Aleister Crowley in America
Page 80
15. Crowley, The Urn, July 8, 1916.
16. Crowley, Neuburg, and Desti, The Vision and the Voice, 193.
17. Ibid., 194.
18. Ibid., 196.
19. Crowley’s contemporary diary account: The Urn, Liber LXXIII, July 12, 1916.
20. Charles Greifenstein, associate librarian and manuscripts librarian with the American Philosophical Society, kindly made two two-page letters available to Richard Kaczynski. The letters were written by Crowley to Prof. Elihu Thomson July to August 1916. Kaczynski also found seven pages of correspondence from William Sturgis Bigelow to Elihu Thomson, from the same period, including typescripts of Crowley’s letters to Bigelow, containing details not present in Crowley’s (surviving) correspondence with Thomson. Although the correspondence includes letters from Crowley, they are catalogued as letters from Bigelow. Copies of this material were arranged by Earle Spamer, reference archivist and library programs coordinator, with the American Philosophical Society.
21. Elihu Thomson Papers, Box 6, Crowley to W. S. Bigelow, July 26, 1916.
22. Ibid., Box 11, Crowley to Elihu Thomson, July 31, 1916 (extract).
23. Ibid., Box 6, W. S. Bigelow to E. Thomson, August 7, 1916.
24. Ibid., Crowley to W. S. Bigelow, August 8, 1916.
25. Ibid., Box 11, Crowley to E. Thomson, August 23, 1916.
26. Crowley, Confessions, 812.
27. Crowley, The Urn, July 12, 1916.
28. Ibid.
29. Ibid., February 15, 1915.
30. Ibid., July 13, 1916, 12:15 a.m.
31. Ibid., July 15, 1916.
32. Crowley, “Good Hunting,” International 12, no. 3 (March 1918): 67. It can be enjoyed today in Crowley’s The Revival of Magick, 104.
33. “The Wizard Way,” Equinox 1, no. 1 (March 1, 1909): 37; verse 6.
34. Crowley, Liber LXX, Στ.β. (“Stauros Batrachou”).
35. Ibid.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE. CROWLEY ON CHRIST
1. Liber 860, John St. John 11th day, 1908. Technical liber of the AA. Text can be read at: https://hermetic.com/crowley/libers/lib860.
2. Ibid.
3. Crowley, Magick, Book Four, Liber Aba, 445.
4. Crowley, The World’s Tragedy, 1910. Chapter 10: “Christianity.” Can be read at https://hermetic.com/crowley/worlds-tragedy/index.
5. Crowley, Confessions, 73.
6. Crowley, Crowley on Christ, 22–23.
7. Ibid., 23.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid., 22.
10. Ibid., 24.
11. Ibid., 25.
12. Ibid., 28.
13. Ibid., 30.
14. Ibid., 31.
15. Ibid., 39.
16. Ibid., 41.
17. Ibid., 47–48.
18. Ibid., 56.
19. Ibid., 58.
20. Ibid., 72.
21. Ibid., 80–81.
22. Ibid., 88.
23. Ibid., 113–14, 119.
24. Ibid., 143.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR. NOTHINGNESS WITH TWINKLES
1. Crowley, The Urn, July 22, 1916.
2. Ibid., July 25, 1916.
3. Crowley, Rex de Arte Regia, August 3, 1916, 11:50 p.m.; “Light wood fire dimly glowing.”
4. Ibid., August 12–13, 1916, Ops. XLII–III. “A certain thief in the Master’s podex. Obj: None: all abandoned to sheer joy. Two great operations.”
