View source for Aleister Crowley

{{short description|English occultist (1875–1947)}}
{{good article}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=June 2020}}<!-- This article uses British English (neighbour, centre, etc.) with Oxford spellings (-ize instead of -ise). -->
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name         = Aleister Crowley
| image        = Aleister Crowley, thinker.jpg
| alt          = 1925 photograph of Aleister Crowley
| caption      = Crowley in 1925
| birth_name   = Edward Alexander Crowley
| birth_date   = {{birth date|df=yes|1875|10|12}}
| birth_place  = [[Leamington Spa]], [[Warwickshire]], England
| death_date   = {{death date and age|df=yes|1947|12|1|1875|10|12}}
| death_place  = [[Hastings]], [[Sussex]], England
| resting_place= Ashes buried in [[Hampton, New&nbsp;Jersey]]
| occupation   = {{Hlist | [[Occult]]ist | poet | novelist | [[mountaineer]] }}
| signature    = Signature of Aleister Crowley.svg
| signature_alt= Aleister Crowley's signature
| spouse       = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Rose Edith Kelly]]|1903|1909|end=div}}
* {{marriage|Maria Teresa Sanchez|1929}}
}}
| children     = 5
| education    = {{plainlist|
* [[Malvern College]]
* [[Tonbridge School]]
* [[Eastbourne College]]
* [[Trinity College, Cambridge]]
}}
| module      =
}}
{{thelema|expand=Key figures}}
'''Aleister Crowley''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ|l|ɪ|s|t|ər|_|ˈ|k|r|oʊ|l|i}} {{respell|AL|ist|ər|_|KROH|lee}}; born '''Edward Alexander Crowley'''; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English [[occult]]ist, [[ceremonial magic]]ian, poet, novelist, [[mountaineer]], and painter.<!-- these are arranged the frequency of use in sources. --> He founded the religion of [[Thelema]], identifying himself as the [[prophet]] entrusted with guiding humanity into the [[Aeon of Horus|Æon of Horus]] in the early 20th century. As a prolific writer, he published widely over the course of his life.

Born to a wealthy family in [[Royal Leamington Spa]], Warwickshire, Crowley rejected his parents' [[fundamentalist Christian]] [[Plymouth Brethren]] faith to pursue an interest in [[Western esotericism]]. He was educated at [[Trinity College, Cambridge|Trinity College]] at the [[University of Cambridge]], where he focused his attention upon mountaineering and poetry, resulting in several publications. Some biographers allege that here he was recruited into a [[British intelligence agency]], further suggesting that he remained a spy throughout his life. In 1898, he joined the esoteric [[Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn]], where he was trained in ceremonial magic by [[Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers]] and [[Charles Henry Allan Bennett|Allan Bennett]]. He went mountaineering in Mexico with [[Oscar Eckenstein]], before studying [[Hindu]] and [[Buddhist]] practices in India. In 1904, he married [[Rose Edith Kelly]], and they honeymooned in [[Cairo]], Egypt, where Crowley wrote down ''[[The Book of the Law]]''—a sacred text that serves as the basis for Thelema, which he said had been dictated to him by a supernatural entity named [[Aiwass]]. ''The Book'' announced the start of the Æon of Horus and declared that its followers should "Do what thou wilt": seek to align themselves with their [[True Will]] via the practice of ceremonial magic.

After the unsuccessful [[1905 Kanchenjunga expedition]] and a visit to India and China, Crowley returned to Britain, where he attracted attention as a prolific author of poetry, novels, and occult literature. In 1907, he and [[George Cecil Jones]] co-founded an esoteric order—the [[A∴A∴]], through which they propagated Thelema. After spending time in Algeria, in 1912 he was initiated into another esoteric order, the German-based [[Ordo Templi Orientis]] (O.T.O.); he rose to become the leader of its British branch, which he reformulated in accordance with Thelema. Through O.T.O., Thelemite groups were established in Britain, Australia, and North America. Crowley spent the [[First World War]] in the United States, where he took up painting, and campaigned for the German war effort against Britain. His biographers later revealed that he had infiltrated the pro-German movement to assist the British intelligence services. In 1920, he established the [[Abbey of Thelema]], a religious commune in [[Cefalù]], Sicily, where he lived with various followers. His [[libertine]] lifestyle led to denunciations in the British press, and the Italian government evicted him in 1923. He divided the following two decades between France, Germany, and England, and continued to promote Thelema until his death.

Crowley gained widespread notoriety during his lifetime, being a [[recreational drug use|drug user]], a [[bisexual]], and an individualist social critic. Crowley has remained a highly influential figure over western esotericism and the [[counterculture of the 1960s]], and he continues to be considered a prophet in Thelema. He is the subject of various biographies and academic studies.

==Early life==

===Youth===
[[File:Aleister Crowley birthplace.jpg|thumb|alt=2017 photograph of Crowley's birthplace|Aleister Crowley was born Edward Alexander Crowley at 30 Clarendon Square in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, on 12 October 1875.]]

Crowley was born Edward Alexander Crowley at 30 Clarendon Square in [[Royal Leamington Spa]], [[Warwickshire]], England, on 12 October 1875.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=4–5|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=15|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=14}} His father, Edward Crowley (1829–1887), was trained as an engineer, but his share in a lucrative family brewing business, Crowley's Alton Ales, allowed him to retire before his son was born.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=2–3|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=31–23|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=4–8|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=14–15}} His mother, Emily Bertha Bishop (1848–1917), came from a Devonshire-Somerset family and had a strained relationship with her son; she described him as "the Beast", a name that he revelled in.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=3|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=18–21|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=13–16|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=17–21}} The couple had been married at London's [[Kensington and Chelsea Register Office|Kensington Registry Office]] in November 1874,{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=3|2a1=Kaczynski|2y=2010|2pp=13–14|3a1=Churton|3y=2011|3p=17}} and were evangelical Christians. Crowley's father was born a [[Quaker]], but converted to the [[Exclusive Brethren]], a faction of a [[Christian fundamentalist]] group known as the [[Plymouth Brethren]]; Emily likewise converted upon marriage. Crowley's father was particularly devout, spending his time as a travelling preacher for the sect and reading a chapter from the Bible to his wife and son after breakfast every day.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=3–4, 6, 9–10|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=17–23|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=11–12, 16}} Following the death of their baby daughter in 1880, in 1881 the Crowleys moved to [[Redhill, Surrey]].{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=6–7|2a1=Kaczynski|2y=2010|2p=16|3a1=Churton|3y=2011|3p=24}} At the age of 8, Crowley was sent to H. T. Habershon's evangelical Christian boarding school in [[Hastings]], and then to Ebor preparatory school in [[Cambridge]], run by the Reverend Henry d'Arcy Champney, whom Crowley considered a sadist.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=12–14|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=25–29|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=17–18|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=24}}

In March 1887, when Crowley was eleven years old, his father died of [[tongue cancer]]. Crowley described this as a turning point in his life,{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=15|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=24–25|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=19|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=24–25}} and he always maintained an admiration of his father, describing him as "my hero and my friend".{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=10|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=21}} Inheriting a third of his father's wealth, he began misbehaving at school and was harshly punished by Champney; Crowley's family removed him from the school when he developed [[albuminuria]].{{sfnm|1a1=Sutin|1y=2000|1pp=27–30|2a1=Kaczynski|2y=2010|2pp=19, 21–22}} He then attended [[Malvern College]] and [[Tonbridge School]], both of which he despised and left after a few terms.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=32–39|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=32–33|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=27|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=26–27}} He became increasingly sceptical of Christianity, pointing out [[Internal consistency of the Bible|Biblical inconsistencies]] to his religious teachers,{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=15–16|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=25–26|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=23}} and went against the Christian morality of his upbringing by smoking, masturbating, and having sex with prostitutes from whom he contracted [[gonorrhea]].{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=26–27|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=33|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=24, 27|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=26}} Sent to live with a Brethren tutor in [[Eastbourne]], he undertook chemistry courses at [[Eastbourne College]]. Crowley developed interests in [[chess]], poetry, and [[mountain climbing]], and in 1894 climbed [[Beachy Head]] before visiting the [[Alps]] and joining the [[Scottish Mountaineering Club]]. The following year he returned to the [[Bernese Alps]], climbing the [[Eiger]], [[Trift Glacier|Trift]], [[Jungfrau]], [[Mönch]], and [[Wetterhorn]].{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=39–43|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=30–32, 34|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=27–30|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=26–27}}

===Cambridge University: 1895–1898===
Having adopted the name of Aleister over Edward, in October 1895 Crowley began a three-year course at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], where he was entered for the [[Human science|Moral Science]] [[Tripos]] studying philosophy. With approval from his personal tutor, he changed to English literature, which was not then part of the curriculum offered.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=49|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=34–35|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=32|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=27–28}} Crowley spent much of his time at university engaged in his pastimes, becoming president of the chess club and practising the game for two hours a day; he briefly considered a professional career as a chess player.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=51–52|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=36–37|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=23}} Crowley also embraced his love of literature and poetry, particularly the works of [[Richard Francis Burton]] and [[Percy Bysshe Shelley]].{{sfnm|1a1=Kaczynski|1y=2010|1p=35}} Many of his own poems appeared in student publications such as ''[[Granta|The Granta]]'', ''Cambridge Magazine'', and ''Cantab''.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=50–51|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=33–35}} He continued his mountaineering, going on holiday to the Alps to climb every year from 1894 to 1898, often with his friend [[Oscar Eckenstein]], and in 1897 he made the first ascent of the [[Mönch]] without a guide. These feats led to his recognition in the Alpine mountaineering community.{{sfnm|1a1=Symonds|1y=1997|1p=13|2a1=Booth|2y=2000|2pp=53–56|3a1=Sutin|3y=2000|3pp=50–52|4a1=Kaczynski|4y=2010|4p=35, 42–45, 50–51|5a1=Churton|5y=2011|5p=35}}

{{Quote box|width=25em|align=left|quote=For many years I had loathed being called Alick, partly because of the unpleasant sound and sight of the word, partly because it was the name by which my mother called me. Edward did not seem to suit me and the diminutives Ted or Ned were even less appropriate. Alexander was too long and Sandy suggested tow hair and freckles. I had read in some book or other that the most favourable name for becoming famous was one consisting of a [[dactyl (poetry)|dactyl]] followed by a [[spondee]], as at the end of a [[hexameter]]: like ''Jeremy Taylor''. Aleister Crowley fulfilled these conditions and Aleister is the [[Scottish Gaelic|Gaelic]] form of Alexander. To adopt it would satisfy my romantic ideals.|source=Aleister Crowley, on his name change.{{sfn|Crowley|1989|p=139}}}}

Crowley had his first significant [[religious experience|mystical experience]] while on holiday in Stockholm in December 1896.{{sfnm|1a1=Symonds|1y=1997|1p=14|2a1=Booth|2y=2000|2pp=56–57|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=36|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=29}} Several biographers, including [[Lawrence Sutin]], [[Richard Kaczynski]], and [[Tobias Churton]], believed that this was the result of Crowley's first same-sex sexual experience, which enabled him to recognize his [[bisexuality]].{{sfnm|1a1=Sutin|1y=2000|1p=38|2a1=Kaczynski|2y=2010|2p=36|3a1=Churton|3y=2011|3p=29}} At Cambridge, Crowley maintained a vigorous sex life with women—largely with female prostitutes, from one of whom he caught [[syphilis]]—but eventually he took part in same-sex activities, despite [[Offences Against the Person Act 1861#Unnatural offences|their illegality]].{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=59–62|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=43|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=27–28}} In October 1897, Crowley met [[Herbert Charles Pollitt]], president of the [[Footlights|Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club]], and the two entered into a relationship. They broke apart because Pollitt did not share Crowley's increasing interest in Western esotericism, a break-up that Crowley regretted for many years.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=64–65|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=41–47|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=37–40, 45|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=33–24}}

In 1897, Crowley travelled to [[Saint Petersburg]], Russia, later saying that he was trying to learn Russian, because he was considering a future diplomatic career there.{{sfnm|1a1=Spence|1y=2008|1pp=19–20|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=37|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=35|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=30–31}} In October 1897, a brief illness triggered considerations of mortality and "the futility of all human endeavour", and he abandoned all thoughts of a diplomatic career in favour of pursuing an interest in the occult.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=57–58|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=37–39|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=36}}

In March 1898, he obtained [[A. E. Waite]]'s ''[[The Book of Ceremonial Magic|The Book of Black Magic and of Pacts]]'' and [[Karl von Eckartshausen]]'s ''[[The Cloud upon the Sanctuary]]'', furthering his occult interests.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=58–59|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=41|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=40–42}} That same year, [[Leonard Smithers]], a publisher who Crowley met through Pollitt, published 100 copies of Crowley's poem ''Aceldama: A Place to Bury Strangers In'', but it was not a particular success.{{Sfnm|1a1=Symonds|1y=1997|1pp=14–15|2a1=Booth|2y=2000|2pp=72–73|3a1=Sutin|3y=2000|3pp=44–45|4a1=Kaczynski|4y=2010|4pp=46–47}} That same year, Crowley published a string of other poems, including ''[[White Stains]]'', a [[Decadent movement|Decadent]] collection of erotic poetry that was printed abroad lest its publication be prohibited by the British authorities.{{sfnm|1a1=Symonds|1y=1997|1p=15|2a1=Booth|2y=2000|2pp=74–75|3a1=Sutin|3y=2000|3pp=44–45|4a1=Kaczynski|4y=2010|4pp=48–50}} In July 1898, he left Cambridge without a degree, despite a "[[First-class honours|first class]]" showing in his 1897 exams and consistent "second class honours" results before that.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=78–79|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=35–36}}
{{clear left}}

