Theatre Magick: Aleister Crowley and the Rites of Eleusis PhD Dissertation PDF

THEATRE MAGICK: ALEISTER CROWLEY AND THE RITES OF ELEUSIS DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate...

THEATRE MAGICK: ALEISTER CROWLEY AND THE RITES OF ELEUSIS DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University by Tracy W. Tupman, M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 2003 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Dr. Joy H. Reilly, Advisor Dr. Alan Woods ________________________________ Advisor Dr. Lesley Ferris Theatre Graduate Program  ABSTRACT In October and November of 1910 seven one-act plays were produced at Caxton Hall, Westminster, London, under the collective title The Rites of Eleusis. These public productions were as much an experiment in audience and performer psychology as they were an exotic entertainment. Written, produced and directed by leading cast member, Aleister Crowley, The Rites of Eleusis attempted to present a contemporary interpretation of an ancient myth in order to reignite the role and importance of mysticism in modern society. Through exposing the audience to a variety of sensory stimuli such as incense, rhythmic music, dance, and poetry, it attempted to create within the audience itself an altered state of consciousness which would make them co-celebrants within the performance/ritual. As Crowley stated in the original broadsheet advertisements for the productions, the Rites were intended “to illustrate the magical methods followed by a mystical society which seeks for illumination by ecstasy.” But Crowley intended much more: he hoped the audience would not merely view an “illustration,” but experience an actual state of “ecstasy.” for “self-development” not only to the performers onstage, but also to the spectators. This experiment to recreate not only the “performer-priests” of antiquity but to include the audience as a part of the production foreshadowed the later work of theatre anthropologists and theorists such as Richard Schechner, and serves to illustrate one of the first attempts in the twentieth century to consciously create a ii psychological connection between theatrical and religious practice within the western hegemonic society. A close reading of the first Rite demonstrates that there are specific occult motivations for every artistic decision reflected in the actual productions. Thus, the position in which performers are discovered at the opening of a rite is not merely an aesthetic choice, but is also reflective of specific criteria established by qabalistic, astrological, or other occult requirements. The costumes and properties used within the Rites are also dictated by deeper symbolism. The appearance of performativity in a religious or worshipful context is repetitive throughout history, and time after time it is spirituality that gives birth to the drama, rather than spirituality evolving from a performative context. iii  DEDICATION To the memory of my Father, who taught by example, To my Mother, who teaches by words, And to my Daughter, Caitlin, who taught the most important lesson of all. iv  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee members as a group for their seemingly limitless support and flexibility during the protracted production of this document. Specifically, my thanks goes to Dr. Alan Woods for his probing questions during our conversations and his willingness to reign me in and keep me focused on the topic at hand. Dr. Lesley Ferris gave me much food for thought in our discussions and lead me to ways of interpreting connections which had not occurred to me previously. Finally, my advisor, Dr. Joy Reilly must be commended for keeping faith in me and for her willingness to go out of her way, even to coffee shops on Saturday mornings, to get me feedback and enormously instructive criticism. I would also like to thank Dr. W. F. Ryan and the staff of the Warburg Institute in London for their patience and cheerfulness during my research there. Several of their days were spent carrying boxes of materials back and forth for my examination, and this was always done with a friendly and helpful demeanor which was most reassuring to a researcher not certain he would find anything of value. Personal friends also played a large role in the successful completion of this project. Megan Mateer was of invaluable assistance in the technical creation of this document and in goading me to kept my nose to the grindstone. Lord Shadow of The Shadow Realm in Columbus, Ohio was a font of information about Crowley and served as my initial contact with the local OTO. He was also the source of many rare Crowley works which he generously allowed me to examine. Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Paul Daum who, so many years ago, got me excited enough about theatre history that it moved from a hobby to a passion. v  VITA December 16, 1955………………….Born – Anderson, Indiana 1983…………………………………B.A. Education, University of Akron 1983-1985…………………………...Graduate Assistant, Theatre, University of Akron 1985…………………………………M.A. Theatre Arts, University of Akron 1988…………………………………Instructor, Speech and Communication, Charles County Community College, La Plata, Maryland 1994-1999…………………………..Graduate Administrative Assistant, The Ohio State University 1999-present………………………...Undergraduate Academic Advisor, The Ohio State University 2000-present Instructor, Theatre, Business Presentation, Ohio Dominican University FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Theatre vi  TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Dedication.......................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments................................................................................................................v Vita..................................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures......................................................................................................................x Introduction..........................................................................................................................1 Chapters 1. The Theatre of Spirituality.....................................................................................41 1.1 Introduction....................................................................................................41 1.2 The Beginnings of Myth................................................................................42 1.3 Mythic Performances.....................................................................................53 1.4 The Idea of Symbolism..................................................................................66 1.5 Symbolist Poetry............................................................................................69 1.6 Symbolist Music............................................................................................73 1.7 Richard Wagner.............................................................................................75 1.8 Symbolist Theatre..........................................................................................76 1.9 Symbolism and Psychology...........................................................................80 1.10 Conclusion.....................................................................................................87 2. The Theatre of the Golden Dawn...........................................................................88 2.1 Introduction....................................................................................................88 2.2 The Occult World of the Nineteenth Century................................................89 2.3 The Masonic Connection...............................................................................96 2.4 The Golden Dawn........................................................................................100 2.5 Samuel Liddell Mathers and the Rites of Isis..............................................114 2.6 William Butler Yeats...................................................................................122 2.7 Annie Horniman and the Abbey Theatre.....................................................126 2.8 Florence Farr and the Egyptian Plays..........................................................132 vii  2.9 Conclusion...................................................................................................139 3. The Theatre of Aleister Crowley.........................................................................141 3.1 Introduction..................................................................................................141 3.2 Biographical Background............................................................................142 3.3 Crowley’s Magick........................................................................................163 3.4 Crowley in Fiction.......................................................................................165 3.5 Crowley and Film........................................................................................167 3.6 Crowley’s Essays on Theatre.......................................................................170 3.7 Crowley’s Other Works for the Stage..........................................................171 3.8 Film Scripts..................................................................................................193 3.9 The Ragged Rag-Time Girls........................................................................195 3.10 Doctor Faustus...........................................................................................197 3.11 The Mass of the Phoenix..............................................................................198 3.12 Conclusion...................................................................................................199 4. Aleister Crowley and the Rites of Eleusis............................................................202 4.1 Introduction..................................................................................................202 4.2 The Use of Pharmaceuticals in Ritual..........................................................203 4.3 The Original Rites of Eleusis.......................................................................206 4.4 The Origins of the 1910 Production............................................................208 4.5 The Cast.......................................................................................................224 4.5.1 Victor Neuburg...................................................................................224 4.5.2 Leila Waddell......................................................................................227 4.5.3 Ione de Forest......................................................................................231 4.5.4 George Raffalovich.............................................................................234 4.5.5 John Frederick Charles Fuller.............................................................239 4.5.6 Kenneth Martin Ward.........................................................................239 