Friday 1 May 2015

Beltane Aleister Crowley Reading List

A bright, blesséd Beltane one and all. If you'd like to know what good heathen folk get up to during May Day mayhem, there's a good post here. I was recently reading Red Phone Box, which has a slathering of the arcane about it, including reference to Crowley.

Just for kicks, here's a wyrd reading list.


A Magick Life by Martin Booth

I adore this biography. I read it years ago and instantly loved it because it did what the best biographers do - it took a legend, a vilified daemon - and made him human. Showed us his follies, his weaknesses, his loves and losses, and, yes, a streak of sadism. Forwent the question of whether you believe and went from the perspective: he did. Very nicely done indeed.

The Book of the Law by.. errr, Aiwass?

Essential reading for anyone interested in Crowley or Thelema. An esoteric text said to have been dictated to him in trance in Cairo. It's where the famed lines "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law" and "Love is the law, love under will" arise. If nothing else, it's short.
Diary of a Drug Fiend by Aleister Crowley

Did you know he was also a (let's say loosely) fiction author? (Creative non-fiction?) Hmm. I enjoyed this rather hedonistic jaunt through high society and bedlam. You might too, provided you're willing to lose the plot (as I'm not sure there is one). It reminds me of something, and I've never been able to place exactly what. A little bit Gatsby, a little DBC Pierre, perhaps.


I think that's a balanced reading list: not Crowley, Crowley when he didn't think he was Crowley, and definitely Crowley.

I shall bid you all a debaucherous goodnight with a little Beltane Fire Dance. Take it away Ms. McKennitt.


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