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Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence and the Occult
Aleister Crowley is best known today as a founding father of modern occultism. His wide, hypnotic eyes peer at us from the cover of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and his influence can be found everywhere in popular culture.
Crowley, also known as the Great Beast, has been the subject of several biographies, some painting him as a misunderstood genius, others as a manipulative charlatan. None of them have looked seriously at his career as an agent of British Intelligence.
Using documents gleaned from British, American, French, and Italian archives, Secret Agent 666 sensationally reveals that Crowley played a major role in the sinking of the Lusitania, a plot to overthrow the government of Spain, the thwarting of Irish and Indian nationalist conspiracies, and the 1941 flight of Rudolf Hess.
Author Richard B. Spence argues that Crowley—in his own unconventional way—was a patriotic Englishman who endured years of public vilification in part to mask his role as a secret agent.
The verification of the Great Beast’s participation in the twentieth century’s most astounding government plots will likely blow the minds of history buff s and occult aficionados alike.
Author Richard B. Spence can be seen on various documentaries on the History Channel and is a consultant for Washington, DC’s International Spy Museum. He is also the author of Trust No One: The Secret World of Sidney Reilly (Feral House).
Crowley, also known as the Great Beast, has been the subject of several biographies, some painting him as a misunderstood genius, others as a manipulative charlatan. None of them have looked seriously at his career as an agent of British Intelligence.
Using documents gleaned from British, American, French, and Italian archives, Secret Agent 666 sensationally reveals that Crowley played a major role in the sinking of the Lusitania, a plot to overthrow the government of Spain, the thwarting of Irish and Indian nationalist conspiracies, and the 1941 flight of Rudolf Hess.
Author Richard B. Spence argues that Crowley—in his own unconventional way—was a patriotic Englishman who endured years of public vilification in part to mask his role as a secret agent.
The verification of the Great Beast’s participation in the twentieth century’s most astounding government plots will likely blow the minds of history buff s and occult aficionados alike.
Author Richard B. Spence can be seen on various documentaries on the History Channel and is a consultant for Washington, DC’s International Spy Museum. He is also the author of Trust No One: The Secret World of Sidney Reilly (Feral House).
288 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2008
34 people are currently reading
585 people want to read
About the author
Richard B. Spence
20 books50 followersDr. Richard “Rick” Spence received his PhD in History from the University of California Santa Barbara in 1981. He has taught at the University of Idaho since 1986 where currently he is a tenured full Professor of History. He specializes in Russian, intelligence and military history, and his course offerings include Modern Espionage, Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, History of Secret Societies and the Occult in History.
Dr. Spence’s published works include Boris Savinkov: Renegade on the Left (East European Monographs/Columbia Univ. Press, 1991), Trust No One: The Secret World of Sidney Reilly (Feral House, 2002) and Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence and the Occult (Feral House, 2008). He is also the author of numerous articles in Revolutionary Russia, Intelligence and National Security, International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, The Historian, New Dawn and other publications. He has served as a commentator/consultant for the History Channel and the International Spy Museum and was a key consultant-interviewee for the Russian Cultural Foundation’s 2007 documentary film, “Leon Trotsky: The Secret of World Revolution,” and its subsequent “Trap for the Tsar.”
Dr. Spence’s published works include Boris Savinkov: Renegade on the Left (East European Monographs/Columbia Univ. Press, 1991), Trust No One: The Secret World of Sidney Reilly (Feral House, 2002) and Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence and the Occult (Feral House, 2008). He is also the author of numerous articles in Revolutionary Russia, Intelligence and National Security, International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, The Historian, New Dawn and other publications. He has served as a commentator/consultant for the History Channel and the International Spy Museum and was a key consultant-interviewee for the Russian Cultural Foundation’s 2007 documentary film, “Leon Trotsky: The Secret of World Revolution,” and its subsequent “Trap for the Tsar.”
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
March 21, 2015
In Lobster, the premier journal of para-politics in the UK, I argued that more latitude should be given to historians when dealing with the shadowy world of espionage. I had an interest as someone initially trained as a historian, who had participated in a range of political projects and who often had had to deal with cases of political manipulation damaging the reputation of persons who were clients or friends of mine.
The 'truth' about the grey world between official record and unrecorded action was generally handled in one of two ways. Professional historians would rely solely on the records available and refuse to speculate on what might be missing. This might mean that no lies were told but it might also mean that interpretations of events were incomplete or that we would see historians unwittingly write the narrative of the victors, those who could edit the truth in advance. History would often result in ideological group-think.
On the other hand, the alternative seemed to be worse - a world of rank a priori speculation that resulted in conspiracy theories of varying levels of absurdity. The concern here was that the range and neurosis of so much conspiracy theory de-legitimated genuine explorations of 'scheming'. The use of power or information to effect change in secret and over the heads of the public or those with a right to share in that power or information was a reality that required investigation.
