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 Probably the most notorious magician of his period, if not of all time, Aleister Crowley has had far more influence after his death than at any time during his overindulged life. His reputation as a drug fiend and evil man aside, his early writings show a keen intellect, and a good sense of humour in the more staid climate of his era. What follows is a brief summery of his life.
Born Edward Alexander Crowley, on the 12th of October 1875 in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. Crowley was brought up in the strict ruling of the Plymouth Brethren. His rebellion against his upbringing, and the fact that his mother identified him with the Great Beast of the Revelation, was something that would steer his life on the course of overindulgence and theatrical evil.
Crowley's father died in 1887, and Crowley was sent to live with his mother's brother, an alleged viscous bully called Tom Bishop, during that time he attended a school run by the Plymouth Brethren. Crowley's childhood was a very unhappy one; he later described his experiences saying that it was only his iron will that got him through the whole experience.
Crowley soon came of age, and at 21 made a final split from his family. He became an undergraduate reading moral science at Cambridge University. Crowley seemed set for life; he had inherited his father's fortune, and was mixing with people who were soon to become high movers in society.
While at Cambridge he wrote poetry and started mountaineering, gaining a respectable reputation in both pursuits. He was a driven and courageous mountaineer, undertaking ambitious adventures in the Himalayas, his one problem being an inability to stand weakness in others. With regard to his poetry his pornographic and demonic prose was more notorious than critically acclaimed, but he managed to get much of his work published at home and abroad.
The real turning point in Crowley's life came on November 18th 1889, when he was initiated into the Golden Dawn, the most influential occult group in Britain. He took the name Frater Perdurabo, which means I will endure.
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He was not well liked by the majority of the members of the Golden Dawn. W. B. Yeats, the Irish poet called him "An unspeakable mad person" which paints a fairly colourful picture. During his time in the Golden Dawn he lived with a fellow member called Allan Bennet in a London flat. Here they experimented with magic rituals in two purpose built temples, and if Crowley is to be believed they had some startling results, including the manifestation of a host of supernatural beings and poltergeist activity. Crowley left the Golden Dawn after a supposed magical battle with MacGregor Mathers, who was ousted from the core in 1900 after accusing one of the founders of forging the documents on which the group was based.
In 1900 at the age of 25 Crowley moved into Boleskine House on the shores of Loch Ness in Scotland. His main aim was to find a quite place where he could continue his magical training. At Boleskine he is said to have summoned demons, held the black mass, and to have taken part in sexual orgies, charges later levelled at him while in Italy twenty years later.
In his autobiography he describes how the spirits he summoned got out of hand, causing one housemaid to leave, and a workman to go mad. He also insinuates he was indirectly responsible for a local butcher accidentally severing an artery and bleeding to death. Crowley had written the names of some demons on a bill from the butcher's shop. Whatever the truth Crowley revelled in controversy all his life and was not above fuelling dark rumours about his activities.
In 1902 his mountaineering exploits led him to attempt Chogo Ri in the Himalayas with Oscar Eckenstein. They spent 63 days surviving on the Baltero Glacier, and Crowley claimed to have climbed alone to a height of 22,000 feet, until he was driven back by severe weather conditions.
In 1903 he married Rose Kelly, his first wife, and one of the many women in Crowley's life to end up broken and mad from the overindulgence of Crowley's world.
In 1904 while on a trip to Cairo, his wife Rose, who was a medium, was inexplicably drawn to an exhibit with the number 666. Later an intelligence named Aiwas dictated the Book of Law through Rose, which contains the famous 'Do what thou wilt shall be the whole law'. To Crowley the communion and trip were a sign and key into a new age, the age of Horus, and Crowley was to be its Messiah.
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Aleister Crowley