Aleister Crowley, Myth And Magick

Synopsis - Crowley, Myth and Magick, When the popular press of the 1930s dubbed Aleister Crowley the 'wickedest man in the world' they started a smear campaign that is still taken seriously by the majority of modern pagans. Mogg is a modern Thelemic magician, working in the same tradition as Crowley, who often finds himself tarred with the same brush. In this talk he will argue that it is impossible to move beyond Crowley unless one has first reached a mature understanding of the man's weaknesses and strengths. He will them go on to outline the new synthesis of Thelemic magick that has grown out of researches of Crowley and which is part of the ancient tradition of hermetic magick. He will argue that this magick has to be the real core of the modern pagan renaissance if it is to progress.

Anarcho-tantrik-Thelema Crowley, in case you've not heard, died in 1947. I mention that in case you are one of those whose is about to ask me for his current address. I first encountered the myth of Crowley when I was at school. I friend of mine, very much into rock climbing, suggested I take a look at an interesting book he'd picked up, about an Edwardian mountaineer who was also a 'Satanist.' I was at the time, browsing my way through the books in our local (Newport) reference library's 'private case'. Every library seems to have one of these, In the Bodleian, where I know live in Oxford; it’s called the Phi collections, (presumably Phi for phallus). Incidentally, they still keep a copy of the Kama

2 Sutra in the Phi cabinet, although that seems a little unnecessary in these post sixty's days). In the British Museum it’s the private case. Librarians consign books to these cabinets that are not for the casual reader. In Newport library they weren't even catalogued and you could only borrow one if a) you had sufficient maturity and/or b) you knew the title of the book. As a precocious youth I often braved the disapproving looks of the librarian who looked alarmingly like my mother to ask for the Kinsey Report on Human Sexuality or Masters and Johnson etc. The doors of the case were flung back and the literary incendiary extracted and handed over 'under the seal'. I made a point of peering over the librarian's shoulder to see if there were any other titles I ought to ask for. It was then that I saw a copy of Crowley's masterwork Magick, although then I didn't know it was a masterwork. The next time I went to the library I asked for that book. I took it to be seat and remember being mesmerised by the magick circle and sigils reproduced ion the cover. From them on I guess I was hooked. It begins: 'Existence, as we know it, is full of sorrow. To mention only one minor point: every-man is a condemned criminal, only he doesn't know the date of his execution. This is unpleasant for every man. Consequently every man does everything possible to postpone the date, and would sacrifice anything that he has if he could reverse the sentence. Practically all religions and all philosophies have started thus crudely, by promising their adherents some such reward as immortality.' And he goes on: 'No religion has failed hitherto by not promising enough; the present breaking up of all religions is due to the fact that people have asked to see the securities. 2

3 Men have even renounced the important material advantages which a wellorganised religion may confer upon the State, rather than acquiesce in fraud or falsehood ...being more or less bankrupt, the best thing we can do is to attack the problem afresh without preconceived ideas' (page 7)

Crowley's assessment about the origin of religion seemed to me true then, and still does. Religion is basically the quest for immortality. And magick, is part of the same quest. Such clear statements of the aims of magick are rare in the many other books that have been written since Crowley. For example, Pat Crowther was giving a well-honed lecture at Leeds Occult Society once, she went though the history of Wicca, the basic techniques, raising power, the supposed law of three fold return etc. etc. And in the question time, someone asked, but what was it all for? She was strangely lost for words, perhaps she'd never thought of the question, then or since. I not getting at her, such a question would probably put most of us off our stride. Try - what is magick? For Crowley there was only one reason for studying magick or as he put it 'one star in sight'. Magick is a preparation for meditation, meditation on the meaning of life and the way of achieving immortality in it. The end was gnosis (explain). The continuing legacy of Crowley is to be found in this area, he restored to magick its ancient heart: ceremonial magick is training for Crowley used many different techniques to prepare himself for gnosis. Some of these techniques appear to us as very dark, and to some of his critics, as satanic. Some of Crowley's contemporaries, created a notorious image of

