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."
I learned from a good friend, a writer of erotic fiction as well as a professional historian covering multiple topics from baseball to the Beatles, that the origin of science fiction was fully conflated with sex, and that the two remain interlocked.
My screenplay "Sex Lives of the Great Science Fiction Writers" remains in spec -- for some unknown reason no studio wants to pick it up. The closest we are probably going to get is Phil Seymour Hoffman's thinly disguised portrayal of L. Ron Hubbard in P. T. Anderson's "The Master."
"He wanted to buy me an electric typewriter, God bless him—one of the few true gentlemen in this world. I don't agree with any ideas he puts forth in his writing, but that is neither here nor there. One time when I owed the IRS a lot of money and couldn't raise it, Heinlein loaned the money to me."
This hits even closer to home now as I just got through tax season. I'm still alive, barely.
Crowley was certainly--when all is reviewed--a peculiar and distasteful fellow, but his influence in surprising. Yeats to Parsons. Crowley pops up in unlikely places. His doppelganger, Dr. Trelawney, is skewered in Anthony Powell's _The Kindly Ones_.
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...
Thanks for the recommendation. I like that woo-woo framing.
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."
I learned from a good friend, a writer of erotic fiction as well as a professional historian covering multiple topics from baseball to the Beatles, that the origin of science fiction was fully conflated with sex, and that the two remain interlocked.
My screenplay "Sex Lives of the Great Science Fiction Writers" remains in spec -- for some unknown reason no studio wants to pick it up. The closest we are probably going to get is Phil Seymour Hoffman's thinly disguised portrayal of L. Ron Hubbard in P. T. Anderson's "The Master."
Not sexy, but did you know RAH tried to buy PKD a typewriter when the latter was hard up (although I don't think there was a time in PKD's life when he _wasn't_ hard up)? A touching tale: https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/1555/on-the-personal-relation-between-phil-k-dick-and-robert-heinlein
"He wanted to buy me an electric typewriter, God bless him—one of the few true gentlemen in this world. I don't agree with any ideas he puts forth in his writing, but that is neither here nor there. One time when I owed the IRS a lot of money and couldn't raise it, Heinlein loaned the money to me."
This hits even closer to home now as I just got through tax season. I'm still alive, barely.
I read a lot of bios of writers and that screenplay might be interesting. Maybe a title change?
"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
Crowley was certainly--when all is reviewed--a peculiar and distasteful fellow, but his influence in surprising. Yeats to Parsons. Crowley pops up in unlikely places. His doppelganger, Dr. Trelawney, is skewered in Anthony Powell's _The Kindly Ones_.