===The Golden Dawn: 1898–1899===
[[File:Aleister Crowley, Golden Dawn.jpg|thumb|right|upright|alt=Crowley wearing the ceremonial garb of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, 1910|Crowley in [[Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn|Golden Dawn]] garb, 1910]]
In August 1898, Crowley was in [[Zermatt]], Switzerland, where he met the chemist Julian L. Baker, and the two began discussing their common interest in [[alchemy]].{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=81–82|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=52–53|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=52–53}} Back in London, Baker introduced Crowley to [[George Cecil Jones]], Baker's brother-in-law and a fellow member of the occult society known as the [[Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn]], which was founded in 1888.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=82–85|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=53–54|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=54–55}} Crowley was initiated into the Outer Order of the Golden Dawn on 18 November 1898 by the group's leader, [[Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers]]. The ceremony took place in the Golden Dawn's Isis-Urania Temple held at London's Mark Masons Hall, where Crowley took the magical motto and name "Frater Perdurabo", which he interpreted as "Brother I shall endure to the end".{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=85, 93–94|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=54–55|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=60–61|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=35}}

Crowley moved into his own luxury flat at 67–69 [[Chancery Lane]] and soon invited a senior Golden Dawn member, [[Charles Henry Allan Bennett|Allan Bennett]], to live with him as his personal magical tutor. Bennett taught Crowley more about ceremonial magic and the ritual use of drugs, and together they performed the rituals of the ''[[Goetia]]'',{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=98–103|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=64–66|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=54–55, 62–64, 67–68|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=49}} until Bennett left for South Asia to study [[Buddhism]].{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=103–05|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=70–71|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=70–71|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=55}} In November 1899, Crowley purchased [[Boleskine House]] in [[Foyers, Highland|Foyers]] on the shore of [[Loch Ness]] in Scotland. He developed a love of Scottish culture, describing himself as the "[[Laird]] of Boleskine", and took to wearing traditional highland dress even during visits to London.{{sfnm|1a1=Symonds|1y=1997|1p=29|2a1=Booth|2y=2000|2pp=107–11|3a1=Sutin|3y=2000|3pp=72–73|4a1=Kaczynski|4y=2010|4pp=68–69|5a1=Churton|5y=2011|5p=52}} He continued writing poetry, publishing ''Jezebel and Other Tragic Poems'', ''Tales of Archais'', ''Songs of the Spirit'', ''Appeal to the American Republic'', and ''Jephthah'' in 1898–99; most gained mixed reviews from literary critics, although ''Jephthah'' was considered a particular critical success.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=114–15|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=44–45|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=61, 66, 70}}

Crowley soon progressed through the lower grades of the Golden Dawn, and was ready to enter the group's inner Second Order.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=115–16|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=71–72|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=64}} He was unpopular in the group; his bisexuality and [[libertine]] lifestyle gained him a bad reputation, and he developed feuds with some of the members, including [[W. B. Yeats]].{{sfnm|1a1=Symonds|1y=1997|1p=37|2a1=Booth|2y=2000|2pp=115–16|3a1=Sutin|3y=2000|3pp=67–69|4a1=Kaczynski|4y=2010|4pp=64–67}} When the Golden Dawn's London lodge refused to initiate Crowley into the Second Order, he visited Mathers in Paris, who personally admitted him into the Adeptus Minor Grade.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=116|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=73–75|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=70–73|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=53–54}} A schism had developed between Mathers and the London members of the Golden Dawn, who were unhappy with his autocratic rule.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=118|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=73–75|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=74–75|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=57}} Acting under Mathers' orders, Crowley—with the help of his mistress and fellow initiate [[Elaine Simpson]]—attempted to seize the Vault of the Adepts, a temple space at 36 Blythe Road in [[West Kensington]], from the London lodge members. When the case was taken to court, the judge ruled in favour of the London lodge, as they had paid for the space's rent, leaving both Crowley and Mathers isolated from the group.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=118–23|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=76–79|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=75–80|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=58–60}}

===Mexico, India, Paris, and marriage: 1900–1903===
In 1900, Crowley travelled to Mexico via the United States, settling in [[Mexico City]] and starting a relationship with a local woman. Developing a love of the country, he continued experimenting with ceremonial magic, working with [[John Dee]]'s [[Enochian]] invocations. He later said he had been initiated into [[Freemasonry]] while there, and he wrote a play based on [[Richard Wagner]]'s opera ''[[Tannhäuser (opera)|Tannhäuser]]'' as well as a series of poems published as ''Oracles'' (1905). Eckenstein joined him later in 1900, and together they climbed several mountains, including [[Iztaccihuatl]], [[Popocatépetl|Popocatepetl]], and [[Volcán de Colima|Colima]], the latter of which they had to abandon owing to a volcanic eruption.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=127–37|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=80–86|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=83–90|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=64–70}} Leaving Mexico, Crowley headed to San Francisco before sailing for Hawaii aboard the ''Nippon Maru''. On the ship, he had a brief affair with a married woman named Mary Alice Rogers; saying he fell in love with her, he wrote a series of poems about the romance, published as ''Alice: An Adultery'' (1903).{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=137–39|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=86–90|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=90–93|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=71–75}}

[[File:Aleister Crowley 1902 K2.jpg|thumbnail|alt=Crowley bathing in a spring during the K2 Expedition, 1902|Crowley during the K2 Expedition, 1902]]
Briefly stopping in Japan and Hong Kong, Crowley reached Ceylon, where he met with Allan Bennett, who was there studying [[Shaivism]]. The pair spent some time in [[Kandy]] before Bennett decided to become a Buddhist monk in the [[Theravada]] tradition, travelling to Burma to do so.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=139–44|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=90–95|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=93–96|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=76–78}} Crowley decided to tour India, devoting himself to the Hindu practice of ''[[Rāja yoga]]'', by which means he believed he had achieved the spiritual state of ''[[Dhyana in Hinduism|dhyana]]''. He spent much of this time studying at the [[Meenakshi Temple]] in [[Madurai|Madura]]. At this time he also wrote poetry which was published as ''The Sword of Song'' (1904). He contracted [[malaria]], and had to recuperate from the disease in Calcutta and Rangoon.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=144–47|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=94–98|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=96–98|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=78–83}} In 1902, he was joined in India by Eckenstein and several other mountaineers: [[Guy Knowles]], H. Pfannl, V. Wesseley, and [[Jules Jacot-Guillarmod]]. Together, the Eckenstein-Crowley expedition attempted [[K2]], which was never climbed before. On the journey, Crowley was afflicted with [[influenza]], malaria, and [[snow blindness]], and other expedition members were also struck with illness. They reached an altitude of {{convert|20000|ft|m}} before turning back.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=148–56|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=98–104|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=98–108|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=83}}

Having arrived in Paris in November 1902, he socialized with his friend the painter [[Gerald Kelly]], and through him became a fixture of the Parisian arts scene. Whilst there, Crowley wrote a series of poems on the work of an acquaintance, the sculptor [[Auguste Rodin]]. These poems were later published as ''Rodin in Rime'' (1907).{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=159–63|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=104–08|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=109–15|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=84–86}} One of those frequenting this milieu was [[W. Somerset Maugham]], who after briefly meeting Crowley later used him as a model for the character of Oliver Haddo in his novel ''[[The Magician (Maugham novel)|The Magician]]'' (1908).{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=164–67|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=105–07|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=112–13|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=85}} He returned to Boleskine in April 1903. In August, Crowley wed Gerald Kelly's sister [[Rose Edith Kelly]] in a "marriage of convenience" to prevent her from entering an [[arranged marriage]]; the marriage appalled the Kelly family and damaged his friendship with Gerald. Heading on a honeymoon to Paris, Cairo, and then Ceylon, Crowley fell in love with Rose and worked to prove his affections. While on his honeymoon, he wrote her a series of love poems, published as ''Rosa Mundi and other Love Songs'' (1906), as well as authoring the religious satire ''Why Jesus Wept'' (1904).{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=171–77|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=110–16|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=119–24|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=89–90}}

==Developing Thelema==

===Egypt and ''The Book of the Law'': 1904===
{{Quote box|width=25em|align=right|quote=Had! The manifestation of [[Nuit]].<br>The unveiling of the company of heaven.<br>Every man and every woman is a star.<br>Every number is infinite; there is no difference.<br>Help me, o warrior lord of Thebes, in my unveiling before the Children of men!|source=The opening lines of ''The Book of the Law''}}
In February 1904, Crowley and Rose arrived in [[Cairo]]. Pretending to be a prince and princess, they rented an apartment in which Crowley set up a temple room and began invoking ancient Egyptian deities, while studying [[Islamic mysticism]] and [[Arabic]].{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=181–82|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=118–20|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=124|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=94}} According to Crowley's later account, Rose regularly became delirious and informed him "they are waiting for you." On 18 March, she explained that "they" were the god [[Horus]], and on 20 March proclaimed that "the Equinox of the Gods has come". She led him to a nearby museum, where she showed him a seventh-century BCE mortuary [[stele]] known as the [[Stele of Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu]]; Crowley thought it important that the exhibit's number was 666, the [[Number of the beast|Number of the Beast]] in Christian belief, and in later years termed the artefact the "Stele of Revealing".{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=182–83|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=120–22|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=124–26|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=96–98}}

According to Crowley's later statements, on 8 April he heard a disembodied voice identifying itself as that of [[Aiwass]], the messenger of Horus, or [[Heru-ra-ha|Hoor-Paar-Kraat]]. Crowley said that he wrote down everything the voice told him over the course of the next three days, and titled it ''Liber AL vel Legis'' or ''[[The Book of the Law]]''.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=184–88|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=122–25|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=127–29}} The book proclaimed that humanity was entering a new [[Aeon (Thelema)|Aeon]], and that Crowley would serve as its [[prophet]]. It stated that a supreme moral law was to be introduced in this Aeon, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law," and that people should learn to live in tune with their Will. This book, and the philosophy that it espoused, became the cornerstone of [[Thelema]].{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=184–88|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=125–33}} Crowley said that at the time he was unsure what to do with ''The Book of the Law''. Often resenting it, he said that he ignored the instructions which the text commanded him to perform, which included taking the Stele of Revealing from the museum, fortifying his own island, and translating the book into all the world's languages. According to his account, he instead sent typescripts of the work to several occultists he knew, putting the manuscript away and ignoring it.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=188|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=139|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=129}}

===Kanchenjunga and China: 1905–1906===
Returning to Boleskine, Crowley came to believe that Mathers was using magic against him, and the relationship between the two broke down.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=189, 194–95|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=140–41|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=130|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=108}} On 28 July 1905, Rose gave birth to Crowley's first child, a daughter named Lilith, and Crowley wrote the pornographic ''[[Snowdrops from a Curate's Garden]]'' to entertain his recuperating wife.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=195–96|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=142|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=132|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=108}} He also founded a publishing company through which to publish his poetry, naming it the Society for the Propagation of Religious Truth in parody of the [[Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge]]. Among its first publications were Crowley's ''Collected Works'', edited by Ivor Back, an old friend of Crowley's who was both a practicing surgeon and an enthusiast of literature.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=190|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=142|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=131–33}} His poetry often received strong reviews (either positive or negative), but never sold well. In an attempt to gain more publicity, he issued a reward of £100 for the best essay on his work. The winner of this was [[J. F. C. Fuller]], a British Army officer and military historian, whose essay, ''The Star in the West'' (1907), heralded Crowley's poetry as some of the greatest ever written.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=241–42|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=177–79|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=136–37, 139, 168–69}}

[[File:Kanchenjunga India.jpg|right|thumb|alt=A photograph of Kangchenjunga|[[Kangchenjunga|Kanchenjunga]], as seen from [[Darjeeling]]]]

Crowley decided to climb [[Kangchenjunga|Kanchenjunga]] in the Himalayas of Nepal, widely recognised as the world's most treacherous mountain. The collaboration between [[Jules Jacot-Guillarmod|Jacot-Guillarmod]], Charles Adolphe Reymond, Alexis Pache, and Alcesti C. Rigo de Righi, [[1905 Kanchenjunga expedition|the expedition]] was marred by much argument between Crowley and the others, who thought that he was reckless. They eventually mutinied against Crowley's control, with the other climbers heading back down the mountain as nightfall approached despite Crowley's warnings that it was too dangerous. Subsequently, Pache and several porters were killed in an accident, something for which Crowley was widely blamed by the mountaineering community.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=201–15|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=149–58|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=138–49|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=111–12}}

Spending time in [[Hariharpur, India|Moharbhanj]], where he took part in [[big-game hunting]] and wrote the homoerotic work ''The Scented Garden'', Crowley met up with Rose and Lilith in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] before being forced to leave India after non-lethally shooting two men who tried to mug him.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=217–19|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=158–62|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=151–52}} Briefly visiting Bennett in Burma, Crowley and his family decided to tour Southern China, hiring porters and a nanny for the purpose.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=221|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=162–63|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=114}} Crowley smoked opium throughout the journey, which took the family from [[Tengchong|Tengyueh]] through to Yungchang, [[Dali City|Tali]], [[Kunming|Yunnanfu]], and then [[Hanoi]]. On the way, he spent much time on spiritual and magical work, reciting the "Bornless Ritual", an invocation to his [[Holy Guardian Angel]], on a daily basis.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=221–32|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=164–69|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=153–54|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=115–18}}

