The true story of Aleister Crowley's own experience with drugs.

Dubbed "the wickedest man in the world" by the popular press and self-styled "the Great Beast 666", Aleister Crowley was an English occultist, drug addict and alcoholic, secret agent, explorer, bankrupt, poet, painter, magician, and mountaineer as well as the inventor of the religion of Thelema. He also had a genius for causing scandal wherever he went. This collection of his work consists of the novels Diary of a Drug Fiend and Moonchild; The Book of Lies and The Book of the Law (both cryptic expositions of his esoteric philosophy); the play Household Gods; and some of his early poems from White Stains. If you want insight into the occult, the arcane, or even the terrible highs and lows of drug addiction, then this is the book for you.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A renowned authority on the secret world of opium recounts his descent into ruinous obsession with one of the world’s oldest and most seductive drugs, in this harrowing memoir of addiction and recovery. A natural-born collector with a nose for exotic adventure, San Diego–born Steven Martin followed his bliss to Southeast Asia, where he found work as a freelance journalist. While researching an article about the vanishing culture of opium smoking, he was inspired to begin collecting rare nineteenth-century opium-smoking equipment. Over time, he amassed a valuable assortment of exquisite pipes, antique lamps, and other opium-related accessories—and began putting it all to use by smoking an extremely potent form of the drug called chandu. But what started out as recreational use grew into a thirty-pipe-a-day habit that consumed Martin’s every waking hour, left him incapable of work, and exacted a frightful physical and financial toll. In passages that will send a chill up the spine of anyone who has ever lived in the shadow of substance abuse, Martin chronicles his efforts to control and then conquer his addiction—from quitting cold turkey to taking “the cure” at a Buddhist monastery in the Thai countryside. At once a powerful personal story and a fascinating historical survey, Opium Fiend brims with anecdotes and lore surrounding the drug that some have called the methamphetamine of the nineteenth-century. It recalls the heyday of opium smoking in the United States and Europe and takes us inside the befogged opium dens of China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. The drug’s beguiling effects are described in vivid detail—as are the excruciating pains of withdrawal—and there are intoxicating tales of pipes shared with an eclectic collection of opium aficionados, from Dutch dilettantes to hard-core addicts to world-weary foreign correspondents. A compelling tale of one man’s transformation from respected scholar to hapless drug slave, Opium Fiend puts us under opium’s spell alongside its protagonist, allowing contemporary readers to experience anew the insidious allure of a diabolical vice that the world has all but forgotten.

Aleister Crowley's 'The Diary of a Drug Fiend' is a provocative and controversial exploration of addiction, spirituality, and the occult. Written in a lyrical and captivating style, the book follows the journey of an unconventional couple who becomes entangled in a world of drug use and debauchery. The novel is filled with vivid imagery and poetic language, drawing readers into a dark and dangerous underworld where reality and illusion blur together. Crowley's unique blend of fiction and autobiography creates a compelling narrative that challenges societal norms and explores the depths of human experience. Set against the backdrop of early 20th century Europe, the book reflects Crowley's own fascination with mysticism and the darker aspects of human nature, making it a thought-provoking and intellectually stimulating read. 'The Diary of a Drug Fiend' is a must-read for those interested in exploring the intersection of addiction, spirituality, and the supernatural, offering a unique perspective on the human condition and the pursuit of enlightenment.

The Diary of a Drug Fiend

Edited, with an Introduction, by William Breeze. Foreword by David Tibet. This volume brings together the uncollected short fiction of the poet, writer and religious philosopher Aleister Crowley (1875 - 1947). Crowley was a successful critic, editor and author of fiction from 1908 to 1922, and his short stories are long overdue for discovery. Of the fifty-two stories in the present volume, only thirty were published in his lifetime. Most of the rest appear here for the first time. Like their author, Crowley's stories are fun, smart, witty, thought-provoking and sometimes unsettling. They are set in places he had lived and knew well: Belle Epoque Paris, Edwardian London, pre-revolutionary Russia and America during the first World War. The title story The Drug stands as one of the first - if not the first - accounts of a psychedelic experience. His Black and Silver is a knowing early noir discovery that anticipates an entire genre. Atlantis is a masterpiece of occult fantasy, a dark satire that can stand with Samuel Butler's Erewhon. Frank Harris considered The Testament of Magdalen Blair the most terrifying tale ever written. Extensive editorial end-notes give full details about the stories.

This new edition of Diary of a Drug Fiend is from the original, 1922 edition. It has been lightly edited with footnotes and original illustrations. "This is a true story. It has been rewritten only so far as was necessary to conceal personalities." Diary of a Drug Fiend, published in 1922, was the first novel by occultist and mystic Aleister Crowley. Despite being written as fiction, the story is believed to be based on Crowley's own experiences with drugs, especially with heroin. The plot concerns Sir Peter Pendragon, veteran pilot of World War One, who has recently come into a large inheritance, following the death of his uncle. During a night out he meets Lou Laleham, a devotee of occultist Basil, King Lamus. Pendragon and Laleham fall in love and begin a wild trip on cocaine and heroin during which they marry and travel throughout Europe, becoming seriously addicted to their drugs and indulging in decadence and destructive behavior. Diary of a Drug Fiend is the earliest known reference to the famous Abbey of Thelema. It contains much of Crowley's philosophy concerning Thelema and his conception of True Will.

Aleister Crowley's Diary of a Drug Fiend is one of the earliest and greatest of narcotic memoirs, and deserves to be mentioned alongside such addiction classics as Confessions of an English Opium Eater, Naked Lunch, Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas and Trainspotting.