Aleister Crowley

Born Edward Alexander Crowley in England on October 12, 1875, he later became known as Aleister Crowley. He was a writer, poet, mountaineer, and occultist, and he is especially remembered for developing Thelema, a spiritual and philosophical system that grew out of his mystical experiences and his interest in ritual magic.

Crowley studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, but left without taking a degree and devoted himself to travel, writing, and esoteric societies, including the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Over the years he published a large body of work and built a reputation that was part serious spiritual teacher, part self-created public scandal; even during his lifetime, newspapers helped turn him into a notorious figure.

He died on December 1, 1947, but his influence lasted far beyond his own era. Readers still return to his work for its strange mix of autobiography, ritual, philosophy, and literary ambition, and because his life remains one of the most unusual stories in modern spiritual history.