Aleister Crowley is probably the best-known occultist of the twentieth century and one of the most misunderstood. The press of his day portrayed him as "the wickedest man in the world", while his followers regard him as the prophet of a new age. Between these extremes lies the space of history: a life documented by diaries, letters and publications, and a religious and philosophical system, Thelema, that has had broad influence on esoteric culture and beyond. This article traces its main stages, including a Sicilian chapter.
Education and the Golden Dawn
Edward Alexander Crowley was born in 1875 in Leamington Spa, England, into a wealthy family belonging to the Plymouth Brethren, a strict evangelical movement. His father's early death and his severe religious upbringing deeply marked his relationship with Christianity.
He studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he devoted himself to poetry, chess and mountaineering, in which he achieved notable results, later taking part in expeditions to K2 and Kangchenjunga. In 1898 he joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, where he studied under Allan Bennett and Mathers. In the crisis of 1900 he sided with Mathers.
Cairo, April 1904
The decisive event took place in Cairo, during his honeymoon with his first wife, Rose Kelly. According to Crowley's account, Rose, in an unusual state, told him that a divine messenger was waiting to communicate with him. On 8, 9 and 10 April 1904, for one hour each day, Crowley wrote down the words of a voice he attributed to an entity named Aiwass.
The result was a short text in three chapters, Liber AL vel Legis, known as The Book of the Law. It announces the beginning of a new aeon, the "Aeon of Horus", following those of Isis and Osiris, and contains the central formulas of Thelema:
- "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law";
- "Love is the law, love under will";
- "Every man and every woman is a star".
At first Crowley himself was reluctant to accept the message, and only in later years did he make it the centre of his work.
The meaning of Thelema
Thelema is the Greek word for "will". Crowley did not mean whim or passing desire, but True Will, the deep vocation of each individual, their authentic course in the universe. Discovering and following it is, in this view, life's main task.
The motto had a literary precedent: in François Rabelais's sixteenth-century Gargantua, the Abbey of Thélème has a single rule, "Do what you will". Crowley knew and admired this passage.
The organisations
To spread his teaching Crowley founded or led several bodies:
- in 1907, with George Cecil Jones, the A∴A∴, an initiatory order devoted to individual work, with grades inspired by those of the Golden Dawn;
- from 1909 the journal The Equinox, in which he published rituals, essays and the order's material;
- the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), founded in Germany early in the century, of which Theodor Reuss made him head for the English-speaking countries and which Crowley later led as international head.
He also wrote many works, including Magick in Theory and Practice, published in 1929, where he defines magick as the science and art of causing change in conformity with will.
The Abbey of Thelema at Cefalù
In 1920 Crowley settled in Cefalù, on the northern coast of Sicily, where he rented a villa and named it the Abbey of Thelema, in an obvious nod to Rabelais. Some companions and disciples lived there with him, together with their children. The day was punctuated by solar adorations, study, meditation and ritual practice. Crowley decorated the walls with paintings, some of which were rediscovered under the plaster during the twentieth century.
In 1923 a young English disciple, Raoul Loveday, died at the Abbey, probably from an infection. His widow told the story to the British press, which unleashed a fierce campaign against Crowley. That same year the Italian government, led by Mussolini, ordered his expulsion from the country. The Cefalù experience thus ended after about three years.
The last years
Crowley then lived in Tunisia, France, Germany and England, often in financial difficulty. In 1934 he lost a libel action he had brought against a writer, a further blow to his reputation. He died in Hastings in 1947.
A contested legacy
Crowley's influence extended well beyond esotericism: musicians, writers and artists of the late twentieth century have invoked him. Recent academic studies have tried to move beyond both demonisation and hagiography, analysing his work as part of modern religious history.
For students of the history of esotericism, Thelema is an interesting case of a religion born in the twentieth century from a written revelation, with its own Law, its own calendar and its own institutions.
In short
- Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) joined the Golden Dawn in 1898.
- In April 1904 in Cairo he wrote Liber AL vel Legis, the founding text of Thelema.
- Thelema means "will" and invites each person to discover and follow their True Will.
- Crowley founded the A∴A∴ and led the O.T.O.; from 1920 to 1923 he lived at the Abbey of Thelema in Cefalù, until he was expelled from Italy.