Hermetic Brotherhood of Light

From Thelemapedia

Categories: Organizations | Ordo Templi Orientis

Although the origins of this order are not clear, the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light was a Fraternity that supposedly descended from the Frates Lucis in the late 18th century (in turn, derived from the German Order of the Golden and Rosy Cross), and was the seed from which Ordo Templi Orientis was created. In addition, The Hermetic Brotherhood of Light also seemed to be strongly connected with the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor.

Carl Kellner (the Spiritual Father of O.T.O.), Paschal Beverly Randolph (whose book entitled "Magia sexualis" has influenced so much on the O.T.O.) and others were members of it. In Kellner's 1917 O.T.O. Constitution, it states in Article 1, Section 1:

Under the style and title: ANCIENT ORDER OF ORIENTAL TEMPLARS, an organization, formerly known as: "The Hermetic Brotherhood of Light", has been reorganized and reconstituted. This reconstituted association is an international organization, and is hereinafter referred to as the O.T.O.

References

• O.T.O. 1917 Constitution (http://www.scarletwoman.org/docs/docs_1917constitution.html)
• Greenfield, Allen. The Story of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light. Luxor Press
• ____. Hermetic Brotherhood Revisited. Luxor Press
• Godwin, Joscelyn. (1990). "The Brotherhood of Light." Theosophical History, Vol. III, No. 3