ESOTERISME, GNOSES & IMAGINAIRE SYMBOLIQUE:

MELANGES offerts

a Antoine

FAIVRE

Edit(: par

Richard CARON, Joscelyn GODWIN, Wouter J. HANEGRAAFF & Jean-Louis VIEILLARD-BARON

PEETERS 2001

TABLE DE MATIERES
Jean-Robert ARMOGATHE, Liminaire PARTIE 1. ALCHIMIE. HERMETISME. KABBALE. Rodof VAN DEN BROEK, A Dutch Painting ofMercurius Hermes Richard CARON, Notes sur l'histoire de lalchimie en France la fin du XIX' et au debut du XX' siecle .................. Allison P. COUDERT, Seventeenth-Century Natural Philosophy and Eso-

XI

17 27 47

tericism at the Court of Sulzbach

................

Allen G. DEBUS, French Alchemy in the Early Enlightenment Claude GAGNON, Comparaison des deux versions latines du 'Livre des

Figures hitfroglyphiques' attribue a Nicolas Flamel

........

61 71 91
101 113

Moshe IDEL, Kabbalah and Hermeticism in Dame Frances A. :lates's

Renaissance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Didier KAHN, Architecture, Riforme et alchimie en Franche-Comte vers

1560

..............................

Wallace KIRSOP, Les collections de livres alchimiques entre 1700 et

1830: adeptes, curieux et bibliophiles

.............. siecie . . . . . . . . . ..

Sylvain MATTON, Les 'Metamorphoses' dApulee dans fa litterature

alchimique de fa Renaissance au

XVIII'

Monika NEUGEBAUER-WOLK, "Denn dis ist Muglich, Lieber Sohn!':

Zur esoterischen Obersetzungstradition des Corpus Hermeticum in der friihen Neuzeit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mirko SLADEK, Die Feuerpriester am Portikus der Markusbibliothek in Venedig: Zur Feueranbetung in der Ikonographie der Renaissance. Joachim TELLE, Die "Hand der Philosophen": Zu einem Lehrbild der Jriihneuzeitlichen Alchimia-Picta-Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas WILLARD, The Enigma of Nicolas Barnaud: An Alchemical Riddle from Early Modern France . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
PARTIE II. ROMANTISME ALLEMAND. NATURPHILOSOPHIE. THEOSOPHIE CHRETIENNE Reinhard BREYMAYER, 1m Spannungsfeld zwischen Spinoza

131

145 165 199

und Thomasius bei ZinzendorJ: Emanuel Wollebs Stammbucheintrag for Friedrich Christoph Oetinger, Herrnhut, 27. April 1730 Pierre DEGHAYE, "Gedulla" et "Gebura': Le 'Dictionnaire bibfique et emblematique'de Friedrich Christoph Oetinger (1776) . . . . . Dietrich VON ENGELHARDT, Naturforschung als Mythologie und Mission bei Johann Salomo Christoph Schweigger (1779-1857) Jacques FABRY, Du Pietisme a la tMosophie: Johann Heinrich JungStilling (1740-1817) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maurice DE GANDILLAC, Deux images cusaines: l'icone de Bruxefles et Ie jeu de boules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Helmut GEBELEIN, Zur Alchemie im Werke Novalis . . . . . . . . . Nicole JACQUES-LEFEVRE, Esquisse dune anthropologie saint-martinienne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jean-Fran,<ois MARQUET, Fondement et milieu chez Franz von Baader

217 233

249
267

279 285
301 315

John F. MOFFITI, Modern Extraterrestrial Portraiture: An Art-Histori-

cal Inquest teric Writings

........................... ..........................

669 693 713

Marco PAS!, The Influence ofAleister Crowley on Fernando Pessoa's EsoArthur VERSLUIS, Magical Fiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jean-Jacques WUNENBURGER, Les revelations du miroir dans la meta-

physique imaginale

................

Annexe. Frederick TRISTAN, Atalante (nouvelle inedite) PARTIE

725 735

v. METHODOLOGIE(S) ET PERSPECTIVES
EN HISTOIRE DE CESOTERISME

Jean-Pierre BRACH, Quelques rt!Jlexions sur les flndements spr!culatifs de

la symbolique des nombres

................... .......

741 749 765

773 783 797 807 819

Maurice-Ruben HAyOUN, Pour une biographie intellectuelle de Ger-

shom Scholem : Entre Berlin et jerusalem

Jean-Pierre LAURANT, Esoterisme et transmission . . . . . . . . . " Pierre LORY, Le paradoxe dans la mystique: Le cas de Hallaj Seyyed Hossein NASR, Henry Corbin (1903-1978): Souvenirs et

rt!Jlexions sur son influence intellectuelle vingt ans apres

Emile POULAT, De la pensee traditionnelle la pensee virtuelle Pierre A. RrFFARD, L'esoterisme nous apprend-il quelque chose? James B. ROBINSON, Correspondance and Transformation Jerome ROUSSE-LACORDA!RE, "Rapatriements" theologiques de la forme

de pensee esoterique: rapport de la taxinomie d'Antoine Faivre a la rt!Jlexion theologique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " Ivan STRENSKI, Liberal Protestant Theology and/ or the 'Science Religieuse'? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frederick TRISTAN, Les 'Cahiers de l'Hermetisme' .... '. Jean-Louis VIEILLARD-BARON, L'Esoterisme entre religion et philosophie: Pour une elucidation conceptuelle . . . . . . . . . . . . .
APPENDICE Antoine FANRE: Bibliographie (1960-2000) etablie par Richard CARON et Marco PAS!

831 841 855

859

Index des Noms

875 919

PEETERS
PEETERS - BONDGENOTENLAAN 153 - B-3000 LEUVEN

THE INFLUENCE OF ALEISTER CROWLEY ON FERNANDO PESSOA'S ESOTERIC WRITINGS

Marco PASI

1. I:t-qTRODUCTION

One of the most intriguing episodes in the history of 20 th Century esotericism is undoubtedly the meeting in Lisbon, September 1930, between the English occultist (and poet) Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) and the Portuguese poet (and occultist) Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935). One of the most intriguing, indeed, but one might easily add one of the funniest as well. It is well known how Crowley's stay in Portugal ended. He organized, with the amused help of Pessoa, a fake suicide stunt at the Boca do Inferno, a place close to Cascais where high cliffs overhang the ocean. He did this in order to have some free press publicity in a period of personal difficulties and decline. After a couple of weeks of international concern for his destiny, Crowley reappeared in Berlin, alive and kicking as ever, to open an exhibition of his paintings. Many aspects of the relationship between Crowley and Pessoa still remain unclear. I have already tried to put some of the missing pieces of the puzzle back in place, especially with the publication of the correspondence between the two authors which is preserved at the Warburg Institute l . In this article, I will leave the biographical details aside, and concentrate on the intellectual aspect of their relationship 2. In particular, I will present the first results of an investigation on the influence of Crowley on Pessoa's esoteric writings. This analysis will allow me, at the same time, to give a small philological contribution towards the solution of a very complicated problem in Pessoan studies: the dating of his posthumous esoteric fragments.

