ALEISTER CROWLEY'S CAMBRIDGE

 

ALEISTER CROWLEY'S CAMBRIDGE

by Barry Van-Asten

 

 

'At Cambridge I was surrounded by a more or less happy, healthy, prosperous set of parasites'.

[The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. P. 119]



 

The Spirit of Solitude

Aleister Crowley as an undergraduate

of Trinity College, Cambridge.





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

51 Bateman Street

 

 

 Crowley attended 51 Bateman Street from 1885 when he was aged nine until 1888. The school was run by the Rev. Henry d'Arcy Champney [1854-1942] who was born in Yorkshire. He went up to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge on 1st October 1874 and attained his B.A. in 1875 and his M.A. in 1881. He was ordained as a Church of England Deacon in 1875 and a Priest at Ely in 1879. He became a Brethren in 1882. He started the school for the sons of Brethren. In 1879 the house was owned by George Procter.

 

 

 

 

 

'Hell on earth!' 

 

 

 

 

In Crowley's 'A Boyhood in Hell' from 'The World's Tragedy' he says that 'the Revd. H. d'Arcy Champney, M.A. of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, had come out of sect.

He had voted at the parliamentary elections by crossing out the names of the candidates and writing, 'I vote for king Jesus.'

He had started a school for the sons of Brethren at 51 Bateman Street, Cambridge. May God bite into the bones of men the pain of that hell on earth (I have prayed often) that by them it may be sowed with salt, accursed for ever! May the maiden that passes it be barren and the  pregnant woman that beholdeth it abort! May the birds of the air refuse to fly over it! May it stand as a curse, as a fear, as an hate, among men! May the wicked dwell therin! May the light of the sun be witheld therefrom and the light of the moon not lighten it! May it become the home of the shells of the dead and may the demons of the pit inhabit it! May it be accursed, accursed - accursed for ever and ever!'

 

 

 



 

 

'My first step must be to get into personal

communication with the devil.' [Confessions. P. 126]





 



 

 

Crowley went up to Cambridge in the Michaelmas Term [Tuesday 1st October] of 1895, just eleven days short of his twentieth birthday and his first residence was 16 St John's Street. He had entered for the Moral Science Tripos thinking it would stand him in good stead and teach him something about the 'nature of things', but he was 'profoundly disgusted to find that political economy was one of the subjects. I attended the first lecture; the professor told us that the subject was a very difficult one because there were no reliable data. It is easy to imagine the effect of such a statement on a boy who had been trained in the exactitude of mathematics and chemistry. I closed my notebook and never attended another lecture.' [The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. P. 108]

 

From his window at 16 St John's Street Crowley liked to look out to the Tower of St John's College and it was here where he would have discovered the poetry of Shelley and read the complete works of such authors as: Edward Gibbon (1737-1794), Thomas Carlyle (1795-1891), Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1832), Henry Fielding (1707-1754) and Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909). 'My three years were determined by the influence of a fourth year man named Adamson, whom I think I met at the chess club. He started to talk to me about English literature. For the first time I heard the name Shelley. Wie gesagt, so gethan. Nothing else seemed to me worth while but a thorough reading of the great minds of the past. I bought all the classical authors. Whenever I found a reference of one to another I hastened to order his works. I spent the whole of my time in reading. It was very rare that I got to bed before daylight. But I had a horror of being thought a ''smug''; and what I was doing was a secret from my nearest friends. Whenever they were about I was playing chess and cards. In the daytime I went canoeing or cycling. I had no occupations which brought me into close touch with any great body of undergraduates. I even gave up the habit of going round to see people, though I was always at home to anyone who chose to call. I was not interested in the average man; I cultivated the freak. It was not that I liked abnormal people, it was simply the scientific attitude that it is from the abnormal that we learn.' [The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. P. 110]

 

 

The man named 'Adamson' was surely Henry Anthony Adamson (1871-1941) whom Crowley would have looked up to. Adamson went up to Trinity College to study mathematics in 1889, receiving his B.A. in 1892 and his M.A. in 1896. In his obituary he was described as a 'powerful mathematician and a brilliant chess problem analyst' by T. R. Dawson in the British Chess Magazine.

 

Crowley liked to see himself as a Romantic hero and tended to think of himself as a separate entity away from humanity, this would of course have been due to his strict and insular up-bringing in the Plymouth Brethren - 'I have always had a passionate yearning for mankind, wholesale and retail, but I cannot endure to have them anywhere around.' [The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. P. 110]

During the vacations at University he liked to wander among the English fells of the Lake District or travel to Northern Europe: Holland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. During the long vacation of 1897 he went to St Petersburg to learn Russian which would have been an essential language for him were he to go into the profession he was considering - the Diplomatic Service [he became ill in October 1897 and saw the 'futility of all human endevour' - he was experiencing the 'trance of sorrow' and awakening to the spiritual realisation that he was to devote his life to the attainments of magic; he soon set himself upon a course to seek evidence of 'spiritual beings' through direct contact]. In the Easter vacation of 1898 he went to Wastdale Head in Cumbria with his friend and lover Herbert Charles Jerome Pollitt (1872-1942). In the Summer vacations of 1896 and 1897 he went climbing in the Alps.

 

During his first year at Trinity Crowley was not best pleased to find that Hall was at eight thirty in the evening - 'I objected to my evenings being cut into by dining so late and soon acquired the habit of having all meals sent in from the kitchen. I was thus almost totally dissociated from the corporate life of the college.' [The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. P. 109]

 

Crowley stayed at 16 St John's Street until 1897.

 

 

 



 

 

'The atmosphere of Cambridge formed an admirable

background for my state of mind.' [Confessions. P. 108]





 

 

 

Crowley began writing poetry around 1885 at the age of ten. The poems he wrote from 1885-1895 he considered his 'juvenilia' and these were later destroyed by him. It was not until he entered the Great Gate of Trinity that he saw himself as crossing a threshold in his poetry and entered his mature period. Today, his poetry is little read and only then by those who have a fascination for the man and the magician; his style is that of the romantic Shelley, the satanic Baudelaire and the earthy 'scandalous' Swinburne.

 

 

While Crowley was an undergraduate he contributed his poems to various periodicals such as ‘The Cambridge Magazine’, ‘The Granta’, ‘Cantab’ and ‘The Silver Crescent’. Some of the poems [of which many were re-published in 1904 in Crowley’s ‘In Residence: The Don’s Guide to Cambridge’ dedicated to his good friend Ivor Gordon Back (1873-1959)] show his early influences and his inventive and intellectual use of rhyming schemes. Some of the poems he contributed are: ‘Ballade of Bad Verses’ [Granta. Vol II, number 233. 30th April 1898], ‘Ballade of Whist’ [Cambridge Magazine. Vol 1, number 3. 11th May 1898], ‘Ballade of New Criticism’ [Cambridge Magazine. Vol 1, number 4. 18th May 1899], ‘Ballade of Ursa and Ursula’ [Cambridge Magazine. Vol 1, number 1. 1899], ‘Ballade of Summer Joys’ [Cambridge Magazine. Vol 1, number 6. 1st June 1899], ‘Ballade of the Mutability of Human Affairs’ [Granta. Vol 11, number 223. 26th February 1898], ‘A Refrain of a Far Country’ [Cambridge Magazine. Vol 1, number 1. 27th April 1899] and ‘A Sonnet of Spring Fashions’ [Granta. Vol 11, number 236. 21st May 1898]. Other works not included in Crowley’s ‘In Residence’ are: ‘The Ballad of Burdens’ [Granta. Vol 13. 3rd February 1899], ‘The Siegfried Finale’ [Cambridge Magazine. Vol 1, number 2. 1899] and ‘An Appeal to the American Republic’ [Cambridge Magazine. 1899].

 

O smug! in your desolate room,

Whatever’s the matter with you?

Your face is a picture of gloom,

Your pulse is a hundred and two,

Your eyelids are glued as with glue,

A towel is tied to your head,

You might be a man with the Flu!

‘’The Trip! and I wish I were dead!’’

 

[Ballade of Tripos Fever]

 

 

Tennis and cricket have come to stay,

Five o’clock is the time to bring

Tea and strawberry ice, and play

Various dulcet jargoning;

Lazy paddle all day to swing,

Lazy pipe to kill ennui’s germ,

Lazy, lazy everything: -

Sing heigh-ho for the glad May Term.

