C.F. Russell
Cecil Frederick Russell (1897–1987) was a 20th-century American occultist. Russell was a member of the A∴A∴ and Aleister Crowley's O.T.O. magical order. Russell later founded his own magical order, the G.B.G. (variously explained as "Great Brotherhood of God" or "Gnostic Body of God").
C. F. Russell | |
|---|---|
 "At his desk focus on his work, probably mathematics or writing" | |
| Born | Cecil Frederick Russell June 19, 1897 Greenwood, Mass. |
| Died | June 12, 1987 (aged 90) California |
| Pen name | Frater Genesthai, Fiat Lux[1] |
| Occupation | Occultist, Author, Mathematician |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | American |
Early life
Russell was born in Greenwood, Mass. on June 9, 1897; His family later moved to Orlando, Florida.[2]
His family stayed in the Massachusetts/New Hampshire area he went to Florida by bicycle to join the navy.
From April 22, 1917 to December 12, 1918, Russell served in the US Navy, where he worked at a hospital attendant at the US Naval Academy Hospital.[2] While serving as a Pharmacist Mate aboard the USS Reina Mercedes, Russell injected himself with cocaine, resulting in a dishonorable discharge from the US Navy.[2]
Russell disputes this in his Autobiography Znuz is Znees 2nd edition Page 157 - he pretended so as to be transferred to the medical facility & was discharged with a medical discharge. The war was over & he wanted to go join Crowley.
Disciple of Crowley
In June 1918, Russell met Crowley in New York and was initiated into the third-degree of Crowley's magical order Ordo Templi Orientis. Russell took the magical name of 'Frater Genesthai'.[3]
From November 1920 to Autumn 1921, Russell lived at Crowley's 'abbey' in Cefalu, Sicily.[4] Crowley's diary records:[5][6]
C.F.R 's account of the magical working is in P.117-118 in Znuz is Znees volume 2. The details of the working are far more interesting than Crowley's comment below.
Now I'll shave and make up my face like the lowest kind of whore and rub on perfume and go after Genesthai [Russell] like a drunken two-bit prick-pit in old New Orleans. He disgusts me sexually, as I him, as I suspect…[T]he dirtier my deed, the dearer my darling will hold me; the grosser the act the greedier my arse to engulph him!
Founder of an order
In 1922, Russell founded the Choronzon Club, advertising it as a 'short cut to initiation" in the pages of Occult Digest.[7] In 1931, the group changed its name to G.B.G (for "Great Brotherhood of God" or "Gnostic Body of God")[8][9] It was initially structured as a correspondence course.[10] G.B.G was headquartered in Chicago.[11] Russell received half of all initiation fees collected.[12][4] The fees were used to support the neighborhoods.
Inspired by Ida Craddock, Russell developed his own curriculum of sex magick.[9] In the 1960s, disciple Louis T. Culling published these in two works entitled The Complete Magickal Curriculum of the Secret Order G.'.B.'.G.'. and Sex Magick.[13] The first two degrees, "Alphaism and Dianism", reportedly draw upon Ida Craddock's work Heavenly Bridegrooms [8] Culling writes that Dianism is "sexual congress without bringing it to climax" and that each participant is to regard their partner not as a "known earthly personality" but as a "visible manifestation of one's Holy Guardian Angel.[14]
In San Francisco, Russell was visited by fellow Thelemite Wilfred Talbot Smith, who would later head the O.T.O's California chapter, the Agape Lodge.[15] Many of Russell's followers would later join Smith's organization.[16]
Russell was denounced by OTO leader Crowley, who in a document dated April 15, 1934 described Russell as a "thief, swindler, and blackmailer".[4]
In 1938, the GBG dissolved.[11]
As Genesthai (Russell) continued separately for the rest of his 90 years of life to teach after establishing nearly 100 members across the United States under the name of the G.'.B.'.G.'. . He mostly taught logic, mathematics, and projective geometry as a more robust way of attaining enlightenment without the tendency to go insane as sex magic tends to do. Volume 3 of Znuz is Znees describes most of his inventions in that area. He even taught Zen Art work with water colors, hand-painting the pages for the members of the time. Except for his last 6 months, he would send out a page of instruction every week.
Later life
In 1944, Russell published Provenance, described as "the only twentieth century occult text to center around the subject of book-collecting".[17]
From 1970–72, Russell published his memoirs entitled "Znuz is Znees: Memoirs of a Magician".[18]
Russell died in 1987.
