Post #29. The Tools of the Will: The Practical Magic of Aleister Crowley

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Aleister Crowley was not only a philosophical magician; he was a practical magician. His system of Thelema was not just a set of abstract ideas; it was a collection of powerful and practical techniques for changing consciousness and influencing reality. Crowley’s magic was a synthesis of the Golden Dawn’s ceremonial rigour, the spiritual disciplines of Eastern yoga, and his own, unique, and often shocking innovations, particularly in the field of sex magic. Let’s explore some of the key practical techniques of Thelemic magic.

The Foundations: Ceremonial Magic

Crowley’s magic was built on the foundations of the Golden Dawn system. He took the basic rituals of ceremonial magic and adapted them to the principles of Thelema.


  • The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBRP): This is the fundamental ritual of all modern ceremonial magic. It is a daily practice, a kind of magical hygiene, used to clear the magician’s aura of unwanted influences and to establish a sacred space for magical work. Crowley’s version of the LBRP is similar to the Golden Dawn’s, but with a Thelemic twist, invoking the gods of the new aeon.


  • The Star Ruby: Crowley also developed his own, more purely Thelemic version of the pentagram ritual, called the Star Ruby. It is a more ecstatic and poetic ritual, a powerful invocation of the divine forces of Nuit and Hadit.


  • The Ritual of the Hexagram: While the pentagram ritual is used to invoke and banish the elemental forces, the hexagram ritual is used to work with the planetary and zodiacal energies. It is a more advanced and powerful form of ceremonial magic, used for invoking specific planetary intelligences or for aligning oneself with the cosmic currents of the zodiac.

The Integration of Yoga: The Discipline of the Mind and Body

Crowley was one of the first Western magicians to systematically integrate the techniques of Eastern yoga into his magical practice. He understood that to be an effective magician, one needed to have absolute control over one’s own mind and body. He practised and taught a variety of yogic disciplines:


  • Asana: The practice of holding a single physical posture for a long period of time. This was not just a physical exercise; it was a way of training the will, of learning to overcome pain and discomfort, and of stilling the body so that the mind could be free to work.


  • Pranayama: The control of the breath. Crowley developed a series of breathing exercises designed to alter consciousness, to generate magical energy, and to prepare the mind for meditation.


  • Dharana and Dhyana: The control of the mind. Crowley’s system included a series of exercises in concentration and meditation, designed to train the magician to focus their mind on a single point, silence the inner chatter, and achieve the state of one-pointed consciousness that is the prerequisite for all successful magical work.

The Ultimate Secret: Sex Magic

Crowley’s most famous and most controversial contribution to practical magic was his development of a systematic and highly sophisticated system of sex magic. He believed that the sexual act, as the source of all life, was the most powerful source of magical energy available to the magician. He taught a variety of techniques for harnessing this energy, which he referred to as the “magical current.”


  • The Mass of the Phoenix: A solo ritual in which the magician uses his own sexual fluids (in the case of a man, the semen) to consecrate a “Cake of Light,” a wafer that is then consumed. This is a form of magical eucharist, a way of offering one’s own life force to the gods and of receiving their blessing in return.


  • The Gnostic Mass: The central public and private ritual of the O.T.O. It is a beautiful and highly symbolic ceremony that re-enacts the mystical marriage of the sun and the moon, of the priest and the priestess. The climax of the ritual is the consecration and consumption of a Cake of Light, which has been charged with the sexual energy of the priest and priestess.


  • The Secret Rituals of the O.T.O.: In the highest degrees of the O.T.O., Crowley taught a series of secret techniques for using the sexual act itself as a magical operation. These techniques, which involved the use of specific sexual positions, visualisations, and incantations, were designed to generate a massive amount of magical energy, which could then be directed towards a specific goal. This was the ultimate secret of the O.T.O., the key to its power and its influence.


Crowley’s magic was a demanding and often dangerous path. It required immense self-discipline, a willingness to challenge all conventional ideas about morality and religion, and the courage to explore the darkest and most hidden corners of the human psyche. But for those who were willing to walk it, it offered the ultimate prize: the discovery and the performance of the true will, the attainment of a divine, god-like consciousness.


In our next post, we will explore the later years of Crowley’s life, his infamous Abbey of Thelema in Sicily, and his lasting and controversial legacy.


The body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. And the Holy Ghost is the Holy Guardian Angel. Follow the Secret City series.


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