‘(Aleister Crowley) hoped to usher in his own new aeon by tearing down the entire social-moral structure of the world in which he was raised’ (Urban 2006:122).
I find many of Edward Alexander “Aleister” Crowley’s words and deeds to be far removed from my own, yet there is much within him that is both profound and compelling. He was undeniably a juggernaut in his contempt for a Christianity he believed had suppressed humanity’s natural passions for two millennia. It thus brings a smile to my face to note the striking parallels between our lives.
Aleister Crowley was raised within the fundamentalist Plymouth Brethren; I was raised in the Pentecostal congregation Milde Due. In his youth, he feared hell and suffered nightmares; I experienced the same. He walked with his father through Leamington as his father proselytized; I walked with my father through Barkaleitet, distributing tracts for our congregation. He lost his evangelist father at a young age, and his father provided him with a general spiritual foundation. I lost my evangelist father at a young age, and his insistence that he was a spiritual being gave me a general interest in the spiritual. He was swept away and inspired by apocalyptic visions, spectacular biblical imagery, and the terrifying grandeur of the scriptures. I was inspired by occult texts and artifacts in childhood literature and newspaper clippings. He wrote of his break with faith in his youth and its consequences; I wrote the novel Way.
He turned his back on his university degree while approaching its completion to become a Magus; I, already holding a Bachelor’s degree, abandoned my Master’s studies at their midpoint for Maksima. He penned his individualistic ‘declaration,’ his new religion, with his wife, Rose, in Cairo in 1904; I wrote the precursor to The Maksima Declaration with my wife as my primary intellectual confidante in Bergen in 2007. He maintained that sex and love were central to attaining spiritual insight (and even magical abilities). I contend that sex and love can play a pivotal role in relation to the spiritually potential. He was repeatedly scandalized in the mass media; I, too, provoked international media coverage years ago. He was an individualist who preached that every human must find their True Will and walk their unique path; I am an individualist preaching ‘maximum happiness at all times,’ asserting that only the individual can know what truly satisfies their senses and soul.
He dedicated years to profound study before establishing his foundational texts; I followed the same path. He harbored political ambitions and cultivated contacts across various political factions with the aim of instituting his religion; I am the founder of Maksima. He was a proud prankster; I am the same. He sought to ‘usher in a new aeon.’ I, through Maksima, intend to do the same.
PS: Crowley once said: “I want everything the world holds… I have never grown out of the infantile belief that the universe was made for me to suck… This is the keynote of my life, the untrammeled delight in every possibility of existence, potential or actual.” It is beautifully articulated. Toward the end of the 2000s, I stayed in Cefalù, Sicily, where I was working enthusiastically on texts related to the precursor of Maksima (see image above). Crowley also spent significant time there with his spiritual circle during his day; it was a pivotal location in his life. At the time of my stay, however, I was entirely unaware of this connection.
(Illustration by E. A. Madsen)