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With Part two of We Are the Witchcraft, 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:08.360 due out on Tuesday, April third, we take a look 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:12.000 back at two of the more extraordinary moments of Crowley's life. 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:21.400 The story of Bleskin House is inseparable from that of 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:25.600 his most infamous former resident, Alista Crowley. It was a 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:29.200 very particular journey that brought Crowley to Bleskin, and it 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:32.359 begins a short time before midnight on the twelfth of 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:39.800 October eighteen seventy five, with his birth in Royal Leamington, Spa, England. Crowley, 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:43.200 who was christened Edward Alexander, was the first of two 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:47.040 children born to Edward and Emily Crowley. Their second, a 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:50.560 baby girl, would arrive five years later, but would tragically 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:55.760 die after only five hours of life. The family was 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:59.040 devoutly religious and belonged to a Christian sect known as 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:03.080 the Plymouth Breath. The sect were renowned for their belief 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:05.919 in the literal truth of the Bible and their puritanical 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:10.400 attitude towards sin and the dangers of temptation. It was 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:13.880 into this deeply rigid and conservative environment that Crowley was 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:17.880 brought up, an environment which many believe contributed to his 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:23.360 utter rejection of all such beliefs in later life. Owing 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:27.639 to his share in the lucrative family brewing business, Crowley's father, Edward, 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:30.359 had been able to take an early retirement, and as 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:33.360 such divided most of his time between his family and 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:38.040 volunteering as a traveling preacher for the sect. Despite the 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:43.080 socially claustrophobic upbringing and unhappy childhood, Crowley was utterly devoted 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:48.400 to Edward. In March eighteen eighty seven, Crowley was devastated 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:51.000 when his father died after a short battle with cancer. 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:55.200 The young Alister was only eleven years old, and the 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:57.920 death would prove to be a significant turning point in 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:02.320 his life. Crowley's sorrow at the loss of his father 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:06.080 soon morphed into anger. That Crowley began attacking the very 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:09.440 thing that had made his life such a misery, rejecting 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:15.040 what he saw as the zealous and authoritarian scourge of Christianity. 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:18.279 In the years that followed, it would seem that Crowley 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:21.480 had developed a pathological yearning to commit the sins he 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:26.159 had so studiously been warned against. He started to experiment sexually, 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:30.320 dabbled with debauchery, and took any opportunity to point out 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:33.320 what he considered to be the many inconsistencies in the 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:38.279 Bible to anyone who would listen. Crowley had the sense 0:04:38.360 --> 0:04:41.039 that he was searching for something, but it wasn't until 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:44.160 he arrived at Cambridge University that the pieces began to 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:50.000 shift into place. At some point, Crowley had become interested 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:53.520 in the occult, in particular the study of ritual magic, 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:57.039 an enthusiasm that was piqued after he read A. E. 0:04:57.120 --> 0:05:01.799 Waits's The Book of Black Magic and Pacts, an acute 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:05.080 interest in alchemy brought him into contact with British chemist 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:09.520 and occultist George Cecil Jones, who in turn introduced Crowley 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:14.200 to the hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The Order 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:17.160 had been established in eighteen eighty eight and was led 0:05:17.200 --> 0:05:22.479 by the charismatic Samuel Liddell McGregor Mathis. Some of you 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:25.080 may remember that it was to Mathis that the Alpha 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:28.359 and Omega group had stayed faithful, the same group to 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:32.320 which Netta Fornario had belonged before her death under mysterious 0:05:32.320 --> 0:05:37.240 circumstances in nineteen twenty nine, As we explored in Episode one, 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:42.119 after graduation and with the luxury of his family's brewing 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:46.120 dynasty inheritance, Crowley was able to untether himself from the 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:50.159 usual constraints of life. As such, he was free to 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:54.280 throw himself into his new and burgeoning obsession of ritual magic. 