Which Symbols Did Aleister Crowley Use In His Rituals?

Approaching the study of Crowley is interesting for me because he is a man so fascinated with lineages and borrowings of different magical systems. Many of his ritual symbols and magical tools are ‘borrowed’ from previous systems of magic and reappropriated to suit the themes and dogma of Thelema. The unicursal hexagram, made famous by Crowley, is perhaps his most original contribution to magical symbol. Simple to draw in one continuous line without lifting your pen, it is a very immediate and cinematic type of symbol, beautiful in its simplicity.

The House style of talismanic work and use of lamens (breastplates bearing names and sigils) is often combined with a study of kabbalistic diagrams such as the Tree of Life. Planetary seals are used in their correspondence with the various paths of the tree as well as the inscribing of the Tetragrammaton. The use of Enochian tablets and sigils can also be seen in work that attempts to make contact with particular angelic crews. As mentioned above, numerology also plays a large part and here the number 93 is seen in many contexts. The marks and signs of Crowley’s Magical Systems can be theatrical as well as symbolic, the Stele of Revealing (a large pillar which holds ‘The Book of the Law’) is a good example of this as are the Egyptian Crown and Ankh. His use of the Mark of the Beast (666) is also well known and often used in provocative correspondence.

Some of the Ritual Symbols of Crowley are best understood in terms of their various functions. First they are a mnemonic aid to help the practitioner remember various aspects of a ritual. Then they form a cosmological map of his Thelemic universe. Finally they are used as theater symbols in order to focus the drama of the Ritual. For those who would like to explore these symbols further there are several annotated editions of Crowley’s papers as well as various comparative studies of The Golden Dawn and Thelemic systems. They well elucidate the way in which Crowley modified existing symbols in order to create those which have become central to later Thelemic practice.

The strange collection of symbols in this book is very exciting to me. Old magic, combined with some really deep Egyptian stuff and Mr. Crowley’s unique talents. Looking at ‘The Book of the Law’ was fascinating, as was browsing through ‘Magick in Theory and Practice’ late into one sleepless night. Of these symbols, the most striking to me were the pentagrams (both upright and inverted) and the hexagram, as well as Crowley’s unicursal hexagram, which is a unicursal figure (i.e. drawn in one continuous line).

In addition to the geometric figures of the pentagram, hexagram, and unicursal hexagram, many of the magical symbols in use by Crowley consisted of letters, both Hebrew and alphabetical, and numbers. There were the Hebrew letters of the Qabala with their corresponding Sephirot and paths; the four-letter Tetragrammaton, that most holy of names; and the numbers of magical correspondence, such as the number ‘93’ which he used as a kind of salute; and the number ‘666’ which was sometimes used in a most improper manner by his followers. Egyptian symbols included the ankh, the Crown, and Horus, all of which had featured on the stele that inspired the writing of The Book of the Law. Crowley also used Enochian letters and names of angels in his evocations, especially when the ritual was of a more complex nature. Many of the magical symbols he used were adaptations of those used by the Golden Dawn, such as the Rose Cross and the various seals of the planets and others.

My own interest in these strange symbols was more the function that they served, i.e. focal points, psychological triggers, etc. with also serving as identity tags. Crowley assigned various meanings (astral, qabalistic, etc. with an ethical slant) to the glyphs he designed or reworked, and they are experienced differently in various rituals (invocations, meditation, study). Seeing the glyph next to the corresponding ritual text (as one would read a line of dialogue being sung rather than spoken) makes a big difference to the experience of them. This is easily experienced by reading the original sources and some annotated editions.

The symbols of Crowley that first caught my attention where printed on a t-shirt at a convention. It was an elegant unicursal hexagram encircled by a row of tiny Hebrew letters. As soon as I saw it, I wanted to learn more about it. In practical use, Crowley employed a large number of different symbols, including both kinds of pentagrams and hexagrams (including his unicursal version of the latter), Enochian magic sigils, Hebrew names and the Tetragrammaton, the Rose Cross, various Egyptian magical symbols such as the ankh, and numerological tags like '93 and '666'.

What’s more is that most of these symbols are working tools for Crowley. Much of what he wrote about for magical use came from the Golden Dawn, but he adapted it for his own purposes. He used Enochian material from John Dee as well, but again, adapted it to fit his own methods of working. So the many symbols that Crowley used are not just pretty to look at, they can be followed from a diagram to the actual ritual action. Crowley even includes many illustrated plates from The Book of the Law as well as diagrams for lamen and other uses in Magick in Theory and Practice. The same symbol can be worn as fashion, or held as a philosophical object, or used in actual magical practice.