THE BEASTLY LIFE

OF A MAN CALLED CROWLEY

[This chronology of major events is not proofed, it is a work in progresss.]

by Frater Achad Osher 583

CHRONOLOGY

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. - AL I:40

Aleister Crowley globe-trotted extensively throughout his turbulent life and in those travels he met a plethora of divergent individuals on many continents. Some became his friend, others stayed their distance and some were out-right terrified of this man. It can easily be said that Crowley's personality was enigmatic and had a unique effect on many people, one which he obviously enjoyed. He felt strongly about reincarnation and seriously believed that he had unveiled many of his previous incarnations, but as for this particular life, he was born Edward Alexander Crowley on October 12th 1875 in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. His father, a prominent Plymouth Brethren speaker, would ironically die of cancer of the tongue in 1886 when Crowley was just eleven years old. The following year Crowley published his first poem in a magazine titled The Christian.

I am a blind man on a helmless ship,

Without a compass, on a stormy sea;

I cannot sink, for God doth hold me up;

I cannot stray; tis God that guideth me.

Whether the God guiding young Aleister purported to teach good or evil is anyone's guess and would depend on the point of view of the person writing his story. But to flavor Crowley's views on life I might point out that on December 25, 1886, in the early morning hours, eleven year old Aleister Crowley experimented with his cat, Mrs Hagar, to see if it really did have nine lives” He poisoned it, choked it, used chloroform on it, burned it and threw it out the window, amongst other things. Needless-to-say, Crowley was proud of the fact that he proved the superstition was not true. Yes, boys will be boys. All in all, this period was very turbulent for young Crowley and he found himself being transferred from one school after another, until he and his mother finally settled in London. This occurred one year before the first brutal and savage murder by Jack the Ripper which took place on Friday August 31st 1888 in Whitechapel. Crowley would sustain a fascination for this outrage throughout his life and he even believed that he knew the identity of the murder. His knowledge of the Ripper is a very strange story, filled with twisted logic, pure speculations and is nothing less than further perplexity in an already complicated subject.

In 1894, six years after the Ripper's first murder, Aleister Crowley attended King's College in London. It was here that he developed a strong interest in mountain climbing. In October of the following year Crowley left King's College to attend Cambridge. It was while he was an undergraduate at Cambridge that Crowley became acquainted with the artist Gerald Kelly. Their friendship would last for many years. It was on December 31, 1896 Aleister Crowley claims that he officially decided to pursue mysticism and occultism. By 1898 Crowley had published his first book, Aceldama, A Place to Bury Strangers, which claimed to be written by 'A Gentleman of the University of Cambridge.'

With an urge to master mountains racing in his blood, Crowley often traveled to Switzerland, both as a vacation and to do some climbing in the Alps. It was during one of these jaunts in 1898 that the twenty two year old Crowley met Dr. Tom Longstaff, the future President of the Alpine Club. The Beast's skill at mountaineering was unquestionable but Longstaff simply described him as "a fine climber, if an unconventional one. I have seen him go up the dangerous and difficult right side of the great ice fall of the Mer de Glace below the Geant alone, just for a promenade. Probably the first and perhaps the only time this mad, dangerous and difficult route had been taken." Within a short time the Alpine Club rejected Crowley because of such antics and in turn the Beast verbally attacked them whenever he had a chance. Some historians have speculated that when Crowley supposedly took a cow to the top of the Matterhorn this annoyed the Alpine Club by exposing how easy their climbs really were. In some cases this was true. Most Britons in Crowley's time employed Alpine Club guides for even the simplest of climbs. Crowley never employed a guide in his entire life and because he belittled the Alpine Club's policies, they shunned him. However, their rejection did not deter Crowley's love of mountain climbing and in his lifetime he would attempt such feats of climbing as Chogo Ri, also known as K2, and the Himalayan peak of Kangchenjunga as well as other peaks in Mexico. It was a passion, like magic, which he carried throughout his life. Although he often went to Switzerland for vacations throughout his life, his love for the Alps slowly faded after his first view of the Himalayas. He explained it thus - "the Himalayas had cured me of the habit of going to the Alps. I could not play any longer with dolls after wooing such grown-up girls as Chogo Ri and Kangchenjunga."

It was during a vacation in Zermatt, Switzerland that Crowley met a gentleman named Julian L. Baker. It seems that both shared a strong interest in alchemy. In time, Baker introduced Crowley to George Cecil Jones who in turn introduced him to The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. A little over a month after Crowley turned twenty three years old, on November 18th 1898, he joined this organization at Mark Masons' Hall in London and took the magical motto of Perdurabo. Over the next few years, Crowley's life became very complicated. His antics in The Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn are legendary and by itself would encompass a full volume. Magic had become his life and he progressed rapidly through the degrees of the Golden Dawn, but problems were on the horizon. To make a long story short, they refused to initiate him into the inner, or Second Order.

1900

In early 1900 Crowley left London for Paris and, under the guidance of MacGregor Mathers, he was given initiation into the Second Order as an Adeptus Minor with the new motto Parzival. Upon returning to London, all hell broke loose and the story gets even more complicated. One fact is certain, on March 25th 1900 he received a letter from Mrs. E. A. Hunter stating that the London Second Order of the Golden Dawn did not recognize his initiation in Paris. It was a difficult period, with the end result that Crowley left the Golden Dawn and embarked by ship for New York enroute to Mexico.

On November 14, 1900 Crowley evoked the 30th Aethyr of John Dee’s Enochian system in Mexico and later wrote, “What I saw was not beyond my experience, but what I heard was unintelligible to me as Blake to a Baptist.” ... In Mexico he also sought the 29th Aethyr but no further.

He continued traveling widely over the next few years to such places as the Far East, Ceylon and India.

1901

1902

On February 13, 1902 Aleister Crowley, with recently shaved head, arrived in Kandy, Burma on this date to look up his old friend, Allan Bennett. Besides learning about laudanum Crowley also bought over twenty five pipes of opium and smoked such with absolutely no results. But like a true scientist he continued his experiments and realized his problem. His solution was simply; he wasn’t inhaling. He admits after this realization that he began to enjoy the pleasures of the drug.

1903

He later headed to Egypt, France and finally back to Scotland, where he owned an estate called Boleskine. John Francis Toye, was born on this date in England. He was the cousin of the noted artist Gerald Kelly, once wrote, “Of all the extraordinary people I met  … undoubtedly the most extraordinary was Aleister Crowley. Crowley, like the author of Hadrian VII, whom in many ways he much resembled, was a genius gone wrong, with a remarkable talent for Browningesque verse, a soaring imagination, and a sense of humour altogether exceptional. Indeed, in retrospect, his sense of humour stands out as his most striking attribute.” He goes on to give an example of Crowley’s humor by telling us that when Crowley bought his estate in Scotland, on Loch Ness, he posted signs saying “Beware of the Ichthyosaurus!” and “The Donotheriums are out today!”

In July of 1903 he went to Edinburgh in Scotland to visit his old friend, the artist Gerald Kelly. It was here that he met his first wife, Gerald's sister Rose Edith Kelly. Although they became instantly infatuated with each other, unfortunately Rose was already engaged to another man whom she didn't love. To alleviate this tragic situation both Rose and Crowley acted impulsively by fleeing and getting married themselves on August 12th 1903 at Dingwall, Scotland. It was a drastic solution to Rose's engagement problem but it seem to work.