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:09.120 A year after leaving Cambridge, Crowley had moved into a 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:12.880 luxury London flat in Chancery Lane and had hired fellow 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:16.960 Golden Dawn member Alan Bennett to become his personal magic tutor. 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:21.960 It was Bennett who formerly introduced Crowley to ceremonial magic 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:26.520 and the ritual use of drugs, but most importantly to 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:30.640 the rituals of the Goetia, the practice of invoking what 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:36.120 are commonly known as angels and demons, in particular the 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:39.359 urs Goetia, as found in the opening section of the 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:44.279 seventeenth century Grimoire The Lesser Key of Solomon, a Grimoire 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:49.720 being another term for a book of magic spells. Maths 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:52.880 was impressed by Crowley's dedication and rapid rise through the 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:55.760 various grades of the Golden Dawn, and the two became 0:06:55.839 --> 0:07:00.280 close friends, but Crowley was growing increasingly frustrated with the movement. 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:05.080 His frustration was in part due to the reticence that 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:08.560 some of the more established members had about Crowley's membership. 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:11.880 In what was quite a rarity for the time, Crowley 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:15.560 was openly bisexual, a state of affairs that many members 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:20.080 sadly found uncomfortable. But what irked Crowley more than anything 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:22.920 was what he considered to be the inherent phoniness of 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:26.840 the group, peopled as it was by many esteemed intellects 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:30.480 of the day such as W. B. Yates and Brown Stoker. 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:33.480 Crowley felt that they were merely playing at magic, and 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:37.280 treated the organization as little more than a glorified salon. 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:40.840 In what would later become a feature of Crowley's life, 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:45.200 he wanted more and to go further than anyone had 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:51.200 gone before. In eighteen ninety eight, Mathers introduced Crowley to 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:55.000 a strange nimistical text called The Secret Book of abramel 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:58.520 and Magic. The book, which is said to date back 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:02.000 to the fifteenth century, recounts the story of an Egyptian 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:06.480 carbalistic magician known as Abramelum the Mage and his pupil, 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:12.920 Abraham of Vorms in Germany. As the story goes, Abraham 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:15.960 found the Maide living in the desert outside a Ratchi, 0:08:16.200 --> 0:08:20.160 an Egyptian town near the River Nile. After agreeing to 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:22.680 serve and fear the Lord and to live and die 0:08:22.720 --> 0:08:26.720 in his most holy Law, Abraham was instructed by Abramelin 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:30.240 in the divine science and true magic embedded within the 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:35.600 two manuscripts. Abraham was warned only to pass this knowledge 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:39.280 on to those he knew well and trusted, but now 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:44.920 it was in the hands of Alister Crowley. Crucially, the 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:48.679 book describes an elaborate ritual known as the Abramelin Operation, 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:53.240 designed to conjure up the magician's guardian angel. It became 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:55.520 clear to Crowley that this was the next step that 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:59.520 he must take in his path to complete enlightenment. It 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:02.360 is a path that many believed to have led to 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:20.320 fatal consequences. Not wanting to leave anything to chance, the 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:23.600 well healed, Crowley embarked on a lengthy undertaking to find 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:27.720 the ideal location for the operation. As Crowley later wrote, 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:31.840 the house must be in a more or less secluded situation. 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:34.880 There should be a door opening to the north from 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:37.840 the room of which you make your oratory. Outside this 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:41.360 door you construct a terrace covered with fine river sand. 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:45.000 This ends in a lodge where the spirits may congregate. 