While Rose and Lilith returned to Europe, Crowley headed to Shanghai to meet old friend Elaine Simpson, who was fascinated by ''The Book of the Law''; together they performed rituals in an attempt to contact Aiwass. Crowley then sailed to Japan and Canada, before continuing to New York City, where he unsuccessfully solicited support for a second expedition up Kanchenjunga.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=232–35|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=169–71|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=155–56|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=118–21}} Upon arrival in Britain, Crowley learned that his daughter Lilith had died of [[Typhoid fever|typhoid]] in [[Yangon|Rangoon]], something he later blamed on Rose's increasing alcoholism. Under emotional distress, his health began to suffer, and he underwent a series of surgical operations.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=235–36, 239|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=171–72|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=159–60|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=121}} He began short-lived romances with actress Vera "Lola" Neville (née Snepp){{sfn|Kaczynski|2010|p=160}} and author [[Ada Leverson]],{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=246|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=179|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=159–60, 173–74}} while Rose gave birth to Crowley's second daughter. Lola Zaza was born in 1906: either in late summer{{sfnm|1a1=Sutin|1y=2000|1pp=172–73}} or in September{{sfnm|1a1=Kaczynski|1y=2010|1pp=159–60}} or in the following winter.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=236–37|2a1=Churton|2y=2011|2p=125}} The child contracted bronchitis and almost died.{{sfnm|1a1=Kaczynski|1y=2010|1pp=159–60|2a1=Booth|2y=2000|2pp=236–37|3a1=Sutin|3y=2000|3pp=172–73}}

===The A∴A∴ and The Holy Books of Thelema: 1907–1909===
With his old mentor George Cecil Jones, Crowley continued performing [[The Book of Abramelin|the Abramelin rituals]] at the Ashdown Park Hotel in [[Coulsdon]], Surrey. Crowley believed that in doing so he attained ''[[samadhi]]'', or union with the Godhead, thereby marking a turning point in his life.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=239–40|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=173–74|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=157–60}} Making heavy use of [[hashish]] during these rituals, he wrote an essay on "The Psychology of Hashish" (1909) in which he championed the drug as an aid to mysticism.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=240–41|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=173, 175–76|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=179|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=128}} He also said he had been contacted once again by Aiwass in late October and November 1907, adding that Aiwass dictated two further texts to him, "Liber VII" and "Liber Cordis Cincti Serpente", both of which were later classified in the corpus of [[The Holy Books of Thelema]].{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=251–52|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=181|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=172}} Crowley wrote down more Thelemic Holy Books during the last two months of the year, including "Liber LXVI", "Liber Arcanorum", "Liber Porta Lucis, Sub Figura X", "Liber Tau", "[[Liber Trigrammaton]]" and "Liber DCCCXIII vel Ararita", which he again said he had received from a preternatural source.{{sfn|Kaczynski|2010|pp=173–75}} Crowley stated that in June 1909, when the manuscript of ''The Book of the Law'' was rediscovered at Boleskine, he developed the opinion that Thelema represented [[Objectivity (philosophy)|objective truth]].{{sfnm|1a1=Sutin|1y=2000|1pp=195–96|2a1=Kaczynski|2y=2010|2pp=189–90|3a1=Churton|3y=2011|3pp=147–48}}

Crowley's inheritance was running out.{{sfn|Booth|2000|p=243}} Trying to earn money, he was hired by George Montagu Bennett, the [[Earl of Tankerville]], to help protect him from [[witchcraft]]; recognising Bennett's paranoia as being based in his cocaine addiction, Crowley took him on holiday to France and Morocco to recuperate.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=249–51|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=180|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=129–36}} In 1907, he also began taking in paying students, whom he instructed in occult and magical practice.{{Sfn|Booth|2000|p=252}} [[Victor Neuburg (poet)|Victor Neuburg]], whom Crowley met in February 1907, became his sexual partner and closest disciple; in 1908 the pair toured northern Spain before heading to [[Tangier]], Morocco.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=255–62|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=184–87|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=179–80|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=129–30, 142–43}} The following year Neuburg stayed at Boleskine, where he and Crowley engaged in [[sadomasochism]].{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=267–68|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=196–98|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=146–47}} Crowley continued to write prolifically, producing such works of poetry as ''Ambergris'', ''Clouds Without Water'', and ''Konx Om Pax'',{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=244–45|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=179, 181|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=176, 191–92|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=131}} as well as his first attempt at an autobiography, ''The World's Tragedy''.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=246–47|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=182–83|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=231|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=141}} Recognizing the popularity of short horror stories, Crowley wrote his own, some of which were published,{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=254–55|2a1=Churton|2y=2011|2p=172}} and he also published several articles in ''[[Vanity Fair (British magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'', a magazine edited by his friend [[Frank Harris]].{{sfn|Kaczynski|2010|p=178}} He also wrote ''[[777 and Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley|Liber 777]]'', a book of magical and [[Hermetic Qabalah|Qabalistic]] [[Correspondence (theology)|correspondences]] that borrowed from Mathers and Bennett.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=247–48|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=175|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=183|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=128}}

{{Quote box|width=25em|align=right|quote=Into my loneliness comes—<br>The sound of a flute in dim groves that haunt the uttermost hills.<br>Even from the brave river they reach to the edge of the wilderness.<br>And I behold Pan.|source=The opening lines of Liber VII (1907), the first of the Holy Books of Thelema to be revealed to Crowley after ''The Book of the Law''.{{sfn|Crowley|1983|p=32}}}}

In November 1907, Crowley and Jones decided to found an occult order to act as a successor to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, being aided in doing so by Fuller. The result was the [[A∴A∴]]. The group's headquarters and temple were situated at 124 Victoria Street in central London, and their rites borrowed much from those of the Golden Dawn, but with an added Thelemic basis.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=263–64|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=172–73|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=146}} Its earliest members included solicitor Richard Noel Warren, artist [[Austin Osman Spare]], Horace Sheridan-Bickers, author [[George Raffalovich]], Francis Henry Everard Joseph Feilding, engineer Herbert Edward Inman, Kenneth Ward, and [[Charles Stansfeld Jones]].{{sfnm|1a1=Sutin|1y=2000|1p=207|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=185–89}} In March 1909, Crowley began production of a biannual periodical titled ''[[The Equinox]]''. He billed this periodical, which was to become the "Official Organ" of the A∴A∴, as "The Review of Scientific Illuminism".{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=265–67|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=192–93|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=183–84|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=144}}

Crowley became increasingly frustrated with Rose's alcoholism, and in November 1909 he divorced her on the grounds of his own adultery. Lola was entrusted to Rose's care; the couple remained friends and Rose continued to live at Boleskine. Her alcoholism worsened, and as a result she was institutionalized in September 1911.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=270–72|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=198–99|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=182–83, 194|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=148}}

===Algeria and the Rites of Eleusis: 1909–1911===
In November 1909, Crowley and Neuburg travelled to Algeria, touring the desert from [[Jendouba|El Arba]] to [[Sour El-Ghozlane|Aumale]], [[Bou Saâda]], and then Dā'leh Addin, with Crowley reciting the [[Quran]] to fortify himself against growing feelings of awe and dread.{{sfn|Owen|2004|pp=186–202}} During the trip he invoked the thirty aethyrs of [[Enochian magic]], with Neuburg recording the results, later published in ''The Equinox'' as ''The Vision and the Voice''. Following a mountaintop [[sex magic]] ritual, Crowley also performed an [[evocation]] to the demon [[Choronzon]] involving [[blood sacrifice]], and considered the results to be a watershed in his magical career.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=274–82|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=199–204|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=193–203|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=149–52}} Returning to London in January 1910, Crowley found that Mathers was suing him for publishing Golden Dawn secrets in ''The Equinox''; the court found in favour of Crowley. The case was widely reported in the press, with Crowley gaining wider fame.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=282–83|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=205–06|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=205–08|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=160}} Crowley enjoyed this, and played up to the sensationalist stereotype of being a Satanist and advocate of human sacrifice, despite being neither.{{sfn|Booth|2000|pp=283–84}}

The publicity attracted new members to the A∴A∴, among them Frank Bennett, James Bayley, Herbert Close, and James Windram.{{Sfn|Kaczynski|2010|pp=210–11}} The Australian violinist [[Leila Waddell]] soon became Crowley's lover.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=285|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=206–07|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=211–13|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=160}} Deciding to expand his teachings to a wider audience, Crowley developed the Rites of Artemis, a public performance of magic and symbolism featuring A∴A∴ members personifying various deities. It was first performed at the A∴A∴ headquarters, with attendees given a fruit punch containing [[peyote]] to enhance their experience. Various members of the press attended, and reported largely positively on it. In October and November 1910, Crowley decided to stage something similar, the [[Rites of Eleusis]], at [[Caxton Hall]], [[Westminster]]; this time press reviews were mixed.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=286–89|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=209–12|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=217–28|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=161–62}} Crowley came under particular criticism from West de Wend Fenton, editor of ''The Looking Glass'' newspaper, who called him "one of the most blasphemous and cold-blooded villains of modern times".{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=289|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=212|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=225|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=163}} Fenton's articles suggested that Crowley and Jones were involved in homosexual activity; Crowley did not mind, but Jones unsuccessfully sued for libel.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=291–92|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=213–15|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=229–34|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=164}} Fuller broke off his friendship and involvement with Crowley over the scandal,{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=293–94|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=215|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=234|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=164}} and Crowley and Neuburg returned to Algeria for further magical workings.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=289–90|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=213–14|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=229–30|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=163–64}}

''The Equinox'' continued publishing, and various books of literature and poetry were also published under its imprint, like Crowley's ''Ambergris'', ''The Winged Beetle'', and ''The Scented Garden'', as well as Neuburg's ''The Triumph of Pan'' and Ethel Archer's ''The Whirlpool''.{{sfnm|1a1=Sutin|1y=2000|1pp=207–08|2a1=Kaczynski|2y=2010|2pp=213–15|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=158}} In 1911, Crowley and Waddell holidayed in [[Montigny-sur-Loing]], where he wrote prolifically, producing poems, short stories, plays, and 19 works on magic and mysticism, including the two final Holy Books of Thelema.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=297|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=235–37}} In Paris, he met Mary Desti, who became his next "[[Babalon|Scarlet Woman]]", with the two undertaking magical workings in [[St. Moritz]]; Crowley believed that one of the [[Secret Chiefs]], Ab-ul-Diz, was speaking through her.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=297–301|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=217–22|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=239–248|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=165–66}} Based on Desti's statements when in trance, Crowley wrote the two-volume ''[[Magick (Book 4)|Book 4]]'' (1912–13) and at the time developed the spelling "magick" in reference to the [[Magic (supernatural)|paranormal phenomenon]] as a means of distinguishing it from the [[Magic (illusion)|stage magic]] of illusionists.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=301|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=222–24|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=247–50|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=166}}

===Ordo Templi Orientis and the Paris Working: 1912–1914===
[[File:Aleister Crowley, Magus.png|thumb|right|upright|alt=Crowley wearing ceremonial garb|Crowley in ceremonial garb, 1912]]
In early 1912, Crowley published ''[[The Book of Lies (Crowley)|The Book of Lies]]'', a work of mysticism that biographer Lawrence Sutin described as "his greatest success in merging his talents as poet, scholar, and magus".{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=302|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=224–25|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=251}} The German occultist [[Theodor Reuss]] later accused him of publishing some of the secrets of his own occult order, [[Ordo Templi Orientis]] (O.T.O.), within ''The Book''. Crowley convinced Reuss that the similarities were coincidental, and the two became friends. Reuss appointed Crowley as head of O.T.O's British branch, the Mysteria Mystica Maxima (MMM), and at a ceremony in Berlin Crowley adopted the magical name of [[Baphomet]] and was proclaimed "X° Supreme Rex and Sovereign Grand Master General of Ireland, Iona, and all the Britons".{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=302–05|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=225–26|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=251–25}} With Reuss' permission, Crowley set about advertising the MMM and re-writing many O.T.O. rituals, which were then based largely on [[Freemasonry]]; his incorporation of Thelemite elements proved controversial in the group. Fascinated by O.T.O's emphasis on [[sex magic]], Crowley devised a magical working based on anal sex and incorporated it into the syllabus for those O.T.O. members who were initiated into the [[Ordo Templi Orientis#Initiation and teachings|eleventh degree]].{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=306|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=228|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=256}}

In March 1913, Crowley acted as producer for ''The Ragged Ragtime Girls'', a group of female violinists led by Waddell, as they performed at London's Old Tivoli theatre. They subsequently performed in Moscow for six weeks, where Crowley had a sadomasochistic relationship with the Hungarian Anny Ringler.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=308–09|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=232–34|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=261–65}} In Moscow, Crowley continued to write plays and poetry, including "Hymn to [[Pan (god)|Pan]]", and the [[Liber XV, The Gnostic Mass|Gnostic Mass]], a Thelemic ritual that became a key part of O.T.O. liturgy.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=309–10|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=234–35|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=264}} Churton suggested that Crowley had travelled to Moscow on the orders of British intelligence to spy on revolutionary elements in the city.{{sfn|Churton|2011|pp=178–82}} In January 1914, Crowley and Neuburg settled into an apartment in Paris, where the former was involved in the controversy surrounding [[Oscar Wilde's tomb|Jacob Epstein's new monument to Oscar Wilde]].{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=307|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=218|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=266–67}} Together Crowley and Neuburg performed the six-week "Paris Working", a period of intense ritual involving strong drug use in which they invoked the gods [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]] and [[Jupiter (god)|Jupiter]]. As part of the ritual, the couple performed acts of sex magic together, at times being joined by journalist [[Walter Duranty]]. Inspired by the results of the Working, Crowley wrote ''Liber Agapé'', a treatise on sex magic.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=313–16|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=235–40|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=269–74}} Following the Paris Working, Neuburg began to distance himself from Crowley, resulting in an argument in which Crowley [[curse]]d him.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=317–19|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=240–41|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=275–76}}

===United States: 1914–1919===
By 1914, Crowley was living a hand-to-mouth existence, relying largely on donations from A∴A∴ members and dues payments made to O.T.O.{{sfn|Booth|2000|p=321}} In May, he transferred ownership of Boleskine House to the MMM for financial reasons,{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=321–22|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=240|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=277|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=186}} and in July he went mountaineering in the Swiss Alps. During this time the [[First World War]] broke out.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=322|2a1=Kaczynski|2y=2010|2p=277}} After recuperating from a bout of [[phlebitis]], Crowley set sail for the United States aboard the [[RMS Lusitania|RMS ''Lusitania'']] in October 1914.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=323|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=241|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=278|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=187–89}} Arriving in New York City, he moved into a hotel and began earning money writing for the American edition of ''[[Vanity Fair (American magazine 1913–1936)|Vanity Fair]]'' and undertaking freelance work for the famed astrologer [[Evangeline Adams]].{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=323–34|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=281–82, 294}} In the city, he continued experimenting with sex magic, through the use of masturbation, female prostitutes, and male clients of a Turkish bathhouse; all of these encounters were documented in his diaries.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=325|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=243–44}}

