Aleister Crowley Edward Alexander Crowley <12 October 1875 - December 1, 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial wizard, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the Thelema religion, identifying himself as a prophet entrusted with guiding humankind into Horus in the early 20th century. A prolific writer, he published extensively during his lifetime.
Born of the wealthy Plymouth Brethren family at Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, Crowley rejected fundamentalist Christian faith to pursue an interest in Western esoterism. He was educated at Cambridge University, where he focused his attention on mountain climbing and poetry, producing several publications. Some biographers allege that here he was recruited into British intelligence agents, further demonstrating that he remains a spy all his life. In 1898 he joined the esoteric Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, where he was trained in ceremonial magic by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers and Allan Bennett. Moving to Boleskine House by Loch Ness in Scotland, he went up the mountain in Mexico with Oscar Eckenstein, before studying Hindu and Buddhist practices in India. He married Rose Edith Kelly and in 1904 they honeymooned in Cairo, Egypt, where Crowley claimed to have been contacted by a supernatural entity named Aiwass, who gave him the Book of the Law, a sacred text presented as the basis for Thelema. Announce the beginning of Horus, The Book states that his followers should "Do what you want" and try to adjust to their True Will through magic practices.
After a failed attempt to climb Kanchenjunga and a visit to India and China, Crowley returned to England, where he drew attention as a prolific writer of poetry, novel, and occult literature. In 1907, he and George Cecil Jones founded an order of Thelemite, A? A?, Where they spread the religion. After spending time in Algeria, in 1912 he was initiated into another esoteric order, the German-based Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), rising to become the leader of his British branch, reformulated in accordance with Thelem's conviction. Through O.T.O., the Thelemite group was established in England, Australia, and North America. Crowley spent the First World War in the United States, where he took paintings and campaigned for German war effort against England, later revealing that he had infiltrated the pro-German movement to help British intelligence services. In 1920 he founded Thelema Monastery, a religious community in CefalÃÆ'¹, Sicily where he lived with various followers. His liberal lifestyle led to the cancellation of the British press, and the Italian government expelled him in 1923. He divided the next two decades between France, Germany and Britain, and continued to promote Thelema until his death.
Crowley gained widespread fame throughout his life, becoming a drug experiment, bisexual, and individualist social critique. He was criticized in the popular press as "the most evil person in the world" and a Satanist. Crowley remains a highly influential figure of Western and counter-cultural esotericism, and continues to be regarded as a prophet in Thelema. He is the subject of numerous biographies and academic studies.
Early life
Youth: 1875-94
Crowley was born as Edward Alexander Crowley at 30 Clarendon Square at Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, on October 12, 1875. His father, Edward Crowley (1829-87), was trained as an engineer, but his share in the lucrative family brewing business, Alton Ales of Crowley , allowing him to retire before his son is born. His mother, Emily Bertha Bishop (1848-1917), came from the Devonshire-Somerset family and had a strained relationship with her son; he described it as "the Beast", a name he admired. The couple had been married at London's Kensington Registry Office in November 1874, and were evangelical Christians. Crowley's father had been born a Quaker, but had converted to the Exclusive Brethren, a faction of a Christian fundamentalist group known as the Plymouth Brethren, with Emily joining him while married. Crowley's father was very religious, spent his time as a traveling preacher for the sect and read a chapter from the Bible to his wife and son after breakfast every day. After the death of their baby girl in 1880, in 1881 Crowleys moved to Redhill, Surrey. At the age of 8, Crowley was sent to H.T. The evangelical Christian college Habershon in Hastings, and then to the Ebor preparation school in Cambridge, is run by Reverend Henry d'Arcy Champney, whom Crowley considers a sadist.
In March 1887, when Crowley was 11 years old, his father died of tongue cancer. Crowley described this as a turning point in his life, and he always maintained his father's admiration, describing it as "my hero and my friend". Inheriting a third of his father's wealth, he started acting badly at school and was punished hard by Champney; The Crowley family moved him from school when he developed albuminuria. He then attended Malvern College and Tonbridge School, both of whom hate and abandon some terms. He became increasingly skeptical about Christianity, showed inconsistencies in the Bible to his teachers, and opposed Christian morality from nurturing to smoking, masturbation, and sex with prostitutes who were victims of gonorrhea. Sent to live with a Brethren mentor in Eastbourne, he attended a chemistry course at Eastbourne College. Crowley developed an interest in chess, poetry, and mountain climbing, and in 1894 rode Beachy Head before visiting the Alps and joined the Scottish Mountain Club. The following year he returned to the Bernese Alps, climbing the Eiger, Trift, Jungfrau, MÃÆ'¶nch, and Wetterhorn. Cambridge University Cambridge University: 1895-98 Cambridge University: 1895-98
After adopting Aleister's name over Edward, in October 1895 Crowley embarked on a three-year course at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he entered for the Moral Science Sciences philosophy. With the consent of his private teacher, he transforms into English literature, which is not part of the curriculum on offer. Crowley spent most of his time at the university engaged in his activities, became president of the chess club and practiced games for two hours a day; he briefly considered his professional career as a chess player. Crowley also embraced his love of literature and poetry, in particular the work of Richard Francis Burton and Percy Bysshe Shelley. Many of his own poems appear in student publications such as The Granta , Cambridge Magazine , and Cantab . He continued his mountain climbing, went on holiday to the Alps to climb every year from 1894 to 1898, often with his friend Oscar Eckenstein and in 1897 he made the first ascent of MÃÆ'¶nch without a guide. This achievement led to his recognition in the Alpine Mountain community.
Crowley had his first significant mystical experience while on vacation in Stockholm in December 1896. Some biographers, including Lawrence Sutin, Richard Kaczynski, and Tobias Churton, believed that this was the result of Crowley's first-sex sexual experience, which enabled him to recognize his bisexuality. At Cambridge, Crowley maintains a strong sex life with women - mostly with prostitutes, from one of whom he catches syphilis - but eventually he takes part in same-sex activities, despite their illegality. In October 1897, Crowley met Herbert Charles Pollitt, president of the Dramatic Club of Cambridge University Footlights, and both of them were in a relationship. They broke out because Pollitt did not share Crowley's growing interest in Western esoterism, the farewell that Crowley would have regretted over the years.
