On the one hand, I think you're making far too much of Crowley's reputation. Compared to certain rock stars with their drugs and sexual exploits, he was a piker. Crowley got his rep, in part, thanks to the conservativism of his time when just about everything he did was bound to be shocking. He also got it thanks to his own desire to play the "bad boy" (calling himself "the Beast"). Not to say he was a nice guy or that you'd want to hang with him, but really, what is the very worst thing he did? Why does he scare you?
Know why he doesn't scare me? I heard a recording of him chanting. It was done in his later years of course. Know what he sounded like? A little old Scottish grandmother. And there he was on the cover in his silly red robes, looking like a little Scowling Scotsman. Please! He's like one of those old men who scare little kids and then smirk about it. If you stand up to him, however, you find out that he's really pretty fascinating. Brilliant mind; you can learn a lot from him. But don't let him pull his tricks on you. He was never *that* bad or *that* scary.
Now, on the other hand, I won't argue that he wasn't an intense, charismatic and very powerful mage, and I'm sure that comes through in the cards. It's what makes them scary when the art, NOT DONE BY CROWLEY, is lovely. The colors are bright, the images, in some cases, gentle. Have you thought that as much as Crowley is in that deck, so is the artist? Why don't you think she's calling to you as much as Crowley?
One thing no one can argue, Crowley is the next step up in learning the tarot. RW is basic. But Crowley is graduate. Using his deck and reading his book on Tarot is like going through an intense graduate course on the subject. You never look at tarot the same, and you go to the next level up as a reader, at least, that was my experience--of course, the truely scary thing about learning more about the Tarot is that you begin to realize how little you know
Understand, I don't use the deck, I never did. But I learned from it, I still do.
My thoughts on this deck calling to you--it's a challenge. You can let it scare you, or you can say, "Stop it grandpa! I'm here to learn, teach me!" I can attest that the lessons are well worth learning if you decide to go in that direction.