Michael Dietmar Eschner

Michael D. Eschner at the Thelema Society's summer party, Bergen / Dumme, August 2003

Michael Eschner (born February 16, 1949 in Berlin ; † November 13, 2007 in Bergen an der Dumme ) was a German thelemite and author from Bergen an der Dumme, Lower Saxony . He has published several books on magic , personal development and psychology , including annotated editions of the works of Aleister Crowley , whose reincarnation he saw himself. Eschner founded the thelemic group "Thelema-Orden des Argentum Astrum" (today Thelema Society ).

life and work

Eschner began playing chess at the age of five, later he was a tournament player and also organized chess tournaments in Berlin. Eschner trained as an electrical mechanic . He began studying business administration , but dropped out prematurely. At the age of 19 he was the youngest real estate and finance broker in Berlin and shortly afterwards opened Berlin's first sex shop . Later he worked as an electrical mechanic, representative and GEZ employee. He was drawn to the 1968 movement and appeared as a speaker on Marxism and Marxist economic theory.

Eschner saw himself as an autodidactic philosopher . In the late 1960s, he became aware of Aleister Crowley's mindset called Thelema . In 1979 he founded a commune in Berlin , which he registered as an association under the name "Thelema-Orden des Argentum Astrum eV". Working groups offered courses that covered magical topics, philosophy , systems theory and communication . The German first edition of “Magick”, a work by Aleister Crowley, was published, the Liber AL vel Legis and other Crowley books were translated, as well as cassettes and distance learning courses on magical subjects. Around 1983, accusations from the media and sect advice centers increased. The association was dissolved and the so-called "Network Thelema" was set up. Part of the Berlin community moved to Bergen in Wendland .

In early 1980 Eschner expanded the thelemic approach taken over from Crowley to include fragments from the fields of neurobiology , cybernetics and sociology . The circuit model of the psyche from Timothy Leary and expanded by Eschner describes the human brain as a computer and the human body as a biorobot. As part of his “Thelema Order of the Argentum Astrum”, Eschner tried to “reprogram” people. According to former members, disgust training, meditative exercises, excessive alcohol consumption and sex-magic exercises served this purpose. This should lead to an extensive deletion of old inhibitory behavior in the member. Sexual assaults are said to have occurred more frequently as part of these exercises, but dropouts from the group have almost never made statements in court.

After that, the order underwent several transformations in which different structures and methods were tried out. There was the Live Unlimited Society of Thelema (LUST), whose focus was on self-organized groups, then the Ethos Gemeinschaft Thelema (EGT) and the concept of the reflexive ultimate justification by Wolfgang Kuhlmann , and finally the Thelema Society , which was about development of the individual, in the context of the concept of operational constructivism coined by Niklas Luhmann .

Eschner died of heart failure in his home.

Influences

The Thelema term coined by Eschner is a conglomerate of philosophy, sociology, psychology and spirituality. Thelema offers, according to Eschner, “not truth, but possibilities.” If one still wants to speak of roots and a kind of genealogy of his Thelema term, Friedrich Nietzsche , Niklas Luhmann , Georg Hegel , Alfred North Whitehead , Charles Sanders Peirce and Martin are above all To name Heidegger .

At the beginning of his Thelema career, Eschner claimed to be the pioneer of the Horus Eon , a new age of mankind, to shape the next higher human being. The concern of the 1968 movement, changing society through predictable changes in people, could not be achieved for Eschner by appeals to reason. He later turned away from it and looked for ways that would allow the individual to develop themselves. In doing so, he essentially relied on the operative constructivism influenced by Luhmann .

Problem

According to critics, Eschner's method leads less to individuation than to unconditional obedience to him and is often assigned to ritual violence . The media and churches criticize Eschner's methods and his teaching content. Eschner himself, in turn, accused the media of reporting in an undifferentiated and prejudiced manner. It is also typical that churches and the media take a more critical look at “those who think differently” or defame them because of their differences. Since, in Eschner's opinion, these people were still caught up in old European thinking, he understood their criticism.

In 1992 Eschner was sentenced to six years imprisonment for dangerous bodily harm and rape of a group member. Eschner denied the act until the end of his life. In 2002 there were more media reports about sexual exploitation within the group. One member of the group was convicted of using force to force a woman to have sex with Eschner. According to the police, this was not an isolated incident.

bibliography

Aleister Crowley the Big Beast 666. Life and Magick , 1982
Network Thelema. The mysteriously spectacular paths from the simplicity of the robot to the diversity of the enlightened , 1985
Psychology. Practical Guide to the Use / Development of the Human Nervous System , 1985
Network Thelema , 1985
The Secret Instructions and Rituals of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Vol. 1 , 1985
The Secret Sex Magic Teachings of the Beast 666 , 1985
The Enochian Chess Game by Michael D Eschner and Andreas Baar , 1986
The Secret Instructions and Rituals of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Vol. 2 , 1987
The Enochian Keys of Magic , 1988
Math Magic , 1989
Liber Al vel Legis, with comments by Aleister Crowley, Edward A. Crowley, and Michael D. Eschner , 1992
The Magical Kabbalah , 1993
Mind Expansion Techniques , 1993
Magic, an Introduction , 1998
Götterdämmerung , 1998
The Enochian Magic according to Dr. John Dee. Volume 1: The original system of Dr. John Dee , 2000
Life like the Phoenix , 2000
The Enochian Magic according to Dr. John Dee: Vol. 2, System and Application in the Hermetic Order of the GD , 2006
Living Like a Phoenix: The Road to Immortality , 2011
Tarot - mystery adventure game , 2011
Thelema Primer: The Re-Enchantment of the World, Volume 1 , 2012
Thelema - The Good News: The Re-Enchantment of the World, Volume 2 , 2013

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Martina Zsack-Möllmann: Lust for killing disguised as a satanic ritual . In: German Society for Prevention and Intervention in Child Abuse, Neglect and Sexualized Violence eV (Ed.): Prevention. Journal of the Federal Association for the Prevention of Sexual Abuse . tape 5 , no. 2 . Bonn February 2002, p. 7–11 ( dgfpi.de [PDF]).
↑ Michaela Huber: Trauma and the consequences. Trauma and trauma treatment. Part 1 . Junfermann Verlag, Paderborn 2012, ISBN 978-3-87387-510-4 , p. 183 .

personal data
SURNAME	Eschner, Michael Dietmar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Eschner, Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German thelemite and author
DATE OF BIRTH	February 16, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH	Berlin
DATE OF DEATH	November 13, 2007
Place of death	Bergen on the stupid

[1] Martina Zsack-Möllmann: Lust for killing disguised as a satanic ritual . In: German Society for Prevention and Intervention in Child Abuse, Neglect and Sexualized Violence eV (Ed.): Prevention. Journal of the Federal Association for the Prevention of Sexual Abuse . tape 5 , no. 2 . Bonn February 2002, p. 7–11 ( dgfpi.de [PDF]).

[2] Michaela Huber: Trauma and the consequences. Trauma and trauma treatment. Part 1 . Junfermann Verlag, Paderborn 2012, ISBN 978-3-87387-510-4 , p. 183 .