Crowley - A Brief History of The Last Of The Great Explorers

Crowley -
A Brief History of The Last Of The Great Explorers

Part 1

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Once saw I a lonely Star
Pass oe’r far lonelier shores
Once its fires burned so bright
But now -
They burn no more

D W Storer taken from The Key of The Storm 2016

    So much has been written about Aliester Crowley, so many have jumped on the bandwagon – whether to demonize or canonize depends on your point of view. He asked for, and obtained, the notoriety he craved then realized far too late that it was less of an aid but more a hindrance. Deserted by his friends and followers, I wonder if he’d be laughing now at how his readership has grown due to the efforts of those who saw him not as a great occultist but as a fashion icon to latch onto in order to boost their own popularity.

    An occultist, poet, magician, mountaineer, painter, prophet, and a novelist to boot, Aleister was born on the 12^th October 1875 in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire into a wealthy Plymouth Brethren family whose Christian fundamentalist beliefs he rejected by the time he was educated at Cambridge University where he focused his attentions on mountaineering and poetry – which resulted in several publications on the subjects, and developed his interest in Western occultism.

    Joining the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in 1898, he was trained in ceremonial magic by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers and Allan Bennett, and after being denied advancement to the grade of Adeptus Minor by those leaders of the London sect he went directly to Mathers in Paris who granted him the title anyway in 1900. Despite being entitled to the grade, the London sect who disapproved of Crowley’s lifestyle descended into chaos with mass resignations and the eventual deposing of Mathers altogether.

    After a ‘magical‘war between himself and the Golden Dawn, of  which Aleister claimed victory, he moved to Boleskine House by Loch Ness in Scotland and after giving himself the title ‘ Lord Bolskine’ he went to Mexico with Oscar Eckenstein to pursue his passion for mountaineering after which, he then travelled to India  in order to study  the Hindu and Buddhist Yoga disciplines before returning to England.

    Eloping on the 11th August 1903 with Rose Edith Kelly, marrying her the next day in order to save from an arranged marriage, they spent their honeymoon in Cairo, Egypt, the following year where he began within a few days of their arrival, with the help of his new wife to create the first of his major works the ‘Liber Al vel Legis’ or as most know it ‘The Book of The Law. 

G-R-R-R-R-R!

Oh cabbage-heads soaked in rum!

On the blink, on the tum!

It’s right, tight, put out the light!

Putty faces!

Oh Grimaces

At this time of night!

Let me draw, paint, sculp

Your faces of pulp!

Oh gulp!

Put out the light!

Diabolically, divinely bright tight!

What do you know about that?

I’m a cat!

The world’s my rat!

It all goes under my hat

Thin and fat,

Oh my mat,

I’ll paint

You like a saint

Until I faint

Ain’t

That quaint?

Gr-r-r-r!

Gr-r-r-r-r-r-r!

Once more for luck

(Love a duck)

Gr-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r!

Crowley -1916

   

    On 16 March 1904, Crowley tried to "shew the Sylphs" to Kelly by means of the ‘Bornless Ritual’ whereupon she entered into a light trance and told him, "They're waiting for you!" This led to him asking Thoth to clarify the matter and attempting to get his wife to identify Horus as the origin of the message by taking her to the Boulaq Museum where she passed numerous images of the god before pointing out a painted wooden funerary stele, the Stele of Revealing, which depicted Horus receiving sacrifices from the deceased - a priest named Ankh-af-na-khonsu. By a strange coincidence, or moment of synchronicity, the exhibit had been numbered by the museum as artefact 666.

    At Rose’s insistence, for three days beginning 8 April 1904, Crowley at noon then stayed in his room for an hour, where he wrote down what he heard dictated from a presence behind him who he came to know as Aiwass which led to the creation of the three chapters of verse known as The Book of the Law.

    Despite having two children with Crowley: Nuit Ma Ahathoor Hecate Sappho Jezebel Lilith (July 1904 –1906) and Lola Zaza (1907 – 1990) she was divorced in from him 1909 and in 1911 Aleister had her committed to an asylum for alcoholic dementia where she remained until died in 1932.

