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The Works of Aleister Crowley Vol. 2 PDF

289 Pages·1973·12.177 MB·English
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travellers' Edition THE WORKS OF ALEISTER CROWLEY WITH PORTRAITS VOLUME II FOYERS SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF RELIGIOUS TRUTH 1906 [All rights reserved] CONTENTS OF VOLUME II ORACLES- O R ACLES—Continued PAGE PAGE The Death of the Drun­ The Storm .... 25 kard .......................................................................I Assumpta Canidia ... 26 A Peep behind the Scenes . i Venus...................................................29 Lines on being Invited to A Litany..........................................30 Meet the Premier in March in the Tropics . . 31 Wales, September 1892 . 1 Night in the Valley . . 32 The Balloon .... 2 Metempsychosis ■ · · 33 Spolia Opima .... 2 Advice of a Letter . . 33 A Welcome to Jabez . . 3 On Waikiki Beach ... 33 Elvina...........................................3 The Triads of Destair . . 34 Adaptation of “ Onward, The Dance of Shiva . . 36 Christian Soldiers” to Sonnet for a Picture . . 36 the Needs of Brethren 3 The House .... 37 To Mrs. O............n C... t . 5 Anima Lunae .... 38 The Little Half-Sovereign 5 “Sabbe Pi Dukkham ” . . 43 Ode to Sappho ... 6 Dhammapada .... 44 In a Lesbian Meadow . . 7 St. Patrick’s Day, 1902. . 48 “Tis Pity-----” ... 7 The Earl’s Quest ... 49 Epilogue to “Green Alps”. 8 Eve .·.... 52 Two Sonnets in Praise of a The Sibyl..........................................52 Publisher .... 8 La Coureuse .... 52 My Wife Dies . . . . 9 Sonnet for a Picture . . 52 Ode to Venus Cali.ipyge . 9 To “ Elizabeth ”, . -53 The Cannibals ... io Rondels (at Monte Carlo) . 53 The Blood-Lotus . .12 In the Great Pyramid of The Nativity .... 14 Ghizeh · ··· 53 Translations from Baude­ The Hills · · · · 55 laire ..........................................15 Chaldean Fools ... 19 ALICE: AN ADULTERY— Call of the Sylphs . . 19 Invocation .... 20 Introduction by the Editor 58 Hymn to Apollo ... 22 What Lay Before— The Hermit’s Hymn to White Poppy . . .61 Solitude .... 23 Messaline . . .62 vi CONTENTS PAGE PAGE ALICE: AN ADULTERY— Continued ALICE: AN ADULTERY— Continued California .... 63 The Thirty-fourth Day 79 Margaret................................. 63 The Thirty-fifth Day . 79 Alice : an Adultery . 64 The Thirty-sixth Day . 79 The First Day 64 Lethe................................. 80 The Second Day 65 The Thirty-seventh Day 80 The Third Day 65 The Thirty-eighth Day 80 The Fourth Day . ' 65 The Thirty-ninth Day . 81 Reincarnation 65 The Fortieth Day . 81 The Fifth Day 66 The Forty-first Day 81 The Sixth Day 66 The Forty-second Day . 82 The Seventh Day . 66 At Last .... 82 The Eighth Day 67 The Forty-third Day . 82 The Ninth Day 67 The Forty-fourth Day 82 The Tenth Day 67 The Forty-fifth Day . 83 The Eleventh Day 68 The Forty-sixth Day . 83 The Twelfth Day . 68 The Forty-seventh Day 83 Red Poppy .... 68 The Forty-eighth Day . 84 The Thirteenth Day . 69 The Forty-ninth Day . 84 The Fourteenth Day . 70 The Fiftieth Day— The Fifteenth Day 70 I................................. 84 The Sixteenth Day 70 II................................ 85 Alice.......................................... 7i Ill.............................. 85 The Seventeenth Day . 7' After 85 Love and Fear 72 THE ARGONAUTS— The Eighteenth Day . 73 Actus Primus—Jason 86 The Nineteenth Day 73 Actus Secundus—Argo . 92 The Twentieth Day 73 Actus Tertius—Medea . 98 The Twenty-first Day . 73 Actus Quartus—Sirenab 104 The Twenty-second Day 74 Actus Quintus—Ares 112 The Twenty-third Day 74 The Twenty-fourth Day 74 AHAB AND OTHER POEMS— The Twenty-fifth Day . 75 Dedicace .... 121 The Twenty-sixth Day 75 Rondel .... 121 Under the Palms . 75 Ahab— The Twenty-seventh Day . 76 Part I. . 121 The Twenty-eighth Day 77 ,, II. . I24 The Twenty-ninth Day 77 New Year, 1903 Ï27 The Thirtieth Day 77 Melusine . 127 The Day without a Number 78 The Dream 128 The Thirty-first Day . 78 THE GOD-EATER— The Thirty-second Day 78 Act I. 13° The Thirty-third Day . 78 „ II. · · '36 CONTENTS vii PAGE PAGE THE SWORD OF SONG . . 