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Preston Sturgis fan here. Any Sturgis bio or autobio will include info about his susceptible mom hanging out with Crowley, Isadora Duncan and other fun!?! outsiders. Poor kid was rightly terrified by creepy Crowley.

There's a lot to be said to making people laugh. Do you know that's all some people have? It isn't much, but it's better than nothing in this cock-eyed cararvan~Sturges, final scene of "Sullivan's Travels," the best movie in the world and I will cry every time at the goodness of the end.
 
A Little Bird Told Me: Aleister Crowley and Genesis P-Orridge in Occult Art Show
January 22, 2016 By Nicole Disser

“Ordinary morality is only for ordinary people,” Aleister Crowley once said. That maxim echoes inside the walls of a new exhibit at 80WSE, Language of the Birds: Occult and Art. Even now, when dabbling in the occult has become morally ambiguous rather than universally derided, the work shown at NYU Steinhardt’s gallery is far from ordinary. Spanning the beginning of the last century to the present day, its authors range from avant-garde filmmakers (Kenneth Anger), to spiritual philosophers (Aleister Crowley), to industrial music makers (Genesis Breyer P-Orridge), and “just” plain artists (Kiki Smith). Somehow these varied participants share a similar worldview, which they’ve communicated (at various points in time) through symbols and talismans that have remained fairly static throughout.

http://bedfordandbowery.com/2016/01...ley-and-genesis-p-orridge-in-occult-art-show/
 
Good little article in the Guardian, but why does the author call Thelema a 'Satanic' religion?

Kenneth Anger: 'The occult never quite goes away'
At 88, the film-maker, writer and occultist is still creating his dark magic, and this weekend is showcasing the works of two women artists he knew – one of whom, he says, was ‘a genuine witch’
Branding and product placement cast dark shadows over everyone eventually – even occultists such as [URL='http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/mar/10/kenneth-anger-interview']Kenneth Anger who this weekend debuts a new gallery project, Lucifer Brothers Workshop, at the Art Los Angeles Contemporary fair in Santa Monica, California.

Anger, at 88, is best known for his Magick Lantern Cycle series of spooky but highly influential films, including Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954) and Scorpio Rising (1964), and for being tutor to students – among them guitarist Jimmy Page – in the work of Aleister Crowley and Thelema, the Satanic religion he developed.
[/URL]
Edward Helmore in Los Angeles
Friday 29 January 2016 20.30 GMT
 
Good little article in the Guardian, but why does the author call Thelema a 'Satanic' religion?
I was thinking the same thing. It's certainly not the first time I've seen that link being made. Could it be the link between the self centeredness of some forms of satanism and the 'do what thou wilt' of Thelema?
 
I was thinking the same thing. It's certainly not the first time I've seen that link being made. Could it be the link between the self centeredness of some forms of satanism and the 'do what thou wilt' of Thelema?
But also if he had done a bit of research first he would have discovered that ''Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law'' means do your personal Will, and to discover what your individual life purpose is and focus on it. Rather than recklessly do whatever you want.
 
Expecting journalists to do a bit of research? Haha!

It could also come down to his definition of satanism. It is, in all fairness, a tricky word to pin down. For some, anything that deviates from their sect of christianity is satanic. Choosing your own life purpose might seem a bit cheeky to someone who believes that the lord should be both the chooser and the choice.
 
Recent DM article about Betty May Loveday,

Meet the wild child ‘Tiger Woman’ who tried to kill Aleister Crowley
03.04.2016
12:52 pm

In 1922, Betty met and married the poet Frederick Charles Loveday (aka Raoul Loveday). This dear boy (aged about twenty or twenty-one) was an acolyte of Aleister Crowley. With a first class degree from Oxford University and a book of published poems to his name, Loveday was utterly dedicated to Crowley and to his study of the occult.

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/...iger_woman_who_tried_to_kill_aleister_crowley
 
Rare photo of AC in (I believe) Ithaca, New York, 1916, serving as a consultant on the set of the early occult and paranormal investigation serial 'Mysteries of Myra'.

12417516_10153427071386994_1042976371171600837_n.jpg


Here is an episode of the serial,


I'm surprised he decided not to appear in the serial himself, seeing how much AC loved his self publicity! Perhaps old Perdurabo foresaw and amused himself with the thought of his future shut-in fanboys obsessing over the urban legend of the 'missing Crowley film footage' sat in Jimmy Page's occult collection :evil:
 
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In 1916 Crowley would have been 41. He looks quite a lot older in the photo?
 