5. Crowley, The Urn, July 28, 1916.
6. Ibid., July 29, 1916.
7. Crowley, Rex de Arte Regia, August 6, 1916.
8. Crowley, Confessions, 780.
9. Crowley, The Urn, August 21, 1916.
10. Ibid., August 21, 1916.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid., August 23, 1916.
13. Ibid., September 13, 1916.
14. Ibid., August 24, 1916.
15. Ibid., August 27, 1916.
16. For the complete Golden Twigs, see Crowley’s The Simon Iff Stories and Other Works, 423–551.
17. Ibid., 500.
18. Ibid., 501.
19. The Smart Set 50, no. 1 (September 1916): 229.
20. Crowley, The Urn, September 6, 1916.
21. Ibid., September 22, 1916.
22. The article is reprinted in Crowley’s The Revival of Magick, 64–69.
23. Ibid., 74.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE. NEW ORLEANS—AND BUST
1. Crowley,Rex de Arte Regia, December 10, 1916, Op. LXXXI, 8:50 p.m. “Obj. Dedication of myself to Tahuti [Mercury/Hermes] at the beginning of this great Magical Retirement. Op. Perfect. Elixir: good.”
2. Ibid., December 13, 1916, Op. LXXXIII, 10:30 p.m. “Obj. Wealth, because this appears the means of power to carry out the Will of Therion. Op. Excellent. Elixir. Good.”
3. Crowley, “Absinthe: The Green Goddess,” International 12, no. 2 (February 1918): 47.
4. Crowley, Confessions, 815.
5. Crowley, The Urn, December 26, 1916.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX. THE BUTTERFLY NET
1. Hankin, The Letters of John Middleton Murry to Katherine Mansfield, 16n49.
2. Ruis, Spynest: British and German Espionage from Neutral Holland, 36.
3. Crowley, “Delenda est Brittania,” Fatherland 5, no. 22 (January 3, 1917): 355–56. https://digital.library.villanova.edu/Item/vudl:148052#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=2&z=-0.6838%2C0%2C2.3677%2C1.4062 (accessed March 18, 2017).
4. Spence, Secret Agent 666, 163–64.
5. Crowley, Confessions, 755.
6. Crowley, The Simon Iff Stories and Other Works, 248.
7. YC, D7, AC to Cosgrave.
8. Crowley, Rex de Arte Regia, January 31, 1917, Op. LXXIV, 8:30 p.m.
9. Crowley, The Urn, February 1, 1917.
10. Crowley, Rex de Arte Regia, February 1, 1917, Op. LXXV, 4:30 p.m.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN. SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN
1. Crowley, The Simon Iff Stories and Other Works, 270.
2. Ibid., 269.
3. Crowley, Confessions, 788.
4. Crowley, The Urn, March 6, 1917.
5. Crowley, “AFFIDAVIT Memorandum of My Political Attitude since August 1914” [with additional memorandum], 3.
6. Crowley, The Urn, Thursday, March 29, 1917.
7. Crowley, “AFFIDAVIT Memorandum of My Political Attitude since August 1914,” 1.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid., 3.
10. Ibid., “Memorandum” 2–3.
11. Ibid., 3–4.
12. Ibid., 4.
13. Crowley, Confessions, 756.
14. YC, OS5, “Phone Numbers.”
15. Crowley, The Simon Iff Stories and Other Works, 533.
16. Crowley, Confessions, 826.
17. YC, OSD7. AC to Louis Wilkinson, April 20, 1917.
18. Crowley, The Urn, April 22, 1917.
19. Ibid.
20. Ibid., May 6, 1917.
21. Last Will and Testament of Emily Bertha Crowley; probate granted July 13, 1917. Gross value of estate £488-15-9d, Net value: £285-4-9d. Executor: Tom Bond Bishop of Glenorme, Station Rd., Sidcup, Kent. Address of E. B. Crowley at time of death (April 14, 1917), Minley Holt, 8 Old Orchard Rd., Eastbourne, Sussex (The Family Division of the High Court of Justice).
22. YC, D7, AC to Louis Wilkinson, dated May 10, 1917 (the astrological date says “Sunday” but May 10 was not a Sunday; was Crowley confused?).
23. Crowley, Rex de Arte Regia, May 27, 1917, 12:05 a.m. Op. III with Mary Lewinstein, “Operation bad, no erection, immediate ejaculation, little orgasm. Elixir ill-formed. Sense only of relief. Mental concentration feeble in the extreme. Result: apparent great success.”
