&sq=Facebook&lang=en&file=File:Moonchild.gif) Cover of the Weiser edition | |
| Author | Aleister Crowley |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Beresford Egan |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Occult |
| Publisher | Mandrake Press (1929) Samuel Weiser, Inc. (1970) |
Publication date | 1929 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 335 pp |
| ISBN | 0-87728-147-5 |
| OCLC | 656135722 |
| 823.912 | |
| LC Class | PR6005 .R7 |
Moonchild (a.k.a., Liber LXXXI [Book 81], or The Butterfly Net) is a novel written by the British occultist Aleister Crowley in 1917. Its plot involves a magickal war between a group of white magicians, led by Simon Iff, and a group of black magicians, over an unborn child. It was first published by Mandrake Press in 1929 and its recent edition is published by Weiser.
Albeit not strictly a roman à clef, the novel depicts numerous acquaintances of Crowley's, thinly disguised as fictional characters. Grady McMurtry's "Note on Moonchild" provides some insight into the possible real characters on which the author based the characters in the novel.[1] Crowley portrays MacGregor Mathers as the primary villain, including him as a character named SRMD, using the abbreviation of Mathers's magickal name. Arthur Edward Waite appears as a villain named Arthwaite, and the unseen head of the Inner Circle of which SRMD was a member. "A.B." is theosophist Annie Besant. Among Crowley's friends and allies, Allan Bennett appears as Mahatera Phang, Leila Waddell as Sister Cybele, the dancer Isadora Duncan appears as Lavinia King, and her companion Mary D'Este (mother of Preston Sturges, who helped Crowley write his magnum opus Magick: Book 4 under her magical name 'Soror Virakam') appears as Lisa la Giuffria. Cyril Grey is Crowley himself, while Simon Iff, who advocates the Way of the Tao, probably is the German occultist and head of Ordo Templi Orientis Theodor Reuss, whom Crowley considered a mentor.[2]
- ^ McMurtry, Grady. "A Note on Moonchild". Retrieved 1 February 2025.
- ^ From notes in author's hand from his library copy — Swann Auction Galleries, sale 2140, April 3, 2008, lot 45.