In 1897, Crowley traveled to St. Petersburg in Russia, later claiming that he was trying to learn Russian because he was considering a future diplomatic career there. Biographers Richard Spence and Tobias Churton claimed that Crowley had done so as an intelligence agent under British secret service, speculating that he had been registered with Cambridge.
In October 1897, a brief illness triggered the consideration of death and "the futility of all human endeavor", and Crowley abandoned all thoughts of a diplomatic career in pursuit of interest in the occult. In March 1898, he obtained AE Waite's Black Magic Book and Pact (1898), and then Karl von Eckartshausen The Cloud Upon the Sanctuary (1896) , continued interest of occultism. In 1898 Crowley personally published 100 copies of his Acerama poem: A Place to Bury Strangers In, but that was not a success. In the same year he published a series of other poems, including the White Stains , a collection of erotic poetry written abroad for publication not banned by British authorities. In July 1898, he left Cambridge, did not take any titles despite the "first class" that showed in the 1897 exam and the consistent second "consortium" result before that.
Golden Dawn: 1898-99
In August 1898, Crowley was in Zermatt, Switzerland, where he met chemist Julian L. Baker, and the two began discussing their common interest in alchemy. Back in London Baker introduced Crowley to George Cecil Jones, Baker's brother-in-law, and fellow members of the occult society known as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which had been established in 1888. Crowley was initiated into the Outer Order of the Golden Dawn on 18 November 1898 by group leader, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers. The ceremony took place at the Isis-Urania Golden Dawn Temple held at Mark Masons Hall in London, where Crowley took a magical motto and named "Brother Perdurabo", which he interpreted as "I will endure to the end". Biographers Richard Spence and Tobias Churton stated that Crowley joined the Order under the command of the British secret service to monitor the activities of Mathers, known as a Carlist.
Crowley moved into his own luxury flats at 67-69 Chancery Lane and immediately invited the senior Golden Dawn member, Allan Bennett, to stay with him as his private tutor. Bennett taught Crowley more about ceremonial magic and ritual use of medicines, and together they performed Goetia rituals, until Bennett went to South Asia to study Buddhism. In November 1899, Crowley bought the Boleskine House in Foyers on the coast of Loch Ness in Scotland. She developed a love of Scottish culture, describing herself as "Laird of Boleskine", and taking to wearing traditional highland clothes, even during a visit to London. He continues to write poetry, publishes Jezebel and Other Tragic Poems , Stories of Archais , Spirit Song , Application to the American Republic , and Yephthah in 1898-99; most received mixed reviews from literary critics, although Yephtha was considered a particular critical success.
Crowley soon developed through a lower class of Golden Dawn, and was ready to enter the second Second Order in the group. He is not popular in groups; the lifestyle of bisexuality and libertine has given him a bad reputation, and he has developed hostility with several members, including W.B. Yeats. When the cottage Golden Dawn's London refused to start Crowley to the Second Order, he visited Mathers in Paris, who personally admit him into Class Adeptus Minor. A split has developed between Mathers and members of London from the Golden Dawn, who are unhappy with his autocratic government. Acting under orders Mathers, Crowley - with the help of the lady and initiates Elaine Simpson - tried to seize the Vault of the adepts, a shrine room at 36 Blythe Road, West Kensington, London lodge members. When the case was brought to justice, the judge ruled in favor of the London lodge, as they paid space rent, leaving Crowley and Mathers isolated from the group. Spence suggests that the entire scenario is part of the intelligence operation to undermine Mathers' authority.
Mexico, India, Paris , and marriage: 1900-03
In 1900, Crowley traveled to Mexico via the United States, settled in Mexico City and took a local woman as his lover. Developing country love, he continues to experiment with ceremonial magic, working with John Dee's Enochian prayers. He later claimed to have been initiated into Freemasonry while there, and he wrote a drama based on Richard Wagner TannhÃÆ'¤user and a series of poems, published as Oracles (1905). Eckenstein joined him later that year, and together they climbed several mountains, including Iztaccihuatl, Popocatepetl, and Colima, the last one they had to leave because of the volcanic eruption. Spence points out that the purpose of the trip may be to explore the prospect of Mexican oil for British intelligence. Leaving Mexico, Crowley headed to San Francisco before sailing to Hawaii on board the Nippon Maru ship. On board he had a brief affair with a married woman named Mary Alice Rogers; said he had fallen in love with her, he wrote a series of poems about romance, published as Alice: An Adultery (1903).
Briefly stopped in Japan and Hong Kong, Crowley reaches Ceylon, where he meets Allan Bennett, who is there studying Shaivism. The couple spent some time in Kandy before Bennett decided to become a Buddhist monk in the Theravada tradition, traveling to Burma to do so. Crowley decided to take a tour of India, devoting himself to practicing the Hindu king of yoga , from which he claimed to have attained spiritual conditions of dhyana . He spent much time studying at the Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madura. At this time he also wrote and also wrote poetry published as The Sword of Song (1904). He contracted malaria, and had to recover from illness in Calcutta and Rangoon. In 1902, he joined in India by Eckenstein and several other mountain climbers: Guy Knowles, H. Pfannl, V. Wesseley, and Jules Jacot-Guillarmod. Together an Eckenstein-Crowley expedition tried K2, which was never climbed. On the way, Crowley suffered from influenza, malaria and snow blindness, and other expedition members also suffered from the disease. They reached a height of 20,000 feet (6,100 m) before turning around.
