10-12-1875

12-1-1947

Nicknames: “The Great Beast” and “The Wickedest Man in the World”

My research shows that Aleister Crowley was a witch, a poet, a prophet and famed occultist.  As a child, he constantly rebelled against the Christian teachings of his parents.  He didn’t necessarily disbelieve in God or Satan, but he felt there was more of a spiritual aspect that needed exploring.  He went to college where he wrote and studied poetry.  His first book of poetry, Aceldama, A Place to Bury Strangers In”, was published in 1898.  In the preface of the book he wrote about how God and Satan had fought over his soul.  He wrote, “God conquered-and now I have only one doubt left-which of the twain was God?”.

He became interested in the “Great White Brotherhood”, a brotherhood of occultists.  He joined the “Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn”, the elusive Great White Brotherhood, in November of 1898.  He then joined a coven, New Forrest Witches, in 1899, but was kicked out due to his bias toward homosexuality and his hatred towards women.  Crowley advanced quickly through the ranks of the Golden Dawn, but was dismissed in 1900 due to issues within the order and with MacGregor Mathors.

Crowley began studying Tantric Yoga, Buddhism and I Ching.  He lived in isolation for a while near Loch Ness in Scotland.  In 1903 he met and married Rose Edith Kelly.  The two of them took a trip to Egypt in 1904 and participated in a ritual.  He claimed to receive messages from the Gods during this ritual.

In 1909 he was using “Enochian” magic and explored the levels of the astral plane.  This resulted in his claim to uniting his consciousness with the universal consciousness.  In his magazine, The Equinox, he published the rituals of the Golden Dawn.  And by 1913 he was becoming known as a Black Magician and Satanist.  He often used the number 666 to identify himself.  This seems to be the point in his life that triggered the outrageous behavior associated with his reputation.  He was engaging in sexual magic with several Scarlet Women trying to produce a “Magical Child”.  The book “Moonchild” was published in 1929 and describes his attempts.

In 1920 Crowley established the Abbey of Thelema at Cefalu.  Many claimed that there were satanic rituals going on there.  Although most of these allegations have been proven wrong, the ruler of Italy banished him from Sicily in 1923.

Witchcraft continued to be a major part of Crowley’s life.  His research and practice became more and more prominent.  In 1932 he began meeting with Sybil Leek, a 9-year-old hereditary witch.  She later wrote her autobiography, “Diary of a Witch”, and spoke of Crowley’s visits and their talks of witchcraft.

Bankruptcy plagued Crowley in 1934.  He was living in a hotel at the time of his death and left instructions to be cremated.  His ashes were sent to some of his followers in the United States.

Although the reputation of this man centers around Satanism and the black magic it is associated with, Crowley’s writings and knowledge of witchcraft and magic are now being reprinted as more people either become curious about his work or appreciate his “genius” status of the arts and the spirituality of life.

I’m not quite sure what to think about his man.  If I go on his reputation, I would be scared of him!  However, I try not to judge people based on their reputation.  Perhaps he was like all scientists are…curious and knowledgable.  Curiosity leads us to dip into things we do not understand.  We are all curious about life, spirituality, life after death and the capabilities of the mind.  Most of the time we find that acquiring that knowledge leads to experiences.  Maybe Aleister Crowley wasn’t such a bad man after all….maybe he was.  You decide.

In his youth Peregrin came into contact with the western mystery traditions and the Golden Dawn. He was initiated into the latter and was blessed to receive traditional training and instruction from an elderly English initiate. He has also received initiation and training in several other traditions including Wicca and an Isis Mystery School.

As part of his involvement in the esoteric and Pagan communities Peregrin has served as regional councillor for the Pagan Alliance, has written for numerous newsletters and magazines, and is a former editor of Pagan Times and Greenspirit. He was one of the first people in Perth to lead public magical and pagan training and open workshops. He co-founded the EarthDreaming tradition and the Golden Dawn Society of Western Australia, which is the public face of the traditional Golden Dawn Order to which he belongs.

To supplement his magical training, Peregrin has trained in Re-Birthing, several other Breath-work modalities, group facilitation and group dynamics. Professionally he holds a Bachelor’s in librarianship and works providing information to professionals working with torture and trauma survivors.

As well as contributing to several online magical and pagan magazines he writes regularly for the  Magic of the Ordinary , a wonderful online blog “devoted to reflections on the Mystery and Esoteric Traditions.”  Peregrin is a scholar and enthusiast regarding the likes of Dion Fortune, Gareth Knight, Neil Douglas Klotz and many newer authors, and has written informative and insightful reviews on a number of works.  Skylight Press is thrilled to publish his long awaited first full-length book, By Names and Images: Bringing the Golden Dawn to Life, which will no doubt be a seminal work in its field.  Having had the pleasure to work with Peregrin on this book we are convinced that he is an emerging and important voice in the western mystery tradition.

Golden Dawn Symbolism

Golden Dawn Symbolism

The order of the Golden Dawn was created by Dr. William Robert Woodman, William Wynn Westcott, and Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers. All three were Freemasons and members of Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (an organization with ties to Masonry). It is considered by many to be a forerunner of the Ordo Templi Orientis and a majority of modern Occult groups.

The belief system of the Golden Dawn is largely taken from Christian mysticism, Qabalah, Hermeticism, the religion of Ancient Egypt, Freemasonry, Alchemy, Theosophy, Magic, and Renaissance writings. William Yeats, and Aleister Crowly are two of the more famous members of the group.

The fundamental documents of the order are known as the Cipher Documents. These were translated into English using a cipher attributed to Johannes Trithemius. The documents are a series of 60 folios containing magic rituals. The basic structure of many of these rituals appear to originate with Rosicrucianism. There is a great deal of controversy surrounding the origins of these documents.