 

O hooray! merry boys, hooray!

Flannels are pleasures that have no sting.

Everyone’s white and cool and gay;

Everyone looks as if a wing

Might any moment sprout and spring,

Turning him into an ‘’alb’inerm’

Angelum’’, like Aladdin’s ring;

Sing heigh-ho for the glad May Term.

 

O the trees are out to-day!

O the buds are blossoming!

O the snow and the wind are away!

O the sun of the late sweet spring!

O the birds that are glad to sing

After the meal on the early worm!

O I am happier now than a king!

Sing heigh-ho for the glad May Term.

 

Envoi

 

Prince, or pauper, be what you may,

Business is quiet, but stocks are firm;

Never believe in the ‘’bears’’ in May!

Sing heigh-ho for the glad May Term.

 

[Ballade of the May Term]

 

 

Wild briar’s a blossom that fades;

The lily as easily dies;

And the love of terrestrial maids

Is tender, too tender to prize.

In a minute it droops and it dies,

And happiness spills at the brink;

Love opens the window and flies: -

But Smith’s is a permanent ink.

 

Prosperity favoureth trades.

An hour, and then troubles arise.

The workers drop axes and spades,

And Brandenburg labour supplies

The goods. It is very unwise

Your money in labour to sink.

It will vanish, the blue in the skies: -

But Smith’s is a permanent ink.

 

And even the woe that invades

Will pass, I make bold to surmise,

Like a man who for salmon trout wades

Till the water comes over his thighs.

He’s wet, but he speedily dries,

More quickly than pessimists think,

His gaff he repeatedly plies: -

But Smith’s is a permanent ink.

 

Envoi

 

Prince, we sell it in various shades,

In azure and purple and pink.

Things change by perceptible grades: -

But Smith’s is a permanent ink.

 

[Ballade of the Mutability of Human Affairs]

 

 

In May one often sees a fool

(A fool one guesses him to be)

Canoeing up to Byron’s Pool,

Or downward toward the salty sea.

One of them necessarily,

Unless one absolutely slacks

(Say under King’s or Trinity)

Upon the backs – upon the backs.

 

The garb this person wears is cool,

As his own self-complacency.

He wears a blazer made of wool

Or flannel (This is poetry,

And tailoring is nought to me)

Whose colours might be filed in stacks;

A straw in speechless harmony!

Upon the backs – upon the backs.

 

He smokes the weed of Istamboul;

He vaguely feels that he is free.

He seems to challenge Nature: ‘’who’ll

Dare to constrain my liberty?’’

He paddles like a honey-bee;

His golden boots are made at Fleck’s;

You often see a man like he

Upon the backs – upon the backs.

 

Envoi

 

Prince, you may storm Sevastopool,

With Maxim’s thwacks and axe attacks;

I ply the deft Canadian tool

Upon the backs – upon the backs.

 

[Ballade of the Backs]

 

 

 

In 1898, his final year at university, Crowley published one-hundred copies of his first collection of poetry:

 

 

ACELDAMA

A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS

 

 by



 

a gentleman of the University of Cambridge

 

privately printed

1898

 

 

 

Crowley borrowed from Shelley's 'The Necessity of Atheism' published in 1811 by a 'Gentleman of the University of Oxford'. The poem created little success and was read among student circles and even Crowley thought of it as a transitionary poem between his juvenilia and his mature period.

Not long after appeared further publications of his poetry: 'The Tale of Archais' which Crowley considered his first real successful poem; 'Songs of the Spirit', 'Green Alps' which was never published; 'The Poem', 'Jezebel', 'Jephthah' and the extremely pornographic 'White Stains'.





 



 

 

16 St John's Street

 

 

 

 Today 16 St John's Street is a Jewellers and its 18th Century architecture has remained mostly the same. In 1879 it was according to records inhabited by Mrs Harriet Colman, a music seller and in 1883 it is 'Colman & Co'. It has also been used by a firm of tailors and robe makers called 'Maltby'.

 

 'Till the Great Gate of Trinity opened me the way to freedom I had always been obsessed more or less either by physical weakness or the incubus of adolescence. I had never known what it was to be able to work freely and gladly. Now, however, I was able to give myself with absolute concentration to literature and I read everything important in the language with the utmost thoroughness.' [The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. P. 114]

 

WHEAT AND WINE

 

 

Clear, deep, and blue, the sky

Is silvered by the morn,

And where the dewdrop's eye

Catches its brilliancy

Strange lights and hues are born:

I have seen twelve colours hover on a single

spray of thorn.

 

 

There is a great grey tower

Cut clear against the deep;

In the sun's wakening hour

I think it has the power

To touch the soul of sleep

With its tender thought, and bid me to awake

for joy - and weep.

 

 

This night I am earlier.

No drowsy thoughts drew nigh

At eve to make demur

That I be minister

To Cynthia maidenly:

All night I have watched her sail through a

black and silver sky.

 

 

Within my soul there fight

Two full and urgent streams,

Work's woe and dream's delight:

Like snow and sun they smite,

Days battle hard with dreams:

On a world of misty beauty the Aurora

clearly beams.

 

 

So labour fought with pride,

And love with idleness,

My soul was torn and tried

With the impassioned tide

Of storm and deathly stress -

I had never dreamed a lily should arise amid

the press.

 

 

Yet such a flower sprang here

Within this soul of mine,

When foemen bade good cheer

To foemen, grew one clear

Concept, ideal, divine,

Of a god of light and laughter, of a god of

wheat and wine.

 

 

 

Work on, strong mind, devise

The outer life aright!

Dream, subtle soul, and arise

To noblest litanies

That pierce the mask of night -

In a man work lifts his eyelids, but his dreams

lend eyes their light.

 

 

So dreams and days are wed,

And soul and body lie

Ambrosial in Love's bed.

See, heaven with stars is spread -

So glad of life am I

If an angel came to call me I am sure I

would not die.

 

 

[The poem was written during his time at 16 St John's Street and the 'great grey tower' is St John's chapel which Crowley would have seen from his rooms. It was Crowley's 'habit to work from midnight to dawn, when he could no longer be disturbed by visits from friends.' From 'Songs of the Spirit' in The Collected Works of Aleister Crowley - volume I]

 

 

 



 

 



 

 

 

35 Sidney Street

 

 

 

 This location at 35 Sidney Street is an early 19th Century, three story building with cellars. In 1879 it was the office of 'Lincolne & Lofts' manufacturers of Loft's patent bottle washing & rinsing machine. The shop front belonged to 'Lincolne & Son' grocers, Italian warehousemen, ale and porter merchants, agents for W & A Gilbey, wine and spirit merchants and 'Ridgeways & Co's Teas & Coffees'.

Crowley lived here from 1897 to January 1898.

 

'I found myself, from the very beginning of my university career, urged by circumstances of every sort to indulge my passion in every way but the right one. My ill-health had prevented me from taking part in the ordinary amusements of the public school boy. My skill in avoiding corporal punishment and my lack of opportunity for inflicting it had saved me from developing the sadistic or masochistic sides of my character. But at Cambridge I discovered that I was of an intensely passionate nature, physiologically speaking. My poetic instincts, further, transformed the most sordidn liaisons into romance, so that the impossibility of contracting a suitable and serious relation did not worry me. I found, moreover, that any sort of satisfaction acted as a powerful spiritual stimulus. Every adventure was the direct cause of my writing poetry. In the periods of supression my brain had been completely clogged; I was as incapable of thought of any kind as if I had had the toothache.' [The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. P. 113]

 

 

 



 

 

 

14 Trinity Street

 

 

 

 Once the 'Turk's Head' coffee house, one of the earliest coffee houses in the country, 14 Trinity Street with its 16th Century architectural features was much favoured by undergraduates. It is timber-framed and plastered in two gabled bays with projecting upper floors and projecting gables with finials; bay windows on both upperfloors. The bays are divided by small pendant columns with carved brackets. Most of the external carving has been restored. It has a tiled roof and was Grade II listed in 1950.

The upper floors were once the 'Turk's Head Carvery'. In 1878 this beautiful Tudor building was a Bank 'Foster & Co' which was founded by the Foster brothers, Richard and Ebenezer. The bank later moved to Sidney Street, opposite Petty Cury.

