The Gnostic Mass – Switzerland

Here are two pictures of a Gnostic Mass (Liber XV) set up from 1966 in Switzerland, most likely the only part of the world at this time where the ceremony was held. There was a great deal of Thelemic activity during this time in Switzerland under Herman Metzger, who was given the IX° by Frederic Mellinger from Germany and by permission of Karl Germer. Germer also authorized Metzger to hold a charter to run the Ordo Templi Orientis in Switzerland. However,  Metzger would fall out of favor with Karl Germer over the translation of Thelemic documents into German. Despite this fact, Metzger continued to operate the O.T.O. even after Germer’s death and well into the 1990s.

The first picture is a traditional Gnostic Mass set up in Zurich. The second is a “Thelemic chapel” in Stein. Note the picture of the archangels atop the super altar and The Book of the Law below.

Materials gathered for One Truth and One Spirit from the Gerald Yorke Collection at the Warburg Institute, University of London.