CHRISTOPHER JOSIFFE , Marie de Miramar & the True Wanga

LEISTER CROWLEY'S SURVIVING PAPERS purportedly written by a native, probably are kept together in the Warburg Institute in someone from Trinidad or Tobago, given the A London, collected and donated by Gerald publisher's Port-of-Spain address and the numerous Yorke. Many remam largely unexamined. While local references. The estimated date of publication doing research there I came upon an overlooked is 1890-5. The author is 'Prof. Dr. Djumboh document, buried among other pamphlets, that Cassecanarie', possessor of an impressive list of titles: opens up a strand of enquiry touching upon both 'Se. U.D., &c, Chevalier de l'Ordre du Vodun Saint Crowley's relationship with Afro-Caribbean voodoo des Egbas, Prof. Of Pneumatics in the T'changa and the text of his Book ofthe Law. Wanga University, Consulting to H.E. Bound together in a volume with six Theosophical the Ex-President of Haiti, Member of the Principal pamphlets there lies a curious late nineteenth- West Africa and West Indian Scientific Societies, &c, century booklet. Its full tide is Obeah Simplified: The &c, &c'. The author's name is clearly a pseudonym: True VVtznga! What It Really Is, and How It Is Done: 'Myal' is the Jamaican term for an African-derived A Scientific but Plain Treatise ftom a Popular Point of religious ceremony, 'Djumboh' alludes to a Caribbean View, and Divested as Far as Possible ofall Technical term for spirits or ghosts, 'Cassecanarie' is the name Terms. Eighty pages long and undated, like the of the festival Casse Canarie. others it is bound with, it is heavily annotated and The author's titles involve more than one underlined, in part by Yorke. tradition. 'Chevalier de l'Ordre du Vodun des Egbas' Crowley's Book of the Law, dated to 1904 and suggests a connection to both Haitian Vodou and central to his philosophy of , contains this the West African Egba ethnic group; 'Consulting line: 'Also the mantras and spells; the obeah and alludes to the tradition the wanga; the work of the wand and the work of of Martinique and Guadeloupe.2 Such title jumbles the sword; these he shall learn and teach.' 1 The are typical of nineteenth-century European writers juxtaposition of obeah and wanga is unusual, striking on the subject. Moreover, European or American enough to warrant further exploration. commentaries are the only written ones known from Obeah Simplified is a curious document. It was this period. But more on the authorship will come later. Fig. l. Aleisrer Crowley and Marie de Miramar, c.l929. The author of the booklet is well informed. He WARBURG INSTITUTE, LONDO . is at pains to distinguish the obeah of and

Aleister Crowley, Maric de Miramar & the True Wanga 29 Trinidad from H ai tian Vodou: put to work to protect the crops from thieves. Obeah is also used to arouse 'Love' and enforce fi delity in The Obeah (meaning kill ing) or Wanga (meaning a person through forming a 'psychic rapport' usi ng (a) an or spell and (b) a mysterious or hair, sweat or blood and then involving unspecified poisonous drug) cult, is the name of the tribal vegetable drugs. system of single magic of the Popo, Koromantyn, The peculiarly named 'Dirty Clothes O racle' is Eboe and other tribes. The Voudou or T'changa described at some length. It is performed when it is cult is the dual magical system of the Arada, suspected that a person's death has been caused by Yuruba, and Dahoman tribes. All functions of means of obeah, or when a newly deceased person T'changa are dual, i. e. can only be effectively has left money in an unknown place: performed by a Priest ('Papaloi') and Priestess ('Mamaloi') together, and in presence of the the relatives and friends of the deceased assemble Sacred Snake, the totem or Fetish of the . 3 in the house, and procuring a board about five or six feet long, appoint four relatives of the As well as showing considerable knowledge and deceased to carry it on their heads. O n the board an ability to distinguish traditions of the region, is placed a bundle of the yet unwashed garments Obeah Simplified is quite diffe rent from other the deceased died in. This being done, the board contemporary works on voodoo and obeah, which bearers are directed to march with it round the paint these practices as either primitive superstition house, against the sun, and then come in. Then, or sinister black magic. H esketh Bell's 18 89 book if the necessary power is present, it manifests Obeah: Witchcraft in the is typical: 'you itself by the bearers being unable to speak, and can hardly realize the depth and extent of their reeling about with the board on their heads as if superstition, or their unreasoning and dread intoxicated. Then questions are addressed to the of anything coming under the head of what they call board by the name of the deceased, which are "Ob ea h" or "' wvr.a nga"' .4 answered by it - through its bearers - bowing Cassecanarie, in contrast, disapproves of the laws with it towards the questioner; or, by the board outlawing obeah, widespread in the Caribbean, and and its bearers hunting out any perso n or thing adopts a tone of respect for the tradition : 'a word like a thought reader. on the benefits and propriety of bringing it before the Public at this juncture may not be amiss ... it is If the oracle shows death by magic, the obeah quite time that attention should be freshly called in practitioner is given some items of the deceased's a popular manner to the higher and more recondite unwashed clothing and he uses them to 'cause the branches of study'. H e asserts that the study of obeah/ Jumbi of the deceased, to haunt, frighten, drive mad, wanga is of great importance: 'While the minds of or kill the person it is "set" upon '. 6 the rising generation are being imbued with beautiful Cassecanarie repeatedly insists the power of and salubrious Politico-Social instruction, it should obeah lies in utterance, rather than in fe tish objects, not be forgotten that all such studies are valueless to animal or poison. Thus, in his account of the yo ung persons who are not previously well grounded Bella-bella or Jumbi dance, a spirit-possession 5 in Wanga .' the participants' singing of a ballad with 'a particular The author spends much of the booklet outlining se t of words used only on such occasions' is italicised how obeah magic is performed in various situations. to emphasise its imporrance.- We learn of the protecting or 'dressing' of the crop Obeah Simplified is not the first work to use the fi elds. The obeah man or woman can, like Moses, term 'wanga'. Hesketh Bell's book was published change a staff into a snake, and these snakes are then in 1889, and the Oxford English Dictionary cites

