THE EDMONTON JOURNAL

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

14 April 1934

(page 5)

“Priest of Evil” Loses Libel Suit.

Alastair Crowley Sued Writer;

Court in Verbal Spanking.

Alastair [sic] Crowley, “priest of evil,” and founder of a love cult in New York’s Greenwich Village, Friday lost his libel suit against Miss Nina Hammet [sic] [Nina Hamnett], a writer, whom he had charged with defamation of character.

A jury in the king’s bench division, after listening to a severe verbal spanking of Crowley by the court, returned a verdict for the defendant.

The court’s charge was a broadside against Crowley’s magic practices in his Cefalu villa [Abbey of Thelema] in Sicily, Italy. Previously a witness for the defence testified Crowley sacrificed a cat and made the witness drink her blood.

“I have been over forty years engaged in the administration of the law,” declared the judge. “I thought everything which was vicious and bad had been produced at one time or another before me, but I have learned in this case that we can always learn something more if we live long enough.”