24. Crowley, The Urn, May 27, 1917.
25. Ibid., June 14, 1917.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT. THE INTERNATIONAL
1. Crowley, Confessions, 826–27.
2. Crowley, Rex de Arte Regia, “New Series, Anno XIII” (1917); Opus IV, May 28, 1917, “all things excellent but elixir difficult to obtain”; Opus V, May 30, 1917, “Operation very prolonged, orgia
stic.”
3. Crowley, The Urn, May 31, 1917.
4. YC, OSD7, AC to Louis Wilkinson, June 25, 1917.
5. Ibid., AC to Louis Wilkinson, June 27, 1917.
6. Crowley, Rex de Arte Regia, Op. VII, 11:30 p.m., June 27, 1917.
7. Crowley, The Urn, August 28, 1917.
8. YC, OSD7, AC to Louis Wilkinson, (?) July 1917.
9. Ibid., AC to Louis Wilkinson, undated (presumed mid to late July 1917).
10. YC, D7, AC to Louis Wilkinson, July 19, 1917.
11. Ibid., AC to Louis Wilkinson, July 29, 1917.
12. Ibid., July 31, 1917.
13. Ibid., August 7, 1917.
14. Crowley, The Revival of Magick, 13–15.
15. See Crowley, The Simon Iff Stories and Other Works, Notes & Sources by William Breeze, 532–33.
16. Crowley, Confessions, 781–82.
17. YC, D7, AC to Louis Wilkinson, August 14, 1917.
18. Ibid., August 17, 1917.
19. Crowley, Rex de Arte Regia, Op. XVI, August 17, 1917.
20. YC, D7, AC to Louis Wilkinson, August 21, 1917.
21. Crowley, Rex de Arte Regia, Op. XVIII, August 22, 1917.
22. Crowley, The Revival of Magick, 88–90.
23. YC, OSD7, August 26, 1917.
24. Crowley, The Urn, August 28, 1917.
25. YC, D7, AC to Louis Wilkinson, August 31, 1917.
26. Spence, Secret Agent 666, 146.
27. Crowley, Confessions, 755–56.
28. Crowley [Sheamus O’Brien, pseud.], “Sinn Fein,” International 11, no. 9 (September 1917): 282.
29. YC, OS5, “Sinn Fein.”
30. Crowley, The Urn, September 3, 1917.
31. YC, D7, AC to Louis Wilkinson, October 1, 1917.
32. Crowley, The Urn, September 27, 1917.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE. ENTER THE CAMEL
1. Crowley, Rex de Arte Regia, October 1, 1917.
2. Crowley, “Cocaine,” International 11, no. 10 (October 1917): 291.
3. Crowley, “England Speaks,” International 12, no. 1 (January 1918): 2.
4. Crowley [J. Turner, pseud.], “Art and Clairvoyance,” International 11, no. 12 (December 1917): 379.
5. Crowley [Cor Scorpionis, pseud.], “How Horoscopes Are Faked,” International 11, no. 11 (November 1917): 345.
6. John Quinn Papers, Letterbook v. 17, September 28, 1917–January 12, 1918; 604, JQ to AC, 64a West 9th Street, November 24, 1917.
7. YC, OSD7, AC to G. S. Viereck, December 1, 1917.
8. Crowley, Rex de Arte Regia, December 16, 1917, 4:40 p.m., with Roddie Minor.
CHAPTER THIRTY. IT’S ALL IN THE EGG
1. Crowley, The Simon Iff Stories and Other Works, 538 (notes and sources by William Breeze to reference Louie’s on page 239).
2. YC, D7, AC to Louis Wilkinson, January 22, 1918.
3. YC, D1, 35; Letter from AC to Helen Westley, Tunis, August 30, 1923.
4. “A Glimpse into the Theatres,” International 12, no. 1 (January 1918): 30.
