Crowley Hubbard

Aleister Crowley: The Midnight Messenger

by Mike Culkin

 http://www.paranoiamagazine.com/crowley.html

"The future was darkening, we were nearing the terrible catastrophe which was about to overwhelm France. The abyss was at our feet; yet averting our eyes, struck with a fatal blindness, we hurried from fÁte to fÁte, from pleasure to pleasure. It was a kind of frenzy which thrust us gaily on to our own destruction. Alas! how can a storm be controlled when one sees it not?

"Meanwhile, from time to time, some troubled or observant minds tried to snatch us from this fatal security. I have already said that the Comte de St.-Germain had tried to unseal the eyes of their Majesties, by making them perceive the approach of danger; but M. de Maurepas, not wishing the salvation of the country to come from anyone but himself, ousted the thaumaturgist, and he re-appeared no more."

The year in which these events were taking place was 1788, and these words were later recorded in the diary of Madame d'Adh¹mar, an intimate friend of Marie-Antoinette. M. de Maurepas was an adviser to the Queen, and was the one most accused by the Abb¹ Barruel of leading the French Revolution.

The reason I am making this reference to the Count of Saint-Germain is that I want to place him and Aleister Crowley within the same class of adepts who by their mere presence energise the elemental forces of war and chaos. It transpired that Saint-Germain's warnings to the French Royal Court were totally vindicated, but his timing and mysteriousness meant that the whole course of events could not be averted. It was too late to avert the inevitable. These adepts have virtually self-realised personalities. Crowley perceived his role of energising war when he wrote that the prophetic events contained in The Book of the Law could only be put into action by its publication. Thus, a series of violent and bloody conflicts came into effect after this powerful grimoire was published. This is the "word-sword" principle: words spoken or published which give effect to outcomes or consequences.

Saint-Germain was a high level adept of the secret societies. He was believed to have died in 1784, but he faked his death, since both Masonic and Catholic sources place him at the Wilhelmsbad conference held on 15 February, 1785. This conference was held in an attempt to bring about a conciliation between the various sects of the Rosicrucians, the Necromantists, the Cabalists, the Illuminati and the Humanitarians. In attendance were such (il)luminaries as Cagliostro, St. Martin, Mesmer and Weishaupt.

Saint-Germain was a member of the Paris Chapter of the Knights Templar. He was the Obermohr [supreme magus] of many mystic brotherhoods, where he was worshipped as a superior being. His memory was not forgotten, and by the end of the nineteenth century, hierophants of the secret schools looked upon Saint-Germain with profound gratitude. His influence had helped to open the way for humanism and republicanism (which in this author's opinion is a respectable name for organised crime), movements which "flowered" in the twentieth century.

Gnostic forces were progressing in the ascendancy during the nineteenth century, and into this milieu was Edward Alexander Crowley born; he later took the name Aleister. He was born on 12 October, 1875. According to Kenneth Grant, head of an OTO breakaway sect, the Typhonian Tradition, Crowley first became aware of the existence of spiritual powers in 1898 when he read The Cloud upon the Sanctuary by Karl von Eckartshausen. Crowley was 22 at the time and set out to contact the hidden Order which the book describes. His efforts led to his initiation into the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn on 18 November, 1898. He assumed the magical name Perdurabo (I shall endure).

In August, 1903, Crowley married Rose Kelly, his 'scarlet woman,' whom he had met in Paris. They proceeded on an extended honeymoon, and whilst in Sri Lanka, they went trekking through the jungle. Whilst standing on the shores of a lake, Crowley decided to shoot enough furry bats to make himself a waistcoat. One bat landed on Rose, and Crowley had some trouble detaching its claws. That night, Crowley was awakened by the noise of a squealing bat. He then saw Rose, completely naked, clinging with her arms and legs to the wooden frame that supported the mosquito net. As he pulled her down, she bit and spat and squealed, and she had to be shaken into wakefulness. Crowley noted that it was the finest case of obsession that he had ever had the "good fortune" to observe.

When Rose later discovered she was pregnant, they decided to return home to England. En-route they went to Cairo, where they took a flat. (Incidentally, Rose went on to have a daughter who was named Night my Athatour Hecate Sappho Jesabel Lilith, and who died in tragic circumstances. Rose died an alcoholic).

