Amalantrah Working, Part 3: The Woodstock Connection

    While on Oesopus Island in 1918, Aleister Crowley tried creating his “magickal child” - and The Woodstock Nation certainly seems spawned from Crowley’s beliefs and teachings. Of course, that “magickal child” could also be a specific person, and their identity will be revealed (from Crowley’s writings) in Part 4.

    As I mentioned in Part 1 - decoding the Amalantrah Working, I discovered the Cthonius Cypher while skimming The Amalantrah Working and I found the line “Wizard says Woodstock adds to 84,” naming my hometown. Then, after decoding the Cthonius Cypher, I decide to investigate Crowley’s 1916 “magical retreat” at Lake Pasquaney, and found three more Woodstocks, in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine - all in a perfect line. Then I found a second Woodstock in New York, about a dozen miles north of mine in a neighboring county, next to the town of Cairo of all places.

    So the next day I carefully read through The Amalantrah Working, looking for more clues about Woodstock. Specifically, I was trying to learn how Aleister Crowley ended up on Oesopus Island, but that line about “Woodstock adds to 84” was too perfect, too close to home, to ignore. Were there more clues directing Crowley to my hometown? I just had to know.

    As I started this thorough read-through, I hit the “Search Page” function for “Woodstock”, to get more context for what I had found the night before. I was very surprised finding two references to Woodstock: the January 25 entry I’d found earlier, and another from Sunday March 31, around 9:28pm: “Could we make Woodstock headquarters?” Yes, I was definitely on the right track in finding out how Crowley ended up on Esopus Island. But that raised another question: What prompted Crowley to ask about Woodstock, specifically, as his possible headquarters? And how many other locations was Crowley asking the wizard about? I had to read the entire journal, to find out:

    The first entry of The Amalantrah Working, also called Liber XCVII (97), is narrated by Soror Achitha (Roddie Minor) and thus is often called Soror Achitha’s Vision. On Monday January 14, 1918 it begins: “While with The Lady of Our Dreams” (later abbreviated as W.T.L.O.O.D.), which begins most of the later entries. The second paragraph begins with a vision of a dark farmhouse among trees and green fields, which disappears and is replaced by a king on a throne, who “looked more like Prof. Shotwell than any one else.”

    From the familiar way Achitha described him, I assumed it was somebody Crowley knew. Not

James. T. Shotwell - Amalantrah’s “King”

expecting to find anything, I Googled “Professor Shotwell.” Unexpectedly, Google assumed just one person: James T. Shotwell, a Columbia history professor born August 6, 1874 in Strathroy, Canada and died July 15, 1965 - in Woodstock, New York. I was absolutely shocked hitting pay dirt so quickly, so precisely, and so significantly - referring to a major character in the Amalantrah Working.

    Soror Achitha’s vision continued: “The king went out to one side and a wizard linked his arm in the king’s as they disappeared.” Later the wizard says simply, “Child” and a boy of 5 or 6 appears dancing and playing in the woods. This vision ends with the wizard saying, “It’s all in the egg,” a theme repeated many times throughout the Amalantrah Working.

    In the next vision, dated January 20, they arrive at a village call Pantruel. This reminded me of Pantagruel and Gargantua, the books written by François Rabelais in the 1530s, which first introduced L’Abbeye de Thélème and it motto “Fais ce que voudras” (Do What Thou Wilt) which inspired Crowley’s own Abbey of Thelema at Cefàlu on Sicily. The king appears, and when asked for a message sends them to the wizard. “We went down but the stream and across it into the woods where the wizard and the child were.” Here the wizard gives his name as Amalantrah. Then he tells Crowley the correct arcane way to spell Baphomet, which Crowley had been struggling with, and which became a revelation to Crowley that this wizard was who/what he claimed to be. At the end of this second journal entry was what had caught my eye earlier: “Much later I asked for the king’s name and was told Eosophon. Later I was told that the boy was named Augustus Fioncharo.”

    Next was that out-of-sync Feb 2 entry with its now-decoded Cthonius Cypher.