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4 Crowley that lives even to the present day. Many modern pagans do not like Crowley or his disciples for this reason. I myself have been told I am arrogant, self centred, etc. Some of the criticism may be true, but I also thing Crowley needs to be seen in a context. Crowley returned from climbing a mountain in Mexico one day in 1900 to be greeted by his host with a long face. 'He broke the sad news as gently as he could: Queen Victorian was dead. To his amazement, he saw Crowley fling his hat into the air and dance for joy. To Crowley and, as Crowley believed, to many others - certainly artists and thinkers - Queen Victorian was sheer suffocation, a vast thick fog that enveloped them all. "We could not see, we could not breathe,' he said; and although he admitted that under her Britain had advanced to prosperity, 'Yet, somehow or other, the spirit of her age had killed everything we cared for.' (Symonds 1973 p 55) Crowley lived in the period of the backlash caused by the Oscar Wilde trial. During Crowley's youth figures such as wild must have appeared to lead a charmed life. Suddenly it was all over, and the careers of anyone associated with Wild were guilty by associations, and their own careers were finished. E.G. Aubrey Beardsley for one. Crowley and Neuburg another, blacklisted by literary mags of their day, not because their poetry any worst than anyone else's. It is surprising how many modern pagans still take their cue from the bigoted press campaigns of the 1930s, its time to rethink. To Crowley, the ends justified the means, or as he put it, he used the methods of science to achieve the aims of religion. Perhaps we could say that the means sometimes determine the end. Lets look at the means: Abra melin.

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5 Crowley, as I'm sure you know, was a member of the Victorian occult sodality called the Hermetic order of the Golden Dawn. In this order, he was what many head of order most dread, a talented student. But apart from his basic training in this Order, details of which are available in many printed books (acknowledged and unacknowledged), he received much personal instruction. If you look at the rituals he was doing, it could make your blood run cold, or at least it did mine when I first read of them, several years ago back in a library in Newport. At the age of 23-24 he built himself an isolated oratory overlooking Loch Ness and attempted to invoke his Holy Guardian Angel using a medieval grimoire. Accounts say the house filled up with all manner of elementals and automata, drawn to the ritual. Such rituals were well know from classical sources, and the operator was warned to expect a high level of manifestation, as all kinds of things are stirred up when you try to contact the holiest part of yourself. Our Christian conditioning tells us that demons must be banished. Crowley thought they should be integrated. In this Crowley in tune with our modern manner of thinking. I recently heard a recording of Joseph Campbell, he quoted Nietzsche as saying 'when you cast out your demons, be careful you don't cast out the best part of yourself.' Crowley, knew the works of Nietzsche well and would no doubt have agreed. Crowley broke off from the Abra melin. A storm had broken out in his Order, the Golden Dawn, and he was involved. With hindsight this could be seen as a tangible effect of the ritual. It unleashed a demon that led to the destruction of the GD. Perhaps the same demon that is still occasionally spotted swimming around Lock Ness. The GD, as is fairly well known was founded on a fraud. Fraud is in fact a venerable magical tradition, alive and well even amongst the present

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6 community viz. Rosicrucianism, Wicca, Cthulu mythos etc. Perhaps all religions are in the final analysis founded on fraud. The GD claimed to be the continuation of a secret Rosicrucian fraternity, whose secret magical books was found in a set of cipher manuscripts. The three founding members knew these were fake, because they had faked them, however, this was a means to an end - a Platonic lie that would help get things going. The funny thing was, the rituals worked, fake or no fake, and the order grew in power and influence. But someone might let the genie was let out of the bottle. Macgregor Mathers, the head of the order, became a victim of his own success. The Order grew and after a few years the available course work was completed and initiates began to filter through to the upper grades. At that time, Mathers who was the highest ranking member in the Order was a 7 = 4 Ademptus Exemptus. He needed to move up to make room for further promotions below him. But Mathers couldn't really give much more, he was stuck. So far he had constructed a brilliant magical system based on inspiration and much research amongst long forgotten texts in the British Museum. What he really needed now was a real contact with what occultists sometimes call the inner planes. He tried and failed: In one account of his trying to cross the abyss, he says the effort left him physically drained, even injured. Of course he would have difficulties convincing himself that it was possible to make such a leap. He was one of the few that knew the system he was working to be largely the work of his own hand, a fake if you like. Magicians are more aware now of the pitfalls of the negative inner voice. Austin Spare, clarified this, and developed a technique of sigilization as a way of circumventing the self-defeating tendency in ourselves. It is common, that whenever a person formulates a thing they 6

