Aleister Crowley in America

by Tobias Churton

  “Now it seems that the centre of infinite space is that Urn, and Hadit is the fire that hath burnt up the Book Tarot. For in the book Tarot was preserved all of the wisdom (for the Tarot was called the Book of Thoth [Mercury]) of the Aeon that is passed. And in the Book of Enoch was first given the wisdom of the New Aeon.”18

  We now come to the purpose, or “Word,” of the Magus-prophet. According to Crowley’s interpretation of the vision, the New Aeon had been hidden for three hundred years because John Dee’s seer, Edward Kelley (1555–1597), had prematurely wrested the wisdom of the aethyrs and of “Enochian” wisdom and language from the angelic realm. Kelley’s “master,” Martin Luther (meaning Kelley was a reformed Christian or “Protestant”), had overthrown the power of the Christian Church, but Kelley, the pupil, rebelled against the master because he that saw the new Protestant Church would be worse than the old. “But he understood not the purpose of his Master, and that was, to prepare the way for the overthrowing of the Aeon.”

  “And a voice proceedeth from the Urn: From the ashes of the Tarot who shall make the Phoenix-wand? . . . And though thou have violated thy mother; thou hast not slain thy father.” The slaying of the “father” is taken by Crowley as the burning up of that which had fathered or brought the adept to the grade: his karma, or past actions that caused his destiny to that point. The question would be: How to slay the karma?

  In the meantime, Crowley experienced self-doubt. Was he fundamentally deluded? Did the gods really have any use for him any more; had they ever? His circumstances in America looked distinctly unfavorable; even the summer weather was generally damp and humid. Though he had seen the “phoenix-wand” “rise” from the ashes on mescaline on June 28, he remained in a quandary, not knowing what he could do. What kind of act would “break his karma”? How could he definitively sever himself from the past?

  Then something very odd happened.

  THE BALL OF FIRE

  Let’s hear it from Crowley. The date is Wednesday,*119 July 12, 1916; the time 5:00 p.m.

  A storm struck the lake; I went out to put my canoe in safety. Returning, I found a father, mother, and child who had taken refuge under my roof. I was wet through, and went into the Middle Chamber of the cottage to change my clothes. I had just got the clean shirt on, and was stooping for the trousers [knickerbockers], when a globe of fire burst a few inches from my right foot. A spark sprang to the middle joint of the middle finger of my left hand.19

  The phenomenon is not unknown to science, though it is still not fully comprehended. It goes by the name “ball lightning,” and in case you might consider the event a curio of Crowley’s overstimulated imagination, or that he immediately jumped to conclusions about his experience, we can show that Crowley made serious efforts to ascertain scientific knowledge about it and to make his own contribution thereto. We know this thanks to discoveries made recently by Crowley scholar and biographer Richard Kaczynski, aided by Charles Greifenstein and Earle Spamer of the American Philosophical Society.20 Richard Kaczynski has generously shared his discoveries with me for this project.

  A letter sent to the New York Times led Crowley into correspondence with two remarkable men of science. William Sturgis Bigelow (1850–1926) was a brilliant Harvard man who practiced as a surgeon to please his father but enjoyed considerably wider interests. One of the first Americans to live in Japan, Bigelow encouraged the Japanese to value their ancient art, eventually donating some forty thousand Japanese objects to Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. Like Crowley, Bigelow was both epicure and mystic. His ideas on spiritual evolution made compatible with science—biology combined with spiritual evolution in terms of cosmic and supracosmic consciousness—informed Bigelow’s book Buddhism and Immortality in 1908. On July 25, Bigelow sent Crowley a list of questions about the phenomenon. It should be observed that the following correspondence took place over the period during which Crowley experienced progressive initiation.

  Happy to communicate with a scientific mind of broad dimensions, Crowley replied to Bigelow’s questions the following day.

  Dear Sir:

  Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

  I am obliged by your letter of yesterday, and hasten to reply. I used (by the way) to know a very little about Science, having taken it at Cambridge, England. But the time was too short, and the phenomenon too startling, for me to claim perfect observation. I will, however, answer your questions as best I can, seriatim.

