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[[Category: Aleister Crowley/Biography]]
'''Aleister Crowley''', born '''Edward Alexander Crowley''' (12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947),  was a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[occult]]ist, [[writer]], [[mountaineering|mountaineer]], [[poet]], and [[yogi]].<ref>Sutin, L. (2000). ''Do What Thou Wilt.''</ref> He was an influential member in several occult organizations, including the [[Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn|Golden Dawn]], the [[A∴A∴]], and [[Ordo Templi Orientis]] (O.T.O.),<ref name = "ilueqf">Crowley, Aleister. ''Confessions''.</ref> and is best known today for his [[Works of Aleister Crowley|occult writings]], especially ''[[The Book of the Law]]'', the central sacred text of [[Thelema]]. He gained much notoriety during his lifetime, and was dubbed "The Wickedest Man In the World."<ref>{{cite news | first = Horatio] | last = [Bottomley  | title = The Wickedest Man In The World | work = John Bull | date = [[1923-03-24]] }}</ref>

Crowley was also a [[chess]] player, [[Painting|painter]], [[astrologer]], [[hedonist]], [[bisexual]],<ref name = "ilueqf"/> [[recreational drug use|drug experimenter]], and [[Social criticism|social critic]]. He had also claimed to be a [[Freemason]],<ref>Sutin:Do What Thou Wilt (p. 83)</ref> but the [[Regular Masonic jurisdictions|regularity]] of his initiations have been disputed by a member of the [[List_of_Grand_Lodges#Independent_Grand_Lodges|Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon]].<ref>E.g. Starr M P 2004, "Aleister Crowley: freemason!", Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon, http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/aqc/crowley.html , BC</ref>
==Biography==
===Early years===
Edward Alexander Crowley was born at 36 Clarendon Square in [[Royal Leamington Spa]], [[Warwickshire]], [[England]], between 11:00pm and midnight on October 12, 1875.<ref name="multiple">The Magical Diaries of Aleister Crowley (Tunisia 1923) : Edited by Stephen Skinner; page 10</ref>

His father, Edward Crowley, was trained as an engineer but according to Aleister, never worked as one<ref name = "lemuno">[http://www.hermetic.com/crowley/confess/chapter1.html The Confessions by Aleister Crowley<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>. He did, however, own shares in a lucrative family [[brewery]] business, which allowed him to retire before Aleister was born. Through his father's business he was an acquaintance of [[Aubrey Beardsley]]. His mother, Emily Bertha Bishop, drew roots from a [[Devon]] and [[Somerset]] family.<ref name = "lemuno"/> Both of his parents were [[Exclusive Brethren]], a more conservative faction of the [[Plymouth Brethren]].<ref>King, Magical World, page 5. In his writings however he uses the latter 'Plymouth Brethren' term, rather than 'Exclusive Brethren'.</ref>

Crowley grew up in a staunch Brethren household and was only allowed to play with children whose families followed the same faith. His father was a fanatical [[preaching|preacher]], travelling around Britain and producing pamphlets. Daily Bible studies and private tutoring were mainstays in "Alick's" childhood.

On February 29, 1880<ref>''The Confessions of Aleister Crowley'' state she was born in 1808 but this would seem to be a misprint)</ref>, a sister, Grace Mary Elizabeth, was born but lived only five hours. Crowley was taken to see the body and in his own words (in the [[Third-person narrative|third person]]):
:"The incident made a curious impression on him. He did not see why he should be disturbed so uselessly. He couldn't do any good; the child was dead; it was none of his business. This attitude continued through his life. He has never attended any funeral but that of his father, which he did not mind doing, as he felt himself to be the real centre of interest."<ref name = "hpwtrb">[http://www.hermetic.com/crowley/confess/chapter12.html The Confessions of Aleister Crowley<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

On March 5, 1887, his father died of tongue cancer. This was a turning point in Crowley's life, after which he then began to describe his childhood in the [[First-person narrative|first person]] in his ''[[The Confessions of Aleister Crowley|Confessions]]''.

After the death of his father to whom he was very close, he drifted from his religious upbringing, and his mother's efforts at keeping her son in the Christian faith only served to provoke his [[skepticism]]. When he was a child, his constant rebellious behaviour displeased his mother to such an extent that she would chastise him by calling him "[[The Beast (Bible)|The Beast]]" (from the [[Book of Revelation]]), an epithet that Crowley would later adopt for himself. He objected to the labelling of what he saw as life's most worthwhile and enjoyable activities as "sinful".

====University====

In 1895, he went to [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], after studying at the public schools [[Malvern College]], [[Eastbourne College]] and [[Tonbridge School]], and originally had the intention of reading Moral Sciences ([[philosophy]]), but with approval from his personal tutor, he switched to English literature, which was not then a part of the curriculum offered.<ref>{{cite book | last = Booth | first = Martin | authorlink = Martin Booth | title = A Magickal Life | origyear = 2000 | year = 2001 | format = paperback | publisher = Coronet | location = London | isbn = 978-0-340-71806-3| pages = 49 | chapter = A Trinity Man}}</ref> His three years at Cambridge were happy ones, due in part to coming into the considerable fortune left by his father.

Here he finally broke with the Church of England, internally if not externally:
:"The Church of England [...] had seemed a narrow tyranny, as detestable as that of the Plymouth Brethren; less logical and more hypocritical."

:"When I discovered that chapel was compulsory I immediately struck back. The junior dean halled me for not attending chapel, which I was certainly not going to do, because it involved early rising. I excused myself on the ground that I had been brought up among the Plymouth Brethren. The dean asked me to come and see him occasionally and discuss the matter, and I had the astonishing impudence to write to him that 'The seed planted by my father, watered by my mother's tears, would prove too hardy a growth to be uprooted even by his eloquence and learning.'"<ref name = "hpwtrb"/>

In December 1896, following an event that he describes in veiled terms, Crowley decided to pursue a path in [[occultism]] and [[mysticism]]. By the next year, he began reading books by [[Alchemy|alchemists]] and [[mysticism|mystics]], and books on [[Magic (paranormal)|magic]].<ref name="multiple"/> Biographer Sutin describes the pivotal New Year's event as a homo-erotic experience (Crowley's first) that brought him what he considered "an encounter with an [[immanence|immanent deity]]."<ref>Sutin, p. 38</ref> During the year of 1897, Aleister further came to see worldly pursuits as useless. The [[Aleister Crowley#Chess|section on chess below]], describes one experience that helped him reach this conclusion. In October a brief illness triggered considerations of mortality and "the futility of all human endeavor," or at least the futility of the diplomatic career that Crowley had previously considered.<ref>Sutin, pp. 37–39</ref>

A year later, he published his first book of poetry (''Aceldama''), and left [[Cambridge]], only to meet Julian L. Baker (Frater D. A.) who introduced him to [[Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers]] and the [[Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn]].

====Bisexuality====
Throughout the period of 1895, he allegedly maintained a vigorous sex life, which was largely conducted with prostitutes and girls he picked up at local pubs and cigar shops, but eventually extended into homosexual activities in which he played the passive role.<ref>Magical World of AC, Francis King, page 5</ref> During the course of his life, Crowley  practiced [[sex magic|sexual magic]] rituals with both men and women. Biographer Sutin recounts Crowley's relationship<ref>Sutin, p. 47, 159, 245</ref> with, and lasting feelings<ref>Sutin, p. 41–47</ref> for, Herbert Charles Pollitt, whom he met while at Cambridge in 1897. Pollitt did not share his partner's mystical leanings, and Crowley had this to say about ending their relationship:
{{quote|I told him frankly that I had given my life to religion and that he did not fit into the scheme. I see now how imbecile I was, how hideously wrong and weak it is to reject any part of one's personality.<ref>''Confessions'', quoted by Sutin p. 47</ref>}}

He would have made any public expressions of "distaste" at a time when British law officially forbade homosexuality. The arrest, conviction and imprisonment of [[Oscar Wilde]] took place in Crowley's first year at Cambridge. In the autobiographical preface to Crowley's drama ''The World's Tragedy'', he included a section on "Sodomy" where he openly admitted his bisexuality and praised sex between men. However, someone removed these two pages from all copies of the book except those Crowley gave to close friends.<ref>Sutin, p. 183. See also p. 391 for a later homosexual fantasy.</ref>

Later, in a January 1929 letter, he wrote
{{quote|There have been about four men in my life that I could say I have loved... Call me a [[Buggery|bugger]] if you like, but I don't feel the same way about women. One can always replace a woman in a few days.<ref>letter to Montgomery Evans, January 17, 1929, O.T.O. archives, quoted Sutin p. 334</ref>}}
While that claim about women conflicts with other statements and actions of Crowley's,<ref>See for example Sutin p. 316, 319 on his relationship with [[Leah Hirsig]].</ref> it accurately describes his relationships with Pollitt and various working class women during his college years.<ref>Sutin, p. 43</ref>

====Name change====
Crowley described his decision to change his name as follows:
:"For many years I had loathed being called Alick, partly because of the unpleasant sound and sight of the word, partly because it was the name by which my mother called me. Edward did not seem to suit me and the [[diminutive]]s Ted or Ned were even less appropriate. Alexander was too long and Sandy suggested tow hair and freckles. I had read in some book or other that the most favourable name for becoming famous was one consisting of a [[Dactyl (poetry)|dactyl]] followed by a [[spondee]], as at the end of a [[hexameter]]: like "Jeremy Taylor". Aleister Crowley fulfilled these conditions and Aleister is the [[Goidelic languages|Gaelic]] form of Alexander. To adopt it would satisfy my romantic ideals. The atrocious spelling A-L-E-I-S-T-E-R was suggested as the correct form by Cousin Gregor, who ought to have known better. In any case, A-L-A-I-S-D-A-I-R makes a very bad dactyl. For these reasons I saddled myself with my present [[nom-de-guerre]]—I can't say that I feel sure that I facilitated the process of becoming famous. I should doubtless have done so, whatever name I had chosen."<ref>[http://www.hermetic.com/crowley/confess/chapter16.html The Confessions of Aleister Crowley<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

===The Golden Dawn===

Involved as a young adult in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, he first studied mysticism with and made enemies of [[William Butler Yeats]] and [[Arthur Edward Waite]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}} Like many in occult circles of the time, Crowley voiced the view that Waite was a pretentious bore through searing critiques of Waite's writings and editorials of other authors' writings. In his periodical ''[[The Equinox]]'', Crowley titled one diatribe, "Wisdom While You Waite", and his note on the passing of Waite bore the title, "Dead Waite".

His friend and former Golden Dawn associate, [[Allan Bennett]], introduced him to the ideas of [[Buddhism]],<ref name=IAO131>[[IAO131]]. [http://www.geocities.com/hdbq111/JoTS/JoTS1-1.pdf Thelema & Buddhism] in ''Journal of Thelemic Studies'', Vol. 1, No. 1, Autumn 2007, pp. 18-32</ref> while [[MacGregor Mathers|Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers]], acting leader of the Golden Dawn organization, acted as his early mentor in western magic but would later become his enemy. Several decades after Crowley's participation in the Golden Dawn, Mathers claimed copyright protection over a particular ritual and sued Crowley for infringement after Crowley's public display of the ritual. While the public trial continued, both Mathers and Crowley claimed to call forth armies of demons and angels to fight on behalf of their summoner. {{Fact|date=July 2008}} Both also developed and carried complex [[Seal of Solomon]] amulets and talismans.
<!-- Unsourced image removed: [[Image:AleisterMagick.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Aleister Crowley is magicaly delcious]] -->

In a book of fiction, entitled ''[[Moonchild (novel)|Moonchild]]'', Crowley later portrayed Mathers as the primary villain, including him as a character named SRMD, using the abbreviation of Mathers' magical name. Arthur Edward Waite also appeared in ''Moonchild'' as a villain named Arthwaite, while Bennett appeared as the  silent, monkish Mahathera Phang.

