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Michael Eschner (16 February 1949 – 13 November 2007) was a German Thelemit and author. He published several books on magic, personality development, and psychology, including annotated editions of works by Aleister Crowley, as whose reincarnation he saw himself. Eschner founded the Thelemic group "Thelema Order of Argentum Astrum" (now the Thelema Society).

Life and work
According to his own account, Eschner started playing chess at the age of 5. Later he was a tournament player and also organized chess tournaments in Berlin. Eschner had an education as an electromechanic. He began studying business administration, but dropped out early. At the age of 19, he was the youngest real estate and financial broker in Berlin, and shortly thereafter opened Berlin's first sex store. Later, he worked as an electromechanic, salesman and Beitragsservice von ARD, ZDF und Deutschlandradio employee, among other things. He was attracted to the Protests of 1968 and appeared as a speaker on Marxism and Marxist economic theory.

Eschner saw himself as a self-taught philosopher. In the late 1960s, he became aware of Aleister Crowley's mindset known as Thelema. He founded a Commune in Berlin in 1979, which he registered as an association under the name Thelema-Orden des Argentum Astrum e.V.. Working groups offered courses that included magical topics, philosophy, systems theory, and communication. The first German edition of "Magick," a work by Aleister Crowley, was published, the Liber AL vel Legis and other books by Crowley were translated, and there were also cassettes and correspondence courses on magical topics. Around 1983, accusations from the media and cult counselings increased. The association was dissolved and the so-called "Network Thelema" was established. Part of the Berlin community moved to Bergen in the Wendland.

Eschner expanded in early 1980 the thelemic approach adopted by Crowley, with fragments from the field of neurobiology, cybernetics and sociology. The circuit model of the psyche, originated by Timothy Leary and extended by Eschner, describes the human brain as a computer and the human body as a biorobot. Within the framework of his "Thelema Order of Argentum Astrum" Eschner tried to "reprogram" humans. According to former members, disgust training, meditative Exercises, excessive alcohol consumption and sexual magic Exercises. This should result in the member largely erasing old inhibiting behaviors. In the course of these exercises, sexual assaults are said to have occurred frequently, though dropouts from the group almost never made statements in court.

After that, the Order underwent several transformations in which different structures and methods were tried out. Thus, there was the Live Unlimited Society of Thelema (L.U.S.T.), which focused on self-organized groups, then the Ethos Community Thelema (E.G.T. ) and the concept of reflexive ultimate justification by Wolfgang Kuhlmann, and most recently the Thelema Society, which is concerned with the development of the individual, in the context of the concept of operational constructivism coined by Niklas Luhmann.

Eschner died at his home of heart failure.

Influences
Thelema, a term coined by Eschner, is a conglomeration of philosophy, sociology, psychology, and spirituality. Thelema, according to Eschner, "offers not truth, but possibilities." If one nevertheless wants to speak of roots and a kind of genealogy of his concept of thelema, one should mention above all Friedrich Nietzsche, Niklas Luhmann, Georg Hegel, Alfred North Whitehead, Charles Sanders Peirce, and Martin Heidegger.

At the beginning of his Thelema career, Eschner claimed to be the pioneer of the Horus Aeon, a new age of humanity, shaping the next higher human being. The concern of the 68er movement, change of the society by plannable change of the human being, was not to be reached for Eschner by reason appeals. He later turned away from this and looked for ways to enable the individual to develop himself. In doing so, he essentially relied on operational constructivism]], which was coined by Luhmann.

Problematic
Eschner's method, according to critics, leads less to individuation than to unconditional obedience to him and is often attributed to Satanic panic. Media and churches criticized Eschner's methods and his teaching content. Eschner himself, in turn, accused the media of frequently reporting in an undifferentiated and prejudiced manner. Likewise, he said, it was typical for churches and the media to eye "dissidents" more critically or to defame them for being different. Since, in Eschner's opinion, these people were still stuck in old European thinking, he had understanding for their criticism.

In 1992, Eschner was sentenced to six years in prison for dangerous bodily harm and rape of a group member. Eschner denied the crime until the end of his life. In 2002, increased media reports of sexual exploitation within the group surfaced again. One member of the group was convicted of forcibly coercing a woman into having sex with Eschner. According to the police, this was not an isolated case.