Upon arriving in Paris in November 1902, he socialized with future friends and brother-in-law, painter Gerald Kelly, and through him became a paraphernalia of the Paris art scene. While there, Crowley wrote a series of poems about the work of an acquaintance, sculptor Auguste Rodin. These poems were later published as Rodin in Rime (1907). One of those who frequented this neighborhood was W. Somerset Maugham, who after a short encounter Crowley later used him as a model for Oliver Haddo's character in his novel The Magician (1908). Back in Boleskine in April 1903, in August Crowley married Gerald's sister, Rose Edith Kelly, in "marriage for comfort" to prevent her from entering an arranged marriage; the marriage surprised the Kelly family and ruined his friendship with Gerald. Towards honeymoon to Paris, Cairo, and then Ceylon, Crowley falls in love with Rose and works to prove his affection. On her honeymoon, she wrote a series of love poems, published as Rosa Mundi and Other Love Songs (1906), and wrote the satire of religion Why Jesus cried (1904).
Video Aleister Crowley
Developing Thelema
Egyptian Legal : 1904
In February 1904, Crowley and Rose arrived in Cairo. Claiming as princes and princess, they rented an apartment where Crowley built a temple room and began calling the ancient Egyptian gods, while studying the mysticism of Islam and Arabic. According to Crowley's account later, Rose regularly becomes delirious and tells him "they are waiting for you." On March 18, he explained that "they" were the god Horus, and on March 20 stated that "Equinox of the Gods has come". He took him to a nearby museum, where he showed him a 19th century BC inscription known as Stele of Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu; Crowley considers it important that the number of exhibits is 666, the number of animals in Christian belief, and in later years the so-called "Stele of Revealing" artifacts.
According to Crowley's later statement, on April 8 he heard a bodyless voice claimed to be Aiwass, the envoy of Horus, or Hoor-Paar-Kraat. Crowley said that he wrote down all the voices notified to him over the next three days, and gave him the title "Liber L vel Legis" or The Book of the Law . The book states that mankind is entering the new Aeon, and that Crowley will serve as his prophet. It states that the highest moral law will be introduced in this Aeon, "Do what you will become the whole Law," and that people must learn to live in harmony with their Will. This book, and its philosophy, became the basis of Crowley's religion, Thelema. Crowley said that at the time he was not sure what to do with The Book of the Law . Often hating him, he says that he ignores the instructions that the text instructs him, which includes taking the Stele of Reveing ​​from the museum, fortifying his own island, and translating the book into all languages ​​of the world. According to his account, he instead sends manuscripts of works to some occultists he knows, removes the manuscript and ignores it.
Kangchenjunga and China: 1905-06
Back to Boleskine, Crowley became convinced that Mathers had begun using magic against him, and the relationship between the two failed. On July 28, 1905, Rose gave birth to the first child of Crowley, a daughter named Lilith, with Crowley writing Snowdrops From a Curate's Garden pornography to amuse his recovering wife. He also founded a publishing company to publish his poetry, calling it the Society for the Propagation of Religious Truth in the Society's Parody of Promoting Christian Knowledge. Among his first publications were Crowley's Collected Works , edited by Ivor Back. His poetry often gets strong reviews (either positive or negative), but never sells well. In an effort to get more publicity, he issued a prize of £ 100 for the best essay in his work. The winner was J. F. C. Fuller, a British Army officer and military historian, whose essay, The Star in the West (1907), sparked Crowley's poem as one of the greatest works ever written.
Crowley decided to climb Kangchenjunga in the Himalayas in Nepal, which is widely recognized as the most dangerous mountain in the world. Assembling a team consisting of Jacot-Guillarmod, Charles Adolphe Reymond, Alexis Pache, and Alcesti C. Rigo de Righi, the expedition was undermined by many arguments between Crowley and others, who thought he was reckless. They eventually rebelled against Crowley's control, with other climbers returning to the mountain as night approached despite Crowley warning that it was too dangerous. Furthermore, Pache and several porters were killed in the crash, something Crowley is widely blamed for by mountain climbers.
Spending time in Moharbhanj, where he took part in a great hunt and writing homoerotic The Scented Garden, Crowley met Rose and Lilith in Calcutta before being forced to leave India after shooting dead a native man. who tried to rob him. Briefly visiting Bennett in Burma, Crowley and his family decided to tour South China, hiring porters and nannies for the purpose. Spence argues that the trip to China is organized as part of a British intelligence scheme to monitor the opium trade in the region. Crowley sucks opium all the way, which brings families from Tengyueh to Yungchang, Tali, Yunnanfu, and then Hanoi. On his journey he spends a lot of time for spiritual and magical work, reading "Uncovered Rituals", a prayer for the Patron of the Holy Protector, every day.
While Rose and Lilith return to Europe, Crowley heads to Shanghai to meet old friend Elaine Simpson, who is fascinated by The Book of the Law; together they performed a ritual in an effort to contact Aiwass. Crowley then sailed to Japan and Canada, before proceeding to New York City, where he was unsuccessful for support for his second expedition to Kangchenjunga. Upon arriving in England, Crowley learned that his daughter Lilith had died of typhoid in Rangoon, something he later blamed on Rose's increased alcoholism. Under emotional stress, his health began to suffer, and he underwent a series of surgical operations. She started a brief relationship with actress Vera "Lola" Neville (nÃÆ' Â © e Snepp) and author Ada Leverson, while Rose gave birth to Crowley's second daughter, Lola Zaza, in February 1907.
AA ? and Thelema's Scripture: 1907-09
With his old mentor George Cecil Jones, Crowley continues to perform the Abramelin ritual at Ashdown Park Hotel in Coulsdon, Surrey. Crowley claims that in doing so he reaches samadhi , or unites with the Godhead, thus marking a turning point in his life. By using hashish during this ritual, he wrote an essay on "The Psychology of Hashish" (1909) where he championed the drug as an aid to mysticism. He also claimed to have been contacted once again by Aiwass in late October and November 1907, adding that Aiwass dictated two further texts to him, "Liber VII" and "Liber Cordis Cincti Serpente", both of which were then classified in the corpus of the Thelema Scripture. Crowley has written more Thelemic holy books during the last two months of the year, including "Liber LXVI", "Liber Arcanorum", "Liber Porta Lucis, SubFigura X", "Liber Tau", "Liber Trigrammaton" and "Liber DCCCXIII vel Ararita ", which he again claims to have received from a preternatural source. Crowley states that in June 1909, when the text of the Book of the Law was rediscovered in Boleskine, he developed the view that Thelema represented objective truth.
