Ordo Templi Orientis Has NO Relation to Templars

Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) has nothing in common with the order of Knights Templar except its name (it is usually translated from Latin as “Order of Oriental Templars”). And even that is disputable – it can be translated as “Order of the Temple of the East” (no relation to Solomon’s Temple, obviously).

It is an occult secret society and hermetic magical organization founded at the beginning of the 20th century… which means that it, indeed, has nothing in common with medieval, strictly Catholic, military-religious order – essentially the elite shock troops of a Christian Army fighting a religious war with Muslims– which had but one objective: be the keepers and protectors of the Ark of the Covenant and (by extension), of Jerusalem and the Crusader States in Palestine.

Unlike just about all other major “Neo-Templar” organizations, it is alive and well today… however, whether it can be labeled “Neo-Templar” is a really big question.

Its origins are shrouded in mystery: it originated in Germany or Austria in the beginning of XX century. Nothing verifiable is known of the Order until 1904 so that’s when it was most likely founded.

Its apparent founder was Carl Kellner, a wealthy Austrian industrialist who wanted to establish an Academia Masonica within which high-grade Freemasonic degrees could be conferred in German-speaking nations.

But Kellner went much further than that: he claimed that he had discovered a key which offered a clear explanation of all the complex symbolism of Freemasonry and of nature itself. Kellner wanted O.T.O. to preserve and confer this key.

After Kellner died in 1905, his partner Theodor Reuss (occultist, freemason, journalist, and singer) succeeded him as the head of O.T.O. Under his leadership the latter became involved in sex magic (an oxymoron – these two are not compatible).

In 1910 Reuss met (in) famous Aleister Crowley and in 1910 admitted him to the first three degrees of O.T.O. One thing led to another and after Reuss died in 1923, Crowley assumed control of the Order.

Predictably, he radically changed the order, The guiding philosophy of O.T.O. from this point on became Crowley’s own occult system, Thelema. With this change O.T.O. ceased its bestowal of Masonic degrees and membership requirements.

The declared objective of O.T.O. is “to instruct the individual [member] by allegory and symbol in the profound mysteries of Nature, and thereby to assist each to discover his or her own true Identity” (whatever that means).