Crowley biographies. Just read Sutin...

Le Fanu

I just finished reading Lawrence Sutin's Life of Aleister Crowley on the beach this afternoon. I have had it on my bookshelf for a while and then subsequently got Perdurabo, which by all acounts is the best biography. I shall start reading that shortly, but I just wanted to post impressions here. I felt I should read Sutin first as it is the "other" good Crowley biography.

Reading a biography of Crowley is giving me fascinating insights into the Thoth deck in a way I hadn't really expected. So much that the Thoth books don't talk about which I - as a detective- pick up on and feel is relevant to what ultmately gave birth to the deck and I make a note of it in my notebook. The duality in the Thoth; this ongoing thing of mixing and alchemy in sex magic. In fact, the sheer fierceness of his sexuality throughout his life and how this just HAS to be omnipresent in the Thoth deck and yet nobody talks about it that explicitly, his thing with alchemy, sex magic, blood and semen as the life force. The strengthening and weakening of the suits, and the ebb and flow of his cravings. Of course, The Thoth deck signifies a kind of closure of his life's work, a conclusion perhaps, and what makes it special is that it is one of the few works of his that doesn't go on and on and on about Thelema. As Sutin says, it is more a mixing pot of Eastern and Western and Ancient Spiritualities with Thelema as referred to. And sex. Plus it is interesting to come across the creation of the Thoth in the wider context of his life and where he was with his thinking. It is also interesting how his relationship with Lady Frieda is perhaps one of the deepest of his female platonic relationship he ever had and yet he works his voracious sexuality into the deck and she acts as a kind of prism and she had to be - I suppose - someone he wasn't crowning as another Scarlet Woman for the partnership to "work".

As a result ,the deck is all the lust and passion of Crowley without the pontificating!

I am also struck by how much astrology there is in the Thoth deck and yet how rarely Sutin mentions Crowley and astrology. His actual life as he lived it seems more relevant than the astrology.

I get what others have said about there being this hole at the centre of the book; the spiritual aspect of Crowley's life seems so flat. I feel I have a sense of the course of his life but I know nothing more about his spiritual quest after reading this book. I have a biographical framework. Interesting nonetheless.

An enjoyable read though. I'm now looking foward to reading Perdurabo. It really is fantastic to read the biography and go back to the deck in that light. Any other thoughts on your Crowley biography readings?
 

Barleywine

So far my biographical reading on Crowley has been limited to "The Eye in the Triangle" by Israel Regardie, and a few tidbits from "The Aleister Crowley Scrapbook." The former touches on many of the points that you make regarding Crowley. In the preface, Christopher Hyatt says he (Crowley) became "a laboratory of mind-body-ego experimentation" and that he "attempted to accomplish legitimate self-change through the 'scientific' means at hand." It's been a while since I read it, but it seems to be as much a memoir of Regardie's personal relationship with Crowley as it is a "biography." I never read the Crowley "autohagiography," John Symonds' "The Great Beast" or Charles Cammell's "Aleister Crowley, The Man, The Mage, The Poet." I think, though, that "Perdurabo" is next on my list, and perhaps the new Churton book.
 

CornissMagorniss

Let us know which of the books you like best and why.
 

Aeon418

The Thoth deck signifies a kind of closure of his life's work, a conclusion perhaps, and what makes it special is that it is one of the few works of his that doesn't go on and on and on about Thelema.
On the contrary, the Thoth deck is literally saturated with Thelema. So much so that Crowley considered it a series of illustrations for the Book of the Law.
As Sutin says, it is more a mixing pot of Eastern and Western and Ancient Spiritualities with Thelema as referred to.
Although I can't recall him saying so explicitly, Crowley considered Thelema, in part, to be a modern re-telling of the Perennial philosophy. There may be nothing new under the sun, but the needs of humanity change and evolve over time. Hence the need for a re-framing of the ancient wisdom.

