William Breeze | |
|---|---|
Ὑμεναιος β | |
| Title | Outer Head (Frater Superior) and Caliph (international leader) of "Caliphate" O.T.O.; Sovereign Patriarch and Primate of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (E.G.C.) |
| Personal | |
| Born | William Breeze 1955 (age 68–69) |
| Religion | Thelema |
| Nationality | American |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Denomination | Gnostic Catholic Church |
| Lineage | Official church succession |
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
| Other names | Hymenaeus Beta |
| Occupation | Author, musician, priest, human rights campaigner |
| Organization | |
| Order | Ordo Templi Orientis |
| Senior posting | |
| Period in office | 1986–present |
| Consecration | August 12, 1974 by E.G.C. bishop Jack Hogg |
| Part of a series on |
| Thelema |
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| The Rights of Man |
William Breeze (born 1955), also known by his neo-Gnostic bishop title of Tau Silenus, is an American writer and publisher on magick and philosophy. He is the Sovereign Patriarch, or supreme governing cleric, of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (E.G.C.), the liturgical arm of Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), of which he is the current Outer Head of the Order (OHO), also known as Frater Superior, as well as caliph, the order's international leader. In this capacity he is a leading editor of the occult works of Aleister Crowley, the founder of the philosophy and religion of Thelema, who is regarded as its prophet.[1]
Under the name Hymenaeus Beta he is the second caliph to lead the traditional, orthodox, or "Caliphate" OTO (as opposed to the derivative organizations the Typhonian Order (formerly known as the Typhonian O.T.O.) of Kenneth Grant and the Society O.T.O. of Marcelo Ramos Motta, and is the direct successor of Grady McMurtry (Hymenaeus Alpha), who was the first of the caliphs and second of the overall leaders, or Outer Heads—directly after Crowley's immediate successor Karl Germer—to follow after Crowley in his role as leader of the order.
McMurtry served as caliph from 1978, when he re-founded the defunct O.T.O., until 1985 and Breeze has served as caliph from 1986 until the present.[2]
Caliph was a designation given to McMurtry by Crowley in relation to the continuing office OHO of O.T.O. [citation needed], of which Crowley was the ultimate religious head after taking over leadership of the order from its founder Theodore Reuss in 1923. According to Crowley, caliph is the elected spiritual and organizational worldwide leader of O.T.O. and is his successor. [citation needed] A lineage of caliphs carrying religious and organisational significance were designated by Crowley. The caliphs, as successors to Crowley, lead the order after his death. [citation needed]
- ^ Flood, Alison (October 15, 2015). "Unseen Aleister Crowley writings reveal 'short-story writer of the highest order'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
- ^ Wasserman 2012, pp. 121.