His associates in this period included Karl Germer , Gerald Yorke , and Israel Regardie , all of whom became influential in occult circles. They soon separated. In England during the depression, Crowley gleaned money through litigation. He sued both a bookseller who erroneously advertised the suppression of Crowley's novel, The Diary of a Drug Fiend , when in fact it had only gone out of print, and the publisher of Nina Hamnett's Laughing Torso , in which she presumed that Crowley had fostered black magic at the abbey of Thelema.
Former friends refused to testify in Crowley's behalf. In the latter case, the judge was repelled by reports of Crowley's erotic literature and rituals, and Crowley lost and incurred the court costs. He was penniless. A sympathetic woman offered to have his child, and he accepted. He is said to have fathered other illegitimate children, but far from nurturing his offspring, he imposed on his paramours for his own support.
One of the circle around Crowley in the s was Greta Mary Valentine — , the adopted daughter of James Henry Sequeira , dermatologist, and his wife, Nellie Adams. Educated in England and on the continent, Greta was studying anthroposophy when she met Crowley in Although she did not share his interest in drugs or magic, he was fascinated by her flirtations, and soon became her close friend and confidant, while both had other lovers.
Crowley declared his love for her, and in followed her to Cornwall where she was on holiday with Lamorna Birch , the landscape painter. Birch introduced Greta to Ranald Valentine d.
When he and Greta decided to marry, Crowley declared himself desolated, but the marriage endured until Ranald's death. She was devoted to Crowley , who named her as an executor of his will.
In she completed watercolours for use in publishing a pack of tarot cards conforming to Crowley's concept. In his tarot, as elsewhere, he merged Western magic with exotic mysticism such as gnosticism and tantric Buddhism and with modern science such as chemistry and Freudian psychology.
The Book of Thoth is Crowley's commentary on his tarot. He did not acknowledge the fact that his tarot's basic structure depended on Golden Dawn teachings. In his waning years Crowley befriended John Symonds and acceded to the young writer's request that Crowley supply notes for a biography.
He designated Symonds and Kenneth Grant , the youngest of his last students, as literary executors, empowered to publish his papers. On 1 December , at Netherwood, a residential hotel in The Ridge, Hastings, Crowley , by this time a chronic heroin addict, died of bronchitis and heart congestion. His remains were cremated at Brighton and reportedly have been lost.
Interest in Crowley has reflected waves of curiosity in the occult. The Crowley — Harris tarot is popular, and several occult groups adhere to his law of Thelema. Among sympathizers he is revered for his peculiar gifts, but others remember his reputation as a social outcast on account of his flagrant nonconformity. View the article for this person in the Dictionary of National Biography archive edition.
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Search within Also in this article Greta Mary Valentine — Show Summary Details. Crowley, Aleister [ formerly Edward Alexander] — Sources The confessions of Aleister Crowley , ed.
Symonds and K. Grant Suster, The legacy of the beast : the life, work and influence of Aleister Crowley Porch and others, eds. Steed, ed. Archives Ransom HRC. Warburg Institute, London, Yorke collection. Likenesses A. John, drawing, , priv. Bakewell, Fitzrovia Kennedy, oils, —, NPG. Crowley, self-portrait, The Master Therion , priv. Oxford University Press.
Sign in to annotate. Delete Cancel Save. Close Save. In , he moved to Sicily, where he established the Abbey of Thelema as the headquarters for his new religion.
Here he pursued spiritual enlightenment, declaring himself Ipssissimus — beyond the Gods — in He also experimented with sex and drugs. In an Englishman died in mysterious circumstances after a ritual during which he was said to have consumed the blood of a cat. The British press and the Italian fascist government were equally appalled.
Crowley was expelled from Sicily, the Abbey closed, and the group dispersed. Although impoverished, disgraced, and a near-skeletal heroin addict, Crowley never lacked followers. He fathered several children, most of them illegitimately, and was still in demand as a medium and a magus to the end, designing a new sequence of tarot cards and commentating on it at some length in his Book of Thoth of He died, in Hastings, in But there can be no doubt that he also enjoyed his notoriety, and his fame only increased after death.
There are still groups who call themselves Thelemites; still those who use his tarot cards and read his books. He was taken up by the counter culture of the s and can be seen on the cover of the Beatles' Sgt. The proud owner of a menagerie of wild animals, Morgan was also an expert in the occult.
Ghost stories abound at some of the oldest places we look after. Discover tales about the ghost of a former Prime Minister's father, a headless queen and many more. William Whyte University of Oxford. Satan calling up his Legions, William Blake, circa Share: Twitter Facebook Pinterest Email. Travel and enlightenment A brilliant climber, big game hunter, and inveterate traveller, Crowley explored Mexico, India, Egypt, America, and much more besides.
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