Aleister Crowley may just be one of the most
interesting men who ever lived.
He was a self-proclaimed magician, scholar,
writer, and even an undercover spy.
He was known as “The Great Beast 666”,
because some even believe that he was the
AntiChrist told in the Book of Revelation.
Others believe that he was a genius and a
visionary, and that the world would not be
the same if it were not for his teachings.
Today, we’re going to talk about the life
of this legendary figure, and you can decide
for yourself if he truly was “The Wickedest
Man Alive”.
How The Boy Became A Beast
In 1875, Edward Alexander Crowley was born
in Warwickshire, England to two extremely
religious parents.
His grandfather had a successful distillery
business, and yet his father never wanted
to spend any of the money, because he believed
drunkenness was a sin.
He became a preacher instead, and passionately
evangelized the teachings of a fundamentalist
Christian group called The Plymouth Brethren.
They taught young Edward to live life as simply
as possible, and that men only existed to
serve God.
Any form of excess; whether it was spending
money, dressing in nice clothes, or eating
more than was absolutely necessary was considered
a sin, and the temptation to indulge in anything
was considered the work of the Devil.
When he was very young, Edward looked up to
his father, and wanted to become a preacher
just like him.
He obeyed his parents every demand, and instead
of going outside to play with other children,
he studied the Bible.
This didn’t make him very popular in school,
and he was bullied mercilessly by the other
children.
His father died of tongue cancer when he was
only 11, and he was left in the care of his
overzealous mother.
Living under such harsh conditions on a daily
basis made Edward very sick.
The doctors said that he was so weak, he would
die within just a few months, if no changes
were made.
Thankfully, his uncle stepped in and suggested
that maybe the boy needed to live in the countryside.
Edward moved in with his uncle, and began
mountain climbing and running through the
forest, where he breathed fresh air.
His uncle allowed him to have fun, which was
a concept that had been completely foreign
to him up to that point.
He even brought him to pubs and let him drink
underage, and paid for a prostitute so he
could lose his virginity at 15.
After all, the doctors said he might die soon,
so his uncle wanted him to experience as much
fun as he possibly could with the time he
had left.
His health fully recovered, and he was sent
back to live with his mother.
But Edward had changed in his time away, and
he was in a full-blown teenage rebellion.
He knew that The Plymouth Brethren were to
blame for his sickly childhood, and he rejected
all of their religious teachings.
He no longer wanted to be a preacher, and
he wanted the free will to make his own life
choices.
He hated the idea that nearly everything that
made people happy was considered to be a “sin”.
His mother was shocked that her obedient son
had changed so much in his time away, and
said that he had become “The Beast” from
the Book of Revelation.
After arguing with her, he decided that if
he needed to commune with the Devil in order
to live his life according to his own rules,
so be it.
He would become the Beast his mother said
he was.
One of the first wicked things he did was
have sex with the maid on his mother’s bed,
just to spite her.
When she found out, she fired the maid immediately,
and poor girl’s reputation was ruined to
the point where she could no longer find work.
The maid was forced into prostitution, and
Crowley claimed that she became Jack the Ripper’s
first victim.
He even said that he knew The Ripper personally,
and that he was an occultist.
Later, he would write about his formative
years, “I was in the death struggle with
self: God and Satan fought for my soul those
three long hours.
God conquered — now I have only one doubt
left — which of the twain was God?”
Awakening
When Crowley graduated from High School, he
was sent him away to Cambridge, where he introduced
himself to his new classmates as “Aleister
Crowley”.
He joined the chess club, and was able to
win several competitions.
In 1898, when Aleister was 22 years old, he
fell in love with a fellow classmate, Herbert
Jerome Pollitt.
Very few people in the school knew that Herbert
had an alter ego, dressing in drag in private
nightclubs as “Diane de Rougy”.
Crowley wrote love poems about Herbert, and
they are filled with anguish about his wish
to be with him.
Clearly, his bisexuality was even more motivation
to reject Christianity.
In the eyes of the church, his love for Herbert
was considered to be an abomination.
