Gerald Gardner

L. Ron Hubbard
Top 10 Crowley Myths which are Actually True
Posted on August 5, 2012
In one of our most popular posts, we listed ten myths about Aleister Crowley which we refuted within this blog.
We also revealed some interesting facts about Crowley in our guide to the AC2012 campaign ad. Now, we offer ten
myths about Aleister Crowley which are actually true! (Or are they?)
10. Aleister Crowley wrote Gerald Gardners Wiccan initiation rituals.
OK, no, Gardner didnt pay Crowley to write the Wiccan initiation rituals. And its
not that Crowley sat down to write initiation rituals for Wicca. What happened,
apparently, was this: Gardner took a bunch of Crowleys writings, and material
from Liber AL vel Legis, and sort of cut and pasted them with a few words
changed and a few words added. From this he created initiation rituals, the
Charge of the Goddess, the Drawing Down the Moon ritual, and more. For the full
account, see Rodney Orpheus essay, A New and Greater Pagan Cult: Gerald
Gardner & Ordo Templi Orientis.
9. Aleister Crowley knew the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard.
And by know him, we mean well, Aleister Crowley at least heard about
L. Ron Hubbard enough that he got fairly frantic when
contemplating the idiocy that he was hearing about. Look, thats about
as well as we think anyone should know L. Ron Hubbard. The lack of
any real contact, however, didnt stop Hubbard from claiming that
Crowley was his very good friend, as you can hear in this
recording where Hubbard pronounces Crowleys name wrong, discusses
a book by Crowley that doesnt exist, and concludes by saying that
Crowley is Very, very, something or other.
Aleister Crowley had learned about Hubbards friendship with Jack
Parsons, who at the time was Master of Agap Lodge No. 2, one of the
American lodges of Aleister Crowleys Ordo Templi Orientis. Hubbard
and Parsons had started a business together and began the ridiculous Babalon Working. Crowley was right to be
frantic; the business partnership ultimately ended in shambles, Hubbard ran off with Parsons boat, and went on
Aleister Crowley 2012
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to start his sci-fi religion, Scientology.
8. Aleister Crowley was actually a nice guy with a good sense of humor.
Just, not always at the same time. Aleister Crowleys best humor was
often at someone elses expense, but overall he had a kind heart and
a deep concern for the well-being of every man, woman, and child
alive. Indeed, in 1924 he dedicated his life to serving humankind,
and from then on he worked tirelessly and exclusively for the cause
of human liberty.
It would be impossible to survey Crowleys extraordinary wit in this
small space. Suffice to say, all of his prose is packed with humor.
Aleister Crowleys original writing is far funnier than any of the
parodies of his work. Below are a few short examples of his excellent
jests. If you have any other favorite witticisms from Aleister Crowley,
please share in the comments!
One would go mad if one took the Bible seriously; but to take it seriously one must be already
mad. Liber ABA, Part II, Chapter XVI
May the New Year bring you courage to break your resolutions early! My own plan is to swear
off every kind of virtue, so that I triumph even when I fall! Moonchild
Theosophist: A person who talks about Yoga, and does no work. Liber ABA, Glossary
Some men are born sodomites, some achieve sodomy, and some have sodomy thrust upon them
The Scented Garden of Abdullah the Satirist of Shiraz
[I adopt the phrase 'Holy Guardian Angel'] Because since all theories of the universe are absurd it
is better to talk in the language of one which is patently absurd, so as to mortify the metaphysical
man. The Temple Of Solomon the King in The Equinox I, no. 1.
7. Aleister Crowley inspired the counterculture movement of the 1960s.
Most people are quite aware of Aleister Crowleys censored appearance
on the cover of Sgt. Pepper among the Beatles other heroes. Few,
though, have gone on to ask why Aleister Crowley made the cut. John
Lennon made the connection clear in an interview with Playboy when he
said that The whole Beatle idea was to do what you want, right? To
take your own responsibility. Lennon was paraphrasing Do what thou
wilt, which is one of the central precepts of Thelema, the religion
founded by Aleister Crowley. Thelema is the Greek word which means
will and teaches that we each must discover our individual inmost
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Timothy Leary as Aleister Crowley
nature, described as the True Will.
