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Crowley was undoubtedly the greatest Magickian of his time, and the most misunderstood. Most people seem to know Crowley only throgh Ozzy Osbourne's song, which didn't even pronounce his name correctly. (I still love Ozzy, though) You say that these things which Crowley and similarly minded people attribute to supernatural and/or magickal forces can be rationally explained away as workings of the mind. How does this possibility, in and of itself, make them any less magickal?? I am currently studying shamanism. In the classic vision quest scenario, the aspirant goes alone to a mountaintop and fasts for a few days, until he gets his "vision". Medical science proved long ago that if you deprive anyone of food for a few days, they will eventually begin to hallucinate. OK, fine. Does that knowledge somehow prove that the "vision" acquired is less than genuine? How do we know that this isn't a method created by (insert name of God/Divine Force of your choice here) for communicating a sacred vision? I don't see the two as mutually exclusive, and Crowley didn't either. In fact, much of his writing is filled with derisive comments about fuzzy thinkers, superstitious nut cases, and pretenders who didn't understand what they were dealing with. In Crowley's case, if we take his word, he received his "vision" (The Book Of The Law) completely unsolicited, and from a completely different path than the one he was studying. He initially put it away, shunned it, fought against its message, then, finally, begrudgingly, began to find his truth in it. It's worthy of note, also, that he refused followers, pushed them away. Most teachers say, "Believe me!" Crowley said, "Don't believe me! Experiment, study, learn for yourself!" I don 't consider myself a Thelemite, but I respect what he wrote and accomplished, and though my path is different from his, I do think a more serious and thorough study of Crowley's work would be beneficial to mainstream religious thought. The commonplace and explainable is no less magickal than the Hidden Esoteric Celestial Mysteries Of The Ages, in my view. I hope I don't sound like I'm arguing with ya, brother, cuz I think we're ultimately on the same page here.
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