The Star in the West

64 THE STAR IN THE WEST from a virgin ; falling at once a prey to a bedizened old prostitute of sixty-three . Those who should think the passion displayed in this tale as unbecoming and lustful, must indeed have minds composed of dung and cantharides , disappointed sterile old maids , or sated old matrons , pornophobics of the worst description . We know well the class , half Exeter Hall , half Empire Music -hall ; “ douée " (as a charming little French brochure describes one of this type ), “ du plus voluptueux tempérament courut longtemps les aventures . mais ses ans et le grand usage altérèrent ses charmes , et elle prit le parti ordinaire, de donner à Dieu ce qu'elle ne pouvait plus offrir aux hommes , et pleura dans l'hypocrisie trente ans d'amour et de plaisir .” We know the type well , and so does Aleister Crowley ; his Angela , before she fell into the boiling sulphuric acid , which was being prepared to remove her enamel , was presi dent of a Zenana Mission . Love is , as must now be apparent , an all engross ing theme in the poetry of Aleister Crowley , every phase almost meeting with an illustration . We have seen the flatulent love of youth , and its counterpart in the divine poetic sincerity of Charicles and Archais ; we will now view it in its maturer form , and firstly , in the form of true and sincere love , unconventional and pure , whether under the bond of marriage , or under the boundless bond of free love , between two souls of similar affinity . True love is a pure , unal loyed attraction , urging two souls from their inherited duality into their inherent oneness , that all are cap able of attaining , and yet so few attain ; and it is on account of the fewness of its adepts , that the magic of their worship has become to the clouded eyes of