1904

Shortly afterwards the newly married couple embarked for Egypt, posing as Prince and Princess Chioa Khan. The following year is probably the most important in Crowley's entire life. It deserves a much more lengthy explanation than a mere paragraph because the events which occurred affected the rest of Crowley's life. Basically, on February 9, 1904 Aleister Crowley left for Cairo on this date after having arrived the day before at Port Said in the Suez. On March 14, Crowley rented a flat in Cairo; according to The Egyptian Gazette newspaper of Thursday February 11th 1904 they rented the flat as “Lord and Lady Baleskine.” It was a small corner apartment, where he turned the room, which faced north, into a Temple. On March 16, 1904 Crowley recited an invocation in order to enable his wife, Rose Kelly, now known as ‘Ouarda the Seer,’ to see the Sylphs, the elemental spirits of water. Rose saw nothing, but got into a curious dream state in which she kept repeating “They are waiting for you!” At first Crowley believed his wife’s hysterical state of mind was brought on by either being constantly drunk all the time or because she was pregnant.  Them on March 23, Rose identified the ‘god’ whom she saw in her visions as waiting to be evoked by the Beast, as the same one found upon the stele No.666 at the Boulak museum. And yes, it turned out that the Gods did want to talk with Aleister Crowley and inevitable they dictated to him The Book of the Law, also called Liber AL vel Legis on three successive days in April of 1904, the 8th, 9th & 10th. This new 'bible' was dictated by Aiwass, an invisible entity who claimed to be the minister of Hoor-Paar-Kraat and a messenger from the forces ruling the planet during the Aeon of Aquarius. The new decree given to mankind was "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." It seemed that Christianity was dead and a new era of 'Crowleyanity' was at hand; an idea which obviously appealed immensely to Aleister Crowley.

When Crowley returned to London he was deeply inspired with these revelations of a new age dawning. He was often seen in local cafes spewing forth the laws of his new religion of Crowleyanity to anyone who would give him an ear. He particularly enjoyed the atmosphere around the Café Royal, which was considered the center of literary and artistic life in London. It is believed that he first entered the Café  around 1897 shortly after leaving Cambridge and, like many creative people of that period he fell in love with the restaurant. Now, after returning from Cairo, he was often seen in the Domino Room, a section of the Café Royal frequented by such dignitaries as Arnold Bennett, G. K. Chesterton and Jacob Epstein to name but a few. In Epsteins case, he had earlier designed the burial tomb of Oscar Wilde which had outraged many for its obvious and blatant display of a male organ on the naked figure. Inevitable a ‘plaque’ was placed over the offending part, hung in the fashion of a fig leaf. However, the plaque did not remain there long as some poets and artists raided the cemetery and removed it. Crowley, in fact, approached Epstein in the Cafe Royal with it dangling round his neck and then, after taking the plaque off, Crowley presented it to Epstein as a gift. ... Many individuals from this period record fascinating tales of Crowley's verbal rants in regards to his new law—"Do what thou wilt" and the death of Christianity. Their stories are interesting, funny and often portray a unique image of the Great Beast in his early Thelemic years.

On a joyous note Crowley's wife Rose gave birth a child on July 28th 1904; a healthy little girl whom they decided to name 'Nuit Ma Ahathoor Hecate Sappho Jezebel Lilith Crowley'.

Later that year, Crowley and his wife headed to Switzerland to do some winter skating and skiing. It was during this vacation that he met the author Clifford Bax at the Kulm Hotel in St. Moritz. They would remain friends for life and the images which Bax paints of Crowley expressing his idea "that there would come the day when the world would accept Crowleyanity as the new world-religion" only supports what other writers have stated about Crowley from this period.

1905

Crowley and his wife left Switzerland to return to his home in Boleskine. Soon thereafter he was tempted to leave again for a chance to climb Kangchenjunga. Unfortunately this climb would end in tragedy with the summit never reached. Shortly afterwards Crowley traveled around India, staying in Calcutta before moving on to Burma with his wife and daughter who had recently joined him. While he was in Kandy, Burma he looked up his old friend Allan Bennett whom he had first met while they both were members of the Golden Dawn.

Crowley, wife and child next headed for China and then to French Indo-China. In the port of Hai Phong, now in North Vietnam, Crowley said farewell to Rose and child, sending them home to Scotland. As for himself, he briefly visited an old flame in Shanghai named Elaine Simpson before boarding the Empress of India ocean liner bound for Vancouver, Canada from which he took a train to New York. This was a joyous period of Crowley's life, but it came crashing to an end when he returned to Liverpool in June of 1906. He learned the tragic news that while he was gallivanting around the countryside, his daughter had died in Rangoon of typhoid most likely caused by Rose's incompetency and not sterilizing the child's bottles properly. A close friend of Crowley's named Duncombe-Jewell callously remarked that the child had merely died of "acute nomenclature." A comment which obviously did not amuse anyone.

March 9th 1905 the noted writer Arnold Bennett also met Crowley during this period. He wrote in his private journal, “I dined at Chat Blanc. Aleister Crowley was there with dirty hands, immense rings, presumably dyed hair, a fancy waistcoat, a fur coat, and tennis shoes.”

1906

Although many historians claim that Aleister Crowley’s AA began around 1907 it was on July 29th 1906 when the idea of creating a ‘new’ Order was first mentioned, in theory, if not by name. In Aleister Crowley’s private diaries, on this date, we find the following note: “D.D.S. and P. discuss a new O.” Frater D.D.S. refers to George Cecil Jones, P is Frater Perdurabo, or Aleister Crowley and O implies an ‘Order.’ At this stage they both discussed all the requirements, of which Crowley diligently pursues, which inevitably manifests the Order into a working structure.

1907

Crowley remained in England only briefly, opting to spend the winter in Paris. In fact it was at the restaurant Le Chat Blanc in the Rue d'Odessa near the Gare Montparnassee that Crowley was introduced to W. Somerset Maugham by his brother-in-law Gerald Kelly.

1908

In October of 1908 Aleister Crowley performed a Magical Retirement in Paris which he refers to as John St. John (The Equinox Vol.I No.1) Of course the 'Great Obligation' that he mentions is based more so upon the magickal principles and theory of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn considering that he had established the A.’.A.’. less than a year earlier and was still coming to terms with ‘New Aeonic’ ideas, while often using the old, or that which he knew and felt comfortable. ... To quote a part from John St. John : "Quite slowly and simply therefore did I wash myself and robe myself as laid down in the Goetia, taking the Violet Robe of an Exempt Adept (being a single Garment), wearing the Ring of an Exempt Adept, and that Secret Ring which had been entrusted to my keeping by the Masters.  Also I took the Almond Wand of Abramelin and the Secret Tibetan Bell, made from Electrum Magicum with its striker of human bone.  I took also the magical knife, and the holy Anointing Oil of Abramelin the Mage."

I began then quite casually by performing the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, finding to my great joy and some surprise that the Pentagrams instantly formulated themselves, visible to the material eye as it were bars of shining blackness deeper than the night.

