ALEISTER CROWLEY
Meet the Briton adored by rockers like John Lennon, Ozzy, Jimmy Page and Raul Seixas
cradle of gold
Aleister Crowley was born in Warwickshire, England, in 1875, into a wealthy family. Very Christian, the father, who died in 1887 (leaving a rich inheritance to his son), used to recite a chapter from Bible every morning. Even so, Crowley was not satisfied with the explanations of the Christian religion. As a young man he studied philosophy at Cambridge University, where he also explored poetry, chess and mountaineering.
mage in training
Crowley’s years of occult study began in 1898, when he joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a secret English organization that explored elements of astrology, kabbalah, alchemy and tarot. The Order no longer exists, but its influence continues in several current occult movements, such as Thelema itself, a sect founded by Crowley in 1904. To understand the mysteries of life, Crowley sought answers in the trips he made to Mexico, Egypt and India, where had contact with Buddhism and Hinduism.
voices from beyond
It was during his honeymoon in Egypt that Crowley claims to have heard an entity, called Aiwass, who dictated to him the founding work of Thelema, The Book of the Law. The text explains that the history of humanity is divided into eons, long periods of time with specific characteristics. Prehistory would be the Aeon of Isis, the Medieval Era would be the Aeon of Osiris, and our time would be the Aeon of Horus. For Crowley, this would be a time of great maturity, when humanity would fulfill its own desires.
Mark of the Beast
It was around the time of writing The Book of the Law that Crowley began making references to the devil and using the number 666. He also created the Mark of the Beast, a symbol composed of circles (representing the Sun and Moon) and a heptagram, with the numbers at the bottom. In 1907 Crowley founded an organization to practice and spread Thelema called Astrum Argentum. Earlier, he participated in the Ordo Templi Orientis, a German esoteric order. He became famous late in life, both for his occult practices and his lifestyle (Crowley was a drug user, including heroin, and bisexual). He died of lung disease in England in 1947.
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– (Andre Toma)
ELIPHAS LEVI
Author of several works, this Frenchman illustrated one of the most famous symbols of the occult
church escape
Born in Paris, France, in 1810, Eliphas Levi he was even ordained a deacon and wrote a series of books on religion before following the path of esotericism. After disengaging from the seminary of the famous church of Saint-Sulpice, he wrote more radical treatises and was briefly imprisoned. Despite producing a lot, it was not until 1854, when he traveled from France to England, that he began to publish works on magic and mysticism.
hybrid doctrines
Levi wrote two books on esotericism, which formed the work Dogma and Ritual of High Magic, one of the most important references of occultism. The introduction indicates all the influences of Levi, such as the Vedas (holy scriptures of Hinduism) and the religions of ancient peoples, such as the Egyptians and Assyrians. The book even includes a translation of Nuctemeron, a work attributed to the Greek philosopher Apollonius of Tyana. Until his death in 1875, Eliphas Levipublished other relevant books, such as Key of the Great Mysteries It is The Science of Spirits.
goat head
Also in Dogma and Ritual of High Magic, Levi popularized a version of Baphomet, a deity whom the Templars were supposed to worship. The drawing, made by the French occultist himself, shows a human figure, but with the head of a goat, and is loaded with symbols. A female arm points to the white moon, which represents God’s love. The male arm points to the black moon, which represents divine rigor. The breasts symbolize humanity, while the flame between the horns signifies intelligence and the fact that the soul is above the carnal.
Fight with Freemasonry
In 1861, Levi he was initiated into Freemasonry in London, but his membership in that secret society was brief and troubled. Known as a master of occultism and symbology, he was invited to give a lecture in a shop in Paris. Interrupted by a master mason, Levi took offense, stopped the performance and left, never to return. Later, he would come to criticize former colleagues, saying that, as they denied Christianity, they had forgotten an important characteristic of Freemasonry, tolerance.
– (Andre Toma)
PAPUS
Get to know the trajectory of the Spanish doctor who participated in several occult sects until he founded his own mystical group
rebel member
Gérard Encausse, better known as Papus, was born in Spain in 1865, but moved to France early on. He spent hours in the monumental National Library in Paris, reading about Kabbalah, alchemy and magic. He was part of a number of occult groups, including the Theosophical Society (which he left because he did not agree with the teachings of theosophy), and by disagreeing with others he created his own occult philosophy.
jewish fountain
In 1886, Papus founded the Martinist Order, which differed from other groups by having less Buddhist and Hindu influences, focusing more on Christian and Jewish tradition. The group created by Papus was inspired by Martinism, a mystical school based on the idea that man needs to redeem himself from his original sin and reach his divine condition. All the society’s meetings were initiated by the invocation of a tetragrammaton YHVH (transliterated in Latin letters), the Hebrew name of Yahweh, the deity of the Israelite people.
