Aleister Crowley Pipes

[cosmicfolklore]

This was an age when Bayer (the company that now makes children's aspirin) made heroine sold in every grocers.

Cocaine was given to children...

They even put cocaine into the soda pop sold to kids.

Turn of the century WW1 left Europe mostly atheistic, or looking for something more than the false promises of their parents that led them to the greatest war in all of mankind. Even before WW1, much of Europe was dehumanizing people in the industrial revolution.
Crowley was just one of many travelling magicians of the era, however we remember his name because of his own self-promotion. Was he really crazy? Or, was he just pretending to get more and more popular? There is no difference. Acting crazy is a form of craziness, but people are attracted to that, and it worked. We still remember who he is. He was also well known for his pipe smoking. It was just as much a part of him as being crazy.
I do not revere the man. But, I also don't despise him. I only learned as much as I do about because of the many references to him in the pipe community. GLP's Haddo's Delight, for instance is a homage to a autobiography that was probably just more exaggerations.

This was an age where Lovecraft fandom started. Cannibalism was reported in many Germanic cities, starvation, many parts of the world were a living Hell. Drugs didn't have the same stigma that they did in the hippie dippie generations. Occults and charlatans were everywhere trying to fill that void in the European soul after WW1. This was all just before a true living nightmare would occur known as WW2.

Look to Munch's Scream as a symbol of the times.

I believe, if I am not confused, and that's always a possibility. That he was a Dunhill man, to answer the OP.
I don't judge the man as much as I despise that era in history. Many of us romanticize the era of Sherlock Holmes, but this was also the age of Jack the Ripper. It would be my least likely era to ever visit, if I were given a time machine.

 

[Chasing Embers]

If you want to see something really scary, Google Bayer+AIDS.

 

[condorlover1]

Actually 1880s Victorian London would be highly amusing assuming your time machine contained a supply of decent antibiotics. There are several bracing restaurants I would love to visit, most of the tobacconists I would know or recognize. With a copy of the 1895 London Stock Exchange Almanac and next years Racing News I am sure 1887 London could be an absolute riot for the intrepid time traveller with a decent cutty pipe and an eye on the future!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

It would be fun if we happen to be in the class of the top 5%. Otherwise, we'd be scooped up immediately and probably hustled on off to serve aboard a ship where we would probably die in a couple of years, or hustled into the factories where were worked non-stop seven days a week till we dropped. The likelihood that we would be able to walk into a tobacconist and buy a pipe is fleeting. We'd most likely fall into the category of having the life sucked out of us in unspeakable horrors, in comparison to our spoiled lifestyles of today. ::

Jus sayin'

 

[wyfbane]

That^
Crowley was very intelligent, and a great mountaineer who just happened to dive off into all the business he is famous for now. But that business, for me, makes me wonder:
Now either he IS a figure of religious/metaphysical import, or he ISN'T.
If he is, then that should be recognized beyond his card decks and then weighed against other religions/metaphysical paths.
If he isn't, then he was just a sex addict who ran the table with whomever he could get his hands on under the guise of 'magick' using a l o t of narcotics.
I saw one of his decks go through an estate sale we ran about 6 months ago. It sold for $40, I think. I did some minor digging at the time, because he was fairly notorious, and I did not know much about him. My conclusions:
If he 'is': eww, not for me, but you all are welcome to him.

If he 'isn't': I covered that above.

 

[perdurabo]

For all the talk about the Thoth deck, surprised no one has mentioned the Book. The Book of Thoth is (by far) the best book written on the Tarot. Probably the easiest to understand as well. Crowley wrote in code so much that his works are pretty much useless to the uninitiated. For instance he claimed children to be the best sacrifice. He was talking about semen not actual children. This was all done to make the layman run in fear. His biggest downfall was his addiction to herion. I also believe he became to wrapped up in Thelema as a religion instead of a personal experience which it was. Crowley truly took the basics and developed his own Personal Magickal style. Which is what you're supposed to do. Whether it works for anyone else, well that's for the individual to decide, I highly recommend Stephen Skinner, Poke Runyon, Franz Bardon, and LeCron. Study Crowley's work only as an example.

