Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley (12 October 1875 - 1 December 1947) was an occultist, mystic, sexual revolutionary, and drug addict (especially heroin).

Miscellany

• Crowley also tried to mint a number of new terms instead of the established ones he felt inadequate. For example he spelled magic "magick" and renamed theurgy "high magick" and thaumaturgy "low magick". Many of his terms are still used by some practitioners.
• Crowley remains a popular icon of libertines and those interested in the theory and practice of magic.
• In the World of Darkness role-playing game metaverse, the faction known as the Cult of Ecstasy claims Crowley as one of its own, though holding him up as an example of what not to do.
• Crowley has been attributed as selecting the "V for Victory" sign during World War II as used by Sir Winston Churchill.
• Ian Fleming based the character Le Chiffre, in the first James Bond book (Casino Royale), on Crowley.
• "In World War I Aleister Crowley ingratiated himself with a Hermetic sect in order to reveal to the Americans that its head was a highly dangerous German agent. In World War II it was well known in British Intelligence that many leading Nazis were interested in the occult and especially in astrology. Crowley did some work for MI5, but his project for dropping occult information by leaflet on the enemy was rejected by the authorities." - Richard Deacon, Spyclopaedia
• In Neil Gaiman's and Terry Pratchett's novel Good Omens, there is a Demon character named Crowley, though it is later revealed his first name is Anthony instead of Aleister.
• Neil Gaiman furthermore makes Thelemic references in the first issue of his critically acclaimed comic, "The Sandman." Roderick Burgess, the shaven-headed and notorious "Daemon King" of England's occult scene, prior to his "success" in evoking and binding the Eternal named Dream, remarks upon his rivalry with a contemporary mage, "Aleister." Later on at the Burgess estate the attentive reader will notice that, contained in the frame with the bouncers, there is a t-shirt sporting the disembodied head of an obvious Daffy Duck reject, who is pronouncing with so much spittle to "Do what thou wilt, Buster!"
• In the John Thunstone stories of Manly Wade Wellman, the villainous character Rowley Thorne was inspired by Crowley.
• In the 1911 short story Casting the Runes by M.R. James the character of Karsewell was inspired by Crowley. The story was adapted as the film Curse of the Demon (1958). Actor Niall MacGinnis played Karsewell.
• In the 1938 novel, The Devil Rides Out Dennis Wheatley used Crowley as the inspiration for the character Mocata. The novel was filmed as a movie in 1968 with Charles Grey playing Mocata.
• In the playstation game Suikoden a mysterious magician hidden in a dark cave goes by the name Crowley.
• A recent episode of the video game-reviewing show X-Play featured Aleister Crowley attempting to open a portal to Hell using old, discarded ET: The Extraterrestrial video game cartridges.
• An Image comic book called Heaven's War by Micah Harris and Michael Gaydos describes a spiritual battle between Crowley and the inklings C S Lewis, J R R Tolkien, and, mainly, Charles Williams in which the spiritual fate of Britain before the war is decided. It is written in the style of Charles Williams.
• Crowley appears multiple times in Alan Moore's series Promethea.
• One of his grandsons, Neil Crowley, is reputed to be a partial reincarnation.
• Aleister (disguised with the name "Adam") Crowley was the key villian in the video game Nightmare Creatures by Kalisto Entertainment originally released in Europe on 12/17/97. A sequel was made and released on 05/24/00. Both portrayed Crowley as a madman stirring Black Magic.
• In the novels of Robert Rankin, the character of Hugo Rune is partially inspired by Crowley.
• In the Japanese Manga D. Gray-man Crowley appears as a vampire who fell in love with an Akuma.