This is a film about the reincarnation of the influential Occultist, Aleister Crowley, as such it must be almost incomprehensible without an understanding of the man who was called the 'Wickedest man in the World'.
Crowley was born in 1875. His parents were wealthy and the epitome of respectability. They were also staunch Plymouth Brethren and brought up young Crowley in an atmosphere of pious religious narrow-mindedness, against which he constantly rebelled.
He died in a boarding house in Hastings in 1947. It is here that the film begins with a visit to the dying Crowley by Symonds a young initiate. On the wall of the actual boarding house were two signs, 'Guest are requested not to tease the Ghosts' and 'Breakfast will be served at 8am to those who survive the night.' These give a clue to the genre of the film an occult film that doesn't take itself too seriously
With Crowley's death the film fast-forwards to Trinity College Cambridge where Symonds is now an old academic. Crowley himself went to Trinity and it was while he was there that he became interested in the occult and discovered he was excited by descriptions of torture and blood. He liked to fantasise about being degraded and abused by a 'Scarlet Woman', who was dominant, wicked and independent. He read Arthur E. Waite's book, entitled " Black Magic and Pacts". It hinted at a secret brotherhood of occultists and Crowley became intrigued. He joined the masons and then the 'Order of the Golden Dawn', the elusive Great White Brotherhood run by MacGregor Mathers who claimed to be the reincarnation of James IV of Scotland. Crowley went one better and announced he was the reincarnation of Eliphas Levi, Count Caliastro and nine others going back to the Chinese sage Ko Hsuen.
The film divides into four days each one headed by the title 'Day 1', 'Day 2' etc.. This mirrors the original 'Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz' a treatise, which appeared in 1616. It is the third of the original manifestos of the mysterious "Fraternity of the Rose Cross' (Rosecrutions)". It is an allegoric romance about an invitation to go to a wonderful castle in order to assist the Chymical Wedding of the king and the queen. This manifesto has been a source of inspiration for poets and alchemists for which the 'Sacred Marriage' was the goal.
This same allegoric use of words and names is also part of the film. 'Day One' begins with the arrival of scientist Dr Joshua Mathers from Cal Tech to participate in an experiment. Mathers as mentioned was Crowley's nemesis and Cal Tech is where Jack Parsons, (the head of Crowley's organisation in America) developed the rocket fuel used for modern day space flights.
On arrival at Cambridge Dr. Mathers is accosted by a redheaded student journalist, Leah Robinson. Crowley had a series of 'Scarlet Women'; the best known was Leah Hirsig, the so-called 'Ape of Thoth'. Together they would indulge in drinking sessions, drugs and sexual magic. It is believed that Crowley made several attempts to beget a 'Magical child', none of which worked and instead he fictionalised his attempts in a book called "Moonchild". Interestingly Leah is also a character in Foucault's Pendulum' where Umberto Eco introduces a chapter with a quote from Crowley and later introduces other chapters with quotes from 'The Chymical Wedding'.
The Cambridge experiment is misappropriated by a fanatical disciple of Crowley, computer programmer Victor (based on Victor Nueberg) who converts his associate, bumbling lecturer Dr Oliver Haddo, into the resurrected Magus - to wreak havoc on the campus. The name Haddo comes from the Somerset Maughan novel 'The Magician' based on Aleister Crowley - who sometimes used it as a pseudonym,
Every event in the film mirrors a Crowley story. He used his money to buy prostitutes at an early age. He relieved himself on an enemy's carpet so the film has him do the same on the Dean's desk. He was involved in Masonry and began his own version. He performed the rite of solo masturbation and re-enacted the Eleusis ceremony, a whining girl violinist started the rite followed by drinks from a chalice containing either menstrual blood or hallucinogenic drugs. In the film Mathers spits out the drink, which is why he doesn't get involved.
Central to the film is the extraordinary performance of Simon Callow as this complex character, who gloried in his notoriety, calling himself the Beast 666, performed obscene rituals of Sexual Magic and trips to the Astral plane to meet his spiritual leaders; yet wrote sensitive poetry, was a master chess player, a champion mountaineer and astonishingly studied Quantum Physics.
It is this clash between science and magic, which gives the wonderful twist ending to the film. Understanding the basics of quantum physics is useful here. All one needs to know is summed up in two Nobel prizes J. J. Thomson won the Nobel prize for proving that the electron is a particle his son George Thomson years later won the Nobel prize for proving that the electron is a wave. Both are true and this 'uncertainty' depends on which way the scientist looks at the experiment. Critically Erwin Schrodinger suggested a theoretical experiment where a cat is placed in a box with a poisonous isotope. The uncertainty principal suggested that only when the experimenter opens the box does he know if the cat is dead or alive.
