Aleister Crowley - The Great Beast 666

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Aleister Crowley may just be one of the most interesting men who ever lived he was a self-proclaimed magician scholar writer and even an undercover spy he was known as the great beast 666 because some believed that he was the Antichrist written about in the book of Revelation others believed that he was a genius and a visionary and that the world would not be the same if it wasn't for his teachings well today we're gonna talk about the life of this legendary figure and you yourself can decide if he truly was the wickedest man alive in 1875 Aleister Crowley was born in Warwickshire England to two extremely religious parents his grandfather had a successful distillery business and yet his father never wanted to spend any of the money because he believed drunkenness was a sin he became a preacher instead and passionately evangelized the teachings of a fundamentalist Christian group called the Plymouth Brethren they taught young Edward to live life as simply as possible and that men they only existed in order to serve God any form of excess whether it was spending money dressing in nice clothes or eating more than was absolutely necessary was considered a sin and the temptation to indulge in anything was seen as the work of the devil when he was very young Edward looked up to his father and wanted to become a preacher just like him he obeyed his parents every demand and instead of going outside to play with the other children he instead studied the Bible as you might imagine this did not make him very popular boy in school and he was bullied mercilessly by the other children his father he died of tongue cancer when he was only 11 and he was left in the care of his overzealous mother living under such harsh conditions on a daily basis made Edward very sick the doctors said that he was so weak he would die within just a few months if no changes were made thankfully his uncle stepped in and suggested that maybe the boy needed to live in the countryside Edward moved in with his uncle and began mountain climbing and running through the forest where he breathed fresh air his uncle allowed him to have fun which was a concept that had been completely foreign to him up until that point they even brought him to pubs and let him drink underage and pay for a prostitute so that he could lose his virginity at the age of 15 after all the doctors said that he might die soon so his uncle wanted him to experience as much fun as possible with the time he had left his health though it fully recovered him he was sent back to live with his mother but Deadwood had changed in his time away and he was now in full-blown teenage rebellion he knew that the Plymouth Brethren were to blame for his sickly childhood and he rejected all of their religious teachings he no longer wanted to be a preacher and he wanted the free will to make his own life choices he hated the idea that nearly everything that made people happy was considered to be a sinn his mother was shocked that her obedient son had changed so much in his time away and said that he'd become the Beast from the book of Revelation after arguing with her he decided that if he needed to commune with the devil in order to live his life according to his own rules or so be it he would become the Beast that his mother said he was one of the first wicked things he did was have sex with the maid on his mother's bed just to spite her when she found out she fired the maid immediately in the poor girl's reputation was ruined to the point where she could no longer work the maid was forced into prostitution and Crowley claimed that she became Jack the Ripper's first victim he even said that he knew the Ripper personally ins that he was an occultist later he would write about his formative years I was in the death struggle with self Gordon Satan fought for my soul those long three hours God conquered now I have only one doubt left which of the Twain was God when Crowley graduated high school he was sent away to Cambridge where he introduced himself to his new classmates as Aleister Crowley he joined the Chess Club and was able to win several competitions in 1898 when Aleister was 22 years old he fell in love with a fellow classmate Herbert Jerome Paulette very few people in the school knew that Herbert had an alter ego dressing in drag in private night clubs is Diane de Rugy crowley wrote a love poems about Herbert and they are filled with anguish about his wish to be with him clearly his bisexuality was even more motivation to reject Christianity in the eyes of the church his love for Herbert was considered to be an abomination after graduating from University Aleister inherited the Crowley family fortune and he could finally do whatever he wanted he began to hire female prostitutes nearly every day and he bought books on the occult he was writing dirty poetry and publishing them overseas under a pen name when he was in his early 20s he found out that he was not alone in his fascination with the occult and the possibility that magic could be real he joined a group of aspiring wizards called the order of the Golden Dawn which had famous members like poet William Butler Yeats and Bram Stoker the author of Dracula they claimed that their translated ancient Egyptian texts sold grimoires filled with ancient spells and Jewish mysticism from the Kabbalah they believed that they could perform real magic communicate with angels and get to know their inner soul when he showed up to his first meeting of the order of the Golden Dawn Crowley was wearing a disguise and introduced himself as Count of Vladimir far off' he was still afraid that his family would find out that he was dabbling in the occult since he did not want to ruin his reputation no one was convinced of his costume there because he was a baby-faced youth wearing a false moustache and speaking in a terrible Russian accent later on in life Aleister Crowley actually became a secret agent for the British government during World War one because he claimed that he had successfully infiltrated a secret society now technically that's true but the result of his spy career was probably more along the lines of the Pink Panther rather than James Bond after he felt comfortable knowing that the Golden Dawn took privacy very seriously Crowley admitted to his true identity unfortunately it already started things off on the wrong foot and some people in the group found it hard despite this initial deception Crowley took their teachings very seriously and he was able to quickly move on through the lessons the golden dawn wanted its new