Aleister Crowley
     

     Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) was probably the most notorios 
     initiate of the Golden Dawn.  Born into a middle class, 
     fundamentalist family in Plymouth, England, he attended 
     Trinity College, Cambridge where, despite a weak 
     constitution, he excelled at rowing and mountain climbing as 
     well as chess.  He did not seem to show an interest in the 
     occult until he met Alan Bennet, who introduced him to magic 
     and drugs.  Crowley was initiated into the Golden Dawn and 
     rose rapidly through the grades.  However, he and Mathers 
     had a falling out;so Crowley quit and journeyed to the 
     Orient with his wife in search of wisdom.

     Eventually Crowley founded his own Order, the Argenteum 
     Astrum, which used Egyptian rituals.  He also became the 
     leader of the Ordo Templi Orientalis, and organization which 
     practiced sex magic.

     The Ordo Templi Orientalis, or O.T.O., as it is known, 
     represents and entirely different branch of magic, one that 
     works with Tantra, a kind of sex magic that strives for 
     unity with the godhead via the sex act.  The O.T.O. was 
     established by Karl Kellner in 1896, who passed his 
     authority on to Theodor Reuss in 1905, and eventually on to 
     Crowley in 1922.  The O.T.O. has nine grades, only the last 
     three of which espially apply to sex magic.  In simple 
     terms, the members of the O.T.O.  visualize their sexual 
     partners as embodiments of the god and goddess.  Through the 
     union of the sex act, they hope to acheive a higher unity 
     with the godhead.  Crowley explains there theories further 
     in his books Agape, and De Arte Magica.

     Crowley set up branches of the O.T.O. in Europe and America.  
     The sect in Great Britain fell under the leadership of 
     Kenneth Grant, and the branch in California was directed by 
     Grady McMurtry.

     Crowley, who took upon himself the role of the "bad boy" of 
     the occult scene, said and wrote many things with the 
     express purpose of shocking the public.  The Hearst press 
     took the bait and called him "the most evil man in the 
     world" a sobriquet in which he revelled.  Crowley became an 
     infamous legend in his own time.  At one juncture he even 
     claimed to be the reincarnation of Eliphas Levi, and also 
     the Beast 666 of the apocalypse.

     Crowley wrote prolifically in the field and many of his 
     works contributed significantly to magic.  Among his best 
     books are Magick in Theory and Practice, Book Four, and Book 
     of Thoth.  However Crowley also had a great imagination, and 
     often it is difficult to determine how much of what he wrote 
     is "fact" and how much is "fiction."

     Many biographers have written about Crowley's life work; one 
     of the more remarkable of them is G.M. Kelly, who edits a 
     journal that discusses Crowleyian subjects.  If, after 
     reading some of Crowley's books your are intent to discover 
     more about him, I suggest you write to Frater Kellach at The 
     Newaeon Newsletter, P.O. Box 19210, Pittsburgh, PA 15213.  
     Remember to include and SASE for a reply.

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