Crowley the Great Beast 666

In Search of the Beast

Just finished watching a documentary from the U.K. called "In Search of the Great Beast." I do recommend this DVD. If you are interested,
here is the web site I used to order - the DVD arrived from the U.K within a week of my ordering it.

http://www.aleister-crowley-666.com/HOME.html

Wanted to write down a few things while they were fresh and then come back, later, when I've had more time to digest the movie.

Its no secret I have great admiration for Crowley, for his work (Except the poetry - it is awful!) I purchased 3 volumes of his poems from an auction a while back..believe me, the work sucks.

Now, the movie: it takes you through a myriad of emotions.

Okay, maybe not you, but it did to me. Pity, empathy, scorn, admiration, disgust, astonishment, hatred and finally, in the end - all of these emotions swirling around at once with pity, and this would be an absolutel horror to the Beast...overriding all the other feelings.

I feel, profoundly, sorry for the man. He couldn't overcome the one thing a Magician, an Occultist can never possess...ego.

This may be exceedingly boring to you so no offense if you wander off.

First and foremost - yes, I do believe Crowley was, if not a prophet, certainly, at one time, in touch with higher powers. I also believe he lost touch due to his own ego and absolute hunger for power. And, his forays into things best left alone.

Goetia for example. Bennett warned him about it but to no avail; Crowley's ego was simply too big.

At this point in my life? I believe this is what ultimately destroyed him. These experimentations of his. Perhaps had he simply spent the years following the study of the Liber AL vel Legis; his life wouldn't have been such a catastrophe for him but more importantly for those around him.

This was a cursed life. Not one spent in search of Occult knowledge; he may have believed this to be true but I think he was fooled. I think Bennett was right. While Crowley, at that time, was not fooling with the Goetia - it was, without doubt, fooling with him. And it won.

From what I've read, from what I've seen - he became a cruel, narcissistic monster. The fate of the people around him only seem to strengthen this opinion: two women in asylums, senseless deaths - two of which were his own children and a suicide. He had many opportunities to turn things around but the lure of....dark power? Ultimate power? Was simply too strong for his personality.

Regardless of what I've seen and read about the man; my admiration and even respect, remains. What he offered to the world by way of the Liber AL and his writings, Magick in Theory and Practice in particular, are important Occult works.

The trap he fell into - the whole Golden Dawn and Masonic degree system...these are manmade. These aren't arcane things. These are men judging the worthiness of other men. These are things that are of the mundane, not the arcane.

Never have I ever believed in any system of degrees in the Occult world. No man has the power, the knowledge or power to determine the level of another man (or woman).

All of it is accessible to everyone, whether we achieve or receive the proper knowledge is decided elsewhere. The keys to the doors are not handed out by fellow human beings but by whatever lies beyond. Crowley wanted to be the Gate Keeper, the Holder of all Keys. Not possible. His ego had him stalled, eventually falling behind, falling back - spiraling into that Abyss that he claimed to have vanquished. No. The Abyss vanquished him, through his Achilles Heel - his ego.

It seems to me that he equated ego with the killing or dissolution of inhibitions, primarily, sexual inhibitions. Almost like he assumed because he saw himself as a truly sexually liberated persona that he had killed ego. By allowing himself to indulge in the most debase of sexual practices (at that time), that he had vanquished ego.

But, by believing that he had let go of worldly shackles, he was, in fact, more egotistical because of this perception of his, of himself. Smug in the belief that he was free of society's restrictions - that smugness was one of the weapons of his own destruction, from an Occult perspective. That smugness was his tremendous ego in disguise.

The biggest slapdown to Victorian society was the indulgence of things sexual. The practices that shocked the hell out of society back then - the practices which seemed to scream non-conformity and lack of the chains of common morality? For the most part, wouldn't even raise an eyebrow in most cities these days..in fact, most of his most prided accomlishments at shock, are available freely on the 'net and even in the wooded, SUV driven suburbs littering the Western world. Crowley would have been hardpressed to shock anyone these days.

In thinking things over - I do believe it was his ego that destroyed him. His ego that kept him from attaining any real Occult knowledge. The same ego you see in most men involved in Occult - O.T.O, Thelema or even the posers to the title of Wicked - the Satanists. Ego is the enemy of the Occult - it is the tool used to bring potentially great men to ruin or worse..mediocrity. Just finished watching a documentary from the U.K. called "In Search of the Great Beast."