30 Chrisropher Josiffe appearances from 1882 and 1851. Cassecanarie, however, is almost alone in portraying wanga as both an incantation or spell and a mysterious or poisonous drug rather than solely as a drug. The only other instance where 'wanga' is defined as utterance is Spenser St John's 1884 book Hayti) or the Black Republic, where he reports a lady being found 'going through certain called wanga'.8 Image removed from this copy due to Cassecanarie's view stresses its effectiveness, copyright restrictions. relating firs t- and second-hand accounts of its power. We learn of Obeahman Peter Barrat, whose nose had been eaten away by disease. When mocked by two girls for his disfigurement, he responded by 'passing his open hand down the faces of each one, declaring as he did so that within three months they would be as noseless as he was'. Cassecanarie then tells us, 'This duly came to pass, and one of the women who died recently, was once pointed out to me in confirmation.'9 He is at pains to make it clear that Ban·at's verbal declaration was an essential component of this malefic spell. H e retells a story of a young West African boy who responded to complaints of dry weather. TI1e boy 'gathered three oranges, which he placed on the ground at a little distance from one another. H e then prostrated himself with a surprising fervency and devotion. He then gathered three little orange twigs which, after repeated prostrations, he placed against to accounts of biblical miracles. 'The vulgar, who call, each orange. He then prostrated himself for the third and pretend to think Obeah a mere superstition, will time, and said some words with much respect and find in this quelque chose a penser! They did not see attention.' Rain commenced. Cassecanarie italicises the classic feats of the Egyptian priest magicians, the boy's use of spoken words. 10 and their Jewish opponents - turning rods &c., into serpents ... but they have a solid belief in them; and so, they will deride the very possibility of such feats at Anti- and Authorship the hands of an Obeahman'.'' of Obeah Simplified H e lambasts the miss ionary Jean-Baptiste Labat's attempts to Christianise Caribbean black slaves. Obeah Simplified's antipathy towards Christianity, or Labat had described finding an obeah man attending at least towards Christians, is a noticeable feature of to a sick female slave inside her hut, praying to a clay the text. TI1e respectful treatment of non-European effigy on a makeshift altar; the Dominican subjected religio-magical traditions and the hostility towards bigoted Christianity would certainly have been Fig. 2. Cover of Myal Djumboh Cassecanarie, Obeah welcome reading for a young Crowley. Simplified: Th e True 11/anga!, no date. TRIN ITY COLLEGE Cassecanarie compares accounts of obeah magic LIBRARY, H A RT FORD, CON ECTICUT.

