Aleister Crowley
(1875 - 1947)
(1875 - 1947)
Aleister Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley (October 12, 1875 –
December 1, 1947) was an occultist, mystic, sexual revolutionary, and drug user
(especially opium). Other interests and accomplishments were wide-ranging (he
was a chess master, mountain climber, poet, writer, painter, astrologer and social
critic). He was quite notorious during his life, and was dubbed "The Wickedest
Man In the World"; the term first appeared in 1928 in John Bull, a tabloid pictorial
of the day.
Edward Alexander Crowley was born in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire,
England, between 11:00pm and 12 midnight on 12 October 1875. His father,
Edward Crowley, once maintained a lucrative family brewery business and was
retired at the time of Aleister's birth. His mother, Emily Bertha Bishop, drew roots
from a Devon and Somerset family.
Aleister grew up in a staunch Plymouth Brethren household. His father, after
retiring from his daily duties as a brewer, took up the practice of preaching at a
fanatical pace. Daily Bible studies and private tutoring were mainstays in young
Aleister's childhood; however, after his father's death, his mother's efforts at
indoctrinating her son in the Christian faith only served to provoke Aleister's
scepticism. As a child, young Aleister's constant rebellious behavior displeased
his devout mother to such an extent she would chastize him by calling him "The
Beast" (from the Book of Revelation), an epithet that Crowley would later happily
adopt for himself. He objected to the labeling of what he saw as life's most
worthwhile and enjoyable activities as "sinful".
In response, Crowley created his own philosophical system, Scientific Illuminism
— a synthesis of various Eastern mystical systems (including Hinduism,
Buddhism, Tantra, the predecessor to Western sex magick, Zoroastrianism and
the many systems of Yoga) fused with the Western occult sciences of the
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the many reformed rituals of
Freemasonry he later reformulated within the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O). This
system also appeals to scientific and philosophical scepticism. His undergraduate
studies in chemistry at Trinity College, Cambridge helped forge the scientific
scepticism that later culminated in the many-volumed and unparalleled occult
publication, The Equinox.
Following the death of his father, the young Aleister (then "Alec" or "Alick") turned
to a form of Satanism in grief. However, within a few years he abandoned this for
atheism and hedonism, or in his words, "began to behave like a normal, healthy
human being." During the year 1897, he slowly came to view earthly pursuits as
useless and began his lifelong exploration of esoteric matters. A number of
events contributed to this change. (The section on chess in this article gives one
example.)
Involved as a young adult in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, he first
studied mysticism with and made enemies of William Butler Yeats and Arthur
Edward Waite. Like many in occult circles of the time, Crowley voiced the view
that Waite was a pretentious bore through searing critiques of Waite's writings
and editorials of other authors' writings.
His friend and former Golden Dawn associate Allan Bennett introduced him to the
ideas of Buddhism, while Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, acting leader of the
Golden Dawn organization, acted as his early mentor in western magick but would
later become his enemy. Several decades after Crowley's participation in the
Golden Dawn, Mathers claimed copyright protection over a particular ritual and
sued Crowley for infringement after Crowley's public display of the ritual. In a
book of fiction entitled Moonchild, Crowley portrayed Mathers as the primary
villain, including him as a character named SRMD, using the abbreviation of
Mathers' magical name. Arthur Edward Waite also appeared in Moonchild as a
villain named Arthwaite, while Bennett appeared in Moonchild as the main
character's wise mentor, Simon Iff.
While he did not officially break with Mathers until 1904, Crowley lost faith in this
teacher's abilities soon after the 1900 schism in the Golden Dawn (if not before).
Later that year, Crowley travelled to Mexico and continued his magical studies in
isolation. AC's writings suggest that he discovered the word Abrahadabra during
this time.
In October of 1901, after practising Raja Yoga for some time, he said he had
reached a state he called dhyana — one of many states of unification in thoughts
that are described in MAGICK Book IV . 1902 saw him writing the essay
Berashith (the first word of Genesis), in which he gave meditation (or restraint of
the mind to a single object) as the means of attaining his goal. The essay
describes ceremonial magic as a means of training the will, and of constantly
directing one's thoughts to a given object through ritual. In his 1903 essay,
Science and Buddhism, Crowley urged an empirical approach to Buddhist
teachings.
He said that a mystical experience in 1904 while on vacation in Cairo, Egypt, led
to his founding of the religious philosophy known as Thelema. Aleister's wife
Rose started to behave in an odd way, and this led him to think that some entity
had made contact with her. At her instructions, he performed an invocation of the
Egyptian god Horus on March 20 with (he wrote) "great success". According to
Crowley, the god told him that a new magical Aeon had begun, and that A.C.
would serve as its prophet. Rose continued to give information, telling Crowley in
detailed terms to await a further revelation. On 8 April and for the following two
days at exactly noon he heard a voice, dictating the words of the text, Liber AL
vel Legis, or The Book of the Law, which Crowley wrote down. The voice claimed
to be that of Aiwass (or Aiwaz "the minister of Hoor-paar-kraat," or Horus, the god
of force and fire, child of Isis and Osiris) and self-appointed conquering lord of
the New Aeon, announced through his chosen scribe "the prince-priest the
Beast."
