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orangecrush

(22,009 posts)
Sun Oct 8, 2017, 01:13 PM Oct 2017

Aleister Crowley & William Butler Yeats Get into an Occult Battle, Pitting White Magic Against Black

Aleister Crowley---English magician and founder of the religion of Thelema---has been admired as a powerful theorist and practitioner of what he called “Magick,” and reviled as a spoiled, abusive buffoon. Falling somewhere between those two camps, we find the opinion of Crowley’s bitter rival, the Irish poet William Butler Yeats, who once passionately wrote that the study of magic was “the most important pursuit of my life….. The mystical life is the center of all that I do and all that I think and all that I write.”

Crowley would surely say the same, but his magic was of a much darker, more obsessive variety, and his success as a poet insignificant next to Yeats. “Crowley was jealous,” argues the blog Rune Soup, “He was never able to speak the language of poetic symbol with the confidence of a native speaker in the way Yeats definitely could.” In a 1948 Partisan Review essay, literary critic and Yeats biographer Richard Ellmann tells the story differently, drily reporting on the conflict as its participants saw it—as a genuine war between competing forms of practical magic.

yeats-journal
Having been ejected from the occult Theosophical society for his magical experiments, writes Jamie James at Lapham’s Quarterly, Yeats joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, “an even more exotic cult, which claimed direct descent from the hermetic tradition of the Renaissance and into remote antiquity.” At various times, the order included writers Arthur Machen and Bram Stoker, Yeats’ beloved Irish revolutionary Maud Gonne, and famous magicians Arthur Edward Waite and Crowley. (Just above, see a page from Yeats’ Golden Dawn journal. See several more here.)

“When Crowley showed a tendency to use his occult powers for evil rather than for good,” Ellmann writes, “the adepts of the order, Yeats among them, decided not to allow him to be initiated into the inner circle; they feared that he would profane the mysteries and unleash powerful magic forces against humanity.” Crowley's ouster lead to a confrontation in 1900 that might make you think—depending on your frame of reference—of the warring magicians on South Park or of Susanna Clark’s Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, or both. "Crowley refused to accept their decision," writes Ullmann, and after some astral attacks on Yeats,

.… in Highlander’s tartan, with a black Crusader’s cross on his breast… Crowley arrived at the Golden Dawn temple in London. Making the sign of the pentacle inverted and shouting menaces at the adepts, Crowley climbed the stairs. But Yeats and two other white magicians came resolutely forward to meet him, ready to protect the holy place at any cost. When Crowley came within range the forces of good struck out with their feet and kicked him downstairs.

This almost slapstick vanquishing became known as “the Battle of Blythe Road” and has been immortalized in a publication of that very name, with accounts from Crowley, Yeats, and Golden Dawn adepts William Westcott, Florence Farr and others. But the war was not won, Ellmann notes, and Crowley went looking for converts---or victims---in London, while Yeats attempted to stop him with “the requisite spells and exorcisms.” One such spell supposedly sent a vampire that “bit and tore at his flesh” as it lay beside Crowley all night. Despite Yeats' supernatural interventions, one of Crowley’s targets, a young painter named Althea Gyles, was “finally forced to give way entirely to his baleful fascination.”

http://www.openculture.com/2016/10/aleister-crowley-william-butler-yeats-get-into-an-occult-battle.html



"Aleister Crowley---English magician and founder of the religion of Thelema---has been admired as a powerful theorist and practitioner of what he called “Magick,” and reviled as a spoiled, abusive buffoon."

"Spoiled, abusive buffoon"? Maybe I need to read up on my Yeats... "


If you're wondering what this has to do with anything -

The manipulation of Chaos was central to Crowleys belief system.

It is also central to the belief system of the alt- right, as well as Duginism, the architect of Putin's plan for Russian world domination.

The Pepe meme represents chaos.

"At some point, someone on 4chan happened to seize on a coincidence: There was, in fact, an Egyptian god named Kek. An androgynous god who could take either male or female form, Kek originally was depicted in female form as possessing the head of a frog or a cat and a serpent when male; but during the Greco-Roman period, the male form was depicted as a frog-headed man.

More importantly, Kek was portrayed as a bringer of chaos and darkness, which happened to fit perfectly with the Alt-Right’s self-image as being primarily devoted to destroying the existing world order.