I then consecrated myself to the Operation; cutting the Tonsure upon my head, a circle, as it were to admit the light of infinity: and cutting the cross of blood upon my breast, thus symbolising the equilibration of and the slaying of the body, while loosing the blood, the first projection in matter of theuniversal Fluid.

The whole formulating the Ankh--the Key of Life!

I gave moreover the signs of the grades from 0= 0 to 7 = 4.

Then did I take upon myself the Great Obligation as follows:

I.   I (name) a member of the Body of God, hereby bind myself on behalf

of the whole Universe, even as we are now physically bound unto the

cross of suffering:

II.   that I will lead a pure life, as a devoted servant of the Order:

III.  that I will understand all things:

IV.  that I will love all things:

V.   that I will perform all things and endure all things:

VI. that I will continue in the Knowledge and Conversation of My Holy

Guardian Angel.

VII. that I will work without attachment:

VIII. that I will work in truth:

IX.   that I will rely only upon myself:

X.   that I will interpret every phenomenon as a particular dealing of God

with my soul.

And if I fail herein, may my pyramid be profaned, and the Eye be closed upon me!"

On another note; although Maugham spent only six months in France, his brief acquaintance with the Great Beast was memorable enough that he based the character Oliver Haddo in his novel The Magician on the Great Beast claiming, "I took an immediate dislike to him, but he interested and amused me ... at the time I knew he was dabbling in Satanism, magic and the occult." Maugham later wrote, “I do not remember how I came to think that Aleister Crowley might serve as the model for the character whom I called Oliver Haddo; nor, indeed, how I came to think of writing that particular novel at all ... though Aleister Crowley served, as I have said, as the model for Oliver Haddo, it is by no means a portrait of him. I made my character more striking in appearance, more sinister and more ruthless than Crowley ever was. I gave him magical powers that Crowley, though he claimed them, certainly never possessed.” Aleister Crowley bought Maugham's book in late November of 1908 when it first hit the stores. He wrote, “The title attracted me strongly, The Magician. The author, bless my soul!  No other than my old and valued friend, William Somerset Maugham, my nice young doctor whom I remembered so well from the dear old days of the Chat Blanc ... Yes, I did myself proud, for the Magician, Oliver Haddo, was Aleister Crowley; his house ‘Skene’ was Boleskine. The hero’s witty remarks were, many of them, my own.  He had, like Arnold Bennett, not spared his shirt cuff.”

1909

Altogether the next few years were very hectic for Aleister Crowley. With the death of his daughter his marriage began showing signs of strain; he wrote, “...my domestic tragedy was coming to a crisis.” and finally on November 24th of 1909 he decided to divorce Rose.

During this period Crowley traveled alot and performed some of the most important magical rituals of his life. On November 23rd he took up The Vision & The Voice in Algeria with Victor ‘Vickybird’ Neuburg which he had begun in Mexico years earlier (1909). The first two Aethyrs had been performed in mexico, now he evoked the 28th Aethyr in Aumale Algeria.

On December 3, 1909, while he was skrying into the 14th Aethyr on this date and, on an ‘impulse’, Aleister Crowley seized upon the idea of a doing a homosexual ritualistic act upon his scribe Victor Neuburg. This occurred outside Dal’leh Addin  and it was dedicated to the great God Pan. Thus, on an erected altar of rough stone, Crowley was said to sacrifice himself, an act which he claimed consumed ‘every particle of his ego.’ Later that very same evening, while skrying further into the same Aethyr, Angels admitted him into the company of the Masters of the Temple. Thus it can be said; with a little buggery and just the proper ‘push’, Aleister Crowley ‘officially’ became a Magister Templi, 8=3, and entered Binah, the third sphere on the Tree of Life. This degree, Crowley had taken back in December of 1906 but never felt ‘comfortable’with obtaining it until now. Back in 1906 he assumed the motto Vi Veri Vniversum Vivus Vici which means: By the power of Truth, I, in my lifetime, have conquered the Universe. 

The most infamous of the Enochian rituals performed during this period was that skrying into the 10th Aethyr on December 5th 1909. Aleister Crowley and Victor ‘Vickybird’ Neuburg had gone a few miles outside the town of Marrakhesh into the desert and, as Neuburg later wrote, “we did not draw a circle, but a pentacle” to evoke Choronzon & the 10th Aethyr. It is well documented but the part of how the ritual ended borders on pure myth. The intent of this ritual was to hold a serious business conversation, but toward the end it seems Choronzon was able to throw sand from the triangle, wherein he stood, into the circle so that a break was made in the circumference. The demon then leaped forth and attacked Neuburg in the form of a ‘naked savage.’ Luckily Neuburg was able to fend him off with divine names and his magickal dagger. It was said that while this was happening Neuburg kept ‘chirping’ unintelligently during the ritual and, as Neuburg’s friend Calder-Marshall noted, that later after all the rituals were completed, “Crowley became so enraged that he turned Vickybird into a zebra, rode him into Alexandria, and sold him to the zoo, where he remained for two years before regaining human shape.

1910

Be that as it may, on May 9th 1910 Crowley performed The Bartzabel Working at Commander G. M. Marston's house in Dorset. Present at this ritual were Victor Neuburg who obviously didn't stay in Alexandria for two years, along with Crowley's current mistress Leila Waddell and several other people. It is said that during the ritual evocation of the Spirit of Mars Neuburg sat within a triangle, just as Crowley had done in during the evocation of Chronzon in the 10th Aethyr; to be used a 'bait' to draw the spirit into appearance. The spirit did appear and it took possession of Victor Neuburg's body as he danced around while Waddell played the violin. ... On another note: Neuburg, was having an affair with Ione de Forest (Joan Hayes), during this period which for some reason infuriated Crowley. This is important because at the end of The Bartzabel Working, Crowley never banished the spirit of Mars from Neuburg who later than night had a fight with Ione and broke up with her. She because so distraught over this breakup that she committed suicide by shooting herself. Neuburg, upon hearing this, never forgave Crowley for this treacherous act. Crowley, later wrote in Magick in Theory and Practice that he once found it necessary to slay a Circe who was bewitching brethren.

Also, of interest; Waddell, with a thick Australian accent, used to call Aleister Crowley, “I.C.” According to her friend Gwen Otter, Crowley used to say to Waddell, “Oh, Mother, I wish you’d get rid of your Australian accent. It sounds so bad in ceremonies.” To appease the Beast, Waddell once asked Gwen, “Will you tell me when I sy anything in Austreyelian?” ... Some of Crowley’s best work was inspired by Waddell’s presence, including The Book of Lies, and many wonderful short stories and works of poetry.

On July 10, 1910 Austin Osman Spare joined the AA assuming the magical motto Frater YIHOVEAUM, or ‘I AM-Aum’ as a Probationer. Crowley toward the end of his life believed Spare to have become a Black Brother because of his cultivation of self-love through pleasure.”

