To Him the Winged Secret Flame, To Her the Stooping Starlight: The Social Construction of Gender in Contemporary Ordo Templi Orientis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.v15i1-2.102Keywords:
Aleister Crowley, gender, Judith Butler, sexuality, Thelema, Western esotericism.Abstract
Based on fieldwork in the United States, the article analyses the social construction of gender in contemporary O.T.O.. The article addresses an important and often neglected area of study in research on Western esotericism, and discusses how the notion of binary gender is both created and challenged in interactions between O.T.O. members. Thelemic divinity as presented in Liber AL is envisioned as consisting of a divine father, Hadit, mother Nuit, and Ra-Hoor-Khuit, their divine offspring. Despite the gender polarity constructed thus, contemporary O.T.O. members stretch the boundaries of binary gender through a plethora of deities, personal gender performances and acceptance of different sexual orientations and lifestyles. The creativity and innovation of contemporary O.T.O. members’ gender constructions demonstrates the necessity of greater methodological diversity in research on Western esotericism, in order to allow an understanding of esoteric traditions as lived religions.References
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——. “Liber XV: Ecclesiae Gnosticae Catholicae Canon Missae.” Equinox 3, no. 1 (1919): 247–70.
——. The Book of the Law: (technically Called Liber Al Vel Legis Sub Figura CCXX as Delivered by XCIII = 418 to DCLXVI): An Ixii Sol in Aries March 21, 1938 E.v. York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1976.
——. The Confessions of Aleister Crowley: An Autohagiography. London: Arkana, 1989.
Crowley, Aleister, Victor Neuburg and Mary Dest. “The Paris Working.” In The Vision and the Voice with Commentary and Other Papers, 343–409. York Beach, Me.: Samuel Weiser, 1998.
Effertz, Michael. Priest/ess: In Advocacy of Queer Gnostic Mass. West Hollywood, Calif.: Luxor Media Group LLC, 2013.
Evola, Julius. Eros and the Mysteries of Love: The Metaphysics of Sex. Rochester, Vt.: Inner Traditions, 1991.
Frisk, Liselotte. “Nya Religiösa Rörelser: Könsroller, Sexualitet och Religiös Ideologi.” Finyar 1 (2004): 4–19.
Gardner, Gerald. Witchcraft and the Book of Shadows. Thame: I-H-O Books, 2004.
Hakl, Hans Thomas. “The Theory and Practice of Sexual Magic, Exemplified by Four Magical Groups in the Early Twentieth Century.” In Hidden Intercourse: Eros and Sexuality in the History of Western Esotericism, edited by Wouter J. Hanegraaff and Jeffrey Kripal, 445–77. Leiden: Brill, 2008. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004168732.i-544.104
Hedenborg-White, Manon. “Revolutionsikon Eller Playboygudinna? Ett Genusperspektiv På Tolkningar Av Babalon.” Aura 3 (2011).
McGuire, Meredith. Lived Religion: Faith and Practice in Everyday Life. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195172621.001.0001
Naglowska, Maria de. The Sacred Rite of Magical Love: A Ceremony of Word and Flesh. Rochester, Vt.: Inner Traditions, 2012.
Orpheus, Rodney. Abrahadabra: Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thelemic Magick. Boston: Weiser Books, 2005.
Owen, Alex. The Place of Enchantment: British Occultism and the Culture of the Modern. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. http://dx.doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226642031.001.0001
Randolph, Paschal Beverly. Eulis! The History of Love: Its Wondrous Magic, Chemistry, Rules, Laws, Modes, Moods and Rationale; Being the Third Revelation of Soul and Sex. Toledo, Ohio: Randolph, 1874.
Urban, Hugh B. Magia Sexualis. Sex, Magic and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/california/9780520247765.001.0001
Wasserman, James. To Perfect This Feast: A Performance Commentary on the Gnostic Mass. New York: Sekmet Books, 2013.
Published
2014-08-12
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Hedenborg-White, M. (2014). To Him the Winged Secret Flame, To Her the Stooping Starlight: The Social Construction of Gender in Contemporary Ordo Templi Orientis. Pomegranate, 15(1-2), 102-121. https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.v15i1-2.102
