What do you think?
Rate this book
Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley
An exploration into the life and works of a modern mystic, occultist, poet, mountaineer, and bisexual adventurer known to his contemporaries as "The Great Beast"
Aleister Crowley was a groundbreaking poet and an iconoclastic visionary whose literary and cultural legacy extends far beyond the limits of his notoriety as a practitioner of the occult arts.
Born in 1875 to devout Christian parents, young Aleister's devotion scarcely outlived his father, who died when the boy was twelve. He reached maturity in the boarding schools and brothels of Victorian England, trained to become a world-class mountain climber, and seldom persisted with any endeavor in which he could be bested.
Like many self-styled illuminati of his class and generation, the hedonistic Crowley gravitated toward the occult. An aspiring poet and a pampered wastrel-obsessed with reconciling his quest for spiritual perfection and his inclination do exactly as he liked in the earthly realm-Crowley developed his own school of mysticism. Magick, as he called it, summoned its users to embrace the imagination and to glorify the will. Crowley often explored his spiritual yearnings through drug-saturated vision quests and rampant sexual adventurism, but at other times he embraced Eastern philosophies and sought enlightenment on ascetic sojourns into the wilderness.
This controversial individual, a frightening mixture of egomania and self-loathing, has inspired passionate-but seldom fair-assessments from historians. Lawrence Sutin, by treating Crowley as a cultural phenomenon, and not simply a sorcerer or a charlatan, convinces skeptic readers that the self-styled "Beast" remains a fascinating study in how one man devoted his life to the subversion of the dominant moral and religious values of his time.
Aleister Crowley was a groundbreaking poet and an iconoclastic visionary whose literary and cultural legacy extends far beyond the limits of his notoriety as a practitioner of the occult arts.
Born in 1875 to devout Christian parents, young Aleister's devotion scarcely outlived his father, who died when the boy was twelve. He reached maturity in the boarding schools and brothels of Victorian England, trained to become a world-class mountain climber, and seldom persisted with any endeavor in which he could be bested.
Like many self-styled illuminati of his class and generation, the hedonistic Crowley gravitated toward the occult. An aspiring poet and a pampered wastrel-obsessed with reconciling his quest for spiritual perfection and his inclination do exactly as he liked in the earthly realm-Crowley developed his own school of mysticism. Magick, as he called it, summoned its users to embrace the imagination and to glorify the will. Crowley often explored his spiritual yearnings through drug-saturated vision quests and rampant sexual adventurism, but at other times he embraced Eastern philosophies and sought enlightenment on ascetic sojourns into the wilderness.
This controversial individual, a frightening mixture of egomania and self-loathing, has inspired passionate-but seldom fair-assessments from historians. Lawrence Sutin, by treating Crowley as a cultural phenomenon, and not simply a sorcerer or a charlatan, convinces skeptic readers that the self-styled "Beast" remains a fascinating study in how one man devoted his life to the subversion of the dominant moral and religious values of his time.
487 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
49 people are currently reading
873 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
September 20, 2012
I found this book rough going. Certainly Lawrence Sutin did exhaustive research (though his faux-British diction was sometimes a little odd). The problem is that Crowley was an insufferable human. It's hard to sustain interest in a person who was, by turns, so nasty and egomanical and so ridiculous. I leave this book, however, still cherishing the image of Crowley in an Osiris mask and kilt storming the London Golden Dawn HQ--from which he was ultimately vanquished by Yeats & company.
May 27, 2008
An exhaustive biography of a fascinating and much-reviled figure, and that is perhaps the problem with the book. It’s both exhaustive an exhausting. The author piles on the biographic details, but without bringing his subject to life. If you’re looking for a comprehensive history of Crowley’s magical activities and his involvements with magical societies then Sutin certainly provides just that. If you’re more interested in Crowley as a personality you won’t find a huge amount of enlightenment. I must confess that I was personally looking more for the latter, which may explain my disappointment.
I found the book excessively dry, verging on dullness (rather extraordinary considering that its subject was one of the least dull men of his age), rather like reading a textbook.
But if it’s detail that you want, then this is the Crowley biography for you.
I found the book excessively dry, verging on dullness (rather extraordinary considering that its subject was one of the least dull men of his age), rather like reading a textbook.
But if it’s detail that you want, then this is the Crowley biography for you.
November 3, 2007
Beyond liking his paintings (sort of) I really think Crowley was full of shit. An very interesting shit, but nevertheless a shit. But then again what is it about this man that holds people like Jimmy Page and Kenneth Anger as fans. I know people who are really into him as well. But there is something showbiz about the drug addict.
