Perdurabo, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Life of Aleister Crowley

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A rigorously researched biography of the founder of modern magick, as well as a study of the occult, sexuality, Eastern religion, and more The name "Aleister Crowley" instantly conjures visions of diabolic ceremonies and orgiastic indulgences-and while the sardonic Crowley would perhaps be the last to challenge such a view, he was also much more than "the Beast," as this authoritative biography shows. Perdurabo-entitled after the magical name Crowley chose when inducted into the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn-traces Crowley's remarkable journey from his birth as the only son of a wealthy lay preacher to his death in a boarding house as the world's foremost authority on magick. Along the way, he rebels against his conservative religious upbringing; befriends famous artists, writers, and philosophers (and becomes a poet himself); is attacked for his practice of "the black arts"; and teaches that science and magick can work together. While seeking to spread his infamous philosophy of, "Do what thou wilt ...