Crowley's legacy is running out. Seeking to earn money, he was employed by George Montagu Bennett, the Earl of Tankerville, to help protect him from witchcraft; acknowledged Bennett's paranoia as cocaine-based addiction, Crowley took him on holiday to France and Morocco to recuperate. In 1907, he also began to receive paying students, whom he instructed in occult and magical practices. Victor Neuburg, whom Crowley met in February 1907, became his closest sexual partner and disciple; in 1908 the couple toured northern Spain before heading for Tangier, Morocco. The following year Neuburg lived in Boleskine, where he and Crowley were involved in sadomasochism. Crowley continued to write productively, producing works of poetry such as Ambergris , Cloud Without Water , and Konx Om Pax , as well as his first attempt in autobiography, World Tragedy . Recognizing the popularity of short horror stories, Crowley writes his own work, some of which are published, and he also publishes some articles in Vanity Fair, a magazine edited by his friend Frank Harris. He also wrote Liber 777 , a book of magical and qabalistic correspondence borrowed from Mathers and Bennett.
In November 1907, Crowley and Jones decided to find the occult command to act as the successor to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, aided by Fuller. The result is A? A? The group's headquarters and temple are located at 124 Victoria Street in central London, and their rites borrow heavily from the Golden Dawn, but on a Thelemic basis. The earliest members included lawyer Richard Noel Warren, Austin Osman Spare artist, Horace Sheridan-Bickers, author George Raffalovich, Francis Henry Everard Joseph Feilding, engineer Herbert Edward Inman, Kenneth Ward, and Charles Stansfeld Jones. In March 1909, Crowley began a two-yearly production entitled The Equinox . He calls this periodic, who becomes the "Authorized Organ" A? A?, As "Review of Scientific Illuminism".
Crowley became increasingly frustrated with alcoholism Rose, and in November 1909 she divorced her on the grounds of his adultery himself. Lola Rose entrusted to care; The pair remained friends and Rose continued to live in Boleskine. Alcoholism worsened, and as a result he instituted in September 1911.
Algeria and Rites of Eleusis: 1909-11
In November 1909, Crowley and Neuburg went to Algeria, toured the desert from El Arba to Aumale, Bou SaÃÆ' Â ¢ da, and then D? 'Leh Addin, with Crowley reading the Koran every day. During the journey he summoned the thirty aethyrs of Enochian magic, with Neuburg recording the result, then published on The Equinox as The Vision and the Voice. After the magic sex ritual at the top of the mountain, Crowley also did a prayer to the demons of Choronzon which involved blood sacrifice, considering the result being a turning point in his magical career. Returning to London in January 1910, Crowley discovered that Mathers sued him for publishing Golden Dawn secrets in The Equinox; the court decided to support Crowley. The case was widely reported in the media, with Crowley gaining wider fame. Crowley enjoys this, and plays with sensational stereotypes as a Satan and supports human sacrifice, though not.
Publicity attract new members to A? A ?, among them Frank Bennett, James Bayley, Herbert Close, and James Windram. Australian violinist Leila Waddell soon became Crowley's lover. Deciding to extend his teachings to a wider audience, Crowley developed the Artemis Rite, the magic general show and symbolism featuring A? A? member personifying various gods. This was first done in A? A? headquarters, with the participants being given a fruit basket containing peyote to enhance their experience. Various members of the press were present, and reported very positively. In October and November 1910, Crowley decided to do something similar, the Eleusical Rite, at Caxton Hall, Westminster; this time the press reviews were mixed. Crowley received a special condemnation from West de Wend Fenton, editor of The Looking Glass newspaper, calling him "one of the most bloodthirsty and modern-day blasphemies". Fenton's article states that Crowley and Jones are involved in homosexual activity; Crowley did not mind, but Jones was not prosecuted for defamation. Fuller decided his friendship and involvement with Crowley because of the scandal, and Crowley and Neuburg returned to Algeria to work further.
The Equinox continued its publication, and literary and poetry books were also published under his tracks, such as Crowley's Ambergris , The Winged Beetle , and The Scented Garden , as well as Neuburg's The Triumph of Pan and Ethel Archer The Whirlpool . In 1911, Crowley and Waddell vacationed in Montigny-sur-Loing, where he wrote productively, producing poetry, short stories, dramas, and 19 works on magic and mysticism, including the last two Books of Thelema. In Paris, he meets Mary Desti, who becomes the next "Scarlet Woman", with two men doing a miraculous job at St. Moritz; Crowley believed that one of the Secret Chiefs, Ab-ul-Diz, was talking through him. Based on Desti's statement when in a trance state, Crowley wrote two volumes of Book 4 (1912-13) and at that time developed a "magick" spelling that referred to paranormal phenomena as a way of distinguishing them. from illusory stage magic.
In March 1913 Crowley acted as a producer for The Ragged Girls Ragtime, a group of female violinists led by Waddell, as they performed at Old Tivoli theater in London. They then performed in Moscow for six weeks, where Crowley has a sadomasochistic relationship with Hungarian Anny Ringler. In Moscow, Crowley continues to write dramas and poems, including "Hymn to Pan", and Gnostic Mass, Thelemic rituals that are an important part of O.T.O. liturgy. Churton stated that Crowley had traveled to Moscow on the orders of British intelligence to spy on the revolutionary elements of the city. In January 1914 Crowley and Neuburg settled in an apartment in Paris, where the first was involved in the controversy surrounding Jacob Epstein's new monument to Oscar Wilde. Together Crowley and Neuburg do six weeks of "Paris Working", an intense ritual period involving powerful drug use in which they summoned the gods of Mercury and Jupiter. As part of the ritual, the couple engage in joint sex acts, sometimes attended by journalist Walter Duranty. Inspired by the work, Crowley wrote Liber AgapÃÆ'Â © , a treatise on sex magic. After the Paris Working, Neuburg began to distance himself from Crowley, which produced an argument in which Crowley cursed him.