Wanted to write down a few things while they were fresh and the come back, later, when I've had more time to digest the movie.

Its no secret I have great admiration for Crowley, for his work (Except the poetry - it is awful!) I purchased 3 volumes of his poems from an auction a while back..believe me, the work sucks.

Now, the movie: it takes you through a myriad of emotions.

Okay, maybe not you, but it did to me. Pity, empathy, scorn, admiration, disgust, astonishment, hatred and finally, in the end - all of these emotions swirling around at once with pity, and this would be an absolutel horror to the Beast...overriding all the other feelings.

I feel, profoundly, sorry for the man. He couldn't overcome the one thing a Magician, an Occultist can never possess...ego.

This may be exceedingly boring to you so no offense if you wander off.

First and foremost - yes, I do believe Crowley was, if not a prophet, certainly, at one time, in touch with higher powers. I also believe he lost touch due to his own ego and absolute hunger for power. And, his forays into things best left alone.

Goetia for example. Bennett warned him about it but to no avail; Crowley's ego was simply too big.

At this point in my life? I believe this is what ultimately destroyed him. These experimentations of his. Perhaps had he simply spent the years following the study of the Liber AL vel Legis; his life wouldn't have been such a catastrophe for him but more importantly for those around him.

This was a cursed life. Not one spent in search of Occult knowledge; he may have believed this to be true but I think he was fooled. I think Bennett was right. While Crowley, at that time, was not fooling with the Goetia - it was, without doubt, fooling with him. And it won.

From what I've read, from what I've seen - he became a cruel, narcissistic monster. The fate of the people around him only seem to strengthen this opinion: two women in asylums, senseless deaths - two of which were his own children and a suicide. He had many opportunities to turn things around but the lure of....dark power? Ultimate power? Was simply too strong for his personality.

Regardless of what I've seen and read about the man; my admiration and even respect, remains. What he offered to the world by way of the Liber AL and his writings, Magick in Theory and Practice in particular, are important Occult works.

The trap he fell into - the whole Golden Dawn and Masonic degree system...these are manmade. These aren't arcane things. These are men judging the worthiness of other men. These are things that are of the mundane, not the arcane.

Never have I ever believed in any system of degrees in the Occult world. No man has the power, the knowledge or power to determine the level of another man (or woman).

All of it is accessible to everyone, whether we achieve or receive the proper knowledge is decided elsewhere. The keys to the doors are not handed out by fellow human beings but by whatever lies beyond. Crowley wanted to be the Gate Keeper, the Holder of all Keys. Not possible. His ego had him stalled, eventually falling behind, falling back - spiraling into that Abyss that he claimed to have vanquished. No. The Abyss vanquished him, through his Achilles Heel - his ego.

It seems to me that he equated ego with the killing or dissolution of inhibitions, primarily, sexual inhibitions. Almost like he assumed because he saw himself as a truly sexually liberated persona that he had killed ego. By allowing himself to indulge in the most debase of sexual practices (at that time), that he had vanquished ego.

But, by believing that he had let go of worldly shackles, he was, in fact, more egotistical because of this perception of his, of himself. Smug in the belief that he was free of society's restrictions - that smugness was one of the weapons of his own destruction, from an Occult perspective. That smugness was his tremendous ego in disguise.

The biggest slapdown to Victorian society was the indulgence of things sexual. The practices that shocked the hell out of society back then - the practices which seemed to scream non-conformity and lack of the chains of common morality? For the most part, wouldn't even raise an eyebrow in most cities these days..in fact, most of his most prided accomlishments at shock, are available freely on the 'net and even in the wooded, SUV driven suburbs littering the Western world. Crowley would have been hardpressed to shock anyone these days.

In thinking things over - I do believe it was his ego that destroyed him. His ego that kept him from attaining any real Occult knowledge. The same ego you see in most men involved in Occult - O.T.O, Thelema or even the posers to the title of Wicked - the Satanists. Ego is the enemy of the Occult - it is the tool used to bring potentially great men to ruin or worse..mediocrity.

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