M A G I C I N ENGLAND
While we often associate magic with exotic lands, in fact England is undoubtedly the most magical land on earth - and the home, at various times, to the world's greatest magicians.
This post reveals a 5,000-year tradition of English magic, stretching from Neolithic shamen and Anglo-Saxon "Wyrd Crafters" to modern Wiccans, New Age spiritualists and Neo-Pagan revivalists.
Along the way it catalogues the remarkable interplay of fictional and historical figures who have influenced and shaped the history of English magic.
The fictional wizards from Merlin to Prospero who have shaped our perceptions of magic.
John Dee, mathematician, astrologer, occultist and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I, who like Crowley and other "practicing magicians" crafted a powerful fiction around the cult of their charismatic personality.
And the writers and artists who have drawn on magic as inspiration for their creations or even, like WB Yeats, have been drawn in to the world of the occult.
ANGLO-SAXON MAGIC
Magic in Anglo-Saxon England refers to the belief and practice of magic by the Anglo-Saxons between the fifth and eleventh centuries CE in Early Mediaeval England.
In this period, magical practices were used for a variety of reasons, but from the available evidence it appears that they were predominantly used for healing ailments and creating amulets, although it is apparent that at times they were also used to curse.
The Anglo-Saxon period was dominated by two separate religious traditions, the polytheistic Anglo-Saxon paganism and then the monotheistic Anglo-Saxon Christianity, both of which left their influences on the magical practices of the time.
What we know of Anglo-Saxon magic comes primarily from the surviving medical manuscripts, such as 'Bald's Leechbook' and the 'Lacnunga', all of which date from the Christian era.
Written evidence shows that magical practices were performed by those involved in the medical profession. From burial evidence, various archaeologists have also argued for the existence of professional female magical practitioners that they have referred to as cunning women.
Anglo-Saxons believed in witches, individuals who would perform malevolent magic to harm others.
In the late 6th century, Christian missionaries began the conversion of Anglo-Saxon England, a process which took several centuries to complete.
From the 7th century onward, Christian writers condemned the practice of malevolent magic or charms which called upon pagan gods as witchcraft in their penitentials, and laws were enacted in various Christian kingdoms illegalising witchcraft.
Background
A map illustrating the various different tribal groups in Anglo-Saxon England circa 600 CE.
Following the withdrawal of the Roman armies and administrative government from southern Britain in the early 5th century CE, large swathes of southern and eastern England entered what is now referred to as the Anglo-Saxon period.
During this, the populace appeared to adopt the language, customs and religious beliefs of the various tribes, such as the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, living in the area that covers modern Denmark and northern Germany. Many archaeologists and historians have believed that this was due to a widespread migration or invasion of such continental European tribes into Britain, although it has also been suggested that it may have been due to cultural appropriation on behalf of native Britons, who wished to imitate such tribes.
Either way, the Anglo-Saxon populace of England adopted many cultural traits that differed from those in the preceding Iron Age and Romano-British periods.
They adopted Old English, a Germanic language that differed markedly from the Celtic and Latin languages previously spoken, whilst they apparently abandoned Christianity, a monotheistic religion devoted to the worship of one God, and instead began following Anglo-Saxon paganism, a polytheistic faith revolving around the veneration of several deities.
Differences to people's daily material culture also became apparent, as those living in England ceased living in roundhouses and instead began constructing rectangular timber homes that were like those found in Denmark and northern Germany.
Art forms also changed as jewellery began exhibiting the increasing influence of Migration Period Art from continental Europe.
Ritual
In Anglo-Saxon magical praxes, specific ritual procedures would have had to have been performed in the belief that doing so would enable the magical operation to work.
Animism played a significant role in the world-view of Anglo-Saxon magic.
All sorts of phenomenon are ascribed to the visible or invisible intervention of good or evil spirits.
The primary creatures of the spirit world that appear in the Anglo-Saxon charms are the 'ælfar', or elves, malevolent entities who were believed to cause sickness in humans.
Another type of spirit creature believed to cause physical harm in the Anglo-Saxon world were dwarves, characterised as "disease-spirits".
A number of charms imply the belief that malevolent "disease-spirits" were causing sickness by inhabiting a person's blood.
Such charms offer remedies to remove these spirits, calling for blood to be drawn out in order to drive the disease-spirit out with it.
The adoption of Christianity saw some of these pre-Christian mythological creatures reinterpreted as devils, who are also referenced in the surviving charms.
Many of the Anglo-Saxon charms use symbolic comparisons between a known, described event and the magical act being performed.
In this way, the "two things are in some way brought together, so that what happens to one of them will happen also to the other."
In comparing the two things, the Anglo-Saxon magician hoped to actually make them similar and that their connection may have been based on a "similarity in sound, meaning, form, colour and so on."
Paganism
Anglo-Saxon magical paganism was polytheistic, believing in the existence of multiple deities.
A lack of surviving evidence makes it unclear what Anglo-Saxon people believed the relationship between magic and the gods was like, although from examining the Norse mythological story surrounding the god Odin and his quest for knowledge, it can be argued that across the Germanic-speaking world, there was a belief that the gods were "as much subject to magic as more earthly creatures."
Ritual
In Anglo-Saxon magical praxes, specific ritual procedures would have had to have been performed in the belief that doing so would enable the magical operation to work.
Animism played a significant role in the world-view of Anglo-Saxon magic.
All sorts of phenomenon are ascribed to the visible or invisible intervention of good or evil spirits.
The primary creatures of the spirit world that appear in the Anglo-Saxon charms are the 'ælfar', or elves, malevolent entities who were believed to cause sickness in humans.
Another type of spirit creature believed to cause physical harm in the Anglo-Saxon world were dwarves, characterised as "disease-spirits".
A number of charms imply the belief that malevolent "disease-spirits" were causing sickness by inhabiting a person's blood.
Such charms offer remedies to remove these spirits, calling for blood to be drawn out in order to drive the disease-spirit out with it.
The adoption of Christianity saw some of these pre-Christian mythological creatures reinterpreted as devils, who are also referenced in the surviving charms.
Many of the Anglo-Saxon charms use symbolic comparisons between a known, described event and the magical act being performed.
In this way, the "two things are in some way brought together, so that what happens to one of them will happen also to the other."
In comparing the two things, the Anglo-Saxon magician hoped to actually make them similar and that their connection may have been based on a "similarity in sound, meaning, form, colour and so on."
Paganism
A lack of surviving evidence makes it unclear what Anglo-Saxon people believed the relationship between magic and the gods was like, although from examining the Norse mythological story surrounding the god Odin and his quest for knowledge, it can be argued that across the Germanic-speaking world, there was a belief that the gods were "as much subject to magic as more earthly creatures."
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RENNAISANCE MAGIC
JOHN DEE
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| John Dee |
He devoted much of his life to the study of alchemy, divination and Hermetic philosophy.
Dee straddled the worlds of science and magic just as they were becoming distinguishable.
One of the most learned men of his age, he had been invited to lecture on advanced algebra at the University of Paris while still in his early twenties.
Dee was an ardent promoter of mathematics and a respected astronomer, as well as a leading expert in navigation, having trained many of those who would conduct England's voyages of discovery.
Simultaneously with these efforts, Dee immersed himself in the worlds of magic, astrology and Hermetic philosophy.
He devoted much time and effort in the last thirty years or so of his life to attempting to commune with angels in order to learn the universal language of creation and bring about the pre-apocalyptic unity of mankind.
A student of the Renaissance Neo-Platonism of Marsilio Ficino, Dee did not draw distinctions between his mathematical research and his investigations into Hermetic magic, angel summoning and divination.
Instead he considered all of his activities to constitute different facets of the same quest: the search for a transcendent understanding of the divine forms which underlie the visible world, which Dee called "pure verities".
In his lifetime Dee amassed one of the largest libraries in England.
His high status as a scholar also allowed him to play a role in Elizabethan politics.
He served as an occasional adviser and tutor to Elizabeth I and nurtured relationships with her ministers Francis Walsingham and William Cecil.
Dee also tutored and enjoyed patronage relationships with Sir Philip Sidney, his uncle Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, and Edward Dyer.
He also enjoyed patronage from Sir Christopher Hatton.
Early Life
He travelled to Hungary to present a copy personally to Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor.
SHAKESPEARE and MAGIC
William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564; died 23 April 1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.
Early Life
Dee was born in Tower Ward, London - he was the only child of his parents: Rowland, who was a mercer and minor courtier, and Joan, who was the daughter of William Wild.
Dee attended the Chelmsford Catholic School from 1535 (now King Edward VI Grammar School (Chelmsford)), then – from November 1542 to 1546 – St. John's College, Cambridge.
His great abilities were recognised, and he was made a founding fellow of Trinity College, where the clever stage effects he produced for a production of Aristophanes' Peace procured him the reputation of being a magician that clung to him through life.
In the late 1540s and early 1550s, he travelled in Europe, studying at Leuven (1548) and Brussels and lecturing in Paris on Euclid.
He studied with Gemma Frisius and became a close friend of the cartographer Gerardus Mercator, returning to England with an important collection of mathematical and astronomical instruments.
In 1552, he met Gerolamo Cardano in London: during their acquaintance they investigated a perpetual motion machine as well as a gem purported to have magical properties.
Rector at Upton-upon-Severn from 1553, Dee was offered a readership in mathematics at Oxford in 1554, which he declined; he was occupied with writing and perhaps hoped for a better position at court.
In 1555, Dee became a member of the Worshipful Company of Mercers, as his father had, through the company's system of patrimony.
