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To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick,alt.thelema,talk.religion.misc
From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nagasiva)
Subject: Various: GK Aleister Crowley Bio (Rvws)
Date: 20 Dec 1997 14:38:15 -0800

[technical difficulties enforced delay -- slightly edited format]

tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nigris (333)):

below find an ad for someone's information clearing-house.  it contains a
supposed bio of ACrowley and I wanted to forward to the elist to get some
reaction (which I may send on to Usenet in response to this ad).  lots of
material to critique/review here.  enjoy.

---
#Newsgroups: alt.magick
#From: "Tempest" 
#Subject: Aleister Crowley
#Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 16:47:30 -0700
 
# THAT AWFUL BEAST, ALEISTER CROWLEY!
# 
# ______________________________________________________________________
# 
# Aleister Crowley was born at Leamington Spa in Warwickshire, England on the
# 12th of October (A national holiday in the United States of America) in 1875
# Era Vulgari, and after a fascinating life of magick, mysticism, poetry and
# climbing, as well as "debauchery", i.e. a free and adventurous lifestyle as
# viewed by puritanical and often envious, misunderstanding individuals, he
# died in England at the age of 72 on the 1st of December 1947 E.V. -- not the
# burned out heroin addict as some claim, but to the last a productive member
# of society with an alert mind, busy to the end designing and supervising
# Lady Freida Harris' painting of the 78 cards of the tarot, writing and
# trying his damnedest to deal with the idiocies gone out of control in
# Pasadena, California with the members of the Agape Lodge of the Ordo Templi
# Orientis, separated from its members, most of whom he had never even met, by
# poverty, distance and World War II. Eventually his second in command, Karl
# Johannes Germer, perhaps the last loyal, sincere and intelligent member of
# the O.T.O., obviously distanced himself from the order gone bad, and his
# refusal to initiate new members indicates that he had hoped that it would
# die out and be forgotten so that Thelema, the religious philosophy A.C.
# lived to establish in the world, might have a fair chance.
# 
# During his lifetime, Crowley was slandered and vilified by the tabloid trash
# "journalism" of his day, which was, believe it or not, far worse than it is
# today. At times he found it amusing and even useful as few people wish to
# hear about the austere life of a saint but eagerly listen to the tales of
# debauchery committed by "the wickedest man in the world". It was not
# notoriety that Crowley wanted, although certainly he had his fair share of
# fun with it, but rather he simply wanted to be heard for there is no sense
# in teaching if no one comes to hear what one has to say. It was an old trick
# that even Jesus the Nazarene employed. In a time and place where even an
# artistic representation of Jehovah was forbidden, it was blasphemously mad
# for anyone to call himself "the son of God", which, by the way, Jesus never
# called himself but allowed others to call him to draw in the listeners and
# potential students.
# 
# Being called "the wickedest man in the world", a "satanist" (while being a
# man who did not even believe in the existence of Satan!), and so forth also
# saddened Crowley, but he did his best to make lemonade with the lemons his
# insecure, hostile detractors handed him. However, the worst threat today to
# the memory of Aleister Crowley and the further establishment of Thelema is
# not from those without, but rather from those who claim to be within,
# falsely calling themselves Thelemites, using Crowley and Thelema to promote
# their egos and achieve their own petty, personal goals at the expense of
# truth, proving themselves with their words and deeds to be at best
# pseudo-thelemites that Crowley, if here were alive today, would certainly
# speak out against. Much the same thing happened with Christianity as we see
# today happening with Thelema. Some of the Gnostics and other "heretics" the
# Roman Catholic Church tortured and executed followed more closely the
# original teachings of Jesus so that today Christian orthodoxy has very
# little resemblance to the original teachings of the Nazarene, and it as well
# as Fundamentalist or so-called Conservative Christianity would be the first
# things Jesus would condemn if indeed there were a Second Coming. Shall we
# who love the memory of Crowley and the philosophy of Thelema allow the
# Caliphate and Typhonian pseudo-o.t.o.s and other pseudo-thelemites cause
# history to repeat itself so that ignorance and hypocrisy may reign another
# 2,000 years... or more?
# 
# If you are interested in Aleister Crowley, the true nature of the Beast 666
# and Thelema, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope (and/or $1, deductible
# from your first order, for full information regarding Newaeon) to G.M.Kelly
# (Frater Keallach 93/676) at P. O. Box 19210, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213
# U.S.A. or e-mail me at gmkelly@ hotmail.com and you will discover the
# difference between the Beast 666 and the truly awful beasts of men and women
# who misrepresent themselves as Thelemites while acting as fascists and
# lunatics.

===================================================================

Paul Hume :

I have never been clear what "Gerald Kelly's" (I forget his real name)
agenda is, apart from vilifying anyone who disagrees with him, but his
analysis of Crowley's life is no more asinine than any of the others,
from Regardie to Suster, and unlike many of both the pro- and anti-
faction, he gets many of his facts about Crowley's career straight.

He goes off on his hobby horse whenever he can find an argument to
denigrate any of the organizations working under the OTO egregore, as is
patently obvious. Not sure if he wants to be another successor to the
"REAL" leadership of Thelema, or is just an ardent
antiestablishmentarian, or what. I have observed in his correspondence
with others that anything but slavish agreement quickly draws abuse, and
his enemies list seems to grow at exponentially accelerating rates.