Aleister Crowley, Marie de Miramar & the True Wanga 31 the obeah man to 300 lashes of the whip, and Obeah Simplified and LiberAL converted the woman to Christianity. Cassecanarie sarcastically writes, 'seeing the unfortunate woman Returning to the copy of Obeah Simplified in the die a good Christian; which being translated, means, Yorke Collection, we can turn to the question of that he didn't think she suffered sufficiently from her whether Crowley owned, read and annotated this bodily sickness, so he took care to add to it the most work. It is not surprising for him to have owned awful mental agony he could devise and inflict !'.12 Theosophical booklets. While not a member of the The anti-Christian tone, in the 1890s, points Theosophical Society, Crowley knew the movement to Cassecanarie as a follower of . The and its work, and admired its founder, Madame movement's Eastern-derived teachings on such Blavatsky. things as rei ncarnation, and its emphasis on personal To consider whether Crowley read and annotated revelation, set it apart from the conventional these actual copies, a bit of background on the Yorke Christianity of the day. As mentioned before, Collection is necessary. Many but not all the works Crowley's copy of Obeah Simplified is bound together in the collection are Crowley's own copies, which with various other pamphlets, all of Theosophist Gerald Yorke tracked down and acquired. Some provenance. are copies into which Yorke transcribed Crowley's A closer look into Theosophical archives reveals abundant annotations and underlinings for the that virtually the same text as Obeah Simplified was benefit of a fel low Thus the collection's published serially in The Theosophist journal in 1891. copy of Obeah Simplified may have been owned by There the author is not given as Cassecanarie but Crowley and marked by him, or it may be a copy rather as Miad Hoyora Kora-Hon and close variant owned by Yorke, with annotations of his own or spellings. Appended initials F.T.S . indicate he was a copying Crowley's. Fellow of the Theosophical Society. H e was a regul ar But it does look as though this is a copy Crowley contributor to The Theosophist in the years 1884-7, actually owned, read and marked up. In it, two sets of with such articles as 'Mystic Lore - Shamanism & handwriting have made annotations. One is Yorke's Witchcraft amongst the Kolarian Tribes', 'Occultism small, neat script, easily identifiable. The second in Modern Literature', 'Alchemy in Dublin in is a larger hand that resembles Crowley's. On the 1792' and numerous book reviews. This is clearly a tide page Yorke has written, 'underlining not by me committed Theosophist. G Yorke', referring to pencil-underlined passages Between 1887 and 1891 there are no articles by throughout the booklet. At the top of the page, in Miad Hoyo ra, then in 1891 the obeah articles appear. the larger handwriting ( Crowley's?) are two jottings: The author refers to 'my residence of almost five 'element language p.24' and 'the Word Spell '. years in the West Indies', which surely explains the When we turn to page 24, as indicated, we find preceding years of silence. He also writes of'the great the following paragraph, with an underlined phrase: unwillingness of the negro to open to a white man on the subject [of obeah]' - this is a non-native of the The ancient 'Spellar-Art' we know has special Caribbean. H e writes of 'my land', 'my servants' and secret formulae for every purpose under the sun, 13 'my European friends'. He is educated and middle- from snake charming upwards. TI1e Norse 'Troll- class; the reference to 'my European friends' may Runes' from what is now known of them were suggest he was of Indian origin. Many Theosophists a similar system. The spells and incantations of were, and also had sizeable the European Witches, etc., was another; and Indian migrant-descent populations, so our author the 'Foreign-Language' speeches and chants of may have had relatives there. the Hametic Obeahmen correspond. All these formulae whenever or wherever used, are in the

32 Chrisropher Josiffe same, the Universa£ 'element language' . . . As the Concentrated Will. A Spell or Charm is by no students well know, that language is composed means dependent for its effect on being couched of 'sounds, not words: &c., and so the reason in any particular words, it is a so und formula, of Obeah spells forever being said in a foreign which can be as well - and sometimes better - language, is not far to seek. played on an instrument, than spoken.16

If it is feasible that the underlinings are Crowley's, The passage is redolent of Crowley's subsequent and this paragraph captured his attention, then it ideas concerning the science of magic, and the becomes distinctly likely when we consider that we penultimate sentence sounds especially Thelemic find this same idea in in Theory and Practice. with its reference to the 'concentrated will'. In his 'It is found by experience (confirming the statement commentaries on Crowley was of Zoroaster) that the most potent conjurations are to write, 'Magick ceremonies proper are merely those in an ancient and perhaps forgotten language, organized and concentrated attempts to impose 1 or even those couched in a corrupt and possibly our Will on certain parts of the Cosmos.' - It seems always meaningless jargon.'15 hardly a coincidence that this comment appends line The 'Word Spell' note on the title page directs the 37, the very line containing the phrase 'the obeah and reader to the final pages of Obeah Simplified. This is the wanga'. Crowley evidently thought this passage the passage of interest to the annotator: important enough to include among the introductory epigrams to Magick in Theory and Practice, where it the main 'power' utilized in the Art treated of, is appears alongside quotations from Pythagoras, the the Spell, as is fully indicated by the name Obeah- Goetia of the Lemegeton of King Solomon, Frazer's Wanga. Still, the word Obeah is by itself also Golden Bough and 1 Thessalonians. 18 sufficiently indicative of all the other processes Crowley wrote that line 37 indicates that 'An referred to, such as the 'Dirty Clothes Oracle; entirely new system of magic is to be learnt and the use of Glamour, &c., while in other instances taught, as is now being done.' 19 His New Comment which look fairly complete without it, the spell expands on what this new system is, namely working though not mentioned is the thing necessary for with spoken word: their effectiveness. People who are unlearned in such subjects Mann·as may be defined as sentences proper when they hear the words 'Spell' and 'Charm' to concentration of the mind by virtue of their immediately remember hearing of them in Fairy constant repetition .. . tales, and are not disposed to think of any more Spells are methods of communicating the will consequence. But, when they are reminded that to other beings ... the creation of the world is ascribed in Genesis to The Obeah is the magick of the Secret Light the 'word' of , the power of the Logos, perhaps with special reference to acts; the wanga is the they will be inclined to view the word 'Spell' in verbal or mental correspondence of the same ... another light. Others who are Freemasons have For the root OB (AVB = 9), see Appendix; it heard of a 'Lost Word', which is universally desired may be connected with the word 'Obey'. by all Masons to reanimate the body they know of, The 'obeah' being the acts, and the 'wanga' the which 'is not dead but sleepeth.' That 'Lost Word' words, proper to Magick, the two cover the whole is a 'Spell', and the Spell or Charm is aformula of world of external expression. sounds arranged to produce certain vibrations in eo-relation with certain chords; the utilization of Now one more point about the obeah and the the natural magical power of sound energized by wanga, the deed and the word of Magick.

