There are too many myths about Aleister Crowley to list them all or attempt to prove them false. We have, however, occasionally addressed some of the more persistent and troubling false rumors spread about Aleister Crowley. Here are ten such myths, including links to the stories where we have busted them.
10. Myth: Aleister Crowley was a black magician.
Few things could be further from the truth, and Aleister Crowley directly contradicts this myth.
“I have been accused of being a ‘black magician.’ No more foolish statement was ever made about me. I despise the thing to such an extent that I can hardly believe in the existence of people so debased and idiotic as to practice it.”
(Originally mentioned in our Guide to the Aleister Crowley 2012 Campaign Ad.)
9. Myth: Aleister Crowley advocated pedophilia.
Aleister Crowley was one of the strongest advocates for children’s rights of his time. He was against all forms of child abuse, and has said that if he were in political power, he’d have parents who bully their children arrested. Moreover, he was unequivocal that abuse of anyone’s rights is contrary to his religious philosophy of Thelema.
“… 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.”
(Originally posted in our post, Pedophiles in Wales.)
8. Myth: Aleister Crowley died alone in poverty.
When Aleister Crowley died, he had regular visitors in his beautiful home on top of a hill, overlooking the chalk cliffs where he learned to climb as a young man. He lived in this home, called Netherwood, with a number of other intellectuals. He kept a strong-box full of cash under his bed — property of his Thelemic organization, Ordo Templi Orientis. That he never took any of this money, though he could have easily done so, attests to his lack of material need at the end of his life.
“…the beast [Aleister Crowley] remained in good spirits, enjoying the comings and goings of Aleister Ataturk and the other children, who adored him in turn. Crowley did, however, remain in bed. The day before he died, he talked calmly and at length with MacAlpine. The following day was a still one but at the moment of Crowley’s death, which came quietly, the curtains in his room were caught in a gust of wind and a peal of thunder was heard. ‘It was the gods greeting him’ said MacAlpine.”
(Originally mentioned in our post, Drugs and the Deathbed.)
7. Myth: Aleister Crowley advocated rape.
Of course not. Aleister Crowley upheld the rights of the individual. These rights do not extend to violating the rights of others. See the quote and link in #9 above, and here’s another one:
“To use legal or financial constraint to compel either abstention or submission, is entirely horrible, unnatural and absurd.”
(Originally quoted in our post, Pedophiles in Wales.)
6. Myth: Aleister Crowley was a drug addict and a failure.
Aleister Crowley’s novel, “Diary of a Drug Fiend” is a celebration of sacramental drug use and of overcoming addiction.
Aleister Crowley was prescribed heroin for his asthma, a common medical practice at the time, and he became addicted like anyone would. He later used heroin recreationally and sacramentally, as he did with many drugs including cocaine, hashish, ether, peyote, and pretty much anything that he could get his hands on to try. He was after all a scientist, trained as a chemist even, a mystic, and a psychonaut.What do you expect?
Crowley’s writing production never decreased as he got older, and in fact some of his best works (like The Book of Thoth and Magick Without Tears) were accomplished at the end of his life.
(We addressed this issue in our post, Drugs and the Deathbed.)
5. Myth: Aleister Crowley worked for the Nazis.
Aleister Crowley demonstrated that he was the first to publish a “V Sign,” and he claimed to have invented Churchill’s use of the gesture in WWII as a magical foil to the Nazis’ use of the swastika.
Learn more in our two posts concerning this subject, V for Victory and The Answer to 1984 is 666.
4. Myth: Aleister Crowley sacrificed male children.
In his book, Magick, Aleister Crowley referred to masturbation jokingly and dysphemistically as child sacrifice. See our post, Guide to the Aleister Crowley 2012 Campaign Ad, for more details.
According to Crowley’s diaries, he performed this “sacrifice” about 150 times per year from 1912-1928. That is a moderate amount of masturbation, but it would be an impossible number of murders which would make Aleister Crowley dozens of times more murderous than the infamous Countess Elizabeth Báthory.
3. Myth: Aleister Crowley was the wickedest man in the world.
The tabloid article which gave Crowley this title also accused him of passing out drugs which made a person “…capable of participating in practices which no normal person could conceive of, much less describe.” Wait, what??
Read all about this in our post, Guide to the AC2012 Campaign Ad.
2. Myth: Aleister Crowley was the father of Barbara Bush.
Snopes has yet to deal with this issue; in the meantime, please pass along this link: Crowley/Bush April Fool’s joke!
1. Myth: There’s nothing magical about a shark eating a sea-lion.
As it turns out, there actually is something magical about a shark eating a sea-lion.