1 See the chapter 'La Bocca dell' Inferno' and the related appendix in Marco Pasi, Aleister Crowley e la tentazione della politica, Milan 1999, 137-162 and 192-196. 2 For the story of Crowley's trip to Portugal and of Pessoa's collaboration in his fake suicide stunt see, besides my Aleister Crowley cited in the preceding note, see Victor BeUm, 0 Misterio da Boca-do-Inftrno: 0 encontro entre 0 poeta Fernando Pessoa e 0 mago Aleister Crowley, Lisbon 1995. The two main biographers of Crowley and Pessoa have both dedicated a certain number of pages ro the srory: John Symonds, The Beast 666: The Life ofAleister Crowley, London 1997, 447-461; Joao Gaspar Simoes, Vida e Obra de Fernando Pessoa: Historia duma Gerarao, Lisbon 1991 (first ed. 1950), 519-530.

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MARCO PASI

Paraphrasing one of his most quoted sentences, we might say that Pessoa was a poet animated byesotericism, not an esotericist with poetic faculties 3 . Yet, for this first survey of the influence of Crowley on Pessoa, I have decided to limit myself to a discussion of Pessoas esoteric writings, leaving an analysis of this influence in his poems for a further study.

2. PESSOAS ESOTERJC THOUGHT:

SURVEY

Before we proceed to our analysis, it is perhaps useful to offer a brief summary of Pessoas views on esotericism, certainly less familiar than Crowley's to an English reading public4 It is not, alas, an easy task, for Pessoa never managed to write a complete and coherent essay on esoteric matters. He was interested in all aspects and currents of esoteric lore, and wrote on alchemy, astrology, magic, Kabbalah, Rosicrucianism, Neo-templarism, masonic symbolism, the Tarot, and so on. However, he didn't leave a complete work on any of these subjects, but just fragments, several of which are still unpublished5. Some of them share common titles such as the Essay on Initiation (written mostly in English), or The way of the Serpent (0 Caminho da Serpente, mostly in Portuguese), which clearly indicates that Pessoa saw them as part of larger projects, and possibly intended to publish them. Sometimes the fragments are but short reading notes; sometimes, on the contrary, they are significant and fascinating steps towards the creation of a personal system of esoteric thought. It is also interesting to note that many

3 Pessoas actual sentence is: "I was a poet animated by philosophy, not a philosopher with poetic faculties" (Fernando Pessoa, Pdginas Intimas e de Auto-Interpreta,iio, Lisbon 1966, 13). 4 The main secondary sources on Pessoas esotericism are: Joao Gaspar Simoes, Vida e Obra de Fernando Pessoa, 475-530; Georg Rudolf Lind, 'A Inicia~ao do Poeta e 0 Caminho Alquimico', in: Estudos sobre Fernando Pessoa, n.p. (Lisbon) 1981,257-304; Dalila Pereira da Costa, 0 Esoterismo de Fernando Pessoa, Porto 1987 (first ed. 1971), Yvette Centeno, 0 Pensamento Esotirico de Fernando Pessoa, Lisbon 1990; republished as an article: '0 Pensamento Esoterico de Fernando Pessoa, in: Pessoa, Mensagem - Poemas esotiricos: Edi,iio Critica, n.p. 1993, 359-395; the introductions by Antonio Quadros to Pessoa, Obra Poitica e em Prosa, vol. 3, 317-328, and Pessoa, A Procura do Verdade Ocu/ta: Textosfilosoficos e esotiricos, Mem Martins n.d. (1986), 11-29; Ana Maria Binet, L'isotirisme dons l'ceuvre de Fernando Pessoa, doet. diss., Universite de Bordeaux III, 1996, 3 vols.; Andre Coyne, 'Regards sur Pessoa Mort Ie jour de la Saint Andre', in: Nouvelle Ecole, 51 (2000),91-116. In his study, 0 Pensamento Ma,onico de Fernando Pessoa, Lisbon 1997, Jorge de Matos discusses at length Pessoas view on esotericism and initiation. To this list we may add also the specific section of articles related to the subject in: Um sicufo de Pessoa: Encontro internacional do centendrio de Fernando Pessoa, Lisbon 1990, 195-254 ('Religiao e Esoterismo em Fernando Pessoa). For a general bibliography on Pessoa and esotericism, by Luis Filipe B. Teixeira, see Fernando Pessoa, Memagem, 517-530.

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695

. of them were written in English. Pessoa was actually bilingual, having been raised and educated in Durban, South Africa, till the age of 17. English always remained the language of his most intimate reflections, as well as the language of many of his sources of his esoteric readings. The most difficult problem concerning these writings is of a philological kind: it concerns the dating of the fragments, which are, in most cases, undated. As can easily be seen, the solution to this problem is essential for a correct understanding of Pessoa's esoteric thought. In fact, how should we interpret the contradictions which may (and do) appear in different fragments? Are they real contradictions, or are they different moments in the development of Pessoa's thought? And, if in some cases the explanation is actually an intellectual evolution across the years, how to establish what comes before and what comes after? There are of course hints which can be gathered from other sources, for instance references in his letters or in what he published within his lifetime (especially poems). It would be honest, though, to recognise that, as far as a general interpretation of Pessoa's esotericism is concerned, there are as yet no definite and satisfYing answers to these questions. Still, it is possible to put together the information we possess and draw the main lines of Pessoa's views in this field, bearing in mind that new research and findings are liable to modifY this picture in the future. Some elements seem to caracterize unmistakably his esoteric thought. Pessoa became interested in esoteric and occult matters quite early. There is. evidence of this as early as 19066 . Later, he was very impressed when he read some "classics" of 19 th Century Anglo-Saxon occultism: firstly Hargrave Jennings' book on the Rosicrucians, and then (around 1915) some

5 The bulk of Pessoa's esoteric fragments has been published in the following books: Yvette K. Centeno, Fernando Pessoa: 0 AmoT, A Morte, A lniciafiio, Lisbon 1985, 81-130; Yvette K. Centeno, Fernando Pessoa e a Filosofia Hermrftica, Lisbon 1985, 27-82; Yvette K. Centeno, Fernando Pessoa: Os Trezentos e Outros Ensaios, Lisbon 1988, 125-143 (these three books contain also several essays on the topic by Centeno); Fernando Pessoa, Obra Poitica e em Prosa, Porto 1986, vol. 3, 329-537; Fernando Pessoa, A Procura da Verdade Oculta, 139232 (these last two, edited and introduced by Antonio Quadros, are actually different editions of the same texts, but for a few exceptions); Fernando Pessoa, Moral, Regras de Vida, Condifoes de IniciafflO, Lisbon 1988; Fernando Pessoa, Rosea Cruz, Lisbon 1989 (these last two are both edited by Pedro Teixeira da Mota). As it was obvious, the first fragments to be published were the typescript ones, or those whose handwriting did not present great difficulties in deciphering. Now there remain unpublished most of those hand-written esoteric fragments which are particularly difficult to read, considering that Pessoa's handwriting can sometimes be almost unreadable. For them, a long, patient work of deciphering will be needed. 6 Cenreno, Fernando Pessoa: 0 Amor, 51-53.

