Can I read The Unknown God: W. T. Smith and the Thelemites (Oxford Studies in Western Esotericism) on EtoBox?

The Unknown God: W. T. Smith and the Thelemites (Oxford Studies in Western Esotericism) by Martin P. Starr; Aleister Crowley; Wilfred Talbot Smith is a nonfiction available to read on EtoBox.

What is The Unknown God: W. T. Smith and the Thelemites (Oxford Studies in Western Esotericism) about?

The Unknown God is the first documentary study of Thelema, a twentieth-century religious movement in the "magical" family, founded by the occultist, poet, and prophet of a new age of personal freedom, Aleister Crowley (1875--1947). Martin P. Starr tells the history of the movement through the biography of its leader, Wilfred Talbot Smith (1885--1957), who took up Crowley's plans for organizations to teach the latter's methods in Western and Eastern esoteric traditions and his laws for a new world order, and established these systems in British Columbia and in California. Crowley provided the concepts; Smith and his associates made them take flesh, applying Crowley's doctrine of "Do what thou wilt" and cementing it a part of the artistic and religious underground of the twentieth century. This account provides a contextual overview of the elements of the resulting bricolage of religions, which included Freemasonry, Theosophy, Rosicrucianism, Neo-Gnosticism and other related forms of esotericism, demonstrating the overlap between apparently disparate ideologies, groups, and participants. Drawing primarily on diaries and letters, Starr gives a rare and fascinating study of the conte

Who reads The Unknown God: W. T. Smith and the Thelemites (Oxford Studies in Western Esotericism)?

Author

Martin P. Starr; Aleister Crowley; Wilfred Talbot Smith

Publisher

Oxford University Press, Incorporated

Published

2024

Language

EN

ISBN

9780197744529

Category

nonfiction

Subjects

Religion, Psychology, Memoir

Rating

4.5 / 5 (26 ratings)

Updated

2026-03-14