Aleistcr Crowle y, Marie de Miramar & the True Wanga 33 Magick is the art of causing change in existing New Orleans Voodoo, 1916-17 phenomena. This definition includes raising the dead, bewitching cattle, making rain, acquiring Despite his interest in 'the obeah and the wanga' goods, fascinating judges, and all the rest of the before and around 1909, and indeed in later years programme.20 when writing his commentaries, Crowley does not appear to have sought to learn more of voodoo when Crowley gives here his own understanding of these he had the chance in late 1916. During the First two terms, 'obeah' and 'wanga'. 'Obeah' is equated World War he was based in the USA and travelled with deeds or actions, while 'wanga' signifies spells around the country, including a stay in New Orleans in the sense of verbal utterances. This is exactly the from December 1916 to February 1917. He stayed position of Obeah Simplified. near the red-light district, which he found especially From all the above points I cautiously suggest that appealing. Known as 'the District', and latterly as the pamphlet Obeah Simplified was an inspiration to Storyville, it was home not only to prostitutes but Crowley. Published in the 1890s, when the young also to gamblers, jazz musicians and others on the man was still developing his own magical world view, periphery of respectable society. It was also the centre it shaped some of his outlook on utterance and spells of voodoo and . Famed 'voodoo women' and reinforced his respect for non-European magical including Fanny Sweet, Marie Laveau, Julia Jackson traditions. This means, of course, that it would be a and Eulalie Echo had lived and worked there, and source for The Book of the Law. The spirit , voodoo and hoodoo was the neighbourhood's who Crowley always said dictated it to him, may dominant belief system, at least according to one perhaps be regarded as a separate entity, but one that scholar. Adjacent to Storyville are Congo Square, was a manifestation of Crowley's unconscious. site of former public voodoo-based dances, and the Treme district, home to Mardi Gras Indians and the African Spiritual Churches, which kept alive some voodoo traditionsY All of this is to say that Crowley, in his two months in New Orleans, would have been well placed to investigate. He certainly mixed with black Image removed from this copy due to inhabitants of the District. His diary tells us he copyright restrictions. employed a black maid, Georgie, and that he engaged black prostitutesY One, 'Sister Green', made such an impression on him that he included her in a list of his past lovers and featured her in his Not the Life and Adventures oJSir Roger Bloxam. 23 But for all this easy access, he apparently pursued no researches, sought out no experiences. At this very time an acquaintance of his was also in the city and was doing exactly that. The German occultist writer Hanns Heinz Ewers knew Crowley by virtue of their both beino- contributors eo b The

Fig. 3. 'The Author under Protection of Machete and Flag: from William Seabrook, 1he lvfagic Island, New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1929.

34 Chrisropher Josiffe International Ewers had apparently previously spent and erotic. People thought she was C uban, or time in Haiti 'investigating voodoo and the methods Nicaraguan Creole, though in reality she was of Haitian sorcerers' and was now in New Orleans to European Nicaraguan, with an Italian father and explore voodoo, supposedly robbing a grave for ritual French mother.29 Jack Lindsay, a literary editor, purposes.24 But Crowley made nothing of this. remembers her with a kind of colonial superiority A couple of years later, in autumn 1919, Crowley as 'a fairly well-blown woman, oozing a helpless spent a week with William Seabrook, later famed sexuality'. A young Arthur Calder-Marshall visited for his books The Magic Island, on Haiti and its her and Crowley when they lived in Kent a year later. Vodou, and Witchcraft: Its Power in the World Today . He recalled that she struck him as H owever, Seabrook's visits to Haiti and Africa came much later, in the late 1920s; it may well be that one of the most remarkable women that I have in 1919 he knew as much (or as little) ofVodou as ever seen. She wore a black-and-white satin dress, Crowley did. Certainly in both men's accounts of the which lubriciously emphasized the exuberance of week-long visit, there is no mention of their having her hips and bust. Its singular chic brought into the discussed the subject. And nothing more for almost living room of that furnished cottage during the a decade. off-season the brilliance of Rio de Janeiro in the sunlight, the colour and ton of the Avenida Rio Branco or the Rua do Ovidor in the high season The Voodoo Priestess Years, 1928-30 ... Even in Brazil she would have seemed exotic, but in Knockholt in December she was fantastic. 30 1 December 1928. In Crowley's diary we suddenly read: 'Voodoo-orgie. The most wonderful climax in Integral to Marie's glamour were her notional years:Z 5 voodoo associations. She claimed that in her youth In 1928 he was living in Paris, with his secretary in Nicaragua she had summoned the Devil. She said , his CefalLl period behind him. she'd done it on four occasions, and the technique Sometime in early November he met the lady of the centred on her dancing around a fire. Telling this to voodoo-orgie. Her name was Marie de Miramar. Crowley's friends shortly after their first meeting, she We don't know where they met, or who introduced got them excited enough by the idea that they put them, but we do know that Crowley was instantly on a rite to replicate the feat. Gerald Yorke and Israel smitten. She was Latin American, dark and exotic, Regardie set it up in Crowley's Paris apartment in and Crowleywas besotted. 'She is marvellous beyond early 1929. Crowley was not present. words, but excites me too much, so that I cannot prolong_'2 6 They put on magical robes, cleared the She was also magical: 'She has absolutely the furniture out of the way, stirred up the coal fire, right ideas of Magick and knows some Voudoo ... drew a magic circle on the Boor, lit the Abra-Melin We did proper ritual consecrations, and arranged incense, turned out the light. They began with the for the next Work:Z7 The results of their workings Lesser Ritual of the ; then were impressive, at least in Crowley's assessment: the Serpent [Regardie] and V. I. [Yo rke] seated 'Th e Magical Phenomena in this apartment are now themselves in an easy yoga position and, following acute. Lights and shadows, dancing sparks, noises as the magick of , began to chant the verses of people walking about, a large dark ghost in the from the stele of -f-n-. Maria, whom bedroom lobby, short attacks of rheumatism (to 3 of Brother V.I. described as big and cumbersome, us ) and a Nameless Fear which seized Regardie.' 28 began to dance. She approached the fire and made People in Crowley's circle also found her exotic, passes with hands and bare feet over and amid the