Other notorious rites were rumored to have occurred in the temple which Crowley had in his Victoria Street flat in London around 1910. Like The Rite of Artemis held on August 23rd 1910. These rites were semi-private, theatrical and believed by some to be of a pseudo-satanic nature. It seems that many rich and famous people loved to attend these rites where Crowley supposedly offered strange drugs in sacramental cups with invocations to Satan and Lucifer. Stories of Black Masses slowly drifted out through the literary circles from London to Paris. Crowley's reputation was further elaborated by such people as Ronald Firbank, Ethel Mannin, Katherine Mansfield and John Middleton Murry. Of course one of the most prominent gossip spreader was Gwen Otter whose lavish Chelsea parties many of the above attended, including Aleister Crowley himself. We also learn of the 'Black Masses' from the author Eileen Garrett whom Crowley called a "pythoness." She actually found the rituals boring, claiming that if "there was 'authority' in Crowley's meetings with Lucifer, I never knew it." There were many others who met Crowley during this period, such as Louis Wilkinson and J. F. C. Fuller whose intimate friendship with the Powell family would later allow their son, the author Anthony Powell to met the Great Beast in the thirties.

Probably the most important event which occurred in 1910 was Crowley's introduction to a German gentleman named Theodor Reuss who was the OHO or 'Outer Head of the Order' of the German-based organization called the Ordo Templi Orientis. The early history of this organization is shrouded in mystery. It is generally believed that the organization was founded in Germany shortly before the turn of the century by a rich Austrian industrialist named Karl Kellner (1850-1905) who was later assisted by Franz Hartmann, Heinrich Klein and Theodore Reuss. On June 7th 1905, its founding father, Karl Kellner, died in Vienna under very 'mysterious circumstances.' According to the death certificate the cause was attributed to blood poisoning. Unfortunately the medical advisor could not determine how he contracted this ailment. He was succeeded by Albert Karl Theodore Reuss (Frater Merlin Peregrinus 1855-1923) who became the second OHO of the Ordo Templi Orientis. Under the leadership of Theodore Reuss the OTO grew rather rapidly as he chartered many OTO Lodges—in France under Dr. Encausse (Papus), in Austria under Rudolf Steiner, as well as bodies in Germany, Denmark and Switzerland to name but a few. The OTO was enjoying a modest success.

When Aleister Crowley joined the OTO he became known as Frater Baphomet and was recognized as a VIIº member. He joined at this advanced level because the OTO had a policy which stated that any individual who was a 33º Scottish Rite Mason, which Crowley was since 1900, could join the OTO at the equivalent degree or VIIº.

Of all the rituals Crowley performed this year, none can compare to those known as The Rites of Eleusis and were held at Caxton Hall, Westminster. The first was held on October 19, 1910 and was called the Rite of Saturn. A review of this ritual which appeared in the Sketch stated, “...beautifully conceived and beautifully carried out.  If there is any higher form of artistic expression than great verse and great music, I have yet to learn it.” On October 26th he performed the Rite of Jupiter of Eleusis in Caxton Hall and on November 2, 1910 “... amid choking clouds of incense, varied by barbaric dances, sensational interludes of melodrama, blasphemy and erotic suggestion” Crowley and company performed the Rite of Mars. The rite of Sol was performed on November 9, 1910 at Caxton Hall.  Later Crowley blamed the failure of this ritual on  “... too hasty preparation of the texts, not enough rehearsal, and his misguided belief that the public were gifted with reverence, intelligence, imagination and (the ability to interpret) the most obscure symbolism.”  ... and on November 16, 1900 the rite of Venus of Eleusis was performed to which Crowley wrote, “... if I had had the most ordinary common sense, I should have got a proper impresario to have it presented in proper surroundings by officers trained in the necessary techniques. Had I done so, I might have made an epoch in the drama.” ... and finally, on November 20, 1910 the last Rite, that of Luna, was performed at Caxton Hall. Crowley who would later state, regarding this particular ritual, that “... the historic incompetence of the officers was mercifully concealed from (the audience) by the gloom.”

Around this time Crowley met Walter Duranty the controversial journalists, although he was still living in London with his Scarlet Woman, Leila Waddell, he was also having an affair with Jane Cheron, “a devotee of that great and terrible god, Opium.” Of the three, Crowley, Duranty and Cheron, all had a mutual interest in smoking opium, having homosexual sex and sharing Jane, or simply having a ménage a trois. Years later Duranty married Jane Cheron.

1911

On September 27, 1911 Rose Edith Kelly, aka Mrs. Aleister Edward Crowley, was taken off to a sanatorium for alcoholic dementia by the family doctor and was certified insane. She later recovered, divorced Aleister Crowley, remarried and tried to forget the Great Beast 666.

On October 11th 1911 Crowley met both Isadora Duncan and her secretary Mary d’Esti Sturges during a rather boisterous party at the Savoy Hotel in London. This event was being hosted by Isadora Duncan in honor of Mary’s birthday. Crowley was the guest of a youth named Hener Skene whom he refers to as an “obscure prig,” and a “brainless and conceited youth.” Obviously Crowley didn’t like the boy and he used him simply to gain access to the party because he wanted to be introduced to Isadora Duncan. Instead, during the course of the evening, he discovered Mary. He simply walked up, asked, “Have you ever had a serpent’s kiss?” and before she could answer yes or no, he bit her on the wrist. The story has it that she developed blood poisoning! At that time Crowley was four years younger than Mary d’Esti who was celebrating her fortieth birthday. He described her as “a magnificent specimen of mingled Irish and Italian blood,” adding that she “possessed a most powerful personality and a terrific magnetism which instantly attracted my own.” It seems Crowley and Mary were mutually attracted right from the start. She became his Scarlet Woman known as Soror Virakam (Sanskrit for ‘I-Perform’). They traveled together to Switzerland and then to Naples where the magical Ab-ul-Diz Working occurred. The spirit claimed the number 78 and offered a book to Aleister Crowley called ABA. Mary's son, Preston Sturges, whom Crowley only refers to as "the brat", has fascinating memories and images of Aleister Crowley from this period which, although priceless for their evocative nature, are not always kind. It seems that Preston Sturges belittled his mother's communication with the spirit of Ab-ul-Diz, calling the entity a "Babylonian pimp."

1912

Meanwhile the OTO was continuing to grow. In 1912 Charles Stansfeld Jones (Frater Achad) was chartered by Theodore Reuss to operate the OTO in North America and Canada. In the same year, on June 1st, Aleister Crowley was elevated to the IXº and chartered as 'the Most Holy, Most Illustrious, Most Illuminated and Most Puissant Baphomet, Xº, Rex Summus Sanctissimus 33º, 90º, 96º' to operate a National Grand Lodge for Great Britain and Ireland.

There is some controversy over how Aleister Crowley ascended the ranks of the OTO. The popular story tells that and extremely angry Theodor Reuss had confronted Aleister Crowley in his London flat. Reuss claimed that the Beast had revealed the inner-most secrets of the IXº of the Ordo Templi Orientis in his recently published The Book of Lies. Crowley was shocked. He began re-reading the section in question and was immediately struck by a lightning bolt of illumination as the inner secrets of the OTO unfolded themselves before him. For hours they talked and the result was that Reuss appointed Aleister Crowley head of the OTO for the British Isle and made him officially a IXº member. We know this meeting definitely occurred in 1912. What is confusing is the fact that Crowley did not publish The Book of Lies until 1913. Some historians have suggested that Crowley created this story regarding The Book of Lies merely as a blind to conceal the real book, published in 1912, which offended Reuss. There are others who believe that The Book of Lies carries the wrong publishing date on the inside title page. However, some might argue that a wrong date would be highly unlikely citing how Crowley methodically released all his books like magical sigils, making every date astrologically perfect. A wrong publishing date is something Crowley would not have missed in proofing. Whatever the case may be, at some point Aleister Crowley revealed the secrets of the OTO and thus was elevated within its membership, or so the story goes.