[[File:Aleister Crowley's May Morn.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=Crowley's painting ''May Morn''|''May Morn'', one of Crowley's paintings from his time in the US. He explained it thus: "The painting represents the dawning of the day following a witches' celebration as described in ''[[Faust]]''. The witch is hanged, as she deserves, and the satyr looks out from behind a tree."{{sfn|Kaczynski|2010|p=341}}]]

Professing to be of Irish ancestry and a supporter of [[Irish nationalism|Irish independence]] from Great Britain, Crowley began to espouse support for Germany in their war against Britain. He became involved in New York's pro-German movement, and in January 1915 pro-German propagandist [[George Sylvester Viereck]] employed him as a writer for his propagandist paper, ''[[The Fatherland]]'', which was dedicated to keeping the US neutral in the conflict.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=326–30|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=245–47|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=283–84}} In later years, detractors denounced Crowley as a traitor to Britain for this action.{{sfnm|1a1=Sutin|1y=2000|1p=247|3a1=Churton|3y=2011|3p=186}}

Crowley entered into a relationship with [[Jeanne Robert Foster]], with whom he toured the West Coast. In [[Vancouver]], headquarters of the North American O.T.O., he met with [[Charles Stansfeld Jones]] and [[Wilfred Talbot Smith]] to discuss the propagation of Thelema on the continent. In Detroit he experimented with [[peyote]] at [[Parke-Davis]], then visited Seattle, San Francisco, [[Santa Cruz, California|Santa Cruz]], Los Angeles, San Diego, [[Tijuana]], and the [[Grand Canyon]], before returning to New York.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=330–33|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=251–55|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=288–91, 295–97|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=198–203}} There he befriended [[Ananda Coomaraswamy]] and his wife Alice Richardson; Crowley and Richardson performed sex magic in April 1916, following which she became pregnant and then miscarried.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=333|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=255–57|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=298–301}} Later that year he took a "magical retirement" to a cabin by [[Newfound Lake|Lake Pasquaney]] owned by Evangeline Adams. There, he made heavy use of drugs and undertook a ritual after which he proclaimed himself "Master Therion". He also wrote several short stories based on [[James George Frazer]]'s ''[[The Golden Bough]]'' and a work of literary criticism, ''The Gospel According to Bernard Shaw''.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=333–35|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=257–61|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=304–09}}
[[File:Supposed channeled entity by occultist crowley.jpg|thumb|233x233px|A drawing by Crowley of Lam]]
In December, he moved to [[New Orleans]], his favourite US city, before spending February 1917 with evangelical Christian relatives in [[Titusville, Florida]].{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=336–38|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=261–62|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=309–13}} Returning to New York City, he moved in with artist and A∴A∴ member Leon Engers Kennedy in May, learning of his mother's death.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=338|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=263|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=313–16}} After the collapse of ''The Fatherland'', Crowley continued his association with Viereck, who appointed him contributing editor of arts journal ''The International''. Crowley used it to promote Thelema, but it soon ceased publication.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=339–40|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=264–66|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=320}} He then moved to the studio apartment of Roddie Minor, who became his partner and [[Babalon|Scarlet Woman]]. Through their rituals, which Crowley called "The Amalantrah Workings", he believed that they were contacted by a preternatural entity named Lam. The relationship soon ended.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=342–44|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=264–67|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=320–30}}

In 1918, Crowley went on a magical retreat in the wilderness of [[Esopus Island]] on the [[Hudson River]] in [[upstate New York]]. Here, he began an adaptation{{efn|Crowley did not read Chinese ({{harvnb|Redmond|2021|p=199, fn. 2}}); his "translations" of Chinese texts are more properly considered "radical adaptation[s]" of existing translations ({{harvnb|Robinson|2017|p=128}}).}} of the ''[[Tao Te Ching]]'', painted Thelemic slogans on the riverside cliffs, and—he later wrote—experienced [[reincarnation|past life memories]] of being [[Ge Xuan]], [[Pope Alexander VI]], [[Alessandro Cagliostro]], and [[Éliphas Lévi]].{{sfnm | 1a1 = Booth | 1y = 2000 | 1pp = 344–45 | 2a1 = Sutin | 2y = 2000 | 2pp = 267–72 | 3a1 = Kaczynski | 3y = 2010 | 3pp = 330–31 }} Back in New York City, he moved to [[Greenwich Village]], where he took [[Leah Hirsig]] as his lover and next Scarlet Woman.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=346–50|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=274–76|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=338–43}} He took up painting as a hobby, exhibiting his work at the Greenwich Village Liberal Club and attracting the attention of ''[[The Evening World]]''.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=344–45|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=274–76|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=340–41}} With the financial assistance of sympathetic Freemasons, Crowley revived ''The Equinox'' with the first issue of volume III, known as ''The Blue Equinox''.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=351|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=273|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=342–44}} He spent mid-1919 on a climbing holiday in [[Montauk, New York]], before returning to London in December.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=351–52|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=277|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=347}}

===Abbey of Thelema: 1920–1923===
Now destitute and back in London, Crowley came under attack from the tabloid ''[[John Bull (magazine)|John Bull]]'', which labelled him traitorous "scum" for his work with the German war effort; several friends aware of his intelligence work urged him to sue, but he decided not to.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=355–56|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=278|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=356|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=246}} When he was suffering from asthma, a doctor prescribed him heroin, to which he soon became addicted.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=357|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=277|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=355}} In January 1920, he moved to Paris, renting a house in [[Fontainebleau]] with [[Leah Hirsig]]; they were soon joined in a ''ménage à trois'' by Ninette Shumway, and also (in living arrangement) by Leah's newborn daughter Anne "Poupée" Leah.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=356–60|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=278–79|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=356–58|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=246}} Crowley had ideas of forming a community of Thelemites, which he called the [[Abbey of Thelema]] after the Abbaye de Thélème in [[François Rabelais]]' satire ''[[Gargantua and Pantagruel]]''. After consulting the ''[[I Ching]]'', he chose [[Cefalù]] in Sicily as a location, and after arriving there, began renting the old Villa Santa Barbara as his Abbey on 2 April.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=360–63|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=279–80|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=358–59|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=246–48}}

[[File:Abbey of Thelema 01.jpg|thumb|right|alt=2017 photograph of the ruins of the Abbey of Thelema|The dilapidated [[Abbey of Thelema]] in [[Cefalù]], [[Sicily]] in 2017]]
Moving to the commune with Hirsig, Shumway, and their children Hansi, Howard, and Poupée, Crowley described the scenario as "perfectly happy ... my idea of heaven."{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=365}} They wore robes, and performed rituals to the sun god [[Ra]] at set times during the day, also occasionally performing the Gnostic Mass; the rest of the day they were left to follow their own interests.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=368|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=286|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=361}} Undertaking widespread correspondences, Crowley continued to paint, wrote a commentary on ''The Book of the Law'', and revised the third part of ''Book 4''.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=365–66|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=280–81|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=365, 372}} He offered a libertine education for the children, allowing them to play all day and witness acts of sex magic.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=367|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=359}} He occasionally travelled to [[Palermo]] to visit [[Male prostitution|rent boys]] and buy supplies, including drugs; his heroin addiction came to dominate his life, and cocaine began to erode his nasal cavity.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=366, 369–70|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=281–82|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=361–62|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=251–52}} There was no cleaning rota, and wild dogs and cats wandered throughout the building, which soon became unsanitary.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=368|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=286–87}} Poupée died in October 1920, and Ninette gave birth to a daughter, Astarte Lulu Panthea, soon afterwards.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=372–73|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=285|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=365–66|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=252}}

New followers continued to arrive at the Abbey to be taught by Crowley. Among them was film star [[Jane Wolfe]], who arrived in July 1920, where she was initiated into the A∴A∴ and became Crowley's secretary.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=371–72|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=286–87|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=362–65, 371–72}} Another was Cecil Frederick Russell, who often argued with Crowley, disliking the same-sex sexual magic that he was required to perform, and left after a year.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=373–74|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=287–88|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=366–68}} More conducive was the Australian Thelemite Frank Bennett, who also spent several months at the Abbey.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=376–78|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=293–94|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=373–76|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=255–56}} In February 1922, Crowley returned to Paris for a retreat in an unsuccessful attempt to kick his heroin addiction.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=379|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=290–91|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=377–78|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=258–59}} He then went to London in search of money, where he published articles in ''[[The English Review]]'' criticising the [[Dangerous Drugs Act 1920]] and wrote a novel, ''[[The Diary of a Drug Fiend]]'', completed in July. On publication, it received mixed reviews; he was lambasted by the ''[[Sunday Express]]'', which called for its burning and used its influence to prevent further reprints.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=380–85|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=298–301|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=379–80, 384–87|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=259}}

Subsequently, a young Thelemite named Raoul Loveday moved to the Abbey with his wife [[Betty May]]; while Loveday was devoted to Crowley, May detested him and life at the commune. She later said that Loveday was made to drink the blood of a sacrificed cat, and that they were required to cut themselves with razors every time they used the pronoun "I". Loveday drank from a local polluted stream, soon developing a liver infection resulting in his death in February 1923. Returning to London, May told her story to the press.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=385–94|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=301–06|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=381–84, 397–92|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=259–61}} ''John Bull'' proclaimed Crowley "the wickedest man in the world" and "a man we'd like to hang", and although Crowley deemed many of their accusations against him to be slanderous, he was unable to afford the legal fees to sue them. As a result, ''John Bull'' continued its attack, with its stories being repeated in newspapers throughout Europe and in North America.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=394–95|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=307–08|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=392–94|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=261–62}} The [[Italian fascism|Fascist]] government of [[Benito Mussolini]] learned of Crowley's activities, and in April 1923 he was given a deportation notice forcing him to leave Italy; without him, the Abbey closed.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=395–96|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=308|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=396–97|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=263–64}}

==Later life==

===Tunisia, Paris, and London: 1923–1929===
Crowley and Hirsig went to [[Tunis]], where, dogged by continuing poor health, he unsuccessfully tried again to give up heroin,{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=399–401|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=310|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=397|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=270}} and began writing what he termed his "[[hagiography|autohagiography]]", ''[[The Confessions of Aleister Crowley]]''.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=403|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=310–11|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=398}} They were joined in Tunis by the Thelemite Norman Mudd, who became Crowley's public relations consultant.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=403–06|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=313–16|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=399–403|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=270–73}} Employing a local boy, Mohammad ben Brahim, as his servant, Crowley went with him on a retreat to [[Nefta, Tunisia|Nefta]], where they performed sex magic together.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=405–06|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=315–16|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=403–05|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=273–74}} In January 1924, Crowley travelled to [[Nice]], France, where he met with [[Frank Harris]], underwent a series of nasal operations,{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=407–09|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=316–18|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=405|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=274}} and visited the [[Fourth Way|Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man]], developing a positive opinion of its founder [[George Gurdjieff]].{{sfnm|1a1=Sutin|1y=2000|1p=317|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=406–07|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=281–82}} Destitute, he took on a wealthy student, Alexander Zu Zolar,{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=410–12|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=319|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=287}} before taking on another American follower, Dorothy Olsen. Crowley took Olsen back to Tunisia for a magical retreat in Nefta, where he also wrote ''To Man'' (1924), a declaration of his own status as a prophet entrusted with bringing Thelema to humanity.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=412–17|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=319–20|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=413–15|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=287–88}} After spending the winter in Paris, in early 1925 Crowley and Olsen returned to Tunis, where he wrote ''[[The Heart of the Master]]'' (1938) as an account of a vision he experienced in a trance.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=418|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=323|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=417|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=323}} In March Olsen became pregnant, and Hirsig was called to take care of her; she miscarried, following which Crowley took Olsen back to France. Hirsig later distanced herself from Crowley, who then denounced her.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=419–20|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=322|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=417–18|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=289}}

According to Crowley, Reuss named him head of O.T.O. upon his death, but this was challenged by a leader of the German O.T.O., {{Interlanguage link|Heinrich Tränker|de}}. Tränker called the Hohenleuben Conference in [[Thuringia]], Germany, which Crowley attended. There, prominent members like [[Karl Germer]] and Martha Küntzel championed Crowley's leadership, but other key figures like [[Albin Grau]], Oskar Hopfer, and Henri Birven backed Tränker by opposing it, resulting in a split in O.T.O.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=423–44|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=324–28|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=418–19|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=291–92, 332}} Moving to Paris, where he broke with Olsen in 1926, Crowley went through a large number of lovers over the following years, with whom he experimented in sex magic.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=425–26|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=332–34|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=426–27, 430–33}} Throughout, he was dogged by poor health, largely caused by his heroin and cocaine addictions.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=429–30}} In 1928, Crowley was introduced to [[Israel Regardie]], a young Englishman, who embraced Thelema and became Crowley's secretary for the next three years.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=426|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=336–37|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=432–33|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=309}} That year, Crowley also met [[Gerald Yorke]], who began organising Crowley's finances but never became a Thelemite.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=427–28|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=335|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=427–29|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=299}} He also befriended the journalist [[Tom Driberg]]; Driberg did not accept Thelema either.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=428–29|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=331–32|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=423|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=296–98|5a1=Pasi|5y=2014|5pp=72–76}} It was here that Crowley also published one of his most significant works, ''[[Magick (Book 4)|Magick in Theory and Practice]]'', which received little attention at the time.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=431|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=339|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=426, 428–29|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=308–09}}

