Aleister Crowley died a penniless, frail, addict in a Hastings boarding house on December 1, 1947 at the age of 72.
His last words were : "I am perplexed" : tears flowing down his cheeks.
Never regaining consciousness : he died from myocardial degeneration & chronic bronchitis.
Aleister's funeral / cremation service was on December 5, 1947 in nearby Brighton. Louis Wilkinson read "Hymn To Pan", the "Collects and Anthems" from "The Gnostic Mass", and selected passages from "The Book Of The Law". His beloved Lady Frieda Harris, and others who knew the 'old bloke' were present.
His funeral rite also brought out all sorts of strange people, reporters, and followers who couldn't believe that the 'Great Beast' had actually died. The ritual was a spectacle according to some. The Brighton Council Chairman is quoted as saying : "We shall take all necessary steps to prevent such an incident occurring again".
Crowley's ashes are either buried under a tree or scattered among trees on a friend's [?] estate in Hampton, New Jersey.
Aleister Crowley believed he traced his reincarnation from Pope Alexander VI, renowned for his love of physical pleasures; Edward Kelly, the assistant of the Elizabethan occultist and magician John Dee; Cagliostro; Eliphas Levi, who died on the same day as Crowley was born [October 12, 1875 : Columbus Day : Discoverer of the New World]. Continuing back further, Crowley believed he had been Ankh-fn-Khonsu, the Egyptian priest of the XXVIth dynasty.
We are now anticipating Aleister's Twenty-Third Coming...
Crowley's Chronology : 666 :
23 Skidoodle