United States: 1914-19
In 1914 Crowley lived from hand to mouth, relying mostly on donations from A? A? member payments and contributions to O.T.O. In May he transferred ownership of Boleskine House to MMM for financial reasons, and in July he went up the mountain in the Swiss Alps. During this time, the First World War broke out. After recovering from a phlebitis attack, Crowley sailed to the United States aboard the Lusitania RMS in October 1914. Arriving in New York City, he moved to the hotel and began making money for the writing of the American edition Vanity Fair and doing freelance work for renowned astrologer Evangeline Adams. In town, he continued to experiment with sex magic, through the use of masturbation, female prostitutes, and male clients of Turkish baths; all these meetings are documented in his diary.
Claiming Irish and Irish independence supporters from England, Crowley began supporting Germany in the war against England. He became involved in the pro-German New York movement, and in January 1915 the German spy George Sylvester Viereck hired him as a writer for his propaganda paper, The Fatherland, dedicated to keeping the US neutral in conflict. In the following years, critics criticized Crowley as a traitor to England for this action. In fact, Crowley is a double agent, working for the British intelligence service to infiltrate and undermine German operations in New York. Many of his articles in The Fatherland are hyperbolic, for example comparing Kaiser Wilhelm II with Jesus Christ; in July 1915 he organized a publicity stunt - reported by The New York Times - where he declared independence for Ireland in front of the Statue of Liberty; the real intention is to make the German lobby look ridiculous in the eyes of the American public. It has been argued that he encouraged the German Navy to destroy Lusitania, informing them that it would ensure the United States remained outside of the war, while in reality hoping that it would bring the United States into war on the British side.
Crowley had a relationship with Jeanne Robert Foster, with whom he toured the West Coast. In Vancouver, O.T.O North America headquarters, he met with Charles Stansfeld Jones and Wilfred Talbot Smith to discuss the spread of Thelema on the continent. In Detroit he experimented with anhalonium at Parke-Davis, then visited Seattle, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles, San Diego, Tijuana, and the Grand Canyon, before returning to New York. There he befriended Ananda Coomaraswamy and his wife Alice Richardson; Crowley and Richardson committed sex magic in April 1916, after which she became pregnant and later miscarried. Later that year he took a "magical pension" to the cabin by Lake Pasquaney owned by Evangeline Adams. There, he used many drugs and performed rituals after which he proclaimed himself as "Master Therion". He also wrote several short stories based on J.G. Frazer The Golden Bough and a work of literary criticism, Gospel According to Bernard Shaw .
In December he moved to New Orleans, his favorite city in the United States, before spending February 1917 with an evangelical Christian family in Titusville, Florida. Back in New York City, he moved with the artist and A? A? member of Leon Engers Kennedy in May, knowing his mother's death. After the collapse of The Fatherland , Crowley continued his relationship with Viereck, who raised him contributing editor of the international art journals The International . Crowley used it to promote Thelema, but soon stopped publishing. He then moved into Roddie Minor studio apartment, which became his partner and Scarlet Woman. Through their ritual, called Crowley "The Amalantrah Workings", he believes that they are contacted by an entity called Lam. The relationship soon ended.
In 1918, Crowley resumed a magical retreat in the desert of Esopus Island on the Hudson River. Here, he began his translation of the Tao Te Ching, painting Thelemik slogans on riverbank cliffs, and - he later claimed - experienced memories of his past life as Ge Xuan, Pope Alexander VI, Alessandro Cagliostro, and Eliphas Levi. Returning to New York City, she moved to Greenwich Village, where she brought Leah Hirsig as her lover and Scarlet Ladies next. He took the painting as a hobby, showcased his work at the Greenwich Village Liberal Club and drew the attention of the New York Evening World . With the help of sympathetic Freemason finance, Crowley revived The Equinox with the first volume volume III, known as "The Blue Equinox". He spent mid 1919 on a climbing holiday in Montauk before returning to London in December.
Thelema Monastery: 1920-23
Now poor and returning to London, Crowley was attacked from the tabloid John Bull, who labeled him a trashy "trash" for his work with the German war effort; some friends who were aware of his intelligence work urged him to sue, but he decided against it. When he had asthma, a doctor gave him a heroin prescription, which he later became addicted to. In January 1920, he moved to Paris, rented a house in Fontainebleau with Leah Hirsig; they soon joined in Ninette Shumway's mÃÆ'  © nage ÃÆ' trois, and also (in the setting of life) by Leah's newborn daughter Anne "PoupÃÆ'  © e" Leah. Crowley had the idea of ​​forming the Thelemites community, which he called the Abbey of Thelema after Abbaye de Thà © lÃÆ'¨me in the poetry of FranÃÆ'§ois Rabelais Gargantua and Pantagruel . After consulting with I Ching, he chose CefalÃÆ'¹ (in Sicily, Italy) as the location, and upon arriving there, began renting an old Villa Santa Barbara as his Monastery on April 2.
Moving to the commune with Hirsig, Shumway, and their sons Hansi, Howard, and PoupÃÆ'Â © e, Crowley described the scenario as "very happy... my idea of ​​heaven." They wore robes, and performed rituals to the sun god Ra at certain times of the day, also occasionally performing Gnostic Mass; the rest of the day they are left to follow their own interests. In broad correspondence, Crowley continued to paint, wrote comments on the Book of the Law , and revised the third part of Book 4 . He offers non-free education for children, allowing them to play throughout the day and witness sex acts of magic. He occasionally traveled to Palermo to visit rented children and buy supplies, including medicines; heroin addiction dominates her life, and cocaine begins to erode her nasal cavity. No cleaning rota, and stray dogs and cats roam the entire building, which soon becomes unclean. PoupÃÆ'Â © e died in October 1920, and Ninette gave birth to a daughter, Astarte Lulu Panthea, soon after.
