Crowley, Aleister

Aleister Crowley, author of Magick and a leader of the occultist movement of the late nineteenth century. Reproduced by permission of Fortean Picture Library.

Crowley, Aleister

Aleister Crowley, a famous English occultist and writer, was born on October 12, 8715, in Leamington, Warwick, England. He was a wealthy eccentric who inherited a fortune and was educated at Cambridge. He joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, founded the Magical group, and wrote numerous books. He was married many times, outraged polite British society, and died of a drug overdose.

Crowley lived in the United States during World War I and had a brief association with Evangeline Adams during which he proposed a joint book on astrology—a project never manifested. Crowley did write an astrology book prior to leaving America in 1919, but this manuscript was not published until 1974. Despite the character of the author, Crowley’s Complete Astrological Writings is suggestive and merits reading.

He also wrote a short piece, “How Horoscopes Are Faked,” under the pseudonym Cor Scorpionis (Latin for “scorpion’s heart”) that appeared in a small-circulation New York periodical in 1917. This article was a thinly disguised attack on Adams, whom Crowley accused of practicing astrology for profit (Crowley was wealthy and did not need to work for a living) and other sins. The piece was clearly sour grapes, written after the book project was rejected. Crowley died on December 1, 1947.

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