The Boleskine house, crowley, rumors, etc.
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaJ1yr-TwlA
www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8d1Uxpe6go&feature=related
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsQwlHUfU4s&feature=relatedI just finished watching these 3 parts of the brief video about mr.Crowley and the Boleskine house.
I remember watching another little documentory about Crowley, but in that other one they said how Crowley did various narcotics and how his certain friends or partners had mental trauma from certain magick, rumors of human sacrifices, aswel as how others involved committed suicides, etc. The second documetory video [which I have not yet re-found so it's not here] described Crowley as doing quite the opposite of some of the principals he writes in the Libers, especially during the endmost part of his life. Kindof like what's said here in a bit of text:
www.kirjasto.sci.fi/crowley.htm
I wonder how much of that is true? And what the whole exact purpose was?
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Yes, Crowley did drugs... a lot of them. He even published a book about it, Diary of a Drug Fiend. There were also several people in Crowley's life that self-destructed, possibly not being able to deal with the magick they were involved with.
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@Dannerz said
"The second documetory video [which I have not yet re-found so it's not here] described Crowley as doing quite the opposite of some of the principals he writes in the Libers, especially during the endmost part of his life. "
Like what?
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@Jim Eshelman said
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@Dannerz said
"The second documentory video [which I have not yet re-found so it's not here] described Crowley as doing quite the opposite of some of the principals he writes in the Libers, especially during the endmost part of his life. "Like what?"
The second documentory video did not portray in the same way as the Boleskine oriented one did. I did post the URLs to the Boleskine oriented videos. Well, there were a few claims I remember from the 2nd not-able-to-find video. Things like : Crowley had evoked demons infront of one of his wives just to show off? Black magick in general; it portrayed Crowley as an ego-maniac that loved to practice and spread evil. The video may have been quite biased.
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@Dannerz said
" Things like : Crowley had evoked demons infront of one of his wives just to show off? Black magick in general; it portrayed Crowley as an ego-maniac that loved to practice and spread evil."
Crowley did a Goetic evokation in front of Rose on their honeymoon, supposedly to show off. Although, if I recall correctly, that is before he received the Book of the Law and did all that other fun stuff.
I love to practice and spread evil, but I call it good
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There is no end of people who will tell you how awful Crowley was, or dismiss the value of his work on the grounds that he had this that or the other vice. This is even foretold in the Book of the Law: "they that see thee shall fear thou art fallen."
It's funny how the odor of villainy clings to him more than to others. Lord Byron (for instance) was just as scandalous in his day as Crowley, maybe more so. But today, if you ask the average person in the street who Byron was, the answer is, "He was one of those poets, right? Maybe I read him in high school." Whereas Crowley is reflexively called "the wickedest man in the world" by people who couldn't recite one wicked thing he allegedly did.
Crowley was a druggie. So was I, once, and so are (or have been) many people. I was smart enough to avoid narcotics, which are dangerously addictive and have destroyed many a life. But Crowley -- and this is the point most writers neglect to mention -- had no choice in that matter. He was prescribed heroin by his doctor for his asthma. There was a time when he struggled against his addiction, failed, and learned to live with it. He did not let it destroy his life. He did not "succumb" to any of his alleged vices and let them ruin his life. He was active and productive -- pursuing his true will -- to the end; the writings he produced toward the end of his life are some of his wisest and best.
Many of Crowley's "vices" -- drug and alcohol use, licentiousness and promiscuity, gluttony, etc. -- are simply the enjoyment of life described in "snarl words" by people incapable of enjoyment. In our Judaism-Christianity-Islam-besotted cultures, we are trained to condemn the joy of life; this does not stop people from indulging in animal pleasures, but they do it secretly and in shame; this is what is meant by "the exposure of innocence", and it is indeed a lie. Crowley was refreshingly open about whatever he did (except where it would violate an oath or land him in jail), and I think this is one reason people are quick to condemn him. Otherwise, they might chance to see part of themselves. The Book of the Law, especially the second chapter, talks a great deal about getting rid of Old Aeon misconceptions about "vice" and "virtue". The Book also counsels, "Exceed! Exceed!" and the sheer boisterousness and exuberance of Crowley's life offends the weak.
"Revelation" tells us that 666 is the number of a man, and we cannot expect Crowley to have been other than human. He certainly had genuine failings, was often erroneous in his thinking, and sometimes did the wrong thing. Are you any different? Jesus could be irritable and sarcastic; Lao Tzu was notoriously anti-social; Buddha had trouble relating to women. So it goes. Crowley remarks (in Konx Om Pax?) that we judge a mountain by its peak, not its base. Crowley's peaks are spectacular.
Like you or any other intelligent being, I've had my doubts about Crowley. Was he really just a charlatan? Was his magick just so much smoke and bluster of a self-promoting egoist? Is the Book of the Law just a long prose poem with lots of exclamation marks? (That last delightful criticism I found on the internet somewhere.) If that's what you expect or want to find, then you will. But if you seek for wisdom in his writings, you will find a treasure beyond imagining, and that would not be true of a mere charlatan. The more I put Crowley to the test, the more he proves to be the true gold.
I apologize for such a long post, but I feel passionately about this, and anyway long posts seem to be in the air these days. I beg the indulgence of the Administration.
Also, it would break with tradition if I added to a discussion here without recommending a book
Robert Anton Wilson's Masks of the Illuminati is a historical fiction featuring Crowley as a main character, and may help you in seeing behind his many guises. -
@Frater Pantha said
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@gmugmble said
"Buddha had trouble relating to women."Really? How so?"
Thus have I heard (but I'm afraid I don't remember a source). The Buddha's cousin, a woman, wanted to become one of his disciples, and frequently asked him about this, but he would only accept men. She persisted, and finally he gave in and made her the first Buddhist nun.
There is also an old Buddhist doctrine that you can only become enlightened if you are incarnated as a healthy male human being. (Modern Buddhists, at least of the Mahayana variety, do not accept this doctrine.)
When I said what I said, I was taking liberties for the sake of a rhetorical flourish.