Aleister Crowley & Hermeticism

Hermeticism is an important and unique path of magic which has grown and evolved from a diverse mixing of psychological influences during two key periods in history. The Rennaissance was the first period, and the second period was during the Victorian era.

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn arose from the mesh of secret organizations & societies during that era. This organization harbored a large amount of English royal and aristocrats as members. As you might have guessed Aleister Crowley was one of these members. However shortly after joining he left and began work with the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO). Crowley added his own flavor to the mix of ideas of the OTO and its predecessors. This came in the form of the infamous “Book of the Law”, the single most important book of Thelema.

Crowley's pupils and contemporaries added a large amount of public and private literature to Hermeticism and contributed much to its growth into the new age.