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MARCO PASI

theosophical works by H.P.Blavatsky and others? At the same time, he got involved with spiritualism as well, which however he soon abandoned. What seems to have impressed him, in those books as well as in his spiritualistic experiences, was the "evidence" of a hidden reality, more real than the daily and visible one. This leads us to appreciate the most characteristic aspect of Pessoas thought: his strong dualism, which evidently verges on a sort of idealism. In Pessoa's view, reality is always composed of two opposite sides. This is reflected on any and all of its levels: the duality spirit-matter is just a mirror for other dualities, such as imagination-actuality, darkness-light, invisible-visible, unknown-known. The first term of these dualities represents for Pessoa the positive side, while the second one represents the negative side. In a sort of reversal, what is normally seen as real and concrete becomes illusory, whereas only what is hidden and invisible can be "real". Between these two poles of reality we find symbols that act like signs: they remind us of the existence of another dimension, which hides the real side of things, and push us towards it. Furthermore, if the symbol is a sign towards the hidden side of things, initiation is the path to reach it. As to what exactly initiation is and how it should work, Pessoa left more questions than answers. He often makes a distinction between three paths to initiation: mysticism, magic and alchemy (or gnosis), sometimes presenting them as separate and equivalent, sometimes as being the consecutive steps of a ladder, with alchemy as the most elevated stage of attainmentS. One element should be emphasised about Pessoas ideas on initiation: we find an important parallel (not just a comparison) between initiation and literary creation. Some passages in his writings give the impression that Pessoa saw his poetic work as an actual way to attain the aim of initiation. The literary genius - and he often hints at his awareness of being one - is a special kind of initiate, whose attainment is a direct gift of God. In this respect, Pessoa takes the example of Shakespeare as an initiate who didn't need to go through the difficult steps of "normal" initiation 9 Even "heteronymity", the most famous aspect of his literary work, plays an important part in this synthesis of poetical creativity and
7 The book by Hargrave Jennings was The Rosicrucians: Their Rites and Mysteries, London 1870 (Pessoa owned the 4'h ed. of 1907). Pessoa discovered Blavatsky's theosophy when he was asked by a publishing house to translate some theosophical books into Portuguese. For a list of these books, see Pessoa, Mensagem, 519. 8 The clearest exposition of this tripartition of the path to initiation is contained in the famous and much quoted letter, dated January 13'h, 1935 (only a few months before his death), to his friend and critic Adolfo Casais Monteiro. See Fernando Pessoa, Correspondencia: 1923-1935, Lisbon 1999, 346-347. 9 We will see an example of this in the fourth part of this article.

THE INFLUENCE OF ALEISTER CROWLEY

697

esoteric attainment 10. Being all, or rather feeling all in all possible ways seems to be for Pessoa the real path to initiation. This was by no means far from Crowley's views, with the difference that, for Crowley, the initiate was to have experiences in material, daily life as well, whereas for Pessoa everything happens on an intellectual and imaginative level. At the time of his discovery of Blavatsky's Theosophy, Pessoa also had strong neo-pagan and anti-Christian leanings. These were smoothed over in later years, when he seemed to abandon his paganism and came to consider himself rather as a "gnostic Christian", though he always retained a vigorous anti-Catholic flairll. He saw ancient gnosticism as one of the main roots of the Western esoteric tradition (he never was very interested in Eastern doctrines). The way he saw the historical development of this tradition was not unusual for a post-occultist author. The hidden wisdom of the Gnostics had been secretly transmitted through a line including the Templars, the Rosicrucians, and the Freemasons, until our days. It should be emphasized, however, that Pessoa thought the transmission had taken place not directly through the apparent side of these historical manifestations, but rather through some inner groups acting inside them. This may be considered a reflection of his dualistic thought. Just as reality is not as it shows itself, but always hides an occult dimension (which is the actual, real one), so the initiatic Orders have always had inner, invisible groups, which were the repository of real initiation. Freemasonty, for instance, is only the lower level of more secret Orders, as in a pyramid, and only the Order which is at the top, and is ruled by the Secret Chiefs, holds the occult wisdom in its purest form. This is an interesting aspect, because it can easily take a conspiracy theory bent. Actually, some of Pessoa's writings seem to point unequivocally in this direction, but this would lead us far from our present topicl 2 We can observe, however, that this mixture of esotericism and conspiracy theory is far from being a peculiar characteristic of Pessoa, and has been a very common phenomenon in the last two centuries, as James Webb has shown 13 .
10 See for instance the interesting fragment published by Teresa Sobral Cunha in Fernando Pessoa, Poemas Completos de Alberto Caeiro, Lisbon 1994, 292, where Pessoa defines the creation of his "heteronyms" Alberto Caeiro, Alvaro de Campos and Ricardo Reis as an "act of intellectual magic, a magnum opus of the impersonal creative power". 11 Antonio Quadros has acutely distinguished between an earlier "pagan" stage and a later "gnostic" stage in Pessoa's intellectual development. See Quadros, 'Prefacio', in: Pessoa, A Procura da Verdade Oculta, 15-19. 12 We are referring particularly to the fragments published by Yvette Centeno in Os

Trezentos.
13

James Webb, The Occult Establishment, La Salle 1976.

