Aleister Crowley: A Modern Master | Crowley had become increasingly frustrated with Rose's alcoholism, and in November 1909 he divorced her on the grounds of his own adultery |
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" According to Crowley's later statements, on 8 April he heard a disembodied voice that claimed to be that of , the messenger of Horus, or | An underlying theme in many of his writings is that spiritual enlightenment arises through transgressing socio-sexual norms |
In this attitude he was influenced by the work of and by.
Even from the brave river they reach to the edge of the wilderness | |
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, rising to become the leader of its British branch, which he reformulated in accordance with his Thelemite beliefs | In Paris, he met Mary Desti, who became his next , with the two undertaking magical workings in ; Crowley believed that one of the , Ab-ul-Diz, was speaking through her |
At Cambridge, Crowley maintained a vigorous sex life with women—largely with female prostitutes, from one of whom he caught —but eventually he took part in same-sex activities, despite.
4He continued writing poetry, publishing Jezebel and Other Tragic Poems, Tales of Archais, Songs of the Spirit, Appeal to the American Republic, and Jephthah in 1898—99; most gained mixed reviews from literary critics, although Jephthah was considered a particular critical success | His favoured method of doing so was through the performance of the Abramelin operation, a ceremonial magic ritual obtained from a 17th-century grimoire |
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He was also accused of advocating , largely because of a passage in Book 4 in which he stated that "A male child of perfect innocence and high intelligence is the most satisfactory victim" and added that he had sacrificed about 150 every year | Various members of the press attended, and reported largely positively on it |
Although he praised their "sublime" poetry and stated that they exhibited "imagination, romance, loyalty, probity and humanity", he also thought that centuries of persecution had led some Jewish people to exhibit "avarice, servility, falseness, cunning and the rest".