Channel: Entertainment
Uploaded: July 2, 2008 at 9:51 am
Author: cyraxandflyrax
Length: 02:45
Rating: 3.33
Views: 14881
Aleister Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley (pronounced /ˈkroʊli/), (12 October 1875 -- 1 December 1947), was a British occultist, writer, mountaineer, poet, and yogi.[1] He was an influential member in several occult organizations, including the Golden Dawn, the A∴A∴, and Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.),[2] and is best known today for his occult writings, especially The Book of the Law, the central sacred text of Thelema. He gained much notoriety during his lifetime, and was dubbed "The Wickedest Man In the World."Crowley was also a chess player, painter, astrologer, hedonist, bisexual,[2] drug experimenter,His friend and former Golden Dawn associate, Allan Bennett, introduced him to the ideas of Buddhism,[22] while Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, acting leader of the Golden Dawn organization, acted as his early mentor in western magic but would later become his enemy. Several decades after Crowley's participation in the Golden Dawn, Mathers claimed copyright protection over a particular ritual and sued Crowley for infringement after Crowley's public display of the ritual. While the public trial continued, both Mathers and Crowley claimed to call forth armies of demons and angels to fight on behalf of their summoner.[citation needed] Both also developed and carried complex Seal of Solomon amulets and talismans.In October of 1901, after practising Raja Yoga for some time, he said he had reached a state he called dhyana—one of many states of unification in thoughts that are described in Magick (Liber ABA) (See Crowley on egolessness).[24] 1902 saw him writing the essay Berashith (the first word of Genesis), in which he gave meditation (or restraint of the mind to a single object) as the means of attaining his goal. The essay describes ceremonial magick as a means of training the will, and of constantly directing one's thoughts to a given object through ritual. In his 1903 essay, Science and Matter, Crowley urged an empirical approach to Buddhist teachings.The Beatles featured Crowley on the front cover of their eighth album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. He's the second cut-out on the first row.Ozzy Osbourne released a song titled "Mr. Crowley" on his solo album Blizzard of Ozz. A comparison between Crowley and Osbourne in the context of their media portrayals can be found in the Journal of Religion and Popular Culture.[92]Queen Quotes Crowley is a track on Porcupine Tree's first album, On The Sunday Of Life.Iron Maiden has recorded tracks that refer to Crowley including "Moonchild" from Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, "Revelations" from Piece of Mind and "Powerslave" from Powerslave.D.Gray-man A character sharing the same/similar name (depends on translation) of a similar background.Ernest Hemingway references Crowley in his memoir "A Moveable Feast". In it, Ford Maddox Ford claims to have "cut" a man he thinks was Hilaire Belloc, but which in fact turns out to be "Alestair Crowley, the diabolist"[93] .Crowley himself, albeit with a slightly different fact that he was the greatest magician in magic history and a renowned scientist, appears as the master of the Academy city, the capital of psychic characters in the light novel series To Aru Majutsu no Index.Chemical Wedding is a movie from 2008 where an old lecturer at Cambridge becomes Aleister Crowley. Written by Bruce Dickinson and Julian Doyle.According to the 100 Greatest Britons, a BBC broadcast in 2002, Crowley ranked 73.In the song Quicksand on his 1971 album Hunky Dory, David Bowie sings : "I'm closer to the Golden Dawn, Immersed in Crowley's uniform of imagery".