Serial Killer or not? Gilles De Rais Burned & Hanged in 1440.
Oxford bans the Great Beast 666--Aleister Crowley--lecture in 1930
Gilles de Rais was French companion-in-arms of Jeanne d'Arc in 1429 but is remembered for his later conviction as a confessed serial killer of children. He was hanged and burned October 26, 1440.1
Aleister Crowley, poet & occulist2 (also known as The Great Beast 666/ Perabduro/ Ankh-f-n-khonsu/ and the wickedest man in the world),3 was to deliver a lecture on February 3, 1930 to the Oxford University Poetry Society about the unfair trial of Gilles de Rais4
The University's Catholic Chaplain intervened and the lecture was cancelled.
Crowley asserted that the evil and wicked reputation of Gilles De Rais was thrust upon him by his enemies and the Church.5 Crowley made the case that both Gilles De Rais and Jeanne d'Arc were wrongly accused of Witchcraft, Necromancy and/or Heresey.
The Banned Lecture was printed in a limited edition of 1000.6
The papers of Aleister Crowley are held by the University of Texas.7
Winwar, Frances (1948). The Saint and the Devil; Joan of Arc and Gilles de Rais, a Biographical Study in Good and Evil. [1st ed.]. New York: Harper.
Kaczynski, Richard (2010). Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley (1st ed.). Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books.
Whyte, William. The Great Beast 666: Who was Aleister Crowley? NationalTrustUK.
Winwar, Frances (1948). The Saint and the Devil; Joan of Arc and Gilles de Rais, a Biographical Study in Good and Evil. [1st ed.]. New York: Harper.
Parsons, Ben (2010). “Sympathy for the Devil: Gilles de Rais and His Modern Apologists.” Fifteenth Century Studies 37: 113.
“The Banned Lecture. GILLES de RAIS to have been delivered before the University Poetry Society by ALEISTER CROWLEY on the evening of Monday, Feb.3rd.1930. Many used copies are for sale.
Aleister Crowley: An Inventory of His Collection at the Harry Ransom Center. Crowley Collection- Texas.
Exactly how Crowley's stuff wound up in Texas has to be a story in itself. It's akin to Ian Fleming's stuff being at IUB. ??? Is this a subtle disownment of disreputable figures by prim British universities?
I read, Magick in Theory and Practice by Aleister Crowley years ago.
It was incomprehensible to me when I read it. But the wiedest thing about the book is that it seems to leave seeds in the mind that bloom and mature through time.
Crowley's teachings are actually quite philisophical and the "Magic" he speaks to is essentially psychological.
"Do what you will, is the whole of the law" This is Cartesian philosophy at its core.
I did use one love spell that was in the book. That it actually worked I figured was simple 'coincidence" at the time. Now that I understand the Cartesian aspect of Crowely "magic"
I think the "spell" actually worked!
'The Power Of Positive Thinking'...is in fact Cartesian/Crowely Magic.
Yup!
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