While he did not officially break with Mathers until 1904, Crowley lost faith in this teacher's abilities soon after the 1900 schism in the Golden Dawn (if not before).<ref>Sutin, pp. 80, 90-91</ref> Later in the year of that schism, Crowley travelled to Mexico and continued his magical studies in isolation. Crowley's writings suggest that he discovered the word ''[[Abrahadabra]]'' during this time.

In October 1901, after practising [[Raja Yoga]] for some time, he said he had reached a state he called ''[[dhyana]]''&mdash;one of many states of unification in thoughts that are described in [[Magick (Book 4)|''Magick (Liber ABA)'']] (See [[egolessness|Crowley on egolessness]]).<ref>Sutin, pp. 85, 94</ref> 1902 saw him writing the essay ''Berashith'' (the first word of [[Genesis (Old Testament)|Genesis]]), in which he gave [[meditation]] (or restraint of the mind to a single object) as the means of attaining his goal. The essay describes ''[[ceremony|ceremonial]] [[magick]]'' as a means of training the will, and of constantly directing one's thoughts to a given object through ritual. In his 1903 essay, ''Science and Matter'', Crowley urged an [[empirical]] approach to Buddhist teachings.

In 1903 he married [[Rose Edith Kelly]].

===1904 and after===
<!-- Unsourced image removed: [[Image:Crowley yoga.jpg|right|thumb|Crowley posing as the Bodhisattva [[Hotei]]]] -->

Crowley said that a mystical experience in 1904, while on holiday in [[Cairo]], [[Egypt]], led to his founding of the [[philosophy of religion|religious philosophy]] known as [[Thelema]]. Aleister's wife [[Rose Edith Kelly|Rose]] started to behave in an odd way, and this led Aleister to think that some entity had made contact with her. At her instructions, he performed an invocation of the Egyptian god [[Horus]] on March 20 with (he wrote) "great success." According to Crowley, the god told him that a new magical [[Aeon (Thelema)|Aeon]] had begun, and that Crowley would serve as its prophet. Rose continued to give information, telling Crowley in detailed terms to await a further revelation. On 8 April and for the following two days at exactly noon he allegedly heard a voice, dictating the words of the text, ''Liber AL vel Legis'', or ''[[The Book of the Law]]'', which Crowley wrote down. The voice claimed to be that of [[Aiwass]] (or Aiwaz) "the minister of Hoor-paar-kraat", or Horus, the god of force and fire, child of [[Isis and Osiris]] and self-appointed conquering lord of the New Aeon, announced through his chosen scribe "the prince-priest the Beast" (For citations, see main article [[The Book of the Law]]).

Portions of the book are in numerical [[cipher]], which Crowley claimed the inability to decode. Thelemic dogma explains this by pointing to a warning within the ''Book of the Law'' — the speaker supposedly warned that the scribe, [[Ankh-af-na-khonsu]] (Aleister Crowley), was never to attempt to decode the ciphers, for to do so would end only in folly. The later-written ''The Law is For All'' sees Crowley warning everyone not to discuss the writing amongst fellow critics, for fear that a [[dogma]]tic position would arise. While he declared a "new Equinox of the Gods" in early 1904, supposedly passing on the revelation of March 20 to the occult community, it took years for Crowley to fully accept the writing of the ''Book of the Law'' and follow its doctrine.<ref>Sutin, pp. 195-196</ref> Only after countless attempts to test its writings did he come to embrace them as the official doctrine of the New Aeon of Horus. The remainder of his professional and personal careers were spent expanding the new frontiers of scientific [[illuminism]].

Rose and Aleister had a daughter, whom Crowley named Nicole Ma Ahathoor Hecate Sappho Jezebel Lilith Crowley, in July 1904. This child died in 1906, during the two and a half months when Crowley had left her with Rose (after a family trip through China). They had another daughter, Lola Zaza, in the summer of that year, and Crowley devised a special ritual of thanksgiving for her birth.<ref>Sutin, pp. 142-143, 171-173</ref>

He performed a thanksgiving ritual before his first claimed success in what he called the "Abramelin operation", on 9 October 1906.<ref>Sutin, pp. 173-174</ref> This was his implementation of a magical work described in ''[[The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage]]''. The events of that year gave the Abramelin book a central role in Crowley's system. He described the primary goal of the "[[Great Work]]" using a term from this book: "the Knowledge and Conversation of the [[Holy Guardian Angel]]". An essay in the first number of ''The Equinox''<ref>The Temple of Solomon the King, pub. ''The Equinox'', Vol. I No. 1 (1909) retrieved June 15, 2006 from http://www.the-equinox.org/vol1/no1/eqi01014.html</ref> gives several reasons for this choice of names:
# Because Abramelin's system is so simple and effective.
# Because since all theories of the universe are absurd it is better to talk in the language of one which is patently absurd, so as to mortify the metaphysical man.
# Because a child can understand it.

Crowley was notorious in his lifetime — a frequent target of attacks in the [[tabloid press]], which labelled him "The Wickedest Man in the World" to his evident amusement. At one point, he was expelled from [[Italy]] after having established a [[commune (intentional community)|commune]], the organization of which was based on his personal philosophies, the [[Abbey of Thelema]], at [[Cefalù]], [[Sicily]].

Aleister and Rose were divorced in 1909.

===A∴A∴ and Ordo Templi Orientis===
{{main|A∴A∴|Ordo Templi Orientis}}

In 1907, Crowley's interest took off once again, with two important events. The first was the creation of the [[Argenteum Astrum#The Order of the S. S. (Silver Star)|Silver Star]] ([[A∴A∴]]), and the second was the composition of the Holy books of Thelema.<ref>Magical World, F.King, page 41</ref>

In 1910, Crowley performed with members of the [[A∴A∴]] his series of dramatic rites, the [[Rites of Eleusis]].

According to Crowley, in 1912, [[Theodor Reuss]] had called on him to address accusations of publishing [[Ordo Templi Orientis|O.T.O.]] secrets, which Crowley dismissed, for having never attained the grade in which these secrets were given (9th degree). Reuss opened up ''the Book of Lies'' and showed Crowley the passage. This sparked a long conversation which led to the opening of the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]] section of O.T.O. called ''Mysteria Mystica Maxima''.<ref>King, Magical World, pages 80-81</ref>

===Years in America, 1914–1918===
R.B. Spence writes in the ''International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence'' that Crowley worked for the British intelligence while residing in America from 1914-1918, under a cover of being a German propaganda agent and a supporter of Irish independence. Crowley's mission was to gather intelligence about the German intelligence network, the Irish independent activists and produce aberrant propaganda, aiming at compromising the German and Irish ideals.<ref>Spence, R.B. " Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley and British Intelligence in America, 1914-1918" in ''International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence'', Volume 13, Number 3, 1 October 2000 , pp. 359-371(13)</ref> He also used German magazines ''The Fatherland'' and ''The International'' as outlets for his other writings.

During his time in the U.S., Crowley practiced the task of [[A∴A∴#Magister_Templi|a Magister Templi in the A∴A∴]] as he conceived it, namely interpreting every phenomenon as a particular dealing of "God" with his soul.<ref>''Liber ABA'' Part II gives this task.</ref> He began to see various women he met as officers in his ongoing initiation, associating them with priests wearing animal masks in Egyptian ritual.<ref>Sutin p 251.</ref> A meditation during his relationship with one such woman (Jeanne Robert Foster) led him to claim the title of Magus, also referring to the system of the A∴A∴.

Two periods of magical experimentation followed. In June 1916, he began the first of these at the New Hampshire cottage of [[Evangeline Adams]], having ghostwritten most of two books on astrology for her.<ref>Sutin p257.</ref> His diaries at first show discontent at the gap between his view of the grade of Magus and his view of himself: "It is no good making up my mind to do anything material; for I have no means. But this would vanish if I could make up my mind." Despite his objections to sacrificing a living animal, he resolved to crucify a frog as part of a rehearsal of the life of Jesus in the Gospels (afterward declaring it his willing familiar), "with the idea...that some supreme violation of all the laws of my being would break down my Karma or dissolve the spell that seems to bind me."<ref>Sutin p260, 261.</ref> Slightly more than a month later, having taken [[ether|ethyl oxide]], he had a vision of the universe from modern scientific cosmology that he frequently referred to in later writings.<ref>Sutin p258.</ref>

Crowley began another period of magical work on an island in the Hudson River after buying large amounts of red paint instead of food. Having painted "Do what thou wilt" on the cliffs at both sides of the island, he received gifts from curious visitors. Here at the island he had visions of seeming past lives, though he refused to endorse any theory of what they meant beyond linking them to his unconscious. Towards the end of his stay, he also had a shocking experience he linked to "the Chinese wisdom" which made even Thelema appear insignificant.<ref>Sutin p271, 272.</ref> Nevertheless, he continued in his work. Before leaving the country he formed a sexual and magical relationship with [[Leah Hirsig]], who he met earlier, and with her help began painting canvases with more creativity and passion.<ref>Sutin p275</ref>

===Abbey of Thelema===
{{main|Abbey of Thelema}}
Crowley, along with [[Leah Hirsig]], founded the Abbey of Thelema in [[Cefalù]], [[Sicily]] in 1920.<ref>Sutin, ''Do What Thou Wilt'', p.279</ref> The name was borrowed from [[Rabelais]]'s satire [[Gargantua]],<ref>Nature of the Beast by Colin Wilson; page 73</ref> where the "Abbey of Theleme" is described as a sort of anti-monastery where the lives of the inhabitants were "spent not in laws, statutes, or rules, but according to their own free will and pleasure."<ref>Rabelais, F. ''Gargantua and Pantagruel'' Ch. 1.</ref> This idealistic utopia was to be the model of Crowley's commune, while also being a type of magical school, giving it the designation "Collegium ad Spiritum Sanctum," The College of the Holy Spirit. The general programme was in line with the A∴A∴ course of training, and included daily adorations to the Sun, a study of Crowley's writings, regular yogic and ritual practices (which were to be recorded), as well as general domestic labor. The object, naturally, was for students to devote themselves to the [[Great Work]] of discovering and manifesting their [[True Will]]s. [[Benito Mussolini|Mussolini]]'s Fascist government expelled Crowley from the country at the end of April 1923.

===After the Abbey===
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In February 1924, Crowley visited [[Gurdjieff]]'s Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man. He did not meet the founder on that occasion, but called Gurdjieff a "tip-top man" in his diary.<ref>"Heard more sense and insight than I've done in years." Quoted in Sutin, p. 317.</ref> Crowley privately criticized some of the Institute's practices and teachings, but doubted that what he heard from disciple Pindar reflected the master's true position. Some claim that on a later visit he met Gurdjieff -- who firmly repudiated Crowley.<ref>James Webb, ''The Harmonious Circle'', p. 315. Quoted in [http://www.lumen.org/intros/intro20.html Introduction to Gnosis #20, online version], retrieved December 20, 2007.</ref> Biographer Sutin expresses skepticism,<ref>"If this brutal banishment did occur, then it is remarkable that Crowley, who harbored animus toward so many rival teachers, never did so toward Gurdjieff." Sutin p.318.</ref> and Gurdjieff's student C.S. Nott tells a different version. Nott perceives Crowley as a black or at least ignorant magician and says his teacher "kept a sharp watch" on the visitor, but mentions no open confrontation.<ref>Teachings of Gurdjieff: A Pupil's Journal</ref>

On August 16, 1929 Crowley married [[Maria de Miramar]], from Nicaragua, while in [[Leipzig]]. They separated by 1930, but they were never divorced.<ref>[http://www.thelemapedia.org/index.php/Maria_de_Miramar Thelemapedia: The Encyclopedia of Thelema & Magick | Maria de Miramar<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

In 1934, Crowley was declared bankrupt after losing a court case in which he sued the artist [[Nina Hamnett]] for calling him a black magician in her 1932 book, ''Laughing Torso''. In addressing the jury, Mr Justice Swift said:
{{quote|I have been over forty years engaged in the administration of the law in one capacity or another. I thought that I knew of every conceivable form of wickedness. I thought that everything which was vicious and bad had been produced at one time or another before me. I have learnt in this case that we can always learn something more if we live long enough. I have never heard such dreadful, horrible, blasphemous and abominable stuff as that which has been produced by the man (Crowley) who describes himself to you as the greatest living poet.|Mr Justice Swift}}

However, Patricia "Deirdre" MacAlpine approached Crowley on the day of the verdict and offered to bear him a child, whom he named [[Aleister Ataturk]]. She sought no mystical or religious role in Crowley's life and rarely saw him after the birth, "an arrangement that suited them both."<ref>Sutin, pp 373-374.</ref>

During World War II, [[Ian Fleming]] and others proposed a disinformation plot in which Crowley would have helped an [[MI5]] agent supply Nazi official [[Rudolf Hess]] with faked horoscopes. They could then pass along false information about an alleged pro-German circle in Britain. The government abandoned this plan when Hess flew to Scotland, crashing his plane on the moors near Eaglesham, and was captured. Fleming then suggested using Crowley as an interrogator to determine the influence of astrology on other Nazi leaders, but his superiors rejected this plan. At some point, Fleming also suggested that Britain could use [[Enochian (language)|Enochian]] as a code in order to plant evidence.<ref>Sutin, p. 388-389</ref>

===Death===
Aleister Crowley died of a respiratory infection in a [[Hastings]] [[boarding house]] on 1 December 1947 at the age of 72.<ref name="Send">Sutin, pp. 417-419</ref> He had become addicted to heroin after being prescribed morphine for his [[asthma]] and [[bronchitis]] many years earlier.<ref>Sutin p 411, 416, initial prescription p 277.</ref> He and his last doctor died within 24 hours of each other; newspapers would claim, in differing accounts, that Dr. Thomson had refused to continue his opiate prescription and that Crowley had put a curse on him.<ref>{{cite news|date = 4 December 1947 | title= Daily Express}} and {{cite news | date= 31 May 1969 | title =The Winnipeg Free Press}}. See also Sutin p 418.</ref>

Biographer Lawrence Sutin passes on various stories about Crowley's death and last words. Frieda Harris supposedly reported him saying, "I am perplexed," though she did not see him at the very end. According to [[John Symonds]], a Mr. Rowe witnessed Crowley's death along with a nurse, and reported his last words as "Sometimes I hate myself." Biographer [[Gerald Suster]] accepted the version of events he received from a "Mr W.H." who worked at the house, in which Crowley dies pacing in his living room.<ref name="Send"/> Supposedly Mr W.H. heard a crash while polishing furniture on the floor below, and entered Crowley's rooms to find him dead on the floor. Patricia "Deirdre" MacAlpine, who visited Crowley with their son and her three other children, denied all this and reports a sudden gust of wind and peal of thunder at the (otherwise quiet) moment of his death. According to MacAlpine, Crowley remained bedridden for the last few days of his life, but was in light spirits and conversational. Readings at the cremation service in nearby Brighton included one of his own works, ''Hymn to Pan'', and newspapers referred to the service as a [[black mass]]. [[Brighton]] council subsequently resolved to take all necessary steps to prevent such an incident from occurring again.<ref name="Send"/>

==Thelema==
Thelema is the mystical cosmology Crowley announced in 1904 and expanded upon for the remainder of his life. The diversity of his writings illustrate his difficulty in classifying Thelema from any one vantage. It can be considered a form of religious [[traditionalism]], humanistic [[positivism]], and/or an elitist [[meritocracy]].

The chief precept of Thelema, derived from the works of [[François Rabelais]],  is the sovereignty of Will: "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." Crowley's idea of ''will'', however, is not simply the individual's desires or wishes, but also incorporates a sense of the person's destiny or greater purpose: what he termed "[[True Will]]."

The second precept of Thelema is "Love is the law, love under will" — and Crowley's meaning of "Love" is as complex as that of "Will." It is frequently sexual: Crowley's system, like elements of the Golden Dawn before him, sees the dichotomy and tension between the male and female as fundamental to existence, and sexual "magic" and metaphor form a significant part of Thelemic ritual. However, Love is also discussed as the Union of Opposites, which Crowley thought was the key to [[Gnosis|enlightenment]].

==Science, magic, and sexuality==
Crowley claimed to use a [[scientific method]] to study what people at the time called spiritual experiences, making "The Method of Science, the Aim of Religion" the catchphrase of his magazine ''The Equinox''. By this he meant that mystical experiences should not be taken at [[face value]], but critiqued and experimented with in order to arrive at their underlying religious or neurological meaning.
<blockquote>''In this connection there was also the point that I was anxious to prove that spiritual progress did not depend on religious or moral codes, but was like any other science. Magick would yield its secrets to the infidel and the libertine, just as one does not have to be a churchwarden in order to discover a new kind of orchid. There are, of course, certain virtues necessary to the Magician; but they are of the same order as those which make a successful chemist.''<ref>''Confessions'' Ch. 64 para. 5</ref></blockquote>

Crowley's magical and initiatory system has amongst its innermost reaches a set of teachings on sex magick. He frequently expressed views about sex that were radical for his time, and published numerous poems and tracts combining pagan religious themes with sexual imagery both heterosexual and homosexual, as well as [[pederastic]]. One of his most notorious poetry collections, entitled ''White Stains'' (1898), was published in [[Amsterdam]] in 1898 and dealt specifically with sexually explicit subject matter. However, most of the hundred copies printed for the initial release were later seized and destroyed by British customs. <ref>[http://www.glbtq.com/literature/crowley_a_lit.html glbtq >> literature >> Crowley, Aleister<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

[[Sex magick]] is the use of the sex act — or the energies, passions or arousal states it evokes — as a point upon which to focus the will or magical desire for effects in the non-sexual world. In the view of [[Allen Greenfield]],<ref>''The Scarlet Letter Vol V'' no 2, December 1998, [http://www.scarletwoman.org/scarletletter/v5n2/v5n2_hermetic.html web version] retrieved January 16, 2008.</ref> Crowley was inspired by [[Paschal Beverly Randolph]], an American [[Abolitionist]], [[Spiritualist]] medium, and author of the mid-19th century who wrote (in ''Eulis!'', 1874) of using the "nuptive moment" ([[orgasm]]) as the time to make a "[[prayer]]" for events to occur.

Crowley often introduced new terminology for spiritual and magical practices and theory. For example, he termed [[theurgy]] "high magick" and [[thaumaturgy]] "low magick." In ''[[The Book of the Law]]'' and ''[[The Vision and the Voice]]'', the Aramaic magical formula ''[[Abracadabra]]'' was changed to ''[[Abrahadabra]]'', which he called the new formula of the [[Aeon (Thelema)|Aeon]]. He also famously spelled [[magic (paranormal)|magic]] in the archaic manner, as ''[[magick]]'', to differentiate "the true science of the Magi from all its counterfeits."<ref>(Crowley, ''Magick, Book 4'', p.47)</ref>

He urged his students to learn to control their own mental and behavioral habits, to the point of switching political views and personalities at will. For control of speech (symbolised as the [[unicorn]]) he recommended to choose a commonly-used word, letter, or pronouns and adjectives of the first person, and avoid using it for a week or more. Should they say the word he instructed them to cut themselves with a blade on each occasion to serve as warning or reminder. Later the student could move on to the "Horse" of action and the "Ox" of thought.<ref> Liber III vel Jugorum</ref> (These symbols derive from the cabala of Crowley's book ''777''.)

==Chess ==<!-- This section is linked from [[Aleister Crowley]] -->
Crowley maintained that he learned [[chess]] from books by the age of six, and first competed on the [[Eastbourne College]] chess team (where he was taking classes in 1892). He says that he showed immediate competence, beating the handicapped local champion and later editing a chess column for the local newspaper, the ''Eastbourne Gazette'',<ref>{{cite book|author= Lawrence Sutin|title= Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley|isbn= 978-0-312-25243-4}} p. 33</ref> through which he criticised the Eastbourne team.

He later joined the university [[chess club]] at [[Cambridge]], where, he says, he beat the president in his first year and practised two hours a day towards becoming a champion — "My one serious worldly ambition had been to become the champion of the world at chess."<ref>(Confessions, p. 140)</ref> His writings make it clear that he and his supporters thought he would achieve this goal:
{{quote|''I had snatched a game from [[Joseph Henry Blackburne|Blackburne]] in simultaneous play some years before. I was being beaten in the [[Sicilian defence]]. The only chance was the sacrifice of a rook. I remember the grand old master coming round to my board and cocking his alcoholized eye cunningly at me. 'Hullo,' said he. '[[Paul Morphy|Morphy]] come to town again!' I am not coxcomb enough to think that he could not have won the game, even after my brilliancy. I believe that his colossal generosity let me win to encourage a promising youngster.''

''I had frequently beaten [[Henry Bird|Bird]] at Simpson's and when I got to Cambridge I made a savagely intense study of the game. In my second year I was president of the university and had beaten such first-rate amateurs as Gunston and Cole. Outside the master class, [[Henry Ernest Atkins|Atkins]] was my only acknowledged superior. I made mincemeat of the man who was champion of Scotland a few years later, even after I had given up the game. I spent over two hours a day in study and more than that in practice. I was assured on all hands that another year would see me a master myself.''<ref name = "imynks">(Confessions, p. 140).</ref>|Aleister Crowley}}

However, he explained that he gave up his chess aspirations in 1897 at the age of 22, when attending a chess conference in Berlin:
{{quote|''But I had hardly entered the room where the masters were playing when I was seized with what may justly be described as a mystical experience. I seemed to be looking on at the tournament from outside myself. I saw the masters — one, shabby, snuffy and blear-eyed; another, in badly fitting would-be respectable shoddy; a third, a mere parody of humanity, and so on for the rest. These were the people to whose ranks I was seeking admission. "There, but for the grace of God, goes Aleister Crowley", I exclaimed to myself with disgust, and there and then I registered a vow never to play another serious game of chess. I perceived with preternatural lucidity that I had not alighted on this planet with the object of playing chess''.<ref name = "imynks"/>|Aleister Crowley}}

==Mountaineering==
Crowley was obsessed with mountain climbing, which he used as a tool to combat his chronic asthma.{{Fact|date=April 2007}} He taught himself by [[scrambling]] up Cumberland Fells and [[Beachy Head]], after which, he started spending every holiday by switching between the Alps and Bernese Oberland.<ref name="wilson">Nature of the Beast, by Colin Wilson, page 41</ref>

In March 1902, [[Oscar Eckenstein]] and Crowley undertook the first attempt to scale [[Chogo Ri]] (known in the west as [[K2]]), located in [[Pakistan]], and Eckenstein had set out to teach Crowley about the techniques of climbing.<ref name="wilson"/> The Eckenstein-Crowley Expedition consisted of Eckenstein, Crowley, Guy Knowles, H. Pfannl, V. Wesseley, and Dr Jules Jacot-Guillarmod. They ascended June 8, and after eight days, weather conditions were taking their toll. Two months in, they found themselves back down on the plain, which made this Crowley's first recorded defeat.<ref>Wilson, pages 60-61</ref>

In May 1905, he was approached by Dr Jules Jacot-Guillarmod (1868 - 1925) to accompany him on the first expedition to [[Kangchenjunga]] in [[Nepal]], the third largest mountain in the world. Guillarmod was left to organise the personnel while Crowley left to get things ready in [[Darjeeling]]. On July 31 Guillarmod joined Crowley in Darjeeling, bringing with him two countrymen, Charles-Adolphe Reymond and Alexis Pache. Meanwhile, Crowley had recruited a local man, Alcesti C. Rigo de Righi, to act as Transport Manager. The team left Darjeeling on August 8, 1905, and used the [[Singalila Ridge]] approach to Kangchenjunga. At [[Chabanjong]] they ran into the rear of the 135 Indians/ Central Asians who had been sent ahead on July 24 and July 25, who were carrying food rations for the team. The trek was led by Aleister Crowley, but four members of that party were killed in an avalanche. Crowley's autobiography states they reached about 25,000 feet.

Crowley was sometimes famously scathing about other climbers, in particular [[Owen Glynne Jones]], whom he considered a risk-taking self-publicist, and his 'two photographers' ([[George and Ashley Abraham]]).

==Controversy==
Author and Crowley biographer [[Lon Milo Duquette]] wrote in his 1993 work ''The Magick of Aleister Crowley'' that: 

<blockquote>"Crowley clothed many of his teachings in the thin veil of sensational titillation. By doing so he assured himself that one, his works would only be appreciated by the few individuals capable of doing so, and two, his works would continue to generate interest and be published by and for the benefit of both his admirers and his enemies long after death. He did not - I repeat not - perform or advocate human sacrifice. He was often guilty, however, of the crime of poor judgment. 

Like all of us, Crowley had many flaws and shortcomings. The greatest of those, in my opinion, was his inability to understand that everyone else in the world was not as educated and clever as he.  It is clear, even in his earliest works, he often took fiendish delight in terrifying those who were either too lazy, too bigoted, or too slow-witted to understand him." {{cite book |last= DuQuette|first= Lon Milo |title= [[The Magick of Aleister Crowley]] |publisher=[[Weiser Books]] |isbn= 1-57863-299-4 }}</blockquote> 

In this vein many of Crowley's more audacious and outright shocking writings were often thinly veiled attempts to communicate methods of sexual magick, often using words like "blood", "death" and "kill" to replace "semen", "ecstacy" and "ejaculation" in the yet puritanical sexual environment of late 19th/early 20th century England. It would seem that Mr.Crowley can certainly be accused of having a sick sense of humour.<ref name="dubhumor">For example, by Bill Heidrick in note on Crowley's introduction to ''Sepher Sephiroth'', retrieved from www.luckymojo.com/esoteric/occultism/magic/ceremonial/crowley/500ssephiroth.txt January 17, 2008.</ref> Take for instance the highly repeated quote from his thickly veiled ''Book Four'': "It would be unwise to condemn as irrational the practice of devouring the heart and liver of an adversary while yet warm. For the highest [[spiritual]] working one must choose that victim which contains the greatest and purest force; a male child of perfect innocence and high intelligence is the most satisfactory."<ref name="MUURder!">"Of the Bloody Sacrifice and Matters Cognate." ''Book Four Part III, Magick in Theory and Practice'', Chapter 12. Samuel Weiser edition.</ref> [[Robert Anton Wilson]] in ''The Final Secret of the Illuminati'' (aka ''[[Cosmic Trigger]] Volume One'') interpreted the child as a reference to genes in sperm. Crowley added in a footnote to the text on sacrifice, "the intelligence and innocence of that male child are the perfect understanding of the Magician, his one aim, without lust of result."

In the "New Comment" to [[the Book of the Law]], "the Beast 666 adviseth that all children shall be accustomed from infancy to witness every type of sexual act, as also the process of birth, lest falsehood fog, and mystery stupefy, their minds...Politeness has forbidden any direct reference to the subject of sex to secure no happier result than to allow Sigmund Freud and others to prove that our every thought, speech, and gesture, conscious or unconscious, is an indirect reference!" And indeed, according to Freudian Steven Marcus, men in Victorian England had a common sexual fetish for thinly veiled descriptions of men spanking boys.<ref>Steven Marcus, ''The other Victorians: A study of sexuality and pornography in mid-nineteenth-century England (Studies in sex and society)'', 1974, [http://bradhicks.livejournal.com/307860.html via Brad Hicks]</ref> (In their reformatory institutions for children, men "were allowed to birch their inmates across the bare buttocks until the early 1920s, when under government pressure the cane or tawse over trousers became standard."<ref>[http://www.corpun.com/counukr.htm World Corporal Punishment Research], retrieved January 16, 2008.</ref>) Many have cited one or both of these quotes from Crowley, without context, as proof of immorality and sometimes of a vast child-abusing conspiracy.<ref>The first quote receives more attention [http://www.the7thfire.com/new_world_order/Freemasonry/aliester_crowley_33_degree_Mason_knew_about_human_sacrifice.htm of this kind]. [http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:uiJbqB9pVJ4J:www.gaiaguys.net/Crowley-biography.htm+%22All+children+shall+be+accustomed+from+infancy+to+witness+every+type+of+sexual+act%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&g Google preserves an example of the second quote here]. Both retrieved January 16, 2008.</ref>

===Drugs===
Crowley was a habitual drug user and also maintained a meticulous record of his drug-induced experiences with [[laudanum]], [[opium]], [[cocaine]], [[hashish]], [[alcohol]], [[Diethyl ether|ether]], [[mescaline]] and [[heroin]].<ref>
["The Confessions of Aleister Crowley: An Autohagiography" by Aleister Crowley (Arkana, 1989); "Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley" by Lawrence Sutin. (St. Martin's Press, 2000); "The Magical Diaries of Aleister Crowley" edited by Stephen Skinner ([[Samuel Weiser|Weiser]], 2003)]</ref> [[Allan Bennett]], Crowley's mentor, was said to have "instructed Crowley in the magical use of drugs."<ref>{{cite book | last = Owen | first = Alex | authorlink = Alex Owen | title = The Place of Enchantment: British Occultism and the Culture of the Modern | edition = Hardcover | date = 2004-04-14 | publisher = U. Chicago Press | isbn= 978-0-226-64201-7 | pages = 192 | chapter = Aleister Crowley in the Desert | chapterurl = http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/642011.html }}</ref> The Cairo revelation from Aiwass/Aiwaz specifically recommended indulgence in "strange drugs." While in Paris during the 1920s, Crowley  experimented with psychedelic substances, specifically ''[[Anhalonium lewinii]]'', an obsolete scientific name for the [[mescaline]]-bearing cactus [[peyote]].<ref>Confessions, pp. 386 & 768.</ref> In October of 1930, Crowley dined with [[Aldous Huxley]] in Berlin, and to this day rumours persist that he introduced Huxley to peyote on that occasion.<ref>Cornelius, 2001.</ref>

Crowley first developed a [[drug addiction]] after a London doctor prescribed heroin for his asthma and bronchitis.<ref>"Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley" by Lawrence Sutin. (St. Martin's Press, 2000) ch. 7, p. 277</ref> His life as an addict influenced his 1922 novel, ''[[Diary of a Drug Fiend]]'', but the fiction presented a hopeful outcome of rehabilitation and recovery by means of Magickal techniques and the exercise of True Will. At the time of his death he was addicted to heroin, his narcotic of choice.<ref>["Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley" by Lawrence Sutin. (St. Martin's Press, 2000)] p. 416</ref>

===Racism===
Biographer Lawrence Sutin stated that "blatant bigotry is a persistent minor element in Crowley's writings."<ref>Sutin, Lawrence. Do What Thou Wilt," p. 223-224</ref> The book's introduction calls Crowley "a spoiled scion of a wealthy Victorian family who embodied many of the worst [[John Bull]] racial and social prejudices of his upper-class contemporaries,"<ref>Sutin, Lawrence. Do What Thou Wilt," p. 2.</ref> Sutin also writes, "Crowley embodied the contradiction that writhed within many Western intellectuals of the time: deeply held racist viewpoints courtesy of their culture, coupled with a fascination with people of colour."<ref>Ibid., ch. 10, p. 366</ref>

Crowley defended the use of violence against the [[Chinese people|Chinese]], specifically the lower classes.<ref>(Crowley ''Confessions'' pp. 471-4) "One cannot fraternize with the Chinese of the lower classes; one must treat them with the utmost contempt and callousness."</ref> He applied the term "[[nigger]]" to Italians (in ''Diary of a Drug Fiend'' Book I, Chapter 9) and Indians,<ref>(Crowley ''Confessions'' pp. 473)</ref> and called the Indian [[theosophist]] [[Jiddu Krishnamurti]] "negroid."

Crowley, according to his biographer, Lawrence Sutin, used racial epithets to bully [[Victor Neuburg]] during a sadomasochistic magical working: "Crowley leveled numerous brutal verbal attacks on Neuburg's family and Jewish ancestry ...".<ref>(Sutin, Lawrence. "Do What Thou Wilt", p. . 197)</ref> The two became lovers by the end of that year if not before, but "[w]hether or not Crowley and Neuburg had sexual relations during this magical retirement is unclear," according to Sutin.

Crowley's published expressions of [[antisemitism]] were disturbing enough to later editors of his works that one of them, [[Israel Regardie]], attempted to suppress them. In ''777 and Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley'' (Samuel Weiser, 1975), Regardie, a [[Jew]], explained his complete [[excision]] of Crowley's antisemitic commentary on the [[Kabbalah]] in the 6th unnumbered page of his editorial introduction: "I am ... omitting Crowley's Preface to the book. It is a nasty, malicious piece of writing, and does not do justice to the system with which he is dealing."<ref>''777 and Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley'' edited by Israel Regardie, (Samuel Weiser, 1975), 6th unnumbered page of the editorial introduction)</ref>

What Regardie had removed was Crowley's "Preface to Sepher Sephiroth", originally published in ''Equinox 1:8.'' Written in 1911,<ref>''777 and Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley'' edited by Israel Regardie, ([[Samuel Weiser]], 1975)</ref> at the same time that [[Menahem Mendel Beilis]] was accused of "ritual cannibalism" in [[Kiev]], [[Russia]], it contained a clear statement of Crowley's belief in the [[blood libel against Jews|blood libel against the Jews]]:<ref name="seph">''Equinox 1:8''</ref>

{{quote|Human sacrifices are today still practised by the Jews of Eastern Europe, as is set forth at length by the late [[Sir Richard Burton]] in the MS. which the wealthy Jews of England have compassed heaven and earth to suppress,<ref>The MS Crowley referred to in this passage was "Human Sacrifice among the Sephardine or Eastern Jews" by Sir Richard Francis Burton; it was thought so inflammatory and damaging to the author's reputation that it was never published, and in her will Burton's widow Isabel asked for it to be destroyed to protect her husband's name. References [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1372818.stm here] and [http://www.fpp.co.uk/BoD/origins/BurtonMS.html here].</ref> and evidenced by the ever-recurring [[Pogrom#In the Russian Empire|Pogroms]] against which so senseless an outcry is made by those who live among those degenerate Jews who are at least not cannibals.}}

Having thus implicitly defended the recent antisemitic pogroms in [[Kishinev pogrom|Kishinev]] [[Russia]] and elsewhere, on the grounds that the murder of thousands of Jews was a rational response to the implied danger of Jewish "ritual cannibalism", Crowley rhetorically asked how a system of value such as Qabala could come from what "the general position of the ethnologist" called "an entirely barbarous race, devoid of any spiritual pursuit," and "polytheists" to boot.<ref name="seph" /> As Crowley himself practiced polytheism, some read these remarks as irony.<ref name="dubhumor" />

Crowley repeated his claim that Jews in Eastern Europe practice ritual child-murder in at least one later work as well, namely the section on mysticism in ''Book Four'' or ''Magick.'' Here he uses quotation marks for "ritual murder" and for "Christian" children.<ref>''Book Four Part I, Mysticism.'' Preliminary Remarks, fn. Samuel Weiser edition.</ref>

An article at ''The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum'' makes the following claim while speaking of the previously mentioned remark<ref name="MUURder!" /> elsewhere in ''Magick'':

{{quote|At first glance Crowley seems to be advocating an atrocity, the sacrifice of a child, the bugaboo of witchhunters and anti-Semites everywhere. But in fact he is claiming that the historical legend of child sacrifice, used to persecute so many "witches" and Jews, veils a sexual formula of self-sacrifice. In a secret document of the [[O.T.O.|IX*]], the "blood libel" against the Jews -- the story that they celebrate covert rituals employing the blood of sacrificed children -- is taken as a statement that certain sects of the [[Hasidic Judaism|Hassidim]] possess this secret. The early Christians were accused of such practices by the Roman establishment, and the [[Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica|Gnostic Catholic Church]] considers this to be evidence of a continuity of the sexual secret from the Gnostics.<ref>[http://www.ecauldron.com/crowleytantra.php Crowley and Tantric Magick: The Beast Demystified], retrieved January 18, 2008</ref>}}

Crowley studied and promoted the mystical and magical teachings of some of the same ethnic groups he attacked, in particular Indian [[yoga]], Jewish [[Kabbalah]] and [[goetia]], and the Chinese [[I Ching]]. Also, in ''[[The Confessions of Aleister Crowley|Confessions]]'' Chapter 86<ref>[http://www.hermetic.com/crowley/confess/chapter86.html The Confessions of Aleister Crowley<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>, as well as a private diary which Lawrence Sutin quotes in ''Do What Thou Wilt'' chapter 7, Crowley recorded a memory of a "past life" as the Chinese Taoist writer Ko Hsuan. In another remembered life, Crowley said, he took part in a "Council of Masters" that included many from Asia. He has this to say about the virtues of "Eurasians" and then Jews:

{{quote|I do not believe that their universally admitted baseness is due to a mixture of blood or the presumable peculiarity of their parents; but that they are forced into vileness by the attitude of both their white and coloured neighbours. A similar case is presented by the Jew, who really does only too often possess the bad qualities for which he is disliked; but they are not proper to his race. No people can show finer specimens of humanity. The Hebrew poets and prophets are sublime. The Jewish soldier is courageous, the Jewish rich man generous. The race possesses imagination, romance, loyalty, probity and humanity in an exceptional degree.</br>
But the Jew has been persecuted so relentlessly that his survival has depended on the development of his worst qualities; avarice, servility, falseness, cunning and the rest. Even the highest-class Eurasians such as [[Ananda Coomaraswamy|Ananda Koomaraswamy]] suffer acutely from the shame of being considered outcast. The irrationality and injustice of their neighbours heightens the feeling and it breeds the very abominations which the snobbish inhumanity of their fellow-men expects of them.<ref>''Confessions'' chap. 54</ref>}}

All these remarks must necessarily be contrasted or reconciled with Crowley's explicit philosophical instructions in ''Magick Without Tears''. Chapter 73, which is entitled "'Monsters', Niggers, Jews, etc," states his essentially individualistic and anti-racialist views, citing relevant verses from The Book of the Law: "Ye are against the people, o my chosen!" (Liber Al II:25), "Every man and every woman is a star" (Liber Al I:3). Here Crowley emphasizes by way of commentary upon these verses the instant debasement and un-Thelemic viewpoint which any notion of human beings as "classes" or "races" -- whether belonged-to or feared -- instead of as individuals, is likely to bring. The "Thelemic" philosophical position which he taught in this volume (which is a series of letters of direct personal instruction to various disciples) is clearly an anti-racialistic one. Even in private comments on ''[[Mein Kampf]]'', Crowley said that his own preferred "master class" was above all distinctions of race.<ref>Sutin, p. 377</ref>

===Sexism===
Biographer Lawrence Sutin stated that Crowley "largely accepted the notion, implicitly embodied in Victorian sexology, of women as secondary social beings in terms of intellect and sensibility."<ref>Sutin, ch. 1, p. 28</ref> Occult scholar Tim Maroney compares him to other figures and movements of the time and suggests that some others might have shown more respect for women.<ref>''Facts and Phallacies'' by Tim Maroney (1998) (Originally published in The Scarlet Letter, Volume V, Number 2). Retrieved from [http://tim.maroney.org/Essays/Facts_and_Phallacies.html], June 8, 2006</ref> Another biographer, whilst describing Crowley's misogyny, asserts than in other ways he was pro-feminist who thought women badly served by the law. He considered abortion was tantamount to murder and thought little of a society which condoned it, believing that women when left to choose outside of prevailing social influences would never want to end a pregnancy.<ref>"A Magick Life", Martin Booth, p400, Coronet, ISBN 0-340-71806-4</ref>

Crowley stated that women, except "a few rare individuals," care most about having children and will conspire against their husbands if they lack children to whom to devote themselves.<ref>(Crowley ''Magick Without Tears'' p. 254); {{citebook|author=Aleister Crowley|title=Magick Without Tears|isbn= 978-0-941404-17-4}}</ref> In ''Confessions'', Crowley says he learned this from his first marriage.<ref>(Crowley ''Confessions'' p.415); {{citebook| author=Aleister Crowley| title=The Confessions of Aleister Crowley: An Autohagiography| isbn= 978-0-14-019189-9 }} Gender Bias: "There is yet a further point. My marriage taught me many lessons, and this not the least: when women are not devoted to children --- a few rare individuals are capable of other interests --- they take a morbid pleasure in conspiring against a husband, especially if he be a father. They take advantage of his preoccupation with his work in the world to conceive and execute every kind of criminally cunning abomination. The belief in witchcraft was not all superstition; its psychological roots were sound. Women who are thwarted in their natural instincts turn inevitably to all kinds of malignant mischief, from slander to domestic destruction." -- Chapter 50</ref> He claimed that their intentions were to force a man to abandon his life's work for their interests. He only found women "tolerable", he wrote, when they served the role of solely helping a man in his life's work. However, he said that they were incapable of actually understanding the work. He also claimed that women did not have individuality and were solely guided by their habits or [[impulse]]s.<ref>(Crowley ''Confessions'' pp. 96-7)</ref>

Nevertheless, when he sought what he called the supreme magical-mystical attainment, Crowley asked [[Leah Hirsig]] to direct his ordeals, marking the first time since the schism in the Golden Dawn that another person verifiably took charge of his initiation.<ref>(Sutin ''Do What Thou Wilt'' pp. 282-290)</ref> In the Hierophant section of the ''Book of Thoth'', he interprets a verse from [[the Book of the Law]] that speaks of "the woman girt with a sword; she represents the Scarlet Woman in the hierarchy of the new Aeon.(...)This woman represents Venus as she now is in this new aeon; no longer the mere vehicle of her male counterpart, but armed and militant."

==Writings==
{{main|Works of Aleister Crowley}}

Crowley was a highly prolific writer, not only on the topic of Thelema and magick, but on philosophy, politics, and culture. The poems and plays written in his twenties and found in his ''[[Collected Works of Aleister Crowley 1905-1907]]'' were alone enough to substantiate a common writer's career.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} He left behind a countless number of personal letters and daily journal entries. He self-published many of his books, expending the majority of his inheritance to disseminate his views.

Within the subject of occultism Crowley wrote widely, penning commentaries on [[magick]], [[divinatory tarot]], [[Yoga]], [[Hermetic Qabalah|Qabalah]], [[astrology]], and numerous other subjects. He also wrote a Thelemic interpolation of the ''[[Tao Te Ching]]'', based on earlier English translations since he knew little or no Chinese. Like the Golden Dawn mystics before him, Crowley evidently sought to comprehend the entire human religious and mystical experience in a single philosophy.

Some of his most influential books include:
* ''[[The Book of the Law]]''
* ''[[Magick (Book 4)]]''
* ''[[The Book of Lies (Crowley)|The Book of Lies]]''
* ''[[The Vision and the Voice]]''
* ''[[777 and other Qabalistic writings]]''
* ''[[The Confessions of Aleister Crowley]]''
* ''[[Magick Without Tears]]''
* ''[[Little Essays Toward Truth]]''
* ''[[The Goetia: The Lesser Key of Solomon the King]]'' (translation of original text)
* ''[[The General Principles of Astrology]]'' (with [[Evangeline Adams]], [[Hymenaeus Beta]], and others)

He also edited and produced a series of publications in book form called ''[[The Equinox]]'' (subtitled "The Review of Scientific Illuminism"), which served as the voice of his magical order, the [[Argenteum Astrum|A∴A∴]]. Although the entire set is influential and remains one of the definitive works on [[occultism]], some of the more notable issues are:
* III:1, ''"The Blue Equinox"'' (largely regarding the structure of [[Ordo Templi Orientis|OTO]])
* III:2, ''The Gospel According to St. Bernard Shaw and other papers'' (proof copy only)
* III:3, ''The Equinox of the Gods'' (covering the events leading up to the writing of Liber Legis)
* III:4, ''Eight Lectures on Yoga''
* III:5, ''[[The Book of Thoth (Crowley)|The Book of Thoth]]'' (a full treatise on his [[Thoth Tarot]])
* III:6, ''Liber Aleph'' (An extended and elaborate commentary on Liber Legis in the form of short letters)
* III:7, ''The Shih I'' (allegedly. An unfinished/published translation of the ''[[I Ching]]'')
* III:8, ''The [[Tao Te Ching]]'' (a translation of the Chinese classic)
* III:9, ''[[The Holy Books of Thelema]]'' (the "received" works of Crowley)
* III:10, An issue with mostly O.T.O constitutional papers
* IV:1, ''[[Commentary on the Holy Books, and other papers]]'' (mainly Liber 65 and Madame Blavatsky's ''The Voice of the Silence'')
* IV:2, ''[[The Vision and the Voice]] with Commentary and other papers''

Crowley also wrote fiction, including plays and later novels, most of which have not received significant notice outside of occult circles. Some of these fictional works include:
* ''[[Moonchild (novel)|Moonchild]]''
* ''[[The Scrutinies of Simon Iff]]''
* ''[[Golden Twigs]]''
* ''[[Diary of a Drug Fiend]]''
* ''The Fish'' (unfinished)
* ''Simon Iff Abroad'' (unpublished)
* ''Simon Iff in America'' (unpublished)
* ''Simon Iff, Psychoanalyst'' (unpublished)
* ''[[The Stratagem and other Stories]]''
* ''The Testament of Magdalen Blair''

Crowley also had a peculiar sense of humour, which he often utilised as a teaching instrument. He wrote a [[polemic]] arguing against [[George Bernard Shaw]]'s interpretation of the [[Gospels]] in his preface to ''[[Androcles and the Lion (play)|Androcles and the Lion]]'', which was edited by [[Francis King]] and published as ''Crowley on Christ''. In his ''Magick, Book 4'' he includes a chapter purporting to illuminate the Qabalistic significance of [[Mother Goose]] [[nursery rhyme]]s. ''In re'' [[Humpty Dumpty]], for instance, he recommends the occult authority "Ludovicus Carolus" -- better known as [[Lewis Carroll]]. In a footnote to the chapter he admits that he had invented the alleged meanings, to show that one can find occult "Truth" in everything. His "8 Lectures On Yoga" are written under the name Guru Sri Pramahansa Shivaji (which translates into something along the lines of "Great Exalted Guru of Shiva") and are divided into "Yoga for Yahoos" and "Yoga for Yellowbellies". In ''The Book of Lies'', the title to chapter 69 is given as "The Way to Succeed - and the Way to Suck Eggs!" a pun, as the chapter concerns the [[69 sex position]] as a mystical act.

Crowley was rated a good poet by [[G.K. Chesterton]] to whom Crowley later dedicated in a part a book. He wrote the 1929 ''Hymn to Pan'',<ref>[http://www.paganlibrary.com/music_poetry/crowleys_pan_invocation.php ''Hymn to Pan'']</ref> perhaps his most widely read and anthologised poem.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} Three pieces by Crowley, "The Quest",<ref>[http://www.bartleby.com/236/314.html "The Quest"]</ref> "The Neophyte",<ref>[http://www.bartleby.com/236/315.html "The Neophyte"]</ref> and "The Rose and the Cross",<ref>[http://www.bartleby.com/236/316.html "The Rose and the Cross"]</ref> appear in the 1917 collection ''[[The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse]]''. Crowley's unusual sense of humour is on display in ''White Stains'',<ref>[http://www.rahoorkhuit.net/library/crowley/stain.html ''White Stains'']</ref> an 1898 collection of [[pornography|pornographic]] verse pretended to be "the literary remains of George Archibald Bishop, a neuropath of the Second Empire;" the volume is prefaced with a notice that says that " The Editor hopes that Mental Pathologists, for whose eyes alone this treatise is destined, will spare no precaution to prevent it falling into other hands."

Some of his published poetry includes:
* ''White Stains'' (1898).
* ''Alice, an Adultery'' (1903).
* ''The Sword of Song'' (1904).
* ''The Star and the Garter. ''(1904).
* ''Orpheus, a Lyrical Legend'' (two volumes, 1905).
* ''Snowdrops From a Curate’s Garden.'' (1904).
* ''[[Clouds without Water]]'' ("by the Reverend C. Verey", 1909)
* ''Amphora'' (Hymns to the Blessed Virgin Mary, [[Burns & Oates]], 1909)
* ''The Scented Garden of Abdullah the Satirist of Shiraz.'' ( "translated by Major Lutiy", 1910).
* ''Aha !'' (1910)
* ''Ambergris: the Selected Poems of Aleister Crowley'' (1910)
* ''The Winged Beetle.'' (1912).
* ''Olla, an Anthology of Sixty years of Song'' (1946, his last published work)

The Greek scholar Dionysios Psilopoulos has written on Crowley as a poet (Ph.D., Edinburgh).

==Cultural references==
*The novel ''[[Good Omens]]'' by [[Terry Pratchett]] and [[Neil Gaiman]] features a demon called [[Anthony Crowley]].

*The Italian historian of esotericism [[Giordano Berti]], in his book ''Tarocchi Aleister Crowley'' (1998) quotes a number of literary works and films inspired by Crowley's life and legends. Some of the films are ''The Magician'' (1926) by [[Rex Ingram (director)|Rex Ingram]], based upon the eponymous book written by [[William Somerset Maugham]] (1908); ''[[Night of the Demon]]'' (1957) by [[Jacques Tourneur]], based on the story "Casting the Runes" by [[M. R. James]]; and ''The Devils Rides Out'' (1968) by [[Terence Fisher]], from the eponymous thriller by [[Dennis Wheatley]].

*Crowley appears as a recurring character in the British audio drama series, [[The Scarifyers]], and is played by [[David Benson]].

*[[The Beatles]] featured Crowley on the front cover of their eighth album [[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]. He's the second cut-out on the top row.

*[[Ozzy Osbourne]] released a song titled "[[Mr. Crowley]]" on his solo album [[Blizzard of Ozz]]. A comparison between Crowley and Osbourne in the context of their media portrayals can be found in the ''Journal of Religion and Popular Culture.''<ref>Christopher M. Moreman, "Devil Music and the Great Beast: Ozzy Osbourne, Aleister Crowley, and the Christian Right," ''Journal of Religion and Popular Culture'' 5 (2003): http://www.usask.ca/relst/jrpc/art5-devilmusic.html</ref>

*[[Iron Maiden]] recorded two tracks that relate to Crowley:  "[[Moonchild (Iron Maiden song)|Moonchild]]" from ''[[Seventh Son of a Seventh Son]]'' and "[[Revelations (Iron Maiden song)|Revelations]]" from ''[[Piece of Mind]]''.

*[[Fields of the Nephilim]] , British Goth-Rock-Band, references Crowley in several interviews and recorded a track that relate to him: [[Moonchild]]. Furthermore they named a Greatest Hits-Compilation [[Revelations]]. 

*[[Ernest Hemingway]] references Crowley in his memoir "A Moveable Feast".  In it, [[Ford Maddox Ford]] claims to have "cut" a man he thinks was [[Hilaire Belloc]], but which in fact turns out to be "Alestair Crowley, the diabolist"<ref>Ernest Hemmingway, '''A Moveable Feast''', from the chapter ''Ford Madox Ford and the Devil's Disciple''</ref> .

*[[Chemical Wedding (film)|Chemical Wedding]] is a 2008 film where an old lecturer at Cambridge becomes Aleister Crowley. Written by [[Bruce Dickinson]] and [[Julian Doyle (filmmaker)|Julian Doyle]].

*According to the [[100 Greatest Britons]], a [[BBC]] [[broadcast]] in 2002, Crowley ranked 73.

* In the song [[Quicksand (David Bowie song)|Quicksand]] on his 1971 album [[Hunky Dory]], [[David Bowie]] sings : “I'm closer to the Golden Dawn, Immersed in Crowley's uniform of imagery”.

*Crowley and his beliefs were the subject of testimony in the 1994 murder trial of [[Damien Echols]], as shown in the documentary film ''[[Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills]]''.

* Crowley is an enigmatic figure in the anime series ''[[To Aru Majutsu no Index]].''

*Spanish folk metal band [[Mägo de Oz]] quotes Aleister Crowley on their song Astaroth from their 2000 album [[Finisterra]].

*[[New rave]] band [[Klaxons]] reference Aleister Crowley novels [[Magick Without Tears]], [[The Book of Lies (Crowley)|The Book of Lies]] and [[The Vision and the Voice]] in their 2006 single [[Magick (song)|Magick]].

*In the video game [[Fallout 3]] there is a ghoul named Mister Crowley who gives you a mission called "You Gotta Shoot 'Em in the Head". As part of the mission you have to kill a man named Allistar Tenpenny. His name is pronounced like Aleister despite the difference in spelling. This is an obvious reference to Aleister Crowley.

==See also==
* [[List of Thelemites]]
* [[List of Occultists]]
* [[Journal of Thelemic Studies]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==References==
<div class="references-small">
* [[Martin Booth|Booth, Martin]] (2000). ''A Magick Life: The Life of Aleister Crowley''. Coronet Books, London. ISBN 978-0-340-71806-3
* [[Giordano Berti|Berti, Giordano]] (1998). ''La Grande Bestia: Luci e Ombre'', first chapter of ''Tarocchi Aleister Crowley''. Lo Scarabeo, Torino. ISBN 88-86131-73-9
* Bull, John. "The Wickedest Man in the World". ''Sunday Express'', 24 Mar. 1923. Verification that the Sunday Express did make article: <ref>[http://oto-usa.org/crowley.html US Grand Lodge, OTO: Aleister Crowley<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
* Carroll, Robert Todd (2004). "[http://skepdic.com/crowley.html Aleister Crowley (1875-1947)]". The Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 30 December 2004.
* Cornelius, J. Edward (2001). ''[http://www.redflame93.com/FriendsAcquaintances.html The Friends & Acquaintances of Aleister Crowley]'' in ''[http://www.redflame93.com/Publications.html Red Flame: A Thelemic Research Journal]'' no. 3.
* Cornelius, J. Edward (2005). ''Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board''.
* Crowley, Aleister (1990). "[http://deoxy.org/taowley.htm The Tao Teh King, Liber CLVII: THE EQUINOX Vol. III. No. VIII. ASCII VERSION]". Retrieved 30 December 2004.
* Wlodek, Nikodem (2004). ''Satans Raw''.
* Free Encyclopedia of Thelema (2005). [http://fet.egnu.org/wiki/The_Equinox The Equinox]. Retrieved 24 March 2005.
* [[Kenneth Grant|Grant, Kenneth]] (1991). ''Remembering Aleister Crowley''.
* Hutchinson, Roger (1999). ''Aleister Crowley: The Beast Demystified''. Mainstream Publishing, New York. ISBN 1-84018-229-6
* [[Richard Kaczynski|Kaczynski, Richard]] (2002). ''Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley''. New Falcon Publications. ISBN 1-56184-170-6
* [[Frank G. Rubio|Rubio, Frank G.]] (2001). ''El Continente Perdido''. Valdemar, Madrid. ISBN 84-7702-349-2
* Sutin, Lawrence (2000). ''Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley ''. ISBN 0-312-28897-2
* Thelemapedia. ''[http://www.thelemapedia.org/index.php/Aleister_Crowley Aleister Crowley]''.
* [[Colin Wilson|Wilson, Colin]] (1993). ''Aleister Crowley: The Nature of the Beast''. Harpercollins, New York. ISBN 0-85030-541-1
* [[Robert Anton Wilson|Wilson, Robert Anton]] (1977). ''Cosmic Trigger: The Final Secret of the Illuminati''. Pocket Books, New York.
</div>

==External links==
*Imported from Wikipedia, December 2008.
{{wikiquote}}
{{Wikisource author}}
* {{gutenberg author|id=Aleister+Crowley|name=Aleister Crowley}}
* [http://www.blackcatpoems.com/c/aleister_crowley.html Poems by Aleister Crowley] A collection of Crowley's early poetry
* [http://altreligion.about.com/library/faqs/bl_crowleyfaq.htm Crowley Controversy FAQ]
* [http://www.arcane-archive.org/faqs/crowleyracistfaq.php Aleister Crowley: A Legacy of Racism and Nationalism]
* [http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/religion/aleister-crowley/ Aleister Crowley - The Rotten Library]
* [http://www.oxygenee.com/absinthe/books7.html Aleister Crowley and the Green Goddess]
* [http://www.glbtq.com/literature/crowley_a_lit.html Entry for Aleister Crowley at the GLBTQ encyclopedia]
* [http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/research/fa/lfcrowley.html Aleister Crowley Collection] at the [[Harry Ransom Center]] at the [[University of Texas at Austin]]

==Previous Entry==
'''Aleister Crowley''' (Oct. 12, 1875-Dec. 1, [[1947]]) — however one judges him — was a fascinating man who lived an amazing life. He is best known as being an infamous [[occult]]ist and the scribe of [[The Book of the Law]], which introduced [[Thelema]] to the world. Crowley was an influential member in several occult organizations, including the [[Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn|Golden Dawn]], the [[A.'.A.'.]], and [[Ordo Templi Orientis]]. He was a prolific writer and poet, a world traveler, mountaineer, chess master, artist, yogi, social provocateur, drug addict and sexual libertine. The press loved to demonize him and dubbed Crowley “The wickedest man in the world.”

==A brief summary of major events==

'''Edward Alexander Crowley''' was born in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire on October 12, 1875. His parents were members of the [[Plymouth Brethren]], an extremely devout Christian sect. It was in this Christian childhood that he came to refer to himself as [[The Beast]] [[666]]. He was also fortunate to be heir to a small brewing fortune, which he largely used for travel and publishing his works over his lifetime. 

He entered Trinity College at Cambridge in 1895, and left just before finishing his degree. He was initiated into the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in 1898. The next year he purchased [[Boleskine|Boleskine House]] at Loch Ness in order to perform the ritual known as the [[Abramelin|Abra-Melin Operation]]. 
{{93}}
In 1900 Crowley traveled to Mexico where he was initiated as a 33° [[Freemasonry|Mason]]. 

In 1902 he began the practice of [[yoga]] in Ceylon with [[Allan Bennett]], an associate from the Golden Dawn. He returned to Boleskine in 1903 and married [[Edith Rose Kelly]], the sister of the painter Sir Gerald Kelly. On their honeymoon, they visited Cairo, Egypt in 1904. It is here that he came to write [[The Book of the Law]] on April 8, 9, and 10. 

In 1907 Crowley founded the Order he called the [[A.'.A.'.]] Two years later, he divorced Rose and traveled to the Sahara Desert with poet [[Victor Neuberg]], where they performed a series of rituals that resulted in the book ''[[The Vision and the Voice]]''. 

In 1913 Crowley was initiated into [[Ordo Templi Orientis]] by [[Theodor Reuss]]. The following year Crowley was advanced to the X° and became head of O.T.O. in Great Britain and Ireland. That same year, while on a trip to Moscow, he wrote the [[Liber XV|Gnostic Mass]]. 

With the beginning of WWI, Crowley retired to America in 1914, where he began editing the publication ''The International''. He returned to Europe in 1919. The next year he founded the [[Abbey of Thelema]] in Cefalú, Sicily -- an experimental commune based on the principles of Thelema and inspired by the works of [[Rabelais]].  He was expelled from Italy by Mussolini in 1923. During his time at Cefalú, in 1922, Crowley proclaimed himself Outer Head of the Order of O.T.O.

In 1929 Crowley took his second wife, [[Maria de Miramar]] — a native of Nicaragua — although she eventually succumbed to mental delusions and died in an institution three decades later. 

By 1935, largely because of his lifelong self-publishing efforts and a lost libel suit, Crowley had lost his personal fortune and settled into bankruptcy. For the next decade he kept himself afloat through publishing and occasional help from associates and students. His final years were characterized by poor health and heroin addiction alongside a continued zeal for promulgating Thelema. In 1945, he retired to [[Netherwood]], a boarding house in Hastings, England. On December 1, 1947, at the age of 71, and with his son [[Ataturk Crowley|Ataturk]] by his bed, Aleister Crowley good-spiritedly and quietly celebrated his [[The Feast for Death|Greater Feast]]. His ashes were later buried next to a tree in Hampton, New Jersey on the property of [[Karl Germer]] (Crowley’s successor to OHO).

==Occultism==

===Prophet of Thelema===

Perhaps Crowley's most significant contribution was bringing [[Thelema]] into the world with the [[Reception of Liber Legis|reception]] of [[The Book of the Law]] on April 8, 9, and 10, 1904. The writing occurred in Cairo, Egypt, where Crowley and his new wife, [[Rose Crowley|Rose]] were honeymooning. On March 16, Crowley had attempted a ritual to show his wife elemental beings called [[Sylphs]]. Although she didn't see them, she apparently did begin to channel a series message to Crowley over the next few days regarding [[Horus]] and "a child." Crowley is highly skeptical and questions the veracity of the message, finally becoming satisfied when Rose pointed out Horus to him on a funerary tablet in the Bulaq Museum (labeled "Stele [[666]]" and eventually becoming known as the [[Stele of Revealing]]). These events culminate in the actual three days of writing, each of which took place at noon in a chamber of their flat which was used as a temple. (See: [[Reception of Liber Legis]])

Initially, Crowley rejected this document. He writes of himself in ''Magick'' (p.444): 

::[Crowley], to whom this revelation was made with so many signs and wonders, was himself unconvinced. He struggled against it for years. Not until the completion of His own initiation at the end of I909 did he understand how perfectly he was bound to carry out this work. Again and again He turned away from it, took it up for a few days or hours, then laid it aside. He even attempted to destroy its value, to nullify the result.

And

::I have fought this Book and fled it; I have defiled it and I have suffered for its sake. 

Yet, after his acceptance of Liber Legis, Crowley was a tireless advocate of its teachings (as he interpreted them) and labored for the rest of his life to promulgate the Law of Thelema. He founded the [[A.'.A.'.]] in 1907 and he adapted the initiations rituals of [[Ordo Templi Orientis]], both of which were  largely based on the principles of Thelema. He wrote countless letters, essays, and epistles regarding Thelema, including [http://www.scarletwoman.org/docs/docs_message.html The Message of the Master Therion], [http://www.scarletwoman.org/docs/docs_lege.html De Lege Libellum], and [http://www.scarletwoman.org/docs/docs_liberty.html The Law of Liberty]; and he wrote [[The Gnostic Mass]]  in 1911 based on Liber AL as well. 

Crowley was convinced of the objective truth of Liber Legis, and that its speaker, [[Aiwass]], was both his [[Holy Guardian Angel]] and in possession of knowledge completely unavailable to Crowley. He writes in ''Magick:'' "Man has no such fact recorded, by proof established in surety beyond cavil of critic, as this Book, to witness the existence of and Intelligence praeterhuman and articulate, purposefully interfering in the philosophy, religion, ethics, economics and politics of the Planet." This knowledge, as Crowley understood it, represented the formula of an entire age of mankind, which he referred to as the [[Aeon of Horus]], the Word of which is [[Thelema]], which had been ushered in by himself as its prophet.

Thelemites today hold a wide spectrum of beliefs regarding Crowley's status as prophet. Some view Crowley as he did himself—the literal messenger of a new spiritual Law for mankind. Others believe that "Aiwass" was simply an unconscious (or even fraudulent pseudonym) of Crowley, and that the merit of the Book rests solely on its content without need for objective verification. Yet others disregard Crowley altogether. However, it is reasonable to say that Crowley still plays a very large role in the understanding of Thelema, and his words are constantly used to promulgate its doctrines today.

===Mystic & yogi===

===Golden Dawn, A.'.A.'. and O.T.O.===

==Family==

Crowley's father was Edward Crowley (1834-1887)—a wealthy retired brewer (Crowley Ale) and lay preacher of the [[Plymouth Brethren]] sect—and his mother was Emily Bertha Bishop (d.1941). Crowley's paternal grandparents were Edward and Mary Sparrow (m. 1823) who also had uncle Jonathan (m. Agnes Pope), and aunts Mary and Sarah. 

On the death of his father, Crowley was sent to live with his maternal uncle, Tom Bishop, who was by all accounts a bully towards young Alexander. 

Crowley married twice in his lifetime. The first was to Rose Edith Kelly (July 23, 1874 - 1932). They were married in 1903 and divorced in 1909. Rose is considered to be Crowley's first [[Scarlet Woman]], and aided him in his finding of the [[Stele of Revealing]] and the writing of [[The Book of the Law]]. His second wife was [[Maria de Miramar|Maria Teresa de Miramar]]—born 1894 in Nicaragua. They were married in 1929. They never were divorced, although by 1930 their marriage had collapsed, largely due to Maria's worsening mental condition. She died sometime in the 1960s in the Colney Hatch Mental Hospital in New Southgate (Sutin, p.395).  

Crowley had five children in his life: 

* Nuit Ma Ahathoor Hecate Sappho Jezebel Lilith (July 1904-Spring 1906)—daughter of [[Rose Crowley]]
* Lola Zaza (b.1906)—daughter of Rose Crowley
* Anne Léa "Poupée" (Feb. 1920-Oct. 14, 1920)—daughter of [[Leah Hirsig]]
* Astarte Lulu Panthea (b. 1920)—daughter of [[Ninette Shumway]]
* Aleister Ataturk (b.1938)—son of [[Patricia MacAlpine|Patricia "Deidre" MacAlpine]]

==Author==

Crowley was an incredibly prolific writer, having left behind dozens of books, hundreds of essays, a host of rituals and ceremonies, and a countless number of personal letters and daily journal entries. He wrote poems, short stories, magazine articles, novels, criticism, plays, and more. 

===Books===
Some of his best known books are:

*[[The Book of the Law]]
*Magick, Book 4
*The Book of Lies
*The Vision and the Voice
*777 and Other Qabalistic Writings
*Confessions of Aleister Crowley
*The Equinox (a series of publications in book format)
*Magick Without Tears

For a more complete listing of published books, see [[Works of Aleister Crowley (Books)]]

===Libers===

Most of Crowley's most influential work was in the form of "Libers" (lit. "books"), which were usually shorter items  consisting of core teachings, methodologies, practices, or Thelemic scripture. All the libers are given a number in the Greek numbering system, and those that are part of the A.'.A.'. curriculum are assigned a "class" as follows:
*Class [A] consists of books of which may be changed not so much as the style of a letter: that is, they represent the utterance of an Adept entirely beyond the criticism of even the Visible Head of the Organization.
*Class [B] consists of books or essays which are the result of ordinary scholarship, enlightened and earnest.
*Class [C] consists of matter which is to be regarded rather as suggestive than anything else.
*Class [D] consists of the Official Rituals and Instructions.
*Class [E] consists of manifestos, broadsides, epistles and other public statements. Some publications are composite, and pertain to more than one class.

Many of his Libers appeared in published books, especially editions of ''The Equinox'' and ''The Holy Books of Thelema,'' although some Libers are books in their own right (such as ''Magick'', which is Liber 4). 

For a complete listing of Crowley's Libers, see [[Works of Aleister Crowley (Libers)]]

===Fiction===

Many of his fiction works, such as the "Simon Iff" detective stories and ''Moonchild'' have not received significant notice outside of occult circles. However his work ''Diary Of A Drug Fiend'', while fictional, reflects his views about his own addictions to heroin and cocaine.

===Poetry===

Crowley was also a prolific poet. 

For more on Crowley's poetry, see [[Works of Aleister Crowley (Poetry)]]

==Other aspects==

===Artist===

Crowley was a gifted, if technically unsophisticated, artist and painter "in what might loosely be called the Expressionist mode" (Sutin, p.5). In 1931, an exhibition of his work was hosted at the Galerie Neumann-Nierendorf in Berlin which served to up his reputation in Germany, but it is not known if he actually sold any paintings.  

A modern art show for Crowley's work was put on at the October Gallery in London in April of 1998. The show was facilitated by OHO [[Hymenaeus Beta]] and attended by [[Martin Starr]] and [[Kenneth Anger]]. By all accounts it was well attended and successful in renewing interest in Crowley as a painter.

====Quotes====
*"The average man cannot believe that an artist may be as serious and highminded an observer of life as the professed man of science." —''Confessions'', p.138

*"It is at least the case that I have no use for artists who have lost touch with tradition and see nature secondhand. I think I have kept my head pretty square on my shoulders in the turmoil of the recent revolutions. I find myself able to distinguish between the artist whose eccentricities and heresies interpret his individual peculiarities and the self-advertising quack who tries to be original by outdoing the most outrageous heresiarch of the moment."—''Confessions'', p.584

*" "Las Meninas" [by Goya] is worshiped in a room consecrated solely to itself, and I spent more of my mornings in that room and let it soak in. I decided then, and might concur still had I not learnt the absurdity of trying to ascribe an order to things which are each unique and absolute, that "Las Meninas" is the greatest picture in the world. It certainly taught me to know the one thing that I care to learn about painting: that the subject of a picture is merely an excuse for arranging forms and colours in such a way as to express the inmost self of the artist." —''Confessions'', p.585

===Mountaineer===

Crowley was an accomplished mountain climber is his time, and is still mentioned in mountaineering literature (although silly rumors and his reputation in the yellow press are often mentioned). He owed his ability to [[Oscar Eckenstein]], who was not only a highly skilled climber, but also had a great interest in Eastern philosophy (which had a distinct influence on Crowley). 

Crowley made some significant climbs, including a 1902 attempt on Chogo Ri (or K2), the second tallest peak in the world. On that climb, the expedition achieved a record: "the greatest number of days spent on a glacier—65 days on the Baltoro" (''Equinox of the Gods'' Ch.1). He also had the record for "the greatest pace uphill over 16,000 feet—4,000 feet in 1 hour 23 minutes on Iztaccihuatl in 1900" (''Ibid''). 

Crowley is also known for his 1905 attempt (and failure) on Kanchenjunga in the Himalayas—a peak that would not be successfully ascended until 1955. On the upward climb, a porter fell to his death in the process of leaving the expedition. More porters accused Crowley of beating them, and a general mutiny began among them and the other core climbers (namely Guillarmod and de Righi), based on Crowley's route (which was later vouched as a good one in 1954), his supposed ill-treatment of the porters, and the bad feelings between him and several of the climbers.  Guillarmod took charge, leading the bulk of the men back down. On that descent, a porter's stumble triggered an avalanche that buried four men under ten feet of snow. It took three days of digging to recover their bodies. Crowley, remaining in the higher camp, did not respond to the cries for help when the avalanche began, a fact which later demonized him in mountaineering circles. 

===Chess enthusiast===

Crowley learned to play chess at the age of six and first competed on the Eastbourne College chess team (where he was taking classes in 1892). He showed immediate competence, besting the adult champion in town and even editing a chess column for the local newspaper, the ''Eastbourne Gazette'' (Sutin, p.33), which he often used to criticize the Eastbourne team. He later joined the university chess club at Cambridge, where he beat the president in his freshman year and practiced two hours a day towards becoming a champion—"My one serious worldly ambition had been to become the champion of the world at chess" (''Confessions,'' p.193). 

However, he gave up his chess aspirations in 1897 when attending a chess conference in Berlin:

::But I had hardly entered the room where the masters were playing when I was seized with what may justly be described as a mystical experience. I seemed to be looking on at the tournament from outside myself. I saw the masters—one, shabby, snuffy and blear-eyed; another, in badly fitting would-be respectable shoddy; a third, a mere parody of humanity, and so on for the rest. These were the people to whose ranks I was seeking admission. "There, but for the grace of God, goes Aleister Crowley," I exclaimed to myself with disgust, and there and then I registered a vow never to play another serious game of chess. I perceived with praeternatural lucidity that I had not alighted on this planet with the object of playing chess. (''Confessions,'' Ch.16).

Crowley wrote some brief notes of guidance on the playing chess and gave them, together with a "pocket chess set", to Grady McMurtry. Following the latter's death they were given by the OTO to one of Crowley's grandsons, a son of Aleister Ataturk.

===Freemason===
====List of Crowley’s Masonic degrees====

*33° of the Scottish Rite in Mexico From Don Jesus Medina.
“Don Jesus Medina, a descendant of the great duke of Armada fame, and one of the highest chiefs of Scottish Rite free-masonry.  My cabbalistic knowledge being already profound by current standards, he thought me worthy of the highest initiation in his power to confer; special powers were obtained in view of my limited sojourn, and I was pushed rapidly through and admitted to the thirty-third and last degree before I left the country.” - The Confessions of Aleister Crowley (1969), pp. 202-203.

*3° In France by the Anglo-Saxon Lodge No. 343, a Lodge chartered in 1899 by the Grande Loge de France, a body unrecognised by the United Grand Lodge of England, on 29 June 1904. 

*33° of the irregular 'Cerneau' Scottish Rite From John Yarker

*90°/95° of the Rite of Memphis/Misraim. From John Yarker.

But as it turns out, The Grand Lodge Of England the official body of Freemasonry did not recognize any of the above bodies as being true Freemasonry. Thus Crowley never was an “official” Freemason and when he understood this he started to change the O.T.O. rituals to remove the Masonic content.

“Crowley quickly realized that the post-Yarker era meant change. He was not rebellious by reflex, at least where old British institutions were concerned. He undoubtedly believed O.T.O. had authority from Yarker to work the Ancient and Primitive Rite's equivalent to the Craft degrees in England, but once made aware of the issue of regularity when having his own French Masonic credentials declined, he was not defiant and on his own made changes to the O.T.O. to avoid conflict. He inserted notices into the last number of The Equinox to the effect that the O.T.O. did not infringe upon the just privileges of the Grand Lodge of England.

During WWI Crowley worked slightly revised English Craft rituals in America, but despite the absence of a central Grand Lodge, he met with objections from masonic authorities. He then rewrote the O.T.O. rituals for I° - III° so that they no longer resembled Craft masonry degrees in language, theme or intent.” - Frater Superior [[Hymenaeus Beta]] The Magical Link Vol. IX No. 1

==A counter culture icon==

==Name change, magical mottoes, and pseudonyms==

===Name change===

Crowley was born Edward Alexander Crowley, and was nicknamed "Aleck" by his mother. In ''Confessions'' (p.139-140), he explains his adoption of "Aleister":

::For many years I had loathed being called Alick, partly because of the unpleasant sound and sight of the word, partly because it was the name by which my mother called me. Edward did not seem to suit me and the diminutives Ted or Ned were even less appropriate. Alexander was too long and Sandy suggested tow hair and freckles. I had read in some book or other that the most favorable name for becoming famous was one consisting of a dactyl followed by a spondee, as at the end of a hexameter: like "Jeremy Taylor". Aleister Crowley fulfilled these conditions and Aleister is the Gaelic form of Alexander. To adopt it would satisfy my romantic ideals. The atrocious spelling A-L-E-I-S-T-E-R was suggested as the correct form by Cousin Gregor, who ought to have known better. In any case, A-L-A-I-S-D-A-I-R makes a very bad dactyl. For these reasons I saddled myself with my present nom-de-guerre—I can't say that I feel sure that I facilitated the process of becoming famous. I should doubtless have done so, whatever name I had chosen.

===Magical mottoes===

*'''[[Perdurabo]]''' ("I will endure til the end")—Neophyte
*'''[[Parzival]]''' —Adeptus Minor
*'''Ol Sonuf Vaoresaji''' ("I reign over ye")—Adeptus Major
*'''Ou Mh''' (O.M.—" No, definitely no! or Not Yet!")—Adeptus Exemptus
*'''Vi Veri Vniversum Vivus Vici''' (V.V.V.V.V.—"By the force of truth, I, while living, have conquered the Universe")—Magister Templi
*'''[[To Mega Therion]]''' ("The Great Beast")—Magus
*'''[[Baphomet]]''' as the X° in [[Ordo Templi Orientis|O.T.O.]]
*'''[[The Beast]] [[666]]'''
*'''[[Ankh-af-na-khonsu|Ankh-af-na-Khonsu]]'''
* '''Khaled Khan'''

=== Pseudonyms and aliases===

This is but a short list of his dozens of aliases he used for many magazine and newspaper articles:

<table><tr><td style="margin-right:10px;" valign=top>
*Abhavananda
*Herr Hermann Rudolph Von Alastor
*Ananda Vigga
*Gerard Aumont
*Francis Bendick
*George Archibald Bishop
*Reverend P. D. Carey
*Elaine Carr
*H. D. Carr
*Christeos Luciftias
*Cor Scorpionis
*Alex C. Crowley
*Alys Cusack
*O Dhammaloyu
*Fra. H. I. Edinburgh
*Michael Fairfax
*Comte De Fenix
*Percy Flage
*James Grahame
</td><td style="margin-right:10px;" valign=top>
*Arthur Grimble
*Cyril Gustance
*Oliver Haddo
*C. S. Hiller
*Lemuel S. Innocent
*Dost Achiha Khan
*Lavinia King
*Ko Hsuan
*Ko Yuen
*St. Maurice E. Kulm
*Maria Lavroff
*Lord Boleskine
*Major Lutiy
*Mahatma Guru Sri Paramahansa Shivaji
*Mahatma Sri Paramananda Guru Swamiji
*S. J. Mills
*Martial Nay
*Percy W. Newlands
*Hilda Norfolk
</td><td valign=top>
*Sheamus O'Brien
*G.H.S. Pinsent
*Katharine S. Prichard
*George Raffalovich
*Ethel Ramsay
*Barbey De Rochechouart
*John Roberts
*Mary Smith
*Edward Storer
*Count Vladimir Svareff
*Ta Dhuibh
*Alice Wesley Torr
*J. Turner
*Rev. C. Verey
*Leo Vincey
*Mark Wells
*Thomas Wentworth
</td></tr></table>

==See also==
*[[Aleister Crowley Timeline]]
*[[Thelema]]
*[[Works of Aleister Crowley]]
*[[The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn]]
*[[Ordo Templi Orientis]]
*[[A.'.A.'.]]
*[[Magick]]
*[[The Gnostic Mass]]
*[[Reception of Liber Legis]]
*[[Lairs of The Beast]]
*[[Crowley Myths]]

==External links==
*[http://www.lashtal.com/nuke Contemporary media accounts and photographic portraits]
*[http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/research/fa/crowley.aleister.html The Aleister Crowley Collection] at the Harry Ransom Center, U.T., in Austin, TX
*[http://www.redflame93.com/DeskReference.html Red Flame Desk Reference]—A complete catalog of Crowley's published works
*[http://www.lashtal.com/nuke/modules.php?op=modload&name=Downloads&file=index&req=viewdownload&cid=3 Collection of chess columns written by Crowley]

==References==
*Retrieved from [http://www.thelemapedia.org Thelemapedia], December 2008.
*O.T.O. (2005). ''[http://oto-usa.org/crowley.html Aleister Crowley]''
*Red Flame. (2005). [http://www.redflame93.com/DeskReference.html Aleister Crowley Desk Reference]
*Sutin, Lawrence. (2002). ''Do What Thou Wilt : A Life of Aleister Crowley.'' New York : St. Martin's Griffin.
*Crowley, Aleister. (1974). ''Equinox of the Gods.'' New York, NY : Gordon Press.
*____. (1979). The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. London;Boston : Routledge & Kegan Pa
*Hymenaeus Beta. (1998). "Good Show". ''The Magical Link.'' New Series #2, Spring-Fall 1998.