The Legacy of the Beast: The Life, Work, and Influence of Aleister Crowley

From Magick Book IV (the Magnum Opus not the little red book) Crowley separates himself from all the rest of the purported Prophets that we have recorded, with those three simple words, "Don't Believe Me." The rest have always started with the premise, "Believe in Me ... I Am the Way ...", so on and so forth immediately placing the requirement that one forgo any and all need for reason and open one up to pure faith which as we have seen time and time again produces fanatics who claim to be new prophets to dogmatic regimes that have used governments to run the world (The Crusades, The Persian Wars with India, The Mongolian Wars, etc). Suster, refutes and reveals the many intentional falsehoods placed upon the life of this man. He also points the blame for many of these tabloids squarely on Crowley himself. For if he hadn't been so hell bent to disrupt the establishment he wouldn't have been viscerally prosecuted in the court of public opinion like he has been for nearly 100 years. Even Crowley admits in his Autohagiography, "The Confessions of Aleister Crowley" edited by Symonds and Grant, as well as "Magick without Tears", edited by Dr. Israel Regardie, that his sense of humor got the better of his senses and cost him many times. I will say this: Any one who writes this review as only 2 stars has a personal vendetta against a dead man. Grow up and stop revelling in Anton LaVey, who afterall plagiarized Crowley and even admitted it near his own death--see Gnosis magazine article middle of the 90's. Don't believe me either, but you will not find a more objective and clearly constructed histrionic of Aleister anywhere. Gerald Suster is an excellent writer as well as a man with a very keen insight into the Occult and Magick.

With an increasing interest in the life and work of Aleister Crowley, in a less emotive enviroment becoming so popular, many are trying once again to plow through the compendous works of the twentieth century's greatest Magus. But this is where you need to start if you are ever going to make sense of it all. Gerald Suster has stripped away the pendantry, the lies, and all the falsities that have plagued the historical Crowley.Divided into sections each dealing with a part of Crowley's work and ideas, fronted by a general chapter the book is very readable. At times Suster is perhaps a little strong in defending what is obviously a mission on his part to restore respectablity and credence to a complex and infamous man, but that in no way detracts from the books excellence. A must read for Crowley addicts and seekers after truth. Find out why the British press of his time condemmed him. Find out what he really thought, and believed. Was he really a great womaniser, did magick really work for him?.The best and most uncomplicated study to date about Beast 666.