The Greater Feast of Aleister Crowley

Aleister Edward Crowley, our Thelemic prophet and founder of the A.’.A.’. was born on October 12th in the year 1875. It was during Crowley’s vacations in Switzerland in 1898 when he met a gentleman named Julian L. Baker. It seems that both shared a strong interest in magic and alchemy, and as they talked and walked back to their hotel, Crowley asked him if he was an occult master or magical Adept. Baker smiled and said no. However, he agreed that when they both got back to London, he would introduce Crowley to a man who was much more of a magician than he himself was. He inevitably introduced Crowley to his brother-in-law, George Cecil Jones, who had married his sister Ethel. Jones, in turn, would introduce the young Crowley to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (Ordo Hermeticus Aurorae Aureae). On November 18th, 1898, he received initiation into the First or Outer Order of this fraternity at the Isis-Urania Temple in London. However, troubles ensued in that Order, and Crowley eventually left

On three successive days in April of 1904, Crowley “received” The Book of the Law, eventually titled Liber AL vel Legis. This new Holy Book was dictated by Aiwass, an invisible entity who claimed to be the minister of Hoor-Paar-Kraat and a messenger from the forces ruling the planet during the Aeon of Aquarius. The new decree given to mankind was “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.”

Aleister Crowley’s diaries on July 29th, 1906 give us the very first indication that he was considering the formation of a new Order modelled after the Golden Dawn. He writes, “D.D.S. and P. discuss a new O* D.D.S. wants Authority.” This marked the beginning of the A*A*. December 10th, 1906 marks another important milestone in the establishment or birth of the Order. Aleister Crowley had assumed the magical degree of Magister Templi 8°=3. It must be remembered that no member of the original Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn ever achieved higher than an Adeptus Exemptus 7°=4 or beyond the sphere of Chesed on the Tree of Life. In some ways they were restricted by the Old-Aeonic belief that these final three spheres on the Tree of Life were of such an exalted nature that only those not in the flesh could ever attain them. The idea of becoming one of these Secret Chiefs while still in one’s mortal shell was foreign to their thinking. They had yet to recognize the fact that a Secret Chief or Master could easily walk amongst us. This became apparent when Aleister Crowley became a Magister Templi 8°=3. He took the motto Vi Veri Vniversum Vivus Vici (By the power of Truth, I, in my lifetime, have conquered the Universe). This single event gave Crowley the authority that he and Jones had earlier sought.

[Text greatly simplified and adapted from The Cult of Aleister Crowley by J. Edward Cornelius]