I argued that we neeeded to accept as legitimate a 'third way' in investigative research into the history of espionage, cultural manipulation and covert operations. This would allow more speculation as to motives and connections but would ensured that the speculation was clearly announced and referenced as far as it could be. In return for adopting a 'most reasonable hypothesis' that might call on actual conspiratorial experience to challenge the often-aggressive arrogance of the academic official historian, the para-political historian would show humility when facts genuinely indicated that the 'conspiratorial' or 'speculative' interpretation held little inherent likeliness.
Well, Richard B. Spence's 'Secret Agent 666' might be regarded as a test case in whether a third way is possible. I still think it is possible but Spence's book has not quite cracked it even if it is a brave attempt to do so.
The subject matter is precisely the sort that lends itself to this sort of thinking. The general hypothesis is that Aleister Crowley, the controversial British occultist with exceptional connections in the mid-reaches of the British establishment, operated for the British intelligence community in its relatively early days as an agent or asset, not on the official list but certainly in that strange grey area also inhabited by adventurers such as Sidney Reilly and Lincoln Trebitsch. By definition, intelligence-gathering, covert propaganda and occultism are only partially recorded and are all subject to 'editing after the fact'. There is little doubt that Crowley was a victim or perhaps beneficiary of this process throughout and after his life.
Spence who adopts a sound historical approach where there is documentation available (I have no reason to believe that he has been involved in either fabrication or been duped) makes a strong case that, indeed, Crowley was an asset for the British intelligence community and that the high point of his involvement was almost certainly during the effort to drive the US into the First World War. He also makes a less certain case but a reasonable one that Crowley remained an asset for a considerable time afterwards even if his exact status and value remain obscure.
For the detail, you have to read the book but it has two flaws which arise in part from lack of discipline in adopting the 'third way'.
The first flaw is lack of context (which admittedly may have required a book at least a third larger). Publishers today are constantly driving writers to cut rather than expand.
The second flaw is lack of clear delineation (for the general reader) between the rational analysis of known facts and reasonable surmise where the facts are 'gaps'. There is a consistent problem surrounding loss of official records about Crowley and many facts are ambiguous in their meaning. This is no excuse for the 'official' historian to ignore this 'fact-in-itself' but nor is it an excuse for baroque speculation without a clearer assessment of the probabilities of various possible scenarios. The lack of official records on Crowley in so many contexts suggest a degree of weeding out that, in itself, suggests something was being undertaken. It tends to confirm that he had a role and that the role was awkward and embarrassing in some respect but what that role might actually have been cannot be surmised from the gaps alone.
As a result, the book is entertaining enough but far too dense for the general reader. The general reader is led either to be dismissive of something that is, overall, imperfectly explained or to be far too credulous. The appropriate response lies somewhere inbetween. The more specialist interested reader is either obliged to suspend judgement because he needs a more rigorous historian to sift through Spence's research and weed out speculation (because life is just too short) or he must commit considerable time to redrafting the text mentally to work out what the acceptable probabilities are.
My 'take' on the hypothesis is that, though the core thesis might well be correct, Crowley's role has been exaggerated and that some major 'achievements' (including am alleged role in the sinking of the Lusitania) remain firmly in the query basket. Bluntly, Crowley was a minor figure, like, say, Hanfstaengl in "Hitler's Piano Player" (see our review on GoodReads) rather than a major figure at the heart of twentieth century history.
It might be useful just to take one example of how 'honest speculation' goes too far right at the beginning - though such speculation is rife throughout the book and not always stupidly so. Sometimes the speculation is highly suggestive and, despite lack of hard evidence, just 'sounds right'.
In particular, there does seem to be a close relationship between secret society occultism, sexual dissidence, espionage and agit-prop but whether this is because a personality type, the hyper-fantasist with a touch of psychopathy, is attracted to this milieu must remain a matter of judgement.
If Reilly and Trebitsch appear at one end of the story, Dennis Wheatley, Ian Fleming and the particularly unpleasant Sefton Delmer (an early proponent, it seems, of suicide bombing) are at the other ... such crows will flock together at the fringes of a war effort or in response to paranoid fear of some demonic enemy. It does not mean that they are as important as they think they are.
The example to be given is on Page 36 where Spence notes that Crowley's occult club and secret order, the A:A founded in 1907, had military members (though that was never going to be unlikely in a late imperial partially-militarised establishment). One was Captain Fuller, one of the founders of the British Tank Corps and an admirer of Crowley and later of Hitler (though make no assumptions from this).
