In the end, the Justices ruled that Mathers had waited too long to file an injunction: he could have done it a month or six weeks ago, before Crowley had gone to the expense of printing The Equinox. Based on the content of the second issue, they ruled the third issue would do the plaintiff no harm. Therefore, Mathers was not entitled to restrain the publication in question. Crowley was allowed to publish The Equinox and was awarded costs as well.
Response to the trial was overwhelming. Virtually every London newspaper sported headlines like “Secret Society: Amusing Comedy in Appeal Court,” “Rosicrucian Rites: The Dread Secrets of the Order Revealed,” “Secrets of a Mystic Society: Rosicrucian Ritual to Be Revealed,” and “Secrets of the ‘Golden Dawn’: Quaint Rites of the Modern Rosicrucians.”25 Everybody knew about the magician Aleister Crowley, who was publishing the Rosicrucians’ secrets. Many papers even excerpted rituals from the victorious Equinox.
Most significantly, as the Evening News reported, “The revelations of Mr. Crowley have created utter consternation in the ranks of the Rosicrucians.”26 Crowley’s publication of the rituals, however, upset far fewer than did Mathers’s claim to leadership of the Rosicrucian Order. As a result, Crowley was “invaded by 333 sole and supreme Grand Masters of the Rosicrucians,”27 all of whom conferred upon him membership in their organizations. One of these was Theodor Reuss (1855–1923), head of the German organization Ordo Templi Orientis, which Crowley would come to embrace and direct in later years. At the time, however, he simply “booted [Reuss] with the other 332.”28
Crowley also became acquainted at this time with John Yarker (1833–1913), a collector of patents to operate various clandestine and pseudo-Masonic lodges, all of which he believed to predate the Ancient and Accepted Rite (i.e., “legitimate” Freemasonry), or at the very least to be just as legitimate. Foremost amongst these was the Ancient and Primitive Rite of Masonry, or of Memphis-Mizraim, which was an amalgamation of two older rites of ninety-six and ninety degrees, respectively, over which Yarker was Supreme Grand Master General. Despite being embattled within and ultimately expelled from the Ancient and Accepted Rite because of his fringe interests,29 he continued to be an active Masonic scholar, contributing regularly to Masonic publications, including the prestigious journal Ars Quatuor Coronatorum.30 Many of his ideas in the journal, however, fell on deaf ears. It was in fact Crowley’s positive review of Yarker’s The Arcane Schools (1909) that initially prompted Yarker to contact Crowley and thus initiate correspondence with an appreciative listener.31 Yarker, as did so many other groups, bestowed on Crowley high rank in various orders. As a result of these deluges of dignities, the list of honors conferred on Crowley at this time filled four dense pages.32
Illustrious Brother John Yarker (1833–1913) in his later years. (photo credit 9.2)
The publicity resulted in a boom year for the AA. Whereas sixteen probationers signed up in 1909, twenty-six joined in 1910. Among these were G. M. Marston, Frank Bennett, J. G. Bayley, Herbert Close, and J. T. Windram.
Commander Guy Montagu Marston (1871–1928) served in the Royal Navy as “one of the highest officials of the Admiralty.”33 He was born at Rempstone Hall, Dorset, to Rev. Charles D. Marston and Katharine Calcraft. Enlisting in the Royal Navy, he advanced to sublieutenant in 1892, and shortly thereafter served under Rear-Admiral Bedford on three punitive expeditions to the Gambia (February 1894), the Republic of Benin (September 1894), and Niger (February 1895). In 1901, Marston succeeded his uncle, William Montagu Calcraft, at Rempstone. The same year, he was made a full lieutenant, and in 1905 was promoted to commander, serving with the Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty. He was a friend of English poet Rupert Brook, whom W. B. Yeats had called “the handsomest young man in England”; Brook was also a friend of Equinox contributor G. H. S. Pinsent, which may provide the connection to Crowley. Marston was an avid reader, and his library reveals an interest in the sexual researches of Freud, Krafft-Ebing, and Havelock Ellis. Marston’s own experiments on the psychology of married Englishwomen demonstrated—he believed conclusively—that shamanic drumming made them restless, intensifying until it resulted in “shameless masturbation or indecent advances.”34 His interest in ritual magic led him to join the AA on February 22, 1910, with the motto “All for knowledge.” On November 12, 1910, he would take command of the Blanche cruiser and leave for Devonport.35
Frank Bennett (1868–1930) was a Lancashire bricklayer who, due to personal hardships, worked with his hands since age nine. Magic and Theosophy had interested him for a long time, and he wrote Crowley in the winter of 1910 to ask his advice on a practical course of study. Crowley recommended the Abramelin operation, adding, “I am glad to hear that you are really at work. So many people now-a-days just prattle about magic, and never do any.”36 To help him along, Crowley sent him a copy of The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage.
