Brother Curwen, Brother Crowley: A Review
Brother Curwen, Brother Crowley: A Correspondence, edited & with an Introduction by Henrik Bogdan, Foreword by Tony Mathews (York Beach, ME: Teitan Press, 2010) is a fascinating book about a little known episode in the life of Crowley, involving his dealing with a person whose very existence was doubted by some people. Readers of Kenneth Grant’s voluminous opus will be familiar with the character, sometimes referred to as the Alchemist, who supposedly transmitted to him the ‘real’ tantric teachings (of the Kaula system left-hand path). The Alchemist, also known under his magical name of Anu Abthilal, was also the last person whom Crowley initiated into the IX degree of the O.T.O. In his book Remembering Aleister Crowley (London: Skoob, 1991), Grant revealed the identity of this person as David Curwen. Now at last we have a chance to find out more about him, as his correspondence with Crowley is finally published.
Judged by this correspondence, Curwen seemed to have been a hard nut. Already more than fifty years old, he exhibited a stubborn and down-to-earth mercantile mentality. His initial letters were related to the then recently published The Book of Thoth by Crowley, but soon the focus turned to the OTO and its mysteries. Curwen, constantly afraid of being made a fool of and wary of the financial involvement, insisted on definite answers and expected the ultimate secrets of the O.T.O. to be delivered on the spot as if they were a stock of fur in which he was trading. Crowley on his part kept insisting that the secrets were real but that they needed to be practiced in order to be appreciated. There was a good deal of mutual mistrust and communication breakdown between these two strange and opinionated individuals. One thing which is striking, however, is the lucidity of Crowley’s mind, who was at the time in his seventies. This fact stands in sharp contrast against the urban legend of a broken-down Crowley in his old age.
The book is a well-produced hard-cover volume, in the already well-established tradition of excellence associated with Teitan Press. Curwen’s grandson, Tony Mathews, has supplied an interesting Forward, while Henrik Bogdan penned an excellent Introduction and provided erudite notes to the text. (Interested readers may also wish to consult Bogdan’s well-received and highly informative Western Esotericism and Rituals of Initiation [SUNY Press, 2008]). This edition is limited to 777 copies so if you are interested, you should act fast and order your copy soon.