Another was Commander Guy Montagu Marston of the Royal Navy. What we know of Marston is that he was a navigation officer (and Spence does his home work to correct Crowley himself on his status) and that he operated against slave traders and rebels in West Africa in the 1890s. There is some speculative stuff that need not detain us but he was clearly part of Crowley's 'set' - his secluded estate in Dorset was the scene of a "working" in 1910 which allegedly resulted in prophecy of war subsequently fulfilled. He was also having an affair with a cousin, Daisy Bevan, married to Edwyn Bevan, brother of two other Bevans who would later have dealings with Crowley. All this tells us is that we have a relatively young and prosperous Edwardian establishment milieu interested in magic and bonking.
However, Spence makes one of the 'could have' leaps that mars the book. Marston 'could have' (we are advised) provided an indirect link between Crowley and the Admiralty's Naval Intelligence Division [NID] and then he goes riffing off to link this with later Crowleian shenanigans in Mexico and the First World War. He then switches tack to suggest that Crowley might have been involved in a conspiracy centred on sexual blackmail. Then he suggests that closeness to Marston might have been useful in dealings with German intelligence. There is no evidence for any of this even if it introduces many of the major themes in subsequent chapters. Much later on page 66, Spence cheekily assumes that the pre-war connection with Marston and others 'probably' was the basis of his alleged special relationship with NID in 1915.
Apart from a brief mention in the strange case of Gerard Lee Bevan in 1922, Marston drops out of the story but not before one more suggestive link, the right wing fantasist Nesta Webster, author of the infamous 'Secret Societies and Subversive Movements' (1923) appears. She just happens to be a sister of the Bevans! Again, the evidence is of an occultist neurotic right wing, close to being fascistic, network that is cross-linked to wartime British propaganda circles and to post-war militarism but nothing has been demonstrated that, through Marston, Crowley actually was a member of anything introduced through him. It is a case of 'could have', that is all. The connection is suggestive but too much weight is placed on it.
I have not mentioned the interest of modern occultists. I suspect that this book will add little to a religious or cultural re-evaluation of Crowley. I am not sure that it has much to tell the Thelemite spiritual community. All in all, a useful book for the researched information but to be taken with a pinch of salt on interpretation.
The 'truth' about the grey world between official record and unrecorded action was generally handled in one of two ways. Professional historians would rely solely on the records available and refuse to speculate on what might be missing. This might mean that no lies were told but it might also mean that interpretations of events were incomplete or that we would see historians unwittingly write the narrative of the victors, those who could edit the truth in advance. History would often result in ideological group-think.
On the other hand, the alternative seemed to be worse - a world of rank a priori speculation that resulted in conspiracy theories of varying levels of absurdity. The concern here was that the range and neurosis of so much conspiracy theory de-legitimated genuine explorations of 'scheming'. The use of power or information to effect change in secret and over the heads of the public or those with a right to share in that power or information was a reality that required investigation.
I argued that we neeeded to accept as legitimate a 'third way' in investigative research into the history of espionage, cultural manipulation and covert operations. This would allow more speculation as to motives and connections but would ensured that the speculation was clearly announced and referenced as far as it could be. In return for adopting a 'most reasonable hypothesis' that might call on actual conspiratorial experience to challenge the often-aggressive arrogance of the academic official historian, the para-political historian would show humility when facts genuinely indicated that the 'conspiratorial' or 'speculative' interpretation held little inherent likeliness.
Well, Richard B. Spence's 'Secret Agent 666' might be regarded as a test case in whether a third way is possible. I still think it is possible but Spence's book has not quite cracked it even if it is a brave attempt to do so.
The subject matter is precisely the sort that lends itself to this sort of thinking. The general hypothesis is that Aleister Crowley, the controversial British occultist with exceptional connections in the mid-reaches of the British establishment, operated for the British intelligence community in its relatively early days as an agent or asset, not on the official list but certainly in that strange grey area also inhabited by adventurers such as Sidney Reilly and Lincoln Trebitsch. By definition, intelligence-gathering, covert propaganda and occultism are only partially recorded and are all subject to 'editing after the fact'. There is little doubt that Crowley was a victim or perhaps beneficiary of this process throughout and after his life.
Spence who adopts a sound historical approach where there is documentation available (I have no reason to believe that he has been involved in either fabrication or been duped) makes a strong case that, indeed, Crowley was an asset for the British intelligence community and that the high point of his involvement was almost certainly during the effort to drive the US into the First World War. He also makes a less certain case but a reasonable one that Crowley remained an asset for a considerable time afterwards even if his exact status and value remain obscure.
For the detail, you have to read the book but it has two flaws which arise in part from lack of discipline in adopting the 'third way'.
The first flaw is lack of context (which admittedly may have required a book at least a third larger). Publishers today are constantly driving writers to cut rather than expand.