1913

Another important book appeared in 1913. This was a novel titled Paris Nights. When Crowley purchased this novel he was amazed to discover that it had been written by his old friend Arnold Bennett whom he had met at the Café Royal years earlier. After reading the book he wrote that "... Arnold Bennett had gratified the public with a highly spiced description of me." As for himself, Crowley had already published numerous books by 1913, almost too many to mention. However one of note is The Equinox, Vol. I No. 3; which contains Energized Enthusiasm. In this short piece Crowley tried to explain 'why' OTO sexual methods work. He continued these explorations into OTO sexo-magical techniques and in January 1914 he began what is known as The Paris Workings. These rituals occurred with the help of Victor Neuburg and they were the last time that both he and Crowley ever worked together.

It was also during this year that a student of Aleister Crowley's named Frank Bennett (Frater Progradior) brought the OTO to Australia where he had recently moved. Frank Bennett was a bricklayer in Lancashire, England when he first met Aleister Crowley in 1910. Unfortunately Bennett would die in 1932 after achieving only a modest success in establishing the OTO in Australia. The OTO was also chartered to operate in South Africa under Thomas James Windram (Frater Semper Peratus Xº). Windram, an accountant living in Johannesburg, died in 1939. While all this was occurring, Europe was on the brink of a world war which finally erupted on June 28th with the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand of the Austrian-Hungarian empire. At that time Crowley was staying in Switzerland and he quickly returned home to England. His stay in England was brief as he decided to head to Paris.

1914

On September 21, 1914, Aleister Crowley wrote his commentary on Liber Agape titled De Arte Magica.

By late 1914 Crowley was becoming restless again and on October 24th he left Paris, sailing off to America on the ocean liner Lusitania. This ship would be sunk by a German submarine a little over six months later on May 7th 1915. Ironically the month before Crowley sailed, the author Joan Grant, along with her family, also embarked for America not realizing that their paths would cross a few months later at a Christmas gathering in New York. It was here that the Great Beast met Joan Grant when she was only seven year old. Her story about Crowley is very derogatory if not insulting. Some believe it is nothing less than pure fabrication, similar to the claims made by the witch Sybil Leek. She gained considerable notoriety with her book, The Diary of a Witch. She is remembered as a gifted psychic, astrologer and writer who did much to influence the revival of the modern day witchcraft movement. According to Leek she met Aleister Crowley as a young child around this period in his life and he told her - “This is the one who will take up where I leave off”, adding “You’d better remember that, young lady. You’ll hear all sorts of things said about me and they’ll say the same things about you, but I shall have broken the ground for you.” Of course, history has now shown that Crowley never met her.

Inevitably, he ended up in Mexico and there, “...reached such a low state that even the toughest of whores avoided him. His body was filthy, he had a thick, beard, and he was foul-smelling.  There was no telling just how far he wanted to go in his orgy of masochism because a mountain-climbing friend of his, a man named Oscar Eckenstein, rescued him in time.”

1915

On January 5, 1915 Aleister Crowley’s wrote in Rex de Arte Regia, The King on the Royal Art Diaries regarding his magickal workings with the opposite sex in New York, and noting that, “women in America seem purely animal. They come like water and like the wind they go. Not one of these operations in this country has ever had the flavor that one gets in Europe.”

Anyway, while in New York Aleister Crowley was staying at 40 West 36th Street. He attracted many of the rich and famous such as John Quinn, H. L. Mencken, Theodore Dreiser and George Sylvestor Viereck, editor of The Fatherland and The International. He also met his old friend Louis Wilkinson and his new wife, Frances, although she was quick to loath and abhor the Beast. It was through Cosegrove, the editor of The New York World, that Crowley met the famous American astrologer Evangeline Adams. In time she would play an important role in Crowley's life.

On a side note, always a showman for a cause, Aleister Crowley claimed to be an Irishman and decided to row a boat to the base of the Statue of Liberty where he supposedly burned his passport while declaring that the Irish Republic was born. It is ironic that a person like Crowley, who never set foot in Ireland, had decided to rally to the cause of the country's freedom. However, with much regret, once they reached Bedloe's Island a lone watchman refused to allow Crowley's small boat containing ten patriots to dock without the proper permit and paperwork. Therefore the entire ceremony was actually held just off shore as the boat drifted near the island. This occurred on July 2nd of 1915. It seemed that no matter where he traveled his antics were covered by the press. On July 13th a full article appeared in the New York Times titled 'Irish Republic Born in New York Harbor.' Just one week later a letter was received and published in the New York Times from 'Alex C. Crowley' entitled "The Irish Flag." The letter, although brief, is quite funny as it explains that the present Irish fag is not the correct one speculating that Ireland was originally colonized from Egypt or by people "from Atlantis when the continent was submerged."

On October 6th 1915 the Beast left New York for Vancouver to see his student Frater Achad (Charles Stansfeld Jones). His first stop was in Detroit; he then headed to Chicago and finally arrived in Vancouver on October 19th. His latest Scarlet Woman, Sister Hilarion (Jane Foster) was with him. After their brief visit they headed down to Seattle and toward San Francisco. While in California Crowley wrote a great poem entitled At Big Trees, Santa Cruz. He continued down to southern California visiting Los Angeles, San Diego and returned to New York after going through Colorado.

On a magical note it was during this period of his life, on his birthday in 1915, he claimed the Grade of Magus and took the magical motto of To Mega Therion—the Great Beast 666.

On October 12, 1915 Crowley wrote: “I should unquestionably have become insane from satisfaction at the fulfillment of my utmost aspirations having been granted to me so superlatively beyond imagination conceived, but for ‘my sense of humor and my common sense.’”  Thus Aleister Crowley wrote upon his attainment to the grade of MAGUS, 9=2. He assumed the magical motto: To Mega Therion, The Great Beast 666.

1916

Once they were back in New York, on July 8th 1916, Aleister Crowley and Sister Hilarion attempted to create a 'Magical Child'. It was his intention, or belief that he needed to find an heir to assume his magical throne. It is a complicated story but, in time, the child turned out to be none other than Frater Achad. It seems, unbeknownst to the Beast, during the previous month on June 21st 1916 Frater Achad had taken the magical Oath of a Magister Templi. This meant that he vowed to interpret everything which occurred to him as a particular dealing of his God with his own soul, thus throwing himself into the Abyss as a 'child'. After corresponding with Crowley, Frater Achad headed to New York to be by the Beast's side.

Shortly afterwards, plagued by the oppressing heat and atmosphere in New York City, Crowley decided to flee and take a magical retirement. This was in the summer of 1916. He felt that the city was slowly strangling his creativity so he accepted an offer made by Evangeline Adams to stay at her cottage in New Hampshire on Lake Pasquaney. He arrived on June 23rd. It is probably the least understood, if not the most fascinating, part of his entire stay in America. It can be stated that many strange things occurred in New Hampshire. Crowley performed alot of magic, he sacrificed a frog in the name of Jesus Christ and he wrote a lot. It was an interesting period according to his own diaries.

