WHAT'S ON

London, England

Week Ending 15 October 1910

(pages cover, 3)

A NEW RELIGION.

PHOTO BY THE DOVER ST. STUDIOS

ALEISTER CROWLEY

POET, AND HIGH PRIEST OF ELEUSIS

To a number of literary people the name of Aleister Crowley (the subject of our frontispiece) is familiar, and references to “The Rites of Eleusis,” the new religion of which he is high priest, have led us to obtain further particulars of this remarkable man. It may be said of Aleister Crowley that his ambitions are insatiable. He is a poet and a philosopher; he has learnt magic as no other white man has learnt it. Eighteen months ago he started a periodical called The Equinox, the contents of which are both weird and mystifying. Now it is a new religion. Space at our disposal does not allow us to describe its mystic rites, but as a series of seven religious services, conducted by Aleister Crowley himself, are being held each Wednesday during October and November, commencing on the 19th inst. At the Caxton Hall, readers interested will have the opportunity of witnessing “The Rites of Eleusis.” At the moment suffice it if we say the seven services will be typical of the seven ages of man, and each are being dedicated to the planet that rules its particular age. The ideas suggested to the spectators will be translated into music by an accomplished violinist. There will also be mystical dances. The ceremonies will commence at nine o’clock precisely, and no one will be admitted after that hour. They will occupy about two hours, and those who attend will be requested to centre their whole minds upon the idea of the evening, the object, of course, being to induce in the spectators a feeling of religious ecstasy. One hundred seats only will be available and the rent for these seats for the seven ceremonies will be five guineas. The proceeds will be devoted to The Equinox, and the objects for which The Equinox was established. We would that space enabled us to describe a ceremony in honour of Artemis held in July at the offices of The Equinox but further particulars may be obtained from the offices of the paper, 124 Victoria Street, S.W.