Nevill Drury
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199750993
- eISBN:
- 9780199894871
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199750993.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Arguably the most influential occultist of the twentieth century, Aleister Crowley was initiated as a Neophyte in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn on 18 November 1898. He passed quickly through ...
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Arguably the most influential occultist of the twentieth century, Aleister Crowley was initiated as a Neophyte in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn on 18 November 1898. He passed quickly through the introductory grades of the Order and then sought initiation into the spiritual rebirth ritual that would admit him to the Inner, or Second Order. Following his initiation into this Order in France in January 1900, Crowley returned to England, where he challenged the authority of William Butler Yeats, hoping to displace him as head of the Golden Dawn in England. Crowley was unsuccessful in his bid to dislodge Yeats and then suddenly switched course, withdrawing from the Golden Dawn and embarking upon a series of travels through Mexico, the United States, Ceylon, and India before finally arriving in Cairo. It was here, in 1904, that he received a mediumistic revelation from a metaphysical entity called Aiwass (transcribed as a text later known as The Book of the Law) that would lead to the establishment of his magical cult of Thelema. Crowley’s doctrine of Thelema (Greek: “will”) was based on the practice of sacred sex magick (Crowley’s unique spelling of the word) and claimed to herald the arrival of a new cosmic Aeon. Crowley (as the Great Beast 666) and his Scarlet Woman, or Whore of Babalon (sic) would be the principal players in an ongoing sacred magical saga intended to replace the world’s major religions. Events in Crowley’s magical career took an unexpected turn in London in May 1912, when Crowley was contacted by Theodor Reuss, head of the German branch of the Ordo Templi Orientis—an esoteric organization similarly dedicated to the practice of ritual sex magic. As a result of their meeting, Crowley became head of a new magical order known as the Mysteria Mystica Maxima, effectively an English subsidiary of the German Ordo Templi Orientis. In 1922—following Reuss’s retirement—Crowley replaced Reuss as the head of the O.T.O. itself, a position he held until his death in 1947. Crowley left behind an enormous outpouring of magical writing, much of it related to his central magical dictum: “Do what thou wilt, shall be the whole of the Law.” Among the most enduring aspects of Crowley’s esoteric perspective are his systematic approach to magical consciousness and his emphasis on self-empowerment. Crowley celebrated the cause of the individual throughout his life, despite the controversy he attracted through his own, unique approach to ritual magic.Less
Arguably the most influential occultist of the twentieth century, Aleister Crowley was initiated as a Neophyte in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn on 18 November 1898. He passed quickly through the introductory grades of the Order and then sought initiation into the spiritual rebirth ritual that would admit him to the Inner, or Second Order. Following his initiation into this Order in France in January 1900, Crowley returned to England, where he challenged the authority of William Butler Yeats, hoping to displace him as head of the Golden Dawn in England. Crowley was unsuccessful in his bid to dislodge Yeats and then suddenly switched course, withdrawing from the Golden Dawn and embarking upon a series of travels through Mexico, the United States, Ceylon, and India before finally arriving in Cairo. It was here, in 1904, that he received a mediumistic revelation from a metaphysical entity called Aiwass (transcribed as a text later known as The Book of the Law) that would lead to the establishment of his magical cult of Thelema. Crowley’s doctrine of Thelema (Greek: “will”) was based on the practice of sacred sex magick (Crowley’s unique spelling of the word) and claimed to herald the arrival of a new cosmic Aeon. Crowley (as the Great Beast 666) and his Scarlet Woman, or Whore of Babalon (sic) would be the principal players in an ongoing sacred magical saga intended to replace the world’s major religions. Events in Crowley’s magical career took an unexpected turn in London in May 1912, when Crowley was contacted by Theodor Reuss, head of the German branch of the Ordo Templi Orientis—an esoteric organization similarly dedicated to the practice of ritual sex magic. As a result of their meeting, Crowley became head of a new magical order known as the Mysteria Mystica Maxima, effectively an English subsidiary of the German Ordo Templi Orientis. In 1922—following Reuss’s retirement—Crowley replaced Reuss as the head of the O.T.O. itself, a position he held until his death in 1947. Crowley left behind an enormous outpouring of magical writing, much of it related to his central magical dictum: “Do what thou wilt, shall be the whole of the Law.” Among the most enduring aspects of Crowley’s esoteric perspective are his systematic approach to magical consciousness and his emphasis on self-empowerment. Crowley celebrated the cause of the individual throughout his life, despite the controversy he attracted through his own, unique approach to ritual magic.
