Was Kenneth Grant our last living link to Aleister Crowley - the last Apostle, as it were? The last person who could give a first-hand account of Aleister Crowley?
Surely there are people still living who were old enough to have met and remembered him, but even if one had been 10 years old in 1947, old enough to register an impression of the frail old man, one would be 77 this year, so there can't be many. But having encountered him and really knowing him are two different things, so as far as I can tell Kenneth was the last.
I also don't mean his children or grandchildren, DNA inheritance or artefacts, of course. I mean people who actually knew him, were old enough to listen to him and appreciate him, and who might have some tidbit to add to the tradition before it becomes limited completely to textual sources. Occasionally we get an account from one of Crowley's descendants of stories they heard from their mothers, which are valuable as second-hand reports, but they are rare and not on the same level as first-hand accounts.
If so, an important chapter closed in 2011, an era ended. We are in the post-apostolic age, not just the sub-apostolic age. Kenneth was the last of the first generation of Thelema. I suppose John Symonds, the "anti-apostle", was the second last to go.
Such an interesting question to ponder, belmurru! I've been thinking of Dierdre Patricia Macalpine, but recall reading somewhere that she has gone to her Greater Feast. I've been unable to trace the source for this at present. There were only a few who fit into your category even 30 years ago (at least) so I follow your line of thought that Kenneth may be the last.
How about Steffi Grant? Weren’t she and Kenneth engaged to be married at around this time? Courtesy of Fra Aossic, she would certainly have been known to A.C. I imagine, but would they have all met up say when she may have visited her intended whilst he was staying with A.C. at Netherwood? I believe she was also a one-time active member of the “O.T.O.” (Nu Isis Lodge), and it is not unreasonable to speculate that she would not have been unacquainted with Thelemic matters at around that time. Since Mrs Grant is herself still alive although getting on in years, I imagine she could supply this information if someone who has access to her asks her it.
Talking of the Mrs here, does anybody know whether she has ever had a gallery show in her own right, at least in living memory, since her distinguished Artwork is appreciated by so many, including myself? (Wasn’t she also the prime mover/ initial contact as an artist in her own right with Austin Spare in the first place? Though I may be mistaken and don’t have Zos Speaks! to hand at the moment to check.) She appears to share her late husband’s lack of enthusiasm for public display; but it would be nice if she could be properly interviewed before she moves on to partake of her Greater Feast - if she has not been already, and even if it were only to be shown after her passing onwards.
Otherwise, I wonder if the individual whose birthday party it was at Netherwood at which A.C. dolled himself up as a stage magician (maybe with his ornamental jambiya!) doling out presents, etc., might still be with us? Not unreasonably assuming s/he would not have been older than ten at the time – the same age as his apparently genuine son Randall Gair Doherty aka Aleister Ataturk at that same time – this would make him or her no more than seventy seven nowadays. A mere spring chicken, a veritable adolescent! He or she would undoubtedly then be the youngest person to have had any “significant” contact. Perhaps A.C. may have done an astrological birth chart/ life reading for him/ her as a little gift by way of a present?!? That would be interesting to find out, especially so if it transpired to have been accurately borne out and/or the youngster then went on to become a Thelemite.
2014 – 1947 = 67 + ≤ 10 = ~77
Norma N Joy Conquest
Steffi Grant didn't visit Netherwood whilst Kenneth was there, or any other time. Yes she was known to A.C through Kenneth, but never met him, and is not therefore a "living link" in the sense used by belmurru.
It seems that he was, then.
Steffi must be the last person living who attended AC's funeral, though.
Crowley alludes to her once or twice in his diaries. On February 26, 1946, he writes "Grant married. (23!)" (he was still 22, I think)
Steffi and Kenneth certainly made a fruitful partnership. Her artwork influenced my style immensely, although Kenneth's books (I had the first five, up to Outside the Circles of Time, in 1983), while insanely fascinating, were beyond my understanding then. They led me to Spare, whose writings were even more bewildering, but whose drawing style I also imitated.
Yes, belmurru, she's very probably the last person alive who attended Crowley's funeral.
Crowley would have been aware of her looks, too, since she sent Kenneth a self-portrait whilst he was at Netherwood (it's reproduced in The Ninth Arch) which he hung in his room, and Crowley saw it at least once, perhaps several times.