That same year, 1555, he was arrested and charged with "calculating" for having cast horoscopes of Queen Mary and Princess Elizabeth; the charges were expanded to treason against Mary.
Dee appeared in the Star Chamber and exonerated himself, but was turned over to the Catholic Bishop Bonner for religious examination.
His strong and lifelong penchant for secrecy perhaps worsening matters, this entire episode was only the most dramatic in a series of attacks and slanders that would dog Dee throughout his life.
Clearing his name yet again, he soon became a close associate of Bonner.
Dee presented Queen Mary with a visionary plan for the preservation of old books, manuscripts and records and the founding of a national library, in 1556, but his proposal was not taken up.
Instead, he expanded his personal library at his house in Mortlake, tirelessly acquiring books and manuscripts in England and on the European Continent. Dee's library, a center of learning outside the universities, became the greatest in England and attracted many scholars.
When Elizabeth took the throne in 1558, Dee became her trusted advisor on astrological and scientific matters, choosing Elizabeth's coronation date himself.
From the 1550s through the 1570s, he served as an advisor to England's voyages of discovery, providing technical assistance in navigation and ideological backing in the creation of a "British Empire", a term that he was the first to use.
Dee wrote a letter to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley in October 1574 seeking patronage.
He claimed to have occult knowledge of treasure on the Welsh Marches, and of ancient valuable manuscripts kept at Wigmore Castle, knowing that the Lord Treasurer's ancestors came from this area.
In 1577, Dee published General and Rare Memorials pertayning to the Perfect Arte of Navigation, a work that set out his vision of a maritime empire and asserted English territorial claims on the New World. Dee was acquainted with Humphrey Gilbert and was close to Sir Philip Sidney and his circle.
In 1564, Dee wrote the Hermetic work Monas Hieroglyphica ("The Hieroglyphic Monad"), an exhaustive Cabalistic interpretation of a glyph of his own design, meant to express the mystical unity of all creation.
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| John Dee - Magical Equipment |
This work was highly valued by many of Dee's contemporaries, but the loss of the secret oral tradition of Dee's milieu makes the work difficult to interpret today.
He published a "Mathematical Preface" to Henry Billingsley's English translation of Euclid's Elements in 1570, arguing the central importance of mathematics and outlining mathematics' influence on the other arts and sciences.
Intended for an audience outside the universities, it proved to be Dee's most widely influential and frequently reprinted work.
Enochian Magic
Enochian Magic is a system of ceremonial magic based on the evocation and commanding of various spirits. It is based on the 16th-century writings of Dr. John Dee, who claimed that the information, including the revealed Enochian language, was delivered to directly by various angels.
Enochian Magic
Enochian Magic is a system of ceremonial magic based on the evocation and commanding of various spirits. It is based on the 16th-century writings of Dr. John Dee, who claimed that the information, including the revealed Enochian language, was delivered to directly by various angels.
Dee's journals contained the Enochian script, and the tables of correspondences that accompany it.
Dee believed his visions gave him access to secrets contained within the apocryphal 'Book of Enoch'.
Liber Logaeth - The Sixth and Sacred Book of the Mysteries
The Liber Logaeth (Book of the Speech of God - 1583); is preserved in the British Museum as Sloane ms 3189.
Written up by Edward Kelley, assistant to Dr Deeit, it is composed of 65 folios containing 101 exceedingly complex magic squares, 96 of which are 49×49 cells (preceded by one "table" composed of 49 rows of text – the first row of which is actually the 49th row of the first table, not in this MS.), plus 5 magic squares of 36 x 72 cells.
It is from Liber Logaeth that Dee derived the 48 Calls or 'Keys', and in which are concealed the keys to the 'Mystical Heptarchy', a related magical work by Dee.
Liber Logaeth has never yet been published in book form but is available online.
Dee himself left little information on his Sixth Holy Book apart from saying that it contained 'The Mysterie of our Creation, The Age of many years, and the conclusion of the World', and that the first page in the book signified 'Chaos'.
Note that the title 'The Book of Enoch' attributed to the text of 'Liber Logaeth' is not to be confused with the aprocryphal Biblical 'The Book of Enoch'.
(There are three versions of the latter; a facsimile reprint of the Ethiopian version is Laurence, - 1995).
Nor should it be confused with Crowley's rescension 'Liber Chanokh' (The Book of Enoch) although all these texts are related.
Dee never referred to this magic as 'Enochian' but rather called it 'Angelic', however in modern occultism it is commonly known as Enochian.
It is not quite clear how much of Enochian magic was put to use by Dee.
Indeed, whether Dee ever practised Enochian is still up for debate.
The angels told him not to work Enochian, and there are no diary records of works being done except for one healing talisman that the angels instructed him how to make.
Dee's journals are essentially notebooks which record the elements of the system, rather than records of workings performed utilising the system.
Dee never referred to this magic as 'Enochian' but rather called it 'Angelic', however in modern occultism it is commonly known as Enochian.
It is not quite clear how much of Enochian magic was put to use by Dee.
Indeed, whether Dee ever practised Enochian is still up for debate.
The angels told him not to work Enochian, and there are no diary records of works being done except for one healing talisman that the angels instructed him how to make.
Dee's journals are essentially notebooks which record the elements of the system, rather than records of workings performed utilising the system.
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SHAKESPEARE and MAGIC
William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564; died 23 April 1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.
He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon".
His surviving works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems.
His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.
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| Shakespeare |
Elizabethan Magic
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| Elizabethan Magic |
Magic was a controversial subject in Shakespeare's day.
In Italy in 1600, Giordano Bruno was burnt at the stake for his occult studies. Outside the Catholic world, in Protestant England where Shakespeare wrote The Tempest, magic was also taboo; not all "magic", however, was considered evil.
Several thinkers took a more rational approach to the study of the supernatural, with the determination to discover the workings of unusual phenomena.
The German Henricus Cornelius Agrippa was one such thinker, who published in De Occulta Philosophia (1531, 1533) his observations of "divine" magic.
Agrippa's work influenced Dr. John Dee (see above), an Englishman and student of supernatural phenomena.
Both Agrippa and Dee describe a kind of magic similar to Prospero's (see below): one that is based on 16th-century science, rationality, and divinity, rather than the occult.
When King James took the throne, Dee found himself under attack for his beliefs, but was able to defend himself successfully by explaining the divine nature of his profession.
However, he died in disgrace in 1608.
'The Tempest'
'The Tempest' can be interpreted as Shakespeare's last treatise on the human soul, in particular the Renaissance conception of the tripartite soul divided into vegetative, sensitive, and rational spheres, as described in both Platonic and some Christian Philosophy (and later in Freud's id, ego and super ego) which was first linked to 'The Tempest' by James E Phillips in 1964.
'A Midsummer Night’s Dream'
Shakespeare’s 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream' successfully shows the precarious balance between magic and reality, or passion and reason.
In the play, the cornerstone of the unstable balance between the worlds of magic and reality, or the Fairy Realm and Athenian State, is marriage.
It is Oberon and Titania’s unbalanced marriage that creates a domino effect, not only affecting their world, but the world of reality as well.
While Athens is recovering from a war with the Amazons, a direct result of Oberon and Titania’s imbalanced marriage, the Athenians must face new problems resulting from the imbalance of the Fairy Realm.
The imbalance affects the land, the seasons, and, even the emotions of the mortals who live in Athenian State.
Four young lovers (Hermia, Lysander, Helena, and Demetrious) are targeted by this magical imbalance, threatening to disrupt the peace that is promised with the joyous union of Theseus and Hippolita.
This union promises to bring the people of Athens from their melancholy mood, a mood caused by funerals from the recent Amazonian war.
To restore this balance, Oberon must regain the balance in his marriage and restore the balance of reality, Athenian State, with the help of a special love potion.
By venturing into the woods, the young lovers cross an invisible boundary between the world of magic and the world of reality, unaware that they did so.
With the help of Puck, Oberon is able to regain the balance within his relationship, and tame the chaos within the relationships of the four young lovers.
To ensure that the balance is restored and maintained, the fairies bring their magic within Theseus’ palace, the palace of reality, to effectively merge magic and reality to maintain the tentative balance of both worlds.
Puck
In Italy in 1600, Giordano Bruno was burnt at the stake for his occult studies. Outside the Catholic world, in Protestant England where Shakespeare wrote The Tempest, magic was also taboo; not all "magic", however, was considered evil.
Several thinkers took a more rational approach to the study of the supernatural, with the determination to discover the workings of unusual phenomena.
The German Henricus Cornelius Agrippa was one such thinker, who published in De Occulta Philosophia (1531, 1533) his observations of "divine" magic.
Agrippa's work influenced Dr. John Dee (see above), an Englishman and student of supernatural phenomena.
Both Agrippa and Dee describe a kind of magic similar to Prospero's (see below): one that is based on 16th-century science, rationality, and divinity, rather than the occult.
When King James took the throne, Dee found himself under attack for his beliefs, but was able to defend himself successfully by explaining the divine nature of his profession.
However, he died in disgrace in 1608.
'The Tempest'
'The Tempest' can be interpreted as Shakespeare's last treatise on the human soul, in particular the Renaissance conception of the tripartite soul divided into vegetative, sensitive, and rational spheres, as described in both Platonic and some Christian Philosophy (and later in Freud's id, ego and super ego) which was first linked to 'The Tempest' by James E Phillips in 1964.
Prospero is exiled to an island with a symbol of his baser, 'vegetative' nature – Caliban – and his higher, 'sensitive' or supernatural side – Ariel.
Some productions have seen the same actor play all three roles, making them symbols of the conflict within a fully actualised or awakened Prospero – that between crude selfish physicality and a higher, mystical side. For as long as Prospero is battling with these qualities and lost in books, he is banished from Milan.