After graduating from university, Aleister
inherited the Crowley family fortune, and
he could finally do whatever he wanted.
He began to hire female prostitutes nearly
every day, and bought books on the occult.
He was writing dirty poetry and publishing
them overseas under a pen name.
When he was in his early 20’s, he found
out that he was not alone in his fascination
with the occult and the possibility that magic
could be real.
He joined a group of aspiring wizards called
the Order of the Golden Dawn, which had famous
members like the poet William Butler Yeats,
and Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula.
They claimed that they had translated ancient
Egyptian texts, old grimoires filled with
ancient spells, and Jewish mysticism from
the Kabbalah.
They believed that they could perform real
magic, communicate with angels, and get to
know their inner soul.
When he showed up to his first meeting of
the Order of the Golden Dawn, Crowley was
wearing a disguise and introduced himself
as the “Count Vladimir Svareff”.
He was still afraid that his family would
find out that he was dabbling in the occult,
and he did not want to ruin his reputation.
No one was convinced of his costume, though,
because he was this baby-faced youth wearing
a false mustache and speaking in a terrible
Russian accent.
Later on in life, Aleister Crowley actually
became a secret agent for the British government
during World War I, because he claimed that
he successfully infiltrated a secret society...Technically,
that’s true, but the result of his spy career
was probably more along the lines of The Pink
Panther rather than James Bond.
After he felt comfortable knowing that The
Golden Dawn took privacy very seriously, Crowley
admitted to his true identity.
Unfortunately, he had already started things
off on the wrong foot, and some people in
the group found it hard to trust him.
Despite this initial deception, Crowley took
their teachings very seriously, and he was
able to quickly move on through the lessons.
The Golden Dawn wanted its new members to
be able to get in touch with their inner soul
before they were taught real magic.
This was accomplished through a lot of discussions
of philosophy, yoga, meditation, and mantras.
They would write down their dreams in daily
journals, and interpret what they meant about
their inner selves.
However, there were some spells that they
performed on a daily basis, because they truly
believed that they could summon angels to
their aid.
“The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram”
goes like this: “In the Name of God, the
God of Yisrael: may Michael be at my right
hand, Gabriel at my left, Uriel before me,
Raphael behind me, and above my head, the
presence of God.”
Crowley believed so strongly in the supernatural,
that he claimed that these early stages of
a magical journey were getting in touch with
your “guardian angel”.
He openly talked about his desire to call
upon demons and ancient gods, as well.
He incorporated psychedelic drugs into his
routines, because he believed that it intensified
his spiritual experiences.
This was all genuinely concerning to the rest
of The Golden Dawn.
Many of them were teetotaling aristocrats
who felt that his ideas were radical, if not
downright terrifying.
The members did not want Crowley to rise in
the ranks of the society, because he was clearly
interested in black magic, and they believed
he would use his powers for evil.
There was a strict rule that no one could
pay one another to teach them magic, but he
managed to convince one of the members to
teach him higher levels of spells in exchange
for free rent.
In his books, Aleister Crowley casually mentions
walking in on his roommate as he was levitating,
as if this was totally normal among the members
of the Golden Dawn.
In 1899, when he was just 24 years old, Aleister
Crowley bought a mansion on the shores of
Loch Ness in Scotland called Boleskine House
just so he could perform a spell called The
Abramelin Ceremony.
However, nothing actually happened.
He never saw any angels or demons, no matter
how hard he tried.
Apparently, he grew tired of doing this ritual
every day single day without seeing any results,
so he wandered off to do something else.
Rumors spread that since he failed to finished
the ceremony, this unlocked the gates of Hell.
Years later, Jimmy Page, the lead guitarist
for Led Zeppelin, purchased Crowley’s home
on Loch Ness.
He claimed that the house was truly haunted
by Crowley’s demons.
Speaking to the gods
Aleister Crowley’s first wife was a woman
named Rose Edith Kelly.
When they met, she was a young widow who was
engaged to a man that her parents chose for
her.
Crowley convinced her to elope with him, instead,
after only knowing each other for just one
day to prevent her from entering into the
arranged marriage.