“Magick is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will. … Every intentional act is a Magickal act.”
Find out more about the shark and the sea lion in our post, Guide to the AC2012 Campaign Ad.
Aleister Crowley 2012 
What utter bullshit, anyone with half a brain knows that the chapter in “Magick Theory and practice is clearly talking about blood sacrifice. I feel bad for the deceived. I don’t feel bad for those knowingly lying but that I’ll still give you this advice, flee from Hell while you can.
People with half a brain might not be able to read the chapter in question. But people with a whole brain can, and to those that do, it’s obvious he was talking about masturbation. Keep taking those phonics classes!
Here’s what I wrote in my eBook while talking about Crowley and his obvious satanism which included child-sacrifice (one of the reasons he moved to obscure places like the small village in Italy; not to mention being able to molest local children whose parents prostituted them – yes, as Alfred Kinsey would confirm, child prostitution was common in Italy).
Crowley wrote:
“For the highest spiritual working one must accordingly choose that victim which contains the greatest and purest force. A male child of perfect innocence and high intelligence is the most satisfactory and suitable victim.
I then wrote:
Now when Crowley speaks of a “male child,” is he speaking of a young, male animal? Why not be more specific and clear? He WAS speaking about rams so why not use the term “kid?” When he speaks of innocence, is he, as God intentioned, only speaking of the absence of physical blemishes? When he speaks of “high intelligence,” is he talking of an abnormally smart child-ram, one who can jump through hoops and find treats hidden under turned-over bowls? That’s what I think of when I hear about “intelligent” barnyard animals…
He then writes:
“But the bloody sacrifice, though more dangerous, is more efficacious; and for nearly all purposes human sacrifice is the best.”
I also wrote (actually referring to this very website):
Whatever the case, Crowley’s faithful defenders can be found on the internet denying that human, child sacrifice was EVER the intention of this chapter (although it certainly seemed apparent). It was allegedly just a concealed joke he was making about his own habits of masturbation and that the “innocent and pure male children” were only his sperm.
They point to his warning at the end to the reading audience that they’ll find themselves in trouble if they don’t understand his meaning as proof of this.
But I haven’t been able to find any sources whatsoever where Crowley confesses the above citations to be a hoax and a gag; only hearsay from his supporters.
Besides which, the rituals he described contained blood, intelligence, stabbing, and a variety of other matters which you can’t get out of sperm. Imagine trying to stab the microscopic for a ritual? What of the reality that sperm have a 50/50 chance of creating a male or female after fertilization of the egg due to the presence of either an ‘X’ or ‘Y’ chromosome which bonds with the ‘X’ chromosome present in the egg? How does one then refer to sperm as “a male child”? Sperm doesn’t seem to fit whatsoever.
All those statements in defense only serve as examples of laughable excuses.
No, my dear friend, it seems quite likely that Aleister Crowley was indeed describing and defining child sacrifice or at the very least, the drawing of their blood for the sake of his demonic rituals. The historical practice of human sacrifice was well documented in an unfortunate and misguided book called The Golden Bough by an anthropologist named James George Frazer and published in 1890. Crowley would cite it as an inspiration for his work in Magick. We see that where he writes, ” The practical details of the Bloody Sacrifice may be studied in various ethnological
manuals, but the general conclusions are summed up in Frazer’s “Golden Bough”, which is strongly recommended to the reader.” He mentions the work over a half a dozen times!
So there you have it folks. Besides which, satan loves child sacrifices and urged for them under the guise of Mollech while ruling over the promised land the Israelites were sent by God to cleanse. And Crowley admittedly worshipped satan and wrote about that also (Aiwass was none other than satan), and that is who one gives their will over to in Thelema. Jesus Christ is the One True God and He is awesome and worthy of worship. Please read my eBook which proves all of this – I SEND FREE PDF COPIES TO ANY WHO ASK. Be blessed.
“The following day was a still one but at the moment of Crowley’s death, which came quietly, the curtains in his room were caught in a gust of wind and a peal of thunder was heard. ‘It was the gods greeting him’ said MacAlpine.” That sounds like a myth to me. He was a great like Joseph Smith was.
It’s not a myth. MacAlpine really said those words. And she was there.