4.6 Performance Reconstruction........................................................................240 4.6.1 The Rite of Saturn...............................................................................243 4.7 Conclusion...................................................................................................257 5. Conclusion...........................................................................................................260 5.1 Introduction..................................................................................................260 5.2 Background of the OTO in America............................................................261 5.3 Vasilos Calitsis and The Mysteries of Eleusis.............................................264 5.4 Conclusion...................................................................................................267 Appendix A: A Time Line of Aleister Crowley..............................................................277 Appendix B: Looking Glass: October 29, 1910...............................................................280 Appendix C: The Bystander: November 16, 1910...........................................................284 viii Appendix D: The Bystander: November 23, 1910...........................................................291 Appendix E: The Looking Glass: November 12, 1910....................................................295 Appendix F: John Bull: November 5, 1910.....................................................................303 Appendix G: The Sketch: August 24, 1910......................................................................308 Appendix H: The Mass of the Phoenix............................................................................312 Appendix I: The Lesser and Greater Rituals of the Hexagram.......................................315 Appendix J: The Rites Today..........................................................................................325 Bibliography....................................................................................................................341 ix  LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Hebrew Alphabet............................................................................... 31 2. Planetary Numbers............................................................................. 33 3. Tree of Life........................................................................................ 37 4. The Three Realms on the Tree of Life............................................... 38 5. The Two Pillars on the Tree of Life.................................................. 40 6. The Sorcerer....................................................................................... 50 7. Osiris Slain......................................................................................... 54 8. Isis Weeping....................................................................................... 54 9. Typhon and Apophis.......................................................................... 54 10. Osiris Risen........................................................................................ 54 11. “Drawing Two” from Chekhov......................................................... 84 12. Dr. William Wynn Westcott holding a Golden Dawn Fire Wand... 103 13. Dr. William Woodman in Masonic regalia...................................... 104 14. Samuel Liddell Mathers in his Lieutenant uniform......................... 115 15. Samuel Liddell Mathers in The Rites of Isis.................................... 118 16. Moina Mathers in The Rites of Isis.................................................. 119 17. #36 Blythe Road, August 2002........................................................ 120 18. William Butler Yeats about the time of his membership in the Golden Dawn................................................................................... 124 19. Annie Horniman............................................................................... 128 20. Florence Farr.................................................................................... 133 21. Aleister Crowley in his early teens.................................................. 143 22. Aleister Crowley wearing his “solar phallic” forelock about 1912. 158 23. Square of Mars................................................................................. 210 24. Seal of Mars..................................................................................... 211 25. Planetary Attributes......................................................................... 212 26. 124 Victoria Street, 2001................................................................. 215 27. Banishing Pentagram of the East..................................................... 218 28. Banishing Pentagram of the South................................................... 219 29. Banishing Pentagram of the West.................................................... 220 30. Banishing Pentagram of the North................................................... 220 31. Victor Neuburg................................................................................ 226 x 32. Leila Waddell in The Rites of Eleusis.............................................. 229 33. Capt. J. F. C. Fuller c. 1919............................................................. 237 34. Original Ticket for The Rites of Eleusis........................................... 242 35. The Rite of Saturn, Part 3................................................................. 250 36. Rite of Saturn, Part 4. Photograph taken at Caxton Hall................ 252 37. Rite of Saturn, Part 4........................................................................ 253 38. The Hexagram of Fire...................................................................... 317 39. The Hexagram of Earth................................................................... 317 40. The Hexagram of Air....................................................................... 318 41. The Hexagram of Water................................................................... 319 42. Hexagram diagrams and Planetary Signs........................................ 320 43. Thelema Lodge Poster, 1991-2........................................................ 331 xi  INTRODUCTION “The Method of Science, the Aim of Religion.” 1 Background In October and November of 1910 seven one-act plays were produced at Caxton Hall, Westminster, London, under the collective title The Rites of Eleusis. The primary aim of this dissertation is to recreate as accurately as possible the experience of this production, including the colors and designs of the sets and costumes, the blocking and dance, the music, and the style of vocal delivery of the performers. This reconstruction includes a study of the experience of the audience during the performances, since audience involvement was an important goal of the production. This dissertation also explores the philosophical constructs which dictated many of the above-mentioned artistic choices and, through example and analysis, demonstrates how these productions reflect both a unique attempt to revitalize Western ritual magical practice through theatrical performance, and explores the close relationship which I suggest lies between contemporary magical practice and theatrical practice. These public productions, presented at the end of the Edwardian age, were as much an experiment in audience and performer psychology as they were an exotic 1 The motto of Crowley’s magical organization, the Astron Argon, or Silver Star, which was found on the frontispiece of his periodical, The Equinox. 1 entertainment. Written, produced and directed by leading cast member, Aleister Crowley, The Rites of Eleusis attempted to present a contemporary interpretation of an ancient myth in order to reignite the role and importance of mysticism in modern society. Through exposing the audience to a variety of sensory stimuli such as incense, rhythmic music, dance, and poetry, it attempted to create within the audience itself an altered state of consciousness which would make them co-celebrants within the performance/ritual. As Crowley stated in the original broadsheet advertisements for the productions, the Rites were intended “to illustrate the magical methods followed by a mystical society which seeks for illumination by ecstasy.”2 But Crowley intended much more: he hoped the audience would not merely view an “illustration,” but experience an actual state of “ecstasy.” And if ecstasy was not achieved, it was intended for the audience to experience some sort of “thrill” not typically found in their daily lives nor in other entertainments of the time. The inclusion of sensory stimulation in the Rites for the purpose of subliminal emotional reaction foreshadows the theories of Antonin Artaud, who believed that it was beyond the power of language to serve as a full and complete means of communication. Christopher Innes, in his Avant Garde Theatre 1892-1992, states that Artaud “was the first to search for theatrical forms that would not only be non-European, but also specifically uncivilized [...]. And what impressed him about the Balinese dance-drama was ‘the instinctive survival of magic’” (Innes 59). Yet Crowley was years ahead of Artaud in the inclusion of “uncivilized” theatrical practice and demonstrations of magic. Artaud argued that the primary focus of an artist should be communication with the 2 From an original broadsheet, Yorke Collection, Warburg Institute. 