Aleister Crowley (1875-1947)
Written
and compiled by George Knowles.
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w/Permission.
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Aleister
Crowley was perhaps the most controversial and misunderstood
personality to figure in the new era of modern day witchcraft.
Known by the popular press of his time as The Great
Beast and The Wickedest Man in the World, Crowley was
a powerful magician, poet, prophet and famed occultist.
He was also a one-time witch, though most of the elders
of the craft would discredit him the title.
Crowley
like many great men before him, was a man before his
time. He lived in a society that could little understand
him or appreciated his latent genius. His writings so
shocked the peoples of his era that he was robbed of
the praise that it merited, and as a poet he never received
the recognition he deserved.
Crowley
was born on the 12th October 1875 in Leamington Spa,
Warwickshire. His parents Edward Crowley and his wife
Emily were wealthy brewers and the epitome of respectability.
They were also devout Christians and staunch members
of the Plymouth Brethren sect. They brought up young
Crowley in an atmosphere of pious religious narrow-mindedness,
against which he constantly rebelled. His whole life
thereafter seems to have been a revolt against his parents
and everything they stood for. His father died when
he was 11 years old.
After
the death of his father, Crowley inherited the family
fortune and went on to be educated at Trinity College
Cambridge. There he wrote and studied poetry. He loved
the out-doors life and was a capable mountain climber,
in pursuit of which he attempted some of the highest
peaks in the Himalayas. In 1898 he published his first
book of poetry called "Aceldama, A Place to Bury
Strangers In", a philosophical poem by a 'Gentleman
of the University of Cambridge' in 1898'. In the preface
he describes how God and Satan had fought for his soul
and states: ?God conquered ? and now I have only one
doubt left ? which of the twain was God??
It
was while he was at Trinity that Crowley became interested
in the occult and with his roommate Allan Bennett, they
began to study whatever they could. Crowley soon discovered
that he was excited by descriptions of torture and blood.
He liked to fantasize about being degraded and abused
by a 'Scarlet Women', one who was dominant, wicked and
independent.
One
of the books he read about this time was by the author
'Arthur Edward Waite', entitled ?The Book of Black Magic
and of Pacts?. It hinted at a secret brotherhood of
occultists and Crowley became even more intrigued. He
wrote to Waite for more information and was referred
to "The Cloud upon the Sanctuary ? By Carl von
Exkartshausen". This book tells of the 'Great White
Brotherhood' and Crowley determined he wanted to join
this group and advance to its highest levels. Later
that year on the 18th November 1898, he and Bennett
both joined the 'Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn',
the elusive Great White Brotherhood (see 'S.L. MacGregor
Mathers and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn').
In
1899 Crowley is reported to have become a member of
one of ?Old George Pickingill?s? hereditary covens situated
in the New Forrest, although apparently he was not welcome
for long (see 'Old George Pickingill'). It is alleged
that he obtained his 'Second Degree' before being dismissed
due to his contemptuous attitude toward women, failure
to attend rituals with regularity, his personal ego
and sexual perversion (Crowley had a bias toward homosexuality
and the bizarre, shocking during his time even amongst
witches). The priestess of his coven later described
him as ?a dirty-minded, evilly-disposed and vicious
little monster!?
As
well as being dismissed and outcaste by the New Forrest
witches, all was not well within the Golden Dawn. By
this time Crowley had moved out of Trinity Collage without
earning his degree, and taken a flat in Chancery Lane,
London. There he renamed himself 'Count Vladimir' and
began to pursue his occult studies on a full-time basis.
Crowley had a natural aptitude for magic and advanced
quickly through the ranks of the Golden Dawn, but the
London lodge leaders considered him unsuitable for advancement
into the second order. Crowley went to Paris in 1899
to see 'S.L. MacGregor Mathers', the then head of the
Order and insisted that he be initiated into the second
Order. Mathers at the time was experiencing growing
dissension to his absolute rule from London, and sensed
in Crowley an ally. To the consternation of the London
lodge he readily agreed to Crowley's request and initiated
him into the second order.
However
their allegiance was an uneasy, for Mathers like Crowley
was a powerful magician and both were intensely competitive.
Mathers taught Crowley 'Abra-Melin' magic but neither
attained any of the grades of the A\A\. They quarreled
constantly and allegedly engaged in magical warfare.
Mathers is said to have sent an astral vampire to attack
Crowley who responded with an army of demons led by
Beelzebub. In April 1900, Mathers due to problems within
the London lodge, dispatched Crowley back to England
as his 'Special Envoy' where he made an abortive attempt
to regain control. Shortly thereafter both Mathers and
Crowley were expelled from the order.
Crowley
began to travel, mostly in the East studying Eastern
Occult systems and 'Tantric Yoga'; he also studied 'Buddhism'
and the 'I Ching'. Then for a time he lived in an isolated
setting near to Loch Ness in Scotland. In 1903 he met
and then married Rose Kelly, sister of the well-known
artist Sir Gerald Kelly. She bore him one child. While
they where on holiday in Egypt the following year, April
1904, he and Rose took part in a magical ritual during
which he alleges to have received a message from the
God's. As a result of this communication he wrote down
the first three chapters of his most famous book ?Liber
Legis, the Book of Law?. This book contains his oft-quoted
dictum: ?Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the
Law. Love is the Law, Love under Will?, upon which Crowley
based the rest of his life and teachings.
