Grady Louis McMurtry - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

He lived in various parts of Oklahoma and the Midwest, and graduated from high school in Valley Center, Kansas in 1937. He then moved to Southern California to study engineering at Pasadena Junior College, where he made friends with some students at nearby Caltech. Among them was Jack Parsons, who shared his enthusiasm for science fiction, and who introduced him to Thelema. In 1941 McMurtry was initiated into the Minerval and I° of Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), a secret society headed at the time by Aleister Crowley.

In February 1942, two months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, McMurtry's entire R.O.T.C. (Reserve Officers Training Corps) class was called to active duty, and he served as an officer in Ordnance. He took part in the Normandy invasion, the liberation of France and Belgium, and the occupation of Germany. He was recalled to active duty to serve in the Korean War, eventually reaching the rank of Major. He was recalled again for another tour of duty in Korea in the early 1960s, then six months prior to completing 30 years Reserve service, he was mustered out during a RIF (Reduction In Force), thus losing what would have been an earned pension. McMurtry's "retired" rank was Lieutenant Colonel. He continued his studies as a civilian between tours of duty, with both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

During World War II, especially when he was stationed in England in 1943 and the first half of 1944, McMurtry was able to meet with and become a personal student of Aleister Crowley, who elevated him to IX° of O.T.O., giving him the name Hymenaeus Alpha (which enumerates to 777) in November 1943.

In September and November 1944 (and once again in June 1947), he received letters from Crowley referring to him as Crowley's "Caliph" (or eventual successor). When McMurtry returned to California after the war he was appointed Crowley's O.T.O. representative in the United States (April 1946), subject only to the authority of Crowley's viceroy and heir apparent, Karl Germer.

Crowley died in December 1947, and Germer was recognized as the head of O.T.O. At the time the only functioning Thelemic O.T.O. body in the world was Agape Lodge in Southern California, which was headed for a time by McMurtry's friend Jack Parsons. McMurtry planned to start a lodge in Northern California, but his deteriorating relationship with Karl Germer (based on Germer's refusal to initiate new members) put an end to his plans. He tried to organize other O.T.O. members in California to lobby Germer to change his policy, but the situation came to a head at a meeting in 1959 in which Dr. Gabriel Montenegro (Germer's representative) "ordered" McMurtry to cease his efforts. This order was reiterated in writing in November 1960. McMurtry unwillingly complied with the order, and he was disillusioned enough by this turn of events that he ended his direct involvement with O.T.O. In 1961 he moved to Washington, D.C., where he soon became completely out of touch with other O.T.O. members.