In December 1928 Crowley met the Nicaraguan Maria Teresa Sanchez (Maria Teresa Ferrari de Miramar).{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=430–31|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=340–41|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=433–34|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=310}} Crowley was deported from France by the authorities, who disliked his reputation and feared that he was a German agent.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=432–33|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=341|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=438|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=306, 312–14}} So that she could join him in Britain, Crowley married Sanchez in August 1929.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=434–35|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=342, 345|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=440|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=318}} Now based in London, Mandrake Press agreed to publish his autobiography in a limited edition six-volume set, also publishing his novel [[Moonchild (novel)|''Moonchild'']] and book of short stories [[The Stratagem and other Stories|''The Stratagem'']]. Mandrake went into liquidation in November 1930, before the entirety of Crowley's ''Confessions'' could be published.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=436–37|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=344|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=440–43|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=317}} Mandrake's owner [[P. R. Stephensen]] meanwhile wrote ''The Legend of Aleister Crowley'', an analysis of the media coverage surrounding him.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=438–39|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=345|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=442, 447|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=321}}

===Berlin and London: 1930–1938===
In April 1930, Crowley moved to Berlin, where he took Hanni Jaegar as his magical partner; the relationship was troubled.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=439|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=351–54|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=448|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=333, 335}} In September he went to [[Lisbon]] in Portugal to meet the poet [[Fernando Pessoa]]. There, he decided to fake his own death, doing so with Pessoa's help at the [[Boca do Inferno]] rock formation.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=440|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=354–55|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=449–52|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=336–37|5a1=Pasi|5y=2014|5pp=95–116}} He then returned to Berlin, where he reappeared three weeks later at the opening of his art exhibition at the Gallery Neumann-Nierendorf. Crowley's paintings fitted with the fashion for [[German Expressionism]]; few of them sold, but the press reports were largely favourable.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=441–42|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=360–61|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=455–57|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=337, 346–49}} In August 1931, he took Bertha Busch as his new lover; they had a violent relationship, and often physically assaulted one another.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=445|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=360|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=450|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=345}} He continued to have affairs with both men and women while in the city,{{sfnm|1a1=Sutin|1y=2000|1pp=355–57}} and met with famous people like [[Aldous Huxley]] and [[Alfred Adler]].{{sfnm|1a1=Sutin|1y=2000|1pp=355|2a1=Kaczynski|2y=2010|2pp=448–49|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=335–36, 338–39}} After befriending him, in January 1932 he took the communist [[Gerald Hamilton]] as a lodger, through whom he was introduced to many figures within the Berlin far left; it is possible that he was operating as a spy for British intelligence at this time, monitoring the communist movement.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=445–46|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=361|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=457|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=349|5a1=Pasi|5y=2014|5pp=83–88}}

{{Quote box|width=25em|align=left|quote=I have been over forty years engaged in the administration of the law in one capacity or another. I thought that I knew of every conceivable form of wickedness. I thought that everything which was vicious and bad had been produced at one time or another before me. I have learnt in this case that we can always learn something more if we live long enough. I have never heard such dreadful, horrible, blasphemous and abominable stuff as that which has been produced by the man (Crowley) who describes himself to you as the greatest living poet.|source=Justice Swift, in Crowley's libel case.{{sfnm|1a1=The United Press|1y=1934|1p=39|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=372}}}}

Crowley left Busch and returned to London,{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=446|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=355–56}} where he took Pearl Brooksmith as his new Scarlet Woman.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=453|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=366–67|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=470–71|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=360–61}} Undergoing further [[nasal surgery]], it was here in 1932 that he was invited to be guest of honour at [[Foyles]]' Literary Luncheon, also being invited by [[Harry Price]] to speak at the [[National Laboratory of Psychical Research]].{{sfnm|1a1=Sutin|1y=2000|1pp=363–64|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=463–65|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=357}} In need of money, he launched a series of court cases against people whom he believed to have libelled him, some of which proved successful. He gained much publicity for his lawsuit against [[Constable & Robinson|Constable and Co]] for publishing [[Nina Hamnett]]'s ''Laughing Torso'' (1932)—a book he alleged libelled him by referring to his occult practice as black magic{{sfn|Hamnett|2007|pp=173–174}}—but lost the case.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=447–53|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=367–73|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=466, 468, 472–81|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=358–59, 361–62}} The court case added to Crowley's financial problems, and in February 1935 he was declared bankrupt. During the hearing, it was revealed that Crowley was spending three times his income for several years.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=454–56|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=374|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=483–84|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=363}}

Crowley developed a friendship with [[Phyllis Marion Gotch#Family|Deidre Patricia Doherty]]; she offered to bear his child, who was born in May 1937. Named [[Randall Gair Doherty|Randall Gair]], Crowley nicknamed him Aleister Atatürk. He died in a car accident in 2002 at the age of 65.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=458–60|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=373–74|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=481, 489, 496|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=362, 370}} Crowley continued to socialize with friends, holding curry parties in which he cooked particularly spicy food for them.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=461|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=489–90}} In 1936, he published his first book in six years, ''The Equinox of the Gods'', which contained a facsimile of ''The Book of the Law'' and was considered to be volume III, number 3, of ''The Equinox'' periodical. The work sold well, resulting in a second print run.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=467|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=380–81|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=490–91, 493, 497–99}} In 1937, he gave a series of public lectures on yoga in [[Soho]].{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=467|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=495–96|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=369}} Crowley was now living largely off contributions supplied by O.T.O.'s [[Agape Lodge]] in California, led by rocket scientist [[Jack Parsons]].{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=466|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=375}} Crowley was intrigued by the rise of [[Nazism]] in Germany, and influenced by his friend Martha Küntzel believed that [[Adolf Hitler]] might convert to Thelema; when the Nazis abolished the German O.T.O. and imprisoned Germer, who fled to the US, Crowley then lambasted Hitler as a [[black magic]]ian.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=468–69|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=375–80|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=384–85|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=365–66}}

===Second World War and death: 1939–1947===
[[File:Grady Louis McMurtry 1941.JPG|thumb|right|upright|alt= 1941 photograph of Grady Louis McMurtry|Crowley specified that Grady McMurtry succeed his chosen successor as Head of O.T.O., Karl Germer.]]
When the [[Second World War]] broke out, Crowley wrote to the [[Naval Intelligence Division (United Kingdom)|Naval Intelligence Division]] offering his services, but they declined. He associated with a variety of figures in Britain's intelligence community at the time, including [[Dennis Wheatley]], [[Roald Dahl]], [[Ian Fleming]], and [[Maxwell Knight]],{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=471–72|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=506–07|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=376–78}} and wrote that he originated the "[[V sign|V for Victory]]" sign first used by the [[BBC]]; this has never been proven.{{sfnm|1a1=Kaczynski|1y=2010|1pp=511–12|2a1=Churton|2y=2011|2pp=380–83, 392–96}} In 1940, his asthma worsened, and with his German-produced medication unavailable, he returned to using heroin, once again becoming addicted.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=476|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=508}} As [[the Blitz]] hit London, Crowley relocated to [[Torquay]], where he was briefly admitted to hospital with asthma, and entertained himself with visits to the local chess club.{{sfnm|1a1=Kaczynski|1y=2010|1pp=509–10|2a1=Churton|2y=2011|2p=380}} Tiring of Torquay, he returned to London, where he was visited by American Thelemite [[Grady Louis McMurtry|Grady McMurtry]], to whom Crowley awarded the title of "Hymenaeus Alpha".{{sfnm|1a1=Kaczynski|1y=2010|1p=527|2a1=Churton|2y=2011|2p=403}} He stipulated that though Germer would be his immediate successor, McMurty should succeed Germer as head of O.T.O. after the latter's death.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=478–79|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=512, 531–32, 547|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=408–09}} With O.T.O. initiate [[Lady Frieda Harris]], Crowley developed plans to produce a [[Tarot|tarot card]] set, designed by him and painted by Harris. Accompanying this was a book, published in a limited edition as ''[[The Book of Thoth (Crowley)|The Book of Thoth]]'' by [[Chiswick Press]] in 1944.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=473–74|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=501, 503–04, 510, 522, 530–21|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=370, 406}} To aid the war effort, he wrote a proclamation on the rights of humanity, "[[Liber OZ]]", and a poem for the liberation of France, ''Le Gauloise''.{{sfnm|1a1=Kaczynski|1y=2010|1pp=517–18, 522|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=397}} Crowley's final publication during his lifetime was a book of poetry, ''Olla: An Anthology of Sixty Years of Song''.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=474–75|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=519–20, 542|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=410}} Another of his projects, ''Aleister Explains Everything'', was posthumously published as ''[[Magick Without Tears]]''.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=474|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=528|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=404}}

In April 1944 Crowley briefly moved to [[Aston Clinton]] in Buckinghamshire,{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=475|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=530|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=403–04}} where he was visited by the poet [[Nancy Cunard]],{{sfnm|1a1=Churton|1y=2011|1pp=407–08}} before relocating to [[Hastings]] in Sussex, where he took up residence at the Netherwood boarding house.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=475|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=532–33}} He took a young man named [[Kenneth Grant (occultist)|Kenneth Grant]] as his secretary, paying him in magical teaching rather than wages.{{sfnm|1a1=Kaczynski|1y=2010|1pp=533–35|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=409, 411}} He was also introduced to [[John Symonds]], whom he appointed to be his literary executor; Symonds thought little of Crowley, later publishing unfavorable biographies of him.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=481|2a1=Kaczynski|2y=2010|2pp=540–41|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=413–14}} Corresponding with the illusionist [[Arnold Crowther]], it was through him that Crowley was introduced to [[Gerald Gardner]], the future founder of [[Gardnerian Wicca]]. They became friends, with Crowley authorising Gardner to revive Britain's ailing O.T.O.{{sfnm|1a1=Kaczynski|1y=2010|1pp=542–44}} Another visitor was [[Eliza Marian Butler]], who interviewed Crowley for her book ''The Myth of the Magus''.{{sfnm|1a1=Kaczynski|1y=2010|1pp=536–37|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=412}} Other friends and family also spent time with him, among them Doherty and Crowley's son Aleister Atatürk.{{sfnm|1a1=Kaczynski|1y=2010|1pp=544–55|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=416}}

On 1 December 1947, Crowley died at Netherwood of [[Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease|chronic bronchitis]] aggravated by [[pleurisy]] and myocardial degeneration, aged 72.{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=483|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2pp=417–19|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3p=548|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4pp=417–18}} His funeral was held at Woodvale Crematorium, [[Brighton]] on 5 December; about a dozen people attended, and [[Louis Wilkinson]] read excerpts from the [[Liber XV, The Gnostic Mass|Gnostic Mass]], ''The Book of the Law'', and "Hymn to Pan". The funeral generated press controversy, and was labelled a [[Black Mass]] by the tabloids. Crowley's body was [[Cremation|cremated]]; his ashes were sent to [[Karl Germer]] in the US, who buried them in his garden in [[Hampton, New Jersey]].{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1pp=484–85|3a1=Kaczynski|3y=2010|3pp=549–51|4a1=Churton|4y=2011|4p=418}}{{sfn|Lachman|2014|p=182}}

==Beliefs and thought==
{{main|Thelema}}

[[File:Crowley unicursal hexagram.svg|upright|thumb|alt=The symbol of Thelema|Aleister Crowley's rendition of the [[Unicursal Hexagram]], the symbol of [[Thelema]]]]

Crowley's belief system, Thelema, has been described by scholars as a religion,{{sfnm|1a1=Medway|1y=2001|1p=44|2a1=Hanegraaff|2y=2013|2p=42|3a1=Asprem|3y=2013|3p=87|4a1=Djurdjevic|4y=2014|4p=38|5a1=Hedenborg White|5y=2020|5p=4}} and more specifically as both a [[new religious movement]],{{sfnm|1a1=Asprem|1y=2013|1p=88|2a1=Doyle White|2y=2016|2p=1}} and as a "[[magico-religious]] doctrine".{{sfn|Djurdjevic|2014|p=91}} Although holding ''The Book of the Law''—which was composed in 1904—as its central text, Thelema took shape as a complete system in the years after 1904.{{sfn|Asprem|2013|p=88}}

In his autobiography, Crowley wrote that his purpose in life was to "bring oriental wisdom to Europe and to restore paganism in a purer form", although what he meant by "[[paganism]]" was unclear.{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=178}} Crowley also wrote in the 4th Book of Magick about a great pagan Umbral fleet ruled by Ottovius that would be handed down to the great Spartan. The esoteric nature of this was also unclear. Crowley's thought was not always cohesive, and was influenced by a variety of sources, ranging from eastern religious movements and practices like Hindu yoga and Buddhism, [[Metaphysical naturalism|scientific naturalism]], and various currents within Western esotericism, among them ceremonial magic, alchemy, astrology, [[Rosicrucianism]], Kabbalah, and the Tarot.{{sfn|Pasi|2014|p=23}} He was steeped in the esoteric teachings he had learned from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, although pushed further with his own interpretations and strategies than the Golden Dawn had done.{{sfn|Asprem|2013|p=86}} Crowley incorporated concepts and terminology from South Asian religious traditions like yoga and [[Tantra]] into his Thelemic system, believing that there was a fundamental underlying resemblance between Western and Eastern spiritual systems.{{sfn|Djurdjevic|2014|p=36}} The historian Alex Owen noted that Crowley adhered to the "modus operandi" of the [[Decadent movement]] throughout his life.{{sfn|Owen|2012|p=37}}

