Thelemic Gardening

When I see spring springing,
I do not see sweetness and lite,
and certainly nothing peaceful.

There are the conquering hordes,
pushing up Through great cracks,
driving ruthlessly to the light,
pillaging every Resource in reach.

These green mongols, who are
as much jihadists of the LIGHT,
make the human ants who mimic them
seem like rank diffident amateurs.

And yet against these thick armies
the wind breaks their supple ranks,
the waters drown them in rapid nourishment,
the sun which they seek burns them.

This is nothing if not all-out absolute WAR!

Mars is the symbol of spring, the breaker of
deadly winter; for it takes war and the ethics
of warriors to stir peaceful Nature back to life.

Open your legs harlot goddess, and be raped
by your Children! And little flowers and bees
will mask your writhing incests with lying
costumes of peace, love and harmony.

Books in PDF format to read:

Morwyn - The Golden Dawn
Aubrey Bell - The Magic Of Spain
Solomonic Grimoires - The Magic Of Armadel
Michael Sharp - The Great Awakening

Liber 044 The Mass Of The Phoenix

Book: Liber 044 The Mass Of The Phoenix by Aleister Crowley

Liber CCCXXXIII (The Book of Lies); and Appendix VI in Book IV.

Download Aleister Crowley's eBook: Liber 044 The Mass Of The Phoenix

Free eBooks (Can Be Downloaded):

Aleister Crowley - Liber 046 The Key Of The Mysteries
Aleister Crowley - The Mass Of The Phoenix
Aleister Crowley - Liber 044 The Mass Of The Phoenix

Theory And Practice Of Abyss

The founder of Thelema, author Aleister Crowley, says of the Abyss in his Little Essays Toward Truth:

This doctrine is extremely difficult to explain; but it corresponds more or less to the gap in thought between the Real, which is ideal, and the Unreal, which is actual. In the Abyss all things exist, indeed, at least in posse, but are without any possible meaning; for they lack the substratum of spiritual Reality. They are appearances without Law. They are thus Insane Delusions.
Now the Abyss being thus the great storehouse of Phenomena, it is the source of all impressions.

On a practical level, Crowley's published instructions on the Abyss tell the reader to consider some philosophical problem without using magic or intuition, until the mind focuses on this problem of its own accord: "Then will all phenomena which present themselves to him appear meaningless and disconnected, and his own Ego will break up into a series of impressions having no relation one with the other, or with any other thing." This prepares the student for the mystical experience that Crowley elsewhere calls Shivadarshana.Crowley modeled these instructions on his own experiences in the year 1905. The Vision and the Voice describes two additional methods of entering the Abyss. The first of these "concerns things of which it (was) unlawful to speak openly under penalty of the most dreadful punishment," namely receptive homosexual intercourse under the desert sun that went against Crowley's social habits of conduct or his conscious self-image. The second involves Ceremonial Magic and focuses more on the theory behind the Abyss.

In the Qabalistic system of Crowley, the Abyss contains the 11th (hidden) sephira, Da'ath, which separates the lower sephiroth from the supernals. This account derives from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn's view of Genesis, in which Da'ath represents the fall of man from a unified consciousness into a duality between ego and divine nature.[8] The Abyss is guarded by the demon Choronzon, who manifests during the third, ceremonial method of crossing this gulf. He represents those parts of one's consciousness and unconsciousness -- "a momentary unity capable of sensation and of expression," in Crowley's terms -- that are unwilling or unable to enter the Divine. According to Grant Morrison in the Richard Metzger Book of Lies, at least, Choronzon

is Existential Self at the last gasp...Beyond Choronzon we are no longer our Self. The "personality" on the brink of the Abyss will do anything, say anything and find any excuse to avoid taking this disintegrating step into "non-being."

"Crossing the Abyss" is regarded as a perilous operation, and the most important work of the magician's career. Success confers graduation into the degree of Magister Templi, or "Master of the Temple."

Free eBooks (Can Be Downloaded):

Rabbi Michael Laitman - The Path Of Kabbalah
Marcus Cordey - Magical Theory And Tradition
Ophiel - The Art Practice Of Caballa Magic
Frater Fp - Sigils In Theory And Practice

Liber 004 Or Magick Liber Aba

Book: Liber 004 Or Magick Liber Aba by Aleister Crowley

Magick, Liber ABA, Book 4 is widely considered to be the magnum opus of 20th century occultist Aleister Crowley, the founder of Thelema. It is a lengthy treatise on Magick, his system of Western occult practice, synthesized from many sources, including Eastern Yoga, Hermeticism, medieval grimoires, contemporary magical theories from writers like Eliphas Levi and Helena Blavatsky, and his own original contributions. It consists of four parts: Mysticism, Magick (Elementary Theory), Magick in Theory and Practice, and the Law (The Equinox of The Gods). It also includes numerous appendices presenting many rituals and explicatory papers.

In November 1911, Crowley carried out a ritual during which he reports being commanded to write Book 4 by a discarnate entity named "Abuldiz". This was duly accomplished at a villa in Posilippo near Naples, Italy, and was published in the winter of 1912-3.

Liber ABA refers to this work being a part of Crowley's system of libri. In most systems where letters are given numerical value, ABA adds up to 4 (thus the name Book 4).

Much of the book was dictated to several of Crowley's students, who would also ask questions to get clarification. The principal collaborators were Mary Desti (Soror Virakam), Leila Waddell (also known as Laylah), and Mary Butts, all of whom were given coauthorship credit. (from wikipedia.org)

Download Aleister Crowley's eBook: Liber 004 Or Magick Liber Aba

Free eBooks (Can Be Downloaded):

Aleister Crowley - Liber 084 Liber Chanokh
Aleister Crowley - Liber 064 Israfel Or Liber Anubis
Aleister Crowley - Liber 004 Or Magick Liber Aba

Liber 194 An Intimation With Reference To The Constitution Of The Order

Book: Liber 194 An Intimation With Reference To The Constitution Of The Order by Aleister Crowley

Any Province of the O.T.O. is governed by the Grand Master and those to whom he delegates his Authority, until such time as the Order is established, which is the case when it possesses eleven or more Profess-houses in the province. Then the regular constitution is automatically Promulgated. The Quotation is slightly adapted from an address in one of the Rituals. See also: Equinox III i; III x. This is an O.T.O. document.

Download Aleister Crowley's eBook: Liber 194 An Intimation With Reference To The Constitution Of The Order

Free eBooks (Can Be Downloaded):

William Wynn Westcott - An Introduction To The Study Of The Kabalah
Aleister Crowley - Brief Introduction To The Religion Of Thelema
Franz Bardon - Initiation Into Hermetics A Course Of Instruction Of Magic Theory And Practice
Paul Foster Case - An Introduction To The Study Of The Tarot
Aleister Crowley - Liber 194 An Intimation With Reference To The Constitution Of The Order

Gargoyles

Book: Gargoyles by Aleister Crowley

Gargoyles, Being Strangely Wrought Images of Life and Death by Aleister Crowley. Bound holograph manuscript with revisions in the hand of Aleister Crowley. Also printed in The Collected Works of Aleister Crowley, Vol. III, Page 84, Society for the Propagation of religious Truth, Boleskine, Foyers, Inverness, 1907.

Download Aleister Crowley's eBook: Gargoyles

Free eBooks (Can Be Downloaded):

John Yarker - Arcane Schools
Michael Prescott - Darklore
Aleister Crowley - Oracles
Basil Crouch - Fairy Gold
Aleister Crowley - Gargoyles

World Tragedy

Book: World Tragedy by Aleister Crowley

This is one of the rarest of Crowley's published works. The book was privately printed in Paris in 1910 in an edition of 100 copies, but it seems certain that either the rather enthusiastic discussion of sodomy in British schools in the Preface or the books rather virulently anti-Christian sentiments attracted some censor's wrath, and it is generally believed That Most copies were destroyed in the course of customs seizures. The fact that it was originally bound in exceedingly flimsy wrappers probably did not help the books longevity, and the few copies that have survived have, like this one, almost always been rebound.

Crowley possibly also played a part in the destruction - or at least mutilation - of some copies of the work. Timothy D'Arch Smith quotes a letter From Crowley to John Quinn in which the Beast wrote "100 printed. All mutilated of pp xxvii and xxviii [ie the homosexual references] except in a few copies in the hands of the author's friends." This copy has not been thus mutilated, perhaps for the very reason that it was from the Collection of one of Crowley's friends: that is Wilfred T. Smith (1885-1957). Smith was an English-born disciple of Crowley's, who joined Achad in the first North American Lodge of the O.T.O., (British Columbia, No. 1), and later went on to found Agape Lodge in California. He was a lifetime follower of Crowley's, although the Beast treated him abysmally, and shunned him in his latter days.

Download Aleister Crowley's eBook: World Tragedy

Books in PDF format to read:

Aleister Crowley - Control Of The Astral Body
Aleister Crowley - Household Gods Comedy
Aleister Crowley - The World Of Tarot
Aleister Crowley - World Tragedy

Olla An Anthology Of Sixty Years Of Song

Book: Olla An Anthology Of Sixty Years Of Song by Aleister Crowley

The last book Crowley published before his death. An Anthology of Sixty Years of song by Aleister Crowley. Poetry. Aleister Crowley's best poems selection.

Buy Aleister Crowley's book: Olla An Anthology Of Sixty Years Of Song

Free e-books (can be downloaded):

Frater Achad - The Anatomy Of The Body Of God
Reformed Druids - Anthology 05 The Great Druish Books
Aleister Crowley - Olla An Anthology Of Sixty Years Of Song

Secret Agent 666 Introduction

Book: Secret Agent 666 Introduction by Richard Spence

Aleister Crowley is best known today as a founding father of modern Occultism. His wide, hypnotic eyes peer at us from the cover of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and his Influence can be found everywhere in popular culture. Crowley, also known as the Great Beast, has been the subject of several biographies, some painting him as a misunderstood genius, others as a manipulative charlatan. None of them have looked seriously at his career as an agent of British Intelligence. Using documents gleaned from British, American, French, and Italian archives, Secret Agent 666 sensationally reveals that Crowley played a major role in the sinking of the Lusitania, a plot to overthrow the government of Spain, the thwarting of Irish and Indian nationalist conspiracies, and the 1941 flight of Rudolf Hess.

Download Richard Spence's eBook: Secret Agent 666 Introduction

Books in PDF format to read:

Pino Longchild - Wicca Revealed An Introductory Course In Wicca
Kaatryn Macmorgan Douglas - All One Wicca Book 1 Introduction
Michael Ford - Luciferian Witchcraft An Introduction
Reformed Druids - Anthology 00 Introduction
Richard Spence - Secret Agent 666 Introduction

Will In Thelema

Will is at once an exceedingly simple and amazingly complex subject. It took me years to get to the understanding I currently possess, and I am fairly certain I am not yet done with my learning on this matter. Suffice it is to say that this page will not be able to cover fully my Life's lessons regarding Will.

Will constitutes that which a person means to do. For example, if you feel you need to open a window, then, in a sense, it is your Will to do so.

However, Will is not some casual and flippant representation of every passing whim of the individual (See Brother R.B.'s thesis on the matter for a countering viewpoint). Understanding Will absolutely demands an understanding of respect for all things. To execute one's Will, one must actively seek to respect the Will of others.

The theory is that if every person were following their true Will, there would never be any unneccessary conflicts between persons, because the nature of the Universe, with all its complexity, includes these interworking Wills. Conflicts which do occur are generally caused by either someone straying from their True Will, or are conflicts which need to happen to further the evolution of humanity.

Will is not frivolous in nature. It represents a very serious commitment to understanding one's role in the Universe, and to acting on that commitment.

Some people seem to think it is their Will to force others to do as they demand. Though it is possible that their True Will includes such activities, I personally find it more likely that people who lean on this as justification for their actions are generating false rationalizations.

An example: A friend of mine was heavily involved with the local wiccan community, and hosts the ceremonies for the Sabbats. One year, she was caught in a public place discussing the upcoming ceremony in the presence of the head of a new Thelemic organization in town. He pointedly asked her if he would be invited to come to the event. It was a bit rude to ask like that, in a public place, because any answer other than in the affirmative would certainly be rude, given his status at the time. So she invited him to the Sabbat.

He showed up with several of his underlings, and during the preceremony gathering, they all proceeded to get drunk. During the ceremony, they began to urinate -- and I don't have all the details on this part, as to whether it was on the altar, or in the circle, or what have you -- and thought this was just the funniest thing that they'd ever seen happen.

My friend's mate was a fairly well grounded Thelemite, and, incidentally, a member of the O.T.O., and he approached these jerks. Their response? "Why, were just doing our will, brother. You should let us continue."

His response was "If you continue to dishonor and desecrate a ceremony that all these people", and he gestured to the crowd behind him, "hold sacred, then it'll be my Will to kick your asses out of here."

They were stunned. Descriptions of their stunnedness suggest that perhaps this condition was prolonged by their collective inebriated stupor. My friend's mate then leaned forward, gave a small half wave and said "93!". He turned his back on the jerks and returned to whatever function he was performing before the distraction.

After awhile, the drunkards wandered away.

I'm convinced that it wasn't really their True Will to pee in the circle, but of course I'll never know. I'm sure they were just using the Law of Thelema as a shield to hide behind, in a vague and immature attempt to justify their ascinine actions.

One of the clearest signs I have come to recognize that someone is falsely justifying their action as being in accord with their True Will is when they try to use that argument to other people in defense of their actions.

A Thelemite doesn't concern himself with justifying his actions to anyone. What does it matter what those other people think? The only thing that matters is that the action was in league with the Thelemite's understanding of his own True Will. Noone else dictates it, and it caters to noone else. Therefore, what they think of it is of no concern to the Thelemite.

So when I hear people defending their actions, presenting as their strongest, and frequently only, evidence the fact that they are doing their Will, all sorts of red flags go up.

Not that it matters what I think; in fact, spending any amount of time on the matter of the True Will of another being is pretty much wasted time anyway; the focus of a Thelemite is his own True Will. Period.

Ironically, after much time spent in pursuit of understanding Will and attempting to describe Will to others, I have discovered that I actually learned more about Will when I was focusing on the Will of others, rather than myself and my own Will; the difference was that I was trying to find ways to not infringe upon the Will of others, as opposed to trying to ascertain what it was. It was then, and only then, that I began to develop any sense of understanding my own Will, and understanding Thelema as a concept unto itself. And so, only by spending a lot of time looking into the Will of others was I able to see what a waste of time worrying about the Wills of others was, and yet, it was only by this means I could have come to the realization.

And so Will is actually quite a complicated subject. To know what one's True Will is takes a lot of introspection, and to execute one's Will requires a great deal of patience and care.

The Law of Thelema is all about learning one's True Will and executing it.

Books You Might Enjoy:

Morwyn - The Golden Dawn
Aristotle - On The Soul
William Godwin - The Lives Of The Necromancers

What Crowley Got To Do With Thelema

It's strange being a magickian among the witches. Stranger still being a Thelemite magickian, a member of the OTO and other Orders and always getting blamed for Uncle Al's misbehavior. Really! What does aleister crowley have to do with Thelema anyway?

He's only its founder…

In 1904, in a small hotel room in Cairo the end of the world occurred. The Apocalypse happened and only a middle aged cynical rationalist Buddhist was there to see it. He did not want to be there but after his pregnant wife started telling him "They're waiting for you," he took some interest. He asked "Who are They, What are They like, What are their Attributes?" And she, neither initiate nor studied, rattled off the secret and unpublished traditional Golden Dawn correspondences for Horus: His color, planet, station in the temple her husbands relationship with the god and many another attribute. The Buddhist, formerly an adept of the Golden Dawn, calculated the odds of correctly guessing the right combination and it was astronomical. Horus was calling.

He was still skeptical. "Show me his image," he demanded of his wife, and off they went to the Cairo Museum. He secretly smirked as she walked right past image after image of Horus until she stopped and pointed, "That one!" It was the Funerary Stele of the Priest Ankh-af-na-Khonsu. In the Museum catalogue it was numbered Stele #666. Crowley, whose mother used to always call him "You Beast!" was dumbfounded. He had the curators make a copy and a translation and went back to the hotel.

Rose, his wife, told him to do an invocation to Horus, but the way she wanted him to do it broke all the rules. He was to invoke the archetype and force that is Horus among the Egyptians from among four other cultures all at the same time! Although common in modern practice in his day this was unheard of. He went and invoked the Patron of all Magicks, Thoth, who told him to obey his wife.

On March 20, 1904 Crowley was told by the image of Horus he invoked to enter the emptied room of their hotel suite with only paper and pen and wearing a simple white robe on April 8, 9, and 10 at the stroke of noon.

He sat down at the desk facing the wall of the room with paper and pen in hand. As the twelfth bell was tolled, a Voice behind the scribe began to speak, "Had, the manifestation of Nuit…" This was Aiwaz, the minister of Hoor-Paar-Khraat; the babe in the lotus, the god of innocence and silence. He had come to announce the end of the reign of Osirus, the Slain God, and the enthroning of Ra-Hoor-Khuit, the Risen Lord. Very much like the angel of the Apocalypse of John, who came bearing a little book to be kept sealed until the end times, Aiwaz came bearing words of a new testament of the relationship of Humanity with the Divine.

The central image of this relationship is Ra-Hoor-Khuit, which means in Egyptian the Illuminated Solar Hero. Horus is the only god among the Egyptians who is, dies, and is born again forgetting all of his godly wisdom but with all of its unguided power. Through His struggles against Set (read Matter) and with the help of his teachers Isis and Thoth, he remembers Who He Is. He awakens from His dreamlike ignorance and chooses to war no more against His Twin as He now remembers Set to be. No longer needing to fight with Matteriality, educated in Art, by Isis, and Science, by Thoth, He is suitable now to rule.

Without an adversarial attitude toward the world what of the Buddhist doctrine "All is Sorrow?" Chucked. What of the Christian attitude of suffering? Not necessary. "Remember all ye that existence is pure joy, that all the sorrows are but as shadows, they pass & are done; but there is that which remains. (AL II, 9)" What Aiwaz was saying Crowley would not accept but he was forced to write on, "I see thee hate the hand and the pen but for me in thee which thou knewest not…" For three days from Noon until the stroke of One, Crowley wrote the two hundred and twenty verses of the Book of the Law.

For nine years the manuscript gathered dust in the attic of Crowley's Scottish Highland home. Until one day, while looking for skis for a guest he found the manuscript. He had avoided magick and all things related since the time in Cairo. No yoga, no meditation, just being a husband. I think his marriage ended at this point or he chose to go on an excursion to the Sahara for some particular reason. During his sojourn in the desert he was inspired to perform the Enochian Calls of the 30 ?thers. During this visionary experience he became convinced of the profound importance of the Book of the Law and determined to promulgate its way.

In essence Thelema is a call to radical individual Liberty and Responsibility. It is summed up in the axiom "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law." Thelema is Greek for will in its creative, magickal or primogenital sense. Thus for an incarnate being one's will is the intent for which one incarnated. The working hypothesis is that if all things did their Will, did what they are "supposed" to do, there would be no Accidents. The model to describe this is the orderly Solar System, each planet following its own orbit. However, stars, some times whole galaxies, collide. "As brothers fight ye," we are counciled. There will be conflicts of will, perhaps from a greater perspective the conflict itself is the central act and not the apparent ends, and so with the awareness that we are essentially all family let us enter into our conflicts with justice, fairness and honor in our hearts.

This brings us to the phrase, "Love is the law, love under will." This is the principle which is expressed in physics as gravity. In the Egyptian and Hermetic philosophies there is no separation between the forces of nature and the actions of the Humanity and the Divine. The apparent differences are a question of scale. Love is seen at the natural attraction of all things for each other as gravity binds all matter together over vast distances. The place of will is then a matter of determining the right relationship to have with other bodies. We are at the correct distance from the Sun for our kind of life to flourish on Earth. Not much closer or farther would kill us. Thus is Earth in a state of love under will towards the Sun, prolonging its rightful existence. We choose to be near our friends and lovers, we choose to be far from places of pestilence and decay. The law is love, we must have relation, but we get to choose how to relate, placing our love under will.

Throughout the Book of the Law there are little messages to Crowley telling him he will never fully understand that which he has written. An ego blow for sure, but when we look at the declaration made in the third verse, "Every man and every woman is a star," and look at Crowley's life it is obvious that he never out grew the Victorian misogyny he was raised with. Although he intellectually comprehended the equality of the sexes he never lived it. Unfortunately, some who follow this path follow in Aleister's footsteps, others are simply blamed for it…

I was raised by stern Irish-Polish Catholic parents. It was wrong to say "no" to them; obedience was a virtue. I was expected to follow out the program set down for me by parents in education, then grow up and get a "respectable" job. However, the world my parents grew up in is not the one I'm living in and they simply don't have the experience necessary to advise me. With the way I was raised I was very uncertain of myself. I did not know what I really wanted to be when I grew up. To Know Your Will is to know Who You Are and What You Want. This is the essence of the practice of Thelema.

Using classical and self-created rituals and meditations I seek and attain to knowledge of my Will daily, ever knowing that my Will is not a dead static thing but a living process. Perhaps in an ultimate sense one's will is always perfect, yet from our limited perspective we don't always see how. Many 'accidents' become windfalls, if viewed in this light. This is the central teaching of Thelema, that everything is already perfect, if we should just awaken from our ignorant slumber and see.

When Crowley returned from his trip in the desert, several books of verses came spontaneously to his mind and pen and, having written them, he was as yet uncertain of the author. They came to be known as the Holy Books of Thelema, recently published by Samuel Weiser & Co. These cover in greater detail the Cosmogony of Thelema as a resention of the Egyptian Gnosis and as an extension of Hermetic Philosophy. These Texts show the Great Work as the working towards ending of Sorrow, Sickness and Death: Hedonic Immortalism; learning through pleasure, through love, creativity and cooperation. No longer is it necessary to have a ruler high upon his or her throne to tell us all what to do. "There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt." Each of us is a sovereign with the right and the power to create the world we wish to live in, and also the responsibility.

Responsibility is the key to practicing Thelema. By being willing and able to respond to the needs of the times, we as humans fulfill our role in the world as the causers of change and growth. No animal on this planet has the tool making and using skills that we have to transform our environment into a living Heaven or Hell.

Archimedes said, "Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand and I shall move the world." If working the path of causing responsible change is your heart's desire, then Thelema might give you the Lever Long Enough and a Place to Stand.

Oh, yes, what's Crowley got to do with Thelema any way?

Well, he wrote it down…

Books You Might Enjoy:

Aleister Crowley - White Stains
Aleister Crowley - Book 4 Part Iv The Law
Aleister Crowley - To Man
Aleister Crowley - Pocket Guide To Thelema

Liber 860 John St John The Record Of The Magical Retirement

Book: Liber 860 John St John The Record Of The Magical Retirement by Aleister Crowley

John St. John. The Record of the Magical Retirement of G.H. Frater O.M. (Aleister Crowley). A model of what a Magical record should be, so far as accurate Analysis and fullness are concerned. Equinox I i, Supplement

Download Aleister Crowley's eBook: Liber 860 John St John The Record Of The Magical Retirement

Free eBooks (Can Be Downloaded):

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky - Liber 71 The Voice Of The Silence
Aleister Crowley - Liber 095 The Wake World With Additional Comments
Aleister Crowley - Liber 165 A Master Of The Temple
Aleister Crowley - Liber 860 John St John The Record Of The Magical Retirement

The Last Days Of Aleister Crowley

In 1975 Rodney Davies met Kathleen "Johnny" Symonds, who had been Aleister Crowley's (AKA "The Great Beast 666" and "The Wickedest Man on Earth") landlady during the last months of his life in 1947. Here's his entertaining piece about it.

200908270919 Crowley brought with him some special gold coins, which he claimed had magic powers and was anxious about keeping safe, and a 'box of (I Ching) sticks'. He made frequent use of the latter. 'When he had an appointment for the dentist, for instance, he threw the sticks in the air. And once he called me and said, "Phone the dentist immediately! The sticks have told me not to go." The dentist was very amazed.'

The Great Beast soon settled into a regular daily routine. At nine each morning the housekeeper Miss Clarke took him his breakfast, and at ten, if the weather was fine, he would take a stroll in the garden, where Johnny kept some beautiful plump white rabbits, which he nicknamed 'The Chrysanthemums' and would love to watch. When the sun shone he would often sit with his hands held heavenwards.

Crowley then spent most of the rest of the day sleeping in his room, where he also took his other meals. His favourite snack was sardines sprinkled with curry powder. He roused himself as darkness fell, and sat up all night either writing letters, reading or indulging in his heroin drug habit.

'He had a ration of heroin which was allowed him,' Mrs Symonds said. 'It used to come down from a chemist called Heppel's in London. But the police knew about it. I've often watched him stick a needle in his arm. He didn't mind.'

...

According to Johnny, Aleister Crowley was an easy-going, trouble-free resident, who not only spent much of his time in his room, but who rubbed along well with the other visitors and with her and her husband. Indeed, her feelings about him were entirely positive: 'I liked him,' she said. 'He was great fun.'

Books You Might Enjoy:

Kenneth Grant - Aleister Crowley And The Hidden God
Aleister Crowley - To Man
Aleister Crowley - Poems
Aleister Crowley - Duty
Thomas Voxfire - What Was Aleister Crowley

The Wickedest Man In The World

John Bull, March 24th 1923

The Wickedest Man In The World

In this article we reveal startling facts regarding the corruption of children in Aleister Crowley's "cesspool of vice" in Cefalu, and describe some of the blasphemous and bestial ceremonies - or orgies - which have taken place in the so-called "Abbey Of Thelema," for which he is now seeking new recruits from the young men and women of two English Universities.



In our last two issues we have published a series of charges against a man named Aleister Crowley, who from a safe retreat on the shores of Sicily spreads a contaminating influence that has already brought to ruin more than one young life. The more the activities of this degenerate Englishman are investigated, the more incredible becomes the tales of his villainies. It is understood that the Italian Government are resolved to put an end to Crowley's career of vice, and in this effort they will have the sympathy of decent-thinking people in every land.

Our past exposures of Crowley have been, to say the least of them, highly sensational, but they are as nothing compared to these we have yet to make concerning the amazing record of this degenerate poet and occultist, traitor, drug fiend, and Master of Black Magic, his knowledge and practise of which are amply proven by his writings and by the evidence of those who have come into contact with him. He may well be described as the Wickedest Man in the World.

We are impelled by the sheer horror and gravity of his recent devilries to make further exposures concerning what is going on in his Lust Temple at Cefalu, Sicily, to which he is seeking to lure a number of unsuspecting students from Oxford and Cambridge Universities - both men and women - under the pretence of studying occult science and the mysteries of the Cabbala. Already, one eminent Cambridge professor - whose identity is known to us - has arranged to join Crowley at Cefalu next month for this purpose, and is now working with a well-known titled scientist in South Africa, who is, we are informed, conducting a Lodge or "Study Circle" in Bloemfontien, of the Cabalistic Order, of which Crowley is the Past, if not the Present, Grand Master.

Our revelations of the sinister circumstances leading to the recent death of a brilliant young Oxford graduate at Crowley's so-called "Abbey," in Cefalu, first brought to light the existence there of little children, all between five and seven years of age, who are living there with the Beast and his abandoned acolytes under conditions that defy description.

These unhappy children - two boys and a girl - are said to be half starved and have already been taught by "The Beast" to indulge in the vilest practises, while they are made to witness sexual debaucheries that are too disgusting to describe. Tow are children of one of the female drug fiends who are living with Crowley in his "Abbey," one of them by her former husband, and the other by Crowley, who is the father also of the third child by some other of his countless women victims.

The main room of the "Abbey" - which is really a converted farmhouse - is windowless, with a flagged stone floor on which is painted a great orange circle, lined with pale yellow. Inside this "magical circle" are interlaced black triangles. This room is furnished as a sort of pagan, or Pantheistic, temple, in which are performed, not only Cabalistic ceremonies, but the most depraved forms of Dionysian rites. (Dionysus was the Greek God of Wine, in whose honour Bacchanalian revels and orgies were given.)

The nature of these can be barely hinted at, but one - to the facts of which we have two independent eye-witnesses of it's performance on two separate occasions - has to do with the violation of a naked woman in front of the "altar," and her subsequent slaying and "sacrifice" of a goat, which is made to play a principal part in these disgusting Dionysian rites.

The woman, who acts as the "Virgin Goddess" or priestess in this vile ceremony, is first given an aphrodisaical drug, such as hashish (known in the East as Vhang") or another similar drug distilled from Indian hemp, known in scientific circles as "Anhalonium Lewine."
This renders the debauchee capable of participating in practices which no normal person could conceive of, much less describe.

We understand that, aroused by our exposures, the Italian Government is determined to clean out this plague-spot of crime at Cefalu, and bring Crowley to justice for his illegal traffic in noxious drugs.

There are, however, other "activities" at the Abbey which admit of more detailed accusation. One of these is the method employed by Crowley of paying his numerous debts on the island, by sending out his women as "hostages" to those who are willing to accept this despicable method of payment.

Another, which has considerably hampered our enquiries and is even calculated to baffle the inquiries which have already been instituted by the Home Office and by Scotland Yard, is Crowley’s practise of getting certain prominent and highly-placed citizens of Cefalu and Palermo up to his "Abbey," where they are persuaded to take part in the sexual orgies which follow drug parties, and which even form a leading part in the Abbey’s "religious ceremonies."

We shall not hesitate to hand to the authorities the names of some of these distinguished visitors, together with further sworn testimony if, as we anticipate, a certain official on the Island endeavours to stifle Government investigations.

Suffice to say for the moment, that one of Crowley’s women in the "Abbey" is shortly expecting another child to be born, the father of which is known to be a prominent banker in Palermo, who is a friend of the British Consul.

We may mention that, up to the time of this article going to press - no death certificate has been received by the relatives of the young Oxford graduate who died under such suspicious circumstances at the Abbey four weeks ago, nor has any reply been received from the British Consul at Palermo to the anxious inquiries made by the young man’s mother and sister concerning his death.

Another of the women inmates of the Abbey has borne two children by Crowley, both of whom are now dead. This woman was living with him when he had his London Lust Temple in the Fulham Road, to which he enticed a number of young women whom he induced to indulge in various forms of unnatural vice while under the influence of drugs which he had administered first to them. Since our publication of the particulars of his abominable attack upon the life and sanity of one of our informants, we have received information which shows that he has deliberately driven other women mad who had come under his influence. One of these died on Holloway Jail while serving a term for being found in possession of the drugs with which Crowley had supplied her, while another - the Hon. Mrs. K., died in an asylum.

Unless the authorities act quickly Crowley will succeed in luring others to hi den of infamy. This must be prevented at all costs.

Books You Might Enjoy:

Andrew Lang - The Witch And Other Stories
Rabbi Michael Laitman - Attaining The Worlds Beyond
Naomi Janowitz - Magic In The Roman World

The Birth Of The Thelema Religion

It was when this honeymoon was in Cairo that the young buddhist's wife wanted to see evidence of magick. Crowley decided to invoke the sylphs for his wife. She claimed she saw nothing. However, she began telling him "they're here" and mumbling something about a child. He couldn't imagine what she was talking about, so the next day when she continued, he invoked Thoth, the Egyptian god of knowledge, to make sense of it. There was no immediate result, but on the third day, Rose decides that the Egyptian god Horus is speaking through her. Crowley, in an attempt to prove her wrong, carries her to the Bulaq Museum in Cairo and she promptly points out a funerary tablet labeled Stele 666 and the figure of Horus as Ra-Hoor-Khuit.

For the next three weeks, Crowley had the stele translated by the assistant curator to the museum. At the end of that time, he invoked Horus and was told to enter the temple at exactly noon on April 8th, 9th, and 10th, writing down what was given to him. On each of the three days, he was given a new chapter to a book by Aiwass, whom Crowley began to consider his Holy Guardian Angel. The three chapters formed a book which became known as The Book of the Law. This became the foundation of a new philosophy called Thelema.

The first chapter is written as if spoken by Nuit, the goddess of space. It describes worship directed towards the infinite. The second chapter is written as if spoken by Hadit, the infinitesimal point and the consort of Nuit. It sets up timed religious observances as well as further codes of conduct. The third chapter is spoken as if by Horus, the crowned and conquering child, the synthesis of the two. This chapter takes on a war-like tone and finishes up the instructions on conduct as well as giving tasks for the future.

At first, since it clashed with Crowley's Buddhist leanings, he rejected the Book of the Law, primarily because of the wording of the third chapter. However, he eventually began to see the sense of it and started the first thelemic order, the order of the silver star or Argentum Astrum (A.: A.:) in 1907. He also, per the instructions in the book, began working on commentaries to the Book of the Law, setting himself up as the prophet of the New Aeon or age. He began devoting himself to the promulgation of the Law of Thelema by writing many poems and books as well as other activities.

It was one of these writings that caused him to be contacted by a man named Theodor Reuss in 1913. Reuss claimed that Crowley had published the secret of the pseudo-masonic order called the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) and demanded he be initiated into it, taking oaths to protect the secret. After proof of his publishing of the secret, Crowley relented and was initiated. The very next year he advanced to tenth degree in that order and became head of Great Britian and Ireland for the order.

The next year, Crowley traveled to Moscow and, after attending a Orthodox mass, sat down to write the Gnostic Mass, a Mass incorporating not only the ideals of Thelema, but also the secret of the OTO. It was his goal to provide a religion for the new aeon, incorporating the philosophy in symbol suitable for public performance. Through the use of theater and song, it would proclaim the Law for all.

In 1922, Crowley became the head of the OTO, the first old aeon organization to accept the Law of Thelema and its precepts. He spent the rest of his life traveling and sharing this Law with the world, not only through his own association, but with numerous books, poems, and articles. At the age of 71, Aleister Crowley, with his son Ataturk at his side, succumbed to his Greater Feast and died. His ashes were buried near a tree on the property of Karl Germer, a holocaust survivor, and his successor to the OTO.

Books You Might Enjoy:

John Dee - The Hieroglyphic Monad French Version
Michael Ford - The Book Of The Witch Moon
Ole Wolf - Analysis Of The Church Of Satan The Emperor New Religion
Eliphas Levi - The Magic Ritual Of The Sanctum Regnum
Robert Ellwood - The Encyclopedia Of World Religions

Spiritual Practice Of Thelema

Many occultists endlessly spin out cosmologies and other symbolic arrangements having little relationship to any apparent pragmatic issue. Crowley speculated quite a lot, but coming from the rigorous curriculum of ritual and meditation of the Golden Dawn, and exposure to Buddhist monasticism and Hindu yoga, he was more concerned with setting up a program of spiritual exercises and degrees.

In Thelema the goal of the path is always the same, to be the most oneself that one can be, to know who you really are and to let that eternal self or True Will be the guiding force in life. To do this it is recommended that one practice ritual and meditative disciplines that still and focus the mind, travel astrally to various locations in the spiritual world inside or outside oneself, invoke sacred energies and beings, evoke and command spirits, attain to the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel at the central sphere of the Tree of Life (called Tiphareth or Beauty), and at the Abyss between the supernal and lower spheres, give up all one's conceptions about one's self in favor of the radical perspective of the eternal self.

Initiation is a major theme in Crowley's system of Thelema, as in its two direct ancestors, the Golden Dawn and Theosophy. Initiation is a complex subject and has been the subject of extensive study by anthropologists. Freemasonry is an initiatic tradition in Western society that follows the model of initiation accepted by anthropologists, and esoteric Freemasonry has been a major contributor to the Golden Dawn, Theosophy, and Thelema as well as other magical groups, including modern Witchcraft. Initiations mark stages in personal development. Occult theories differ on whether initiations induce progress by working magic on the initiate, or whether they mark progress already made in personal work, or both.

The practices of Crowley's system are arranged in an initiatic progression that is called the A.·. A.·. system (those glyphs after the letter "A" are triangles made up of three dots, a Masonic usage indicating a claim to possess the Lost Word). This curriculum is a combination of Golden Dawn magic, Yogic and Buddhist meditation practices, and original practices developed by Crowley. The work required to achieve even the middle ranges of the system is very difficult and few people have accomplished this. Many Thelemites have claimed personal attainment in A.·. A.·. terms without undertaking the basic requirements.

The curriculum requires the daily practice of rituals and meditations, as well as magical retirements, a kind of one-person spiritual retreat in which weeks or months at a time may be spent in meditative solitude. The motto of Crowley's literary and magical journal, the Equinox, was "The Method of Science, the Aim of Religion". While his methods fall short of a truly scientific standard, one feature his system shares with anthropology is the requirement that one keep a detailed journal of practices and observations. Writing a phenomenological record of ritual experience is a crucial part of what is called ethnographic field observation in anthropology and of the A.·. A.·. system as well.

The A.·. A.·. system of initiations follows the spheres of the Tree of Life, as did the Golden Dawn. In addition to the Golden Dawn and a variety of Freemasonic and fringe Masonic degrees, Crowley gave and received the A.·. A.·. grades, the Ordo Templi Orientis degrees, and the ordinations and bishoprics of the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica or Gnostic Catholic Church. These are all different systems but there is some overlap in themes and practices. The O.T.O. system follows a traditional model derived from Freemasonry, although like all Crowley's groups it admits both women and men. Rather than any arduous practices being required as in A.·. A.·., patience, devotion, the O.T.O. initiation rituals, some secret teachings, and a fraternal social process are supposed to equip the initiate over time to deal with inner mysteries of a magical nature. The EGC system is closely related to the O.T.O. but revolves around the traditional ecclesiastical offices of Priest and Bishop, as found in the wandering Bishop tradition of esoteric Christianity.

A number of new Thelemic groups with their own initiations and courses of study have sprung up since Crowley's death in 1947 and several are currently in operation. In addition, there are a number of different lineages of A.·. A.·. and several rival claimants to the title of O.T.O. The largest O.T.O. group, under Hymenaeus Beta, has won court cases in which it asserted the right to the O.T.O. name and to its share of the Crowley estate.

The Literalist might say this: The A.·. A.·. is the Great White Brotherhood, that hidden order of Initiates that has existed in Service throughout the ages and has emerged behind such masks as the Rosicrucians and the Zoroastrian Magi. The Third Order of A.·. A.·. has direct access to the deities and sages who operate the Occult Government not only of this world but of other worlds as well, both physical and spiritual. The Book of the Law was sent to humanity by the A.·. A.·. on the occasion of the revolution in ?ons declared by its Secret Chiefs. Crowley held the grade of Magus in the A.·. A.·. and as such uttered the Word of the ?on, THELEMA, which all members accept as natural Law. Outer Orders such as O.T.O. are less important than the Inner Order of A.·. A.·. but exist in Service to it and may prepare the worthy to scale its heights.

The Chaotic might say this: The A.·. A.·. is an abstraction which includes all authentic magical paths. There are real groups that call themselves the A.·. A.·. but its real nature is in the continuity of spiritual traditions everywhere. Different groups may be best for different people and thinking of any one group as the One True Path is a remnant of the ?on of Osiris. Today there are spiritual methods that improve on Crowley's curriculum, like isolation tanks, trance music, sigilization, and mind machines. The Protestant work ethic is obsolete and there's no reason a magical path has to cop a Victorian attitude. Progress is possible through play as much as perseverance and perspiration.

The Skeptic might say this: Religious systems present themselves as revolving around doctrine, practice, and morality but they can often be best understood by the methods of political science, group psychology, sociology and anthropology. The homogenizing and leveling effects of social bonding are always in tension with the freedom of the individual. The ruling system offers a narrow range of compromises to preserve an appearance of free thought while keeping the range of acceptable viewpoints and statements narrow through tacit groupthink processes and/or overt dogma. The work of such scholars as Gershom Scholem, who researched the dynamic between traditional dogma and individual spiritual experience in Qabala, and Ellic Howe, who documented the social dynamics of the Golden Dawn, is useful in understanding Thelema as well. Thelemic groups have a dogmatic tendency that is in conflict with their commitment to freedom. There are many power dynamics involved in initiatic hierarchy and many people seek degrees for status and power. Still there is no psychological reason to doubt the basic premise of spiritual exercise -- that by dedicating time and work to the development of mental faculties they may be strengthened just as physical exercise strengthens the body.

The Mystic might say this: The ordinary mind is a roaring babble that drowns out the voices of the Holy Guardian Angel and of the True Will. Establishing Silence through Yogic concentration, then calling upon and strongly imagining the Forces behind the sensible world and emanating downward from Kether, one may climb the Ladder of Lights and obtain Enlightenment. Most people require instruction by groups to learn the practices that make Enlightenment more than a faint hope or dream and all such Fraternities derive their authority from A.·. A.·., which has existed since humans have and perhaps longer. Descending from Kether is a great Spiritual Hierarchy that beckons downwards to us and calls us Upward, as our Aspiration also lifts us Upward through the successive Emanations of the one supreme and invisible God within ourselves.

Books You Might Enjoy:

Sepharial - Primary Directions Made Easy
Aleister Crowley - Pocket Guide To Thelema
Anonymous - The Prayers Of The Elementals
Ophiel - The Art Practice Of Caballa Magic

Rioghal Mo Dhream

One of the most obscure entries on the A A reading list of "suggestive materials" is a book with a seemingly familiar title. But James Grant's The Adventures of Rob Roy (1864) is different from the well-known novel Rob Roy (1818) by Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), despite the fact that another Scott novel, Redgauntlet (1824), confusingly appears on the list immediately preceding this entry. Walter Scott, who made such a great success with his invention of the historical novel in the "Waverley" series of heroic stories from the British past, remained enormously popular throughout the nineteenth century. In his wake, especially in the many periodical magazines in which most Victorian fiction originally appeared, there was a huge publishing market for historically instructive adventure romances. The Scottish writer James Grant (1822-1887), who knew how to spice his storytelling with Gaelic phrases and tales from folklore, and to provide a maximum of violence and excitement for his (presumably young) readers, has nearly faded from the reference books by now. Publishers in his own time considered him a significant and substantial novelist, and over a long mid-Victorian career Grant produced dozens of "knock-off" books inspired by Sir Walter Scott, for readers who somehow couldn't seem to get enough of these tales.
Grant's The Adventures of Rob Roy is a very readable blood-and-thunder romance of the Scottish Highlands in the early eighteenth century, and might easily have been a boyhood favorite of Crowley's. He might have thought of it again later during his association with the Golden Dawn (mid-1898 to early 1900), and while working with the leader and principal magical theorist of that group. Born Samuel Liddell Mathers on 8 January 1854, this seminal occult figure had grown up fatherless, fascinated by mysticism, indulging in fantasies of a secret heritage, and at an early age became an active freemason, scholar, and qaballist. Even in 1878, while still living with his mother, he was calling himself the Comte de Glenstrae when he could get away with it, or sometimes the Comte MacGregor, and claiming a suppressed Jacobite ancestry from the outlawed Highland clan of the MacGregors of Glenstrae. Crowley might even have included Grant's novel on the A A list partially out of spite, because Mathers had obviously studied the book, and may even have derived a substantial portion of his personal mythology from it. Edward Alexander Crowley had also changed his name as a teenager, however, and the unusual spelling of his adopted forename likewise figures prominently in Grant's book. Like Mathers and many others, Aleister Crowley was an Englishman unable to resist the "Celtic Revival" styles of the late nineteenth century, and he enjoyed representing himself at various times as Irish or Scottish.
Join Caitlin and the Section Two Reading Group at Oz House on Monday evening 19th January at 8:00 for a discussion of this book, illustrated with readings of selected passages. We begin by following the MacAleister and the MacGregor as they scrutinize the landscape for omens in their journey over the heath in search of vengeance for the outrages suffered by their outlawed clan. The MacGregor finds frequent occasion to call out their motto "'S Rioghal mo dhream!" to remind them of their secret royal blood, even as they are forced to pass themselves off as common folk. . . .

Books You Might Enjoy:

Siddhartha Gautama - Dhammapada
Michael Prescott - Darklore
Aristotle - On Dreams

Rosicrucian Mysteries

Attempt to stop their publication, Mr. Aleister Crowley, the defendant in the case of MacGregor . Crowley appealed an order of Mr. Justice Buckmill at chambers. Mr. Whately with him, Mr. A. Neilson for the defendant, said that the order appealed from granted an injunction restraining the publication in the third number tomorrow (March 22) of a magazine called the "Equinox" of any matter relating to the secret forms, rituals or transactions of magic order known as the Rosicrucian, of which the plaintiff Comte Liddell MacGregor claimed to be the head or chief.

The defendant was the proprietor of the "Equinox". No.2 was published in September and there was commenced in it a series of Articles entitled "The Temple Of Solomon The King" and the articles were intended to be continued in No.3 which was due to be published tomorrow (March 22nd). Counsel submitted that the injunction should be dissolved, because on the writ and affidavit by the plaintiff, it was plain that there was no cause of action disclosed. His next point was that he could satisfy the court that the plaintiff knew all about the matter of which complaint was made on November 11, and the writ was not issued until March 11, only ten days before the day the magazine was about to be published.

Lord Justice Moulton asked what were the tenets of the order. Mr. Whately replied that it was instituted for the study of the mysteries of philosophy and antiquity. Lord justice Farwell asked Sir Frederick Lawrence, who with Mr. P. RoseInnes appeared for the plaintiff, what harm would be likely to be done with the publication of the matter in question.

Sir Lawrence replied that it would do irreparable harm " for the cat would be out of the bag"{laughter}. Sir Frederick - "Perhaps there is a second cat in the bag, my lord"{laughter}, and added that it was because the defendant had threatened to publish "a perfect account of the initiation of this ritual" that the application for an interim interruption was made. Lord Justice Vaughan Williams, in giving judgement, said that the injunction must be dissolved as the application made as it was on the eve of the publication of this number of the magazine, was made too late.
The Lord Justice Moulton and Farwell considered.

Solicitors for the defendant Messrs Steadman, Van Prague, and Gaylor, for the plaintiff Mr.Frederick Lawrence.;R.C.

Books You Might Enjoy:

Franz Cumont - The Mysteries Of Mithra
Roman Tertius Sibellius - De Vermis Mysteriis
Hargrave Jennings - The Rosicrucians Their Rites And Mysteries
John Dee - The Rosie Crucian Secrets
Max Heindel - The Rosicrucian Mysteries

Crowley Ordo Temple Orientis And Thelema

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

Crowley Decay And Disillusion

The end of the Abbey came when Raoul Loveday, one of Crowley' disciples, died after drinking the blood of a cat. Mortified, his wife Betty May fled back to England and sold her story to the press. The British media immediately dubbed Crowley "the wickedest man in the world". The temple was disbanded and many of Crowley' former disciples went mad or committed suicide. Leah Hirsig turned to prostitution. Finally, in 1923, a year after Crowley published his Diary of a Drug Fiend, Benito Mussolini, the Italian dictator, had him deported.

Crowley went on to publish more books " such as Magick: In theory and practice and his Confessions " but his reputation had been damaged. As the years passed he began losing touch with reality. He spent his final years penniless, a sad figure living on the favours of friends. A chronic heroin addict, he died in Hastings in 1947, disillusioned and questioning the philosophies he built to escape his repressed Christian upbringing.

Books You Might Enjoy:

Andrew Lang - Myth Ritual And Religion
Aleister Crowley - Liber 150 Vel A Sandal De Lege Libellum
Aleister Crowley - One Star In Sight
Aleister Crowley - Great Drug Delusion
Marcus Cordey - Magical Theory And Tradition