Aleister Crowley (1875-1947)



Aleister Crowley was a self-proclaimed drug and sex "fiend,"
a mostly self-published author of books on the occult and magick.
a poet and mountaineer, and a leader of a group called Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO)
whose tenets he detailed in one of his many writings, The Book of the Law.
The latter contains his version of the Law of Thelema, which Crowley claims
he channeled for a "praeterhuman intelligence" called Aiwass.
Thelema is now considered a religion.

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law is his motto for OTO.
In practice, for Crowley this meant rejecting traditional morality in
favor of the life of a drug addict and womanizer.
("I rave; and I rape and I rip and I rend" is a line from one of his poems.
Diary of a Drug Fiend is the title of one of his books.) Other OTO folks
consider the rule to mean something less sinister.

This "Law of Thelema", as it is called, is not to be interpreted as a
license to indulge every passing whim, but rather as the divine mandate
to discover one's True Will or true purpose in life, and to accomplish it;
leaving others to do the same in their own unique ways.*

Crowley claimed to identify himself with the Great Beast 666
(from the Book of Revelation) and enjoyed the appellation of
"wickedest man in the world." Crowley inherited a fortune and
worked hard at being strange. He was especially alluring to
dysfunctional women (Gardner 1992:198).

crowley: popsubculture