On December 1, 1947, the great dark magician and infernal occultist, who seems to many to be a fiction, died. But Mr. Crowley is not fiction. Far from it.
1. Edward Alexander Crowley was born in the family of an English brewer on October 12, 1875. It would seem that living in a family that owns a beer manufactory is the dream of every healthy boy. However, not everything was so much fun. His parents were members of a hardcore Protestant sect, which meant unceasing prayer, sermons, and family Bible readings in the morning. The son hated everything connected with the Christian religion so much that his mother, in horror, called him the Beast.
Others would have become rock musicians or serial killers in the place of this kid. But in those days, rock and roll was not invented, and being a killer maniac was not considered cool yet. So Crowley Jr. chose his own, absolutely unique path.
2. At Cambridge, Crowley studied philosophy, literature, and achieved considerable success in moving pieces around the chessboard. They even predicted a career for him as a professional chess player. He had other plans though, thinking of becoming a diplomat, even went to St. Petersburg to practice Russian. Evil tongues – and there were plenty of them around Crowley – were saying that in fact he came to Russia to spy. It was in 1897.
Immediately upon his return from Russia, Crowley began to show an unhealthy interest in the occult and to acquire accessible and authoritative literature on dark topics. Well, or a healthy interest – depending on whose side you are.
By that time, the master called himself Alistair – this is something akin to the name Alexander in the rare languages of the British people.
3. Crowley made a rapid career in the occult order “Golden Dawn”, although he made a fair number of enemies there. The order gathered magicians and alchemists (and this by the way is long before the invention of role-playing games). It consisted of many legendary characters – for example, the poet William Yates, along with his wife, feminist activist Maud Gonn. There was also another prominent suffragist, the actress Florence Farr.
As you probably already guessed, the Golden Dawn was that rare kind of secret order, in which women were accepted and with the same rights as men. This progressive magical organization existed somewhere until the 70s of the twentieth century, however, and now there are many temples scattered around the world that declare their belonging to the order.
4. We are absolutely not going to retell you the whole biography of Mr. Crowley, for this there is Wikipedia. There are many interesting and incredible things. Let’s say the main thing: somewhere by the age of thirty, the glory of a terry warlock and a Satanist was fixed for Alistair. The latter was repeatedly denied by Crowley, he did not consider himself a Satanist and he had a very good reason for that.
The fact is that Satan is a character from Christian mythology. By declaring yourself a Satanist, you thereby recognize the legitimacy and legitimacy of the Christian faith. But Aleister Crowley completely denied Christian ideology, did not give it the right to exist, so he could not be a Satanist in any way.
This principle is still professed by many modern adherents of anti-Christian spheres – well, like the Norwegian black metal band.
Not being a Satanist, Crowley nevertheless used some images and concepts from the devil’s arsenal. He called himself Beast-666, just as his mother bequeathed.
5. Aleister Crowley passed away at the age of 72 and, as is often the case with the scandalous and incomprehensible dead, his fame began to grow rapidly after he left us. Very common among the creative bohemians.
You know that Crowley’s face is on the cover of The Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper?
6. Quite popular English singer John Osborne, performing under the pseudonym “Ozzy”, wrote in 1980 the song “Mr. Crowley “, after which now everyone calls Crowley exclusively as” Mr. “. Be sure to watch Ozzy’s 1981 live performance, where the still-live guitarist Randy Rhoads plays indescribably to this very song.
David Bowie recalled Crowley in the song “Quicksand” from the 1971 album “Hunky Dory”. Iron Maiden, Mercyful Fate, Ministry and, of course, Marilyn Manson have also made their mark in this genre.
7. In 1899 , Alistair bought a house near Loch Ness (the monster was not included in the purchase). Crowley lived there until 1913 and, importantly, performed his complex dark rituals there. After Crowley, the mansion changed several owners, many of whom had sad stories. One committed suicide and one of the housewives became blind, so her husband left her a month after settling in, leaving her without any help.
In 1970, Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, a big Crowley fan, bought the house and put a friend in there to look after the household (he himself is always on tour and at parties). According to the comrade and his guests, spending the night there was incredibly scary: inexplicable anomalies were constantly observed.
8. During World War II, Aleister Crowley openly endorsed Hitler’s policies and wrote articles for one of the American newspapers, which worked practically as a mouthpiece for the Third Reich. Nevertheless, many experts who have studied Crowley’s biography are confident that he was a double agent of British intelligence and, although he publicly spoke for Germany, in reality undermined the German underground in the United States.
In general, Crowley’s national identity was complex and unpredictable. For example, all his life he considered himself a true Irishman, although he was one hundred percent English. He wrote the Declaration of Independence for Ireland and wrote a poem about St. Patrick.