5. Amalantrah Working, Liber 729, January 14, 1918. O.T.O. Archive.
6. Ibid., February 7–9, 1918.
7. YC, OSD12, Dorothy Troxel to AC, June 3, 1923.
8. Amalantrah Working, Liber 729, Sunday, February 24, 1918.
9. New York Times, September 17, 1971, kindly sent to me by William Breeze.
10. A copy of the census sheet concerning Brooklyn was kindly sent to me by William Breeze.
11. Magick, Book Four, Liber Aba, 761, editor’s notes.
12. Discovered by Martin P. Starr; a photocopy of Starr’s original was kindly sent to me by William Breeze.
13. Crowley, Magick, Book Four, Liber Aba, part 4, 435, and editor’s introduction, lxv.
14. Magick, Book Four, Liber Aba, 761, editor’s notes quoting letter from Crowley to Yorke, dated Sept. 3, 1945.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE. UNHOLY HOLINESS AT 64A WEST NINTH STREET
1. Crowley, Rex de Arte Regia, March 9, 1918.
2. Crowley, Liber 729, Sunday, March 10, 1918.
3. Ibid.
4. Kaczynski, Perdurabo, 327.
5. Crowley, Rex de Arte Regia, March 22, 1918.
6. Crowley, Confessions, 791–92.
7. Dockerill, My Life in a Love Cult, 51–52.
8. Crowley, Confessions, 791.
9. YC, D7, April 9, 1918.
10. Crowley, Liber 729, Saturday, April 20, 8:45 p.m.
11. See Churton, Gnostic Mysteries of Sex, 74–88.
12. Crowley, Liber 729, XXVII, Saturday, April 27, 1918, 10:08 p.m., with Roddie Minor and C. S. Jones.
13. Crowley, “Drama Be Damned! An Appreciation of Eva Tanguay,” International 12, no. 4 (April 1918): 127.
14. Crowley, Liber 729, June 3, 1918.
15. Crowley, Rex de Arte Regia, June 23, 1918.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO. ISLAND
1. Spence, Secret Agent 666, 148–58.
2. Ibid., 151, 157n57–58: BI, file 365985, Agent O’Donnell Report, July 30, 1919; also B.I., file 365985, Agent O’Donnell Report, July 30, 1919, “Memo for Mr. Hoover,” January 7, 1920, and Crowley F.B.I. file 61-2069, Brennan to Hoover, August 1, 1924, 2–3, quoting July 19, 1919, report of Agent O’Donnell.
3. B.I. File, New York, 365985, pages 4–8 (Re: Aleister Crowley, Radical Activities), Report of Frank X. O’Donnell, July 19th–July 30th, 1919.
4. Crowley, Confessions, 783–84.
5. Spence, Secret Agent 666, 151.
6. Ibid., 153
7. YC, D1, “Oath 30” (1923), to Norman Mudd.
8. YC, OSD10, 85, Mudd to U.S. Dept. of Justice (in Jane Wolfe’s handwriting).
9. Crowley, Confessions, 782.
10. Crowley, The Hermit of Oesopus Island, Diary: August 8, 1918; with thanks to William Breeze, O.T.O.
11. Crowley, Confessions, 784–85.
12. Spence, Secret Agent 666, 152, 157n61: BI Case File 181633, “In re: Madeline George,” April 23, 1918.
13. Ibid., 152, 157n62: USNA [U.S. National Archives], MID [Military Intelligence Department] 10012-112/1, September 23, 1918.
14. Crowley, The Hermit of Oesopus Island, Diary: August 22, 1918, 3:40 p.m.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid., August 25, 1918, 5:10 p.m.
17. Crowley, Confessions, 784–85.
18. Spence, Secret Agent 666, 152.
19. Spence, Secret Agent 666, 152, 157n62: USNA, MID Correspondence 1917–1941, 10012–112/1, September 23, 1918.
20. Crowley, Confessions, 785.
21. Crowley, The Hermit of Oesopus Island, September 5, 1918.
22. Crowley, Confessions, 802.
23. YC, D1, Letter 93, AC to Achad, December 28, 1923.
24. Spence, Secret Agent 666, 154, 157: B.I. File 365985, “Memo for Mr. Hoover,” January 7, 1920.
25. Ibid.: BI, file 365985, Agent O’Donnell Report, July 30, 1919, and F.B.I. file 61-2069, Brennan to Hoover, August 1, 1924, 2–3, quoting July 19, 1919, report of Agent O’Donnell.
26. Ibid. Sixty-sixth Congress U.S. Senate Subcommittee on the Judiciary, Brewing and Liquor Interests and German Bolshevik Propaganda, vol. 2, (Washington, 1919), 2027.