The second flaw is lack of clear delineation (for the general reader) between the rational analysis of known facts and reasonable surmise where the facts are 'gaps'. There is a consistent problem surrounding loss of official records about Crowley and many facts are ambiguous in their meaning. This is no excuse for the 'official' historian to ignore this 'fact-in-itself' but nor is it an excuse for baroque speculation without a clearer assessment of the probabilities of various possible scenarios. The lack of official records on Crowley in so many contexts suggest a degree of weeding out that, in itself, suggests something was being undertaken. It tends to confirm that he had a role and that the role was awkward and embarrassing in some respect but what that role might actually have been cannot be surmised from the gaps alone.
As a result, the book is entertaining enough but far too dense for the general reader. The general reader is led either to be dismissive of something that is, overall, imperfectly explained or to be far too credulous. The appropriate response lies somewhere inbetween. The more specialist interested reader is either obliged to suspend judgement because he needs a more rigorous historian to sift through Spence's research and weed out speculation (because life is just too short) or he must commit considerable time to redrafting the text mentally to work out what the acceptable probabilities are.
My 'take' on the hypothesis is that, though the core thesis might well be correct, Crowley's role has been exaggerated and that some major 'achievements' (including am alleged role in the sinking of the Lusitania) remain firmly in the query basket. Bluntly, Crowley was a minor figure, like, say, Hanfstaengl in "Hitler's Piano Player" (see our review on GoodReads) rather than a major figure at the heart of twentieth century history.
It might be useful just to take one example of how 'honest speculation' goes too far right at the beginning - though such speculation is rife throughout the book and not always stupidly so. Sometimes the speculation is highly suggestive and, despite lack of hard evidence, just 'sounds right'.
In particular, there does seem to be a close relationship between secret society occultism, sexual dissidence, espionage and agit-prop but whether this is because a personality type, the hyper-fantasist with a touch of psychopathy, is attracted to this milieu must remain a matter of judgement.
If Reilly and Trebitsch appear at one end of the story, Dennis Wheatley, Ian Fleming and the particularly unpleasant Sefton Delmer (an early proponent, it seems, of suicide bombing) are at the other ... such crows will flock together at the fringes of a war effort or in response to paranoid fear of some demonic enemy. It does not mean that they are as important as they think they are.
The example to be given is on Page 36 where Spence notes that Crowley's occult club and secret order, the A:A founded in 1907, had military members (though that was never going to be unlikely in a late imperial partially-militarised establishment). One was Captain Fuller, one of the founders of the British Tank Corps and an admirer of Crowley and later of Hitler (though make no assumptions from this).
Another was Commander Guy Montagu Marston of the Royal Navy. What we know of Marston is that he was a navigation officer (and Spence does his home work to correct Crowley himself on his status) and that he operated against slave traders and rebels in West Africa in the 1890s. There is some speculative stuff that need not detain us but he was clearly part of Crowley's 'set' - his secluded estate in Dorset was the scene of a "working" in 1910 which allegedly resulted in prophecy of war subsequently fulfilled. He was also having an affair with a cousin, Daisy Bevan, married to Edwyn Bevan, brother of two other Bevans who would later have dealings with Crowley. All this tells us is that we have a relatively young and prosperous Edwardian establishment milieu interested in magic and bonking.
However, Spence makes one of the 'could have' leaps that mars the book. Marston 'could have' (we are advised) provided an indirect link between Crowley and the Admiralty's Naval Intelligence Division [NID] and then he goes riffing off to link this with later Crowleian shenanigans in Mexico and the First World War. He then switches tack to suggest that Crowley might have been involved in a conspiracy centred on sexual blackmail. Then he suggests that closeness to Marston might have been useful in dealings with German intelligence. There is no evidence for any of this even if it introduces many of the major themes in subsequent chapters. Much later on page 66, Spence cheekily assumes that the pre-war connection with Marston and others 'probably' was the basis of his alleged special relationship with NID in 1915.
Apart from a brief mention in the strange case of Gerard Lee Bevan in 1922, Marston drops out of the story but not before one more suggestive link, the right wing fantasist Nesta Webster, author of the infamous 'Secret Societies and Subversive Movements' (1923) appears. She just happens to be a sister of the Bevans! Again, the evidence is of an occultist neurotic right wing, close to being fascistic, network that is cross-linked to wartime British propaganda circles and to post-war militarism but nothing has been demonstrated that, through Marston, Crowley actually was a member of anything introduced through him. It is a case of 'could have', that is all. The connection is suggestive but too much weight is placed on it.
I have not mentioned the interest of modern occultists. I suspect that this book will add little to a religious or cultural re-evaluation of Crowley. I am not sure that it has much to tell the Thelemite spiritual community. All in all, a useful book for the researched information but to be taken with a pinch of salt on interpretation.
