He died in a car accident in at the age of The work sold well, resulting in a second print run. He associated with a variety of figures in Britain's intelligence community at the time, including Dennis Wheatley , Roald Dahl , Ian Fleming , and Maxwell Knight , [] and claimed to have been behind the " V for Victory " sign first used by the BBC ; this has never been proven.
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Accompanying this was a book, published in a limited edition as The Book of Thoth by Chiswick Press in In April Crowley briefly moved to Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire, [] where he was visited by the poet Nancy Cunard , [] before relocating to Hastings in Sussex, where he took up residence at the Netherwood boarding house. They became friends, with Crowley authorising Gardner to revive Britain's ailing O.
The funeral generated press controversy, and was labelled a Black Mass by the tabloids. Crowley's belief system, Thelema, has been described by scholars as a religion, [] and more specifically as both a new religious movement , [] and as a "magico-religious doctrine". In his autobiography, Crowley claimed that his purpose in life had been to "bring oriental wisdom to Europe and to restore paganism in a purer form", although what he meant by " paganism " was unclear. Crowley believed that the twentieth century marked humanity's entry to the Aeon of Horus, a new era in which humans would take increasing control of their destiny.
He believed that this Aeon follows on from the Aeon of Osiris, in which paternalistic religions like Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism dominated the world, and that this in turn had followed the Aeon of Isis, which had been maternalistic and dominated by goddess worship. Crowley believed in the objective existence of magic , which he chose to spell "Magick", an older archaic spelling of the word.
Mysticism is the raising of oneself to their level. The historian Ronald Hutton [].
Sexuality played an important role in Crowley's ideas about magick and his practice of it, [] and has been described as being central to Thelema. Crowley's theological beliefs were not clear. The historian Ronald Hutton noted that some of Crowley's writings could be used to argue that he was an atheist , [] while some support the idea that he was a polytheist , [] and others would bolster the idea that he was a mystical monotheist. Both during his life and after it, Crowley has been widely described as a Satanist , usually by detractors. Crowley stated he did not consider himself a Satanist, nor did he worship Satan , as he did not accept the Christian world view in which Satan was believed to exist.
This was a tongue-in-cheek reference to ejaculation , something not realised by his critics, thus reflecting their own "ignorance and prejudice" toward Crowley. Crowley considered himself to be one of the outstanding figures of his time.
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Spence noted that Crowley was "capable of immense physical and emotional cruelty". Crowley enjoyed being outrageous and flouting conventional morality, [] with John Symonds noting that he "was in revolt against the moral and religious values of his time". In their subversive powers, he saw the possibility of an annihilation of old religious traditions, and the creation of a void that Thelema, subsequently, would be able to fill. Crowley was bisexual, and exhibited a sexual preference for women, [] with his relationships with men being fewer and clustered in the early part of his life.
Crowley advocated complete sexual freedom for both men and women.
Biographer Lawrence Sutin stated that "blatant bigotry is a persistent minor element in Crowley's writings". Both critics of Crowley and adherents of Thelema have accused Crowley of sexism. Biographers Richard B. Spence and Tobias Churton have suggested that Crowley was a spy for the British secret services and that among other things he joined the Golden Dawn under the command of them to monitor the activities of Mathers, who was known to be a Carlist. Marco Pasi, Crowley has remained an influential figure, both amongst occultists and in popular culture, particularly that of Britain, but also of other parts of the world.
Thelema continued to develop and spread following Crowley's death. In , the O. Amado argued that Thelema was a false religion created by Crowley to hide his true esoteric teachings, which Amado claimed to be propagating. Several Western esoteric traditions other than Thelema were also influenced by Crowley, with Djurdjevic observing that "Crowley's influence on twentieth-century and contemporary esotericism has been enormous".
Ron Hubbard , the American founder of Scientology , was involved in Thelema in the early s with Jack Parsons , and it has been argued that Crowley's ideas influenced some of Hubbard's work. Lewis, and Jesper Petersen noted that despite the fact that Crowley was not a Satanist, he "in many ways embodies the pre-Satanist esoteric discourse on Satan and Satanism through his lifestyle and his philosophy", with his "image and ought" becoming an "important influence" on the later development of religious Satanism.
Crowley also had a wider influence in British popular culture. He sold it in Crowley " From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. English occultist — Royal Leamington Spa , Warwickshire , England. Hastings , East Sussex , England. Rose Edith Kelly. Maria Teresa Sanchez. For many years I had loathed being called Alick, partly because of the unpleasant sound and sight of the word, partly because it was the name by which my mother called me. Edward did not seem to suit me and the diminutives Ted or Ned were even less appropriate.
Alexander was too long and Sandy suggested tow hair and freckles. I had read in some book or other that the most favourable name for becoming famous was one consisting of a dactyl followed by a spondee , as at the end of a hexameter : like Jeremy Taylor. Aleister Crowley fulfilled these conditions and Aleister is the Gaelic form of Alexander.
To adopt it would satisfy my romantic ideals. The manifestation of Nuit. The unveiling of the company of heaven.
Every man and every woman is a star. Every number is infinite; there is no difference. Help me, o warrior lord of Thebes, in my unveiling before the Children of men! Into my loneliness comes— The sound of a flute in dim groves that haunt the uttermost hills. Even from the brave river they reach to the edge of the wilderness. And I behold Pan. I have been over forty years engaged in the administration of the law in one capacity or another. I thought that I knew of every conceivable form of wickedness. I thought that everything which was vicious and bad had been produced at one time or another before me.
I have learnt in this case that we can always learn something more if we live long enough. I have never heard such dreadful, horrible, blasphemous and abominable stuff as that which has been produced by the man Crowley who describes himself to you as the greatest living poet. Main article: Thelema. In the last analysis he was content for the nature of divinity to remain a mystery. As a result he wrote at times like an atheist, at times like a monotheist, and at others like a polytheist.
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Thus, while during his life his books hardly sold and his disciples were never very numerous, nowadays all his important works are constantly in print, and the people defining themselves as "thelemites" that is, followers of Crowley's new religion number several thousands all over the world. Furthermore, Crowley's influence over magically oriented new religious movements has in some cases been very deep and pervasive. It would be difficult to understand, for instance, some aspects of Anglo-Saxon neo-paganism and contemporary satanism without a solid knowledge of Crowley's doctrines and ideas.
In other fields, such as poetry, alpinism and painting, he may have been a minor figure, but it is only fair to admit that, in the limited context of occultism, he has played and still plays a major role. Main article: List of works by Aleister Crowley. Asprem, Egil Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism.
Bogdan, Henrik; Starr, Martin P. Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism. Booth, Martin London: Coronet Books. Cavendish, Richard A History of Magic.
London: Sphere Books. Churton, Tobias Aleister Crowley: The Biography. London: Watkins Books. Crowley, Aleister London: Arkana. The Holy Books of Thelema 1st paper ed.