In the fertile imaginations at play on 4chan’s image boards and other Alt-Right gathering spaces, this coincidence took on a life of its own, leading to wide-ranging speculation that Pepe — who, by then, had not only become closely associated with the Alt-Right, but also with the candidacy of Donald Trump — was actually the living embodiment of Kek. And so the Cult of Kek was born.

Constructed to reflect Alt-Right politics, the online acolytes of the “religion” constructed in short order a panoply of artifacts of the satirical church, including a detailed theology, discussions about creating “meme magick,” books and audio tapes, even a common prayer: (*which I will not post, as it is vile and disgusting.)

https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2017/explaining-alt-right-%E2%80%98deity%E2%80%99-their-%E2%80%98meme-magic%E2%80%99

Having an understanding of what makes these people tick is, in my opinion, the beginning of formulating a winning strategy to fight them.


From the link -

"Ellmann’s both humorous and unsettling narrative shows us Crowley-as-predator, a characterization the wealthy Englishman had apparently earned, as “responsible governments excluded him from one country after another lest he bring to bear upon their inhabitants his hostile psychic ray.”

Sound familiar?

And make no mistake, we are fighting for our lives.







15 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Aleister Crowley & William Butler Yeats Get into an Occult Battle, Pitting White Magic Against Black (Original Post) orangecrush Oct 2017 OP
Damn and Dumbledorf is dead too. WhiteTara Oct 2017 #1
A sense of humor orangecrush Oct 2017 #2
Excellent orangecrush saidsimplesimon Oct 2017 #3
Thanks much orangecrush Oct 2017 #4
Renaissance-magic was killed by Isaac Casaubon in 1614. DetlefK Oct 2017 #5
I am not educated enough orangecrush Oct 2017 #6
Wiki has a different version orangecrush Oct 2017 #7
It did, but "science" meant something radically different back then compared to nowadays. DetlefK Oct 2017 #10
All of that is quite interesting and true orangecrush Oct 2017 #11
But wait.... orangecrush Oct 2017 #8
Oh boy! Ye Olde 'White Magick vs. Black Magick' Ceremonial Meme! How entertaining! icymist Oct 2017 #9
Applied Chaos magical psychology orangecrush Oct 2017 #12
I was googling the Blythe road battle... Manfred Arcane Aug 2023 #13
Thank you, Manfred Arcane! orangecrush Aug 2023 #14
You're welcome! (eom) Manfred Arcane Aug 2023 #15

WhiteTara

(30,191 posts)
1. Damn and Dumbledorf is dead too.
Sun Oct 8, 2017, 01:21 PM
Oct 2017

And I don't know where to find Gandolf the White.

Okay, just a little levity to whistle past the graveyard.

saidsimplesimon

(7,888 posts)
3. Excellent orangecrush
Sun Oct 8, 2017, 01:28 PM
Oct 2017

Thank you for adding to my ongoing education. I enjoyed your original explanation portions even more than the excerpts and links to material new to me.

Having an understanding of what makes these people tick is, in my opinion, the beginning of formulating a winning strategy to fight them.

And make no mistake, we are fighting for our lives.

orangecrush

(22,009 posts)
4. Thanks much
Sun Oct 8, 2017, 01:36 PM
Oct 2017

That is encouraging, there are no doubt some who will read this and conclude that I am bonkers.

BTW, has anyone ever noticed the similarity -



Yeats




Potter











DetlefK

(16,477 posts)
5. Renaissance-magic was killed by Isaac Casaubon in 1614.
Sun Oct 8, 2017, 02:06 PM
Oct 2017

The whole point of hermetic magic was that it was magical wisdom passed on from ancient times in the tome "Corpus Hermeticum", which was supposedly millenia old. The age of that tome was the only reason why people believed it to be true.

In 1614, Isaac Casaubon proved from its vocabulary and grammar that this text could not have been written several millenia ago. The Corpus Hermeticum was written around 200 AD, by greek Christians.

With this, Hermeticism quickly lost its reputation among scholars and it wouldn't be long until it would be regarded as a hoax and embarassing mistake.



Except... you know. Some people wanted to believe so hard in hermetic magic that they continued to believe it even after their magical tome turned out to actually be a religious scripture attempting to create a new syncretic religion from jewish, christian and hellenistic elements.