August 6, 2020
Interesting and compelling. This version of Crowley's life makes sense. He may well have been serious about his occult pursuits and also equally committed to his country's interests. That is to say, I hope this account is correct, but can't really be sure. It still seems equally plausible that he was just an a narcissistic grifter. He'd probably love our uncertainty.
May 27, 2020
Other than a mere foray into a comic adaptation and a solo Ozzy Track, I couldn’t say I knew too much about Aleister Crowley nor had too much interest in him neither. Yet my interest in the self-proclaimed World’s Wickedest Man was rekindled due to various references of all places in Professor Urban’s Church of Scientology. Given just how wacked out the theology of aforementioned truly is, I find it more than interesting and likely that Magick (via Thelema especially) could very well have influenced its development. All the more excitingly potential was a connection toward intelligence work for the United Kingdom. Finding a book that combined both seemed like a fun needle in a hay-stack to dig into.
Yet as heart-pumping as such a premise could very well have been, Agent 666 is anything but.
Despite an ostensibly evenhanded intro that neither asserts nor denies his connections to intelligence work the rest of the book takes a rather firm position on the former. In fact little if nothing counteracts the assertion otherwise as Crowley is followed first in his homeland than into The States around the WWI era all saturated with who’s who of the occult and the Cloak and Dagger communities as they waltzed and blitzed their ways through the world very first World War (of the 20th century at least). So even if the book doesn’t explicitly state behind the scenes work he did in regards to a particular incidence or affair to the whims of the powers that be, the litany of those surrounding him who were so particularly connected, are continually given multiple page treatments into their connections and related workings.
This approach belies one of the most glaring failures of this work. While the titular Agent 666 would seem the central character herein, multiple chapters, with only a sprinkling of statements concerning Crowley; actual focus more on the political context at large and the seemingly unending cornucopia of spies, agents, assets, occultists etc then encircled The Beast himself. Deluged with well over 100 of these characters it is utterly impossible to keep names straight let alone their connections. All the more damning is the placement of pictures/photographs at the very end of the book that could been highly more helpful as elucidating inserts within the main text itself. All the mire irritating is that at multiple points the author will ask us to recall a character from chapters before that we could not have been reasonably expected to remember.
Compounding these structural issues is a real dearth of action or suspense that leaves us the reader (or me at least) with a less than exciting reading experience. At no point did Crowley ever seem in particular danger. At no point was I particularly fearful for his life or his work to be at stake. In fact, the vast majority reads as a boring travelogue all across The States as Crowley seemingly racked up more debts, did more drugs, and pissed off more people than anything. So even when tidbits concerning the lurid and the macabre, that are so centric to his place in our popular imagination, are finally brought up, their accompanying rituals and deleterious affects on those participants, the details evaporate as as the next bevy of political minutiae and ultimately banal intrigue unfurl.
So what could have been exciting really isn’t. And what could be boring could only be exciting for specialists of the era. Whether an emanation of dis-info, a coded tome to only be deciphered by those in the know, or more likely just a poorly written book Agent 666 will go down in history as one of the more mediocre book written about The World’s Most Wicked Man.
Yet as heart-pumping as such a premise could very well have been, Agent 666 is anything but.
Despite an ostensibly evenhanded intro that neither asserts nor denies his connections to intelligence work the rest of the book takes a rather firm position on the former. In fact little if nothing counteracts the assertion otherwise as Crowley is followed first in his homeland than into The States around the WWI era all saturated with who’s who of the occult and the Cloak and Dagger communities as they waltzed and blitzed their ways through the world very first World War (of the 20th century at least). So even if the book doesn’t explicitly state behind the scenes work he did in regards to a particular incidence or affair to the whims of the powers that be, the litany of those surrounding him who were so particularly connected, are continually given multiple page treatments into their connections and related workings.
This approach belies one of the most glaring failures of this work. While the titular Agent 666 would seem the central character herein, multiple chapters, with only a sprinkling of statements concerning Crowley; actual focus more on the political context at large and the seemingly unending cornucopia of spies, agents, assets, occultists etc then encircled The Beast himself. Deluged with well over 100 of these characters it is utterly impossible to keep names straight let alone their connections. All the more damning is the placement of pictures/photographs at the very end of the book that could been highly more helpful as elucidating inserts within the main text itself. All the mire irritating is that at multiple points the author will ask us to recall a character from chapters before that we could not have been reasonably expected to remember.