2 audience’s subconscious process of thought and emotion. Nonverbal emotion would then be experienced as a physical reaction. The performances of The Rites of Eleusis were an early harbinger of theories of theatrical presentation and meaning which were to be espoused fifty years later by theorists such as Jerzy Grotowski, who wrote in Towards a Poor Theatre: We are concerned with the spectator who has genuine spiritual needs and who really wishes, through confrontation with the performance, to analyze himself. We are concerned with the spectator who does not stop at an elementary stage of psychic integration, content with his own petty, geometrical, spiritual stability, knowing exactly what is good and what is evil, and never in doubt. For it was not to him that El Greco, Norwid, Thomas Mann and Dostoyevsky spoke, but to him who undergoes an endless process of self-development, whose unrest is not general but directed towards a search for the truth about himself and his mission in life. (Grotowski 40) The process of “self-development” (or “self-actualization” or “self-realization”) to which Grotowski refers may take many forms and use a variety of terms depending upon what system the individual is using. Crowley was following the paradigm posited by ceremonial magic that the successful use of ritual would create a change in the spiritual condition of human beings and, by steps, elevate them to an epiphany of spirituality. By actively involving the audience in his Rites, he was opening the opportunity for “self- development” not only to the performers onstage, but also to the spectators. This experiment to recreate not only the “performer-priests” of antiquity but to include the audience as a part of the production foreshadowed the later work of theatre anthropologists and theorists such as Richard Schechner, and serves to illustrate one of the first attempts in the twentieth century to consciously create a psychological connection between theatrical and religious practice within the western hegemonic 3 society. Schechner, in particular, has spent decades researching the anthropological evidence linking the psychology of behavior with theatrical performance. Many of his own productions (such as Dionysus in 69, a retelling of Euripides’ The Bacchae as produced by The Performance Group in 1969) illustrate his theories of the relationship between the extent of an audience’s involvement in a production and the power of the experience of that performance to engage them emotionally and, on occasion, even spiritually. In Performance Theory, Schechner states that “Among primitive peoples the creative condition is identical with trances, dances, ecstasies; in short, shamanism” (Schechner 41). While this statement suggests a link between “performance consciousness” and “religious consciousness,” it does so through a reference to “primitive peoples.” Much of Schechner’s anthropological/theatrical work (as well as that of scholars such as Victor Turner and Clifford Geertz, both known for their work examining how cultural activity can be perceived as performance) addresses this link outside the context of Western and/or twentieth century practice. Upon examination of the numerous studies which explore the linkage between religious experience and performance consciousness little, if any, weight is given to this experience framed within western cultures. What sets The Rites of Eleusis performances apart from other performances or practices which have been examined within the context of “occult theatre” or “avant- garde theatre” or even “experimental theatre”? It is not merely because they incorporated specific ritual practices developed by Western European occultists, nor because they displayed a methodology of theatrical production which did not become conventional until years later. What makes these productions unique and worthy of study is the fact 4 that they are relegated to a footnote in theatrical history because there is no direct connection, no “narrative link,” which may be drawn between them and the later works they foreshadow. The question of origins is one which occupies many historians. For theatre historians the Rites may be seen as the premature birth of the avant garde theatre of the late twentieth century. For the religious or social historian the Rites are the first truly public demonstration of pagan rituals3 in England in hundreds of years. Yet, no branches of academic study, whether performative, cultural, religious, or legal, have acknowledged the influence of these performances. The lack of academic research into these areas by professional scholars is especially obvious when considering the works of Crowley. Although he was the author of numerous plays and skits and was involved in several theatrical productions (including serving as the “magical advisor” for Peter Brook’s first production in London, Doctor Faustus, in 1942), only two scholarly papers directly exploring Crowley’s theatrical activities have been published to date.4 While he is a primary focal point in several recent dissertations, the disciplines in which he is referenced are English Literature or Religion, not Theatre.5 While thirteen major biographies of Crowley have been published over the past fifty years, all of which include mention of the Rites, none dedicate more than a few pages to their production. 3 The fraternal rituals of organizations such as the “Druids” of the nineteenth century, which consisted primarily of marching to Stonehenge at the equinox while wearing white robes, cannot be considered truly pagan or magical since they claimed no religious or spiritual foundation or theology. 4 J. F. Brown, “Aleister Crowley’s Rites of Eleusis” in The Drama Review, 1976, and W. F. Ryan’s “The Great Beast in Russia: Aleister Crowley’s Theatrical Tour in 1913 and his Beastly Writings on Russia” in Symbolism and After, 1992. Brown’s is a straightforward account of the Rites productions written in a disdainful tone that is occasionally reminiscent of the yellow press reviews of the original performances. Ryan is no friendlier, but acknowledges Crowley’s familiarity with and appreciation for Russian culture, literature, and history. 5 see Heim (1975), Serra (1996), Verter (1998) 5  The reason for the neglect by scholars of Crowley as a legitimate subject of investigation is twofold. The first stems from his reputation as “the wickedest man in the world.” This title was given him by the British newspaper John Bull in the March 24, 1923 issue, following the death of one of his students under “mysterious circumstances” in Sicily. It was a sentiment expressed as early as 1900 by W. B. Yeats, who wrote to Annie Horniman regarding Crowley’s application to a higher grade in the magical order to which they both belonged, that Crowley was “a quite unspeakable person. He is I believe seeking vengeance for our refusal to initiate him. We did not admit him because we did not think a mystical society was intended to be a reformatory” (Symonds 1989: 36). Crowley was never shy about seeking publicity, and no small measure of resentment toward him throughout his life was due to the fact that many of his extreme claims were, in fact, true: he had won a scholarship to Cambridge University, one of the few people who could beat him at chess was the amateur champion of England, he had circumnavigated the world in his twenties, and he set climbing records in the Himalayas which stood until years after his death. He was also a heroin addict for over 30 years, sired illegitimate children by at least three different women, and many who became close to him ended their lives in poverty, alcoholism or suicide. His primary source of income the second half of his life was the charity of friends and contributions from magical societies. The disrepute which dogged him for the better part of his life was, to a great extent, of his own making. Dying in relative obscurity in 1947, Crowley’s notoriety was revitalized in the 1960s by the actions of several high-profile rock bands. In 1967 The Beatles included his photograph (between Mae West and an unnamed Indian guru) in the “People We Like” 6 montage on the cover of the Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album. Jimmy Page, lead guitarist for Led Zeppelin, bought and restored Crowley’s home in the Scottish Highlands and has since become the owner of one of the preeminent collections of Crowley memorabilia. Ozzy Osbourne scored a hit with “Mr. Crowley” on his first album after leaving Black Sabbath and it has since become a standard in his repertoire. These artists served as cultural role models for many of their fans, and the inclusion of Crowley in their work gave him a scope of legitimizing publicity (at least in the eyes of the young people buying the albums) unimaginable during his lifetime. The attraction of these performers to Crowley is understandable and the parallels are obvious. In his twenties and thirties Crowley was rich, attractive and experimenting with a variety of sexual practices, pharmaceuticals, and mystical paths, not unlike a number of his musical counterparts seventy years later. His credo “Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be the Whole of the Law” was interpreted incorrectly as synonymous with the “Do Your Own Thing” mantra of the 1960s. On the cover of the Bantam paperback issue of his autobiography in 1969 he was described as a “Victorian Hippie.” Crowley is usually adjudged by those not closely involved with the early twenty-first century pagan/magical community to be a lightweight harbinger of counterculture attitudes and a dweller on the fringe of society. This is underscored by his identification as one of the pre-eminent occultists of the twentieth century. Occultism in the West has seldom been taken seriously (Winslade 86), and those who do take it seriously are seldom taken seriously. One need only remember the field day the press had with reports of Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s close relationship with astrologer Joan Quigley to appreciate the mismatch of metaphysics and credibility. 6 6 cf, Donald Regan, For the Record (1988), Nancy Reagan, My Turn (1989) 7  The second reason for Crowley’s low standing as a subject for academic theatrical study is that Crowley never claimed to be a “man of the Theatre.” In his autobiography he wrote “If I had had the most ordinary common sense, I should have got a proper impresario to have it [the Rites] presented in proper surroundings by officers trained in the necessary technique” (Crowley, Confessions, 638). He lamented what he viewed as the compromised quality of the productions. “I should have given more weeks to their preparation than I did minutes” (Crowley, Confessions: 636). Leaving behind no writing addressing dramatic theory or methodology, students of Crowley’s theatrical work are forced to focus on what evidence is left of the productions themselves, and are given no pronouncements over which to conjecture or take umbrage. An overview of the biographies presents an interesting, complex and, on occasion, contradictory picture, not unlike their subject. Crowley’s own Confessions contains 921 pages and ends when he is forty-seven. The first two of six projected volumes were published in 1929 by the Mandrake Press of London, but the entire work was not available until Hill and Wang issued it in one volume in 1969. In 1929 The Mandrake Press also brought out Crowley’s novel Moonchild and The Stratagem (a collection of short stories), and immediately ran into stiff opposition from London booksellers who were hostile to the idea of carrying works by “the wickedest man in the world.” To counter the negative publicity, one of the proprietors of Mandrake, P. R. Stephensen, issued a booklet the following year titled The Legend of Aleister Crowley: Being a Study of the Documentary Evidence Relating to a Campaign of Personal Vilification Unparalleled in Literary History. This is a collection of newspaper and journal reviews 8 of Crowley’s published works to date and defamatory articles about his activities, rebutted with calm logic by Stephensen. The first two major biographies came in 1951, three years after Crowley’s death, when John Symonds, whom Crowley named in his will as one of his literary executors, 7 published The Great Beast, and the poet Charles Richard Cammell offered his personal reminiscences in Aleister Crowley: The Man, The Mage, The Poet.The titles alone indicate the camps into which the two writers fell. Cammell had known Crowley from 1936 through 1941. While more or less chronological in structure, Cammell’s work is more an appreciation and positive criticism of Crowley’s poetry. It avoids the more salacious reportage of the articles