140 nwi- Preliminary Invocation— AN ESSAY IN ONTOLOGY . 233 Nothung . . . .141 Introduction to “ Ascension SCIENCE AND BUDDHISM— Day and Pentecost” . 141 1...........................................................244 Ascension Day .... 144 II.................................................244 Pentecost........................................164 III. The Four Noble Truths . 245 Notes 10 Ascension Day and IV. The Three Character­ Pentecost— istics .... 246 NO IE TO INTRODUCTION . 185 V. Karma........................................249 NOTES '10 ASCENSION DAY . 190 VI. Tiie Ten Fetieus or San- NOTES TO PENTECOST . . 203 yoganas .... 249 VII. The Relative Reality of AMBROSII MAGI I-IORTUS RO- Certain States of Con­ SARUM........................................212 sciousness .... 250 Tl-IE THREE CHARACTERISTICS— VIII. Mahasatipattwana . . 252 I. . 225 IX. Agnosticism .... 254 II. . 226 X. The Noble Eightfold III. 226 Path........................................256 IV. 226 XI. The Twilight of the V. 227 Germans .... 258 VI. . 227 XII. The Three Refuges . . 259 VII. 227 XIII. Conclusion .... 260 VIII. . 228 THE EXCLUDED MIDDLE ; OR, IX, . 228 THE SCEPTIC REFUTED . 262 X. . 229 XI. • 230 TIME . 267 XII. • 231 XIII. • 231 EPILOGUE . 283 PUBLISHERS’ NOTE We beg to express regret for the delay in issuing Vol. II. As originally made up, it was too big, and had to be recast completely. Mr. Crowley’s Works to date will thus be complete in three volumes of this edition. Advance copies or sets of proofs of Vol. III. will be sent to bona- fide competitors on their written application The volume should be issued in December. Owing to the severe and continuous illness of the artist to whom the Table of Correspondences was entrusted, we are compelled to delay its issue. The Essay Competition will definitely close three months from date. Oct. 15, 1906. Crowley s Works, Vol. II. ORACLES THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN A*RT 1905 THE DEATH OF THE DRUNKARD.1 The lupus is over her face and head, Filthy and foul and horrid and dread, I. And her shrieks they would almost wake the Terror, and darkness, and horrid despair ! dead; Agony painted upon the once fair Rotting away ! Brow of the man who refused to give up The love of the wine-filled, the o’erflowing In her horrible grave she lay, cup. Rotting away 1 “ Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging.” Rotting by night, and rotting by day, No wine in death is his torment assuaging. Rotting away! In the place of her face is a gory hole, II. And the worms are gnawing the tissues foul, And the devil is gloating over her soul, Rotting away ! Just what the parson had told me when young: Just what the people in chapel have sung: “ Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging.” LINES ON BEING INVITED TO MEET Desunt cetera. THE PREMIER IN WALES, SEP­ TEMBER 1892. A PEEP BEHIND THE SCENES. I will not shake thy hand, old man, I will not shake thy hand ; In the hospital bed she lay, You bear a traitor’s brand, old man, Rotting away! You bear a liar’s brand. Cursing by night and cursing by day, Thy talents are profound and wide, Rotting away! Apparent power to win; 1 This, the earliest poem ever written by me, It is not everyone has lied has perished save the above fragment. Its A nation into sin. date is 1886.—A. C. It should be noted that this fragment is of a wildly revolutionary tendency. It made him And look thou not so black, my friend, the Ibsen of a school where a parson and a Nor seam that hoary brow; chapel were considered with the rest of the non-Plymouth-Brethren world as so many Thy deeds are seamier, my friend, devils let loose from hell. Thy record blacker now. * This volume consists of unpublished poems dating from 1886-1903. Concerning the title Crowley writes, “The sense is of dead leaves drifting in the dusty cave of my mind.” He does not seem to h.rve been aware that Coleridge gave the title “ Sibylline Leaves ” to a similar collection. vol. II. A 2 ORACLES Your age and sex forbid, old man, Toads are gnawing at my feet. I need not tell you how, Take them off me quick, I pray ! Or else I’d knock you down, old man, Worms my juicy liver eat. Like that