By Kraken

The Thelemic tradition of Aleister Crowley is openly connected to demonolatry (worship of demonic entities or negative astral entities). For my post here I'll use one popular Thelemic homepage but you can find this kind of material repeated time and time again throughout the Thelemic and other Crowley related traditions.

Image One
Image Two

Symbols of the Gnostic Church of the O.T.O.

This is a material of both the "mainstream" O.T.O. and the "Gnostic and Catholic Church" (the name of an organization, as those who have done good research will know name doesn't always matter really to determine whether something is demonic or not, although it's sometimes obvious). In this case it's not obvious at all since you can't relate "Gnostic", "Catholic" or "Church" to anything demonic. Many gnostics have been very benevolent but people have to look beyond the packagings to learn the true nature of things.

I'll quote from that webpage, the title of that specific page being "Service Celebrating the Feast of the Annihilation of the Prophet". 

"And I believe in one Earth, the Mother of us all, and in one Womb wherein all men are begotten, and wherein they shall rest, Mystery of Mystery, in Her name BABALON. And I believe in the Serpent and the Lion, Mystery of Mystery, in His name BAPHOMET. And I believe in one Gnostic and Catholic Church of Light, Life, Love and Liberty, the Word of whose Law is THELEMA."

Notice here the name "BAPHOMET" , a very popular concept for satanists and demonolators. Baphomet is a goat of the night that teaches followers about the sexual energy (often in a negative manner, of course). A symbol of the earth that uses (or abuses) the water of life.

All right, let's continue 

"And, forasmuch as meat and drink are transmuted in us daily into spiritual substance, I believe in the Miracle of the Mass."

Notice the hedonistic air of this mass. Also notice the subtle hint at carnivores. Satanists often describe themselves as predators or vicious animals "at the top of the food pyramid". Still, I have to note that Satanists are usually far from being harmonious to nature themselves, it's the devolutionary current (which they themselves are usually unconscious of the nature of) that makes them think in these terms: We are predators (i.e. they are devolved from the human spirit), others are sheep or prey (i.e. they devolve or dehumanize others) and animals are "just food" (i.e. they devolve animals, who are sentient, into "things". But this is not always the case, some satanists have more respect for animals but then they are usually very hateful of humans or misanthropic). Although not directly pertaining to the quoted text, I made this large explanation so people can be more aware in simple terms of how the satanist generally thinks about himself and others. In actuality their beliefs have close to nothing to do with animals, nature, or "survival of the fittest" but rather it's a very anthropocentric (human-centric, self/ego-centric) belief, so they can rationalize/justify their own desire for superiority; i.e. they feel better about themselves when they feel like "the predators" and perceive others as "prey" or "cattle". 

"The Earth, let her be governed by her parts, and let there be Division in her, that the glory of her may be always drunken, and vexed in itself."

This is again reference to hedonism, exploitation of nature and an evocation to be justified for doing whatever your desire tells you to do; which is, by the way, not free will. Free will is focused and disciplined while desire is habitual instinct. The reverse pentagram that satanists so often use stands for a state of mind which is the antithesis to a free mind, i.e. a state where you are governed by earthly desire, addiction or any kind of enslaving force. This is also explained on traditional depictions of The Devil in Tarot symbolism. 

"MINISTER: (Makes sign of Apophis and Typhon) Thou must invoke me only in the darkness. Therein will I appear, and reveal unto you a mystery both great and terrible"

Apophis and Typhon are both demonic terms. Apophis is an egyptian wyrm demon who represents darkness but the wyrm archetype also represents greed and desire. It represents the water of life transmuted into bitter poison under the pressure of earth. Other demons that express a similar archetype are Leviathan, Lotan, Ladon, The Beast, The Sea-Goat, Jörmungandr. 

"SEER: (Making the sign mulier.) O Pan! Io Pan!
Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! Pan Pan! Pan,
I am a man:
Do as thou wilt, as a great god can,
O Pan! Io Pan!
Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! I am awake
In the grip of the snake.
The eagle slashes with beak and claw;
The gods withdraw:
The great beasts come, Io Pan! I am borne
To death on the horn
Of the Unicorn.
I am Pan! Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! Pan!
I am thy mate, I am thy man,
Goat of thy flock, I am gold, I am god,
Flesh to thy bone, flower to thy rod.
With hoofs of steel I race on the rocks
Through solstice stubborn to equinox.
And I rave; and I rape and I rip and I rend
Everlasting, world without end,
Mannikin, maiden, Maenad, man,
In the might of Pan.
Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! Pan! Io Pan!"


