The Prophet’s Political Platform

As a political essayist, a patriotic poet, and the creator of Winston Churchill’s “V for Victory” sign — a magical foil to Hitler’s Swastika — Aleister Crowley was certainly passionate about politics, especially where it concerned individual liberties. We can find much from Crowley’s writings on a variety of political topics which naturally arise from Crowley’s basic political doctrine that “The absolute rule of the state shall be a function of the absolute liberty of each individual will.”

Aleister Crowley’s political writings reveal the depth of this philosophy, which he championed throughout his life. While we may find some of his specific political opinions disagreeable to our own — and we may find emergent political problems which Crowley could not have anticipated — Crowley’s visionary philosophical perspective will shake your political paradigms and challenge you to think differently.

Below are a few definitive quotes which can give us some idea of Aleister Crowley’s views on a number of today’s pressing political issues. Where possible, each quotation links to another AC2012 post where related matters are more fully explored.

Human Rights

“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.”

“thou hast no right but to do thy will. Do that, and no other shall say nay.”

Sex & Sexuality

“Man has the right to love as he will:—’take your fill and will of love as ye will, when, where, and with whom ye will.'”

“The Beast 666 ordains by His authority that every man, and every woman, and every intermediately-sexed individual, shall be absolutely free to interpret and communicate Self by means of any sexual practices soever, whether direct or indirect, rational or symbolic, physiologically, legally, ethically, or religiously approved or no, provided only that all parties to any act are fully aware of all implications and responsibilities thereof, and heartily agree thereto.”

“Sex is the main expression of the Nature of a person; great Natures are sexually strong; and the health of any person will depend upon the freedom of that function.”

Marriage

“Marriage would lead to very little trouble if men would get rid of the idea that it is anything more than a financial and social partnership. People should marry for convenience and agree to go their separate ways without jealousy.”

“… the restricts on marriage must be abolished.”

Discrimination

“Man has the right to live by his own law–to live in the way that he wills to do.”

Drugs & Prohibition

“I wish here to emphasize that the Law of Thelema definitely enjoins us, as a necessary act of religion, to ‘drink sweet wines and wines that foam.’ Any free man or woman who resides in any community where this is verboten has a choice between two duties: insurrection and emigration.”

“… of all classes, the first place among ‘drug addicts’ is that of the doctor.”

“… let me say, as a Jeffersonian democrat, that I dread beyond all else the growth of the petty tyranny of restrictive legislation, the transference of disciplinary authority from the judiciary to the constabulary, the abandonment of every constitutional safeguard of individual liberty, the division of the people into the hunters and the hunted, the exaltation of the spy, the ‘agent provocateur,’ and the blackmailer, the open adoption of the policy of sitting on the safety-valve, and the degradation of citizenship by applying physical repression to the evils whose only redress lies in moral development!”

Violence

“… acts invasive of another individual’s equal rights are implicitly self-aggressions. … Such acts as rape, and the assault or seduction of infants, may therefore be justly regarded as offences against the Law of Liberty, and repressed in the interests of that Law.”

Children’s Rights & Education

“The state must guarantee at least six months entire repose to all pregnant women. It must establish colonies in country districts for the free support of any children whose mothers are willing to let them go there.”

“Each child must develop its own Individuality, and Will, disregarding alien Ideals. … Education is assisting a soul to express itself. Every child should be presented with all possible problems and allowed to register its own reactions; it should be made to face all contingencies in turn until it overcomes each successfully.”

“The crime of abortion will lose its motive in all but the most exceptional cases.”

Speech, Press, Religion

“Man has the right . . . to play as he will . . . to think what he will: to speak what he will: to write what he will: to draw, paint, carve, etch, mould, build as he will: to dress as he will.”

“[Do what thou wilt] is the most profound blasphemy possible against all ‘gods of men,’ because it makes every man his own God.”

Energy & the Environment

“It is a violation of the Law of Thelema to abuse the natural qualities of any animal or object by diverting it from its proper function, as determined by consideration of its history and structure. …

“Apparent, and sometimes even real, conflict between interests will frequently arise. Such cases are to be decided by the general value of the contending parties in the scale of Nature. Thus, a tree has a right to its life; but a man being more than a tree, he may cut it down for fuel or shelter when need arises. Even so, let him remember that the Law never fails to avenge infraction: as when wanton deforestation has ruined a climate or a soil, or as when the importation of rabbits for a cheap supply of food has created a plague.”

“Accept the Laws of Nature and work with them.”

Women’s Issues

“‘Every man and every woman is a star.'”‎

“To us, every woman is a star. She has therefore an absolute right to travel in her own orbit.”

“We do not fool and flatter women; we do not despise and abuse them. To us a woman is Herself, absolute, original, independent, free, self-justified, exactly as a man is.”

Economic Growth and Fiscal Discipline

“When one hesitates to pay money out, one cannot expect other people to feel otherwise. So everything becomes increasingly constipated. I am not denying the virtues of thrift, but it’s a long and tedious business; and all the big fortunes are made by shrewd gambling. Even if your policy be ‘small profits,’ it is a failure unless it ensures ‘quick returns.’ This is the deeper meaning of the proverb ‘time is money.'”

“Any financial transaction which manifestly inconveniences the state is to be treated as treason, and punished with death.”

“Everything shows a profit—how true and how beautiful! Then how is it that the municipal and national debts have everywhere been multiplied, some forty-fold, some sixty-fold and some an hundred-fold? And what has become of all the profit when the purchasing power of money is daily dwindling?”

Democracy

‎”The principle of popular election is a fatal folly.”

“So, whichever way you vote, you are asking for trouble, or would do, if the vote had any meaning. The result of any election, or for the matter of that any revolution, is an almost wholly insignificant component of those stupendous and inscrutable Magical Forces which determine the destinies of the planet.”

Government Reform

“Repeal all laws which assume that mankind is a herd of cattle. State insurance, pauper laws, registrations, conscription.”

“All laws which assist men to obtain undue influence upon others must be repealed, e.g. the bankruptcy laws, the libel laws, and the divorce laws.”

“The family, the clan, the state count for nothing; the Individual is the Autarch.”

Health Care Reform

“As I think that totalitarian methods are already on the way to extinguish the last spark of manly independence—that is, in self-styled civilized countries—it seems to me that we all should regard with shrewd suspicion any plans for ‘perfecting’ social conditions.”

“With regard to Liber 77, please note that, except in quotations, no word has more than one syllable. I think the right to trade and the right to medical assistance is already implied.”