Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley

This book is fairer and more balanced than the vast majority of articles on Crowley on the internet or elsewhere. Crowley shrouded himself in mystery and allowed his infamy grow and grow until the whole world perceived him as the "Great Beast" (which he was not). I felt that the biography portrayed Crowley as a tragic figure; and in many ways I see him as a tragic figure. He was a man...more

This book is fairer and more balanced than the vast majority of articles on Crowley on the internet or elsewhere. Crowley shrouded himself in mystery and allowed his infamy grow and grow until the whole world perceived him as the "Great Beast" (which he was not). I felt that the biography portrayed Crowley as a tragic figure; and in many ways I see him as a tragic figure. He was a man gifted with immense intellect and great appetites, but he was never able to completely satiate his intellect or his cravings for pleasure. His life was truly remarkable and although his ideas were too strange to gain popular acceptance, his love for life and all its hidden glories is still admirable to this day. Unlike the religious leaders he despised, he practiced what he preached. His life was filled with sex, drugs, magick and madness. The Socratic dictum is that the unexamined life is not worth living, and the Epicurean is eat drink and be merry. Crowley managed to live up to both of these aphorisms and lived as a mystic, and more importantly, as an experienced ambassador to the many facets of the human experience.   hide