Joseph Dustin Miller

Born: 1904.

Died: 1992.

Joseph D. Miller was a IX° in the O.T.O. and initiated into the 0° and 1° degrees on 14 March 1942 through the Agape Lodge. He was a life-long Theosophist and swore the Oath of the Abyss in 1944 and later passed out of the circle of Thelemites.

Having grown up in burlesque and vaudeville, Joe Miller was brash and quick but had no formal education beyond grade school. He had an early career as a singer and actor and worked as a painter in a shipyard to support his family. His interest in esotericism was sparked by reading a book on Theosophy from the library in his hometown of Minneapolis and he joined the Theosophical Society there around 1924. The First Ray Invocation of the Liberal Catholic Church inspired Miller to seek further light: he attempted to become a Liberal Catholic priest while working in Chicago at the Oriental Theater for the band leader Paul Ash. He regularly attended the Liberal Catholic Church of St. Francis at 218 S. Wabash Street; it was only a block away from the South State Street burlesque houses where he was also employed. His line of work was considered by the local Bishop to be an obstacle to his ordination. Joe subsequently drifted through a variety of movements, including the "Mighty 'I Am' " cult of Guy and Edna Ballard.

Joe was first exposed to Aleister Crowley's work by Louis Culling, who early in 1942 had run an ad in a San Diego newspaper promoting his "Thelema Club," which offered for sale Crowley's Magick in Theory and Practice. On Culling's introduction, Joe promptly went to meet Wilfred Talbot Smith; he joined the O.T.O. in March and Smith accepted him as a Probationer on 21 July 1942. He eventually went on to have affairs with both Phyllis Seckler and Jane Wolfe.

In later life he metamorphosed into a Gnostic priest associated with the founder of the Holy Order of MANS, Earl Blighton, and a well-known Sufi "Madzub" in San Francisco. A collection of his talks was published as Great Song: the life and teachings of Joe Miller in 1993.