“Let us meditate upon angelic Presences, red-robed and armed, patrolling the length and breadth of our land. Visualise a map of Great Britain, and picture these great Presences moving as a vast shadowy form along the coasts, and backwards and forwards from north to south and east to west, keeping watch and ward so that nothing alien can move unobserved.”



The speed and veracity of Dion Fortune’s response to Britain’s declaration of war with Germany in 1939 is quite astonishing, as if she had been spiritually primed for such a moment. With Churchilllian poise and timing she began a series of remarkable epistles to her peers in the Fraternity of the Inner Light, a sisterly spin-off of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.  These letters have since become a valuable testament not just to the irascible will of a spiritual leader in galvanizing her group but also the larger resolve of a nation under the threat of hostile invasion.  With planes carrying destructive bombs flying overhead Fortune exhorts would-be flyers on the metaphysical planes to invoke a group-soul umbrella of protection to repel the intruders.  Thus begins The Magical Battle of Britain.

Skylight Press is thrilled to reissue an all-new edition of these invaluable letters that are still so relevant on the historical and anthropological level as well as being an esoteric masterpiece.  The book, which bears an introduction and commentary by Fortune’s protégé, Gareth Knight, has become an occult classic since its initial release by Golden Gates Press and subsequent reprints by Arcania Press and Sun Chalice Books.  Not just being a marvellous documentation of the encroachment of world war and the unfolding of all its subsequent battles and phases, the work is also an informative seeker’s guide on seeding the consciousness, working with archetypal images and symbols, as well as defensive psychic ritual and mind-working.  The letters and their self-contained optimism survive the Blitz both literally and figuratively.  But through her guiding light in dark days Fortune amalgamates a truth that outlasts the trappings of this particular war and becomes a blueprint with which to empower the mind in all times and places, through all battles – great or small.  Through connectivity, solidarity, understanding and enlightenment, Fortune shows how a vulnerable island consciousness, a metaphor for the singular plight of man, can be steeled and fortified against all invading forces, whether physical or spiritual. 

In a world riddled with an artful propaganda that manifests its own powerful images and symbols, Fortune begins her letters by instructing us how to implant our own mental antidotes using combative images and symbols.  Taking full advantage of military analogies and metaphors Fortune seeks to fortify the mental barracks and build a disciplined magical army, leading the troops through each air raid and bomb blast, playing the ardent sergeant major when morale flags or the task begins to seem daunting. In later letters, as the army gains strength and confidence, the forays into enemy territory become more ambitious, matching the advancing movement of the allies across Europe.  The letters are cleverly interspersed with small historical telegrams from the editor, showing how the mind of this magus and her meditational group of followers worked in concert with the entire theatre of war.

There is no doubt the Dion Fortune strongly believed that there were dark magical forces at work in the enemy camp – but she never lapses into sensationalism or histrionic hyperbole at any point.  Speculation about Nazi occultism was rife at the time as it has been increasingly so ever since.  Numerous books like The Morning of the Magicians and The Spear of Destiny surfaced some years later and a genre of crypto-history was born.  Yet although she accords Hitler and his generals a working knowledge of occult power she resists the temptation to excogitate a theorem or schema about such power except to say that she presumes it to contain some sophistication.  Much has been surmised about the Third Reich and its relationship to Teutonic philosophy, Grail myth, and dark occultism despite that fact that Hitler was a practising Catholic.  But Fortune does not empower any of these suppositions by needless naming and speculation, choosing instead to concentrate on the strength and fortitude of her own forces.  In such, the book is a powerful treatise on how to unhinge the powerful leverage of propaganda, rumour, and hype. 

The Magical Battle of Britain is a beautifully rendered book and wonderfully presented and edited by Gareth Knight.  Knight facilitates the power of the book by showing great restraint in his addended commentary, always letting the letters speak for themselves.  His editorials are short, precise and informational, providing context where it is needed.  The encapsulated war updates are fascinating and perfectly infused with the text, giving the letters historical scope and gravitas. 

This unique work is a national treasure.

The Magical Battle of Britain: The War Letters of Dion Fortune is available from various retail outlets such as Amazon, Amazon UK, Waterstones online, or direct from the Skylight Press website.

Dion Fortune was born Violet Mary Firth in Llandudno, North Wales on 6th December 1890, the daughter of parents with an active interest in the Christian Science and Garden City movements and the running of hydro-therapeutic establishments. Her interest in occultism was sparked in 1916 when, as a psychotherapist, she came across the startling work of Dr. Theodore Moriarty, who became her first esoteric teacher and inspired her series of short stories The Secrets of Dr Taverner.

Once having embarked upon the occult path she cast her net wide and became a member both of the Theosophical Society and of the Alpha et Omega Temple of the former Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, but becoming discontented with the performance of existing organisations she set about founding her own esoteric group. This was based in an old officer’s mess hut erected at the foot of Glastonbury Tor, that they named Chalice Orchard, and which was the first headquarters of the Community (later Fraternity and then Society) of the Inner Light. Soon afterwards they also acquired a house in the Bayswater district of London which was big enough to accommodate some members in as well as to contain office facilities and a magical lodge.

The Fraternity soon became an initiatory school of high calibre. Members attracted during the 1930s included such later well known figures as W.E.Butler, Colonel C.R.F. Seymour and Christine Hartley, whilst even the 14 year old W.G. Gray knocked upon its doors, but was turned away on account of his youth. Working in trance mediumship Dion Fortune made contacts with certain inner plane adepts, or Masters, whose influence on the Western Esoteric Tradition is still vital to this day.

During this period Dion Fortune wrote several esoteric novels to illustrate the possible practical application of the content of her textbooks and articles in her house journal, the Inner Light Magazine. She pioneered the popular exposition of the Qabalah as a key to the Western Mystery Tradition with her book The Mystical Qabalah, which is still one of the best texts available on the subject. Her other important work, The Cosmic Doctrine, which was mediumistically received early on in her career was at first reserved for senior initiates; its text is abstract and difficult to follow and is intended for meditation rather than as a straight textbook.

During the 2nd World War she organised her own contribution to the war effort on a magical level, with an extended meditation group, and continued to operate in the midst of the Blitz despite a bomb bringing down the roof of her headquarters in 1940. This period was well covered by a series of weekly and then monthly letters to students, later published as Dion Fortune’s Magical Battle of Britain. Any book publishing, and even issue of her magazine, was curtailed by wartime shortage of paper, so that much of what she wrote at this time had to wait until comparatively recently for book publication.

In early January 1946 Dion Fortune returned from Glastonbury feeling tired and unwell, was admitted to Middlesex Hospital in London and died a few days later from leukaemia, at the comparatively young age of 55. She is buried in the municipal cemetery at Glastonbury, with the remains of her close friend and colleague Charles Thomas Loveday close by. Her last novel, Moon Magic, unfinished at her death, was allegedly channelled by her through one of the society’s mediums.

The Society of the Inner Light (the name was changed for legal reasons) continued to operate in much the same way for some years after Dion Fortune’s death, largely under the inspiration of the remarkable mediumship of Margaret Lumley Brown. During this time a new generation of well known writers and teachers such as Gareth Knight, Charles Fielding, Dolores Ashcroft Nowicki, Kathleen Raine and Peter Valentine Timlett passed through its doors. It continues today as an initiatory school with much the same principles as those upon which it was originally founded.

For more information about the Society of the Inner Light today visit their website: www.innerlight.org.uk

Gareth Knight has edited and co-written a number of books containing the work of Dion Fortune, including Practical Occultism,  Spiritualism & Occultism, Principles of Hermetic Philosophy & The Esoteric Philosophy of Astrology, The Circuit of Force, and An Introduction to Ritual Magic.  He has also written books about Dion Fortune and the various phases and facets of her work:  The Occult Fiction of Dion Fortune, Dion Fortune and the Lost Secrets of the West, Dion Fortune and the Threefold Way, Dion Fortune and the Inner Light.  Skylight Press is thrilled to release an all new edition of Dion Fortune’s Magical Battle of Britain, which is edited and includes commentary by Gareth Knight.  This was the first of Gareth’s many works involving Dion Fortune and remains a very important document for our times.

The book itself contains an explanation of what the Tablets are, and how vastly they differ from the “standard” Golden Dawn Enochian Tablets. It shows detailed explanations of each square in the tablet, what each sub-sector contains, how it relates to the Laws of the Convoluted Forces (with some great stuff by the noted Kabbalist Olen Rush), and some brand-new material by Innes, Farr, ThAM-level workings, and even a previously-unpublished 6=5 ritual.

Needless to say, this isn’t an entry-level book on the Golden Dawn. One should be intimately familiar with the 5=6 material given in Regardie, and have practiced it for quite a while in order to get the most out of this book, but like others on the market right now (like Pat Zalewski’s “Golden Dawn Rituals and Commentaries”), it’s great to see advanced publications come out of the GD, rather than the fluff that seems to permeate the market.

Oh, and did I mention I received a copy signed by Chic and Tabatha? Get it now!

Definition of a crucible:

The melting pot or the bottom of the fire where metal is usually found. It is also what alchemist used in the old days for turning lead into gold. 

The Outer Order of the Golden Dawn provides a crucible where spiritual development can be purified and rectified.  The negative qualities are exposed to the candidate along with positive qualities.  If the candidate is undaunted in his or her work, the result will be the formation of Gold that must develop in the Inner Order, generally in the Adeptus Major Grade.

The difficulty with a magical life is that you are always and forever living in the crucible.  You are burning away that which is unworthy of your next spiritual destination, transforming and firing the gold into a more perfect metal.  It never ends.

Living in the magical crucible as a way of life can be rewarding and challenging.  The magician is always and forever working on purification of the gold within, and yet at the same time doing and performing practical magic.

The magician is in the world but not of the world.  This means he or she does not buy into the trappings of the world or the limitations that others tend to believe in.  There are landmines along the path of the magical life style.  The magician must aspire to the highest level of integrity.  This does not apply only to the magical world  on their magical operations, it must apply to every aspect of the magicians life. There can be no exceptions.  The result of less than total honesty is to invoke the evil to react  upon the magician.

The magician must be transparent.  This does not mean that certain secrets can and should not be maintained.  What it does mean is that with the people the magician serves and teaches, and the family he or she loves, their must be complete transparency.  To do less is to send a message to the universe, the source of all magical power, that less that honesty can be employed in the magi’s workings.  Less than honest in all your workings and activities will result in impotent and powerless magic.

Remember, if you are a magician, you are always in the crucible.  You are always in the fire or transformation and, either your transform yourself  so that you can achieve the next magical and spiritual level, or you do not.

One of the problems with grades as used in the Golden Dawn is that they only indicate a snapshot of where a person likely is in time.  Once the photo is taken, anything can happen and the grade that was obtained can be lost in the twinkling of an eye.  The Magical lodge system tests the candidate with oaths and obligations that if surrendered, will naturally dilute the magician of his grade.  The reason is simple: the magician gave his word, not to another person, but to his or her higher Genius and the Lord of the Universe.

