Aleister Crowley in England: The Return of the Great Beast

Synopsis

• Reveals Crowley&’s sex magick relations in London and his contacts with important figures, including Dion Fortune, Gerald Gardner, Jack Parsons, Dylan Thomas, and black equality activist Nancy Cunard • Explores Crowley&’s nick-of-time escape from the Nazi takeover in Germany and offers extensive confirmation of Crowley&’s work for British intelligence • Examines the development of Crowley&’s later publications and his articles in reaction to the Nazi Gestapo actively persecuting his followers in Germany After an extraordinary life of magical workings, occult fame, and artistic pursuits around the globe, Aleister Crowley was forced to spend the last fifteen years of his life in his native England, nearly penniless. Much less examined than his early years, this final period of the Beast&’s life was just as filled with sex magick, espionage, romance, transatlantic conflict, and extreme behavior. Drawing on previously unpublished diaries and letters, Tobias Churton provides the first detailed treatment of the final years of Crowley&’s life, from 1932 to 1947. He opens with Crowley&’s nick-of-time escape from the Nazi takeover in Germany and his return home to England, flat broke. Churton offers extensive confirmation of Crowley&’s work as a secret operative for MI5 and explores how Crowley saw World War II as the turning point for the &“New Aeon.&” He examines Crowley&’s notorious 1934 London trial, which resulted in his bankruptcy, and shares inside stories of Crowley&’s relations with Californian O.T.O. followers, including rocket-fuel specialist Jack Parsons, and his attempt to take over H. Spencer Lewis&’s Rosicrucian Order. The author reveals Crowley&’s sex magick relations in London and his contacts with spiritual leaders of the time, including Dion Fortune and Wicca founder Gerald Gardner. He examines Crowley&’s dealings with artists such as Dylan Thomas, Alfred Hitchcock, Augustus John, Peter Warlock, and Peter Brooks and dispels the accusations that Crowley was racist, exploring his work with lifelong friend, black equality activist Nancy Cunard. Churton also examines the development of Crowley&’s later publications such as Magick without Tears as well as his articles in reaction to the Nazi Gestapo who was actively persecuting his remaining followers in Germany. Presenting an intimate and compelling study of Crowley in middle and old age, Churton shows how the Beast still wields a wand-like power to delight and astonish.

Copyright:

2021

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

Book Size:

384 Pages

ISBN-13:

9781644112328

Related ISBNs:

9781644112311

Publisher:

Inner Traditions/Bear & Company

Date of Addition:

12/07/21

Copyrighted By:

Tobias Churton

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

Nonfiction, Art and Architecture, Biographies and Memoirs, Health, Mind and Body

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.