Aleister Crowley

British occultist

• Born: October 12, 1875
• Birthplace: Leamington, Warwickshire, England
• Died: December 1, 1947
• Place of death: Hastings, England

Cause of notoriety: Crowley, a controversial author and a founder of mystic and magic occult philosophies, was also known for his hedonism and sexual adventurism.

Active: 1890-1947

Locale: England

Early Life

Edward Alexander Crowley (KROW-lee) was born in 1875 to Edward and Emily Crowley and was raised in a strict environment influenced by staunch Victorian and religious principles. His father, Edward, was a successful brewer who later became a staunch preacher before passing away when Crowley was eleven years old. Crowley was a rebellious and oppositional child who resisted the strict religious practices of his parents by developing a deep skepticism of religious faith. He reportedly tortured a cat and was sexually active with older women while still a teenager. His antisocial behavior was severe enough that his nickname, the Great Beast (a biblical reference to the anti-Christ), was supposedly given to him by his own dismayed mother. This moniker was later used by Crowley himself.

Occultist Career

While at Cambridge University, Crowley deepened his philosophy of skepticism and distrust of conventional morality and created his own occult belief system based on a combination of Western secret occult societies and some of the Eastern mystic traditions. During this time, he pursued wide-ranging sexual activities with both men and women, although he tried to keep his homosexuality a secret. He also began his prolific writing career and authored a number of homoerotic and sexually charged poems, often under pseudonyms. These works gained notoriety and referenced necrophilia, bestiality, and other deviant acts. He developed an interest in mountain climbing and continued to build a lifestyle and belief system that comprised free will, hedonism, and scientific skepticism tinged with mystical elements.

At the age of twenty-three, Crowley joined a magic-mystic oriented society called the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. This organization represented a mix of numerology, astrology, and other beliefs and rites associated with magic. Crowley later left the society because of bitter disputes with its leadership over various issues, including an alleged copyright dispute over a particular ritual that Crowley supposedly appropriated from its originator.

Crowley continued his search for spiritual or mystical meanings and traveled the globe. He married his wife Rose in 1893, and she joined him in his travels. During this time, he wrote much of his influential work, including Book of the Law, which was published posthumously in 1973. He claimed to have transcribed this work, with the assistance of Rose, from the Egyptian god Horus (also called Aiwass). It was this book that contained the phrase “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law,” which became the foundation of a mystic-spiritual roadmap later known as Thelema. “Do what thou wilt” became closely associated with the notorious hedonism of Crowley, although some defenders believe that it has a higher meaning that refers to the self-actualized will of enlightened people.

According to Crowley, his Book of the Law (which he maintained he only channeled from beyond and did not truly author) ushered in a new magical age based upon the law of Thelema. Crowley formed the Astrum Argentium (the Silver Star) to propagate his philosophy. In 1910, Crowley joined and later took on a leadership role with the Ordo Templi Orientis—another secret, ritual-based society that might have influenced the future Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

Aside from promulgation of his ideas and beliefs about human existence, magic (which he spelled “magick” to differentiate it from stage magic), and free will, Crowley invited, and possibly enjoyed, notoriety for other behaviors. He set up the Abbey of Thelema, in Cefalu, Sicily, members of which were rumored to engage in drug abuse, sexual rituals, and animal sacrifices. The rumors surrounding the Abbey led to his expulsion from Italy. During World War I, he penned pro-German propaganda, which he later claimed was really part of a patriotic effort on his part to discredit the Germans. His interpersonal style was often described as arrogant, self-aggrandizing, and abusive, which undoubtedly added to his unsavory reputation among many people.

Despite his notoriety and prolific writings, Crowley died in poverty in 1947. Many of his works were self-published and quickly banned. His addiction to heroin and an unsuccessful lawsuit in 1934 also served to drain his funds. It has been reported that his last words were “I am perplexed,” although this is not substantiated by a mistress who was with him at the time of his death.

Impact

Aleister Crowley was certainly influential within the mystic-magick subcultures, and many of his written works became available only after his death. Aside from his mystical philosophical base of influence stemming from his activities and writings associated with the Astrum Argentium and the Ordo Templi Orientis, one can find references to Crowley in the popular culture. His face appears among the multitude on the Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover. Hard metal musician Ozzy Osbourne wrote a song about him, and Jimmy Page, the guitarist for the British band Led Zeppelin, is reported to have been interested by Crowley’s work and bought a rural house once owned by the occultist.

In general, Crowley’s massive output of writings (often poetic, symbolic, or obscure while peppered with verbose sexual references), combined with his overall unconventional behavior, generated to some an image of Crowley as a pioneer. Crowley’s supporters consider him a feminist (despite his systematic womanizing) and an advocate of human freedom of will, while others admire him as a nonconforming free spirit with deep mystical insights. Detractors of Crowley call him a self-publicizing charlatan, a misogynist, and a manipulative abuser of his followers. Regardless of one’s opinion of Crowley, it is clear that his controversial artistic and philosophical tenor influenced current ideas about the occult and secret societies.

Bibliography

Crowley, Aleister, John Symonds, and Kenneth Grant. The Confessions of Aleister Crowley: An Autobiography. New York: Penguin, 1989. An account of Crowley’s ideas of Scientific Illuminism as well as a description of his life and controversial actions, told by Crowley himself.

Regardie, Israel. The Eye in the Triangle: An Interpretation of Aleister Crowley. Phoenix, Ariz.: Falcon Press, 1982. A biography of Crowley that emphasizes his appreciation of mystery novels and explores how the novels influenced his writing.

Sutin, Lawrence. Do What Thou Wilt. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000. This book recounts the life history of Crowley, discussing the many aspects of Crowley and his work, including his studies of yoga and Eastern mystic disciplines.