Jane Wolfe
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- This article is about a Thelema personality/
Sarah Jane Wolfe (March 21, 1875 – March 29, 1958) was an American silent film character actress who is considered an important female figure in Thelema. She was a friend and a colleague of Aleister Crowley and a founding member of Agape Lodge of Ordo Templi Orientis in Southern California.
Early life
Wolfe was born in the tiny Pennsylvania borough of St. Petersburg in Clarion County. She came from Pennsylvania Dutch stock. Her name at birth was Sarah Jane Wolfe but when she later went on the stage, she adopted the single name of Jane. She was the middle child; her older brother John was born in the previous year, and her sister, Mary K., was born a year and a day later, the same year that their father died. John spent many years in Montana but Wolfe and Mary K. were closely associated through much of their lives.
Her grandfather Bill was a very busy man as he raised nearly all the family. Her grandmother worked hard in the kitchen and turned out delicious Pennsylvania Dutch treats for the family.
When Wolfe was eight years old, the family lived at McKnightstown, only four miles from their grandfather's farm, which Wolfe used to visit to spend time with grandfather Bill, cuddling him, as he grew weaker in old age.
Aged 19, Wolfe attended Eastman Business College in Poughkeepsie to prepare for stenographic work and met her first flame, a Spaniard from Puerto Rico.
Acting
As a young girl, Wolfe went to New York City to pursue a career in the theatre but soon became involved with acting in the fledgling motion picture industry. She made her film debut in 1910 at the age of 35 with Kalem Studios in A Lad from Old Ireland under the direction of Sidney Olcott.
In 1911, Wolfe was part of the Kalem Company's crew in New York City who relocated to the company's new production facilities in Hollywood. She was active in early silent movies. She rarely lacked work.
Wolfe went on to become one of the leading character actors of the decade, appearing in more than one hundred films including an important secondary role in the 1917 film Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917 film).
Hollywood and magick
In the Fall of 1913, when Wolfe worked in Hollywood, the book Magic, Black and White was given to her to read, and after this, she dipped into various magazines and books of an occult nature.
Ouija
Wolfe used the Ouija board beginning in 1917 when it first came to her attention. She credited some of her most extraordinary spiritual communications to the use of this implement.
In August 1917, when using the ouija board, Wolfe established contact with a spirit who called himself "Bab", and another called "Gan", a Chinese, who gave her definite messages and then departed. After this, spirits who represented themselves as the first two came and gave messages, calling her "the chosen".
Automatic writing
In 1917, Wolfe met screenwriter L. V. Jefferson], who did a lot of automatic writing and was a psychic. A disembodied spirit named Fee Wah used his hand. Jefferson told Wolfe he would be glad to take her as a student. Early in 1918, she tried her own automatic writing.
Thelema
In October 1918, Wolfe ordered The Equinox, Vol. I, No. 1 and Magick (Book 4). She then tried Pranayama for some time and had a yoga teacher for about three weeks but found this unsatisfactory.
In early 1919, Wolfe began writing to Aleister Crowley.
Until about 1920, Wolfe co-starred in more than 90 films, after which her acting career ended following her move to Cefalù where she resided with Crowley, studying Thelema and magick. Wolfe often expressed her wish to direct a film about magic and Thelema in subsequent years.
Cefalu
In 1918, at the age of 43, Jane Wolfe began corresponding with Aleister Crowley, and two years later, she gave up her career in Hollywood to join Crowley at his Abbey of Thelema at Cefalù, Sicily, living there from 1920 until it closed in 1923. In Cefalu, Wolfe was admitted to A∴A∴ by Crowley, taking the magickal name Soror Estai. She undertook various practices, including yoga, dharana, and pranayama, of which she kept a detailed record which was published in 2008 by the Temple of the Silver Star as The Cefalu Diaries. It was the custom at the Abbey of Thelema in Cefalu, where Wolfe came to stay, to allow Aspirants three days as a guest as an aid in general orientation. After that, they were required to work on their attainment or leave. Wolfe had come there to receive some training in yoga and in magick and to discover her True Will. This purpose pulled her through all of the shattering happenings. Wolfe discovered the little town of Cefalu, only about half a mile from the "Villa Santa Barbara," which had become The Abbey of Thelema. It was on a slope of the mountains lying South of Cefalu and was situated in an olive grove. The path to the town offered endless variety as it wound down among rocks and trees. The Abbey residents spent many hours climbing it for exercise and meditation, observing its overall shape, lofty peak high in the sky, and large base. Crowley was especially fond of the South face of this outcropping and liked its steep and gently sloping sides. During her stay at Cefalu, Wolfe often went mountain climbing with Crowley, who taught her how to do it. On December 4, 1921, Crowley gave Wolfe a specific talisman with a seal of spirit Marbas] engraved on it. Wolfe's task was to meditate upon it.
In her diaries from that period, she records that after a few attempts, she made contact with the spirit of the talisman and spoke to him often. Her daily routine involved performing Liber Resh, which was recited four times a day, with all occupants of the Abbey participating unless they were ill. The inhabitants of the Abbey were awakened at 6 am every morning by the sound of the tom-tom. Wolfe found this very difficult for a while as it felt like a shock to her system. Her assigned work usually lasted until after 10 pm, so she had only six hours of sleep. Her body demanded more than this, and she often had to give in or take a nap during the day. After waking up, Wolfe spent about 20 minutes in her Asana, and then she visualized the yellow square of the tattwas for another 20 minutes, with varying results. Following that came visualization exercises and then breakfast. This same regimen was followed after dinner around 7:30 pm, starting at approximately 10 pm that evening. The after-dinner discussions with Crowley sometimes helped Wolfe grasp the demands of her degree. During her magical retreat on the beach near Cefalu, which lasted a month, Wolfe began practicing Asana meditation for 30 minutes daily in the first week, increasing it to two hours by the final week. Last week, Wolfe incorporated several new asanas into her yoga practice, which she performed daily in the nude on the beach. Her other exercises included going from the tent into the ocean for swims to relax. Wolfe trained with Crowley's Thelemic system in Cefalu for three years and emerged from that experience with notable achievement, having endured Crowley's challenges. She eventually worked as Crowley's personal representative in London and Paris.
Southern California
Upon returning to Los Angeles, Wolfe co-founded Agape Lodge in California. On June 6, 1940, Wolfe took Phyllis Seckler as her student, making her a Probationer of the A∴A∴, which later established the Soror Estai A∴A∴ lineage.
Later years
After not appearing on screen for 17 years, Jane Wolfe made a small appearance in the 1937 B-movie titled Under Strange Flags. Starting in May 1937, Wolfe taught Dramatics and Speech Development in the evening theatrical course in Pasadena. Beginning in 1938, she served as the chairman of the Cultural Arts Program at the Los Feliz Women's Club, chairman of the Drama Section of the same club, and chairman of the Observers' Club.
Death
Wolfe died on March 29, 1958, in the Southern California city of Glendale, California, eight days after her 83rd birthday.
Partial filmography
- Wikipedia article: Jane Wolfe Partial filmography
Further reading
Seckler, Phyllis (2003). Cornelius, Jerry (ed.). "Jane Wolfe: Her Life With Aleister Crowley". Red Flame (10–11).
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- More information is available at [ Wikipedia:Jane_Wolfe ]
External links
- Jane Wolfe at the Internet Movie Database
- Jane Wolfe at the Turner Classic Movie Database
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