Aleister Crowley, Marie de Miramar & the True Wanga 35 Image removed from this copy due to copyright restrictions. Aames. 1he room was cloudy with incense and at this time. Crowley, Yorke and Regardie all bore coal smoke. Suddenly, while the Serpent and V.I. witness to Marie's evident capabilities. Perhaps she were still chanting the Egyptian mantra, Maria let was, in this sense, a true 'High Priestess of Voodoo', forth a cry and fell senseless to the Aoor. V.I. had for Regardie at least. felt a presence behind his right shoulder, a form or force outside the circle. This was confirmed by the Serpent; he, too, had sensed the being whom their The Fall of the Voodoo Priestess had evoked, and he indicated the spot exacdyY In Brussels in August 1929, Marie and Crowley were married. argues this was a mere Powerful stuff indeed. This is the most detailed legal formality to allow Marie to take up residence account of one of Marie's , and it clearly was in England, but rightly contests effective for the participants. If we are looking at this, noting the diary evidence that on the very tradition, however, it has to be said that this is scarcely night Crowley arrived in Brussels, the two engaged voodoo. The framing - the circle, the Banishing in sexual magic for the purposes of 'success to our Ritual, the Egyptian recitation- is entirely Thelemic. campaign & in marriage'. Sexual workings Marie's contribution, the rite's central ecstatic towards that aim continued over the next two trance dancing, is admittedly a feature of African months.33 In the autumn they successfully moved to diaspora . Did she see such activities in her England, to a cottage in Kent. Problems arose quickly 3 native Nicaragua, and could she have been trained in and Regardie recalled 'the most godawful rows'. " voodoo there? Logic suggests that Marie's familiarity Marie suffered from ill health, and was attended to was superficial. In Nicaragua there was voodoo, by a nurse. Crowley claimed she drank heavily and loosely defined, but it was among the on the had delusions: 'M. had a quite bad attack of insane eastern 'Mosquito' Coast, and European-descended temper ... She makes imbecile accusations about Nicaraguans (like Marie's family) lived in the south- urse Wc1.lsh - that I am making love to her & - west of the country and had little to do with such sometimes - that we are trying to poison her - she peoples. H er love letters to Crowley indicate no "has witnesses".' 35 knowledge of or connection to African diaspora Given Crowley's philandering habits, Marie's traditions, and other than that, the record is silent. fears regarding the seduction may not have been In March 1929 the French authorities revoked unfounded, and one has to ask if the poison fears Crowley's, Israel Regardie's and Marie de Miramar's might relate to attempts to sedate her, or even to residence permits and they had to leave France. Marie Crowley's own drug use. Perhaps he was encouraging and Regardie took a boat to England but were refused Marie to share his narcotic use in magic, as he had entry, so the two sailed on to Brussels together, where, done with former Scarlet Women Roddie Minor and according to Gerald Suster, Marie seduced the yo ung , both of whom had ac ted as Crowley's Regardie. In old age, he would cite her as one of the seers, or scrye rs. Or was he really trying to poison four most influential people on his life.32 Marie's her? On 5 D ecember 1929, Crowley wrote to his significance to Regardie may have been on account of chemist asking for '1 bottle Uriciden (S troscheim)' her being his first lover, but it equally may have been and ' 1 bottle Arsenic, & Strychnine Tablets because of her aid on his magical path. His lifelong (Burroughs)'. 36 Arsenic and strychnine were both quest for esoteric knowledge was just commencing used as stimulants by Victorian gentlemen, but the question of a more sinister reason does hang. Fig. 4. Crowley, 1\Im·ie de 1\firmrwr . YoRK£ In April 1930 the couple visited Berlin. Four COLLE T!ON, \VARBURG INSTITUTE. months later Crowley returned there, alone, to

