Opening occult blinds reveals a bit of Aleister Crowley’s leg pulling

Opening occult blinds reveals a bit of Aleister Crowley‘s leg pulling over at Sarah Veale‘s Invocatio blog.

“If you’ve spent any time around the occult, you’ve no doubt heard of the term ‘occult blind.’ This is the idea that some writings are couched in terms that don’t immediately reveal their true meaning. The idea is to obfuscate the real message from ‘ordinary’ eyes, lest the information fall into the wrong hands. On such famous blind is Aleister Crowley’s assertion that he sacrificed 150 male children in one year. Obviously, Crowley didn’t really sacrifice children; rather he was referring to a specific magickal technique in coded terms.

Crowley wasn’t the only one to use this ‘veiled’ language, nor is it necessarily limited to occultists.” [via]

“Like Maimonides, how does one determine when Crowley is being straight with the reader and when he is pointing to a larger meaning? Personally, there have been many times where I think I ‘get’ Crowley, only to realize that picking up on one concealment doesn’t mean I’ve cracked the code. Rather, I wonder how many misdirections escaped my notice.” [via]

Consider also:

  1. “A red rose absorbs all colours but red; red is therefore the one colour that it is not.”
  2. “But thyself Ex-tinguish: HIMOG art thou, and HIMOG shalt thou be.”
  3. The Bridge of Lost Desire
  4. “‘Know ye not’ says the great initiate St. Paul, ‘that ye are the temples of the Most High; and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?'”
  5. Honoring the Lwa – A Show of Sacred Vodou Vessels