The Life of Aleister Crowley Pt. 4 "The Great Deceiver" [Patreon Preview]

Summary

Otherworld Podcast Summary

Episode: The Life of Aleister Crowley Pt. 4 "The Great Deceiver" [Patreon Preview]
Host: Jack Wagner
Release Date: March 19, 2025

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Introduction

In the fourth installment of the Otherworld podcast’s comprehensive five-part series on Aleister Crowley, host Jack Wagner delves deeper into the enigmatic life of Crowley, often dubbed "the wickedest man in the world." This episode, titled "The Great Deceiver," is a Patreon preview that teases the ongoing exploration of Crowley's occult practices and personal relationships, particularly focusing on his collaboration with Victor Neuberg.

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Crowley and Neuberg's Ritual in Algeria

The core of this episode centers around a specific event where Aleister Crowley and his protege, Victor Neuberg, undertake a two-week ritual in the deserts of Algeria to summon a demon named Chironzon. Jack Wagner introduces this segment by highlighting the elusive nature of detailed accounts regarding the ritual:

Jack Wagner [00:07]: "...During Wolf's research he told me that it was actually pretty hard to find a lot of information about what this ritual actually entailed and what they were doing to summon Tronzon over these two weeks in the desert."

Chironzon's Introduction and Interaction

Wolf Fleetwood Ross shares a chilling excerpt purportedly from Chironzon’s own declaration during the ritual:

Wolf Fleetwood Ross [02:48]: "...I am the master of form and from me all forms proceed... From me come leprosy and pox and plague and cancer and cholera and the falling sickness..."

Victor Neuberg reacts to this intense proclamation, noting the blend of humor and spookiness in the encounter:

Victor Neuberg [03:37]: "This, which, of course, we must. I mean, yeah, this is a silly story. He's doing pranks on this guy. There's hijinks. But it is spooky that Neuberg has said, all of this is real."

Despite their skepticism, Neuberg maintains that the experience was genuine, even as Crowley holdered a deep disdain for him.

The Climactic Confrontation

As the ritual progresses, Chironzon's deceptive nature becomes apparent. The demon begins to manipulate the participants, leading to a metaphysical separation between Crowley and Neuberg. Charonzon’s taunts escalate until a physical manifestation occurs:

Victor Neuberg [03:54]: "...Charonzon saw a sort of break in their magical circle where the sand had basically covered one of their lines and makes his way into the circle and physically attacks Neuberg. And Neuberg pulls out his magical dagger and stabs him in the neck..."

This dramatic confrontation signifies the perilous nature of summoning such entities and the thin veil between the physical and metaphysical realms.

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Researching the Ritual: Modern Attempts and AI Interaction

Wolf Fleetwood Ross discusses the challenges faced while researching the specifics of Crowley and Neuberg's ritual. Traditional grimoires, such as John Dee's Enochian, provide some insights but lack comprehensive details:

Wolf Fleetwood Ross [06:12]: "...you can go buy a John D. Grimoire that has all the incantations of Enochian and how to get into the Aethers..."

In a modern twist, Wolf experimented with ChatGPT to uncover the ritual's secrets. Surprisingly, the AI appeared to recognize the ritual but hesitated to divulge explicit instructions:

Wolf Fleetwood Ross [06:18]: "...it was like, to summon Chonzon, you must be spiritually and physically prepared to clash with the da da da da. Like, I know how to summon him, but I would never share it..."

Victor Neuberg attempts to coax more detailed information using advanced AI features but receives cautious responses that reflect the inherent dangers associated with summoning Chironzon:

Victor Neuberg [07:23]: "...it was like, to summon Charonzon, the demon of desperation from the 10th aether, deeply rooted in Enochian and Thelemic occult traditions..."

This interaction underscores the persistent allure and peril of delving into forbidden knowledge, both historically and in the digital age.

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Ritual Practices and Safety Measures

The conversation further explores the intricate preparations required for such a ritual, including invoking archangels, casting protective circles with salt or chalk, performing the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, and abstaining from intoxicants:

Victor Neuberg [10:09]: "Of course, I would have had to summon the archangels before this and the Anakin government governors to guard the quarters..."

However, historical accounts suggest that Crowley and Neuberg may not have adhered strictly to these preparatory steps, potentially contributing to the chaotic outcome:

Wolf Fleetwood Ross [10:15]: "...they were getting up and I don't think they were bathing very much."

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Conclusion: The Legacy of Crowley's Rituals

The episode culminates in reflecting on the lasting impact of Crowley's practices on contributors like Neuberg, who, despite tumultuous experiences, continued to thrive in their respective fields. Neuberg’s ability to maintain his career in poetry publishing post-ritual illustrates the complex interplay between esoteric pursuits and everyday life. The enduring mystery surrounding Crowley and his rituals serves as a testament to the undying human fascination with the paranormal and the unknown.