On October 17th 1916 Crowley returned briefly to New York but quickly left in route to New Orleans where he arrived on December 9th. He considered this one of his favorite cities in America. It was here that he wrote the Simon Iff stories to be serialized in The International magazine beginning with the September 1917 issue. By February Crowley was traveling again. This time the Beast was off to Titusville, Florida to investigate a possible job offer as the assistant manager of a large hotel. The offer was extended by his cousin Lawrence Bishop. Unfortunately the offer fell through and his visit with his cousin's family was a disaster. He remained in Florida until March 29th 1917, when he again headed back to New York. Once back in the city he took a room on Central Park West, moving in with his latest Scarlet Woman whom he called his 'Anubis, my dog-headed concubine.' She was a Pennsylvania Dutch woman named Anna Catherine Miller. Their relationship didn't last as the 'Dog' or Catherine took to solitary drunkenness, apparently a trait assumed by many who took up residency with the Great Beast. Finally in October, totally disgusted, Crowley walked out on her and moved into an art studio on West 9th Street, sharing it with a friend of the 'Dog' known as Roddie Minor.

However, just before his leaving the Dog, there is an historically important entry in his diaries on May 6th. Crowley wrote that he heard his mother, Emily Bertha Crowley, had died. He claimed that two nights before her death he had a dream of such occurring, "with a feeling of extreme distress." He had a similar dream shortly before his father died.

1917

In August of 1917 Aleister Crowley began working as a contributing editor for The International, a magazine owned by George Sylvestor Viereck. He had been submitting articles to the magazine for some time. This was the only salaried or paying job which Crowley held during his entire life.

It was during his stay in New York that Aleister Crowley made friends with Frank Harris the British-American author. At the time Harris was living at the St. Regis Hotel and often Crowley would stop by for a "petite verre of brandy" and conversation. In an odd comment, Harris mentioned Crowley's phlebitis and made jokes about him looking, "more like an Egyptian than ever" during this period. It was Frank Harris who introduced Crowley to the author William Seabrook. We also learn that years later, according to Crowley's diaries, he had an affair with Seabrook's wife, Kate.

1918

The beginning of the new year, 1918, saw Crowley with a new Scarlet Woman. It is no surprise to learn that her name is Roddie Minor, the woman with whom he had been sharing an apartment since last October. He named her the 'Camel' although she was also known as Sister Ahitha or Achitha. Through her mediumship on January 4, 1918 Crowley was brought into contact with the entity calling itself Amalantrah. This entity taught Crowley the spelling of Baphomet as Bafomithr. Still, many argue that Achitha’s visions appear to be no more than hallucinations produced by ‘Our lady of Dreams’ (opium), lacking any real occult significance but for Crowley, he found them extremely impressive. Also, while Crowley was living with Roddie Minor he began writing Liber Aleph as an Epistle to his 'Son', Frater Achad, who was still in New York. It was finished in 1918 but would not be published until 1962, years after Crowley's death. Typical of Crowley's life, love was fleeting and by March he was in the process of replacing Roddie Minor with another woman whom he refers to as Olun in his diaries. Her real name was Marie Lavroff.

Unfortunately the The International was sold and bought by Lindley M. Keasbey in April of 1918 and Crowley lost his job. To Crowley's utter satisfaction, the bumbling and incompetent Keasbey put out only one issue before the magazine went belly up and folded.

Probably the most bizarre of Crowley's escapades in America occurred on July 19, 1918 when Crowley began his Great Magical Retirement. In his diary Crowley simply wrote, “July 19. Began Great Magical Retirement in canoe on Hudson.” His friend William Seabrook later commented that Crowley hadn’t bought so much as a can of beans or a loaf of bread. He had nothing in his pockets except the ticket for the trip up the river.” As the boat was leaving Crowley waved good-bye with a slight grin. Seabrook yelled, “What are you going to eat, for crying out loud?” to which Crowley replied, in his heaviest pontifical manner, “My children, I am going to Esopus Island, and I will be fed as Elijah was fed by the ravens.” Seabrook just shook his head and yelled back, “Are you coming back in a chariot of fire, or in a Black Maria?” The story has it that once Crowley reached his destination, be rents a small boat and rowed out to Oesopus Island on the Hudson River and painted in huge, bright red letters 'Do What Thou Wilt' across the face of a cliff. It was an interesting magical retirement and much more complicated that merely painting a cliff ... his rituals, meditations and diaries of the incident are fascinating in regards to this jaunt, yet they don't always portray success. As an example, on one occasion Crowley writes a humorous note that "Having been trying to get into dhyana for half an hour: not the least use. What's wrong? If this goes on, I shall be eligible for membership in the Theosophical Society." What a concept, Crowley a Theosophists! During this retirement Crowley left two of the woman he had been seeing, both Roddie Minor and Marie Lavroff, for yet another woman named Madeleine George. His relationship with her was probably the shortest of all his Scarlet Women. Upon returning to New York city he moved into a studio on 1 University Place.

It was while living in Greenwich Village that Crowley took up paint and paintbrush in an attempt to become an artist. He put an advertisement in the local paper which said 'WANTED—Dwarfs, hunchbacks, Tattooed Women, Fisher Girls, Freaks of all Sorts, Coloured Women, only if exceptionally ugly or deformed, to pose for artist. Apply by letter with a photograph.' A reporter for a local paper who visited his studio reported that Crowley told him, "I had never studied art and had never drawn or painted a picture in my life. When I tried to draw I became so interested in the work that I gave up the editorship of the magazine and went in for art. What you see around you is the result. What sort of an artist am I? Oh, I don't know just what to call myself. I'd say, off-hand, that I was an old master."

Meanwhile the war in Europe was beginning to show signs of ending. The German people were in revolt which resulted in an armistice being signed thus leading to the peace treaty of Versailles. Therefore the First World War was officially over.

1919

In January of 1919 Crowley was visited by a woman whom he had briefly met the previous year at a lecture which he had given on the topic of magick. Her name was Leah Hirsig. She was a scrawny little school teacher from Harlem. It seems they hit it right off from the start. On their first night together Crowley painted her as a 'Dead Soul' and on the following day he consecrated her, his new Scarlet Woman, Alostrael - the Ape of Thoth. They moved in together, but later decided to flee the heat of New York's summer by going to Montauk, Long Island where they stayed for awhile. Shortly afterwards Crowley decided to spend the holidays with his friends, Kate and William Seabrook at their farm near Decatur, Georgia. He decided to leave Leah in New York. The Evening World Newspaper carried an article on February 26, 1919 about Aleister Crowley’s paintings in New York. It was titled “Painting Dead Souls With Eyes Shut Easy For Subconscious Impressionist, Greenwich Village’s Latest Sensation.” In this article Crowley is quoted as saying, “Now over there you see a weird looking lady with something resembling a pig. The title of that is ‘Ella Wheeler Wilcox and the Swami.’ One of my best works, that.” Crowley was referring to Ella Wheeler Wilcox the American poet whom Crowley adamantly didn’t like. She wrote numerous popular verses which everyone ‘seemingly’ knew. Possibly her most famous verse quoted to this day is “Laugh and the World Laughs with you” (Poems of Passion, 1883). This concept most likely irritated Crowley immensely.

