Theodor Reuss
1855 – 1923 German occultist, Freemason, journalist, singer
Occultist who built the Ordo Templi Orientis and chartered Aleister Crowley.
- Religion
- An esoteric Masonry combining high-degree rites, Rosicrucian and Gnostic elements, and later Crowley's Thelema.
- Affiliations
- Organized and led the Ordo Templi Orientis. Held charters in numerous fringe Masonic and Rosicrucian bodies.
Theodor Reuss was a German occultist and fringe Freemason who organized the Ordo Templi Orientis in the years after Carl Kellner's death, gathering many irregular Masonic degrees into one system. He admitted Aleister Crowley to the order and eventually recognized him as its head for the English-speaking world. Under Reuss the OTO absorbed Crowley's Thelemic religion.
Connections
- associate of Aleister Crowley — Chartered Crowley, who later succeeded him as OTO head.
- successor of Aleister Crowley — Succeeded Reuss as head of the OTO.
- associate of Carl Kellner — Built the OTO on the plan they discussed before Kellner's death.
- associate of Carl Kellner — Together they conceived the OTO; Reuss organized it after Kellner died.
In the timeline
- 1902 – 1906 Founding of the Ordo Templi Orientis mentioned