The original O.T.O. was founded by the wealthy Austrian industrialist Carl Kellner. After Kellner's death in 1905, Theodor Reuss became Outer Head of the Order. After Reuss's death in 1923, Aleister Crowley was … See more

In 1935, Wilfred Talbot Smith founded the Agape Lodge No. 2, based at his Hollywood home at 1746 Winona Boulevard (now demolished), and brought in seven initiates to the Minerval level in September 1935. Smit… See more

In 1939, the group initiated Jack Parsons, a jet fuel engineer, and his wife Helen Parsons, who had become interested in the O.T.O. through attending the Gnostic Mass. Smith wrote to Crowley that Parsons was "a really excel… See more