Assumption at Zero: Aleister Crowley

by Gavin Partida

I remember reading interesting books at my grandma’s house when I was about 7 or 8 that went into detail about fantasy creatures and beings like dragons and gnomes. She had probably ten to fifteen of these books, all fantasies and bound in vibrant colors. There were 3 books that stood out because of their dark black covers. These books were about darker and more evil beings in the fantasy world. Vampires, demons, ghosts, monsters, and everything else in between. I barely slept the night after I read these books, however my interest in the dark and macabre remained, in fact, it only made it stronger. When I watched movies and television or played video games, I was obsessed with the “bad guys” in the stories, especially the ones with supernatural powers. This interest in dark and sacrilegious material may have stemmed from my Catholic upbringing.

I went to a Catholic school until I was in fourth grade and lived in a Catholic household until I was about ten. I remember being more interested in the stories of the Bible, rather than following actual religious customs. As I grew older, my family and I grew out of Catholicism and I learned about different types of religions. From Hinduism, Buddhism, and Greek Mythology, I loved learning about the different philosophies and cosmologies of these religions. Then one day, I was watching a documentary about the Heaven’s Gate cult. I was dumbfounded. ¨This guy is crazy!¨ I thought. ¨Why would anyone listen to him?” This documentary peaked my curiosity on the subject of cults.

    As I began to research the topic I saw more documentaries and articles about different cults and cult leaders that all seemed equally weird and crazy. I was intrigued by

Charles Manson and his family who murdered whomever he told them to, and Jim Jones who convinced hundreds of his followers to drink cyanide laced kool-aid. What seemed even crazier to me were the normal people that belonged to these cults. Why would any of these people kill themselves or others because some loony told them to?     

Most cults throughout history have been horrible and insane, I was shocked to discover there was one that doesn’t involve ending lives. This cult is known as Thelema. Thelema was first brought to my attention by my good friend, Sebastian. We both listen to a band called Death Grips. The lead vocalist, MC Ride, has a number of very interesting tattoos. The most striking of his tattoos however, is an odd geometric shape on his chest. After conducting further research, Sebastian was able to conclude that this tattoo was a rendition of a Unicursal Hexagram. The  Unicursal Hexagram is one of the main symbols for a religious movement called Thelema.

The main idea of Thelema is to follow one’s true will, or make one’s own path in life and do what they actually want to do, instead of doing things for monetary or social reasons. Although the belief of Thelema is extremely interesting, what really stuck out to me was the founder. His name is Aleister Crowley.

    Crowley formed thelema after him and his wife were spoken to by some sort of god when they were in Egypt. He was also a black magician who performed various rituals and ceremonies. I loved the mystery behind all of it. Also, Harry Potter was always one of my favorite movie series and Crowley reminds me a lot of Voldemort. When I started learning about Aleister Crowley, not only was I brought back to my days of reading about ghosts and wizards, but I realized that he actually was one of these characters. From that point, I knew I needed to learn more about him.