  1. The colour was violet and ultra-violet, like an arc light, but with much crimson in it.

  2. It did not oscillate, but remained steady for a period which I dare hardly estimate, and then burst.

  3.4. The intensity of the radiance makes it hard to answer these two questions [including “Did the surface show waves or ripples?”], but there seemed to be a nucleus.

  5. The shape approximated closely to the spherical.

  6. It apparently fell, but this may be a subjective or rationalized impression.

  7. [“If it moved, was it seen to enter the room through an open window or otherwise?”] See 6, also comment, infra.

  8. [“If it moved, did it seem to follow any draft of air that was in the room at the time?”] See above.

  The conditions of the cottage and of the storm were peculiar. At the risk of being tedious, I subjoin a rough sketch. [sketch follows]

  The Cottage is entirely of wood, except the chimney. There are many trees surrounding it, but they are rather small, except those marked.

  The climate has been very damp this summer and I have had large log fires every night in the quite quixotic attempt to combat the humidity. The storm broke without rain, and awoke me. I went to the balcony to watch the lightning, which kept the lake vividly illuminated. I then saw a squall travelling rapidly South, and rushed to the lake to put my canoe in safety. While doing this the squall struck me. I could not have been out in it for 30 seconds, but was wet through to the skin. I went into the room D, stripped, dried myself, and had just put on a flannel shirt when the phenomenon occurred. My hair was probably still fairly wet. I was directly between the chimney and the globe, which appeared close to my right foot. I was seated, bending, just reaching for some knickerbockers.

  The above is a fairly complete account of those facts which appear to me suggestive. Now I am anxious to have an opinion on these two theories.

  1. Could the lightning have struck the chimney and passed through me, forming the globe on issuing, or passed by me?

  2. Could the globe have been formed spontaneously in the room? The chimney and its vicinity being exceedingly dry and the rest of the cottage exceedingly wet, it seems to me as if that part might have been charged rather like a Leyden jar.

  I should be extremely indebted to you if you would comment upon these points. I am already obliged to you for referring me to the authorities, but this lakeside is not well furnished with Text Books of Science, and I must wait till my return to New York.

  Love is the Law, Love under Will. Yours very sincerely,

  Aleister Crowley21

  On August 7, Bigelow would send Crowley’s letter to Professor Elihu Thomson, who, in the meantime, received a letter direct from Crowley.

  Fig. 22.4. Adams Cottage floor plan, drawn by Crowley for Prof. W. S. Bigelow in 1916, identifying the scene of “ball lightning” that entered the cottage. (I am grateful to Richard Kaczynski, the American Philosophical Society, and the O.T.O. for sharing this image with the author.)

  Born in Manchester, England, inventor and electrical engineer Elihu Thomson (1853–1937) was but five when his family migrated to Philadelphia. Thirty years of successfully registering electricity-related patents made Thomson a national leader in the field, and in 1892 his Thomas-Houston Electrical Company merged with the Edison General Electric Company to form the General Electric Company, which thrives. He received a doctorate of science from Harvard in 1899, having already received a Ph.D. from Tufts College and an honorary degree from Yale. In 1909, Thomson was the
first to receive the Edison Medal for prolific invention from the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. His house at Swampscott, Massachusetts, is now a U.S. historic landmark. Fascinated by what Crowley had witnessed, Thomson wrote to him on July 28. Crowley replied three days later.

  I am obliged by your letter of the 28th inst., and hasten to reply.

  1. The thunderstorm had been violent for some 10 to 15 minutes.

  2. A tremendous bang, like the bursting of a bomb, not like thunder.

  3. I dare not estimate. I was very startled. But not very long.

  4. Apparently it fell, but this may be subjective or rationalized impression.

  (Pardon!) 6. Between 4:15 and 4:30 p.m. Very dark with low black clouds and rain almost a solid mass. A fierce wind blowing.

  5. [sic] Like an arc light, very bright.

  7. See 1, supra.

  8. Close to floor, possibly on it.

  I wrote an elaborate account with sketches for Prof W. S. Bigelow 56 Beacon Street Boston Mass I would so as much now, but am working day and night on several important articles. Pray forgive me if I refer to you as above; no doubt he will be glad to confer.