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MARCO PASI

Finally, to this ensemble we must add a specifically Portuguese element, that is a particular kind of national messianism known as Sebastianism. This is a literary and popular tradition belonging to the cultural heritage of Portugal. It had its origin in the historical defeat of the Portuguese king Sebastian in the battle of Al-Ksar el Kebir (1578), during an expedition against the Moors. The whole of the Portuguese army was exterminated during the battle, but the body of the king was not found. So a legend took shape that Sebastian hadn't actually died, and would one day come back to start a new age of prosperity for Portugal. This new age was identified by certain authors as the Fifth Empire described in the book of Daniel, which has inspired so many millenarian hopes 14 The myth of the Fifth Empire, linked to that of Sebastianism, is a recurrent topos of Portuguese literary tradition, and Pessoa has been only one of its most eminent and recent interpreters. In him, however, and especially in his famous poem Mensagem (Message, 1934), the myth gets mixed with other esoteric elements which were not part of this tradition before him, like Rosicrucianism or the Arthurian legend. Pessoa sees the return of Sebastian as an event which will actually take place soon, and will mark the establishment of a cultural and spiritual (but not political) empire of Portugal in the world. Let us return now to the specific issue I wish to discuss here. It will not be possible to analyse thoroughly all the esoteric fragments containing implicit or explicit references to Crowley's works. Of a total of around 270 esoteric fragments that have been published, or that I have personally examined in the Biblioteca Nacional' at least 40 contain references which can only be explained, as I will tty to demonstrate, by Pessoa's reading of Crowley's works and should therefore be considered as the sign of a direct influence 15 . It is of course necessary, first of all, to see what books by Crowley Pessoa had at his disposal. It has not been previously remarked that Pessoa ordered a book by Crowley as early as 1917. It was 111, Crowley's personal dictionary of occult correspondences 16 Mainly based on the Golden Dawn system and teachings, it had been published a few years before 17 However,

Dan., 2, 44. I intend to publish in a further study a complete list of these fragments. 16 Pessoa ordered the book through the London bookseller Frank Hollings. His letter to Hollings, dated March 6'1, 1917, has been published in Fernando Pessoa, Correspondencia: 1905-1922, Lisbon 1999,245. 17 [Aieister Ctowley], 777 Vel Prolegomena Symbolica ad Systemam Sceptico-Mysticae Viae Explicandae, Fundamentum Hieroglyphicum Sanctissimorum Scientiae Summae, London and Felling-on-Tyne, 1909.
14 15

THE INFLUENCE OF ALEISTER CROWLEY

699

it is not certain that Pessoa knew at that time who the author of the book was, because Crowley had published it anonymously. Afterwards Pessoa does not seem to have bought any other book by Crowley until November 1929, when he ordered the first two volumes of Crowley's autobiography, The Conftssions 18 Subsequently, but it is not known when exactly, Pessoa ordered or was given by Crowley two copies of Magick in Theory and Practice (1929-1930), and a copy of a collection of short stories, The Stratagem (1929)19. According to one of the catalogues of Pessoa's library, The Conftssions and one of the copies of Magick in Theory and Practice show some underlinings and annotations in Pessoa's hand20 . This is not surprising: of the books by Crowley owned by Pessoa, these are the most interesting ones, because they present as clearly as possible Crowley's views on magic and other occult matters. As far as an influence of Crowley on Pessoa is concerned, this is where we should look for its main source. We can roughly divide the references to ideas or notions taken by Pessoa from Crowley's works into three different groups: (1) Initiatic Orders and grades modelled on the system of Crowley's A:.A:.; (2) The notion of a magical relationship with ones own Guardian Angel; (3) The doctrine ofThelema.

18 Aleister Crowley, The Confessio11S ofAleister Crowley, 2 vv., London 1929. Only these first two volumes, of the projected six, were published during Crowley's life. The six volumes were finally published together for the first time in 1969. The second volume ends immediately before the revelation of the Book of the Law in Caito in 1904, which Crowley considered as the climax of his "autohagiography". It contains however the story of Crowley'" involvement with the Golden Dawn (1898-1900) and the immediate consequences. As it is well known, the letter with which Pessoa ordered of the Confessions was the starting point of his personal relationship with Crowley, which led one year later to the latter's trip to Portugal. 19 Aleister Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice, Paris n.d. (I 929-1930); The Stratagem and Other Stories, London n.d. (I 929). We have consulted the following catalogues of Pessoa's library: 'Fernando Pessoa's Library', appendix A of Jaime Herculano da Silva, Fernando Pessoa and the English Romantic Tradition, Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 1980, unnumbered pages (the most complete one); and 'Biblioteca de Fernando Pessoa: Lista bibliografica', in Tabacaria, 0 (Febr. 1996), 63-119 (a list of the books actually preserved at the museum of Pessoa in Lisbon, the Casa Fernando Pessoa,). A cross consul ration of the two is necessary, since each one presents some gaps filled by the other. It is unclear why Pessoa had two copies of Magick in Theory and Practice, or how he obtained them. Probably Crowley brought one copy to Portugal (possibly with the copy of The Stratagem) as a gift for Pessoa, while the latter had already ordered the other one on his own before. According to da Silva's catalogue, one copy is hardbound, while the other is divided into four wrappered installments. Both types were then circulating, the hardbound version being reserved to subscribers. All copies had been printed in Paris in 1929, but were bound only in 1930 in England and subsequently put on sale. Therefore Pessoa could not have had his two copies before that year. The particularly complicated editorial story of this book has been admirably reconstructed by Timothy d'Arch Smith in his The Books of the Beast, n.p. 1987,20-22. 20 See da Silva, 'Fernando Pessoa's Library', s. v. Aleister Crowley.

700
3.

MARCO PASI
ORDERS AND GRADES

In several esoteric fragments Pessoa describes what is, in his opinion, the general structure of initiatic Orders. We find the most clear exposition of this in the following text:
There are, in the Lesser Orders [ordens menoresj, an Outer and an Inner Order. In the first one are Neophytes and Zelatores, in the second one Practici and Philosophi. The first one includes Apprentices and Fellows as simple initiates (Neophytes), and Masters (Zelatores); the second one includes those who have reached the Higher Grades [Altos Graus] and those who have reached the Grades of Passage [Graus de Passagem] - Practici and Philosophi respectively. In the Greater Orders [ordens maio res], there are an Inner and an Outer Order as well. The Outer Order consists of an organisation which goes from the first to the tenth grade, exactly as it is indicated. The Inner Order, since we are dealing here with Higher Orders [altas ordensl (and the Inner Order is the real one, the Outer Order being only apparent), begins with the Adeptus Minor, who is a Neophyte of the Inner Order. It continues with the Adeptus Major, who is a Zelator of the Inner Order; with the Adeptus Exemptus, who is a Practicus of the Inner Order in the outside and a Philosophus of the Inner Order in the inside. The Magister Templi of the Outer Order is.an Adeptus Minor of the Inner Order; the Magus of the Outer Order is an Adeptus Major of the Inner Order; the Ipsissimus of the Outer Order is an Adeptus Exemptus of the Inner Order in the outside and a Magister Templi in the inside. The explanation of all Orders and of all kinds of Orders is contained in these interpretative dispositions21. [esp. 54-91]

This fragment would deserve a long, elaborate discussion, which unfortunately I cannot fully develop here. I shall rather dwell upon a particular aspect. Pessoa is clearly trying to systematise his notions about the structure of initiatic Orders. We have seen that, according to him, the secret of initiation is preserved through a pyramidal system of Orders. In this fragment we find the description of two levels (Lesser Orders and Greater Orders), each divided into two sub-levels (Outer and Inner Order). As in a pyramid, levels become smaller the closer they are to the top, where the secret of real initiation is supposedly preserved. At the lowest level we find "exoteric" institutions, such as Craft Freemasonry and the Catholic Church; and only above them "real" esoteric Orders, on which they ultimately depend.
21 Centeno, Fernando Pessoa e a Filosofia Hermitica, 41. When possible, I will always indicate in square brackets, alter the quotation, the press-mark of the original document in the Esp6lio Fernando Pessoa preserved at the Biblioteca Nacional, Lisbon. If the text has been published, I will indicate in note the relevant source. The translation from Portuguese is always mine.