Well, for one, he knew how to take a great picture. He is an interesting guy, but I just don't buy his 'greatness.'
Well, for one, he knew how to take a great picture. He is an interesting guy, but I just don't buy his 'greatness.'
November 13, 2012
Aleistser Crowley (1875-1947), the prophet of Thelema, has feet of clay.
Crowely (rhymes with “holy”) was what we would call today a “trust fund baby.” He lived off the fruits of his father's brewery and never had to work a day in his life. Relative economic independence left Crowley free to pursue his lifelong passion for occult teachings and practices. Free Masonry and Free Mason-like organizations -- most notably for Crowley, the Ordo Templi Orientis, or O.T.O. -- were popping up like mushrooms in England and the United States at the turn of the century. Crowely, impatient to be a man of consequence in the occult world, apparently used a combination of lies and chutzpah to eventually anoint himself with the highest degrees of attainment within the O.T.O. When the secretive occult society imploded from silly infighting, Crowley was there to claim leadership. Whether his leadership of O.T.O is legitimate is still a matter of debate among occultists today.
What is not disputed is that Crowely throughout his life relied heavily on sex and drugs to inspire his prodigious output of treatises on “sex magick.” What drove Crowely appears to have been a neurotic conflict between his own bisexuality and the puritanical Christian establishment in which he found himself living in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Crowely's creative reconciliation of the conflict was to invent a religion he called “Thelema,” which is Greek for “will.” Crowely believed that we possess a deeper or higher will that transcends societal norms, and obedience to that will -- tempered by love -- is the path to spiritual enlightenment.
Crowely came to this revelation, and spent his life amplifying it, by seeking inspiration through drug use -- hashish, peyote, cocaine, heroin, ether, alcohol -- you name it, Crowely popped, snorted, drank, smoked, or injected it. The outcome was less than inspiring. He was an addict, and the effects of his addiction left him physically ravaged and impotent later in life. Crowely also sought inspiration through sex. Sexually, Crowely was polymorphously perverse, and his list of male and female lovers would put Don Giovanni to shame. Crowely, however, appeared unable to ever form a lasting, affectionate bond with anyone -- sexually or non sexually -- which stands in contrast to the Thelemic injunction to love in accordance with one's higher will.
Indeed, Crowely could be a brutally sadistic sexual partner whose heavily ritualized coitus pushed the boundaries of human tolerance, at times incorporating severe beatings, the drinking of animal blood, and coprophagy. Crowley's female lovers were frequently mentally ill, or substance abusers, or both; his male lovers were often men much younger than himself who sought a master-pupil relationship. Crowely seems to have gotten along better with the men than the women. In any event, Crowely made sex with them all serve his aim of creating religious rituals for Thelema. People were just a means to end for Crowely, and the “love” part of his Thelemic philosophy seems to have been largely absent from his own life and the practice of his religion. If he is Moses to Thelema, then his life was true to form because it shows no evidence that Crowely ever entered the land of spiritual love promised by Thelema.
Lawrence Sutin's biography of Crowley doesn't stint on the evidence proving that Crowley was an abysmally self-centered sexual debauchee whose drug-induced prose ranged from rhyming, pornographic gibberish to the pretentious, pseudo-mystic bombast that came to form the holy corpus of Crowley's invented religion, Thelema. Nevertheless, when Sutin has to weigh conflicting evidence that would either portray Crowely in the worst light, or the least bad light, Sutin opts for the least bad. It seems somewhere halfway through his biography Sutin loses his objective distance from his subject and begins referring to Crowley in intimate and approving terms. One begins to suspect that Sutin is a little too willing to burnish Crowely's deservedly sordid reputation, and the reader is left to wonder why. Evidence of the most approving assessments of Crowely overwhelmingly comes from Crowley's students and lovers, whereas those who had no personal stake in Crowley almost uniformly adjudged him to be a pretentious, perverse poseur who could at times -- and in spite of himself -- be charming or witty, but was mostly a boring, odious, sleazy little man full of hot air and mystical flap doodle.
Certainly there are those for whom Crowley will always hold fascination: adolescents thrilled by the forbidden, dark allure of Crowely's anti-establishment, drug- and sex-soaked teachings; spiritual seekers who believe they will find enlightenment in the shadowy recesses of occult practices; and those who need to belong to secret societies in order to feel one step ahead of the mainstream. Unfortunately for them, Sutin's biography reveals very little of the inner workings of Thelema, O.T.O., or any other occult fraternity. Seekers who are not turned off by Crowley the man will just have to find a local chapter of the O.T.O., join up, and decide for themselves whether Crowely, known to his contemporaries as “The Beast,” left them a reliable road map to spiritual awakening.