As the play finds its conclusion, he is both able to accept his base, brutal nature ("this thing of darkness I acknowledge mine" he says when taking responsibility for Caliban) while letting go of his connection with higher, powerful forces ("then to the elements be free, and fare thou well" he says, setting Ariel free). Abandoning magic and acknowledging the brutal potential of his nature, he is allowed to return to his rightful place as Duke, subject to agreement from the audience: "as you from crimes would pardon'd be, let your indulgence set me free."
Prospero
In The Tempest two different types of magic are explored, one being the art of evil through the use of 'Black Magic', and the other being the study of meta-physics and the unknown through the use of 'White Magic'.
The 'black' aspect of magic is revealed through the merely alluded to character of the evil witch Sycorax.
The ‘white’ aspect of magic is revealed through the well-developed character of Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan.
The good aspect of magic is developed to a much greater extent than the evil aspect of magic.
Prospero belongs to a higher order of magicians - those who command the services of s'uperior intelligences' - in distinction from those who, by a 'league made with Satan', submitted to be his instruments, paying for the enjoyment of the supernatural power thus gained the price of their souls' salvation.
The former class of magicians, as Scot remarks, "professed an art which some divines affirm to be more honest and lawful than necromancy, wherein they work by good angels."
Thus we find Prospero exercising his power over 'elves' and 'goblins' through the medium of 'Ariel', a spirit "too delicate to act the abhorr'd commands" of the foul witch 'Sycorax', but who answered his best pleasure and obeyed his "strong bidding."
The poet has, moreover, given to Prospero some of the ordinary adjuncts of the professional magician of the time.
Peculiar virtue was inherent in his robe, and we find Prospero saying to Miranda:—
"Lend thy hand
And pluck my magic garment from me;"
and as it is laid aside he adds, "Lie there, my art."
His wand also was a potent instrument. With it he renders Ferdinand helpless:—
"I can here disarm thee with this stick.
And make thy weapon drop."
And when he abjures his art he breaks his staff and buries "it certain fathoms in the earth," lest it should fall into hands that might not use it as wisely and beneficently as he has done.
His books were of yet greater importance to his art.
Prospero's books symbolize his power – and in this play, knowledge is power.
"These conjurors carry about at this day books intituled under the names of Adam, Abel, Toby, and Enoch; which Enoch they repute the most divine fellow in such matters. They have also among them books that they say Abraham, Aaron, and Solomon made;... also of the angels, Riziel, Razael, and Raphael." Hence, we find Prospero saying:—
"I'll to my book,
For yet ere supper-time must I perform
Much matter appertaining;"
and he is to drown his book "deeper than did ever plummet sound," when he breaks his staff, and for the same reason.
Caliban, too, says:—
"Remember
First to possess his books; for without them
He's but a sot, as I am, nor hath not
One spirit to command."
Prospero
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| Ariel and Prospero |
The 'black' aspect of magic is revealed through the merely alluded to character of the evil witch Sycorax.
The ‘white’ aspect of magic is revealed through the well-developed character of Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan.
The good aspect of magic is developed to a much greater extent than the evil aspect of magic.
Prospero belongs to a higher order of magicians - those who command the services of s'uperior intelligences' - in distinction from those who, by a 'league made with Satan', submitted to be his instruments, paying for the enjoyment of the supernatural power thus gained the price of their souls' salvation.
The former class of magicians, as Scot remarks, "professed an art which some divines affirm to be more honest and lawful than necromancy, wherein they work by good angels."
Thus we find Prospero exercising his power over 'elves' and 'goblins' through the medium of 'Ariel', a spirit "too delicate to act the abhorr'd commands" of the foul witch 'Sycorax', but who answered his best pleasure and obeyed his "strong bidding."
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| Ariel and Prospero - Eric Gill |
Peculiar virtue was inherent in his robe, and we find Prospero saying to Miranda:—
"Lend thy hand
And pluck my magic garment from me;"
and as it is laid aside he adds, "Lie there, my art."
His wand also was a potent instrument. With it he renders Ferdinand helpless:—
"I can here disarm thee with this stick.
And make thy weapon drop."
And when he abjures his art he breaks his staff and buries "it certain fathoms in the earth," lest it should fall into hands that might not use it as wisely and beneficently as he has done.
His books were of yet greater importance to his art.
Prospero's books symbolize his power – and in this play, knowledge is power.
"These conjurors carry about at this day books intituled under the names of Adam, Abel, Toby, and Enoch; which Enoch they repute the most divine fellow in such matters. They have also among them books that they say Abraham, Aaron, and Solomon made;... also of the angels, Riziel, Razael, and Raphael." Hence, we find Prospero saying:—
"I'll to my book,
For yet ere supper-time must I perform
Much matter appertaining;"
and he is to drown his book "deeper than did ever plummet sound," when he breaks his staff, and for the same reason.
Caliban, too, says:—
"Remember
First to possess his books; for without them
He's but a sot, as I am, nor hath not
One spirit to command."
'A Midsummer Night’s Dream'
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| Puck - 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream' |
In the play, the cornerstone of the unstable balance between the worlds of magic and reality, or the Fairy Realm and Athenian State, is marriage.
It is Oberon and Titania’s unbalanced marriage that creates a domino effect, not only affecting their world, but the world of reality as well.
While Athens is recovering from a war with the Amazons, a direct result of Oberon and Titania’s imbalanced marriage, the Athenians must face new problems resulting from the imbalance of the Fairy Realm.
The imbalance affects the land, the seasons, and, even the emotions of the mortals who live in Athenian State.
Four young lovers (Hermia, Lysander, Helena, and Demetrious) are targeted by this magical imbalance, threatening to disrupt the peace that is promised with the joyous union of Theseus and Hippolita.
This union promises to bring the people of Athens from their melancholy mood, a mood caused by funerals from the recent Amazonian war.
To restore this balance, Oberon must regain the balance in his marriage and restore the balance of reality, Athenian State, with the help of a special love potion.
By venturing into the woods, the young lovers cross an invisible boundary between the world of magic and the world of reality, unaware that they did so.
With the help of Puck, Oberon is able to regain the balance within his relationship, and tame the chaos within the relationships of the four young lovers.
To ensure that the balance is restored and maintained, the fairies bring their magic within Theseus’ palace, the palace of reality, to effectively merge magic and reality to maintain the tentative balance of both worlds.
Puck
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| Puck - Mickey Rooney - 1935 |
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| 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' |
Puck, is a character in William Shakespeare's play 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' that was based on the ancient figure in English mythology, also called Puck.
Numerous people that have read 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' appear confused about whether Puck's intentions are deliberately done to try to mock and insult others for his own amusements, or because he is generally careless.
Puck is a clever, mischievous elf or sprite that personifies the trickster or the wise knave.
In the play, Shakespeare introduces Puck as the "shrewd and knavish sprite" and "that merry wanderer of the night" in some scenes it would seem that he is longing for freedom and he is also a jester to Oberon, the fairy king.
Puck and Bottom are the only two characters who interact and progress the three central stories in the whole play, Puck is the one who is first introduced in the fairies story and creates the drama of the lover's story by messing up who loves whom, as well as placing the ass on Bottom's head in his story.
Similarly Bottom is performing in a play in his story intending it to be presented in the lover's story as well as interacting with Titania in the fairies' story .
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ENGLISH MAGIC
in the 19th and 20th CENTURY
ALEISTER CROWLEY
"Had! The manifestation of Nuit.
The unveiling of the company of heaven.
Every man and woman is a star.
Every number is infinite; there is no difference.
Help me, o warrior lord of Thebes, in my unveiling before the Children of men!"
"Had! The manifestation of Nuit.
The unveiling of the company of heaven.
Every man and woman is a star.
Every number is infinite; there is no difference.
Help me, o warrior lord of Thebes, in my unveiling before the Children of men!"
Aleister Crowley is undoubtedly England's most famous - some would say most notorious - magician.
Aleister Crowley (12 October 1875–1 December 1947), born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and 'The Great Beast 666', was an English occultist, mystic, ceremonial magician, poet and mountaineer, who was responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema.
In his role as the founder of the Thelemite philosophy, he came to see himself as the prophet who was entrusted with informing humanity that it was entering the new Aeon (Age) of Horus in the early 20th century.
Biography
Born into a wealthy upper-class family, as a young man he became an influential member of the esoteric 'Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn' after befriending the order's leader, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers.
Subsequently he claimed that he was contacted by his True Will, an entity he named Aiwass, while staying in Egypt in 1904, and that he "received" a text known as 'The Book of the Law' from what he claimed was a divine source, and around which he would come to develop his new philosophy of Thelema.
However - later on in life he wrote in 'Equinox of the Gods' that "I now incline to believe that Aiwass is a man as I am", and analysis of the text of the Book of the Law shows that 'Aiwass the Minister' is an anagram of 'I Sin, I was the Master' - which casts doubt on whether the Book was 'dictated' as Crowley claimed.
Recent analysis of the text suggests that the book and its various riddles and ciphers were constructed by Crowley to conceal the 'Lost Word of the Temple of Solomon', which Crowley claimed to have discovered after studying the 'Zohar' and Freemasonry.
