Aleister Crowley, Frater Perdurabo, Master Therion, The Great Beast 666, Mahatma Guru Sri Paramahamsa Shivaj - only few of the many names that Edward Alexander Crowley used during his life. Many names - many faces. Mountaineer, poet, philosopher, occultist, founder of modern satanism. Provokating, perverted, brilliant!
Not many people know who Aleister Crowley really was, or what he tried to reach with his works. At least fans of Led Zeppelin have heard of him because the guitarist Jimmy Page lived in Crowleys Loch Ness mansion Boleskine and Page owns some valuable writings and books of the Great Beast 666. Crowleys face appears on the cover of Sgt.Peppers. Ozzy Osbourne, singer of Black Sabbath, has put out a song called 'Mr. Crowley'. AC must have had something which was especially inspiring to make really gooood music!
Anyway, what follows is a report of my trip to the so called Abbey of Thelema - Crowleys holy temple in Cefalú, Sicily. (>>>Francois Rabelais (1494-1553) - "Gargantua und Pantagruel", chapter 52)

Only a few visitors know about the little house somewhere in Cefalú that was once occupied by one of the worlds greatest Occultists and Philosophers. Crowley came here in April 1920 with his Scarlet Woman Alostrael, the maid Ninette Fraux and the children Hansi, Howard and baby Poupeé (Anne Leah).

After a long journey through Italy I finally came to Sicilia. After arriving in Messina, where the port for the ferries was, I headed westwards along the northern coast of the island. There is no highway all the way through to Cefalú, so it takes a few hours to get there.
The first thing I saw of Cefalú was the big Rocco, which stands about 100m away from the sea. Here he often used to climb, I thought. Cefalú is situated around this majestic landmark. After we found a hotel, I had a closer look at the town. Small medieval-looking streets and lanes make it a pretty beautiful place. A nice market square with the majestic Roman church, the rock in the background...very beautiful.
As I had no idea, where the Abbey was situated, I went into the tourist information. The people there hardly spoke English and no German, so it was a bit difficult. I told the woman in a mix of English, German and Italian, what I was looking for. She listened, and when I said Aleister Crowley, she knew what I meant. She gave me a brochure about Crowley´s mystery in Cefalú and a map of the town where she marked the house.
So I stepped out of the door and hold the map in the face of the first person I saw :-)) Step by step I went up the hill that is opposite to the rock in southern direction. Most of the people only understand Crowley and asked me "Casa di Crowley?" - the house of Crowley. They gave me many answers, and I went around the football/soccer stadium, but I saw no old white house :-((
So I went further up and walked on a dusty path with an old house at the end. I walked through the rooms, but there were stairs in there....so no Crowley :-((
As the afternoon went by, I had reached a very high level on the hill and enjoyed the wonderful view on the sea. Then I went to a very comfortable house and asked an older lady. She was very friendly and inited me to come in and have a beer and some snacks. I must have looked horrible, it was so damn
hot :-)) After some time the son of the woman drove me to a residential area at the bottom of the hill. There he talked to some residents who pointed us to a path through some thicket, where I already saw a white wall through the leafs.

The house can hardly be seen from the street. It´s alomost like a wonder that it wasn´t pulled down when the stadium was built right next to it.
It´s abit hard to enter the abbey. The only way for me was to climb on the windowstill and proceed through a window, where the boards were taken off by some former visitors. There is a painting on the window-frame that shows parts of the Stele of Revealing. A little piece of a board still was hanging down the frame. There was the word 'Thelema' in Greek letters as well as number 93 - the cabbalistic chiffre for Thelema - painted on this piece in red letters.
Finally I had borrowed a candle from a resident and entered the Abbey as it was getting dark. The first room you enter through the window is also the most interesting. Many paintings of Crowley can be seen on the walls. For example you can see sort of a tombstone on one wall with the words TO MEGA THERION 666 and THELEMA as well as others painted on it. An other wall shows three persons during a rite of sexual magick and the Snake of Kundalini. A third wall shows several faces and the words
"Stab your demoniac Smile to my brain, soak me in Cognac, ??? and Cocaine!" , which are followed by the 'trademark' of Crowley - the phallic A. The faces show people of different races.

Several years ago there was many furniture in the house, left there by former owners, but they have all disappeared. A lot of waste lies on the ground, mostly bottles or cans. The local youth probably likes to sneak into the house of the so infamous Crowley.
But I also found some burned candles, some pages of occult books as well as a self-made 'Sigillum Sanctum Fraternitatis Astrum Argentum' - the Holy Seal of the Brotherhood of the Silver Star, which was hidden behind some palm branches.

Thinking of the enormous historical and philosopical importance, the house is in a miserable condition. The roof is fallen down, it´s dirty and full of waste. But nevertheless there is something mysterious surrounding the building. It is standing there for ages on this hill in Cefalú, avoided by residents, forgotten. The infamous circumstances in which these few people lived and the scandalous happenings behind those white walls fill lots and lots of books. Many people see the Abbey as starting point for the whole modern anti-christian movement.
There are plans to build a museum out of the Abbey. But if people go on throwing their waste around, destroying the house and the paintings, there will soon be nothing left which reminds of the great magus.
Another problem is that the citizens of Cefalú do think very negative about the building. There are still some people alive who saw Crowley and they told their children and so on. The old people are frightened when they are asked about it, and the young ones are spoiled by those stories. So nobody really cares what happens to the Abbey. Some people even believe that ghosts live in the house and are scared like mad.

Surely it is incredible for people who know Crowleys biography and his works, to be in his house, to see his original paintings. You can really imagine Crowley sitting there with brushes coloring the walls.
As it is still possible (thogh officially forbidden) to enter the Abbey, everybody who gets a chance to see the Abbey of Thelema should take it before the city officials lock it.
The planned museum (whenever it will be established) will feature some original furniture and similar stuff. But I had the impression that there is no real interest to open this historical heritage to the public. Maybe this is even better.
Though it is hard to find, people who are searching for it, find it!

See some pictures here

©Fabian Schürer