The magical path can be rewarding, providing the magician an edge in life and a ladder to higher states of spiritual consciousness.  It can be an empowering life.  “Remember oh neophyte to mark this day as day one and to always give due honor to the Lord of the Universe.”  Give honor though your actions of light, honesty and integrity and be bluntly honest with yourself and all you encounter.

In Light,

G.H. Frater P.D.R.

770

Back in the early 90′s, I wanted to take the focus of magic and place it not only on the self, yearning to unite with the Higher Genius, but I also felt that part of our work as Adepts was service to humanity.  This idea seemed at the time in harmony with early Rosicrucian concepts and so over a series of event and rituals our Order moved in the direction to a level of stronger service to humanity.  In this blog, I will not go into all the missions we participated in, but suffice it to say that our Second Order was very active in everything from feeding the hungry to peace in the Middle East.

I believed then, as I do now, that our magical skills can and should be used to touch other lives for good.  This is one of the reasons why my students are taught how to use the magic of Light for healing–both physical and spiritual.  This is one of the reasons I have studied healing from every credible source I could find.  I believe that magic has a much greater role than what most people give it credit for.

I wanted a ritual that could be done over a 24-hour period.  I designed a magical Vigil that adepts and higher grade members can and have done for several years now.  It  is called the Winter Solstice Vigil.  This Vigil is done over a 24 -hour period.  We simply call it the “Winter Vigil. ” Each year, a purpose is decided on and the adepts will focus on that purpose for 24 hours.  It is an amazing event! There are specific rubrics to the magical Vigil; while they have changed from time to time, it is still based on a magical rites being invoked hourly for 24 hours.

I am convinced that magic is beginning to make some movement back into mainstream society.  I think this is good.  As Crowley said, “Magic is for all.”  The word magic is  wearing a variety of disguises from the Law of Attraction to positive thinking, but the concepts are somewhat the same. I also believe that if we want the teachings of Hermes and Magic to play a greater role in our society for the greater good, then we need to devote some magical time to helping and serving others.  The Winter Vigil is such a rite.

www.esotericgoldendawn.com

Your Brother in the Great Work,

G.H, Frater P.D.R.

Robert Zink

Imperator General of the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn

Misunderstood and even feared during his lifetime, Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) channelled his brilliance into the black arts, believing that he was the greatest of the world’s magicians, brought back to life.

Aleister Crowley (the surname rhymes with “slowly”)

    was an iconoclast among iconoclasts. In an era noted for decadence and rife with religious experimentation and deviation from the rigid Christian strictures suffocating Victorian society, he diverged from even the more bizarre religious factions through his insatiable lust for sensation. Beginning what would become a lifelong study of the occult while still a child, Crowley’s thirst for knowledge would cause him to travel the world, studying the Eastern mystics as well as the pagan religions of the ancients. Finally believing that he had achieved a kind of spiritual nirvana, he wrote his The Book of the Law, which has been studied as a primer by students of the occult since its publication in the early 1900s. Crowley’s excesses extended to drug use; his health gradually declined after he reached the age of fifty and he spent his final years in relative obscurity, reviled for his outrageous activities and impoverished by the financial extravagances of his youth. His bizarre reputation has earned him a posthumous following: rock and roll performers Ozzie Osborne and Jimmy Page are long-term fans of Crowley’s Satanic leanings.

Father’s Zeal Proves Early Influence

Crowley was born in Warwickshire, England, in October of 1875. He was the son of a brewer and part-time preacher in the church of the Plymouth Brethren whose zeal for his religion as the only true form of Christianity prompted him to train young Aleister to preach alongside him from an early age. When the boy rebelled, his mother reacted by dubbing him “the beast,” implying that her son’s rejection of their faith was somehow motivated by the devil. It was an implication that Aleister took to heart; a fascination with non-Christian religions and the black arts would consume much of his adult life.

As a young man, Crowley attended Trinity College, Cambridge, where he wrote poetry, publishing his first book, Aceldama, a Place to Bury Strangers In. A Philosophical Poem. By a Gentleman of the University of Cambridge. His academic pursuits, however, did not fully interest him. He left before receiving his degree, opting instead to devote himself to mastery of the occult. He joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the first order, or lowest tier, of the secret Great White Brotherhood of Rosicrucians. The Order, led by Samuel Liddel MacGregor Mathers, included elements of astrology, the tarot, alchemy, and magick in its rites; other members of this group included the British poet William B. Yeats. After joining the London chapter of the Golden Dawn on November 18, 1898, Crowley dubbed himself Count Vladimir and began moving up through each successive level of ability. He eventually graduated from the first order and sought entry into the second, the Order of the Red Rose. Crowley ran  afoul of certain leaders of the Golden Dawn, however, who prevented his advancement because of jealousy. After being attacked by several henchmen, Crowley decided to leave England for a period, to travel and study independently.

Continues To Move up Religious Ranks

In addition to being intelligent and fascinated by his new course of study, Crowley was also very ambitious, with a desire to be in a highly visible role. After traveling from England to Asia in 1900, where he disciplined his approach to mysticism through studying the physical and mental aspects of Tantric yoga and gained an appreciation for other religions of the Far East, he returned to London, determined to expand the vision of the Order of the Great White Brotherhood. However, not surprisingly, there was resistance on the part of the existing leadership, and Crowley still found his efforts to move up the ranks thwarted. At one point, it is reported that he attempted to stage a coup, appearing at a meeting of the Second Order wearing a black mask and carrying a dagger.

His growing dissatisfaction was fueled by his wife, Rose Kelly, whom Crowley had married in 1903. While she originally had no interest in the occult, she began falling into trance-like states shortly after her honeymoon trip to Egypt; she convinced Aleister that Horus, the Egyptian god of light, was trying to communicate with him. Crowley saw no reason to be skeptical of his wife’s assertions and, in April of 1904, went into retreat for three days. When he emerged, he had with him The Book of the Law, which he maintained that his guardian spirit, the devil-god Aiwaz, an agent of Horus, had narrated to him.