members to be able to get in touch with their inner soul before they were taught real magic this was accomplished through a lot of discussions of philosophy yoga meditation and mantras they would write down their dreams in daily journals and interpret what they meant about their inner selves however there were some spells that they performed on a daily basis because they truly believed that they could summon angels to their aid the lesser banishing ritual of the pentagram goes like this in the name of God's the God of Israel may Michael be at my right hands Gabriel at my left Uriel before me Raphael behinds me and above my head the presence of God Crowley believes so strongly in the supernatural that he claimed that these were the early stages of a magical journey which would get him in touch with his guardian angel he openly talked about his desire to call upon demons and the ancient gods he incorporated psychedelic drugs into his routines because he believed that it intensified his spiritual experiences this was all genuinely concerning to the rest of the Golden Dawn many of them were teetotaling aristocrats who felt that his ideas were radical if not downright terrifying the members did not want Crowley to rise in the ranks of the society because he was clearly interested in black magic and they believed that he would use his powers for evil there was a strict rule that no one could pay one another to teach the magic but he managed to convince one of the members to teach him higher levels of spells in exchange for free rent in his books Aleister Crowley casually mentions walking Eliezer inmate as he was levitating as if this was totally normal among the members of the Golden Dawn in 1899 when he was just 24 years old Aleister Crowley bought a mansion on the shores of Loch Ness in Scotland called a ball skiing house just so he could perform a spell called the Abra Mellon ceremony however nothing actually happened he never saw any angels or demons no matter how hard he tried apparently he grew tired of doing this ritual every single day without seeing any result so he wandered off to do something else rumors spread that since he failed to finish the ceremony this unlocked the gates of hell years later Jimmy Page that lead guitarist of Led Zeppelin purchased Crowley's home on Loch Ness he claims that the house was truly haunted by crevice demons aleister crowley's first wife was a woman named Rose Edith Kelly when they met she was a young widow who was engaged to a man that her parents chose for her Crowley convinced her to elope with him instead so after only knowing each other for just one day so that he could prevent her from entering into this arranged marriage they ran away on a spur-of-the-moment honeymoon to Egypt together Crowley brought Rose into a dark cave and began reciting his spells he was reading from a book called Goethe the Lesser Key of Solomon the idea was that he would summon an Egyptian god Horus he went through his chance when roses had suddenly fell back she claims that in that moment she had a vision and heard the voice of Horus Crowley was frustrated with Rose assuming that she was playing a prank on him he had been studying the occult and attempting to summon demons and gods for years and they never appeared to him in any visions he simply couldn't believe that it was possible for Rose to evoke Horus when she wasn't even trying but she kept insisting that she truly did see something in the caves and that the gods had been angry with him up until that points because of his arrogance still not believing her and Aleister took her to one of the museums and asked her to point out the God she saw Rose walked right up to the correct image of Horus exhibit number 666 after seeing this proof they rushed back to their apartment in Cairo so that they could talk about the visions in private Rose said that Horus had given her instructions on how to communicate with the spirits she gave Aleister a spiritual ritual to perform when he was done he heard a whisper over his shoulder from the voice of his guardian angel iowa's the angel instructed him to write down lots of information over the course of three days and he published this in a text called the book of the law though his famous quote was do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law basically this means do whatever you want with your own life Crowley it was thrilled with this revelation and when he returns England he told all of his friends in the Golden Dawn about the voices that he and Rose had hurt in Egypt many were reluctant to believe him and some were angry believing that he had been tricked and who actually communicating with a demon instead of a guardian angel at this point they were still refusing to allow Crowley to graduate to the next level of the secret society so he visited the leader of the Paris chapter of the Golden Dawn MacGregor Malthus he explains the situation back in London and Malthus seemed to agree that Crowley deserved n to the next level when he returned to London with his certificate from Malthus in hand the other members they still wouldn't accept him so he snuck into the clubhouse and he changed the locks the next day he laughed at the men as they failed to get inside not surprisingly he was then officially kicked out of the Golden Dawn a year later in 1905 Aleister Crowley took Gruber his friends climbing on kanchenjungha which is one of the largest and most treacherous mountains in the world they got to 25,000 feet but one of the men on the expedition a photographer named Jules Jaco Guillermo was angry at how Crowley was treating everyone else on the crew and he wanted to take over the expedition the expedition was marred by arguments between Crowley and the others who thought that he was reckless they eventually mutant it against Crowley's control with the other climbers heading back down the mountain as nightfall approached despite Crowley's warnings that it was too dangerous subsequently several porters were killed in an accident something for which Crowley was widely blamed for in the mountaineering community it was claimed that Crowley sat inside of his tent and trying to someone a demon at that very moment an avalanche came down the mountain they screamed for help but Crowley ignored them and he left them for dead he later wrote that he had absolutely no sympathy for the unfortunate accident even though many of the men miraculously survived aleister crowley's marriage with rose it fell apart after the death of their first daughter when she was only two years old even though they had a second daughter together named Lola Zaza it was clear that they were