published during Crowley’s life and attempts to present him as a remarkable man snubbed by his nation and posterity. Crowley’s powerful intellect was a riddle: now acute in judgement, now nebulous and unbalanced. His erudition, however, was solid and far- reaching, and his genius was prodigious. I have heard an eminent personage, General J. F. C. Fuller, a man famous in arms and letters, one who has known the greatest statesmen, warriors, dictators, of our age, declare solemnly that the most extraordinary genius he ever knew was Crowley. (Cammell, 1962 xx) The response, or “return of fire” as it may be viewed in hindsight, came quickly from John Symonds. Although having access to Crowley’s diaries and unpublished papers, and having had a personal relationship with him during the last years of Crowley’s life, Symonds used a combination of carefully chosen facts and a vivid imagination to support his character assassinating portrait of Crowley as a sex-crazed, drug-besotted black magician.8 Seven years later Symonds issued The Magic of Aleister 7 The other was Louis Wilkinson, a.k.a. novelist Louis Marlowe 8 Various biographers have debated why Crowley chose Symonds to serve in this capacity considering the 9 Crowley (1958), which repeated much of the earlier material, but also added new (equally inaccurate) information. The misinformation which has become a Symonds trademark among students of Crowley’s life includes the apocryphal description of his death. “He did not want to die, and as he passed into a coma the tears flowed down his white cheeks. Sister Tzaba was with him till he lost consciousness. She held his twitching hands and caught his last words: ‘I am perplexed’” (Symonds, 1951:296). This same account was repeated verbatim in the paperback combination of The Great Beast and The Magic of Aleister Crowley (1973). By the release of King of the Shadow Realm in 1989 Symonds had modified the story. Frieda Harris [Sister Tzaba] told me that Crowley died unhappily and fearfully. She held his twitching hands while the tears flowed down his cheeks. “I’m perplexed” he said. She was not with him at the very end. A Mr. Rowe was there; he was in the room with a nurse; and according to him, Crowley’s last words were “Sometimes I hate myself” (Symonds, 1989:578). This paragraph is repeated verbatim in Symonds’ latest biography, The Beast 666: The Life of Aleister Crowley (1997). The problem with both accounts is that the person Symonds relies on for information, Mr. Rowe, was not in the room at the moment of death. There was someone there, Deirdre MacAlpine, the mother of Crowley’s son (Kaczynski 452; Booth 483; Sutin 418), but she makes no mention of the presence of Mr. Rowe, and none of the other biographers have mentioned this name before or since Symonds wrote of him. There may be two reasons for Symonds omitting testimony from the one eye witness available. One, Symonds did not want a sympathetic account to mar the moral he tried to illustrate with the sad end Crowley came to in his account. Two, result. One side uses this decision as an example of Crowley’s dimmed capabilities in judging character, while another claims Crowley counted on Symonds doing exactly what he did, thereby ensuring Crowley’s notoriety after death. 10 MacAlpine was aware of Symonds’ bias against Crowley and wanted nothing to do with him. Since MacAlpine had nothing to gain by allowing the false story to circulate, the more plausible theory would be that Symonds just ignored her and told the tale as he wished it to be remembered. The following year Daniel Mannix published The Beast (1959), a paperback which read more like a novel than a biography, and which relied primarily on Symonds for factual information, emphasizing the testosterone appeal (mountain climbing, world traveling, sex and drugs) of Crowley’s life. In 1962, Cammell reissued The Man, The Mage, The Poet, in the forward of which, written by John C. Wilson, it is mentioned that “At this moment there are two biographies of Aleister Crowley circulating in paperback, either of which could be legally established as libel in any fair-minded court, were the subject of the biography alive today” (Cammell, 1962: xiii). James Harvey, probably a pseudonym, published The Memoirs of Aleister Crowley in 1967, a mildly pornographic paperback aimed at an adult male audience, which used selected scenes from Crowley’s life as backdrops for titillatingly erotic episodes. In 1969, Crowley’s complete Confessions was published by Hill and Wang, edited and annotated by Kenneth Grant, the head of the British arm of Crowley’s magical organization, the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), and John Symonds. Symonds reiterated his disdain for Crowley in the introduction, and Grant took umbrage with Symonds in the preface. We may only speculate on the tenor of the working relationship between these two during the preparatory period prior to publication. Israel Regardie, who had studied under Crowley in the late 1920s, and had later gone on to publish a number of books on the Golden Dawn in addition to becoming a psychotherapist, brought out the first 11 balanced biography of Crowley in 1970. The Eye in the Triangle ends when Crowley is thirty, but approaches its subject from a psychological rather than a sensationalistic point of view. While acknowledging the less attractive aspects of Crowley’s personality, Regardie provides insight into Crowley’s motivations for a number of the incidents in his early adulthood which had become fodder for the anti-Crowley factions. Symonds answered this defense in 1973 with The Great Beast: The Life and Magic of Aleister Crowley, a paperback combination of his first two books. In 1977, Francis King published a balanced account of Crowley’s life (The Magical World of Aleister Crowley) which placed him within the larger context of twentieth century occult activity. This work was a natural next step from his 1970 book, Ritual Magic in England, which chronicled the history of the Golden Dawn, and included a final chapter, “The Aftermath,” which detailed the activity of several Crowley- influenced occult groups into the 1970s. The following year Susan Roberts published The Magician of the Golden Dawn, a factually accurate novelization of Crowley’s life. Nine years passed before another biography was published. Colin Wilson had written The Occult: A History in 1971, which included a chapter on Crowley. In 1987, Wilson brought out his full-length biography, The Nature of the Beast. Like Symonds, Wilson had neither sympathy nor patience for Crowley’s personality flaws, but was able to find some redeeming aspects in Crowley’s philosophy. In 1989, Gerald Suster published The Legacy of the Beast which presents a biography of Crowley, an analysis of his ideas, and an overview of his influence on individuals and magical organizations since his death. This same year saw the fourth Symonds book, The King of the Shadow Realm, in which he presents the same host of inaccuracies about Crowley that he had 12 published previously, and some new misinformation about his own work as well.9 “This is my second and final – and let me hope definitive – biographical book about Aleister Crowley” (Symonds, 1989: vii). Not only was this his fourth, not second, biography of Crowley, but eight years later, in 1997, he would publish The Beast 666, which begins with the statement “Between 1951 and 1989 I published three biographical accounts of Aleister Crowley” (Symonds, 1997: vii). Symonds neglects to mention that his final three books (1973, 1989 and 1997) are essentially the same book reissued with different titles and prefaces. The following year (1998), Roger Hutchinson published The Beast Demystified which attempted to present itself as an unbiased accounting, but which revealed its agenda when it repeated several of the Symonds accounts which had been previously discounted by King and Suster. The new millennium brought forth two new Crowley biographies: Lawrence Sutin’s Do What Thou Wilt, and Martin Booth’s A Magick Life. Booth had previously (1986) edited a collection of Crowley’s poetry, had had numerous poems of his own published, and had been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1980. His Life reveals sources ignored by Symonds, and which give other, more human, interpretations to some of Crowley’s “wicked” behavior. Sutin’s work may be considered an “inside job,” as it has been conjectured on several Crowley-oriented websites that he is a member of at least one of Crowley’s magical organizations. Neither 9 The Symonds biographies in order of appearance are: The Great Beast (1951), The Magic of Aleister Crowley (1958), The Great Beast: The Life and Magic of Aleister Crowley (1973), King of the Shadow Realm (1989), and The Beast 666: The Life of Aleister Crowley (1997). 13 work pulls its punches when addressing the negative aspects of Crowley’s personality, yet both try to avoid outright condemnation of their subject. While we may now look back and see reflections of the Rites methodology in the avant-garde “Happenings” of the 1950s and 1960s and the “performance art” of the 1980s and 1990s, bits and pieces of the theatrical theory and style which foreshadowed The Rites of Eleusis can be found scattered throughout the decades prior to their production. Wagner hoped he was contributing to the experience of a religious epiphany by his audience when Parsifal was first produced in 1882. The anti-realist movement in France spearheaded by Stephane Mallarmé in the 1890s and continued by Paul Fort at the Théâtre d’Art and Lugné-Poe at the Théâtre de l’Oeuvre was a contributing factor to both the style and content of Crowley’s production. The Rites of Eleusis would provide the perfect coda for a study of the Symbolist movement, yet the productions are never mentioned. The Rites may also be indebted to the work of Sir James Frazier, most notably The Golden Bough. Published over a span of twenty years beginning in 1890, with the final volume being issued the same year as the production of Crowley’s Rites of Eleusis, the thirteen volumes of The Golden Bough were a primary weapon in the arsenal of the Cambridge anthropologists who postulated that the development of drama was closely interconnected with the performance of religious ritual. An essay by Gilbert Murray (“Excursus on the Ritual Forms Preserved in Greek Tragedy”) published in 191210 presents a theory of a ritual structure comprised of agon (light opposing dark), pathos (sacrificial death), messenger (delivering information of death), threnos (lamentation), 10 see Harrison (1912). 