    Next came the January 25 entry, with its “Woodstock adds to 84” comment from the wizard. Than Achitha asks her true number. “Her magical name in his language was Ahita <<417. Olive. Noah’s Ark>> <<…417 plus 1 = 418. The 1 is of course the phallus.>>” This seemed like a clue, confirming my earlier observations of 5+1=6, with the “+1” being an ongoing clue in my decoding the Cthonius Cypher. 

    418 is the value in Greek Qabalah of Aiwass, the spirit who revealed  The Book of the Law (Liber AL vel Legis) to Crowley in Cairo, and whose number is otherwise 93. For this reason, Liber AL vel Legis is described as “Delivered by XCIII(93) = 418”. For this reason, I found Crowley’s note about 417 +1 = 418 very significant in affirming my own ide of a clue.

    Later in that entry came the question of, “Is there anyone else to approach” (with its curious aside, “Wizard says Woodstock adds to 84.”) The answer written is: “Some woman. (Alma, mind thought.)” Here Crowley noted his first thought was of Alma Hirsig (1875-1959), older sister of Leah Hirsig (1883-1975) who later became Crowley’s Scarlet Woman, called The Ape of Thoth. Their sister Marie Ann Hirsig (1878-1972) wrote My Life in a Love Cult under the pen name Marion Dockerill (often mis-attributed to her sister Alma), and is buried in the Woodstock Cemetery.

    Crowley then ask when to expect fulfillment of Liber Legis Chapter 111, verse 31 (“There cometh a rich man from the west who shall pour his gold upon thee.”) and the wizard’s answer was by September of that same year.

    Next came an in-sync entry for February 2, which was written before or after that monumental out-of-sync entry containing the Cthonius Cypher, but it is impossible to say which. This brief entry mentions the “Woodland”, often mentioned through the journal, as a shorthand for the wizard’s location in the visions. Here is a guide, with yet another A-name, Alamacha,which reminded me of La Mancha, Don Quixote’s residence.

    Sunday February 3 begins: “Next day continued. After a talk on the Qabalah it occurred to T[herion] to ask for a word to match the 93 series.” This suggests that Saturday night’s vision continued well through Sunday morning, or was a later attempt to write down what had occurred the night before. And while it’s not apparent, because they are separated by time and space (on the page), this Sunday entry is connected to the out-of-sync entry of February 2 which concealed the Cthonius Cypher, which Crowley need not bother himself much about.

    The phrase “After a talk on the Qabalah” could mean one of two things: That refers to the list of “numbers of perfection” itself, or refers to an explanation of them the wizard gave to Crowley, which was not written down. A very revealing detail, easily overlooked

February 12 Crowley asks, “Is it expedient to find the egg and when should we start?” and the wizard answers: “The egg is a work which must be done - the great work. By doing the work we get to the key.”

Crowley asks, “Would June 21 be the right time to start the journey?” (Referring to the Summer Solstice) The answer is a vision: “The wizard holds out his hand forming a rabbit’s head.” Now, if you have ever made shadow images on a wall, a rabbit’s head is formed by holding up the first and second fingers for its ears - like a “peace sign”. That’s practically the symbol for the Woodstock Nation.

February 24 begins, “As I approach the wizard he beckons me to go up the mountain path with this. I stay at the woodland place to ask him questions. After I ask the first question, he again points to the path.” Here they see Barzedon with a parcel in her lap, and inside is a baby named (Eperqv). Later Crowley asks for the number for (Eperov) and is told 437, which he notes as “Balm; balsam tree. 19 x 23.” 

Balsam wood, I should note, was a major industry for Woodstock in the 1700s, and many waterfalls and scenic views were discovered searching for it, which led to the Hudson River School, which later made Woodstock a destination for artists.

At first, I noticed the two different spellings for Eperov and Eperqv, so close to each other in the text. Then I noticed they were in brackets, which suggested to me that was an approximation, as if they were written in Greek letters: Eρείον - which is close to Erion, or “wool”. Now, this name written in Greek characters hit close to home, as it is related to the birth of Ericthonius - my namesake. Hephaestus tried having sex with virgin Athena, and she wiped away his seed  from her leg with a piece of wool and dropped it on the ground, where it impregnated Gaia. After this child was “born from the Earth”, he was adopted by Athena and became the legendary founder of Athens. I should note, this child’s cthonic birth was also parthenogenic. In fact, the child’s three parents all had pathenogenic births: Gaia, the First Mother, was born from Chaos. Athena emerged from Zeus’ forehead, fully clothed in armor. This angered Hera, who in revenge created her own child by herself - Hyphaestus the creator/inventor, whose forge is inside Mount Etna on Sicily. And there is a town named Etna not far from Crowley’s cottage at Lake Pasquaney.

Crowley then asks about “Wesrun”: “Is this the person in Therion’s vision in New Hampshire?” The wizard says yes, and Crowley notes “(She was a ‘hazel’ girl.)” This confirmed my earlier assumption that the Amalantrah Working was somehow connected with Crowley’s Lake Pasquaney visions.

March 3 mentions “the woodland place of 729 [Amalantrah]. From now on we will call it a Temple.” Crowley asks what the Temple represents and the wizard answers: “Life - Egypt work. Peter Pan, i.e. eternal youth. 729 Blood Sanguine.” Crowley then asks, “What Roman God?” and the wizard replies: “Thor” - a Viking God. Crowley notes: “Jupiter, saw I foresaw.”

March 17 entry notes: “(…possibly a page missing)”, and then: “8:40 Arcteon {C. Stansfeld Jones} begins aethyr experiment.” This is the first mention of Jones joining Crowley in New York, crossing the continent from Vancouver, Canada. Crowley considered Jones his “magickal child” since his 1916 retreat at Lake Pasquaney. 

It’s a long and complicated backstory, the only two relevant points being that Crowley accepted Jones as his “magickal child” he’d been invoking; and that Jones wrote Liber 31 (AL & LA) allowing Crowley to “decode” portions of Qabalah in The Book of the Law, subsequently renaming it from Liber L to Liber AL.

That is the first mention of Jones arriving in New York, which makes the annotation “… possibly a page missing” a tantalizing mystery. 

March 31 around 4:50pm the wizard is asked for Jones’ name “in this particular work of the Temple?” and is told ARCTEON. Around 9:28pm Crowley asks: “Could we make Woodstock headquarters?” and to told: “5 of Pantacles” which Crowley interprets as “Material trouble.” Commonly known as the Tarot suit of Disks, or Coins, Crowley calls Pantacles, a disk with a pentagram inside; a five-pointed star. In today’s virtual internet world, that sounds more like a Five-Star Review.

Finding that entry was another strong clue tying to Oesopus Island, the original quarry of my research quest. And that also stood out because Woodstock was the only location Crowley asked about as headquarters. In retrospect, it seems the perfect place - specifically Maverick Colony founded by Hervey White in 1905. In fact, The New York Times ran an article about Woodstock’s Maverick Colony - during Crowley’s time near Lake Pasquaney in New Hampshire, so it’s uncertain if he ever saw a copy of that issue. If he was still in New York City, it would be a near foregone conclusion he had read it. 

Thus the question is, had Crowley read that New York Times while he was in New Hampshire? Or had he missed it completely? Without going into detail, Crowley would have found a kindred spirit in White, whose Bohemian Festival scandalized locals with their hedonistic bacchanalia - and foreshadowed the legendary Woodstock Festival of 1969, and the Woodstock Nation itself.

All I can think, in retrospect, is how perfectly Crowley would have fit in at the Maverick Colony, how close he came without actually visiting there, and how different things would have turned out if Crowley set up his headquarters there. For context, Joseph Campbell rented a shack on Maverick Colony from 1929 to 1934, for $30 a year, where he spent 8-10 hours a day reading, forming the basis of his comparative mythology books like The Hero With a Thousand Faces, and The Power of Myth.

While Crowley truly missed out by misinterpreting the wizard’s Five-Star Review of Woodstock as headquarters, it seems safe to say that the Woodstock Concert held near Bethel in August 1969, and the entire Woodstock Nation, could be the “magickal child” Crowley invoked on nearby Oesopus Island exactly fifty years earlier.

(This section is still getting written and edited)

#Crowley #Amalantrah #Woodstock