In 1913 it is 'The Cafe' serving 'Luncheons and Teas, cakes & fancies of every description for Afternoon Teas'.

During the nineteen-twenties it was 'Matthew's Cafe'.

There is a blocked doorway on the left of the entrance which still has an original bell marked 'press'.

 

 





 

 

 

 14 Trinity Street around the time when Crowley would have been there.

 

 

 

Crowley moved into rooms at 14 Trinity Street in January 1898 and his lover Herbert Charles Jerome Pollitt (1872-1942) whom Crowley met in October 1897 would often visit him at this address. John Symonds gives us a description of Crowley and his elegant rooms at Trinity: 'he had taken to wearing pure silk shirts and great floppy bow-knotted ties; on his fingers werr rings of semi-precious stones. An atmosphere of luxury, studiousness and harsh effort pervaded his rooms at Cambridge. Books covered the walls to the ceiling and filled four revolving walnut bookcases. They were largely on science and philosophy, with a modest collection of Greek and Latin classics, and a sprinkling of French and Russian novels. On one shelf shone the black and gold of The Arabian Nights of Richard Burton; below was the flat canvas and square label of the Kelmscott Chaucer. Valuable first editions of the British poets stood beside extravagantly bound volumes issued by Isidor Liseux. Over the door hung an ice-axe with worn-down spike and ragged shaft, and in the corner was a canvas bag containing a salmon rod. Leaded Staunton chessmen were in their mahogany box upon a card-table scattered with poker chips.' [The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. P. 15].

Some of the books Crowley would have been reading are works by: Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), David Hume (1711-1776), Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895), Francois Rabelais (1494-1553) and Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936). Many of these books he would have purchased from Deighton Bell & Co which was located at 13 Trinity Street. It was here where he bought Arthur Edward Waite's 'The Book of Black Magic and of Pacts'. In fact, there were several bookshops on Trinity Street such as: Macmillan's at number 1 Trinity Street, Metcalfe's at number 12 Trinity Street, Rivington's at number 19 and William Tomlin at number 24 Trinity Street.

Crowley came into his inheritance upon reaching the age of twenty-one [Monday 12th October 1896] and figures often quoted are forty to fifty thousand pounds which was a huge amount at the time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

37 Trinity Street

 

 

 

 

 

 Numbers 35, 36 and 37 were built at the same time, dated 1861 on the stairhead gable and 1894 on the central gable. Red brick with stone dressing, three storeys and attics. There is a modern shop front entrance to the chambers above between numbers 36 and 37. There are two windows each and a narrow staircase. The first floor has mullions and transoms and iron grilles to be windows. Six pedimented gable dormers, dated gable over stairhead. Slate mansard roof. In 1878 it was home to Richard Lord Clark, hosier. In 1892 it was a lodging house owned by George Sussum and in 1913 it was 'Robinson's Bicycle Showroom'.

This is probably the last address Crowley stayed at during his time at Cambridge. As to Crowley's examination results we know that he 'passed the second part of the general Examination in the Michaelmas Term 1896, the first part in Easter Term 1897 and took the special Examination in Chemistry in the Michaelmas term, 1897, obtaining a second class. He did not graduate.' [The Magical Dilemma of Victor Neuburg. Jean Overton Fuller. 1965. P. 130]

 

 



 

 

Garret Hostel Bridge

 

 

 

  This modern bridge built in 1960 connects Garret Hostel Lane with the Backs of Cambridge.

 

 

 

BY THE CAM

 

 

Twilight is over, and the noon of night

Draws to its zenith. Here beyond the stream

Dance the wild witches that dispel my dream

Of gardens naked in Diana's sight.

Foul censers, altars desecrated, blight

The corpse-lit river, whose dank vapours teem

Heavy and horrible, a deadly steam

Of murder's black intolerable might.

 

The stagnant pools rejoice; the human feast

Revels at height; the sacrament is come;

God wakes no lightning in the broken East;

His awful thunders listen and are dumb;

Earth gapes not for that sin; the skies renew

At break of day their vestiture of blue.

 

 

[From 'Songs of the Spirit' in The Collected Works of Aleister Crowley - volume I]

 

 

 

 

 



 

Garret Hostel Bridge 1890

 

 

The above image shows the original Garret Hostel Bridge built in 1837 and it is a place that the solitary Crowley would have known as he enjoyed walking over the bridge and looking at the Cam while he contemplated poetry and philosophy.

 

 

ON GARRET HOSTEL BRIDGE

 

 

Here in the evening curl white mists and wreathe in their vapour

All the gray spires of stone, all the imobile towers;

Here in the twilight gloom dim trees and sleeping rivers,

Here where the bridge is thrown over the amber stream.

Chill is the ray that steals from the moon to the stream that whispers

Secret tales of its source, songs of its fountain-head.

Here do I stand in the dusk; like spectres mournfully moving

Wisps of the cloud-wreaths form, dissipate into the mist,

Wrap me in shrouds of gray, chill me and make me shiver,

Not with the Night alone, not with the sound of her wing,

Yet with a sense of something vague and unearthly stalking

(Step after step as I move) me, to annul me, quell

Hope and desire and life, bid light die under my eyelids,

Bid the strong heart despair, quench the desire of Heaven.

So I shudder a little; and my heart goes out to the mountain,

Rock upon rock for a crown, snow like an ermine robe;

Thunder and lightning free fashioned for speech and seeing,

Pinnacles royal and steep, queen of the arduous breast!

ye on whose icy bosom, passionate, at the sunrise,

Ye in whose wind-swept hollows, lulled in the moonrise clear,

Often and oft I struggled, a child with an angry mother,

Often and oft I slept, maid in a lover's arms.

Back to ye, back, wild towers, from this flat and desolate fenland,

Back to ye yet will I flee, swallow on wing to the south;

Move in your purple cloud-banks and leap your fast-swelling torrents,

Bathe in the pools below, laugh with the winds above,

Battle and strive and climb in the teeth of the glad wild weather,

Flash on the slopes of ice, dance on the spires of rock,

Run like a glad young panther over the stony high-lands,

Shout with the joy of living, race to the rugged cairn,

Feel the breath of your freedom burn in my veins, and Freedom!

Freedom! echoes adown cliff and precipitous ghyll.

Down by the cold gray lake the sun descends from his hunting,

Shadow and silence steals over the frozen fells.

Oh, to be there, my heart! And the vesper bells awaken;

Colleges call their children; Lakeland fades from the sight.

Only the sad slow Cam like a sire with age grown heavy

Wearily moves to the sea, to quicken to life at last.

Blithelier I depart, to a sea of sunnier kindness;

Hours of waiting are past; I re-quicken to love.

 

 

[From 'Mysteries: Lyrical and Dramatic' in The Collected Works of Aleister Crowley - volume I]

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

Trinity Gate

 

 

 

 Trinity College was founded by Henry VIII in 1546. The King's statue looks down from the Great Gate and his right hand, which once held a sceptre, now holds a chair leg, the result of a student prank long ago!

'I had the sensation of drawing a long deep breath as one does after swimming under water or [an even better analogy] as one does after bracing oneself against the pain inflicted by a dentist. I could not imaging anything better in life. I found myself suddenly in an entirely new world. I was part of the glories of the past; and I resolved to be one of the glories of the future.' [The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. P. 107]
Crowley then goes on to say 'I should like the haunted room over the Great Gate of Trinity to be turned into a vault like that of Christian Rosencreutz to receive my sarcophagus. I must admit that I don't know of much else in England of the works of man which I would not make haste to destroy if the opportunity occurred. But Trinity, except New Court and Whewell's Court, is enough for any poet to live and die for.' [The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. P. 107]

 

 

 



 

 

 

Trinity Great Court and Fountain

 

 

Legend has it that Byron bathed naked in the fountain with his pet bear as students were forbidden to keep dogs!

Although Crowley did not have much contact with the day to day life of the university he was a member of a few clubs associated with colleges such as the debating society known as The Magpie and Stump (Crowley participated in a few discussions of a rather frivolous nature and delighted in making witty quips); the Boat Club, which he found to  be of little use to him, and the Cambridge University Chess Club of which he was President in his second year (1896). In fact, Crowley made an intense study of the game of chess, already being a more than talented amateur and would study for more than two hours a day and spend even more time than that in actual practice. He became a formidable opponent and was on the way to become a leading light in the world of chess - a 'chess master!'



