Aleister Crowley and the Temptation of Politics

Marco Pasi is Assistant Professor of History of Hermetic Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

"As Pasi shows, the occultist, magician and writer was a gadfly, an ironist, an ambitious radical and always a controversialist in his flirtation with the main currents of 20th-century thought… Pasi’s book proves an admirable introduction to the complex magical and political connections of this most elusive of figures." - Times Higher Education"A pioneering study of Crowley’s relationship to politics. Marco Pasi’s brilliant analysis of events, facts and ideas refutes many of the preconceived notions of the relationship between occultism and politics. This is a groundbreaking book not only for the study of Crowley, but also for 20th century occultism." - Henrik Bogdan, author of Western Esotericism and Rituals of Initiation, and co-editor of Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism"In this sweeping survey, Marco Pasi deftly reconstructs the political tapestries of Britain, Germany, Italy, France, the United States and Soviet Union, providing valuable context for the settings which influenced Crowely’s political thought, and against which that thought played out. Putting tired and inaccurate tropes about its subject to bed while opening doors to fresh areas of inquiry, this book should be on the shelf of anyone with an interest in Crowley or in the intersection of political and esoteric thought in the Twentieth Century." - Richard Kaczynski, author of Forgotten Templars: The Untold Origins of Ordo Templi Orientis and Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley"This must be the most anticipated of all esotericism-related publications that have appeared in 2013." - Heterodoxology blog

• Introduction 1. An Unspeakable Life 2. Magical Politics 3. Dangerous Liaisons 4. The Mouth of Hell 5. Counter-Initiation and Conspiracy Conclusion Appendix 1: Some Additional Remarks on Julius Evola and Aleister Crowley Hans Thomas Hakl Appendix 2: Key Documents. Index