Further reading for Aleister Crowley
The Confessions of Aleister Crowley: An Autohagiography by Aleister Crowley
Perdurabo, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Life of Aleister Crowley by Richard Kaczynski
Aleister Crowley: Magick, Rock and Roll, and the Wickedest Man in the World by Gary Lachman
White Stains (Annotated) by Aleister Crowley
The Cloud Upon The Sanctuary by Karl von Eckartshausen
The Kabbalah Unveiled by SL Mathers
Book of the Law: Liber Al Vel Legis by Aleister Crowley
The Equinox by Aleister Crowley
The Book of Lies by Aleister Crowley
Diary of a Drug Fiend and Other Works by Aleister Crowley
In one of the first series to go back over material inadequately covered by the contemporary standards of Last Podcast on the Left, the boys come back around to The Great Beast, The Wickedest Man in the World, Frater Perdurabo: Aleister Crowley (pronounced Crow-Lee). I don’t care what the dudes say. Ozzy had it wrong, too.
It’s hard to say who had a larger impact on the world of the occult, Crowley or Helena Blavatsky, but the point is almost moot since most of what we call the Western Esoteric Tradition and Left Hand Path magical systems today are derived largely from the philosophy and recorded rituals and ceremony of The Therion. Crowley’s rise to prominence took him around the world, through some of the world’s most secretive esoteric orders but it’s his own tweaks and additions to the world of magic that he’s best known for. Tantric sexual practice had always been a part of the magical world but Crowley’s own practice, especially within the world of his religion, Thelema, is what he is most well-known for since entire grades of initiation involve jacking off, 69 and doing butt stuff. Central to his philosophy is the theme of breaking taboos in order to find your true path in life, or as Thelemites know it, finding your True Will. Authoritative structures and codified morality to them are representations of everything that keeps people from freely expressing yourself and being the person that you were put on this earth to be. It’s a troubling philosophy since Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of law suggests that Thelema is all about tearing shit up and doing whatever you want to do but the rest of the motto is “love is the law, love under Will. There is not law but do what thou will.” It’s hard to properly parse and this statement is full of double meanings but love and Will are central to the world of Aleister Crowley.
Unfortunately, for all the mystical stuff that he got right, Crowley left a path of absolute destruction in his wake. For everyone whose life was enriched by finding the Ordo Templi Orientis, Crowley personally left someone whose life was utterly ruined by their mere orbit of his life and by the time he died, broke, addicted to dope, and without a friend in the world, his ultimate legacy would be a cautionary tale that nearly all students of his work choose to roundly ignore.
Episodes 442 – 444
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