The Beatles were only the first of many counterculture rock musicians in
the 1960s to openly cite Aleister Crowley as an influence. Led Zeppelins guitarist Jimmy Page was very interested
in Aleister Crowley and he remains a prominent Thelemite today. We have even recently learned that Frank Zappa
was reading Crowley in 1968.
Apart from rock stars, who helped to popularize the writings of Aleister Crowley, we can also look at some of the
people who revolutionized western culture in other, perhaps more deep and lasting ways. To start with, lets
consider where these musicians may have heard about Aleister Crowley. Perhaps the most likely candidate is
Harry Smith, a Thelemite whose influence on folk and rock music cannot be overstated. Aleister Crowley also once
dined with Aldous Huxley in Berlin, and the rumor goes that Crowley introduced him to peyote. Timothy Leary
saw himself as continuing Crowleys work, and said so on national television. Check out this clip:
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These are only a few of the major streams of influence that Aleister Crowley had in shaping the counterculture
movement of the 1960s. There is much more to explore, including Crowleys efforts to make Eastern philosophy
more accessible to the West, which helped to inspire the whole New Age movement. For more complete
explorations, you can start by reading the best biographies of Aleister Crowley:
Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley, by Richard Kaczynski
Aleister Crowley: The Biography, by Tobias Churton
6. Aleister Crowley was one of the earliest published homoerotic poets in
the UK.
At a time when it was illegal to be gay in the UK, when being convicted of sodomy could mean hard labor, Aleister
Crowley was publishing verse that could have easily landed him in prison. Indeed, many of Aleister Crowleys
books were banned and/or burned because of the sexuality portrayed in them. Crowley was bisexual and wrote
poetry across the spectrum of taboo, whether homosexual or not.
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Aleister Crowley in his Cambridge years,
1895-1898
Fernando Pessoa on Portuguese
currency
As a notable example, Aleister Crowley published White Stains in Amsterdam in
1898, under the pseudonym of George Archibald Bishop. All but a few copies of
the first edition of this book were seized and destroyed by British customs. This
came only three years after Oscar Wilde was sent to prison for his poetic allusions
to homosexuality.
Later in Crowleys life, he would continue to write sexual poetry which still
shocks people to read even in the 21st century of the common era. For perhaps
the most stunning example of this, see his poem inspired by his love of Leah
Hirsig entitled Leah Sublime.
5. Aleister Crowley faked his own death.
No, were not claiming that Aleister Crowley is still alive and hanging out with
Elvis. His death in 1947 was very real and his body was cremated. But before that,
in 1930, Aleister Crowley worked with his friend Fernando Pessoa to fake his
death at the Boca do Inferno near Lisbon. Crowley left a sad note about
heartbreak at the top of this dangerous rock formation, the implication being that
he had jumped to his death. Pessoa, the celebrated Portuguese poet, followed up
by feeding suggestive ideas to the local papers concerning the occult symbols that
Crowley had used to decorate his note, and telling them that he had seen
Crowleys ghost the next day. The papers ran with it, and announced Crowleys
suicide, much to the amusement of both Crowley and Pessoa. Some weeks later,
Crowley arrived unannounced at an exhibit of some of his paintings in Berlin. For
more about Fernando Pessoa and his brief friendship with Aleister Crowley, see
The Magical World of Fernando Pessoa.
4. Aleister Crowley was a spy who worked for the Allies during World War
II.
Weve written here before about some of Aleister Crowleys activities during World War II. In our post, V for
Victory, we explained how Crowleys idea to use the v-sign as a magical foil to the Nazis swastika was picked up
by Churchill. In that same post, we discussed Crowleys French propaganda poem, La Gauloise, and how it was
received by de Gaulle, set to music and played on BBC radio. We also discussed this briefly and provided some fun
graphics along these lines in our post, The Answer to 1984 is 666.
Ian Fleming, the future author of the James Bond novels, was at that time a Navy intelligence officer. He knew
Crowley and hatched several schemes to use Crowley to feed misinformation to the Nazis through Rudolph Hess.
it is widely speculated that the eventual capture of Hess was thanks to Aleister Crowleys work as a spy.
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Aleister Crowley and Winston Churchill
against Hitler
Crowley also seems to have done this in World War I when he created some badly
written pro-German propaganda, clearly intended to make the Germans look
bad.
