The cover story on the latest issue of the Fortean Times is devoted to Leila Waddell, one of the most revered of Thelema’s Scarlet Women. The posted description says:
“Leila Waddell was an Australian country girl from Bathurst, New South Wales, who became a celebrated violinist and one of Aleister Crowley’s magical muses. In 1908, she travelled with an orchestra from Australia to Europe and ended up in London, where she met Crowley; it was an encounter that opened doors to a new realm, and Leila became Crowley’s lover, started practising occult rituals and became a member of his organisation, the Astrum Argentum, where she went by the name Sister Agatha. Crowley also referred to her as ‘Laylah’, his Scarlet Woman. In Crowley’s magical universe, the Scarlet Woman played the part of a type of anti-Virgin Mary who went beyond the bounds of feminine virtue by indulging in excess.
“In this issue, the late Dean Ballinger goes in search of the real Leila Waddell and the story of how she survived her years with the Wickedest Man in the World with her sanity and talent intact.”
Order a copy of the mag: https://shop.forteantimes.com/ft429fb
