Fraternitas Saturni
An influential occult group in Germany before World War
II, headed by Albin Grau as grand master, accepting much of
the teachings of Aleister Crowley. The group was disbanded
by the Nazis in 1933 but reorganized in 1945.
A German ritual magic group the Fraternitas Saturni grew
out of the spread of Crowleys ideas in Germany in the 1920s
among members of the Grand Pansophical Lodge, a Masonic
occult order. Among the leaders of the lodge was Eugen Grosche,
better known as Gregor A. Gregorius. Gregorius was favorably
impressed by Crowleys ideas of a new aeon of magic activity
characterized by the law of thelema (will) and his teachings
on sexual magic, but did not wish to associate directly with
Crowley or any of the organizations he headed. In 1926 he led
in the dissolving of the Pansophical Lodge and the formation
of the Fraternitas Saturni, drawing additional inspiration from
reports of Saturnian lodges that had existed in Germany in earlier
centuries.
Gregorius began to write a series of books and documents
for the new fraternity, borrowing heavily from Crowleys works.
The lodge was suppressed shortly after Hitler came to power
in 1933 and Gregorius moved to Switzerland. He was extradited
to Germany in 1943 but survived the war and refounded the
group in 1945. Its growth was delayed by its location in Soviet
territory through the late 1940s. The lodge was not truly revived
until 1950, when Gregorius was able to move to west Germany.
In 1957 a grand lodge was established in Berlin and Gregorius
was declared its grand master, a position he held until
his death in 1964.
After Gregoriuss death the lodge went through a period of
dissension and split into three factions. Copies of materials that
had been kept secret were handed over to Dr. Aldolf Hemberger,
who published them along with his study of the group. Finally,
in 1971, the three factions of the fraternity reunited and
returned to their secret ritual life. The order continues to exist
in Germany, according to reports.
In the 1970s the Fraternitas Saturni emerged in Toronto,
Ontario, under the leadership of Frater Set-Orion, the North
American grand master. Its present status is uncertain. Copies
of the pre-1969 rituals were published in English in 1990 by
Edred Flowers, who manifested no knowledge of any North
American lodge.
Sources
Flowers, S. Edred. Fire and Ice Magical Teachings of Germanys
Greatest Secret Occult Order. St. Paul, Minn. Llewellyn Publications,
1990.
Fraternity of the Inner Light See Society of
the Inner Light
