Introduction by the Editors
The Magical Diaries of Leah Hirsig, 1923-1925 September 9, 2025 Manon Hedenborg White, Henrik Bogdan
Leah Hirsig, a Swiss-American schoolteacher, became the lover and follower of British occultist Aleister Crowley in the 1920s and was appointed the Scarlet Woman, the human avatar of the Thelemic goddess Babalon and Crowley's feminine counterpart. Her involvement in Thelema, from 1918–1919 until her departure in 1927–1930, is traced and situated within the changing roles of women in the early twentieth century, relating to the literary trope of the "New Woman." Esoteric movements of the time often offered heightened opportunities for women's leadership, but Hirsig's occult involvement was also shaped by gendered inequalities in work and reproductive rights.