Crowley and snails

[Haunted_Shoreline]

Dear all

I have a vague memory of reading a text by Crowley which included the words ".. the Genius of the Snail". I remember finding this phrase striking but baffling and wondering what it could mean.

At least, I thought I remembered that- but having searched the library here and online more generally, I have to wonder if this is in fact a false memory...

Can anyone shed any light on this, or is it just my memory playing tricks?

I ask because I recently had what I think is a moderately interesting insight regarding the symbolism of the snail in the work of Salvador Dali, and that set me off looking for more references to snails in esoteric writings. The only Crowley one I've found is in
"John St. John-  The Record of the Magical Retirement of  G. H. Frater, O∴ M∴"... I assume this is a lesser-known Crowley work- you can read it at http://hermetic.com/crowley/libers/lib860.html

..the reference to snails is:

"I can't enjoy my dinner. The snails, as I prong them forth, are such ugly, slimy, greasy black horrors --- oh! so like my soul! ... Ugh!"

... interesting because this mixture of horror and disgust is actually very similar to what, I suspect, these creatures meant to Dali.

If you're interested in reading the Dali piece it's on my blog at

http://thehauntedshoreline.wordpress.com/2012/06/16/a-helix-of-slime/

thoughts welcome

[Shiva]

John St John is hardly a "lesser work," it has been duscussed many times here on the frums.

[WilliamThirteen]

can't help you with the reference but i did read your snail piece and quite enjoyed it. Planning on visiting Espace Dali next time I am in Paris!

[Haunted_Shoreline]

Thanks for that WilliamThirteen.

Shiva- "lesser work" was a careless choice of words, point taken. I've now had a look at some discussion of it on the fora, thanks for the pointer.

However I'm still racking my brains over that "Genius of the Snail" quote- I've typed it with capital G and S as that is how I remember it being in the book... whichever book it was exactly.... Yet I remember the context vividly- it would be around 15 years ago, sitting up late in a friend's house and looking through his 'occult library'- I'm no longer in touch with him, sadly- and being so struck by that phrase- I was almost certain it was Crowley... but maybe not.

[ApeOfTheApeOfThot]

I try to avoid killing snails as much as possible.   Still, if they are eating your crops.... eh, stomp those F'ers.