The Androgynous, Occult Age of Aleister Crowley: How Deep

37 Pages·2016·1.38 MB·English

The Androgynous, Occult Age of Aleister Crowley: How Deep is the
Rabbit Hole and How Did it Begin?

By Georgann Ryan August, 2016

At the 2016 Grammy’s, Lady Gaga’s performance was billed as a tribute to the late
David Bowie, the preeminent rock musician who popularized the occult and
androgyny. She did a medley of his songs, appearing as his androgynous
counterpart. But despite the technological marvels, it was musically awful, and as
much a tribute to Bowie’s magick that is, occult or ritual magic, and promotion of
English occultist Aleister Crowley, as to his music. The rise of Luciferian occultism
in Western culture can be attributed directly to Crowley.

Crowley’s most famous maxim, from “The Book of the Law”

Raised in a very wealthy but strict Christian home, Crowley adored his father and
accompanied him on many preaching excursions. But at age 11 his father died
suddenly, and his mother instituted a strict regime without toys, books or friends.
She employed tutors of the faith, then sent him to a brutal boarding school, where
he was abused and raped, ending his happy childhood forever. These heartbreaking
experiences undoubtedly influenced his later career in occultism and sexual
perversion, which since has spread worldwide through his “disciples.” And though
he was raised in and inherited substantial wealth, he soon went through it. Before
the First World War began it was gone; he was left scrambling for funds and living
upon benefactors throughout his remaining life.

Aleister Crowley founded the
“religion” of Thelema, a Greek
word for “willpower,” practicing
sex magick and ritual sacrifice. He
called himself, “The Great Beast
666” and was described as “the
wickedest man in the world.”
Viewing himself as the Antichrist
who would lead humanity into a
new age, he saw himself as the
embodiment of the one who
would destroy the Christianity he
had come to despise.

In 1904, Crowley claimed to have
been contacted by a supernatural
entity named Aiwass, who
through audible dictation
provided him with “The Book of
the Law,” a sacred text that served
Crowley, the supreme Magus of the 20th century as the basis for Thelema.
Announcing the start of the Æon
of Horus, the Book’s most famous maxim is, “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole
of the law...Love is the law, love under will.”
This contact was initiated when his wife, Rose, with
whom he was honeymooning in Egypt, had a vision
of an Ibis-headed deity who called himself Horus.
Doubting her, Crowley took her to the Cairo
museum where she rushed through rooms until she
stood before a stele which depicted the “god.” The
exhibit number was 666, which Crowley took as a
sign. Modern devotees often pilgrimage to the
museum to pay homage to this experience. Back in
their rooms, Crowley was contacted by Aiwass,
whom he believed was his “guardian angel” and the
mouthpiece for three supernatural deities, each of
whom was behind a separate chapter in the book.
The phrase, “book of the law” originates in
Freemasonry, and Crowley was a 33rd degree
initiate.
Rose Edith Kelly Crowley
The basic precept of Thelema was to align one’s self
with his individual Will or Path through magickal practice. In his book, “Magick in
Theory and Practice” Crowley stated, “Magick is the science and art of causing
change to occur in conformity with [one’s own] will.” Crowley brought back the use
of the “k” in magick to distinguish his own occult work from that pursued by those
he didn’t regard as serious.

Crowley later wrote that,

The central and essential work of the Magician is the attainment of the
Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. Once he has
achieved this he must of course be left entirely in the hands of that Angel,
who can be invariably and inevitably relied upon to lead him to the further
great step—crossing of the Abyss and the attainment of the grade of Master
of the Temple.
Crowley’s religion blended Eastern and Western occultism,
and he reformulated the Tarot under the title, “The Book of
Thoth” named after the Egyptian god of magic, and utilizing
Egyptian mysticism. According to legend, the original “Book of
Thoth” contained the secrets of the gods. Yet the concepts
and knowledge attributed to Thoth originally came from the
Babylonian mystery religions, who saw this knowledge as
divine. From this came divination, rituals and symbols, which
were believed to put participants into communion with the
gods.

Crowley had been seeking contact with something from
another realm, and spent years pursuing esoteric knowledge
on his own through Eastern techniques such as meditation,
and by being initiated into various occult societies, including
Freemasonry and the Golden Dawn, where he quickly rose
through the ranks. He later said that,
Thoth, one of two

Egyptian deities who
My falling away from grace was not occasioned by any
stood with Ma'at on
either side of Ra's boat, intellectual qualms; I accepted the theology of the Plymouth
associated with the Brethren. In fact, I could hardly conceive of the existence of
arts of magic, writing,
people who could doubt it. I simply went over to Satan’s side;
science, and judgment
and to this hour, I cannot tell why…I was not content to believe
of the dead.
in a personal devil and serve him, in the ordinary sense of the
word. I wanted to get hold of him personally and become his chief of staff.

Eventually he moved to a rundown farmhouse in northern Sicily, which he named
his temple, the “Abbey of Thelema.” This was the place where he would work out
his system. His mistress (which he designated as his scarlet woman) at the time,
Leah Hirsig, stated in her 1921 diary, “I dedicate myself wholly to the great work. I
will work for wickedness. I will kill my heart. I will be shameless before all men. I
will freely prostitute my body to all creatures.” The abbey contained a “nightmare
room” where Crowley’s pornographic and demonic pictures covered the walls and
initiates were given drugs, then forced to sit in the room to overcome all inhibitions.
Abbey of Thelema; Crowley’s “nightmare room;” Thelemic ceremony

Rumors abounded about what occurred at the abbey and what the ritual
ceremonies entailed. As everyone lost their inhibitions, the rituals became more
extreme - too pornographic and depraved to explicitly describe here, although it
could be noted that they included bestiality, with sacrifice at the height of the
experience. But they had sated so many appetites, that only true perversion
remained to satisfy novelty.

After one of his devotees was made to cut himself each time he said the word, “I”
in order to destroy the ego, and to take large quantities of drugs, including cocaine
and hallucinogens, he fell ill. Still, he was required to sacrifice a cat and drink its
blood, and he died shortly afterward. His widow, who was aghast, was turned out
of the abbey by Crowley and fled to the British Consul. When word of what was
occurring reached officials, then the press, Mussolini forced him and his latest
“scarlet woman” to leave Sicily.

Raoul Loveday; his funeral cart at the Abbey pulled by goats
But were only animals being sacrificed? In his “Magick in Theory and Practice” in
the chapter, “Of the bloody sacrifice,” Crowley wrote that animals must be perfect,
and noted that, “the blood is the life” a concept familiar to biblical scholars. But in
outlining the procedure for sacrifice, he continued,

The animal should therefore be killed within the
Circle, or the Triangle, as the case may be, so that its
energy cannot escape. An animal should be selected
whose nature accords with that of the ceremony —
thus, by sacrificing a female lamb one would not
obtain any appreciate quantity of the fierce energy
useful to a Magician who was invoking Mars. In such
a case a ram would be more suitable. And this ram
should be virgin — the whole potential of its original
total energy should not have been diminished in any
way. For the highest spiritual working one must
accordingly choose that victim which contains the
greatest and purest force. A male child of perfect innocence and high
intelligence is the most satisfactory and suitable victim. For evocations it
would be more convenient to place the blood of the victim in the Triangle —
the idea being that the spirit might obtain from the blood this subtle but
physical substance which was the quintessence of its life in such a manner as
to enable it to take on a visible and tangible shape.

This is classic Satanism. But it isn’t an isolated passage. In the same work he also
wrote,

The best blood is of the moon, monthly: then the fresh blood of a child, or
dropping from the host of heaven; then of enemies; then of the priest or of
the worshippers: last of some beast, no matter what.
His description of law in his primary text ultimately
was defined as, “Love is the law, love under will,” a
famous phrase often quoted by his followers. Yet
obviously, Crowley was anything but loving. He cared
for nothing except his own magical power and
knowledge, using everyone whom he encountered in
his drive to be remembered as the Great Beast. He
saw sex as a shortcut to magick because it could be
used in praise of the demon gods. Advocating and
using both masochistic and sadistic sexual
experiences as part of his rituals, not surprisingly, his
wife Rose, along with a great many of his other
mistresses, his “scarlet women,” sexual assistants
Crowley’s mistress at the Abbey, (both male and female) and devotees soon ended up
Leah Hersig
in mental asylums or as victims of suicide. Yet that
hasn’t deterred modern followers, many of whom are
among the most influential musicians and entertainment elite.

He also went farther than other “Magicians” of his era, conducting rituals of
Enochian (or angelic) magick, now sometimes called channeling, which many
warned would conjure demonic forces. In addition, he used the grimoire, “The
Goetia: The Lesser Key of King Solomon,” among others, such as the Abramelin,
which also involves invocation of demons and specifically warns practitioners
against performing the rites.

Although it was
understood that those
involved in such rituals
should stay inside of a
“magic circle” he stood
outside, deliberately
inviting possession by
such entities, believing
he could control them.
To his own surprise, he
was unable to do so, and
Boleskin House stories still abound
about entities which plague the area around his Scottish home, Boleskin, on Loch
Ness. But his influence remains, to the extent that Led Zeppelin’s guitarist, Jimmy
Page, actually purchased Boleskin and renovated it in the 1970’s, though he never
spent more than a few weeks in the house and tales abound about frightening
experiences which continued to occur there. It mysteriously burned down in
December, 2015.

Crowley was named 73rd of the 100 most influential
Britons. He was a driving force behind the sex, drugs and
rock n’ roll culture of the 1960’s, although he’d been
dead since 1947. He advocated the use of music, drugs
and ritual sex to gain spiritual insight and power.
Celebrated by the music industry, he also influenced
people like rocket scientist Jack Parsons, founder of Jet
Propulsion Laboratories, forerunner to NASA, who
attempted his own rituals to raise the spirit of the Whore
of Babylon, and L. Ron Hubbard, who founded the Church
of Scientology. Since then his following has grown, and
Jay Z contemporary artists like Jay Z can be seen wearing
clothes emblazoned with “Do what thou wilt.”

Crowley greatly influenced David Bowie
and many of his songs referred to
Crowley or occultism. For instance,
Quicksand, begins, “I’m closer to the
Golden Dawn, Immersed in Crowley’s
uniform of imagery” and Bowie imitated
him in such matters as Egyptian dress.
Crowley belonged to the Hermetic Order
of the Golden Dawn, an occult order
Crowley & Bowie in similar Egyptian dress which was one of the largest influences
on 20th century occultism.

The Golden Dawn was founded by English and French Rosicrucians and
Freemasons, the cultural and literary elite of his day; they were devoted to the
study of the Hermetic Qabalah, Tarot and other systems, and sought to unify the
entire Western mystery tradition in a cohesive whole. It consisted of 7 levels of
initiation, utilizing the Abramelin and Enochian magic of 16th century occultist John
Dee: astrologer, alchemist and advisor to Queen Elizabeth I.

After his falling out with
members of the Golden Dawn,
who insisted that Crowley was
practicing forbidden black
magic, (although Crowley stated
that he disavowed it) he tried
starting his own order, the
A∴A∴, or "Astron Argon" named
for the Silver Star, or Sirius. Later
he moved onto the Ordo Templi
The A∴A∴ or "Astron Argon" symbol; Baphomet Orientis, or OTO, a well-known
occult society which still is
prominent today, where he took the name of Baphomet, and for which he wrote
the “Gnostic Mass.”

Bowie’s Quicksand continues, “I’m living in a silent film, portraying Himmler’s
sacred realm of dream reality….” Crowley also bragged that Hitler’s “Mein Kampf”
was inspired by his “Book of the Law” and there is some evidence that Hitler was
influenced by the occult work. Himmler’s dream reality refers to Nazi occultism,
and like the Nazis, Crowley also adopted every satanic symbol that he could find
for Thelema.

He also was recruited into the British intelligence service, and reportedly taught
Churchill the “V” for Victory symbol, actually known as the Call of Typhon or
Nodens, used to summon more powerful demons than those of the Nazis, to
counter their magick. He was one of the forces behind the creation of the Tavistock
Institute, which has had an overwhelming influence on the transformation of
culture through programming and mind control. Thus, Crowley’s influence on
Western culture as it has developed today became widespread, fostered by elites
at the highest levels.
As one of Crowley’s biggest proponents,
Bowie, like Crowley, openly spoke of his
bisexuality, something scandalous at the
time. The shock value drew young fans
attracted by rebellion to him. It’s what still
attracts the young to today’s music culture.
Bowie went beyond Crowley and brought
androgyny into modern culture through his
stage incarnation, Ziggy Stardust, making it
“cool” in popular imagination.

In his “Confessions” Crowley stated,

One thing I must ask; let this book be
assiduously circulated among the young.
There is hope there if anywhere. Let me
David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust
seduce the boys of England, and the oldsters
may totter unconverted to their graves. Then these boys, becoming men,
may bring about the new heaven and the new earth. You are not a Crowleian
till you can say fervently “Yes, thank God, I am an atheist.” For the ‘trans
valuation of all values’ must yet again take place, when those are all dead
and damned…
Why is all of this important? Because it’s taking over Western society and being
pushed by the elite in government and media, since many of them are dedicated
to Crowlean philosophy and Luciferianism. Although Crowley’s Thelemic devotees
deny that he was a Satanist, despite whatever distinctions they try to make
between a Satanist and a Magician, it’s clear that at heart, Crowley did seek to serve
Satan. That’s evidenced by his own words.
Is there a difference between Satanism or Luciferianism and Thelemic teaching?
Not an appreciable one, though Thelema does share some things in common with
New Age teaching and mystery societies which have Babylonian roots, whereas
Satanism often engages in the worship of fallen angels and demons, rather than
seeking merely to use them to promote one’s own will. Calling oneself a Thelemic
devotee rather than a Satanist seems more esoteric and enlightened to those who
profess the tenets. But in the final analysis, it only is more egocentric and
narcissistic, just as Crowley himself was.