Sex Magick

The use of sex for magical work and mystical communion can be found in many traditions. It can be both a physical and an abstract practice in addition to sexual symbolism being utilised to describe mystical states. Crowley appears to have first used sexual magick in 1904, with his then-pregnant wife, Rose Kelly (1874 – 1932), on their honeymoon; the same voyage where he would write the Book of the Law . Whilst much of the content of his original 1904 notebook remains unpublished, in that notebook is an explicit reference to a sex act being considered as a magical practice for invocation.

In 1910, Crowley was introduced and admitted into a magical Order known as the O.T.O., (Order of Oriental Templars) a European group founded between 1895 – 1906. This group had been founded by Karl Kellner and Theodor Reuss as an offshoot of Freemasonry. Over the following decade, it was heavily re-purposed by Crowley and its rituals re-populated with Thelemic doctrine, terminology and sexual magick. It would be the same synthesis and re-purposing that he would later come to apply to the tarot.

The symbolism of sex is an illustration of the divine union; it is the union of oneself with oneself, oneself with another; oneself with others; oneself with the Angel; and ultimately, oneself with everything and nothing. It is not simply the act of sex; however, it does recognise that the sexual act of creation is the most physical and possibly profound human experience.

In the Thoth Tarot, this mundane and magical act is illustrated in main by the symbolism of an alchemical marriage. As such, it draws from the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz , which we met in our introduction section on alchemy. We see this symbolism most in Atu XIV (Art), Atu VI (Lovers) and XV (Devil). There are several references in other cards, such as the obviously phallic design of Atu I (Magus). Further, Atu IX (Hermit) and XI (Lust) carry specific connotations to Thelemic sexual magick. Atu XVI (Tower) contains an explicit illustration of sexual practice, although the reference to anal sex is only alluded in the accompanying text.

These references can be utilised in a reading or for contemplation and magical practice. They can also be passed over by the reader if they do not add a significant layer to their readings. Crowley buried sexual symbolism throughout the deck, so it exists on its own level, like the floor of a building which one can pass through on an elevator. It needs to be there between floors 68 and 70, but our main business of the day may be on floor 70.

So, why did Crowley ‘hide’ such symbolism in a deck which he intended to be public? As we have seen, he wanted the deck to illustrate a comprehensive set of teachings, and this would include sexual magick. However, such teaching cannot be easily communicated without spoilers for the actual experience, leading to a bind. [70] In the Waite-Smith Tarot, A. E. Waite was also less forthcoming in his expression of the mystical symbolism in the deck, which he nonetheless incorporated, leading to a similar bind – very frustrating to the reader. [71]

As a specific example, looking at Atu XIV (Art), Crowley writes “there is a particular interpretation of this card which is only to be understood by Initiates of the Ninth Degree of the O.T.O; for it contains a practical magical formula of such importance as to make it impossible to communicate openly”. [72]

The interpretation of Atu XIV as a ‘secret of the Ninth Degree’ is a sexual act involving both menstrual blood and semen. These two elements are symbolised by the red lion and the white eagle, and their counter-change in the figure which is both male and female. The symbolism of the “white gluten” and the “burning blood” is carried through a process by which “the fire burns up the water; the water extinguishes the fire”. [73] Crowley states that “it is impossible to explain these terms to any but advanced students of alchemy”, by which he meant those initiated into the secrets of sexual magick expressed in terms of alchemical symbolism. [74]

The symbolism itself carries enough significance for interpretation in divination; the card of Art can be read as union or “a combination of forces” and a mingling of opposites, without the recourse of explicit sexual reference. [75] However, the symbolism is now plain to see – in the interpretation of Atu XIV we read the instruction of this secret very clearly; “Dissolve the Pearl in the Wine-cup; drink, and make manifest the Virtue of that Pearl”. [76]