Kenneth Grant

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This article is about the British occultist. For the Canadian Presbyterian missionary and Trinidad and Tobago educational pioneer, see Kenneth J. Grant

Kenneth Grant (b. 1924) is a British occultist and head of the magical order which he calls Ordo Templi Orientis but which is commonly referred to as the Typhonian Ordo Templi Orientis to distinguish it from other branches of O.T.O.

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[edit] Occult background

Grant's occult experiences began in 1939 during World War II, when he claims to have received the first transmission of the "outerhuman being" S'lba. This was followed in 1943 with the reception of The Chronicles of Kralnia.[1]

He met and began personal tutelage in magick under Aleister Crowley in 1944, at the age of twenty. Crowley was sixty-nine.

Apart from Crowley he has been influenced in his occult work by Austin Osman Spare.[2]

[edit] Kenneth Grant and Ordo Templi Orientis

Grant met Aleister Crowley in 1944 and was initiated into Ordo Templi Orientis. In 1946, he was initiated into the A.'.A.'. and was also confirmed as an IX° in O.T.O. According to occult historian P.R. Koenig, Crowley called Grant "a definite gift from the Gods" and in March 1946 wrote in his diary: "Value of Grant: if I die or go to U.S.A., there must be a trained man to take care of the English O.T.O."

After Crowley's death, Grant's status as IX° in O.T.O was recognized by Crowley's successor, Karl Germer, in 1948.[1] In 1951, Grant declared, "I am authorized to operate the O.T.O. in England."[3] He went on to develop new methods and rejuvenate the Order. In 1952, he wrote a new manifesto for the O.T.O. and had 5000 copies printed.[4]

In 1954, Grant began the work of founding the New Isis Lodge. The lodge became operational in April of 1955 when Grant issued a manifesto announcing his discovery of a "Sirius/Set current" upon which the lodge was to be based. Karl Germer was so displeased with this manifesto that on July 20, 1955, he issued a "Note of Expulsion" expelling Grant from O.T.O.[1]

Following this, Grant claimed for himself the title O.H.O. (Outer Head of the Order) of Ordo Templi Orientis. The branch under the leadership of Grant is commonly called the "Typhonian" Ordo Templi Orientis. The New Isis Lodge was absorbed into Grant's Ordo Templi Orientis in 1962.[1]

Members of Grant's Ordo Templi Orientis consider him the rightful O.H.O. of O.T.O, as evidenced by this quote from a 1976 edition of Sothis magazine:

Karl J. Germer, having proved himself blind to the implication of Crowley's letter to him, failed to understand and accept when — soon after Crowley's death — Grant submitted his plans for change... It remains to remind those who support the old-aeon concept of the O.T.O. that they have not produced — nor can they ever produce — the slightest evidence of a creative current in any of its forms.[5]

[edit] Biographer of Austin Osman Spare

Grant was a great admirer and close friend of Austin Osman Spare. Together they founded the Zos Kia Cultus in 1952.[1] Over the years, Grant did much to bring his friend Spare's name into western occult society, including the publication of Images and Oracles of Austin Osman Spare and Zos Speaks!, as well as numerous references and mentions in the Typhonian Trilogies.

[edit] Partial bibliography

[edit] The Typhonian Trilogies

[edit] Other works on the occult

  • Remembering Aleister Crowley ISBN 1-871438-12-8
  • Hidden Lore: The Carfax Monographs by Kenneth & Steffi Grant
  • Images and Oracles of Austin Osman Spare
  • Zos Speaks! (about Austin Osman Spare)
  • At the feet of the Guru ISBN 0954388763

[edit] Poetry

  • The Gulls Beak
  • Black to Black
  • Convolvulus ISBN 095438878

[edit] Novellas and short stories

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Koenig, P.R. (1991). Kenneth Grant and the Typhonian Ordo Templi Orientis.
  2. ^ Evans (2007), pp. 67-70
  3. ^ Evans (2007), p. 66
  4. ^ Evans (2007), p. 66
  5. ^ Sothis (1976) quoted in Koenig (1991)

[edit] References

  • Evans, Dave (2007). Aleister Crowley and the 20th Century Synthesis of Magick. Hidden Press, Second Revised Edition. ISBN 978-0-9555237-2-4

[edit] External links