 

 

 

 

 

 

The Clock Tower and the Chapel

(The Clock Tower is 15th Century)

 

 

In bringing to life Crowley's days at Cambridge we cannot completely rely on what he has dictated more than twenty years later under the influence of heroin in his masterpiece of autobiography or 'autohagiography' as he termed it - 'The Confessions of Aleister Crowley' first published by the Mandrake Press in 1929. Crowley, like everyone else would see the actions of his past in a different light and there is a tendency to romanticise the younger image of himself. But it paints the greatest picture of the young poet and we see a man on the threshold of securing his future and the immortality of his name!

 





 

 

 

Tennyson in the Ante-Chapel

IN NEVILLE'S COURT,
TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.


I think the souls of many men are here
Among these cloisters, underneath the spire
That the moon silvers with magnetic fire;
But not a moon-ray is it, that so clear
Shines on the pavement, for a voice of fear
It hath, unless it be the breeze that mocks
My ear, and waves his old majestic locks
About his head. There fell upon my ear:

''O soul contemplative of distant things,
Who hast a poet's heart, even if thy pen
Be dry and barren, who dost hold Love dear,
Speed forth this message on the fiery wings
Of stinging song to all the race of men:
That they have hope; for we are happy here.''


[The voice is that of Lord Tennyson whose rooms were in Neville's court. From 'Songs of the Spirit' in The Collected Works of Aleister Crowley - volume I]

 





 





Trinity College Chapel

 

 

 

'Christanity was the official religion with which it was convenient to comply, just as it is convenient to go to a good tailor.' [The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. P 108]

 

 

Crowley would not fall in line with College's routines if they were opposed to his own will and natural order; he would not be interfered with: 'When I discovered that chapel was compulsory I immediately struck back. The junior dean halled me for not attending chapel, which I was certainly not going to do, because it involved early rising. I excused myself on the ground that I had been brought up among the Plymouth Brethren. The dean asked me to come and see him occasionally and discuss the matter, and I had the astonishing impudence to write to him that ''the seed planted by my father, watered by my mother's tears, would prove too hardy a growth to be uprooted even by his eloquence and learning''. It sounds like the most despicable hypocrasy, but it was pretty good cheek, and I had made up my mind that I would not be interfered with. I regarded any attempt to control my actions as an impertinent intrusion and I was not going to waste time in taking any but the easiest way out.' [The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. P. 108]



 

 

 

Crowley remained at Trinity College until the Easter Term of 1898. After he left he still kept in contact with certain like-minded undergraduates. 'As Crowley was a former student of Trinity it was perfectly in order for him to visit his old college and to walk up any of the staircases.' [General J F C Fuller in Jean Overton Fuller's 'The Magical Dilemma of Victor Neuburg'. 1965. P. 143]

It was in this way that he met the young poet who would become his magical assistant Victor Benjamin Neuburg (1883-1940). Victor went up to Trinity College, Cambridge in the Michaelmas Term (October) of 1906 aged twenty-three. He took the Tripos in Modern Languages and passed his examinations gaining a third class Honours degree. He was in residence at Trinity until the Easter Term of 1909.

'Crowley, though he had a sentiment for his old university and habitually came to it to recruit for his Order - Mudd, Pinsent, Merton and Gerald Yorke, were all Cambridge men - did not regard degrees.' [The Magical Dilemma of Victor Neuburg. Jean Overton Fuller. 1965. P. 147]

 

'Mudd' is Norman Mudd M.A. (1889-1934) of Trinity College, Cambridge. He entered Trinity in July 1907 on a mathematics scholarship, remaining until 1910. He was secretary of the Cambridge University Freethought Association where he knew Victor Neuburg (1883-1940). He became Professor of Applied Mathematics at Grey University College, Bloemfontein, South Africa. Mudd [Frater Omnia Pro Veritate] assisted Crowley at the Abbey of Thelema in 1923 and sadly took his own life in 1934.

'Pinsent' is Gerald Hume Pinsent (1888-1976) who took mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge.

'Merton' is Wilfred Merton (1888-1957), engraver and printer.

Gerald Joseph Yorke (1901-1983) of Trinity College, Cambridge. English cricketer and Major in the British Army. Yorke became a member of Crowley's magical order.

 

 

 'Like Byron, Shelley, Swinburne and Tennyson, I left the university without taking a degree. It has been better so; I have accepted no honour from her; she has had much from me.' [The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. P. 166]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



WAND OF SILENCE - PART FOUR

THE WAND OF SILENCE
by
Barry Van-Asten

 

Excerpts from the Magickal Diaries

PART FOUR

 

 



‘After five years of folly and weakness, miscalled politeness, tact, discretion, care for the feeling of others, I am weary of it. I say today: to hell with Christianity, Rationalism, Buddhism, all the lumber of the centuries. I bring you a positive and primeval fact, Magic by name; and with this I will build me a new Heaven and a new Earth. I want none of your faint approval or faint dispraise; I want blasphemy, murder, rape, revolution, anything, bad or good, but strong.’

 

[Letter to Gerald Kelly, circa October 1905]

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law

Friday 31st August. 9.30 p.m. Asana: my position. End at 10.00 p.m.
Saturday 1st September. 5.30 p.m. Asana: the Dragon position. Quite comfortable and I could have done much longer but I ended the work at 5.55 p.m. I then made my confirmation, swearing an oath of my acceptance of CCXX. Also that I, ______, shall undertake an indefinite period of Jugorum, concerning ‘forgetfulness to say will’ before meals. This I proclaimed facing north towards Boleskine, before the Ipsissimus. [an image of Crowley in the sign of Pan]. Preparations began for a rite of Jupiter working, an evocation of Hismael. I constructed the circle and the triangle of art, prepared the incense, the seal (planetary seal) and the square (of Jupiter). The triangle was set with the sigil of Hismael. The working is closely based on that of Crowley’s Bartzabel working, a charging of the Talisman. All preparations were ready at 10.30 p.m. and the rite was to commence at 11.00 p.m. – the objective: harmony in my work and strength to my will. Also a third and secret objective to be drawn unto me.

THE HISMAEL WORKING A RITE OF JUPITER

[Sphere of Chesed: 4]

 

 

I. α) Banishing. β) Consecration.
II. Invocations.
III. The Charge of the Talisman.
IV. The Benediction.
V. The Licence to Depart.
VI. Closing Ceremony.

11.00 p.m. Disrobe and Declaration to Adonai. Purification: anointing of the forehead, wrists, heart and phallus.

 

‘Asperge eum Domine hyssop et mundabitur; Lavais eum et super nivem dealbabitur’

I. Banishing: Lesser Banishing Rituals of the Pentagram and the Hexagram. Consecration. Enter the circle. Light the candle.

II. ‘Hail unto thee, Ra Hoor Khuit’ etc (see Bartzabel working part II) to ‘Dog of evil’. Incense and declaration: ‘I, _______’ etc – ‘And this my purpose is fivefold’ etc. (Bartzabel).

The Invocations begin. The God= EL; the Archangel= Tzadquiel; the Intelligence= Iophiel and the Spirit= Hismael.

III. The Charge of the Talisman. [planet: Tzedek in Hebrew]. ‘I charge thee, in the name of Iophiel, Tzadquiel [etc] to entereth within this talisman and charge it with thy force of Jupiter. May thee bring about my will, in peace and harmony, and let the charge be swift and powerful, that no opposing force shall distract it, that it shall flow unrestricted and direct unto the object of my will. And shall ye be ever ready to come before me, to serve me, whensoever thou art invoked and called forth, whether by a word, or a will, or by this great and potent conjuration of Magick Art. Amen’.

The solar current is directed towards the talisman. And lo! A light brighter than the candle didst appear, of soft, warm light, glowing as of aethyr flame.

IV. The Benediction. [see Bartzabel]

V. The Licence to Depart. [see Bartzabel]

VI. The Closing Ceremony. The Lesser Banishing Rituals of the Pentagram and the Hexagram. 11.30 p.m. The ritual is at an end and the circle and the triangle of art are destroyed!

