Rodney Orpheus
| Rodney Orpheus | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | William Rodney Campbell |
| Born |
8 July 1960 Moneymore, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland |
| Genres | Gothic rock |
| Years active | 1984–present |
| Associated acts | The Cassandra Complex |
| Website | rodneyorpheus |
Rodney Orpheus (born 8 July 1960) is a Northern Irish musician, record producer, writer, lecturer, and a leading member of the Thelemic organisation Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.). He is known for his work with the musical group The Cassandra Complex and for his book on the magick of Aleister Crowley, Abrahadabra.
Rodney Orpheus was born William Rodney Campbell on 8 July 1960 in Moneymore, Northern Ireland, and attended Rainey Endowed School on a scholarship. He became interested in music during the punk rock movement of the late 70s and led one of Ireland's first experimental punk bands, The Spare Mentals. In 1980 he migrated to Leeds, England where he formed The Cassandra Complex with Paul Dillon in 1984. The two, who met when Orpheus gatecrashed Dillon's 21st birthday party, originally financed the band by working at The Sorcerer's Apprentice occult store.
After the release of The Cassandra Complex's first records Orpheus spent several years touring Europe, and while living in Aachen, Germany he joined Ordo Templi Orientis. Orpheus had studied the works of Aleister Crowley and other occult writers since his teenage years, and had previously founded and edited the UK occult newspaper Pagan News along with writer Phil Hine.
While in Aachen he began work on the book Abrahadabra, published by Looking Glass Press in Sweden and later republished by Weiser Books. The Ashe Journal described the book as "a significant contribution to the field of Thelemic, or Crowleyan if you will, magick," and the Tree of Light journal said it was "one of the very few competent and readable introductory texts to Thelemic magick."
Orpheus moved to Hamburg, Germany in 1990 where he formed the Makhashanah Oasis (later Lodge) of O.T.O. During this period he also formed the band Sun God, based on Santería initiation he had received from Baba Raul Canizares on a visit to New York and inspired by the work of Vodou artist Sallie Ann Glassman. He set up a recording studio where The Cassandra Complex recorded their next albums, as well as producing and remixing several records for other German alternative artists, including Die Krupps and Girls Under Glass. Orpheus had a role in the German vampire movie Kiss My Blood, and toured with The Sisters of Mercy. He was described as a "technopagan" in Mark Dery's 1996 overview of cyberculture Escape Velocity:
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