The Wholesome Astrology of Aleister Crowley
Crowley, who died in 1947, was the author of The Book of Law, a text which he said was dictated to him in Cairo by an entity named Aiwass, and which became the central text of Thelema, the religion he founded which tells its followers that “do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law”. Crowley, who was also a mountaineer, yoga enthusiast, occultist, poet, painter, rumoured spy and magician, became known in the press as “the wickedest man in the world” after the wife of one of his disciples blamed her husband’s death on drinking the blood of a sacrificed cat.
What, would we say, is the most prestigious and privileged partition of the Skyclock?
Many might identify the end of Tropical Leo and the start of Virgo, in the roughly 4 Degree ORB OF INFLUENCE of the Royal Star Regulus: which of all the Cardinal Cross of Fixed Stars — also including Aldebaran, Antares and Fomalhaut — is the only one to sit on the line of the Sun’s Ecliptic.
Despite representing a sample size of n=1, the fated ascension of the Supreme Orange Leader of the Realm is the clearest possible expression of the archetype of the Star symbolised as a Celestial Throne.
Perhaps next comes Aldebaran — the Eye of the Bull, roughly 10 Degrees Gemini, which is directly adjacent where the Sun just reset Hermes.
Look just below, and we can spot Prometheus: directly adjacent to a cluster of Seven Sister Stars more commonly know as the Pleiades. Needless to say, we can also consider this section of the Skyclock, which correlates to the latter part of Tropical Taurus and the early part of Tropical Gemini, as Hot Celestial Property.
(For the record, your humble digger has no planets in either region, so I am coming at this entirely objectively.)
Except... if we zoom out a little further, we find a more notorious character lurking on the outskirts of the Ecliptic.
While it might seem strange for a Luminary of such infamy as Caput Algol to be located so far out of the action, the programmings of the Skyclock work in mysterious ways — many other notable Fixed Stars, including Fomalhaut and Betelgeuse, are spaced a similar distance away.
It is hard to deny, from its repeated prominence in the Celestial Stories of notable world figures, that the part of the Ecliptic tied to the myth of Medusa has some spice to it. But while it was certainly known as a star especially linked to wealth and fame, that fame was also said to come with the potential for violent misfortune if misused.
To go back to our case study of n=1, the Chosen Tangerine (ALLEGEDLY) came close to suffering such a fate when Uranus and Mars were Conjunct Algol at the highest point of his Natal Chart. The Natal Sun of the Moonchild’s Chosen Chums is also in that vicinity, and we sure are getting a stark depiction of the kind of Algol-inspired violence that the Ancients warned us about.
To continue broadening our sample: how about the last time Uranus was in the vicinity of Algol… did we see chaotic, disruptive and revolution-enducing scenes of shocking violence — even literal beheadings — as we are now? Given, that Conjunction occurred as WWII kicked off in earnest across 1940 and 1941, I think we can confidently say yes.
The Myth of Medusa is a fairly Plutonic story arc on her own terms; what happens when instead we have the Lord of the Underworld himself, parked in this particularly spicy piece of Celestial property?
We can trace the passage of Pluto over Algol — 24 Degrees Taurus at the time — from roughly 1874 to 1878.
1875 to 1877 are particularly potent, with Uranus making a Square from the end of Leo, approaching Regulus territory.
1875 is given the win, thanks to Kronos moving through to complete the Fixed T-Square from Aquarius.
We even get a Jupiter-Neptune Opposition — ticking off all the Outer Planets — between August and October.
Let’s get to the point: if you were a Celestial Scriptwriter, this is a period you would want to make the most of — particularly by hitting those Medusa Degrees from 22 to 26.
And thus we find the Two Lovers, Venus and Mars, Squaring off in the Cardinal Signs. Not just that, but Venus at Home at 24.24 Libra Conjunct the Beautiful Star Spica; Mars in Exaltation at 22.52 Capricorn.
Overall, Ares fairs better, it would be fair to say: getting the all-but-exact Trine from Pluto. Aphrodite ends up with the often dreaded QUINCUNX Aspect — although in this case, she is the Ruler of Pluto in her other Home Sign (and, it goes without saying, Medusa).
Actually, call her Persephone rather than Aphrodite, hidden under the rays of the Sun — traditionally at Fall in the Sign Opposite his Exaltation in Aries.
That’s also the Sun, perfectly harmonising that Saturn-Uranus Opposition.
And that is also Hermes, across the road in Scorpio, sneaking into a T-Square with Kronos and Prometheus.
And what about that provocating biatch Luna? She has many memorable moments to choose from, but this could be Top 5: hitting the Grand Trine sweet spot between Mars and Pluto in Pisces, and in doing so putting Persephone at the apex of one of the spiciest Fingers of God Yods the Wild Feminine Mind might imagine up.
No Celestial Story is complete these days without The Wounded Healer, and certainly neither was this one: there is Chiron, Opposite to Persephone, and with Ares now finding himself at the Apex of a T-Square.