You might find this of some amusement:
https://www.spartareport.com/2016/12/the-new-abnormal/
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WIKIPEDIA SEARCH FOR “ABBY OF THELEMA”
Raoul Loveday[edit]
In 1923 a 23-year-old Oxford undergraduate by the name of Raoul Loveday (or Frederick Charles Loveday) died at the Abbey. His wife, Betty May, variously blamed the death on his participation in one of Crowley’s rituals (allegedly incorporating the consumption of the blood of a sacrificed cat) or the more probable diagnosis of acute enteric fever contracted by drinking from a mountain spring. (Crowley had warned the couple against drinking the water, as reported in biographies by Lawrence Sutin, Richard Kaczynski and others.) When May returned to London, she gave an interview to a tabloid paper, The Sunday Express, which included her story in its ongoing attacks on Crowley. With these and similar rumors about activities at the Abbey in mind, Benito Mussolini’s government demanded that Crowley leave the country in 1923.[4] After Crowley’s departure, the Abbey of Thelema was eventually abandoned and local residents whitewashed over Crowley’s murals.
“He was against all forms of child abuse, and has said that if he were in political power, he’d have parents who bully their children arrested.”
I tried finding where he said this, but was unable. Could you provide a reference? I want to link to it whenever someone says that Crowley was a pedophile. believed in rape or other forms of abuse.
It was in a document called “Considerations Toward an Open Letter to Labour.” The document is not available online, but here is the quote:
“The police shall interfere with civil liberty in two cases only: firstly, when any individual demands redress against aggression of any sort–including the bullying of boys and girls by fanatical parents. Secondly, when the peace is menaced by bands of persons associated for the purpose of imposing their ideas by force upon their neighbours.”
I have relatively studied (as a child and adult) all forms (or most) of beliefs and religions as well as philosophies. I have never openly visually or literally shown (explained) anyone the ability to understand the “child sacrifice / masturbation” parallel. I usually go maybe a little more extreme to “try” to relate it as “cannibalism / oral sex”. Which most people find MORE humorous. Or get, or metaphorically connect…or something. Anywho, I love the way you explain this intelligently! Bravo, without giving in to their type of smug,(though with effort) disguised attitude. But, we have no disguises here. Crowley…what a character!
Quick question, I’m currently doing research on Crowley for a school paper and was wondering why did so many people around him go insane after (or during) specific rituals? In 1909, Crowley’s male lover and disciple, Victor Neuburg was claimed to have gone insane during an Algerian mountaintop ritual and his invocation of Choronzon. Then in 1930, while performing an initiation in Portugal (along with Fernando Pessoa) Raul Leal apparently went insane during the initiation ritual which “did not work for him” (according to José Manuel Anes)?
What caused them to go insane? What did the ritual entail?
Thank you in advance for any insight into these situations.
Who knows. People be crazy.
But seriously, that is not a lot of people. You’ve listed three people who may have had some form of mental illness? I mean, I could probably count dozens among my acquaintances. Perhaps I’m the true Beast!
Also by whose standards did they go “insane”? The times being what they were, you could be counted as insane just for being gay.
There were also times when it was normal and not considered mentally ill to go on witch hunts. Oh, wait… it still is — they just call it something else.
Don’t expect any real answer from these people. They don’t believe in absolute wrong/right, truth/ lie. Maybe someone like you thinks if you believe something you have to square it with some universal moral paradigm, but they will just make up ridiculous lies and never question whether they are “right” or “wrong”… I say just look for yourself and see what’s obviously there. Or don’t and just look for truth, because it’s not always healthy to look at this stuff too long.
I’m not good with methaphores but since some people here have a better ability with that…what Crowley really meant by animal sacrifice?
The animal self of Man to God-Man
Reblogged this on My Blog.
Just to make it clear on the whole subject of “child sacrifice”as euphemism for masturbation-Crowley was unable to get his work published while it mentioned masturbation or sex openly-yet,to his surprise,found that talk of child-sacrifice was permitted-thus it was not so much an irresponsible joke,or,as some put it “Trolling”,as a highlighting of the hypocricy of Victorian morals
.I suspect that even Crowley,with his long experience of fundamentalism,never imagined that people existed/would exist,that were so stupid as to take this literaly, with the”from his own dairies we see that the master therion performed this operation 150 times in a year”comment making it perfectly clear that this is all tongue-in-cheek
.I would also like to direct those interested to Crowleys “banned lecture”on Giles deRaz,also accused of diabolical acts by the church,when his real crime was to educate children rather than harm them.The Catholic church has always been opposed to education in any form.
Well said.
Yes sir just like the hypocrisy of academia that says a child who reads and repeats history 101 is educated while a child who reads and repeats penthouse letters doesn’t have a clue what they are talking about, you know why because it’s easier to indoctrinate and lie about things you know people can never experience.
…the realization that the sun gives life as well as takes it, without being an evil force, that there is no black or white magic, only magia naturalis, is what separates magicians that pulls rabbits out of a hat, and magicians that pulls up the forces of the creation in harmony and symbios with his own being as well as the creation out of his triangle of manifistation.