esoteric scientist
In addition to being an occultist, Papus was a physician, graduated from the University of Paris in 1894. He had a clinic and treated some famous patients. In the early 20th century, for example, he traveled to Russia several times to care for Emperor Nicholas II. Legend has it that Papus would have conjured the spirit of Nicholas’s father, who prophesied that his son would be overthrown by Russian revolutionaries. Fact or not, the prophecy proved correct. The emperor was removed from power and assassinated after the 1917 revolution, which established communism in Russia.
Influence on societies
All his life, Papus was very active in occult circles in Europe. He was a bishop of the Gnostic Church, led a branch of the Ordo Templi Orientis in Paris, and was a member of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. He accomplished a lot, even with an early death. The occultist enlisted in the French Army in 1914 at the start of World War I, contracted tuberculosis while working in a military hospital, and died aged 51 in 1916.
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– (Andre Toma)
HELENA BLAVATSK
Many occult works were influenced by this cool Russian. Her interest in occult knowledge emerged as a teenager, when exploring her great-grandfather Prince Dolgorukov’s library, where she found books on the Rosicrucian Order and Freemasonry. Owner of a strong personality, she gave up a frustrated marriage and went out into the world in search of philosophical, spiritual and esoteric teachings. She went to Greece, Egypt, Canada and the United States, where she would create her most famous legacy, the Theosophical Society, whose name comes from the Greek words for «wisdom» and «God». She founded the group inspired by spiritism, a nascent religion at the time and which Blavatsky considered to be full of false mediums – so much so that the philosophy of the Theosophical Society is based on the trinity composed of divine, human and natural. A nomad by choice, Madame Blavatsky continued to move around: she lived in India and passed through Italy, Belgium and England, where she died in 1891, aged 59.
– (Andre Toma)
CHARLES LEADBEATER
The British Charles Leadbeater was ordained a priest of the Anglican Church, but, taken by spiritualism, he abandoned religion and became a member of the Theosophical Society and one of the main speakers of this occult group in the world. He discovered theosophy at the age of 29, when he became a disciple of Helena Blavatsky. Self-taught in astronomy, Latin and Greek, Leadbeater explored meditation and delved into theosophical philosophy. Accompanying Helena Blavatsky, he lived for years in India, where he would have achieved “astral consciousness”, an altered state of consciousness that would have given him psychic powers, such as clairvoyance. Back in London, he was initiated into Freemasonry and reached the 33rd degree (the highest, to whom great secrets of the Universe would be revealed). In 1915, he moved to Australia and became bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church, which, despite the reference to Catholicism, is more linked to esotericism and theosophy. Leadbeater died in 1934, aged 80.
– (Andre Toma)
SAMUEL MATHERS
Like many young Englishmen of the late 19th century, Samuel Mathers entered the world of the occult through Freemasonry. The initiation came from an invitation from a neighbor, who was also researching alchemy. Although he evolved quickly in the Masonic lodge of which he was a part, Mathers would become famous even as one of the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which he helped create in 1887. He was responsible for the elaboration of the Order’s techniques, rituals and documents, in addition to having led the group until 1900. Owner of a strong personality, he ended up expelled from both societies: from Freemasonry, because he did not pay back the money he borrowed from the group, and from the Order, due to internal political divisions, created in part by his conflicting behavior . In the early 20th century, Mathers traveled to Paris and created Alpha et Omega, a group with precepts similar to the Order. He died in Paris in 1918.
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– (Andre Toma)
WILLIAM WESTCOTT
Born in England in 1848, William Westcott would become famous for founding a secret society that would influence several occult groups in the 20th century, including Thelema and Wicca. As a young man he was involved in various occult groups and secret societies: he was a member of the Rosicrucians, Freemasonry and the Theosophical Society. He also devoted two years of his youth to the study of esoteric philosophies, mainly Kabbalah. In 1887, Westcott used all this knowledge to found, with occultists Samuel Mathers and William Woodman, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The Order had three internal divisions, each occupied with a field of the occult, including magic, astrology, alchemy, and philosophy. Members learned, among other things, how to interpret tarot cards, read crystal balls and perform paranormal projection (a process in which the person’s soul would be able to leave the body and travel through other dimensions). Westcott also published books on Freemasonry, Numerology, and Theosophy. He died in 1925 in South Africa.
– (Andre Toma)
ANNIE BESANT
This Englishwoman participated in…