Crowleyism
I recently finished Aleister Crowley’s lengthy autobiography. It was a lot to plow through but I thought I’d give the guy a fair shot.
I was curious a to what kind of experiences he had with his quest for magic but he gave few details of magical experiences or his revelations. He did give a lot of details about the normal aspects of his life. He seemed to be a Hemingway style of character always seeking for adventure in mountain climbing, big game hunting and on a quest for love and pleasure.
He seemed to present himself as more of a rebel for rebel’s sake rather than for the sake of evil desire.
He was raised in strict Christian tradition by his father. Many independent souls rebel against such painful strictness that involve beatings and strong discipline. Crowley wrote:
“Indeed, my falling away from grace was not occasioned by any intellectual qualms; I accepted the theology of the Plymouth Brethren. In fact, I could hardly conceive of the existence of people who might doubt it. I simply went over to Satan’s side; and to this hour I cannot tell why.
“But I found myself as passionately eager to serve my new master [Satan] as I had been to serve the old [God]. I was anxious to distinguish myself by committing sin. Here again my attitude was extraordinarily subtle. It never occurred to me to steal or in any other way to infringe the decalogue. Such conduct would have been petty and contemptible. I wanted a supreme spiritual sin; and I had not the smallest idea how to set about it. There was a good deal of morbid curiosity among the saints about “the sin against the Holy Ghost” which “could never be forgiven”. Nobody knew what it was. It was even considered rather blasphemous to offer any very positive conjecture on the point. The idea seems to have been that it was something like an ill-natured practical joke on the part of Jesus. This mysterious offence which could never be forgiven might be inadvertently committed by the greatest saint alive, with the result that he would be bowled out at the very gate of glory. Here was another impossibility to catch my youthful fancy; I must find out what that sin was and do it very thoroughly.”
I found it amusing that he actually sought out the sin against the Holy Ghost.
Here’s another incident from his youth:
“There is one amazing incident; at the age of fourteen as near as I can remember. I must premise that I have always been exceptionally tenderhearted, except to tyrants, for whom I think no tortures bad enough. In particular, I am uniformly kind to animals; no question of cruelty or sadism arises in the incident which I am about to narrate.
“I had been told “A cat has nine lives.” I deduced that it must be practically impossible to kill a cat. As usual, I became full of ambition to perform the feat. [Observe that I took my information unquestioningly au pied de la lettre.] Perhaps through some analogy with the story of Hercules and the hydra, I got it into my head that the nine lives of the cat must be taken more or less simultaneously. I therefore caught a cat, and having administered a large dose of arsenic I chloroformed it, hanged it above the gas jet, stabbed it, cut its throat, smashed its skull and, when it had been pretty thoroughly burnt, drowned it and threw it out of the window that the fall might remove the ninth life. In fact, the operation was successful; I had killed the cat. I remember that all the time I was genuinely sorry for the animal; I simply forced myself to carry out the experiment in the interest of pure science.”
Despite these and other oddities such as animal sacrifice, he presented himself as an honorable man in many circumstances, anti abortion and even speaks warmingly of the Holy Ghost in his life at times.
He comes across as a man who is willing to try anything for the experience and seeks for the highest pleasures that life has to offer.
I’m sure he was used as a pawn for the dark brothers at times but not sure he made the final decision that takes one on the left hand path.
Concerning the accusation that he could have been Jack the Ripper he consider it ludicrous. However, he seemed to have an insight into him almost as if he knew who he was. He wrote:
“At this time London was agog with the exploits of Jack the Ripper. One theory of the motive of the murderer was that he was performing an Operation to obtain the Supreme Black Magical Power. The seven women had to be killed so that their seven bodies formed a “Calvary cross of seven points” with its head to the west. The theory was that after killing the third or the fourth, I forget which, the murderer acquired the power of invisibility, and this was confirmed by the fact that in one case a policeman heard the shrieks of the dying woman and reached her before life was extinct, yet she lay in a cul-de-sac, with no possible exit save to the street; and the policeman saw no signs of the assassin, thought he was patrolling outside, expressly on the lookout.”
Here is one of the best quotes from the book:
“I am afraid that the root of the evil lies in the psychological fact that men proclaim the principles of freedom only when they are suffering from oppression. No sooner do they become free and prosperous than they begin to perceive the duties of discipline.”
Reader: I didn’t grow up in surroundings like that. All I wanted to do was find the Truth, although I did rebel a lot over the years, I never intentionally hurt animals, because I loved animals and related to their love more than humans when I was growing up.
So in your honest opinion was Crowley someone like HPB who had reincarnated and
stuffed up in that lifetime [as an old soul on the path of Discipleship etc], like HPB did when she reincarnated as Count Cagliostro?
Oh and was Abraham Lincoln a reincarnated Jesus or someone close to him?
JJ: Yeah, Crowley tortured a cat which was cruel but had nothing to do with his search for the sin against the Holy Ghost. I had friends when at that age also did terrible things to cats, other animals and insects but they mellowed out when they matured.
I do not think Crowley was associated with the spiritual Hierarchy as was Cagliostro at that time. HPB appeals to a lot higher mental level than does Crowley, who attracts people who want instant magical results for themselves. The Dark Brotherhood seeks immediate results often through magical means.
I don’t see Abraham Lincoln as Jesus but believe he was a disciple of the Christ for a number of lives.
Righteousness is easy in retrospect. – Arthur Schlesinger Jr.
June 13, 2013
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