Tag: Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley by Charles Krafft

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Aleister Crowley was an English poet, novelist, painter, and mountaineer who is most famous as an occultist, ceremonial magician, and founder of the religion and philosophy of Thelema. Sadly, he was also an egomaniac, a pervert, and a drug addict. But at least he did not sacrifice babies to Satan or eat them for breakfast. Ironically, though, Crowley’s supposed Satanism and Black Magic are far less frightening to most people than his politics. For Aleister Crowley was also a man of the Right.

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Part 2 of 4 (Part 1 here, Part 3 here)

4. The Principles of Magical Idealism

Evola’s critique of transcendental idealism, which we examined in the last installment, is insightful and interesting — though grand choruses of academic voices would be raised against every step of it, insisting that Evola has misunderstood idealism. (more…)

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The poets and dreamers wove their magic webs, and a world apart from the world of actual experience came to life. But it was not all myth, nor all fantasy; there was a basis of truth and reality at the foundation of the mystic growth . . . — Jessie Weston, From Ritual to Romance

My friend said, what are you doing these days? I said, I’m working for Killing Joke. He said, Killing Joke? Are you mad? They’re evil. They’re devil-worshippers. — Chris Kimsey, music producer (more…)

Lived with for millennia, first climbed in 1865: the Matterhorn

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“I was using the mountain to measure myself. The mountain is the means, the man is the end.” — Walter Bonatti (1930-2011)

People who climb mountains are like people who ride motorbikes or take illegal drugs. They tend to have a lot of friends who die young — or they die young themselves. (more…)

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Host Nick Jeelvy was joined by seasoned warmage James J. O’Meara for a Spooky Writers’ Bloc on Halloween where they discussed the occult and magic, and it is now available for download and online listening.

Topics discussed include:

Magic thinking on the Right
Magic vs. magick
Evola on magic
Crowley on magick
Trump and meme magic (more…)

Aleister Crowley

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When I began reading Counter-Currents, I was quickly drawn to the commemorative pieces, not least because many of the deceased were completely new to me, and have since led me to new intellectual pastures. The late, great Jonathan Bowden was correct in describing CC as an online university. One commemorated figure, however, although very familiar to me, surprised me as figuring in the pantheon.

I have been interested in Aleister Crowley since I began studying the occult some 30 years ago. Somewhere in my mother’s attic in England are my copies of Magick in Theory and Practice and The Book of Thoth. The latter is of particular interest as, for all the chaos of his personal life, Aleister Crowley was possibly the greatest scholar of a discipline in which I have a particular interest: Tarot. (more…)

Aleister Crowley by Charles Krafft

646 words

Aleister Crowley was an English poet, novelist, painter, and mountaineer who is most famous as an occultist, ceremonial magician, and founder of the religion and philosophy of Thelema. Sadly, he was also an egomaniac, a pervert, and a drug addict. At least, though, he did not sacrifice babies to Satan or eat them for breakfast. Ironically, though, Crowley’s supposed Satanism and Black Magic are far less frightening to most people than his politics. For Aleister Crowley was also a man of the Right.

(more…)

Aleister Crowley by Charles Krafft

424 words

Aleister Crowley was an English poet, novelist, painter, and mountaineer who is most famous as an occultist, ceremonial magician, and founder of the religion and philosophy of Thelema. But ironically Crowley’s supposed Satanism and Black Magic are far less frightening to most people than his politics. For Aleister Crowley was also a man of the Right.

(more…)

Robert Plant (left) and Jimmy Page (right), Chicago, 1977.

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Someone told me there’s a girl out there
With love in her eyes and flowers in her hair

— “Going to California”

Led Zeppelin’s back catalog already includes songs like “Ramble On” from the rocky Led Zeppelin II and the melancholic classic “Tangerine” from the flower-powered III. (more…)

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James J. O’Meara
Mysticism After Modernism: Crowley, Evola, Neville, Watts, Colin Wilson & Other Populist Gurus
Melbourne, Australia: Manticore Press, 2020

“For me real and imagined, by the way, is just the same. Because the world is our imagination.” — Aleksandr Dugin [1] (more…)

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Aleister Crowley’s essay “Cocaine” is not among his most-discussed works, being overshadowed by those more esoteric, salacious, or dense. Nonetheless, “Cocaine” is an entry worth noting in the Crowley catalog on account of its prophetic nature and as an insight into Crowley’s personal philosophy and mental state.

Crowley begins with a tantalizing weave spun about the seemingly supernatural powers of cocaine; referring to it as an “herb,” he describes its capacity to provide man with near-immediate self-satisfaction and thumos-imbued energy. (more…)

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To say that Aleister Crowley was a very colorful individual would be an understatement. He was known for his many talents arising from his great intellect, as well as some disagreeable personality quirks. In his time, some called him the “world’s most wicked man,” which certainly was an overstatement. He was a favorite target for hordes of third-rate journalists. We understand!

He called himself “The Great Beast 666” and took it seriously. (more…)