 

[aldecaker]

"Look to Munch's Scream as a symbol of the times."
The last iteration of Munch's "the Scream" was completed in 1910. Whatever put the burr under his psychological saddle had nothing to do with WWI, as that war did not break out until 1914.

 

[perdurabo]

Cosmic, If you haven't read Crowley's Authagiography I suggest you do. I've read it serval times, once traveling through Europe. It's really an amazing read. Every volume was dictated. Richard Kaczynski'S Perdurabo was almost as good.
The name Haddo, comes from Maugham's The Magician. The evil Oliver Haddo was a caricature of Crowley.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

The last iteration of Munch's "the Scream" was completed in 1910. Whatever put the burr under his psychological saddle had nothing to do with WWI, as that war did not break out until 1914.

I should have been more clear, the times “including WW1,” Not just the influences of WW1. The industrialization of the znorthern Germanic countries were a huge influence on Munch. Reports of canibalism and political famines pre-date WW1.
Thanks Perdurabo, if I ever get the urge, I’ll keep it in mind.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Perdurabo, it seems like I ran across something that linked Maugham and Crowley, suggesting he gave him the story, or wrote it himself. I didn’t go any deeper than looking up the references given by Wikipedia, but I did scan what was easily available online.

 

[madox07]

aldecaker I have read an account of Munch actually painting the work in an attempt to depict the implications of a volcano eruption in Indonesia in 1883.

 

[davek]

I had "Magick" when I was quite young and interested in such things. I read "Diary Of A Drug Fiend" numerous times when I was a little older older and, well, a drug fiend. Long times ago.

This was an age where Lovecraft fandom started.

Now *Lovecraft*...
“I am Robert Blake, but I see the tower in the dark. There is a monstrous odour . . . senses transfigured . . . boarding at that tower window cracking and giving way. . . . Iä . . . ngai . . . ygg. . . .
“I see it—coming here—hell-wind—titan blur—black wings—Yog-Sothoth save me—the three-lobed burning eye. . . .”
What's not to love.

 

[brian64]

Among the many stories/rumors/legends/myths surrounding Crowley is that he allegedly had an affair with Pauline Pierce, mother of Barbara Bush, around the time Barbara was conceived. You gotta admit, there is a resemblance.

 

[perdurabo]

Old people look alike. Then again he may have Brian.

 

[mackeson]

Then again he may have Brian

:rofl:

nice!

 

[brian64]

A fascinating but seldom mentioned Crowley connection is that of Jack Parsons, co-founder of JPL and leading disciple of Crowley (also involving Parson's dealings with L. Ron Hubbard).
Stories like this are among the best examples of why truth is much stranger than fiction:
Sex and Rockets
https://www.salon.com/2000/02/15/parsons_3/

 

[sablebrush52]

Supposedly, the reason that Parsons chose to locate JPL on a hillside was to promote the level of physical fitness he felt was needed to carry out his orgiastic gymnastics. Don't know if that's true, but I can attest to the campus providing a healthy dose of aerobic activity from my many visits there.

 

[deathmetal]

Turn of the century WW1 left Europe mostly atheistic, or looking for something more than the false promises of their parents that led them to the greatest war in all of mankind. Even before WW1, much of Europe was dehumanizing people in the industrial revolution.
...Occults and charlatans were everywhere trying to fill that void in the European soul after WW1. This was all just before a true living nightmare would occur known as WW2.

Look to Munch's Scream as a symbol of the times.

Profound. Most people forget how much of a death spiral Western Civilization has been experiencing for the past two centuries.

 

[virginialover]

Western Civilization has been trying to kill itself for the past one hundred years. I can safely say that the past ten years has put it on a collision course with this endeavor. So smoke your pipe and enjoy what's left of our degenerating civilization. The programmed destruction of family and patriotic values replaced by nihilistic and materialistic globalism will ensure an Orwellian world in the short to middle term.

 

[deathmetal]

In that light, Crowley (and others, like Anton Long) are not as bad as we thought?
Lights up rum-soaked Perique.