Crowely (rhymes with “holy”) was what we would call today a “trust fund baby.” He lived off the fruits of his father's brewery and never had to work a day in his life. Relative economic independence left Crowley free to pursue his lifelong passion for occult teachings and practices. Free Masonry and Free Mason-like organizations -- most notably for Crowley, the Ordo Templi Orientis, or O.T.O. -- were popping up like mushrooms in England and the United States at the turn of the century. Crowely, impatient to be a man of consequence in the occult world, apparently used a combination of lies and chutzpah to eventually anoint himself with the highest degrees of attainment within the O.T.O. When the secretive occult society imploded from silly infighting, Crowley was there to claim leadership. Whether his leadership of O.T.O is legitimate is still a matter of debate among occultists today.
What is not disputed is that Crowely throughout his life relied heavily on sex and drugs to inspire his prodigious output of treatises on “sex magick.” What drove Crowely appears to have been a neurotic conflict between his own bisexuality and the puritanical Christian establishment in which he found himself living in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Crowely's creative reconciliation of the conflict was to invent a religion he called “Thelema,” which is Greek for “will.” Crowely believed that we possess a deeper or higher will that transcends societal norms, and obedience to that will -- tempered by love -- is the path to spiritual enlightenment.
Crowely came to this revelation, and spent his life amplifying it, by seeking inspiration through drug use -- hashish, peyote, cocaine, heroin, ether, alcohol -- you name it, Crowely popped, snorted, drank, smoked, or injected it. The outcome was less than inspiring. He was an addict, and the effects of his addiction left him physically ravaged and impotent later in life. Crowely also sought inspiration through sex. Sexually, Crowely was polymorphously perverse, and his list of male and female lovers would put Don Giovanni to shame. Crowely, however, appeared unable to ever form a lasting, affectionate bond with anyone -- sexually or non sexually -- which stands in contrast to the Thelemic injunction to love in accordance with one's higher will.
Indeed, Crowely could be a brutally sadistic sexual partner whose heavily ritualized coitus pushed the boundaries of human tolerance, at times incorporating severe beatings, the drinking of animal blood, and coprophagy. Crowley's female lovers were frequently mentally ill, or substance abusers, or both; his male lovers were often men much younger than himself who sought a master-pupil relationship. Crowely seems to have gotten along better with the men than the women. In any event, Crowely made sex with them all serve his aim of creating religious rituals for Thelema. People were just a means to end for Crowely, and the “love” part of his Thelemic philosophy seems to have been largely absent from his own life and the practice of his religion. If he is Moses to Thelema, then his life was true to form because it shows no evidence that Crowely ever entered the land of spiritual love promised by Thelema.
Lawrence Sutin's biography of Crowley doesn't stint on the evidence proving that Crowley was an abysmally self-centered sexual debauchee whose drug-induced prose ranged from rhyming, pornographic gibberish to the pretentious, pseudo-mystic bombast that came to form the holy corpus of Crowley's invented religion, Thelema. Nevertheless, when Sutin has to weigh conflicting evidence that would either portray Crowely in the worst light, or the least bad light, Sutin opts for the least bad. It seems somewhere halfway through his biography Sutin loses his objective distance from his subject and begins referring to Crowley in intimate and approving terms. One begins to suspect that Sutin is a little too willing to burnish Crowely's deservedly sordid reputation, and the reader is left to wonder why. Evidence of the most approving assessments of Crowely overwhelmingly comes from Crowley's students and lovers, whereas those who had no personal stake in Crowley almost uniformly adjudged him to be a pretentious, perverse poseur who could at times -- and in spite of himself -- be charming or witty, but was mostly a boring, odious, sleazy little man full of hot air and mystical flap doodle.
Certainly there are those for whom Crowley will always hold fascination: adolescents thrilled by the forbidden, dark allure of Crowely's anti-establishment, drug- and sex-soaked teachings; spiritual seekers who believe they will find enlightenment in the shadowy recesses of occult practices; and those who need to belong to secret societies in order to feel one step ahead of the mainstream. Unfortunately for them, Sutin's biography reveals very little of the inner workings of Thelema, O.T.O., or any other occult fraternity. Seekers who are not turned off by Crowley the man will just have to find a local chapter of the O.T.O., join up, and decide for themselves whether Crowely, known to his contemporaries as “The Beast,” left them a reliable road map to spiritual awakening.