Manon Hedenborg White
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- November 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190065027
- eISBN:
- 9780190065058
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190065027.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
Beginning with an overview of feminine stereotypes in fin-de-siècle culture, the chapter introduces Aleister Crowley and his concepts of Babalon and the related figure of the Scarlet Woman. An ...
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Beginning with an overview of feminine stereotypes in fin-de-siècle culture, the chapter introduces Aleister Crowley and his concepts of Babalon and the related figure of the Scarlet Woman. An unconventional figure and founder of the religion Thelema, Crowley led an openly bisexual life and advocated free sexuality. In 1909, Crowley experimented with Enochian magic in the Algerian desert with his lover and disciple Victor B. Neuburg, beholding a series of visions, including one featuring a great goddess. Based on a positive reinterpretation of the Whore of Babylon (Rev. 17), Crowley linked this goddess—called Babalon—to the initiatory ordeal of crossing the Abyss, when the seeker must annihilate their ego to become one with all. I argue that Crowley’s articulation of Babalon built on the fin-de-siècle trope of the femme fatale, which he reinterpreted as a soteriological ideal, thus challenging notions of feminine sexual modesty and bourgeois, masculine rationality.Less
Beginning with an overview of feminine stereotypes in fin-de-siècle culture, the chapter introduces Aleister Crowley and his concepts of Babalon and the related figure of the Scarlet Woman. An unconventional figure and founder of the religion Thelema, Crowley led an openly bisexual life and advocated free sexuality. In 1909, Crowley experimented with Enochian magic in the Algerian desert with his lover and disciple Victor B. Neuburg, beholding a series of visions, including one featuring a great goddess. Based on a positive reinterpretation of the Whore of Babylon (Rev. 17), Crowley linked this goddess—called Babalon—to the initiatory ordeal of crossing the Abyss, when the seeker must annihilate their ego to become one with all. I argue that Crowley’s articulation of Babalon built on the fin-de-siècle trope of the femme fatale, which he reinterpreted as a soteriological ideal, thus challenging notions of feminine sexual modesty and bourgeois, masculine rationality.
Manon Hedenborg White
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- November 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190065027
- eISBN:
- 9780190065058
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190065027.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
This chapter analyzes how Aleister Crowley’s ideas about Babalon and the Scarlet Woman—a title Crowley bestowed upon his most important female lovers and magical partners, designating them earthly ...
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This chapter analyzes how Aleister Crowley’s ideas about Babalon and the Scarlet Woman—a title Crowley bestowed upon his most important female lovers and magical partners, designating them earthly representatives of Babalon—developed after 1909, when Crowley increasingly systematized his magical teachings. In 1912, Crowley became British head of Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), an initiatory fraternity claiming to possess the secret of sexual magic, which subsequently became increasingly important to his magical practice. In 1920, Crowley cofounded a religious commune, the Abbey of Thelema, in Cefalù, Sicily, with his lover and disciple Leah Hirsig, who became Crowley’s Scarlet Woman. Later in life, Crowley developed Babalon’s function further in a number of texts. I argue that Crowley’s Babalon—by symbolizing assertive and transgressive feminine sexuality and the erotic threat to stable, bounded subjectivity—both reifies and challenges dominant perceptions of femininity and feminine sexuality in the early twentieth century.Less
This chapter analyzes how Aleister Crowley’s ideas about Babalon and the Scarlet Woman—a title Crowley bestowed upon his most important female lovers and magical partners, designating them earthly representatives of Babalon—developed after 1909, when Crowley increasingly systematized his magical teachings. In 1912, Crowley became British head of Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), an initiatory fraternity claiming to possess the secret of sexual magic, which subsequently became increasingly important to his magical practice. In 1920, Crowley cofounded a religious commune, the Abbey of Thelema, in Cefalù, Sicily, with his lover and disciple Leah Hirsig, who became Crowley’s Scarlet Woman. Later in life, Crowley developed Babalon’s function further in a number of texts. I argue that Crowley’s Babalon—by symbolizing assertive and transgressive feminine sexuality and the erotic threat to stable, bounded subjectivity—both reifies and challenges dominant perceptions of femininity and feminine sexuality in the early twentieth century.