You can learn all about Aleister Crowleys activities as a spook in Secret Agent
666, by Richard Spence.
3. Aleister Crowley tore up his British passport and declared independence
for Ireland.
Ireland had a special place in Crowleys heart. He called himself an Irishman inThe Book of Lies, wrote a poem for
St. Patricks Day, and even penned a Declaration of Independence of the Irish Republic. He also had some
thoughts on an improvement to the flag of Ireland in flashing colors, which he expressed in a letter to the editor of
the New York Times, published July 21, 1915:
The true flag of Ireland is a red sunblaze on a green ground. This is symbolical not only of
Irelands geographical position as the sentinel of the western gate of Europe, but of her traditional
history.
Heres our rendition of Crowleys description for a new Irish flag:
Irish Flag as proposed by Aleister Crowley
Ireland today faces many issues for which Aleister Crowley would certainly be able to offer some guidance. We
have written before on Irish politics, including the blasphemy law and the Euro crisis which has created much
difficulty for Ireland.
2. Aleister Crowley was the Great Beast 666 prophesied by John the Divine.
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The Mark of the Beast also makes a great tattoo
No, really. People sometimes think that Aleister Crowley was joking around or just trying to shock people by
calling himself !" #$%& '()*"+ DCLXVI (The Great Beast 666). But he really meant it and there are good
reasons to think he may have been right. Crowley himself gives a full account of how this happened in his piece,
The Master TherionA Biographical Note, as well as in The Equinox of the Gods and part 4 of Liber ABA.
T Polyphilus and Soror Sphinx explore this fascinating aspect of Aleister Crowley in an article published in Reality
Sandwich, entitled The Great Beast Was Here, where they write:
In 1904, Crowley received a text as a result of magical invocation: The Book of the Law. The law
the book contained may be summed up in these words: Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the
Law. Love is the law, love under will. With the arrival of this new law, Crowley believed the old
world order was completely overturned destroyed by fire, as it were and a new age dawned.
He called his new system Thelema (Greek for will), and identified himself with the Great Beast of
Revelation. Accordingly, Thelema declares Christianity obsolete, along with all other world
religions, even while putting to use their most potent spiritual techniques, symbolism, and mythic
narratives.
Far from being a horrific catastrophe, the word apocalypse really
means an unveiling, a revelation. Since 1904 we have seen tremendous
changes throughout society all over the globe. From the perspective of
early Christians like John the Divine, the overturning of the old religions
was a frightening prospect. From our perspective today, it is a welcome
and overdue change. Today, whether people are conscious of Crowleys
magical workings or not, most have come to accept the inherent divinity
and liberty of every individual as a self-evident fact of life.
Aleister Crowley also designed his own Mark of the Beast, which we have
struck in a coin commemorating our 2012 campaign. A few of these
coins are still available exclusively through this website.
1. Aleister Crowley was a solar myth.
When Aleister Crowley was asked during a trial to explain his office, Crowley replied, The Beast 666, only means
sunlight. You can call me Little Sunshine.
In some ways, it is easier to believe that Aleister Crowley is a myth than to believe that he could have been a single,
mortal human being. In this myth of Aleister Crowley we find a person who has excelled in three completely
distinct careers, which he classifies as the Secret Way of the Initiate, the Path of Poetry and Philosophy, and the
Open Sea of Romance and Adventure. Aleister Crowley points out that in truly great men, we might find one or
two of these facets, but never all three. He concludes:
in this particular instance all three careers are so full that posterity might well be excused for
surmising that not one but several individuals were combined in a legend, or even for taking the
next step and saying: This Aleister Crowley was not a man, or even a number of men; he is
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About ac2012
We realize that Aleister Crowley is dead. And British. And, moreover, not running for office. Nevertheless, we believe that the
most effective vote you can cast in 2012 is one for Aleister Crowley. The absolute rule of the state shall be a function of the
absolute liberty of each individual will.
View all posts by ac2012 !
obviously a solar myth. The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, Part 1, Prelude
Our religion therefore, for the People, is the Cult of the Sun, who is our particular star of the Body of Nuit, from whom,
in the strictest scientic sense, come this earth, a chilled spark of Him, and all our Light and Life. Commentary on
Liber AL vel Legis III:22
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