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He was born Edward Alexander Crowley on October 12, 1875, to wealthy parents in Warwickshire, England. His parents were members of a strict Puritan sect, the Plymouth Brethren. Crowley's mother is the one who first dubbed him The Great Beast, as in Revelations. He accepted the title and called her a religious bigot. He would continue to use that title throughout his life in one form or another. He displayed his contempt for the morality his mother tried to force on him by seducing her chambermaid at 14, and changed his first name to Aleister upon reaching adulthood to avoid sharing the same first name as his father.
Having inherited a sizeable trust fund that he could access upon reaching adulthood, Crowley used it to pursue his passions for chess, poetry, mountain climbing, and sex (of any and all varieties). He attended Trinity College, Cambridge, and he began publishing his poetry. During this time he briefly worked for the Diplomatic Service of Great Britain. He traveled widely, visiting Mexico, India, France, Ceylon, China, Canada and the US. He took part in the first expedition to climb K2 in 1902 and led the disastrous first expedition to climb Kanchenjunga in 1905. He married Rose Kelly in 1903. They had a daughter Lola Zaza, who died (either of typhoid or typhus) while she and her mother were in India, a tragedy Crowley blamed on Rose. In 1910 he divorced her, citing her alcoholism. This also left him free to pursue his own passions as well as other lovers, such as Victor Neuberg.
In 1898 Crowley joined The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a secret society that is one of the most significant in Western occult tradition in modern times. He progressed through the degrees and ranks rapidly and quickly became part of the inner circle of the organization, but quarrels with other members led to his expulsion within two years. He later founded his own society, Argentinum Astrum (The Silver Star) and got a modicum of revenge on The Golden Dawn by publishing some of their secret teachings in The Equinox (the magazine of Argentinum Astrum). In 1910 he was contacted by the German head of the Ordo Templi Orientis, who accused him of publishing their secrets. He joined the OTO shortly thereafter and was named the head of the English-speaking branch of the OTO in 1912. In 1925 he would be elected world head of the order, a title he would hold until his death.
Crowley and his then wife Rose traveled to Egypt in 1904. In Cairo he had his most profound experience - the dictation of The Book of the Law by the entity identified as Aiwass. The Book of the Law would become the foundation of Crowley's philosophy and religion, Thelema. The book proclaims that the old age, The Age of Osiris, is over and the new era, The Age of Horus, had begun. Old ideas and old religions were to be swept aside. Thelema is a syncretistic religion, drawing together teachings from many religions and spiritual traditions - including Gnostic Christianity, mystical Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Tantra, ancient Egyptian mythology, and the western magickal/occult tradition - and expanding upon them. Crowley was well-versed and extremely learned in all of these religions and more. The major philosophical points of Thelema are "do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law," "love is the law, love under will," and "every man and every woman is a star." Crowley maintained that "do what thou wilt" did not mean that one could do whatever they pleased, but that one must find their higher self, their 'true will,' and pursue the dictates of that higher self.
Crowley spent WWI in the United States, publishing satirical anti-British propaganda. This did not help his public image.
After the war, in 1920, Crowley moved to Cefalu, Sicily with his mistress Leah Hirsig, their daughter Poupee, and various followers and hangers-on. In Cefalu, he founded the notorious Abbey of Thelema where he pursued not only his magickal activities, but also let his addiction to heroin (originally prescribed to him for his asthma) rage out of control. This is the setting for Crowley's novel, Diary of a Drug Fiend, though the book is much more hopeful than the reality. Lack of proper sanitation made for unsafe living conditions and Poupee died at the Abbey, as did Crowley's disciple Raoul Loveday. Loveday died (depending upon which story you believe) either of drinking impure water (most likely) or the blood of a cat (much less likely). Loveday's wife, Betty May, returned to England and sold her story to The Sunday Express, which embellished the grim reality with all kinds of black magic rituals and scandalous acts, and Mussolini expelled Crowley from Italy in 1923.
After his expulsion from Italy, Crowley found his reputation increasingly used against him, and was unable to find any kind of reliable publishing for his writings or reliable places of residence. Much of his work during this time was published posthumously. His health declined fairly rapidly in his later years, mostly due to the heroin habit he could never kick, but his mind and wit were still as strong as ever and he died on December 1, 1947 in Hastings, England.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.
Love is the law, love under will.
To Mega Therion © Danae Cassandra
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