extremist cow.1 Take the awful beasts away ! Vipers make my bowels their meat. You’ve gained your every seat, my friend, Fetch a cunning knife and slay ! By perjuring your soul; You’ve climbed to Downing Street, my friend, Kill the tadpoles in my lung, A very greasy poll. And the woodlice in my spine, You bear a traitor’s brand, old man, And the beast that gnaws my tongue, You bear a liar’s brand ; And the weasel at my chine, I will not shake thy hand, old man, And the horde of adders young I will not shake thy hand. That around mine entrails twine ! \And I didn't. Come, dissect me 1 Rip the skin 1 Tear the bleeding flesh apart 1 THE BALLOON. See ye all my hellish grin Written {at the age of fifteen > and still unsur­ While the straining vitals smart. passed} while in bed with measles at Ton­ Never mind 1 Go in and win, bridge in Kent, Till you reach my gory heart 1 Floating in the summer air, What is that for men to see ? While my heart’s soft pulse did go, Anywhere and everywhere, Devils had it in their bands. Now a bullet, now a tree— Doctors keep it in a row, Till we all begin to swear: Now, on varnished wooden stands : And I really do not know What the devil can it be? If it is in different hands. See its disproportioned head, Tiny trunk and limbs lopped bare, Hydrocephalus the dread SPOLIA OPIMA. With a surgeon chopping there ; Chopping legs and arms all red My home is set between two ivory towers, With the sticky lumps of hair. Fresh with the fragrance of a thousand flowers. And the twin portals of a ruby door, Like a man in this complaint Portcullissed with the pearls of India’s shore, Floats this creature in the sky, Loosed with a smile and opened with a kiss, Till the gaping rustics faint Bid me a joyous welcome there, I wis. And the smirking milkmaids cry, My home is on the brink of heaven’s delight, As the cord and silk and paint, But for that endless day a lovelier night Wood and iron drifteth by. Is in my home, that sunset’s arms enfold, Floating in the summer sky Lit with the mellowness of autumn gold. Like a model of the moon :— How supreme to be so high Pillowed on linen of the purest white, In a treacherous balloon, Half-hidden by her locks’ luxurious night, Like the Kings of Destiny, Maddened by those soft eyes of melting glow, All the earth for their spittoon. Enamoured of that breast of breathing snow, 1 Mr. Gladstone was attacked by a cow in Caught in the meshes of her fine-spun hair, Hawarden Park in 1891. Rocked by the beating of her bosom fair, ADAPTATION 3 Held by her lips too tempting and too warm, Was it sin to press and press thee Bewitched by every beauty of her form, Till thy burning lips at last The blush upon her cheek is deeper red, Madly kissed me ? How I bless thee, Half glad, and half repenting what she said. Now, for that superb repast! A moment’s struggle, as her form I press :— All-consuming, all-devouring, One soft sad sigh. Love conquers. I possess. All-absorbing, burnt the flame ; Burnt unchecked till, hotly showering, A WELCOME TO JABEZ.1 Passion disregarded Shame ! Reprinted from the " Eastbourne Chronicle." Was it sin—that moonlight madness ? Great Liberator, come again, Was our passion so accurst ? Thy country needs thee sadly; Sweetness damned to mother Sadness ? In Scotland Yard they all complain Satisfaction to bring Thirst ? They “ want ” thee, oh ! so badly. Was our love to bring division ? Thou canst not tell the sighs and sobs Nay 1 ten thousand devils ! nay ! That for thy presence yearn ; And a devil in a vision And the great heart of England throbs Hisses as I slumber, “Yea 1 With joy at thy return. “ Heaven of your accurst creation For many a year prolong thy stay Shall become a hell of fire ; By Portland’s shady harbour; Death for kisses, and damnation And all expenses we will pay— For your love shall God require.” Especially the barber. A change of work is rest, they say, So honest toil shall rest thee ; ADAPTATION OF “ONWARD, CHRIS­ No fears that thou must go away TIAN SOLDIERS ” TO THE NEEDS Need haunt thee and molest thee. OF BRETHREN.1 We pray a level-headed set Preface. Of fellow men, who know thee, In some small measure grateful yet, In response to many