Henrik Bogdan and Martin P. Starr
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199863075
- eISBN:
- 9780199979974
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199863075.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This introductory chapter discusses Aleister Crowley, who is considered as the godfather of modern Satanism and believer of every kind of excess involving sex and drugs. It first examines his concept ...
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This introductory chapter discusses Aleister Crowley, who is considered as the godfather of modern Satanism and believer of every kind of excess involving sex and drugs. It first examines his concept of esotericism, and then identifies some of the criticisms that he received. It also describes his individualist personality, as well as his education and the works that he developed over the years. The final part of the chapter presents a detailed overview of the rest of the chapters.Less
This introductory chapter discusses Aleister Crowley, who is considered as the godfather of modern Satanism and believer of every kind of excess involving sex and drugs. It first examines his concept of esotericism, and then identifies some of the criticisms that he received. It also describes his individualist personality, as well as his education and the works that he developed over the years. The final part of the chapter presents a detailed overview of the rest of the chapters.
Jason Ā. Josephson-Storm
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780226403229
- eISBN:
- 9780226403533
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226403533.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
This chapter turns to the infamous British magician Aleister Crowley, who overlapped with Frazer at Trinity College, Cambridge. This chapter shows that Crowley drew on the very text in which Frazer ...
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This chapter turns to the infamous British magician Aleister Crowley, who overlapped with Frazer at Trinity College, Cambridge. This chapter shows that Crowley drew on the very text in which Frazer worked out disenchantment to stage his revival of modern “magick” [sic]. Hence, the narrative of disenchantment was self-refuting insofar as it reinvigorated the very thing it described as endangered.Less
This chapter turns to the infamous British magician Aleister Crowley, who overlapped with Frazer at Trinity College, Cambridge. This chapter shows that Crowley drew on the very text in which Frazer worked out disenchantment to stage his revival of modern “magick” [sic]. Hence, the narrative of disenchantment was self-refuting insofar as it reinvigorated the very thing it described as endangered.
Hugh B. Urban
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520247765
- eISBN:
- 9780520932883
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520247765.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
This chapter examines the unique melding of Western sexual magic and Indian Tantric traditions at the dawn of the twentieth century, focusing on the work of the Aleister Crowley. It discusses how ...
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This chapter examines the unique melding of Western sexual magic and Indian Tantric traditions at the dawn of the twentieth century, focusing on the work of the Aleister Crowley. It discusses how Crowley made sex the supreme magical secret and the ultimate source of power, and considers his work in light of the debates surrounding sexuality and deviant sexual behavior. The chapter argues that Crowley is a remarkably Janus-faced figure, a kind of beast with two backs, turned both forward and backward because he reflected some of the central sexual and cultural issues of the early twentieth century while foreshadowing the crisis of modernity after the Second World War and many trends in recent postmodern thought as well.Less
This chapter examines the unique melding of Western sexual magic and Indian Tantric traditions at the dawn of the twentieth century, focusing on the work of the Aleister Crowley. It discusses how Crowley made sex the supreme magical secret and the ultimate source of power, and considers his work in light of the debates surrounding sexuality and deviant sexual behavior. The chapter argues that Crowley is a remarkably Janus-faced figure, a kind of beast with two backs, turned both forward and backward because he reflected some of the central sexual and cultural issues of the early twentieth century while foreshadowing the crisis of modernity after the Second World War and many trends in recent postmodern thought as well.
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226642017
- eISBN:
- 9780226642031
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226642031.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
Aleister Crowley's magical odyssey is deeply instructive of the potentialities of the psychologized magic of the fin de siècle, and illustrative of its dangers. Not least, his magical practice ...