Sunday 2nd September. 01.30 a.m. An unsought altering of consciousness. My astral body was forcibly being manipulated, twisted in all directions. I returned to consciousness at 06.30 a.m. My vigil is strong – nothing passes my lips before ‘will’ is said! 7.05 p.m. Asana: legs crossed (EP). Dharana on the Hexagram – the red descending triangle (Macrocosm: Horus). The blue ascending triangle (Microcosm: Man). I saw how the internal strives to communicate with the external, via a system of sounds (vibrations), yet each understandeth not! I began with the mantra: ‘Do what thou wilt’ and changes it to A.M.P.H. then dropped the mantra altogether. I invoked the pentagram of Earth. I saw a pyramid which may have been Aztec in construction and it was on a vast plain with hills around it. The work ended at 07.40 a.m. Pain in my feet and a slight headache which I kept as a gift all day!
Monday 3rd September. A little after midnight I dreamt that I met the Devil. I was unafraid until I thought, and it struck me: ‘but this is The DEVIL!’ Intense fear and shouting out. I woke from the dream into dream a) being comforted by my mother and b) into reality.
Saturday 8th September. The Censer and the Sword [purchased]. 11.20 p.m. and I burnt unto the Goddess, opium, and with the sword, sang in the language of the moon – The Adoration of Oai [Liber Stella Rubaea]
Tuesday 11th September. The Vision of the Garden: I was in a garden, a sort of alchemical garden with sweet-smelling herbs and medicinal plants. There were roses too and other brightly coloured flowers. I could fly in this garden, but not beyond the garden’s perimeter, for I was a prisoner of the garden, but I did not mind as it was so tranquil and beautiful. One day, a gentleman came to the garden and tried to persuade me to leave, saying that there are lots more things of wonder to see beyond the garden. But I could not leave. Then, later, I found myself in a room (which was actually a train carriage). There were two windows and a square wooden door beside one of the windows, painted white and about five feet from the floor (and no steps to reach it). I wanted to go through the door but didn’t. I was reading ‘Liber Stella Rubaea’. Then I noticed I wasn’t alone. A dark man all in black came from the shadows [the light had faded outside the windows] and he sat next to me, shoulder to shoulder. I saw his face and it was painted white with a painted smile over his sad mouth. He seemed to me to be pure evil and he could not take his eyes from me. I pushed him away several times, but in vain. I eventually returned to consciousness, and thought of Charon and the dread River Styx in Hades!
Saturday 15th September. The Cup [purchased].
Wednesday 19th September. Vision: 01.45 a.m. I found I could levitate, propelled around the room by some ‘electrical’ force, or perhaps ‘magnetic’ current.
Saturday 22nd September. A premonition concerning 156 – I received The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage and I got the material for making the Robe and began work on it, half completing the work from 1.00-8.00 p.m. I tried to get hold of the metal for the Crown but in vain. I began making the Ring – The Eye of Horus in the Green of Venus.
Sunday 23rd September. I finished making the Robe from 11.30-1.00 p.m. The Ring I made yesterday is unsuitable. I have decided on the larger, snake-like design. 10.30 p.m. – Invocation and Prayer: Abramelin. The square was drawn earlier between 5-6 p.m. Chapter XIX – [xiv]. Beelzebub – 10.40 p.m. Talisman [square] placed in a wallet with the Magical Link.
Monday 24th September. I made the Magical Hoodwink.
Tuesday 25th September. The Reversal of the Ring – [as in Liber Jugorum] began today. The Ring, which is worn on the little finger of the right hand, represents the psychology of the man and the adept, therefore it has a dual nature, thus – ring worn i.e. showing = the Active aspect of the Adept. The Ring worn with the seal not visible = the Passive aspect of the Man. When the seal is uppermost my thoughts are turned to magical thoughts only and the Great Work. When the seal is hidden my thoughts are of earthly, mundane ‘nothings’. I think it shall prove to be a successful way of dividing the twin aspects of my higher and lower self!
Thursday 27th September. Robed and hooded, I got into my asana [Dragon position] facing North and the kiblah [Boleskine House], I also used Crowley’s ‘sign of Pan’ image as a focus for the energy in the north. Dharana on the Ankh using the mantra: A.M.P.H. which I later changed to ‘Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. Love is the law, love under will’. The Ankh was golden upon a black veil which became flooded by LVX, and the Ankh became distorted and changed into several variant forms which were all golden:

 

 

 

 

The practice ended at 9.30 p.m. and I made the Kabalistic Cross.

The Ankhs are as follows:

A) The Lunar Ankh [passive]
B) The Solar Ankh [active]
C) The conjunction of the Active and Passive Ankh [solar/lunar]
D) The Inverted Ankh
E) The Inverted Reversal Ankh [active penetrating the passive – of a solar nature]
F) The Microcosmic Ankh [the Phallus, erect, emitting the elixir – see ‘Energised Enthusiasm’]
G) The Microcosmic Ankh [the dew falling upon the inverted Tau, or the celebrant]

Friday 28th September. I had the distinct impression of constriction around my forehead, as if I were wearing a ‘crown’ – the illusion was of a high nature, as I also had the same happen to me yesterday, and I had to check that nothing was around my head. It felt like a metallic band, and lasted from between 5-10 minutes.
Saturday 29th September. The pure oil and the pure salt attained for consecration.

A summary of a proposed ritual to be extended upon and performed after sunset:

The Adept is robed for he is ‘Light in Darkness’

Weapon: the Sword

(He wears the hoodwink, yet can see)

The Adept identifies himself with Hadit

The Adept performs L.B.R. [Star Ruby]

He stands without the circle

 

The Adept is robed and blindfolded for she is ‘Darkness in Light’

Weapon: the Cup

(She wears the crown of Abramelin and the nemyss)

The Adept identifies herself with Nuit

She stands within the circle

_______

 

There is a single candle without the circle in the North

The Cup is within the circle The incense is without the circle

 

Preparations are made before the ceremony concerning the Abramelin squares.

1. L.B.R.
2. Adorations (with the signs of the grades given)
3. Invocation [Horus]
4. Mantra with movement [spiral dance]
5. Appearance and the voice of the God etc [Horus, giving the LVX signs ‘In the Darkness I give unto thee, the signs of Light’ – LVX]]
6. The Lunar Adept has the blindfold removed [Sword with Kabalistic Cross. Sword lowered. The signs of NOX to the initiate, including ‘Isis Rejoicing’ – ‘In the Light I give unto thee, the signs of Darkness’ – NOX]
7. The administering of the sacrament [cup]

11.00 p.m. Robed, and wearing the nemyss. Asana: The Dragon. Mantra: ‘Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. Love is the law, love under will’ [aloud/active]. The intention: the conjoining of Hadit with Nuit. I began with Dharana on the R.C. [Rosy Cross]. I then ceased the mantra and the R.C. and concentrated on Hadit, and his union with Nuit. There was a forwards rushing motion [‘to go’]. Tipherath, where Hadit is concealed was aflame with LVX and Hadit and Nuit were as one in ecstasy! The practice ended at 11.25 p.m. An unusual calm preceded the work, though on the whole, a failure! Midnight: Abramelin. Third Chapter – square two, which I left beneath my pillow and slept upon [Lucifer].

Sunday 30th September.

Ritual Ordained for Public Service

OTO

The Priest is seated before the Altar in meditation. The Priestess is in the throne of the N.E.
The Acolyte is in the throne of the S.E.
The Acolyte rises, and knocks 1-3-7, bearing Bell, Book and Candle to the Priest.
The Priestess rises, (plays upon musical instrument).
The Priest rises, and performs The Mass of the Phoenix.
The Priestess plays what she will, while the Acolyte binds the Priest to the cross, which he unveils. The Priest preaches.
The Priestess plays, while the Acolyte draws the veil.
The Acolyte comes forward to the Altar, and knocks 7-3-1, saying ‘Go – it is finished’.
The Priest is robed in white and gold, his breast bare.
The Priestess wears a green robe.
The Acolyte wears a red robe, and is girt with a sword. He may be masked.

10.15 p.m. Invocation ‘Beelzebub’. Abramelin square, Chapter XIX [the square used in last week’s working of Sunday 23rd September. Also, last night’s square, Chapter III – Lucifer Invocation.

