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On October 12th,1875 a child was born into a family belonging to a sect of the Plymouth Bretheren
(who,bye the way,were the brewers of Crowley's Ales), That child's name was Edward Alexander Crowley, later to
be changed to Aliester Crowley because he did not want to share his name with his hated father who died when he was eleven.
Aliester hated the creed of the Plymouth Bretheren ,chiefly because of his bad expieriences at the hands of the headmaster of the special sect school he went to in Cambridge.
In 1892 he went to Malvern and attended public school there. After finding out that his room mate was prostituting himself to the other boys he had himself transferred to Tonbridge.
Crowley ended up studying at cambridge, developing an interest in Alpine climbing and a taste of good food and drink.
After Crowley became tired of the fued he travelled the world. He married Rose Kelly and travelled with her to Egypt where the most important event in his life happend. It was in Cairo in March 1904 where Crowley took down the book of the law dictated to him on three consecutive days by an entity called Aiwass,who Crowley believed to be his guardian angel. (The text file of the book of the law is at the bottom of the page). One of the key principles of the new age contained in the book of the law was 'Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law'. Many took this as an excuse to indulge themselves failing to see the true meaning. Another two key principles are 'love is the law, love under will' and 'Every man and every woman is a star'.
Crowley wrote to Mathers and informed him that he was now the top dog in the magical world. A magical duel resulted which Crowley won. Crowley lost interest in magic for a few years and succumbed to marital bliss.
Crowley occupied himself in other ways and devoted some time to mountain climbing. In 1905 he was involved in a disasterouse attempt to climb Kanchenjunga, the then unassailed Himalyan peak, with a man named Guillarmod who had tried to climb another dangerouse mountain (k2) in his company in another expidition. After this he travelled some more, taking his wife and child with him to China. He went to Cananda and America,leaving his family behind. It was not until he got back to England that he learned that his daughter had died of typhus in Rangoon.
Crowley started The magical organisation called the Silver Star or Argenteum Astrum in 1907 and later he started to publish its official organ: a twice-yearly bulky volume called The Equinox, so called because it was released at the vernal and autumn equinoxes. hmmmm... Why all the magical activity?? His interest had been rekindled when he was rummaging around in his attic and found the manuscript of The Book Of The Law. (At this time he had a new daughter).
In 1909 Crowley got divorced from rose who had become an alcoholic. He was now free to take drugs, chase women, write poetry, practise magic and even travel to russia with a dancing troup called The Ragged Rag-Time Girls!! In 1912 Crowley was contacted by the head of the OTO(Ordo Templi orientis---->Order of the Templars of the East)and was accused of publishing the secret of their IXth degree. After discussion it transpired that a reference in one of his books had caused the OTO to assume Crowley was using sex magic,which they used in their rituals. it was not long before it was agreed that he ought to be the Order's UK head.
During the First World War Crowley Published anti-British propaganda in the USA,which he later clamed as his attempt to ridicule the germans. Many people saw him as a traitor for this no matter what Crowley said.
A new scarlet woman came into his life, leah Hirsig, who had his child, poupče. In 1920 he set up his notorious Abbey Of Thelema at Cefalu, Sicily.
His Daughter Poupee(forgive the spelling but i cant figure out that thing to get the mark abouve the e)died and Crowley was heart broken. He Travelled back and forth from Paris, London and the Abbey, trying to cure his Heroin and Cocain addiction. It was at this time that Crowley Wrote the novel,The Diary Of A Drug Fiend, which the press condemned.
When a young undergraduate named Raoul Loveday died from Drinking impure water at the Abbey, his wife went and sold her story to the Sunday Express. The papers were filled with scandelous stories of the 'black magic' rituals going on at the Abbey. Crowleys name was well and truly blackened. The Great beast was expelled from Sicily when the Mussolini regime came into being with it's hate of all secret societies. It was at this point that Crowleys career took a darker turn.
Some of his friends stuck with him and tried to vindicate his name. Norman Mudd, a mathamatician, published a pamphlet refuting the slurs of the Beaverbook newspapers. He endedup poor, Abandoned by Crowley and and finaly drowning himself. No british printers would print magnum opus, Magick in Theory And Practice, and it had to be printed in paris. Rumours spread around France and he was deported.
Crowleys money still shrunk and he started writing books for th Mandrake Press in Britan but the booksellers refused to stock his 'autohagriography', The Confessions Of Aliester Crowley. He was banned from Oxford by the chaplain after he had been invited to read a paper on the subject of Gilles De Rais for the Oxford University Poetry Society. After winning a small libel committed by a bookshop, he tried to do the same thing on a bigger scale by suing the painter Nina Hamnett over coments about him in her book Laughing Torso. He lost and had to pay money, he was declaired bankrupt.
He became the Wanderer Of The Waste and wandered through England. His followers in the USA sent him life's little luxuries during the war. After the war he ended up in Hastings, Addicted to huge shots of heroinyet still mentally sharp.
He died on December 1st 1947, and his funeral took place four days later at Brighton Crematorium, with readings from his works as he had desired. The local council promised to take steps to see that such a thing never happened again.
some links to other Crowley sites
E-mail me at max_carnage_666@hotmail.com