In 1916 Crowley would have been 41. He looks quite a lot older in the photo?
Yes and it doesn't look like him when you look closely. And to really put that photo to death, this famous photo of AC was taken in 1912, and look how he looks there.

swatch01.jpg


The other photo was posted on a normally reputable Kenneth Grant group on Facebook.
 
The Lesser-Known Triumphs of Aleister Crowley
By Mary Renzi -
Jun 27, 2016

Crowley was many things, but a run-of-the-mill occultist and coarse, dyed-in-the-wool heretic were not among them. Crowley certainly was not the sex-crazed, cannibalistic Satanist that the tabloids of his day (and the Christian legends of ours) would have us believe. Crowley was a serious, lifelong student and teacher, who saw his role as nothing less than preparing humanity for an evolution into cosmic consciousness.

http://www.dirgemag.com/lesser-known-triumphs-aleister-crowley/
 
Crowley was an amazing man. On more levels than it's easy to comprehend.
 
Interesting thread....I read several bios on Crowley some years ago and he was certainly a fascinating man.
I enjoyed some of his fiction and reading about his 'magickal occult methods' , but as someone famous once said, 'the only problem with magic is that it doesn't work.' Still, a very unique individual.
 
For anyone wanting to get a better grasp on AC and his work, and on magickal practice in general I would highly recommend reading Magick Without Tears. This was Crowley's last book, written in the mid-1940s and finally published in 1954.

Here's a brief summary from its wiki entry:

"The book consists of 80 letters to various students of magick. Originally to be titled Aleister Explains Everything, the letters offer his insights into both magick and Thelema—-Crowley's religious and ethical system—-with a clarity and wit often absent in his earlier writings. The individual topics are widely varied, addressing the orders O.T.O. and A∴A∴, Qabalah, Thelemic morality, Yoga, astrology, various magical techniques, religion, death, spiritual visions, the Holy Guardian Angel, and other issues such as marriage, property, certainty, and meanness. The book is considered by many as evidence that Crowley remained lucid and mentally capable at the end of his life, despite his addiction to heroin (prescribed for his chronic emphysema). Perhaps Crowley's most notable contribution to the occult studies, defining magick for the 20th century, is found in the first chapter of this book, "[Magick]is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will." (Chapter 1: "What is Magick?")""

md20063287846.jpg
 
Serious stuff mate. I'm interested, after you wrote about your Jewish heritage, how you feel about the affirmed neo-nazi David Myatt's massive, if not central, influence on the ONA.

It's a common misconception that David got involved with the English Nazi scene and extremism for its own sake, it was part of a concept in the Order known as an Insight Role, hence why he then became a devout Muslim in the late 90s and changed his name to Abdul-Aziz ibn Myatt (Abdul al-Qari). He was developing a concept over the years called The Numinous Way.

My grandfather was half Jewish and much of the stuff he taught me had origins in Jewish and Romani folk-magick, I don't think I can qualify as having much pure Jewish in me :D
 
As I've practiced the occult for so many years there's been thousands. And it's just normal to my practice to get results. But just a simple example would be when I was in need of a very precise amount of money that at the time I just couldn't spare, it was around 2011/2012 I think. I performed a ritual and the next day despite not being a gambler I felt compelled to go in to a local bookies, and place a bet, I won the exact amount I needed, 380 quid. Whilst I was in the bookies I noticed I was trembling a lot, despite not feeling nervous or overly anxious.

Thanks for the 'example'. I can't say that in itself convinces me 'magick' had anything to do with it but it is an interesting tale.
I have known some 'Christians' who pray whenever they 'need something' and of course if they get what they need they naturally thank Jesus or God. Is that also 'magick'? IMHO...it isn't, but is just a self fulfilling wish and of course when they don't get what they need they also say , 'well...it's God's will.'
I find both situations of 'magick' to be true in the minds of those involved and not necessarily in reality due to any 'magick'. But if someone 'wants to believe in it', I can't imagine any harm from it assuming the person doesn't go all weird about it.
 
Yes, I've read a reasonable amount concerning it. Heavy going.

Over the years and with the spread of the internet the o9a became pathetically polluted with weirdos and Nazi or Niners as they're known. It became the stuff of Eastern European teenage armchair occultists and Neo Nazis who probably couldn't comprehend the Order ethos and the nature of the Sinister Dialectic. For me the original o9a when it started was something refreshing and honest, it was fundamentally about teaching initiates to better themselves and to push themselves to the extreme, which is why very intense physical challenges were a set part of the grade-work. Almost like bio-psycho alchemical sorcery, it taught that you could mould yourself into something better, stronger, and fitter.
 