Crowley believed that the twentieth century marked humanity's entry to the Aeon of Horus, a new era in which humans would take increasing control of their destiny. He believed that this Aeon follows on from the Aeon of Osiris, in which paternalistic religions like Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism dominated the world, and that this in turn had followed the Aeon of Isis, which was maternalistic and dominated by goddess worship.{{sfnm|1a1=Drury|1y=2012|1p=210|2a1=Doyle White|2y=2016|2p=3}} He believed that Thelema was the proper religion of the Aeon of Horus,{{sfn|Asprem|2013|p=88}} and also deemed himself to be the prophet of this new Aeon.{{sfn|Djurdjevic|2014|p=51}} Thelema revolves around the idea that human beings each have their own True Will that they should discover and pursue, and that this exists in harmony with the Cosmic Will that pervades the universe.{{sfnm|1a1=Hutton|1y=1999|1p=174|2a1=Drury|2y=2012|2p=209}} Crowley referred to this process of searching and discovery of one's True Will to be "the Great Work" or the attaining of the "knowledge and conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel".{{sfn|Asprem|2013|pp=88–89}} His favoured method of doing so was through the performance of the Abramelin operation, a ceremonial magic ritual obtained from a 17th-century grimoire.{{sfn|Asprem|2013|p=89}} The moral code of "Do What Thou Wilt" is believed by Thelemites to be the religion's ethical law, although the historian of religion Marco Pasi noted that this was not [[anarchistic]] or [[libertarian]] in structure, as Crowley saw individuals as part of a wider societal organism.{{sfn|Pasi|2014|p=49}}

===Magick and theology===
Crowley believed in the objective existence of [[ceremonial magic|magic]], which he chose to spell as "Magick", which is an archaic spelling of the word.{{sfnm|1a1=Hutton|1y=1999|1p=174|2a1=Asprem|2y=2013|2p=89|3a1=Doyle White|3y=2016|3p=4}} He provided various different definitions of this term over his career.{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=174}} In his book ''[[Magick (Book 4)|Magick in Theory and Practice]]'', Crowley defined Magick as "the Science and Art of causing change to occur in conformity with Will".{{sfnm|1a1=Hutton|1y=1999|1p=174|2a1=DuQuette|2y=2003|2p=11|3a1=Doyle White|3y=2016|3p=4}} He also told his disciple Karl Germer that "Magick is getting into communication with individuals who exist on a higher plane than ours. Mysticism is the raising of oneself to their level."{{sfn|Churton|2011|p=417}} Crowley saw Magick as a third way between religion and science, giving ''The Equinox'' the subtitle of ''The Method of Science; the Aim of Religion''.{{sfnm|1a1=Asprem|1y=2008|1p=140|2a1=Bogdan|2a2=Starr|2y=2012|2p=4}} Within that journal, he expressed positive sentiments toward science and the [[scientific method]],{{sfn|Asprem|2008|p=150}} and urged magicians to keep detailed records of their magical experiments, having said: "The more scientific the record is, the better."{{sfn|Asprem|2008|pp=151–52}} His understanding of magic was also influenced by the work of the anthropologist James Frazer, in particular the belief that magic was a precursor to science in a [[cultural evolution]]ary framework.{{sfn|Asprem|2008|pp=145, 149}} Unlike Frazer, however, Crowley did not see magic as a survival from the past that required eradication, but rather he believed that magic had to be adapted to suit the new age of science.{{sfn|Asprem|2008|p=150}} In Crowley's alternative schema, old systems of ''magic'' had to decline (per Frazer's framework) so that science and magic could synthesize into ''magick'', which would simultaneously accept the existence of the supernatural and an [[experiment|experimental method]].{{sfn|Josephson Storm|2017|p=170}} Crowley deliberately adopted an exceptionally broad definition of magick that included almost all forms of technology as magick, adopting an [[instrumentalism|instrumentalist]] definition of magic, science, and technology.{{sfn|Josephson Storm|2017|p=172–73}}

{{Quote box|width=25em|align=left|quote=To [Crowley] the greatest aim of the magician was to merge with a higher power connected to the wellsprings of the universe, but he did not trouble himself too much to define that power consistently; sometimes it was God, sometimes the One, sometimes a goddess, and sometimes one's own Holy Guardian Angel or higher self. In the last analysis he was content for the nature of divinity to remain a mystery. As a result, he wrote at times like an atheist, at times like a monotheist, and at others like a polytheist.|source=[[Ronald Hutton]]{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=185}}}}

Sexuality played an important role in Crowley's ideas about magick and his practice of it,{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=173}} and has been described as being central to Thelema.{{sfn|Drury|2012|p=216}} He outlined three forms of sex magick—the autoerotic, homosexual, and heterosexual—and argued that such acts could be used to focus the magician's will onto a specific goal such as financial gain or personal creative success.{{sfn|Drury|2012|p=213}} For Crowley, sex was treated as a [[sacrament]], with the consumption of sexual fluids interpreted as a [[Eucharist]].{{sfn|Djurdjevic|2014|p=44}} This was often manifested as the [[Cake of Light|Cakes of Light]], a biscuit containing either menstrual blood or a mixture of semen and vaginal fluids.{{sfn|Drury|2012|p=210}} The Gnostic Mass is the central religious ceremony within Thelema.{{sfn|Asprem|2013|p=99}}

Crowley's theological beliefs were not clear. The historian [[Ronald Hutton]] noted that some of Crowley's writings could be used to argue that he was an [[atheism|atheist]],{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=174}} while some support the idea that he was a [[polytheism|polytheist]],{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=185}} and others would bolster the idea that he was a [[mysticism|mystical]] [[monotheism|monotheist]].{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=176}} On the basis of the teachings in ''The Book of the Law'', Crowley described a pantheon of three deities taken from the ancient Egyptian pantheon: Nuit, Hadit, and Ra-Hoor-Khuit.{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=178}} In 1928, he wrote that all true deities were derived from this trinity.{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=178}} [[Jason Josephson Storm]] has argued that Crowley built on 19th-century attempts to [[Jesus in comparative mythology|link early Christianity to pre-Christian religions]], such as Frazer's ''Golden Bough'', to synthesize Christian theology and Neopaganism while remaining critical of institutional and traditional Christianity.{{sfn|Josephson Storm|2017|p=165}}

Both during his life and after it, Crowley has been widely described as a [[Satanism|Satanist]], usually by detractors. Crowley stated he did not consider himself a Satanist, nor did he worship [[Satan]], as he did not accept the Christian world view in which Satan was believed to exist.{{sfnm|1a1=Hutton|1y=1999|1p=175|2a1=Dyrendal|2y=2012|2pp=369–70}} He nevertheless used Satanic imagery, for instance by describing himself as "the Beast 666" and referring to the [[Whore of Babylon]] in his work, while in later life he sent "[[Christmas card|Antichristmas cards]]" to his friends.{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=175}} In his writings, Crowley occasionally identified Aiwass as Satan and designated him as "Our Lord God the Devil" at one occasion.{{sfn|van Luijk|2016|p=309}} The scholar of religion Gordan Djurdjevic stated that Crowley "was emphatically not" a Satanist, "if for no other reason than simply because he did not identify himself as such".{{sfn|Djurdjevic|2014|p=58}} Crowley nevertheless expressed strong anti-Christian sentiment,{{sfnm|1a1=Hutton|1y=1999|1p=176|2a1=Hedenborg White|2y=2020|2p=45}} stating that he hated Christianity "as Socialists hate soap",{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=176}} an animosity probably stemming from his experiences among the Plymouth Brethren.{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=175}} He was nevertheless influenced by the [[King James Version|King James Bible]], especially the [[Book of Revelation]], the impact of which can be seen in his writings.{{sfn|Hedenborg White|2020|p=39}} He was also accused of advocating [[human sacrifice]], largely because of a passage in ''Book 4'' in which he stated that "A male child of perfect innocence and high intelligence is the most satisfactory victim" and added that he had sacrificed about 150 every year. This was a tongue-in-cheek reference to [[ejaculation]], something not realized by his critics.{{sfn|Medway|2001|pp=120–21}}

==Image and opinions==
Crowley considered himself to be one of the outstanding figures of his time.{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=172}} The historian [[Ronald Hutton]] stated that in Crowley's youth, he was "a self-indulgent and flamboyant young man" who "set about a deliberate flouting and provocation of social and religious norms", while being shielded from an "outraged public opinion" by his inherited wealth.{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=172}} Hutton also described Crowley as having both an "unappeasable desire" to take control of any organisation that he belonged to, and "a tendency to quarrel savagely" with those who challenged him.{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=172}} Crowley biographer [[Martin Booth]] asserted that Crowley was "self-confident, brash, eccentric, egotistic, highly intelligent, arrogant, witty, wealthy, and, when it suited him, cruel".{{sfn|Booth|2000|p=125}} Similarly, Richard B. Spence noted that Crowley was "capable of immense physical and emotional cruelty".{{sfn|Spence|2008|p=10}} Biographer [[Lawrence Sutin]] noted that Crowley exhibited "courage, skill, dauntless energy, and remarkable focus of will" while at the same time showing a "blind arrogance, petty fits of bile, [and] contempt for the abilities of his fellow men".{{sfn|Sutin|2000|p=148}} The Thelemite [[Lon Milo DuQuette]] noted that Crowley "was by no means perfect" and "often alienated those who loved him dearest."{{sfn|DuQuette|2003|p=9}}

===Political opinions===
Crowley enjoyed being outrageous and flouting conventional morality,{{sfn|Moore|2009|p=33}} with [[John Symonds]] noting that he "was in revolt against the moral and religious values of his time".{{sfn|Symonds|1997|p=vii}} Crowley's political thought was studied by the academic Marco Pasi, who noted that for Crowley, socio-political concerns were subordinate to metaphysical and spiritual ones.{{sfn|Pasi|2014|p=23}} He was neither on the political [[Left-wing politics|left]] nor [[Right-wing politics|right]] but perhaps best categorized as a "conservative revolutionary" despite not being affiliated with the German-based [[Conservative Revolution|movement of the same name]].{{sfn|Pasi|2014|pp=49–50}} Pasi described Crowley's fascination with the extreme ideologies of Nazism and [[Marxism–Leninism]], which aimed to violently overturn society: "What Crowley liked about Nazism and communism, or at least what made him curious about them, was the anti-Christian position and the revolutionary and socially subversive implications of these two movements. In their subversive powers, he saw the possibility of an annihilation of old religious traditions, and the creation of a void that Thelema, subsequently, would be able to fill."{{sfn|Pasi|2014|pp=52–53}} Crowley described democracy as an "imbecile and nauseating cult of weakness",{{sfn|Morgan|2011|p=166}} and commented that ''The Book of the Law'' proclaimed that "there is the master and there is the slave; the noble and the serf; the 'lone wolf' and the herd".{{sfn|Pasi|2014|p=49}} In this attitude, he was influenced by [[Social Darwinism]] and the work of [[Friedrich Nietzsche]].{{sfnm|1a1=Sutin|1y=2000|1p=129|2a1=Churton|2y=2011|2p=401|3a1=Pasi|3y=2014|3p=48}} Although he had contempt for most of the British aristocracy, he regarded himself as an aristocrat and styled himself as Laird Boleskine,{{sfn|Booth|2000|p=109}} once describing his ideology as "aristocratic communism".{{sfn|Pasi|2014|p=50}}

Crowley was bisexual, but exhibited a preference for women,{{sfnm|1a1=Hutton|1y=1999|1p=174|2a1=Booth|2y=2000|2p=67|3a1=Spence|3y=2008|3p=19}} with his relationships with men being fewer and mostly in the early part of his life.{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=174}} In particular he was attracted to "exotic women",{{sfn|Booth|2000|p=130}} and said he had fallen in love on multiple occasions; Kaczynski stated that "when he loved, he did so with his whole being, but the passion was typically short-lived".{{sfn|Kaczynski|2010|p=91}} Even in later life, Crowley was able to attract young bohemian women to be his lovers, largely due to his charisma.{{sfn|Booth|2000|p=350}} He applied the term "Scarlet Woman" to various female lovers whom he believed played an important role in his magical work.{{sfn|Hedenborg White|2020|p=94}} During homosexual acts, he usually played 'the passive role',{{sfnm|1a1=Booth|1y=2000|1p=63|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=159}} which Booth believed "appealed to his masochistic side".{{sfn|Booth|2000|p=63}} An underlying theme in many of his writings is that spiritual enlightenment arises through transgressing socio-sexual norms.{{sfn|Hedenborg White|2020|pp=48–49}}

Crowley advocated complete sexual freedom for both men and women.{{sfn|Hedenborg White|2020|p=104}} He argued that homosexual and bisexual people should not suppress their sexual orientation,{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=174}} commenting that a person "must not be ashamed or afraid of being homosexual if he happens to be so at heart; he must not attempt to violate his own true nature because of public opinion, or medieval morality, or religious prejudice which would wish he were otherwise."{{sfn|Sutin|2000|p=128}} On other issues he adopted a more conservative attitude; he opposed abortion on moral grounds, believing that no woman following her True Will would ever desire one.{{sfnm|1a1=Hutton|1y=1999|1p=176|2a1=Sutin|2y=2000|2p=145|3a1=Hedenborg White|3y=2020|3pp=104–105}}

Biographer Lawrence Sutin stated that "blatant bigotry is a persistent minor element in Crowley's writings".{{sfn|Sutin|2000|pp=223–24}} Sutin thought Crowley "a spoiled scion of a wealthy Victorian family who embodied many of the worst [[John Bull]] racial and social prejudices of his upper-class contemporaries", noting that he "embodied the contradiction that writhed within many Western intellectuals of the time: deeply held racist viewpoints courtesy of society, coupled with a fascination with people of colour".{{sfn|Sutin|2000|pp=2, 336}} Crowley is said to have insulted his close Jewish friend [[Victor Neuburg (poet)|Victor Neuburg]], using [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]] slurs, and he had mixed opinions about Jewish people as a group.{{sfn|Lachman|2014|pp=87–89}} Although he praised their "sublime" poetry and stated that they exhibited "imagination, romance, loyalty, probity and humanity", he also thought that centuries of persecution had led some Jewish people to exhibit "avarice, servility, falseness, cunning and the rest".{{sfn|Booth|2000|pp=268–69}} He was also known to praise various ethnic and cultural groups, for instance he thought that the Chinese people exhibited a "spiritual superiority" to the English,{{sfn|Booth|2000|p=137}} and praised Muslims for exhibiting "manliness, straightforwardness, subtlety, and self-respect".{{sfn|Sutin|2000|p=180}}