Bennett did as instructed but soon sent an alarmed letter to Crowley because he was hearing voices in his head. Crowley wrote back, reassuring:
What you report is rather good in a way, because it shows you are getting some results. But of course it implies also that your sphere is not closed. I should use the banishing Rituals of Hexagrams and Pentagrams to begin and end each meditation and also assumption of the God-form of Harpocrates. I think I should do less reading and more gardening; and in particular I should go to a doctor and make sure that the symptoms are removed so far as they are physical.37
Here is Crowley at his best as a teacher: rule out medical problems; barring this, work in a more controlled environment and, most importantly, don’t try too hard. The advice must have worked, as the problem did not come up again.
Bennett joined the AA as “Sapienta Amor Potentia” (Love of wisdom is power) on March 12, 1910. In order to check on this potential student, Crowley sent his student Herbert Inman to call on him. Inman learned that Bennett shared his interest in Co-Masonry, a new movement in Freemasonry that admitted women alongside men in its ranks. The nature of their conversation is unknown, but shortly afterwards Inman left for Rio and set up a TS lodge. Despite threat of expulsion, Bennett pursued Theosophy instead of the AA and moved to Australia in 1911.38
James Gilbert Bayley joined the AA on March 22, 1910, taking the motto “Perfectio et Ministerium” (Perfection and service). Although Crowley initially considered him a doubtful member, having been brought in under Inman, he would stand by Crowley throughout his life, serving as his British liaison while he was out of the country in the 1920s and staying in close touch through his final years.39
Herbert H. Close (1890–1971) was an old friend of Fuller’s, born to a well-to-do family of land owners. Under the pen name Meredith Starr, he was a writer and poet interested in mysticism, aromatherapy, and homeopathy, and described himself as a “constructive psychologist.” He was also a contributor to The Occult Review.40 Shortly after joining on June 6, 1910, Frater Superna Sequor (I follow the gods) began experiments with Crowley’s drug of choice, the hallucinogen Anhalonium lewinii, commonly known as peyote.41 After an astral journey convinced Close that he had attained a high grade, Crowley tested his claimed ability to stave off the effects of any drug by giving him ten grains of calomel. A note from Crowley to Fuller sheds light on this meeting: “I saw Starr & slew him. I hope he’ll be all right soon. I’ve given him a week to study Kant and a fortnight to get Kunt.”42 Close’s poem “Memory of Love” appeared in The Equinox I(7), but he eventually parted with AC, most likely when Fuller did, and later briefly became a follower of Indian guru Meher Baba (1894–1969), helping bring him to the West in the early 1930s. Crowley bitterly assessed the student: “Went out of his mind and never came back.”43
James Thomas Windram (1877–1939) was a South African accountant who joined the AA on August 11, 1910. He chose the magical name of “Servabo Fidem” (I serve the faith), and was one of only eight students who Crowley passed to Neophyte. Like Bayley, he stuck by Crowley for many years, taking on the AA motto “Semper Paratus” (Always ready
) and eventually becoming OTO National Grand Master for South Africa under the title of Mercurius X°.
