Maria Theresa Ferrari de Miramar

Born: 1 May 1894 in Granada, Nicaragua.

Died: July 1955 while a resident of Colney Hatch Mental Hospital in Friern Barnet, London, England.

     Maria Theresa Ferrari de Miramar was Aleister Crowley's second wife. He met her in England in 1929 and the marriage took place in Leipzig, Germany. Aleister was 53 at the time. He called her "The High Priestess of Voodoo." He wrote that under her influence, he had been able to start serious magick with ritual precautions. Her maiden name was Ferrari, but it was as Maria Theresa de Miramar that Crowley encountered her in Paris. She was born in Granada, Nicaragua in 1894, of an Italian father and a French mother. (Miramar is a town in Nicaragua´s León region)

     Aged thirty-four, when de Miramar and Crowley met, her appearance was sufficiently exotic that Crowley was for the first time paired with a woman who produced as great a startle on sight as he did. Jack Lindsay, a literary editor who became acquainted with Crowley during this time, recalled that she drank “heavily” and was formidable. Here is his portrait of the couple:

“She was a fairly well blown woman, oozing a helpless sexuality from every seam of her smartly cut suit, with shapely legs crossed and uncrossed, and keeping all the while a sharp glittering gaze on her swarthy and unsavory husband with his bow tie, his staring uneasy pop-eyes, his prim lax rosebud mouth , his sallow skin and brown shaven egg-shaped head, which at the time I mistook as naturally bald. There was a mustiness about him that perhaps came from his scent of mingled civet, musk and ambergris, which was said to have a compelling effect on women and to make horses neigh after him in the street. Maria spoke in various languages, including English, which I could not understand, and he listened attentively like a well-behaved poodle, giving an impression of uxorious dependence. However I gathered that in private she made many scenes, accusing him and his friends of attempting to poison her.”

There is no evidence, and no likelihood, that Crowley had any intention of poisoning de Miramar. That she was capable of scenes and accusations, there can be no doubt, and their romance and marriage was turbulent. They appeared to be a settled married couple, however, within a year Crowley had found a new lover and wrote to Maria, "You should get a divorce—find a man who will stand for your secret drinking and your scandalous behavior.

In July 1931 Maria was admitted to Colney Hatch mental hospital, case number 23112, suffering from the delusion that she was the daughter of the king and queen. [See correspondence dated 1 August 1931 - Colney Hatch to Crowley]

With Aleister Crowley

circa 1929

With Aleister Crowley

circa 1929

With Aleister Crowley

circa 1929

With Aleister Crowley

circa 1929

Portrait by Aleister Crowley