In Cairo, Crowley proceeded to dress in Persian garb, pretending to be an oriental prince, Chioi Khan (being Hebrew for the Beast). Crowley's mother, a strict Plymouth Brethren, had believed her son to be the beast ( number 666 of Revelation 13:18.)

In Cairo, Crowley attempted a series of invocations to summon up elementals or demons. Rose sank into a curious state of mind in which she kept repeating: "You have offended Horus." It was Rose who in fact introduced Crowley to the elemental, Aiwass. Through Rose, Aiwass told Crowley that he was to go into his workroom at precisely midday on 8, 9 and 10 April, 1904 and write down what he heard for the next hour. The message began: "Had! the manifestation of Nuit." And thus The Book of the Law came into existence. It is also known as "Liber AL vel Legis" (meaning 'divinely revealed Book of the Law') or Liber AL for short. Whilst The Book of the Law was received in 1904, it would not be published until 1913, just nine months before the 'Balkan War' (later to be called World War One).

According to Crowley, " 'The Law of Thelema' [ie, Liber AL], revealed in Cairo in 1904, has come to replace the outworn creeds, the local codes; to help the peoples of the world march on to a new era of peace and happiness." Thus Crowley becomes a medium and 'false prophet' within the context of James 4:5: "They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world's viewpoint; and the world listens to them."

Crowley preached the New Aeon of Horus, the "new era of peace and happiness," but the path to this "new era" would necessarily be bathed in blood. A moment's reflection on the course of the twentieth century confirms that the revolutionary and violent prophecies contained within The Book of the Law have been fulfilled, and there are other events yet to occur.

Forerunner to Crowley
Crowley did not just appear out-of-the-blue. The groundwork had been laid for millennia, for his creed is Gnosticism. Essentially, a Gnostic is one who seeks illumination, and sets out to become a divine being; basically, an alchemical transmutation of evil into good achieved through the exercise of one's own will. Christians believe that this transmutation can only occur through the grace of God as may be extended to an individual; no amount of self-will can achieve this transmutation of one's spirit.

Gnostic leaders are spiritualist mediums who take counsel and direction from spirits or "Invisible Masters." The ideals of Gnostics are utopian, and the ends justify the means. Crowley was a Gnostic master, as was a forerunner of his, Adam Weishaupt. Many readers have more than likely 'completed' Conspiracy Theory 101, and are familiar with Herr Weishaupt. For those who may not know of him, some background follows.

Weishaupt was born in Catholic-dominated southern Germany on 6 February, 1748. He was Jesuit-educated and attained a very influential university position. In accordance with the "needs of his period" (Kenneth Grant), he reawakened the Order of the Illuminati. Weishaupt's occult activities culminated in the French Revolution, and this spark ruptured the course of history.

Shortly after the French Revolution, the Marquis de Luchet said, "This society [Illuminati] aims at governing the world. Its object is universal domination." He called the Illuminati "a subterranean fire smouldering eternally and breaking forth periodically in violent and devastating explosions."

Weishaupt wrote the following to a fellow Illuminatus: "We must consider how we can begin to work under another form. If only the aim is achieved, it does not matter under what cover it takes place, and cover is always necessary. For in concealment lies a great part of our strength. For this reason we must cover ourselves with the name of another society. The lodges that are under Freemasonry are in the meantime the most suitable cloak for our high purpose, because the world is already accustomed to expect nothing great from them which merits attention. As in the spiritual Orders of the Roman Church, religion was, alas! only a pretence, so must our Order also in a nobler way try to conceal itself behind a learned society or something of the kind."

On 26 December, 1993, no less an organ of the fourth estate, "The Economist" published the following under the heading, "The Good Network Guide": "Beyond all these networks lies the mother of all networks, the Order of the Illuminati, known to some as the True Rulers of the World. Its age will remain uncertain until the story of the last days of Atlantis is better known. Though this secret body has hovered unseen over all history, its most public flowering was in the Enlightenment. Adam Weishaupt, a former Jesuit (who provided much of the inspiration for Shelley's Frankenstein (revealed its purpose and system of mutual surveillance to the world on May 1st 1776. Since then the order has taken a keen interest in another newborn of that year. It is significant that many American presidents have been Illuminati; and the Illuminati symbol of the eye in the pyramid still graces the dollar bill.

"The conspiracy is immense and terrifying, stretching from Hassan-i-Sabbah, 11th-century Assassin, to Ian Fleming (who caricatured the order as "SPECTRE"). It is the network of those who run networks. Given its power, you should assume that anyone writing about the order must be either lying or part of a conspiracy to confound you. In wondering about the Illuminati, merely remember this. You have never arrived." (Note the motto of the Assassins: "Nothing is true. Everything is permitted").

Angelo Roncalli who was to become Pope John XXIII, and who convened Vatican 2, is reputed to have been a member of the Illuminati. The Illuminist eye in the pyramid was used on his papal cross. He is also reputed to have met with Crowley. It was Vatican 2 which led to the Catholic church seizing the world-wide ecumenical agenda and which authorised the idolatrous elevation of Mary to goddess status.

After the French Revolution, the Order of the Illuminati disappeared. In 1904, an Austrian Adept named Karl Kellner repeated Weishaupt's feat, and re-established the Illuminati through a sect known as Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO). Crowley took over leadership of OTO in 1922. The spirit guides of the Gnostics had clearly directed that the Illuminati once again step into the public realm but, in this instance, through OTO.

The Book of the Law
Crowley is not an aberration. He is part of an historical process which has yet to reach its climax. The ruling spirits of this world relayed the primary plank of their program to Crowley, and this is contained in The Book of the Law. For human beings, the real struggle is not against each other, but against the evil cosmic powers which govern this dark age. Crowley was their medium, but on several occasions as he wrote down The Book of the Law, Aiwass chastised Crowley for being concerned about what he was writing.

As part of my own spiritual journey as a Christian, I eventually found myself looking into Crowley. It took sometime before I recognised that The Book of the Law was such an important work. I am not writing this article to make the facts fit in with my world-view. What I found is that The Book of the Law has been fulfilled to a large degree, and that its contents tie in strongly with the Revelation. Just as Jesus sent his angel to reveal future events to John, so did Satan send a spirit being, Aiwass, to Crowley. Both works are eschatological (the doctrine of last or final things).

The Book of the Law says that the god of war and vengeance, Ra-Hoor-Khu-It (Horus), is now positioned on his seat of power. His human incarnation will occur, and he will be in the form of a child, the False Prophet or Antichrist. He is the offspring of the union of Hadit (Satan) and Nuit (Babylon). This union and its "fruit" is referred to in Revelation chapter 13. The Book of the Law tells us that Satan is the coiled serpent, and he is about to spring. Christians will be put to death. Through war and chaos, the goddess (Nuit/Babylon) will be placed in a position to be worshipped, and her offspring, the child, will be mightier than all the kings of the earth, although one of these rich "kings" will finance him.

There are three underlying principles in The Book of the Law for Thelemites (Thelema is Greek for determination through choice; inclination to desire, pleasure, will) to live by:

1.    Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.
2.    Love is the law, love under will.
3.    Every man and every woman is a star.

A curious feature of Gnosticism is that in the early stages of the Gnostic quest, one is driven by terrible despair, and simultaneously, a powerful upsurge of love. In the utopian quest for self-perfection, a 'good' person in the world's eyes is one who is seemingly self-realised and self-reliant. That person develops the will to be the master of his/her world, even though many other persons may lose in the process. To become a selfish 'superman' is the Gnostic goal, and those who are not so capable or who do not share this ideal are meant only to serve and be used. Sin is no longer a restriction on one's will to fulfill the most powerful desires. Nietzsche longed for 'the fair beast' (die blonde Bestie) ( the strong, beautiful beast which shall rule the world, and act in all things according to its will.

W.B. Yeats, the Irish poet and contemporary of Crowley in the Order of the Golden Dawn, wrote about the Gnostic utopia thus: "...an aristocratic civilisation in its most completed form, every detail of life hierarchical, every great man's door crowded at dawn by petitioners, great wealth everywhere in few men's hands, all dependent on a few, up to the Emperor himself, who is a God dependent on a greater God and everywhere, in Court, in the family, an inequality made law."

The Book of the Law in the Context of the 20th Century
Satan through Aiwass declares that Christianity is dead, and that Crowley is to be the prophet of the neo-pagan system which would emerge. Moral values and compassion as exercised would be relative to the exigencies of the times. The neo-pagan emergence would birth on an altar of moral enfeeblement and blood sacrifice. The strong of will would take control of the world.

The most dramatic instance of human sacrifice occurred under the Nazis in World War II. The German lyric poet and essayist, Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) prophetically wrote of a time when Germany would go berserk:

"Some day there will awake that fighting folly found among the ancient Germans, the folly that fights neither to kill nor to conquer, but simply to fight. Christianity has ( and that is its fairest merit ( somewhat mitigated that brutal German lust for battle. But it could not destroy it: and once the taming talisman, the Cross, is broken, the savagery of the old battlers will flare up again, the insane Berserk rage of which Nordic bards have so much to say and sing. The talisman is brittle. The day will come when it will pitiably collapse. Then the old stone gods will rise from forgotten rubble and rub the dust of a thousand years from their eyes; and Thor will leap up and with his giant hammer start smashing Gothic cathedrals..."

The gods did indeed awaken. According to Trevor Ravenscroft in "The Spear of Destiny," every year from 1926 to 1942, the Germans sent out parties which contacted Tibetan initiates, the intention being to gain their psychic help and deep alliance with the devilish forces which rule this world. A Tibetan colony was established in Germany in 1929, and the monks were known in Germany as "The Society of Green Men," because of their links with the Green Dragon Society of Japan.

In Berlin, Hitler met regularly with the leader of the Tibetan community who was a very gifted and accurate clairvoyant. Himmler shared Hitler's interest in the occult, and set up the Nazi Occult Bureau. This incorporated into one organisation the Thule group, the Vril Society and the German branch of OTO (Crowley's magical order).

Between 1936 and 1939, Crowley paid a number of visits to Germany. It is known that a woman called Martha Kunzel repeatedly urged on Hitler the wisdom of adopting The Book of the Law as his guide. Hitler rejected this, as he wanted Mein Kampf to be the holy book of Germany. By the time the war had broken out, Crowley had become strongly anti-Hitler, and said that "Britain would knock Hitler for six" (an analogy from cricket: the worst thing a batsman can do to a bowler is hit the ball clear out of the field, and thus score six runs). The German branch of OTO had by the time of the war been banned and most of its members were in concentration camps.

Hermann Rauschning, governor of Danzig, had been very close to Hitler, and recorded many of their conversations which were published in a book called Hitler Speaks. Rauschning openly acknowledged Hitler's obsession with the occult, and found that very often Hitler was paraphrasing or expressing an idea from The Book of the Law (often word for word).

"I will tell you a secret," Hitler told Rauschning, "I am founding an order. It is from there that the second stage will emerge the stage of the Man-God, when Man will be the measure and centre of the world. The Man-God, that splendid being, will be an object of worship. But there are other stages about which I am not permitted to speak."

"Hail! ye twin warriors about the pillars of the world! for your time is nigh at hand" (The Book of the Law 3:71) The "pillars of the world" are the powerful and greedy emotions of people, and the twin warriors are the spirits that would cause the two world wars energised by the compliance and sinfulness of the "pillars of the world." Hitler knew exactly what he was about, and fulfilled his pre-destined role. The cornerstone of Novus Ordo Seclorum was laid.

Jack Parsons and the Babalon Working
By the time World War II came to an atomic end in 1945, the earth had been literally soaked in blood. The warrior god, Horus, had erupted, and the world convulsed in a continuous fit of war and genocide. Verse 3:46 of The Book of the Law had come to pass: "I am the warrior Lord of the Forties: the Eighties cower before me, & are abased. I will bring you victory & joy; I will be at your arms in battle & ye shall delight to slay. Success is your proof; courage is your armour; go on, go on, in my strength; & ye shall turn not back for any!"

Crowley's time on earth came to an end on the evening of 1 December, 1947 when he succumbed to myocardial degeneration and chronic bronchitis. The prankster was dead, long live the prankster!

Crowley had come from an English world which was traditional and very conservative. Throughout his life, he loved to play the prankster. On one such occasion, he walked into a lift and urinated in the corner, and then declared that the lift had become a sacred place. But at heart, he does seem to be very English. The new wave Americans, the bohemian Jack Parsons and the brash L. Ron Hubbard, were not bound by English strictures; they were very much action men.

When Parsons and Hubbard performed the Babalon Working in January, 1946, Crowley was resentful and branded them "louts," even though he had developed the Working and mentored Parsons (in correspondence to Crowley, Parsons used the salutation, "Most Beloved Father"). Crowley was so incensed at the Working being performed that he cabled his US office on 22 May: "Suspect Ron playing confidence trick ( Jack Parsons weak fool ( obvious victim prowling swindlers."

Jack Parsons was a very gifted scientist and chemist, and founded a company which was to become Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL), which in its modern day guise has merged with NASA (JPL.NASA). To this day, people at NASA are reputed to refer to JPL as Jack Parsons' Laboratory. He was also an Illuminatus and had deep occult interests, and is reputed to have been a descendent of a Hell-Fire Club founder. When he first encountered Crowley's writings he intuitively understood Thelema. He joined the Los Angeles OTO Lodge in 1939, and rapidly rose to prominence.

In April, 1945, Parsons was introduced to L. Ron Hubbard. Enter the prankster! Crowley biographer Kenneth Grant refers to Crowley as "a confidence trickster who had wormed his way into the OTO on the pretence of being interested in Magick." Despite the resentment shown to Hubbard by OTO leaders (including Crowley), L. Ron was able to call Crowley "my very good friend" in a 1952 speech. Perhaps this was the prankster talking.

Hubbard's relationship to Parsons is basically similar to Edward Kelley's relationship to Dr. John Dee, the English alchemist and Elizabethan court astrologer. Kelley was also a prankster and scryer (gazer into crystal balls), and Dee fell completely under his spell. Dee wanted to access the crystal ball, but was not gifted in this regard. Kelley became Dee's scryer.

Parsons was also an alchemist, but needed a "magical partner," and Hubbard became that partner. Parsons had written to Crowley: "Although he [Hubbard] has no formal training in Magick, he has an extraordinary amount of experience and understanding in the field. From some of his experiences I deduced that he was in direct touch with some higher intelligence, possibly his Guardian Angel. He describes his Angel as a beautiful winged woman with red hair whom he calls the Empress and who has guided him through his life, and saved him many times..."

The Babalon Working is an invocation ritual developed in conjunction with Crowley. A series of rituals and invocations were undertaken by Parsons commencing on 4 January, 1946. A short time after the process began, Parsons and Hubbard went out into the Mojave Desert for four days. The Babalon Working ritual is outlined in Parsons' book Freedom is a Two-Edged Sword. By 18 January, Parsons announced to Hubbard, "It is done." Parsons had successfully opened an inter-dimensional doorway. He invoked the goddess and paved the way for the present-day passion for drugs, UFOs and divination. Parsons wrote "Liber 49" which he maintained was the fourth and final chapter of The Book of the Law.

According to the woman who embodied the invoked goddess, Marjorie Cameron, and who came to Parsons shortly after the completion of the Babalon Working, Parsons set in motion the second part of a great force which was divided into three. Aleister Crowley began the first, and the third would be the work of the boy child embodiment of Horus, the False Prophet or Antichrist (Revelation 13:18).

Readers familiar with Revelation may wonder if Crowley's Babalon is the same as Babylon of Revelation. The answer is yes. Babalon is the secret name of Nuit, the goddess revealed in chapter one of The Book of the Law. Babylon the goddess is revealed throughout Revelation as the provider of material wealth. The Babalon spelling was adopted because of its qabalistic numerical significance. Kenneth Grant records the attributes of Babalon as being "death-dealing and vampiric."

Jack Parsons wrote in The Book of Babalon (January 4 - March, 4, 1946): I have "been engaged in the study and practise of Magick for seven years, and in the supervision and operation of an occult lodge for four years, having been initiated into the Sanctuary of Gnosis by the Beast 666, Fra. 132 and Fra. Saturnis. At this time I decided upon a Magical operation designed to obtain the assistance of an elemental mate...I decided to use the Enochian Tablets obtained [from spirit guides] by Dr. Dee and Edward Kelley...During the period of January 19 to February 27 [1946] I invoked the Goddess BABALON with the aid of my magical partner [Hubbard], as was proper to one of my grade."

On March 2, 1946, Hubbard had channelled the message: "She [Babalon] is the flame of life, power of darkness, she destroys with a glance, she may take thy soul. She feeds upon the death of men...She shall absorb thee, and thou shalt become a living flame before she incarnates."

Parsons continued with his magickal operations for the remainder of the forties, and in 1949 wrote in The Manifesto of the Antichrist:

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. I, BELARION, ANTICHRIST, in the year 1949 of the rule of the Black Brotherhood called Christianity, do make my Manifesto to all men. And I, THE ANTICHRIST, come among you, saying:  An end to the pretence, and lying hypocrisy of Christianity. An end to the servile virtues, and superstitious restrictions. An end to the slave morality. An end to prudery and shame, to guilt and sin, for these are of the only evil the sun, that is fear. An end to all authority that is not based on courage and manhood, to the authority of lying priests, conniving judges, blackmailing police, and an end to the servile flattery and cajolery of mods (sic - would appear to refer to dilettantes), the coronations of mediocrities, the ascension of dolts. An end to restriction and inhibition, for I, THE ANTICHRIST, am come among you preaching the Word of the BEAST 666, which is, "There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt."

And I, BELARION, ANTICHRIST, do lift up my voice and prophecy, and I say: I shall bring all men to the law of the BEAST 666, and in His law I shall conquer the world. And within seven years of this time, BABALON, THE SCARLET WOMAN HILARION will manifest among ye, and bring this my work to its fruition. An end to conscription, compulsion, regimentation, and the tyranny of false laws. And within nine years a nation shall accept the Law of the BEAST 666 in my name, and that nation will be the first nation of earth. And all who accept me the ANTICHRIST and the law of the BEAST 666, shall be accursed and their joy shall be a thousandfold greater than the false joys of the false saints. And in my name BELARION shall they work miracles, and confound our enemies, and none shall stand before us.

Therefore I, THE ANTICHRIST call upon all the Chosen and elect and upon all men, come forth now in the name of Liberty, that we may end forever the tyranny of the Black Brotherhood.

Witness my hand and seal on this [...] day of [...] 1949, that is the year of BABALON 4066.

Love is the law, love under will.

Belarion, Antichrist

Analysis by a Master of  the Temple of the Critical Nodes in the Experience of his Material Vehicle

Parsons died on 17 June, 1952 in a laboratory explosion as a result of dropping a phial of fulminate of mercury. However, there is suspicion that his death was faked, for without legal precedent, his next of kin (Marjorie Cameron) was not consulted in order to identify the body, nor was she allowed to see him in the ambulance or hospital. Other oddities about his death have been noted.

In 1972, the Parsons Crater was named on the dark side of the moon in honour of Parsons (for services to rocketry). Hubbard went on to become the founder of the Church (sic) of Scientology, and, in 1972, Kenneth Grant wrote that he was "still at large, having grown wealthy and famous by the misuse of the secret knowledge which he had wormed out of Parsons."

Let's Get Philosophical for a Moment
At the heart of The Book of the Law is the instruction: Do what thou wilt. Under "Law," this is a conscious development of one's personal will to power. Nietzsche's message of the superman is that, on the will to power theory, values are mutable. Thus one's own values prevail, rather than conforming to the values of the collective which endeavour to pursue peace and harmony. When the question of basic values is open in society, the essential victory has been won.

Identifying with the conscious will to power, one wants to set the terms, insisting on the principle, "I will not serve." Satan thought much the same thing: "I will climb to the sky; higher than the stars of God I will set my throne. I will sit in the mount of assembly, on the summit of Zaphon [the abode of the gods]: I will mount the back of a cloud ( I will match the Most High" (Isaiah 14:13,14).