Aleister Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley, (12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947; was an English occultist, witch, prolific writer, mystic, hedonist, aficionado of chess and mountain climbing, and sexual revolutionary.
Crowley himself claimed to be a Freemason, but the regularity of his initiations with the United Grand Lodge of England has been disputed.
Other interests and accomplishments were wide-ranging—he was a chess master, mountain climber, poet, painter, astrologer, drug experimenter, and social critic. He is perhaps best known today for his occult writings, especially The Book of the Law, the central sacred text of Thelema. Crowley was also an influential member in several occult organizations, including the Golden Dawn, the Argenteum Astrum, and Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.).[3]
Crowley gained much notoriety during his lifetime, and was famously dubbed “The Wickedest Man In the world".
He attended Trinity College at Cambridge University, quitting just before completing his degree. Shortly thereafter he was introduced to George Cecil Jones, who was a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The Golden Dawn was an occult society which taught magic, kabala, alchemy, tarot, astrology, and other hermetic subjects. It had many notable members including A. E. Waite, Dion Fortune, and W. B. Yeats. Crowley was initiated into the Golden Dawn in 1898. He advanced up rapidly through the grades. But in 1900 the order was shattered by schism, and Crowley left England to travel extensively throughout the East. There he learned and practiced the mental and physical disciplines of yoga, supplementing his knowledge of western-style ritual magick with the methods of Oriental mysticism.
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 ( '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!”
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 .
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.
In 1903, Crowley married Rose Kelly, and they went to Egypt on their honeymoon. After returning from Cairo in early 1904, Rose began entering trance states. She told him that the god Horus was trying to contact him. Crowley took Rose to the Boulak Museum and asked her to point out Horus to him. She passed several images of the god and led Aleister straight to a painted wooden funerary stele from the 26th dynasty, depicting Horus receiving a sacrifice from the deceased, a priest named Ankh-f-n-khonsu. Crowley was impressed by the fact that this piece was numbered 666 by the museum, the number which he had identified since childhood.
He began to listen to Rose, and at her direction, on three successive days beginning April 8, 1904, he entered his room and wrote down what he heard dictated from a shadowy presence behind him. The result was the three chapters of verse known as The Book of the Law.
In 1906 Crowley rejoined George Cecil Jones in England, and they set created a magical order to continue where the Golden Dawn had left off. They called this order the A.'. A.'. (Astrum Argentium or Silver Star).
In 1910 Crowley was contacted by Theodore Reuss, the head of an organization called the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.). This group of high-ranking Freemasons claimed to have discovered the supreme secret of practical magick, which is taught in its highest degrees. Crowley joined, becoming a member of O.T.O. Crowley rewrote the rites of the O.T.O.
Crowley referred to himself as "The Beast" and indulged in every aspect of the occult and was obsessed with it. He was into every form of sexual perversion you can imagine. He also had various sexually transmitted diseases.
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.
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 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” writes 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.
"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law". This as a famous quote.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 people 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.