7 want to do, that a little voice will appear criticises and saying, oh you can't do that. On the Late Show (Monday 2nd May) there was an interesting report about an experiment, in which one of the participants was Martin(?) Sumner from the rock group New Order, now working with Andy Marr. He suffers from depression and self doubt, especially about his ability to write lyrics. Almost as soon as he writes a line, he hears an inner voice telling him, that's crap. Mathers may not have had the benefit of modern psychological and magical techniques for transcending his negativity, even using it. Perhaps this is why he moved away from the high pressure magical scene of Edwardian London, to Paris. To give himself time and space to make the magical contact he knew the order needed. Perhaps when he still didn't get it, he resorted to an Autocratic manner in Order to retain control and at least prevent someone else making the necessary contact and usurping his leadership role. Eventually, failure, disaster (i.e. Madam Horus) and Aleister Crowley overtook him. In a fit of pique, he let out the true origin of the GD Order to someone outside of the original inner circle. This was the catalyst that blew the whole thing apart. But for Crowley, this exposure of the truth about the GD, must have come to be seen as a tangible result of his abortive and premature attempt at the Magical Ritual of Abra Melin. The knowledge he gained was that the rituals worked whether or not they were the authentic rituals of some dusty old Rosicrucian order. You would think Mathers was like someone sitting on the edge of a branch, furiously sawing away at its base. But Crowley saw, that he was more like a fakir, performing the Indian rope trick, the magician climbs the rope then pulls it up after himself.

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8 This was a lesson he generalised and whose importance cannot be overestimated. Crowley freed us from the need to be part of a 'genuine' hierarchy; Order with links going back to the year zero. He freed us because there is no such Order Here is an extract from the History Lection for members of the AA 'Some years ago a number of cipher MSS were discovered and deciphered by certain students. They attracted much attention, as they purported to derive from the Rosicrucian. You will readily understand that the genuineness of the claim matters no whit, such literature being judged by itself, not by its reputed sources.' Now you think this was a lesson so clear, that all Thelemites coming after Crowley would have got it. But no - fraid not. Here is a recent statement by Kenneth Grant, head of one of the OTO fragments that resulted from Crowley's death. The Ordo Tempi Orientis (OTO) is the name applied to an arcane tradition known as the Stella Wisdom, which has its roots in Lemuria. After the submergence of Atlantis the tradition was perpetuated in North Central and South America, the Current surfaced again when Jacque de Molay (c. 1993) concentrated it into the Order of the Knights Templar in connection with the mysteries of the Holy Graal.... In the 18th century the tradition appeared under the leadership of Adam Weishaupt (1748-1830); it was then known as the Order of the Illuminati. ....etc (Starfire Vol 1, No 1 (Anno LXXXII April 1986ev)

