William G. Gray (25 March 1913 – 1992) was an English ceremonial magician, Hermetic Qabalist and writer, who published widely on the subject of western esotericism and the occult.
[1] Born to a working-class family in Harrow, Middlesex, Gray moved around in his childhood, living in various locations across England, and also in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where he took a particular interest in the rituals of the Roman Catholic Church.
Eventually taking an Austrian named Emile Napoleon Hauenstein to be his magical teacher, he joined the British Army and served for several years, fighting in the Second World War.
[6] When the First World War broke out in 1914, the United Kingdom allied itself with France to fight Germany, leading John Gray to lie about his age to enlist in the British Army, believing it to be his patriotic duty; joining the Ox and Bucks Light Infantry, he served in France and then India, where he took charge of a prisoner of war camp at Elephanta Island near Bombay.
She sent her young son William to live with his elderly grandmother and Aunt Lella in Ramsgate, where (he would later relate) he was "badly behaved, disobedient, [and] untidy".
It was there that William first learned about the esoteric, although he would always associate Theosophy somewhat derogatorily with "elderly ladies of both sexes and genteel behaviour whose ideas of Nirvana centred around mysterious Oriental Masters who directed the destiny of all mankind from a secret spot in Tibet.
[14] Because the family struggled with financial problems, Christine worked as a professional fortune teller and William shared his mother's interest in western esotericism, reading books on metaphysics and psychology from the local library.
[17] "Once or twice" he briefly met the infamous ceremonial magician Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), founder of the religion of Thelema and a pariah figure in the British press.
On a visit to an uncle in London, Gray travelled to the home of Dion Fortune (1890–1946), the noted ceremonial magician and leader of the Fraternity of the Inner Light.
[18] An eager reader of the Occult Review, Gray also wrote a letter to the paper discussing his views on Rosicrucianism, which was subsequently published, leading another occultist to get in touch with him.
Hauenstein, whom Gray usually referred to as "ENH", had formerly been a Martinist and an associate of the French occultist Gérard Encausse, the founder of the Qabalistic Order of the Rosy Cross.
After receiving the blessing of Hauenstein, who informed him that he could continue his magical training while in the army, he duly did so, being admitted into the Royal Corps of Signals, and fought in the Second World War.
[21] Gray underwent a series of nocturnal meditations at the Rollright Stones, a prehistoric site in the Cotswolds, in which he hoped to commune with spiritual energies that he believed existed there.
The Sangreal Sodality is a spiritual brotherhood of the Western Inner Tradition founded by William G. Gray and Jacobus G. Swart, and was officially launched by them on 19 November 1980 on the occasion of the official inauguration of the first Sangreal Sodality Temple named "Domine Dirige Nos" in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the induction of the first initiated member of this brotherhood.
Individuals who agree with, or feel inspired by, the teachings and practices expounded in the basic textbooks of the Sangreal Sodality, may set up a Temple, Lodge or Chapter.