Aleister Crowley Diary Entry

Wednesday, 3 September 1930

Wed[nesday] 3.

18^[1] Au[rum]^[2] Called at Cook’s:^[3] heard Au[rum] on way. Moved to Hotel de Paris Estoril 17 m[etres] on sea. A perfect plage [beach]: French, but dignified. The climate seems to be what the Riveria pretends to have, and hasn’t.

A very heavy day’s work.

God once tried to wake up Lisbon [Portugal]—with an earthquake; he gave it up as a bad job.

Portugese would be bad Spanish if they could only get up the energy to articulate the words.

1—The symbol “ ” indicates sexual magical operations, which Crowley differentiates from normal sexual intercourse. The progressive numbering indicates the number of times the operation has been conducted with a particular partner.

2—Latin: “gold,” i.e., money. This was the purpose of this particular operation.

3—This refers to Thomas Cook and Son, the famous traveller’s agency with offices all around the world. It offered travellers various kinds of services, including poste restante, which Crowley used while in Portugal. It still exists under the name of Thomas Cook Group.

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