A Lyrical Exhibition of Aleister Crowley.

Aleister Crowley has taken on many roles in his magnificent life: occultist, astrologer, mystic, ceremonial magician, yogi, chess-player, mountaineer, and religious philosophy leader. While he remained under the radar during most of his lifetime, today he is seen as the world’s most influential occultist. His work has greatly influenced many esoteric groups and individuals, as well as writers, musicians, and filmmakers.

I’m not here to discuss his occult philosophies, however. Mr. Crowley was also, often forgettably, a poet, and an astounding one at that (at least by my standards), and is by far my greatest creative writing influence. My love for him began when I stumbled upon his poem in ode to the religiously controversial being that is Lilith (full poem is posted below).

It is a shame to know, however, that his poetry has not received the praise I feel it deserves. Even Wikipedia only briefly delves into his poetic collections, among the rather extensive description of his life’s work. There may be some hope, though. The Oxford Companion to English Literature describes him as a “bad but prolific poet,” and while it isn’t the most noble description, it at least showcases that there is influential talent behind his creative writing. So, why not let our Cvlt Nation audience become exposed to such works in hopes to become inspired, as well.

While a lot of Crowley’s poetic work is quite difficult to track down, some of his poetry can be found in his self-published compilations White Stains, and Clouds Without Water, as well as pieces in The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse and works floating around the world (and internet) waiting to be dug up. Below are short descriptions of some of his poetry that can be read.

“Variations of sodomy, pederasty, bestiality, and necrophilia are interwoven with gleeful blasphemy in this seminal collection of poetry by Aleister Crowley. Inspired by Krafft-Ebing’s study of sexual perversity, Psychopathia Sexualis, it purports to be “the literary remains of George Archibald Bishop, a neuropath of the Second Empire.” Crowley’s infamous first book, White Stains was clandestinely printed in 1898 by Leonard Smithers. Of the one hundred numbered copies that were originally printed, only a handful were spared destruction by Her Majesty’s Customs; an outcome which speaks against Crowley’s decision to invoke the blessing of the Virgin Mary in his prefatory sonnet. Crowley would go on to establish himself as a leading figure in the Western occult tradition. A drug addict, bisexual, and proponent of sex magick, Crowley’s flamboyantly impious lifestyle would lead the tabloid press to crown him ‘The Wickedest Man in the World.'”

“This work by Crowley is a subtle but potent free fall into madness and debauchery as the reader is swept away into the minds and lives of two pagan lovers. Boundless free-love, dark magick, vampirism and sado-masochism is explored and enjoyed by our heroes.”

Lilith

The stench of the gross goat is in my nostrils instead of
the perfume of Artemis.
I plucked the Virgin by his broidered chlamys….who
could have guessed that hairry horror hidden ?
I have got gall to be my drink, who mingled my wine
with myrrh and musk and ambergris.
I made my bed of silk and and furs; and waking I found I had
swooned to sleep upon the midden.

Ah! Were those virgin lips of thine polluted with some
rank savour of Sabbatic lust ?
What spell turned thhe, the maiden, to a monkey jibbering
antiphonal blasphemies
To those chaste chants I woeed thee by, the moment that
touching thee, my fruit dissolved to dust,
Fair-seeming Sodom-apple ! Yet thy kisses smote all my
spine to shuddering ecstasies !

So strode the fool upon the mountain ridges, crying; One
step, and I attain the crest !
Lo! The loose cornice tricks him, and he tumbles, a
mangled nothing, to the glacier.
So the nun cries: One effort and I conquer; I pass the
gate, I win the appointed rest !
And passing it discovers the foul body of Sin that waits to
set his teeth in her.

So in my dreams, escaping from a monster, I turn one
corder; “there is refuge -there!”
Nay, there he lurked who never had pursued me….’twas
I who chased him to his proper holt.
Then, O thou vile adorable, my lover, my master, catch me
backward by the hair !
Fasten thy fangs upon my mouth’s gasped anguish, and
split my dream-clouds with thy thunderbolt !

Though thou be God or Satan, do thaou master my death-
pand with thy life-pang, and possess
All that I am with all thou art, my Vampire, my Siren
that I thought a nightingale !
Abase me! Spit upon me! Scourge me ! Murder me !
Take thy wolf’s meal of my loveliness !
Give me the reek of thy foul breath, and show me the
leper’s face behind the shining veil !

Yae! Though I sink through measureless abysses, I trace
the incommensurable curve.
Thy foursqure wedge that rages in my circle shall match
it at the infinite period.
Polluted body, violated spirit, corrupted soul, stunned brain
and tortured nerve:-
These merge into thy bloody maw, Echidna, that shall
emerge the lone white flame of God.

by Aleister Crowley

La Legende de l’Absinthe

Apollo, who mourned at Hyacinthe’s demise,
Refused to concede this victory to Death.
Much better that the soul, adept in transformation,
Had to find a holy alchemy for beauty.
Thus with his celestial hand he drained and crushed
The subtlest harvest of the garden goddess,
The broken bodies of the herbs yielding a golden essence
From which we measure out our first drop — of Absinthe!
In lowly hovels and in glittering courts,
Alone, in pairs, drink up this potion of desire!
For it is sorcery — as one might say —
When the pale opal wine ends all misery,
Opens beauty’s most intimate sanctuary —
– Bewitches my heart, and exalts my soul in ecstasy!

by Aleister Crowley

List of poetic works via wikipedia:

• Aceldama, A Place to Bury Strangers In. (1974). New York : Gordon Press. ISBN 0-87968-219-1

• Ahab, and Other Poems. (1974). New York : Gordon Press. ISBN 0-87968-221-3

• Aleister Crowley : Selected Poems. (1986). London : Crucible. ISBN 0-85030-456-3

• The Argonauts. (1974). New York, NY : Gordon Press. ISBN 0-87968-222-1

• Clouds without Water. (1974). New York, NY : Gordon Press. ISBN 0-87968-111-X

• Gargoyles : Being Strangely Wrought Images of Life and Death. (1974). New York : Gordon Press. ISBN 0-87968-224-8

• Golden Twigs. (1988). Chicago : Teitan Press. ISBN 0-933429-03-7

• Jephthah. (1974). New York : Gordon Press. ISBN 0-87968-217-5

• Jezebel, and Other Tragic Poems. (1974). New York : Gordon Press. ISBN 0-87968-216-7

• Orpheus : A Lyrical Legend. (1974). New York : Gordon Press. ISBN 0-87968-176-4

• The Scented Garden of Abdullah the Satirist of Shiraz, cover title Bagh-i-Muattar. (1991). Chicago : Teitan Press. ISBN 0-933429-05-3

• Snowdrops From a Curate’s Garden. (1986). Chicago : Teitan Press. ISBN 0-933429-01-0

• Songs of the Spirit. (1974). New York : Gordon Press. ISBN 0-87968-220-5

• The Soul of Osiris : Comprising the Temple of The Holy Ghost and The Mother’s Tragedy. (1974). New York : Gordon Press. ISBN 0-87968-177-2

• The Star and the Garter. (1974). New York : Gordon Press. ISBN 0-87968-175-6

• The Sword of Song : Called by Christians, The Book of the Beast. (1974). New York : Gordon Press. ISBN 0-87968-223-X

• White Stains. (1973). London : Duckworth. ISBN 0-7156-0680-8

• The Winged Beetle. (1992). Chicago, IL : Teitan Press. ISBN 0-933429-06-1

Header photograph is an original holograph draft by Aleister Crowley of the poem “La Legende de l’Absinthe” (here called “L’Absinthe”) courtesy of Oxgenee.