Appreciating Crowley

I travel in a variety of occult circles (so to speak), and whenever the subject of Aleister Crowley comes up an immediate polarity tends to assert itself with fervent disciples on one side and frothing opponents on the other; few seem ambivalent or reasonably critical¹ of his works.

Typically I find these immediate negative reactions to the mere mention of Crowley’s name, or enthusiastic deriding of his character to be characteristic of those who have not actually read anything by him, nor practised any of the techniques he recommends.

I can’t fathom why anyone legitimately acquainted with his works would retain such disdain for someone who is one of the most brilliant magickians of the past century. His literary contributions alone remain unparallelled to date. For example, Magick, Magick in Theory and Practice and Magick Without Tears are among the most lucid and practically useful texts ever written about an admittedly dense and intricate subject.

Yet negative reactions to the mere mention of Crowley’s name persist, and I dislike the necessity of prefacing any statements regarding his work with “I’m not a Thelemite, but…” as if it were a disclaimer. One does not have to be a Thelemite to appreciate Crowley’s contribution to modern magick, but you do have to be ignorant to ignore it.

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Footnotes:

1. i.e. Coming from a well-read background with a competent understanding of the material. [back]

Related posts:

1. Aleister Crowley and the 20th Century Synthesis of Magick, by Dave Evans
2. Words of the Magi
3. Letters between Aleister Crowley, Frank Bennett, C. S. Jones published by Teitan Press
4. Aleister Crowley and Dion Fortune the focus of new book published by Llewellyn
5. New book of Crowley correspondence from Teitan Press