検索キーワード： "Aleister Crowley" 宗教

Edward Alexander Crowley (born October 12, 1875, Royal Leamington Spa, England - died December 1, 1947, Hastings) was a British occultist, writer, and mountaineer who was a practitioner of “magick” (as he spelled it) and called himself "the Beast 666". He was denounced in his own time for his decadent lifestyle and had few followers, but he became an iconic cult figure after his death.

Ask almost anyone their view on Aleister Crowley and opinions will polarize: he was a genius; a psychopath; a drug-riddled sex maniac; a champion of sexual freedom against the restrictions of Victorian prudery and hypocrisy; he was a secret agent; a lost-soul poet; a playboy with little better to do than dabble in magic; a lifestyle imitator of Oscar Wilde and Richard Burton; a drug addict; a narcissistic sadist; a visionary artist.

Any work about the mercurial Aleister Crowley is better off being labeled a “story” than a “biography” thanks to the impossibility of being sure that anything one reads about him is true. The basic recorded facts, including birth date, educational records, and published works, are reliable indicators that can be likened to stars guiding a lost desert traveler if the sky is clear. For the rest, one is wandering in the wilderness.