27. Ibid., 2028.
28. B.I. File, New York, 365985, pages 4–8 (Re: Aleister Crowley, Radical Activities), Report of Frank X. O’Donnell, July 19th–July 30th, 1919.
29. Richard Kaczynski, Panic in Detroit: Testimony of A.W. Ryerson, January 9, 1922, 13. I am most grateful to Richard Kaczynski for helping me with information regarding the Ryerson controversy.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE. GENIUS ROW
1. Copy of letter kindly sent me by William Breeze, O.T.O. Archive; AC to CF Russell, November 12, 1918. Originals of C. F. Russell letters cited are now at the Houghton Library, Harvard University.
2. Sources for William Breeze’s account of Helen Hollis: NARA 1900 (as Helen Hollis), 1910, 1920 Centreville, Maryland, 1930 Baltimore (as Helen Watkins), 1940 Philadelphia (as Helen Watkins), 1920 Atlantic City, New Jersey; The Baltimore A
fro-American, Sept. 24, 1927; Social Security Administration SS-5; SSDI (as Helen Watkins); Madelyn Hollis, Centreville, Maryland, personal communication, December 10, 2012. From biographical note to “American Diaries” (unpublished), ed. William Breeze. I am grateful to William Breeze for sending me this information.
3. John Quinn Papers, Letterbook v. 20, Nov. 1918–Feb. 1919; 599, December 20, 1919.
4. YC, OS29, Draft letter AC to John Quinn, about April 1919.
5. Copy of letter kindly sent me by William Breeze, O.T.O. Archive; AC to C. F. Russell, January 2, 1919.
6. YC, D7, Letter AC to Helen Hollis, January 6, 1919.
7. Crowley, Confessions, 792–93.
8. YC, Royal Court Diaries, Monday, August 1, 1938.
9. Avis Berman, “‘Modern and Strange’: Robert Winthrop Chanler’s Stained Glass Windows for Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney,” January 2016. Conner Rosenkranz, LLC. www.crsculpture.com/index.php/in-depth/modern-and-strange-robert-winthrop-chanlers-stained-glass-windows-for-gertrude-vanderbilt-whitney-by-avis-berman (accessed March 19, 2017).
10. New York Tribune, Sunday, February 16, 1919, 22 (part 2, 2).
11. YC, OS5, handwritten list of phone numbers, about 1917.
12. I am indebted to Richard Kaczynski’s Panic in Detroit for details of Crowley’s contact with Detroit Freemasons in 1919.
13. “O.T.O. Violated US Mail Laws, Says Attorney,” Detroit Free Press, January 14, 1922, 1.
14. Testimony of A. W. Ryerson, January 9, 1922, Universal Book Stores Bankruptcy, Case #4946, 8, National Archives, Chicago, Ill.
15. Copy of letter (summary of proposed articles) from C. F. Russell, address: Choronzon Club, Daath [meaning “knowledge”; sepher on Tree of Life], Headquarters, to Morrill Goddard, Sunday Editor, NY American, NYC, September 22,1922; O.T.O. Archive.
16. Starr, The Unknown God, 89.
17. Copy of letter from AC (63 Washington Square) to C. F. Russell (Detroit), May 27, 1919; O.T.O. Archive.
18. YC, OS29, AC to Betty Bickers, (April?) 1919.
19. Ibid., AC to C. S. Jones, April 20, 1919.
20. Ibid., AC to “Marie” [Lavrov], 1919.
21. YC, D7, AC to Helen Hollis, April 5, 1919.
22. Ibid., Leah Carter to Helen Hollis, May 6, 1919.
23. Stephensen and Crowley, The Legend of Aleister Crowley, 125.
24. Seabrook, “Astounding Secrets of the Devil-Worshippers’ Mystic Love Cult,” Sunday Star Magazine Section, Indianapolis Star, April 8, 1923.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR. SUMMER IN MONTAUK—AND A THOUSAND YEARS AGO
1. Spence, Secret Agent 666, 169.
2. Crowley, Confessions, 793–94.