen, eine himmlische Zartheit der Haut, einen silbernen Klang der Stimme, ein bezauberndes himmlisches Feuer des Auges, eine überirdische Glut auf Backen und Lippen," Peithmann, Gnosis, in: Hain der Isis, 1, Berlin 1931, 29. What this has to do with Peithmann's rigourous rejection of bodily "Schönheit und der bestechenden Reize der Natur," is probably only known by his wallet, that apparently has no contamination phobia with regard to "verstecktem Moderduft und lauernder Fäulnis und Verwesung", compare citation in "Gnostischer Katechismus," 2nd Volume, Bitterfeld and Leipzig 1904, 85 [back]
71. Peithmann alias Gnosticos: Die Weltanschauung der Gnostiker und unsere Zeit, in: Zentralblatt des Okkultismus, Leipzig 1929, 328 [back]
72. The return of the Logos (Sperm) into the Pleroma [back]
73. Peithmann alias Gnosticos: Tibetanische und gnostische Magie, in: Zentralblatt für Okkultismus, Leipzig 1931/32, 565 [back]
74. Peithmann: Gnosis, in Hain der Isis, 1, Berlin 1931, 20 [back]
75. ibid., 28 [back]
76. pages 92, 155 [back]
77. Peithmann: "Gnostische Dokumente aus Epiphanius," in: Hain der Isis, 4, Berlin 1931, 109 [back]
78. In: Hain der Isis, 4, Berlin 1927, 95 [back]
79. See also notes regarding Kurtzahn in the article on the Wandering Bishops [back]
80. Bad Oldesloe, 35, 46-47. The contemporary Order of Armanen under Adolf Schleipfer (Outer court of the Guido von List-company) still publishes Kurtzahn's script as a facsimile [back]
81. Kurtzahn himself called Carl Kellner a black magician in 1920. "Der Tarot", 83. Perhaps the Ariosophical Kurtzahn only knows Kellner from the heretical articles of the Ludendorffers Jean Paar/Ipares [back]
82. An extract from "Lucifer des Christentums. Das Enthüllte Mysterium" as yet undiscovered [back]
83. Kleiner Theodor Reuss Reader, 57, original, 8 [back]
84. Here Kurtzahn refers to Peryt Shu, with which we would return to Krumm-Heller and his writing style of "Shu" [back]
85. See "Grosser Theodor Reuss Reader" [back]
86. Kurtzahn, Gnostiker, 77-82 [back]
87. In 1994 a translation appears under the title "Eucaristia e spermtofagia" by the "Istituto Mediterraneo di Studi Politeisti" (Vittorio Fincati). In the foreword Massimo Introvigne's "Il ritorno dello gnosticismo" is criticised as being too "soft". (Introvigne's letter of 13.1.95). Fincati's group is "très intéressé aux études de la magie sexuelle parce que c'est le fond des notre plus anciennes religions," letter of 4th February 1995. English in Naylor/König: OTO Rituals and Sexmagick, Thames 1999, 425. Integral online publication [back]
88. "Der Kleine Theodor Reuss Reader," 62, 75 [back]
89. In Michael P. Bertiaux we also find both directions, see OTOA-Reader [back]
90. Even M.P. Bertiaux imagines himself as being in his apostolic line: OTOA-Reader, 36 [back]
91. See illustration to this chapter. Horst E. Miers finds the Lamen as stained glass in the bishop's chapel of Tournai in Belgium from the 12th century. (Lexikon des Geheimwissens, München 1986 (6), 398) [back]
92. The history of this order that, unusually enough touched on A.M.O.R.C, and finally ended with mass suicides in Switzerland and Canada on 4 and 5 October 1994 under its head Luc Juret, is told by Massimo Introvigne in "Ordeal by Fire: The Tragedy of the Solar Temple," Turin November 1994. [back]
93. Henri Birven to Gerald Yorke, letter of 12.3.1950 [back]
94. Citation from the Scofield Bible, 1110 [back]
95. Brüssel no date, "79me Mille" 8, 11, 12, 18 [back]
96. Krumm-Heller, Iglesia Gnostica, 60ff. [back]
97. Krumm-Heller, Iglesia Gnostica, 38, 40 [back]
98. Against self-deification or religious mania? [back]
99. Georgos Vithoulkas: "Die wissenschaftliche Homöopathie," Göttingen 1986, 129ff., additionally Marco Righetti: "Ehrlicher: Wir wissen nicht, wie homöopathische Prädispositionen auf die nächste Generation übertragen werden," letter of 6.3.95 (see next footnote but one) [back]
100. What do HI-Viruses do in a potentiated respectively energised state? Are they perhaps a sort of gnostic counterpart to the Logos? [back]
101. Thanks to Marco Righetti, Author of: "Forschung in der Homöopathie" Burgdorf-Verlag 1988, conversation on 2nd March 1995 [back]
102. The contents pages of his works show an intensive involvement with the themes of "sex after death," "Blonde and Brunette Media," Female nature superior to male," "Why Libertinage can never satisfy or pay," "Why no Man can respect a "Mistress"," "Astounding theory concerning Brunettes. Have they all Black man's blood in their veins?". (Randolph: "Eulis!" Toledo 1874 (2), IIff.) [back]
103. For the history of Randolph and his order we refer to Clymer's voluminous books. Also: Randolph, Magia Sexualis, Paris 1931/69 (Foreword by Maria Naglowska): Magia Sexualis by P.B. Randolph, edited by Elias MacGregor, published by Robert North 1988: Magia Sexualis, Roma 1977, foreword by Julius Evola: Gordon J. Melton: P.B. Randolph - America's Pioneer Occultist, Lyon 1992: and Joscelyn Godwin's series of Articles in "Theosophical History" (volume 2-3, Fullerton 1988-1991). K.R.H. Frick's moralistic inspirations ("Erleuchtete", "Licht und Finsternis", Graz) and Julius Evolas' "Metafisica del Sesso" reveal little. [back]
104. Regarding Naglowska see Massimo Introvigne: "Indagine sul Satanismo," Milano 1994, 246-256 [back]
105. Eulis! (Toledo: Randolph Publishing Co., 1874), pp. 102, 104 (Godwin: "condemns any artificial contraceptives, allowing only use of infertile periods). p. 150 (condemns coitus interruptus and by implication Karezza too") [back]
106. "The Wonderful Story of Ravalette (Boston: Randolph Publishing Co., 1871), p. 36, calls The Oneida Community a "religious brothel"" [back]
107. E.C.H. Peithmann preached vegetarianism but this was not demonstrated by the theosophically oriented homeopath Krumm-Heller nor by the F.R.A. Nevertheless this question was put to Godwin on the assumption that Krumm's ascetic gnosticism also permitted vegetarianism. [back]
108. Joscelyn Godwin, letter of 13.10.94 [back]
109. Original: "Eulis! The History of Love" (Second Edition, Toledo 1874) [back]
110. Clymer, Rosicrucian Fraternity in America, II, Quakertown 1935, 465, 527 [back]
111. Oscar Schlag's handwritten comments in the frontispiece: "Paul Köthner = Mitatron = Athenor -> Wolfling 7246/7609/6975/7622, " Haupt... 31753/28301, vergl. Zeitschrift: Die Nonnen 1912/4 1913/2 = Sir I.M. Nov = Der Brückner = Der Klausner (von mir!), vergl. Lennhoff: Freimaurerlexikon 374/75 und 866." This last reports on the scandal Köthner created as an Ex-Freemason in 1925/26, when he was the main source of unsubstantiated accusations of high treason against the Ex-grandmaster of the German Freemasons and so also inspired Ludendorff to produce hate tirades. [back]
112. Wien 1992 [back]
113. Lectorium Rosicrucianum, Letter of 31.10.94 [back]
114. Lectorium Rosicrucianum, Letter of 23.11.94 [back]