  I believe the globe was formed spontaneously in the room itself. Is this possible? You would oblige me much by any information on the theory of formation.22

  Bigelow then wrote to Thomson on August 7, 1916.

  Dear Prof. Thomson:

  Pray pardon my delay in answering yours of Aug. 2nd. It reached me at the other end of the state. . . . I send herewith his letter and my questions. His letter seems clear, all but the first and last lines, which with the odd red stamp on the first page, suggest that he may possibly be some kind of a crank. [Bigelow refers to the Thelemic greetings “Do what thou wilt &c” and “Love is the Law &c,” and the O.T.O. correspondence sigil]

  I am very glad to hear that you have the subject in hand and hope that, when you have got far enough, you will communicate your results to the Academy. Of course you know the literature of the subject better than I do, but a case occurred some thirty years ago at Beverly Farms in the house of one of my own family, where, during a heavy thunderstorm, a luminous ball floated in through an open kitchen window, moved slowly, like a soap-bubble, toward the range, where it shrank up and disappeared without exploding. The range had a water-back. Unfortunately the cook was the only person who saw it, but she told a straight story of what she had seen.

  Mr. Crowley asks two questions, which I have taken the liberty of telling him I have referred to you.

  Yours sincerely,

  Wm Sturgis Bigelow23

  Crowley wrote to Bigelow again on August 8, explaining the O.T.O. sigil, presuming Bigelow to be a Freemason.

  Dear Sir, and I presume Brother,

  Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

  Thanks for your letter of the 7th. Yes, the red seal is super-Masonic [meaning a “High Grade” Masonic Order], pertaining to a degree—the ninth—in an order of which the seventh degree corresponds to the 33° a. & a. [Ancient & Accepted “Scottish” Rite] I venture to enclose a pamphlet, as you appear interested. It is all part of a movement which promises to be very large. There are branches almost everywhere except U.S.A. where people don’t want to be, but to have.

  To get back to our lightning, it might interest you to know that I was struck by it once. I was about 18. I forget the exact year. I had been climbing the Pillar Rock of Emmerdale in Cumberland, got soaked in a violent hailstorm with thunder and lightning and set out to cross the Pillar Mountain on my way back to Wasdale. On the ridge of this mountain is a sheep fence of wire. I crossed it, and then turned to watch the lightning striking the uprights—quite small flashes, dozens of them one after the other. Jupiter (seeing my ice axe probably) made a dash at me. I felt a shock—luckily I was wet through—and sat down hard. Then I broke the world’s record back to the hotel!

  I remember about the lightning on board ships now you recall it. (I was a chemist with Murray Thompson, Herbert Jackson, Remsen, Ramsay, Collie, Travers & others, whom you may know, and did a little general physics as well.) I was really convinced that the ball formed in the room; it could hardly have travelled unseen. The chimney was quite the only other hypothesis; and even then—well, can a globe, as a globe, pass through matter as dense as brick?

  Love is the law Love under Will Yours very truly & fraternally, Aleister Crowley24

  Crowley was still at the Adams Cottage, Bristol, on August 23 when he wrote once more to Elihu Thomson. Having greeted Thomson in the Thelemic manner, Crowley confessed:

  I feel like the chief of sinners at the Day of Judgement in addressing this letter to you; but you have only to tell me to start again with some scraps of paper, and sealing-wax in my coat-sleeve.

  I have done no electricity since 1898, and all I remember is to distinguish between Kelvin, Sylvanus (with a “p”*120) and yourself. But I am mightily intrigued over this globular lightning, and I should like to put forward a theory, probably absurd, which lends itself to possible reproduction of the phenomenon in the laboratory.

  I assume that you have seen my letter to Prof. W. S. Bigelow.

  We have (a) a very wet cottage (b) a very dry chimney. (I am aware that wet only means more water, and dry less water; but I have been reading alchemy & such stuff, and I still conceive of “fire” and “water” in the curious old sense. Norman Collie,†121 of all people, by the way, was very keen on alchemy in the days when we climbed rocks together.) We have (c) an atmosphere charged with electricity of enormous voltage.

