Was Aleister Crowley really as bad as depicted?

Debra

If he was "that bad" or a "real" follower of the Evil One, how would his work and the general thrust of his efforts be any different?
 

gregory

I could not agree more. MANY very famous people who produced wonderful things of all sorts were absolutely awful people. I can name many composers, and there are also a load of poets.

A Hymn to Satan, by the way, is NOTHING to do with being a Satanist. On the most BASIC level - there are many hymns poets (and Crowley was a poet, and at the time many thought he was better than Yeats, which was one reason Yeats hated him !) have written to flowers, woman, and as I recall, one to an earthworm.
 

kwaw

gregory said:
I could not agree more. MANY very famous people who produced wonderful things of all sorts were absolutely awful people. I can name many composers, and there are also a load of poets.

A Hymn to Satan, by the way, is NOTHING to do with being a Satanist. On the most BASIC level - there are many hymns poets (and Crowley was a poet, and at the time many thought he was better than Yeats, which was one reason Yeats hated him !) have written to flowers, woman, and as I recall, one to an earthworm.
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He also has 52 hymns to the Virgin Mary in his Amphora - later republished as Hail Mary, sans acrostic epilogue ;)
 

Aeon418

kwaw said:
He also has 52 hymns to the Virgin Mary in his Amphora - later republished as Hail Mary, sans acrostic epilogue ;)
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For lovers of acrostics everywhere. :laugh:
Transcend, O Mage, thy soul redeemed!
Her mercy shone where sorrow steamed.
Exalted in the skies of even
Virtue hath cleared thy way to Heaven.
In darkness hides the glittering ore.
Revealed thy Light, O mystic lore
Given by GOD, lest I should err
In dexter or in sinister.
Now Mary Virgin to my speech
Married Her fire that all and each
At last should gather to the Tryst
Ripe suns arisen above the mist!
Yea! Thou hast given me favour! Yea!
In utmost love and awe we pray;
Devoted to Thy reverence
Enkindle I the sweet incense.
Secure from all the fears that chill
In peace from them that rage and kill;
Receive, O Queen, the glad Oration
Even from a lost and pagan nation.
But Thou will make us wholly fit
Unto Thy grace amid care of it.
Till all the Elixir do receive
[Amen] to heal the hurt of Eve.
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Aeon418

In the final chapter of, Aleister Crowley: The Biography, Churton quotes from a couple of letters written by Gerald Yorke who was a one time student and life long friend of Crowley.
Gerald Yorke said:
Dear Birven,

Yours 25 December 1954. Yes, the Beast 666, the 'demon
Crowley' was a façade deliberately built up by A.C. as a protection from fools, to keep away undesirable disciples, but also as a battle cry - for he was very human - to satisfy his instinct for dramatic posing. It runs through all he wrote.

In his letters he constantly warned one against becoming obsessed by 'the demon Crowley'. It is surprising how many people did so become obsessed.
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Gerald Yorke said:
I have never before or since met a man who combined all of the
above qualities - who taught me so much - whom I respected more.

Perhaps I am blind and he was a fraud and all that most people say of him, and I am too proud to admit that I could have been deceived. But you will never get me to accept this.

He was an astonishing mixture of good and apparent bad. My final judgement - which may be proved wrong - is that he was a psuedo-Messiah. He was a very complex character.

Finally, what fun he was!
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Gerald Yorke said:
His goal was the Brahman of the Vedantists [...] the three Negative states behind Kether (Ain, Ain Spoh, Ain Spoh Aur). He praised the Demiurge or the Creator God and the Devil equally, and worshipped both with a view first to identify with them and then to transcending both of them. He is caricatured if his Anti-Christ or Devil side of the equation is so stressed that the other side is lost sight of.

John Symonds caricatured him as he could only see the dark side.
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gregory

I have SUCH trouble with this Symonds thing. It doesn't feel caricatured - OR that dark...
 

Zezina

If Crowley lived today they might treat him for sexual addiction, and the world would never get the next equivalent of a Thoth deck.

Just as the Mozarts of today are doubtless medicated out of their unacceptable verbal lapses, and we'll never get to hear their music.

*Z*
 

Scibility

Thanks to whomever originally shared this link

I saw a link on this thread a few days ago and just had a chance to view it, but now I can't seem to find who posted it?

In any case it was quite informative, so for the sake of anyone else who like myself didn't know anything about who AC really was, here is the link again:

http://tubegnosis.com/aleister-crowley-the-other-loch-ness-monster"

I had no preconceived ideas about him. I knew he had something to do with the GD etc. and had an eccentric reputation. I appreciated the video. It was very informative.

It left quite a lot of questions, and spooked the beetle juice out of me, but I learned many things.

Best to read and research and form one's own opinion :)
 

ravenest

gregory said:
I could not agree more. MANY very famous people who produced wonderful things of all sorts were absolutely awful people. I can name many composers, and there are also a load of poets.

.
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And early astrologers/astromomers ... Tycho Brahe was supposed to have kept a dwarf in a dungeon whom he occasionally 'punished' . . . ? Others said he just kept him under the table at dinner. yet look at what Tycho has become known for.
 
Thoth - The Fool Why is the Thoth so popular in Germany?