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Whether he could always handle
it with love or wisdom, is another issue. He made many enemies.
Even his friends often winced at his antics. Yet now, a decade
after his death, both friends and enemies remain united in their
recognition of the fact that -whatever his mortal faults -he was
a one-off, and that holy magic flowed through his veins like
blood.
Bill was hard. He could
intimidate. A real sod at times. He wrote brilliant letters, but
when it came to books he often fell out with his editors. Yet
they tolerated a lot because they knew that he was in a
different league to the other writers on their lists who simply
made it up as they went along. Underneath the dense and often
abrasive prose, with the alliteration he felt would help get
concepts embedded in the readers' mind, it was quite obvious to
them that here was a new level of insight into the theory,
practice, philosophy and sheer experience of Magic, and how it
impinged upon the world. Here was a real magician.
He seemed to know everything,
although he rarely bought a book or plundered the library:
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"Do you know why Aleister
Crowley spelled magick with a 'k'?" he asked Alan
Richardson once, and the young man perked up because he had read
exactly that only days before and saw a rare chance to impress
the old mage.
"Actually Bill I do. Not
only did he want to distinguish the medieval, supernatural and
spiritual art ofMagic from mere conjuring, but the 'k' referred
to the Greek word -',
But Gray wouldn't let him
continue. He had already worked it out himself, intuited it, and
proceeded to explain at great length because the lecture was in
his head just waiting for an audience. And although it wasn't exactly
what Crowley had said, it was impressively close. All to do
with sex.
So for those of who are new to
the topic, what do we mean by magic, as practised by real magicians?
-regardless of which spelling they use. And why, of all things,
did we call his biography The Old Sod?
Bill himself wrote of magic:
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Definition
of Magic is largely a matter of individual opinion...Fundamentally it
remains what it always was: Man's most determined effort to establish an
actual working relationship through himself between his Inner and Outer
states of being. By magic, Man shows that he is not content to be simply
a pawn in the Great Game, but wants to play on his own account. Man the
meddler becomes Man the Magician, and so learns the rules the hard way,
for magic is concerned with Doing, while mysticism is concerned with
Being.
[Magical
Ritual Methods, Helios 1969]
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Compare
this with Crowley's:
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From
the nature of things... life is a sacrament; in other words, all our
acts are magical acts. Our spiritual consciousness acts through the will
and its instruments upon material objects, in order to produce changes
which will result in... new conditions of consciousness.
[The
Confessions of Aleister Crowley Bantam
Books 1970, page 110]
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It was once an
art. It was an integral part of Religion. As Bill further explained:
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The
word Magic... had root connections with greatness, (Maj) and
mastery (Magister), and providing this might be understood in the
sense of spiritual development and self-mastery, it seemed a reasonable
description of the Path I intended to follow. Orthodox religions of all
descriptions rejected Magic as a dangerous rival, yet Magic was
inclusive of religion... Religion was collective whereas Magic was
individual, and I was all for individualism... I would find my own faith
through whatever I might learn of Magic and its practical purposes.
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