Alcisrer rowlcy, farie de Miramar & rhe True \Vanga arranae an art exhibition, and he took up with a Marie was indeed in a bad way, and, realising that b woman he met on the first visit, HanniJaeger. It was her marriage was at an end, began to enquire about over with Marie. He wrote to her in September: 'I divorce proceedings. To Yorke she reported: gave you a great chance in life, and you threw it away. Tant pis! ... It will be no good asking for alimony This morning I have been to see the Magistrate, because we are all in the soup together'.37 and he said that he will first know what Crowley Crowley's close friend and financial manager answer to you. Let me know at once his answer; Gerald Yorke acted as a go-between for him and will you? H e suggested me to take a Solicitor, but Marie in the drawn-out, painful aftermath. From when you have the letter from A. C. Buckland Crescent in Hampstead, a broke and ill H e took his address from Berlin. Now I will Marie wrote: write to Colonel Carter too. Please to not forget to let me know what he Dear Yorke, answers to you. This is my las t hope oflife.40 Will you send me £10-0-0? I must pay the rent for my flat on Saturday. I pay only for the flat Yorke pleaded with Crowley: £7-0.0. I enclose a letter from France, which I want you to read and show it to my husband, Do face the position & come out into the open. it is very important as it is about my daughter Either write her that you do not intend to let her Lulu - Every day I am making progress with my have a penny, or else state what allowance you are English. I have been working very hard and I am prepared to make her ... not feeling at all well. The Doctor is coming to see Please do not forget that if you persist in giving my twice this week.38 her nothing at all, you run the risk eventually of going to prison for it. Yorke was dismayed by Crowley's treatment of Do have the decency to 'come clean' & put Marie. He assisted her financially himself, hoping the wretched woman out of her suspense either she might get back on her feet: in Paris, before by writing & telling her to go to hell, or else by meeting Crowley she had earned her living by sending money. To write & say yo u want to & painting and embroidery. He made repeated and then to send nothing - which is what you have unsuccessful attempts to get Crowley to face up to done since Oct 25th - is distinctly mean, to put his responsibilities: it mildly.41

I gave Marie dinner the other night and found Despite Yorke's entreaties, Crowley refused. He her in a very bad way. Rent is paid up till the end had neither time, money nor sympathy for Marie. of the month, but she is very short of food, & in Due to her mental condition, Marie was unable to a bad nervous condition, talking to everyone of secure further employment. In May 1931 she was suicide. Her previous attempts to find work have given temporary refuge in the home of a Mr Maruk, met with very little success. She got one regular a waiter she knew, and his wife in Lower Marsh, job, but lost it through being your wife when Waterloo. A month later she was in a Wandsworth John Bull attacked you & the Mandrake early in workhouse, the Swaffield Road Institution. Just January. She cannot return status quo ante until one month after that she was committed to Colney she has got her divorce. Hatch Mental Hospital in Friern Barn et. Her medical On paper you seem willing to help her. But in report from there makes sad reading. practise you spend the whole of what yo u have on yourself. 39 Unfortunately her earlier phantasy formation

38 C hristopher Josiffe has resulted in definite delusions, and she now occultist Rollo Ahmed was in his circle of friends she is the daughter of the King and around London.44 Ahmed had a Caribbean mother and of pure English blood; also that she married and had lived variously in Yucatan, Brazil, the Prince of Wales twelve years ago, though he and Burma and wherever he lived, he studied the local is ignorant of the blood relationship. At present magical practices. He wrote The Black Art, published her conduct is satisfactory but she is resentful that in 1936, an overview of magic from prehistoric her claims are not acknowledged and is likely to times to the twentieth century; it includes a section become difficult.42 on voodoo and obeah. 1here is no suggestion in any surviving diary, letter or account that Ahmed Gerald Yorke visited her at Colney Hatch. The and Crowley even discussed Afro-Caribbean magic doctors told him of this delusion, and another one: together. If they did, it seems to have had no impact that she was married to The Great Beast 666, Aleister on the written work of either of them. Crowley, the Wickedest Man in the World. Yorke put Crowley might have done well to share with the record straight on that particular score. She was Ahmed his copy of Obeah Simplified. Al1med's was in fact still his wife, as no divorce had been settled. a peculiarly unenlightened view: 'Voodooism is So appalled was Yorke by Crowley's behaviour Devil pure and simple', for example, and towards his wife that a rift developed between the 'Sometimes these dances were in honour of the two men. Crowley dismissed Yorke as his financial moon as representing the "Old Master" or Devil'.45 administrator and sued him, albeit unsuccessfully. Crowley wrote with more sensitivity than this on Yorke's disenchantment led to his departure for such traditions, even though his were just brief China to study . Finally in July 1932, remarks. Crowley visited Marie in Colney Hatch- not to help We can only speculate on why. One reason may her, but rather to get her to sign a document agreeing be the secrecy surrounding these traditions, and the to a divorce while at the same time giving up all claims for financial support. She did not. Crowley reported that one of her doctors 'advised me to leave Marie severely alone. He agreed that the case is hopeless.'43 Marie de Miramar remained an inmate of Colney Image removed from this copy due Hatch, certified insane, case number 23112, until to copyright restrictions. her death in July 1955. During all these years she remained legally married to Crowley, who feared that a divorce would make him liable for her financial upkeep. She was given a pauper's burial in St Pancras & Islington Cemetery, East Finchley, a lonely end for the High Priestess ofVoodoo.

