Pollitt did not share his partner's mystical leanings, and Crowley had this to say about ending their relationship: However, biographer Sutin recounts Crowley's relationship with, and lasting feelings for, Herbert Charles Pollitt, whom he met while at Cambridge in 1897. They claim that the power of these rituals lay in their 'tabooness,' and that Crowley expressed personal distaste for 'recreational' homosexuality. Regarding homosexuality, Crowley most definitely practiced sexual magic rituals with both men and women, but some claim that all of his romantic relationships were with females. Throughout the period of 1895, he maintained a vigorous sex life, which was largely conducted with prostitutes and girls he picked up at local pubs and cigar shops, but eventually extended into homosexual activities in which he played the passive role. A.) who introduced him to Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers and the Golden Dawn. Ī year later, he published his first book of poetry ( Aceldama), and left Cambridge, only to meet Julian L. In October a brief illness triggered considerations of mortality and "the futility of all human endeavor," or at least of the diplomatic career that Crowley had previously considered. The section on chess below, describes one experience that helped him reach this conclusion. Biographer Sutin describes the pivotal New Year's event as a homo-erotic experience (Crowley's first) that brought him what he considered "an encounter with an immanent deity." During the year of 1897, Aleister further came to see worldly pursuits as useless.
By the next year, he began reading books by alchemists and mystics, and books on magic. In December 1896, following an event that he describes in veiled terms, Crowley decided to pursue a path in occultism and mysticism. His three years at Cambridge were happy ones, due in part to coming into the considerable fortune left by his father. In 1895, he went to Trinity College, Cambridge after schooling at the public schools Malvern College and Tonbridge School, and originally had the intention of reading Moral Sciences (philosophy, psychology, and economics), but with approval from his personal tutor, he switched to English literature, which was not then a part of the curriculum offered. He objected to the labelling of what he saw as life's most worthwhile and enjoyable activities as "sinful." As a child, his constant rebellious behaviour displeased his mother to such an extent she would chastise him by calling him "The Beast" (from the Book of Revelation), an epithet that Crowley would later happily adopt for himself. Daily Bible studies and private tutoring were mainstays in "Alick's" childhood however, after his father's death, his mother's efforts at indoctrinating her son in the Christian faith only served to provoke his skepticism. His father, after retiring from his daily duties as a brewer, took up the practice of preaching at a fanatical pace. He grew up in a staunch Plymouth Brethren household.
Both of his parents were Exclusive Brethren, a radical wing of the Plymouth Brethren. His mother, Emily Bertha Bishop, drew roots from a Devon and Somerset family. His father, Edward Crowley, had maintained a lucrative family brewery business and retired before Aleister Crowley was born.
4 Argenteum Astrum and Ordo Templi OrientisĮarly years File:Crowley unicursal hexagram.svgĪleister Crowley’s rendition of the Unicursal Hexagram designed by the Hermetic Order of the Golden DawnĮdward Alexander Crowley was born at 36 Clarendon Square in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England, between 11:00pm and midnight on 12 October 1875.
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