Crowley’s goal was power, and he intended to achieve it through the Golden Dawn. He advanced quickly but his lodge leader, perhaps sensing Crowley’s chaotic personality, refused to initiate him into the second order. He enlisted the aid of the head of the Order, S.L. McGregor Mathers, who was having trouble with the lower lodges anyway. Seeing a potential ally in Crowley, Mathers quickly initiated him into the coveted order.
Mathers and Crowley were swiftly at each other’s throats, engaging in a war of spiritual and supernatural aggression with each claiming to have cast spells on and sending paranormal beings after the other. In 1900, after Mathers tried to regain power over the lower lodges, both he and Crowley were thrown out of the Order.
Travels of Aleister Crowley
After traveling extensively in the Near and Far East, Crowley returned to Britain in 1903 and married Rose Kelly. They had one child, Lola, who died while Crowley was traveling in the United States. Crowley divorced Rose in 1909.
The Law of Thelema
By 1913, Crowley was well-known for practicing black magic and for being a devout Satanist; he identified himself with the number “666.” He lived by the Law of Thelema (The Will), “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Love is the Law, Love under Will,” which he said was among the truths revealed to him by the Egyptian god Horus.
He had begun to experiment with magic under the influence of alcohol and drugs (he had become addicted to heroin during his travels), and kept a series of women as his magical consorts, engaging in sexual rituals with them. One of these women was Leah Hirzig, whom he called the Scarlet Woman, and with whom he had another daughter, Poupee, who also died in childhood.
Books You Might Enjoy:
Aleister Crowley - To Man
Aleister Crowley - Gargoyles
Aleister Crowley - Oracles