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Alistair Crowley in Podcasts

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English occultist, ceremonial magician, and founder of Thelema, known for his influence on modern occultism and rock culture.

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Camp Gagnon
The Macabre Aleister Crowley: The Great Beast 666 and Father of the Occult

Now, if you are an occultist or someone that's fascinated by the occult, I would love to know, did I miss anything? Was there anything that we got wrong? And if you're just a casual observer of the strange and weird and you like to dive into these weird rabbit holes, what did you think? What did you find about Crowley's work and how he kind of predicted the social change? fabric of the 1960s.

Camp Gagnon
The Macabre Aleister Crowley: The Great Beast 666 and Father of the Occult

So, you know, the kid dubbed the Beast by his mom became just that. Maybe Satan, maybe something weirder. And even people who've never heard his name before are still, in a way, affected by his influence. I don't know. Seems like magic, if you ask me. So there you have it. That is the life of Alistair Crowley.

Camp Gagnon
The Macabre Aleister Crowley: The Great Beast 666 and Father of the Occult

Crowley cracked something open in Western culture that never closed, whether it was a portal to aliens or just his ideas about freedom and self-expression. Do what you will, not what society tells you. This core idea of Thelema slipped into everything from the 60s onward, you know, from rock and roll albums to occult circles to self-help books.

Camp Gagnon
The Macabre Aleister Crowley: The Great Beast 666 and Father of the Occult

What started as this underground philosophy now goes through digital spaces and remixes Crowley's work for this entire new generation. And his legacy is messy and polarizing. But to be honest with you, that's kind of what he wanted. Right. Like that's like the whole point. He is chaos. He's the wickedest man to ever live.

Camp Gagnon
The Macabre Aleister Crowley: The Great Beast 666 and Father of the Occult

I mean, like rebirth therapy and a bunch of different new age practices used the same psychological methods that Crowley had developed for his magical initiations. The idea that you could completely transform your personality through, you know, these intensive experiential workshops came from his magical curriculum. And the internet age has only expanded Crowley's reach.

Camp Gagnon
The Macabre Aleister Crowley: The Great Beast 666 and Father of the Occult

A magical consciousness that he writes about in many of his books was wildly similar to what academics would call in modern times the flow state and the human potential of the 1970s and 80s, you could argue, was borrowing heavily from some of Crowley's techniques, often without acknowledgement, right?

Camp Gagnon
The Macabre Aleister Crowley: The Great Beast 666 and Father of the Occult

sometimes as you know a rebellious icon other times as a symbol of creative freedom but crowley's influence was far beyond music his ideas about consciousness were you know at the same time influencing academic research into psychology and neuroscience scientists studied altered states of consciousness were rediscovering techniques that crowley had been doing since 1890 specifically researchers in creativity in peak performance found that his methods for achieving