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9 Grant seem to be trying to turn the clock back, and in doing so has missed the point:. Incidentally this was a issue that earned me an expulsion from Grant's order, joining many others who dared to question Grants re-writing of Crowley. Even before he died, Crowley knew that the magical reforms he had instigated during his lifetime had not gone far enough. He was contemplating plans to completely revise the nature of his magical order the OTO. Unfortunately he died before he could do so. I was recently told by the editor of Starfire, that to all intents and purposes, the OTO died when Crowley did. But of course, it did not stay dead. Like a zombie it rose from the ashes and continues to haunt the world of real magick like the undead thing it is. The reason I like Crowley is because he avoids all this crap. Indeed a recent academic book on Egyptian Magick, acknowledges that Crowley 'undermined the whole edifice of bogus scholarship by pointing out that [for instance] the true origins of the Tarot are entirely irrelevant for those who wish to use them as a starting point for meditation.' (Geraldine Pinch Magick in Ancient Egypt BM Press 1994). However, one cult that can make some kind of claim to historical continuity, is the Tantrik cult of the Indian Subcontinent. Crowley and other occultists before and after him have borrowed freely from this cult, even though it guarded its inner traditions quite closely. Crowley went to India for the first time in 1902, just after the GD fiasco. He went to visit the nearest thing he ever had to a guru - Allan Bennett, who was studying Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Crowley's attitude is cynical and colonial. Symonds describes Crowley canoeing down the Irrawadi (in Burma) take pot shots at any wild animal that moved.'

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10 But the influence on him of tantrik kundalini yoga is immense - and takes up many chapters of his book of magick. In fact the first line of the book, 'Existence, as we know it, is full of sorrow', is virtually a quote from the Buddha. I broke off here to show some slides - the second part of the talk describes 'what Crowley did next' in terms of the influence on him of Tantrik ideas. The term Tantra is normally applied to a group of Hindu and Buddhist mystical 1

texts that have a great deal to say about the spiritual value of 'Carnal Knowledge', which taken literally means that gnosis obtained through the whole body. ('Gnosis' is a key magical concept and can be defined as knowledge obtained by direct perception through magick, in other words the magical mind.) . Knowledge in the Indian intellectual tradition, has always to have a purpose or use, they do not value pure knowledge in the way we are sometimes said to do. The value of this gnosis is that it leads to freedom and immortality. Tantriks study and practice magick and thus they find a great deal of common ground with western magical adepts. Tantra is also a religious inclination and pre-eminent amongst the deities worshipped within Hindu Tantrism are Shiva, Shakti the primordial goddess, who presents herself under a number of

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The earliest uses of the term 'tantra' are much broader than this. It also means treatise and thus some medical treatises are called tantras eg: Âtreyatantra. [for more information on South Asian medicine (Âyurveda) see Kris Morgan, Medicine of the Gods, Mandrake 1994). It is also synonymous with 'âgama' ie the Shaivite tradition of otherwise orthodox temple practice. 10

11 different guise: Kali, Lalita, Kundalini, Also important is the child e.g. the elephant headed deity Ganesha. Even though the Tantrik way is quite sexual in orientation, it is possible for the adept to renounce all human ties and still achieve enlightenment and immortality through its methods. Followers of the Tantrik way believe that our psychological make-up has male and female components and attempt to realise the full potential of this bisexual nature with their own lives and bodies. The Tantrik attempts to unify the male and female sides the mind/body and thus achieve what is acknowledged to be a primal state of innocence/gnosis. Magick and sometimes sexuality are used to bring about this transformation. Tantrik texts almost always begin with a dialogue between Shiva and Shakti. One can infer from this that the human worshipper, whatever their gender, assumes the god-form of one of these, either Shiva or Shakti, in order to participate anew in the flow of knowledge from the divine. This is what makes magick and tantrism so radical. Revelation is not at an end, but continues wherever there is a magician with the necessary skill. This undermines the entrenched priesthood and also the caste system, where revelation was said to be transmitted between family members only from generation to generation. As a cult or sect Tantrism is difficult to pin down. Like magick it is really a collection of different practices and philosophical attitudes. To confuse things further some elements of Tantra can be found even amongst more orthodox worshippers. Similarly we can recognise elements of ritual and magick in the Catholic mass or the rites of orthodox Judaism. However there are eight practices which when found together are pretty well characteristic of Tantra: These are dîkshâ, sâdhanâ, mantra, Mandala, mudrâ, nyâsa, dhyâna, and pûja . viii.