May 29, 2018
A 'must read' for anyone who is (or isn't) aware of Aleister Crowley. I personally find him thoroughly fascinating, yet I don't follow his beliefs, this is probably why I found this particular biography so enjoyable. It’s not partial, by any means, Mr. Sutin just relays the facts and his interpretation of Crowley’s colorful, ambitious and hedonistic existence. The man did live a very, very fulfilling life (for lack of a better term)...I'll state it again: a 'must read' for anyone who is open minded and/or just plain curious of what The Beast 666’s life was all about ‘through and through’...at the end of this very healthy read (roughly 450 pages), I’m fairly sure that your mind will be made up...I, myself, envied his magnificent, and at times, self indulgent life.
*The Beast 666 is what his own mother referred to him, coined sometime during his adolescent years.
*The Beast 666 is what his own mother referred to him, coined sometime during his adolescent years.
June 4, 2011
No one can deny Crowley was an interesting figure. Is the definitive word in yet on his life? No - and it likely never will be. This book covers and connects a lot of his stages and brings full circle much of his development and practices - i did pick up some new insights into his behavior from these connections i had not had from the more academic studies fo his life i had read before. This was much more of an academic approach than i anticipated - and i welcomed it. Too many views into his life are jaded by a bias in some way or another.... this seemed less so, though it did treat him rather more kindly than some writers. The writing style was also easy to consume.
January 20, 2016
Crowley was more P.T. Barnum than Great Beast. At times sincere, and not sinister at all, and at other times happy to play into the reputation he had built around himself. Though not an intended theme of the book, I came away from it thinking of Crowley as more an ego-maniac, fueled by a cult of personality that had developed around him. A bit pedantic at times, I enjoyed it overall.
August 14, 2014
An interesting account of a strange and unique personality. Well worth reading!
July 17, 2021
For such an oddball of a guy, this book should have been riveting. The material is there, for sure. It never really came to life, though. Overall the book probably needed paring down a bit more, but honestly, due to the writing it'd sill have fallen kind of flat. It's just the style of the author & the way he presents the material that makes this a less engaging read than it could have been... not that it didn't have its moments. How could it not? It's still Crowley, after all.
August 24, 2017
I really, really enjoyed reading this.
Although it is primarily about Crowley, it is also packed with interesting information pertaining to spiritalism and occult practise in the 19th on to the 20th century. It spans the entirety of 'The Beast's' life, leaving no stone unturned. But it also offers great insight into the women in his life, and those who moved in the similiar social circles that he did. And it does all this in a style that is compelling, impartial, and very often humorous. I had a real hard time putting this down.
It's a strange one really, reading a book about such an unpleasent person. There is very little to find admirable in Aleister Crowley's personality. His treatment of his 'Scarlet women' was abominable, his facist leanings, his racism. All aspects which I think have often been neglected, in favour of the myth instead of man.
But that being said, some of his writings were very interesting. His contrubition to occult literature and practise really can't be overlooked, and his extended influence on Gardner's Wicca and perhaps even Scientology was absolutely fascinating. As was the accounts which detailed his involvement with the rise and fall Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, of which Yeats, A. E. Waite, Bram Stoker, and Conan Doyle were also members.
Although it is primarily about Crowley, it is also packed with interesting information pertaining to spiritalism and occult practise in the 19th on to the 20th century. It spans the entirety of 'The Beast's' life, leaving no stone unturned. But it also offers great insight into the women in his life, and those who moved in the similiar social circles that he did. And it does all this in a style that is compelling, impartial, and very often humorous. I had a real hard time putting this down.
It's a strange one really, reading a book about such an unpleasent person. There is very little to find admirable in Aleister Crowley's personality. His treatment of his 'Scarlet women' was abominable, his facist leanings, his racism. All aspects which I think have often been neglected, in favour of the myth instead of man.
But that being said, some of his writings were very interesting. His contrubition to occult literature and practise really can't be overlooked, and his extended influence on Gardner's Wicca and perhaps even Scientology was absolutely fascinating. As was the accounts which detailed his involvement with the rise and fall Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, of which Yeats, A. E. Waite, Bram Stoker, and Conan Doyle were also members.
August 23, 2007
Pretty interesting, most of the info I knew from previously reading Crowley's Confessions. Sometimes the author writes in an overly dense style, but overall he keeps the bio moving. A lot of the 'magick' is kind of nauseating to read about since it occasionally seems to be presented like fact. Crowley knew how to make himself famous, but everything else about him was hogwash. Some of the more interesting occult ideas in the book reminded me of the novel, Red Zen, by Jason Earls, which is really good.
August 26, 2012
Not what I was expecting, and now I have a different understanding of this unusual man. This is a dense book and you probably need to have a certain level of understanding in order to fully enjoy it. It is, however, a very unbiased biography and dispels a lot of nonsense and stupidity surrounding a man that was the forerunner of new age, Wicca and, in some regards, Scientology "religions."