I agree with you about her artwork; it's very underrated in my opinion.
I would not choose Grant, especially his written work, as any kind of exposition of Crowley's legacy. Maybe some day someone who spent some time in the pub with Grant, after a few pints, will reveal the last Apostles real memoirs. Mrs Grant, quite sensibly, stays well away from the fans.
A little off-topic, but this coming December 10th is the 70th anniversary of Kenneth going to the Bell inn, Aston Clinton, to meet Crowley for the first time in 1944. It's a beautiful inn. I've been there a couple of times, and I doubt that the place has changed much since then.
A little off-topic, but this coming December 10th is the 70th anniversary of Kenneth going to the Bell inn, Aston Clinton, to meet Crowley for the first time in 1944. It's a beautiful inn. I've been there a couple of times, and I doubt that the place has changed much since then.
It seems like a delightful place -
http://www.thebellastonclinton.co.uk/
I didn't know that date, thanks. It's nice to know something special, maybe to you alone, about the history of a place when you visit.
Wouldn't it be nice if you had the pull to get them to put up a brass plaque that read something like "Here, on December 10, 1944, Kenneth Grant met Aleister Crowley for the first time." Pick a table, any table... unless, of course, Kenneth pointed out the very spot to you already.
Maybe I am ignoramus of the subject,but he was reincarnated, so he(AC) lives somewhere on the planet Earth.
Yes, but we're talking here about having known the man Aleister Crowley. Whether or not there's been a reincarnation is irrelevant in this context. Crowley, for instance, thought that he'd been Eliphas Levi in a previous incarnation. However, the entity born in 1875 was Aleister Crowley, not Eliphas Levi II. Similarly, if the essence which once animated Aleister Crowley has again assumed flesh, it will be as some other person, not Aleister Crowley.
You are, as the air-traffic controller said to the man who looked like a runway, confusing the planes.
Yes you are right. But, that was my first association on this topic.
I guess my point was that we shouldn't waste to much energy over that.
Certainly my apologies to members of this forum.
Back on the topic. I guess that indeed K.G was the last one.
But this magical aroma is still there.
regards
Point of information. According to the auctioneer’s prospectus (see "Aleister Crowley Auction: Magical Outfit & Dagger” on the Biography thread):
Provenance is impeccable, having come from the family of Deirde Patricia Maureen Doherty, later MacAlpine (b.1915), mother of Crowley's son Aleister Ataturk, aka Randall Gair Crowley (1937-2002). Family tradition has it that Crowley gifted the set to Deirdre Doherty to provide for her and their son should the need ever arise.
Therefore it appears Ms Doherty herself would be/ is the last surviving person to have had contact (very close contact, in fact!) with A.C.. Her silence for over seventy years suggests she is most likely of a reclusive nature & would probably not appreciate further attention in any case at her advanced age. Anybody wishing for a “selfie” with her (I believe that’s the phrase you youngsters use ;D ) may therefore prove unlucky.
As belmurru says, the most we can hope for is that she might leave behind some fulsome memoirs somewhere.
N Joy
According to some sources, he(AC) met Duncan Cameron 1918th
During his visit to America.
It's a little confusing, on the internet there are various information,
some of the famous Montauk project.
It's unrelated to K.G, sorry if I made off topic.
regards
Provenance is impeccable, having come from the family of Deirde Patricia Maureen Doherty, later MacAlpine (b.1915), mother of Crowley's son Aleister Ataturk, aka Randall Gair Crowley (1937-2002). Family tradition has it that Crowley gifted the set to Deirdre Doherty to provide for her and their son should the need ever arise.
Therefore it appears Ms Doherty herself would be/ is the last surviving person to have had contact (very close contact, in fact!) with A.C.. Her silence for over seventy years suggests she is most likely of a reclusive nature & would probably not appreciate further attention in any case at her advanced age. Anybody wishing for a “selfie” with her (I believe that’s the phrase you youngsters use ;D ) may therefore prove unlucky.
As belmurru says, the most we can hope for is that she might leave behind some fulsome memoirs somewhere.
N Joy
I noticed that as well, Jamie, but like I mentioned above- I recall a mention of her passing. It's true that she has remained "silent" for the most part, but not entirely. There is film footage of her talking about AC, though it was shot decades ago (80's?). If she is actually still with us then she will be turning a century next year!