After 1913, as Crowley approached middle age, his ground-breaking work and creative output diminished but by no means ended. Of course, neither did his love affairs – whether with women or men. However, he increasingly experienced financial problems. He had spent his fortune and possessed no significant source of income – least of all from his books which were typically self-published and never commercially successful. Rather, he existed, in part, on gifts from friends and students.
Beginning in 1920 Crowley leased a villa in Cefalu, a small town located on Sicily. During his brief stay, it was commonly called Abbey Thelema, and served as a retreat house for individuals who wished to study under him. However, the arrangement lasted only three years; when the new Fascist government expelled him and his followers from Italy. The reason for the expulsion remains unclear, but may have been related to his notoriety before and during his stay at the abbey.
In 1929 the magus published his major statement on magic, Magick in Theory and Practice. He often used the spelling magick, in part, to differentiate it from stage magic. In this complex book for the advanced Practitioner he sought to recast magic as a common phenomenon, broadly defining it as the “Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will”. Crowley covered a wide range of topics, e.g., basic theories, Cabala, yoga, meditation, clairvoyance, and divination (including briefly Tarot). He explored many facets of ritual, including the use of magical formulas as structural patterns, equipment, gesture, sacrifice, banishing, and invoking. He provided detailed Instructions for selected rituals and argued that the main goal of magic was Invocation of the Holy Guardian Angel (i.e., mystical union with the Divine). However, his ideas were sometimes difficult to follow, vague, and allusive. His style ranged from lucid to opaque, from elegant to overwrought.
In 1932 forty-eight creditors forced the magus into involuntary bankruptcy at which point his assets were virtually nil. He was also addicted to morphine. Following the advice of physicians he regularly used the drug to alleviate serious asthmatic attacks. He also sometimes used drugs for both spiritual Development and, frankly, recreation. Nevertheless, he persisted in his work, subsisting, in part, on continued gifts from friends and students.
Books in PDF format to read:
Sepharial - Astrology And MarriageMichael Osiris Snuffin - Aleister Crowley And The Legend Of Pasiphae
Kenneth Grant - Aleister Crowley And The Hidden God