The זֹהַר (Zohar - Hebrew: lit Splendor or Radiance) is the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah (the five books of Moses) and scriptural interpretations as well as material on Mysticism, mythical cosmogony, and mystical psychology. The Zohar contains a discussion of the nature of God, the origin and structure of the universe, the nature of souls, redemption, the relationship of Ego to Darkness and "true self" to "The Light of God," and the relationship between the "universal energy" and man. Its scriptural exegesis can be considered an esoteric form of the Rabbinic literature known as Midrash, which elaborates on the Torah. The Zohar is mostly written in what has been described as an exalted, eccentric style of Aramaic, which was the day-to-day language of Israel in the Second Temple period (539 BCE – 70 CE), was the original language of large sections of the biblical books of Daniel and Ezra, and is the main language of the Talmud.
He would go on to found his own occult society, the A∴A∴ and eventually rose to become a leader of Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), before founding a religious commune in Cefalù known as the Abbey of Thelema, which he led from 1920 through till 1923. After abandoning the Abbey amid widespread opposition, Crowley returned to Britain, where he continued to promote Thelema until his death.
Crowley has remained an influential figure and is widely thought of as the most influential occultist of all time.Childhood: 1875–1894
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| Edward Alexander Crowley |
His father, Edward Crowley (c.1830–1887), was trained as an engineer but, according to Aleister, never worked as one, instead owning shares in a lucrative family brewing business, Crowley's Alton Ales, which allowed him to retire before Aleister was born.
His mother, Emily Bertha Bishop (1848–1917), drew roots from a Devonshire-Somerset family and was despised by her son, whom she described as "the Beast", a name that he revelled in.
The couple had been married at Kensington Registry Office in London during November 1874.
The Crowley family were Christian; Aleister's father had been born a Quaker, but had converted to the Exclusive Brethren, a more conservative faction of a denomination known as the Plymouth Brethren.
Upon marriage, Emily had also converted to the Exclusive Brethren.
Aleister's father was particularly devout, spending his time as a travelling preacher for the sect and reading a chapter from the Bible to his wife and son after breakfast every day.
Aged 8, Aleister was sent to H.T. Habershon's evangelical Christian boarding school in Hastings, and then to a preparatory school in Cambridge run by the Reverend Henry d'Arcy Champney, whom Aleister considered a sadist.
On 5 March 1887, when Crowley was 11, his father died of tongue cancer.
Aleister would describe this as a turning point in his life, and he always maintained some admiration for his father, describing him as "his hero and his friend" ?.
Inheriting his father's wealth, he was subsequently sent to Ebor School in Cambridge, a private Plymouth Brethren school, but was expelled for misbehaviour.
Following this he attended Malvern College and then Tonbridge School, both of which he despised and soon left after only a few terms, instead beginning studies at Eastbourne College.
He became increasingly sceptical about Christianity, pointing out logical inconsistencies in the Bible to his religious teachers, and went against the Christian morality of his upbringing.
Cambridge University: 1895–1897
"For many years I had loathed being called Alick, partly because of the unpleasant sound and sight of the word, partly because it was the name by which my mother called me. Edward did not seem to suit me and the diminutives Ted or Ned were even less appropriate. Alexander was too long and Sandy suggested tow hair and freckles. I had read in some book or other that the most favourable name for becoming famous was one consisting of a dactyl followed by a spondee, as at the end of a hexameter: like Jeremy Taylor. Aleister Crowley fulfilled these conditions and Aleister is the Gaelic form of Alexander. To adopt it would satisfy my romantic ideals."
Crowley largely spent his time at university engaged in his pastimes, one of which was mountaineering; he went on holiday to the Alps to do so every year from 1894 to 1898, and various other mountaineers who knew him at this time recognised him as "a promising climber, although somewhat erratic".
Another of his hobbies was writing poetry, which he had been doing since the age of 10, and in 1898 he privately published one hundred copies of one of his poems, 'Aceldama', but it was not a particular success.
That same year he published a string of other poems, the most notable of which was 'White Stains', a piece of erotica that had to be printed abroad as a safety measure in case it caused trouble with the British authorities.
Part of this work, according to biographer Lawrence Sutin, "deserves a place in any wide-ranging anthology of gay poetry".
A third hobby of his was the game of chess, and he joined the university's chess club, where, he later stated, he beat the president in his first year and practised two hours a day towards becoming a champion, but he eventually gave this idea up.
It was while on a winter holiday in Sweden in December 1896 that he had his first significant mystical experience.
Several later biographers, including Lawrence Sutin and Tobias Churton, believed that this was the result of Crowley's first homosexual experience.
Following this experience, Crowley began to read up on the subject of occultism and mysticism, and by the next year he had begun reading books by alchemists and magicians.
At university, he also maintained a vigorous sex life, which was largely conducted with prostitutes and girls he picked up at local pubs and cigar shops, but eventually he took part in same-sex activities.
This was despite the fact that homosexual acts were illegal and punishable with imprisonment at that time. In 1897, Crowley met a man named Herbert Charles Pollitt, the president of the Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, and the two entered into a relationship but broke up because Pollitt did not share Crowley's increasing interest in the esoteric.
Crowley himself later stated that "I told him frankly that I had given my life to religion and that he did not fit into the scheme. I see now how imbecile I was, how hideously wrong and weak it is to reject any part of one's personality."
In October a brief illness triggered considerations of mortality and "the futility of all human endeavour", or at least the futility of the diplomatic career that Crowley had previously considered, and instead, he decided to devote his life to the occult.
In 1897 he left Cambridge, not having taken any degree at all despite a "first class" showing in his spring 1897 exams and consistent "second class honours" results before that.
That summer, he then travelled to St Petersburg in Russia; later biographers Richard Spence and Tobias Churton suggested that Crowley had done so under the employ of the British secret service, but this remains inconclusive.
The Golden Dawn: 1898–1899
In 1898, Crowley was staying in Zermatt, Switzerland, where he met the chemist Julian L. Baker, and the two began talking about their common interest in alchemy.
Upon their return to England, Baker introduced Crowley to George Cecil Jones, a member of the occult society known as the 'Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn', which had been founded in 1888.
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| Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn |
The ceremony itself took place at Mark Masons Hall in London, where Crowley accepted his motto and magical name of "Frater Perdurabo", a Latin term meaning "I shall endure to the end".
Crowley moved from the elegant accommodation at the Hotel Cecil to his own luxury flat at 67–69 Chancery Lane.
He soon invited a Golden Dawn associate, Allan Bennett (1872–1923), to live with him, and Bennett became his personal tutor, teaching him more about ceremonial magic and the ritual usage of drugs.
In 1900, Bennett left London for Ceylon to study Buddhism, while in 1899 Crowley acquired 'Boleskine House' in Foyers on the shore of Loch Ness in Scotland.
He subsequently developed a love of Scottish culture, describing himself as the "Laird of Boleskine" and took to wearing traditional highland dress, even during visits back to London.
However, a schism had developed in the Golden Dawn, with MacGregor Mathers, the organisation's leader, being ousted by a group of members who were unhappy with his autocratic rule.
Crowley had previously approached this group of rebels, asking to be initiated into the further orders of the Golden Dawn, but they had declined him.
Regardless, he went directly to Mathers, who still held the post of chief and who agreed to initiate him into the Second Order.
Now loyal to Mathers, Crowley (with the help of his then mistress and fellow initiate Elaine Simpson) attempted to help crush the rebellion and unsuccessfully tried to seize a London temple space known as the 'Vault of Rosenkreutz' from the rebels.
Crowley had also developed personal feuds with some of the Golden Dawn's members; he disliked the poet W.B. Yeats, who had been one of the rebels, because Yeats had not been particularly favourable towards one of his own poems, Jephthat.
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| William Butler Yeats |
He also disliked Arthur Edward Waite, who would rouse the anger of his fellows at the Golden Dawn with his pedantry.
Mexico, India and Paris: 1900–1903
In 1900, Crowley travelled to Mexico via the United States, taking a local woman as his mistress, and with his good friend Oscar Eckenstein (1859–1921) proceeded to climb several mountains, including Iztaccihuatl, Popocatepetl and even Colima, the latter of which they had to abandon owing to a volcanic eruption.
During this period, Eckenstein revealed mystical leanings of his own and told Crowley that he needed to improve the control of his mind, recommending the Indian practice of raja yoga in order to do so. Crowley had continued his magical experimentation on his own after leaving Mathers and the 'Golden Dawn', and his writings suggest that he developed the magical word Abrahadabra during this time.
Leaving Mexico, a country that he would always remain fond of, Crowley visited San Francisco, Hawaii, Japan, Hong Kong and Ceylon, where he met up with Allan Bennett and devoted himself further to yoga, from which he claimed to have achieved the spiritual state of dhyana.
It was during this visit that Bennett decided to become a Buddhist monk in the Theravada tradition, travelling to Burma, while Crowley went on to India, studying various Hindu practices.
In 1902, he was joined in India by Eckenstein and several other mountaineers; Guy Knowles, H. Pfannl, V. Wesseley, and Dr Jules Jacot-Guillarmod. Together the Eckenstein-Crowley expedition attempted to climb K2.
On the journey, Crowley was afflicted with influenza, malaria, and snow blindness, while other expedition members were similarly struck with illness.
They reached an altitude of 20,000 feet (6,100 m) before deciding to turn back.
In 1903 Crowley wed Rose Edith Kelly, the sister of his friend, the painter Gerald Festus Kelly, in a "marriage of convenience", however, soon after their marriage, Crowley actually fell in love with her and set about to successfully prove his affections.
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| Rose Edith Kelly |
Rose Edith Kelly (born 23 July 1874 in London, England, died 1932) married noted author, magician and occultist Aleister Crowley in 1903. In 1904, she aided him in the 'Cairo Working' that led to the reception of 'The Book of the Law', on which Crowley based much of his philosophy and religion, Thelema. Rose had two children with Crowley: Nuit Ma Ahathoor Hecate Sappho Jezebel Lilith (born in July 1904, died in Spring 1906) and Lola Zaza (born in 1906). Rose and Aleister divorced in 1909. In 1911 Crowley had her committed to an asylum for alcohol dementia. Upon her release she married Dr. Gormley, a Roman Catholic, but her alcoholism returned.