They ran away on a spur-of-the-moment honeymoon
to Egypt together.
Crowley brought Rose into a dark cave and
began reciting his spells.
He was reading from a book called Goeta: The
Lesser Key of Solomon in an attempt to summon
the Egyptian god, Horus.
He went through his chant, when Rose’s head
suddenly fell back.
She claimed that in that moment, she had a
vision and heard the voice of Horus.
Crowley was frustrated with Rose, assuming
that she was playing a prank on him.
He had been studying the occult and attempting
to summon demons and gods for years, and they
never appeared to him in any visions.
So he couldn’t believe it was possible for
Rose to evoke Horus when she wasn’t even
trying.
But she kept insisting that she truly did
see something in the caves, and that the gods
had been angry with him up until that point,
because of his arrogance.
Still not believing her, Aleister took her
to one of the museums, and asked her to point
out the god she saw.
Rose walked right up to the correct image
of Horus, at exhibit number 666.
After seeing the proof, they rushed back to
their apartment in Cairo, so that they could
talk about the visions in private.
Rose said that Horus had given her instructions
on how to communicate with the spirits.
She gave Aleister a specific ritual to perform.
When he was done, he heard a whisper over
his shoulder from the voice of his guardian
angel, Aiwass.
The angel instructed him to write down all
of the information over the course of three
days, and published in a text called The Book
of The Law.
The most famous quote was, “Do what thou
wilt shall be the whole of the law”.
Basically- do whatever you want to do with
your own life.
Crowley was thrilled with this revelation,
and when he returned to England, he told all
of his friends in the Golden Dawn about the
voices he and Rose heard in Egypt.
Many were reluctant to believe him, and some
were angry, believing that he he had been
tricked into actually communicating with a
demon, instead of a guardian angel.
At this point, they were still refusing to
allow Crowley to graduate into the next level
of the secret society, so he visited the leader
of the Paris chapter of the Golden Dawn, MacGregor
Mathers.
He explained the situation back in London,
and Mathers seemed to agree that Crowley deserved
to enter the next level.
When he returned to London with his certificate
from Mathers in hand, the other members still
wouldn’t accept him.
So, he snuck into the clubhouse and changed
the locks.
The next day, he laughed at the men as they
failed get inside.
Not surprisingly, he was officially kicked
out of The Golden Dawn after this.
A year later, in 1905, Aleister Crowley took
a group of his friends climbing on Kanchenjunga,
which is one of the largest and most treacherous
mountains in the world.
They reached 25,000 feet, but one of the men
on the expedition, a photographer named Jules
Jacot-Guillarmod, was angry at how Crowley
was treating everyone else on the crew, and
he wanted to take over the expedition.
The expedition was marred by arguments between
Crowley and the others, who thought that he
was reckless.
They eventually mutinied against Crowley's
control, with the other climbers heading back
down the mountain as nightfall approached
despite Crowley's warnings that it was too
dangerous.
Subsequently, Pache and several porters were
killed in an accident, something for which
Crowley was widely blamed by the mountaineering
community.
It was claimed that Crowley sat inside of
his tent and tried to summon a demon.
At that very moment, an avalanche came down
the mountain.
They screamed for his help, but Crowley ignored
them, and left them for dead.
He later wrote that he had absolutely no sympathy
for the unfortunate accident, even though
many of the men miraculously survived.
Crowley Goes His Own Way
Aleister Crowley’s marriage with Rose fell
apart after the death of their first daughter
when she was only 2 years old.
Even though they had a second daughter together
named Lola Zaza, it was clear that they were
no longer in love, and Rose fell into a deep
depression.
They got a divorce in 1909 based on his own
adultery, and just two years later, he had
to put her in an asylum for having neurological
damage from her alcoholism.
This tended to be a trend, because most of
the people who even attempted to have a personal
relationship with Crowley ended up having
their lives completely ruined.
It’s sort of a “chicken or the egg”
scenario- Did his belief in the occult attract
mentally unstable people into his life, or
was his wickedness enough to drive anyone
insane?