suggestions from dear May pay thee what is owed thee. Brethren, I have adapted a hymn to the wants of the Church. In view of the grossly The joys of single blessedness, unscriptural nature of the original hymn (so- And undisturbed seclusion, called) many changes have been rendered We envy for thee, we confess, necessary, but I hope and trust that this has been effected without losing the grandeur of Until thy final fusion. the original.2 To this effort of mine certain “false brethren unawares brought in” have objected, saying, “Touch not the accursed ELVINA. thing.” I pass over the blasphemy of their Written at R.astbourne. thus adapting verses of Scripture to their own vile ends. Tune—" German Evening Hymn." Let me, however, tell these “wolves in Was thy fault to be too tender? 1 This astonishing piece of satire was com­ Was thine error to be weak ? posed after some weeks in the house of a Ply­ Was my kiss the chief offender mouth Brother. Almost every phrase used Pressed upon thy blushing cheek ? therein is a quotation, not a parody. 2 See preface to “ Hymns for the Little 1 Jabez Balfour, author of the “Liberator" Flock," 1856, from which this stupefying sen­ frauds. tence has been bodily taken. 4 ORACLES sheep’s clothing,” these “ clouds without Stoney’s scoundrels shiver at Our howls of water, carried about of winds; trees whose rage, fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, Brothers, lift Your voices, Shriek aloud, Ram­ plucked up by the roots ; raging waves of the page ! sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever (Jude 12, 13), that they are Like a mighty army moves the Church of “dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, god. and murderers, and idolaters ” (Rev. xxii. 15), Brothers, We are treading where the saints and again, that they are “fearful and un­ have trod. believing, and abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and idolaters, and all We are all divided, fifty bodies We, liars” (Rev. xxi. 8), and that they “shall Fifty hopes and doctrines, nary charity. have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Rev. xxi. 8), “where their worm Church and chapel perish ! Open Plyms to dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” hell! (Mark, ix 44). But Our kind of Brethren still in safety Let me only add that they are “a herd of dwell. many swine feeding ” (Matt. viii. 30). Raven’s lot can never ’gainst the lord “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how prevail, can ye escape the damnation of hell ? ” (Matt, xxiii. 33). We are his brave followers, you are Satan’s And now, beloved brethren, with every tail. prayer that this adaptation may prove of lasting blessing to You all, bringing forth “the fruits of the Spirit ” (Gal. v. 22), especi­ Come then, outside peoples, join Our noble ally “ faith, hope and charity.” “ But the throng ! greatest of these is charity” (1 Cor. xiii. 13). Blend with Ours your voices in the triumph song ! Glory, praise and honour unto Us alone ! “ Onward, Plymouth Brethren.” Christians’ necks our footstool, Heaven itself Our throne ! Chorus. Onward, Plymouth Brethren, marching P.S.—Beloved Brethren,—The spirit as to war, indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. For With the cross of jesus trampled on the I, like Balaam (in the old legend), was com­ floor; pelled to express our real feelings and not Kelly, Lowe or J ewell1 lead against the o.ur pretended ones. This, of course, abso­ foe, lutely ruins the adaptation. In fact, I am Forward into battle, see their followers not certain as to whether it does not rather give us away ! go- Onward, Plymouth Brethren, marching Alas ! we are only poor, weak, failing as to war, creatures ! With the cross of jesus trampled on the Your broken-hearted, broken-winded, broken- floor. kneed brother, Judas Caiaphas Truelove. At the name of Barton, Raven’s host doth flee, On, M'Arthy’s following, on to victory, [The man Truelove was at once put out 1 These and others mentioned are or were of fellowship. He will be certainly damned. great names among the contending 1 ’ Brethren." —Pii.ate Crosspatch.]

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