Rose Kelly died in 1932.
Egypt and The Book of the Law: 1904
click below for more information about
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| Cairo - Egypt |
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| The Book of the Law |
According to Crowley's own account, Rose, who was pregnant, began to experience visions while in the country, regularly informing him that "they are waiting for you", but not providing him with any further information as to who "they" were.
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| Boulaq Museum - Cairo |
Then she pointed to a glass case in the distance, and insisted that this was what he sought.
It turned out to be a small funerary stele (XXVIth Dynasty) for a priest of ancient Thebes named Ankh-af-na-Khonsu.
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| Stele of Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu |
The Stele of Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu (also known as the Stele of Revealing) is a painted, wooden offering stele, discovered in 1858 at the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Dayr al-Bahri by François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette. It was originally made for the Montu-priest Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu, and was discovered near his coffin ensemble of two sarcophagi and two anthropomorphic inner coffins. It dates to circa 680/70 BCE, the period of the late Dynasty 25/early Dynasty 26. Originally located in the former Bulaq Museum under inventory number 666, the stele was moved around 1902 to the newly opened Egyptian Museum of Cairo (inventory number A 9422; Temporary Register Number 25/12/24/11), where it remains today.
Very significantly for Crowley, this artifact was listed in the museum catalog as Stele #666; piece 666, the number that he had identified with since childhood - it later became known as the Stele of Revealing.
θηρίον - (Therion - Greek: beast) is a God found in the mystical system of Thelema, which was established in 1904 with Aleister Crowley's writing of The Book of the Law. Therion's female counterpart is Babalon, another Thelemic deity. He, as a Thelemic personage, evolved from that of the Beast of the Book of Revelation, whom Crowley intuitively identified himself with since childhood. Indeed, throughout his life he occasionally referred to himself as “Master Therion” or sometimes “The Beast 666”. |
| The Beast of Revelations William Blake |
'καὶ ἵνα μή τις δύνηται ἀγοράσαι ἢ πωλῆσαι εἰ μὴ ὁ ἔχων τὸ χάραγμα, τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θηρίου ἢ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ. 18Ὧδε ἡ σοφία ἐστίν· ὁ ἔχων τὸν νοῦν ψηφισάτω τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ θηρίου· ἀριθμὸς γὰρ ἀνθρώπου ἐστί· καὶ ὁ ἀριθμὸς αὐτοῦ χξϛʹ.
This is the 'Foundation Myth' of the religion of Thelema (which is the Greek word for 'the True Will', paired with Agape or Love, both of whose numerology totals 93; hence his system is known as the 93 Current).
Rose continued to insist that forces from beyond were seeking to contact him, and directed him to perform a ritual in a room with many mirrors and employing some correspondences alien to his Golden Dawn training, which he summarized as:
“To be performed before a window open to the E. or N. without incense. The room to be filled with jewels, but only diamonds to be worn. A sword, unconsecrated, 44 pearl beads to be told. Stand. Bright daylight at 12.30 noon. Lock doors. White robes. Bare feet. Be very loud. Saturday. Use the Sign of Apophis and Typhon.”
So, he acquired a translation of the text from the stele, rendered it into verse, devised what he called 'The Ritual of Invocation According to the Divine Vision of W. the Seer', and performed it upon March 20th, now known as the 'Equinox of the Gods' (and documented in his book of the same name, a full account of the experience, quoted above).
The result changed his life, the course of modern occult philosophy.
At the hours of noon on April 8th, 9th, and 10th in the year 1904, Aleister Crowley received the transmission known as 'Liber AL vel Legis': The Book of the Law, in the Victorious City of Cairo in Egypt.
Comparisons might be made with other transmissions even more recent: C.G. Jung's 'Septem Sermones ad Mortuos' (Seven Sermons to the Dead), poet W.B. Yeats’ odd work 'A Vision', Blavatsky's 'Book of Dyzan', and even 'OAHSPE' and the 'Book of Mormon'.
And if we remain even remotely willing to suspend our disbelief sufficiently to accept the validity of any of these, it would seem rather unfair not to extend the same courtesy to Crowley.
The full title of the book is 'Liber Al vel Legis, sub figura CCXX', as delivered by XCIII=418 to DCLXVI, and it is commonly referred to as 'The Book of the Law'.
Through the reception of this book, Crowley proclaimed the arrival of a new stage in the spiritual evolution of humanity, to be known as the 'Æon of Horus' - ( aeon here is not used in the sense of a spiritual entity, but rather as a division of time).
Crowley claimed he heard a disembodied voice talking to him, claiming that it was coming from a being Crowley named as Aiwass the Minister of Hoor-Paar-Kraat.
Crowley's disciple and later secretary Israel Regardie believed that this voice came from Crowley's subconscious, but opinions among Thelemites differ widely.
Crowley said that he wrote down everything the voice told him over the course of the next three days, and subsequently titled it 'Liber AL vel Legis' or 'The Book of the Law'.
In the preface to the 'Book of the Law', Crowley explains that the ideas presented within the book are symbolized by Egyptian Gods for 'literary convenience'.
The Book declares that a new Aeon (Age) for mankind had begun, and that Crowley would serve as its prophet.
As a supreme moral law, Nuit declared "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law", and that people should learn to live in tune with their "True Will".
The story goes that although this event would prove to be a cornerstone in Crowley's life, being the origin of the philosophy of Thelema, he claimed at the time he was unsure what to think about the whole situation.
He wrote that he was "dumbfounded about what to do with The Book of the Law" and eventually decided to ignore the instructions that it commanded him to perform, which included taking the Stele of Revealing from the museum, fortifying his own island and translating the Book into all the world's languages.
Instead he simply sent typescripts of the work to several occultists whom he knew, and then "put aside the book with relief".
Kangchenjunga and China: 1905–1906
Returning to Boleskine, Crowley came to believe, for reasons that are documented in Crowley's diaries, that his former friend Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers had become so jealous of his progression as a ceremonial magician that he had begun using magic against him, and the relationship between the two broke down.
On 28 July 1905, Rose gave birth to Crowley's first child, a daughter, whom he named Nuit Ma Ahathoor Hecate Sappho Jezebel Lilith, although she would commonly be referred to simply by her last name.
He also founded a publishing company, naming it the 'Society for the Propagation of Religious Truth' in parody of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and through this released more of his own poetry, including 'The Sword of Song'.
While his poetry often received strong reviews (either positive or negative), it never sold well, and attempting to gain more publicity, he issued a reward of £100 for whomever could write the best essay on the topic of his work.
The winner of this would prove to be J.F.C. Fuller (1878–1966), a British Army officer and military historian, whose essay, 'The Star in the West', heralded Crowley's poetry as some of the greatest ever written.
Crowley decided to climb another of the world's greatest mountains, Kangchenjunga in the Himalayas, widely thought of as "the most treacherous mountain in the world" by climbers at the time.
Assembling a team consisting of Dr Jacot-Guillarmod, a veteran of the K2 climb, as well as several other continental Europeans including Charles Adolphe Reymond, Alexis Pache and Alcesti C. Rigo de Righi, the group travelled to British India to undertake the task.
Throughout the expedition, there was much argument between Crowley and the others who felt that he was reckless.
They eventually mutinied against Crowley's control, with the other climbers heading back down the mountain as nightfall approached despite Crowley's warnings that it was too dangerous. Crowley was proved right as Pache and several porters were subsequently killed in an accident.
Returning from this expedition, he met up with Rose and Lilith in Kolkata before being forced to leave India after shooting dead a native who had tried to mug him.
Travelling to China, Crowley soon fell down a forty foot cliff; finding himself unscathed, he said he believed that he was being protected for some prophetic purpose, and underwent a religious experience that he felt bestowed on him the rank of 'Exempt Adept', the highest grade of the 'Second Order of the Golden Dawn'.
Devoting himself fully to spiritual and magical work, he began studying the 'γοητεία' (Goetia), and recited the grimoire's preliminary invocation daily in order to try to get in contact with his True Will.
γοητεία (Medieval Latin, anglicised goety - from Greek goēteia "sorcery") refers to a practice which includes the invocation of angels or the evocation of demons, and usage of the term in English largely derives from the 17th-century grimoire 'The Lesser Key of Solomon', which features an 'Ars Goetia' as its first section. It contains descriptions of the evocation of seventy-two demons, famously edited by Aleister Crowley in 1904 as T'he Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King'. Goetic Theurgy, another practice described in the 'Lesser Key of Solomon', is similar to the book's description of Goetia, but is used to invoke aerial spirits.
The Crowleys spent the next few months travelling around China, but it was decided that in March 1906, they would return to Britain.
Rose took Lilith with her and set off for Europe via India, while Crowley himself decided to travel back via the United States, where he hoped he would be able to get support for a second expedition to Kangchenjunga.
Before departing, Crowley visited a significant lover and 'Scarlet Woman' Elaine Simpson in Shanghai.
She was a fellow occultist who had been his colleague in the 'Golden Dawn'.
She was fascinated by 'The Book of the Law' and the apparent prophetic message that it contained, and together they performed a ritual to invoke Aiwass once more.
Inspired by the text, Simpson acted as a psychic medium and told Crowley that Aiwass wanted him to "Return to Egypt, with same surroundings. There I will give thee signs."