14 anagnorisis (recognition of the slain God) and apotheosis (epiphany or resurrection) (Carlson 337). This is a structure closely reflective of the structure of the through line of Crowley’s Rites. Considering the date of the essay, it is tantalizing to speculate whether Murray attended the performances of The Rites of Eleusis in 1910. Theatrical productions subsequent to Crowley’s Rites, yet connected through methodology, intent, or subject matter are too numerous to be addressed in detail, but a couple of examples will be discussed in Chapter Five. In 1997, an American branch of Crowley’s magical organization, the Ordo Templi Orientis, began staging the Rites of Eleusis as public performances in Austin, Texas, and offering them for sale on videotape. These performances have since become an annual event. In 1998, Vasilios Calitsis presented his World Mysteries sponsored by the Brooklyn Academy of Music at the Majestic Theatre in New York. This was a production “inspired by the Eleusian Mysteries” the intent of which echoes Crowley’s ideals. Calitsis speaks [...] about construing theatre as a healing ritual, a journey to heightened awareness [...]. When Calitsis says, “I’m interested in their entering into a state close to ekstasis,” he means the performers as well as the spectators [...]. This practice, he believes, can create a magnetic force between performers onstage and radiate that (sic) to the audience. (Jowitt, Village Voice, 5) The structure of the Rites of Eleusis scripts is flexible enough to allow for their being presented in a variety of mythological interpretations as will be demonstrated in Chapter Four, but their original presentation was firmly based in a Greco-Roman style. As the world has grown smaller through the advent of advanced technology throughout the twentieth century, artistic expression has increasingly made use of cross-cultural experimentation and presentation. Thus, in 1936, during his employment with the Federal Theatre Project, Orson Welles presented a Macbeth set in Haiti; Akira Kurosawa 15 relocated Macbeth and King Lear to medieval Japan in his film adaptations of Shakespeare (Throne of Blood and Ran , respectively), and Suzuki Tadashi has presented a number of Greek tragedies including The Trojan Women (1977), The Bacchae (1978), and Clytemnestra (1983) in the traditional Japanese style (McDonald, 45). Yet Crowley realized that the most widely-recognized semiotics for the audience of his day would be those of ancient Greece. His intended audience was university educated, and Crowley believed they would instantly make the metaphoric connections inherent in the scripts and staging. This connection with Greece would have been further underscored by the momentum of the Greek revival movement which had occurred periodically throughout the nineteenth century. The movement was noticeable in the architecture, clothing, and furniture designs of the early to mid-1800s, and was rejuvenated in the 1870s with the archaeological discoveries of Heinrich Schliemann, and his excavations of Troy and Mycenae. It was a movement felt in the United States as well. George Cram Cook, poet, novelist, playwright, theatrical producer for and co-creator of the Provincetown Players, and, ultimately, Greek shepherd, was able to express in his Athenian Women the idea that lessons relating to humanity are universal, and transcend time regardless of the period in which the work is set. He remarked that he could not have interpreted the Peloponnesian War as he did had he not lived through World War I (http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec- coll/Bai/tanselle.htm). Crowley did not employ a deconstructive approach to the original source wherein a new meaning appeared before the eyes of his twentieth century audience (e.g. the realization of feminist semiotics in a modern production of The Taming of the Shrew). 16 Nor was he interested in the simple updating of a classic script to modern times. Crowley’s goal was a recreation of the spiritual essence of the original performances and a rebirth of the recognition of the role of pagan religious practice in contemporary life. Crowley’s philosophical explorations which led him to attempt this production were greatly influenced by his involvement as a young man in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an occult organization founded in London in 1887 by three high-ranking freemasons, which incorporated many of the performative aspects of Masonry in their practices. The higher degrees of Masonry known as the Scottish Rite have traditionally utilized theatrical performance as an intrinsic part of their degree initiations, and the practice of donning elaborate costumes and performing scripted ritual would have been nothing new to the founding fathers of the Golden Dawn. Crowley himself was ultimately made a 33 degree Mason, although the legitimacy of this accomplishment is in question. Nevertheless, clear parallels may be seen in the theatrical practices of Masonry and the various performative aspects of the Golden Dawn rituals. Crowley was not the first member of the Golden Dawn to present magical rituals as professional performances for public consumption. One of the three founding members, Samuel Liddell Mathers, had preceded him in Paris in 1898 by presenting The Rites of Isis at the Théâtre Bodinière, near the Gare St. Lazare. These performances continued for several years at Mathers’ house at 87 Rue Mozart, Auteuil, and incorporated readings from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, exotic costuming and dance. While both Mathers’ Rites of Isis and Crowley’s Rites of Eleusis were presented through a combination of scholarship, research, artistic creativity, and a desire to promote and publicize occult concepts and beliefs, they were also both designed to be profit-making 17 ventures. Mathers had little other income during much of the production period of his Rites of Isis. Mary Greer, in Women of the Golden Dawn (1995), documents the overlapping involvement of Irish actress Florence Farr and Abbey Theatre founder Annie Horniman, who financed the creation of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, in both the Golden Dawn and various theatrical ventures at the turn of the twentieth century, but fails to explore the motivation for them to use techniques which the two venues would have in common. There has been to date no specific investigation of the commonalities of the theatrical performative process and the magical performative process of contemporary magicians. That Crowley should attempt this connection of religion and what today might be considered performance art is not surprising, for he considered himself both a philosopher of the occult and also an artist. His artistic creativity was expressed primarily through a voluminous output of poetry (he published a three volume set of his collected works when he was twenty-nine), but was also evident in a number of published mystery stories, several novels, over twenty short plays, film scripts, scores of pieces of art work, and a large body of writings expounding his metaphysical concepts. Although following the production of The Rites of Eleusis he experimented with a more mundane theatrical venue by forming a traveling troupe of female musicians and traveling to Moscow with his “Ragged Rag-Time Girls ,” his dramatic scripts were, for the most part, a poetic form of closet drama adapting classical themes (such as The Argonauts and Orpheus, both written in 1904, and Adonis, 1911), satirizing the melodramatic form (Why Jesus Wept, 1905, The Sire de Maletroit’s Door, 1906, The Scorpion, 1911), short sketches (Ehe, 1910, The Ghouls, 1911, Elder Eel , Doctor Bob, a dramatization of 18 Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart, 1912, and The Tango, 1913), or reflections of his philosophical or religious interests at the time of composition (The God Eater, 1903, Aha!, 1907, The Ship, 1908, The World’s Tragedy and Mr. Todd, 1910, Snowstorm and The Blind Prophet, 1911). His classical scripts are written in a style which fluctuates between stilted prose (Medea: “The child hath hewn her sire asunder, seething him in herbs of sacred power” The Argonauts, act V) and large blocks of poetry posing as soliloquies. His sketches are more palatable, often incorporating heavy vernacular accents and displaying an irreverent and creative wit. And yet, when Crowley was not trying to write drama per se but religious ritual, his writing demonstrates power and impressive cohesiveness. As Leonard Bernstein has said about the work of Beethoven, that each note seems an inevitable next step from the previous one, so Crowley transcends his penchant for lurid prose when involved in the composition of celebratory religious work. The rituals he wrote for his various magical ceremonies often demonstrate an effectively poetic use of language frequently missing from his other work. This is a curious phenomenon which is also evidenced in the works of Mathers, who spent much of his life living in poverty as a translator and librarian and who wrote many of the original Golden Dawn rituals. Mathers’ writings in other fields are frequently banal, but the rituals which he wrote are an impressive combination of language, structure and symbolism. In apposition to the “professional-occultist-as-theatrical-producers” such as Mathers and Crowley, the Golden Dawn counted a number of “theatrical-professionals-as occultists” among its members at the end of the nineteenth century, including Florence Farr and Annie Horniman, actress, author, and feminist Maud Gonne, and the poet and 19 playwright W. B. Yeats. Their involvement in the Golden Dawn was more than a passing interest. Yeats wrote: If I had not made magic my constant study I could not have written a single word of my Blake book, nor would The Countess Kathleen ever have come to exist. The mystical life is the centre of all that I do and all that I think and all that I write [...] it is surely absurd to hold me “weak” or otherwise because I chose to persist in a study which I decided deliberately four or five years ago to make, next to my poetry, the most important pursuit of my life. (Wade 210 - 11) Horniman made a habit of utilizing Tarot card readings (a skill learned through her Golden Dawn association) to discern political and artistic conditions influencing the Irish National Theatre Society with which she and Yeats were involved at the turn of the century. Inspired by a Tarot reading done on October 9, 1903 (a photograph of which, together with her letter to Yeats analyzing the card spread, is extant), she agreed to purchase the building which was to become the Abbey Theatre. In January 1902, Farr wrote, produced and appeared in two plays with Egyptian motifs, The Beloved of Hathor and The Shrine of the Golden Hawk which were directly influenced by her Golden Dawn involvement. When Crowley and Mathers attempted to present their occult concepts and beliefs in the guise of theatrical performances, they utilized a methodology of presentation which incorporated specific semiotic signs. The “occult temple” in which the Rites of Eleusis occurred was decorated in a manner appropriate for the celebration of a mystical event. The language of the scripts was stylized and formal, giving the dialogue an appearance of solemnity and importance. The positions and movements of the performers about the performance space were dictated by astrological and qabalistic symbolism. Care was taken to present the audience with an atmosphere conducive to not only a theatrical event, 20 but also, hopefully, a consciousness-altering experience through sensory stimulation. Where the modern audience of today would attend a performance expecting to sit in the dark in comfortable seats and have their attention engaged, Crowley’s Rites were performed for an audience seated on stools just uncomfortable enough to prevent the mind from wandering away from what was happening. Crowley also recommended the audience attend in clothing color-coordinated for the specific rite they were to witness. Thus, an advertisement for the performances announced to those attending that: you are requested, if convenient, to wear black, or very dark blue, for Jupiter violet, for Mars scarlet or russet brown, for Sol orange or white, for Venus green or sky-blue, for Mercury shot silk and mixed colors, for Luna white, silver, or pale blue [...] it is not necessary to confine yourself to the color mentioned, but it should form the keynote of the scheme [...]