The Scarlet Woman…or so he called her…a favored concubine of Crowley.

The Book of the Law, a three-part long poem, would prove extremely influential among fellow occultists. It maintained that the age of Horus was upon mankind, ushering in the age of “Thelema,” a Greek word meaning “will.” Crowley, as the receiver of the word of Horus, must, then, be the prophet for this new age, as well as the interpreter of its laws. The central tenet of The Book of the Law is “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.” While some have interpreted this to justify a life of self-indulgence, Crowley placed a different interpretation on the words, seeing in the term “will” the ability to control the actions of others or create a change in one’s surroundings through one’s psychic powers. Breaking with the teachings of the Golden Dawn, he determined to dedicate the remainder of his life to developing his Thelemic philosophy, including this development of will, which he referred to as “magick.” The number 666 gained in significance in his teachings, and he began to call himself “The Great Beast.” The reputation for wickedness that this name provoked from most people only added to his growing sense of self-esteem and empowerment.

Joins Ordo Templi Orientis

In 1906 Crowley founded his own chapter of the third order of the Great White Brotherhood, known as the Astron Argon or Silver Star. Four years later, he was contacted by Theodore Reuss, leader of a German cult of Freemasons called the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO). They too were deeply involved in magick, and Crowley joined, eventually becoming the head of the Order.

He restructured the OTO to conform to his Thelemic principles, and broke with the Freemasons, thereafter allowing men and women to join. From 1909 to 1913 he also published The Equinox, a newspaper that exposed the secret rituals used by the rival Golden Dawn as well as Crowley’s verse.

As Crowley gained in power in the OTO, he also gained in notoriety. In 1923, he was exiled from Cefalu, Sicily, where he had formed a branch temple, after a scandal involving several prostitutes broke out. But he took the event in stride, bragging thereafter that he had been “expelled from Italy.” Rumors grew about his leadership of rituals involving animal sacrifice, celebration of the Black Mass, hallucinogenic drugs, and outlandish sexual conduct, but Crowley continued his Order unabated. During the 1920s he published several books, including Clouds without Water, Confessions, The Herb Dangerous, and The Winged Beetle, although their circulation remained clandestine due to their subject matter. Continuing to add fuel to his reputation as a Satanist, he blithely remarked in one essay that “for nearly all purposes, human sacrifice is best.” Such comments, when made public, did little to endear him to most English people, although he continued to draw to him a small but loyal band of converts.

Reduced to Obscurity in Later Years

In 1929 Crowley married his second wife, Maria Ferrari de Miramar, and published Moonchild, a novel that depicts the efforts of rival magicians to create the miracle child predicted to be the future leader of their craft. While critical of its plot, Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature contributor Brian Stableford called Moonchild valuable “as part of a psychological case study. What value it has rests in whatever insight it provides into the character of [its author], an actor for whom the stage of life itself was too confined.” By the mid-1930s, reality caught up with the author of this fantasy fiction. His lavish lifestyle had extended far beyond his thirty thousand pound inheritance, and a heavy drug addiction did little to stabilize a failing financial picture. By 1939 Crowley’s creditors were forced to take a small percentage of the money owed following bankruptcy proceedings. The following decade would prove to be a black one for Crowley, who supported himself through royalties off such published books as Diary of a Drug Fiend, The Book of Thoth, and Magick in Theory and Practice, and whose home had been reduced to a room in a boardinghouse. His popularity in the United States had been slight on the heels of the pro-German propaganda he released there during World War I; in World War II he shocked and alienated even more people by commenting that “Before Hitler was, I am.” The atrocities of the Nazi government diminished Crowley’s past activities by comparison, and such a comment reduced him to a pathetic, jealous, disturbed man. He died in Hastings, England, on December 1, 1947, shortly after his physician had refused to supply the morphine on which Crowley had become dependent. He was seventy-two.

After his death, two schools of thought rose up about Crowley. In some appraisals, he has been considered perhaps the greatest magician of the twentieth century. Others, however, have portrayed him as a hedonistic egomaniac, bent on acquiring power over others and addicted to sex and a multitude of mind-altering drugs. His greatest influence has been felt in the arts, particularly in the rock music of Ozzie Osborne and Led Zeppelin, as well as in the art of Austin Osman Spare and filmmaker Kenneth Anger. Crowley also served as the basis for the character of Oliver Haddo in William Somerset Maugham’s 1908 novel, The Magician. A recording of Crowley’s teachings titled The Beast Speaks was release on compact disk in 1993 and sold upward of eight thousand copies. And the OTO, while splitting into rival factions following Crowley’s death, would enjoy a revival of sorts, particularly in England, during the later part of the twentieth century.

Jimmy Page of Zepplin Outside Boleskine House

A home he eventually moved out of in the late 70′s bc he felt it was haunted by Crowley

Further Reading

The Beast Speaks (recording), Virgin Records, 1993.

Cammell, Charles Richard, Aleister Crowley: The Man, the Mage, the Poet, New York University Press, 1962.

DuQueste, Lon Milo, The Magick of Thelema: A Handbook of Rituals by Aleister Crowley, S. Weiser, 1993.

Guiley, Rosemary Ellen, Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft, Facts on File, 1989, pp. 75-77, 157-59.

Magill, Frank N., editor, Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature, Volume 3, Salem Press, 1983.

Suster, Gerald, Legacy of the Beast, W. H. Allen, 1988.

Symonds, John, The Great Beast: The Life and Magic of Aleister Crowley, Roy, 1952, revised as King of the Shadow Realm, Duckworth, 1989.

