The Abbey of Thelema is a small house which was used as a temple and spiritual centre, founded by

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pro ...

and

Leah Hirsig Leah Hirsig (April 9, 1883 – February 22, 1975) was an American schoolteacher and occultist, notable for her magical record, ''The Magical Record of the Scarlet Woman'', which describes her experiences as a victim of occult writer Aleister Cro ...

Cefalù Cefalù (), classically known as Cephaloedium (), is a city and comune in the Italian Metropolitan City of Palermo, located on the Tyrrhenian coast of Sicily about east of the provincial capital and west of Messina. The town, with its populati ...

(

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, Italy) in 1920. The villa still stands today, but in poor condition. Filmmaker

Kenneth Anger Kenneth Anger (born Kenneth Wilbur Anglemyer, February 3, 1927) is an American underground experimental filmmaker, actor, and author. Working exclusively in short films, he has produced almost 40 works since 1937, nine of which have been grouped ...

, himself a devotee of Crowley, later uncovered and filmed some of its murals in his film ''Thelema Abbey'' (1955), now considered a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...

Name

The name was borrowed from

François Rabelais François Rabelais ( , , ; born between 1483 and 1494; died 1553) was a French Renaissance writer, physician, Renaissance humanist, monk and Greek scholar. He is primarily known as a writer of satire, of the grotesque, and of bawdy jokes and ...

's satire ''

Gargantua and Pantagruel ''The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel'' (french: La vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel) is a pentalogy of novels written in the 16th century by François Rabelais, telling the adventures of two giants, Gargantua ( , ) and his son Pantagruel ...

'', where an ''Abbaye de Thélème'' is described as a sort of "anti-monastery" where the lives of the inhabitants were "spent not in laws, statutes, or rules, but according to their own free will and pleasure." Prior to arriving at the name, Crowley referred to the house as Villa Santa Barbara.

Objectives

This idealistic

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...

was to be the model of Crowley's commune, while also being a type of magical school, giving it the designation "Collegium ad Spiritum Sanctum", A College towards the Holy Spirit. The general program was in line with the

A∴A∴ The A∴A∴ ( ) is a magical organization described in 1907 by occultist Aleister Crowley. Its members are dedicated to the advancement of humanity by perfection of the individual on every plane through a graded series of universal initiation ...

course of training, and included daily adorations to the sun, a study of Crowley's writings, regular

yogic Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...

and ritual practices (which were to be recorded), as well as general domestic labor. The object was for students to devote themselves to the Great Work of discovering and manifesting their True Will. Crowley had planned to transform the small house into a global center of magical devotion and perhaps to gain tuition fees paid by acolytes seeking training in the Magical Arts; these fees would further assist him in his efforts to promulgate

Thelema Thelema () is a Western esoteric and occult social or spiritual philosophy and new religious movement founded in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), an English writer, mystic, occultist, and ceremonial magician. The word '' ...

and publish his manuscripts.

Residents

Raoul Loveday

In 1923, a 23-year-old

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

undergraduate, Raoul Loveday (or Frederick Charles Loveday), died at the Abbey. His wife,

Betty May Betty May (born Bessie Golding 1894, died after 1955) was a British singer, dancer, and model, who worked primarily in London's West End of London, West End. She was a member of the London Bohemianism, Bohemian set of the inter-war years, claime ...

, variously blamed the death on his participation in one of Crowley's rituals (allegedly incorporating the consumption of the blood of a sacrificed cat) or the more probable diagnosis of acute

enteric fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several d ...

contracted by drinking from a mountain spring. Crowley had warned the couple against drinking the water, as reported in biographies by

Lawrence Sutin Lawrence Sutin (born October 12, 1951) is the author of two memoirs, two biographies, a novel and a work of history. History of works Sutin's debut book was ''Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick''. He subsequently edited two volumes of wr ...

, Richard Kaczynski and others. When May returned to London, she gave an interview to a tabloid paper, ''The Sunday Express'', which included her story in its ongoing attacks on Crowley. With these and similar rumors about activities at the Abbey in mind,

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

's government demanded that Crowley leave the country in 1923. After Crowley's departure, the Abbey of Thelema was eventually abandoned and local residents whitewashed over Crowley's murals. Jane Wolfe Cefalù

Jane Wolfe

Jane Wolfe worked with Crowley's Thelemic system of training in Cefalù for three years, and emerged from those years with a degree of attainment, having survived Crowley’s ordeals. Whilst a resident at the Abbey of Thelema, Wolfe was admitted to the

by Crowley, taking the magickal name Soror Estai. She undertook various practises including yoga,

dhāraṇā ''Dhāraṇā'' () is translated as "collection or concentration of the mind (joined with the retention of breath)", or "the act of holding, bearing, wearing, supporting, maintaining, retaining, keeping back (in remembrance), a good memory", or "f ...

and

pranayama Pranayama is the yogic practice of focusing on breath. In Sanskrit, '' prana'' means "vital life force", and ''yama'' means to gain control. In yoga, breath is associated with ''prana'', thus, pranayama is a means to elevate the '' prana'' ''sha ...

of which she kept a detailed record which was later published by the College of Thelema of Northern California as ''The Cefalu Diaries''. She later worked as Crowley’s personal representative in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Other residents

In popular culture

*Danish artist

Joachim Koester Joachim Koester (born 1962) is a conceptual artist. He works principally in still photography and video. Hal Foster, writing in Artforum, has characterized his work as being "along the borders between documentary and fiction." Over the last fifte ...

created five colour and five black and white photographs of the villa; these photographs comprise his ''Morning of the Magicians'' (2005) work.

Gallery

Thelema Abbey 1.jpg, Ruins of the Abbey Thelema Abbey room.jpg, Abbey of Thelema, current rooms Thelema Abbey 2.jpg, Abbey of Thelema, the present chapel

References

Citations

Works cited

* * * *

External links

Photos of the Abbey from 2005''Abbey of Thelema'' film on IMDBPhotos from cefalù"No resurrection without psychoplastic re-shape". An article by the Austrian Philosopher Andreas L. Hofbauer about the Abbey, original pictures of the replica of the ''Chambre des Cauchemars'' by the artist René Luckhardt and about ritual chambers in general
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbey Of Thelema 1920 establishments in Italy 1923 disestablishments in Italy 20th century in Sicily Buildings and structures in the Province of Palermo Monasteries in Sicily Religious organizations disestablished in 1923 Religious organizations established in 1920 Secret societies in Italy Thelema Villas in Sicily