Cecil Frederick Russell

Born:  19 June 1897 in Greenwood, Massachusetts.

Died:  12 June 1987 in California.

See his artwork HERE.

Cecil Frederick Russell was a 20th-century American occultist. Russell was a member of the A∴A∴ and Aleister Crowley's O.T.O. magical order. Russell later founded his own magical order, the G.B.G. (variously explained as "Great Brotherhood of God" or "Gnostic Body of God").

Early life:

Russell was born in Greenwood, Mass. on 19 June 1897. His family later moved to Orlando, Florida.

His family stayed in the Massachusetts/New Hampshire area he went to Florida by bicycle to join the navy.

From 22 April 1917 to 12 December 1918, Russell served in the US Navy, where he worked at a hospital attendant at the US Naval Academy Hospital. While serving as a Pharmacist Mate aboard the USS Reina Mercedes, Russell injected himself with cocaine, resulting in a dishonorable discharge.

Russell disputes this in his Autobiography Znuz is Znees 2nd edition Page 157—he pretended so as to be transferred to the medical facility & was discharged with a medical discharge. The war was over and he wanted to go join Crowley.

Disciple of Crowley:

In June 1918, Russell met Crowley in New York and was initiated into the III° of Crowley's magical order Ordo Templi Orientis. Russell took the magical name of 'Frater Genesthai'.

From November 1920 to Autumn 1921, Russell lived at Crowley's Abbey of Thelema in Cefalù, Sicily.

Esther Fraux, aka "Mimi", was the twin of Ninette Shumway and became the first wife of C. F. Russell. She and Russell travelled to Sydney in 1921, where they married on December 5. Crowley had great plans that Russell would work with Frank Bennett to promote Thelemic organisations in Australia, however the two did not get on, and Russell and Mimi soon left Australia for the United States.

Founder of an order:

In 1922, Russell founded the Choronzon Club, advertising it as a 'short cut to initiation" in the pages of the Occult Digest. In 1931, the group changed its name to G.B.G. It was initially structured as a correspondence course and was headquartered in Chicago with Russell receiving half of all initiation fees collected.

Inspired by Ida Craddock, Russell developed his own curriculum of sex magick. In the 1960s, disciple Louis Culling published these in two works entitled The Complete Magickal Curriculum of the Secret Order G∴B∴G∴ and Sex Magick. The first two degrees, "Alphaism and Dianism", reportedly draw upon Ida Craddock's work Heavenly Bridegrooms. Culling writes that Dianism is "sexual congress without bringing it to climax" and that each participant is to regard their partner not as a "known earthly personality" but as a "visible manifestation of one's Holy Guardian Angel.

In San Francisco, Russell was visited by fellow Thelemite Wilfred Talbot Smith, who would later head the O.T.O's California chapter, the Agape Lodge. Many of Russell's followers would later join Smith's organization.

Russell was denounced by Aleister Crowley, who in a document dated 15 Apri 1934 described Russell as a "thief, swindler, and blackmailer".

In 1938, the G.B.G. dissolved.

Russell continued separately for the rest of his 90 years of life to teach after establishing nearly 100 members across the United States under the name of the G.B.G. He mostly taught logic, mathematics, and projective geometry as a more robust way of attaining enlightenment. Volume 3 of his book Znuz is Znees describes most of his inventions in that area. He even taught Zen Art Work with water colors, hand-painting the pages for the members of the time. Except for his last 6 months, he would send out a page of instruction every week.

Later life:

In 1944, Russell published Provenance, described as "the only twentieth century occult text to center around the subject of book-collecting".

From 1970–72, Russell published his memoirs entitled Znuz is Znees: Memoirs of a Magician.

Russell died in 1987.

Works:

Book Chameleon

Barbara Cubed

Tropermic Calculus

Grammar of Changes

Combinational Arithmetic

Manual Electro-Combinational Engineering

Abso-Ming-Wen-Lutely Absey-Booke

Book of Radicals

Rime Store

Rough Cloth

Silver Cradle

Dragon Pearls

Gentle Rain

Wild Rice

Jade Mirror

Hill Road

Spring Palace

Water Chestnuts

Open Doo

Gnaw Through

Horseback

Mud Hut

North Well

Millet Valley

Copper Kettle

Peppermint

Blooming Umbrella

Phoenix Marrow

Lantern Riddles

Znuz is Znees volume 1

Znuz is Znees volume 2

Znuz is Znees volume 3

Znuz is Znees volume 4