Compounding these structural issues is a real dearth of action or suspense that leaves us the reader (or me at least) with a less than exciting reading experience. At no point did Crowley ever seem in particular danger. At no point was I particularly fearful for his life or his work to be at stake. In fact, the vast majority reads as a boring travelogue all across The States as Crowley seemingly racked up more debts, did more drugs, and pissed off more people than anything. So even when tidbits concerning the lurid and the macabre, that are so centric to his place in our popular imagination, are finally brought up, their accompanying rituals and deleterious affects on those participants, the details evaporate as as the next bevy of political minutiae and ultimately banal intrigue unfurl.
So what could have been exciting really isn’t. And what could be boring could only be exciting for specialists of the era. Whether an emanation of dis-info, a coded tome to only be deciphered by those in the know, or more likely just a poorly written book Agent 666 will go down in history as one of the more mediocre book written about The World’s Most Wicked Man.
September 9, 2019
Interesting book and loaded with facts; a bit of a struggle to keep pace for me, but it is not a discredit to the author.
August 10, 2025
This one took me quite a while to get through. It's pretty dense. Spence takes what could be a pretty dynamic topic and then basically presents us with long lists of names, dates, and places, with a tiny bit of exposition.
The book followed a pretty consistent organizational pattern.
-Crowley goes to a new place,
-meets or probably meets with a bunch of folks who were also around there.
-tries and usually fails to do something spectacular
-acquires a new, usually very young red-woman
-abandons her.
-goes to next location.
The book is impressively cited and footnoted, but this only really clears up the possibility of what is being said about Crowley's doings. So a huge part of this book is about speculation.
And it's not like I blame Spence for the lack of data, the world of espionage, and even more so, counter espionage, must be murky at the best of times, but I wonder how much of the writing of this book was simply a way for him to point a finger and give vent to his own frustrations as a researcher working with uncooperative alphabet agencies.
Although I felt the focus on Crowley to be a failure, Spence does present a massive number of players that were a lot of fun to look into. I actually really enjoyed trying to find pictures of his 'friends' and lovers to build a mind map out of. I also enjoyed all the little asides into the writings and art that was being created either by Crowley himself, or inspired by him or one of his associates. I have a list of about 10 works of fiction that I need look into now, and I think speculation through fiction to be really fun. I'm also going to add Kennedy's 1917 portrait of Crowley to my gallery.
WWI took forever to get through, but the last 1/3 of the book was a lot more appealing to me, and so went much faster.
I can't really recommend this book as a good casual read, but it might be useful as tool for someone trying to write historical fiction.
I will however recommend Spence's two great courses lecture series, both of which I really enjoyed.
The book followed a pretty consistent organizational pattern.
-Crowley goes to a new place,
-meets or probably meets with a bunch of folks who were also around there.
-tries and usually fails to do something spectacular
-acquires a new, usually very young red-woman
-abandons her.
-goes to next location.
The book is impressively cited and footnoted, but this only really clears up the possibility of what is being said about Crowley's doings. So a huge part of this book is about speculation.
And it's not like I blame Spence for the lack of data, the world of espionage, and even more so, counter espionage, must be murky at the best of times, but I wonder how much of the writing of this book was simply a way for him to point a finger and give vent to his own frustrations as a researcher working with uncooperative alphabet agencies.
Although I felt the focus on Crowley to be a failure, Spence does present a massive number of players that were a lot of fun to look into. I actually really enjoyed trying to find pictures of his 'friends' and lovers to build a mind map out of. I also enjoyed all the little asides into the writings and art that was being created either by Crowley himself, or inspired by him or one of his associates. I have a list of about 10 works of fiction that I need look into now, and I think speculation through fiction to be really fun. I'm also going to add Kennedy's 1917 portrait of Crowley to my gallery.
WWI took forever to get through, but the last 1/3 of the book was a lot more appealing to me, and so went much faster.
I can't really recommend this book as a good casual read, but it might be useful as tool for someone trying to write historical fiction.
I will however recommend Spence's two great courses lecture series, both of which I really enjoyed.
May 13, 2018
A very interesting account that gives credence to the claims that Crowley worked for British Intelligence via his ties to Diplomatic Service in his Cambridge youth. His interest in occult knowledge made him a perfect mole to spy on many different factions of society, from Freemasons to Military officers to Communists to International Financiers. His mountaineering expeditions seemed to incorporate British Intelligence gathering in obscure regions with mountain passes into different enemy regions. His whole life could have been an elaborate front for his work as a double agent for the Albion military. Very unbiased account by a writer not particularly keen on the occult, giving The Beast 666 a different patina in the halls of history.
February 20, 2022
Un libro interesante que toca muchos temas y personajes que merecen más atención, pero cuya tesis central (y sus derivadas) con respecto al papel de Crowley en el servicio secreto no parecen suficientemente contrastadas ni sustentadas por sus argumentaciones (tendiendo demasiado a basarse en los "sería lógico que...", "podemos asumir que...". Aún así una lectura muy interesante.