The film does take Crowley's nasty side to an extreme, obviously for dramatic purposes, but I am sure the old scoundrel would have loved it.
Crowley was born in 1875. His parents were wealthy and the epitome of respectability. They were also staunch Plymouth Brethren and brought up young Crowley in an atmosphere of pious religious narrow-mindedness, against which he constantly rebelled.
He died in a boarding house in Hastings in 1947. It is here that the film begins with a visit to the dying Crowley by Symonds a young initiate. On the wall of the actual boarding house were two signs, 'Guest are requested not to tease the Ghosts' and 'Breakfast will be served at 8am to those who survive the night.' These give a clue to the genre of the film an occult film that doesn't take itself too seriously
With Crowley's death the film fast-forwards to Trinity College Cambridge where Symonds is now an old academic. Crowley himself went to Trinity and it was while he was there that he became interested in the occult and discovered he was excited by descriptions of torture and blood. He liked to fantasise about being degraded and abused by a 'Scarlet Woman', who was dominant, wicked and independent. He read Arthur E. Waite's book, entitled " Black Magic and Pacts". It hinted at a secret brotherhood of occultists and Crowley became intrigued. He joined the masons and then the 'Order of the Golden Dawn', the elusive Great White Brotherhood run by MacGregor Mathers who claimed to be the reincarnation of James IV of Scotland. Crowley went one better and announced he was the reincarnation of Eliphas Levi, Count Caliastro and nine others going back to the Chinese sage Ko Hsuen.
The film divides into four days each one headed by the title 'Day 1', 'Day 2' etc.. This mirrors the original 'Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz' a treatise, which appeared in 1616. It is the third of the original manifestos of the mysterious "Fraternity of the Rose Cross' (Rosecrutions)". It is an allegoric romance about an invitation to go to a wonderful castle in order to assist the Chymical Wedding of the king and the queen. This manifesto has been a source of inspiration for poets and alchemists for which the 'Sacred Marriage' was the goal.
This same allegoric use of words and names is also part of the film. 'Day One' begins with the arrival of scientist Dr Joshua Mathers from Cal Tech to participate in an experiment. Mathers as mentioned was Crowley's nemesis and Cal Tech is where Jack Parsons, (the head of Crowley's organisation in America) developed the rocket fuel used for modern day space flights.
On arrival at Cambridge Dr. Mathers is accosted by a redheaded student journalist, Leah Robinson. Crowley had a series of 'Scarlet Women'; the best known was Leah Hirsig, the so-called 'Ape of Thoth'. Together they would indulge in drinking sessions, drugs and sexual magic. It is believed that Crowley made several attempts to beget a 'Magical child', none of which worked and instead he fictionalised his attempts in a book called "Moonchild". Interestingly Leah is also a character in Foucault's Pendulum' where Umberto Eco introduces a chapter with a quote from Crowley and later introduces other chapters with quotes from 'The Chymical Wedding'.
The Cambridge experiment is misappropriated by a fanatical disciple of Crowley, computer programmer Victor (based on Victor Nueberg) who converts his associate, bumbling lecturer Dr Oliver Haddo, into the resurrected Magus - to wreak havoc on the campus. The name Haddo comes from the Somerset Maughan novel 'The Magician' based on Aleister Crowley - who sometimes used it as a pseudonym,
Every event in the film mirrors a Crowley story. He used his money to buy prostitutes at an early age. He relieved himself on an enemy's carpet so the film has him do the same on the Dean's desk. He was involved in Masonry and began his own version. He performed the rite of solo masturbation and re-enacted the Eleusis ceremony, a whining girl violinist started the rite followed by drinks from a chalice containing either menstrual blood or hallucinogenic drugs. In the film Mathers spits out the drink, which is why he doesn't get involved.
Central to the film is the extraordinary performance of Simon Callow as this complex character, who gloried in his notoriety, calling himself the Beast 666, performed obscene rituals of Sexual Magic and trips to the Astral plane to meet his spiritual leaders; yet wrote sensitive poetry, was a master chess player, a champion mountaineer and astonishingly studied Quantum Physics.
It is this clash between science and magic, which gives the wonderful twist ending to the film. Understanding the basics of quantum physics is useful here. All one needs to know is summed up in two Nobel prizes J. J. Thomson won the Nobel prize for proving that the electron is a particle his son George Thomson years later won the Nobel prize for proving that the electron is a wave. Both are true and this 'uncertainty' depends on which way the scientist looks at the experiment. Critically Erwin Schrodinger suggested a theoretical experiment where a cat is placed in a box with a poisonous isotope. The uncertainty principal suggested that only when the experimenter opens the box does he know if the cat is dead or alive.
The film does take Crowley's nasty side to an extreme, obviously for dramatic purposes, but I am sure the old scoundrel would have loved it.