Aleister Crowley in England

Aleister Crowley in England offers a detailed examination of the last 15 years of Crowley’s life. It reveals Crowley’s sex magick relations in London and his contacts with important figures, such as Dion Fortune, Gerald Gardner, Jack Parsons, Dylan Thomas, and black equality activist Nancy Cunard.

The book explores Crowley’s nick-of-time escape from the Nazi takeover in Germany and provides extensive confirmation of his work for British intelligence. It also examines the development of Crowley’s later publications and his articles reacting to the Nazi Gestapo's persecution of his followers in Germany.

After an extraordinary life filled with magical workings, occult fame, and artistic pursuits around the globe, Aleister Crowley spent the last fifteen years of his life in his native England, nearly penniless. This final period of the Beast’s life, though less examined than his early years, was just as filled with sex magick, espionage, romance, transatlantic conflict, and extreme behaviour.

Drawing on previously unpublished diaries and letters, Tobias Churton provides the first detailed treatment of Crowley’s final years, from 1932 to 1947. The book opens with Crowley’s escape from Nazi Germany and his return to England, flat broke. Churton offers extensive confirmation of Crowley’s role as a secret operative for MI5 and explores how Crowley viewed World War II as a turning point for the “New Aeon.”

He examines Crowley’s notorious 1934 London trial, which led to his bankruptcy, and shares inside stories of Crowley’s relationships with Californian O.T.O. followers, including rocket-fuel specialist Jack Parsons. Churton details Crowley’s attempt to take over H. Spencer Lewis’s Rosicrucian Order and his sex magick relations in London. Furthermore, he reveals Crowley’s contacts with spiritual leaders, including Wicca founder Gerald Gardner, and his associations with artists like Dylan Thomas, Alfred Hitchcock, Augustus John, Peter Warlock, and Peter Brooks.

The book also addresses accusations of racism against Crowley, exploring his work with lifelong friend and black equality activist Nancy Cunard. Churton examines the development of Crowley’s later publications, such as Magick without Tears, and his articles in response to the Nazi Gestapo's active persecution of his followers in Germany.

Presenting an intimate and compelling study of Crowley in middle and old age, Churton demonstrates how the Beast continued to wield a wand-like power to delight and astonish.