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What is interesting here to notice, is that all levels are structured according to a particular system of grades, the source of which does not seem difficult to recognise. Those critics who have already discussed this aspect have referred to the Golden Dawn system, but this is incorrect22 On this aspect the real source for Pessoa is none other than Aleister Crowley's Order: the A:.A:., commonly known as ''Astrum Argentinurn". We have two kinds of evidence to support this thesis: the structure itself, as it is described by Pessoa, and the problem of the sources. As it is well known, Crowley's Order, founded in 1907, was strongly inspired by the system (teachings, rituals, grades) of the Golden Dawn. Crowley had actually been a member of the latter Order between 1898 and 1900, when a schism between different factions had put an end to its golden age. The structures of the Golden Dawn and the A:.A:. were basically the same. For instance, they were both divided into three different Orders: a First (or Outer), a Second (or Inner), and a Third Order (this seems adopted, with some slight variations, by Pessoa in his fragment). However, there were some differences as well, and particularly in the grade structure. A comparative table will be useful in showing this aspect:
GOLDEN DAWN GRADES

A:.A:.

GRADES

First Order = 00 Neophyte 10 = 100 Zelator 2 = 9D Theoricus 3 = 8 0 Practicus 4 = 7 Philosophus Portal Grade
0
0

First Order = 00 Probationer 1 = 100 Neophyte 2 = 9 Zelator 3 = 80 Practicus 4 = 70 Philosoph us Dominus Liminis
0 Second Order

Second Order

60 Adeptus Minor 6 = 50 Adeptus Major r = 40 Adeptus Exemptus Babe of the Abyss

=
0

50

5 6

=
=

60 Adeptus Minor 50 Adeptus Major 40 Adeptus Exemptus

Third Order

Third Order

8 = 30 Magister Templi 9 = 2D Magus 10 = 1 Ipsissimus

8 = 3D Magister Templi 9 = 2 0 Magus 10 = 1 Ipsissimus

22 See Yvette Centeno, 0 Pensamento Esoterico, 374-375; Angel Crespo, La vita plurale di Fernando Pessoa, Rome 1997 (Spanish or. ed.: 1988),290-299; Andre Coyne, Portugal e um Ente... - De lEtre du Portugal, Fribourg-Lisbon 1999, 55-56; Andre Coyne, 'Regards

sur Pessoa', 109; Jorge de Matos, 0 Fensamento Mafonico de Fernando Fessoa, Lisbon 1997, 106.

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It is easy to see the differences between the two systems. Crowley suppressed the grade of Theoricus, and moved downwards (or upwards, depending on the point of view) the grades of Neophyte and Zelator to fill the gap, adding a new preliminary grade of Probationer23 Now, if we compare these two systems with the one expounded by Pessoa in his fragment, it becomes clear that it is the A:.A:. that he had in mind when he was writing, not the Golden Dawn. In his Lesser Orders, we have no Theoricus grade, but we have all the four grades of the A:.A:. (minus the Probationer one, which is just preliminary). This pattern recurs in all the numerous fragments in which Pessoa describes the structure of initiatic Orders, and in none of them do we find a reference to the Theoricus grade. The only plausible explanation for this is that nowhere in the sources available to him, with a single exception that will be discussed below, could Pessoa have found information on the Golden Dawn system of grades. What he had at his disposal was just Crowley's personal development of it. The other argument to support our thesis concerns the sources available to Pessoa. Where could he have found precise information on the Golden' Dawn? From the catalogues of his library, we learn that he owned some books by other ex-members of the Order, besides Crowley. In particular he had A Selection from the Poetry ofWB. Yeats (1913); the translation of S.L. MacGregor Mathers of Knorr von Rosenroth's Kabbala Denudata (in the fourth edition of 1926); and, finally, three books by Arthur Edward Waite: The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross (1924), Emblematic Freemasonry (1925), and The Holy Grail (933)24. We can immediately set aside the collection of poems by Yeats and the last two books by Waite, where no references to the Golden Dawn are made 25 The other two books deserve a closer look.

23 Crowley also renamed to the unnumbered subgrade between the First and the Second Order (the Portal Grade became the Dominus Liminis) and created another subgrade between the Second and the Third Order (the Babe of the Abyss). These subgrades are mentioned by Pessoa in some of his fragments, see for instance esp. 54-34 (Pessoa, Rosea Cruz, 195), or esp. 54-41 (Pessoa, Rosea Cruz, 197). This is of course another clue that his model was the A:.A.". rather than the Golden Dawn. 24 William Butler Yeats, A Selection foom the Poetry ofWB. Yeats, Leipzig 1913; Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers (ed.), The Kabbalah Unveiled, London 1926 (first ed.: 1887); Arthur Edward Waite, The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross: Being Records ofthe House of the Holy Spirit in Its Inward and Outward History, London 1924; Waite, Emblematic Freemasonry, And the Evolution of Its Deeper Issues, London 1925; and Waite, The Holy Grail: Its Legend and Symbolism, London 1933. We do not know when Pessoa came into possession of mese books. 25 Pessoa certainly knew that Yeats had been a member of the Golden Dawn and played an important role in the schism of 1900, through Crowley's bitter comments on him in his Confessions (we quote from the complete edition of six volumes in one, London 1989), 165166, and 177.

