He practiced satanism and identified with the number of the anti-Christ, 666. Crowley kept a series of Scarlet Women. Leah Hirsig, the Ape of Thoth, was the most notorious. They overindulged in drinking, drugs and sexual magic.
Crowley became involved with the O.T.O., Ordo Temple Orientis and moved to Sicily where he established his Abbey of Thelema. The press called him the “The Wickedest Man in the World.” Crowley relished this appellation. There was talk of alleged orgies, blood sacrifices and other perversions at the abbey. Mussolini expelled him from Sicily. Crowley moved to France and was later asked to leave because of his heroin dealings.
He wrote The Book of the Law, in which he included his version of the Law of Thelema, “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.” He interpreted it as rejecting conventional morality for the life of drug addiction and womanizing. A line from one of his poems sums this up. "I rave; and I rape and I rip and I rend."
Crowley sued author and sculptress Nina Hamnett for libel because he said she wrote he practiced black magic. Her evidence of Crowley’s bizarre life-style and scandalous writings was so great that it horrified people. He lost the case and was forced to declare bankruptcy, which pleased the press.
A heroin addict, he died from a respiratory infection in a Hastings, England boarding house in 1947. He and his doctor died within 24 hours of each other. Newspapers claimed Crowley put a death curse on Dr. Thomson because he refused to continue his opiate prescription.
Books You Might Enjoy:
Aleister Crowley - The Star And The Garter
Aleister Crowley - The Zodiac And The Tarot
Aleister Crowley - Liber 101 Ordo Templi Orientis An Open Letter