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Former good articleThelema was one of the Philosophy and religion good articles, but it has been removed from the list. There are suggestions below for improving the article to meet the good article criteria. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.
Article milestones
DateProcessResult
February 14, 2008Good article nomineeListed
February 12, 2021Good article reassessmentDelisted
Current status: Delisted good article

Thelema Today

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There seems to be an almost complete lack of information about the current status of the religion. How many practitioners are they? How are they distributed across the world? Is it a growing, stable or shrinking religion?

Unused sources

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The following are sources listed in the article that are not actually used (referred to). Putting them here in case anyone needs them later.

  ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 08:11, 15 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Grorp: Thanks for calling attention to those. The sources at the end in your list regarding the relationship between Thelema and Scientology were added by me years ago as references in-text. Obviously someone has removed the relevant text but for some reason left in the references. (I have not monitored this article for a long time.) I had long planned on adding a new section to the article about the immense influence that Thelema has had on religions, philosophies, and other movements and ideologies that came after the advent of Thelema. Those ideologies are as diverse as Wicca, Neopaganism, some variants of Satanism (which is unfortunate in my opinion, as, unlike Thelema, Satanism is a philosophy of narcissism, but I digress...), the New Age movement, 1960s counterculture, and the hippie movement, among many, many countless other ideologies and belief systems. One could potentially even argue that the modern gay rights movement wouldn't have happened without Thelema.
Thelema has also been argued by many scholars of Religion to have been one of many influences on the development of Scientology. (For example, it is a well-documented fact that the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, was an early member of the O.T.O. and likely even knew Crowley personally.) This fact makes a lot of people very uncomfortable, both Thelemites who are afraid that this association will make people think that Thelema is a "cult", and Scientologists who are afraid that people will negatively associate Scientology with occultism. (The Church of Scientology officially denies that L. Ron Hubbard was ever associated with Thelema or Crowley, despite virtually undeniable evidence to the contrary.) I originally had a sentence or two in the intro of the article mentioning that Thelema had been an influence on the development of many diverse belief systems, Scientology among them. This angered some people, either people who thought it made Thelema look "bad" or people who thought it made Scientology look "bad", so I assume one of those such people removed it somewhere along the way but for some reason either intentionally, or more likely unintentionally, forgot to also remove the references.
My intention was always to create a new large section of the article, perhaps even an entirely new article, documenting the vast influence that Thelema has had on society and other religious movements, but years go by faster than I ever imagined they would and it is one of countless tasks that I intended to do but never got around to. And for the record, my position is to be neither pro- nor anti-Scientology, nor pro- nor anti-Thelema when it comes to Wikipedia. My intent is to neutrally, factually, and without bias document the vast and often hidden impact that Thelema has had on the course of history and society. It's truly remarkable just how many seemingly unrelated things in society and culture can trace their roots back to Thelema.
Writing the section--or hopefully an entire article--is still something I intend to do eventually. But for now, I'm just giving some backstory as to an explanation for at least part of that list of orphan references. I wonder if the other sources you listed may have become unused in the article for similar reasons: because they didn't fit with someone's personal bias/opinions/beliefs. Vontheri (talk) 23:11, 24 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Proposed merge of List of Thelemites into Thelema

