Varieties of Magical Experience: Aleister Crowley’s Views on Occult Practice

Aleister Crowley's effort to reinterpret occult practices through a naturalistic and psychological lens conflicted with his self-conception as the founder of a new religion. Examining his views on spiritualist phenomena, yoga, and magic reveals that Crowley saw his life as a continuous arc of spiritual development. Although he absorbed the influence of authors like William James and Henry Maudsley to modernize traditional occult interpretations, he stopped short of fully naturalizing or psychologizing magic.

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Abstract

This article argues that Aleister Crowley’s desire to understand his own occultism in naturalized and psychologized terms was in tension with his view of himself as the leader and founder of a new religion. Crowley’s attitudes towards spiritualist phenomena are here examined together with his views on yoga and magic, showing how Crowley saw himself as leading a life of continuous and consistent spiritual development. Even as Crowley worked to naturalize and psychologize traditional interpretations of occult practices in a modern framework, absorbing the influence of authors such as William James and Henry Maudsley, nevertheless he did not go all the way to a complete naturalization and psychologization of magic.