Thanks for the 'example'. I can't say that in itself convinces me 'magick' had anything to do with it

I think you're the type of person who is looking for more explicit demonstrations of magickal power. A very extreme example that I remember was when I friend of mine who is a natural psychic, not very into the occult, was living somewhere down near Verwood, Dorset and a male neighbor for no apparent reason began incessantly abusing my friend verbally not really physically, just trying to intimidate him, one day when my friend was walking up to his front door and the neighbor came out having a go at him my friend fell on the floor in sudden pain and began vomiting uncontrollably, when he looked up this man was about one foot off the ground pinned against the red brick wall of the house grasping both his hands at his neck as if something very strong was choking him, my friend looked on in shock and then got up and the man just slumped down to the ground crying. The neighbor was never the same after this bizarre experience. And it ended up creating a lot of rumours around the area about my mate.

But until you yourself experience an explicit manifestation of magick or the supernatural you wont believe it because of what someone else has experienced, so there's not much point in looking for answers in other people.
 
I think you're the type of person who is looking for more explicit demonstrations of magickal power. A very extreme example that I remember was when I friend of mine who is a natural psychic, not very into the occult, was living somewhere down near Verwood, Dorset and a male neighbor for no apparent reason began incessantly abusing my friend verbally not really physically, just trying to intimidate him, one day when my friend was walking up to his front door and the neighbor came out having a go at him my friend fell on the floor in sudden pain and began vomiting uncontrollably, when he looked up this man was about one foot off the ground pinned against the red brick wall of the house grasping both his hands at his neck as if something very strong was choking him, my friend looked on in shock and then got up and the man just slumped down to the ground crying. The neighbor was never the same after this bizarre experience. And it ended up creating a lot of rumours around the area about my mate.

But until you yourself experience an explicit manifestation of magick or the supernatural you wont believe it because of what someone else has experienced, so there's not much point in looking for answers in other people.

That's a pretty extreme example.....assuming of course it's true.
But you are right...there's not much point in 'looking for answers in other people'.
It must be that magic is commonplace in England because I have not heard of anything like this in the states happening but then I don't associate with magic circles.
 
What would be, in your opinion? :) genuine question.
That's a good question and from what I have read over the years there isn't a simple answer to that question.
Since you and Fr Kadash 'believe in magic', how do you define it? :)
 
how do you define it? :)

I don't know about Coastaljames but I would personally define magick the same way AC did, ''magick is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will''. But to add to that there are many methods to utilise when making such changes occur, like high magick ritual, sigilisation, demonology and spiritistic evocation et al, psychical manipulation of situations, psycho-sexual alchemy and sorcery, sex magick etc,.
 
Some say Magic has a bloodline. David Icke calls it the reptilian bloodline. A magical person probably could not explain magic to uninitiated non bloodline people. Even among the Isrealites, one tribe was the hereditary priests. The Levites. Hereditary means bloodline.
 
Some say Magic has a bloodline. David Icke calls it the reptilian bloodline. A magical person probably could not explain magic to uninitiated non bloodline people. Even among the Isrealites, one tribe was the hereditary priests. The Levites. Hereditary means bloodline.

I disagree, it's quite easy to explain magick to a person who is not an occultist. I just gave a very concise definition and summary of approachable praxes in my post above Elsupremo.
 
That's a good question and from what I have read over the years there isn't a simple answer to that question.

Pretty true, but I'd love to hear your thoughts- genuinely.

A magical person probably could not explain magic to uninitiated non bloodline people. Even among the Isrealites, one tribe was the hereditary priests. The Levites. Hereditary means bloodline.

Tosh. Magic is as easy to learn as...carpentry.

A really interesting and entertaining "modern" magician is Gordon White. His "Rune Soup" blog and podcasts are always interesting and often a lot of fun. In regards the above, and again starting with Sigil Magic, this piece is worth a read. It does however touch on some of the ideas we've been chatting about here. As ever- important to remember that White's opinions ideas and beliefs are entirely his -

http://runesoup.com/2012/03/ultimate-sigil-magic-guide/


I'd say magic is as easy as writing...(there's a reason medieval magic texts were known as "grimoires"- derived from the word "grammar" and why spells are called, well...spells)...It's pretty easy to write a sentence, heck- kids can do it. But not many of us can write as well as Shakespeare.
 
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