Jack is joined by friend of the show, Wolf Fleetwood, for an in-depth journey into the wild and legendary life of Aleister Crowley—an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, novelist, painter, and mountaineer. This is the first installment of a multi-part series available exclusively on our Patreon. Aleister Crowley was an enigmatic and controversial figure, often shrouded in myth and mystery. Known as "The Great Beast 666" and dubbed "The Wickedest Man in the World" by the press, Crowley was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, and writer who dedicated his life to exploring the boundaries of the unknown. He claimed to have been contacted by a supernatural entity named Aiwass in 1904, who dictated The Book of the Law to him in Cairo, Egypt. This text became the cornerstone of Thelema, Crowley's spiritual philosophy, which proclaimed, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law," emphasizing individual will and spiritual liberation. Crowley was a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, but his unorthodox methods and rebellious nature led him to establish his own esoteric orders, including the A∴A∴ and the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO). His rituals often involved elaborate symbolism, sex magic, and invocations of ancient deities, blending Eastern mysticism, Western esotericism, and his own unique vision. Crowley's life was a tapestry of scandal, excess, and intrigue—he was a mountaineer, poet, and spy, rumored to have worked for British intelligence during World War I. His legacy is a paradox: revered by some as a visionary and prophet, yet reviled by others as a charlatan or even a harbinger of darkness. To this day, Crowley remains an enigmatic figure, his influence echoing through occult circles, art, music, and popular culture, leaving many to wonder whether he was a misunderstood genius or a man who truly tapped into forces beyond human understanding. Part 2 is out now and Part 3 is coming later this week. Listen to those and the rest of the series by signing up for the Otherworld Patreon. Check out our Merch Follow us on: Instagram, TikTok, Twitter For business inquiries contact: [email protected] If you have experienced something paranormal or unexplained, email us your story at [email protected] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: Who was Aleister Crowley known as the Great Beast?
Welcome to Otherworld. I'm your host, Jack Wagner. In this episode, we're going to begin diving in to the long, strange, and very complicated story of Aleister Crowley. He is known as the Great Beast, the wickedest man in the world. He is a self-proclaimed prophet of a new spiritual age, and a man who truly defies categorization.
He was an occultist, a poet, a mountaineer, a provocateur, and a revolutionary thinker whose influence continues to ripple through culture, spirituality, and the arts. He is, I believe, the first one to start spelling magic with a K. He is on the cover of a Beatles album, and Jimmy Page actually bought and lived in Aleister Crowley's former estate in Scotland for a while, very famously.
Chances are you have heard his name before. Maybe you have seen a picture of him. You might know a thing or two about him, but maybe not the full story. That's how it's always been for me. His name is one that pops up pretty quickly when you begin to explore the occult, spirituality, the paranormal, magic, any of the major themes that get brought up on this show, really.
He popped up in the series we did not long ago on Jack Parsons. He also popped up a little bit in the Zozo episodes that we did not long ago. Crowley's tendrils reach far and wide. Part of the reason I haven't tackled this topic sooner was because I knew that the full story was very, very complicated. And it's a little intimidating, to be honest with you.
A main reason that the story of Aleister Crowley is so complicated is because he is a very polarizing individual, and depending on whose version you're reading, he could be painted as either a brilliant visionary or a dangerous manipulating fraud. There are a lot of conflicting accounts out there about his life, and it could get pretty confusing researching this man.
The other reason is that the actual story of his life is genuinely one of the craziest things I have ever heard. So many parts of this are shocking, confusing, and hilarious. I think you'll find that I'm laughing quite a bit in the process of making this series, even though sometimes the parts are terrifying, disgusting, or bewildering. This man lived A very, very unique life.
And you're going to hear all about it in this multi-part series. To help me tackle this topic, friend of the show, Wolf Fleetwood Ross is back. He spent the last couple months reading every book he could find about Crowley, taking a lot of notes and putting together our version of his story. In this five-part series, Wolf is going to lead me through the very long story
and wild story of the wickedest man in the world, Aleister Crowley. I've decided to put this first part of the series on the main podcast feed for free. The other parts will be available on Patreon. To hear those, you could sign up at patreon.com slash otherworld. The second part is already up if you want to listen to it. and the others are coming very soon.
I believe this is going to be a five-part series. It's very long. Like I said, patreon.com slash otherworld to sign up and hear those. This is part one. The title is The Great Beast, and you're listening to Otherworld. Alright everybody, welcome to Otherworld. I am joined by a familiar character, Wolf Fleetwood Ross. How are you doing? Good to see you again, Wolf.
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Chapter 2: Why is Aleister Crowley a controversial figure?
Okay, I'm very excited about this.
So he... He started to begin to have this obsession with trying to leave Christianity. He wanted to sin in a way that burned the bridge behind him. So there was no going back. Like I said, he began to pray to the devil, but it didn't have any results. And he was really disappointed by that.
And then he says in his journal after that, he found out what masturbation was and, quote, I applied myself to this practice with much vigor. So that took the price of playing to Satan was jerking off basically in the beginning.
And he refers to it as a practice.
A practice, yes, to get better at.
He's a gooner of his time. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Some would say the gooner of all time. But we'll get into that.
Yeah, we will definitely get into that. So his... career at boarding school came to an end because he was being punished by this headmaster maybe fairly maybe unfairly actually but definitely unfairly because what was happening is he was being locked basically in a shed in solitary confinement with very little clothing was getting very very sick and
And when his mother and some relatives came to visit him, they knew that even for them, this was going too far. I mean, it's not like they didn't believe in physical punishment, but they actually went and got that school shut down and Crowley's education. Yeah. And Crowley's education started to, uh, basically come in the form of handpicked tutors, uh,
And for the most part, they were Plymouth brothers approved. However, there was one tutor called Charles Douglas who slipped through the cracks and really changed Crowley's life forever. Charles Douglas believed it was really important for young men to be physically fit as well as mentally fit.
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Chapter 3: How did Wolf Fleetwood Ross research Aleister Crowley's life?
Classic breakup situation. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a listener out there who had broken up with somebody for the same reasons. They don't like the occult and rock climbing. Yeah, I mean... The very Pacific Northwest style breakup, you could say.
Yeah, yeah. It's a lot of people in Portland go through the same thing. It's true. Tale as old as time. Totally. And then... Sort of a new person would enter Crowley's life who's called Oscar Wilde. I've heard the name. Yeah, right? And this would happen towards the end of his relationship with his live-in relationship. And they...
hated each other but actually more truthfully i think crowley hated him and oscar wilde barely knew who crowley was crowley would claim that oscar wilde was not actually gay and was doing it to be famous which is just not true at all um that's really funny yeah really funny and um Also during this relationship, Crowley started to suspect that he might be hermaphroditic because he had big breasts.
And he thought that this led him to understood women better than anyone because he knew his feminine side and could manipulate them. And as one biographer put it –
I'm sorry. I'm just like really appreciating that line of thinking.
Yeah. No, no. Exactly.
As one biographer – I'm assuming he was a large man at this age as well because he was rather – I think he would go in and out depending on how much rock climbing he was doing.
Okay. But one biographer said he wished he was a hermaphrodite but was unfortunately simply bisexual. Okay. Alright, so he moves on.
There's a lot of great quotes in here.
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