New followers kept coming to Abbey to be taught by Crowley. Among them is the movie star Jane Wolfe, who arrived in July 1920, where she was initiated into A? A? and became Crowley's secretary. The other is Cecil Frederick Russell, who often argues with Crowley, does not like the same kind of sexual magic he has to do, and leaves after a year. More conducive is Thelemite Australia, Frank Bennett, who also spent several months at Abbey. In February 1922, Crowley returned to Paris for a retreat in a failed attempt to kick his heroin addiction. He then went to London to earn money, where he published an article in The English Review that criticized the Dangerous Drug Act of 1920 and wrote a novel, Diary of a Drug Fiend >, finished in July. At the publication, he received mixed reviews; he was reviled by Sunday Express , who called for his burning and used his influence to prevent further reprints.
Next, a young Thelemite named Raoul Loveday moved to Abbey with his wife Betty May; while Loveday was devoted to Crowley, May hated him and lived in the commune. He then says that Loveday is made to drink the blood of the sacrificed cat, and that they are required to cut themselves with a razor whenever they use the "I" pronoun. Loveday drank from a local tainted stream, soon developed a liver infection that resulted in his death in February 1923. Returning to London, May told his story to the press. John Bull proclaims Crowley "the most evil man in the world" and "a man we want to hang", and although Crowley regards many of his allegations against him as a slander, he can not afford it. legal fees to sue them. As a result, John Bull continues his attacks, with his stories repeated in newspapers across Europe and in North America. The Fascist government Benito Mussolini learned of Crowley's activities and in April 1923 he was given a deportation notice that forced him to leave Italy; without him, Abbey is closed.
Maps Aleister Crowley
Next life
Tunisia, Paris, and London: 1923- 29
Crowley and Hirsig went to Tunis, where, afflicted with ill health, he failed to try again to release heroin, and began writing what he called his "autohagiography", The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. They were joined in Tunis by Thelemite Norman Mudd, who became Crowley's public relations consultant. Hiring a local boy, Mohammad ben Brahim, as his servant, Crowley went with him on a retreat to Nefta, where they practiced joint sex magic. In January 1924, Crowley traveled to Nice, France, where he met Frank Harris, underwent a series of nose surgeries, and visited the Harmonious Human Development Institute and had a positive opinion from its founder, George Gurdjieff. Feeling unlucky, he took a rich student, Alexander Zu Zolar, before taking another American follower, Dorothy Olsen. Crowley brought Olsen back to Tunisia for a magical retreat at Nefta, where he also wrote To Man (1924), his own status statement as a prophet entrusted to bring Thelema to mankind. After spending the winter in Paris, in early 1925 Crowley and Olsen returned to Tunis, where he wrote The Heart of the Master (1938) as an explanation of the visions he experienced in a trance state. In March Olsen was pregnant, and Hirsig was called to take care of him; he suffered a miscarriage, after which Crowley brought Olsen back to France. Hirsig then distanced himself from Crowley, who later denounced him.
According to Crowley, Reuss has named him the head of O.T.O. after his death, but this was challenged by a German O.O. leader, Heinrich TrÃÆ'¤nker. TrÃÆ'¤nker called the Hohenleuben Conference in Thuringia, Germany, which Crowley attended. There, prominent members like Karl Germer and Martha KÃÆ'¼ntzel championed Crowley's leadership, but other key figures such as Albin Grau, Oskar Hopfer, and Henri Birven supported the TrÃÆ'¤nker by opposing it, resulting in a split in O.T.O. Moving to Paris, where he broke with Olsen in 1926, Crowley went through a large number of lovers over the following years, with whom he experimented in sex magic. All along, he was plagued by bad health, mostly due to heroin and cocaine addiction. In 1928, Crowley was introduced to the British youth of Israel Regardie, who embraced Thelema and became Crowley's secretary for the next three years. That year, Crowley also met Gerald Yorke, who began to manage Crowley's finances but never became Thelemite. He also befriended Thomas Driberg; Driberg also did not accept Thelema. This is where Crowley also published one of his most significant works, Magick in Theory and Practice , which received little attention at the time.
In December 1928, Crowley met Maria Teresa Sanchez of Nicaragua. Crowley was deported from France by the authorities, who disliked his reputation and feared that he was a German agent. In order to join him in England, Crowley married Sanchez in August 1929. Now based in London, Mandrake Press agreed to publish his autobiography in a limited edition of six volumes, as well as publish his novel Moonchild and short stories > The Stratagem . Mandrake went to liquidation in November 1930, before the entire Crowley's Confessions could be published. Owner of Mandrake P.R. Stephenson in the meantime wrote The Legend of Aleister Crowley, an analysis of the surrounding media coverage.
Berlin and London: 1930-38
In April 1930, Crowley moved to Berlin, where he took Hanni Jaegar as his supernatural partner; the relationship is problematic. In September he went to Lisbon in Portugal to meet poet Fernando Pessoa. There, he decides to fake his own death, doing so with the help of Pessoa in the Boca do Inferno rock formations. He then returned to Berlin, where he reappeared three weeks later at the opening of his art exhibition at the Neumann-Nierendorf Gallery. Crowley's paintings are equipped with modes for German Expressionism; some of them were sold, but the press reports were mostly profitable. In August 1931, he took Bertha Busch as his new lover; they have a violent relationship, and often physically attack each other. She keeps in touch with men and women while in town, and meets famous people like Aldous Huxley and Alfred Adler. After becoming friends with him, in January 1932, he took communist Gerald Hamilton as a supervisor, through whom he was introduced to many of Berlin's most distinguished figures; it is possible that he operated as a spy for British intelligence at this time, monitoring the communist movement.
Crowley left Busch and returned to London, where he brought Pearl Brooksmith as his new Scarlet Woman. Underwent further nasal surgery, it was here in 1932 that he was invited to be a guest of honor at Foyles' Literary Luncheon, who was also invited by Harry Price to speak at the National Laboratory of Psychic Research. In need of money, he launched a series of court cases against people he believed to have reproached him, some of which proved successful. He got a lot of publicity for his lawsuit against Constable and Co for publishing Nina Hamnett Laughing Torso (1932) - a book that he thought upset him - but lost the case. The court case added to Crowley's financial problems, and in February 1935 he was declared bankrupt. During the trial, it was revealed that Crowley has spent three times as much in his income over the years.
