Today we're talking about a man who actively cultivated the absolute worst reputation possible.

The British tabloids of the 1920s officially dubbed him the wickedest man in the world.

And he owned it.

He called himself the Great Beast 666.

Afra, we said we're going to do mystics, and I'm not a huge fan of this guy.

We're talking about the English occultist, poet, mountaineer, and relentless provocateur

and self-publicist, Alastair, Crowley.

Last time we did Helena Blavatsky, which was a fantastic introduction to

the blueprint of the new age, of the ways in which Eastern spiritualism got worked into Western

narratives. But Alistair Crowley gives us something much darker, theatrical, of the sex,

drugs and rock or roll version of the occult. I'm not as enthused reading about this guy, talking about this guy as I was about lovely Helena. Don't put our listeners off, Peter. And Helena was problematic too. She was very problematic, but she was Russian, so she got bonus points for her. You're just biased. You're biased. Alistair Crowley does have something in common with Helena Blavatsky

because while she founded this movement theosophy, he founded his own religion,

Thelma, based on a single infamous ruling, do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.

And we're going to find out how he became the ultimate Edwardian bogey man and about the incredibly repressive world that forged him,

and work out if you're right, Peter, in feeling a little bit gloomy about his legacy today.

Music feeling a little bit gloomy about his legacy today. Hello and welcome to a new episode of Legacy. I'm Peter Frankipern. I'm Afwa Hirsch.

And this is Legacy, the show that explores the lives, events and ideas that have shaped our world

and asks whether they have the reputations that they truly deserve.

This is Alistair Crowley, the wickedest man in the world.

Thanks for joining us on Legacy Today. To support the show, do please sign up to Legacy Plus.

You can enjoy early access, fewer ads, Q&As and bonus content like The Legacy of the Escalator, the Fishfinger and the Remote Control. Sign up at legacy.organtcast.com. Afwell, that's quite a good label to have. Is it the wickedest? You don't want to be the fifth wickedest. I guess if you're going to do it, you've got to go all in. You can see how for the right person, this is it. This is like, you know, top of the power list. Top 100 wickedest people.

You're top. I guess if you're going to do it, you've got to go all in. You can see how for the right person, this is it. This is like, you know, top of the power list. Top 100 wickedest people, your top, top dog. In our Blavatsky episode, we talked about why Helena Blavatsky was so ravenous for esoteric ideas. And in her case, it was her access to, quote, unquote, secret libraries and eastern cultures that seemed exotic and radical

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