Crowley was not very interested in being a
father, so he left his daughter in the care
of boarding schools and nannies.
He started his own cult called Thelema, where
he taught The Book of the Law like it was
their Bible.
He started a commune at a villa in Italy that
he called The Abbey of Thelema.
Everyone who lived there was encouraged to
do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted.
They took drugs, had orgies together, and
children were running around the grounds naked.
One of the rooms in the villa was called The
Nightmare Room, where Crowley painted terrifying
pictures on the walls.
He encouraged his followers to take LSD and
stare at the frightening images until they
completely lost fear of anything.
The neighbors were shocked, and even to this
very day, the locals say the place is haunted
by a curse.
Rumor has it that the rituals became more
and more intense, to the point where they
even participated in beasteality and animal
sacrifice.
One of Aleister’s lovers, a woman named
Leah, had a nervous breakdown after this,
and she went straight to the British press
after she stated one of the followers died
after drinking the blood of a cat.
The Italian authorities came in to force the
group out of the house, and banned them from
ever returning.
The Abbey of Thelema is still abandoned to
this very day, and people believe that it
is haunted.
Aleister Crowley visited the United States
to spread Thelema, and he inspired several
people to practice the occult as well, including
rocket scientist Jack Parsons and the founder
of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard.
He taught them how to perform “sex magic”,
which was the belief that in the moment of
orgasm, their intentions could be heard by
the universe.
Unfortunately for Crowley, all of the drugs
and sex caught up with him.
He became a full-on heroin addict, and lost
a tremendous amount of weight.
In the 1930’s, a journalist labeled Aleister
Crowley as a “black magician”.
After years of running cults and buying properties
all over the world, his inheritance had finally
run dry.
He was living alone in a boarding house, doing
whatever he could to get his fix and stay
alive.
He decided to sue the journalist for libel,
even though he had called himself a magician
and “The Beast” in his own books.
He lost the case, of course, and he had to
endure public humiliation.
Many people never saw him in London again,
so they spread a rumor that he died from a
drug overdose all alone in his boarding house.
They felt that this would be a fitting end
to such a wicked man.
But in reality, fate gave him a second chance
at life.
A young woman named Deirdre MacLellan approached
Aleister Crowley after the trial was over.
She said that she had read all of his books,
was a huge fan of his work, and wanted to
have his child.
Now, this level of admiration was creepy enough
for most celebrities to run in the opposite
direction, but Aleister Crowley was so desperate,
he agreed to go home with the stranger.
McClellan helped him get clean from drugs,
and she stayed with him through the worst
of the withdrawl.
After he was healthy again, they had a son
together, who was named Aleister Ataturk Crowley.
Little Aleister was Crowley’s pride and
joy, and he felt a lot of regret for the way
he acted in his younger years.
After living his entire life trying to prove
that people should be as selfish as they possibly
can be, he finally realized that true happiness
and fulfillment came from family.
They lived in a house in Cornwall, where they
spent summers on the beach.
According to Deidre McClellan, Aleister Crowley
slipped into a coma just before he died.
The sky lit up in a cacophony of thunder,
as the gods came to reclaim his soul.
He died in 1947, at 72 years old.
In reality he died of chronic bronchitis aggravated
by pleurisy and myocardial degeneration.
His funeral was held at a Brighton crematorium
and 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 controversy, and was
labelled a Black Mass by the tabloids.
Years after his death, artists and musicians
from all over the world started to read Aleister’s
Crowley’s work, and it inspired them to
live their lives they way they wanted, as
well.
Hippies based their “free love” movement
on his teachings, and even John Lennon considered
him to be a hero, putting him on the cover
of Sgt.
Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club.
His motto of "Do What Thou Wilt" was inscribed
on the vinyl of Led Zeppelin's album Led Zeppelin
III.
David Bowie made reference to Crowley in the
lyrics of his song "Quicksand".
His life was filled with outrageous claims
and without his attempts to shake up proper
Victorian society, the world we live in today
just may not have been the same without Aleister
Crowley.