May 22, 2018
"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law."
May 30, 2022
I first encountered the Wickedest Man in the World in a paperback called Exploring the Occult when I was a freshman in high school, a long time ago. Immediately fascinated, I sought more at the main Houston library, found and read John Symonds' The Great Beast. Symonds' attempt to defuse and demythologize his subject was not what I was looking for at that tender age, so I've spent the ensuing decades reading bits and pieces about Crowley as I found them. Recent circumstances landed a copy of this biography in my hands and I thought, "Why not?"
Given the astonishing number of bios about Crowley, I'm not sure this is the best one, but it's certainly readable and maintains a good balance between biography and a recounting of Thelemic doctine and ritual. My main interest in the Beast is his place in history as a sort of court magician to the Lost Generation, and there is plenty of good documentary information here. At the other pole, there's rather more hashing over of doctrine than I might have chosen, but it's useful to understand where the points of conflict inevitably arose with his disciples and followers.
On the whole, I'm pleased with the reading experience, not converted from my agnostic ways, and likely to follow the left hand enlightened path in fits and starts when I encounter it again in the future.
Recommended.
Given the astonishing number of bios about Crowley, I'm not sure this is the best one, but it's certainly readable and maintains a good balance between biography and a recounting of Thelemic doctine and ritual. My main interest in the Beast is his place in history as a sort of court magician to the Lost Generation, and there is plenty of good documentary information here. At the other pole, there's rather more hashing over of doctrine than I might have chosen, but it's useful to understand where the points of conflict inevitably arose with his disciples and followers.
On the whole, I'm pleased with the reading experience, not converted from my agnostic ways, and likely to follow the left hand enlightened path in fits and starts when I encounter it again in the future.
Recommended.
March 10, 2018
A lot to take from this book with connections spreading far and wide. A very interesting pioneer although readers must decide for themselves what they think of him
June 21, 2018
I only knew that Jimmy Page had one of his homes and Ozzy had a brilliant song about him. The rumors of him drinking cats blood and being evil...etc. I took a course on cults/occult in college and learned a bit more through an extract about Crowley, but just assumed he was an evil magician, who did sexual workings. Having read this biography it does leave you feeling completely mixed about him.
I would say if you don't believe in any of it, then where I landed is actually he was not evil at all. In fact I always find most people labelled evil for cultural reasons are not and its always the shiny phonies we need to watch out for. It is not words or principles that ruin man kind, but physical actions. The current head of the EPA is the perfect example. Pretends to be a Christian, but is the most disgusting human being for his actions, destroying the environment, wasting money, then self rightously walks into Church. Same can be said of the UK PM, I have seen rocks with more personality, who waltzes into Church each weekend in her fancy clothes and rich moronic husband (unethical finance); doing the exact opposite of the what their religion says!!! Never fails to amaze. Yet here is Crowley cast aside as evil and a satanist. Just because someone lets Crowley (or yourself) fuck them in the ass, that doesn't give you a bad day, but when they take benefits away from the poor, it ruins their lives. Gay sex doesn't make people live on the streets, doesn't raise your tax, or make it rain when you planned a bbq.
Crowley is not evil, because he did not found a cult per se, in my opinion of this book. He took money and used people, but not to the extent he could have. He was not L. Ron Hubbard. He never raped women, and all the things he did were with willing people. It is this that I think makes him not only human, but not evil, because the outcome is that all the abuse and criticism is on him. He is not some red neck cult leader banging little girls in Utah. He did not leave behind a pyramid scheme secretive cult, but left behind Thelema a religion, if people choose to follow his writing or words. L. Ron Hubbard left behind a cult that ruins peoples lives, goes after people physically, and runs off a giant pyramid scheme.
Crowley is someone who hallucinated at first through meditation and thought, but then went down the path of drugs. Like Gerry Garcia, starting with hallucenogenics, he became a sad heroine and coke addict, but its more complicated with his health issues to simply write him off this way. Was he a great poet, most commentary in the book is mixed. I would say his worst critics who bashed him, were names I never heard of, and yet Crowley is a well known name, so who has had the last laugh?
Biographies are tough affairs, but the beginning is most exciting, when Crowley is young, travelling, writing, mountain expedition adventures (with diastrous endings), he is not the hero; the realism is interesting, but completely enthralling. A life truly lived for all its faults. Yet it is the rest of his life that he seems to dwell on and look back constantly on those times til it dwindles like a melting candle by the end of his life. His suggestions as an old man on invisibility always reflect back to the one time he escaped being robbed by shooting someone. Most of his passion and works were constantly trying to unravel that one writing that brought him the book of law and do what thou wilt from his time in Eygpt.