Also Crowley was influenced by the dispensationalism of John Nelson Darby. But Darby only saw "progressive revelation" in the narrow context of the biblical narrative. Crowley's view of dispensationalism encompassed the entirety of world religion and spirituality. To him Thelema was simply the latest of these revelations that are precipitated by the evolution and expansion of human consciousness.
I am also struck by how much astrology there is in the Thoth deck and yet how rarely Sutin mentions Crowley and astrology. His actual life as he lived it seems more relevant than the astrology.
If you're looking for an astrological examination of Crowley and his ideas, then consider taking a look at a book called, Astrology, Aleister, & Aeon by Charles Kipp. It contains insights into Crowley that you won't find in any biography. In fact I consider it the perfect compliment to the major biographies. It's such a shame that hardly anyone has heard of it. :(
I get what others have said about there being this hole at the centre of the book; the spiritual aspect of Crowley's life seems so flat. I feel I have a sense of the course of his life but I know nothing more about his spiritual quest after reading this book. I have a biographical framework. Interesting nonetheless.
Personally I think Sutin had to keep the spiritual aspect at arms length because it just wasn't his forte. Sutin is fine when it comes to names and dates, who said what to who, and what they did after, etc., etc. But this is all outer stuff. In a way Sutin presents an exoteric and mundane view of Crowley. (That's why I found reading it a bit of a chore.) But the problem with this is that many of Crowley's "seemingly" mundane actions were motivated by his inner spiritual quest. Without an understanding of his inner motivations many of Crowley's mundane actions are difficult to understand or don't make sense at all. In such cases Sutin resorts to the same rationlizations that previous biographers have. If Crowley is judged by the events of his outer life, then he tends to come across as a coulourful figure of fun, with a penchant for excess, and a sinister reputation. But anyone who digs a little further finds out it's not even half the story.
An enjoyable read though. I'm now looking foward to reading Perdurabo. It really is fantastic to read the biography and go back to the deck in that light. Any other thoughts on your Crowley biography readings?
I've read quite a few Crowley biographies and the one thing that always strikes is how, even though they are telling the same story, they never present the same Aleister Crowley. When reading a biography you are merely getting someone else's opinion of another person. That opinion is naturally coloured by the authors own prejudice and bias. When reading any biography I think you learn just as much about the author as you do about the subject of the biography. In this respect I think Richard Kaczynski has been more successful at getting himself out of the way.

If there is a quibble with Kaczynski's book it is more stylistic than anything else. I own both the original first edition and the later expanded edition. The later edition is obviously more complete, but I think this is sometimes at the expense of readability. In the early chapters Kaczynski has included a lot of biographical material that would have been better off in an appendix or footnotes. As a consequence the first two chapters are more of a chore to read than they really should be. Nonetheless it's still a great bio.

On a different note, one persistant theme I have noticed while reading the various Crowley biographies is that hostility and negative opinions seem to go hand-in-hand with shoddy research. While a positive or balanced appraisal is usually backed up by good and extensive research. Draw your own conclusions. ;)
 

Le Fanu

Interesting reflections, and recommendations noted. I think the Sutin is a good one to read first, precisely because it allows us to get the biographical data in order before peeling away the next layer. It's good to know who Fuller was, the relationship with Neuburg and the various Scarlet Women, the expeditions etc and then to go deeper.
Personally I think Sutin had to keep the spiritual aspect at arms length because it just wasn't his forte. Sutin is fine when it comes to names and dates, who said what to who, and what they did after, etc., etc. But this is all outer stuff. In a way Sutin presents an exoteric and mundane view of Crowley. (That's why I found reading it a bit of a chore.) But the problem with this is that many of Crowley's "seemingly" mundane actions were motivated by his inner spiritual quest. Without an understanding of his inner motivations many of Crowley's mundane actions are difficult to understand or don't make sense at all. In such cases Sutin resorts to the same rationlizations that previous biographers have. If Crowley is judged by the events of his outer life, then he tends to come across as a coulourful figure of fun, with a penchant for excess, and a sinister reputation. But anyone who digs a little further finds out it's not even half the story.
I've read quite a few Crowley biographies and the one thing that always strikes is how, even though they are telling the same story, they never present the same Aleister Crowley. When reading a biography you are merely getting someone else's opinion of another person. That opinion is naturally coloured by the authors own prejudice and bias. When reading any biography I think you learn just as much about the author as you do about the subject of the biography. In this respect I think Richard Kaczynski has been more successful at getting himself out of the way.

If there is a quibble with Kaczynski's book it is more stylistic than anything else. I own both the original first edition and the later expanded edition. The later edition is obviously more complete, but I think this is sometimes at the expense of readability. In the early chapters Kaczynski has included a lot of biographical material that would have been better off in an appendix or footnotes. As a consequence the first two chapters are more of a chore to read than they really should be. Nonetheless it's still a great bio.

On a different note, one persistant theme I have noticed while reading the various Crowley biographies is that hostility and negative opinions seem to go hand-in-hand with shoddy research. While a positive or balanced appraisal is usually backed up by good and extensive research. Draw your own conclusions. ;)

Much of the spiritual aspect of the book made no sense to me because I had a sense of only seeing part of the full picture. As if Sutin didn't quite know what he was talking about and mumbles a bit and that invariably lost me and I do not feel enlightened much by the spiritual trajectory of the subject. A glossary would have helped.

I shall be honest (I am no expert) ; I love the Thoth deck, I read with the Thoth deck, I have read the Book of Thoth various times, filled my copy with scribbles and notes and read Snuffin & Duquette, but I know from past experience that biographical data has always been my way into a person's life and the way in which I draw my conclusions, and Crowley (moreseo than say Yeats or Joyce or a reowned writer or artist) is one of those - like Wilde - who put much of his genius into his life. But I am no specialist. Just someone who loves the deck, loves reading about it and desperately wants to understand it. As I was reading, I underlined quite a few parts to copy out into my notebook.

I think that for anyone wanting to understand the Thoth deck, knowing the biographies is - IMO - essential. I was quite surprised (patient as I was, reading it from beginning to end) that when I got to the part of the book about the creation of the Thoth deck, it got - at most - 5 pages in a book nearing 500 pages. As the deck wasn't published in Crowley's lifetime, you got the sense that Sutin was "let off the hook" and didn't have to go too deep.

I was amused by that episode at the end of his life, of him being invited to a child's birthday party by a neighbour's son in Hastings and him turning up in his cape and cummerbund and turban, with ceremonial dagger and fingers full of bejewelled rings, and sitting in the corner, eating cakes and the children playing around him completely unfazed. I shall remember this image. A nice counterbalance to all the projected villainy!

I enjoyed reading it, didn't find any of it a "chore" except (I'll be honest) the period up until about 1910. After the expeditions and the Bennett/Yoga phase, it really took off and held my interest.

A question to the experts; the impression you get after reading this biography is how The Book of the Law was the big moment in Crowley's life and - according to the emphasis of Sutin's book - he seemed to spend the rest of his life chasing after that success and never quite succeeding, never being listened to as much as he had hoped. I wish Sutin had given the same toothcomb treatment to the Book of Thoth as he did to the Book of the Law.

Of course (just one more point), I know there is much, much Thelema in the Thoth deck/Book of Thoth, but it seems to be less preachy - and more accessible - than his other works. Just my impression, or maybe merely the slant of Sutin's writing. Maybe more accessible merely because I know the deck.

I have gone back home to pick up my Perdurabo book for next week's beach reading. Hopefully I'll get the first couple of ("less readable"?) chapters out of the way next week when I have more time to sit reading all day! Quite a heavy tome to have to drag to and from the beach everyday, alongside my beach towel, suntan cream etc etc. And to have to sit reading it carefully to make sure it doesn't get sand in the binding!
 

Barleywine

Personally, I've never felt compelled to chase a lot of background information on Crowley, preferring instead to assemble my view of his "inner life" and practice from a thorough exploration of his writing. This may be because all of the material available back then was suspect for the reasons Aeon states: the media circus that surrounded his "sinister reputation" (the self-created monster that he carefully fed and nurtured), and the inability of the biographers to penetrate far into the complexities of his personality. One time, many years ago, I mentioned at a dinner party that I used the Thoth deck. One guy practically shouted in a voice dripping with scorn, "DO YOU KNOW WHO HE WAS?!!!" I said, of course, that's why I use his deck. His scholarship and erudition in the things he chose to put effort into were truly remarkable. Even when he was deliberately toying with his readers, he was never less than fascinating. I never felt, though, that astrology was something he really put his prodigious intellect behind; at least his astrological ponderings never seemed very voluminous or profound to me, other than what he meticulously lodged in the deck itself. Anyone have a different perspective on that?
 

Le Fanu

I never felt, though, that astrology was something he really put his prodigious intellect behind; at least his astrological ponderings never seemed very voluminous or profound to me, other than what he meticulously lodged in the deck itself. Anyone have a different perspective on that?
You know, one of the things that long put me off the Thoth deck was all the astrology which I could never get my head round and memorise (as I was never going to inwardly understand it!) But on reading this book, it stuns me that astrology must be mentioned in passing once or twice. And not at all in relation to the Thoth deck.

I tend to think it is always interesting knowing about a person's life as long as it isn't sensationalist rubbish and I like to think that Sutin's book & Perdurabo (unlike the older biographies by the sounds of it) studiously avoid this and we should be grateful. Just on a superficial reading, I came across comments in letters and diaries and unpublished material which I found extremely illuminating and made me think differently about the Thoth deck. That is the joy of biographies I think... I am a huge fan of Virginia Woolf and my sense of her & her work was amplified massively after I had read the collected letters and private diaries. The intimate sense of the person is there in the private writings and likewise I was fascinated by some of Crowley's diary entries and private writings, which then reflects back on the published work. To read only the published works we get a polished verion of their thinking. Vital, no doubt. But diaries and letters for me, really fill in the real sense of the person and a good biography should have that. I think the problem is in thinking of biographies as only someone's opinion which in the case of Crowley leads to excessive judgement.

Sutin is very good at not judging and also not repeating anecdotes which sound invented.
 

Aeon418

I think that for anyone wanting to understand the Thoth deck, knowing the biographies is - IMO - essential.
The background and context a good biography provides are always useful.
I was quite surprised (patient as I was, reading it from beginning to end) that when I got to the part of the book about the creation of the Thoth deck, it got - at most - 5 pages in a book nearing 500 pages. As the deck wasn't published in Crowley's lifetime, you got the sense that Sutin was "let off the hook" and didn't have to go too deep.
From a Tarot perspective I can understand your frustration. But in the wider context of Crowley's life the creation of the Thoth deck is almost a footnote at the end. I know that sounds a bit excessive, but compared to other things in his life the Thoth project was more like tying up loose ends. Crowley had always intended to do his own Tarot dack, reconstructed in the light of Thelema. But the opportunity didn't arrive until near the end of his life, and even then Harris had to goad into making one final effort.
A question to the experts; the impression you get after reading this biography is how The Book of the Law was the big moment in Crowley's life and - according to the emphasis of Sutin's book - he seemed to spend the rest of his life chasing after that success and never quite succeeding, never being listened to as much as he had hoped.
In one sense I agree with Sutin's "mundane" interpretation. There was a part of Crowley that did crave success and recognition and resented the fact that he was ridiculed and ignored. But if you dig into Crowley's writings you see that at a deeper level he was fully commited to playing the "long game". The game in question was the inauguration of a new epoch in human consciousness, but he himself would not see the fruits of his labours. Instead he would be dismissed as a deluded crank of no importance. Even though he saw the big picture and acquiesced to his place in it, it still didn't prevent aspects of his lower personality from chaffing at the restriction and rattling the bars of the cage.

If he were alive today and could see the interest that his work still generates I think he would feel vindicated. The success he craved did come eventually. That he didn't get to see it is possibly the price that had to be paid.
I wish Sutin had given the same toothcomb treatment to the Book of Thoth as he did to the Book of the Law.
To be frank the Book of Thoth does not deserve the same treatment. The Book of the Law is the wellspring of inspiration, while the Book of Thoth is merely one particular outlet for that inspiration.

In the classification scheme that Crowley developed to categorise his works the Book of the Law is Class A and therefore an inspired text. The Book of Thoth on the other hand is merely Class B which is reserved for works of ordinary scolarship.
 

Aeon418

I never felt, though, that astrology was something he really put his prodigious intellect behind; at least his astrological ponderings never seemed very voluminous or profound to me, other than what he meticulously lodged in the deck itself. Anyone have a different perspective on that?
The astrology lodged in the deck isn't astrology at all really. Things like hermetic Tarot and Qabalah pick out little bits and pieces of astrological information and use it for their own purposes.

Quite often you see people who are new to the Thoth who are under the impression that they need to learn the whole subject of astrology all because of the presence of a few astrological symbols on the minor cards. But all you really need to know are the basic characteristics of the planets and signs, and that's it. The amount of information required is really very small and can be picked up via a simple web search or in any astrology primer. There's no need to be able to draw up a horoscope or be able to interpret the significance of angles or conjunctions of planet X in sign Y. When it comes to Tarot a knowledge of the basic significance of planets and signs will take you a long way.
 

Le Fanu

Quite often you see people who are new to the Thoth who are under the impression that they need to learn the whole subject of astrology all because of the presence of a few astrological symbols on the minor cards. But all you really need to know are the basic characteristics of the planets and signs, and that's it. The amount of information required is really very small and can be picked up via a simple web search or in any astrology primer. There's no need to be able to draw up a horoscope or be able to interpret the significance of angles or conjunctions of planet X in sign Y. When it comes to Tarot a knowledge of the basic significance of planets and signs will take you a long way.
Do you mean, as in knowing a few of the primary qualities of - say - Aries, or the qualities of Saturn or Mars?? And what would Capricorn together with Jupiter actually mean? And then there's all the question of when something is exalted, what it rules etc etc. I'm sure all of this information could be summed up on one sheet/diagram of A4. I've not yet found it though! I'm slowly drawing up my own.

To be honest, it's the astrological aspect of Thoth that most bothers me. The rest is actually quite a pleasure to read about. Astrology isn't! :(

Any biography for me is always fascinating, astrology never is! :D

Curious observations of how you see the Thoth deck, as a kind of full stop at the end of a life of great work!