Monday 1st October. I have noticed two aspects concerning the results in Abramelin – one positive and one negative. Positive [Chapter XIX] but coming from the wrong direction. Negative [Chapter III] seems to have counteracted Chapter XIX, which wasn’t my intention at all. I have had these results before when I did a talisman working [Venus] and the force was directed into the wrong quarters, either by my own mistakes [during the oath/obligation] or to some mischievous spirit. Wednesday 3rd October. The Abramelin Devils are tormenting still [H.P.K. in reference to 156] Thursday 4th October. Sometime after 12.30 a.m. (concerning Abramelin) Vision: Duality (even triplicity) of the spirit body. I was conscious of both the earth body and the spirit although I was unable to tell them apart and know which was the real earth body. Concerning the Invocation of Abramelin on Saturday 29th September. There was a vast globe (planet) rolling towards me – it was red and gold. The Red= fiery earth. Gold= the tops of the buildings and temples etc (viewed from above). As it neared, I noticed the narrow streets and buildings formed demonic sigils, which are drawn and used in evocations, all interlocking, thus:

 

 

 

 

 





After, followed the astral arm being raised in front of my face, as if it were pure speckled light. Darkness, and then more visions, mostly of the Fabric nature.
Tuesday 9th October. The final work is completed on the Robe and the hood.
Friday 12th October. Feast Day – the birth of Therion.

THE ABRAMELIN WORKING

Frater _____. and Soror Lylan

18th October – 28th October 2001 e.v.

London

This working shall remain in silence. All that can be said is that Soror Lylan – energised enthusiasm, dancing, and Frater _____ saw black hands around her. Later, in vision, an Abramelin demon appeared behind her with its arms gripped around her. And closer did she hold the picture of Crowley making the sign of Pan and closer did the demon grip her. Also seen was the figure of Crowley hooded in the sign of silence.
Sunday 21st October.  Vision 01.25 a.m. There are 2 fiery Gods who were invoked into our planet which can only be steered by 1 God. But which one is the true God? – 2= jealousy.
Wednesday 24th October.  I saw Soror Lylan with her arm out of the bed holding a paint brush, adding pink paint to some painting (only her arm was visible). Lylan said I had the ‘evil eye’ from a witch in C____. But I felt really protected throughout the day.
Friday 26th October. We went to _______and saw about getting the material (100% cotton) for the Robe. I said I would make Lylan one like mine.
Saturday 27th October. Night – frankincense and Absinthe.
Sunday 28th October. The Magical operation ended at 11.00 a.m.
Tuesday 30th October. I was very ill with food poisoning from the oysters I ate yesterday.
Saturday 3rd November. 05.00 a.m. An intruder was trying to enter my flat by trying his keys in my door and banging on the door. I reached for the magical sword and slept with it by my side.
Thursday 8th November.

SANCTA ARDUA

Written on the night of the Abramelin working

 

I am the golden Eye – the Hawk of fire;

    I burn in the heart; I weave my lust

Through the soul, stripped dry of all Desire

    For a false God summoned unto dust.

And this the word of flame – I shake

At the rampant Laws of Love I make!

Yet Master, why art thou sad; why still

This hunger for thine engine – Will?

Blotteth not thine eyes to shame;

    Keep not one drop from the cup of Sin –

    Demon Crowley: sing long His Name;

Let the flame of Babalon lie within

Thine Pure heart, here unmasked, that gives

Life to Liberty and Lust that drives

The scent of sin through thy senseless brain

    And lets the Law of the Aeon in!

THE CONSECRATION OF THE INSTRUMENTS OF ART

Saturday 17th November 2001 e.v.

3.00 p.m. constructed the circle and the altar with a black altar cloth. Robed etc. 3.15 p.m. performed the banishing rituals of the Pentagram and the Hexagram, after a declaration: ‘Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. Love is the law, love under will’.

1. Exorcised the Chalice of water, after blessing the salt: ‘Tzabaoth, Messiach, Emanuel’ etc and repeated the ‘Psalm of David’.
2. Exorcised the incense: a) good – Frankincense. ‘O God of Abraham, God of Isaac’ etc. Sprinkle incense with purified water from the chalice. b) bad – opium. ‘Adonai, Lazai, Delmai’ etc.
3. Exorcised Candle. I used the good incense after exorcising it once more. Sprinkle the candle with purified water – ‘I exorcise thee, O creature of wax’ etc.
4. The Holy Oil. As with the good incense, except inserted – ‘Bless this creature of oil so that it may’ etc and ‘anointing of this oil, receive health’ etc – ‘Love is the law, love under will’. [sprinkled with the water first].
5. The Ring. ‘I conjure thee, O ring, by these names’ etc after being sprinkled with the water.
6. The Robe. Sprinkled with the water – ‘I conjure thee, O robe of darkness and of light’ etc.
7. The Sword. [see the pages on ‘consecration’ in the Record]. Perform the Banishing Rituals of the Pentagram and the Hexagram reversed. Dismantled the circle and disrobed at 3.50 p.m.

A PROPOSED CEREMONY BETWEEN SOROR LYLAN AND _________

The Sun: The Sword: Light in Darkness. Hadit/Babalon – [Hadit in Babalon: Sun reflected in Moon].
The Moon: The Cup: Darkness in Light. Nuit/Therion – [Nuit in Therion: Moon reflected in Sun].
The Lesser Banishing Rituals of the Pentagram and the Hexagram.
The Star Ruby Ritual. The Invocation of Horus [Liber Had]. The signs given: elements + veil (spirit) Sun to Moon.
The Sun as Horus gives LVX to Moon : ‘Long hast thou dwelt in darkness, quit the night and seek the day’.

The Invocation of Παν.

Παν gives the signs of NOX (including Isis rejoicing) to Moon.
The Sun LVX: [ Moon blindfolded]. ‘In the darkness I give unto thee the signs of Light’. [given].
The Sun NOX: [ Moon blindfold removed]. ‘In the light I give unto thee the signs of Darkness’. [given].

The Moon: LIBER NU.

The Cup fulfilled by the Sword

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Banishing Rituals of the Pentagram and the Hexagram. [The Star Ruby].
The signs are given and repeated.
The Anthem [Gnostic].
The Sacrament is taken from the Cup.


The Moon takes of the Cup. The Sun holds the Sword.
The Sun  hands the Sword to the Moon.
The Moon hands the Cup to the Sun and
The Sun takes of the Cup.
The Bornless Ritual or AL III.

Friday 7th December. Talked with Lylan. The poor thing is close to madness!
Sunday 9th December. 3.50 p.m. I prepared my Kiblah – the sign of Παν. The altar with a red altar cloth. The cup, sword, oil, water, candle, incense etc. I performed the Ritual of the Mark of the Beast [Liber V vel Reguli] – The oath of the enchantment [the elevenfold seal]. Asseveration of the spells. Second gesture – the enchantment. The final gesture [as the first]. Robed. The ceremony ended at 4.25 p.m. [I discovered I had been listened to from outside the door but cared little about it!] The Ring was used in place of the Wand.
Sunday 6th January 2002. Constant distraction from Soror Lylan (concerning the Ritual), whose mind has become unbalanced. 5-5.30 p.m. – Invocation of Παν. I used Crowley’s ‘Tanhauser’.
Saturday 19th January. I received the sign of the Hexagram while with Lylan. She is still fixated with________. Later, the tension became unbearable – the trinity was overpowering and I was doing my will. There was almost murder between us – as if Lucifer had taken possession!
Sunday 20th January. I told Lylan about my visionary dream concerning her upon an altar marked with three crosses, one over each eye and another across her torso. The eyes were blood red and the crosses were cut deep. She had male figures about her in white robe-like clothing. She was dead! Though maybe she was in hospital and those around her were doctors. Lylan was very disturbed by this dream and so was I. I had the strangest sensation when I went out alone, as if I was ‘marked’. Lylan went to take a bath and I went to show her how to lock the door. She pulled the door to my room to and it shut and it locked as if a gust of air blew it – for some reason, I picked up my keys about 20 minutes earlier and put them in my pocket, something I never do as I keep them on the table.  After she went the tension in the room lessened. Lylan called me at 5.15 p.m. from a pub in ________ waiting for her bus which comes at 6.05 p.m. She was in a terrible state. She told me that Abramelin demons are coming for me and nothing can be done about it now. I think she is beyond help! I had no fear but she was quite abusive and kept talking about my visionary dream. I did not tell her all the facts!
Monday 21st January. Lylan called at 05.30 a.m. in some distress. Later she left a message on my phone. She was in tears and wants me to put her mind at rest concerning the dream etc. Later still, another message in which she was laughing like a lunatic! I phoned Lylan at 7 p.m. and managed to calm her down. We decided we would not come into contact with each other again as our forces are too great.
Tuesday 22nd January. Lylan called at 6.40 p.m. and there is still a strong presence of ______ she said. She thinks I did not banish correctly.
Friday 25th January. Lylan called at 9.pm. and I called her back at 9.50 p.m. She still believes that she is the ‘Gatekeeper’ for Abramelin etc at Boleskine House.

Sunday 17th February. At 5.15 p.m. I robed and lit the opium incense. I constructed an altar and upon it placed the image of the Beast in the sign of Pan. The Cup and the Sword within. An Abramelin Operation concerning the talisman or square LXXI. I received the repetitive words: ‘It is done!’ the image of Crowley was distorted being one moment male then the next female at intervals and merging. He grimaced and a flash of green light appeared upon the blade of my sword which I held before me. The green light remained. The solar current was overwhelming and directed towards  the magical Cup. The ceremony ended at 5.45 p.m. Lylan called me at 9.35 p.m. about the ritual and I told her that ‘It is done!’ She called me again at 03.00 a.m. I received a vision on being led into the white brilliance of Heaven!
Saturday 16th March. I had an insight concerning the vision of Sunday 20th January – It wasn’t a sacrifice but a ‘magical marriage’ concerning Crowley – The Bride and the Beast – ‘It is done!’

Sunday 17th March. Lylan called and we talked about the new revelation of the vision and we went through some ‘Bornless Ritual’ together.
Saturday 23rd March. ‘A Magick Life’ biography by Martin Booth. I purchased a knife with a wooden handle to consecrate for ritual purposes – Incense: Rose, Musk, Amber, Patchouli, Sandalwood.
Sunday 31st March. The Consecration of the Wand, Dagger and the Incense. I prepared the circle and the altar. Lustration. I robed myself and entered the circle at 3.30 p.m. I performed the Banishing Rituals of the Pentagram and the Hexagram.

1. Consecrated the incense. I then lit the candle and the incense.
2. Consecration of the dagger.
3. Consecration of the wand.
4. ‘Enflame thyself in prayer’.

I recited the ‘Hymn to Pan’ and at its culmination I partook of the sacrament from the Holy vessel. I became drunk on the wine of Pan [the sword fell from the altar three times]. Music was used throughout the ceremony – Bach, Beethoven and Schubert.

I ended with the Closing ceremony of the Pentagram and the Hexagram and the circle was destroyed at 4.15 p.m.
Monday 1st April. The Adorations.
Saturday 6th April. 777 – Gematria.
Monday 8th April. Holy Day – Liber Legis.
Tuesday 9th April. Holy Day – Liber legis. 777.
Wednesday 10th April. Holy Day – Liber Legis. 777.
Saturday 13th April. I constructed an altar.
Upon the altar were:

1. The Ritual text – The Equinox.
2. The Dagger (upright).
3. The Wand (upright).
4. The Sword.
5. Purified Water.
6. Candle and candle holder.
7. The Holy Oil.
8. The Incense (Opium).
9. The Cup.
10. &11. The Cakes of Light.
12. The Magical Ring.
13. Liber Al vel Legis.
14. Image of the Beast in the sign of Pan.

The ritual began at 4.30 p.m. No circle was drawn. I robed after the lustration. Lit the incense and I was hooded for the opening of the ceremony. I placed the Ring upon the little finger of the right hand. I performed the Lesser Banishing Rituals of the Pentagram and the Hexagram and recited the ‘Hymn to Pan’ during a mystic dance. Consecration of the cakes with purified water and incense. I performed the Mass of the Phoenix Ritual. I consumed the second cake. I then removed the hood and performed the Star Ruby Ritual. I read the intro to the Bornless Ritual and read the three chapters of Liber Al vel Legis. I then consumed the first cake that had absorbed the incense. The solar current was released unto our Lady of the Stars and the Ritual ended at 5.50 p.m.
Thursday 9th May. For some weeks now I have felt I have achieved the tasks of a Neophyte, and I am ready to accept the next grade.
Saturday 11th May. 8.00 p.m. pendulum reading. The Ritual will take place tomorrow the pendulum says; it is desirable and I have passed the grade of Neophyte.
Sunday 12th May. I worked on the Ritual and prepared myself at 4.30 p.m. 5.00 p.m. skyclad at the Great Altar. I lit the incense – Frankincense. I made my declaration. Liber Israfel. The Bornless Ritual. I took the oath of the Zelator and there followed an operation concerning the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage.
Saturday 29th June. Magick is really returning on me! I sort of knew it would; I waited for it and tried to deny it! Painful! Like dying! This is all re the Abramelin working of Sunday 12th May. ‘Not done yet!’
Sunday 21st July. 5.00 p.m. – 46 ‘Nothing is a secret key of this law. Sixty-one the Jews call it; I call it eight, eighty, four hundred and eighteen’. 47. ‘But they have the half: unite by thine art so that all disappear’. 61+61=122 (they have the half = 61) [see notes on Gematria of 122 in Records].
Saturday 27th July. The death of someone very close to me!
Saturday 3rd August. Soror Lylan called in some distress – she needs my help!
Wednesday 7th August. I agreed to go to Lylan’s aid.
Friday 9th August. I went to C______ to help Lylan. There was almost murder between us and she locked me in the kitchen (a blessing for both our sakes!)
Sunday 11th August. She had no desire to let me return home but I escaped  the evil intentions of Lylan!

THE KEDEMEL WORKING

An evocation of Kedemel The Spirit of Venus

Friday 23rd August 2002 e.v. Xcvii An.

 

PROLOGUE

The ceremony consists of seven parts:

1. The Banishings and Consecrations.
2. The Preliminary Invocation.
3. The Proclamation.
4. The particular invocations to the forces of Venus.
5. Assumption of forces invoked.
6. The magical link.
7. The closing ceremony.

 

Gloria Deo Altissimo Ra Hoor Khuit In nomine Abrahadabra et in hoc signo.

I prepared the Great Altar with the appropriate seals and squares etc. Colour – Green. Incense – Rose and Red Sandalwood. Weapon – The Lamp. No circle was drawn and no triangle was drawn. God – YHVH Tzabaoth. Archangel – Hanael. Intelligence – Hagiel. Spirit – Kedemel. Robed and hoodwinked. I wore the sacred pendant.

1. The Banishing Rituals, extended unto all the quarters of the Temple [Pentagram and Hexagram]. The sword was then replaced on the altar.

‘Asperge eum Domine hyssop et mundabitur; Lavabis eum et super nivem dealbabitur.’ ‘By the figurative mystery of these holy vestures of concealment, doth the Lord cloak me in the Shroud of Mystery in the strength of the Most High Ancor Amacor Amides Theodonias Anitor that my desired end may be effected through thy strength, Adonai, unto whom be the Glory in Saecula Saeculorum Amen.’

‘Hail unto Thee, Ra Hoor Khuit, who art the Lord of the Aeon!
Be this consecrated sword
Not abhorred before the Lord!
A guard of steel, a tongue of flame
Writing in adamant His Name!
Puissant against the Hosts of Evil!
A mighty fence against the Devil!
A snake if lightening to destroy
Them that work mischief and Annoy!
Arm me, arm me, in the fray
That shall be fought this dreadful day!’

‘Hail unto Thee, Ra Hoor Khuit, who art the Lord of the Aeon!
Be this consecrated Altar
A sign of sure stability!
Will and Courage never falter,
Thought dissolve in Deity!
Let thy smile divinely curving,
Isis, bless our dark device!
Holy Hawk, my deed unswerving
Be thy favoured sacrifice!
Holy Khem, my vigour nerving,
I have paid the priestly price.
Hail, Ra Hoor, thy ray forth-rolling
Consecrate the instruments,
Thine Almighty power controlling
To the Event the day’s events!’