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:49.440 A year after searching, Crowley had failed to find the 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:53.800 perfect location. That was until he found himself traveling into 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:56.840 the highlands of Scotland along the haunting shores of the 0:09:56.920 --> 0:10:02.120 majestic Lochness. A short time later, Crowley arrived at a 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:05.000 small grave site by the side of the road overlooking 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:09.320 the loch. There, perched a short distance up the hill 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:12.800 overlooking the graveyard, he saw it for the first time, 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:18.440 the house that would forever become synonymous with his name, Bleskin, 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:24.400 the single floored mansion located on the eastern shore of 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:27.400 Loch Ness, was built in the late eighteenth century by 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:30.880 a Colonel Archibald Fraser. It is not clear what exactly 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:34.719 brought Crowley to Bleskin, though the filmmaker and Crowley aficionado 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:37.679 Kenneth Anger has pointed out that he may have been 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:40.920 drawn to the name and its similarity to Baal, the 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:44.840 Canaan god of gods, later remodeled as the lord of flies. 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:49.520 In the Old Testament, Bal is represented by the symbol 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:53.120 of the bull, the word Boal from Bleskin, being an 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:58.120 ancient Scottish form of the same animal. Others believe, however, 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:01.840 that Crowley had in some way been preternaturally drawn to 0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:05.600 the house. It was said that a medieval church had 0:11:05.600 --> 0:11:09.280 once stood on the same site. One morning, with the 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:15.040 congregation inside, the church mysteriously caught fire. As the congregation 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:20.400 rushed to escape, they found themselves inexplicably trapped inside. Unable 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:23.840 to escape, they perished as the church burnt steadily to 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:29.160 the ground. Had something of the event remained, something that 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:33.280 Crowley was eager to tap into. It is also said 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:36.720 that the graveyard itself was once a meeting point for witches. 0:11:37.880 --> 0:11:40.200 Reports of a tunnel leading from the house to the 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:42.720 grave site, which some claim to have been used by 0:11:42.720 --> 0:11:49.600 Crowley to conduct his own nighttime rituals, remain unsubstantiated. So 0:11:49.640 --> 0:11:52.800 convinced was Crowley of the house's suitability that in August 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:55.680 eighteen ninety nine, he paid more than twice its value 0:11:55.679 --> 0:12:00.640 to secure the property. A short time later, he relocated 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:15.800 his possessions and began preparing for the great Operation. It 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:18.480 is important at this point to draw the distinction between 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:21.600 what many see as Crowley's unhealthy obsession with black magic 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:24.960 and satanism, and what, in reality, it was that Crowley 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:28.080 hoped to achieve. Whether there is a truth to it 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:31.320 or not, Crowley's intention and the sole purpose of the 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:34.960 ritual was to seek knowledge and conversation with his own 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:39.120 personal guardian angel. It is, by all accounts, a ritual 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:43.480 to invoke positive change, a force for good, but there 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:47.360 was one glaringly large catch. In order to do this, 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:50.240 Crowley would have to invoke and then bring under his 0:12:50.320 --> 0:12:56.040 control the twelve Kings of Hell before beginning the ritual, 0:12:56.320 --> 0:12:59.280 which required him to start in Easter. Crowley spent the 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:03.239 intervening month entertaining guests and readying the property in preparation 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:06.720 for the ceremony. The final stage was to cover the 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:11.000 outdoor terrace in a fine river sand. The reason was simple. 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:14.600 It was so Crowley could see the feat marks of 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:19.400 the spirits and demons he was about to invoke. The 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:23.800 ritual was to last six months and required the utmost conviction. 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:27.199 It would require him to live off little more than 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:30.480 bread and water, and to wait regularly at three am 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:34.920 to begin the invocations. Chastity had to be observed at 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:39.160 all times, and complete abstinence was paramount for the free 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:43.880 spirited Crowley. That in itself would have proved a tall order. However, 0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:46.680 as the winter snow of eighteen ninety nine began to 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:50.360 thaw and with it past the season of death, new 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:54.800 life was bursting forth throughout the surrounding hills. Spring had 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:59.160 finally arrived, and Crowley's dedication had not faulted. The time 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:06.880 had come to begin the ritual. 