Both critics of Crowley and adherents of Thelema have accused Crowley of [[sexism]].{{sfn|Hedenborg White|2020|p=5}} Booth described Crowley as exhibiting a "general misogyny", something the biographer believed arose from Crowley's bad relationship with his mother.{{sfn|Booth|2000|p=61}} Sutin noted that Crowley "largely accepted the notion, implicitly embodied in Victorian sexology, of women as secondary social beings in terms of intellect and sensibility".{{sfn|Sutin|2000|p=28}} The scholar of religion Manon Hedenborg White noted that some of Crowley's statements are "undoubtedly misogynist by contemporary standards", but characterized Crowley's attitude toward women as complex and multi-faceted.{{sfn|Hedenborg White|2020|p=111}} Crowley's comments on women's role varied dramatically within his written work, even that produced in similar periods.{{sfn|Hedenborg White|2020|p=111}} Crowley described women as "moral inferiors" who had to be treated with "firmness, kindness and justice",{{sfn|Sutin|2000|p=114}} while also arguing that Thelema was essential to women's emancipation.{{sfn|Hedenborg White|2020|p=105}}

==Possible links to intelligence==
Biographers Richard B. Spence and Tobias Churton have suggested that Crowley was a spy for the British secret services and that among other things he joined the Golden Dawn under their command to monitor the activities of [[Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers|Mathers]], who was known to be a [[Carlism|Carlist]].{{sfnm|1a1=Spence|1y=2008|1pp=22–28|2a1=Churton|2y=2011|2pp=38–46}} Spence suggested that the conflict between Mathers and the London lodge for the temple was part of an intelligence operation to undermine Mathers' authority.{{sfn|Spence|2008|p=27}} Spence has suggested that the purpose of Crowley's trip to Mexico might have been to explore Mexican oil prospects for British intelligence.{{sfn|Spence|2008|p=32}} Spence has suggested that his trip to China was orchestrated as part of a British intelligence scheme to monitor the region's opium trade.{{sfnm|1a1=Spence|1y=2008|1pp=33–35|2a1=Churton|2y=2011|2p=115}} Churton suggested that Crowley had travelled to Moscow on the orders of British intelligence to spy on revolutionary elements in the city.{{sfn|Churton|2011|pp=178–82}}

Spence and Sutin both wrote that Crowley's pro-German work in the United States during World War I was actually a cover for him being a double agent for Britain, citing his hyperbolic articles in ''The Fatherland'' to make the German lobby appear ridiculous in the eyes of the American public.{{sfnm|1a1=Sutin|1y=2000|1pp=247–48|3a1=Spence|3y=2008|3pp=67–76|4a1=Kaczynski|4y=2010|4pp=284–87, 292–92|5a1=Churton|5y=2011|5pp=190–93}} Spence also wrote that Crowley encouraged the [[Imperial German Navy|German Navy]] to destroy the ''[[RMS Lusitania|Lusitania]]'', informing them that it would ensure the US stayed out of the war, while in reality hoping that it would bring the US into the war on Britain's side.{{sfnm|1a1=Spence|1y=2008|1pp=82–89|2a1=Churton|2y=2011|2pp=195–97}}

==Legacy and influence==
{{Quote box|width=25em|align=right|quote="[H]e is today looked upon as a source of inspiration by many people in search of spiritual enlightenment and/or instructions in magical practice. Thus, while during his life his books hardly sold and his disciples were never very numerous, nowadays all his important works are constantly in print, and the people defining themselves as "thelemites" (that is, followers of Crowley's new religion) number several thousands all over the world. Furthermore, Crowley's influence over magically oriented new religious movements has in some cases been very deep and pervasive. It would be difficult to understand, for instance, some aspects of Anglo-Saxon neo-paganism and contemporary satanism without a solid knowledge of Crowley's doctrines and ideas. In other fields, such as poetry, alpinism and painting, he may have been a minor figure, but it is only fair to admit that, in the limited context of occultism, he has played and still plays a major role." |source=Marco Pasi, 2003.{{sfn|Pasi|2003|p=225}}}}

Crowley has remained an influential figure, both amongst occultists and in popular culture, particularly that of Britain, but also of other parts of the world. In 2002, a BBC poll placed Crowley number 73 in a list of the [[100 Greatest Britons]].{{sfnm|1a1=Pasi|1y=2003|1p=225|2a1=Churton|2y=2011|2p=3}} [[Richard Cavendish (occult writer)|Richard Cavendish]] has written of him that "In native talent, penetrating intelligence and determination, Aleister Crowley was the best-equipped magician to emerge since the seventeenth century."{{sfn|Cavendish|1978|p=167}} The scholar of esotericism Egil Asprem described him as "one of the most well-known figures in modern occultism".{{sfn|Asprem|2013|p=85}} The scholar of esotericism [[Wouter Hanegraaff]] asserted that Crowley was an extreme representation of "the dark side of the occult",{{sfn|Hanegraaff|2012|p=ix}} adding that he was "the most notorious occultist magician of the twentieth century".{{sfn|Hanegraaff|2013|p=41}} The philosopher John Moore opined that Crowley stood out as a "Modern Master" when compared with other prominent occult figures like [[George Gurdjieff]], [[P. D. Ouspensky]], [[Rudolf Steiner]], or [[Helena Blavatsky]],{{sfn|Moore|2009|p=5}} also describing him as a "living embodiment" of [[Oswald Spengler]]'s "[[The Decline of the West|Faustian Man]]".{{sfn|Moore|2009|p=40}} Biographer Tobias Churton considered Crowley "a pioneer of consciousness research".{{sfn|Churton|2011|p=88}} Hutton noted that Crowley had "an important place in the history of modern Western responses to Oriental spiritual traditions",{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=171}} while Sutin thought that he had made "distinctly original contributions" to the study of yoga in the West.{{sfn|Sutin|2000|p=93}}

Thelema continued to develop and spread following Crowley's death. In 1969, O.T.O. was reactivated in California under the leadership of Grady Louis McMurtry;{{sfn|Bogdan|Starr|2012|p=7}} in 1985 its right to the title was unsuccessfully challenged in court by a rival group, the Society Ordo Templi Orientis, led by Brazilian Thelemite [[Marcelo Ramos Motta]].{{sfn|Bogdan|Starr|2012|p=7}} Another American Thelemite is the filmmaker [[Kenneth Anger]], who was influenced by Crowley's writings from a young age.{{sfnm|1a1=Landis|1y=1995|1pp=26–34|2a1=Doyle White|2y=2016|2p=1–3}} In the United Kingdom, [[Kenneth Grant (occultist)|Kenneth Grant]] propagated a tradition known as Typhonian Thelema through his organisation, the Typhonian O.T.O., later renamed the [[Typhonian Order]].{{sfn|Evans|2007|pp=284–350}} Also in Britain, an occultist known as [[Amado Crowley]] claimed to be Crowley's son; this has been refuted by academic investigation. Amado argued that Thelema was a false religion created by Crowley to hide his true esoteric teachings, which Amado said he was propagating.{{sfn|Evans|2007|pp=229–83}}

Several Western esoteric traditions other than Thelema were also influenced by Crowley, with Djurdjevic observing that "Crowley's influence on twentieth-century and contemporary esotericism has been enormous".{{sfn|Djurdjevic|2014|pp=35–36}} Gerald Gardner, the founder of [[Gardnerian Wicca]], used much of Crowley's published material when composing the Gardnerian ritual liturgy,{{sfn|Hutton|2012|pp=285–306}} and the Australian witch [[Rosaleen Norton]] was also heavily influenced by Crowley's ideas.{{sfn|Richmond|2012|pp=307–34}} More widely, Crowley became "a dominant figure" in the modern Pagan community.{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=180}} [[L. Ron Hubbard]], the American founder of [[Scientology]], was involved in Thelema in the early 1940s via [[Jack Parsons]], and it has been argued that [[Scientology and the occult|Crowley's ideas influenced some of Hubbard's work]].{{sfn|Urban|2012|pp=335–68}} The scholars of religion Asbjørn Dyrendel, James R. Lewis, and Jesper Petersen noted that despite the fact that Crowley was not a Satanist, he "in many ways embodies the pre-Satanist esoteric discourse on Satan and Satanism through his lifestyle and his philosophy", with his "image and ought" becoming an "important influence" on the later development of religious Satanism.{{sfn|Dyrendal|Lewis|Petersen|2016|p=39}} For instance, two prominent figures in religious Satanism, [[Anton LaVey]] and [[Michael A. Aquino|Michael Aquino]], were influenced by Crowley's work.{{sfn|Dyrendal|2012|pp=369–94}}

=== In popular culture ===
Crowley also had a wider influence in [[Culture of the United Kingdom|British popular culture]]. After his time in Cefalù, which brought him to public attention in Britain, various "literary Crowleys" appeared: characters in fiction based upon him.{{sfn|Freeman|2018|p=103}} One of the earliest was the character of the poet Shelley Arabin in [[John Buchan]]'s 1926 novel ''[[The Dancing Floor]]''.{{sfn|Freeman|2018|p=103}} In his novel ''[[The Devil Rides Out]]'', the writer [[Dennis Wheatley]] used Crowley as a partial basis for the character of Damien Mocata, a portly bald defrocked priest who engages in black magic.{{sfn|Freeman|2018|pp=106–07}} The occultist [[Dion Fortune]] used Crowley as a basis for characters in her books ''The Secrets of Doctor Taverner'' (1926) and ''The Winged Bull'' (1935).{{sfn|Freeman|2018|p=105}} Crowley was one of the inspirations for the character of Dr. Trelawney in Anthony Powell's ''A Dance to the Music of Time''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.anthonypowell.org/dance-sources|title=Powell's Sources for Dance Anthony Powell Society|website=www.anthonypowell.org}}</ref> He was included as one of the figures on the cover art of [[The Beatles]]' album ''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]'' (1967),{{sfn|Bogdan|Starr|2012|p=7}} and his motto of "Do What Thou Wilt" was inscribed on the vinyl of [[Led Zeppelin]]'s album ''[[Led Zeppelin III]]'' (1970).{{sfn|Bogdan|Starr|2012|p=7}} Led Zeppelin co-founder [[Jimmy Page]] bought Boleskine in 1971, and part of the band's film ''[[The Song Remains the Same (film)|The Song Remains the Same]]'' was filmed in the grounds. He sold it in 1992.{{sfn|House of the unholy|2007}} Though [[David Bowie]] makes but a fleeting reference to Crowley in the lyrics of his song "[[Quicksand (David Bowie song)|Quicksand]]" (1971),{{sfn|Bogdan|Starr|2012|p=7}} it has been suggested that the lyrics of Bowie's No. 1 hit single "[[Let's Dance (David Bowie song)|Let's Dance]]" (1983) may substantially paraphrase Crowley's 1923 poem "Lyric of Love to Leah".{{sfn|Pegg|2016|p=368}} [[Ozzy Osbourne]] and his lyricist [[Bob Daisley]] wrote a song titled "[[Mr. Crowley]]" (1980).{{sfnm|1a1=Moreman|1y=2003|1p=1|2a1=Granholm|2y=2013|2p=13}} A prophetic quote about the coming of the [[Aeon (Thelema)|New Aeon]] borrowed from Crowley's work ''[[Magick in Theory and Practice]]'' (1911) has been featured as the opening introduction to the video game ''[[Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain]]'' (1996).{{sfn|Bogdan|Starr|2012|pp=95–96}} <!-- PLEASE DO NOT ADD ANY FURTHER INSTANCES OF CROWLEYAN INFLUENCE ON POPULAR CULTURE UNLESS YOU HAVE THIRD-PARTY, ACADEMIC REFERENCES TO BOLSTER SUCH STATEMENTS WITH. AS HAS BEEN DISCUSSED AT THE TALK PAGE, THIS SECTION IS NOT A DEPOSIT FOR ANY AND ALL TRIVIA REGARDING CROWLEY'S SUBSTANTIAL LEGACY ACROSS WESTERN CULTURE, LEAST OF ALL THOSE WHICH ARE INSUFFICIENTLY REFERENCED. IF IN DOUBT, OPEN A DISCUSSION ON THE TALK PAGE TO SEE IF YOU CAN GAIN SUPPORT FOR ADDING INFORMATION. --> Crowley began to receive scholarly attention from academics in the late 1990s.{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=171}}

==Bibliography==
{{Main|Aleister Crowley bibliography}}

==Notes and references==
===Explanatory notes===
{{notelist}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist|20em}}

