PENGUIN the confessions of LSTR ROWE An Autobagiography edit ‘ JOHN SYMONDS andKENNETI-JG’ T PENGUIN AR)W’1 THE CONFESSIONS OF ALEISTER CROWL.EY Aleiscer Crowley, who called himselfthe Beast 666, was one ofthe most extraordinary personalities ofmodern times — novelist, poet, magician, accomplished mountaineer, chess masterand founderofan abbey ofDo What Thou Wilt. To his followers he was the creator of a new religion called Crowicyanity. He was born in 1875. the son ofa brewer and evangelizing Plymouth Brother. By the time ofhis death in 1947 his career and writings on occultism, psychology and sex had become legendary. His best-known works are his Confessions and his grcal book on magic. Magick. John Syrnonds met Alcister Crowley in i94$ and helped him with his literary work during the last two years ofhis life. He is Crowley’s literary executor and the author ofhis biography, The King ofthe Shadow Realm. Kenneth Grant studied the occult tinder Aleister Crowley. His books include The Magical Revival, Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God, Cults ofthe Shadow, Ni,?hrside ofEden and Owside the Circles ofTime. He has edited and annotated, with John Synionds, Crowley’s major writings, including Magwk (1973. Arkana 1988). An idealized self—portrait THE CONFESSIONS OF AL]EISTER CR0WLEY AN AUTOHAGIOGRAPHY edited by JOHN SYMONDS and KENNETH GRANT ARKANA PENGUIN BOOKS PENGUIN BOOKS PublishedbythePenguinGroup PenguinBooksLid.27WrightsLane.LondonW8 STZ. England PenguinPutnamInc..375HudsonStreet.NewYork.NewYork 10014.USA PenguinBooksAustraliaLtd.Ringwood.Victoria.Australia PenguinBooksCanadaLtd. 10AlcornAvenue.Toronto.Ontario.CanadaM4V 3B2 PenguinBooks(NZ)Ltd.PrivateBag102902.NSMC.Auckland.NewZealand PenguinBooksLtd.RegisteredOflices:Harmondsworth.Middlesex.England Thiscorrectededition?rst publishedbyRoutledge&KeganPaul 1979 PublishedbyArkanaBooks 1989 12 Copyright0JohnSymondsand KennethGrant. 1969. 1979 Allrightsreserved PrintedinEnglandbyClaysLtd.StIvesplc ExceptintheUnitedStatesofAmerica,thisbookissoldsubject totheconditionthatitshallnot,bywayoftradeorotherwise,belent, re-sold,hiredout,orotherwisecirculatedwithoutthepublisher’s priorconsentinanyformofbindingorcoverotherthanthatin whichitispublishedandwithoutasimilarconditionincludingthis conditionbeingimposedonthesubsequentpurchaser CONTENTS PREFACE 9 INTRODUCTION 13 PART ONE: Towards the Golden Dawn 29 PART TWO: The Mystical Adventure i? PART THREE: The Advent ofthe Aeon ofHorus 391 PART FOUR: Magical Workings 507 PART FIVE:TheMagus 663 PART SIX: At the Abbey ofThclerna 789 EDITORS’ NOTES 925 INDEX 939 6 [Page 6 missing from source pdf: https://archive.org/details/the-coiifessiolls-of-aleister-crowley-aIl-autobiography-editedby-jolm-syrno iids-arid-keimeth-grantl - the following textwas inserted from the ocr-oilyversioll] List ofillustratioiis Froiitispiece. An idealized self-portrait 1. The Magician, 1911 2a. Crowley’s mother 2b. Crowley’s father 3a. The schoolboy, aged 14 3b. The poet, aged 30 4a. Osiris Riseii: Crowley ii 1899 4b. S. L. M. Mathers, Head ofthe Golden Dawn 5a. AllanBennett 5b. The explorer, mountaiiieer andbig-game hunter, c. 1906 6. The expeditioii to Chogo Ri, 1902 7 [Page 7 missing from source pdf: https://archive.org!details/the-confessions-of-aleister-crowley-ari-autobiography-editedby-jolm-symonds-and-kenneth-grantl - the following textwas rnserted from the ocr-onlyversion] 7a. Crowley in the Himalayas, 1905 7b. The Buddhist, the man ofsonows Sa. Rose Kelly, Crowley’s firstwife Sb. Sister Cybele (Leila Waddell) 9. The Beast 666: Crowley aged 37 10. Demonstrating ayogic tecimique ofbreath-control, c. 1912 11. The Charterissuedby Joim Yarker admitting Crowley to the highest grade (33°) of the ScottishRite ofMasomy, 1910 12. The Stele ofRevealing: Exhibit 666, BoulakMuseum, Cairo 13a. Crowleywearing the head-dress ofHorns, c. 1910 13b. Baphomet: Crowley in thU Masonic regalia, 1916 13a. The Arabian alchemist 13b. LeahHirsig in Crowley’s studio, New York, 1918 15. Handwrittenplan for climbingMtEverest, 1921 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS i6. Crowley and Alostrael (Leah Hirsig) at the Abbey of Thelema, 1921 between pages 736—737 ia. Betty May i7b. Raoul Loveday (Frater Aud). 1923 iSa. Sketch by Crowley ofNorman Mudd (Frater Omnia Pro Veritate) i8b. Frank Bennett (Frater Progradior) 19. Maria de Miramar and Crowley 20a. Sketch by Crowley ofa devouring demon betweet pages 768—769 2ob. Crowley as a human being, 1934 zia. Crowley as Fo-hi, the Chinese god ofjoy and laughter aib. Crowley’s hands lockedin yogic mudra 2a. Sketch by Crowley 22k InJermyn Street, Piccadilly, c. 1943 23a. At ‘Netherwood’, Hastings 23b. The Beast 666: self-portrait