[Elspode]

I have no doubt that the charlatan Hubbard ripped off the charlatan Crowley.

Crowley was a populizer of the occult, and is mainly notable because of that. However, he certainly does get considerable credit for beginning the trend of opening the public's eyes to alternative forms of ritual, energy, religion and ritual.

Calling Crowley a Satanist simply does not take in all that the man did and was. Like I said, I've no doubt he would invoke Satan if he felt like it, but that scarcely made him a Satanist. As for all that "incarnation of the Beast", etc, again, pure shock value.

I never said he wasn't an enormous flake. He was. But, he did shake loose some pretty deep foundations, and the ever-growing Pagan movements in the world probably wouldn't have gotten started without him.