The Thirties

Marie de Miramar passed from Crowley's life in 1930, thouo-h her trao-ic end came only twenty-five years 0 0 after. His two years with her did not lead him to any deeper enthusiasm for Afro-Caribbean traditions as Fig. 5. Rollo Ahmed, from Th e Black Art, Jarrolds, 1968. he went through his next decade. In the thirties the Photographer unknown.

Aleister Crowley, Marie de Miramar & the True 'W.o1.nga 39 di ffic ulties a wealthy white Englishman would face NoTES in approaching black working-class groups. Another possibility is that C rowley did not see value in these 1 Crowley, Book oft he Law, book 1, line 37. traditions. His racial attitudes were contradictory. 2 Fern andez Olmos and Paravisini-Geberr, Creole On the one hand, his writings frequently display Religions oft he Ca ribbean, pp. 150- 1. bigoted remarks and he speaks of 'niggers' with a 3 Cassecanarie, Obeah Simplified, pp. 1- 2. casual insensitivity. Yet he was interested in magical 4 Bell, Obeah, p. 6. culture worldwide and spent time with people of all 5 Cassecanarie, Obeah Simplified, p. i. races, as his travel diaries attest. He held progressive 6 Cassecanarie, Obeah Simplified, p. 31. vi ews on the racism he found in the United States: 7 Cassecanarie, Obeah Simplified, p. 16. 'The hatred of the Yankee and h is fear of the Negro 8 StJohn, Hayti, p. 225. are as great as ever. In the latter case it has increased. 9 Cassecanarie, Obeah Simplified, pp. 28-9. TI1e recent revival and the nation-wide spread of the 10 Cassecanarie, Obeah Simplified, pp. 33-4. Ku-Klux-Klan is one of the mos t sinister symptoms 11 Cassecanarie, Obeah Simplified, p. 31. of recent years.'46 12 Cassecanarie, Obeah Simplified, pp. 57-9. O ver the course of his life, C rowley showed a 13 Korahon, 'Obeah! ', pp. 310, 316; 'Occultism in respect for African-based magic, though he never Modern Literature', part 5, p. 217. pursued it. It may well have started when he was 14 Personal communication, Clive Harper, 21 July 20 11 . a young man, perhaps as early as the 1890s, with 1 5 Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice, eh. 9. the little Theosophical booklet Obeah Simplified, 16 Cassecanarie, Obeah Simplified, pp. 74- 5. which was so adamant that obeah was a magic 17 Crowley, 'New and Old Commentaries'. both honourable and effective. In N ew Orleans, he 18 Crowley, Magick in Th eory and Practice, relished the bohemian and multi-ethnic atmosphere 'Introduction'. of the voodoo-centred District. In middle age he was 19 Crowley, 'Temple of Solomon the King', p. 389. transfi xed by M arie de Miramar's Central American 20 Crowley, 'New and Old Commentaries'. magical heritage, appointing her the one and only 21 Crowley, Confessions of Aleister Crowley, pp. 817- 18. voodoo Scarlet Woman. But it only touched the On the District: Rose, Storyville. On neighbouring surface of his live d experience and seems peripheral areas: Stephen Grasso, personal communication, to his main areas of experiment and research. And 201 2. yet in a small but powerful dose the African current 22 Yorke Collection: N .S. 19, 15 December 1916; 0.5. found its way into Thelema. With 'obeah and wanga' A I, various dates 1916- 17. in the text of The Book of the Law, it sits in a sacred 23 Yorke Collection: O.S. EE2, 145. text of modern magic, an encoded power reaching 24 Spence, Secret Agent 666, p. 142. across culture and race. 25 Churton,Aleister Crowley, p. 310. 26 Yorke Collection: Diary, 19 November 1928. 27 Crowley, Diary 1928, 14 November. A C KNOWLEDGEM ENTS 28 Kac zynski, Perdurabo, p. 434. 29 Yorke Collection: 0.5. El , 1 (e) . I am grateful to Stephen Grasso, C live H arper and 30 Calder-Marshall, Magic of.Nq Yo uth, pp. 187-8. Jennifer Smith for their suggestions and advice. 31 Symonds, The Great Beast, pp. 427- 8. Thanks also to Barry TI1ompson of the Lilian Storey 32 Suster, Crowley's Apprentice, pp. 38, 173. Memorial Library (TI1eosophical Society), and to 33 Kaczynski, Perdurabo, p. 440; Surin, Do What Th ou Bill Breeze of the Caliphate O.T.O., for granting Wilt, p. 342, citing Yorke Collection: Diary, 17 permiss ion to reproduce copyrighted material. Aprill929.