Dîkshâ.

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12 This means initiation and in the past great importance was given to the need for proper initiation by a qualified guru, i.e. one who is part of a recognized tradition (sampradaya) and has the right to confer the desired initiation (paraparya). Although Crowley and his disciples wrote extensively about Tantrik practice, in for instance many chapter of his books Magick, I think it unlikely that he was ever initiated. But there again, given what he experience with the supposed initiated tradition of the GD, he is unlikely to have valued 'real' initiation that much. The disadvantage is that he is heavily reliant on written sources for his yoga and tantrik idea, and he often gets them wrong.

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Sâdhana/practice

Tantra is not a philosophical persuasion, it is above all a practical road to liberation. The primary means of achieving this is by the practice of Kundalini yoga of the kind described in the Serpent Power (q.v.). What has been termed 'results magic'(phala) is particularly important for some Tantriks, the so-called six acts, achieved by devotion to the appropriate shakti are: Pacification, Subjugation, Immobilization, Spreading Discord, Driving Away, Liquidation. The Vinashikha tantra (q.v.) has more for details of this aspect of Tantrism and also includes a typical sectarian practice to the god Tumburu, who has been identified with the Shiva cult. Devotees of Tumburu are supposedly skilled at dealing with various types of fever (jvara), a disease not uncommon in medieval and indeed modern Asia. ii.

Mantra

Mantra is one of the chief instruments of Tantrism. It should not be confused with 'twilight' language although there is some overlap. The word comes from

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13 'man' to think and 'tra' instrument. According to Alain Danielou mantra literally 2

means 'thought-form'. Mantra is an intricate series of sounds which are vibrated or sung in a special manner. Some, older authorities thought that mantras were meaningless and irrational; Bharati rejects this contention. For example the 3

apparently meaningless mantra 'Hrîm' is always addressed to shakti and may well come from the Indian root 'Hrî' meaning modesty. Some mantras are onomatopoeic e.g. Phat, the tantrik means of driving away negative energies. Others may be derived from animal sounds as for example three of the seven notes in the Indian musical scale are so named. There is an elaborate theory, based on the analysis of the Sanskrit alphabet to account for their phonic power. In common with many other Eastern religions, Tantra maintains that sound has a magical quality and is one of the fundamental creative principles of the cosmos. Furthermore, it is widely held in Hinduism that the Gods do not like to be addressed directly by name or as the ancient sage Yajnavalkya said 'the gods are fond of obscurity.' Closely related to this is the idea that any divine thing can be reduced to an essential seed or essence . This is analogous to the methods of the pharmacist who attempts to isolate the active principle in any compound. The active principle in a mantra 'compound' is called a seed or bija. For example the seed mantra of the elephant headed god Ganesha is gan. A seed mantra can be created by taking the first letter of a deity's name and adding nasal m e.g. Dum for Durga etc. Further reading see Mircea Eliade Yoga, Immortality and Freedom and examples see glossary. iii. Mandala or Yantra

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The Myths and Gods of India, (Inner Traditions 1991) oringally published as Hindu Polytheism. p. 234

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A Bharati The Tantric Tradition (Rider 1970) p. 101sq. 13

14 Typical of Tantrism and indeed of other magical traditions, is the extended use of intricate geometric designs of various sizes. Such diagrams are sometimes able to generate their own kind of gnosis. Many examples are reproduced in books although in reality they come in two or three dimensional representations of a deity or cosmos. A mandala should be laid flat on the floor for magical use and not hung up behind an altar. Mandala means diagram, a Yantra or devise is also used to describe the same thing. iv.

Mudrâ

The use of mystical hand gestures and postures such as those found in yoga. It would take a whole book to described them all. The 'horned god' mudrâ of modern wicca is also a Tantrik mudrâ. Pointing fingers, raised hands and intricate interlocking of the fingers as in the yoni mudrâ all play their part. This 4

also raises the subject of the Tantrik predilection for euphemisms or so-called 'twilight language'. Mudrâ is also the name for one of the five strong enjoyments found in Tantrik worship and may be a euphemism for sex without reproduction, i.e. for its own sake. The breaking of taboos is another characteristic of Tantrism. v.