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The list article is uncited (18 years!). It is short enough (without a TOC) to fit inside the Thelema article. Or simply provide a link to Category:Thelemites in the See-also section.   ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 08:18, 15 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose. Merge doesn't solve citation problem. Every single entry is cited in the linked article. Skyerise (talk) 12:59, 15 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
You did a good job adding citations and/or citation-needed tags to each entry. Still not sure why it needs its own article. I cannot imagine it will ever grow. There are only 36 items on the list (10 still uncited). That's not a lot. Also, the letter section headings are distracting; it's a far more interesting list to just scroll through, not search. Below is a better rendition (if you put the # back to *; I used it to count the entries).   ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 05:12, 16 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Why would the list never grow? Vontheri (talk) 23:37, 24 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The list
  1. Kenneth Anger (1927-2023), American underground experimental filmmaker, actor, and writer.[1][2]
  2. Frank Bennett (1868–1930), Australian chemist.[3]
  3. William Breeze (b. 1955), American writer and musician.[4]
  4. Mary Butts (1890–1937), English modernist writer.[5]
  5. Marjorie Cameron (1922–1995), American artist, poet, actress and occultist.[6]
  6. Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), English occultist, ceremonial magician, writer, and founder of Thelema.
  7. Lon Milo DuQuette (b. 1948), American writer, lecturer, musician, and occultist.[7]
  8. J. F. C. Fuller (1878–1966), Major-General in the British Army, military historian, and strategist.[8]
  9. Karl Germer (1885-1962), German and American businessman and occultist, OHO of OTO (1947–1962).[9]: 127 
  10. Kenneth Grant (1924–2011), English ceremonial magician and advocate of Thelema.[9]: 324 
  11. Lady Frieda Harris (1877–1962), English artist known for her design of Crowley's Thoth Tarot.[10]
  12. Leah Hirsig (1883–1975), American schoolteacher and occultist, most famous of Crowley's Scarlet Women.[11]
  13. Sara Northrup Hollister (1924–1997), American occultist and second wife of Scientologist founder L. Ron Hubbard.[12]
  14. Christopher Hyatt (1943–2008), American psychologist, occultist, and writer.[13][14]
  15. Augustus Sol Invictus (b. 1983), American far-right political activist, attorney, blogger, and white nationalist.[15]
  16. Charles Stansfeld Jones (1886–1950), Canadian occultist and ceremonial magician.[9]
  17. George Cecil Jones (1873–1960), English chemist, occultist, Golden Dawn member and co-founder of the A∴A∴.[citation needed]
  18. Richard Kaczynski (b. 1963), American occult writer and psychologist.[16]
  19. Rose Edith Kelly (1874–1932), English wife of occult writer Aleister Crowley from 1903 to 1909.[citation needed]
  20. Francis X. King (1934–1994), English occult writer and editor.[citation needed]
  21. James Lees (1939–2015), English magician known for English Qaballa.[17]
  22. Grady Louis McMurtry (1918–1985), American ceremonial magician and "Caliph" of O.T.O.[18]
  23. Marcelo Ramos Motta (1931–1987), Brazilian occult writer and member of A∴A∴.[citation needed]
  24. Nema Andahadna (1939–2018), American occultist, ceremonial magician, and writer about the Ma'atian current.[19]
  25. Victor Neuburg (1883–1940), English poet and writer.[citation needed]
  26. Noname Jane, American pornographic actress.[20]
  27. Rodney Orpheus (b. 1960), English electronic rock musician.[citation needed]
  28. Jack Parsons (1914–1952), American rocket engineer, chemist, and occultist.[21][22]
  29. C. F. Russell (1897–1987), American occultist and founder of the magical order G.B.G.[citation needed]
  30. Phyllis Seckler (1917–2004), American occultist and writer, and a lineage holder in the A∴A∴ tradition.[citation needed]
  31. Wilfred Talbot Smith (1885–1957), English occultist and ceremonial magician.[9]: 12–17 
  32. Leila Waddell (1880–1932), Australian violinist who became a Scarlet Woman of Aleister Crowley.[citation needed]
  33. James Wasserman (1948–2020), American writer and occultist.[23][24]
  34. Sam Webster, American writer, publisher, co-founder of the Chthonic Auranian Templars of Thelema and OSOGD.[25]
  35. Jane Wolfe (1875–1958), American silent film character actress.[26]
  36. Gerald Yorke (1901–1983), English soldier and writer.[citation needed]
Sources

