This time it is all about Uncle Al. the Great Wild Beast. Once again this is an open post. That means that you may add whatever you think needs to be added. Let's see how far we can take this. Now let us begin.
The first question that may come up to you folks who are new to the Mysteries of Uncle Al is, "Who the Hell was he?" Well, he was many things to many people. He was a Drug Magickian, a Ritual Magickian, a Master of Egyptian Magick, a Qabalist, a Hermeticist, a Master of> Divination, a Bard-Poet, a Playwright, a Sex Magickian, a Comic Writer, an Alchemist and Master of the Arcane Arts.
You guessed it — I am a major fan of the old bugger. He wrote many books. I possess most of them. I'm always looking to add more of them to my library. Crowley was born in 1875 and died in 1947. There were many reasons for his death: Asthma (which I also possess), heroin addiction, (which occurred because he used it to combat his asthma), alcohol addiction, and just being worn out. He lived a very active life. He was a mountain climber and a world traveler. He was a secret spy for Her Majesty's Secret Service during both World Wars. Crowley was brought up in a rabid Christian sect called "The Plymouth Brethren. Crowley's family were also Lutherans. Crowley reverently believed he was the reincarnation of Eliphas Levi, Alphonse Louis Constant, who died in 1875, the same year that Crowley was born.
Crowley took to Ritual Magick as a duck to water. I would have to say that Ritual Magick was by far his favorite topic. He was known as The Master Therion, Wickedest Man in the World, The Great Wild Beast, the Beast 666 and many more. Here are some of the titles of his many works:
- "Magick In Theory and Practice"
- "The Book of Lies"
- "The Revival of Magick and Other Essays"
- "Astrology"
- "De Arte Magica" or the Art of Magic
- "Knox Om Pox"
- "The Holy Books"
- "The Vision and the Voice"
- "The Works of Aleister Crowley in 3 Volumes"
- "The Book of the Law"
- "The Equinox of the Gods" in 12 volumes
- "Liber Aleph Wisdom of Folly"
- "Liber 777"
- "The Book of Thoth"
- "Magick Without Tears"
- "Diary of a Drug Fiend"
- "Moonchild"
- "Shih Yi: A Critical and Mnemonic Paraphrase of the Yi King"
- "The Heart of the Master"
- "Clouds without Water"
- "Tarot Divination"
- "Liber NV XI"
- "Book 4"
- "Eight Lectures on Yoga"
There are still many more. He also wrote a few porn books and a Magickal Diaries book which I no longer have. It was ripped off from my library many years ago. In it he documents his sex magick work with whores in New York City. (I really miss this book if anyone knows how I can get another copy please let me know off-list.) It was Crowley's Sex Magick work which got me to study it and practice it myself for 37 years. Crowley's work is hard to read but the effort is quite worth it. Crowley was a innovator in his sexuality. He was bi-sexual at a time when to be so was illegal and dangerous. He was funny as hell and a very great comic writer. I am so sorry that I never got to meet him in person. I think we would have hit it off from the start. But alas I wasn't born till 1950.
His Ritual Magick practice was legendary. In short he was the most powerful Ritual Magickian of his age. He was also very much misunderstood. Many people just couldn't catch his jokes. More's the Pity. I was able to and I loved his sense of humor and his rapier-like wit. He was a giant of our Magickal kind. There will never be another like him. We as Ritual Magickians can learn a great deal from him. He was a visionary and a trance medium. We are so lucky that so much of his work has survived. Another wonderful book was: "The Confessions of Aleister Crowley," an Auto-hagiography edited by John Symonds and Kenneth Grant. This book you really need to find if it is still in print. Many of his books you can get on Amazon.com.
Many tales have been told about him. Many are BS, but just as many are amazingly true. Crowley wrote with many aliases. Here are a few: 1) "The Master Therion," 2) nickname: "AC," 3) Title: The Great Wild Beast", 4) "the Goat-Footed God Pan," 5) "Mahatma Guru Sri Paramahansa Shivaji," 6) "Frater: > Perdurabo," 7) "Rev. C. Verey," 8) "Khaled Khan," 9) "Ko Yue." 9) > Title: "The Wickedest Man in the World". There are more to be sure.
. Here are some more of his book titles: 1. "Leah Sublime," 2. One of his plays: "The God-Eater, A Tragedy of Satire." 3) "AHA", another of his books. 4. "The World's Tragedy", 5. "Source Book 93," and (6) The Gospel According to St. Bernard Shaw." This last one was re-printed by myself, Clayton O'Clearach and Tegwedd. That completes that phase.
Crowley had many lovers of both sexes. With most of them he performed Ritual Sex Magick. It was said that he could speak and write over 30 languages. I, for one, can believe that. He spent a great deal of time in libraries and museums. He spent a lot of time exploring Egypt and Her Magickal Mysteries, and Tibet and other Asian realms. He received "The Book of the Law" in Egypt at the Pyramid of Cheops with his wife Rose as the Trance Medium. He studied Yoga with the great teacher Allan Bennett who also suffered from asthma. He may or not have been his lover. But we do know that one of his male lovers and Magickal Partners was Victor B. Neuburg.
It was Victor who took on Crowley's wife Rose's role as the medium and skryer to evoke the powers of the Enochian Key of Choronzon. This was the "Vision and the Voice." "The Vision and the Voice" is the cornerstone of Crowley's Enochian Magick or Angelic Magick. The Enochian Language is the Angelic Language. Well this is all for now.
It is your turn, fellow Ritual Magickians. Let's hear what you have to add to this Magickal Topic. We want to hear from you. I look forward to seeing your many comments on this Open post. Take Care All. Professor Frog-Knows. Dean and Founder and co-owner of this group. Peace! Peace! Peace!