Notes = 

‘To shew the Sylphs’- (Crowley’s own words) – to show the Sylphs -
 A Sylph, or  Sylphid are invisible beings of the air, according to Paracelsus and are often depicted as cloud beings. It’s entirely possible that the myths of angels, the winged protectors of the Garden of Eden originate with them for  they embody the extremes of nature, mercurial and intense.

The Bornless Ritual  -
or the Invocation of the Heart Girt with a Serpent, is often considered the proper preliminary invocation to the Ars Goetia since it was introduced as such by Aleister Crowley ( also used in Crowley's Liber Samekh)  for establishing contact with the Holy Guardian Angel.

"Thee I invoke, the Bornless one.

Thee, that didst create the Earth and the Heavens:

Thee, that didst create the Night and the day.

Thee, that didst create the darkness and the Light.

Thou art Osorronophris: Whom no man hath seen at any time.

Thou art Iabos:

Thou art Iapos:

Thou hast distinguished between the just and the Unjust.

Thou didst make the female and the Male.

Thou didst produce the Seed and the Fruit.

Thou didst form Men to love one another, and to hate one another.

I am _________ Thy Prophet, unto Whom Thou didst commit Thy Mysteries, the Ceremonies of _________:

Thou didst produce the moist and the dry, and that which nourisheth all created Life.

Hear Thou Me, for I am the Angel of Apophrasz Osorronophris: this is Thy True Name, handed down to the Prophets of _________.

Hear Me: Ar: Thiao: Reibet: Atheleberseth: A: Blatha: Abeu: Eben: Phi: Chitasoe: Ib: Thiao.

Hear Me, and make all Spirits subject unto Me: so that every Spirit of the Firmament and of the Ether: upon the Earth and under the Earth: on dry Land and in the Water: of Whirling Air, and of rushing Fire: and every Spell and Scourge of God may be obedient unto Me.

I invoke Thee, the Terrible and Invisible God: Who dwellest in the Void Place of the Spirit: Arogogorobrao: Sochou: Modorio: Phalarchao: Ooo: Ape, The Bornless One: Hear Me!

Hear Me: Roubriao: Mariodam: Balbnabaoth: Assalonai: Aphniao: I: Tholeth: Abrasax: Qeoou: Ischur, Mighty and Bornless One! Hear Me!

I invoke Thee: Ma: Barraio: Ioel: Kotha: Athorebalo: Abraoth: Hear Me!

Hear me! Aoth: Aboth: Basum: Isak: Sabaoth: Iao:

This is the Lord of the Gods:

This is the Lord of the Universe:

This is He Whom the Winds fear.

This is He, Who having made Voice by His Commandment, is Lord of All Things; King, Ruler, and Helper. Hear Me!

Hear Me: Ieou: Pur: Iou: Pur: Iaot: Iaeo: Ioou: Abrasax: Sabriam: Oo: Uu: Ede: Edu: Angelos tou theou: Lai: Gaia: Apa: Diachanna: Chorun.

I am He! the Bornless Spirit! having sight in the Feet: Strong, and the Immortal Fire!

I am He! the Truth!

I am He! Who hate that evil should be wrought in the World!

I am He, that lightningeth and thundereth.

I am He, from whom is the Shower of the Life of Earth:

I am He, whose mouth flameth:

I am He, the Begetter and Manifester unto the Light:

I am He, the Grace of the World:

"The Heart Girt with a Serpent" is My Name!

Come Thou forth, and follow Me: and make all Spirits subject unto Me so that every Spirit of the Firmament, and of the Ether: upon the Earth and under the Earth: on dry land, or in the Water: of whirling Air or of rushing Fire: and every Spell and Scourge of God, may be obedient unto me! Iao: Sabao: Such are the Words!

Aiwass –

 the spirit that dictated the Liber Al vel Legis to Crowley whom he described as

‘a ghost-like figure - tall, dark, personable, athletic, aristocratic, Persian-Assyrian in appearance with a face like a savage king ‘ although this was a psychic impression for by his own admission Crowley never actually turned to look at the figure.

D W Storer 2018/2019