Nonetheless, Crowley ignored the advice of Simpson, instead heading off to America. Stopping off at the Japanese port of Kobe along the way, Crowley had a vision which he interpreted as meaning that the great spiritual beings known as the 'Secret Chiefs' had admitted him into the 'Third Order of the Golden Dawn'.
Subsequently arriving in America, he found no support for his proposed mountaineering expedition, and so set sail to return to Britain, arriving there in June 1906.
The A∴A∴ and the Holy Books of Thelema: 1907–1910
Upon arrival at Britain, Crowley learned that his daughter Lilith had died of typhoid in Rangoon and that his wife had begun suffering from alcoholism.
Heartbroken, his health began to suffer, and he underwent a series of surgical operations.
He began having a short-lived sexual affair with Vera "Lola" Stepp, an actress to whom he would devote some of his poetry, while Rose gave birth to his second daughter, Lola Zaza, for whom Crowley devised a special ritual of thanksgiving.
Saying that he believed that he was now amongst the highest level of spiritual adepts, Crowley began to think about founding his own magical society.
In this he was supported by his friend and fellow occultist George Cecil Jones.
The pair began to practice rituals together at Jones' home in Coulsdon, and for the autumn equinox on 22 September 1907 developed a new ceremony based upon the Golden Dawn initiatory rite, for which Crowley composed a verse liturgy entitled "Liber 671", and later dubbed "Liber Pyramidos".
The pair repeated this ritual again on 9 October, when they had made some alterations to it.
In Crowley's eyes, this ritual would prove to be one of the "greatest events of his career" during which he "attained the knowledge and conversation of his True Will" and "entered the trance of union with godhead".
He therefore finally succeeded with the aim of his Abramelin operation – as set out in the grimoire known as 'The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage' – which he had been working on for months.
Because of his spiritual attainment Crowley, on 30 October 1907, penned "Liber VII", a text that he again claimed to have been dictated to him by Aiwass through automatic writing.
Following 'The Book of the Law', which had been received in 1904, "Liber VII" would prove to be the second book in a series of Holy Books of Thelema.
Over the next few days, he also received a further Holy Book, "Liber Cordis Cincti Serpente".
Soon, Crowley, Jones and J.F.C. Fuller decided to found a new magical order as a successor to the 'Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn', which would be known as the 'A∴A∴', the 'Argenteum Astrum' or the 'Silver Star'.
Following the order's foundation, Crowley continued to write down more received Thelemic Holy Books during the last two months of the year, including "Liber LXVI", "Liber Arcanorum", "Liber Porta Lucis, Sub Figura X", "Liber Tau", "Liber Trigrammaton" and "Liber DCCCXIII vel Ararita".[87] Meanwhile, effectively separated from his wife Rose by this point, Crowley entered into a romantic and sexual affair with Ada Leverson (1862–1933), an author and friend of Oscar Wilde.
This affair was brief, and in February 1908, Crowley was reunited with his wife as she had overcome her alcoholism, and together the couple travelled to Eastbourne for a holiday.
Rose however relapsed and Crowley, who disliked her when drunk, fled to Paris.
In Paris during October 1908, he claimed to have again produced samadhi by the use of ritual but this time without hashish.
He published an account of this success in order to show that his method worked and that one could achieve great mystical results without living as a hermit.
On 30 December 1908, Aleister Crowley using the pseudonym Oliver Haddo made accusations of plagiarism against Somerset Maugham, author of the novel 'The Magician'. Crowley's article appeared in 'Vanity Fair', edited then by Frank Harris who admired Crowley and who would later write the famous work 'My Life and Loves'.
Admittedly, Maugham did model the character of his magician Oliver Haddo after Crowley himself, and Crowley stated that Maugham acquiesced privately on the question of plagiarism.
In 1909, when doctors stated that Rose required institutionalisation for her alcoholism, Crowley finally decided that it was time to get a divorce, but because he didn't want the proceedings to reflect badly upon her, he agreed that she could divorce him for infidelity, thereby meaning that any bad appearances would instead be reflected upon him, and he remained her friend following the proceedings.
Crowley soon moved on and took a woman named Leila Waddell as his lover or "Scarlet Woman".
Trying to gain more members for his A∴A∴, Crowley decided to begin publishing a biannual journal, 'The Equinox', which was billed as "The Review of Scientific Illuminism".
Starting with a first issue in 1909, 'The Equinox' contained pieces by Crowley, Fuller and a young poet Crowley had met in 1907 named Victor Neuburg.
Soon other occultists had joined the order, including solicitor Richard Noel Warren, artist Austin Osman Spare, Horace Sheridan-Bickers, author George Raffalovich, Francis Henry Everard Joseph Fielding, engineer Herbert Edward Inman, Kenneth Ward and Charles Stansfeld Jones.
In 1910, Crowley performed his series of dramatic rites, the 'Rites of Eleusis', with A∴A∴ members Leila Waddell (Laylah) and Victor Benjamin Neuburg.
According to Crowley, Theodor Reuss called on him in 1912 to accuse him of publishing O.T.O. secrets, which Crowley dismissed on the grounds of having never attained the grade in which these secrets were given (IXth Degree).
Theodor Reuss (June 28, 1855 – October 28, 1923) was an Anglo-German tantric occultist, anarchist, police spy, journalist, singer, and promoter of Women's Liberation; and head of 'Ordo Templi Orientis'.
Reuss opened up Crowley's latest book, 'The Book of Lies', and showed Crowley the passage. This sparked a long conversation which led to Crowley assuming the Xth Degree of O.T.O. and becoming Grand Master of the English-speaking section of O.T.O. called 'Mysteria Mystica Maxima'.
Crowley would eventually introduce the practice of male homosexual sex magick into O.T.O. as one of the highest degrees of the Order for he believed it to be the most powerful formula.
Crowley placed the new degree above the Tenth Degree – not to be confused with any title in his own Order – and numbered it the Eleventh Degree.
There was a protest from some members of O.T.O. in Germany and the rest of continental Europe that occasioned a persistent rift with Crowley.
Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) (Order of the Temple of the East, or the Order of Oriental Templars) is an international fraternal and religious organization founded at the beginning of the 20th century. English author and occultist Aleister Crowley has become the best-known member of the order. Originally it was intended to be modelled after and associated with Freemasonry, but under the leadership of Aleister Crowley, O.T.O. was reorganized around the 'Law of Thelema' as its central religious principle. Similar to many secret societies, O.T.O. membership is based on an initiatory system with a series of degree ceremonies that use ritual drama to establish fraternal bonds and impart spiritual and philosophical teachings. O.T.O. also includes the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (EGC) or Gnostic Catholic Church, which is the ecclesiastical arm of the Order. Its central rite, which is public, is called 'Liber XV', or the 'Gnostic Mass'.
In March 1913, producer Crowley introduced Leila Waddell in 'The Ragged Ragtime Girls' follies review at the Old Tivoli in London where it enjoyed a brief run.
In July 1913, the production enjoyed a six-week run in Moscow where Crowley met a young Hungarian girl named Anny Ringler.
Crowley went on to practice sado-masochistic sex with Ringler.
According to Crowley, "... She had passed beyond the region where pleasure had meaning for her. She could only feel through pain, and my own means of making her happy was to inflict physical cruelties as she directed. The kind of relation was altogether new to me; and it was because of this, intensified as it was by the environment of the self-torturing soul of Russia, that I became inspired to create by the next six weeks."
While in Moscow, Crowley would see Anny for an hour and then he would write poetry.
During this summer in Moscow, Crowley would write two of his most memorable works, the 'Hymn to Pan' and the 'Gnostic Mass' or 'Ecclesiae Gnosticae Catholicae Canon Missae'.
'The Hymn to Pan' would be read at his funeral thirty four years later.
Certain Thelemites regularly perform the 'Gnostic Mass' to this day.
It symbolises the act of sex as a magical or religious ritual.
Upon returning to London in the autumn of 1913, Crowley published the tenth and final number of volume one of 'The Equinox'.
In December 1913 in Paris, Crowley would engage Victor Benjamin Neuburg in 'The Paris Working'.
The first ritual took place on New Year's Eve 1914.
In a period of seven weeks, Crowley and Neuburg performed a total of twenty four rituals which they recorded in the 'holy' book formally entitled' Opus Lutetianum'.
Around eight months later Neuburg had a nervous breakdown.
Afterward, Crowley and Neuburg would never see each other again.
United States and Canada: 1914–1918
During his time in the U.S., Crowley practised the task of a Magister Templi in the A∴A∴ as he conceived it, namely interpreting every phenomenon as a particular dealing of "God" with his soul.
He began to see various women he met as officers in his ongoing initiation, associating them with priests wearing animal masks in Egyptian ritual.
A meditation during his relationship with one of these women, the poet Jeanne Robert Foster, led him to claim the title of Magus, also referring to the system of the A∴A∴.
In June 1915, Crowley met Jeanne Robert Foster in the company of her friend Hellen Hollis, a journalist; Crowley would have affairs with both women.
Foster was a famous New York fashion model, journalist, editor, poet and married.
Crowley's plan with Foster was to produce his first son; but in spite of a series of magical operations she did not get pregnant.
By the end of 1915, the affair would be over.
During a trip to Vancouver in 1915, Crowley met Wilfred Smith, Frater 132 of the Vancouver Lodge of O.T.O., and in 1930 granted him permission to establish Agape Lodge in Southern California.
During the same trip in 1915, Crowley stopped over at Parke Davis in Detroit for some mescaline.[106]
In early 1916, Crowley had an illicit liaison with Alice Richardson, the wife of Ananda Coomaraswamy, one of the greatest art historians of the day.