The book is light on the actual Magical practices and interesting his works are hard to find on amazon, in terms of practice. You would think with the modern computer all this stuff would be available, but the occult seems to find joy in keeping things in hard to find books.Alas its like trying to get the damn Necronominicon written by that mad arab, but I digress.
As noted in other reviews it is often a tedious read, and more towards the later half of the book, becomes quite factual without much color. Sometimes I think the author makes a conscious effort to avoid the Magick and occult which is what actually makes Crowley interesting. There is little info into what purpose the numerous rituals were meant to achieve.
Yes Crowley was a Bohemian of his times, a failed poet, a failed writer, a failed religion, broke and stealing sometimes, a sad old man, and ultimately drug addicted. He used people, pushed people away, kept friends, but was a true consistent character. He was bi sexual, yet in his later years a pure sex addict, but always seemed consensual. He was racist, his sexuality, was sometimes a coward in the face of adversity, and a mooch. At times, he seems like Morrissey (poet, bi sexual maybe, opionated, silly old man, but flashes of brilliance and remembered)!
He was a fraud in the sense that his belief was for the individual, he could not maybe perform real magick. Its telling during the war years that he stole sugar and was deemed a bother. Irnoic how the nasty quotes about him come from cleaning people, or landlords, yet he is caught up in writing on warnings about L. Ron Hubbard! Intellectually, he was still strong. Its like someone who cleans your windows at home having an opinion about you, when your the editor of the NY times opinion section.
I think he was someone who tried to create his own belief system, became caught up in the circular reasoning of the occult, but felt he had some types of religious experience through mediation and psychoactive drugs. In this regard there are glimmers of Hunter S. Thompson and maybe even Ayn Rand; dare I say he was truly egotistical! Is Crowleys end not just that of an old rock star? Prince died alone on cough medicine, but his music lives on, and we remember him at his peak, so should Crowley be remembered. We throw away our heroes when they age or fall on hard time, look at Iggy Pop who was a heronine addict in the gutter, but came back. We discard them when we no longer need them, its easy to bash an old man. Ironically it was women who made some of those final comments, much like I read when Hunter S. Thompson died, and in this sense balance out his womanizing on an intellectual level perhaps.
To claim he was evil, I just do not see the evidence on the basis of this biography. Crowley states avoid the left hand path, that he dabbled early on with a dark temple, but stopped. He never pursued vengenful magic, and he was alway self deprecating in his humor. He also never according to this biography harmed children (as an old man attending a childs birthday party as a magician) and never went after young men, as we see our English politicians are fond to do (Keith V.).
No, Crowley was not evil. The fake religious people (Teleevangelists, Richard Nixon, EPA head, all Politicians globally) they are evil, for Crowley's writings and magic never did material things as their actions do, which is the irony. Though I suspect Crowley maintained his belief for some reason, and if so, he seemed to be able to alter his own consciousness sufficiently.
In this sense perhaps he was ahead of his time in terms of where Quantum Physics may take us and that we create our own consciousness, if yes, then Crowley must have felt he was able to manipulate that at least, though what plane he went to we will not know.
We all have faults and do bad things to each other, though some more then others. I think on the whole he was a character and not spiteful, maybe someone who would drain your money, but probably good for a few drinks, a dinner and chat.
Truly Mister Crowley, what went wrong in your head? I wanna know what you meant.
I would say if you don't believe in any of it, then where I landed is actually he was not evil at all. In fact I always find most people labelled evil for cultural reasons are not and its always the shiny phonies we need to watch out for. It is not words or principles that ruin man kind, but physical actions. The current head of the EPA is the perfect example. Pretends to be a Christian, but is the most disgusting human being for his actions, destroying the environment, wasting money, then self rightously walks into Church. Same can be said of the UK PM, I have seen rocks with more personality, who waltzes into Church each weekend in her fancy clothes and rich moronic husband (unethical finance); doing the exact opposite of the what their religion says!!! Never fails to amaze. Yet here is Crowley cast aside as evil and a satanist. Just because someone lets Crowley (or yourself) fuck them in the ass, that doesn't give you a bad day, but when they take benefits away from the poor, it ruins their lives. Gay sex doesn't make people live on the streets, doesn't raise your tax, or make it rain when you planned a bbq.
Crowley is not evil, because he did not found a cult per se, in my opinion of this book. He took money and used people, but not to the extent he could have. He was not L. Ron Hubbard. He never raped women, and all the things he did were with willing people. It is this that I think makes him not only human, but not evil, because the outcome is that all the abuse and criticism is on him. He is not some red neck cult leader banging little girls in Utah. He did not leave behind a pyramid scheme secretive cult, but left behind Thelema a religion, if people choose to follow his writing or words. L. Ron Hubbard left behind a cult that ruins peoples lives, goes after people physically, and runs off a giant pyramid scheme.