And what killed Renaissance-magic for good were the mathematical discoveries by Newton, Descartes, Mersenne... This new math was the midwife of the scientific method and modern science. By the end of the 17th century, science was still young, but it was already slowly and steadily winning the fight against magic.

orangecrush

(22,009 posts)
6. I am not educated enough
Sun Oct 8, 2017, 02:29 PM
Oct 2017

To debate the validity of magical systems.

Science is the best instrument for measuring the external world.

I find it interesting, however, that a psychology and political science based on occult philosophy (Duginism and the Alt-right, and their henchman Donald Trump) are having such a horrific impact on the world events of today.

Crowley feared and envied Yeats.

Thus, that is where I choose to start looking for a counter strategy.

orangecrush

(22,009 posts)
7. Wiki has a different version
Sun Oct 8, 2017, 04:07 PM
Oct 2017

"Much of the importance of Hermeticism arises from its connection with the development of science during the time from 1300 to 1600 AD. The prominence that it gave to the idea of influencing or controlling nature led many scientists to look to magic and its allied arts (e.g., alchemy, astrology) which, it was thought, could put Nature to the test by means of experiments. Consequently, it was the practical aspects of Hermetic writings that attracted the attention of scientists.[16]

Isaac Newton placed great faith in the concept of an unadulterated, pure, ancient doctrine, which he studied vigorously to aid his understanding of the physical world.[17] Many of Newton's manuscripts—most of which are still unpublished[17]—detail his thorough study of the Corpus Hermeticum, writings said to have been transmitted from ancient times, in which the secrets and techniques of influencing the stars and the forces of nature were revealed, i.e. As Above, So Below."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeticism

Judging from this, it seems hermeticism inspired scientific investigation.

DetlefK

(16,477 posts)
10. It did, but "science" meant something radically different back then compared to nowadays.
Mon Oct 9, 2017, 03:26 AM
Oct 2017

"Science" is a specific way of doing research. The scientific method was invented in late 18th century and since then science is what what we think of as "science". Before that, research was done by a different method.

It goes basically like this:

* Up until roughly 1200, 1300, research was done with a religious mindset and meant his:
- The world is built on God's will. Man cannot influence nature. Therefore experiments are meaningless and useless.
- What the book (especially the Bible) says is always right. Older books trump newer books.
- Theory beats practice.


* Then in late 13th, early 14th century, Ramon Llull made the ancient greek notion of the "demiourgos" popular again: The notion that there are laws of nature. Then, in early 15th century, copies of the Corpus Hermeticum returned to Europe via bycantine libraries. The Corpus Hermeticum postulated that the human contains a divine spark.
- The world is built on laws of nature created by God. God influences the world with these laws.
- The human is partly divine. Therefore the human can influence the laws of nature as well, if he finds the means to do so.
- What the book says is always right. Older books trump newer books.
- Experiments can be done, however they are only good for finding out the details about what is already known. If your experiment does not reproduce what is written in a book, then your experiment is wrong.
- Theory beats practice


* The dating of the Corpus Hermeticum, the invention of modern math and it replacing numerology, the growing pile of experimental evidence where the magical tomes are simply wrong, the continuing failures of sorcerers to actually do sorcery... By late 18th century, the scientific method was born in a continuous process. It didn't even have a name back then. It was just "the method".
- The world is built on laws of nature.
- The human can influence nature and find out more about it by doing experiments.
- The age of a piece of wisdom is irrelevant.
- Practice beats theory.

orangecrush

(22,009 posts)
11. All of that is quite interesting and true
Mon Oct 9, 2017, 07:24 AM
Oct 2017

I am a believer in science, and despise the promotion of ignorance to serve the interests of rulers.

Climate change denial being a case in point.

How do we define the human sense of wonder and curiosity that makes us want to explore and understand our world, rather than remain stuck in the comfort zone of willful ignorance?

When I watch a beautiful sunset, I know those beautiful colors are just the suns rays refraction in the atmosphere.

Why, then, since the dawn of time, are we so moved by natural beauty?

