Who was Aleister Crowley?

Aleister Crowley was a lot of things. As one internet bio of him states "A study in contradictions, Crowley was a pioneering mountain climber, a pioneering homoerotic poet, a pioneering ritual magician, a heroin addict (not so pioneering), a sleazy womanizer, a closet homosexual, a vocal feminist, a racist, a German collaborator, a British secret agent, a civil rights advocate, a talented amateur artist, a legitimately profound mystic and an infuriating charlatan." That's as good a concise description of him as I've read.

Crowley is best remembered for his work as a ritual magician, for which he had (and still has) an infamous reputation. The press of his time dubbed him "the wickedest man in the world." Despite how some people view him and how some of the press labeled him in his life, Crowley was not a Satanist or a black magician, both of which he had nothing but contempt for. Of course, he also had great contempt for fundamentalist Christians of all sorts. Crowley was a complicated and complex personality who has fittingly left us a complicated and complex legacy. If you want to know more about him, I wrote a brief biographical sketch you can read here.

Crowley's Influence

Aleister Crowley had a profound influence on those who came after him. He redefined the Western magickal traditions - indeed, he is the figure in modern ceremonial magick. Gerald Gardner, the man who is widely considered the founder of modern Wicca, lifted many of his rituals and invocations virtually whole-cloth from Crowley's works and much of the doctrine and belief passed on by Gardner can be traced to Crowley. (If you doubt this, read Ronald Hutton's Triumph of the Moon, an excellent scholarly work on the history of modern witchcraft. Hutton proves it beyond doubt.) Crowley was also a prime influence on L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of scientology. In this way Crowley is not only the founding father of his own religion of Thelema, but a founding father of others.

Crowley was an icon figure in the 60's as the counter-culture was attracted to his image of one who rebelled against authority and all the conventions of society. Crowley certainly had an influence on rock music - his face appears on The Beatles Sgt. Pepper album, David Bowie references him in "Quicksand," Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin at one time lived in Crowley's Boleskine House, and of course Ozzie Osborne sang an entire song about him entitled "Mr. Crowley." And that's just naming a few of the best know. A fuller list can be found here.

Crowley was also the primary influence on indie filmmaker Kenneth Anger, who based almost all his work around Crowley. I guarantee that if you can track down copies of Anger's Invocation of My Demon Brother and/or Lucifer Rising, both heavily influenced by Crowley, and watch them, you will never see another film that is more bizarre. I've made that bet with people and let them watch my copies and every one of them has agreed every time.

And of course, Aleister Crowley popularized the spelling of magick with a k, to differentiate it from stage magic.

Personal Note

I adore Crowley. I don't think I have any illusions about him - he had a ferocious drug habit he was never able to kick, he indulged in all kinds of appetites, rebelled against all conventions, his personal relationships were disastrous at best, and people died from having known him (Raoul Loveday). But in all of history, he'd be the person I'd most want to meet, to have over for dinner and a chat. And the more I learn about him, the more of his works I read, the more convinced I am of that.

In 1986 I read a book by Richard Cavendish, The Black Arts, which is on the whole not a very good book, but included Crowley in the chapter on the ceremonial magicians. This was my first introduction to him. You could say I was instantly hooked; I wanted to know more, to read more. I immediately went to the local public library and ordered whatever I could get my hands on through inter-library loan - the first book of Crowley's I actually read was one of the published collections of his diaries (it was paperback and bound in red and I've never seen it since). Shortly after that I first read The Book of the Law. I was at a very low point in my life, and the passage of The Book of the Law - "every man and every woman is a star" - started me on a road to the recovery of my self-esteem that was so battered in '86 that just before I discovered Crowley I had attempted suicide. To me it is no exaggeration to say that Crowley saved my life, for I truly feel that if I had not discovered him, if I had not read that book at that time I would not be here today. Crowley filled a spiritual void that I had within and put me on the very rewarding path that I am on today, and for all of that he is one of my heroes, flaws and all.

A friend asked me after reading this if I considered Crowley a holy man. While my first answer was 'depends on what your definition of holy is' (there's my Humanities degree talking), I would answer yes, for I feel he pursued his spirituality above all else in his life and he has left us a spiritual legacy as powerful as any I'm familiar with, and that makes him a holy man, at least to me.

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.
Love is the law, love under will.