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Aleister Crowley Diary Entry Thursday, 8 July 1920
8.00 a.m. At Trapani. Finished re-reading The House with the Green Shutters. As I have always thought, it has few rivals. It's like the best Greek work, simple, inevitable, whole. It is unstained by sentimentality; an amazing tragedy, without a vulgar stroke, a single artificiality. There's no false note, no error of psychology. Mr. Gourlay's comment on the situation is one of the greatest speeches in literature. 'Mrs Gourlay raised her arms, like a gaunt sibyl and spoke to her Maker, quietly, as if He were a man before her in the room. Ruin and murder she said slowly; and madness; and death at my nipple like a child! When will Ye be satisfied?" '
4.00 p.m. Arrived at Panormus [Palermo] about 2 hours late. Began to celebrate.
10.45 p.m. Opus[1] III, 31-666-31 [Leah Hirsig] plus Nuit [Cocaine]. Operation: prolonged and most orgiastic. Elixir: rather weak; spiritualized. Object: nuptial after S.W. [Scarlet Woman].
1—[Crowley refers to a magical sexual operation.]
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