Theres to many armchair magicians, with too many opinions about magicians out there…
Thank you for your meticulous approach to pulling this info together.
After reading the original article stumbled upon this:
Sad that people can just claim someone`s intellectual property without copyrights.
Reblogged this on Frater Phaino and commented:
Along with “Top 10 Crowley Myths which are Actually True” this is a must-read for everyone interested in Aleister Crowley.
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Reading though this comment thread, I cannot help but conclude that even if Crowley’s reference to child blood sacrifice was a joke, it was incredibly irresponsible. Clearly the joke was not obvious to many who encountered the text. I don’t even want to comprehend how many misunderstanding readers throughout history have taken these paragraphs literally and subsequently harmed children in the pursuit of power. How can this be so lightly dismissed? As a teacher with great influence and a large following, Crowley shouldn’t have risked causing such a horrible misunderstanding about the fundamental horrors of child abuse for the sake some petty trolling. In addition, the venue he chose for the joke was incredibly inappropriate. He was not writing a casual text but one that he intended to be referenced and revered as a book of great truth for millennia to come. At best this choice of rhetoric can be called reckless and unnecessary. At worst it can be condemned as cruelly callous and arrogant, inciting horrific acts for a cheap joke.
That’s easy for you to say.
You’re not writing a book and hoping that it will escape being destroyed by customs, as this likely would have been if it openly discussed sex and masturbation.
A “cheap shot” is what one might call your armchair criticism, which takes for granted the freedom of expression that Crowley was denied his whole life.
So your rationale is that this was an attempt to fool customs agents, really? So while mentions of sex are taboo and even illegal–which I’m not disputing–mention of child sacrifice is of no concern at all? You may portray the man as you see fit, but one only need look at the sum total of his undisputed actions to know what he was about. And since when are grimoires and invoking daemons not considered black magic?
What undisputed actions do you mean?
Grimoires and evocation of demons was never black magic until relatively recently. Read up on where these things came from.
BTW, name one example of people sacrificing children because of Crowley’s joke. They don’t exist, because people who actually read the chapter have absolutely no difficulty understanding what he meant.
Are we getting into semantics now? Okay, so “black magic” is a recent title–and in fact is a contrived concept for simpletons–but magic is very real and reading invocations to summon daemons or demons is inherently malevolent. So you don’t deny he used grimoires, yet you mislead people by saying he didn’t practice “black magic.” Fine, what you should have said is “black magick” doesn’t exist, but he did embrace the dark arts, or something to that extent. It’s gross misdirection. And what undistputed acts? You’re not stupid and I’d appreciate if you didn’t treat me as if I were. Do I really need to go into the depravity of the man’s life? When one tries to upset the sensibilities of everyone around him and also himself, that individual is naturally going to put himself into some morally reprehensible positions. I’m aware of the evils that can be wrought by the Abramelin ceremony alone if done incorrectly or without pure intent, and he abandoned it before completion from all accounts that I’ve read. It’s wrong; using grimoires is wrong; casting spells on people is wrong. You try and make him out like he was just this really cool guy who liked to climb mountains, compose poetry and philosophize. It seems like you’re willfully concealing the nature of the man–the father of modern Satanism. Im not Christian or religious in any way and I understand that Satanism is a philosophy, one I don’t have tremendous issue with, but I know a few Satanist and the one’s I know are…not evil, but pretty repulsive and utterly selfish people. Anyhow, I’m open-minded and am very aware that my understandings may be flawed, but I am not perplexed by Aleister’s life. I can see the greatness in one aspect, but overall it’s rendered a minor redeeming quality when you consider the depths of absolute depravity he was willing to sink to. I know a little about sex magick, enough to know it can get pretty…evil. It isn’t a coincidence that so many people who were close to him died young, became severely mentally ill or were completely ruined in one fashion or another. I’m not saying, for example, that he caused the avalanche which killed the team of mountaineers he was supposed to lead, but it certainly isn’t beyond his capabilities or difficult to imagine that being his will. He’s an extremely fascinating and magnetic figure, but he’s not someone to be idolized unless you yourself have some pretty sick ideas about what is or is not okay; what is or is not excusable, if not understandable, what is right and what is wrong. I know “Do what thou wilt” transcends “right” and “wrong,” from a certain viewpoint, but as far as many people are concerned–and not only Christians or people from other faiths–including me, it is wrong. Part of being a decent moral human being is doing things you really don’t want to do. Most people are born with a sense of morality without any indoctrination. We know this and have even found the hormone that is responsible for this inherent morality. “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law” is wicked as far as I’m concerned. A lot of my life is dedicated to the happiness of others and oft at the sacrifice of my own happiness. He’s a figure I simply cannot reconcile or abide. Sorry for the essay. I absolutely welcome all thoughts you may have in so far as you don’t resort to character attacks, not that I feel that is part of your constitution. Thank you for your time.
