International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 3, 2012 63
claims about sex magick instruction to sanctify
his pedophilia occurred early in the twentieth
century around the Theosophical Society leader
Charles Leadbeater (1847–1934).
Charles Leadbeater, Ralph Nicholas Chubb,
and Aleister Crowley
Leadbeater’s practice of sex magick involved
homosexual abuses, but this tradition is by no
means limited to homoerotic activities.
Leadbeater was a major figure in the
Theosophical Society, and after his death,
[t]he legacy left behind him included a
large quantity of books, pamphlets and
journal articles, several organizations
which regarded him as a virtually
infallible psychic and agent of the Inner
Government of the World, enthusiastic
disciples in almost every country, and
enemies still eager to denounce him
throughout the world. (Tillet, 1982, p.
256)
Many of those enemies harboured anger over his
sexual activities with young males, and they had
good reason to be upset. In a word, Leadbeater
was a pederast, and he used the Theosophical
Society to gain access to boys so that he could
engage them in various forms of sex magick (see
Washington, 1995, p. 121).
Remarkable, perhaps, about Leadbeater's
pederasty was that he was able to sanctify it
under the guise of spiritual training. Apparently,
Leadbeater taught a sexual technique to an inner
circle of initiates who claimed that
the energy aroused in masturbation can
be used as a form of occult power, a
great release of energy which can, first,
elevate the consciousness of the
individual to a state of ecstasy, and
second, direct a great rush of psychic
force towards the Logos for His use in
occult work. (Tillett, 1982, p. 281 see
Lutyens, 1990, p. 6 1997, pp. 15, 16)
Leadbeater reserved this highly secret teaching
to select disciples, who were instructed that they
were justified in lying about it to the uninitiated
because of its highly occult importance (Tillett,
1982, pp. 281–282). On rare occasions, the
inner circle of initiated students even engaged in
mutual masturbation, which, Leadbeater
claimed, sent out “especially powerful
emanations” (Tillett, 1982, p. 282).
By insisting that masturbation had a highly
occult and hidden significance, Leadbeater was
able to connect with two currents of ideas that
circulated at the turn of the century. First, a
number of poets in that period advocated “boy
love,” and one of them by the name of Ralph
Nicholas Chubb (1892–1960) “endeavoured ‘to
raise paederasty to a form of religious
devotion’” (in Tillett, 1982, p. 283 Smith, 1987,
pp. 75–88). Chubb demonstrated a pattern in his
poems and artwork that Leadbeater utilized in
his theology. Chubb's “spiritualization of
paederasty absolve[d] him from the guilt which
ma[de] him hate society and turn into a recluse.
His [was] no longer a common human
weakness, for he ha[d] felt the cleansing fire of
divinity” (Smith, 1987, p. 85 see Tillett, 1982,
p. 283). Religion, therefore, became a tool that
Chubb used to sanctify his deviance, and
Leadbeater and others used similar theological
claims to justify behaviour that was
unacceptable to the norms of society.
The second current of thought into which
Leadbeater's pederasty fit involved some occult
and magical circles that directly “employed
sexual activities in a ritual context” (Tillett,
1982, p. 283). This sex magick tradition argued
that humans’ hidden powers lay beneath a
barrier that could be broken through by
heterosexual, homosexual, or autosexual
stimulation (Tillet, 1982, pp. 283–284). During
a period that overlapped with Leadbeater,
similar beliefs about the power of sex drove the
practises of the polygamist, misogynist, and (if
one believes his critics) Satanist Aleister
Crowley, whose influence in Western occultism
remains strong. For Crowley, sex of any kind
held the possibility of breaking into the
instinctual, and evidence exists that, in 1923, he
repeatedly had sex with a “youth who had
become his servant and a partner in sex magic[k]
activities” (King, 1977, p. 146 see Kent, 1993,
pp. 357–358).
claims about sex magick instruction to sanctify
his pedophilia occurred early in the twentieth
century around the Theosophical Society leader
Charles Leadbeater (1847–1934).
Charles Leadbeater, Ralph Nicholas Chubb,
and Aleister Crowley
Leadbeater’s practice of sex magick involved
homosexual abuses, but this tradition is by no
means limited to homoerotic activities.
Leadbeater was a major figure in the
Theosophical Society, and after his death,
[t]he legacy left behind him included a
large quantity of books, pamphlets and
journal articles, several organizations
which regarded him as a virtually
infallible psychic and agent of the Inner
Government of the World, enthusiastic
disciples in almost every country, and
enemies still eager to denounce him
throughout the world. (Tillet, 1982, p.
256)
Many of those enemies harboured anger over his
sexual activities with young males, and they had
good reason to be upset. In a word, Leadbeater
was a pederast, and he used the Theosophical
Society to gain access to boys so that he could
engage them in various forms of sex magick (see
Washington, 1995, p. 121).
Remarkable, perhaps, about Leadbeater's
pederasty was that he was able to sanctify it
under the guise of spiritual training. Apparently,
Leadbeater taught a sexual technique to an inner
circle of initiates who claimed that
the energy aroused in masturbation can
be used as a form of occult power, a
great release of energy which can, first,
elevate the consciousness of the
individual to a state of ecstasy, and
second, direct a great rush of psychic
force towards the Logos for His use in
occult work. (Tillett, 1982, p. 281 see
Lutyens, 1990, p. 6 1997, pp. 15, 16)
Leadbeater reserved this highly secret teaching
to select disciples, who were instructed that they
were justified in lying about it to the uninitiated
because of its highly occult importance (Tillett,
1982, pp. 281–282). On rare occasions, the
inner circle of initiated students even engaged in
mutual masturbation, which, Leadbeater
claimed, sent out “especially powerful
emanations” (Tillett, 1982, p. 282).
By insisting that masturbation had a highly
occult and hidden significance, Leadbeater was
able to connect with two currents of ideas that
circulated at the turn of the century. First, a
number of poets in that period advocated “boy
love,” and one of them by the name of Ralph
Nicholas Chubb (1892–1960) “endeavoured ‘to
raise paederasty to a form of religious
devotion’” (in Tillett, 1982, p. 283 Smith, 1987,
pp. 75–88). Chubb demonstrated a pattern in his
poems and artwork that Leadbeater utilized in
his theology. Chubb's “spiritualization of
paederasty absolve[d] him from the guilt which
ma[de] him hate society and turn into a recluse.
His [was] no longer a common human
weakness, for he ha[d] felt the cleansing fire of
divinity” (Smith, 1987, p. 85 see Tillett, 1982,
p. 283). Religion, therefore, became a tool that
Chubb used to sanctify his deviance, and
Leadbeater and others used similar theological
claims to justify behaviour that was
unacceptable to the norms of society.
The second current of thought into which
Leadbeater's pederasty fit involved some occult
and magical circles that directly “employed
sexual activities in a ritual context” (Tillett,
1982, p. 283). This sex magick tradition argued
that humans’ hidden powers lay beneath a
barrier that could be broken through by
heterosexual, homosexual, or autosexual
stimulation (Tillet, 1982, pp. 283–284). During
a period that overlapped with Leadbeater,
similar beliefs about the power of sex drove the
practises of the polygamist, misogynist, and (if
one believes his critics) Satanist Aleister
Crowley, whose influence in Western occultism
remains strong. For Crowley, sex of any kind
held the possibility of breaking into the
instinctual, and evidence exists that, in 1923, he
repeatedly had sex with a “youth who had
become his servant and a partner in sex magic[k]
activities” (King, 1977, p. 146 see Kent, 1993,
pp. 357–358).