Nyâsa

This is a very distinctive part of Tantrism and one that is often overlooked. Nyâsa means placing and takes many forms for example the 'installation' of the sacred power of a deity into a mystical drawing or mandala. This same energy can also be placed by one participant in a ritual into the body of the another. There are also elaborate and sometimes secret methods of touching parts of the body together, such as the fingers and intoned the appropriate mantra. This is a kind of purification rites. A solitary practitioners uses many such techniques

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Gonda, Mudra, in Studies Geo Widengren, Leiden 1972, II, p.21 14

15 and vivifies his or her Mandala by 'taking' the personal god energy (istadevata) from the region of their heart and placing it on the altar. Here we can detect the practical counterpart of the mystical doctrine of microcosm and macrocosm. The body is viewed as a miniature version of the cosmos, and thus by installing the appropriate deities and elements, the body becomes a living mandala. vi.

Dhyâna.

This can be translated meditation but Tantrik meditation soon passes beyond the more austere variety set forth in for example Patanjali's Yoga Sutras and later versions of it in Vivekananda and even Aleister Crowley. Tantrik meditation uses the senses, rather than suppressing them. Dhyâna also means the image of the god or goddess as handed down from previous practitioners. Closely related to this is the typical Tantrik practice called internal pilgrimage, the constructing of an internal mental or astral temple, peopled by the Gods and in which worship and magick occurs. In some instances whole landscapes are created and the Tantrik with sufficient mental stamina is able to undertake an extended pilgrimage through the sacred and erotic landscape vii

Pûja.

Tantriks are magicians and experience shows that the magick needs the practice of physical rituals to ground it and to really make it work. Special external rituals with other Tantriks in which, traditionally, special regard was given to the Shaktis or female participants. For example the of the five m's or powerful enjoyments: Meat, Fish, Wine,

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16 Sexual Intercourse, Non-reproduction. Public breaking of taboos. That then is tantrism in a nutshell. It is my contention that the eight things described above, could be a definition of western magick or any other magical system. The tantrik way of magick would have very much appealed to Crowley and we can find many examples of it in his system. And through Crowley, these ideas have passed into general magical practice. They are the essence of magick, and would have underlined for Crowley a lesson he had recently learnt. Magical rites do not need to be authentic for them to work. Crowley was also influenced by William James, the psychologist and creator of Pragmatism. James said a similar thing, he described religious rituals from all over the world, and thought there was no way to distinguish which mystical experience as true and which wasn't. They were all equally valid. So no one religious tradition could claim a monopoly on truth. The only way to judge what a mystic says was pragmatically - did it work for them. All these trends undermine the traditional approach, whether based on church history, ancient magical orders or supposed hereditary traditions. Tantrism as a system, had sustained its adherents with minimal bureaucracy (i.e. Order) for hundreds of years. Where Crowley failed was in not completely leaving behind the old GD and OTO model. He seemed to vacillate between the two, one time assuming the grand titles of Baphomet etc. etc. Whilst for instance at his experimental community in Cefalu, he acted more like a oriental guru. Toward the end of his life, it is likely that he was aware of this failing. Although, as we magicians know, there are no absolutes in this world, and Crowley is now a success story. His blend of western and eastern magick is widely used, not just by Thelemites. The Thelemic idea of make up your own system, create your own gods,

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17 becoming a god yourself has many adherents. As a human being, maybe Crowley was a failure, but as an idea, manifest from the collective consciousness, I think he was a good one.

I'd like to finish by showing a copy of slide of one of Crowley's haunts in Portugal as a way of illustrating something about him. Crowley and Thelemic magick has a reputation for being very urban and temple based. I.e. as having very little affinity, even a hostility to nature.

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