On the stage, Richardson was known as Ratan Devi, mezzo-soprano interpreter of East Indian music. Richardson became pregnant but on a voyage back to England, in mid-1916, she had a miscarriage.
Just before his affair with Ratan Devi, Crowley was practising sex magick with Gerda Maria von Kothek, a German prostitute.
Two periods of magical experimentation followed.
In June 1916, he began the first of these at the New Hampshire cottage of Evangeline Adams, having ghostwritten most of her two books on astrology.
His diaries at first show discontent at the gap between his view of the grade of Magus and his view of himself: "It is no good making up my mind to do anything material; for I have no means. But this would vanish if I could make up my mind."
Despite his objections to sacrificing a living animal, he resolved to crucify a frog as part of a rehearsal of the life of Jesus in the Gospels (afterward declaring it his willing familiar), "with the idea ... that some supreme violation of all the laws of my being would break down my Karma or dissolve the spell that seems to bind me".
Slightly more than a month later, having taken ether (ethyl oxide), he had a vision of the universe from a modern scientific cosmology that he frequently referred to in later writings.
Crowley began another period of magical work on an island in the Hudson River after buying large amounts of red paint instead of food.
Having painted "Do what thou wilt" on the cliffs at both sides of the island, he received gifts from curious visitors.
Here at the island he had visions of seeming past lives, though he refused to endorse any theory of what they meant beyond linking them to his unconscious.
Towards the end of his stay, he had a shocking experience he linked to "the Chinese wisdom" which made even Thelema appear insignificant.
Nevertheless, he continued in his work.
Before leaving the country he formed a sexual and magical relationship with Leah Hirsig, whom he had met earlier, and with her help began painting canvases with more creativity and passion.
Richard B. Spence writes in his 2008 book Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence and the Occult that Crowley could have been a lifelong agent for British Intelligence. While this may have already been the case during his many travels to Tsarist Russia, Switzerland, Asia, Mexico and North Africa that had started in his student days, he could have been involved with this line of work during his life in America during the First World War, under a cover of being a German propaganda agent and a supporter of Irish independence. Crowley's mission might have been to gather information about the German intelligence network, the Irish independent activists and produce aberrant propaganda, aiming at compromising the German and Irish ideals.
As an 'agent provocateur' he could have played some role in provoking the sinking of the RMS Lusitania, thereby bringing the United States closer to active involvement in the war alongside the Allies.
He also used German magazines 'The Fatherland' and 'The International' as outlets for his other writings.
The question of whether Crowley was a spy has always been subject to debate, but Spence uncovered a document from the US Army's old Military Intelligence Division supporting Crowley's own claim to having been a spy:
Aleister Crowley was an employee of the British Government ... in this country on official business of which the British Consul, New York City has full cognizance
Soon after moving from West 9th St. in Greenwich Village, New York City, to Palermo, Sicily with their newborn daughter Anne Leah (nicknamed Poupée, born February 1920, died in a hospital in Palermo 14 October 1920), Crowley, along with Leah Hirsig, founded the Abbey of Thelema in Cefalù (Palermo) on 14 April 1920.
The name of the abbey was borrowed from Rabelais's epic Gargantua, where the "Abbey of Thélème" is described as a sort of anti-monastery where the lives of the inhabitants were "spent not in laws, statutes, or rules, but according to their own free will and pleasure".
This idealistic utopia was to be the model of Crowley's commune, while also being a type of magical school, giving it the designation "Collegium ad Spiritum Sanctum", 'The College of the Holy Spirit'.
The general programme was in line with the A∴A∴ course of training, and included daily adorations to the Sun, a study of Crowley's writings, regular yogic and ritual practices (which were to be recorded), as well as general domestic labour.
The object, naturally, was for students to devote themselves to the Great Work of discovering and manifesting their True Wills.
Mussolini's Fascist government expelled Crowley from the country at the end of April 1923.
Aleister Crowley and Enochian Magic
Aleister Crowley, who worked with, and wrote about, Enochian magic extensively, has contributed much to its comparatively widespread use today.
Crowley published the Golden Dawn Enochian material as "A Brief Abstract of the Symbolic Representation of the Universe Derived by Doctor John Dee." (Initially published in Crowley's Journal The Equinox Nos VII and VIII, this work was subsequently renamed Liber LXXXIV vel Chanokh, or 'The Book of Enoch' - Chanokh being an older Hebrew form of the name Enoch. Crowley numbered the book as 84 since that number is the Qabalistic numeration for Chanokh.
Crowley's most famous work with Enochian focused upon the 'Calls of the Aethyrs' -
His visions from these 'Calls' or 'Keys', which he experienced while working with Victor Neuberg in Algeria, formed a document called 'The Vision and the Voice', also known as Liber 418 (or to give it its full title, Liber CCCCXVIII: Liber XXX Ærum Vel Saeculi, Being of the Angels of the Thirty Aethyrs the Vision and the Voice - see Holy Books of Thelema).
The book was written with highly symbolic imagery, and is integral to Crowley's explication of his 'Law of Thelema'.
Recordings of Crowley reading the First and Second Calls of the Aethyrs (in both English and Enochian) exist; they were recorded as part of a series of wax cylinder recordings made by Crowley in 1922, and can be found on various compilations of these recordings onto CD which are widely available today.
The Calls or 'Keys' and the "World" of the 30 Aethyrs
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| Angel of the Aethyrs |
The calls are used to enter the various Aethyrs, in visionary states.
'Aethyr' is a term in the Enochian tradition which indicates one of a succession of worlds (or "planes"), which are viewed not only as surrounding, but also as inter-penetrating and extending beyond the material world.The Aethyrs are conceived of as forming a map of the entire universe in the form of concentric rings which expand outward from the innermost to the outermost Aethyr.
The Enochian 'map' of the universe is depicted by Dee as a square (made up of the 4 Elemental Tablets/Watchtowers incoporating the Tablet of Union (Spirit)), surrounded by 30 concentric circles (the 30 Aethyrs or Airs).
The 30 Aethyrs are numbered from 30 (TEX, the lowest and consequently the closest to the Watchtowers) to 1 (LIL, the highest, representing the Supreme Attainment).
In a similar way to the methods used by magicians to scry upon the Qabalistic Tree of Life, which involves travelling astrally to each pathway and Sephira, magicians working the Enochian system record their impressions and visions within each of the successive Enochian Aethyrs. The systems are comparable but not equivalent; while Enochian has 30 Aethyrs, there are a total of 32 Sephira and paths upon the Tree of Life.
Just as a magician may talk about exploring the 'Tree of Life' from Malkuth to Kether, the Enochian magician would talk about exploring the Enochian Aethyrs from TEX to LIL.
Each of the 30 Aethyrs is populated by "Governors" (3 for each Aethyr, except TEX which has four, thus a total of 91 Governors).
Each of the governors has a 'sigil' which can be traced onto the Great Tablet of Earth.
In practical Enochian workings, the Nineteenth Call/Key of the 30 Aethyrs is the only call necessary for working with the Aethyrs.
It is only necessary to vary appropriately the name of the Aethy itself near the beginning of the call.
Once the Call is recited, the names of the Governors are vibrated one at a time and a record of the visions is kept.
The Elemental Watchtowers and their Subdivisions
The angels of the four quarters are symbolized by the Elemental "Watchtowers" — four large magickal word-square Tables (collectively called the "Great Table of the Earth"). Most of the well-known Enochian angels are drawn from the Watchtowers of the Great Table.
Each of the four Watchtowers (representing the Elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water), is collectively "governed" by a hierarchy of spiritual entities which runs (as explained in Crowley's Liber Chanokh) as the Three Holy Names, the Great Elemental King, the Six Seniors (aka Elders) (these make a total of 24 Elders as seen in the Revelation of St. John), the Two Divine Names of the Calvary Cross, the Kerubim, and the Sixteen Lesser Anegls.
Each Watchtower is further divided into four sub-quadrants (sometimes referred to as 'sub-angles') where we find the names of various Archangels and Angels who govern the quarters of the world.
In this way, the entire universe, visible and invisible, is depicted as teeming with living intelligences.
Each of the Elemental tablets is also divided into four sections by a figure known as the Great Central Cross. The Great Central cross consists of the two central vertical columns of the Elemental Tablet (the Linea Patris and Linea Filii) and the central horizontal line (known as the Linea Spiritus Sancti).
In addition to the four Elemental Watchtowers, a twenty-square cell known as the Tablet of Union (aka The Black Cross)(representing Spirit) completes the representation of the five traditional elemental attributes used in magic - Earth, Air, Water, Fire and Spirit.
The Tablet of Union is derived from within the Great Central Cross of the Great Table.
The squares of the Elemental Watchtowers and those of the Tablet of Union are not simply squares, but in fact truncated pyramids, or pyramids with flat tops - thus, pyramids which have four sides and top, for a total of five 'sides'.
Again, these represent the traditional five magical elements (Earth, Air, Water, Fire and Spirit) though in varying combinations.
There are 20 Pyramids in the Tablet of Union and 156 in each of the four Elemental Tablets.
Each pyramid houses an 'angel' with a one-letter name.
The angel's attributes (that is, its powers and its nature) are 'read off' according to its position within the Tablet and proportions of the different Elements (whether Earth, Air, Fire, Water or Spirit) represented on its sides
When two Pyramids are combined they form an 'angel' with a two-letter name whose attributes are somewhat more complex.
This gives rise to ever-more complex 'angels' depending on the number of pyramids under examination.
The attribution of various Elements to the various pyramids is best depicted on a labelled and coloured version of the various Tablets; an Enochian texbook is most useful for this purpose.