Portions of the book are in numerical cipher, which Crowley claimed the inability
to decode (Setian Michael Aquino later claimed to be able to decode them).
Thelemic dogma (to the extent that Thelema has dogma) explains this by pointing
to a warning within the Book of the Law — the speaker supposedly warned that
the scribe, Ankh-af-na-khonsu (Aleister Crowley), was never to attempt to decode
the ciphers, for to do so would end only in folly. The later-written The Law is For
All sees Crowley warning everyone not to discuss the writing amongst fellow
critics, for fear that a dogmatic position would arise. While he declared a "new
Equinox of the Gods" in early 1904, supposedly passing on the revelation of
March 20 to the occult community, it took years for Crowley to fully accept the
writing of the Book of the Law and follow its doctrine. Only after countless
attempts to test its writings did he come to embrace them as the official doctrine
of the New Aeon of Horus. The remainder of his professional and personal
careers were spent expanding the new frontiers of scientific illuminism.
Rose and Aleister had a daughter, whom AC named Nuit Ma Ahathoor Hecate
Sappho Jezebel Lilith Crowley, in July of 1904. This child died in 1906. They had
another daughter, Lola Zaza, in the summer of that year, and AC devised a
special ritual of thanksgiving for her birth. He performed a thanksgiving ritual
before his first claimed success in the Abramelin operation, on October 9, 1906.
The events of that year gave the Abramelin book a central role in Crowley's
system. He described the primary goal of the "Great Work" using a term from this
book: "the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel." An essay in
the first number of The Equinox gives several reasons for this choice of names:
1. Because Abramelin's system is so simple and effective.
2. Because since all theories of the universe are absurd it is better to talk in
the language of one which is patently absurd, so as to mortify the
metaphysical man.
3. Because a child can understand it.
Crowley was notorious in his lifetime — a frequent target of attacks in the tabloid
press, which labelled him "The Wickedest Man in the World" to his evident
amusement. At one point, he was expelled from Italy after having established a
sort of commune, the organization of which was based on his personal
philosophies, the Abbey of Thelema, at Cefalu, Sicily.
In 1934 Crowley was declared bankrupt after losing a court case in which he sued
the artist Nina Hamnett for calling him a black magician in her 1932 book,
Laughing Torso. In addressing the jury, Mr Justice Swift said: "I have been over
forty years engaged in the administration of the law in one capacity or another. I
thought that I knew of every conceivable form of wickedness. I thought that
everything which was vicious and bad had been produced at one time or another
before me. I have learnt in this case that we can always learn something more if
we live long enough. I have never heard such dreadful, horrible, blasphemous
and abominable stuff as that which has been produced by the man (Crowley) who
describes himself to you as the greatest living poet."
Aleister Crowley died of a respiratory infection in a Hastings boarding house on
December 1, 1947, at the age of 72. According to some accounts he died on
December 5, 1947. He was penniless and addicted to opium, which had been
prescribed for his asthma and bronchitis, at the time.
Biographer Lawrence Sutin passes on various stories about AC's death and last
words. Frieda Harris supposedly reported him saying, "I am perplexed," though
she did not see him at the very end. According to John Symonds, a Mr Rowe
witnessed Crowley's death along with a nurse, and reported his last words as,
"Sometimes I hate myself." Biographer Gerald Suster accepted the version of
events he received from a "Mr W.H." in which Crowley dies pacing in his living-
room. Supposedly Mr W.H. heard a crash while polishing furniture on the floor
below, and entered Crowley's rooms to find him dead on the floor. Patricia
"Deirdre" MacAlpine, the mother of his son, denied all this and reports a sudden
gust of wind and peal of thunder at the (otherwise quiet) moment of his death.
According to MacAlpine, Crowley remained bedridden for the last few days of his
life, but was in light spirits and conversational. Readings at the cremation service
in nearby Brighton included one of his own works, Hymn to Pan, and newspapers
referred to the service as a black mass. Brighton council subsequently resolved
to take all necessary steps to prevent such an incident occurring again.
December 1, 1947) was an occultist, mystic, sexual revolutionary, and drug user
(especially opium). Other interests and accomplishments were wide-ranging (he
was a chess master, mountain climber, poet, writer, painter, astrologer and social
critic). He was quite notorious during his life, and was dubbed "The Wickedest
Man In the World"; the term first appeared in 1928 in John Bull, a tabloid pictorial
of the day.
Edward Alexander Crowley was born in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire,
England, between 11:00pm and 12 midnight on 12 October 1875. His father,
Edward Crowley, once maintained a lucrative family brewery business and was
retired at the time of Aleister's birth. His mother, Emily Bertha Bishop, drew roots
from a Devon and Somerset family.