But there is one final thing, something also highly relevant to the Astrological period we are currently in, that we can only see by taking out Chiron — as well as those other three fringe dwellers — and then subbing in our hidden Celestial Dragon.
The Serpent: do you sssssee it?
Now, we do have an official (albeit C-rated) birth time for The Beast — although, if there is one publicly-available time of incarnation that cannot be trusted, then surely it is that of the OG Occult Astrologer.
Nonetheless, this is what we have been provided: 11.42pm, placing the Ascendant at 8 Degrees Leo and that Chart Ruling Sun in the 3rd House Conjunct the IC.
Leo Rising certainly makes sense, for such a dramatic figure (notwithstanding the lack of a mane). So too would Uranus in the 1st House, Squaring Pluto in the 10th: for what else was the Man known for, if not for the Radical Liberation of the Self… and a reputation for highly “Plutonic” activities?
There are other ways to assess the accuracy of a birth time: such as through tracking the Transits during key phases of his life. Let us conclude this spiciest of celebrity horoscopes by looking at six separate events.
1 — The Book of the Law
His most famous contribution to the Realm is The Book of the Law — which was (ALLEGEDLY) channeled from an entity called Aiwass over three days from April 8 to 10, 1904. That this occurred during his Honeymoon, which was also the peak of his Saturn Return in Aquarius, which as a Leo Rising places his Saturn in the 7th House of Relationships and Marriage… well, let’s just say it checks out so far.
There you can see an exact 7th House Saturn Return: along with Transiting Venus on his 8th House Pisces Moon, Jupiter on his North Node, and the Sun plonked on his MC for good measure. And there also is Pluto at the 19th Degree of Gemini, now in his 11th House of Collective Legacy, forming a Grand Trine to his Natal Saturn and Sun.
2 — The Abbey of Thelema
The book of the Law would serve as the textbook for Crowley’s very own Secret Society: Thelema. In April 1920, in the midst of Heroin addiction, Crowley fully embraced cult leader status and established the “Abbey of Thelema” in an old villa in Sicily. This corresponds, quite fittingly, with a Jupiter-Neptune Conjunction on the Degree of his Ascendent — consider me convinced, but let’s play it out till the end nonetheless.
3 — The Moonchild Manifesto
Most importantly for our purposes, Crowley released his book “Moonchild” in 1929 (although it was apparently written at least a decade earlier). This was the novel in which he set out the enjoyable premise that the world is run by two opposing factions of Magicians (one “Light” and one “Dark”) who are essentially battling each other to bring into being, through ritualised artificial insemination of a Homunculus, a chosen “Moonchild” who will change the fate of humanity.
Pluto would have been in his Cancer 12th House by this point — the House of what is Hidden, Supernatural, a Mystery — exactly Squaring his Natal Sun (with Venus soon to follow). That his Squared Sun is Conjunct the most Personal and Sensitive point in his chart would also explain the eye-watering disclosures in his book released a year later: The Confessions of Aleister Crowley.
4 — The Book of Thoth
Let’s skip forward to the 1940s, when Pluto would enter Leo and encroach upon The Beast’s point of Soul Entry. Pluto and Rahu would in fact make a Conjunction above his Ascendant at the end of 1943, just as Crowley was completing his Tarot thesis “The Book of Thoth” and the accompanying Thoth Card Deck.
5 — The Babalon Working
Pluto would still be within a few Degrees of his Ascendant in early 1946, when the now infamous Babalon Working would be undertaken by two of his most infamous acolytes — Jack Parsons and L Ron Hubbard — attempting to bring the Moonchild “theory” into practice.
Indeed, it is interesting to see things take shape over the first half of the year: Mars enters Leo to Conjunct Pluto before moving on to the end of Leo; Jupiter passes and then Retrogrades back over his Natal Sun, making a Trine to a Uranus-Rahu Conjunction in Gemini; Saturn moves into an Opposition to his Mars and Square to his Venus from Cancer.
In fact, we can even look to an exact date — the 14th of June, the day of a Total Lunar Eclipse — when things truly seem to align: the Full Moon Opposition exactly Square his Natal Moon, Jupiter Stationed Direct on his IC, Venus joining Saturn in that Venus-Mars T-Square. And at just before 11am (Moonchild Standard Time), the Head of Medusa would have been perched at the highest point of the sky.
One could scarcely imagine a grander Celestial Script.
6 — Death (ALLEGEDLY)
In the end, Hades got the better of its most famous adherent: with the Head of the Celestial Dragon exactly over the Degree of his Natal Pluto — and, of course Algol — Crowley would die on the 1st of December the next year.
ALLEGEDLY
Understand your Celestial Story:
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Uhm… 👀 I feel like you have sufficiently unearthed one of the strangest component in this timeline. I knew a little about Crowley but the more you tell us the more convinced I am that he is a major character that is rarely discussed. The fact that he is connected to Scientology alone deserves its own book.