. (Crowley, Eleusis, 32) This color coordination was another method whereby the audience members were to become not mere spectators but actively involved in the ritual experience. Their choice of clothing became their costumes, making them not passive observers but cast members, the theory being that the color of their clothing would subconsciously influence their brain activity. The idea that color can influence psychology has become widely accepted in the past fifty years, the concept appearing everywhere from interior and product design to clothing accessories. The theory has been adopted by a number of different institutions in the latter half of the twentieth century when developing interior design concepts integrating the use of color to achieve a desired psychological effect. For instance, it has been found through psychological testing that pastel shades of blue, 21 pink or green have a subconsciously calming effect on the human brain, and are therefore used frequently in hospitals and penal institutions.11 Theories connecting color and psychology as they related to artistic expression were beginning to be published at about the same time as the Rites productions. Wassily Kandinsky and Der Blaue Reiter, a group of avant garde expressionist artists formed in 1911, subscribed to the theory that colors, lines, and shapes all have specific qualities which can evoke an emotional response, but the success of that evocation simultaneously relies on the ability of the artist to create an empathetic reaction from the viewer. This evocation of emotion through abstraction is closely aligned with the Symbolist goal, that of communication via subliminal means. The marketing campaign of the Rites was unique, if not ahead of its time. The seven performances were presented on seven consecutive Wednesdays at 9 p. m. Tickets for specific evenings were unavailable, the audience being required to purchase a block of seven. Individual tickets were, however, “transferable.” A large advertisement for the Rites announced that “only one hundred tickets will be issued; early application is therefore desirable.” This was an obvious ploy on Crowley’s part to generate interest in the production but also a necessity due to the spatial limitations of the venue. Introduction to Chapters Chapter One begins by addressing the origins and purposes of myth. A brief overview is presented of various theories of the origins of drama. This is followed by an exploration of different types of ritual, and examples are presented to demonstrate how religious ritual has been used historically in conjunction with civic functions to represent 11 See: Davidoff (1991), Fehrman (2000), Rodemann (1999) 22 the connection between the secular and the temporal, and their interdependence. The religious nature of ritual and its ties to secular functions having been established, the methodology of nineteenth century Symbolism is examined, to demonstrate its connection to the ancient experience. Examples of Symbolist poetry, music, stage design, and theatre are presented to support the last section, Symbolism and Psychology. This ties together the idea of the ecstatic religious experiences of ancient religions with the study of modern psychology in an attempt to illustrate that the practices of those who incorporate artistic theory and activity into religious methodology are working from an established scientific basis. Chapter Two gives a brief overview of occult activity in England and the United States during the nineteenth century, to aid in understanding the atmosphere out of which the groups next discussed emerged. It then discusses the rise of Freemasonry as an important organization in the formation of later occult bodies, and the influence that Masonic ritual had on these later groups. A history of the Golden Dawn is presented, followed by biographies of its founders, and three members whose theatrical productions were influenced by their Golden Dawn experiences: W. B. Yeats, Florence Farr, and Annie Horniman. Chapter Three gives a biography of Aleister Crowley, and a brief examination of his philosophy. This is followed by an overview of his other scripts, either written with the intent of production or purely as closet drama, and his other involvements in theatre and film. Chapter Four begins with a brief overview of other theatrical activity at the time of the Rites of Eleusis, and a discussion of the use of pharmaceuticals in ritual. An 23 examination of the original Rites of Eleusis is presented, followed by a history of the origins of the 1910 productions. The first Rite, the Rite of Saturn, is presented in a close reading to act as a model of how the other rites may be analyzed. Synopses of the other Rites are then given, with attention to the unique aspects of each. Concluding this chapter is a summary of the activity experienced by the performers immediately following the productions. Chapter Five begins with a brief history of the OTO following Crowley’s death. This establishes the soil out of which grew the resurgence of Rites productions in America in the 1970s. This is followed by an examination of Vasilios Calitsis’ production of The Mysteries of Eleusis, produced in 1998, which provides an illustration of one incorporation of Crowley’s methodology and intent in latter twentieth century theatre. My final conclusions, which restate the goals of this dissertation and the extent to which they were met, conclude the chapter. Terminology The nature of this dissertation requires the explanation of a number of esoteric concepts and practices in order to link methodology and meaning in this production. Crowley had spent the twelve years prior to the production immersed in occult study, and his knowledge of the intricacies of the qabalah, numerology, geomancy, astrology, the tarot, classical mythology, and ceremonial magic informed every artistic decision connected to the Rites. A brief explanation of some of the more frequently used practices follows, including an overview of the general philosophical concepts of the qabalah and the Tree of Life. 24  MAGICK12: The attachment of the letter “k” to the end of the word “magic” was a practice which Crowley adopted “in order to distinguish the Science of the Magi from all its counterfeits” (Crowley, 1997:47). The archaic spelling also appealed to Crowley’s romantic instincts. Its significance is revealed in its gematrical analysis. “K” is the eleventh letter of several alphabets (e.g. Latin, Chaldean, and Greek) and eleven is seen numerologically as a number representative of the concept of magic. The set of numbers from one through ten refers to various aspects of the physical world. For example, the number one relates to God, the highest manifestation on this level of reality, while the number ten relates to the base matter of the universe, i.e., the densest physical material, and everything we can perceive with our physical senses. The number eleven, continuing on after the number ten (ten + one), begins the next sequence of numbers, is representative of the transcendence of the physical world, and corresponds to a higher plane of knowledge and existence than the prior set which refers to the physical plane. The combination of the five pointed pentagram (symbolic of wiccan, practical, “low” magic) and the six pointed hexagram (symbolic of the Hebraic-based, God-seeking “high” magic) creates an eleven-pointed symbol. In Crowley’s Book of the Law, which informed his occult work from about 1907 on, the goddess Nuit says “My number is 11, as all their numbers who are of us” (The Book of the Law, I, 60). The name of the goddess Nuit (or Nu) transliterates from Hebrew as ‫ נו‬or “Nu.” This has a numerological equivalent of fifty-six, and five plus six equals eleven. Eleven is the number of the 12 I have utilized Crowley’s spelling in the title of this dissertation to facilitate the identification of this work with Crowley. Those researching Crowley may use this spelling as a keyword search, and its inclusion here will act as a beacon indicating that the present work addresses Crowleyian concepts. 25 disciples who stayed faithful to Jesus, and the number of sepheroth in the Tree of Life (see Figure 1). According to Crowley’s system of interpretation, the eleventh card of the Tarot is Lust. Crowley’s magic was heavily dependant upon the use of sex as a means of creating energy which would then be applied to achieving whatever goal or outcome was desired. Kenneth Grant, a disciple of Crowley’s in the 1940s, ties in this focus with the spelling of “magick:” “K” is also the Khn, Khou, or Queue symbolized by the tail or vagina, venerated in ancient Egypt as the source of Great Magical Power. Magick spelt with a “k” therefore indicates the precise nature of the Current which Therion13 (Crowley) embodied and transmitted. (Grant, 1974:5) With the incorporation of the letter “K” in his spelling of “Magick” Crowley was making the statement that his particular branch of esotericism was specifically addressing the growth of human spirituality through the use of consciousness-altering methodologies which included sex and pharmaceuticals for the purpose of elevating consciousness, reality and, by association, existence itself to a higher plane of development. The word “Magick” not only served as a “brand name” logo for his particular practices, but, to the informed, acted as an indicator of how the stated goals of Crowley’s organization would be pursued. Crowley defined magick as “the Science and Art of causing change to occur in conformity with will” (Crowley, 1997:126): Illustration: It is my Will to inform the World of certain facts within my knowledge. I therefore take “magical weapons,” pen, ink, and paper; I 13 Therion (ΘΗΡΙΟΝ) means “beast” in Greek. One of Crowley’s magical titles was “To Mega Therion,” or “the great beast.” The source of and reason for this will be discussed in Chapter Three. 