Thelema ScholarTHE ALEISTER CROWLEY COLLECTION
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Page 14 of 79
1906 · PDF PAGE 42

Gargoyles

…th of the thieves and whores Close as they cram in the maw of the pit, Sick with the stench of the kisses that rave Round me, surfeiting sense, in scores; Mad with their meaning, I smoke and sit Riming at random through my teeth, Gray with the mire of the slough beneath, Deep in the hearts that revel in it, Drowned in the breath of the hell that pours In the heart of Paris its infamous wave. Damning the soul of God, I rise, Stumble among the dissolute bands, 36

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1910 · PDF PAGE 309

The Equinox (Volume I, Number III)

… and sad intent Unto the burying-ground without the wall; And there he sat, stern and funereal, Wrapped in deep thought from any outward sense, A monument of earnest patience! “Sire!” (a disciple dared at length to say) “That wicked person took another way.” “Wide is the desert,” said the saintly seer: “ But this is certain, that he must come here.” ALEISTER CROWLEY. 291

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1910 · PDF PAGE 309

The Equinox (Volume I, Number IV)

… and sad intent Unto the burying-ground without the wall; And there he sat, stern and funereal, Wrapped in deep thought from any outward sense, A monument of earnest patience! “Sire!” (a disciple dared at length to say) “That wicked person took another way.” “Wide is the desert,” said the saintly seer: “ But this is certain, that he must come here.” ALEISTER CROWLEY. 291

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1904 · PDF PAGE 32

Why Jesus Wept

…e hour be come When madness seats herself upon the lad, And he turn serpent on his friends. But no ! There is too strong a discipline of sense, Too cool a brain, too self-controlled a heart : — Well, we shall see. Turns to his books. SCENE V SIR PERCY PERCIVALE, on Wastwater. God, I have rowed ! My hands are one blister ; By arms are one ache ; But my brain is a fire, As erst on the fell, In the hall ; let me dive To the under-abode, Where the sweet-voiced sister

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1909 · PDF PAGE 207

The Equinox (Volume I, Number I)

…TAKES OF MYSTICS I. Since truth is supra-rational, it is incommunicable in the language of reason. II. Hence all mystics have written nonsense, and what sense they have written is so far untrue. III. Yet as a still lake yields a truer reflection of the sun than a torrent, he whose mind is best balanced will, if he become a mystic, become the best mystic. THE METHOD OF EQUILIBRIUM I. THE PASSIONS, Etc. I. Since the ultimate truth of teleology is unknown, all codes of morality are arbitrary. II. Therefore the student has no concern with ethics as…

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1909 · PDF PAGE 207

The Equinox (Volume I, Number II)

…TAKES OF MYSTICS I. Since truth is supra-rational, it is incommunicable in the language of reason. II. Hence all mystics have written nonsense, and what sense they have written is so far untrue. III. Yet as a still lake yields a truer reflection of the sun than a torrent, he whose mind is best balanced will, if he become a mystic, become the best mystic. THE METHOD OF EQUILIBRIUM I. THE PASSIONS, Etc. I. Since the ultimate truth of teleology is unknown, all codes of morality are arbitrary. II. Therefore the student has no concern with ethics as…

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1929 · PDF PAGE 49

Magick in Theory and Practice (Section 1)

…ordered everything duly, we shall exalt the mind by repeated prayers or conjurations to the highest conception of the God, until, in one sense or another of the Word, He appears to us and floods our consciousness with the light of His divinity. The Third Method is the Dramatic, perhaps the most attractive of ail; certainly it is so to the artist’s tempérament, for it appeals to his imagination through his aesthetic sense. Its disadvantage lies principally in the difficulty of its per¬ formance by a single person. But it has the sanction of the …

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1929 · PDF PAGE 121

Magick in Theory and Practice (Section 1)

…ber. Thus, 7 knocks will intimate Venus, 11 the Great Work, 17 the Trinity of Fathers, and 19 the Féminine Principle in its most general sense. Analyzing the matter a little further, we remark firstly that a battery of too many knocks is confusing, as well as liable to over- weight the other parts of the ritual. In practice, 11 is about the limit. It is usually not difficult to arrange to cover ail necessary ground with that number. Secondly, each is so extensive in scope, and includes aspects so diverse from a practical standpoint that our dan…

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1902 · PDF PAGE 131

Tannhäuser

…e God slips you, He the Undefinable ! Not good ! Not wise! Not anything at all That heart can grasp, or reason frame, or soul Shadow the sense of ! Elizabeth. He is far too great ! I see ! Tannhauser. Not great ! The consciousness of man Their many generations moulded so To fix in definite ideas, and clothe Their Maker in the rags. If skies are vast, So gems are tiny : who shall choose between ? Who reads the riddle of the Universe ? All words ! Thus, from his rock-wrought peeking-poiiit Out speers the hermit. " See, the sun is dead ! " It shin…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 84

Why Jesus Wept

…in the interest of ‘ healthy optimism’. So far my pen has touched with vivid truth The constant story of the eternal struggle Of age and sense with flatulence and youth. Now — see the venal poet start to juggle ! Young ladies, you desire to see a comedy ! The poet’s master pen shall twist the river Of song into a simple to-and-from eddy. And you shall laugh where once you feared to shiver. So listen to the happy termination Of this apparently so sad relation ! Twill suit your rosy dreams to admiration ! But, be the gatepost witness ! it is rot.…