  Fig. 22.5. Letter from Crowley to Professor Elihu Thomson, August 23, 1916, concerning electricity and ball lightning. Note the O.T.O. letterhead. (I am grateful to Richard Kaczynski, the American Philosophical Society, and the O.T.O. for sharing this image with the author.)

  Now this electricity in (a) gets comfortably to ground. In (b) it does not quite know what to do. Wet clothes and legs come into (b). It can’t exactly spark—no conductor available; so it forms a globe about a drop of the newly introduced moisture.

  I have put this in lay language; but you will understand the idea. Is it quite mad?

  Love is the Law, Love under Will. Yours very sincerely, Aleister Crowley25

  Despite a plethora of theories to explain ball lightning, its true nature remains a mystery to science. Crowley had no doubt that he had witnessed a natural phenomenon, but this did not exhaust its possibilities of meaning. “It is a remarkable fact that physical phenomena of an appropriate character frequently accompany a spiritual event.”26 Crowley wrote in his Confessions of how heartened he felt by Prof. Thomson’s open-minded account (currently lost) of the curious nature of electrical phenomena, going so far as to give Crowley hope that one day soon science would start to perceive, even without knowing it, the suprarational point of view of “Neschamah” (spiritual mind) over the restrictions, often contradictory of ordinary “reason,” known to Qabalists as the “ruach,” or conventional mind of dualism. To mention quantum physics here is too much of a contemporary cliché to adumbrate further on this theme. To paraphrase Crowley, while it may be that mind is a manifestation of matter, it is also reasonable to suppose matter may be a manifestation of mind.

  For himself, Crowley took the experience, on account of timing with regard to his initiation, and its almost intimate character as a sign that the masters still needed him, that the initiation was real. He compared it to an incident in China in 1905 when he was thrown from a horse thirty feet down an incline and escaped without a scratch. That occasion too had coincided with a long initiation into realizing the hopelessness of reason, a period characterized as the “Abyss,” a loss of anchorage in reason and surrender of acquired means of knowing, before he finally experienced “the knowledge and conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.”

  Crowley had somehow suspected that death would be the outcome of the initiation. “This then is wrong,” he confided to his special diary of initiation (The Urn). “It seems to me as if this Ini
tiation were taking place ‘elsewhere,’ i.e., not in my consciousness at all. It is obviously too big for my human consciousness; yet its results must work down through that.”27 Was not “Masloth” Wisdom’s sphere of influence—the earthly heavens—and did they not open to form a solid mass to descend on the lake that night?

  Despite the globular reassurance, Crowley still felt utterly inadequate as a personality to the demands of the grade. “There is utter impotence on all planes. This has persisted through the whole period, save for short spells, when I have been more or less normal. But always I slip back into the state for which I find idiocy an adequate and even euphemistic term. I do not in the least fail to understand the grade; I am simply unable to act. It is no good making up my mind to do anything material; for I have no means. But this would vanish if I could make up my mind. I am as it were inhibited from everything. I am tempted for example to crucify a toad, or copulate with a duck, sheep, or goat, or set a house on fire or murder someone with the idea—a perfectly good magical idea, of course—that some supreme violation of all the laws of my being would break my karma, or dissolve the spell that seems to bind me. And I cannot do it, because (chiefly) I have no faith that it would actually do so.”28

  He recalled a bizarre dream of February 15, 1915, that seemed to necessitate making the lion “very dead indeed.” That dream message was a cryptic answer to the question of “how to fix the volatile,” where the lion symbolized the seed of life. But Crowley had cross-symbolized.

  The theme of the sermon [given in a bare New York room by four or five men] was mostly that “he” Christ or lion or elixir or something must be turned completely over, and must be made very dead indeed. The book [“Galeth” in the dream, supposed Bible] was full of promises that he would come back, and he—on the whole—is not wanted back.29

  Crowley had remembered a “pig toy” on the street, one of those things that vibrate, then suddenly flip themselves over on mechanical hind legs, ending up “lifeless”: an overturning process.