Psychoactives, Mysticism and the Occult

A Note on Drug References in Crowley’s Writings by Rendi

Crowley was a very prolific writer and to include all of his writings in the Entheogen Encyclopedia would take up too much disc space to be jutifiable. Most of what he wrote concerned occult magick and his writing on this subject is usually painstakingly idiosyncratic for all but occult aficionados to appreciate. Crowley often incorporated mind-alerting substances into his mystical and occult practices and he was a heroin addict for much of his life but he wrote very little that openly discusses the use of these substances (and for one of these works he used the pen name Oliver Haddo). I know of very few titles by Crowley that directly concern psychoactive substances.
One is a full-length novel (loosely based on actual events) called Diary of a Drug Fiend. This is the story of two lovers who fall into a passionate love affair with cocaine, heroin and each other, their descent into addiction and their subsequent conquest of this addiction through Crowley’s proposed method of cure. I have not been able to find an e-book version of this novel.
The other two major works concerning psychoactive substances are The Herb Dangerous (originally written under the pen name Oliver Haddo), Absinthe, and the Green Goddess. There are also chapters in the books Little Essays Towards Truth and Liber Aleph vel CXI – The Book of Wisdom or Folly that concern such substances.
In Little Essays Towards Truth there is the chapter Laughter that mentions certain substances. In Liber Aleph there is the chapter De Medicinis Secundum Quattour Elementa (On Chemical Agents according to the Four Elements) and the chapter De Herbo Sanctissimo Aribico (On the Most Holy Grass of the Arabs). I have included or excerpted these chapters in this folder.
In Laughter I have highlighted the mention of the suspect substances in bold red. There are other mentions of certain substances in his works, but as author Chris Bennett has observed, “Considering the strong role it played in his magickal techniques, it is curious to note that after Crowley wrote The Psychology of Hashish there are only a few scattered direct references to cannabis in his writings.”
Furthermore, Bennett observes that, “It was not until the twenties and the completion of his books The Book of Wisdom or Folly and the Tarot of the Egyptian's, The Book of Thoth that he again wrote at length on hashish. A piece entitled 'De Herbo Sanctisimo Aribico', 'The Most Holy Grass of the Arabs', appears in both these books.” – Chris Bennett, The Great and Wild Beast 666 and the Devil’s Weed
Of related interest, I have included a few works written about Crowley and drugs in the folder Crowley & Drugs, the best of these is definitely the above quoted The Great and Wild Beast 666 and the Devil’s Weed by Chris Bennett who, as the reader may know, also wrote Green Gold the Tree of Life: Marijuana in Magic and Religion. I have also written out all the excerpts from Lawrence Sutins Crowley biography Do What Thou Wilt that concerned Crowley’s use of drugs in magick and consciousness exploration (as opposed to the use of cocaine and heroin due to addiction alone) and included it in that folder.
In these works I have highlighted specific mentions of mind-altering substances in bold red. Of particular interest is the article that discusses the question of whether Crowley had introduced Aldous Huxley to mescaline (as some have claimed) and a passage from Do What Thou Wilt that addresses the same issue. This question has long been debated. This is an important question concerning the history of entheogens because Huxley was of course a very important factor for the psychedelic renaissance of the 1960’s. As the reader may know, Crowley was one of the many people depicted on the Beatles Sgt. Pepper album cover. This fact alone prompted many psychedelic “heads” to seek out and read the work of Crowley and this in turn revived a general interest in his writings and caused the reprinting of many of his works that were becoming lost in amnesiac obscurity.
A piece on Crowley’s Rites of Eleusis is included because during the private performance of this rite, friends, students and associates were given doses of what was then called Anhalonium lewinii which is today known as Lophophora williamsii or Peyote cactus! This rite included archetypal themes, theatric drama, dance, music and occult ritual. This was also performed publicly but the audience was not given any mind-altering substances. Newspapers of the time printed reviews of this performance and the general opinion was that although the content remained obscure to the general audience member, the actual performance was wonderful. One can only imagine how sublime this experience must have been for an one of his close friends and acquaintances who had taken peyote! I have included a piece on this performance from Leilawadell.com.
There is a rare and out-of-print book out there entitled Crowley on Drugs (ISBN-10: 1561840165 & ISBN-13: 978-1561840168) that I have been unable to find much info about. Any additional info on this topic would be eagerly welcomed. Thank you.
- Rendi Case