Crowley developed a platonic friendship with Deidre Patricia O'Doherty; he offered to give birth to his son, who was born in May 1937. Named Randall Gair, Crowley called him Aleister AtatÃÆ'¼rk. Crowley keeps on socializing with friends, having a curry party where she cooks spicy food specially for them. In 1936, he published his first book in six years, The Equinox of the Gods , containing the facsimile The Book of the Law and is considered volume III, number 3, of The Equinox periodically. The work sold well, producing a second print. In 1937 he gave a series of public lectures on yoga in Soho. Crowley now lives most of the contribution provided by Agape Lodge in California, led by rocket scientist John Whiteside "Jack" Parsons. Crowley was attracted by the rise of Nazism in Germany, and influenced by his friend Martha KÃÆ'¼ntzel believing that Adolf Hitler might move to Thelema; when the Nazis abolished O.T.O. German. and the imprisoned Germer, who fled to the United States, Crowley then railed against Hitler as a black magician.
Second World War and death: 1939-47
When the Second World War broke out, Crowley wrote to the Naval Intelligence Division that offered his services, but they refused. He was associated with various figures in the British intelligence community at the time, including Dennis Wheatley, Roald Dahl, Ian Fleming and Maxwell Knight, and claimed to have been behind the "V for Victory" mark firstly used by the BBC; this has never been proven. In 1940, his asthma worsened, and with German-produced drugs unavailable, he again used heroin, once again becoming addicted. When Blitz crashed into London, Crowley moved to Torquay, where he was briefly hospitalized with asthma, and entertained himself with a visit to a local chess club. Tiring Torquay, he returned to London, where he was visited by Thelemite American Grady McMurtry, who was given the title Crowley "Hymenaeus Alpha". He determined that although Germer would be his immediate successor, McMurty had to succeed Germer as head of O.T.O. after the last death. With O.T.O. started Lady Frieda Harris, Crowley developed a plan to produce a set of tarot cards, designed by him and painted by Harris. Accompanying this was a book, published in a limited edition as The Book of Thoth by Chiswick Press in 1944. To assist the war effort, he wrote the proclamation of human rights, Liber Oz , and a poem for the liberation of France, Le Gauloise . Crowley's last publication during his lifetime was a poetry book, Olla: An Anthology of Sixty Years of Song . Another of his projects, Aleister Explains Everything , was published posthumously as Magick Without Tears .
In April 1944, Crowley briefly moved to Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire, where he was visited by poet Nancy Cunard, before moving to Hastings in Sussex, where he lived in Netherwood boarding house. He took a young man named Kenneth Grant as his secretary, paying him in magic lessons than wages. He was also introduced to John Symonds, whom he appointed as the executor of literature; Symonds thought a little about Crowley, then published a negative biography about him. In accordance with illusionist Arnold Crowther, through him that Crowley was introduced to Gerald Gardner, founder of Gardnerian Wicca's future. They became friends, with Crowley allowing Gardner to revive O.T.O. A sick Englishman. Another visitor was Eliza Marian Butler, who interviewed Crowley for her book The Myth of the Magus. Other friends and family also spend time with him, among them are the son of Doherty and Crowley, Aleister AtatÃÆ'¼rk. On December 1, 1947, Crowley died in the bronchitis Netherwood chronically exacerbated by pleurisy and myocardial degeneration, aged 72. His funeral was held at the Brighton crematorium on December 5; about a dozen people attended, and Louis Wilkinson read excerpts from the Gnostic Mass, The Book of the Law , and "Hymn to Pan". The funeral generated a press controversy, and was labeled Black Mass by tabloids. Abu Crowley was sent to Karl Germer in the US, who buried them in his garden in Hampton, New Jersey.
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Beliefs and thoughts
Crowley's belief system, Thelema, has been described by scholars as a religion, and more specifically as a new religious movement, and as a "magico-religious doctrine". It is also characterized as a form of esoterism and modern paganism. Despite holding the Book of the Law - compiled in 1904 - as its central text, Thelema was formed as a complete system in the years after 1904.
In his autobiography, Crowley claims that his purpose in life is "to bring oriental wisdom to Europe and to restore paganism in a purer form," though what is meant by "paganism" is unclear. Crowley's ideas are not always cohesive, and influenced by various sources, ranging from eastern movements and practices such as Hindu yoga and Buddhism, scientific naturalism, and currents in Western esoterism, among them ceremonial magic, alchemy, astrology, Rosicrucianism, Kabbalah and Tarot. He studied the esoteric teachings he had learned from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, though further encouraged by his own interpretations and strategies than had been done by the Golden Dawn. Crowley incorporates the concepts and terminology of the South Asian religious traditions such as yoga and Tantra into his Thelemic system, believing that there is a fundamental underlying commonality between Western and Eastern spiritual systems. Historian Alex Owen notes that Crowley embraced the "modus operandi" of the Decadent movement throughout his life.
Crowley believes that the 20th century marks the entry of humans into Aeon of Horus, a new era in which people will take control of their destiny. He believes that Aeon is following from Aeon Osiris, where paternalistic religions such as Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism dominate the world, and that this in turn has followed the Aeon of Isis, which has been motherly and dominated by the worship of the goddess. He believes that Thelema is the exact religion of Aeon of Horus, and also considers himself to be the prophet of this new Aeon. Thelema revolves around the idea that every human has their own True Will so they must find and pursue, and that this is in harmony with the Cosmic Will that encompasses the universe. Crowley refers to the process of seeking and discovery of one's True Will to become a "Great Work" or the attainment of "the knowledge and conversation of the Patron of the Holy Guard". His favorite method of doing so is through the performance of Abramelin's operations, ceremonial ritual ceremonies obtained from the 17th century grimoire. The "Do What Thou Wilt" moral code is believed by Thelemites as the law of religious ethics, although the religious historian Marco Pasi notes that this is not anarchist or libertarian structure, as Crowley sees individuals as part of a wider society organism..