Enochian magic forms the backbone of both the Crowley and Golden Dawn systems of magic. Latest theories include that John Dee knew of the Slavonic Book of the Secrets of Enoch, as well as the Ethiopic Book of Enoch.
Many individual magicians or very small groups prefer Enochian magic to other forms as the ceremonial scale required is smaller than needed for Masonic style ritual work.
On the other hand, elaborate equipment is required to perform Enochian magic properly, including correct copies of the various Tablets and diagrams, and other apparatus.
Later Life
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| Rudolf Heß |
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| Commander Ian Flemming |
During the Second World War, future James Bond author Ian Fleming (then a Navy intelligence officer) along with other colleagues proposed a disinformation plot in which Crowley would have helped an MI5 agent supply Nazi official Rudolf Hess with faked horoscopes.
They could then pass along false information about an alleged pro-German circle in Britain.
The government abandoned this plan when Hess flew to Scotland, crashing his plane on the moors near Eaglesham, and was captured.
Fleming then suggested using Crowley as an interrogator to determine the influence of astrology on other Nazi leaders.
At some point, Fleming also suggested that Britain could use Enochian as a code in order to plant evidence.
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| Book of Thoth - Original Manuscript |
On 21 March 1944, Crowley undertook what he considered his crowning achievement, the publication of 'The Book of Thoth'.
In April 1944, Crowley moved from 93 Jermyn St. to Bell Inn at Aston Clinton, Bucks. Daphne Harris was the landlady.[126]
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| Dion Fortune |
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| Netherwood - Hastings |
On 14 March 1945, in a letter Fortune wrote to Crowley, she declares: "...
The acknowledgement I made in the introduction of 'The Mystical Qabalah' of my indebtness to your work, which seemed to me to be no more than common literary honesty, has been used as a rod for my back by people who look on you as Antichrist".
Crowley died at Netherwood on 1 December 1947 at the age of 72.
According to one biographer the cause of death was a respiratory infection.
He had become addicted to heroin after being prescribed morphine for his asthma and bronchitis many years earlier.
He and his last doctor died within 24 hours of each other; newspapers would claim, in differing accounts, that Dr. Thomson had refused to continue his opiate prescription and that Crowley had put a curse on him.
Crowley has remained an influential figure, both amongst occultists and in popular culture, particularly that of England, but also of other parts of the world. |
| Kenneth Grant |
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| Major-General John Fuller |
After Crowley's death, various of his colleagues and fellow 'Thelemites' continued with his work. One of his British disciples, Kenneth Grant, subsequently founded the 'Typhonian O.T.O.' in the 1950s.
Crowley inspired and influenced a number of later Malvernians (former students of Malvern College) including Major-General John Fuller, the inventor of artificial moonlight, and Cecil Williamson, the neo-pagan witch.
One of Crowley's acquaintances in the last months of his life was Gerald Gardner, who was initiated into O.T.O. by Crowley, and subsequently went on to found the Neopagan religion of 'Wicca'.
Crowley's most significant legacy is to be found in the phenomena of 'Chaos Magick'.
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DION FORTUNE
Violet Mary Firth Evans (6 December 1890 – 8 January 1946), better known as Dion Fortune, was a British occultist and author.
Her pseudonym was inspired by her family motto "Deo, non-fortuna" (Latin for "by God, not fate"), originally the ancient motto of the Barons & Earls Digby.
Violet grew up in a household where Christian Science was rigorously practised.
She reported visions of Atlantis at age four, and the developing of psychic abilities during her twentieth year, at which time she suffered a nervous breakdown; after her recovery she found herself drawn to the occult.
She joined the Theosophical Society and attended courses in psychology and psychoanalysis at the University of London, and became a lay psychotherapist at the Medico-Psychological Clinic in Brunswick Square.
Her first magical mentor was the Irish occultist and Freemason Theodore Moriarty.
In 1919 she was initiated into the London Temple of the Alpha et Omega before transferring to the Stella Matutina order.
Books and Other Writings
From 1919 she began writing a number of novels and short stories that explored various aspects of magic and mysticism, including 'The Demon Lover', 'The Winged Bull', 'The Goat-Foot God', and 'The Secrets of Dr. Taverner'.
This latter is a collection of short stories based on her experiences with Theodore Moriarty.
Two of her novels, 'The Sea Priestess' and 'Moon Magic', became influential within the religion of Wicca, especially upon Doreen Valiente.
Of her works on magical subjects, the best remembered of her books are; 'The Cosmic Doctrine', a summation of her basic teachings on mysticism, 'Psychic Self-Defense', a manual on how to protect oneself from psychic attacks and 'The Mystical Qabalah', an introduction to Hermetic Qabalah which was first published in England in 1935, and is regarded by many occultists as one of the best books on magic ever written.
Though some of her writings may seem dated to contemporary readers, they have the virtue of lucidity and avoid the deliberate obscurity that characterised many of her forerunners and contemporaries.
Fortune fell out with Moina Mathers, head of the Alpha et Omega, and claimed she was coming under magical attack.
In 1922, with Moina's consent, Dion Fortune left the Alpha et Omega and with her husband, Penry Evans formed the 'Fraternity of the Inner Light' as an offshoot of the 'Alpha et Omega'.
This brought new members to the 'Alpha et Omega'.
Fortune's group was later renamed "The Society of the Inner Light".
This society was to be the focus of her work for the rest of her life.
The work that is considered her masterpiece by occultists and occult sympathizers is 'The Mystical Qabalah', first published in England in 1935.
Diana L. Paxson, author, sister-in-law and long-time collaborator of Marion Zimmer Bradley, credits Dion Fortune's work on the mystical aspects of the Arthurian legend as being the inspiration for 'The Mists of Avalon'.
She stated in a letter which was included on the Random House author bio page for Zimmer Bradley, that Dion Fortune's Vivian Le Fay Morgan was both the progenitor and descendant of the Morgaine that came to life in the Mists novel.
Dion Fortune has written about the "Magical Battle of Britain", which was a purported attempt by British occultists to magically aid the war effort during World War II.
Her efforts in regard to this are recorded in a series of letters she wrote at the time.
The effort by Fortune is said to have contributed to her death shortly after the war ended.
Her 'Society of the Inner Light' continues to function, and has also given rise to other orders, including 'The London Group', until recently headed by Alan Adams (aka Charles Fielding), and 'Servants of the Light', headed by Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki.
She died in 1946 from leukaemia in Middlesex, London, at the age of 54.
CHAOS MAGIC
'Chaos Magic', sometimes spelled 'Chaos Magick', is a school of the modern magical tradition which emphasizes the pragmatic use of belief systems and the creation of new and unorthodox methods
General Principles
Although there are a few techniques unique to chaos magic (such as some forms of sigil magic), chaos magic is often highly individualistic and borrows liberally from other belief systems, due to chaos magic having a central belief that belief is a tool.
Some common sources of inspiration include such diverse areas as science fiction, scientific theories, traditional ceremonial magic, neoshamanism, Eastern philosophy, world religions, and individual experimentation.
Despite tremendous individual variation, chaos magicians often work with chaotic and humorous paradigms. Chaos magicians can be agnostic or atheist and regard magical practice as merely psychological, not paranormal.
Austin Osman Spare
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| Austin Osman Spare |
He was an English artist and occultist, who worked as both a draughtsman and a painter.
Influenced by symbolism and the artistic decadence of art nouveau, his art was known for its clear use of line, and its depiction of monstrous and sexual imagery.
In an occult capacity, he developed idiosyncratic magical techniques including automatic writing, automatic drawing and 'sigilization', based on his theories of the relationship between the conscious and unconscious self.
Born into a working-class family in Snow Hill in London, Spare grew up in Smithfield and then Kennington, taking an early interest in art.
Gaining a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Art in South Kensington, he trained as a draughtsman, while also taking a personal interest in 'Theosophy' and the wider Western Esoteric Tradition, becoming involved with Aleister Crowley and his A∴A∴.
Developing his own personal occult philosophy, he authored a series of occult 'grimoires', namely 'Earth Inferno' (1905), 'The Book of Pleasure' (1913) and 'The Focus of Life' (1921).
Alongside a string of personal exhibitions, he also achieved much press attention for being the youngest entrant at the 1904 Royal Academy summer exhibition.
Spare's esoteric legacy was largely maintained by his friend, the 'Thelemite' author Kenneth Grant in the latter part of the 20th century, and his beliefs regarding sigils provided a key influence on the Chaos Magic movement.
The Zos-Kia Cultus
From his early years, Spare developed his own magico-religious philosophy which has come to be known as the "Zos-Kia Cultus". Raised as an Anglican, Spare had come to denounce this faith when he was seventeen, telling a reporter that "I am devising a religion of my own which embodies my conception of what; we are, we were, and shall be in the future."
Key to Spare's magico-religious views were the dual concepts of Zos and Kia.
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| 'Liber Null & Psychonaut' |
Spare used the term "Kia", to refer to a 'universal mind' or 'ultimate power'.
Some of Spare's techniques, particularly the use of 'sigils' and the creation of an "alphabet of desire" were adopted, adapted and popularized by Peter J. Carroll in his influential work 'Liber Null & Psychonaut'.
Carroll was seen as key figure in the emergence of some of Spare's ideas and techniques as a part of a magical movement known as Chaos Magic.
Zos Kia Cultus is a term coined by Kenneth Grant, with different meanings for different people.
One interpretation is that it is a form, style, or school of magic inspired by Spare. It focuses on one's individual universe and the influence of the magician's will on it.
Zos Kia Cultus is an important aspect of chaos magic.
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