Aleister Crowley



CrowleyAleister Crowley (1875-1947) surely was and still is the most (in-)famous occultist of the last century, whose work surpassed that of contemporaries such as Gurdjieff or Austin Osman Spare in shaping the occult sciences of the modern era. Crowley's contributions were pivotal in transforming Magick into a contemporary discipline that preserves the rich heritage of Western occult mysteries while incorporating Eastern philosophies and practices. This synthesis created a system that resonates with the Western mindset, which is at once grounded in scientific rationality and open to exploring spiritual realms. The extensive and high-quality body of Crowley's spiritual writings laid the groundwork for what is commonly known as Thelema, a system often described in terms of the Law of Thelema.

If you are totally unfamiliar with Aleister Crowley, a good starting point would be to read the articles on Wikipedia and Thelemapedia.

A basic, straight forward Aleister Crowley timeline taken from LAShTAL's Encyclopedia Thelemica.

Excellent collection of Libri and some other writing of Uncle Al. Hosted on the excellent hermetic.com archive. Alternatively, and in some ways often in superior quality, you may also visit the OTO libri archive.

Directed by Robert Garofalo and narrated by actor Joss Ackland this two hour long film is no doubt one of the better, perhaps best, attempts to portrait Crowley's life in film format ( IMBD review). It explores Crowley's complex character, his philosophical and magical teachings, his contributions to occult practices, and the sensationalised myths surrounding him. Through a mix of dramatisations, historical footage, and expert interviews, the documentary aims to shed light on the man behind the moniker "The Wickedest Man in the World," providing insight into his pursuit of hidden knowledge and his impact on modern occultism and pop culture.

Cast: Joss Ackland (Narrator), Paul Bellamy (Victor Neuberg), Thomas Bewley (Aleister Crowley), William Charlton (Tom Bishop), Neil Charnaud (Allan Bennett), Heather Darcy (Rose Kelly), Grahame Edwards (Oscar Eckenstein), Natalie Hughes (Leah Hirsig), Oliver Robinson (Young Crowley), Ray Jack Warner (Samuel Mathers)

The three volumes(1905-1907), as well as other literary books and pamphlets that first appeared between 1898 and 1946. Since the early days of the web generously Made available to the public, for free, unrestricted download by the OTO. Taken together, these additional works constitute most of a fourth volume of the Collected Works series. This is an updated link since the original page ceased to exist.

Ambergris (1910). Amphora (1908), reissued as Hail Mary (1912). Chicago May. A Love Poem (1914). The City of God. A Rhapsody (1943). Clouds without Water (1909). The Collected Works of Aleister Crowley. Volume I (1905). The Collected Works of Aleister Crowley. Volume II (1906). The Collected Works of Aleister Crowley. Volume III (1907). The Fun of the Fair (1942). La Gauloise, The Song of the Free French (1942). Household Gods (1912). Mortadello, or the Angel of Venice (1912). Olla, an Anthology of Sixty Years of Song (1946). The Rites of Eleusis (1910), program booklet. Rosa Mundi (1905); Rosa Coeli (1907); Rosa Inferni (1907). The Rosicrucian Scandal (c. 1910). The Scented Garden of Abdullah the Satirist of Shiraz (Bagh-i-muattar) (1910). Snowdrops from a Curate’s Garden (1904). Songs for Italy (1923). Temperance. A Tract for the Times (1939). Thumbs Up: A Pentagram -- A Pantacle to Win the War (1941). White Stains (1898). The Winged Beetle (1910). The World’s Tragedy (1910)

In late 1936 Aleister Crowley recorded a few tracks on 78 rpm. You find it in many places on the web and can buy the CD too, but here is the Spotify link.

The Call of the First Aethyr (Enochian version), The Call of the Second Aethyr (Enochian version), The Call of the Second Aethyr (English version), La Gitana, The Pentagram, The Poet, At Sea, The Titanic, Hymn to the American People, Excerpts from the Gnostic Mass, Vive La French Republic

A very good introduction to some basic aspects of Crowley's teaching and personality as well as the thelemic philosophy/religion. An ideal page for newbies (but not only for them), because Tim offers a well thought out overview considering different points of view, sometimes pleasantly critical, sometimes controversial, (but) always worth reading. By Tim Maroney, who celebrated his Greater Feast in 2003.

The Warburg Institute owns a huge Aleister Crowley collection, many or actually most of the items originally collected by Gerald Yorke. The links takes you directly to the search results.

The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas has the huge collection of original Crowley manuscripts, letters, and related documents in the world that is open to research.

LAShTAL.COM is home of The Aleister Crowley Society. It is a site devoted to the legacy of Aleister Crowley and to the impact of Crowley and Thelema on media, news and culture that was launched Paul Feazey and quickly became probably THE leading thelemic website, certainly in terms of the most active thelemic forum based community. It hosts the Encyclopedia Thelemica, a Thelemapedia fork, the Bibliographia Thelemica, a collaborative bibliography with information on many, if not most the books out there. There is an amazing gallery of pictures personalities and places of the past and present, host the thelemic time-server, some downloads, articles, links and did I mention the forum ? ;-)

Any forum brings with it some undesirable post of not so high quality, but generally the variety and quality of the content, and the news section make this in probably not only my humble opinion the leading website out there. It the highly unlikely event that you have not visited it yet, please do. You won't regret it.

Small site with a couple of pictures of the infamous Abbey of Thelema in Cefalù, Sicily. Once almost forgotten by most, Kenneth Anger famously visited it and since then many, many others - including myself. ;-) If you're really interested in the Abbey, you should definitely consider buying Thelema Revisited - In Search of Aleister Crowley.

The Boleskine House, located on the southeastern shore of Loch Ness in Scotland was owned by Crowley from 1899 to 1913, during which he attempted to perform the Abramelin ritual, a complex magic ceremony aimed at contacting one's guardian angel (well, let's not go into the debate about the HLA here). I have visited the area and graveyard just in front of it several times, but never visited the house itself out of respect for the owners at the time. In recent history, the house has faced several misfortunes, including a fire in 2015 that severely damaged the property, and another fire in 2019, amidst efforts to restore and preserve the site. The website offers some basic information, ability to donate or buy non-Crowleyana merchandise.

Interesting article at the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon website about Aleister Crowley's contacts with Freemasonry. New to me was that this seems to admit Crowley was initiated into Craft Freemasonry in Anglo-Saxon Lodge No. 343, recognized, as of 1964, under the jurisdiction of the Grande Loge Nationale Française in Paris as No. 103, which was not recognised by the United Grand Lodge of England as a regular masonic body at the time.

The article also contains some information on Crowley 33° in AASR as well as probably better known contact to John Yarker, who bestowed on Crowley, by post, the degrees of 33°, 90° and 95°; respectively, the Ancient and Accepted, Memphis and Mizraim. the articles closes with the known comment that the UK Grand Lodge does NOT accept Crowley as ever been a member of the Craft.

The site also hosts another short biography put together by Martin P. Starr, the latter connection probably explains the sympathetic attitude towards Crowley.