Crowley inspired Jack Parsons who helped found the Jet Propulsion Lab. He’s the forerunner of the 60s free-love & drugs movement, which informs Steven Brand’s Whole Earth Catalog and Don Buchla.
Crowley’s also the easiest mystic to find in the English speaking world, and maybe “the west”. He cultivated infamy, leaving traces of himself all over the media through the early 20th century.
I think he’s the first “influencer”, the first to take power-for-power’s sake out of church and national leadership and to use it to influence the public at large. And he also pretends to teach others how to do that too, through his writings. He’s the model for all TV evangelists. (Actually, he was rubbish at bringing in money so he’s the model of what not to do if you want to be a TV evangelist)
He’s also a case study in the moral decay of power. Born rich; squandered it all; cares about no-one whilst professing a system of universal love; retired to relative obscurity, heroin addiction, and obsession with prostitutes.
The tarot deck he made with Lady Frida Harris is incredible.
Replying to myself, and to expand on a point I didn't make as well as I should. I don't think there's any moral or ethical problem with offering or consuming prostitution. There's a moral and ethical problem with how prostitution is handled and how many prostitutes are treated. I dare say Crowley made liberal use of the bad behaviours society tolerates around prostitution. The "moral decay of power" and "obsession with prostitutes" which I'm talking about here refers to Crowley's seeming lack of care about anyone, and disinterest in cultivating love for the sake of company and shared enjoyment of activities. His poorly-acknowledged need for intimacy and connection drove him to only have transactional relationships that petered out, or exhausted the participants, levering all parties under-nourished or wounded.
Of course, I wasn't there and didn't see any of this happen. I'm inferring based on casual research. The notable sources behind these opinions are:
[2]: occasional off-hand discussions with friends and similar ideas echoed in places like the Rune Soup podcast - http://podcast.runesoup.com (there's probably some episodes on Crowely specifically but I'm taking reference more from the general opinion of him expressed by the podcast's presenter)
Crowley’s also the easiest mystic to find in the English speaking world, and maybe “the west”. He cultivated infamy, leaving traces of himself all over the media through the early 20th century.
I think he’s the first “influencer”, the first to take power-for-power’s sake out of church and national leadership and to use it to influence the public at large. And he also pretends to teach others how to do that too, through his writings. He’s the model for all TV evangelists. (Actually, he was rubbish at bringing in money so he’s the model of what not to do if you want to be a TV evangelist)
He’s also a case study in the moral decay of power. Born rich; squandered it all; cares about no-one whilst professing a system of universal love; retired to relative obscurity, heroin addiction, and obsession with prostitutes.
The tarot deck he made with Lady Frida Harris is incredible.