Page 49 - All About History - Issue 72-18

Aleister Crowley
Crowley, aged 26, on a trip to the mountain
of K2 in Nepal, which failed due to illness
father’s wealth, but this does not seem to have
made him happy. His relationship with his mother
deteriorated; he later wrote that “her powerful
maternal instincts were suppressed by religion
to the point that she became, after her husband’s
death, a brainless bigot of the most narrow, logical
and inhuman type”. Emily’s brother Tom Bishop,
also aconservativeChristian,foundno favourwith
his nephew, who described him m with theperhaps
exaggerated words “no more cruel fanatic, no
u
meaner villain, ever walked the Earth”.
Worst of all, when Crowley beegan to cause
trouble at his school, Ebor Prepa aratory School in
Cambridge, its owner, the Reve y Explore how attitudes to magic, superstition,
s
Champney, was quick and sadistic in his discipline.
g
Crowley was punished by being placed in solitaire,
or ‘Coventry’, where no student or master could
speaktohim,orhetothem.He nly
with bread and water, forced to walk around the
schoolroom and isolated on the playground.These
sadistic measures led him to describe his stay at
was
Ebor as “a boyhood in hell”. A S ge w
lent to the situation by his moth her’s nickname for
herson–“theBeast”.
The pressures of the young Crowley’s
situationledhimtoillhealth,fi irstly with
albuminuria,akidneydisorder. This was no
doubt worsened by some of the other boys
at Ebor, who saw fit to punch hi iminthe
kidneys when they discovered h his illness. In
due course his mother and unclleremoved
him from the tender mercies of Reverend
Champney and sent him to Mal lvern
College and Tonbridge School,
neither of which he enjoyed.
Ultimately he was
educated by private tutors
in Eastbourne, East Sussex,
against whose Christian
“Crowley rebelled by pointing out flaws in the Bible”
teachings the teenage Crowley rebelled by pointing
out flaws in the Bible. Privately, he enjoyed the
forbidden practice of masturbation, of which he
wrote, “Here was certainly a sin worth sinning,
and I applied myself with characteristic vigour to
its practice.” This habit soon graduated to sleeping In The Book....
with local prostitutes, one of whom he later
contracted gonorrhoea from.
From today’s comparatively enlightened point
ofview,wecanseeclearlythatthescenewasset
and the seeds were sown for Crowley’s career of
anti-establishment activities to begin. Here was a
young man, barely more than a boy, jolted by the
early death of his father (who he later described
as a “hero”, apparently sincerely), repelled by
over-eager disciplinarians and contemptuous of
revealed religion. As an intelligent, educated youth Infamous Occultists
Unveil the true stories of the occult’s most
with money of his own, he was free – once he left
influential leaders and prophets
the family home, at least – to wreak the worst kind
Renaissance magic Renaissance magic
of havoc that he could.
Renaissance
In 1895, Crowley adopted the first name Aleister. magic
“Ihadreadinsomebookorother,”hewrote,“that Thepassionforknowledgeandhowtouseitledthinkersdeep
into a mysterious world where the boundaries between nature,
supernature and religion were far from clear
themostfavourablenameforbecomingfamous
s c s l us
In 1489 Marsil o
F cino was accused
of magic before Pope
] w y
Innocent VIII
p on
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o o Magic & discoveries
and science have changed throughout history
Origins of Louisiana Voodoo Origins of Louisiana Voodoo
Voodoo sts
believe here are
two worlds the vis ble
and the invisible or
the natural and the
supernatural Originsof
Louisiana
Voodoo
Louisiana voodoo is an offshoot from Ha tian vodou,
the older west African vodun, and is distinguished by
its own set of specific innovations and rituals
84 85
Origins of Voodoo
Discover how Voodoo came to America and
what it takes to become a Voodoo queen
Arcane mysteries
Uncover the hidden secrets of alchemy and
Crowley in magisterial mode in 1912. As the other practices, like tarot and divination
First World War approached, his activities
began to adopt a political edge
49