“My problem with Crowley is simply that he has an insanely overinflated reputation. He was not that big of a deal. He was a minor player in the occult scene, and if it were not for several people in America (Grady McMurty, Kenneth Grant) who picked up the smoking heap that Crowley had himself made of his reputation of his work and marketed it more effectively than Crowley ever could, he’d be completely forgotten now. He was far from the most interesting figure, even among the sex crashed avant garde, Edwardian occultists. If you start out life rich, handsome, intelligent, charismatic and with all the advantages in the world that Crowley did and you end up as a burned out heroin addict living in a cheap nursing home in Hastings with an estate worth 16 shillings, and a reputation you yourself have made a laughing stock on three continents. If that’s the fruit of a life committed and devoted to magic, you’re doing it wrong. Is that really the model you want to follow? Crowley was a genius at tripping himself up, at alienating potential friends, at making enemies, and leaving smoking wreckage whenever he went.”
I think John Micheal Greer said it best:
“My problem with Crowley is simply that he has an insanely overinflated reputation. He was not that big of a deal. He was a minor player in the occult scene, and if it were not for several people in America (Grady McMurty, Kenneth Grant) who picked up the smoking heap that Crowley had himself made of his reputation of his work and marketed it more effectively than Crowley ever could, he’d be completely forgotten now. He was far from the most interesting figure, even among the sex crashed avant garde, Edwardian occultists. If you start out life rich, handsome, intelligent, charismatic and with all the advantages in the world that Crowley did and you end up as a burned out heroin addict living in a cheap nursing home in Hastings with an estate worth 16 shillings, and a reputation you yourself have made a laughing stock on three continents. If that’s the fruit of a life committed and devoted to magic, you’re doing it wrong. Is that really the model you want to follow? Crowley was a genius at tripping himself up, at alienating potential friends, at making enemies, and leaving smoking wreckage whenever he went.”
A terrific piece. Thanks so much for writing it! Crowley remains a fascinating figure.
Thanks for reading, Mathew. I’m looking forward to the piece you hinted about the other day that touches on similar topics
My apologies for not subscribing before. I thought I had done so already.
Thank you! It’s one thread in a book proposal, so if it comes to pass, it will be some way off! I will share news, should there be any, in due course…
Fun read!
Thanks for reading, Lucy