Aleister Crowley was a notorious English occultist in the first half of the twentieth century – once dubbed the wickedest man in the world. Magician. Writer. Prophet. Charlatan. Take your pick – Crowley was everything. So, let’s look at ten weird facts about Aleister Crowley.
Aleister Crowley made himself invisible
In a libel case against the journalist Nina Hamnett, Crowley made the astonishing claim that he had once walked down a street in Mexico dressed in a scarlet robe and sporting a jewelled crown on his head while being entirely invisible through his knowledge of magic. He later explained that this feat had been achieved by “invoking the God of Silence, Harpocrates”.
Magic mirrors attack visitors
In the same libel case, Crowley described a “hall of mirrors” in his London apartment which created “assailants” who attacked visitors. Presumably these were reflections of his visitors that became independently-existing demonic beings – who knows!! But when Crowley paid two workers to remove the mirrors, they were knocked unconscious by “unseen assailants”.
No hashish – just opium
In court, Crowley was asked if he and his followers took hashish. Absolutely not – he replied. However – he paused to reflect – of course we have opium and strychnine. Crowley claimed the heroin in his room was to treat his asthma!
Murder and suicide
When one of Crowley’s companions – a young man from Oxford, England – died of gastroenteritis, there were accusations of Satanic human sacrifice in the newspapers that were strenuously denied. However, not long afterwards, Crowley faked his own suicide in Paris. For a while, it seemed as if the old scoundrel was dead until he suddenly turned up at an art exhibition in Berlin.
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Diary of a Drug Fiend
In 1922, Aleister Crowley published a novel that caused a massive scandal: Diary of a Drug Fiend. Nobody doubted that the book was autobiographical. One review described it as a “narcotic debauch” where plenty of “snow” was snorted.
Summoned up the God of War
On one occasion in 1909 – at a ceremony in Victoria Street, London – Crowley and his associates summoned up Bartzabel, the “spirit of Mars”. Also present was a senior commander from the Admiralty “whose name is too well known to mention”. Bartzabel was asked if “nation would ever rise against nation” and the spirit replied that in five years there would be a bloody war that would destroy Turkey and Germany. And sure enough, in 1914, the First World War broke out.
Razor cuts for swearing
Aleister Crowley set up a commune of occultists at Cefalu in Sicily where his slavish followers were ordered to cut themselves with razors if they used bad language. Crowley admitted this was true but claimed he cut himself as well when swear words tripped from his lips. He then rolled up his sleeves to reveal his own scars.
Crowley called himself Beast 666
The cult leader adopted the title Beast 666 and also The Master Therium. The number 666 originally featured in the Book of Revelation as the mark of the beast. However, Crowley made the bizarre assertion that “666 is the number of the sun and you can call me Little Sunshine”.
The King of Depravity
Several nicknames were attached to Crowley including “The King of Depravity”, “A Cannibal at Large”, as well as “A Human Beast” and “Beast 666”.
Do cats have nine lives?
Crowley described an incident when as a child he “killed” a cat nine times to see if the old superstition was true.
