His inheritance had long been exhausted—his travel funds probably came from the OTO. He practised sexual rituals involving a varied list of partners and in New York found employment in writing propaganda for pro-German periodicals.
This deeply alienated his countrymen, who did not forgive him, even after the war. There he rented a farmhouse, which he called the abbey of Thelema, and accepted disciples hopeful of advancing the New Aeon. The Sicilian project halted in when a young Englishman mysteriously died at the abbey. His widow accused Crowley of various crimes and sins, and the British periodical John Bull called him the ' wickedest man in the world '.
The Italian government expelled Crowley and his Thelemites, but Crowley continued to attract students. His associates in this period included Karl Germer , Gerald Yorke , and Israel Regardie , all of whom became influential in occult circles.
They soon separated. In England during the depression, Crowley gleaned money through litigation. He sued both a bookseller who erroneously advertised the suppression of Crowley's novel, The Diary of a Drug Fiend , when in fact it had only gone out of print, and the publisher of Nina Hamnett's Laughing Torso , in which she presumed that Crowley had fostered black magic at the abbey of Thelema.
Former friends refused to testify in Crowley's behalf. In the latter case, the judge was repelled by reports of Crowley's erotic literature and rituals, and Crowley lost and incurred the court costs.
He was penniless. A sympathetic woman offered to have his child, and he accepted. He is said to have fathered other illegitimate children, but far from nurturing his offspring, he imposed on his paramours for his own support.
One of the circle around Crowley in the s was Greta Mary Valentine — , the adopted daughter of James Henry Sequeira , dermatologist, and his wife, Nellie Adams. Educated in England and on the continent, Greta was studying anthroposophy when she met Crowley in Although she did not share his interest in drugs or magic, he was fascinated by her flirtations, and soon became her close friend and confidant, while both had other lovers.
Crowley declared his love for her, and in followed her to Cornwall where she was on holiday with Lamorna Birch , the landscape painter. Birch introduced Greta to Ranald Valentine d. When he and Greta decided to marry, Crowley declared himself desolated, but the marriage endured until Ranald's death.
She was devoted to Crowley , who named her as an executor of his will. In she completed watercolours for use in publishing a pack of tarot cards conforming to Crowley's concept. In his tarot, as elsewhere, he merged Western magic with exotic mysticism such as gnosticism and tantric Buddhism and with modern science such as chemistry and Freudian psychology.
The Book of Thoth is Crowley's commentary on his tarot. He did not acknowledge the fact that his tarot's basic structure depended on Golden Dawn teachings. In his waning years Crowley befriended John Symonds and acceded to the young writer's request that Crowley supply notes for a biography. He designated Symonds and Kenneth Grant , the youngest of his last students, as literary executors, empowered to publish his papers. On 1 December , at Netherwood, a residential hotel in The Ridge, Hastings, Crowley , by this time a chronic heroin addict, died of bronchitis and heart congestion.
His remains were cremated at Brighton and reportedly have been lost. Interest in Crowley has reflected waves of curiosity in the occult. The Crowley — Harris tarot is popular, and several occult groups adhere to his law of Thelema. Among sympathizers he is revered for his peculiar gifts, but others remember his reputation as a social outcast on account of his flagrant nonconformity. View the article for this person in the Dictionary of National Biography archive edition.
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Sign in with your library card Please enter your library card number. Search within Also in this article Greta Mary Valentine — Show Summary Details. Crowley, Aleister [ formerly Edward Alexander] — Sources The confessions of Aleister Crowley , ed. Symonds and K. Grant Suster, The legacy of the beast : the life, work and influence of Aleister Crowley Porch and others, eds. Steed, ed. Archives Ransom HRC.
Warburg Institute, London, Yorke collection. Likenesses A. John, drawing, , priv. What to know about the baseless, far-right conspiracy theory connected to Marjorie Taylor Greene. Not sure of its authenticity but it has raised a lot of conversations," Zevenbergen said. While the claim is false — official White House archives and the National First Ladies Library show Barbara Bush was the daughter of Marvin Pierce , who worked in publishing — the conspiracy theory has circulated online for nearly 15 years.
On April 1, , a blogger who identifies himself as Joseph Cannon of Cannonfire. His article, transparent about its lack of solid evidence and mostly based on "resemblance" between Crowley and Bush, suggested that Pauline Pierce, Barbara Bush's mother and Marvin Pierce's wife, had a secret affair with Crowley during a trip to France.
He says he created the theory as a litmus test for conspiracy theory and "truth seeking" groups. It seems they did not. His theory has been discussed in online forums , featured at length in a documentary on Crowley called "In Search of the Great Beast," and picked up by Alex Jones of right-wing media outlet InfoWars. In , the text of the article was also translated into Russian and Polish and shared in a Russian Facebook group with 3, members. In a blog post from , he listed others who picked up the theory, including several YouTube channels and radio shows.
Yet Cannon, who keeps his email at the top of his blog page, says none of the people who picked up his theory publicly ever contacted him. There is no evidence to support the claim that Aleister Crowley was former first lady Barbara Bush's father.
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