26  write “incantations” - these sentences - in the “magical language,” i.e., that which is understood by the people I wish to instruct; I call forth “spirits,” such as printers, publishers, booksellers, and so forth, and constrain them to convey my message to those people. The composition and distribution of this book is thus an act of Magick by which I cause change to take place in conformity with my Will. (Crowley, ibid) This change could, therefore, be anything from spiritual development and transformation to something as simple as ordering a meal in a restaurant. Crowley viewed every conscious act as a magical act, making no distinction between everyday life and spiritual life. As Donald Michael Kraig put it in his book Modern Magick, “Magick is not something that you do. Magick is something that you are” (Kraig, 81). QABALAH: The spelling of “qabalah,” like the spelling of “magick,” was chosen by Crowley not as a random affectation, but for a specific reason. The term “qabalah” (or “kabbalah,” or “cabala”) is from the Hebrew ‫( קבהח‬QBLH) which is roughly translated “from mouth to ear” (Richardson, 18), or “received tradition” (Grant, 1974, 221), describing an oral tradition of education. It is also the root of the English word “cabal,” meaning a secret group of conspirators, reflective of the secretive approach to the teachings, and also suggests that those secret teachings were somehow sinister in nature. Crowley used the specific spelling “qabalah” because it was the closest transliteration of the Hebrew alphabet into English and, therefore, in his mind, the most accurate representation of the nature of the word. Crowley was a firm believer in empirical evidence, and felt that accuracy in the use of qabalistic techniques was as important as accuracy in any science-based procedure. Any minor variation of spelling or numerical calculation would create a result of inaccurate data or false information. In this case, Crowley used a methodology which related the Hebrew letter with the English 27 letter that had evolved through the Phoenician, Greek and Latin alphabets (Godwin, xviii). Qabalah is a philosophical, theosophical, and practical method of codifying all aspects of the universe and, through interpreting these codes and applying their meanings in our daily lives, a guide for attaining spiritual advancement. It is seen by its adherents as “the universal language by which everything was made” (Bardon, 19). Crowley gives a more humorous example in his Equinox, 1:5, 95: Truly there is no end to this wondrous science; and when the skeptic sneers, “With all these methods one ought to be able to make everything out of nothing,” the qabalist smiles back the sublime retort, “With these methods One did make everything out of nothing.” Although the historical origins of the qabalah are traceable to roughly two thousand years ago, the traditional, or mythic, origins stretch back into prehistory. Qabalah is considered by those who follow its teachings to contain the knowledge of the structure and meaning of the universe, revealed by angels to the first humans, and then slowly forgotten until God revealed it to Abraham, who passed the knowledge to his son Jacob. Through Jacob it was given to Joseph, who died before passing it on. The knowledge was revealed to mankind once again when God spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, giving him both the exoteric Ten Commandments and the esoteric qabalistic laws by which human beings should conduct their lives. According to legend, Abraham left written portions of the qabalah in a book called Sepher Yetzirah (Book of Formation). This book is also the beginning of the historic qabalah, since its authorship is also attributed to Rabbi Akiba (50-135 CE), an enlightened Jewish mystic of the second century CE who was ultimately charged with 28 sedition and executed by the Romans. The traceable history of the literature of the qabalah begins at this point, and continues with the work of a disciple of Akiba’s, Rabbi Simon ben Jochai. When Akiba was executed, Simon went into hiding for many years in Israel. Tradition holds that it was during this time that he wrote the second important text of the qabalah, the Zohar (Book of Splendor). Sepher Yetzirah addresses the origin of the universe and of mankind. The other book, the Zohar, discusses, among other things, the nature of God. The entire work of the Zohar fills five volumes, and is written in the form of a commentary on the Talmud. The Talmud is the collection of ancient Rabbinic writings consisting of the Mishnah and the Gemara, constituting the basis of religious authority in Orthodox Judaism. The Zohar was first published in Spain by Moses de Leon (1240–1305), who had often been accused of forging the work. It has since been republished numerous times. The Zohar served as a crystallization of the concepts of the qabalah as they had come to be understood by de Leon. The qabalah as a body of knowledge may be divided into four major subsets: the dogmatic qabalah, the practical qabalah, the unwritten qabalah, and the literal qabalah.14 The dogmatic qabalah concerns itself with the study of the literature of the subject, for example the Sepher Yetzirah, the Zohar, and the Bahir. The practical qabalah addresses the creation of talismans and amulets in a specifically qabalistic manner for the purpose of influencing events in daily life. The unwritten qabalah addresses the metaphysical correspondences found within the Tree of Life, a glyph created to show numerous spiritual relationships and levels (see Figure 1). 14 see Kraig, 61, Gonzalez-Wippler, 89 29  The final subset, the literal qabalah, addresses the relationship between letters and numbers, and describes methodologies of transliterating the Hebrew alphabet into numbers for the purpose of divination. This area of qabalistic study further breaks down into three other branches. Notarikon, or the creation of acronyms, is a method of creating words which represent significant phrases which contain a hidden meaning. For example, the word “AMEN” in Hebrew is comprised of the letters Aleph, Mem, Nun (‫)אמנ‬. These three letters represent the words Al (God), MElech (King), Nehehmahn (faithful). The qabalistic meaning of the word “amen” may be translated as “God is our faithful king.” (Of course, the word itself also may be translated as “so be it.”) Temurah, the second branch of the literal qabalah, is a system of cryptographic letter transposition or substitution used to assist in textual interpretation. The third branch of the literal qabalah is the most important and most often used procedure, and was employed by Crowley on a daily basis for decades, influencing everything from identifying locations where he would be most successful in looking for an apartment to what color the cover of his latest publication should be. It is called Gematria. GEMATRIA is a form of textual exegesis based on the Hebrew language, since, according to the Judaeo-Christian paradigm, the universe was created when God spoke. In Chapter One of Genesis, when describing the creation of various aspects of the world, the phrase “And God said...” begins verses 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26 and 29. The idea of God manifesting as a word is often presented in the Old Testament. This is a concept echoed in Christianity. The Gospel of John begins “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). This gospel continues “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1:14). This association of Word as 30 Identity is repeated in Revelations 19:13: “And he was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God.” The practice of Gematria posits that letters and words have numerical equivalents and that by examining the relationships between words with numerical or mathematical connections one may gain insight into the hidden meanings which connect them: Aleph ‫א‬ 1 A Beth ‫ב‬ 2 B Gimel ‫ג‬ 3 G Daleth ‫ד‬ 4 D Heh ‫ה‬ 5 H (E) Vau ‫ו‬ 6 V (U) Zayin ‫ז‬ 7 Z Cheth ‫ח‬ 8 Ch Teth ‫ט‬ 9 T Yod ‫י‬ 10 Y (IorJ) Kaph ‫כ‬ ‫ך‬ 20, 500 K Lamed ‫ל‬ 30 L Mem ‫מ‬ ‫ם‬ 40, 600 M Nun ‫נ‬ ‫ן‬ 50, 700 N Samekh ‫ס‬ 60 S Ayin ‫ע‬ 70 O Peh ‫פ‬ ‫ף‬ 80, 800 P Tzaddi ‫צ‬ ‫ץ‬ 90, 900 Tz Qoph ‫ק‬ 100 Q Resh ‫ר‬ 200 R Shin ‫ש‬ 300 S (Sh) Tau ‫ת‬ 400 T (Th) Figure 1: The Hebrew Alphabet and its Numerical Correlation 31 For practical magical purposes, the numerical equivalence between the temporal and spiritual worlds assumes an influential connection between them. This concept is described by Isaac Bonewitz in Real Magic as the “Law of Association:” If two things, “A” and “B,” have something in common (anything!), that thing can be used to control both, and “A” and “B” have a mutual influence on each other, depending upon the size of the thing shared. The more they have in common, the more they influence each other (Bonewitz, 5). This concept also reflects the astrologer’s adage “as above, so below.” Crowley wrote four works addressing this topic. Liber 777, a book listing a series of comprehensive tables of correspondence which was started by Alan Bennett, a fellow member of the Golden Dawn, was first published in 1907. Gematria: An Essay upon Number was an article published in The Equinox, 1:5 in March 1911. Sepher Sephiroth aka Liber D was published in The Equinox 1:8. Greek Qabalah, Liber MCCLXIV, has not yet been published although it exists in manuscript form in the archives of the OTO. The practical application of the correspondences in creating ritual is illustrated by Crowley in his magnum opus, Magick: Let us suppose that you wish to obtain knowledge of some obscure science. In column xlv, line 12, you will find “Knowledge of Sciences.” the Planet corresponding is Mercury, its number eight, its lineal figures the octagon and octagram, the God who rules that planet Thoth, or in Hebrew symbolism Tetragrammaton Adonai and Elohim Tzabaoth, its Archangel Raphael[...] its colors Orange (for Mercury is the Sphere of the Sephra Hod, 8), Yellow, Purple, Grey and Indigo rayed with Violet; its Magical Weapon the Wand or Caduceus, its Perfumes Mastic[...] its sacred plants Vervain[...] its jewel the Opal or Agate, its sacred animal the Snake, etc. (Crowley, 1997, 614) This interpretation of the universe as an infinite series of interconnections, as described and codified by the qabalah, was what informed every aspect of the creation of 32 The Rites of Eleusis. The specific references represented in the staging of the productions will be examined in detail in Chapter Four. The seven planets of classical antiquity also have specific numbers associated with them, based on the squares of the sequential number of that planet. These numbers are used to create abstract designs, or sigils which are then used to represent that planet and the attributes with which it is associated. Saturn 3 9 15 45 Jupiter 4 16 34 136 Mars 5 25 65 325 Sun 6 36 111 666 Venus 7 49 175 1225 Mercury 8 64 260 2080 Moon 9 81 369 3321 Figure 2: The Planetary Numbers Thus any appearance of the numbers 5, 25, 65, or 325 may be interpreted as having some relation to or connection with the attributes of Mars. This sequence of planets is also the order in which they are presented in The Rites of Eleusis. Another example of the application of Gematria may be found by examining the name of the magical organization Crowley founded after he left the Golden Dawn. It is often referred to simply as the A. A. and it is assumed that this stands for Astrum Argentium, a Latin phrase meaning Silver Star. Although the English translation of the 33 organization’s name is Silver Star, the letters actually represent the Greek words Astron Argon, ΑΣΤΡΟΝ ΑΡΓΟΝ. Although the two phrases mean the same thing, the Greek words numerologically translate to 451, the same as the words Konx Om Pax, Κονξ όµ πάξ. “Konx om pax,” or “Light in Extension,” is the title of a book Crowley published in 1907, during the formation of his new order, and this book serves as “a veritable Manifesto of the A. A.” (Eshelman 23). Mathematically, the lowest factor of 451 is 11, the number associated with Crowley’s style of magic. 