Sam Webster (writer)

Sam Webster is a writer, Thelemite, a member of the Golden Dawn tradition,^[1] and Bishop Tau Ty of Ecclesia Gnostica Universalis,^[2] as well as an initiate of Wicca.^[3] Webster holds a Master of Divinity degree from the Starr King School for the Ministry at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California.^[1] He is notable as one of the pioneers of open source religion - the use of the open source paradigm in the field of spirituality.^[1][4]

He has authored a number of articles and essays on occult and Pagan topics, publishing both online and in periodicals such as Green Egg, Mezlim, Gnosis and PanGaea. Many of his essays on Pagan Dharma and Thelema have also been made available online. In 2001, he was one of a number of Neopagans interviewed in Modern Pagans - An Investigation of Contemporary Pagan Ritual, a feature article in the counter-cultural journal RE/Search.^[5]

He has founded (or cofounded) several occult and Pagan organizations, including the Chthonic-Ouranian OTO (1985),^[6] and the Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn (2002).^[1] Webster's book Tantric Thelema was published in January 2010.^[7]

Writings

• Constellation, 1984.
• Abyss and Back, 1988.
• A metaphor is something like a bucket, 1988.
• What's Crowley got to do with Thelema, Anyway?, 1988.
• The Rite of the Milk of the Stars, 1990.
• "The Spell of Ra-Hoor-Khuit" in Mezlim, Beltane 1990.
• "The House of Khabs" in Mezlim, Samhain, 1991.
• The Star Child, 1991.
• Process in the Symbolic Re-Creation of the World, 1992.
• Rite of Passage Structure in the Japanese Accession Ceremonies, 1992.
• Changing Society through Ritual, 1993.
• What is Polytheism and how I became Polytheistic, 1993.
• "Working Polytheism" in Gnosis #28, Spring 1993.
• The World as Lover Working, 1993.
• "Structural Implications in the Sepherot", 1994.^[8]
• "Pagan Dharma" in Gnosis #39, Spring, 1996.
• The Bones of Sex and Spirit, 1996.
• "Why I call Myself Pagan", 1999 in Reclaiming Quarterly
• "Pagan Dharma 2" in PanGaea, 1999.
• A Thelemic Ganachakra, 2001. (see Ganachakra)
• Entering the Buddhadharma, 2002.
• Preliminary notes towards an understanding of the Neophyte Hall in the Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn., 2002.
• Towards a General Theory of Divination, 2002.
• Ritual, Magick & How Pagans will Save the World, 2004.
• The Pagan Agenda, 2005.
• Tantric Thelema, Concrescent Press (2010) ISBN 978-0-9843729-0-4

Notes

1. Wicker, Christine. Not In Kansas Anymore: A Curious Tale of How Magic Is Transforming America , pp. 207-236. HarperSanFrancisco, 2005. ISBN 0-06-072678-4
2. Ecclesia Gnostica Universalis: College of Bishops
3. Berger, Helen A. A Community of Witches: Contemporary Neo-Paganism and Witchcraft in the United States, pp. 116-117. University of South Carolina Press, 1998. ISBN 1-57003-246-7
4. Gasperson, Tina. New Time Religion in Newsforge, May 17, 2006.
5. RE/Search #16: Modern Pagans - An Investigation of Contemporary Pagan Ritual, 2001. ISBN 1-889307-10-6
6. Skeptic Files
7. Webster, Sam Tantric Thelema, Concrescent Press (2010) ISBN 978-0-9843729-0-4
8. appeared in Chic Cicero & Sandra Tabatha Cicero (eds.), The Golden Dawn Journal, Book 2-- Qabalah: Theory and Magic St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1994. ISBN 1-56718-851-6

Sources

• "Sam Webster". Free Encyclopedia of Thelema. 2006. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Retrieved December 13, 2011.

Further reading

• Brooks, Andrew. Beltane Keynote Speaker Urges Pagan Revival in The Oberlin Review, April 21, 2006.
• Magliocco, Sabina. Witching Culture: Folklore and Neo-Paganism in America. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004. ISBN 0-8122-1879-5
• Vale, V. and John Sulak (2001). Modern Pagans. San Francisco: Re/Search Publications. ISBN 1-889307-10-6

External links

• Sam Webster: Initiate of the Mysteries
• Chthonic Auranian Templars of Thelema
• Ecclesia Gnostica Universalis
• Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn