Diary of a Drug Fiend by Aleister Crowley
If you are interested in the arcane, the occult, the erotic or the highs and lows of drug addiction, then this book is for you. A piece of fiction inspired by Crowley's own experience of drugs and first published in 1922, Diary of a Drug Fiend follows Sir Peter Pendragon, a veteran pilot of World War I, who comes into money and saves himself from life-sapping indolence by marrying Louise Laleham, a devotee of the occultist Basil King Lamus. The couple marry and leave for Europe on honeymoon, then return to England to fight their demons as the book paints a vivid picture of their love set against a lifestyle of decadence, addiction and 'magick'. An uplifting and inspiring work of literary genius. Provides insight into the truth about drug-taking as well as psychological insight into the mind of an addict. A must-read for those interested in the occult. 'We must conquer life by living it to the full, and then we can go to meet death with a certain prestige.' Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) was an English poet, painter, occultist, magician, and mountaineer. Born into wealth, he rejected his family’s Christian beliefs and developed a passion for Western esotericism. At Trinity College, Cambridge, Crowley gained a reputation as a poet whose work appeared in such publications as The Granta and Cambridge Magazine. An avid mountaineer, he made the first unguided ascent of the Mönch in the Swiss Alps. Around this time, he first began identifying as bisexual and carried on relationships with prostitutes, which led to his contracting syphilis. In 1897, he briefly dated fellow student Herbert Charles Pollitt, whose unease with Crowley’s esotericism would lead to their breakup. The following year, Crowley joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a secret occult society to which many of the era’s leading artists belonged, including Bram Stoker, W. B. Yeats, Arthur Machen, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Between 1900 and 1903, he traveled to Mexico, India, Japan, and Paris. In these formative years, Crowley studied Hinduism, wrote the poems that would form The Sword of Song (1904), attempted to climb K2, and became acquainted with such artists as Auguste Rodin and W. Somerset Maugham. A 1904 trip to Egypt inspired him to develop Thelema, a philosophical and religious group he would lead for the remainder of his life. He would claim that The Book of the Law (1909), his most important literary work and the central sacred text of Thelema, was delivered to him personally in Cairo by the entity Aiwass. During the First World War, Crowley allegedly worked as a double agent for the British intelligence services while pretending to support the pro-German movement in the United States. The last decades of his life were spent largely in exile due to persecution in the press and by the states of Britain and Italy for his bohemian lifestyle and open bisexuality.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781513136967 |
| ISBN 10 | 1513136968 |
| Title | Diary of a Drug Fiend |
| Author | Aleister Crowley |
| Series | Mint Editions |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | West Margin Press |
| Year published | 2022-02-24 |
| Number of pages | 304 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |