Hymenaeus Beta

(Revision as of 04:09, 22 Jun 2005)

William Breeze was born in Paris, France on 12 August 1955. He studied music in New England, possibly at Harvard University, in the 1970s. He is a musician who plays electric viola, mandolin, guitar, bass and electronics. Breeze was a member of Coil from 1997 through 2004, playing electric viola.

Breeze has also played with Psychic TV and appears on Thee Fractured Garden (1995), Cold Blue Torch (1995), Trip Reset (1996), Spatial Memory (1996), and Thee Fractured Garden (2004) and is mostly credited as playing viola and viola synthesizer.

Table of contents

1 Occult activities

1.1 Hymenaeus Beta
1.2 Editorial work

2 References

3 External links

Occult activities

Breeze has been involved in the occult since at least August of 1978, when he was initiated into the Minerval degree of Ordo Templi Orientis. During the next few years, he advanced through the Man of Earth degrees of O.T.O., taking his IV° & P.I. at Tahuti Lodge in New York City in January of 1985.

Following the death of Caliph Hymenaeus Alpha (Grady McMurtry), Breeze was elected as the new Caliph of Ordo Templi Orientis in a special election by all the active IX° members of O.T.O. He assumed the name Hymenaeus Beta.

Hymenaeus Beta

Frater Hymenaeus Beta XII° is the current Outer Head of the Order (O.H.O.) of Ordo Templi Orientis. He was elevated to that office in 1985, following the death of his predecessor, Grady McMurtry (Hymenaeus Alpha). As O.H.O., he holds supreme authority over O.T.O. In addition, the O.H.O. is ex officio the Patriarch of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica, the liturgical arm of O.T.O.

Significant accomplishments during Hymenaeus Beta's reign include:

Establishment and protection of the Order's legal ownership of the Crowley literary estate
Publication of many books by Crowley, his contemporaries, and modern Thelemic writers
Expansion of the O.T.O., including the establishment of national Grand Lodges in the United States and Britain, and increased membership and local activity worldwide
Standard policies and improved standards of performance for initiations and the Gnostic Mass

Editorial work

Breeze is well-known in the occult community, under his pseudonym Hymenaeus Beta, as the editor of many of the works of Aleister Crowley.

The works he has edited include:

The Equinox, Volume III, Number 10, Weiser Books.
The Equinox of the Gods, New Falcon Publications.
The Heart of the Master & Other Papers, Thelema Media.
The Law is for All, Thelema Media.
Magick: Liber ABA: Book 4. Weiser Books.
The General Principles of Astrology. Weiser Books.
Diary of a Drug Fiend. Red Wheel/Weiser.

References

Koenig, Peter. All we want is a 'Caliph' (http://user.cyberlink.ch/~koenig/minutes/minutes.htm), The Ordo Templi Orientis Phenomenon (http://user.cyberlink.ch/~koenig/). Retrieved May 25, 2005.
Koenig, Peter. Minutes of the Special Ninth Degree Caliphate Election (http://user.cyberlink.ch/~koenig/minutes/trans.htm), The Ordo Templi Orientis Phenomenon (http://user.cyberlink.ch/~koenig/). Retrieved May 25, 2005.

External links

Discogs profile (http://www.discogs.com/artist/William+Breeze)
Coil News 1997 (http://www.brainwashed.com/coil/news/news1997.html)
Coil News 1998-2004 (http://www.brainwashed.com/coil/news/)
Photo of Breeze (right) (http://www.brainwashed.com/coil/info/bill.html)

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