Crowley is someone who hallucinated at first through meditation and thought, but then went down the path of drugs. Like Gerry Garcia, starting with hallucenogenics, he became a sad heroine and coke addict, but its more complicated with his health issues to simply write him off this way. Was he a great poet, most commentary in the book is mixed. I would say his worst critics who bashed him, were names I never heard of, and yet Crowley is a well known name, so who has had the last laugh?
Biographies are tough affairs, but the beginning is most exciting, when Crowley is young, travelling, writing, mountain expedition adventures (with diastrous endings), he is not the hero; the realism is interesting, but completely enthralling. A life truly lived for all its faults. Yet it is the rest of his life that he seems to dwell on and look back constantly on those times til it dwindles like a melting candle by the end of his life. His suggestions as an old man on invisibility always reflect back to the one time he escaped being robbed by shooting someone. Most of his passion and works were constantly trying to unravel that one writing that brought him the book of law and do what thou wilt from his time in Eygpt.
The book is light on the actual Magical practices and interesting his works are hard to find on amazon, in terms of practice. You would think with the modern computer all this stuff would be available, but the occult seems to find joy in keeping things in hard to find books.Alas its like trying to get the damn Necronominicon written by that mad arab, but I digress.
As noted in other reviews it is often a tedious read, and more towards the later half of the book, becomes quite factual without much color. Sometimes I think the author makes a conscious effort to avoid the Magick and occult which is what actually makes Crowley interesting. There is little info into what purpose the numerous rituals were meant to achieve.
Yes Crowley was a Bohemian of his times, a failed poet, a failed writer, a failed religion, broke and stealing sometimes, a sad old man, and ultimately drug addicted. He used people, pushed people away, kept friends, but was a true consistent character. He was bi sexual, yet in his later years a pure sex addict, but always seemed consensual. He was racist, his sexuality, was sometimes a coward in the face of adversity, and a mooch. At times, he seems like Morrissey (poet, bi sexual maybe, opionated, silly old man, but flashes of brilliance and remembered)!
He was a fraud in the sense that his belief was for the individual, he could not maybe perform real magick. Its telling during the war years that he stole sugar and was deemed a bother. Irnoic how the nasty quotes about him come from cleaning people, or landlords, yet he is caught up in writing on warnings about L. Ron Hubbard! Intellectually, he was still strong. Its like someone who cleans your windows at home having an opinion about you, when your the editor of the NY times opinion section.
I think he was someone who tried to create his own belief system, became caught up in the circular reasoning of the occult, but felt he had some types of religious experience through mediation and psychoactive drugs. In this regard there are glimmers of Hunter S. Thompson and maybe even Ayn Rand; dare I say he was truly egotistical! Is Crowleys end not just that of an old rock star? Prince died alone on cough medicine, but his music lives on, and we remember him at his peak, so should Crowley be remembered. We throw away our heroes when they age or fall on hard time, look at Iggy Pop who was a heronine addict in the gutter, but came back. We discard them when we no longer need them, its easy to bash an old man. Ironically it was women who made some of those final comments, much like I read when Hunter S. Thompson died, and in this sense balance out his womanizing on an intellectual level perhaps.
To claim he was evil, I just do not see the evidence on the basis of this biography. Crowley states avoid the left hand path, that he dabbled early on with a dark temple, but stopped. He never pursued vengenful magic, and he was alway self deprecating in his humor. He also never according to this biography harmed children (as an old man attending a childs birthday party as a magician) and never went after young men, as we see our English politicians are fond to do (Keith V.).
No, Crowley was not evil. The fake religious people (Teleevangelists, Richard Nixon, EPA head, all Politicians globally) they are evil, for Crowley's writings and magic never did material things as their actions do, which is the irony. Though I suspect Crowley maintained his belief for some reason, and if so, he seemed to be able to alter his own consciousness sufficiently.
In this sense perhaps he was ahead of his time in terms of where Quantum Physics may take us and that we create our own consciousness, if yes, then Crowley must have felt he was able to manipulate that at least, though what plane he went to we will not know.
We all have faults and do bad things to each other, though some more then others. I think on the whole he was a character and not spiteful, maybe someone who would drain your money, but probably good for a few drinks, a dinner and chat.
Truly Mister Crowley, what went wrong in your head? I wanna know what you meant.
