Who was her mother?
From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Mattichak
Sent: Tuesday, 8 November 2011 3:49 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Ben's Crowley and Grief Paper
Hi Ben;
Lola lived until 1990. These links are all that I have ever found of
Crowley's children online:
http://www.lashtal.com/nuke/PNphpBB2-viewtopic-t-1102-start-30.phtml
http://www.tarotforum.net/archive/index.php/t-78825.html
I feel that this is another example of Crowley not being able to comprehend
Thelema very fully. I have thought for a while that Crowley was only able to
understand a portion of what he had been given. I discuss this more
completely in my book A Comment on the Verses of the Book of the Law. I can
send you an e-copy if you are interested (or you could support a fledgling
writer and buy a copy :))
David G Mattichak jr
> Date: Tue, 8 Nov 2011 04:35:34 +0000
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Ben's Crowley and Grief Paper
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> Thanks, Caroline!
>
> A minor point: unless I'm wildly mistaken, I don't believe Crowley was
ever confronted with the death of Lola Zaza (who survived him), but he did
endure the loss of Nuit and Poupee (Anne Leah).
>
> Well, to put some flesh on the bones - it's not yet apparent to me how
shaken Crowley was by Nuit's death, but his account of Poupee's death in The
Confessions tells a very clear story of overwhelming and enduring grief.
Crowley claims to have overcome that sorrow through introspection and
cathartic emotional expression, but until he did, the fact of her death
seemed to continually torment him.
>
> From an occult point of view, Crowley seemed to take the standard line
that death is not to be feared, being merely separation of the higher self
from the gross physical body. This ultimately leads to a glorious
dissolution of the ephemeral aspects, and possibly rebirth of the fixed
self. (As I made a point of in the talk, this is very close to the doctrine
of mortality espoused by Theosophists and by less literally-minded
Spiritualists.) The correlate of that doctrine is that there is no need to
fear or mourn death, and The Book of the Law speaks of death as a glorious
thing ("thy death shall be beautiful/a feast for life and a greater feast
for death/death is the crown of all", etc.) Crowley also offers the
doctrines of the Book of the Law as consolation (in "Concerning Death", for
example.)
>
> Evidently, however, that doctrine alone did not dispel the grief that
Crowley felt. In the paper, I used this to support my argument that we need
to distinguish between grief/bereavement and metaphysical assurance. For
example, in my thesis, I suggest that Spiritualists used the seance as a
form of mourning practice, rather than simply being insensible to grief as a
result of their convictions. Of course, convictions and mourning practices
are interrelated, so I take a dual-approach... recognising doctrines of
death on the one hand, identifying practices and languages of mourning on
the other. These may supervene, but aren't reducible to one another.
>
> If anyone has a more nuanced interpretation of Crowley's views on
mortality, I'd be interested to hear it. I've certainly not yet delved into
the fullness of his thought!
>
> All the best,
>
> Ben
>
> On Tue, 8 Nov 2011 14:42:50 +1100, Caroline Tully <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
>
> >Hi,
> >
> >
> >
> >I haven't told the list about Ben's Crowley and Grief paper (except to
> >initially publicise it). Well, I guess Ben can fill in everything I am
> >leaving out - as he knows it best - but the main part that I was
interested
> >in was how, despite the instructions about how to view death in Liber AL,
> >when Crowley was confronted with death (as in Lola Zaza and Poupee) , he
> >didn't tend to follow those instructions, at least initially. Ben used
> >several of Crowley's texts to duiscuss this, and perhaps you - Ben -
might
> >like to fill in this absolute skeleton that I've put here?
> >
> >
> >
> >Caroline Tully.
> >
> >
> >
> >PhD Candidate
> >
> >Centre for Classics and Archaeology
> >
> >University of Melbourne
> >
> >Australia
> >
> >http://www.cca.unimelb.edu.au/
> >
> >
> >
> >Academia.Edu
> >
> >http://unimelb.academia.edu/CarolineTully
> >
> >
> >
> >Necropolis Now Blog
> >
> >http://necropolisnow.blogspot.com/
> >
> >
> >
> >
