Top Ten Times Aleister Crowley Has Been Referenced in Music
Who is Aleister Crowley?Aleister Crowley (10/12/1875 - 12/1/1947) sometimes dubbed "The Wickedest Man in the World" and "The Beast 666" was a English occultist, ceremonial magician, author, poet, freemason and mountaineer. He identified himself as a prophet and founded the religion of Thelema. The religion/philosophy emphasizes the ritual practice of Magick. Super weird dude who claimed to be able to communicate with beings from other dimensions, extraterrestrials, the dead and other entities through rituals, magik, sex and drug use. He also believed in human sacrifices and "sex magik".
I don't follow or believe in (for the most part) Crowley's teachings or practices but I read on him for years cause I find him interesting. I made this list cause I thought it was interesting that so many musicans admire or even follow his teachings (not that it's a bad thing, just whatev's ya know?) Other musicians who admire of have mentioned Aleister Crowley : The Red Hot Chili Peppers (John Frusciante), Tool, Mudvayne, Rob Zombie, The Police (Sting), Ministry, and Hall and Oates (Daryl Hall....I know, right? Lol) to name a few.
Also please note I don't think he's "evil" or "Satanic" nor do I admire him. It is what it is and nothing more.
Mr. Crowley is Aleister Crowley. Ozzy is a known admirer of Crowley and once called Crowley "a phenomenon of his time."
Aleister Crowley is among their "heroes" on the album cover.
John Lennon - "The whole Beatle idea was to do what you want… do what thou wilt, as long as it doesn't hurt somebody."
The band poses with a statue of Aleister Crowley's bust on the back album cover. Crowley was really into numerology (part of the occult), so I find it interesting that he's on the "13" cover.
Note: 11, 22, 33, and 13 are very significant and important numbers in numerology.
Based (loosely) on the Aleister Crowley novel by the same name.
"We've referred to things like the tarot and ideas of people like Aleister Crowley." - Bruce Dickinson, 1984.
A song that seems to be about the occult. "Crowley" and the "Golden Dawn" are referenced in the song's opening lines.
Note: "Golden Dawn" was a magical society that Aleister Crowley was a member of, along with others mentioned in the song (Winston Churchill, Heinrich Himmler, and Juan Pujol).
Thelema is a religion (some say philosophy) created by Aleister Crowley. It is based on his writings titled "The Book of the Law." Crowley claims he was contacted by a "praeterhuman" being named "Aiwass" who dictated the text. I find his drawing of what "Aiwass" looked like to be very interesting.
"We're gonna ride to the abbey of Thelema
To the abbey of Thelema
Blood is pavement."
Note: This song is the 13th and final song from the album "Portrait of an American Family."
No wonder David Bowie was afraid of Jimmy Page.
He combined Anton LaVey (founder of The Church of Satan) and Aleister Crowley's names for his alias.
One of Stiv Bators' (The Dead Boys) side projects. "Do As Thou Wilt" is known as the law of Thelema.