On April 1, Crowley also admitted into the AA Australian violinist Leila Ida Nerissa Bathurst Waddell (1880–1932). who would become one of his most important magical partners. Leila Waddell was the daughter of David Waddell and Ivy Lea Bathurst of Randwick, New South Wales. She was born in Bathurst, New South Wales, a city whose largely aboriginal population was transformed by the 1851 discovery of gold and the 1876 completion of a railway from Sydney. She took violin lessons from age seven, quickly mastering her instrument. However, when her tutor died, it became clear that she was playing by memorizing her teacher’s performance, without either reading music or understanding theory. So she got a new tutor and started over.44 She was trained by Henri Stael, principal violinist with the Pleyel Concert Company, and in the 1898 annual examinations at the Sydney College of Music she was first runner-up for a medal in advanced honors in violin.45 She began teaching in suburban Sydney: at Presbyterian Ladies’ College, a day and boarding school in the western suburb of Croydon, where she taught Junior Violin from 1901 to 1905; at Ascham, a nondenominational girls boarding school in the eastern suburb of Edgecliff, until March 1907; and at Kambala, an Anglican day and boarding school for girls in the eastern suburb of Rose Bay.46
With the press dubbing her “a very clever violiniste,”47 she—along with a pianist, contralto, and bass—played a Grand Concert on January 21, 1904, under the management Walter E. Taylor. Selections included Grieg’s Sonata No. 3 in C Minor (Opus 45) and Wieniawski’s “Cappricio-Valse” in E major (Opus 7), both for violin and piano. This latter piece she played “with great delicacy and brilliancy, exciting prolonged applause.” After two recalls, “her virtuosity being amply demonstrated,” “the talented young lady” returned with “Le Cygne,” the thirteenth movement of Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of Animals; the “Romance” from Wieniawski’s Violin Concerto No. 2; and Bohm’s “Papillons.”48 In August 1905, she debuted as a soloist at a Sydney Town Hall concert recital given by Arthur Mason, dubbed “one of our busiest musicians” for his jobs as City Organist, organist at St. James’ Church, and director of the Sydney Choristers.49 A 1906 concert was held to honor the celebrated violinist’s charitable works.50 This attracted the attention of Henry Hawayrd, who hired her for the Brescians, a group of Anglo-Italian instrumentalists and vocalists who served as the movie-theater orchestra for T. J. West’s West Pictures in New Zealand. Works performed by Waddell at this time included Charles Flavell Hayward’s “Grand Concert Duet (Olde Englande) on English Airs, for Two Violins” (with Auelina Martinego) and Francesco Paolo Tosti’s song “Beauty’s Eyes,” with violin accompaniment and obligato.51
Waddell played with the Brescians from 1906 to 1908, when she left for England to hone her craft. This is likely when she studied with world-class violin teacher Émile Sauret (1852–1920), who was teaching in England at this time; several years later, she would also study with Leopold Auer (1845–1930) in New York.52 Success followed her, as the Sydney Mail reported in June 1909, that “the well-known Sydney violinist has been meeting with marked success at Bournemouth.”53 Soon she was performing as part of the Ladies’ Orchestra in George Edwardes’s revival of Oscar Straus’s A Waltz Dream, which opened at Daly’s Theater in Leicester Square on January 17, 1911. While the Times reviewer was admittedly jaded by having seen previous productions and thus gave the show a lukewarm reception, The Play Pictorial raved.54 The show ran for 106 performances through the end of April 1911.55
Part Maori, Leila Waddell had square brusque features and thick eyebrows, nose, and lips. Her straight dark hair reached down to her waist. She was slender, attractive, and exotic, and Crowley fell madly in love with her. He dubbed her “the Mother of Heaven”—often referring to her simply as “Mother”—and through her the “purely human side of his life reached a proper climax.”56 She became one of the most intriguing and important figures in Crowley’s life. Within a week of her acquaintance, he was inspired to write “The Vixen” and “The Violinist.” The first is an occult-horror short story about an heiress who uses black magic against her lover. The latter belongs to the same genre, about a woman who evokes a demon from one of the watchtowers though her music. In these pieces he portrayed Leila as happy, honest, shrewd, and huntress lithe. During a May trip to Venice, Crowley wrote The Household Gods, also dedicated to her. Penned at Hôtel Pallanza in Lago Maggiore, he called it “a charming little play showing how heaven confused a domestic quarrel between husband and wife.”57 In his Confessions, Crowley admitted a secret affection for this piece, and the writer Louis Wilkinson claimed it contained one of the funniest exclamations in literature.58
The Ladies’ Orchestra for George Edwardes’s revival of A Waltz Dream, 1911. (photo credit 9.3)
Crowley noted that since the Mathers trial, “For the first time, I found myself famous and my work in demand.”59 His poem about the Sahara, “The Tent,” appeared in the March 1910 Occult Review,60 followed in the May issue by a long discussion of the court case.