I’m not sure if you have realized or not, but someone else claimed people had sacrificed children because of what AC wrote. I was merely replying to your rebuttal of her comment
I agree…Mr Hurwitz has not read his history books…Grimoires were used and made by monks, priests (especially in the medieval period, when most people were illiterate). So now he’ll go into a rant about Catholics being in some conspiracy, as well. I’m tired of people who think they are a hand span away from Heaven, because they are quite self righteous.
Michael, “A lot of my life is dedicated to the happiness of others and oft at the sacrifice of my own happiness.”, is still a form of do what thou wilt. If your life is “dedicated” to the happiness of others then clearly helping others brings you pleasure of some sort, or makes you feel better about yourself…. which is a good thing obviously.
I always understood the whole of the law as being just that, do what thou wilt, meaning you don’t do something because another person tells you it’s wrong or right, you do it for whatever your own reasoning might be.
Doing what you want makes you an individual, free from others judgement, and not necessarily evil.
prove that is what he meant…all I see is you saying that …can ypu show some proof..It seems pretty clear to me what he is saying,he wouldn’t be the first child molester/murderer to advocate for children..So please don’t just get rude show us some proof ..thanks
The proof is, there is no evidence. If you have any, produce it.
Intel agencies like compromising people. It gives them control.
Crowley was reputed to be a British agent.
So was he trolling for child molesters (and worse)?
Maybe John Podesta knows.
Myth Aliester Crowley was evil .. to be evil can be good why i must conclude good and evil does not excist. What i mean is that it sometimes require evil to make people become good.
And if people tried to understand what he wrote they would wake up faster and realize more than what David Icke earn money to blabbing about.
Icke is a moron.
Is this a reliable source of Crowley’s writings?
I was shocked to hear about the child sacrifice which Crowley appears to be advising in his book. I heard about it in a Mark Dice video about the “hip-hop artist” JayZ who Dice claims is a follower of Crowley.
So I searched for more confirmation of the allegation and came across your webpage. You say that Crowley is referring to “Masturbation” when he talks about “Child Sacrifice”. Well, I guess it is plausible to link the dying sperms to some kind of sacrifice of what they may have become. Although technically sperms are constantly being created and dying inside the body anyway and masturbation is not why they die.
Anyhow, could you please refer me to the writings within his works, with clear citations that I can check and which hopefully are available on the link, which will make this point crystal clear.
Thanks.
The matter in question is in:
Magick in Theory & Practice
(also published as part 3 of Liber ABA: Book 4: Magick)
Chapter XII:
Of the Bloody Sacrifice:
and Matters Cognate
Thanks for the pointer but I could not find in those pieces where he defines Child Sacrifice to mean Masturbation.
Which paragraphs within the relevant chapters specifically state that he is referring to Masturbation which he writes Child Sacrifice? Could you please post a quote from his works with the citation to check.
Your patience is appreciated.
A modicum of reading comprehension is necessary, and sadly cannot be supplied by this campaign. Good luck!
Are you referring to the ADDENDA? The addenda is not written by Crowley, it is added by somebody else. Crowley’s own writing in that chapter certainly does not allude at all to the idea that when he writes “Child Sacrifice” that we should interpret that to mean “Masturbation”.
The author of the addenda indicates that we can deduce from Crowley’s other writings that he might not actually mean to literally sacrifice a child. Can you point us to the citations from Crowley’s own writings (not an addenda or commentary made by somebody else) where he tells us that when he writes “Child Sacrifice” he actually means “Masturbation”?
Here is the addenda:
“WEH ADDENDA: When Crowley speaks of sacrificing a male child, his diaries and other writings indicate that he thereby obfuscates the actual practice. Crowley did this by diversion of the act of sexual intercourse and other sexual actions. He considered contraception as human sacrifice. There is no indication in any of his writings that he ever performed infanticide. In fact, Crowley was even against abortion.”
You know what, on a side note. It is an utterly ridiculous thing for him to write Child Sacrifice if he did not mean Child Sacrifice. Can you really blame people for thinking that he is talking about Child Sacrifice?
You all think he is very clever, and he thought he was very clever, and you probably think you are very clever, and that we are all so stupid, but in the end he shouldn’t go around making light of Child Sacrifice. Don’t write “Drink A Cup Of Tea” if you actually mean “Eat A Bar Of Chocolate” and don’t expect readers to know that you mean something completely different to what you have written when there is no indication given by yourself (only a dodgy commentary added sometime later by a third party) that that is so. F- for Crowley!
