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1875 – 1947: Aleister Crowley: mystic, occult magician, poet, and founder of a religious philosophy
Aleister Crowley
What you need to know before your trail
When the mystic, occult magician, poet, and founder of the religious philosophy of Thelema, Aleister Crowley died in an obscure boarding house in Hastings, England, on December 5 1947, at the age of 72, few knew he was to become one of the most enduring pop culture figures of the next hundred years.In this definitive work Gary Lachman traces both the arc of the occultist’s strange and controversial life, and his influence on rock-and-roll giants from the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, to Black Sabbath and Blondie, of which Lachman was a founding member.
Locations
Reset- Scotland - Loch Ness
- A: Boleskine House
- B: Boleskine Burial Ground
- C: The Coach House
- D: Urquhart Castle
Travel Guide
BookTrail Travel to Loch Ness
Boleskine House
Boleskine House really is a manor on the south-east side of Loch Ness. The house is famous for many reasons; in particular, home of author and occultist Aleister Crowley. Led Zeppelin guitarist and producer Jimmy Page has also lived at the house.
Aleister Crowley
Crowley purchased Boleskine House from the Fraser family in 1899. Crowley believed the location was ideal as he wanted to lock himself away from the world and dabble in his version of black magic. He believed in many things concerning spirits and believed that they needed a secluded lodge where they could congregate. Rituals were performed to invoke spirits, figures from the underworld which he would then banish to protect the land and the people in the house. However, the experiment failed as he was called away on business concerning the rituals and belief system and so the spirits he had conjured stayed in the house, and never left.
Strange events had said to have happened to Crowley and staff in the house and anyone who has had dealings with the house ever since. Legend has it that death, murder, hauntings and strange behaviours have affected subsequent inhabitants and their families.
Twenty years after his death, in the middle of the Swinging Sixties, Crowley was more popular than he ever was in his lifetime. In 1967, the Beatles put him on the cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The Rolling Stones became, for a time, serious devotees, their music and image being groomed by one of Crowley’s most influential disciples, the avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger. His libertarian philosophies informed generations of notable heavy metal groups like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Metallica, and others, while these same beliefs form the subject of scholarly theses. His image hangs in goth rock bars, occult temples, and college dorm rooms alike, and he’s turned up as a character in pop cultural environments from Batman comic books to Playstation video games.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: Aleister Crowley
Destination: Loch Ness, Drumnadrochit, Inverness Authour/guide: Gary Lachman Departure Time: 1875 – 1947
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