In
1909 Crowley began to explore levels of the astral plane
with his assistant, a poet called ?Victor Neuberg?;
they used 'Enochian' magic. Crowley believed he crossed
the Abyss and united his consciousness with the universal
consciousness. He describes the astral journeys in ?The
Vision and the Voice?, which was first published in
his periodical ?The Equinox? and then posthumously in
1949.
Never
far from controversy in 1909 through to 1913, Crowley
serialized the secret rituals of the Golden Dawn in
his magazine 'the Equinox', which he also used as vehicle
for his poetry. Mathers who had written most of the
rituals and who was still his greatest antagonist, tried
but failed to get a legal injunction to stop him. His
action only served to gained Crowley more press publicity
and notoriety.
By
now Crowley was fast becoming infamous as a Black magician
and Satanist, he openly identified himself with the
number 666, the biblical number for the antichrist.
He also kept with him a series of 'Scarlet Women'; the
best known of these was Leah Hirsig, the so-called ?Ape
of Thoth?. Together they would indulge in drinking sessions,
drugs and sexual magic. It is believed that Crowley
made several attempts with several of these women to
beget a 'Magical child', none of which worked and instead
he fictionalized his attempts in a book called ?Moonchild?,
published in 1929.
In
1912 Crowley became involved with the British section
of the O.T.O. (the Ordo Temple Orientis or Order of
the Temple of the East), a German occult order practicing
magic. He then moved and lived in America from 1915
to 1919, moving again in 1920 to Sicily where he established
the notorious Abbey of Thelema at Cefalu.
In
Sicily he proceeded to involve himself in Italian occultism
and in 1922 became the head of the 'Ordo Temple Orientis'.
However (as he routinely did) he began to attract more
bad publicity. The press denounced him as ?The Wickedest
Man in the World? because of the alleged satanic goings
on in the Abbey. It has now come to light that many
of the allegations were false and were no more than
press sensationalism. However their effect had serious
repercussions for Crowley. In 1923 Mussolini the then
ruler of Italy stepped in and expelled him from Sicily.
Crowley
wondered around for a while visiting such places as
Tunisia and Germany before settling for a time in France.
While in France he engaged as his secretary the services
of another aspiring magician 'Israel Regardie'. Regardie
would later become famous himself and played a prominent
role in exposing the complete rituals of the 'Golden
Dawn' to the public (see Israel Regardie). Crowley continued
to travel around Europe during which time he picked
up a growing heroin addiction, a habit he would suffer
from for the rest of his life. Back in England in 1929
he met and married his second wife 'Maria Ferrari de
Miramar'. The marriage took place in Leipzig, Germany.
In
1932 Crowley met with 'Sybil Leek' another famous witch
and became a frequent visitor to her home. Sybil a hereditary
witch was only nine years old at the time and later
wrote in her autobiography "Diary of a Witch"
- (New York: Signet, 1969), that Crowley talked to her
about witchcraft. He taught her the words of power and
instructed her on the use of certain words for their
vibratory qualities when working with magick (see Sybil
Leek).
Already
notorious and well known to the press, Crowley then
became involved in a famous and sensational libel case.
In 1934 before Mr. Justice Swift, he sued Nina Hamnett
a prominent sculptress. Nina had published a book ?Laughing
Torso? (Constable and Co., London, 1932) in which Crowley
alleged she had libeled him by saying he that the practiced
black magic. As the case proceeded the other side produced
such evidence of Crowley?s bizarre life-style and scandalous
writings (as they were considered at that time), that
the justice was horrified. Crowley lost the case and
was forced into bankruptcy, much to the delight of the
popular press who again had a field day.
In
his penultimate year 1946, a mutual friend 'Arnold Crowther'
introduced Crowley to 'Gerald B. Gardner'. His meetings
with Gardner would later lead to controversy over the
authenticity of Gardner?s original 'Book of Shadows'.
It was alleged that Gardner paid Crowley to write it
for him? But this has now been discounted. While it
did contain some of Crowley?s writings, this was the
result of Gardner and Crowley comparing notes on rituals
used in 'Old George Pickingill?s' covens in the New
Forrest area. Doreen Valiente in her book "Witchcraft
for Tomorrow? does much to shed light on this controversy.
At
the time of his meetings with Gerald Gardner, Crowley
was a feeble old man living in retirement at a private
hotel in Hastings, barely kept alive by the use of drugs.
It was here that he passed from this world into the
next on the 1st December 1947. Unrepentant and unbowed
he left this world with a final snub at the society
that had so misunderstood him, he left instructions
that he was to be cremated and instead of the usual
religious service, his 'Hymn to Pan' and other extracts
from his writings was to be proclaimed from the pulpit.
Finally his ashes were to be sent to his disciples in
America.
In
many ways Aleister Crowley was not a well-liked man,
but he influenced and had an effect on the build up
to the new era of modern witchcraft. His knowledge of
witchcraft and magick was profound and without question,
and he has passed on that knowledge through his books.
In today?s more liberal society more and more of Crowley?s
books are being reprinted as we begin to appreciate
his strange genius. Indeed some of his books have now
gained classical status. These include: Gnostic Mass
and The Book of Law (New York: Samuel Weiser, 1977)
from which portions of the well known Charge of the
Goddess were written by Doreen Valiente. Other books
include: Magick in Theory and Practice, 777 And Other
Qabalistic Writing and The Book of Thoth to mention
just a few.
Sources
