We have pretended that there was no such thing as sex, no such thing as venereal disease, that our publicists were True Believers in Christianity, that our women were pure and our men brave; we have howled down every man who dared to hint the truth: we have sowed the wind of pious phrases, and we must reap the whirlwind of war. It has been the same in every drawer of our cupboard—and now the skeleton is out.
Aleister Crowley, The Vindication of Nietzsche
But in this story, as in so many others, what we really discern is the deceptive, ambiguous, and giddy riddle of violence, passion, poetry, and symbolism that lies at the heart of Greek myth and refuses to be solved. An algebra too unstable properly to be computed, it is human-shaped and god-shaped, not pure and mathematical.
Stephen Fry, Mythos [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher]
People advocating pure this and pure that. Didn’t they know their history or learn anything from it?
J Damask, Wolf at the Door
For, sometimes, your heart seems as pure as the snow, While, at other times, dear, you’re one big Ho Ho Ho!
The Honourable Sir Edmund Quimlove, Santa In The Pink, Krampus In The Stink: An Adult Bedtime Poem
LII
I make pure the temple and clear out the fog
For God will not come to live in a dog!
As I purge myself from the base and common,
I raise up the cup and adore Babalon!
— In Nomine Babalon: 156 Adorations to the Scarlet Goddess
The Hermetic Library arts and letters pool is a project to publish poetry, prose and art that is inspired by or manifests the Western Esoteric Tradition. If you would like to submit your work for consideration as part of the Arts and Letters pool, contact the librarian.
XXXVI
Anoint me with oil of galangal and myrrh
And oil of olives kept virgin and pure
With the fiery spirit of cinnamon;
I raise up the cup and adore Babalon!
— In Nomine Babalon: 156 Adorations to the Scarlet Goddess
The Hermetic Library arts and letters pool is a project to publish poetry, prose and art that is inspired by or manifests the Western Esoteric Tradition. If you would like to submit your work for consideration as part of the Arts and Letters pool, contact the librarian.
The Deeper Symbolism of Freemasonry from The Meaning of Masonry by Walter Leslie Wilmshurst.
“Remember that when you first wore it it was a piece of pure white lambskin; an emblem of that purity and innocence which we always associate with the lamb and with the newborn child.” [via]
The Nameless Quest in The Gate of the Sanctuary from The Temple of the Holy Ghost (Collected Works, Vol I) by Aleister Crowley.
“I am the king: you know it, friend! We wed.
That is the tale of how my wooing sped.
And oh! the quest: half won—incredible?
I am so brave, and pure—folk love me well.
But oh! my life, my being! That is dead,
And my whole soul—a whirlwind out of hell!” [via]
The Nameless Quest in The Gate of the Sanctuary from The Temple of the Holy Ghost (Collected Works, Vol I) by Aleister Crowley.
“‘You know I will not strike, Sir pure and brave!
Fight me your best—or I shall find a whip!’
That stung me, even me. He wronged me, so:
Therefore some shame and hate informed the blow;
Some coward’s courage pointed me the steel;
Some strength of Hell: we lunge, and leap, and wheel;
Hard breath and laboured hands—the flashes grow
Swifter and cruel—this court hath no appeal!” [via]
The Nameless Quest in The Gate of the Sanctuary from The Temple of the Holy Ghost (Collected Works, Vol I) by Aleister Crowley.
“Then, my spirit knew her
For One beyond all song8–my poor heart turned:
Then, ’tis no wonder. And my passion burned
Mightier yet than ever. To renew her
Venom from those pure eyes? And yet I yearned.
Still, I stepped onward. Credit me so far!
The harlot had my soul: my will, the star!” [via]
Note by Aleister Crowley to this text: 8. The “Higher Self.”