This definitive work on the occult's \"great beast\" traces the arc of his controversial life and influence on rock-and-roll giants, from the Rolling Stones to Led Zeppelin to Black Sabbath. When Aleister Crowley died in 1947, he was not an obvious contender for the most enduring pop-culture figure of the next century. But twenty years later, Crowley's name and image were everywhere. The Beatles put him on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The Rolling Stones were briefly serious devotees. Today, his visage hangs in goth clubs, occult temples, and college dorm rooms, and his methods of ceremonial magick animate the passions of myriad occultists and spiritual seekers. Aleister Crowley is more than just a biography of this compelling, controversial, and divisive figure--it's also a portrait of his unparalleled influence on modern pop culture.

Explore the enigmatic ties between celebrities in satanism, and the occult, from rumored devil worship to the symbolism in pop culture.

Highlights This definitive work on the occult's "great beast" traces the arc of his controversial life and influence on rock-and-roll giants, from the Rolling Stones to Led Zeppelin to Black Sabbath. About the Author: Gary Lachman is one of today's most respected writers on esoteric and occult themes. 400 Pages Biography + Autobiography, Religious Description Book Synopsis This definitive work on the occult's "great beast" traces the arc of his controversial life and influence on rock-and-roll giants, from the Rolling Stones to Led Zeppelin to Black Sabbath. When Aleister Crowley died in 1947, he was not an obvious contender for the most enduring pop-culture figure of the next century. But twenty years later, Crowley's name and image were everywhere. The Beatles put him on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The Rolling Stones were briefly serious devotees. Today, his visage hangs in goth clubs, occult temples, and college dorm rooms, and his methods of ceremonial magick animate the passions of myriad occultists and spiritual seekers. Aleister Crowley is more than just a biography of this compelling, controversial, and divisive figure--it's also a portrait of his unparalleled influence on modern pop culture. Review Quotes "Clocking in at 394 pages jam-packed with in-depth information, factoids, anecdotes and insights from the first sentence to the last. A historical biography through and through, Lachman's book is meticulously researched and it is quite easy to believe that the author, like a professor well-versed in their subject, could analyze and extrapolate at much greater lengths. The oft touted declaration of Crowley as the Wickedest Man in the World, may well have been overblown in it's own time, but he's certainly not an individual with whom it is easy to empathize. As detestable as he is, there is an undeniable fascination in his exploits, and Lachman seems the perfect man to deliver them." --The Examiner "Gary Lachman has become an increasingly prolific engine of literate, well-written, and clear-headed books about esoteric history and 'occulture.' " --Erik Davis, author of TechGnosis "Thinking outside the box, Lachman challenges many contemporary theories by reinserting a sense of the spiritual back into the discussion." --Leonard Shlain, author of Art & Physics and Alphabet versus the Goddess About the Author Gary Lachman is one of today's most respected writers on esoteric and occult themes. His books--including Swedenborg, Jung the Mystic, and Rudolf Steiner--have received international acclaim. A founding member of Blondie, Lachman has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He lives in London.

The current occult revival has its origins in the counterculture of the 60s. From Satanism to Kitchen Witchery occultists recorded spoken-word albums of magical instructions & rituals, accompan…

I learned many things during my recent conversation with David Tibet (Current 93 and related projects) and Youth (Killing Joke, the Orb, the Fireman, Brother Culture, Pink Floyd, et al.) about their fabulous new album as Hypnopazūzu. One of these was that during the early 80s, a British pop magazine had, at Tibet’s urging, numbered its final issue 666 and put Aleister Crowley on the cover. Tibet had written the cover story, too, about the Beast and his influence on pop musicians. Both Youth and Tibet seemed to think the magazine in question was Smash Hits, but in fact Flexipop! was the one that employed Mark Manning/Zodiac Mindwarp as art editor and concluded with the Crowley issue. Though I wasn’t there, Flexipop! seems much hipper than Smash Hits from my vantage point: Every issue came with a flexi disc, and alongside the shit (and not) pop stars of the day, they profiled quality bands like the Birthday Party, Pigbag, Motörhead, Bauhaus, and Killing Joke (Youth dropped his pants in the pages of No. 19). Having reached the kabbalistically significant number 32 with their second-to-last issue in June 1983—featuring both Killing Joke sans Youth and Brilliant, Youth’s new...

H.R. Giger is an artist that was way fucking before his time, and his influence on underground and pop culture is HUGE! His art, in some ways, has shown the world where it was going before it even knew how to get there. He was able to mix fantasy with reality in such a powerful […]

The men’s gathering is a summer ritual in Sonoma County, where protesters flock by the gates, security is high and conspiracy theories abound.

Learn about the newest art exhibit “Occult in History and Pop Culture” at The Mystic Museum in Burbank, California.

Meaning

What is a cult? What do cults and the occult have in common? Is the occult dangerous? All these questions and more will be answered about this often misunderstood topic.

Occult traditions have inspired musical ingenuity for centuries. From the Pythagorean concept of a music of the spheres to the occult subculture of 20th-century pop and rock, music has often attempted to express mystical states of mind, cosmic harmony, the demonic and the divine--nowhere more so, perhaps, than in the music for films such as The Mephisto Waltz, The Devil Rides Out, Star Trek, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Omen and The Exorcist. This survey explores how such film music works and uncovers its origins in Pythagorean and Platonic ideas about the divine order of the universe and its essentially numerical/musical nature. Chapters trace the influence of esoteric Freemasonry on Mozart and Beethoven, the birth of \"demonic\" music in the 19th century with composers such as Weber, Berlioz and Liszt, Wagner's racial mysticism, Schoenberg's numerical superstition, the impact of synesthesia on art music and film, the effect of theosophical ideas on composers such as Scriabin and Holst, supernatural opera and ballet, fairy music and, finally, popular music in the 1960s and '70s.

Forget trenchcoats and black eyeliner. Gothic art has a rich history beyond the cliches. Faye Dowling’s The Book of Black tells its story – and introduces a new generation of devotees, from artists and graphic designers to tattooists

Casey Rae I’ve told the story more times than I can count. Five or six years old, hanging out with my high school-age uncles in a town just a couple of clicks from Stephen King‘s place and a few hurried steps through a creepy wooded path to the university where