Original © 1995, an outline of "Ein Leben für die Rose"
traduccion castellano: Gnosticismo Correcto
traduse romana: Gnosticism corect

Translated by Susanne Williams and Joe Collins, © January 2003

Read about the "Asiatischen Brüder vom Rosenkreuz", the "mächtigen und weisen Orden der Ritter und Brüder des Lichts" - the source of Theodor Reuss' "Brotherhood of Light" which was in fact the "Brothers of Light".

SPERMATOZOOLOGY

More about all this in Andreas Huettl and Peter-R. Koenig: Satan - Jünger, Jäger und Justiz

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What's New ?    Introduction    The early O.T.O.    Carl Kellner    Memphis Misraim    O.T.O. Rituale    Fraternitas Saturni    Typhonian O.T.O.    Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica    The "Caliphate"    Fraternitas Rosicruciana Antiqua   Spermo-Gnostics   Illuminati   Deutsche Seiten    David Bowie    Charles Manson    Anal Intercourse and the O.T.O.    Pictures + Documents    Voices of the O.T.O.    Books on the O.T.O. Regarding Aleister Crowley's antidemocratic, racist and mysanthropic writings, followers point out: "The reason [...] aspects of Thelema are omitted [in public discussion] indicates the actual problem with presenting Thelema as a religion and attempting to get Thelema sanctioned by the government or approved by the public: Thelema is ultimately in contrast to and transgressive of normative society. Thelema rejects the morals and values of normative society and acts to transgress and violate these norms. From the inclusion of intoxicants in ritual, to the positive view of sexuality, which frequently is seen as promoting promiscuity, to the pro–authoritarian and Nietzschian aspects of Thelema, normative society has much to reject in Thelema and conversely, Thelema encourages its adherents to reject most aspects of normative society.". See The Templar's Reich.