A digression; Adam Curtis's documentary "All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace" spins a parallel tale about the intersection of woo-woo and high technology in California, although he's largely focused on the evolution of computer technology in the post-Parsons decades. (He may mention Parsons; it's been years since I've seen it). Of course, computer/information tech was the successor ideology to aviation/space-race tech...
This is certainly one of the oddest tales in modern occult history. Not only was Crowley the originator of modern thelemic ritual magick, he also perpetuated much occult lore that might have been forgotten had he not adapted it (you can call that good or bad, as you like). His poetry was way before its time (again, call that good or bad). He was supposed to have somehow conjured up the Loch Ness Monster during his residence at Boleskine House near the lake. And Parsons's thelemic ritual in the Mojave Desert in February 1946 is supposed to have ushered in the age of flying saucers (it didn't, really). Crowley reveled in obscurity and ambiguity, managing to mask his major interest in sex magick with mystical trappings of balderdash. On the other hand, he was capable of some profundities. From "The Confessions of Aleister Crowley" (1929): "The supreme satisfaction is to be able to despise one’s neighbor and this fact goes far to account for religious intolerance. It is evidently consoling to reflect that the people next door are headed for hell." And from "Magick without Tears" (1954): "We place no reliance on Virgin or Pigeon; our method is Science, our aim is Religion."
A digression; Adam Curtis's documentary "All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace" spins a parallel tale about the intersection of woo-woo and high technology in California, although he's largely focused on the evolution of computer technology in the post-Parsons decades. (He may mention Parsons; it's been years since I've seen it). Of course, computer/information tech was the successor ideology to aviation/space-race tech...
This is certainly one of the oddest tales in modern occult history. Not only was Crowley the originator of modern thelemic ritual magick, he also perpetuated much occult lore that might have been forgotten had he not adapted it (you can call that good or bad, as you like). His poetry was way before its time (again, call that good or bad). He was supposed to have somehow conjured up the Loch Ness Monster during his residence at Boleskine House near the lake. And Parsons's thelemic ritual in the Mojave Desert in February 1946 is supposed to have ushered in the age of flying saucers (it didn't, really). Crowley reveled in obscurity and ambiguity, managing to mask his major interest in sex magick with mystical trappings of balderdash. On the other hand, he was capable of some profundities. From "The Confessions of Aleister Crowley" (1929): "The supreme satisfaction is to be able to despise one’s neighbor and this fact goes far to account for religious intolerance. It is evidently consoling to reflect that the people next door are headed for hell." And from "Magick without Tears" (1954): "We place no reliance on Virgin or Pigeon; our method is Science, our aim is Religion."
"Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons"
I have that book. I didn't find it that exciting, since I knew 1/2 to 2/3rds of that stuff already.
"He was friends with Robert Heinlein and Ray Bradbury."
Yeah, well, Heinlein's first wife was something of a witch I do believe.
"Konx Om Pax by Aleister Crowley"
Long ago came to the conclusion that Crowley was an asshole and best ignored, much like Anton LeVay.
elm
bad smell, but not nearly as bad as the ariosophists