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Waite's book on the Rosy Cross dedicates a few pages to the Golden Dawn (mentioned explicitly by its name), questioning its origin as told in its official historf6. Interestingly, Waite also gives some indications about the grades, and this makes his book the exception referred to above. However, he only gives the grades of the First Order, from Zelator to Philosoph us, leaving the rest of the hierarchy in the shadow. Therefore, the only part mentioned by Waite was exactly the one modified by Crowley in his system, and which appears as such in Pessoa's fragments 27 . As to Mathers' book, the 1926 edition of the Kabbalah Unveiled owned by Pessoa was supplemented by a preface by his wife Moina Mathers, nee Bergson (18651928)28. Her husband had died in 1918, and on that occasion she wanted to pay homage to his memory. She therefore gives some veiled information on his life and on the Golden Dawn (without disclosing its name), understandably emphasising Mathers' role in the history of the Order and understating WW Westcott's29. She gives 1888 as year of foundation of the Order, a detail which may have intrigued Pessoa (born the same year), but makes no references to its grades or structure. If we put these two sources aside, we see that Pessoa had only one important source of information on the Golden Dawn: the first two volumes of Crowley's Conftssions (1929). In the first volume, Crowley told his own version of the story of the Order. It mainly embraced, but for an excursus on its origins and on the problem of the ciphered manuscript, th; period of his membership, that is between his first initiation in 1898 and the schism of 19003 As to the A:.A:. structure, on the contrary, Pessoa's source must have been another one. In fact, the narrative of the second volume of the Conftssions finishes at 1904, that is before the section where Crowley describes the foundation (1907) and the development of his A:.A:.31. Actually, Pessoa could have obtained a clear idea of the structure and the aims of the A:.A:. only from one of the appendixes of Magick in Theory

Arthur Edward Waite, The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross, London 1924, 580-584. Pessoa did, however, read Waite's book carefully. His copy presents many underlinings and a few observations in his hand (see da Silva, Fernando Pessoa, appendix A, s.v. 'Waite'). Moreover, at least two esoteric fragments are actually reading notes from Waite's book: esp. 53A-81 (Pessoa, Rosea Cruz, 178-179), and esp. 54A-57 (Pessoa, Rosea Cruz, 210). 28 S.L. MacGregor Mathers, The Kabbalah Unveiled, London 1926. According to da Silva's catalogue (Fernando Pessoa, appendix A, s. v. 'Zohar'), Pessoa's copy contains many underlinings and annotations in his hand. 29 William Wynn Westcott (1848-1925) had been the cofounder of the Golden Dawn and for some years, before the schism of 1900, a close associate of Mathers. 30 Crowley, The Confessions, 175-197. 31 The section is in the fourth volume: Crowley, The Confessions, 561 ff.
26 27

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and Practice (1929-1930): 'One Star in Sight'32. There Crowley expounded,

as simply as possible, not only the structure of the grades of his own Order, but also the meaning of each grade, starting from the Adeptus Minor, with the requirements for the advancement from one to the other. In conclusion, only since 1929-1930 was Pessoa able to have a relatively clear idea of the history of the Golden Dawn and of the structure of the A:.A: .. That he was aware that the two Orders were not the same thing is illustrated in certain passages. For instance, in an unpublished fragment he speaks of the two as distinct Orders, and adds that he has found information on the A:.A:. in "the treatise Magick of the Master Therion, who, I believe, founded, or gave shape to, [it],,33. A grade structure based on the A:.A:. appears in several other fragments 34 . Of the three themes discussed here, it is by far the most important quantitatively. In some cases, Pessoa uses a contracted form of the structure, which has no equivalent in Crowley's writings, reducing the three Orders to three simple grades: Whatever the number of grades, outward or inward, in the scale of ascent towards Truth, they may be considered as three - Neophyte, Adept and Master. In reality the grades are ten - four under Neophyte, three under Adept and three (so to speak) under Master. There are really five under Neophyte, but the first grade is not numbered35 . [esp. 54B-17J

As a consequence of this simplification, the complicated structure discussed

above becomes much handier, and it is legitimate to wonder whether Pessoa did not have in his mind the three degrees of Craft Freemasonry as a model. The name of the third grade in his simplified system, "Master" - which is probably an abbreviation for "Magister Templi", but might also be reminiscent of the Master degree in the Craft - could make such a supposition pertinent. Be that as it may, this is an interesting aspect, because it shows, if need be, that Pessoa did not accept his sources passively, but was actually engaged in a work of creative interpretation and original elaboration36
Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice, 228-244. Esp. 53-74. See also esp. 53B-36: "We can say that he is a Rosicrucian who belongs to the Rosicrucian Order, or, also, to some of the Orders deriving from it, or which pretend to do so - the G:.D:., the A:.A:., and other ones" (Pessoa, Rosea Cruz, 91). 34 See for instance esp. 53B-25 (Pessoa, Rosea Cruz, 224); esp. 54-33 (Pessoa, Rosea Cruz, 198); esp. 54-34 (Pessoa, Rosea Cruz, 194); esp. 54-39 (Pessoa, Rosea Cruz, 199); esp. 54-41 (Pessoa, Moral, 143). 35 Centeno, Fernando Pessoa e a Filosofia Hermetica, 81. The original is in English. 36 Another very interesting example of this creative interpretation is offered by some fragments where Pessoa applies the grade structure of the A:.A:. to persons or events which are not found in Crowley's books. In a fragment, for instance, he speaks of Antonio Vieira
32 33

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4.

THE GUARDIAN ANGEL

The notion of the "knowledge and conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel" is another element appearing in Pessoa's fragments whose source may be traced to Crowley's writings. As it is well known, the origin of this idea, which is absolutely central to the understanding of Crowley's system, is in a grimoire preserved as a manuscript (in French) at the Bibliotheque de l'Arsenal in Paris. It was published for the first time in an English translation by S.L. MacGregor Mathers as The Sacred Book ofMagic ofAbra-Melin the Magl,;37. The manuscript is of uncertain provenance and period, though it purports to be the work of an Abraham the Jew, who would have lived between the fourteenth and the fifteenth century. Abraham claims that his book is based on the teachings he has received from a magician named Abra-Melin (or Abramelin), whence the title of the book. Contrarily to what has been sometimes assumed, the instructions contained in this book were never part of the curriculum, or of the official teachings, of the Golden Dawn. Presumably the members of the Order were usually informed of the publications made by its chief, and possibly the purchase of these books was encouraged, but if this were so, there is no evidence that it happened in any official way. This explains why, for instance, we have no records of any other member of the Golden Dawn, except Crowley, attempting to put into practice the instructions delivere9. in this book. This is understandable: these instructions were particularly long, complicated

