Thelema Abbey
The Thelema Abbey (also: Abtei von Thelema , English Abbey of Thelema ) was a magical-religious community that was founded by the British occultist Aleister Crowley in 1920 near the Sicilian city of Cefalù .
The name is borrowed from the novel Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais (1494–1553). In it, Rabelais describes, among other things, how the giant Gargantua had the Thélème Abbey built, which is the counterpart to an ordinary monastery : in it men and women live together according to their will, according to the only rule of not having a rule. Since everything is allowed, everyone can do what they want at any time. Crowley's motto of the new age was analogously: "Do what you want". The name Thelema for the new religious movement founded by Crowley is also derived from it.
Crowley set up his "Abbey Thelema" together with some followers in a farmhouse that was in the hills not far from the small port town of Cefalù. A spiritual center, a Collegium ad spiritum sanctum, was to be established in this place . For three years, Crowley and his followers lived here by self-imposed rules. During this time the community was also visited by many guests who were interested in Crowley's magical-ritual practices. Financing the project and living together in the country house turned out to be difficult. In addition, the rituals and drug consumption aroused the distrust of the locals and, ultimately, the authorities. When the British student Raoul Loveday, one of the guests of the "Abbey", died in 1923, Aleister Crowley was expelled from the country by the Italian government. The commune was carried on by a few "thelemites" for a while, but Crowley's absence soon led to the project being abandoned.
On August 6, 2010, the then vacant building with the partially preserved frescoes made by Crowley was offered in The Times for 1.2 million pounds. As a possible use, the broker suggested building a museum for Aleister Crowley and the history of the abbey.
Web links
- History of Thelema Abbey (Cefalù)
- “No resurrection without psychoplastic re-shape” by Andreas L. Hofbauer on the abbey, ritual room and the replica of the Chambre des Cauchemars by the artist René Luckhardt
Individual evidence
- ↑ Erich Köhler: The Thélème Abbey and the unity of Rabelais'schen work. In: August Buck (Ed.): Rabelais. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1973, pp. 296–314 ( PDF ; 1.8 MB)
- ↑ Hans-Dieter Leuenberger: That is esoteric. Introduction to esoteric thinking and esoteric language . esotera pocket library. 7th edition. Bauer, Freiburg 1994. p. 133.
- ↑ Tobias Churton: Aleister Crowley. The biography. Watkins, London 2011, p. 1.
Coordinates: 38 ° 1 '53.8 " N , 14 ° 1' 37.7" E