September 29, 2021
My thoughts on the book echo many of the other readers'. Crowley was simply an enormous piece of shit in daily life and interaction with others. So a book that details completely every such interaction is going to be just a detailed description of shit. Hats off to the author for enduring such a trial of documentation. But also, hats off to the author for attempting to document the areas where Crowley and his pathological personality influenced not just other people, but the entire world. Those are the most interesting parts of the biography.
There was a time in my youth where I picked up a book by Crowley called Diary of a Drug Fiend which fascinated and inspired me. It still does, to some extent, today. I didn't expect to find such a gross persona behind it, but I also didn't expect to find anything particularly "holy" about Crowley as a man. In both respects I've been corrected, as Crowley almost certainly possessed a power over others and over the creative imagination that was uncommon. But in all cases this wasn't supernatural, but rather just a facet of human psychology. In most cases, a very sadistic and destructive psychology.
What I also found was a reinforcement in my belief that a creative work possesses qualities of the creator but also qualities that transcend the creator and inhabit a realm of thought and feeling that is all their own.
There was a time in my youth where I picked up a book by Crowley called Diary of a Drug Fiend which fascinated and inspired me. It still does, to some extent, today. I didn't expect to find such a gross persona behind it, but I also didn't expect to find anything particularly "holy" about Crowley as a man. In both respects I've been corrected, as Crowley almost certainly possessed a power over others and over the creative imagination that was uncommon. But in all cases this wasn't supernatural, but rather just a facet of human psychology. In most cases, a very sadistic and destructive psychology.
What I also found was a reinforcement in my belief that a creative work possesses qualities of the creator but also qualities that transcend the creator and inhabit a realm of thought and feeling that is all their own.
June 1, 2010
A pretty fair assessment of the life of the grand magus, mountain climber and amateur poet of the 20th century. Sketches Crowley as both tortured genius and self-obsessed hack. Extremely interesting for those who are looking to delve into the world of magic, magick, and mysticism, because it shows how much pure intent and force of will can accomplish, but also warns against using that will to build a wall of ego around yourself.
Crowley's sad last days at Cefalu are heartbreaking and disgusting, when Crowley fails he fails spectacularly, but when he triumphs it's genius.
Crowley's sad last days at Cefalu are heartbreaking and disgusting, when Crowley fails he fails spectacularly, but when he triumphs it's genius.
January 13, 2010
Wow.
I feel like he was living in the attic for 5 months. The author clearly read every book ever written by anyone that even mentioned Crowley's name. While I felt that this plodding read was well worth it another closer edit would have left you with the same information and impression just less heavy handed on the page long indented primary source quotes.
If I wanted to write a research paper on the man I could have read this and been done. As it stands - overkill.
I feel like he was living in the attic for 5 months. The author clearly read every book ever written by anyone that even mentioned Crowley's name. While I felt that this plodding read was well worth it another closer edit would have left you with the same information and impression just less heavy handed on the page long indented primary source quotes.
If I wanted to write a research paper on the man I could have read this and been done. As it stands - overkill.
February 2, 2011
If you are interested in Crowley your time could be better spent with any of his own books, but this is still an entertaining read. Specifically I recall having a bit of a laugh riding on the greyhound while reading about him giving invisibility lessons to students as well as the part where someone tells the story of sitting down to a dinner of spicy curry with the Great Beast. Not bad if you find yourself with too much time on your hands.
Read
July 30, 2011a thoroughly enjoyable portrait of a very complex man. the author does not shy around the more negative aspects of the man's character, because let's face it, sometimes shitty dudes do awesome things, and vice versa.
February 1, 2015
I remember reading this book a while back and it really astonished me. Even, if this man had all the quirks in his character, that people who knew him said he had...you still have to respect how strong his spiritual will was.
December 21, 2015
Well written and even handed, acknowledging Crowley's accomplishments while not neglecting some of his very unadmirable traits. Also notes Crowley's magickal claims without presupposing the truth of them.
April 4, 2007
An interseting biography of an interseting man, strange, but interseting.
March 6, 2008
This is one of the best biographies I have ever read, and it's unfortunate that so few people will read it based on misconceptions of who Aleister Crowley (pronounced like holy) really was.
May 5, 2009
Lawrence Sutin is able to bring the mythological figure Crowley down-to-earth, forcibly even, to shatter the magician's illusive form into bleeding flesh.
October 7, 2010
A brilliant biography of the controversial Aleister Crowley, by the same guy who investigated Philip K. Dick's bizarre life.
October 6, 2011
Fascinating story of a total sociopath and master of the occult.
August 9, 2011
Jah, til å være biografi så er det bra skrevet. Alt rellevant er tatt med slik eg ser det.
January 26, 2019
Well worth re-reading.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews