After his father died the young Aleister rebelled, and began to see through what he considered to be the hypocrisy of society and it's Christian morals. His mother called him "the little beast" and well-versed as he was in the Bible, he took it to mean the Beast of the Revelations - represented by the numerals 666 - and gleefully adopted his new title as a defiant joke.
At the height of his power and belief in the Law of Thelema in 1920, Crowley and his small group of followers founded The Abbey of Thelema in a farmhouse in Cefalu, Sicily. He chose Cefalu after consulting the Yi King, a Chinese form of Divination. Any doubts his followers had were dispersed on arrival: it seemed perfect for their purpose which was to establish a commune and practice the religion of Thelema as free men and women.
At this point, we should consider what they were trying to achieve within the context of the period, which was already being called "the age of impotence." Much of Crowley's doctrine advocates personal freedom and liberation. Of course, in 1920 this attitude was far ahead of it's time, but Crowley later became an icon in the more Understanding 60's; eternally embossed on the Beatles Sgt. Pepper album cover.
Books in PDF format to read:
Eliphas Levi - The Conjuration Of The Four ElementsDion Fortune - The Machinery Of The Mind
Horace Wallis - The Cosmology Of The Rigveda
Lady Galadriel - The New Book Of The Law
Aleister Crowley - The Fun Of The Fair