|
Raymond Greene Diary Entry Saturday, 14 April 1923
At Michaelson's bookshop they told me that Crowley was in Taormina, which I did not believe. I crossed the road to Thomas Cook, and was inquiring if they knew the whereabouts of Mr. Aleister Crowley, when a voice behind me chanted, 'Do what thou wilt shall be the Whole of the Law,' and I turned and introduced myself. He was a big man of forty-seven, inclined to be corpulent, with a bald head, grey hair and a sallow complexion. His figure drooped and he had a dragging gait. His manner was peevish ands he had a slight cockney accent. He was not my idea of a magician and seemed disappointingly unsinister.
I spent the morning with him and had a good lunch which, thanks to Frederick Gambier MacBean, I greatly enjoyed. I was far from impressed by the great magician's mental powers. For a long time he would not leave the subject of rock-climbing. When finally I got him to talk about drugs and sex, he seemed rather bored. Drugs, he believed, are only dangerous to those who fear them; the wise man uses heroin or opium or cocaine as he uses alcohol or nicotine. Ether perhaps pleased him most; it was possible to get drunk and sober again several times a day. As to sex, copulate freely by all means, but don't get too emotional about it; the emotion of love destroys the intellect.
He was immensely conceited. I asked him why he didn't sue the papers which so vilely maligned him. 'I am', he said, 'great enough to ignore public opinion. Did Shelley bring libel actions? No, he came to Italy? Did Byron bring libel actions? No, he came to Italy? Did I bring libel actions? No, I have come to Italy.'
|