By Robert Zink

There is nothing new about the concept of orgasmic energy being used for healing.  This teaching is part of the secret teachings of the Tao.  I am not going to go into depth in this paper on the Tao.  That would be for a different discussion on a different venue.  What I am about to do is to make some alchemical pre-suppositions on the tantric current and explain some differences between the tantric current and the Golden Dawn concept of lighting up the tree on the sphere of sensation.  My main focus is the use of Regardie’s Middle Pillar exercise for healing of the physical body.

Israel Regardie was the creative developer of the Middle Pillar ritual.  Many people think that the middle pillar ritual is a classical Golden Dawn ritual.  This is patently not true.  Adepts in the Golden dawn were taught to light up the entire tree on their sphere of sensation.  Regardie however believed that strengthening of the middle pillar of the pillar of mildness in the sphere of sensation was critical to the progression of the magical student.  I agree.  This exercise involves the visualization and vibration of the Divine names of the pillar of Air, within the microcosmic sphere of sensation.  Air is the reconciler between the active energy of fire and the passive energy of water.

In the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn, we teach people to do the middle pillar exercise.  Considering that even up to Adeptus Minor the student of the Divine mysteries is taught to turn not to the left nor the right but only by the middle path is true progress made.  This is taught in the extreme in our Order’s Portal ritual, and carried on into the Adeptus Minor grade.

The middle pillar exercise is a wonderful way to balance and harmonize forces within the sphere of sensation, but it is also a powerful way to raise energy for magical operations.  The energy does not go through the dissolving phase often associated with lighting up the entire tree.

There are secrets to lighting up the entire tree, but these secrets are not in print and often out of range from most minor adepts.  Therefore, I strongly suggest the use of the middle pillar ritual on a regular basis.

In alchemy we use powerful symbolism of the sun and the moon.  The sun is the conscious mind and the moon is the unconscious mind.  The sun is the active, the moon the passive.  The sun is the masculine while the moon is feminine.  There are different kinds of circulations of alchemy as well.  The sun relates to the greater circulation of alchemy while the moon refers to the lesser circulation of plant alchemy.

The different types of energy circulations within the body can also be related to the sun and the moon.  The greater circulation is solar in nature and refers to the lighting up of the tree from the top down or following the path of the flaming sword, while the lesser circulation refers to the energy coming from the groin, sexual energy climbing up the spine to the head as the lesser circulation.  This would be the lunar circulation and rightfully so.  Considering that the Yesodic center is the home of the moon, this circulation makes more sense.

I remember on high level adept who was yelling and screaming at me that the lesser circulation of orgasmic energy up the spine was dangerous and not part of GD teachings.  Had he continued his studies in our Order a little longer he would have learned differently.  It is not my job to begin a debate on the subject, other that to stress that both serve in the healing process of the sphere of sensation.  There are specific Taoist method of using this energy for healing of the body.  These methods have thousands of years of a proven track record.  I would like to assert that the use of Regaride’s middle pillar ritual, which is based primarily on Golden Dawn classical teachings, can be used in such a manner as well.

I am not going to go thorough the process of the middle pillar ritual.  This can be found is several books including the book entitled. “ The Middle Pillar “ by Israel Regardie.  Here is the variation that I suggest you employ.

1. Do the middle pillar exercise
2. Circulate the light within your sphere of sensation
3. Then focus the light on the portion of the body that requires healing or attention
4. Mummy wrap the light around your organ or whatever part of the body you are focusing on.  Do this for about 5 to 10 minutes
5. Conclude the ritual in the normal fashion

The concept is incredibly simply.  All I can say is to give it a try and prove it to yourself.  This method has been used by Taoist masters with the Yesodic circulation for thousands of years and I am certain that the greater or solar circulation of light will prove to be every bit as effective if not more.  I urge you to write me and share with me your personal success, or experience.  Thank You.

In L.V.X.

Robert Zink

G.H. Frater Pro Deo et Rege

www.esotericgoldendawn.com

It is almost 3:30 AM on the morning of September 27, 2011. The new moon is less than two hours away. Why should I care? Because I have been studying Wiccan/Paganism for the last couple of months and the phases of the moon are very important. The last few days before new moon are considered ‘the dark of the moon.’ A dark time for witches. Some consider it a time for dark magic–if the need should arise. It is ruled over by Hecate(pro. HE-katae), the crone goddess. If you wonder what she looks like, think about every Halloween witch or cartoon witch you’ve ever seen. She’s old, with a pointed hat, broom and cauldron. The pointed hat symbolizes the upward spiraling Cone of Power (which many witches seek to obtain during their circle rituals), the broomstick symbolizes a sweeping away of the old, and the cauldron symbolizes transformation. Why are these things important at this time of year?

All Hallows Eve is the Pagan New Year–beginning after sundown on October 31st and continuing till sundown of November 1st.  Samhain (pro. SOW-en), the Pagan holiday that coincides with Halloween, is Gaelic for ‘summer’s end.’ The harvest is complete, winter is beginning. Pagans at this time (much like modern people on December 31) reflected upon their physical mortality and the nature of change and transformation in the cycle of life and death. It is the most important time of year for a pagan and the most psychically charged. The veil between the living and the dead is believed to be thinnest at this time so the spirits of ancestors and loved ones can be honored. It’s not a time to worship Satan as witches don’t believe he exists. The pentacle they wear (whether right side up or upside down) symbolizes the 5 elements from which all things exist: earth, air, fire, water, and spirit. The upside down pentacle characterizes the second degree witch who must come to recognize her dark side during this time–much like Luke Skywalker.