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Aleister Crowley's magical odyssey is deeply instructive of the potentialities of the psychologized magic of the fin de siècle, and illustrative of its dangers. Not least, his magical practice epitomized the ease with which the high aspirations of an Order like the Golden Dawn could metamorphose into those so-called black arts against which occultists such as Madame Blavatsky railed. In his Confessions, Crowley states that he could not understand the reason for this sudden identification with the forces of evil. He perceived his aspirations as religious, but from the outset there was also the issue of power and control. As a man, Crowley died virtually penniless in 1947 at the age of seventy-two. But as a modern icon, he became a cult antihero of 1960, and allegedly has his place on the sleeve of the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.Less
Aleister Crowley's magical odyssey is deeply instructive of the potentialities of the psychologized magic of the fin de siècle, and illustrative of its dangers. Not least, his magical practice epitomized the ease with which the high aspirations of an Order like the Golden Dawn could metamorphose into those so-called black arts against which occultists such as Madame Blavatsky railed. In his Confessions, Crowley states that he could not understand the reason for this sudden identification with the forces of evil. He perceived his aspirations as religious, but from the outset there was also the issue of power and control. As a man, Crowley died virtually penniless in 1947 at the age of seventy-two. But as a modern icon, he became a cult antihero of 1960, and allegedly has his place on the sleeve of the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
C. Nicholas Serra
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780983533924
- eISBN:
- 9781781382219
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780983533924.003.0013
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
This essay provides an overview of W. B. Yeats’s involvement with mystical, magical, and pseudo-scientific societies over the course of his lifetime, with emphasis on the goals of the Hermetic Order ...
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This essay provides an overview of W. B. Yeats’s involvement with mystical, magical, and pseudo-scientific societies over the course of his lifetime, with emphasis on the goals of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (and, more generally, fringe-Masonry, Rosicrucianism, and the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia). It explores the progression of stories and poems explicitly and implicitly related to Yeats’s magical activities, contextualizing the aims, genesis, and final form of A Vision within the pragmatic goals of a Golden Dawn adept: as an example of Yeats’s personal cabala. Furthermore, this treatment highlights the limitations of the canonical sources commonly employed by Yeatsians to elucidate Yeats’s esoteric interests, Israel Regardie’s works in particular, and proposes an exegetical methodology for reading based upon the “heretical” primary works produced by Yeats’s erstwhile colleague Aleister Crowley (arguably the only source of original, pre-1900 Golden Dawn information written for the uninformed or uninitiated reader).Less
This essay provides an overview of W. B. Yeats’s involvement with mystical, magical, and pseudo-scientific societies over the course of his lifetime, with emphasis on the goals of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (and, more generally, fringe-Masonry, Rosicrucianism, and the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia). It explores the progression of stories and poems explicitly and implicitly related to Yeats’s magical activities, contextualizing the aims, genesis, and final form of A Vision within the pragmatic goals of a Golden Dawn adept: as an example of Yeats’s personal cabala. Furthermore, this treatment highlights the limitations of the canonical sources commonly employed by Yeatsians to elucidate Yeats’s esoteric interests, Israel Regardie’s works in particular, and proposes an exegetical methodology for reading based upon the “heretical” primary works produced by Yeats’s erstwhile colleague Aleister Crowley (arguably the only source of original, pre-1900 Golden Dawn information written for the uninformed or uninitiated reader).
Ronald Hutton
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198207443
- eISBN:
- 9780191677670
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198207443.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
This chapter examines the religious and spiritual ideas of selected individuals who flourished in the first half of the 20th century. The distinctions are, first, that their best-known work was ...
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This chapter examines the religious and spiritual ideas of selected individuals who flourished in the first half of the 20th century. The distinctions are, first, that their best-known work was produced slightly later — between 1900 and 1950 — and, second, that they had a direct and obvious influence upon modern pagan witchcraft and have been acknowledged by many modern witches as sources of inspiration. These individuals include Aleister Crowley, Violet Firth, Robert Graves, and Margaret Murray.Less
This chapter examines the religious and spiritual ideas of selected individuals who flourished in the first half of the 20th century. The distinctions are, first, that their best-known work was produced slightly later — between 1900 and 1950 — and, second, that they had a direct and obvious influence upon modern pagan witchcraft and have been acknowledged by many modern witches as sources of inspiration. These individuals include Aleister Crowley, Violet Firth, Robert Graves, and Margaret Murray.
Henrik Bogdan and Martin P. Starr (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199863075
- eISBN:
- 9780199979974
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199863075.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This book offers an examination of one of the twentieth century's most distinctive occult iconoclasts. Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) was a study in contradictions. He was born into a Fundamentalist ...