It’s a joke. Get over it. Whether or not you like the joke, or think he is clever, is beside the point. He didn’t sacrifice children.
It is well understood amongst those who study sex magic that the purpose of such is to take the power of procreation and direct that towards another intent. In other words if you are studying the topic, you get it.
Monty Python got it (every sperm is sacred…) it’s not that hard…
Thank you for all your hard work ac2012. You have made it easier for me to show people that Crowley has a landslide of mud thrown at him and his writings. Keep up the Great Work. I know who I’m voting for in 2016. 93 & 418.
A Tarot Trump?
OK, so you claim that he’s referring to masturbation when he mentions child sacrifice. That may be true, but I don’t see any evidence provided to back up this claim. How do you know he’s talking about masturbation? Prove it.
Also, even if he was jokingly referring to masturbation, how in the hell would he expect people to figure that out, especially someone reading his book in the pre-internet age? If someone was reading the book decades ago, would he have had to be a member of a secret society in order to be let in on this alleged joke?
It’s plainly obvious to anyone who reads the chapter.
I agree, it is “plainly obvious”. Those who have actually read Crowley’s works know that he made little jokes about this all of the time in his writings. Often it was done for flair and the shock factor, but it was also done as a test for the readers. Those who are rational and capable of objectively investigating further into his works are rewarded with learning of the “jokes” and the understanding he imparted. Those who are not rational will see such writing and “jokes” as wicked and offensive, and they will fall for the trap.
“Therefore the kings of the earth shall be Kings for ever: the slaves shall serve.” – Liber AL vel Legis, 2:58.
are you that stupid? why are you holding onto your interpretation? As the article said, there is no way he committed that number of murders and a murderer would not promote the ideas of love and harmony that he did. You’re simply too thick to get the joke. go fight something really evil
Read it and find out, if you read the footnotes then there is no debate. Don’t just read the snippets people post, go and read the whole chapter. Basically he was educating about what ancient black magicians done but also pointing out his preferred and less harmful methods, sexual magic… which is why he pointed out in the foot notes anyone that would really consider killing a child in a ritual is “not worthy” of Thelema… He also joked tat if anyone did not understand the true meaning of the chapter they might get them selves into trouble…. *rolls eyes*
It’s is clear and unambiguous in Magick in theory and practice. I know two others have already mentioned this but 6 downvotes suggests to me that some of us have willful fantasies contrary the simple truth of it and this point requires repeating.
For the highest spiritual wokings one must accordingly choose that victim which contains the greatests and purest force. a male child of perfect innocence and high intelligence is the most satisfactory and suitable victim
those magicians who object to the use of blood have endeavorued to replace it with incense. for such a purpose te incense of abramelin may be burnt in large quantities. dittany of crete is also a valuable medium. both these incense are very catholic in thier nature and suitable for any materializtion. but the bloody sacrifice though more dangerous is more efficacious and for nearly all purposes human sacrifice is the best
( the truly great magician will be albe touse his own blood or that of a disiple and that without sacrificing the physical life irrovacably. and eg is given in chapter 44 liber 33
there is a magical operation of maximum importance the Initiation of a New Aeon.
When it becomes necessary to utter a Word the whole Planet must be bathed in blood. Before man is ready to accept the lLaw of Thelema the Great war must be fought. This Bloody Sacrifice is the critical point of the World. Cermony of the Proclamation of Horus the Crowned and conquering Child as Lord of the Aeon
Frazer’s Golden Bough
The animal should be stabbed to the heart, or its throat severed, in either case by the knife. all other methods of kiliing are less efficacious even in the case of Crucifixion death is given by stabbing. one may remark that warm-blooed animals only are used as victims with two principle exception – the serpent in a very special ritual . the magical beetlesof liber legis
Yet this shoud not be forgotten that this and that other art at which we have dareddarkly to hint are the sumpreme forumulae of Practical Magick.
Chapter X!!
Magick in Theory and Practice by Aleister Crowley
raumfahrer.wordpress.com/
The first two paragraphs you quote, Crowley is writing about masturbation.
In the third, he prophesied the great wars.
The difference between you and the creator of this blog is that we have read Crowley’s writings.
Hmm, sounds really suspicious that you would equate that to masturbation. I have heard that it could induce bleeding if done excessively – hahaha. But i will concede to your judgement until I have read his works myself… Is the whole of the 1st 2 paragraphs meant as comedy? Jeez this guy really made things difficult for himself
Just read the whole chapter and it will be obvious that he is referring to masturbatory magick. It’s not a long chapter.