His next book was The Scented Garden. Purportedly translated from a rare Indian manuscript by the late Major Lutiy and another, it was fully titled The Scented Garden of Abdullah the Satirist of Shiraz. It appeared early in the year, was printed anonymously, and was issued privately in an edition of two hundred copies. Written during Crowley’s Asian wanderings, it was his parody of the Iranian poets and their texts on mysticism and homosexual love. It was also a tribute to his hero, Sir Richard Burton, whose scholarly books on sexual customs of the near and far east had caused a moralistic stir. “The Scented Garden deals entirely with pederasty, of which the author saw much evidence in India,” Crowley wrote of his book. “It is an attempt to understand the mind of the Persian, while the preliminary essay does the same for the English clergyman.”61 When he wrote these words in 1913, most copies of the book had been seized and destroyed.
In the preface to his next book, Crowley wrote “In response to a widely-spread lack of interest in my writings, I have consented to publish a small and unrepresentative selection from the same.” This anthology was Ambergris, published by Elkin Matthews. In typical manner, Crowley ran up £6 worth of proof corrections. He found the charges astronomical, and attacked the printer during his review of the book in the fourth Equinox. The investment was worthwhile, however, as the Evening Post declared it “the most interesting volume of new English verse seen this year.”62 The Nation found Crowley “as passionately possessed by his theme as any poet has ever been.63 The New Age similarly declared that any lack of interest was attributable to the high price of his lavish editions, adding “Mr. Crowley is one of the principal poets now writing.”64 D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930)—his The White Peacock (1911) not yet published and his famous Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1928) nearly two decades off—disliked the book, remarking, “If Ambergris smells like ‘Crowley,’ it is pretty bad. Civet cats and sperm whales—ugh!”65 Ironically, Crowley and Lawrence would both be underdogs of the Mandrake Press stable some twenty years later.
The Winged Beetle collected many of Crowley’s newer works, some reprinted from previous works66 and others appearing for the first time. He dedicated its poems to various people in his life, including G. C. Jones, Euphemia Lamb, Austin Spare, Lord Salvesen, Raymond Radclyffe, Kathleen Bruce, Rose Crowley, Commander Marston, Elaine Simpson, J. F. C. Fuller, Victor Neuburg, Frank Harris, Norman Mudd, H, Sheridan-Bickers, Allan Bennett, Mary Waska, George Raffalovich, and his mother. Yielding to his publisher’s concern that verse three of the dedication was too indelicate, Crowley consented to pen a less offensive substitute. However, the book’s “Glossary of Obscure Terms” allowed readers to translate it back to read:
Yea! God himself upon his throne
Cringed at thy torrid truculence;
Tottered and crashed, a crumbled crone,
at thy contemptuous ‘slave Get hence!’
Out flickered the Ghost’s marish tongue,
And Jesus wallowed in his dung.
It also featured a poem called “The Convert (A Hundred Years Hence),” which took a tongue-in-cheek view of his current popularity:
There met one eve in a sylvan glade
A horrible Man and a beautiful maid.
“Where are you going, so meek and holy?”
“I’m going to temple to worship Crowley.”
“Crowley is God, then? How did you know?”
“Why, it’s Captain Fuller that told us so.”
Fuller also had the honor of designing the book cover and having the volume as a whole dedicated to him. It remains one of the best anthologies of Crowley’s works, and the press received it enthusiastically. A critic with the Occult Review wrote:
I declare that Aleister Crowley is among the first of living English poets. It will not be many years before this fact is generally recognized and duly appreciated.… The range of his subjects is almost infinite … his poems are ablaze with the white heat of ecstasy, the passionate desire of the Overman towards his ultimate consummation, reunion with God.67
Alas, Crowley was about to learn the press was quite fickle.
Leila Waddell (1880–1932). (photo credit 9.4)
CHAPTER TEN
Aleister Through the Looking Glass
The pungent smell of burning tobacco filled the Dorset home of Commander Marston on May 9, 1910, as he hosted an AA ritual based on the lessons learnt in Algiers. The ceremony was designed to summon Bartzabel, spirit of Mars, and the burning of his incense, tobacco, was intended to make the residence more conducive to his appearance. Just as Crowley had sat in the Triangle of the Art during the call of the Tenth Aethyr, so Neuburg now sat in the space reserved for the spirit, ready to act as its conduit. As the ceremony proceeded, Neuburg entered a trance, rose to his feet, and to everyone’s surprise, danced an unscheduled dervish. When the dance ended and Victor began to speak as the god of war, they realized that Bartzabel was among them.
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