no longer in love and Rose fell into a deep depression they got a divorce in 1909 based on his own adultery in just two years later he had to put her in an asylum for having neurological damage from her alcoholism this tended to be a trend because most of the people who've even attempted to have a personal relationship with Crowley ended up having their lives completely ruined it's sort of a chicken or egg scenario did his belief in the occult attract mentally unstable people into his life or was his wickedness enough to drive people insane Carly was not very interested in being a father so he left his daughter in the care of boarding schools and nannies he started his own cult called thelema where he torched the book of the law like it was the Bible he started a commune in a villa in Italy that he called the abbey of Thelema everyone who lived there was encouraged to do whatever they wanted whenever they want it they took drugs they had orgies together and children were running around the grounds naked one of the rooms in the villa was called the nightmare room where Crowley painted terrifying pictures on the walls he encouraged his followers to take LSD and stare at the frightening images until they completely lost fear of anything the neighbors were shocked and even to this very day the locals say that the place is haunted by a curse rumor has it that the rituals became more and more intense to the point where they even participated in bestiality and animal sacrifice one of ours as lovers a woman named lair has a nervous breakdown after this and she went straight to the British press after she stated the one of the followers died after drinking the blood of a cat the Italian authorities they came in and forced the group out of the house and banned them from ever returning the abbey of Thelema is still abandoned to this very day and as we said people believe it's haunted Aleister Crowley he visited the United States to spread his message and he inspired several people to practice the occult as well including rocket scientist Jack Parsons and the founder of Scientology l ron Hubbard he taught them how to perform sex magic which was the belief that in the moment of orgasm their intentions could be heard by the universe unfortunately for Crowley all of the drugs and sex eventually caught up with him he became a full-on heroin addict since he lost it from men mount of weight in the 1930s a journalist labeled Aleister Crowley as a black magician after years of running cults and buying properties all over the world his inheritance it had finally run dry he was living alone in a boarding house doing whatever he could to get his fix and stay alive he decided to sue the journalist for libel even though he had called himself a magician and the beast in his own books he lost the case of course and he had to endure a public humiliation many people never saw him in London again so they spread a rumor that he had died from a drug overdose all alone in his boarding house they felt that this would be a fitting end to such a wicked man but in reality fate gave him a second chance at life a young woman named Deirdre McClelland approached Aleister Crowley after the trial was over she said that she had read all of his books and was a huge fan and she wanted to have a child now this level of RAD Mauritian pretty much creepy enough for most celebrities to run in the opposite direction but Aleister Crowley he was so desperate that he agreed to go home with the stranger McClelland helps him get clean from drugs and she stayed with him through the worst of his withdrawal after he was healthy again they had a son together who was named Alister at attack Crowley little Alastair was Crowley's pride and joy and he felt a lot of regret for the way that it acted in his younger years after living his entire life trying to prove that people should be as selfish as they could possibly be he finally realized that true happiness and fulfilment they came from family they lived in a house in Cornwall where they spent their summers on the beach according to Deirdre McClelland Aleister Crowley slipped into a coma just before he died the sky lit up in a cacophony of thunders the gods came to reclaim his soul he died in 1947 at 72 years old in reality he died of chronic bronchitis aggravated by pleurisy and myocardial degeneration his funeral was held at Brighton crematorium and about a dozen people attended and Lewis work insin read excerpts from the Gnostic Mass the book of the law and him de panne the funeral generated controversy and was labeled a black mass by the tabloids years after his death artists and musicians more over the world started to read Aleister Crowley's work and it inspired them to live their lives in the way that they wanted hippies based their free love movement on his writings and even John Lennon sidered him to be a hero putting him on the cover of Sgt pepper's Lonely Hearts Club his motto of do what thou wilt was inscribed on the vinyl of Led Zeppelin's album Led Zeppelin 3 David Bowie made reference to Crowley and the lyrics of a song quicksand his life was filled with outrageous claims and without his attempts to shake up proper Victorian society the world we live in today just may not have been the same without Aleister Crowley so I sure hope you found that video interesting bit of a bizarre one I know if you did like it give us a thumbs up also subscribe we've got other videos just like this I think we're doing three or four a week now so if you subscribe you'll get all of those hit that notification bell so you do actually find out about them if you're looking for something else to watch right now they I've got another channel called highlight history you'll find a link to that below and as always thank you for watching [Music]

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Channel: Biographics

Views: 1,087,523

Rating: 4.8483539 out of 5

Keywords: Aleister Crowley, The Great Beast, Aleister Crowley facts, Aleister Crowley life, Aleister Crowley biography, Aleister Crowley bio, biographics, biography, biographies, people, famous people, simon whistler

Id: 9zNTpey21Y0

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Length: 17min 15sec (1035 seconds)

Published: Thu May 09 2019

Reddit Comments

Interesting. But Crowley was not a satanist. Also, have you ever noticed, that guy who does those videos cannot pronounce anything and I mean anything right! WTF is up with that?

👍︎︎ 2 👤︎︎ u/WiseTap8 📅︎︎ May 11 2019 🗫︎ replies

At some point I'll have to read a biography or two about him, he had quite the fascinating life.

👍︎︎ 1 👤︎︎ u/[deleted] 📅︎︎ May 10 2019 🗫︎ replies