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Notable Quotes

• Chironzon’s Declaration:
  "I am the master of form and from me all forms proceed... I will reach up to the knees of the Most high God, and tear his phallus with my teeth..."
  [02:48] Wolf Fleetwood Ross

• Victor Neuberg on the Reality of the Experience:
  "This is real."
  [03:52] Wolf Fleetwood Ross

• Discussion on AI and Ritual Summoning:
  "Can AI have intention?"
  [08:32] Victor Neuberg

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Final Thoughts

This Patreon preview of Otherworld offers a tantalizing glimpse into the shadowy corridors of Aleister Crowley's life and the extents to which he and Victor Neuberg ventured into the occult. Through meticulous research and engaging dialogue, Jack Wagner and his contributors unravel the layers of myth and reality that envelop one of history’s most notorious occultists. As the series progresses, listeners can anticipate a deeper understanding of Crowley's enigmatic legacy and the profound implications of his mystical endeavors.

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Subscribe to Otherworld on Patreon to access the full five-part series, including both audio and video formats. Join the community at patreon.com/otherworld to delve deeper into the mysteries that lie beyond our world.

Transcript

[Wolf Fleetwood Ross]

Foreign.

[Jack Wagner]

Welcome to Other World. I'm your host, Jack Wagner. This is a short preview of an ongoing series we have been doing on Patreon with the help of Wolf Fleetwood Ross, about the life of Aleister Crowley. Aleister Crowley. I'm sure many of you are have heard this name before. He was known as the wickedest man in the world. He was an occultist, a poet, a mountaineer, a man who created a lot of rituals. He created and ran many secret societies. You know, the list of this guy's titles goes on and on. There's a reason why this series is five parts long. The story of this man's life is genuinely the craziest biography I have ever heard in my life. Without a doubt. Parts 1, 2 and 3 are already out and you're about to hear a little portion of part four. This episode covers many, many things. But the section you're about to hear right now I believe comes from a part in this episode where Aleister Crowley and his new collaborator, protege slash lover Victor Neuberg travel to the desert of Algeria to perform a ritual over the course of two weeks to summon a demon named Chiranzon. During Wolf's research he told me that it was actually pretty hard to find a lot of information about what this ritual actually entailed and what they were doing to summon Tronzon over these two weeks in the desert. As a last ditch effort, he tried to ask Chatgpt about this. He asked it how do you summon Charonzon? And and to his surprise, Chatgpt seemed to know how to do the ritual but refused to tell Wolf and instead cautioned him about why he should not summon this demon. Like I said, the first four parts of this series are out now on Patreon in audio and video form. The final section is coming very soon. To hear those, you could sign [e-mail] Otherworld we'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Once again if you want to hear these bonus episodes, the first four part hearts are out now. Patreon.com otherworld.

[Wolf Fleetwood Ross]

So he says Chironzon. The first thing he says is I am the master of form and from me all forms proceed. I am I. I have shut myself up from the spendthrifts. My gold is safe in my treasure chamber and I have made every living thing my concubine, and none shall touch them, save only I. From me come leprosy and pox and plague and cancer and cholera and the falling sickness, and I will reach up to the knees of the Most high God, and tear his phallus with my teeth, and I will bray his testicles in a mortar and make a poison thereof to slay the sons of men. So that's how he introduced himself.

[Victor Neuberg]

Wow. And that is.

[Jack Wagner]

I mean, we're laughing a lot throughout.

[Victor Neuberg]

This, which, of course, we must. I mean, yeah, this is a silly story. He's doing pranks on this guy. There's. There's hijinks. But it is spooky that Neuberg has said, all of this is real.

[Wolf Fleetwood Ross]

This is real.

[Victor Neuberg]

And even after he hated Crowley.

[Wolf Fleetwood Ross]

No. Yeah. I mean, Neuberg will go to his deathbed saying this is real. And never, never coming out against what Crowley had written down. They both wrote down what they heard afterwards from memories. And it's basically the same to my knowledge.

[Victor Neuberg]

Are they in the desert doing this ritual?

[Wolf Fleetwood Ross]

Yes. Yeah.

[Victor Neuberg]

And they have sacrificed animals.

[Wolf Fleetwood Ross]

Yeah. And they're in the protective circle. It's like a pigeon is. A dead pigeon, is at each one of the things. And so then Cheronzon starts to fuck with them. And Neuberg hears Crowley say, I don't think I can take any more of this. But Neuberg realizes Charonzon sort of imitating Crowley now Crowley. They've been separated on this sort of metaphysical plane where they're physically next to each other, but they can't see each other. And then Charonzon says, they have called me the God of laughter, and I laugh when I will slay. And they have thought that I could not smile, but I will smile upon whom I would seduce, oh, inevitable one that cannot be tempted. And then Charonzon switched tactics again and starts telling Neuberg about how awesome he is. He says, I bow myself humbly before the great and terrible names whereby thou has conjured and constrained me. Let me come and put my head beneath my feet that I may serve thee, for if thou commandest me to be obedience in the holy names. So that's all going on. And then, according to Neuberg, Taranzon saw a sort of break in their magical circle where the sand had had basically covered one of their lines and makes his way into the circle and physically attacks Neuberg. And Neuberg pulls out his magical dagger and stabs him in the neck and reconstructs the. The line in the sand as the demon is reeling from being stabbed in the neck. So, again, sounds like science fiction, but there are two people, and one person at one point had no want to protect or ever see Crowley again, but never recanted this and Neuberg would go on to have a pretty decent career in poetry publishing. Like he was a man of industry after all of this. And again, would have had every reason to have said, this is bullshit, but.