IF it is about masturbation…is he saying the best thing to masturbate too is young, innocent, intelligent males?
Nope.
Like many others who want to smear the mans work, you have forgoten to post his comments at the end of the chapter…… Here.
“You are also likely to get into trouble over this chapter unless you truly comprehend its meaning.
There is a traditional saying that whenever an Adept seems to have made a straightforward, comprehensible statement, then is it most certain that He means something entirely different. The Truth is nevertheless clearly set forth in His Words: it is His simplicity that baffles the unworthy. I have chosen the expressions in this Chapter in such a way that it is likely to mislead those magicians who allow selfish interests to cloud their intelligence, but to give useful hints to such as are bound by the proper Oaths to devote their powers to legitimate ends. “…thou hast no right but to do thy will.” “It is a lie, this folly against self.” The radical error of all uninitiates is that they define “self” as irreconcilably opposed to “not-self.” Each element of oneself is, on the contrary, sterile and without meaning, until it fulfils itself, by “love under will”, in its counterpart in the Macrocosm. To separate oneself from others is to destroy oneself; the way to realize and to extend oneself is to lose that self — its sense of separateness — in the other. Thus: Child plus food: this does not preserve one at the expense of the other; it “destroys” or rather changes both in order to fulfil both in the result of the operation — a grown man. It is in fact impossible to preserve anything as it is by positive action upon it. Its integrity demands inaction; and inaction, resistance to change, is stagnation, death and dissolution due to the internal putrefaction of the starved elements.”
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None of those so-called myths have ever existed. I suspect this is a dis-information website, and that you are in fact, a fundamentalist Christian.
That’s funny. In fact all of these myths are prevalent on the Internet, and you can find many examples using teh Google.
I’ve always known or suspected much of the rumors and myths were just fallacies, just read his confessions, a very large book sometimes dry, and his other writings. It is all right there. I love the myths though, makes for great entertainment.
you should take down this site you fucking fool
Why would we do that? We have about 5 more posts drafted and more model photography on the way. Also, many thousands of people around the world (including mainstream print and televised media) have found a lot of interesting information here about Aleister Crowley and Thelema. We’re not about to remove such a valuable resource from the Internet.
Is that how your church taught you to speak?
happily we need no church to teach us anything. the Law of Liberty is an inherent calling that demands only honesty and courage you might want to look those words up and while you are at it you may want to explore the idea of a narrow minded fear based guilt complex as well….
Richard, there is no reason to think that the person who said we should take this site down is a Thelemite.
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You are entirely inncorrect. Did you even look into your facts?
Response to Myth 10 :
Crowley wrote many books and papers about black magick and the occult. Above is just one example.
Some quotes and sources:
“That religion they call Christianity; the devil they honor they call God. I accept these definitions, as a poet must do, if he is to be at all intelligible to his age, and it is their God and their religion that I HATE and will DESTROY.” (Aleister Crowley, The World’s Tragedy, p. XXXI)
“I simply went over to Satan’s side; and to this hour I cannot tell why. But I found myself passionately eager to serve my new master. . . I was not content to believe in a personal devil and serve him, in the ordinary sense of the word. I wanted to get hold of him personally and become his chief of staff.” (Aleister Crowley, The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, p. 67)
“For the highest spiritual working one must according choose that victim which contains the greatest and purest force [ed. such as a child]. A male child of perfect innocence and high intelligence is the most satisfactory and suitable victim. . . But the bloody sacrifice, though more dangerous, is more efficacious: and for nearly all purposes human sacrifice is the best”. (Aleister Crowley, Magick: Liber ABA, book four, parts I-IV, part Three-Magick in Theory and Practice, 1994 Ordo Templi Orientis edition, pp. 207, 208)
“Did you even look into your facts?”
How droll. Do please read the post to which you are responding before you start foaming at the mouth and hatefully attacking western civilization’s greatest philosopher in the last 12,000 years.
Greatest philosopher in the last 12,000 years? Lofty assertion…but I’m curious; who was this great philosopher 12,000 years ago then? Shall we follow him then, rather than the beast?
Perhaps you are unaware but FYI there is no written record that far back. Also nobody is “following” Crowley except in a chronological sense.