==========================================================

Tim Maroney :

Let's see, if this the same fellow who was doing the NewAeon Newsletter 
out of Pittsburgh some fifteen years ago? I wound up with one his cards 
from the occult bookshop in Shadyside but I never made contact or saw a 
copy of the newsletter.

Kelly's take on current Thelemites may be influenced by Kevin Bold's 
Limbaugh/Gingrich fan club, which is masquerading as an O.T.O. camp in 
his area.

>Eventually his second in command, Karl
># Johannes Germer, perhaps the last loyal, sincere and intelligent member of
># the O.T.O., obviously distanced himself from the order gone bad, and his
># refusal to initiate new members indicates that he had hoped that it would
># die out and be forgotten so that Thelema, the religious philosophy A.C.
># lived to establish in the world, might have a fair chance.

I can't agree with this take on Germer's motivation. From his writing, it 
seems more accurate to say he became increasingly morose, paranoid and 
withdrawn over the years and was afraid to expose himself by making the 
O.T.O. a going concern. If Germer had concerns about what the O.T.O. was 
he had every opportunity to fix those problems by stripping it down and 
building it back up in a new form. The above quote seems like a partisan 
anti-O.T.O. statement rather than a real attempt to engage Germer's 
biography.

>It was not
># notoriety that Crowley wanted, although certainly he had his fair share of
># fun with it, but rather he simply wanted to be heard for there is no sense
># in teaching if no one comes to hear what one has to say.

Shades of P. R. Stephenson! Yes, it was definitely notoriety that Crowley 
wanted, and largely because it was fun to be at the center of a life 
lived large, not just some austere self-sacrifice he was willing to 
undertake to get an audience for his teaching. Seeking pleasure in 
outrageous ways was a big part of Crowley's interpretation of the Law of 
Thelema and I don't see anything wrong with it; there's nothing to 
explain away, but if you're going to make excuses then I hope you can 
find a better one than this.

># Being called "the wickedest man in the world", 

I think he loved the title. It's very flattering.

>a "satanist" (while being a
># man who did not even believe in the existence of Satan!),

As for the "Satanist" thing, all I can say is "not again!" Why do people 
who cite that one passage denying the existence of "the Devil" never read 
the whole page in MTP, which emphatically asserts the existence and 
centrality to Thelema of "Satan or Lucifer", identifying him with Aiwass?

>and so forth also
># saddened Crowley, but he did his best to make lemonade with the lemons his
># insecure, hostile detractors handed him.

But what about his insecure, hostile self, I wonder.

>However, the worst threat today to
># the memory of Aleister Crowley and the further establishment of Thelema is
># not from those without, but rather from those who claim to be within,
># falsely calling themselves Thelemites, using Crowley and Thelema to promote
># their egos and achieve their own petty, personal goals at the expense of
># truth, proving themselves with their words and deeds to be at best
># pseudo-thelemites that Crowley, if here were alive today, would certainly
># speak out against.

I think it's pretty arrogant to claim that the voice of the prophet is 
with you in your personal dislike of certain modern-day followers.

Crowley would pretty much speak out against anyone he had a momentary 
grudge against, often alienating people who would otherwise have been 
close to him. He shared this failing with Mathers and Blavatsky. What he 
might or might not have said in this connection is not of much relevance 
as he himself embodied many of the negative traits described in this 
message. The reason they're prevalent in Thelema today is that people are 
following in Crowley's footsteps and treating his personality failings 
(e.g., judgmentalism, crass showmanship, petty insults, mythic inflation, 
playing fast and loose with the facts) as if they were virtues. It's a 
common enough problem, the imprinting of the founder's personality on a 
group, and it doesn't apply just to religion.

============================================================

~From: Christeos Pir 

>below find an ad for someone's information clearing-house.  it contains a
>supposed bio of ACrowley and I wanted to forward to the elist to get some
>reaction (which I may send on to Usenet in response to this ad).  lots of
>material to critique/review here.  enjoy.

Poor Gary... A brilliant mind wasted on pathetic jealousy and petty spite.
If only he would stick to what he's good at: collecting Aleister's writing.
Instead, he spends his days, a legend in his own mind, railing against the
OTO, perhaps because it will not recognize his own gnosis as the One, True
Way (tm)?

The bottom line, IMO, is this: if someone  has something valuable to offer,
a 'better mousetrap': a new insight perhaps, or a unique and creative
approach, or even some different "tools," then let's hear it. If it's
worthwhile to others, it will be appreciated and the recognition they
deserve will be conferred. If all they have to offer is the same old sour
grapes, then I, for one, have better things on which to spend my time.

Interesting to note that, like Keonig, he mixes verifiable research with
personal opinion, with no compunction to label which is what. While I am
indebted to him as a preserver of Crowleyana (thanks to his loan of some
typescripts to Sor. Rhia, I have been able to reprint some previously
unpublished Simon Iff stories in our monthly newsletter, Heaven & Hell), I
find his carping a dead drag. Knee-jerk rebels and those with an axe to
grind against the OTO might like his stuff.

PS: Look for his website to be up sometime in the future, thanks to Sor. Rhia.

PPS: For another p.o.v. on Gary Martin, ask Kevin Bold (zentao@juno.com)
what he thinks of him! 

==================================================================

EOF
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