Crowley Inspired Well Known Personalities and Supported the Use of Hashish
Today, we are in the middle of a renaissance when it comes to recreational use of certain substances. Advocates of marijuana are not hard to find and its many benefits are proclaimed as a miracle substance for everything from chronic pain to spirtual enlightenment. For decades, we have seen the gradual increase of more liberal feelings towards these substances. Thanks to the hippie movement of the 60s and 70s, the increase of use in marijuana and psychoactive substances pushed its benefits to the forefront, although the counterculture behind its prolific use did nothing to help its legalization.
We can all thank Aleister Crowley for the open and forward thinking forums of discussion we are now able to have regarding the use of legal marijuana. Crowley himself was a heavy user of both hashish and other psychoactive drugs, claiming they increased his ability to communicate with other beings on spiritual planes, increasing his ability to perform more connective and spiritual sexual activities, and believing the substances to be of usefulness in regards to health conditions.
Crowley inspired radical figures such as David Leary, a harvard researcher turned psychonaut in the 60s, and L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of scientology. Both figures turned to Crowley for inspiration and adopted many of his Thelemic concepts to further their own agendas. Crowley believed magic was the middleroad between science and the spiritual realms, an alluring concept for those who had found themselves in professions adhering to strict scientific laws, but longing for answers to questions science had yet to answer. Much like his alchemical predecessors, Crowley and his followers believed that drug use could be the gateway to spiritual fulfillment all while still having scientific explanations for such spiritual journeys.