  1. ^ Anger, Kenneth (July 22, 2013). "Keneth Anger: how I made Lucifer Rising". www.theguardian.com. Retrieved February 13, 2021.
  2. ^ Represa, Marta (April 22, 2014). "Kenneth Anger on the Occult". www.anothermag.com. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  3. ^ Richmond, Keith (2004). Progradior and the Beast. Neptune Press. pp. 99–100, 145. ISBN 978-0954706340.
  4. ^ Flood, Alison (2015-10-15). "Unseen Aleister Crowley writings reveal 'short-story writer of the highest order'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-11-09.
  5. ^ Booth, Martin (2001). A Magick Life: A Biography of Aleister Crowley. London: Hodder and Stoughton. pp. 375–76. ISBN 0-340-71806-4.
  6. ^ Kansa, Spencer (2011). Wormwood Star: The Magickal Life of Marjorie Cameron. Oxford: Mandrake. pp. 75–77, 247. ISBN 978-1-906958-08-4.
  7. ^ DuQuette, Lon Milo (1999). My Life With The Spirits: The Adventures of a Modern Magician. Red Wheel/Weiser. ISBN 1-57863-120-3.
  8. ^ Pasi, Marco (2014). Aleister Crowley and the Temptation of Politics. Durham: Acumen Publishing Limited. p. 71.
  9. ^ a b c d Starr, Martin P. (2003). The Unknown God: W. T. Smith and the Thelemites. Bollingbrook, Illinois: Teitan Press. ISBN 978-0-933429-07-9.
  10. ^ Symonds, John (1973). The Great Beast: The Life and Magick of Aleister Crowley. St Albans, Herts.: Mayflower. ISBN 978-0583121958.
  11. ^ Sutin, Lawrence (2000). Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. p. 330.
  12. ^ Pendle, George (2006). Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons. Orlando, FL: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 203–4. ISBN 978-0-15-603179-0.
  13. ^ Hyatt, Christopher; Aloim, Zehm. The Magic of Israel Regardie. New Falcon Publishing. ISBN 1-56184-230-3.
  14. ^ Greer, John Michael (2003). The New Encyclopedia of the Occult. Llewellyn Worldwide. p. 205. ISBN 978-1-56718-336-8.
  15. ^ Caputo, Marc (October 1, 2015). "Libertarian Party drama: Goat sacrifice, eugenics and a chair's resignation". Politico. Archived from the original on July 8, 2017. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  16. ^ Shoemaker, David (2022). Living Thelema: A Practical Guide to Attainment in Aleister Crowley's System of Magick. Red Wheel/Weiser. p. 271. ISBN 978-1578637799.
  17. ^ Thompson, Cath (2018). All This and a Book. Hadean Press Limited. ISBN 978-1-907881-78-7.
  18. ^ Hanegraaff, Wouter J.; Faivre, Antoine; Broek, Roelof van den; Brach, Jean-Pierre (2005). Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism (Online ed.). Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9789004141872. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
  19. ^ Grant, Kenneth (1980). Outside the Circles of Time. Muller. ISBN 978-0584104684. Contains a lengthy account of the writing of Nema's Liber Pennae Praenumbra.
  20. ^ "Official bio". Noname Jane's Official Site. Archived from the original on March 28, 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  21. ^ Beta, Hymenaeus (2008). "Foreword" to Three Essays on Freedom (J.W. Parsons). York Beach, Maine: Teitan Press. pp. x–xi. ISBN 978-0-933429-11-6.
  22. ^ Parsons, John Whiteside (2008). Three Essays on Freedom. York Beach, Maine: Teitan Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-933429-11-6.
  23. ^ "Tahuti Lodge O.T.O., serving the New York City Metropolitan Area". Tahutilodge.org. Tahuti Lodge, Ordo Templi Orientis. 2009. Archived from the original on November 23, 2011. Retrieved November 22, 2011.
  24. ^ Wasserman, James (2012). In the Center of the Fire: A Memoir of the Occult 1966-1989. Lake Worth, FL: Ibis Press. p. 187. ISBN 978-0-89254-201-7.
  25. ^ Wicker, Christine (2005). Not In Kansas Anymore: A Curious Tale of How Magic Is Transforming America. HarperSanFrancisco. pp. 207–236. ISBN 0-06-072678-4.
  26. ^ Wolfe, Jane (2008). Jane Wolfe: The Cefalu Diaries 1920 - 1923. Temple of the Silver Star. ISBN 978-0997668636.
Um, it's still a living religion. Why would you think the list would never grow? There are a number of living people on the list, and there are most likely articles that could be added if support were added to the relevant articles. I'm sorry you're distracted by the alphabet, but I see no reason to change the headings. Not sure why you are discussing it here rather than there. Skyerise (talk) 08:32, 16 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Lead image

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What about using the symbol of Aleister Crowley's rendition of the unicursal hexagram in the lead section just like the articles of other religions such as Theosophy, Satanism, and more? And use the image of Crowley in somewhere else in the article (obviously according to context). User:AimanAbir18plus (talk) 17:23, 27 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@AimanAbir18plus: This image has been on the article for years. It shows Crowley, the founder of the religion, together with the most holy objects of the religion, the Stele of Revealing and The Book of the Law, and you have given no policy or guideline based reason justifying the change. Generally, per WP:EDITCON, we assume there is consensus for the current image and you would have to give a good policy or guideline-based argument for the change. Neither your own personal preferences or how it is done on other articles are valid arguments for making changes. Skyerise (talk) 17:31, 27 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
This is not my personal preference. It is a proposal to use the symbol based on what most of the editors say. It depends on the majority of the editors' opinion. But, articles of other religions such as Theosophy, Satanism, and more use symbol in the lead. AimanAbir18plus (talk) 17:42, 27 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
@AimanAbir18plus: Yes, it is your personal preference. The creators and maintainers of articles have broad editorial discretion on the article content and images. They are not required to take any other articles' styles into account — those article's editors also have broad editorial discretion. There is no guideline that dictates any kind of consistency between articles. The only valid arguments for overriding the choices of the original creators and maintainers of the article is that what they have done violates one or another policy or guideline. If you don't explain how you think the current choice violates a guideline (citing the guideline), there is little chance that you will gain a consensus to change the image. Skyerise (talk) 01:31, 28 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Even if it was my personal preference, I just put it for discussion. Just leave it on the talk page. AimanAbir18plus (talk) 09:23, 28 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Of course; but just be aware that if no other editors respond, it means no other editors support the change. Skyerise (talk) 13:00, 28 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
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