‘Arm me, arm me, in the fray
That shall be fought this dreadful day!’

Consecrations: Incense and purified water.

‘So when all the phantoms are vanished, and through the universe darts and flashes that holy and formless Fire – Hear Thou the Voice of Fire!’

‘The Lord is my fortress and my deliverer; my God in whom I will trust. I will walk upon the Lion and adder; the young lion and the scorpion will I tread under my feet. Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he hath known My Name.’

2. The Preliminary Invocations.

‘Arise, Dog of Evil, that I may instruct thee in thy present duties’. Etc.

3. Proclamation. ‘I _______________, a zelator of ____ swear unto Thee, O Lord God, by thine own Almighty power, by Thy force and fire, by Thy glittering Hawk’s eye and Thy mighty sweeping wings; that I do utterly devote myself, mind, body, and estate, at all times and in all places soever to the establishment of Thy holy kingdom’.

...........

‘And this my purpose is threefold: Firstly that my will shall be strong, even as a fortress is strong, to keep from me all evil and malevolent influences.
Secondly, that I shall attain the beauty and love of Venus and the will to comprehend and rejoice in love.

And finally, that I may obtain the services of Kedemel, that he may be obedient unto me, thy servant, that between him and me there may be peace, and that he may always be ready to come whensoever he is invoked and called forth. And that I shall command and compel the affections of one _____________’. Etc.

 

‘I adore thee in the song:

I am the Lord of Thebes, and I

The inspired forth-speaker of Mentu;’ etc

4. The particular invocations of the forces of Venus.

‘Hail! Hail! Hail! Hail! Hail! Hail! Hail!

Send forth a spark of thine illimitable light and force, I beseech Thee, that it may appear in the Heaven of Venus as the God YHVH Tzabaoth.

O winged glory of gold!’ etc

[As a preliminary to the particular Invocations, The Greater Ritual of the Hexagram was used]

5. The Assumption of the Goddess Venus. From the dark robe, as if new-born,  emerged  the painted Venus – Isis Rejoicing.

Symbolic representation of the magician, i.e. robe and hoodwink, lay upon a scarlet altar cloth and Venus danced a magical dance, with boundless energy, vibrant and lustful.

6. The Magical Link. The magical link was placed in the Cup and the solar charge was directed towards it. The commands were issued unto kedemel. The magical link was sealed up between the Obverse and the Reverse of the Seal of Venus and thus bound to it.

7. The Licence to depart.

The Banishing Rituals of the Greater Hexagram, the Lesser Pentagram and the Lesser Hexagram. The closing of the Temple at 11.00 p.m.

Sunday 25th August. I prepared a Goetic working – Gomory! I made the seals etc. The time of the operation: 8 p.m. (hour of the sun) and 9 p.m. (hour of Venus). I decided against it and went out! Re-scheduled for Friday 30th August (7 p.m. hour of the Sun and 8 p.m. hour of Venus).
Wednesday 28th August. An Abramelin Working – 12.30 p.m. [x, 1 and xx, 1] (the Goetic working was re-scheduled once again for Sunday 8th September).
Sunday 8th September. Preparations began for a Goetic working during the hour of the sun at 1.24 p.m. A piece of virgin paper was used to draw the sigil of Gomory. I consecrated the circle and the triangle (according to the Goetia) and placed the magical instruments of art within the circle. The cup was filled with wine.
During the hour of Venus at 2.24 p.m.: Lustration (the versicle of David – ‘Thou shalt purge me with hyssop’ etc). I robed using the prayer at vesting – ‘By the figurative mystery of this holy vestment’ etc.
The lighting of the incense (frankincense). The seals, sigil of the spirit etc worn on the robe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the triangle was the seal of Gomory on virgin paper and various magical links to the desired working. Prayers and blessings within the circle; fumigation etc and the exorcising of the instruments. Also prepared was a smaller seal of Gomory in the event of cursing.

First conjuration [x2]
Second conjuration [x2]
Third conjuration [x2]
The Invocation of the King [x2]
First conjuration [x1]
The chain curse, using the sigil.

The curse of the spirit who obeyest not my commands.
The commands are given, concerning that which shall not be told. Licence to depart.
The ceremony ended at 3.10 p.m. and the circle and the triangle were destroyed.
Sunday 22nd September. I divined the word of the Equinox – Liber AL: ‘FORCE’ [AL. III. 17] 6+70+200+8+5= 289
289 is a perfect square [172]

17 is also the verse number in Liber AL

Thursday 24th October. Lylan told me about her practicing sex magick and that she is still continuing to do it.
Thursday 31st October. Samhain. A Magical Rite – An Invocation of the energy of Therion. Midnight: Jephtah: Preliminary Invocation. Asmodel. Nephthys. Perdurabo. Incense was used in the rite which concerned _____. and ended at 12.30 a.m.
Friday 1st November. Success!
Saturday 2nd November. Abramelin. The Goetic Workings. The Talismans and the Rites of Sex Magick, together with the subtle invocations have produced a magical current, formulating my will. I was driven to such depths, not only by the perpetrations against me, but against Thelema and the Prophet. I have fulfilled and my equilibrium is once again returning to its balance.
Thursday 14th November. I am ready to confirm my will and course. With much pain I have crossed the divide created by the ordeals. Love is the law, love under will! Daily Adorations – ‘Liber Resh vel Helios’.
Sunday 1st December. The Greater Feast of A.C. with Frater ____
Monday 27th January. At 8.15 p.m. my Magick Ring broke – its work is done!
Tuesday 4th February. The work of the Ring [and the Rose].
Tuesday 8th April. Liber Legis I.
Wednesday 9th April. Liber Legis II.
Thursday 10th April. Liber Legis III.
Sunday 13th April. At Trinity College Cambridge with K______.
Monday 5th May. 01.15 a.m. Open T. Pentagram and Hexagram.
Wednesday 7th May. 11.20 p.m. Open T. Pentagram and Hexagram.
Saturday 10th May. 01.10 a.m. open T. Pentagram and Hexagram.

Wednesday 25th June. The T. is desecrated!
Sunday 6th July. A great awakening is upon me! He who desecrates expecteth the dire consequences of Ra Hoor Khuit! – It is done! The offender faces justice!
Friday 18th July. I have decided to resume the ______ workings with Baphomet which was last performed on Saturday 3rd May 2003 e.v.
Monday 21st July. I entered the Temple before midnight with the words of the Law as my mantra and Nuit was revealed unto me, O blessed Nuit!
Tuesday 22nd July. I entered the Temple at the midnight hour with the words of the Law as my mantra and the darkness became a rush of blue radiance as my Lady Nuit bent upon me and kissed me: ‘Then the priest answered & said unto the Queen of Space, kissing her lovely brows, and the dew of her light bathing his whole body in a sweet-smelling perfume of sweat: O Nuit, continuous one of Heaven, let it be ever thus; that men speak not of Thee as One but as None; and let them speak not of thee at all, since thou art continuous!’ [AL. I. 27]
Saturday 2nd August. Around midnight I entered the Temple (as I have done on many nights over the past few months). I found myself within a wood at night, upon a desolate yet beautiful path. The light of the moon was hauntingly radiant. I entered a gate and went along a path to a strange old house, its windows lit by candlelight. I knocked: xxx xxxxx xxx. A beautiful young woman came to the door and I was shown along a narrow passageway to a very comfy parlour room. She wore a white dress. As I sat in a chair, no words were said, and she came upon me. My black robe against her white dress. I left. Further along the path I encountered a small boy, his naked smooth skin glinting in the moonlight. He took my left hand and led me to his house which was very dark and rustic. We performed a magical rite together and I left. Later, I was in another house which was also dark. I tried the lights but they did not work. I entered a room and noticed a male figure in the shadows of the far corner wearing a robe. I shouted ‘Monk!’ and he screamed at me to ‘Get Out!’ I left and as I opened the front door I saw people on the path outside. I fell upon my face and then I and some others went towards the window and saw the ‘monk’ with his shaven head forcing himself upon a young boy in an act of sex magick. I had feelings of deep rage towards him!

 

Love is the Law, love under will.