In June 1937 Crowley met another casual magical partner, Agnes “Bobby” Barfoot, or Barefoot, who lived in what was then a multi-tenanted Victorian house at 8 Sandwich Street, just south of King's Cross. It is difficult to know if Barfoot was a sex worker and whether the magic sum of five shillings ever changed hands (the price Crowley mentions a couple of times elsewhere; it is probably about £15 today).
This is true of a number of the women Crowley consorted with, and he probably wasn't many women's idea of a casual sex partner or what might now be called a “friend with benefits” (nor was that a popular arrangement in the days before reliable contraception and social independence). He was already rather old for his age, an effect exacerbated by eccentric old-fashioned clothing like the tweed knickerbockers, and he had bad teeth, strange parchment-like skin, a heavy paunch and a ponderous, wheezing manner that some people found sinister or off-putting. But at the same time he had a confident, direct approach, an air of intelligence, and he could occasionally be very funny. And he smeared himself with Ruthvah, a scent which was supposed to make him irresistible.1
Sex with Bobby seems to happen now and then throughout the year, with little other contact, as if going back to a masseur or some other service, while meanwhile having sex with several other women on a similar basis. It is not quite a romantic relationship, although friendly: they have drinks and meals, and he runs into her socially now and then in the Fitzroy Tavern. She sometimes went to Manor Place, and he may have gone to Sandwich Street.
We don't know much about her, but when Crowley first met her he noted the I Ching's advice to “bear with the uncultivated”. Born in 1892, she was in her mid-forties when he knew her; she came from Portsmouth, had been abandoned by her husband, and had an illegitimate child. She lived until 1985.
Crowley performed works with her about ten times in 1937, and slightly more in 1938, but often several months apart. Aims included “power over men”, “money”, “health and strength” and “health especially for Pearl”. It is interesting, since Crowley had earlier noted that he preferred partners not to know what he was doing, that in December 1937 (the aim on this occasion being “money”) he “told her how” and “she tried too.”