David Curwen

Born: 10 April 1893 in East London.

Died: 30 December 1984.

David Curwen was born on 10 April 1893 and grew up in London's East End. His parents were Jewish immigrants who fled persecution in Lithuania and the family endured a life of poverty and hardship. The death of his grandmother in a street accident in March 1904, combined with a growing awareness of human suffering and disappointment with Orthodox Judaism and western religion teachings, resulted in the young Curwen embarking on a life of exploration into a variety of 'occult' practices and philosophies including Freemasonry, theosophy, yoga and alchemy. Serving as a conscript in the First World War only served to amplify his feelings of disillusion and despair.

Returning to civilian life, Curwen and his sister set up a fur trade business in Soho—he married Annie, one of his machinists, on 17 June 1920; the marriage produced two girls and one boy. He also continued with the occult studies that he had commenced before the war. Initially inspired by an interest in Theosophy, through which he acquired a firm belief in the existence of the astral planes and was introduced to Hindu and Buddhist scriptures, Curwen read widely in the history of religion and mysticism, discovering many texts on alchemy that encouraged him to undertake a lifelong quest for the Elixir of Life. As he had already been taught Hebrew as part of his religious upbringing, Curwen was well versed in the language of the Kabbalah, he also became interested in Co-Masonry. Through his practice and study of yoga he began a six-year correspondence with Yogi Bhiksu, who lived at Madura in India. During this time he learned the elements of the Bhairavi Diksha, a form of Tantric initiation involving sexual union between a male and female adept, usually connected to the vama marga, or Left-Hand Path, and discovered more about Tantric practices, including non-fulfilled sexual union, intended to purify the body and mind through control of mental and physical processes.

As a result of a downturn during the Second World War, Curwen closed his fur business temporarily in December 1944—it reopened the following year and he remained there for the rest of his working life. A long-term interest in the rituals of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn eventually drew him into the orbit of Aleister Crowley. Curwen carried on a correspondence and relationship with Crowley from 1 September 1944 through Crowley's death.  Their relationship was often marred by anger towards each other.

Curwen was introduced by Crowley to Kenneth Grant with whom he had a continuing relationship.

In 1976 Curwen published the definitive book on alchemy, In Pursuit of Gold, under the pseudonym Lapidus. He had the reputation of being one of the most important practical alchemists of the 20th century.

David Curwen died on 20 December 1984 at age 91.

The following is Kenneth Grant's impression of David Curwen taken from his book Remembering Aleister Crowley:

When I met him [David Curwen], shortly before Crowley's death, he was a member of the IX° O.T.O. His passion for alchemy was all-consuming; so much so that he had almost died after imbibing liquid gold. His knowledge of tantra was considerable. It was through Curwen that I received, eventually, full initiation into a highly recondite formula of the tantric vama marg.

There exists a document relative to this formula compiled by Curwen's erstwhile guru, a South Indian tantric. It is in the form of an extensive commentary on an ancient text of the Kaula School. Curwen lent Crowley a copy of it. In it appeared an adverse criticism of Crowley's attempts at preparing the Elixir of Life. Against it, Crowley had scribbled: "He has not seen my ms. on the subject. But—no failure!" But Crowley had not really succeeded, and it is not surprising. In the instructions which accompany the higher degrees of the O.T.O., there is no comprehensive account of the critical role of the kalas, or psycho-sexual emanations of the woman chosen for the magical rites.

The commentary was an eye-opener for Crowley, and it explained some of the preoccupations during my stay at Netherwood. These involved a formula of rejuvenation. The O.T.O. lacked some vital keys to the real secret of magick which Crowley claimed to have incorporated into the higher degrees.

Curwen undoubtedly knew more about these matters than did Crowley, and Crowley was piqued. The kalas, or secretions of the tantric suvasini (the Scarlet Woman, as she is called in the Crowley mythos) became the subject of a typically Crowleyian joke. He advised Curwen to call on a Captain Gerald Yorke who, Crowley said, retailed bottles of 'suvasini juice,' much as he himself—in the days of The Equinox—had trafficked in Potted Sex-Appeal Ointment. Curwen followed the advice, and Yorke nearly died—laughing. Yorke told me later that this story which I originally heard from Curwen, was true.