===Works cited===
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Asprem |first=Egil |year=2008 |title=Magic Naturalized? Negotiating Science and Occult Experience in Aleister Crowley's Scientific Illuminism |journal=[[Aries (journal)|Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism]] |location=[[Leiden]] |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=139–165 |doi=10.1163/156798908X327311 |issn=1567-9896}}
* {{Cite book |last=Asprem |first=Egil |title=Arguing with Angels: Enochian Magic and Modern Occulture |publisher=[[SUNY Press]] |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-4384-4191-7 |location=[[Albany, New York]] |oclc=809317694}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |year=2012 |title=Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/8721/chapter-abstract/154763237 |editor-last=Bogdan |editor-first=Henrik |pages=3–14 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199863075.003.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-986309-9 |oclc=820009842 |last2=Starr |first2=Martin P. |contribution=Introduction |last1=Bogdan |first1=Henrik |editor2-last=Starr |editor2-first=Martin P.|url-access=subscription }}
* {{Cite book |last=Booth |first=Martin |title=A Magick Life: The Biography of Aleister Crowley |publisher=Coronet Books |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-340-71806-3 |location=London |oclc=59483726 |author-link=Martin Booth}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |year=1978 |title=A History of Magic |publisher=Sphere Books |location=London |author-link=Richard Cavendish (occult writer) |pages=167–79 |isbn=0-7221-2214-4 |oclc=16423603 |contribution=Crowley and After |last1=Cavendish |first1=Richard}}
* {{Cite book |last=Churton |first=Tobias |title=Aleister Crowley: The Biography |publisher=Watkins Books |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-78028-012-7 |location=London |oclc=701810228 |author-link=Tobias Churton}}
* {{Cite book |last=Crowley |first=Aleister |title=The Confessions of Aleister Crowley: An Autohagiography |publisher=Arkana |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-14-019189-9 |location=London |oclc=19865968}}
* {{Cite book |last=Crowley |first=Aleister |title=The Holy Books of Thelema |publisher=Samuel Weiser |year=1983 |isbn=0-87728-686-8 |edition=1st paper |location=York Beach, Maine |oclc=30592109}}
* {{Cite book |last=Djurdjevic |first=Gordan |title=India and the Occult: The Influence of South Asian Spirituality on Modern Western Occultism |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-137-40498-5 |location=New York City |oclc=870285576}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Doyle White |first=Ethan |year=2016 |title=Lucifer Over Luxor: Archaeology, Egyptology, and Occultism in Kenneth Anger's Magick Lantern Cycle |url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1503457/ |journal=Present Pasts |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=1–10 |doi=10.5334/pp.73 |doi-access=free |issn=1759-2941}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |year=2012 |title=Pathways in Modern Western Magic |publisher=Concrescent Scholars |location=Richmond, CA |last=Drury |first=Nevill |editor-last=Drury |editor-first=Nevill | authorlink= Nevill Drury| pages=205–245 |isbn=978-0-9843729-9-7 |oclc=814283519 |contribution=The Thelemic Sex Magick of Aleister Crowley}}
* {{Cite book |last=DuQuette |first=Lon Milo |title=The Magick of Aleister Crowley: A Handbook of Rituals of Thelema |publisher=Weiser |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-57863-299-2 |location=San Francisco |oclc=52621460 |author-link=Lon Milo DuQuette}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |year=2012 |title=Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/8721/chapter-abstract/154791217 |last=Dyrendal |first=Asbjørn |editor-last=Bogdan |editor-first=Henrik |pages=369–394 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199863075.003.0015 |isbn=978-0-19-986309-9 |oclc=820009842 |contribution=Satan and the Beast: The Influence of Aleister Crowley on Modern Satanism |editor2-last=Starr |editor2-first=Martin P.|url-access=subscription }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Dyrendal |first1=Asbjørn |title=The Invention of Satanism |last2=Lewis |first2=James R. |last3=Petersen |first3=Jesper Aa. |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-19-518110-4 |location=Oxford and New York |oclc=908934971}}
* {{Cite book |last=Evans |first=Dave |title=The History of British Magick After Crowley |publisher=Hidden Publishing |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-9555237-0-0 |location=n.p. |oclc=183145633}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |year=2018 |title=The Occult Imagination in Britain: 1875–1947 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |last=Freeman |first=Nick |editor-last=Ferguson |editor-first=Christine |pages=94–109 |doi=10.4324/9781351168328-6 |isbn=978-1-4724-8698-1 |contribution=The Black Magic Bogeyman 1908–1935 |editor2-last=Radford |editor2-first=Andrew}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Granholm |first=Kennet |year=2013 |title=Ritual Black Metal: Popular Music as Occult Mediation and Practice |url=https://correspondencesjournal.com/11302-2/ |journal=Correspondences |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=5–33 |issn=2053-7158}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hamnett |first=Nina |title=Laughing Torso: Reminiscences of Nina Hamnett |date=2007 |publisher=Hildreth |isbn=978-1-4067-2874-3 |location=London |oclc=1156889313 |author-link=Nina Hamnett}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |year=2012 |title=Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/8721/chapter-abstract/154762837 |last=Hanegraaff |first=Wouter J. |author-link=Wouter J. Hanegraaff |editor-last=Bogdan |editor-first=Henrik |pages=vii–x |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199863075.002.0006 |doi-broken-date=1 July 2025 |isbn=978-0-19-986309-9 |oclc=820009842 |contribution=Foreword: Bringing Light to the Underground |editor2-last=Starr |editor2-first=Martin P.}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hanegraaff |first=Wouter |title=Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed |publisher=Bloomsbury Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-4411-8713-0 |location=London |oclc=777652932}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hedenborg White |first=Manon |title=The Eloquent Blood: The Goddess Babalon and the Construction of Femininities in Western Esotericism |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-19-006502-7 |location=Oxford and New York |oclc=1127052266}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hutton |first=Ronald |url=https://archive.org/details/triumphofmoonhis00hutt |title=The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-19-285449-0 |location=New York |oclc=41452625 |author-link=Ronald Hutton |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |year=2012 |title=Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/8721/chapter-abstract/154783905 |last=Hutton |first=Ronald |editor-last=Bogdan |editor-first=Henrik |pages=285–306 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199863075.003.0012 |isbn=978-0-19-986309-9 |oclc=820009842 |contribution=Crowley and Wicca |editor2-last=Starr |editor2-first=Martin P.|url-access=subscription }}
* {{Cite book |last=Josephson Storm |first=Jason |url=https://academic.oup.com/chicago-scholarship-online/book/22973 |title=The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-226-40336-6 |doi=10.7208/chicago/9780226403533.001.0001 |oclc=979417616 |author-link=Jason Josephson Storm |s2cid=171898652}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kaczynski |first=Richard |title=Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley |publisher=North Atlantic Books |year=2010 |edition=Revised and Expanded |location=Berkeley, California |author-link=Richard Kaczynski |isbn=978-1-55643-899-8}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lachman |first=Gary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W4rZCwAAQBAJ |title=Aleister Crowley: Magick, Rock and Roll, and the Wickedest Man in the World |publisher=Penguin Random House |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-399-16190-2 |location=New York |oclc=869460695 |author-link=Gary Lachman}}
* {{Cite book |last=Landis |first=Bill |title=Anger: The Unauthorised Biography of Kenneth Anger |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-06-016700-4 |location=New York |oclc=32429525}}
* {{Cite book |last=Medway |first=Gareth J. |title=Lure of the Sinister: The Unnatural History of Satanism |publisher=New York University Press |year=2001 |isbn=0-8147-5645-X |location=New York and London |oclc=42643579}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Moreman |first=Christopher M. |year=2003 |title=Devil Music and the Great Beast: Ozzy Osbourne, Aleister Crowley, and the Christian Right |journal=The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=1–12 |doi=10.3138/jrpc.5.1.004 |issn=1703-289X}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Morgan |first=Mogg |year=2011 |title=The Heart of Thelema: Morality, Amorality, and Immorality in Aleister Crowley's Thelemic Cult |journal=The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=163–83 |doi=10.1558/pome.v13i2.163 |issn=1528-0268}}
* {{Cite book |last=Moore |first=John |title=Aleister Crowley: A Modern Master |publisher=Mandrake |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-906958-02-2 |location=Oxford |oclc=652037939}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |year=2012 |title=Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/8721/chapter-abstract/154763655 |last=Owen |first=Alex |editor-last=Bogdan |editor-first=Henrik |pages=15–52 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199863075.003.0002 |isbn=978-0-19-986309-9 |oclc=820009842 |contribution=The Sorcerer and His Apprentice: Aleister Crowley and the Magical Exploration of Edwardian Subjectivity |editor2-last=Starr |editor2-first=Martin P.|url-access=subscription }}
* {{Cite book |last=Owen |first=Alex |title=The Place of Enchantment: British Occultism and the Culture of the Modern |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-226-64201-7 |pages=186–202 |language=en |chapter=Aleister Crowley in the Desert |doi=10.7208/chicago/9780226642031.003.0007 |oclc=593274241 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/placeofenchantme0000owen/page/186/mode/2up |chapter-url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Pasi |first=Marco |year=2003 |title=The Neverendingly Told Story: Recent Biographies of Aleister Crowley |journal=Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=224–45 |doi=10.1163/157005903767876928 |issn=1567-9896}}
* {{Cite book |last=Pasi |first=Marco |title=Aleister Crowley and the Temptation of Politics |publisher=Acumen |others=Ariel Godwin (translator) |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-84465-696-7 |location=Durham |oclc=872678868 |orig-year=1999}}
* {{Cite book |last=Pegg |first=Nicholas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LqFkDQAAQBAJ |title=The Complete David Bowie: New Edition: Expanded and Updated |date=2 November 2016 |publisher=Titan Books |isbn=978-1-78565-533-3 |language=en |oclc=774591703 |author-link=Nicholas Pegg}}
* {{cite book |last=Redmond |first=Geoffrey |chapter=The ''Yijing'' in Early Postwar Counterculture in the West |editor-last=Ng |editor-first=Benjamin Wai-ming |title=The Making of the Global Yijing in the Modern World: Cross-cultural Interpretations and Interactions |year=2021 |publisher=Springer Nature Singapore |isbn=978-981-336-228-4 |pages=197ff}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |year=2012 |title=Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/8721/chapter-abstract/154785470 |last=Richmond |first=Keith |editor-last=Bogdan |editor-first=Henrik |pages=307–34 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199863075.003.0013 |isbn=978-0-19-986309-9 |oclc=820009842 |contribution=Through the Witch's Looking Glass: The Magick of Aleister Crowley and the Witchcraft of Rosaleen Norton |editor2-last=Starr |editor2-first=Martin P.|url-access=subscription }}
* {{cite book |last=Robinson |first=D. | authorlink= Douglas Robinson (academic) | year=2017 |title=Exorcising Translation: Towards an Intercivilizational Turn |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-5013-2605-9}}
* {{Cite book |last=Spence |first=Richard B. |authorlink= Richard B. Spence |title=Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence and the Occult |publisher=Feral House |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-932595-33-8 |location=Port Townsend, Washington |oclc=658217241}}
* {{Cite book |last=Sutin |first=Lawrence |url=https://archive.org/details/dowhatthouwiltli0000suti |title=Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley |publisher=St. Martin's Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-312-25243-4 |location=New York |oclc=43581537 |author-link=Lawrence Sutin |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Symonds |first=John |title=The Beast 666: The Life of Aleister Crowley |publisher=Pindar Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-1-899828-21-0 |location=London |oclc=60232203 |author-link=John Symonds}}
* {{Cite news |date=23 November 2007 |title=House of the Unholy |work=[[The Scotsman]] |url=http://www.scotsman.com/what-s-on/music/house-of-the-unholy-1-700265 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150916222244/http://www.scotsman.com/what-s-on/music/house-of-the-unholy-1-700265 |archive-date=16 September 2015 |issn=0307-5850 | ref = {{SfnRef|House of the unholy|2007}} }}
* {{Cite news |last=The United Press |date=13 April 1934 |title=Confessed Genius Loses Weird Suit |work=The Pittsburgh Press |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=d_kaAAAAIBAJ&pg=2179,5203407}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |year=2012 |title=Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/8721/chapter-abstract/154788603 |last=Urban |first=Hugh B. |authorlink= Hugh Urban | editor-last=Bogdan |editor-first=Henrik |pages=335–68 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199863075.003.0014 |isbn=978-0-19-986309-9 |oclc=820009842 |contribution=The Occult Roots of Scientology? L. Ron Hubbard, Aleister Crowley, and the Origins of a Controversial New Religion |editor2-last=Starr |editor2-first=Martin P.|url-access=subscription }}
* {{Cite book |last=van Luijk |first=Ruben |title=Children of Lucifer: The Origins of Modern Religious Satanism |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-19-027512-9 |series=Oxford Studies in Western Esotericism |location=New York |pages=294–343 |chapter=Paths into the Twentieth Century |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190275105.003.0011 |oclc=933273961}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin|2|indent=yes}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Gillavry |first=D. M. |year=2013 |title=Aleister Crowley, the Guardian Angel and Aiwass: The Nature of Spiritual Beings in the Philosophies of the Great Beast 666 |url=https://journals.phil.muni.cz/sacra/article/view/31571 |journal=Sacra |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=33–42 |issn=1214-5351 |s2cid=58907340 |ref=none |hdl-access=free |hdl=11222.digilib/132199}}
*{{cite book |last=Readdy |first=Keith |year=2018 |title=One Truth and One Spirit: Aleister Crowley's Spiritual Legacy |publisher=Ibis Press |isbn=978-0892541843}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Tully |first=Caroline |year=2010 |title=Walk Like an Egyptian: Egypt as Authority in Aleister Crowley's Reception of ''The Book of the Law'' |url=https://minerva-access.unimelb.edu.au/items/6c3ae6dd-f07a-5c62-9161-b1b62f2daed0 |journal=[[The Pomegranate (journal)|The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies]] |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=20–47 |doi=10.1558/pome.v12i1.20 |hdl=11343/252812 |hdl-access=free |issn=1528-0268 |s2cid=159745083 |ref=none}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{sister project links|b=no|n=no|v=Portal:Thelema|wikt=no|author=yes|commons=Category:Aleister Crowley|d=Q172684}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=5341 | name=Aleister Crowley}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Aleister Crowley}}
* {{Librivox author |id=3219}}
* [http://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=00144 Aleister Crowley Collection] at the [[Harry Ransom Center]], University of Texas
* [https://www.wondersofsicily.com/cefalu-aleister-crowley-abbey-thelema.htm "Aleister Crowley and the Abbey of Thelema in Cefalù"] at WondersOfSicily.com, with photos
* [http://www.carlosatanes.com/#!perdurabo/c1oy7 ''Perdurabo (Where is Aleister Crowley?)''] – film on the Abbey of Thelema by [[Carlos Atanes]]
* {{ISFDB name|6606}}

{{Magic and Witchcraft in the British Isles}}
{{Occult tarot}}
{{OTO}}
{{Thelema series}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crowley, Aleister}}
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