Aleister grew up in a staunch Plymouth Brethren household. His father, after
retiring from his daily duties as a brewer, took up the practice of preaching at a
fanatical pace. Daily Bible studies and private tutoring were mainstays in young
Aleister's childhood; however, after his father's death, his mother's efforts at
indoctrinating her son in the Christian faith only served to provoke Aleister's
scepticism. As a child, young Aleister's constant rebellious behavior displeased
his devout mother to such an extent she would chastize him by calling him "The
Beast" (from the Book of Revelation), an epithet that Crowley would later happily
adopt for himself. He objected to the labeling of what he saw as life's most
worthwhile and enjoyable activities as "sinful".
In response, Crowley created his own philosophical system, Scientific Illuminism
— a synthesis of various Eastern mystical systems (including Hinduism,
Buddhism, Tantra, the predecessor to Western sex magick, Zoroastrianism and
the many systems of Yoga) fused with the Western occult sciences of the
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the many reformed rituals of
Freemasonry he later reformulated within the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O). This
system also appeals to scientific and philosophical scepticism. His undergraduate
studies in chemistry at Trinity College, Cambridge helped forge the scientific
scepticism that later culminated in the many-volumed and unparalleled occult
publication, The Equinox.
Following the death of his father, the young Aleister (then "Alec" or "Alick") turned
to a form of Satanism in grief. However, within a few years he abandoned this for
atheism and hedonism, or in his words, "began to behave like a normal, healthy
human being." During the year 1897, he slowly came to view earthly pursuits as
useless and began his lifelong exploration of esoteric matters. A number of
events contributed to this change. (The section on chess in this article gives one
example.)
Involved as a young adult in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, he first
studied mysticism with and made enemies of William Butler Yeats and Arthur
Edward Waite. Like many in occult circles of the time, Crowley voiced the view
that Waite was a pretentious bore through searing critiques of Waite's writings
and editorials of other authors' writings.
His friend and former Golden Dawn associate Allan Bennett introduced him to the
ideas of Buddhism, while Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, acting leader of the
Golden Dawn organization, acted as his early mentor in western magick but would
later become his enemy. Several decades after Crowley's participation in the
Golden Dawn, Mathers claimed copyright protection over a particular ritual and
sued Crowley for infringement after Crowley's public display of the ritual. In a
book of fiction entitled Moonchild, Crowley portrayed Mathers as the primary
villain, including him as a character named SRMD, using the abbreviation of
Mathers' magical name. Arthur Edward Waite also appeared in Moonchild as a
villain named Arthwaite, while Bennett appeared in Moonchild as the main
character's wise mentor, Simon Iff.
While he did not officially break with Mathers until 1904, Crowley lost faith in this
teacher's abilities soon after the 1900 schism in the Golden Dawn (if not before).
Later that year, Crowley travelled to Mexico and continued his magical studies in
isolation. AC's writings suggest that he discovered the word Abrahadabra during
this time.
In October of 1901, after practising Raja Yoga for some time, he said he had
reached a state he called dhyana — one of many states of unification in thoughts
that are described in MAGICK Book IV . 1902 saw him writing the essay
Berashith (the first word of Genesis), in which he gave meditation (or restraint of
the mind to a single object) as the means of attaining his goal. The essay
describes ceremonial magic as a means of training the will, and of constantly
directing one's thoughts to a given object through ritual. In his 1903 essay,
Science and Buddhism, Crowley urged an empirical approach to Buddhist
teachings.
He said that a mystical experience in 1904 while on vacation in Cairo, Egypt, led
to his founding of the religious philosophy known as Thelema. Aleister's wife
Rose started to behave in an odd way, and this led him to think that some entity
had made contact with her. At her instructions, he performed an invocation of the
Egyptian god Horus on March 20 with (he wrote) "great success". According to
Crowley, the god told him that a new magical Aeon had begun, and that A.C.
would serve as its prophet. Rose continued to give information, telling Crowley in
detailed terms to await a further revelation. On 8 April and for the following two
days at exactly noon he heard a voice, dictating the words of the text, Liber AL
vel Legis, or The Book of the Law, which Crowley wrote down. The voice claimed
to be that of Aiwass (or Aiwaz "the minister of Hoor-paar-kraat," or Horus, the god
of force and fire, child of Isis and Osiris) and self-appointed conquering lord of
the New Aeon, announced through his chosen scribe "the prince-priest the
Beast."
Portions of the book are in numerical cipher, which Crowley claimed the inability
to decode (Setian Michael Aquino later claimed to be able to decode them).
Thelemic dogma (to the extent that Thelema has dogma) explains this by pointing
to a warning within the Book of the Law — the speaker supposedly warned that
the scribe, Ankh-af-na-khonsu (Aleister Crowley), was never to attempt to decode
the ciphers, for to do so would end only in folly. The later-written The Law is For
All sees Crowley warning everyone not to discuss the writing amongst fellow
critics, for fear that a dogmatic position would arise. While he declared a "new
Equinox of the Gods" in early 1904, supposedly passing on the revelation of
March 20 to the occult community, it took years for Crowley to fully accept the
writing of the Book of the Law and follow its doctrine. Only after countless
attempts to test its writings did he come to embrace them as the official doctrine
of the New Aeon of Horus. The remainder of his professional and personal
careers were spent expanding the new frontiers of scientific illuminism.
