O.T.O.

(Ordo Templi Orientis, or “Order of the Eastern Temple”)
Ceremonial magick organization founded in Germany in 1902 by Carl Kellner and Theodor Reuss. Originally the O.T.O. was strongly based on Freemasonry, but was eventually taken over by Aleister Crowley and re-organized into a Thelemic organization. Indeed, Crowley eventually set his stamp so completely on the group that it is often thought of as having been “his,” even to the point of people assuming he founded it.

After Crowley’s death in 1947, his deputy Karl Germer was appointed head of the order, but following Germer’s death in 1962, various caliphs, including Grady McMurtry and Kenneth Grant, advanced competing claims to leadership, causing multiple schisms and a general fracturing of the group. Various groups such as the O.T.O. U.S., Societas O.T.O., Chthonic Auranian O.T.O., Typhonian O.T.O., and Thelemic Order of the Golden Dawn (to name just a few!) continue in the general spirit of Crowley’s lodge, with varying levels of cordiality or hostility toward each other.