Crowley vs Satan

[kirwar4face]

Congratulations to Randi for getting the Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural (whew!) online. He expects to sell more, rather than fewer, print copies of the Encyclopedia by having it on line, which is encouraging to those of us who have been insisting for years that online "sampling" is good for publishing.

After browsing a little, I decided to look up the entry for Aleister Crowley. I'm reading Israel Regardie's The Eye in the Triangle, considered the best biography of Crowley. I had become fascinated with the flamboyant Crowley when I read his "autohagiography" in the 1970s.

I had expected Randi to give Crowley short shrift, but I was disappointed to see A.C. characterized as a "Satanist", which is simply incorrect. Crowley, a deeply religious man, never identified himself as a Satanist, nor did he espouse any form of Satanism, which he considered a degraded belief and a delusion. It is true that Crowley delighted in hearing evil rumors about himself, and sometimes encouraged them, but he did not hold a high opinion of the intelligence of those who believed the rumors! (He called himself The Beast, by the way, because his fundamentalist mother used to call him "Beast" when she was peeved with him.)

 

[Z]

Congratulations to Randi for getting the Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural (whew!) online. He expects to sell more, rather than fewer, print copies of the Encyclopedia by having it on line, which is encouraging to those of us who have been insisting for years that online "sampling" is good for publishing.

After browsing a little, I decided to look up the entry for Aleister Crowley. I'm reading Israel Regardie's The Eye in the Triangle, considered the best biography of Crowley. I had become fascinated with the flamboyant Crowley when I read his "autohagiography" in the 1970s.

I had expected Randi to give Crowley short shrift, but I was disappointed to see A.C. characterized as a "Satanist", which is simply incorrect. Crowley, a deeply religious man, never identified himself as a Satanist, nor did he espouse any form of Satanism, which he considered a degraded belief and a delusion. It is true that Crowley delighted in hearing evil rumors about himself, and sometimes encouraged them, but he did not hold a high opinion of the intelligence of those who believed the rumors! (He called himself The Beast, by the way, because his fundamentalist mother used to call him "Beast" when she was peeved with him.)

There seems to be a lot of discussion about Crowley. It's true he was a ceremonial magician, rather than strictly a Wiccan; and he may have been a personality-cult leader-figure. I would hesitate to refer to him as a Satanist, however; that sounds an awful lot like ignorance speaking.

 

[Belgian thought]

true - the word w***** springs to mind though

 

[Dancing David]

I think that there are those who couldn't tell the difference between a SET-ian and a SATAN-ian.

I think Crowley would have draped himself in the title Satanist just to offend people.

But to explain that someone is a sexual sad-masochist ritual magican may be hard at first shot.

Crowley called himself the beast because it is a translation of one of his initiatory name THERION, he felt that he was the herald of the 'new aeon', which he writes about liberaly at all times.

I recomend
Magick in Theory and Practise and
Diary of a Drug Fiend

 

[kirwar4face]

true - the word w***** springs to mind though

Woosie?

 

[Peter Soderqvist]

Woosie?

Soderqvist1: In 1945, L Ron Hubbard the founder of Church of Scientology met Jack Parsons a disciple of Crowley, this chapter in A Piece of a Blue Sky is a must read!

The late Aleister Crowley, my very good friend ...
L. RON HUBBARD, Conditions of Space/Time/Energy, 1952,
Philadelphia Doctorate Course lecture 18

Hubbard met Jack Parsons (right) while on convalescent leave in Los Angeles, in August 1945. When Hubbard's terminal leave from the Navy began on December 6, 1945, he went straight to Parsons' Pasadena home. Jack Parsons was a science fiction fan, a rocket and explosives chemist, and a practitioner of ritual "magick."

Hubbard and Parsons quickly formed a powerful bond, and over the following months engaged in variations on Aleister Crowley's "magick." Later, Hubbard was eager to make light of this involvement. After all, the world famous explorer, nuclear physicist, war hero and philosopher could not be known to have engaged in demonic sexual rites.
http://www.clambake.org/archive/books/apobs/bs2-6.htm

 

[kirwar4face]

Soderqvist1: In 1945, L Ron Hubbard the founder of Church of Scientology met Jack Parsons a disciple of Crowley, this chapter in A Piece of a Blue Sky is a must read!

Heh! Crowley-Parsons-Hubbard is a "magickal" link I hadn't suspected! "I get fairly frantic when I contemplate the idiocy of these louts." - A.C.

Viz. that photo of Uncle Aleister, btw, I want a hat like that!

 

[Checkmite]

Crowley likely wasn't Wiccan, as that religion wasn't invented until the 1950's. Late '40s at best.

 

[Robin]

I think the greatest mistake you can make about Crowley is to take him too seriously, a mistake he never made about himself. He was basically a chain yanker extraordinaire. Read the hilarious mock scholarship prefacing Konx Om Pax (a book that reads like it was written under in a chemical haze) or the description of how to write a grimoire in his novel "Moonchild".