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Teledoc is committed 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:50.520 to facilitating great therapeutic matches, so they make it easy 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:54.920 to change counselors if needed. For free. Teledoc therapy is 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:59.120 available through most insurance or employers. Download the app or 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:03.560 visit teledoc dot com forward slash Unexplained podcast today to 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:16.560 get started. That's teladoc dot com slash Unexplained Podcast. Crowley 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:19.960 began by preparing the talismans that were essential for the operation. 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:23.400 The talismans, which can be found at the back of 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:26.080 the Book of Abramelon, are a set of magic word 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:29.480 squares required to bring the twelve kings of Hell into order. 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:33.240 Crowley had moved to the brightest room in the house 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:36.960 to best complete the task. The room, located at the 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:40.000 front of the house, overlooked the terrace and down to 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:45.800 the dark and still lockness beyond, Crowley cut the squares 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:48.920 from the material vellum, and as a bright sun flooded 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:51.760 the room with light, he began to inscribe the squares 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:57.720 with Indian ink. When something strange happened, Despite the clear skies, 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:01.200 the room began to darken, until the light had been 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:05.800 almost entirely extinguished. From this point on, Crowley was required 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:07.960 to use a large array of candles to keep the 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:12.640 room alight even during the brightest times of day. With 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:16.000 everything in order, Crowley embarked on his sixth month odyssey. 0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:20.440 Almost immediately he received confirmation that he was on the 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:24.040 right path as he began to chant in the room. 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:28.160 Even with all its artificial light, it again began to darken, 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:31.960 while all around the lodge and terrace became peopled with 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:37.160 shadowy shapes, or, as Crowley writes, the demons and evil 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:40.360 forces had congregated round me so thickly that they were 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:44.360 shutting off the light. A number of friends had declined 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:47.840 to visit Crowley, believing he was going too far meddling 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:52.720 with things he couldn't understand, let alone control. The grimoire 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:55.880 itself begins with the warning not to attempt any of 0:16:55.920 --> 0:17:00.240 the magic contained. Within only a few weeks into the operation, 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:07.360 already there were ominous stirrings. One acquaintance named Russia, lasted 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:11.480 only two weeks before terror forced him to flee Crowley 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:14.840 coming down to breakfast one day, only to be informed 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:17.480 that Russia had taken the first boat to in Vaness 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:23.280 that morning. At one point, Crowley returned to Boleskin one 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:26.600 afternoon to find a Catholic priest waiting for him in 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:30.240 his study. The priest informed him that the day before 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:33.879 his lodge keeper, who had not touched alcohol for twenty years, 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:37.320 had come home raving drunk and attempted to murder his 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:42.600 wife and children. Already, it would seem that the ritual, 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:46.920 despite being a very personal pursuit, was provoking forces beyond 0:17:47.040 --> 0:17:52.080 Crowley's control. Although it may not have been going well 0:17:52.119 --> 0:17:55.000 for those around him, the ritual seemed to be working 0:17:55.000 --> 0:18:00.320 for Crowley. But all that was about to change. Barely 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:03.439 two months in, Crowley received a letter from Samuel Mathis 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:08.480 requesting Crowley's immediate assistance. In Crowley's absence, the Order of 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:12.040 the Golden Dawn had fractured into two opposing schools of thought, 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:15.679 with Maths believing he was in great danger of being usurped. 