Crowley was kicked out of Italy in 1923 because at one of the OTO sex parties at the Abby of Thelema, one of the male group members died after drinking the blood of a cat that was sacrificed. This is the type of person you’re talking about –
False. He was kicked out of Italy because of his associations with Freemasons, and Raul Loveday died from illness he got after drinking water from a contaminated stream.
here is an excerpt from WIKIPEDIA under searching “Abby of Thelema”
“Raoul Loveday[edit]
In 1923 a 23-year-old Oxford undergraduate by the name of Raoul Loveday (or Frederick Charles Loveday) died at the Abbey. His wife, Betty May, variously blamed the death on his participation in one of Crowley’s rituals (allegedly incorporating the consumption of the blood of a sacrificed cat) or the more probable diagnosis of acute enteric fever contracted by drinking from a mountain spring. (Crowley had warned the couple against drinking the water, as reported in biographies by Lawrence Sutin, Richard Kaczynski and others.) When May returned to London, she gave an interview to a tabloid paper, The Sunday Express, which included her story in its ongoing attacks on Crowley. With these and similar rumors about activities at the Abbey in mind, Benito Mussolini’s government demanded that Crowley leave the country in 1923.[4] After Crowley’s departure, the Abbey of Thelema was eventually abandoned and local residents whitewashed over Crowley’s murals.”
THAT WOULD HAVE TO BE RAOUL LOVEDAY. ACCORDING TO BOOKS BY RICHARD CAVENDISH, JOHN SYMMONS, & LAWRENCE SUTIN, LOVEDAY’S WIFE, BETTY MAY, BLAMED CROWLEY FOR HIS DEATH, BECAUSE LOVEDAY DRANK CAT’S BLOOD AS PART OF A RITUAL. OF COURSE, THAT’S A LOT OF NONSENSE. CROWLEY HAD WARNED THEM REPEATEDLY NOT TO DRINK THE WATER, BUT THEY DIDN’T HEED HIS WARNINGS. HENCE, HE ACTUALLY DIED OF TYPHOID FEVER. HE SUFFERED FROM A WEAK CONSTITUTION ANYWAY, SO HE WAS VERY PRONE TO CATCH ANY CONTAGIOUS DISEASE. AFTER BETTY MAY RETURNED TO LONDON, SHE WENT STRAIGHT TO THE NEWSPAPERS. WHEN THE FASCIST GOVERNMENT CAUGHT WIND OF WHAT WAS GOING ON AT THAT ABBEY, CROWLEY WAS TOLD TO GET OUT OF ITALY, & TO NEVER COME BACK. AMONG THE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST CROWLEY WAS PEDOPHILIA, WHICH BRINGS UP, STILL, ANOTHER TOPIC FOR DISCUSSION.
Ok you do know that last one was him being a troll right?
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I truly enjoy “dsyphemistically”…a previously unheard word….thanks….
And as far as Crowliana rumours go, he was rather staunch in allowing the press to hang themselves without responding/reacting….
Are there campaign items available?….seems like it’s time to vote….
Thanks! Yes, you can get t-shirts, yard signs and more. Check the links at the top of the site to get to our shop.
Number 7 doesn’t make sense. “Legal and Financial Restraint” doesn’t equate to the physical and/or psychological restraint it takes to rape someone. I am sure you can come up with something better, yes?
This is only one of many quotations from Aleister Crowley which make it plain that coercive sex is contrary to the philosophy of Thelema. If financial and legal coercion are deemed horrible, you can imagine how much more so violent coercion would be considered by Aleister Crowley. Nevertheless, you’ll notice that the quote to which you refer links to an entire blog post where this topic is discussed in greater detail. In the article linked from this quote, you’ll find another quotation which directly addresses the issue of rape, along with much more info.
I really enjoyed reading the top ten myths, I didn’t know about Barbara Bush. Lol
Crowley is a genius
Very nice.
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I like your site, but all that the swag you are selling is a bit much no?
Crowley Xmas crap and coffee mugs are you sure?
We make those available to people who want them. We also make the images available so people can make their own. If you don’t want swag, don’t make or buy it! Why would you begrudge those who do? We suggest you observe the niyama of Thelema and “mind thine own business.”
Oh, snap! LOL.
“Crowley myths that are true”? If they’re myths by definition they aint true! Oh wait, that IS magick!
Perhaps “legends” would be a better word to use when we make that post, but then again, you make a good point about magick!
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Fantastic, well done ~93~
Thanks!
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“In his book, Magick, Aleister Crowley referred to masturbation jokingly and dysphemistically as child sacrifice.”
In other words, Crowley was trolling, and people fall for it to this day. :)
Yes, that too! The funniest part though, is that customs allowed it, but they burned his books that discussed sex openly!
Thanks much for your comment, by the way. Excellent observation :-)
93. How about a top-ten list about Crowley myths that are true? 93 93/93
Good idea! It sounds like you might have some specific thoughts to this end? if so, please share!
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