Books

 * Aleister Crowley das Grosse Tier 666. Leben und Magick, 1982
 * Netzwerk Thelema. Die geheimnisvoll spektakulären Wege aus der Roboter-Einfalt zur Vielfalt der Erleuchteten, 1985 ISBN 978-3894230234.
 * Psychologik. Praktisches Handbuch für den Gebrauch/Entwicklung des menschlichen Nervensystems, Kersken-Canbaz, 1985 ISBN 978-3894230227.
 * Netzwerk Thelema, 1985 ISBN 978-3890940755.
 * Das Henochische Schachspiel von Michael D Eschner und Andreas Baar, Kersken-Canbaz, 1986 ISBN 978-3894230197.
 * Die geheimen Unterweisungen und Rituale des hermetischen Ordens der Goldenen Dämmerung, Bd.2, Stein der Weisen, Johanna Bohmeier & Co., 1987 ISBN 978-3890940656.
 * Die Henochischen Schlüssel der Magie, Johanna Bohmeier & Co. Verlag, 1985 ISBN 978-3890940724.
 * MatheMagie, Kersken-Canbaz, 1989 ISBN 978-3890941219.
 * Liber Al vel Legis, mit Kommentaren von Aleister Crowley und Michael D. Eschner, Kersken-Canbaz, 1992, ISBN 978-3894230012.
 * Die geheimen Sexualmagischen Unterweisungen des Tieres 666, Kersken-Canbaz, 1993, ISBN 978-3894230203.
 * Die magische Kabbala mit Jürgen Hostrup, Kersken-Canbaz, 1993 ISBN 978-3894230210.
 * Techniken der Bewußtseinserweiterung, Kersken-Canbaz, 1993, ISBN 978-3894230654.
 * Magie, eine Einführung, Kersken-Canbaz, 1993 ISBN 978-3894230906.
 * Götterdämmerung. Aufbruch in das Wassermann Zeitalter oder wie Menschen Götter werden, Kersken-Canbaz, 1993 ISBN 978-3894230791.
 * Die Henochische Magie nach Dr. John Dee. Band 1: Das ursprüngliche System des Dr. John Dee, Kersken-Canbaz, 2006, ISBN|978-3894231309}}.
 * Die Henochische Magie nach Dr. John Dee: Bd.2, System und Anwendung im Hermetischen Orden des G.D. Kersken-Canbaz, 2006, ISBN 978-3894231316.
 * Tarot – Geheimnis Abenteuer Spiel, MultiWelt Verlag, 2016 ISBN 978-3942736282.
 * Thelema Fibel: Die Wiederverzauberung der Welt, Band 1, Independently published, 2012 ISBN 979-8663304283.
 * Thelema – die frohe Botschaft: Die Wiederverzauberung der Welt, Band 2 MultiWelt Verlag, 2013 ISBN 978-3942736046.
 * ''Thelema in 100: Die Demokratie ist am Ende, die Philosophie ist am Ende. Thelema ist der Schlüssel zur Zukunft", mit Knut Gierdahl, MultiWelt Verlag, 2015 ISBN 978-3942736060.
 * Leben wie der Phönix: Der Weg zur Unsterblichkeit, 2016 ISBN 978-3942736176.
 * Die Geburt der Magie aus dem Geist der Physik: Entropie, Information und dissipative Strukturen, MultiWelt Verlag, 2017 ISBN 978-3942736244.

Translation

 * Die geheimen Unterweisungen und Rituale des hermetischen Ordens der Goldenen Dämmerung, Bd.1 from Aleister Crowley, Kersken-Canbaz, S, 1987 ISBN 978-3894230159.
 * Die geheimen Unterweisungen und Rituale des hermetischen Ordens der Goldenen Dämmerung, Bd.2 from Aleister Crowley, Kersken-Canbaz, S, 1987 ISBN 3-89423-016-9.
 * Liber 777 und andere kabbalistische Schriften, from Aleister Crowley, Kersken-Canbaz, S, 1985 ISBN 978-3894230067.
 * Magick Band 2, from Aleister Crowley, Kersken-Canbaz, S, 1987 ISBN 978-3894230081.
 * Magick Band 1, from Aleister Crowley, Kersken-Canbaz, S, 1988 ISBN 978-3894230074.
 * Das Buch der Lügen, from Aleister Crowley, Kersken-Canbaz, S, 1987 ISBN 978-3894230029.
 * Liber Al vel Legis: Das Buch des Gesetzes, from Aleister Crowley, Kersken-Canbaz, S, 1988 ISBN 978-3894230005.

Weblinks

 * Michael D. Eschners private Website
 * Sammlung von Interviews mit Michael Eschner (german)
 * Eintrag der Evangelischen Informationsstelle "Kirchen, Sekten, Religionen" (german)
 * Eintrag der Evangelischen Informationsstelle "Kirchen, Sekten, Religionen" (german)