Here we have another goat-reference, among other things. Pan was the satyr god or demon of hedonism, drunken stupor, crude/obscene/vulgar humour and sex, especially excessive. Baphomet and other goat demons are basically re-renderings of Pan. The watery wyrm demons are also closely related, Pan and Levaithan live next to the other; kind of the same thing from a different perspective, i.e. water (soul) repressed by earth (the klipoth around water). 

"MINISTER: O thou that art master of the fifty gates of Understanding, is not my mother a black woman? O thou that art master of the Pentagram, is not the egg of spirit a black egg? Here abideth terror, and the blind ache of the Soul, and lo! even I, who am the sole light, a spark shut up, stand in the sign of Apophis and Typhon. I am the snake that devoureth the spirit of man with the lust of light. I am the sightless storm in the night that wrappeth the world about with desolation. Chaos is my name, and thick darkness. Know thou that the darkness of the earth is ruddy, and the darkness of the air is grey, but the darkness of the soul is utter blackness."

Here again is a reference to the demonic wyrm (greed, oppressive desire, bondage water abused by earth) and Typhon (Typhon stands for destruction; more specifically the destructive power of Air or intellectuality - Air controlling or abusing Fire; think of intelligence channeling energy to destructive ends, for an example scientist developing weapons or in general someone calculative or manipulating for destructive ends). Darkness of the soul is again earth (darkness) oppressing water (soul). I.e. a soul that is enslaved, a good symbolism again for the darkness of the soul is the traditional "The Devil" or 15th card of the Tarot. 

"MINISTER: Behold where thine Angel hath led thee! Thou didst ask fame, power and pleasure, health and wealth and love, and strength, and length of days. Thou didst hold life with eight tentacles, like an octopus. Thou didst seek the four powers and the seven delights and the twelve emancipations and the two and twenty Privileges and the nine and forty Manifestations, and lo! thou art become as one of These. Bowed are their backs, whereon resteth the universe. Veiled are their faces, that have beheld the glory Ineffable. Herein no forms appear, and the vision of God face to face, that is transmuted in the Athanor called dissolution, or hammered into one forge of meditation, is in this place but a blasphemy and a mockery. And the Beatific Vision is no more, and the glory of the Most High is no more. There is no more knowledge. There is no more bliss. There is no more power. There is no more beauty. For this is the Palace of Understanding: for thou art one with the Primeval things."

A small reference to an octupus and tenticles, this basically means the same thing as the wyrm, Sea-Goat etc. Cthulhu monster that comes from the water, the octupus-type monster represents this poisonous water which has been repressed by darkness (earth). I.e. water that has become cthonic (meaning lower).

What they mean by "being one with primeval things" is their cthonic path, cthonic meaning the lower astral regions because they are more primeval than the higher ones (similar to the ape being a more primeval form of us humans, reptilians more primeval form to mammals and fungus more primeval form of our own cells) which of course is the energy we refer to as being demonic. This is the tendency to look into our lower-region, our less-evolved past, our older reptilian part of our brain, instead of looking into evolution or trying to tap into our Higher soul, i.e. this is devolutionary current instead of evolutionary. The Typhonian O.T.O. admits they look into the reverse Tree of Life, or the klipoths, the "shells" of unconsciousness or "husks" and believe there is the "true" spirituality.

Actually I admit myself that I'm not against looking into the cthonic realms but to praise it is something I cannot agree with. I've researched "demonology" just to know the reasons behind spiritual evil, to know karma and my own shadow-self but not to increase my negativity and I advise everyone to do the same. And please do research Thelema or any traditions associated with Aleister Crowley if you're thinking about joining them, whether the are named "the evil order of Typhon, Cthulu&Co." or "The White Catholic, Gnostic Light Church of the Universal Truth". It doesn't matter, look beyond the packagings and research the meaning of the esoteric words they use so you can understand what kind of spiritual energy they truly worship and invoke upon themselves. If you are still unsure, go and look for documentaries or honest biographies of Crowley and then decide for yourself.