C.F. Russell

Cecil Frederick Russell (1897–1987) was an American occultist. Russell was a member of the A∴A∴ and Aleister Crowley's O.T.O. magical order. Russell later founded his own magical order, the G.B.G. (variously explained as "Great Brotherhood of God" or "Gnostic Body of God").

Early life

Russell was born in Greenwood, Massachusetts, on June 9, 1897; his family later moved to Orlando, Florida. At the age of 19, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy.

From April 22, 1917 to December 12, 1918, Russell worked as a hospital attendant at the U.S. Naval Academy Hospital. While serving as a Pharmacist Mate aboard the USS Reina Mercedes, Russell injected himself with cocaine, resulting in a dishonorable discharge from the US Navy.

Russell disputes this in his autobiography, stating he pretended so in hope of receiving a transfer to the medical facility, followed by a medical discharge. The war had ended, and Russell wished to unite with Crowley.

Disciple of Crowley

In June 1918, Russell met Crowley in New York and was initiated into the third-degree of Crowley's magical order Ordo Templi Orientis. Russell took the magical name of Frater Genesthai.

From November 1920 to Autumn 1921, Russell lived at Crowley's abbey in Cefalu, Sicily. Crowley's diary records:

Now I'll shave and make up my face like the lowest kind of whore and rub on perfume and go after Genesthai usselllike a drunken two-bit prick-pit in old New Orleans. He disgusts me sexually, as I him, as I suspect… e dirtier my deed, the dearer my darling will hold me; the grosser the act the greedier my arse to engulph him!

Russell's account of the magical working is in P.117-118 in ''Znuz is Znees'' volume 2.

Founder of an order

In 1922, Russell founded the Choronzon Club, advertising it as a 'short cut to initiation" in the pages of ''Occult Digest''. In 1931, the group changed its name to G.B.G (for "Great Brotherhood of God" or "Gnostic Body of God"), Chappell, V. (2010). Sexual outlaw, erotic mystic: The essential Ida Craddock. San Francisco, CA: Red Wheel/Weiser. It was initially structured as a correspondence course. G.B.G was headquartered in Chicago., Alexandrian, S. (2015). The great work of the flesh: Sexual magic East and West. Russell received half of all initiation fees collected. The fees were used to support the neighborhoods.

Inspired by Ida Craddock, Russell developed his own curriculum of sex magick. In the 1960s, disciple Louis T. Culling published these in two works entitled ''The Complete Magickal Curriculum of the Secret Order G.'.B.'.G.'.'' and ''Sex Magick''. The first two degrees, "Alphaism and Dianism", reportedly draw upon Ida Craddock's work ''Heavenly Bridegrooms'' Culling writes that Dianism is "sexual congress without bringing it to climax" and that each participant is to regard their partner not as a "known earthly personality" but as a "visible manifestation of one's Holy Guardian Angel.

In San Francisco, Russell was visited by fellow Thelemite Wilfred Talbot Smith, Unable to find work in Vancouver, Smith headed to Los Angeles in California, United States. On the way he stopped at San Francisco, where he met with Cecil Frederick Russell, a Thelemite who had departed from the Crowleyan orthodoxy to found his own group, the Choronzon Club and who would later head the O.T.O's California chapter, the Agape Lodge.. Smith, however, disliked Russell, and later claimed that he had been unnerved when Russell began expressing a sexual interest in children. Many of Russell's followers would later join Smith's organization.

Russell was denounced by OTO leader Crowley, who in a document dated April 15, 1934 described Russell as a "thief, swindler, and blackmailer".

In 1938, the GBG dissolved.

As Genesthai (Russell) continued separately for the rest of his 90 years of life to teach after establishing nearly 100 members across the United States under the name of the G.'.B.'.G.'. . He mostly taught logic, mathematics, and projective geometry as a more robust way of attaining enlightenment. Volume 3 of Znuz is Znees describes most of his inventions in that area. He even taught Zen Art work with water colors, hand-painting the pages for the members of the time. Except for his last 6 months, he would send out a page of instruction every week.

Later life

In 1944, Russell published ''Provenance'', described as "the only twentieth century occult text to center around the subject of book-collecting". From 1970–72, Russell published his memoirs entitled ''Znuz is Znees: Memoirs of a Magician''. He died in 1987.

Selected works

* ''Book chameleon: A new version in verse.'' (1940)
* ''Provenance'' (1944)
* ''Barbara Cubed: The manual of pure logic'' (1944)
* ''Tropermic calculus'' (1944)
* ''Grammar of changes'' (1944)
* ''Manual of Electro-combinational Engineering'' (1945)Manual of Electro-combinational Engineering Times-Mirror Press, 1945
* ''Znuz is Znees: Memoirs of a magician'' (1970)

References

Bibliography

*
*
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, C.F.
1897 births
1987 deaths
American occultists
American Thelemites
Ceremonial magicians
Members of Ordo Templi Orientis