Back to the phases of the moon. Every phase has various characteristics that must be taken into account. New moon is used for personal growth, healing, or blessing a new project or venture. Full moon is used for banishing unwanted influences in life, protection and divination. The waning moon is for banishing/rejecting things in life we no longer want–like excess weight or negative habits/emotions (if hair is cut during this time it will take longer to grow out). Waxing moon is a time to attract things into our lives like prosperity, abundance, or magic. Since I am awake (I went to bed at 9pm last night only to awaken bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 2am)   I will likely go outside at 5:08am, light a black candle (to dispel negativity), and say an invocation to Hecate. Tonight I will likely hold a private ceremony and perform some candle magic in which I ask the Goddess for guidance in some aspect of my life.

As previously mentioned, I have only been studying this for a couple of months, but as I read over it I realize how surreal it is considering I was a Jehovah’s Witness only a year ago. I am enjoying the freedom of this new belief system and the ability to practice it wherever, and whenever, I want. I also find it empowering after coming from a patriarchal dominated religion. What I am finding most interesting, however, are the pagan roots even among Jehovah’s Witnesses. This probably doesn’t sound like a big deal as all religions have adopted pagan customs and holidays. But JW’s held themselves above the rest. The reason they don’t celebrate holidays and birthdays (or anything really) is because of their apparent pagan roots. Customs and traditions are considered taboo by JW’s because of their often superstitious origins (i.e. throwing the bouquet at weddings or the traditional toasts). I didn’t even have a wedding cake at my wedding because I did some research and found its origins to be steeped in fertility (like everything else at weddings) and I didn’t want any part of childbirth.

So for me to encounter, again and again, pagan influences within Jehovah’s Witnesses has been fascinating and enjoyable. October is a very auspicious time for JW’s. They feel this is the month when Jesus was enthroned as King in heaven in 1914. This is also supposed to be the month when Armageddon occurs. Is it an accident that this same month is the conclusion of the pagan year? I don’t think so.

As I cast my first circle as a practicing witch, I noticed something interesting. Part of the ritual is a calling forth of The Watchtowers. The witch faces east, west, south and north and calls The Guardians of The Watchtowers requesting assistance in the ritual to follow. Can you imagine how strange it was for me to use the term Watchtower in a pagan ceremony? It was surreal to say the least. This is not a new tradition, either. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (late 19th-early 20th century) was a branch of Freemasons who not only created the modern-day Tarot deck but also  had the custom of opening rituals by calling upon the Watchtowers to cleanse and purify a space. The Watchtower has long been considered sacred to Artemis (Diana of Ephesus)  who wore a crown in the form of a Watchtower. The founder of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Charles Taze Russell, could not have been unaware of this since he was a Freemason, as the Cross & Crown image on the Watchtower bore out. (The term ‘Golden Dawn’ not to be confused with “Awake!” predecessor “The Golden Age” and Russell’s series of books, “Millennial Dawn.”)

A supposedly popular ritual of Satanists is the passing of the bread and wine representing Jesus blood and body. Only, they do not partake. Their ritual involves the rejection of the Host, the holy sacrament, Jesus sacrifice. Jehovah’s Witnesses (ex or current) will know what I am getting at, but for those of you who are still in the dark–the most important day of the year for JW’s is the Lord’s Evening Meal in which the emblems representing Christs body and blood are passed. These emblems are passed, untouched, by 99% of the participants. Roughly 10,000 of the more than 7 million Jehovah’s Witnesses get to partake of the host. The rest practice a sort of subconscious rejection of the sacrifice since JW’s teach Jesus is the mediator for only those few who partake. Satanic ritual? Whether they are aware of it or not, it is.

These are only a few of the parallels I have noticed since my studies began, but they only convince me all the more that, as Solomon said,  ”That which has come to be, that is what will come to be; and that which has been done, that is what will be done; and so there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecc. 1:9) Religion comes as an answer to societies needs, bringing with them the roots of previous belief systems. Supposedly, the predominant features of Jesus birth, death, and life can be found in myths that existed long before his apparent birth (see: Horus). Warlike religions were created while society was in its adolescence and conquest and war were rampant. Peaceful religions (or religions who were supposed to be peaceful [Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity]) came about as man evolved from fighting to thinking. And apocalyptic religions (i.e. Adventists, Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses) were born as a response to the increasingly secular world. But religion has failed to bring man deliverance and has only prevented scientific advancement. Society seems to be moving toward a more secular view which I applaud as the only way to evolve past the dark ages of religious intolerance. I hope for a time in which prejudice and judgment are replaced by peace and acceptance. This will only be possible when religion dies and spirituality takes over.

Can you imagine if MacGregor Mathers the founder of the Golden Dawn had come upon Dr. John Dee’s Enochian materials and had discarded it because it was channeled by Edward Kelly? Why did Mathers keep the material and not discard it because it had been channeled or skryed?  Because there was value in the material.  I am tired of so-called magician who do not believe in magic.

Can you imagine if the entire body of the Second Order has not accepted the Second Order initiation because it was channeled by Moina Mathers?  Again the value was and is in the message.  Again, I am tired of magician who do not believe in magic.

Channeled message must be tested.  They do come through human conduits.  It is more that intuition and less than your own Holy Higher Genius talking to you.  It should be considered sacred, but not literal, as many time the message of a channeled angel is a metaphor for something else.  Magician go through elaborate works to invoke spirits, angels and the like and then doubt the message.  If this isn’t an exercise in mental masturbation I don’t know what is.

We are moving into a time where there are more messages from all kinds of sources.  The works of Edgar Cayce are legendary.  Our mind is the connecting link with the higher.  If we are doing the work, then lets give the message a chance to empower our life.  I am getting tired of magicians that don’t believe in magic.

