Whatever you think about his personality or his writing style, Crowley was a pioneer in consciousness changing and his escapades are great fun to read about.
Quote:
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There are several drug related poems & writings in various editions of The Equinox. It isn't always clear which poems are written by Crowley. In many of his writings he is very good at setting an atmosphere, which is essential for his magick. But in his Diary of a drug friend, this is almost absent.
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It's been a ferw years since I have read much of the Great Beast's work, but the
Equninox is a source of much of his most interesting work. Others like Jack Parsons, the rocket scientist, and Allan Bennett, one of the first Western Buddhist monks, also experimented with drugs and contributed to the
Equinox.
The problem with authorship of some of the works is that many are called Liber XXX, Fra A.'. A.'. (who is Crowley, I think). They were all called Fra (Brother) something or other, their magickal names. Crowley had many names, corresponding to his level of initiation (mainly made up by himself!). Alfa is right about the atmosphere (set and setting) he created. (
Diary of a Drug Fiend is
not one of his best books.)
Jack Parsons, who was also later associated with L. Ron Hubbard, wrote:
Quote:
I hight Don Quixote, I live on peyote,
marijuana, morphine and cocaine,
I never know sadness but only a madness
that burns at the heart and the brain.
I see each charwoman, ecstatic, inhuman,
angelic, demonic, divine.
Each wagon a dragon, each beer mug a flagon
that brims with ambrosial wine.
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Some of the
Equinox is online
here. It would be interesting to sort out which articles would be of interest to DF readers, if anyone can help.
There is
"The Psychology of Hashish" from Volume 2, for example.