Magick and theology
Crowley believed in the objective existence of magic, which he chose to spell "Magick", an ancient spelling older than that word. He gave different definitions of this term during his career. In his book Magick in Theory and Practice, Crowley defines Magick as "Science and Art that causes change to occur in accordance with Will". He also told his pupil Karl Germer that "Magick goes into communication with people who are on a plane higher than us.Mysicism is improving themselves to their level." Crowley sees Magick as the third way between religion and science, providing The Equinox subtitle of The Method of Science; the Aim of Religion. In the journal he expressed positive sentiments toward science and scientific methods, and urged magicians to keep detailed records of their magical experiments, "The more scientific the record, the better." His understanding of magic is also influenced by the work of anthropologist James Frazer, in particular the view that magic is a precursor to science within the framework of cultural evolution. Unlike Frazer, however, Crowley does not see magic as the survival of the past that requires eradication, but he believes that magic must be adapted to fit the new age of science.
Sexuality plays an important role in Crowley's idea of ​​witchcraft and practice, and has been described as the center of Thelema. He describes three forms of automatic sex - autoerotic, homosexual, and heterosexual - and argues that such actions can be used to focus the will of magicians to certain goals such as financial gain or personal creative success. For Crowley, sex is treated as a sacrament, with the consumption of sexual liquids interpreted as the Eucharist. These are often manifested as Light Cakes, biscuits containing menstrual blood or a mixture of semen and vaginal fluids. The Gnostic Mass is a central religious ceremony in Thelema.
The Crowley's theological beliefs are not clear. Historian Ronald Hutton notes that some of Crowley's writings may be used to argue that he is an atheist, while some support the idea that he is a polytheist, and others will support the idea that he is a mystical monotheist. On the basis of the teachings of The Book of Law , Crowley describes a pantheon of three gods taken from ancient Egypt: Nuit, Hadith, and Ra-Hoor-Khuit. In 1928, he made the claim that all "true" gods "came" from this trinity.
Both during his lifetime and afterwards, Crowley was widely described as a Satanist, usually by critics. Crowley states that he does not consider himself a Satan, nor does he worship Satan, because he does not accept the Christian worldview in which Satan is believed to exist. He continues to use the image of the devil, for example by describing himself as "the Beast 666" and referring to the Babel Slut in his work, while in the future he sends "Antichristmas cards" to his friends. In his writings, Crowley sometimes identifies Aiwass as Satan and designates him as "Our Lord God the Devil" on an occasion. Religious scholar Gordan Djurdjevic stated that Crowley "is firmly not" a Satan, "if there is no other reason than simply because he does not identify himself as". Crowley remained an anti-Christian sentiment, stating that he hates Christianity "as the Socialists hate the soap", a feat that may have come from his experience among the Plymouth Brethren. He is also accused of advocating human sacrifice, in large part because of an inner part of Book 4 where he states that "A boy of perfect innocence and high intelligence is the most satisfying victim" and added that he have sacrificed about 150 each year. This is a tongue-in-cheek reference to ejaculation, something that his critics do not realize, thus reflecting their own "ignorance and prejudice" against Crowley.
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Personal life
Crowley regarded himself as one of the great figures of his time. Historian Ronald Hutton states that in Crowley's youth, he was "an indulgent and flamboyant young man" who "regulated intentional abuse and provocation of social and religious norms", while protected from "angry public opinion" by him. inherited wealth. Hutton also described Crowley as having "an unpleasant desire" to control whatever organization he owned, and "the tendency to quarrel with others" with those who challenged him. Crowley's biographer Martin Booth insists that Crowley is "self-confident, brash, eccentric, selfish, very intelligent, arrogant, intelligent, rich, and, when it fits him, cruel". Similarly, Richard Spence notes that Crowley "is capable of extraordinary physical and emotional cruelty". Biographer Lawrence Sutin notes that Crowley shows "courage, skill, tireless energy, and an extraordinary focus of will" while at the same time demonstrating "blind arrogance, small bile of bile, [and] contempt for the ability of fellow human beings". The Thelemite Lon Milo DuQuette notes that Crowley is "imperfect" and "often alienates those who love him."
Political view
Crowley enjoys outrageous and mocking conventional morality, with John Symonds noting that he "rebelled against the moral and religious values ​​of his time". Crowley's political ideas were studied by academician Marco Pasi, who noted that for Crowley, socio-political concerns were lower than those of a metaphysical and spiritual nature. He is not on the left or right of politics but is probably best categorized as "conservative revolutionary" although not affiliated with the German-based conservative revolutionary movement. Pasi describes Crowley's interest in the extreme ideology of Nazism and Marxism-Leninism, which aims to overthrow the society cruelly: "What Crowley likes about Nazism and communism, or at least what makes him curious about them, is an anti-Christian and revolutionary position, and the implications social subversives of these two movements.In their subversive power, he sees the possibility of destruction of old religious traditions, and the creation of a vacuum that can later be filled by Thelema. "Crowley describes democracy as" a weak cult and disgusting weakness, "and commented that The Law states that "there is a master and there are slaves, nobles and slaves," wolves and herds. "In this attitude he is influenced by the work of Friedrich Nietzsche and by Social Darwinism. Although he insulted most of the English nobles, he regarded himself as a nobleman and organized himself as Laird Boleskine, who once described his ideology as "aristocratic communism".
Views about race and gender
Crowley is bisexual, and shows a sexual preference for women, with fewer homosexual relationships and clustered in the early part of her life. In particular he has an interest in "exotic women", and claims to have fallen in love on several occasions; Kaczynski states that "when he loves, he does it with all his being, but the passion is usually short-lived". Even later, Crowley was able to attract young bohemian women to be his lover, mostly because of his charisma. During anal intercourse, he usually plays
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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