Aleister Crowley and William Butler Yeats get into an occult battle (2016)
Crowley, and his forebear Eliphas Levi, are responsible for the stupid air of sulphur which hangs around a lot of modern esoterica.<p>AC has his apologists, and he was obviously clever, but he was unquestionably a complete turd, and created a religious system  which was fundamentally Satanic, wrapped in enough layers of obfuscation that it can fascinate intelligent people, especially those who have received a substandard education in theology, which is practically everyone these days.<p>Someone asked why Crowley is perennially popular on HN. It&#x27;s because his approach appeals to  people who have experienced enough religion to understand that there is <i>something</i> there, but are struggling to reconcile it with our culture&#x27;s dominant scientific materialism, because they&#x27;re bright enough to want to try to. &quot;The method of science, the aim of religion&quot;. A lot of HN matches that demographic.<p>There are better ways of squaring the circle, but they&#x27;re less sexy.