(1608-1697), one of the "prophets" of Sebastianism, as an Adeptus Minor (esp. 53B-20; Pessoa, Rosea Cruz, 226). Elsewhere he tells how Jacques de Molay, last Grand Master of the Order of the Temple, and King Sebastian himself were tOO rapidly raised to the grade of Magus, owing to their violent death (esp. 54-93; Centeno, Femando Pessoa e a Filosofia Hermetica, 43). This had, according to Pessoa, fateful consequences for the history of Europe. In another fragment he writes of Jesus Christ as an Ipsissimus, an attribution to which Crowley would have probably objected (esp. 53B-78; Pessoa, Rosea Cruz, 206). 37 Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers (ed.), The Book of the Sacred Magic ofAbra-Melin the Mage, London 1898. It is interesting to note that in a fragment Pessoa refers to Mathers and Abra-Melin: "There is scarcely a competent magician who does not fall prey to things which reveal the weakness of the will. The terrible end of MacGregor Mathers, in sodden dtunkenness, is a poignant case. He might perhaps control Abremalin's [sic] devils, but he could not control his own" (esp. 54A-62; Centeno, Femando Pessoa e a Filosofia Hermetica, 77; the original is in English). His source for this story is certainly Crowley, who, after his disappointment with the Golden Dawn, liked to put Mathers in a bad light. There are two passages in the Confessions (176 and 337) and one in Magick in Theory and Practice (194) referring to Mathers' personal problems in relation to Abra-Melin, but not particularly to Mathers' drunkenness. It is possible that Crowley told Pessoa this detail when they met in 1930. On Mathers, see Irhell Colquhoun, Sword of "Wisdom: MacGregor Mathers and the Golden Dawn, London 1975 (for Crowley's treatment of Mathers in his writings, see 108-114).

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and purportedly dangerous to accomplish. Their aim is defined in the book as the "Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel". In the grimoire this was intended as the establishing of a "personal" contact with the particular spiritual entity who, according to a well known Judaeo-Christian tradition, is supposed to preside over us and protect us from harm and evil. This would have entitled the magician to have other lesser spiritual entities at his command, and consequently to help his neighbour with the powers thereby acquired. The idea was adopted by Crowley, who integrated it into his personal doctrine as one of its central tenets. Even if he later changed his mind, he identified at first the Holy Guardian Angel with the notion of the Higher Self, or Higher Genius, which was current in the Golden Dawn38 . In fact, in some of its official papers the "Great Work", that is the spiritual attainment of the initiate, was indicated as the "Union with the Higher Self"39. In this sense, the Holy Guardian Angel was not an objective, detached entity, as he presumably had been in the original grimoire, but acquired a sort of psychological existence. Crowley had tried for the first time to put into practice the instructions of the grimoire in the spring of 1900, immediately before the schism of the Golden Dawn. This event, and his personal involvement in it, obliged him to abandon his attempt. Subsequently he claimed that he had attained his goal in 1906, during a trip through the south of China40 . Pessoa could only know of the first, unsuccessful attempt, which is described in the first volume of the Confessions, while the second one, being in the third volume, was not available to him. Crowley prescribed the attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel as the main task of the Adeptus Minor in his A.',A... There are many references to this aspect in Magick in Theory and Practice, especially in 'One Star in Sight'. It seems evident that Pessoa had read these passages carefully. In a long fragment, for instance, he describes the different kinds of intellectual attitude required of the initiate in each of the three Orders. He attributes abstract intelligence to the First Order; analogic intelligence, or intuition, to the Second Order; and complete intelligence, where the first two kinds mix together, to the Third Order. When
38 Later he started to see Aiwass, the entity who dictated the Book of the Law, and whom he always considered as wholly independent from his conscious or unconscious self, as his Holy Guardian Angel. This identification was of course contradicrory ro the earlier one concerning the Higher Self or Genius. On this aspect, see Marco Pasi, La notion de magie chez Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), memoire de D.E.A., Ecole pratique des Hautes Etudes (Paris, Sorbonne), 1995,51-53. 39 Pasi, La notion de magie, 43-45. 40 Crowley, The Confessions, 517 ff.

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the initiate attains the first grade of the Second Order, and becomes an Adeptus Minor, he must develop his intuition. Intuition, however, is an "angelic faculty", which can exist only when it is given from above, and cannot be obtained simply through the "human qualities of the mind". This is why, Pessoa explains, The opening of the personality to intuition, through the abdication of personal intelligence, is rendered in the occult language by the attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Guardian Angel, an expression which, even though it is symbolic, is not entirely s041. [esp. 54-41]

It must be noted that this theory of the different kinds of intelligence, and its application to the relationship with the Guardian Angel, is an original development by Pessoa, since it does not appear in Crowley's writings. It appears, in a slightly different form, in other fragments as well. For instance, Pessoa elsewhere applies the relationship with the Guardian Angel to the understanding of symbols. There -are five qualities necessary to interpret symbols correctly. Four of them have a simple name and are easy to describe: sympathy, intuition, intelligence, and comprehension. The fifth, on the contrary, is more indefinable:
Perhaps I shall say, speaking to some that it is grace, speaking to others that it is the hand of the Unknown Superior, speaking to others still that it is the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, meaning each of these things, which are the same, in the way they are understood by those who use them, in speech or writing42 . Here again we find this notion related to a quality of understanding that needs the help of a transcendent entity to manifest itself. In some cases, Pessoa identifies initiation with literary genius, and both with the Knowledge and Conversation of the Guardian Angel. His favourite example of artist-initiate is Shakespeare, as in the following fragment: The man of genius is a left-hand initiate. Shakespeare. He is an initiate who feels, but does not know, his initiation. Initiation is admission to the conver-

Pessoa, Rosea Cruz, 197. The fragment has been considered by Maria Aliete Galhoz as a posthumous preface to the poem Mensagem (Message) and has been published as such in her collection of Pessoa's poetical works (Fernando Pessoa, Obra Poetica, Rio de Janeito 1960, 69). However, nothing in the text induces one to think that Pessoa wrote it with this intention, and undoubtedly that is why it has not been inserted (or even mentioned) in the recent critical edition of Mensagem, which we have already quoted. I have not been able to locate the fragment in the Esp6lio, and consequently cannot give its press-mark.
41 42

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sation of the Angels. Some hear, others see and hear. The first are on the left, the others are on the right43 [esp. 54B-20] As we have seen, Crowley put the notion of the Guardian Angel in relation with the Higher Self of the Golden Dawn. In Pessoa's fragments there are traces of this connection as well. In a very interesting passage he discusses the traditional division of the human being into three different elements: body, soul, and spirit. The soul is also called "Lower Self", whereas the spirit is referred to as "Spirit of the Soul" or "Higher Self". In Pessoa these levels do not seem to be ontological, as they are usually understood, but rather epistemological. He explains that when man is in contact with his Higher Self he attains the highest level of consciousness: he becomes aware, for instance, of his previous incarnations. Then he adds: The formula Holy Guardian Angel corresponds to the H[igherl S[elf], and it expresses the truth. The Spirit of our Soul, being our substance, is nevertheless distinct from us in this world and is someone else. The formula H[oly] G[uardian] A[ngel] is therefore right44 [esp. 54-83]

P~obably Pessoa, just like Crowley, saw a latent dialectic between the Guardian Angel as an objective, detached entity, and as a higher dimension of the magician's self This is perhaps what he meant when he wrote, in a passage already quoted above, that the Knowledge and Conversation of the Guardian Angel is an "expression which, even though it is symbolic, is not entirely so".

5. THE

DOCTRINE OF THELEMA

This element appears only in a few fragments. It should be remarked that it seems unlikely that Pessoa ever read the text upon which the doctrine ofThelema is based, the Book of the Lau/'5. Consequently, everything Pessoa knew about it was what he had read in Magick in Theory and Practice, and possibly what Crowley himself told him during his stay in Portugal. The fragment which presents itself most explicitly as a reflection on Thelema is the following:

Pessoa, Rosea Cruz, 227. The original is in English. Pessoa, Rosea Cruz, 172. The original is in English. 45 There are several editions of this text. For a recent one, see Aleister Crowley, Magick: Liber ABA: Book Four - Parts I-IV, York Beach 1994,303-318.
43

44

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There is apparently something degrading in such a formula as "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law", but it so happens that this formula can be understood in many senses, the thing being to have the right one. As in Masonry, there are many understandings of the Order and its Symbols, so in this, and all the more in this because it stands higher and has therefore more space below it for the arbitrariness of understandings. In immediate appearance, the formula is a simple call to licence in all ways. But if it be understood that Will means the soul's true Will, the whole is changed, for the soul cannot rightly desire that which is its own bondage, as licence is. The formula, in its essence is, Find out what you are; Find out what you are wants [sic]; Do what you want as such as you are46 [esp. 54A-83]

It is interesting to note here that Pessoa's interpretation of the fundamental tenet of Thelema is very close to Crowley's one47 The English occultist repeatedly insisted that the doctrine of Thelema has nothing to do with indiscriminate licence, and that what he calls "Will" must not be confused with desires or fancies. He explained that "Do what thou wilt" is an invitation to look for one's own "True Will", that is one's own intimate vocation, or the individual destiny which corresponds to one's own specific place in the universe as an individual48 . Pessoa emphasizes, just as Crowley so often does, that the sentence on which Thelema is founded has a deeper meaning, which might not be evident at first sight. Pessoa's source for his reflections on Thelema and True Will is certainly Magick in Theory and Practice. In fact, in the first two volumes of The Confessions owned by Pessoa, there are no discussions of the doctrine ofThelema. It is only in the third volume, then unpublished, that the issue is discussed at length. In Magick in Theory and Practice, on the contrary, there are several passages where the notion of True Will is referred to and explained, and particularly in the introduction, where Crowley uses it to expound his general theory of magic49 Pessoa tries, in another fragment, to further develop his meditations on True Will:
Therefore the Law is: (1) to discover what we are, in order to know what we intimately and truly want, independently from what we suppose that we want, or that we judge that we should want; (2) to conform all our thoughts, emo46 Pessoa, Moral, 129. The original is in English. We have quoted from the original preserved in the Esp6lio, as da Mota's transcription presents here a few mistakes. 47 Crowley expounded his doctrine of Thelema in various places. The most important ones on this subject may be considered his commentaries on the Book of the Law edited by Israel Regardie, The Law is for All, Phoenix 1993; and the section dedicated to the revelation of the book and to an exposition ofThelema in the Confissions, 393-402. 48 For an explanation of this cardinal aspect ofThelema, see Crowley, The Law is for All, 73. 49 Crowley, Magick, xii-xxii. .

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dons, and impulses to our intimate and true will, excluding all other thoughts, emotions, and impulses, pleasant as they may be, or useful as they may seem, because they are not ours, but only pleasant, and sometimes useful; (3) having done this, to refuse systematically all outer action which doesn't serve the aims of our true will, refusing to yield to the requests of the so-called duty, to the calls of humanity, and to the fears of ridicule and of the insults. In another fragment, unfortunately left unfinished, Pessoa remarks that "some" (alguns) have maintained that the doctrine of "Do what thou wilt" must be applied to all levels, or, rather, all kinds of living beings. But this, Pessoa claims, is incorrect, because its application presupposes the individual discovery of True Will, and this may be attained only by a superior man (hom em superior). Animals, which follow only their instincts, and ordinary men, who are still at a "childish" stage, cannot be concerned by this "rule of life"50. Arguably this opinion is, again, not far from that of Crowley, but Pessoa's reference to "some" who would not agree and would have a mistaken vision of Thelema is intriguing and somewhat mysterious." He could not have been thinking of anyone else but Crowley, because no one else was writing on Thelema at that time, at least not in the sources available to Pessoa. Therefore we must think that Pessoa was just trying to keep a critical attitude in his reading of Crowley's writings, though the ground of his criticisms does not always seem clear. But here again it must be emphasized that we are dealing with fragments, unedited by their author and published only posthumously.

6. CONCLUSIONS
In this article we have tried to determine the origin of certain notions that appear in a significant number of Pessoa's esoteric fragments: This identification, which would be already interesting in itself, allows us also to determine precisely a terminus a quo for the dating of all the fragments which contain themes or references of the same nature, the origin of which can be traced in Crowley's writings. In fact, it should be clear now that

50 Pessoa, Moral, 130 (esp. 54A-30. 'Rule of Life' is the title of the fragment. There are other fragments under this or similar tides, in Portuguese or in English (,Notas para uma Regra de Vida, 'Regras Morais'): see Pessoa, Moral, 126-131. It may be simply a coincidence, but Crowley, in a passage of 'One Star in Sight'. defines the duties of the members of the A:.A.'. concerning Thelema as their "Rule of Life": "[All members of the A:.A:.] must accept The Book of the Law as the Word and the Letter of Truth, and the sale Rule of Life" (Crowley. Magick in Theory and Practice 240; my emphasis).

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these themes and references were taken by Pessoa either from the first two volumes of Crowley's Confessions, or from his Magick in Theory and Practice. On the other hand, as I have already remarked, we know that Pessoa obtained the available volumes of the first book at the end of 1929, and did not have access to the second one before 1930. This means that all these fragments date at least from 1929-1930, and belong consequently to the last five years of Pessoa's life. This might prove to be an important acquisition, because these fragments, now possessing a reliable chronological landmark, might be compared with other fragments, whose date of composition is still unknown. As to Crowley's influence on Pessoa's esoteric fragments, though this article does not pretend to be more than a preliminary survey, it cannot be denied that Pessoa took Crowley's writings and ideas quite seriously. He may have had ambivalent ideas about him personally, but it seems certain that Crowley's doctrines strongly appealed to him. As we have seen, this goes so far that it would be impossible to understand some passages of his esoteric writings without the background of Crowley's.