Remove the mystery from the universe, and what reason would there be to explore?


orangecrush

(22,009 posts)
8. But wait....
Sun Oct 8, 2017, 04:51 PM
Oct 2017


In 1678, however, flaws in Casaubon's dating were discerned by Ralph Cudworth, who argued that Casaubon's allegation of forgery could only be applied to three of the seventeen treatises contained within the Corpus Hermeticum. Moreover, Cudworth noted Casaubon's failure to acknowledge the codification of these treatises as a late formulation of a pre-existing oral tradition. According to Cudworth, the texts must be viewed as a terminus ad quem and not a quo. Lost Greek texts, and many of the surviving vulgate books, contained discussions of alchemy clothed in philosophical metaphor.[29]

In the 19th century, Walter Scott placed the date of the Hermetic texts shortly after 200 AD, but W. Flinders Petrie placed their origin between 200 and 500 BC.[30]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeticism

icymist

(15,888 posts)
9. Oh boy! Ye Olde 'White Magick vs. Black Magick' Ceremonial Meme! How entertaining!
Sun Oct 8, 2017, 06:51 PM
Oct 2017

And a transgender bogie-man to boot! Just because a few 4Chan assholes have an active imagination to connect a frog head meme to an ancient Egyptian deity doesn't make it so. If you read the entire SLPC article you have linked to we find this meme of Kek has an origin in the WoW game and held, for the Alt-Right, entertainment value. The whole idea looks like a form of trolling device used to mock Democrats and Liberals who would actually think these people take the meaning (and worship of Kek) seriously. From the SPLC article:

The name, usage, and ultimately the ideas around it originated in gaming culture, particularly on chat boards devoted to the World of Warcraft online computer games, according to Know Your Meme. In those games, participants can chat only with members of their own faction in the “war” (either Alliance or Horde fighters), while opposing players’ chats are rendered in a cryptic form based on Korean; thus, the common chat phrase “LOL” (laugh out loud) was read by opposing players as “KEK.” The phrase caught on as a variation on “LOL” in game chat rooms, as well as at open forums dedicated to gaming, animation and popular culture, such as 4chan and Reddit — also dens of the Alt-Right, where the Pepe the Frog meme shares its origins, and similarly hijacked as a symbol of white nationalism.

Besides its entertainment value, the “religion” is mainly useful to the Alt-Right as a trolling device for making fun of liberals and “political correctness.”

Certainly, if any “normies” were to make the mistake of taking their “religion” seriously and suggesting that their “deity” was something they actually worshipped, they would receive the usual mocking treatment reserved for anyone foolish enough to take their words at face value.


I am afraid that tying the mythological White Magick vs. Black Magick Ceremonial Wars is just the type of discussion that would play into their hands. The keyword to understanding what the Alt-Right is doing here is trolling (for a reaction) and they are doing so with their so-called 'Meme Magic'. To think that the entire Trump administration is based on this is as juvenile as the trolling itself. I'll grant you that 45 does thrive in chaos and is as juvenile, but I seriously doubt he knows what Kek is, let alone worship anything but himself.

orangecrush

(22,009 posts)
12. Applied Chaos magical psychology
Mon Oct 9, 2017, 07:31 AM
Oct 2017

Is Aleksandr Dugin's game.

He is the architect of Putin's plan to triumph over the West.

The emblem of his brainchild, Eurasianism, is the eight pointed yellow star on a black background, also known as the CHAOS STAR, a symbol representing the same thing as the swastika, if you count the bends in the "crooked cross", there are eight.

Dugin endorsed Donald Trump, was a professor at Moscow University, and has spoken at alt-right conventions in the U.S. by invitation.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics


From the link -

"Hoover Institution senior fellow John B. Dunlop stated that "the impact of this intended 'Eurasianist' textbook on key Russian elites testifies to the worrisome rise of fascist ideas and sentiments during the late Yeltsin and the Putin period."[3]

An essay by Timothy Snyder in The New York Review of Books said that Foundations of Geopolitics is influenced by the work of Carl Schmitt, a proponent of a conservative international order whose work influenced the Nazis.[4]"

Manfred Arcane

(59 posts)
13. I was googling the Blythe road battle...
Mon Aug 14, 2023, 11:29 PM
Aug 2023

and came across this post. Orangecrush, I thought you might find Dark Star Rising by Gary Lachman interesting.

As for other ties of alt-right to esotericism, etc. see the article below about Julius Evola:

The Alt-Right's Intellectual Darling Hated Christianity

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