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This book offers an examination of one of the twentieth century's most distinctive occult iconoclasts. Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) was a study in contradictions. He was born into a Fundamentalist Christian family, and then he was educated at Cambridge where he experienced both an intellectual liberation from his religious upbringing and a psychic awakening that led him into the study of magic. He was a stock figure in the tabloid press of his day, vilified during his life as a traitor, drug addict and debaucher; yet he became known as perhaps the most influential thinker in contemporary esotericism. The practice of the occult arts was understood in the light of contemporary developments in psychology, and its advocates, such as William Butler Yeats, were among the intellectual avant-garde of the modernist project. Crowley took a more drastic step and declared himself the revelator of a new age of individualism. Crowley's occult bricolage, Magick, was a thoroughly eclectic combination of spiritual exercises drawing from Western European ceremonial magical traditions as practiced in the nineteenth-century Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Crowley also pioneered in his inclusion of Indic sources for the parallel disciplines of meditation and yoga. The summa of this journey of self-liberation was harnessing the power of sexuality as a magical discipline, an instance of the “sacrilization of the self” as practiced in his co-masonic magical group, the Ordo Templi Orientis. The religion Crowley created, Thelema, legitimated his role as a charismatic revelator and herald of a new age of freedom under the law of “Do what thou wilt.” The influence of Aleister Crowley is not only to be found in contemporary esotericism—he was, for instance, a major influence on Gerald Gardner and the modern witchcraft movement—but can also be seen in the counter-culture movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and in many forms of alternative spirituality and popular culture. This book provides insight into Crowley's critical role in the study of western esotericism, new religious movements, and sexuality.Less
This book offers an examination of one of the twentieth century's most distinctive occult iconoclasts. Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) was a study in contradictions. He was born into a Fundamentalist Christian family, and then he was educated at Cambridge where he experienced both an intellectual liberation from his religious upbringing and a psychic awakening that led him into the study of magic. He was a stock figure in the tabloid press of his day, vilified during his life as a traitor, drug addict and debaucher; yet he became known as perhaps the most influential thinker in contemporary esotericism. The practice of the occult arts was understood in the light of contemporary developments in psychology, and its advocates, such as William Butler Yeats, were among the intellectual avant-garde of the modernist project. Crowley took a more drastic step and declared himself the revelator of a new age of individualism. Crowley's occult bricolage, Magick, was a thoroughly eclectic combination of spiritual exercises drawing from Western European ceremonial magical traditions as practiced in the nineteenth-century Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Crowley also pioneered in his inclusion of Indic sources for the parallel disciplines of meditation and yoga. The summa of this journey of self-liberation was harnessing the power of sexuality as a magical discipline, an instance of the “sacrilization of the self” as practiced in his co-masonic magical group, the Ordo Templi Orientis. The religion Crowley created, Thelema, legitimated his role as a charismatic revelator and herald of a new age of freedom under the law of “Do what thou wilt.” The influence of Aleister Crowley is not only to be found in contemporary esotericism—he was, for instance, a major influence on Gerald Gardner and the modern witchcraft movement—but can also be seen in the counter-culture movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and in many forms of alternative spirituality and popular culture. This book provides insight into Crowley's critical role in the study of western esotericism, new religious movements, and sexuality.
Christopher Partridge
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190459116
- eISBN:
- 9780190459147
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190459116.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter explores the use of drugs in the occult milieu of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The focus is fin de siècle occultism. While it examines the significance of drug use ...
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This chapter explores the use of drugs in the occult milieu of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The focus is fin de siècle occultism. While it examines the significance of drug use in the life and work of key figures such as W. B. Yeats, Helena Blavatsky, and Aleister Crowley, it also looks at little-known but important occultists such as Paschal Beverly Randolph and Louis-Alphonse Cahagnet, as well as organizations such as the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor and the Order of the Golden Dawn. There is also some analysis of temperance discourses within Theosophy and particularly Spiritualism. Finally, there is an overview of drug use in post-Crowleyan Thelemic thought later in the twentieth century.Less
This chapter explores the use of drugs in the occult milieu of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The focus is fin de siècle occultism. While it examines the significance of drug use in the life and work of key figures such as W. B. Yeats, Helena Blavatsky, and Aleister Crowley, it also looks at little-known but important occultists such as Paschal Beverly Randolph and Louis-Alphonse Cahagnet, as well as organizations such as the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor and the Order of the Golden Dawn. There is also some analysis of temperance discourses within Theosophy and particularly Spiritualism. Finally, there is an overview of drug use in post-Crowleyan Thelemic thought later in the twentieth century.
