Aleister Crowley is known for many things. In his Liber 777 he has a comprehensive series of tables of correspondence, where he finds the same supernatural archtypes from many different religious cultures and corresponds them with each other. Crowley made a lifetime study of different forms of magick; European witchcraft, German Ceremonial Magick, Indian Tantric practices, England Freemasonry, Buddhism, Taoism, Shintuism, the list goes on and on.
The one group that is notably left out of all of his work is that of West African, and African Diasporic traditions. He spent time in Egpyt and the Sahara, but still I can find very little actual reference to the systems of the Africans. This could simply be because he was racist, as this was the early 1900's and he is known for his character flaws.
There are two references in his work that point directly to African Magic, and I am forced to wonder if he ever understood what they meant. These are both from Liber Al Vel Legis, or The Book of the Law, which is to this day the holiest book of Thelema. Crowley claims that this was a text which was spoken to him by a higher intelligence that he then transcribed letter for letter:
Liber Al I,37:" Also the mantras and the spells; the obeah and the wanga; the work of the wand and the work of the sword; these he shall learn and teach."
Crowley indeed spent much of his life "learning and teaching" the "work of the wand and the work of the sword." What what is this obeah and wanga? Obeah specifically refers to an African healing charm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obeah) but that was not very widely known in Crowley's time. Wanga has a similarly obscure meaniing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojo). When reflecting on this Crowley in his Confessions says.
"The obeah is the magick of the Secret Light with special reference to acts; the wanga is the verbal or mental correspondence of the same. [...] The "obeah" being the acts, and the "wanga" the words, proper to Magick, the two cover the whole world of external expression."
This is a pretty weak explanation and typical of his ass-covering. But this is only one of a few other key correspondences between Thelema and West African religion, particularly Ifa.
In the introduction to Liber Al Vel Legis Crowley writes:
"This book explains the Universe. The elements are Nuit-Space-that is, the total of possibilities of every kind-and Hadit, any point which has experience of possibilities. Every event is a uniting of some one monad with one of the experiences possible to it."
He later elaborates more to explain that Hadit is light, while Nuit is dark, Hadit is the circle without circumference and hadit is the center, etc.
Awo Fa'Lokun Fatunmbi writes in Ifa and the Theology of Ifa divination:
"Most systems of metaphysics are based on the belief that the primal polarity that sustains the physical universe is the tension between expansion and contraction. In Ifa this polarity is usually described as the relationship between darkness and light."
There is a lot more to this, but I am feeling lazy so I will just give these few examples.
Now besides Liber Al vel Legis, Crowley's theory of initiation centered around the initiate gaining "Knowledge of and conversation with thier Holy Guardian Angel." The Holy Guardian Angel is envisioned as some sort of higher self who, once you can talk to them, can give you magic information and powers and neat stuff like that. The method Crowley used to gain his level of initiation was taken directly from The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage and requires the participant to stay secluded for 9 month and do a series of rituals, baths, and prayers every day and such.
Today in modern day African Diasporic Religons, and for thousands of years in Africa in one form or another; the first goal of each participant is to discover which "Orisha" or archtypal diety is the particular guardian of their head. Once that is discovered they go on to be "Crowned with their Orisha," which means elaborate rituals and up to a year seclution, while the participant learns to hear and communicate with their diety.
Chapter 3 of Liber Al mentions blood sacrifice. I have yet to meet a Thelamite who made a blood sacrifice except menses, personal, or semen(which is sometimes called white blood), although the Africans have been for a long time. Yes the connections between African magic and Thelema are thick and this is just the begining. But why shouldn't they? Crowley was incredibly inspired by Egypt.
The second holiest document in the Thelemic tradition is the "Stele of Revealing," which Crowley Saw in Egypt after writing the book of the law. The archeologists had numbered the Stele 666, which was the final proof to Crowley that it was about him and his recently written Book of the Law. A copy and translation of the Stele is found in every copy of Liber Al. The Stele has two sides. The first with a story about a priest - Ankh-af-na-Khonsu and a picture of a priest in a leopard skin pelt making an offering to the Egyptian God Ra-Hoor-Khuit. Leopard skin pelt was a sign of the priestly class during that Dynasty of Egypt. It also persists to this day in the African Diasporic Traditions as denoting a Priest of Shango or Orunmila. Shango is called the Orisha who was in love with witchcraft (pointing back to Liber Al).
While writing this I hillariously stumbled over this article on wikipedia, trying to explain what Crowley meant by his Obeah and Wanga: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obeah_and_Wanga
it's bizarre that this topic even got a page! And soooo misinformed. Sad, sad Wikipedia. But also there does seem to be a strong Thelemic faction lording over Crowley-related information on the Internet and they are rabidly against anything that they percieve as threatening their religion. Crowley is rolling in his grave... and it probably serves him right.
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