Reassessing Crowley: Taking His Claims Seriously

In this episode I am joined by British occultists, authors, and creative collaborators Alan Chapman and Duncan Barford. Alan and Duncan reflect on their decades of shared magickal practice and creative collaboration. They recall their first meeting at the secret society the “Illuminates of Thanateros” and muse on the gatekeeping and status games of the Chaos magick scene. They explain why they feel their emphasis on awakening and association with Buddhist writer and self-proclaimed arhat Daniel Ingram has contributed to their being shunned by leading figures in British occultism. Alan and Duncan take a deep dive into their controversial new understanding of Aleister Crowley, address criticism levelled at them, and reveal the idealogical mistake that drove Alan to withdraw one of his biggest public projects. Alan and Duncan also share their current practices, detail how to develop visionary capability, give their best understanding about how magick really works, and offer their advice for those who wish to enter the path of Western occultism. … Video: https://www.guruviking.com/podcast/ep345-magick-awakening-crowley-alan-chapman-duncan-barford Also available on Youtube, iTunes, & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast’. … Topics include: 00:00 - Intro 01:13 - Meeting at an occult secret society 06:29 - Formative experiences of group magick 07:36 - Should you join the IoT? 07:53 - The importance of group magick 08:19 - Timidity in magickal practice 10:20 - What does magick have to do with enlightenment? 12:03 - Jealousy in spiritual circles 14:38 - Peter Carroll vs Neoplatonism 17:11 - Alan and Duncan’s contribution to Chaos Magick 19:07 - Feuds between religionists 20:33 - What kind of person is drawn to Chaos Magick? 22:25 - Gatekeeping and status games 23:10 - The best thing about Chaos Magicians 25:45 - Bad uses of Chaos Magick 28:38 - Being ignored by the magickal community 29:24 - Why were Alan and Duncan ignored? 30:!4 - Controversial association with Daniel Ingram 31:54 - Why did Peter Carroll dislike Alan and Duncan? 33:01 - How to understand magickal results and synchronicities 36:46 - How Duncan’s practice has changed over time 40:13- Awakening and the structure of things 43:16 - Alan’s current practice 43:57 - The everyday as a basis 45:07 - How to get started in magick 52:35 - Permission and confidence 53:41 - Developing visionary capability 54:55 - Alan’s understanding of the path 01:00:32 - Pinnacle of practical magick 01:01:46 - Duncan’s Goddess vision 01:03:14 - The basis of the path 01:07:50 - How magick works 01:09:00 - Criticism of Alan abandoning projects 01:16:14 - Sigmund Freud 01:16:57 - Why do people criticise Alan? 01:18:56 - One thing that really annoys Alan 01:20:53 - Resentment and psychological shadow 01:22:43 - Malevolence and denying enlightenment 01:29:26 - A dark occult conference experience 01:31:20 - Envy and counter-initiation 01:33:51 - Creative journey 01:35:49 - The toxic belief in cultural progress 01:39:38 - Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory 01:41:10 - Daniel Ingram’s pivot to science 01:42:19 - The spirit of the times 01:44:08 - Realising cultural chauvinism 01:49:53 - Desire to do something else 01:51:30 - Source of many problems 01:53:23 - The Crowley project 02:01:15 - Alan’s academic approach 02:03:53 - Legal challenges 02:06:34 - Crowley on Chinese wisdom 02:09:05 - Dao De Jing 02:17:24 - Misunderstandings about the Dao De Jing 02:19:03 - Jung’s (mis?)undersanding of Asian classics 02:21:06 - Western alchemy and spirit writing 02:23:19 - Two kinds of researchers 02:290:02 - Life of Aleister Crowley 02:31:28 - The Inner Church 02:33:28 - The Bornless Rite 02:35:18 - The Book of the Law 02:45:24 - Crossing the abyss 02:47:39 - Mad or enlightened? 02:52:20 - Liber 31 02:53:53 - Crowley’s failures 02:55:57 - Jung and Philip K Dick 02:56:41 - Controversial take on Crowley 03:00:48 - Why follow Crowley’s path? Music ‘Deva Dasi’ by Steve James