(urth) Lives of the Great Beasts

[Jonathan Goodwin]

As I understand it, Crowley added "mega" to the word "therion," which
does not appear with that modifier in the Apocalypse, to describe
himself. I find it dubious that Wolfe would rely on a term used by an
idiosyncratic megalomaniac, when the more literal description fits the
text so much more clearly.

On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 4:31 PM, Jeff Wilson <jwilson at io.com> wrote:
> On 7/2/2010 2:51 PM, Jonathan Goodwin wrote:
>>
>> On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 2:41 PM, Jeff Wilson<jwilson at io.com>  wrote:
>>
>>> I don't think these are the same megatherians as the eponymous seventeen
>>> black magicians. Though some of the seventeen were doubtlessly in league
>>> with the mountain-sized crew, and I'd have to guess that they symbolize
>>> opportunist forces who bodily intrude where camel's nose, mortal sig,
>>> went
>>> before.
>>
>> Could you explain in more detail what you mean? This doesn't make any
>> sense to me at all.
>
> Aleister Crowley, a notorious occult figure, called himself or at least
> identified with among many other labels, The Great Beast. Megatherian means
> "great beast."  At the time of BoTNS' writing "satanic panic" was coming
> into popularty, especially with other occult figures like Anton Lavey openly
> operating satanic churches and even merchandising with book deals like _The
> Satanic Bible_. Obviously these sorts of people live fabulously lurid,
> biography worthy lives, and just as there have been any number in centuries
> past like Cagliostro, surely any number more will continue to come over the
> chiliads.
>
> The connection with the alien powers is an inversion of the sanctifactory
> true service to a false god transforming one into a defacto servant of the
> true god; a selfish, unpowered conman or gifted person who prostitutes their
> gift for personal gain and notoriety are thus corrupting themselves into
> ready tools for deception and malice in the service to the alien unworthy
> cause greater than themselves, while even believing they are doing good
> toward this "higher" purpose.
>
> Juturna might be an example of such a person.
>
> --
> Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
> IEEE Student Chapter Blog at
> < http://ieeetamut.org >
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