July 4, 2023
Whie I do enjoy spy books this one was very difficult reading; it is for the most part nonfiction and evil seeps out of it; needed a shower after reading it! It does offer a window into the spy world; corruption in high places and when good men are force to choose between what is good and what is possible. Alistair Crowley always chose evil but he was actually used by good men!
September 5, 2020
4 Stars
This a not a lurid tale of Aleister Crowley, but a rather dry look at how various intelligence agencies were linked to him. The footnotes are wonderful and the author builds a strong case with the evidence obtained.
This a not a lurid tale of Aleister Crowley, but a rather dry look at how various intelligence agencies were linked to him. The footnotes are wonderful and the author builds a strong case with the evidence obtained.
August 27, 2020
A tad too much "Is it possible...?" speculation for what is supposed to be a historical account.
January 12, 2021
Much speculation. Much of what he alleges is unprovable, other than the fact that Crowley had a *lot* of connections in the intelligence community.
August 27, 2024
Fascinating story but it's written so ploddingly it's basically a giant list of names and dates.
Useful as a resource but very very dry
Useful as a resource but very very dry
June 6, 2016
Any history of espionage relies on circumstance and reads gaps in the historical record as much as as it considers documents. This trait is doubled here, where the murky and obscure worlds of ritual magicians, con men, and occultists intersect in dizzying tangles of fact and conjecture. A few likelihoods emerge -- Crowley probably did act as a kind of agent provocateur during World War I, writing increasingly crazed propaganda for pro-German factions in the USA in the service of the British secret service. The Great Beast's rather paradoxical loyalty to Mother England seems to have been constant. He also had a staggering number of acquaintances, including a few close friends, who almost certainly were spies of one sort or another, but their aims and their loyalties often appear, at best, obscure.
I did learn a lot here about espionage and disinformation in the teens and twenties. America was a battleground of German and English agents, working especially to foment or prevent rebellion in Ireland and India. Crowley and Hanns Heinz Ewers, for example, apparently enjoyed carousing together in New York City and possibly in Mexico, though their missions were probably at odds. Other familiar names pepper this book -- artists, writers, political figures, Fascists, Communists, a surprising number of them with documented occult affiliations. It leaves one in awe of the depth of possibilities beneath the fragile shell of accepted history, even without accepting such tempting suggestions as Crowley gallivanting around the US dosing Britannia's foes with peyote. Unwritten tales abound just out of sight here.
Spence's writing is lively and he is generally careful to document everything he can and to make clear when he is running on pure speculation. Despite his opening comments that he is an agnostic with regard to the "supernatural," there are a few places where the temptation to tell a good story overcomes rationality, forgivable given the subject matter and the fact that this is a book written to entertain.
I did learn a lot here about espionage and disinformation in the teens and twenties. America was a battleground of German and English agents, working especially to foment or prevent rebellion in Ireland and India. Crowley and Hanns Heinz Ewers, for example, apparently enjoyed carousing together in New York City and possibly in Mexico, though their missions were probably at odds. Other familiar names pepper this book -- artists, writers, political figures, Fascists, Communists, a surprising number of them with documented occult affiliations. It leaves one in awe of the depth of possibilities beneath the fragile shell of accepted history, even without accepting such tempting suggestions as Crowley gallivanting around the US dosing Britannia's foes with peyote. Unwritten tales abound just out of sight here.
Spence's writing is lively and he is generally careful to document everything he can and to make clear when he is running on pure speculation. Despite his opening comments that he is an agnostic with regard to the "supernatural," there are a few places where the temptation to tell a good story overcomes rationality, forgivable given the subject matter and the fact that this is a book written to entertain.
June 19, 2012
First off, the bad - there are way too many people to keep track of, and no 'Dramatis Personæ' to aid one in sorting them out when one forgets who is who. Thus, a star was deducted.
This is not a biography of To Mega Therion, but instead uses his life to support its central thesis - that Crowley was a British secret agent. While the documentation is lacking (naturally), absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, and its absence, given how notorious Crowley was, is certainly something to be noted.
There were simply too many odd coincidences, Crowley simply knew too many actual Agents, for it all to simply be a hallucination by the author. Crowley himself drops repeated hints to this aspect of his life in his own writing, which Spence amply documents.
An intriguing look at a more political, less magical Crowley.
This is not a biography of To Mega Therion, but instead uses his life to support its central thesis - that Crowley was a British secret agent. While the documentation is lacking (naturally), absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, and its absence, given how notorious Crowley was, is certainly something to be noted.
There were simply too many odd coincidences, Crowley simply knew too many actual Agents, for it all to simply be a hallucination by the author. Crowley himself drops repeated hints to this aspect of his life in his own writing, which Spence amply documents.