Rose and Aleister had a daughter, whom AC named Nuit Ma Ahathoor Hecate
Sappho Jezebel Lilith Crowley, in July of 1904. This child died in 1906. They had
another daughter, Lola Zaza, in the summer of that year, and AC devised a
special ritual of thanksgiving for her birth. He performed a thanksgiving ritual
before his first claimed success in the Abramelin operation, on October 9, 1906.
The events of that year gave the Abramelin book a central role in Crowley's
system. He described the primary goal of the "Great Work" using a term from this
book: "the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel." An essay in
the first number of The Equinox gives several reasons for this choice of names:
1. Because Abramelin's system is so simple and effective.
2. Because since all theories of the universe are absurd it is better to talk in
the language of one which is patently absurd, so as to mortify the
metaphysical man.
3. Because a child can understand it.
Crowley was notorious in his lifetime — a frequent target of attacks in the tabloid
press, which labelled him "The Wickedest Man in the World" to his evident
amusement. At one point, he was expelled from Italy after having established a
sort of commune, the organization of which was based on his personal
philosophies, the Abbey of Thelema, at Cefalu, Sicily.
In 1934 Crowley was declared bankrupt after losing a court case in which he sued
the artist Nina Hamnett for calling him a black magician in her 1932 book,
Laughing Torso. In addressing the jury, Mr Justice Swift said: "I have been over
forty years engaged in the administration of the law in one capacity or another. I
thought that I knew of every conceivable form of wickedness. I thought that
everything which was vicious and bad had been produced at one time or another
before me. I have learnt in this case that we can always learn something more if
we live long enough. I have never heard such dreadful, horrible, blasphemous
and abominable stuff as that which has been produced by the man (Crowley) who
describes himself to you as the greatest living poet."
Aleister Crowley died of a respiratory infection in a Hastings boarding house on
December 1, 1947, at the age of 72. According to some accounts he died on
December 5, 1947. He was penniless and addicted to opium, which had been
prescribed for his asthma and bronchitis, at the time.
Biographer Lawrence Sutin passes on various stories about AC's death and last
words. Frieda Harris supposedly reported him saying, "I am perplexed," though
she did not see him at the very end. According to John Symonds, a Mr Rowe
witnessed Crowley's death along with a nurse, and reported his last words as,
"Sometimes I hate myself." Biographer Gerald Suster accepted the version of
events he received from a "Mr W.H." in which Crowley dies pacing in his living-
room. Supposedly Mr W.H. heard a crash while polishing furniture on the floor
below, and entered Crowley's rooms to find him dead on the floor. Patricia
"Deirdre" MacAlpine, the mother of his son, denied all this and reports a sudden
gust of wind and peal of thunder at the (otherwise quiet) moment of his death.
According to MacAlpine, Crowley remained bedridden for the last few days of his
life, but was in light spirits and conversational. Readings at the cremation service
in nearby Brighton included one of his own works, Hymn to Pan, and newspapers
referred to the service as a black mass. Brighton council subsequently resolved
to take all necessary steps to prevent such an incident occurring again.
Chess
Crowley learned to play chess at the age of six and first competed on the
Eastbourne College chess team (where he was taking classes in 1892). He
showed immediate competence, beating the adult champion in town and even
editing a chess column for the local newspaper, the Eastbourne Gazette
(Sutin, p.33), which he often used to criticize the Eastbourne team. He later
joined the university chess club at Cambridge, where he beat the president in
his freshman year and practised two hours a day towards becoming a
champion — "My one serious worldly ambition had been to become the
champion of the world at chess" (Confessions, p.193).
However, he gave up his chess aspirations in 1897 when attending a chess
conference in Berlin:
But I had hardly entered the room where the masters were playing when I was
seized with what may justly be described as a mystical experience. I seemed to
be looking on at the tournament from outside myself. I saw the masters —
one, shabby, snuffy and blear-eyed; another, in badly fitting would-be
respectable shoddy; a third, a mere parody of humanity, and so on for the
rest. These were the people to whose ranks I was seeking admission. "There,
but for the grace of God, goes Aleister Crowley," I exclaimed to myself with
disgust, and there and then I registered a vow never to play another serious
game of chess. I perceived with preternatural lucidity that I had not alighted on
this planet with the object of playing chess. (Confessions, Ch.16).
Crowley learned to play chess at the age of six and first competed on the
Eastbourne College chess team (where he was taking classes in 1892). He
showed immediate competence, beating the adult champion in town and even
editing a chess column for the local newspaper, the Eastbourne Gazette
(Sutin, p.33), which he often used to criticize the Eastbourne team. He later
joined the university chess club at Cambridge, where he beat the president in
his freshman year and practised two hours a day towards becoming a
champion — "My one serious worldly ambition had been to become the
champion of the world at chess" (Confessions, p.193).
However, he gave up his chess aspirations in 1897 when attending a chess
conference in Berlin:
But I had hardly entered the room where the masters were playing when I was
seized with what may justly be described as a mystical experience. I seemed to
be looking on at the tournament from outside myself. I saw the masters —
one, shabby, snuffy and blear-eyed; another, in badly fitting would-be
respectable shoddy; a third, a mere parody of humanity, and so on for the
rest. These were the people to whose ranks I was seeking admission. "There,
but for the grace of God, goes Aleister Crowley," I exclaimed to myself with
disgust, and there and then I registered a vow never to play another serious
game of chess. I perceived with preternatural lucidity that I had not alighted on
this planet with the object of playing chess. (Confessions, Ch.16).
Mountaineering
In the summer of 1902, Oscar Eckenstein and Crowley undertook the first attempt to scale Chogo Ri (known
in the west as K2), located in Pakistan. The Eckenstein-Crowley Expedition consisted of Eckenstein, Crowley,
Guy Knowles, H. Pfannl, V. Wesseley, and Dr Jules Jacot-Guillarmod. During this trip he won a world record
for his hardships on the Baltoro Glacier, sixty-eight straight days of glacial life.
In May 1905, he was approached by Dr Jules Jacot-Guillarmod (1868 - 1925) to accompany him on the first
expedition to Kanchenjunga, the third largest mountain in the world which is located in Nepal. Guillarmod was
left to organize the personnel while Crowley left to get things ready in Darjeeling. On July 31 Guillarmod joined
Crowley in Darjeeling, bringing with him two countrymen, Charles-Adolphe Reymond and Alexis Pache.
Meanwhile, Crowley had recruited a local man, Alcesti C. Rigo de Righi, to act as Transport Manager. The
team left Darjeeling on August 8, 1905, and used the Singalila Ridge approach to Kangchenjunga. At
Chabanjong they ran into the rear of the 135 coolies who had been sent ahead on July 24 and July 25, who
were carrying food rations for the team. The trek was led by Aleister Crowley, but four members of that party
were killed in an avalanche. Some claims say they reached around 21,300 feet before turning back, however
Crowley's autobiography claims they reached about 25,000 feet.
Crowley was sometimes famously scathing about other climbers, in particular O. G. Jones, whom he
considered a risk-taking self-publicist, and his 'two photographers' George and Ashley Abraham).
In the summer of 1902, Oscar Eckenstein and Crowley undertook the first attempt to scale Chogo Ri (known
in the west as K2), located in Pakistan. The Eckenstein-Crowley Expedition consisted of Eckenstein, Crowley,
Guy Knowles, H. Pfannl, V. Wesseley, and Dr Jules Jacot-Guillarmod. During this trip he won a world record
for his hardships on the Baltoro Glacier, sixty-eight straight days of glacial life.
In May 1905, he was approached by Dr Jules Jacot-Guillarmod (1868 - 1925) to accompany him on the first
expedition to Kanchenjunga, the third largest mountain in the world which is located in Nepal. Guillarmod was
left to organize the personnel while Crowley left to get things ready in Darjeeling. On July 31 Guillarmod joined
Crowley in Darjeeling, bringing with him two countrymen, Charles-Adolphe Reymond and Alexis Pache.
Meanwhile, Crowley had recruited a local man, Alcesti C. Rigo de Righi, to act as Transport Manager. The
team left Darjeeling on August 8, 1905, and used the Singalila Ridge approach to Kangchenjunga. At
Chabanjong they ran into the rear of the 135 coolies who had been sent ahead on July 24 and July 25, who
were carrying food rations for the team. The trek was led by Aleister Crowley, but four members of that party
were killed in an avalanche. Some claims say they reached around 21,300 feet before turning back, however
Crowley's autobiography claims they reached about 25,000 feet.
Crowley was sometimes famously scathing about other climbers, in particular O. G. Jones, whom he
considered a risk-taking self-publicist, and his 'two photographers' George and Ashley Abraham).
Science, magic, and sexuality
Crowley claimed to use a scientific method to study what people at the time called "spiritual" experiences,
making "The Method of Science, the Aim of Religion" the catchphrase of his magazine The Equinox. By this
he meant that mystical experiences should not be taken at face value, but critiqued and experimented with in
order to arrive at their underlying religious meaning. In this he may be considered to foreshadow Dr. Timothy
Leary, who at one point sought to apply the same method to psychedelic drug experiences. Yet like Leary's,
Crowley's method has received little "scientific" attention outside the circle of Thelema's practitioners.
Crowley's magical and initiatory system has amongst its innermost reaches a set of teachings on sex
"magick." He frequently expressed views about sex that were radical for his time, and published numerous
poems and tracts combining pagan religious themes with sexual imagery both heterosexual and homosexual.
Sex Magick is the use of the sex act—or the energies, passions or arousal states it evokes—as a point upon
which to focus the will or magical desire for effects in the non-sexual world. In this, Crowley was inspired by
Paschal Beverly Randolph, an American author writing in the 1870s who wrote (in his book Eulis!) of using the
"nuptive moment" (orgasm) as the time to make a "prayer" for events to occur.
Crowley claimed to use a scientific method to study what people at the time called "spiritual" experiences,
making "The Method of Science, the Aim of Religion" the catchphrase of his magazine The Equinox. By this
he meant that mystical experiences should not be taken at face value, but critiqued and experimented with in
order to arrive at their underlying religious meaning. In this he may be considered to foreshadow Dr. Timothy
Leary, who at one point sought to apply the same method to psychedelic drug experiences. Yet like Leary's,
Crowley's method has received little "scientific" attention outside the circle of Thelema's practitioners.
Crowley's magical and initiatory system has amongst its innermost reaches a set of teachings on sex
"magick." He frequently expressed views about sex that were radical for his time, and published numerous
poems and tracts combining pagan religious themes with sexual imagery both heterosexual and homosexual.
Sex Magick is the use of the sex act—or the energies, passions or arousal states it evokes—as a point upon
which to focus the will or magical desire for effects in the non-sexual world. In this, Crowley was inspired by
Paschal Beverly Randolph, an American author writing in the 1870s who wrote (in his book Eulis!) of using the
"nuptive moment" (orgasm) as the time to make a "prayer" for events to occur.
Women
During March 1899 Crowley met, at one of the semi-public performances of MacGregor Mathers' Rites of Isis,
an American soprano by the name of Susan Strong (3 August 1870 - 11 March 1946). Susan was the
daughter of Dennis Strong, an American Congressman and mayor of Brooklyn. She had gone to the UK at
the age of 21 and had enrolled in the Royal College of Music, London under the tutelage of the famous
Hungarian musician Francis Korbay. Crowley met up with her again in London when she sang the part of
Venus in Tannhäuser on 22 June 1899. A torrid romance followed during which Susan swore to divorce her
American husband and devote herself to Crowley. However on her return to the US, around October 1899,
she apparently cooled in ardour. Crowley followed her to New York in June of the following year, but by then
she was already on her way back to the UK to appear in performances of the Royal Opera House, Covent
Garden. During 1900, while in Mexico City, Crowley experienced an epiphany, during which he transcribed his
play, titled Tannhauser. He attributed the inspiration of this play to his romance with Susan Strong.
During March 1899 Crowley met, at one of the semi-public performances of MacGregor Mathers' Rites of Isis,
an American soprano by the name of Susan Strong (3 August 1870 - 11 March 1946). Susan was the
daughter of Dennis Strong, an American Congressman and mayor of Brooklyn. She had gone to the UK at
the age of 21 and had enrolled in the Royal College of Music, London under the tutelage of the famous
Hungarian musician Francis Korbay. Crowley met up with her again in London when she sang the part of
Venus in Tannhäuser on 22 June 1899. A torrid romance followed during which Susan swore to divorce her
American husband and devote herself to Crowley. However on her return to the US, around October 1899,
she apparently cooled in ardour. Crowley followed her to New York in June of the following year, but by then
she was already on her way back to the UK to appear in performances of the Royal Opera House, Covent
Garden. During 1900, while in Mexico City, Crowley experienced an epiphany, during which he transcribed his
play, titled Tannhauser. He attributed the inspiration of this play to his romance with Susan Strong.
Thelema
The religious or mystical system which Crowley founded, into which most of his writings fall, he named
Thelema. Thelema combines a radical form of philosophical libertarianism, akin in some ways to Nietzsche,
with a mystical initiatory system derived in part from the Golden Dawn.
Chief among the precepts of Thelema is the sovereignty of the individual will: "Do what thou wilt shall be the
whole of the Law." Crowley's idea of will, however, is not simply the individual's desires or wishes, but also
incorporates a sense of the person's destiny or greater purpose: what he termed the "Magick Will." Much of
the initiatory system of Thelema is focused on discovering one's true will, true purpose, or higher self. Much
else is devoted to an Eastern-inspired dissolution of the individual ego, as a means to that end.
The second precept of Thelema is "Love is the law, love under will" — and Crowley's meaning of "Love" is as
complex as that of "Will". It is frequently sexual: Crowley's system, like elements of the Golden Dawn before
him, sees the dichotomy and tension between the male and female as fundamental to existence, and sexual
"magick" and metaphor form a significant part of Thelemic ritual.
Thelema draws on numerous older sources and, like many other new religious movements of its time,
combines "Western" and "Eastern" traditions. Its chief Western influences include the Golden Dawn and
elements of Freemasonry; Eastern influences include aspects of yoga, Taoism, Kabbalah and Tantra.
The religious or mystical system which Crowley founded, into which most of his writings fall, he named
Thelema. Thelema combines a radical form of philosophical libertarianism, akin in some ways to Nietzsche,
with a mystical initiatory system derived in part from the Golden Dawn.
