Jane Wolfe

Jane Wolfe, the "Red Flame", at the Abbey of Thelema in Cefalù, Italy

Jane Wolfe (March 21, 1875 — March 29, 1958) was an American silent film character actress and Thelemite.

Early life

Of Pennsylvania Dutch stock, Wolfe was born in the tiny Pennsylvania borough of St. Petersburg. As a young girl she went to New York City to pursue a career in the theatre but soon became involved with acting in the fledgling motion picture industry.

Career

She made her film debut in 1910 at the age of 35 with Kalem Studios in A Lad from Old Ireland under the direction of Sidney Olcott.

In 1911, Wolfe was part of the Kalem Company's crew in New York City who relocated to the company's new production facilities in Los Angeles. She went on to become one of the leading character actors of the decade, appearing in more than one hundred films including an important secondary role in the 1917 Mary Pickford film, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.

Association with Aleister Crowley

In 1918, Jane Wolfe began corresponding with the English author and occultist Aleister Crowley, and two years later she gave up her career in Hollywood to join Crowley at his "Abbey of Thelema" at Cefalù, Sicily, living there from 1920 until it closed in 1923. There she kept records about her magic practice, which were later published by the College of Thelema of Northern California as The Cefalu Diaries.[1]

Wolfe is considered an important female figure in magick as, in addition to her friendship and work with Crowley, she took part in the founding of the Agape Lodge of the Ordo Templi Orientis in southern California as well as being its lodge master.

Later years

After not appearing on screen for 17 years, in 1937 Jane Wolfe had a small role in a B-movie Western named Under Strange Flags.[2]

Ouija

Wolfe used the Ouija board and credited some of her greatest spiritual communications to the use of this implement.[3]

Death

Jane Wolfe died in the Southern California city of Glendale eight days after her 83rd birthday.

Partial filmography

References

  1. ↑ Jane Wolfe: The Cefalu Diaries 1920 – 1923. College of Thelema of Northern California, 2008.
  2. ↑ IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029710/
  3. ↑ Cornelius, J. Edward (2005). Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board. ISBN 1-932595-10-4

External links

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