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1905 · PDF PAGE 97

Oracles

… sin for mother, and my woe for mate. I am a soul lost utterly—forbear ! I am unworthy both of tear and prayer. The mystic slumber of my sense forlorn Stirs only now and then ; some deeper pang Reminds despair there is a sharper fang, Reminds my night of a tempestuous morn. For I am lost and lonely : in the skies I see no hope of any sun or star ; On earth there blooms no rose, no nenuphar ; No cross is set for hope of sacrifice. I cannot sleep, I cannot wake ; and death Passes me by with his desirèd breath. 92

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1905 · PDF PAGE 9

Rosa Mundi

…ords tire ; All lights, all sounds, all perfumes, all gold stress Of the honey-palate, all soft strokes expire In abject agony of broken sense To hymn the emotion tense Of somewhat higher — O ! how highest ! — than all Their mystery : fall, O fall, Ye unavailing eagle-flights of song ! O wife ! these do thee wrong. Thou knowest how I was blind ; How for mere minutes thy pure presence Was nought ; was ill-defined ; A smudge across the mind, Drivelling in its brutal essence, Hog-wallowing in poetry, Incapable of thee. Ah ! when the minutes grew t…

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1898 · PDF PAGE 59

White Stains

…measured pulses quickened with the blood Of that desire which pours its deadly flood Through soul and shaken body ; scarce a thought But sense through spirit most divinely wrought To perfect feeling ; only through the lips Electric ardour kindles, flashes, slips Through all the circle to her lips again And thence, unwavering, flies to mine, to drain All pleasure in one draught. No whispered sigh, No change of breast, love’s posture perfectly Once gained, we change no more. The fever grows Hotter or cooler, as the night wind blows Fresh gusts of…

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1929 · PDF PAGE 151

Magick in Theory and Practice (Section 1)

…l idea of ambition in a course of action such as to induce in others the incorporeal idea of satisfying mine. I made my Will manifest to sense} sense swayed the Wills of my fellow- meii} mind wrought on mind through matter. I did not “sit for” a medical baronetcy by wishing I had it, or by an “act of faith”, or by praying to God “to move Pharaoh’s heart”, as our modem mental, or our mediaeval, mystic, miracle- mongers were and are muddlers and maudlin enough to advise us to do. A few general observations on the Magical Link may not be amiss, in…

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1898 · PDF PAGE 27

Songs of the Spirit

…, immortal God, Vague, vast, unknown, dim-looking, scarcely spied Through doubtful crannies of the Universe, Unseen, intangible, eluding sense And poor conception, halting for a phrase Of weak mind-language, O Eternity, Hear thou the feeble world, the lame desire, The dubious crying of the pinioned dove, The wordless eloquent emotion That speaks within a man, despite his mind ! Hear, who can pray for naught, unknowing aught Whereof, for what to pray. But hear me, thou ! Hear me, thou God, who fettered the bleak winds Of North and East, and held…

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1902 · PDF PAGE 63

Tannhäuser

…kiss Abides upon me, about me, and within ! Thou, lady of the secret of the Sea, Made one for love with me, Love and desire and dream, a sense of mortal sin ! Who Cometh as a visionary shape Within my soul and spirit to abide. Mysterious labyrinth without escape. Magical lover, and enchanted bride ? O Mother of my will ! Set thy live body still Unto my heart, that even Eternity Roll by our barren bed — 6i

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1910 · PDF PAGE 390

The Equinox (Volume I, Number III)

…rn, delight the vales ; Nor beast, nor bird, span space. Immense, Black rain, grey mist, white wrath of gales, Fill the dread armoury of sense. Nor shines the sun; nor moon, nor star Their subtle light at all display ; Nor day, nor night, dispute the scaur: All’s one intolerable grey. Black Ilyns, grey rocks, white hills of snow! No flower, no colour: life is not. This is no way for men to go From Severn-mouth to Camelot. Despair, the world upon his speed, Drive (like a lion from his den Whom hunger hunts) the man at need, Sir Palamede the Sara…

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1910 · PDF PAGE 390

The Equinox (Volume I, Number IV)

…rn, delight the vales ; Nor beast, nor bird, span space. Immense, Black rain, grey mist, white wrath of gales, Fill the dread armoury of sense. Nor shines the sun; nor moon, nor star Their subtle light at all display ; Nor day, nor night, dispute the scaur: All’s one intolerable grey. Black Ilyns, grey rocks, white hills of snow! No flower, no colour: life is not. This is no way for men to go From Severn-mouth to Camelot. Despair, the world upon his speed, Drive (like a lion from his den Whom hunger hunts) the man at need, Sir Palamede the Sara…

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1910 · PDF PAGE 128

The Scented Garden

…art, Of thee my heart but lightly deems. As he who worships Allah2 knows, His Teacher light the fool esteems Whose mind is occupied with sense — And how the crowd of senses teems !3 But El Qahar doth love ; collects Into one ocean all the streams.4 1. This is the Rabelasian jest — the story of Hans Carvels ring — in Eastern dress. 2. Again a confusion. He refers to the Sufi, not to the Zahid. (Teacher is nominative — fool accu- sative. Ed.) 3. Anyone who has practised even for a short time any of the Eastern systems of meditation will realize t…

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1944 · PDF PAGE 147

The Book of Thoth

…t tormented the unhappy Partridge, all without the least animus, ready to give the shirt off his back, should his victim be in need. His sense of humour is omnivorous, and may make him a mysterious figure, dreaded without reason by people who actually know nothing about him but his name‐as a symbol of Terror. This is due to the influence of the last decan of Cancer upon this card. One of his greatest faults is pride; meanness and pettiness of any kind he holds in infinite scorn. His courage is fanatically strong, and his endurance inde‐ fatigab…

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