Throughout 1919 Crowley traveled and did some sightseeing. He visted Detroit where on March 21, 1919, after a ‘Five year Period of Silence’ wherein no Vol. II of The Equinox appeared, Aleister Crowley finally released No.1 of Volume III, which is often called the ‘Blue Equinox’ By mid-December Crowley was back to New York where he again met up with Leah.

Even though his stay in America was very 'illuminating', with the end of the War Crowley decided that he wanted to return to England. Obviously he had not destroyed his real passport at the base of the Statue of Liberty because on December 17th he set sail using it. He left America in total disgust believing that his visit to this country had been a failure. His friend, the writer Frank Harris might have agreed, claiming that with Crowley's departure, he "left a string of worthless cheques" behind, to prove he had failed at least financially.

1920

During all this Leah, who was pregnant with Crowley's child, had made plans to met the Beast in Switzerland. These plans were later changed and they met in Paris instead and while crossing the Atlantic Leah met another woman, Ninette Shumway, who decided to follow Leah to see Crowley in Paris. It was in this city on January 11th 1920 that Crowley and Leah both swore an oath to begin an Abbey calling it Thelema. In late February Leah Hirsig bore Crowley a daughter whom they called Anne Leah, nicknamed Poupee. A few months later on April 2nd 1920 Aleister Crowley arrived in the tiny town of Cefalu on the island of Sicily. He had great hopes to begin the groundwork for an Abbey of Thelema which would practice his law of 'Do what thou wilt.' Leah and Poupee arrived soon afterwards. The escapades which occurred at the Abbey are legendary with rumors of strange sex rites, orgies and many drugs. An entire book could be written on just this one period of Crowley's life.

June 2nd 1920 - Crowley, "Now let us turn to note the formula of the Aeon, 418, which is not, as one might expect, of Horus, but Cheth, the Chariot."

July 23, 1920 Jane Wolfe arrived at the Abbey of Thelema in Cefalu from America. She was hoping that Aleister Crowley might cure her sickness. William Seabrook, a very close friend of Wolfe, states that she was suffering from “... an unrequited passion for some homme fatale of the speakeasy epoch, from too much bathroom gin, despondency, and a couple of other depressants which ... included veronal.”

August 12th 1920 - "Her breasts itch with lust of Incest. She hath given Her two-year bastard boy to Her lewd lover's whim of sodomy, hath taught him speech and act, things infinitely abhorred, with Her own beastly carcass. She hath tongued Her five-month girl, and asked its father to deflower it." This is a quote from Crowley's diaries which seem to imply that both Crowley and Leah Hirsig not only molested her son Hansi Carter aka ‘Dionysus’ [whose father was Edward Carter] but that Crowley also ‘deflowered’ his own daughter who was only five months old. The daughter Anne Leah, nicknamed Poupee, had been born in late February 1920. Of course, if this molestation is true then Crowley might have been directly responsible for causing her death less than two months later on October 14th, 1920 because, unlike his childhood experiment with his cat Mrs Hagar to see if it really did have nine lives, Poupee had only one life to mess with ... we also know that Poupee’s death was so traumatic to Hirsig that six days later she, who was three months pregnant with another child by Aleister Crowley, miscarried and lost this child too.

In some ways his stay at the Abbey was tragic as within the first year, on October 14th, 1920 his daughter Anne Leah (Poup’ee) died. Only six days later Leah Hirsig, who was three months pregnant with another child by Aleister Crowley, miscarried and lost this child too. The following month was very hectic around the Abbey. On November 21st, Frater Genesthai or Cecil Fredrick Russell arrived, followed by Raoul Loveday and his wife Betty May on the 26th.

Also on November 26th 1920 Astarte Lulu Panthea was born to Ninette Shumway at 2:00am in Palermo, Sicily but tragically, she died in 1928.

1921

On May 23, 1921 Aleister Crowley assumed the Oath of Ipsissimus in the AA, or 10=1. This magickal degree being centered in the Qabalistic sphere of Kether on the Tree of Life, and upon obtaining it one ‘ceases to be a man.’

The OTO took a very strange turn in the early 1920's but it is difficult to figure out the details as much of the historical information has been lost. Apparently it began with a letter from Cefalu, dated November 23rd 1921, wherein Aleister Crowley suggested to Theodore Reuss that he should step down as OHO. The exact reason behind Crowley's comment is not fully known. Some believe it due to political strife within the OTO, but others think it was simply because of Reuss' poor health as he had recently suffered a serious stroke. Regardless of which, Aleister Crowley was further bold in suggesting to Theodore Reuss that it "is my will to be O.H.O. and Frater Superior of the Order and avail myself of your abdication - to proclaim myself such." Unfortunately any reply from Reuss to Crowley's pretentious demands has been lost. We do know that in his November 1921 diaries Aleister Crowley wrote, "Die Sol ... I have proclaimed myself O.H.O., Frater Superior of the Order of Oriental Templar." This appears to have been unofficial, of course, and was known to only Crowley. However it was a premonition of things to come. Ironically, even though Aleister Crowley had proclaimed himself OHO in 1921, it wasn't until early 1922 that Reuss finally decided to resign. It seems that Reuss did name his successor as Aleister Crowley. Therefore it is anyone's guess as to what had actually transpired between the two over the previous years.

1922

We also know that Crowley and others often left the Abbey if only for brief visits to Paris or London during this period. Many of these excursions were attempts to get one of Crowley's books published, such as The Diary of a Drug Fiend which he bagan writing on June 4, 1922. or to simply raise money to help support the Abbey. During these escapades around the streets of Paris, Aleister Crowley encountered such individuals as the famous photographer Man Ray who was later considered to be one of the earliest American Dadaists and surrealists accepted amongst the Paris scene. In fact, in the early 1920’s, if an individual was going to have their portrait taken in Paris, it was believed by many that you’d be wasting your time unless you were sitting for Man Ray. Regarding his early Paris career, it is written that “there was always an endless dribble of schemes and suggestions by others concerning how Man could enhance his career and related earnings. Except for the inevitable acceptance of contracts with fashion houses and fashion magazines, he politely excused himself from such offers. One of the more diverting proposals was that proffered by Aleister Crowley.” He had met the Great Beast in Hotel de Blois in the Montparnasse section of Paris. Man Ray later wrote, “There was a strange character, Aleister Crowley, whom I’d heard of in connection with various suspect activities in London and New York. We were sitting in the cafe with some friends; he took me aside to speak more confidentially. He knew many wealthy women who came to him for horoscopes. We could work together, he said—why not tell those that wished to be photographed that I require their horoscope in order to portray them properly; on his side he would tell a prospective client for a horoscope that he needed a portrait of her to complete his analysis. As I did not need the extra business, the proposition was not adopted.” Another author has stated, “Ray, no fool, chose not to align himself with Crowley.”

Also, while visiting Paris, Crowley supposedly met the author Ernest Hemingway. However, Hemingway's account of being an actual friend, or acquaintance, of Crowley is questionable. We do know, like many writers of this period, that he was fascinated by the evils of Aleister Crowley and he incorporated him into one of his stories. An unpublished version of The Sun Also Rises contained a short story based on an incident where Ford Madox Ford snubbed Hilaire Belloc only for Hemingway to later realize that Ford had mistaken the identity of the individual whom he had snubbed. It was actually Aleister Crowley whom Ford snubbed. Hemingway describes the incident where he was sitting in a café in Paris in the twenties when “a tall, gray, lantern-jawed man” walked by, adding that Crowley was “walking with a tall woman wearing a blue Italian infantry cape.”

On November 28th 1922 the Beast and Frater Genesthai performed the magical ritual known as The Cephaloedium Working. Things were happening rather fast.

1923

Meanwhile back at the Abbey all was not well. Things began to fall apart with the unfortunate death of Raoul Loveday, aka Frater AUD or Adonis, in February of 1923. Some believe his death resulted from drinking cat's blood during a Satanic ritual but, in fact, it was gastro-enteritis after drinking impure water, not at the abbey as most historians claim, but somewhere from a stream along a thirteen mile route between the abbey and a monastery that he and Betty May had visited. Three days before Raoul's death Crowley recorded in his Magical Record that he felt a  "heavy black and silent" current of magical force threatening the Abbey. He was right. Raoul was buried in an unhallowed grave just outside the walls of the Catholic cemetery at Cefalu. Through fate, destiny or simply by chance the antics at the Abbey drew the attention of the Italian government which was trying to outlaw all Secret Societies within its borders. Mussolini immediately issued the orders expelling Aleister Crowley from his country. There was no possibility of appeal.

On April 20, 1923 Norman Mudd, the gifted ‘one eyed’ mathematician, arrived at Crowley’s Abbey of Thelema at Cefalu. Upon joining the AA he assumed the motto Omnia Pro Veritate, which means ‘All for Truth.’ Crowley would later write about Mudd as - “a nearly liquid mass of loathesome of detestable putrescence. - but oh that ‘nearly’. He won’t flow; he is a clammy poultice of sour war-bread. He clings, he clogs, he chokes.” But for now, being forced to leave Italy on April 30th; Crowley transferred leadership of the Abbey to Mudd.

On May 1st 1923 the Beast fled via Palermo to Tunis in North Africa where he took a room in the Hotel Eymon. He remained there for several months. Leah Hirsig, Mudd and the others remained behind trying to keep the Abbey alive. However, their efforts were in vain and in time both Leah and Mudd fled to Paris. Three months after leaving the Abbey Crowley he released a small pamphlet titled Songs For Italy. The subtitle of this piece was ‘Parturiunt Montes - Nascitur Ridiculus Mus – Saolini’, which has been translated as ‘The mountain brought forth a mouse and who was the mouse?’ This is a quote from a fictitious Saolini, whose name when added to the last word of the quote, ‘Mus’, equals ‘Mus-Saolini’ or Mussolini.

Still, as a bright spot in May at Cefalu, on the 19th Ninette Shumway gave birth to a little girl whom she name Isabella Isis Selene Hecate Artemis Diana Hera Jane, something simply called or Isabella Fraux. Her father was Baron La Calce, the landlord of the Abbey of Thelema.

On the 28th of October in 1923 Theodore Reuss died of complications suffered from his earlier stroke. At the time of his death there were only three National Grand Masters in the Ordo Templi Orientis: Heinrich Tranker (Frater Recnartus 1880-1956) in Germany, Charles Stansfeld Jones (Frater Parzival 1886-1950) in America and, of course, Aleister Crowley.

1924

By this time Crowley had returned to Paris where he again tried to publish a manuscript he had written while at Cefalu. This was his autohagiography entitled The Spirit of Solitude. In January of 1924 he brought the manuscript to Sylvia Beach's establishment known as Shakespeare & Company but, like most publishers, she turned it down. It wasn't until 1929 that the first two of six parts were finally released. During this period Crowley met some famous individuals hanging around the bar scenes of Paris, the author C. J. Hope-Johnstone to name but one.

Throughout September of 1924 Leah and the Beast were slowly drifting apart. On the Fall Equinox, September 21st, she decided to act and sent a letter to Aleister Crowley stating, "I hereby renounce the title of Scarlet Woman and pass it on to the Scarlet Concubine of your desire." Upon receiving her letter, Crowley wasted no time in appointing a new Scarlet Woman. He conferred the title on an American woman named Dorothy Olsen, also known as Sister Astrid. Shortly afterwards they headed for Tunis, leaving Leah to roam the streets of Paris. Crowley's relationship with Dorothy Olsen was like a roller coaster with its continual ups and downs right from the start, a pattern that was typical to every relationship he embarked upon.

1925

Although Aleister Crowley had been proclaimed by Theodore Reuss as the next OHO he did not have the full support of the OTO membership, especially in Germany. He would not achieve this unity until the other two National Grand Masters threw their support behind him. This occurred in January of 1925 when Heinrich Tranker of Germany wrote to Charles Stansfeld Jones and officially nominated Aleister Crowley to the office of Frater Superior and OHO. Crowley accepted the political opportunity to be recognized by his peers although he was quick to point out to Tranker in a letter that "Frater Peregrinus (Theodore Reuss) in the last letter we exchanged definitely designated me to succeed him" already.

In June of 1925 Crowley and Dorthy Olsen traveled to Paris. Once there they joined Leah and Norman Mudd who had recently disobeyed the Beast's direct orders and gotten married. The four of them then headed to Thuringia, Germany where Crowley attended the Weida Conference being held by the OTO. It was here that the majority of the remaining OTO leadership voiced their support of Aleister Crowley and he officially assumed the position of the third Outer Head of Order of the Ordo Templi Orientis. Those OTO members who did not wish to continue under Aleister Crowley's leadership simply resigned, many citing their irreconcilable differences with The Book of the Law and the concepts it implied.

Of all the people whom Crowley met in Germany, the most important person was an OTO member named Karl Germer to whom he was introduced on June 21st 1925. Germer would financially support Aleister Crowley over the next ten years, almost bankrupting himself. Shortly after the Weida Conference Aleister Crowley decided that he had to be free of Dorothy Olsen whose drunken dementia had finally gotten the best of him. They kept in touch for awhile, as Crowley did with many of his Scarlet Women. It was not long before she was replaced by a woman named Margaret Binetti.

Love is the law, love under will. - AL I:57

                                         Frater A.O.583

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Editorial Note: This chronology was originally begun in the Summer of 1994 and was a file where AO583 typed in dates and events which amused him about Aleister Crowley's life; which he could use for his personal research. It was later edited down into the Appendix in Red Flame No.3 The Friends and Acquaintances of Aleister Crowley; which was relased on January 10, 1996 where it retained it's orginal title - A Beastly Life of a man named Crowley. ... The lengthy original was assumed lost. ... But in October 2008 it was discovered on one of the many disks in AO583's possession; the version that is published here is that original chronology. It will be added to and changed as it is proofed. If you see an error, or you think that there is something that should be added, please feel free to email me at Cornelius93@aol.com.