Rose Edith Kelly (23 July 1874 – 1932) married noted author, magician and

occultist The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

in 1903. In 1904, she aided him in the Cairo Working that led to the reception of ''

The Book of the Law ''Liber AL vel Legis'' (), commonly known as ''The Book of the Law'', is the central sacred text of Thelema. Aleister Crowley said that it was dictated to him by a beyond-human being who called himself ' Aiwass'. Rose Edith Kelly, Crowley's ...

'', on which Crowley based much of his philosophy and religion,

Thelema Thelema () is a Western esoteric and occult social or spiritual philosophy and new religious movement founded in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), an English writer, mystic, occultist, and ceremonial magician. The word ' ...

Early life

Rose Edith Kelly was born at 78 Cambridge Terrace,

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...

, to Frederic Festus Kelly and Blanche (Bradford) Kelly. Her grandfather, also named

Frederic Festus Kelly Frederic Festus Kelly (died 3 June 1883) was a high official in the British Post Office. He was also the founder of Kelly & Co. (later Kelly's Directories Ltd.), which published the Kelly's Directory, a sort of Victorian-era " Yellow Pages" that ...

, was the founder of Kelly's Directories Ltd. The eldest of three children -- her siblings being Eleanor Constance Mary and Gerald Festus -- the family moved to the

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This ...

vicarage in 1880. Her father served as the curate for the

Parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

St. Giles Saint Giles (, la, Aegidius, french: Gilles), also known as Giles the Hermit, was a hermit or monk active in the lower Rhône most likely in the 6th century. Revered as a saint, his cult became widely diffused but his hagiography is mostly leg ...

for the next 35 years. In 1895, Rose escorted her brother Gerald to

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

, where he convalesced from a liver ailment during the winter of 1895–96. On 31 August 1897, she married Major Frederick Thomas Skerrett at St Giles' Church, Camberwell. He was a member of the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps ...

and about fifteen years older than she was. He died on 19 August 1899. In 1901, she joined her brother Gerald in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, France, where she stayed for six months.

Marriage to Crowley and ''The Book of the Law''

Kelly and Aleister Crowley eloped on 11 August and married on 12 August 1903, in order to save her from an arranged marriage. Their relationship, however, went beyond a marriage of convenience. The two went on an extended honeymoon that brought them to

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

, Egypt, in early 1904. On 16 March 1904, "in an avowedly frivolous attempt to impress his wife",

Crowley Crowley may refer to: Places * Crowley, Mendocino County, California, an unincorporated community *Crowley County, Colorado * Crowley, Colorado, a town in Crowley County *Crowley, Louisiana, a city * Crowley, Oregon (disambiguation) * Crowley, Te ...

tried to "shew the

Sylph A sylph (also called sylphid) is an air spirit stemming from the 16th-century works of Paracelsus, who describes sylphs as (invisible) beings of the air, his elementals of air. A significant number of subsequent literary and occult works have bee ...

s" to her using the

Bornless Ritual The Bornless Ritual, also known as the Preliminary Invocation, is a ritual of Western ceremonial magic generally used as an Invocation of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, since it was introduced as such by the Hermetic O ...

. Although she could see nothing, she did seem to enter into a light trance and repeatedly said, "They're waiting for you!" This

synchronicity Synchronicity (german: Synchronizität) is a concept first introduced by analytical psychologist Carl G. Jung "to describe circumstances that appear meaningfully related yet lack a causal connection." In contemporary research, synchronicity e ...

and others caused him to pay closer attention to what Rose told him. At her direction, on three successive days beginning 8 April 1904, he entered his room and starting at noon, and for exactly one hour, wrote down what he claimed he heard dictated from a shadowy presence behind him who identified himself as

Aiwass Aiwass is the name given to a voice that the English occultist and ceremonial magician Aleister Crowley reported to have heard on April 8, 9, and 10 in 1904. Crowley reported that this voice, which he considered originated with a non-corporeal b ...

. The results over the three days were the three chapters of verse known as ''

''. At one point Crowley failed to hear a sentence, which Rose later amended to page 19 of the original manuscript 'The Five Pointed Star, with a Circle in the Middle, & the circle is Red.'''The Equinox of the Gods'' Chapter 7, section VII.6. Quoted in ''The Holy Books of Thelema'', Preface, x-xi; manuscript image p. 149. Rose had two daughters with Crowley: Nuit Ma Ahathoor Hecate Sappho Jezebel Lilith (1904–06) and Lola Zaza (1907–90). Rose and Aleister divorced in 1909. Lola was eventually taken in by her uncle, Gerald. Crowley had a daughter, Louise, by his mistress Isabella Fraux in 1920 in Cefalu. Louise's existence was unknown until her death in 2014. In 1911, Crowley had her committed to an

asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea ...

for

alcohol dementia Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

. Rose married Dr Joseph Andrew Gormley(1849-1925) in 1912 and died in 1932.

References

;Bibliography *Crowley, Aleister. (1979). ''

The Confessions of Aleister Crowley ''The Confessions of Aleister Crowley: An Autohagiography'' is a partial autobiography by the poet and occultist Aleister Crowley. It covers the early years of his life up until the mid-late 1920s but does not include the latter part of Crowle ...

''. London;Boston : Routledge & Kegan Paul. **''The Holy Books of Thelema''. (1983). York Beach: Samuel Weiser, Inc. *Hudson, Derek. (1975). ''For Love of Painting - The Life of Sir Gerald Kelly''. London: Peter Davies. *

Martin Booth Martin Booth (7 September 1944 – 12 February 2004) was an English novelist and poet. He also worked as a teacher and screenwriter, and was the founder of the Sceptre Press. Early life Martin Booth was born in Lancashire England, the son of ...

. (2000). ''A Magick Life - a biography of Aleister Crowley''. London: Hodder and Stoughton. *Sutin, Lawrence. (2000). ''Do What Thou Wilt: A life of Aleister Crowley''. New York: St. Martin's Griffin 2002. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Rose 1874 births 1932 deaths People from Paddington English Thelemites

Early life

Marriage to Crowley and ''The Book of the Law''

See also

References