An intriguing look at a more political, less magical Crowley.
June 11, 2013
Just what was self-proclaimed Antichrist Aleister Crowley doing in America during World War I? Did he instigate the attack on the Lusitania as a provocateur? What, if, anything, did he have to do with the interrogation of Rudolf Hess?
Readers looking for answers are likely to be disappointed by this book, where what is advertised is not what is offered. The blurbs give no idea of how much of it is SPECULATION. The book is peppered with "could have", "possible", "would not be surprising" .... as well as "denial = proof" logic. I recalled the words of Charles Williams' "Prime Minister Suydler" -- "I had a kind of bet with myself how many synonyms he'd use for guess.... We may assume — not improbable — very likely — may it not be — -reasonable assumption — working hypothesis — possible surmise..."
Readers looking for answers are likely to be disappointed by this book, where what is advertised is not what is offered. The blurbs give no idea of how much of it is SPECULATION. The book is peppered with "could have", "possible", "would not be surprising" .... as well as "denial = proof" logic. I recalled the words of Charles Williams' "Prime Minister Suydler" -- "I had a kind of bet with myself how many synonyms he'd use for guess.... We may assume — not improbable — very likely — may it not be — -reasonable assumption — working hypothesis — possible surmise..."
March 12, 2015
A very thoroughly researched and documented look at the previously little-known "spy" work 666 did throughout his life, especially during WWI. Until reading this book, I had always simply taken 666's word for it that his motives for writing in The Fatherland, etc., were what he said they were. Now, I understand that this was not only plausible but probably the case, and then some. A very enjoyable and informative study for anyone who wants to look more closely at what has previously been a sort of peripheral element of Crowley's biography. Mr. Spence worked closely with Hymenaeus Beta, who provided the author with pertinent resources and original documents in order to aid the latter's investigation.
I'm glad that I finally read this book.
I'm glad that I finally read this book.
Read
February 5, 2016Why this one is worth looking at - according to official description
"Crowley, also known as the Great Beast, has been the subject of several biographies, some painting him as a misunderstood genius, others as a manipulative charlatan. None of them have looked seriously at his career as an agent of British Intelligence. Using documents gleaned from British, American, French, and Italian archives, Secret Agent 666 sensationally reveals that Crowley played a major role in the sinking of the Lusitania, a plot to overthrow the government of Spain, the thwarting of Irish and Indian nationalist conspiracies, and the 1941 flight of Rudolf Hess. "
All of which sounds like something or someone one ought to know about.
"Crowley, also known as the Great Beast, has been the subject of several biographies, some painting him as a misunderstood genius, others as a manipulative charlatan. None of them have looked seriously at his career as an agent of British Intelligence. Using documents gleaned from British, American, French, and Italian archives, Secret Agent 666 sensationally reveals that Crowley played a major role in the sinking of the Lusitania, a plot to overthrow the government of Spain, the thwarting of Irish and Indian nationalist conspiracies, and the 1941 flight of Rudolf Hess. "
All of which sounds like something or someone one ought to know about.
May 4, 2021
This is conspiracy word salad. If you've ever tortured yourself by reading a JFK assassination conspiracy book, you will recognized the absurd logical fallacies and constant gish gallops this book employs. While much of the content is technically taken from legit sources, it is connected into a conspiracy of magical and political figures working together for reasons unknown. Weaved in through this narrative is a half-hearted biography of Aleister Crowley, which makes things more muddy. Check out Perdurabo or Gary Lachman's Crowley book instead.
January 20, 2017
Aleister Crowley is on the cover of the Sgt. Pepper album, he is referenced in music by Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. He was an occultist, poet and performance artist. His live rituals open to the public featured naked women, live music and psychedelic mushrooms.
But what no one knew until recently, was that he was actually a master spy for British Intelligence!
One of the most amazing spy stories you will ever read!
But what no one knew until recently, was that he was actually a master spy for British Intelligence!
One of the most amazing spy stories you will ever read!
June 7, 2011
This is a great 50 pages of fascinating info, padded out with another 250 of extremely tenuous speculation. I did enjoy it all the same, but basically not really worth it unless you are a Crowley fanatic.
January 4, 2016
though it is dense with facts, half truths, rumours and hearsay... it only serves to add to the mystic and mystery that surrounds Crowley. Found it a very slow read but really enjoyed the connections and links it raised. Very enjoyable for someone with an interest in AC.
May 6, 2016
This book gives accurate information on an aspect of 'hidden history'.
April 4, 2016
Informative and intriguing. Whilst it answered some questions, it left just as many un-answered. More names than I could cope with leisurely, but fascinating none the less. Highly recommend.
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