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:19.280 Despite only being part way through the ritual, Crowley felt 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:23.159 compelled to offer his assistance. Immediately, he packed his bags 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:26.760 and headed straight to London, and with that the magic 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:40.879 ritual was broken. It had been Crowley's intention to return 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:43.399 and complete the spell, but with one thing leading to 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:46.960 another in the summer of nineteen hundred, Crowley instead moved 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:53.000 to Mexico. The ritual remained incomplete. As Kenneth Anger notes, 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:56.119 if you invoke spirits to help you or teach you, 0:18:56.640 --> 0:18:59.840 there is something that has to be done afterwards. They 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:05.119 must be banished. But Crowley never did that. It is 0:19:05.119 --> 0:19:08.560 said that soon after a dark cloud appeared over the 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:12.800 house that failed to disperse for many months. Locals refused 0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:15.439 to go by the house, instead preferring to travel the 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:19.680 entire circumference of the lock rather than pass it. As 0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:22.439 for Crowley, there are some who believe that failure to 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:25.920 complete the ritual left him dangerously open to demonic possession, 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:29.400 that the twelve Kings of Hell may well have somehow 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:32.960 found their way inside him, using him for their own purpose. 0:19:34.040 --> 0:19:36.880 Some consider what later became a Crowley to be directly 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:42.080 linked to this moment. After breaking off the ritual, Crowley 0:19:42.080 --> 0:19:45.360 spent some time in Paris with his friend Samuel Mathers, 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:49.520 only for their relationship to ultimately turn sour. He returned 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:52.400 to Scotland and became friendly with a young painter known 0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:56.040 as Gerald Kelly. Kelly would later be known as Sir 0:19:56.160 --> 0:20:01.600 Gerald Kelly, President of the Royal Academy. After spending some 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:05.119 time with Kelly at his family home in Strathpeffer in Scotland, 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:09.280 Crowley met and became close to Gerald's sister, Rose Kelly, 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:15.119 a widower now betrothed unhappily to another man. In a 0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:20.000 characteristically impulsive gesture, Crowley suggested she married him, toward off 0:20:20.040 --> 0:20:24.280 the unwonted suitor. The pair eloped the following day, on 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:29.280 August the twelfth, nineteen o three. Despite the apparent flippancy 0:20:29.280 --> 0:20:32.320 of the gesture, it would seem that Crowley, a man 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:35.119 who had always been enthralled to his own heightened sense 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:39.679 of sexuality, fell to growing magnetism between them. Reveling in 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:43.320 the scandalous behavior, Crowley and Rose returned to Boleskin House 0:20:43.480 --> 0:20:47.399 before embarking on an extended honeymoon to Cairo, and it 0:20:47.520 --> 0:20:52.600 is there that the story takes a peculiar turn. After 0:20:52.720 --> 0:20:55.320 arriving in Cairo. In what had become a feature of 0:20:55.359 --> 0:21:00.199 Crowley's life, Alister adopted the pseudonym Prince Choya Khan. The 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:03.320 pair took up residence in an apartment which Crowley had 0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:07.440 had partially converted to mimic an Egyptian temple. They told 0:21:07.480 --> 0:21:10.120 all who cared to listen that they had been granted 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:14.120 the rank of prince and princess by an unnamed Eastern sultan. 0:21:15.840 --> 0:21:18.920 At some time, Crowley attempted a ritual for the benefit 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:22.040 of Rose, who was by this point pregnant with Crowley's 0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:26.639 first child. The operation, known as the Bornless Ritual, is 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:30.200 the preliminary invocation to the ars Goetier, which in turn 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:33.880 forms the first book of the infamous Lesser Key of Solomon. 0:21:34.880 --> 0:21:39.000 The book, also known as the Lemegaton, was compiled anonymously 0:21:39.280 --> 0:21:42.800 sometime in the seventeenth century and is considered a primary 0:21:42.800 --> 0:21:47.400 text of demonology, with the ars Goetier detailing no less 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:52.480 than seventy two demons for invocation. It is not clear 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:55.880 exactly what Crowley had intended with the ritual, though some 0:21:55.960 --> 0:21:58.800 suggest he had grown impatient with his new wife and 0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:03.120 had taken to teasing her with his magic obsession. However, 0:22:03.520 --> 0:22:07.200 after a short bout of chanting, Rose began acting strangely. 