Phyllis Seckler

Phyllis Seckler
Soror Meral
TitleGuiding Teacher
Personal
Born
Phyllis Evalina Pratt

(1917-06-18)18 June 1917
Died31 May 2004(2004-05-31) (aged 86)
ReligionThelema
NationalityAmerican
LineageA∴A∴ lineage of Soror Estai
Known forRe-establishment of O.T.O., empowerment of women in Thelema
ProfessionTeacher
Organization
TempleLodge 418
OrderOrdo Templi Orientis
ChurchEcclesia Gnostica Catholica
Founder ofCollege of Thelema, Temple of the Silver Star
Senior posting
TeacherJane Wolfe
SuccessorDavid Shoemaker, James Eshelman
Students
  • David Shoemaker
ProfessionTeacher

Phyllis Evalina Seckler (18 June 1917 – 31 May 2004), also known as Soror Meral, was an American occultist and writer. She was a ninth degree (IX°) member of the Sovereign Sanctuary of the Gnosis of Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), and a lineage holder in the A∴A∴ tradition. She was a student of Jane Wolfe, herself a student of Aleister Crowley.[2]

She was a member of O.T.O. Agape Lodge, the only working Lodge of the O.T.O. at the time of Aleister Crowley's death. Seckler was also instrumental in preserving important parts of Crowley's literary heritage, typing parts of his Confessions, and the complete texts of The Vision and the Voice and Magick Without Tears during the 1950s. Seckler was also instrumental in re-activating the O.T.O. with Grady Louis McMurtry, during the early-mid 1970s, following the death of Crowley's appointed successor, Karl Germer.

Seckler continued her lifelong work with the A∴A∴, founding the College of Thelema and co-founding (with James A. Eshelman) the Temple of Thelema, and later warranting the formation of the Temple of the Silver Star. For 25 years she published the bi-annual Thelemic journal In the Continuum. Seckler served as a master of 418 Lodge of O.T.O. in California from its inception in 1979 until her death.

  1. ^ College of Thelema (4 June 2004). "Religious Leader, Educator Phyllis Seckler Dies at 86". Retrieved 1 February 2011.
  2. ^ Starr 2003, p. [page needed].