J. Edward Cornelius

July 14, 1951 – Gerald Edward Cornelius, sometimes known as J. Edward Cornelius, was born on this date in New Haven, Connecticut. He is the eleventh direct descendant of Captain Aaron Cornelius whose ship arrived in America in 1645. He is also a descendant of Mary Sanford who was hanged in Hartford, Connecticut on June 13th 1662 for witchcraft. He was an outer member of the French Promethean Society in West Haven, Connecticut in the late 1960s and he took initiation into the inner circle, Luciferian, on March 10th 1970. He was also a member of David James’ New Haven Pagan Community in East Haven, Connecticut. He joined the O.T.O. on November 18th 1977; assuming the motto Achad Osher 583. In 1977 he was chartered to run The Frater Achad Chapter of the O.T.O. in Connecticut which was elevated up to Brocken Mountain Lodge in 1978. He created Brocken Publications and published the Lodge Newsletter, Hellspawned, A Newsletter of Brocken Spectres. He joined the A.'.A.'. as a Probationer 0°=0 under Grady Louis McMurtry (Frater Hymenaeus Alpha 777 X° O.T.O., 9°=2 A.'.A.'.) in July of 1979. Grady would spend time at J. Edward’s house in Connecticut on several occasions. By April of 1984 J. Edward had been elevated up, degree by degree, to VIII° O.T.O. (he was not one of the Provisional Degrees established for legal reasons). In April of 1984 J. Edward swore the Oath of the Abyss under Grady’s direct guidance, himself having sworn it years earlier. He was now a Magister Templi 8°=3 in A.'.A.'.. In the early days of 1985 J. Edward sent a lengthy letter to Grady regarding his views of IX° as requested. After receiving this Grady called, acknowledging that obviously he knew the ‘Secret’. He then sent J. Edward a copy of his typescript of Emblems and Modes of Use, which arrive in late February; acknowledging that this degree would not be official until they met, but tragedy struck before this would occur; Grady passed away in July. In 1986 J. Edward was chartered by Frater Hymenaeus Beta to run a Rose Croix Chapter at Brocken. In August of 1989 he decided to move to Berkeley, California. Here he became the sixth Lodge Master of Thelema Lodge which Grady had founded in 1977. He held this position from 1991-1993. He was also placed in charge of the Neb-Het Chapter of the Rose Croix in the Bay Area. He has written such notable articles as Did Aleister Crowley Know the Identity of Jack the Ripper?, Myths of the Solar Lodge Revisited, Aleister Crowley in Novels, Crowley’s I-Ching Sticks, Poetical Flavours of the Beast, The Warrior Troubadour and many others. In 1993 he stepped down as Lodge Master of Thelema Lodge and on October 10th he married his second wife, Marlene. Together they began releasing the publication entitled Red Flame, A Thelemic Research Journal along with numerous pamphlets, the majority of which he had written. In January of 1996 he and Marlene had a son whom they named Faustus Edward Cornelius. His marriage to Marlene ended in February of 2003. By April of 2004 he had become totally disgusted with the lies, backstabbing and treachery of the upper echelon of the O.T.O., which by now was being run by a renegade branch of Marcelo Motta’s A.'.A.'. established in the early 1990s. After twenty-seven years in the Order he decided to go inactive and give up his membership. However, he kept writing, releasing such books as Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board (2005), The Magical Essence of Aleister Crowley (2010), Aletheia, Astrology in the New Aeon for Thelemites (2011) and The Aleister Crowley Desk Reference (2013). In August of 2015 J. Edward married his third wife, a beautiful little blond name Erica Peterson. Together they began a new publishing venture, a 300-page hardback book simply titled Essays. They released volumes No.1 and No.2 in 2015. It should be noted that J. Edward Cornelius is Grady Louis McMurtry’s recognized heir and as such he is both the undisputed Caliph and head of his A.'.A.'. lineage. He runs Love’s Sake Clerk House in Berkeley, California.