Selected works
- Book chameleon: A new version in verse. (1940)[19]
- Provenance (1944)[20]
- Barbara Cubed: The manual of pure logic (1944)[21]
- Tropermic calculus (1944)[22]
- Grammar of changes (1944)[23]
- Manual of Electro-combinational Engineering (1945)[24]
- Znuz is Znees: Memoirs of a magician (1970)[25]
- full list of his self-published works are below:
References
- "XI°: Anal Intercourse and the Ordo Templi Orientis — Rocket to Uranus – per Aftera Ad Astra".
- Kaczynski, Richard (April 10, 2012). Perdurabo, Revised and Expanded Edition. North Atlantic Books. p. 329. ISBN 978-1-58394-576-6.
- Crowley, Aleister (January 1996). Magical Diaries of Aleister Crowley. ISBN 9780877288565., Crowley, A., & Skinner, S. (1996). The magical diaries of Aleister Crowley: Tunesia 1923. York Beach, ME: Weiser.
- Kaczynski, Richard (2012-04-10). Perdurabo, Revised and Expanded Edition. ISBN 9781583945766.
- Crowley, 1918 Diary (OTO Archives), cited in Sutin, Do What Thou Wilt, 288.
- Sutin, Lawrence (2000-09-14). Do What Thou Wilt. Macmillan. p. 288. ISBN 9780312252434. Sutin, L. (2002). Do what thou wilt: A life of Aleister Crowley. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 978-0-312-25243-4
- Starr, Martin P. (November 2003). The Unknown God: W.T. Smith and the Thelemites. ISBN 9780933429079.
- Chappell, Vere (December 2010). Sexual Outlaw, Erotic Mystic. ISBN 9781609252960., Chappell, V. (2010). Sexual outlaw, erotic mystic: The essential Ida Craddock. San Francisco, CA: Red Wheel/Weiser.
- Culling, Louis T.; Weschcke, Carl Llewellyn (2010-09-08). The Complete Magick Curriculum of the Secret Order G.B.G. ISBN 9780738726748.
- The Occult Mentors of Maria de Naglowska, ISBN 978-0-557-40475-9
- Alexandrian, Sarane (2015-01-30). The Great Work of the Flesh. ISBN 9781620553794., Alexandrian, S. (2015). The great work of the flesh: Sexual magic East and West.
- Starr, Martin P. (November 2003). The Unknown God. ISBN 9780933429079., Starr, M. P. (2003). The unknown God: W.T. Smith and the Thelemites. Bolingbrook, Ill: Teitan Press.
- Louis T. Culling, Carl Llewellyn Weschcke (2010-09-08). The Complete Magick Curriculum of the Secret Order G.B.G.: Being the Entire Study, Curriculum, Magick Rituals, and Initiatory Practices of the G.B.G (The Great Brotherhood of God). ISBN 978-0-7387-1912-2.
- Culling, Louis T.; Weschcke, Carl Llewellyn (2010-09-08). The Complete Magick Curriculum of the Secret Order G.B.G.: Being the Entire Study, Curriculum, Magick Rituals, and Initiatory Practices of the G.B.G (The Great Brotherhood of God). ISBN 9780738726748.
- Starr 2003, pp. 125–129.
- Starr, Martin P. (November 2003). The Unknown God: W.T. Smith and the Thelemites. ISBN 9780933429079.
- Weiser Antiquarian Books. "Provenance". Russell, C. F., Schimmel, S. B., Schimmel, C. F., & Frank W. Tober Collection. (1944). Provenance. Los Angeles: Bookhaven Press.
- Alexandrian, Sarane (2015-01-30). The Great Work of the Flesh. ISBN 9781620553794.
- Russell, C. F. (1940). Book chameleon: A new version in verse.
- Russell, C. F., Schimmel, S. B., Schimmel, C. F., & Frank W. Tober Collection. (1944). Provenance. Los Angeles: Bookhaven Press.
- Russell, C. F. (1944). Barbara cubed: The manual of pure logic. Los Angeles: Times-Mirror Press.
- Russell, C. F. (1944). Tropermic calculus. Los Angeles: Printed for the author & his friends.
- Russell, C. F. (1944). Grammar of changes. Los Angeles: Times-Mirror Press.
- Manual of Electro-combinational Engineering Times-Mirror Press, 1945
- Russell, C. F. (1970). Znuz is znees: Memoirs of a magician. Los Angeles