From The Daily Mail
Ordo Templi Orientis founding 'prophet' Aleister Crowley, who was born into an upper-class British family in 1875, styled himself as 'the Great Beast 666'. He was an unabashed occultist who, prior to his death in 1947, reveled in his infamy as 'the wickedest man in the world'.
His form of worship involved sadomasochistic sex rituals with men and women, spells which he claimed could raise malevolent gods and the use of hard drugs, including opium, cocaine, heroin and mescaline. Crowley’s motto — perpetuated by OTO — was 'do what thou wilt'. And it is this individualistic approach that has led to a lasting fascination among artists and celebrities.
…celebrities linked to OTO include the rapper Jay-Z, who has repeatedly purloined imagery and quotations from Aleister Crowley.
Whether wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with 'Do what thou wilt' or hiring Rihanna to hold aloft a flaming torch in his music videos (a reference to the Illuminati, an outlawed secret society whose name supposedly derives from Lucifer, or 'light bringer'), he has given the sect priceless publicity.
His clothing line, Rocawear, is shot through with OTO imagery such as the 'all seeing eye' in a triangle, the 'eye of Horus' (an ancient Egyptian symbol frequently referenced in occult texts) and the head of Baphomet (the horned, androgynous idol of Western occultism).
Some conspiracy theorists have seized on this as evidence that he is a member of a secret Masonic movement which they believe permeates the highest levels of business and government.
Others take a more pragmatic view: that it is commercial opportunism, cashing in on impressionable teens’ attraction to the 'edginess' of occult symbolism.
What do you guys think?
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