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:10.960 She had fallen into some kind of trance and had 0:22:11.000 --> 0:22:15.040 started to mutter something. They are waiting for you, she said. 0:22:16.359 --> 0:22:19.800 The irritated Crowley, who at this point, despite years of trying, 0:22:19.920 --> 0:22:22.560 had never actually made contact with any of the spirits 0:22:22.600 --> 0:22:25.560 he had tried to invoke, demanded to know who Rose 0:22:25.640 --> 0:22:30.000 was talking to. It was the ancient Egyptian god Horace, 0:22:30.160 --> 0:22:33.840 she replied. She told Crowley he had offended the god. 0:22:35.560 --> 0:22:39.280 An incredulous Crowley took Rose immediately to the nearby Bulak 0:22:39.440 --> 0:22:43.159 Museum now known as the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities to 0:22:43.280 --> 0:22:46.359 identify the deity she claimed to be in communication with. 0:22:47.800 --> 0:22:51.600 Arriving shortly after at the museum, Rose proceeded to lead 0:22:51.640 --> 0:22:55.040 Crowley past a number of holy and ancient Egyptian artifacts 0:22:55.480 --> 0:22:57.959 before finally coming to a stop in front of an 0:22:58.000 --> 0:23:03.399 intricately decorated piece of wood known as a steely. More precisely, 0:23:03.640 --> 0:23:06.920 it was the Steely of Revealing and dated from around 0:23:06.960 --> 0:23:11.639 six hundred and eighty BC. Sure enough, the beautiful piece 0:23:11.640 --> 0:23:14.639 of funerary art on the right hand side depicts a 0:23:14.680 --> 0:23:18.439 recently deceased priest making an offering to the falcon headed 0:23:18.440 --> 0:23:22.480 god Ra Harakhti, an amalgamation of the sun god Ra 0:23:23.080 --> 0:23:27.879 and Horace Rose, at least to Crowley's mind, seemed to 0:23:27.920 --> 0:23:32.040 be telling the truth. Crowley was convinced further when he 0:23:32.080 --> 0:23:34.880 looked down to find the exhibition number of the artifact. 0:23:36.320 --> 0:23:47.880 The number was six six, six six sixty six, as 0:23:47.920 --> 0:23:50.479 many will know, is equated with the number of the Beast, 0:23:50.760 --> 0:23:54.160 as depicted in the Book of Revelation. The number has 0:23:54.160 --> 0:23:57.560 become synonymous with the Antichrist and Satan and all their 0:23:57.640 --> 0:24:01.840 dark and evil connotations. To Crowley, however, it meant something 0:24:01.880 --> 0:24:05.520 a little different. It was Crowley's mother who first labeled 0:24:05.600 --> 0:24:09.120 him the Beast, presumably in reaction to a young Crowley's 0:24:09.160 --> 0:24:14.040 burgeoning rejection of the family's Puritanical beliefs. To Crowley, it 0:24:14.080 --> 0:24:16.360 was a label that he would gleefully come to embrace. 0:24:17.440 --> 0:24:20.879 To some, it was evidence of Crowley's innate wickedness, but 0:24:21.040 --> 0:24:23.840 for others it spoke of nothing more than his refusal 0:24:23.840 --> 0:24:26.800 to accept what he saw as the arbitrary labels and 0:24:26.920 --> 0:24:31.160 morals of the Christian faith. The Moniker served ultimately as 0:24:31.160 --> 0:24:34.560 a symbol of Crowley's core belief, a belief that was 0:24:34.600 --> 0:24:38.320 soon to be articulated in the most extraordinary of circumstances. 0:24:40.680 --> 0:24:43.399 After the visit to the museum, the couple returned to 0:24:43.440 --> 0:24:46.560 their Cairo apartment, where Rose is believed to have instructed 0:24:46.600 --> 0:24:50.920 Crowley on how to communicate with Horace. On April eighth, 0:24:51.040 --> 0:24:54.600 nineteen o four, Crowley commenced a new ritual, now under 0:24:54.600 --> 0:24:58.320 the guidance of Rose. A short time later, he heard 0:24:58.359 --> 0:25:01.320 a voice that seemed to become from behind his shoulder. 0:25:02.440 --> 0:25:05.720 Crowley later claimed the voice belonged to an entity known 0:25:05.760 --> 0:25:08.959 as I Was, who presented itself as none other than 0:25:09.040 --> 0:25:13.480 Crowley's own guardian angel, the same entity with which he 0:25:13.520 --> 0:25:18.000 had been trying to communicate in Bleskan House. I Was 0:25:18.240 --> 0:25:21.000 told Crowley that he was the messenger of Horace, and 0:25:21.119 --> 0:25:24.359 instructed Alister to be ready at twelve noon every day 0:25:24.520 --> 0:25:27.199 for the next three days in order to receive his 0:25:27.280 --> 0:25:31.960 word sure enough. Over the course of the next three days, 0:25:32.280 --> 0:25:35.040 I Was, as believed to have returned to speak to Crowley, 0:25:35.160 --> 0:25:38.080 who in turn wrote down every word that he received. 0:25:39.280 --> 0:25:42.200 When the three days were over, Crowley had before him 0:25:42.280 --> 0:25:46.720 the document that would become his true legacy. The book 0:25:46.960 --> 0:25:51.240 was titled Liber l l Legis, or the Book of 0:25:51.280 --> 0:25:56.560 the Law. Regardless of your belief or its true provenance, 0:25:57.000 --> 0:26:00.800 the text is a fascinating document which sets out's ideas 0:26:00.920 --> 0:26:03.480 for a brand new religion that he would later come 0:26:03.480 --> 0:26:09.000 to call Thelema, which is still followed and practiced today. 0:26:09.520 --> 0:26:12.600 As the author Colin Wilson points out, there is nothing 0:26:12.640 --> 0:26:16.160 particularly original about the text, comparing it as he does, 0:26:16.280 --> 0:26:19.720 to the far Superior Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw, 0:26:20.359 --> 0:26:23.320 as well as pointing out its clear indebtedness to the 0:26:23.320 --> 0:26:27.760 philosophy of Nietzsche. However, it does suggest that Crowley was 0:26:27.800 --> 0:26:32.639 more than the brainless charlatan his detractors would have him be. Certainly, 0:26:32.680 --> 0:26:35.680 for Crowley at least, the text was nothing less than 0:26:35.720 --> 0:26:39.399 the Bible for his new religion, an attempt to obliterate 0:26:39.520 --> 0:26:43.200 the reigning monotheistic religions and usher in a new epoch 0:26:43.240 --> 0:26:48.080 for man, one based on liberation without restriction, and one 0:26:48.119 --> 0:26:50.960 that above all implored people to follow their own path. 0:26:52.200 --> 0:26:54.800 It is a philosophy perhaps best summed up by the 0:26:54.840 --> 0:26:58.439 book's most famous line, do what thou wilt should be 0:26:58.480 --> 0:27:01.960 the whole of the law, a basic idea that is 0:27:02.000 --> 0:27:06.680 often greatly misunderstood as the justification of selfish or immoral behavior, 0:27:07.359 --> 0:27:10.680 a situation or the more ironic, since what Crowley ultimately 0:27:10.720 --> 0:27:13.760 preached was the complete control of life for one's self, 0:27:14.200 --> 0:27:16.440 and not to have it defined by what other people 0:27:16.520 --> 0:27:25.679 might project onto it. In the years that followed on 0:27:25.800 --> 0:27:27.840 from the Cairo trip, it is fair to say that 0:27:27.920 --> 0:27:31.720 Crowley lived a fairly colorful life, the extent to which 0:27:31.800 --> 0:27:34.040 will not be done justice in the time we have here. 0:27:34.680 --> 0:27:37.360