Aleister Crowley

[Euphoric Sunrise]

I haven't research Crowley to any great extent nor have i read any of his books, but it seems like an interesting area to delve into. From what i have read he had a lot to do with The Golden Dawn.
I can't offer much more information, but i can offer a couple of links:
http://www.hermeticgoldendawn.org/
http://members.cox.net/thelema/

[Nick]

Hi mOdO,

Crowley's name has come up before in this Magic forum. What I would suggest is to use our search engine (at the top of the page) and put in his name. Perhaps limit the searched forums to the Magic forum and then see what previous posts and topics you come up with.

Personally, I have no background in Magic so I am unable to help with this one. There are some members (such as Nita) who have a good deal of experience. Hopefully you will get your question answered. []


Very best,

[Cruel Tendencies]

Crowley was definite an odd fellow.  He claimed to be the prophet of the New Aeon, as well as the reincarnation of Edward Kelley, and the Beast spoken about in the Revelation of John.  The most important contribution to the occult world that he made (in my opinion) was the "creation" of Thelema, which is more or less a religion emphasizing that every individual has a True Will to perform, and when you're performing your True Will, nothing can stop you from achieving your goals.  He wrote a LOT of books and assorted works, which I believe most of them can be found somewhere at sacred-texts.com or various other places on the Web.

That said, he was a heroin addict, a "sexual deviant," and to be honest he kind of gives me the creeps.  Opinions on him vary from one end of the spectrum to the other, but I don't think anyone denies that he was a very talented magician and added a lot to the occult movement of the 20th century.  Some go so far as to claim he's responsible for the "occult revival" that we've witnessed in recent years.  

As to what the documentary said about him, magickal evokation of spirits is fairly common work among magicians.  Though I don't believe it's accurate to say that he gave them a "part of his life force."  From what I've heard about him (which isn't too terribly much), he worked heavily with the Enochian hierarchy of angels - Enochian being (on all accounts) the most powerful system of magick currently available to mankind.

But anyway, he's made some very important contributions, but like I said, he's kind of creepy.  Do as the other members here have suggested, and perform a web search on his name, and then read some of his works and decide for yourself what you think of him.  What I've talked about above is mostly just things I've read and heard from people.  See for yourself


Paul

[m0d0]

Hey all,

Just wanted to say thanks for all your insightful replies. It's appreciated.

Cheers,

Mo!

[Damballah]

from what i heard about Aleistar he is not the kind of persant that you should read about if you do not have any insight in the occult becaus he had a lot of important things to tell but he was also a veary different thinking persant so it is easy to misunderstand his works

[KoolGZe]

Crowley was a lunatic. If you are interested in occultism and Magic discard EVERYTHING by him.

[Ceriel N]

KoolGZe, that's just about the most misguided advice I've seen in a long time.
Never discard _anything_. Take all into account, and if you at some point decide something is "wrong" please do base the decision on something more than your prejudice and bias.

Old Al, with Thelema, partook in the foundation of some very esteemed mystery schools. One of them has some 3000 initiates worldwide.

[Damballah]

You should not discard him just becaus he was different you should simply think before you accept everything that he says becaus he did not think as normal people would but on the other hand there could be much to find if you know what to look for becaus from what i understand he was not only a "lunatic" but he was also what one would refer to as a genius in the field of magic mayby becaus of the different wiew he had of the world so no dont discard him

[Suigin]

(Hello)

In my (ever so humble) opinion, Crowley is one of the greatest geniuses in his field. When making recommendations to people interested in learning magic, Crowley is my first. Unlike an unfortunate majority of 'New Age' mages/authors, he devoted time to scientifically analyzing every aspect of the arcane systems he researched, filtering out useless wand-waving and flowery poetry in favor of the working psychological techniques which allowed mental influence on the self and enviroment. Forget the happy-joy inner peace/balance with nature.

You can find his books in the metaphysics sections of most moderately-sized bookstores. Good luck trying to understand any of it, though. However effective it may be, Crowley didn't bother lowering his works to be readable by commonfolk. Fortunately, most of us aren't commonfolk.

Of course he was utterly mad. But remember that sanity is a wall that holds your potential within, and higher power must overcome human limitations. It is also, however, a wall which keeps certain things out...

[waywardmessiah]

I found what I have read of his writings to be interesting to say the least.. especially the vision and the voice.. very poetic and colorful..
http://www.hermetic.com/crowley/l418/418.html

[Ultraveil]

Anyone studying Magick of any knind, black or white, will inevitably come accross the work of Clowley. We have to be careful when claiming that individuals are "lunatics" or "mad" or "evil" because these descriptors change their meaning depending upon who is declaring them. What is mad to one person is perfectly sane to another.

What Clowley managed to do was publish many of the secrets that the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn had kept to themselves for centuries. His style of writing is very humourous, and it is the humour that is misconceived as evil. The mass hysteria surrounding Crowley's work is the result of an argument he had with the editor of a popular newspaper many years ago. The editor ran a front page story declaring Crowley to be the "Most Wicked Man in the World!" It's a sad fact that 99% of what people claim to be their "own opinion" is in fact something they read in their morning paper, or somehting they watched on the TV news.

[kiauma]

You mean like that he was rumored to have eaten his own servants, and that Ivo Shandor, the leader of the secret society who built the apartment building in Ghostbusters, was modeled after him?

Yeah, I know what you mean.  []

[Ekron]

To appreciate the man you should read some of his works. I find 777 (revised) indispensable.

[volcomstone]

I think crowley was stuck between the forces of good and evil, he was probally so very neutral in his alliances to the source of evil and good,

I think he neglected becoming a "good" or "evil" entity simply because once you suscribe to one it skews and biases your views afterwards,

Im biased towards the light, btw

[Gandalf]

Crowley was definite an odd fellow. He claimed to be the prophet of the New Aeon, as well as the reincarnation of Edward Kelley, and the Beast spoken about in the Revelation of John.
Cruel Tendencies


yeah, about the 'great beast' thing. Crowely, while being possibly one of the greatest magickians ever, also had a healthy, if slightly perverse sense of humour.

Because he was an Occultist, he would often get hate-mail and negative comments from ignorant Christian conservatives and church groups; as a result of this, he developed a certain disdain for the more ignorant variety of christians.
One of his hobbies therefore, was to p**s them off even more by refering to himself as 'the great beast:666' Satan etc.
This was just his way of giving them the finger.
Read his letters as well as some of his books, Its called ironic humour people!

What Clowley managed to do was publish many of the secrets that the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn had kept to themselves for centuries. His style of writing is very humourous, and it is the humour that is misconceived as evil.

Well, yes, but only by very dense people, who shouldn be reading his books anyway!
btw the 'Golden dawn' was not centuries old, it was only founded towards the end of the 19th century.
Of course it based much of its philosophy on Hermetic theories which can be dated back to the 3rd century BCE.

Regards,
Douglas

[m0d0]

Hey all.

I'm not a magic man myself (Although i have respect for it) i just wanted to know if anyone could provide more information about Crowley.

Especially one story i heard (On a Discovery documentary). This said something along the lines of Crowley would summon spirits and various other creatures from beyond, an in exchange for (his) life force they would grant him certain powers or wishes. I'm sorry the description of this account in vage but i can't remember the full details of the documentary.

Also,

What do you think of Aleister Crowley?

Cheers,

Mo!