Chief among the precepts of Thelema is the sovereignty of the individual will: "Do what thou wilt shall be the
whole of the Law." Crowley's idea of will, however, is not simply the individual's desires or wishes, but also
incorporates a sense of the person's destiny or greater purpose: what he termed the "Magick Will." Much of
the initiatory system of Thelema is focused on discovering one's true will, true purpose, or higher self. Much
else is devoted to an Eastern-inspired dissolution of the individual ego, as a means to that end.
The second precept of Thelema is "Love is the law, love under will" — and Crowley's meaning of "Love" is as
complex as that of "Will". It is frequently sexual: Crowley's system, like elements of the Golden Dawn before
him, sees the dichotomy and tension between the male and female as fundamental to existence, and sexual
"magick" and metaphor form a significant part of Thelemic ritual.
Thelema draws on numerous older sources and, like many other new religious movements of its time,
combines "Western" and "Eastern" traditions. Its chief Western influences include the Golden Dawn and
elements of Freemasonry; Eastern influences include aspects of yoga, Taoism, Kabbalah and Tantra.
Writings
Within the subject of occultism Crowley wrote widely, penning commentaries on the Tarot (The Book of
Thoth), yoga (Book Four), the Kabbalah (Sepher Sephiroth), astrology (The General Principles of Astrology),
and numerous other subjects. He also wrote a Thelemic "translation" of the Tao Te Ching, based on earlier
English translations since he knew little or no Chinese. Like the Golden Dawn mystics before him, Crowley
evidently sought to comprehend the entire human religious and mystical experience in a single philosophy. He
self-published many of his books, expending the majority of his inheritance to disseminate his views. Many of
his fiction works, such as the "Simon Iff" detective stories and Moonchild have not received significant notice
outside of occult circles. However his fictional work Diary Of A Drug Fiend has received acclaim from those
involved in the field of substance abuse rehabilitation.
Crowley's most grandiose work is The Equinox, a large bi-annual periodical that served as the official organ of
the Argenteum Astrum (A?A?), and, later, the O.T.O. It was subtitled "The Review of Scientific Illuminism" and
remains one of the definitive works on occultism.
Crowley's other major works include:
The Book of Lies
The Holy Books of Thelema
Konx om Pax
He also wrote a short, highly readable introduction to yoga (Eight Lectures on Yoga) and a polemic arguing
against George Bernard Shaw's interpretation of the Gospels in his preface to Androcles and the Lion.
Crowley's piece was edited by Francis King and published as Crowley on Christ, and shows him at his erudite
and witty best.
Crowley had a peculiar sense of humour. In his Book Four he includes a chapter purporting to illuminate the
Qabalistic significance of Mother Goose nursery rhymes. In re Humpty Dumpty, for instance, he recommends
the occult authority "Ludovicus Carolus" -- better known as Lewis Carroll. In a footnote to the chapter he
admits that he had invented the alleged meanings, to show that one can find occult "Truth" in everything. The
title to chapter 69 is given as "The Way to Succeed - and the Way to Suck Eggs!" a pun, as the chapter
concerns the 69 sex position as a mystical act.
Many Crowley biographies relate the story of L. Ron Hubbard and Jack Parsons and their attempt to create a
"moonchild" (from Crowley's novel of that name). In Crowley's own words, "Apparently Parsons and Hubbard
or somebody is producing a moonchild. I get fairly frantic when I contemplate the idiocy of these louts." Clearly
the admiration Hubbard had for Crowley was not reciprocated.
More famously still, he baited Christians by naming himself To Mega Therion, or "The Great Beast" of the
Book of Revelation.
Crowley was also a published, if minor, poet. He wrote the 1929 Hymn to Pan [1], perhaps his most widely
read and anthologized poem. Three pieces by Crowley, "The Quest [2]", "The Neophyte [3]", and "The Rose
and the Cross [4]", appear in the 1917 collection The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. Crowley's
unusual sense of humour is on display in White Stains [5], an 1898 collection of pornographic verse
pretended to be "the literary remains of George Archibald Bishop, a neuropath of the Second Empire;" the
volume is prefaced with a notice that says that " The Editor hopes that Mental Pathologists, for whose eyes
alone this treatise is destined, will spare no precaution to prevent it falling into other hands."
Within the subject of occultism Crowley wrote widely, penning commentaries on the Tarot (The Book of
Thoth), yoga (Book Four), the Kabbalah (Sepher Sephiroth), astrology (The General Principles of Astrology),
and numerous other subjects. He also wrote a Thelemic "translation" of the Tao Te Ching, based on earlier
English translations since he knew little or no Chinese. Like the Golden Dawn mystics before him, Crowley
evidently sought to comprehend the entire human religious and mystical experience in a single philosophy. He
self-published many of his books, expending the majority of his inheritance to disseminate his views. Many of
his fiction works, such as the "Simon Iff" detective stories and Moonchild have not received significant notice
outside of occult circles. However his fictional work Diary Of A Drug Fiend has received acclaim from those
involved in the field of substance abuse rehabilitation.