451 also equates to the Hebrew words ‫ את האדם‬or “The Essence of Man,” which is interpreted by members as meaning that within the AA is found the essence of humanity that is to be found within each individual. 451 is also numerically equivalent to ‫ שאנים‬, the “Angels of Tiphareth,” and also to ‫תהום‬, “The Abyss.” Tiphareth is the sixth sephera of the Tree of Life, representative of Beauty. The Abyss is a symbolic place of psychological and spiritual initiation, the place where one crosses over from the mundane world to the celestial world, where the beauty of God is revealed. Additionally, many of Crowley’s more important works have several titles. Most are technically referred to as "Liber (number)," e.g., Liber CCXX (220 in Roman numerals). Liber is simply the Latin word for "book," while the number will usually have some symbolic connection to the nature of the work in question. For example, Liber XXX (Book 30) is subtitled Liber Librae: The Book of the Balance. It is work which deals with issues of maintaining equilibrium in one’s life; 30 is the number of the Hebrew letter Lamed, which is linked with the astrological sign Libra, the scales. TREE OF LIFE: The Tree of Life (see Figure 1) is a diagram used by qabalists to illustrate the macrocosmic interpretation of the spiritual construction of the universe. 34 It also serves as a microcosmic map of the path of spiritual development for individual human beings. The Tree is comprised of ten spheres, or sepheroth (singular: sephera) connected by twenty two paths representing the twenty two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. These spheres are then grouped into three sub-sets, an arrangement Kraig calls the “Three Triangles” (Kraig 90). Working from the base up, the first set, comprising Malkuth, Yesod, Hod, and Netzach, is associated with an individual’s personality (see Figure 2). At the bottom, or least developed state, Malkuth (Kingdom), represents the physical body, the basic source of information about the world which is gained through sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. Next comes Yesod (Foundation), whose planetary correspondence is Luna (the Moon). The realm of Yesod deals with the subconscious (Freud’s “id”) and repressed memories. Hod, the eighth sephera, representative of Glory, and whose planet is Mercury, corresponds to the realm of thought and intellect, while Netzach (Victory, number seven, connected to Venus), is related to emotions and feelings. Since we experience and interact with the world through the aspects of these four spheres, our senses, instincts, intellect, and emotions, the more sharply we have honed these capabilities and our understanding of them, the more effectively and successfully we will function within the physical world. The next grouping of sepheroth is called the “Moral Triangle” by Kraig. 15 It creates an inverted triangle with Tiphereth (Beauty, number six, and corresponding to the Sun), and Geburah (Severity, the fifth sephera, relating to Mars). Chesed (Mercy) is the fourth sephera, has Jupiter as its corresponding planet, and is the inverted apex of this 15 Or the “Realm of the Soul” (Parfitt, 33). 35 triangle. The lesson illustrated here is that the result of the balance of Severity and Mercy is Beauty. The final grouping, the “Celestial Triangle” (Kraig, 90) or “Realm of the Spirit” (Parfitt, 34) is comprised of Binah (Understanding, the third sephera, represented by Saturn), Chokmah (Wisdom, the second sephera), and Kether (Crown) the first. These three are used in developing the capability to experience spiritual energies at their peak moments in our lives. They are manifested at those times we feel most “alive” or in synchronization with the rest of the universe. The diagram of the Tree of Life illustrates a number of concepts. Since all other sepheroth descend from Kether, we may see the evolution of the universe out of this first sephiroth, the initial unity of God. The positions of the sepheroth create three vertical columns within the Tree which are referred to as the Three Pillars (see Figure 5). The Pillar of Severity (the column on the left created by Binah, Geburah, and Hod) illustrates that Strength comes from Understanding and brings Glory. The complimentary pillar on the right, the Pillar of Mercy, shows that Wisdom combined with patience will bring Victory. The Middle Pillar, or Pillar of Mildness, teaches us that in this world we should seek to establish our foundation in beauty and equilibrium. The left pillar holds the attributes of femininity and passivity, while the right pillar is masculine and active. A numerically descending line is noticeable from Binah (sephera 3, Saturn) the first planet in the Rites of Eleusis series) to Yesod (sephera 9, Luna) the seventh and last of the Rites. Working away from godhead would seem at first to be working against the goal of the rituals of the Rites of Eleusis, that is, achievement of a re-connection with God. 36 Figure 3: The Tree of Life 37 Figure 4: The Three Realms on the Tree of Life 38  And yet, by structuring Rites to reflect this specific process or progression, Crowley is demonstrating that the path to God leads ultimately toward Man, not away from him. 39 Figure 5: The Two Pillars 40  CHAPTER 1 THE THEATRE OF SPIRITUALITY There never was a community of people who got together and said, “Why don’t we have a theatre? We need a theatre. Where are the actors?” That never happened in the history of the world. A few hams got together and said “Let’s get up on the stage and do something.” In the caves somebody stood up and told a story. Nobody said “Let’s have a story” until they’d heard a story (Orson Welles, American Film Institute Awards, 1976). Introduction The question of origins is an important one, but it is often difficult to determine where the answer to the question should begin. Every event has its precursors, influences that have shaped and informed it, and each of those, in turn, have theirs. In order to create a semblance of structure, this dissertation will progress chronologically or, in another sense, geometrically. Following the form of a pyramid, this first chapter may be seen as the broad base which creates the foundation upon which is then built a smaller, more focused second chapter. That is followed by an even more specific third chapter, and so on. 41  This first chapter addresses the basic historical and psychological issues which informed the creation of Aleister Crowley’s Rites of Eleusis: the relationship between man and God, the relationship between society and God, and man’s use of art as a means of communicating about and to God. In doing so, brief overviews are presented illustrating these relationships through time, concluding with the late nineteenth century, the period in which Crowley was coming into his own as an artist and philosopher. The Beginnings of Myth There are certain behaviors of humanity which transcend geography, linguistics, chronology, and race. One of these, as the quote above from Orson Welles suggests, is the urge to tell stories. The focus of this dissertation is not to discuss the interpretations and uses of terms such as “narrative,” “story,” or “discourse.”16 For the purpose of this dissertation I posit that a narrative is created when events are identified as being significant and are placed in a sequence that allows our brains to make meaning out of those events. The human brain is in a constant, conscious and subconscious, search for meaning and understanding. This is a survival instinct. We search for meaning in the context of the events of our own lives, we search for meaning in the context of global events, and we even search for meaning in the context of galactic motion, action and reaction. No event is too great or too small but that human beings will look within it for some connection to a greater narrative, and a larger meaning created by the same humans observing those events. Our minds constantly seek to identify patterns by which we may recognize and communicate our location and condition to ourselves and to others. 16 See Phelan and Rabinowitz (1994), and Chatman (1993) for a more detailed analysis of the varieties of available terminology and their applications. 42  Anyone who begins a discourse by stating “This is how it was” is inviting conflict. History, even history as recent as yesterday’s news, is a combination of interpretation and conjecture, or, as Will Durant writes in Our Oriental Heritage “most history is guessing, and the rest is prejudice” (Durant, 1954:12). Many times we may be comfortable in stating “This is what happened,” only to be proven wrong later when new evidence surfaces. While historians attempt to reconstruct the past, both they and their audience must be prepared to stay aware that those reconstructions are temporary and will be revised, expanded, or possibly rejected entirely. To be an historian one must assume the mantles of scholar, detective, playwright, and mind reader in order to compose a clear explanation of how and why events unfolded, and what implications lie within. It is an especially challenging role when one considers a time before written records, where all the evidence consists of a few images on a stone wall and tenuous analogies made in relation to contemporary primitive cultures. Historians examine events in order to discover patterns and /or meanings reflective of a broader context, and it is not uncommon for more than one interpretation to arise from a single event. The origin of the idea of the myth and of mythmaking has been examined by numerous scholars such as Walter Burkert, G. S. Kirk, Joseph Campbell, even Northrope Frye. Richard Caldwell (1989) offers the theory that myths serve a variety of needs ranging from the therapeutic, such as anxiety reduction experienced in the cathartic reaction associated with the ancient Greek tragedies, to the anthropological (“why are these people the way they are and why do they do what they do?”). Lauri Honko (Dundes, 1984: 41-52) suggests that no one answer provides the explanation for the creation of myths, but that their functions may include (1) myth as source of cognitive 43 categories; (2) myth as form of symbolic expression; (3) myth as projection of the sub- conscious; (4) myth as world view; (5) myth as charter of behavior; (6) myth as legitimation of social institutions; (7) myth as marker of social relevance; (8) myth as mirror of culture and social structure; (9) myth as the result of an historical situation; (10) myth as religious communication; (11) myth as religious genre; (12)