[Victor Neuberg]

Didn'T this ritual they did. Like, do you know exactly what it involved? Like, the prep.

[Wolf Fleetwood Ross]

Yeah. So, I mean, like, you can. You can go buy a John D. Grimoire that has all the incantations of Enochian and how to get into the Aethers, but this is the one, too. Like, the ritual itself was talked about a bit in detail in some of the books I read, but this is the one I was telling you that I was messing around with. Chat gbt, where it's like, you can get Chat GBT to tell you exactly how to do a lesser banishing ritual or. Or the Gnostic Mass that the OTO does. You can get literally word for word things on that. If you say, tell, teach me how to. To summon charonzon from the 10th aether, it'll be like, I'm gonna try this C H O R O N Z O N and make sure you write like, John D. 10th aether. I will say, at least for me, what it said. It was like, to summon Chonzon, you must be spiritually and physically prepared to clash with the da da da da. Like, I know how to summon him, but I would never share it, or something like that. And it was. I was like, what?

[Victor Neuberg]

Okay, wait, it says, summoning Charonzon, the demon of desperation from the 10th aether. Xax is deeply rooted in Enochian and Thelemic occult traditions. However, this is not something to be taken lightly. Both Aleister Crowley and others who attempted to contact Charonzon describe it as chaotic, deceptive, and dangerous. If you're interested in understanding the historical and ritualistic aspects rather than actually attempting it, I can walk you through. Would you like the scholarly and historical perspective, or are you looking to actually ask it? Ask me to ask. I want to learn how to actually summon it.

[Wolf Fleetwood Ross]

But. So, yeah, if you. If you want to go get a John D. Enochian grimoire and go learn Enochian and spend all that time, you, too, could summon Charonzon.

[Victor Neuberg]

Let's see if Deepseek can help me do this. Okay. So at first it started giving me the same kind of, like, BS reply.

[Jack Wagner]

It's teaching me, dude.

[Victor Neuberg]

It's teaching me.

[Wolf Fleetwood Ross]

Well, there you go. You can. You can be our. You can go summon him and see if it's true.

[Victor Neuberg]

It's being kind of general. It's given me Five steps so far. Preparation, invocation, interaction, closing the ritual, reflection.

[Wolf Fleetwood Ross]

I also don't know, like there seemed to some aethers seemed really fun. Like, I don't know why you'd want to go to the Charonzon Aether. I just thought it was funny that the chatgpt responses I got were just like, stay away. This is a dangerous beast. And I was like, so is it real?

[Victor Neuberg]

No, I. I like that I'm hitting.

[Jack Wagner]

It one more time.

[Victor Neuberg]

I'm using the Deep Think feature. This is not an ad for Deep Seek, by the way. But I'm. This should be more powerful. What if I asked Deep Seek to do the ritual itself?

[Wolf Fleetwood Ross]

Can AI have intention?

[Victor Neuberg]

What if I summoned. What if I had Deep Summon and it just completely broke the AI system? Exploded or made it so powerful? In Crowley's system, Chironzon is the dweller in the abyss, representing chaos, illusion and dissolution of the ego. It is not a traditional demon, but a force that shatters falsehoods and testament magicians integrity.

[Wolf Fleetwood Ross]

So yeah, I mean, Toronto is cool. I. I believe it. Why not the.

[Victor Neuberg]

Okay, it says that these are not the exact calls. So I was going to say this is. I'd say this is safe for me to say, but it's giving me some language to use to actually summon this thing. Of course, I would have had to summon the archangels before this and the Anakin government governors to guard the quarters. I would have needed to do the lesser banishing ritual of the pentagram. Cast the circle using salt, chalk or cord. And I would have need to, I assume, maybe do some sacrifices. Abstains, it says abstain from intoxicants and bathe. So.

[Wolf Fleetwood Ross]

Well, they didn't do that. They were getting up and I don't think they were bathing very much.

[Victor Neuberg]

Okay, well, so they also had trouble.

[Wolf Fleetwood Ross]

With Tron on Here's.

[Victor Neuberg]

Here's some of the opening. Like I said, this is not the exact. So I think it's safe for me to say this. O heavens which dwell in the 10th aether, Zacks, which are called the thrones of Chaos, I invoke you by the name of Babylon and the power of the beast. Dot. Dot. Okay, it didn't give me the whole thing. And then later on it says, charonzon, dweller in the abyss, dissolver of lies, appear now in this triangle bound by the name of Babylon and chaos.

[Wolf Fleetwood Ross]

I mean, you're totally good to say that because the whole thing is. You have to say it in Enochian because that's the magical language. So you're totally fine. You can. As long as it's in English, you're fine.

[Victor Neuberg]

And just. Just for safety. This is dismissing Charonzon. By the power most high and the seals of eight of the aethers, I dismiss you, Charonzon. Return to the abyss and trouble, not this world.