Here is my advice, weigh the message before you hang the messenger.

Robert Zink

Pro Deo et Rege

Imperator General of the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn

Brethren and Friends of the Golden Dawn Community,

We have a number of divisions in how this work, the GREAT WORK,  should be done.  However, I think there is one thing we can all agree on, our magic, the magic of light  can be used for good, not just for ourselves, but for all those who are in deep suffering.  Right now, charities are only about to reach 10% of the people in Somalia who are dying for lack of food.I ask you to join me and others in the spiritual community to use your prayers, and magic to help these people receive the help they urgently need.  If you can handle a small donation to one of many good charities, that is even better.

I know in times past, other leaders in the GD community like David Griffin and Chic Cicero have come together to help those in need due to some tragic event in the world, and I am certain we will all come together again for the live of those who are at risk of starvation in Somalia.

Robert Zink

G.H. Frater P.D.R

Consider: www.worldvision.org

Now, the reasons why I’m putting these two together are: 1)I often confuse them, 2)They’re both poets. And don’t worry, nonexistent reader, because I someday hope to do a double-feature on two eccentric female singers: Emilie Autumn and Tori Amos. But enough of that. The show must go on! Enter, stage right!

 WB Yeats and William Blake both were fascinated with the occult, mystical and otherworldly. Blake claimed to have seen Angels perched in the trees of his garden when he was a boy, and I think he also liked to run around in the garden naked when he was older too. He also gained my respect by claiming that the only time his education was stopped was when he was at school. HOORAY! I actually know about him from the novel Skellig, by David Almond, which had a character named Mina in it (who now has her own prequel). I’m sorry I didn’t put Mina in my Strange Girls list, but don’t worry…

Now, the other fella is also a bit of an insoluble pancake. He was a member of quite a few occult societies. These include The Ghost Club, a paranormal investigation and research organisation, thought to be the oldest of such organisations in the world. He studied Hinduism and was also much inspired by Irish mythology and the stories of the Fair Folk. Another society he was involved in, and also helped set up, was the Dublin Hermetic Order, in 1885, and he attended a seance in 1886. He also was part of the Theosophical society and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which he was admitted to after a spirit called Leo Africanus said it was his Daemon. Yeats’ motto was Daemon est Deus inversus, which means Devil is God inverted. He had a part in all of its power struggles, especially the one where Aleister Crowley (another real-life eccentric) was sent to repossess Golden Dawn paraphenalie during the “Battle of Blythe Road”.

Yeats was in love with a woman named Maud Gonne. She rejected him, and later on in life he also broke down and proposed to her daughter. Lovely. My favourite poem of his is The Stolen Child.

Rudolph Steiner: Anthroposophy

William Butler Yeats: Golden Dawn Lodges

Jeanne de Salzmann: G. I. Gurdjieff – Fourth Way

The Widening Gyre: Western Esotericism in the Mid-Twentieth Century

Susan Johnston Graf and Amy Hale, eds. are seeking articles of 4,000 to 7,000 words for a volume that will explore developments within Western occultism and esotericism during the mid-twentieth century. The volume, when completed, will be under consideration for inclusion in the State University of New York Press (SUNY) series on Western Esotericism.

Interested authors should send a copy of their current curriculum vitae and a 300-500-word scholarly abstract summarizing the proposed contribution to both:

Amy Hale (hale.amy@spcollege.edu) and

Susan Johnston Graf (sjg9 @psu.edu)

by October 1, 2011. 

Rationale and Topics

Historical analysis of Western esoteric movements over the past two

centuries has put great emphasis on cycles of popularity and the

public evolution of esoteric ideas. Two areas of scholarly focus have

been the occult revival of the fin de siècle through the 1920s and the

expansion of Neopaganism as a religious movement in conjunction with

other liberating social movements of the late 1960s and 1970s.

Comparatively, the time period between the end of World War I and

1965, which was one of consolidation and generation in the development

of Western esoteric societies and movements, has been given less

attention. Histories of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the

Theosophical Society, and other late nineteenth- and early

twentieth-century occult movements abound, but, aside from some

notable exceptions, in general there has been less concentration on

mid-century Western esoteric movements.

In this volume, we propose to concentrate tightly on the development

of esoteric groups and societies in the 45-year period between 1920

and 1965. This period saw the early unfolding and extension of Wicca,

important changes in Hermetic groups such as the Golden Dawn and the

O.T.O., and a significant change in the trajectory of Druidry in a way

that affected the entire subsequent direction of the Pagan movement.

Additionally, in the United States we see the earliest occult films of

Kenneth Anger and the first stirrings of the Church of Satan under

Anton LaVey. Likewise, in Germany we find the postwar development of

the Fraternitas Saturni. Our argument is that we should re-evaluate

this era, not only to redress the lack of scholarly attention it has

received, but also because it sets the tone and direction for Western

esotericism for the remainder of the twentieth century and into the

twenty-first.

We seek articles which explore Western esoteric societies, movements,

and ideas, and the individuals, expressions, and places involved in

their continued flowering or declining, as the case may be, between

1920 and 1965.  

Potential topics for exploration may include (but are not limited to) the following:

The development of Golden Dawn lodges after 1920

The development or decline of continental magical orders

Post colonial magical groups in Central America, South America and the Caribbean

The fractioning of neo-Druidic orders

The interplay between the esoteric and Science Fiction

Society for Inner Light and mid-century Glastonbury

Mid-century American magical groups

The work of Kenneth Anger

Early or competing (non Gardnerian) varieties of Witchcraft.

Mid-century Freemasonry

AMORC

The legacy of Rudolph Steiner and Anthroposophy

G. I. Gurdjieff and the Fourth Way