leister was born into a wealthy on October 12, 1875 in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England. His parents, Edward and Emily Bertha Bishop Crowley, were members of the Exclusive Brethren, a conservative division of the Puritan Plymouth Brethren. He grew up in a home filled with pious religious intolerance, constantly rebelling.
Crowley despised his mother who called him "the Beast,” a reference to the Bible’s Revelation; it was a name he relished. When Crowley was eleven, he killed his first cat and his father died. He was sent to a private Plymouth Brethren school and was expelled for trying to “corrupt” another boy.
His parents, wealthy brewers Edward and Emily, were the personification of respectability. They were devout Christians, staunch members of the Plymouth Brethren. He grew up in a home filled with pious religious narrow-mindedness and continually rebelled. After his father died, Crowley inherited the family fortune and went to Trinity College Cambridge. He became interested in the occult and studied it with Allan Bennett, his roommate.
Crowley read Arthur Edward Waite’s book, The Book of black magic and of Pacts, which hinted that there was a secret occult brotherhood. Waite referred him to another book which had information about a great ceremonial brotherhood group. He and Bennett joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (HOGD), was the brotherhood.
Books You Might Enjoy:
Aleister Crowley - Ritual Viii
Aleister Crowley - Liber 031
Aleister Crowley - Rosa Inferni
Aleister Crowley - Ethyl Oxide
Aleister Crowley - Leah Sublime