The Abbey of Thelema was a temple founded by Aleister Crowley in a rented villa at Cefalu, Sicily in 1920. The name for this magical temple was taken from a fictional abbey in Rabelais's satire Gargantua, where all worldly pleasures were freely indulged. As in that story, Crowley painted the words, "Do What Thou Will" over the door. (These words were also engraved over the doors of Medmenham Abbey, the meeting place of Sir Francis Dashwood's notorious Hellfire Club in the eighteenth century, so Crowley may have gotten the idea from that as well.) He also painted several murals on the interior walls. Here Crowley and his family and followers conducted magical and religious ceremonies, in keeping with his doctrine of Thelema. Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley (12 October 1875 - 1 December 1947) was an occultist, mystic, sexual revolutionary, and drug user (especially heroin). ... The Cathedral of Cefal by night LungomareBoardwalk beach in Cefal Cefal is an ancient city in the province of Palermo, in Sicily, Italy. ... Sicilian disambiguates here; see also Sicilian language or Sicilian Defence. ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... François Rabelais (ca. ... Gargantua and Pantagruel is a connected series of five books written in the 16th century by François Rabelais. ... Medmenham is a village in Buckinghamshire, England. ... Francis Dashwood, 15th Baron le Despencer (December, 1708 - December 11, 1781) was an English rake and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (1762-1763) and founder of The Hellfire Club. ... The Hellfire Club was an exclusive English club that met irregularly from 1746 to around 1763, run by Sir Francis Dashwood. ... Thelema is the English transliteration of the Ancient Greek noun θέλημα: will, from the verb ἐθέλω: to will, wish, purpose. ...

Crowley had planned to transform the small house into a global center of magical devotion and perhaps to reap a fortune in tuition fees paid by acolytes seeking training in the Magical Arts. What both the Abbey and its master actually became was the subject of much rumor and hearsay, partly the gossip of locals but mostly the product of John Bull, a British yellow journalist with a particularly vindictive attitude towards Crowley. These included charges of sexual orgies, animal and child sacrifices, drug use, and bestiality. Crowley never admitted to these, but neither did he deny them, feeling that there was no such thing as bad publicity. World War I recruiting poster John Bull is a national personification of Britain created by Dr. John Arbuthnot in 1712 and popularized first by British print makers and then overseas by illustrators such as American cartoonist Thomas Nast. ... Yellow journalism is a term given to any widespread tendencies or practices within media organizations that are detrimental to, or substandard from the point of view of, journalistic integrity. ... Look up Bestiality in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

In 1923, a 23-year old Oxford undergraduate by the name of Raoul Loveday (or Frederick Charles Loveday) died at the abbey. His wife, Betty May, originally blamed this on his participation in one of Crowley's rituals. Later, however, she accepted the doctor's diagnosis of acute enteric fever contracted by drinking from a mountain spring. (Crowley had warned the couple against drinking the water. Lawrence Sutin reports all this in his biography of AC.) When May returned to London, she gave an interview to a tabloid paper. The Sunday Express included her story in its ongoing attacks on Crowley. With these and similar rumors about activities at Thelema in mind, Mussolini's government requested that Crowley leave the country. After Crowley's departure, the Abbey of Thelema was eventually abandoned and local residents whitewashed over Crowley's murals. 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... This about the disease typhoid fever. ... Benito Mussolini created a fascist state through the use of propaganda, total control of the media and disassembly of the working democratic government. ...

The villa still stands today, but in very poor condition. Filmmaker Kenneth Anger, himself a devotee of Crowley, later uncovered and filmed some of its murals in 1955. Recently other murals were uncovered, and pictures of them were posted on the Internet. "Abbey of Thelema" remains a popular name for various magical societies, Witchcraft covens, and Satanist grottoes. It is also the name of a fan club for controversial rock star Marilyn Manson. Kenneth Anger Kenneth Anger (born February 3, 1927 in Santa Monica, California) is an underground avant-garde film-maker and author. ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Witchcraft, in various historical, religious and mythical contexts, is the use of certain kinds of supernatural or magical powers. ... Coven or covan was originally a late medieval Scots word (c1500) meaning a gathering of any kind according to the Oxford English Dictionary. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... This article is about the band Marilyn Manson. For its lead singer of the same name, see Marilyn Manson (person). ...

External links:

• Photos of the Abbey from 2005
• Photos of the Abbey
• SPIRITUS93's Virtual Abbey of Thelema
• LAShTAL.COM includes numerous articles and images of the Abbey