Manon Hedenborg White
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- November 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190065027
- eISBN:
- 9780190065058
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190065027.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
This chapter sets the scene for the study by briefly introducing some of its core contents and defining the aim of the book: to analyze constructions of femininity and feminine sexuality in ...
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This chapter sets the scene for the study by briefly introducing some of its core contents and defining the aim of the book: to analyze constructions of femininity and feminine sexuality in interpretations of the goddess Babalon from the fin-de-siècle until today. The chapter presents Babalon and her origins in the writings of the British occultist Aleister Crowley and establishes the focus of the study. The idea of a “Babalon discourse,” comprising written, verbal, textual, and embodied interpretations of the goddess, is introduced. The source material for the present study is related to broader categories within the history of religions, such as Western esotericism, occultism, and magic, which are briefly explained and demarcated. Sources and methodology are cursorily presented, and the chapter concludes with an outline of the study.Less
This chapter sets the scene for the study by briefly introducing some of its core contents and defining the aim of the book: to analyze constructions of femininity and feminine sexuality in interpretations of the goddess Babalon from the fin-de-siècle until today. The chapter presents Babalon and her origins in the writings of the British occultist Aleister Crowley and establishes the focus of the study. The idea of a “Babalon discourse,” comprising written, verbal, textual, and embodied interpretations of the goddess, is introduced. The source material for the present study is related to broader categories within the history of religions, such as Western esotericism, occultism, and magic, which are briefly explained and demarcated. Sources and methodology are cursorily presented, and the chapter concludes with an outline of the study.
Hugh B. Urban
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520247765
- eISBN:
- 9780520932883
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520247765.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
This introductory chapter explains the theme of this book, which is about the rise of sexual magic in America and Europe since the mid-nineteenth century. The book traces the transmission of magia ...
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This introductory chapter explains the theme of this book, which is about the rise of sexual magic in America and Europe since the mid-nineteenth century. The book traces the transmission of magia sexualis from the United States to Europe as it was passed on through such authors as Paschal Beverly Randolph, Theodor Reuss, and Aleister Crowley. It examines the impact of Indian traditions like Hindu and Buddhist Tantra, which by the early twentieth century had come to be increasingly fused with Western sexual magic, and analyzes the profound transformation of sexual magic from a terrifying medieval nightmare of heresy and social subversion into a modern ideal of personal empowerment and social liberation. The book argues that the literature on sexual magic has, from its origins, been plagued by a deep tension and ambivalence: The tension between liberation and exploitation.Less
This introductory chapter explains the theme of this book, which is about the rise of sexual magic in America and Europe since the mid-nineteenth century. The book traces the transmission of magia sexualis from the United States to Europe as it was passed on through such authors as Paschal Beverly Randolph, Theodor Reuss, and Aleister Crowley. It examines the impact of Indian traditions like Hindu and Buddhist Tantra, which by the early twentieth century had come to be increasingly fused with Western sexual magic, and analyzes the profound transformation of sexual magic from a terrifying medieval nightmare of heresy and social subversion into a modern ideal of personal empowerment and social liberation. The book argues that the literature on sexual magic has, from its origins, been plagued by a deep tension and ambivalence: The tension between liberation and exploitation.
Manon Hedenborg White
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- November 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190065027
- eISBN:
- 9780190065058
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190065027.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
The study analyzes constructions of femininity and feminine sexuality in interpretations of the goddess Babalon, a central deity in the British occultist Aleister Crowley’s (1875–1947) religion ...