40 Christopher Josiffe 34 Suster, Crowley's Apprentice, p. 38. and Social Control. London: Macmillan Caribbean, 35 Yorke Collection: Diary, 8 October 1929. 1991 36 Yorke Collection: AC letter to Pope Roach, 5 Burnett-Rae, A. Aleister Crowley: A Memoir of 666. December 1929. London: Victim Press, 1971 37 Yorke Collection: AC letter to MdM, September Calder-Marshall, A. The Jvfagic of My Youth. London: 1930. Ruperr Hart-Davis, 1951 38 Yorke Collection: MdM to GY, 4 September 1930, Cassecanarie, M. D. Obeah Simplified: The True Wimga!. O.S.D434. Port of Spain, Trinidad: Mirror Office, 189- 39 Yorke Collection: GY to AC, 20 February 1931, Churton, T. A leister Crowley: The Biography: Spiritual O.S.D4 38-43. Revolutionary, Romantic Explorer, Master and 40 Yorke Collection: MdM to GY, 19 February 1931, Spy. London: Watkins, 2011 O.S .D4 36. Crowley, A. 777. London: W. Scott, 1909 41 Yorke Collection: GY to AC, 20 February 1931, -. 'The Temple of Solomon the King'. Th e Equinox 1: 7 O.S.D4 38-43. (1912) 42 Yorke Collection: Medical Superintendent of -. '1he Old Comment to The Book of the L aw'. 1912: Colney Hatch Mental Hospital, letter to AC, 1 http:/ / hermetic.com/ legis/ old-comment/ ( accessed August 1931. 15 July 2012) 43 Yorke Collection: Diary, 5 July 1932. - . Not the Life and Adventures of Sir Roger Bloxam. 44 Burnett-Rae, Aleister Crowley; Baker, Devil Is a 1916-17: http:/ /www-.invisiblehouse.org/ ref! roger_ Gentleman. bloxan.pdf (accessed 6 June 20 12) 45 Ahmed, The Black Art, pp. 198, 199. -. 'The New and Old Commentaries to The Book of 46 Crowley, Conftssions ofAleister Crowley, p. 794. the L aw'. c. 1921: http:/ / hermetic.com/ legis/ new- comment/ (accessed 11 February 2012) BIBLIOGRAPHY -. 'To Man. Four Broadsheets Issued from Tunis in 1924 and 1925 e.v.'. 1924: http:/ / ww\v.billheidrick.com/ Yorke Collection, Warburg Institute, University of tlc1994/ tlc0194.htm#cc2 (accessed 22 April2012) London -.Diary 1928. 1928. Bloomsbury Auctions Sale NY002, 24 October 2007: http:/ /www.bloomsburyauctions. Ahmed, R. The Black Art. London: Arrow, 197 1 com/ detail!NY002/ 86.0 ( accessed 15 July 20 12) Baker, P. Th e D evil Is a Gentleman: The Life and Times of -. Magick in Theory and Practice. Paris: Le cram Press, D ennis Wheatley. Sawtry, Cambs.: Dedalus, 2009 1929 Bell, H.]. Obeah: Witchcraft in the West Indies. Westport, - (as Comte de Fenix). '1he Scientific Solution of CT: Negro Universities Press, 1970 the Problem of Government'. London: O.T.O., Bernheimer, R. Wild Men ofthe Middle Ages. Cambridge, c. 1937: http:/ / sekhetmaat.com/wiki/ Documents/ MA: Harvard University Press, 1952 The _Scientific _Solution_ of_ the_ Pro blem_ of_ Bilby, K. M. 'Partisan Spirits: Ritual Interaction and Government (accessed 12 October 2012) Maroon Identity in Eastern Jamaica'. MA thesis, -.The Book ofth e Law. London: O.T.O., 1938 Wesleya n University, 1979 The Confessions of Aleister Crowley.· An Blavatsky, H . P. Th eosophical Glossary. London: Autohagiography. Ed. and Kenneth Theosophical Publishing Society, 1892 Grant. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979 Brodber, E. The Continent of Black Consciousness: On -.Book Four. New York: Weiser, 1980 the History ofthe African Diaspora from Slavery to the -.Annotations to the Abbey ofThelema Library copy of Present Day. London: New Beacon Books, 2003 Diary ofa Drug Fiend. n.d.: Imp:/ / www.billheidrick. Bryan, P. The Jamaican People 1880- 1902: R ace, Class com/ tlcl993/ tlc0493.htm (accessed 30 April2012)

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42 Christopher Jos ifFe