Crowley's most grandiose work is The Equinox, a large bi-annual periodical that served as the official organ of
the Argenteum Astrum (A?A?), and, later, the O.T.O. It was subtitled "The Review of Scientific Illuminism" and
remains one of the definitive works on occultism.
Crowley's other major works include:
The Book of Lies
The Holy Books of Thelema
Konx om Pax
He also wrote a short, highly readable introduction to yoga (Eight Lectures on Yoga) and a polemic arguing
against George Bernard Shaw's interpretation of the Gospels in his preface to Androcles and the Lion.
Crowley's piece was edited by Francis King and published as Crowley on Christ, and shows him at his erudite
and witty best.
Crowley had a peculiar sense of humour. In his Book Four he includes a chapter purporting to illuminate the
Qabalistic significance of Mother Goose nursery rhymes. In re Humpty Dumpty, for instance, he recommends
the occult authority "Ludovicus Carolus" -- better known as Lewis Carroll. In a footnote to the chapter he
admits that he had invented the alleged meanings, to show that one can find occult "Truth" in everything. The
title to chapter 69 is given as "The Way to Succeed - and the Way to Suck Eggs!" a pun, as the chapter
concerns the 69 sex position as a mystical act.
Many Crowley biographies relate the story of L. Ron Hubbard and Jack Parsons and their attempt to create a
"moonchild" (from Crowley's novel of that name). In Crowley's own words, "Apparently Parsons and Hubbard
or somebody is producing a moonchild. I get fairly frantic when I contemplate the idiocy of these louts." Clearly
the admiration Hubbard had for Crowley was not reciprocated.
More famously still, he baited Christians by naming himself To Mega Therion, or "The Great Beast" of the
Book of Revelation.
Crowley was also a published, if minor, poet. He wrote the 1929 Hymn to Pan [1], perhaps his most widely
read and anthologized poem. Three pieces by Crowley, "The Quest [2]", "The Neophyte [3]", and "The Rose
and the Cross [4]", appear in the 1917 collection The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. Crowley's
unusual sense of humour is on display in White Stains [5], an 1898 collection of pornographic verse
pretended to be "the literary remains of George Archibald Bishop, a neuropath of the Second Empire;" the
volume is prefaced with a notice that says that " The Editor hopes that Mental Pathologists, for whose eyes
alone this treatise is destined, will spare no precaution to prevent it falling into other hands."
Miscellany and Rumours
Crowley also tried to mint a number of new terms instead of the established ones he felt inadequate. For
example he spelled magic "magick" and renamed theurgy "high magick" and thaumaturgy "low magick". Many
of his terms are still used by some practitioners.
Crowley remains a popular icon of libertines and those interested in the theory and practice of magic.
Crowley has been attributed as selecting the "V for Victory" sign during World War II as used by Sir Winston
Churchill.
"In World War I Aleister Crowley ingratiated himself with a Hermetic sect in order to reveal to the Americans
that its head was a highly dangerous German agent. In World War II it was well known in British Intelligence
that many leading Nazis were interested in the occult and especially in astrology. Crowley did some work for
MI5, but his project for dropping occult information by leaflet on the enemy was rejected by the authorities." -
Richard Deacon, Spyclopaedia
Crowley also tried to mint a number of new terms instead of the established ones he felt inadequate. For
example he spelled magic "magick" and renamed theurgy "high magick" and thaumaturgy "low magick". Many
of his terms are still used by some practitioners.
Crowley remains a popular icon of libertines and those interested in the theory and practice of magic.
Crowley has been attributed as selecting the "V for Victory" sign during World War II as used by Sir Winston
Churchill.
"In World War I Aleister Crowley ingratiated himself with a Hermetic sect in order to reveal to the Americans
that its head was a highly dangerous German agent. In World War II it was well known in British Intelligence
that many leading Nazis were interested in the occult and especially in astrology. Crowley did some work for
MI5, but his project for dropping occult information by leaflet on the enemy was rejected by the authorities." -
Richard Deacon, Spyclopaedia
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley
Carroll, Robert Todd (2004). "Aleister Crowley (1875-1947)". The Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 30
December 2004.
Crowley, Aleister(1990) "The Tao Teh King, Liber CLVII: THE EQUINOX Vol. III. No. VIII. ASCII VERSION".
Retrieved 30 December 2004.
Free Encyclopedia of Thelema (2005).
The Equinox. Retrieved 24 March 2005.
A biography of Crowley by Lawrence Sutin, Do What Thou Wilt (2000) ISBN 0312288972.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley
Carroll, Robert Todd (2004). "Aleister Crowley (1875-1947)". The Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 30
December 2004.
Crowley, Aleister(1990) "The Tao Teh King, Liber CLVII: THE EQUINOX Vol. III. No. VIII. ASCII VERSION".
Retrieved 30 December 2004.
Free Encyclopedia of Thelema (2005).
The Equinox. Retrieved 24 March 2005.
A biography of Crowley by Lawrence Sutin, Do What Thou Wilt (2000) ISBN 0312288972.
Books, Gifts and More