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The study analyzes constructions of femininity and feminine sexuality in interpretations of the goddess Babalon, a central deity in the British occultist Aleister Crowley’s (1875–1947) religion Thelema. Babalon is based on Crowley’s positive reinterpretation of the biblical Whore of Babylon and symbolizes liberated female sexuality and the spiritual modality of passionate union with existence. Analyzing historical and contemporary written sources, qualitative interviews, and ethnographic fieldwork in the Anglo-American esoteric milieu, the study traces interpretations of Babalon from the works of Crowley and some of his key disciples—including the rocket scientist John Whiteside “Jack” Parsons and the enigmatic British occultist Kenneth Grant—from the fin-de-siècle to the present. From the 1990s onward, female and LGBTQ esotericists have challenged historical interpretations of Babalon, drawing on feminist and queer thought and conceptualizing femininity in new ways. Femininity has held a problematic position in feminist theory, often being associated with lack, artifice, and restriction. However, the present study—which assumes that femininities are neither exclusively heterosexual nor limited to women—indicates how interpretations of Babalon have both built on and challenged dominant gender logics. As the first academic monograph to analyze Crowley’s and his followers’ ideas from the perspective of gender, this book contributes to the underexplored study of gender in Western esotericism. By analyzing the development of a misogynistic biblical symbol into an image of feminine sexual freedom, the study also sheds light on interactions between Western esotericism and broader cultural and sociopolitical trends.Less
The study analyzes constructions of femininity and feminine sexuality in interpretations of the goddess Babalon, a central deity in the British occultist Aleister Crowley’s (1875–1947) religion Thelema. Babalon is based on Crowley’s positive reinterpretation of the biblical Whore of Babylon and symbolizes liberated female sexuality and the spiritual modality of passionate union with existence. Analyzing historical and contemporary written sources, qualitative interviews, and ethnographic fieldwork in the Anglo-American esoteric milieu, the study traces interpretations of Babalon from the works of Crowley and some of his key disciples—including the rocket scientist John Whiteside “Jack” Parsons and the enigmatic British occultist Kenneth Grant—from the fin-de-siècle to the present. From the 1990s onward, female and LGBTQ esotericists have challenged historical interpretations of Babalon, drawing on feminist and queer thought and conceptualizing femininity in new ways. Femininity has held a problematic position in feminist theory, often being associated with lack, artifice, and restriction. However, the present study—which assumes that femininities are neither exclusively heterosexual nor limited to women—indicates how interpretations of Babalon have both built on and challenged dominant gender logics. As the first academic monograph to analyze Crowley’s and his followers’ ideas from the perspective of gender, this book contributes to the underexplored study of gender in Western esotericism. By analyzing the development of a misogynistic biblical symbol into an image of feminine sexual freedom, the study also sheds light on interactions between Western esotericism and broader cultural and sociopolitical trends.
Asbjørn Dyrendal, James R. Lewis, and Jesper Aa. Petersen
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780195181104
- eISBN:
- 9780190277505
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195181104.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The chapter shows briefly the early history of how Satan was dis-embedded from the Christian, theological tradition. Beginning with the Romantic poets’ reading of John Milton’s Paradise Lost, the ...
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The chapter shows briefly the early history of how Satan was dis-embedded from the Christian, theological tradition. Beginning with the Romantic poets’ reading of John Milton’s Paradise Lost, the chapter follows some of those who, like William Blake, imagined “Satan” differently, as, for example, an expression of the human psyche, rebellion, or carnal desire. Recent scholarship on the Hell-Fire Clubs, often thought of as satanic is discussed. The chapter ends with a discussion of some early, esoteric strands using Satan as a positive mark of identification. The discussion includes well-known figures such as Aleister Crowley, but also lesser-known people like Stanislaw Przybyszewski, Ben Kadosh, Gregor A. Gregorius, and Maria de Naglowska.Less
The chapter shows briefly the early history of how Satan was dis-embedded from the Christian, theological tradition. Beginning with the Romantic poets’ reading of John Milton’s Paradise Lost, the chapter follows some of those who, like William Blake, imagined “Satan” differently, as, for example, an expression of the human psyche, rebellion, or carnal desire. Recent scholarship on the Hell-Fire Clubs, often thought of as satanic is discussed. The chapter ends with a discussion of some early, esoteric strands using Satan as a positive mark of identification. The discussion includes well-known figures such as Aleister Crowley, but also lesser-known people like Stanislaw Przybyszewski, Ben Kadosh, Gregor A. Gregorius, and Maria de Naglowska.