Eight Lectures on Yoga

Eight Lectures on Yoga presents Crowley's approach to concentration, mystical experience and the training of attention in two series of four lectures. Published in 1939 as The Equinox III:4, it develops subjects treated earlier in Part I of Book 4. The humorous headings, “Yoga for Yahoos” and “Yoga for Yellowbellies”, suit a work combining explanation with jokes, polemic and speculative philosophy. Its subject is much broader than physical postures.¹⁾

The 1939 publication date should be distinguished from the date of a later introduction or reprint.²⁾

Crowley begins with union and moves from ordinary combinations to a question about consciousness:

Yoga is first of all the union of the subject and the object of consciousness: of the seer with the thing seen.

— Aleister Crowley, Eight Lectures on Yoga.³⁾

The distinction between a perceiving subject and a perceived object supplies the problem his account of meditation is intended to address. Concentration and samadhi are placed within that argument, rather than introduced as unrelated physical or mental accomplishments.

Examples from chemistry, mathematics and everyday perception make the argument accessible, but remain analogies. Scientific vocabulary does not by itself establish his metaphysical conclusions. His claim that different religious traditions express a common underlying experience is likewise part of his comparative interpretation, rather than a neutral description of everything those traditions teach.

The opening attack on exoticism has a definite purpose. Crowley wants readers to examine a mental process without treating unfamiliar terminology as evidence of mystery. His account nevertheless remains a selective Western occult interpretation, expressed in the language and prejudices of his period.

The second series assumes the first. Reading only descriptions of extraordinary states removes the preparation on which Crowley insists. Conversely, reading only physical disciplines misses their intended purpose. Changes of tone can disguise transitions between an observation, a recommendation and a philosophical claim.

The traditional eightfold vocabulary supplies the organising framework. In this presentation, yama concerns control and the removal of interference; niyama concerns the positive ordering or directing of life. Asana deals with bodily steadiness, and pranayama with regulation of breathing. Pratyahara concerns the relation of the mind to sensory impressions; dharana is concentration; dhyana and samadhi name further transformations of consciousness. These descriptions identify functions within Crowley's text rather than exhaust the Sanskrit terms.⁴⁾

Crowley does not equate control with mechanically adopting another person's social code. His discussions of yama and niyama ask whether a habit supports the chosen work. This connects the lectures to True Will: discipline should make an activity possible rather than become an unrelated display of austerity. A demanding routine is not automatically valuable merely because it is demanding.

These four photographs belong to Liber E, published in 1909, and show the Ibis, God, Thunderbolt and Dragon. They give concrete examples from Crowley's earlier training literature for the discussion of asana above. The variety includes standing, seated and kneeling positions; the image is not a compulsory sequence to be performed in that order.

The plate predates Eight Lectures on Yoga and should be cited to its own publication. For the instructions and their place in the experimental record, see Liber E and asana.⁵⁾

Ibis, God, Thunderbolt and Dragon in the 1909 Liber E plate: earlier illustrations of Crowley’s approach to asana. Source and original. Public domain: original published 1909. Click to enlarge.

A recurring concern is the difference between intending to concentrate and discovering what the mind actually does. Sensations, memories, expectations and self-congratulation interrupt an intended object. Noticing the interruption is itself useful information. These discussions make more sense alongside Liber E, which places training within a written record of conditions and results.

A record distinguishes the duration of an exercise from the impression that it lasted a long time. It can separate immediate experience from later interpretation. These distinctions matter especially when elevated descriptions refer to experiences that, in the author's account, ordinary language cannot adequately contain.

The book is a historical source, not a contemporary clinical guide to breathing exercises or altered states. Its rhetoric of endurance and its physiological explanations belong to that setting. Explaining the intended place of a discipline does not require reproducing demanding regimens as present-day recommendations.

The first lecture also treats expectation as a source of error in observation:

We are constantly tempted to see and hear what we want to see and hear.

— Aleister Crowley, Eight Lectures on Yoga.⁶⁾

This warning gives the later insistence on records a particular point. Wanting an experience, reporting it vividly and observing it accurately are distinguishable matters. Crowley’s examples of mistaken sounds and appearances make the issue recognisable before the discussion reaches exceptional states of consciousness.

The second lecture to the Yahoos explains yama through a comparison with specialisation. A doctor who concentrates on one branch of medicine gives up other kinds of work in order to perform the chosen work effectively. Restriction acquires its meaning from the purpose it serves. Crowley uses this to explain why a discipline need not contradict a doctrine of will: the relevant question is whether a limitation assists or obstructs the activity being undertaken. This is his practical interpretation of the term, rather than a complete account of its meanings in Indian traditions.⁷⁾

The argument also distinguishes a means from an ideal imposed on everyone. A condition useful for one task need not govern every moment of life. Quiet, a regular routine and the reduction of interruptions are discussed because they make sustained attention possible. Their value is assessed in relation to an experiment, instead of being established simply by their resemblance to conventional asceticism.

Crowley observes that removing ordinary activity may expose sounds previously unnoticed, such as a clock or typewriter. The apparent increase in disturbance is therefore not necessarily an increase in external noise. It can arise from the change in attention itself. This gives the beginner a concrete example of why the first impression of an exercise can be misleading: sitting down to concentrate may reveal distraction more clearly before it reduces it.

The fourth lecture to the Yahoos develops the complementary importance of rhythm. The regular motion and sound of a train or ship can become less intrusive than irregular interruptions. Applied to posture and breathing, the aim is to reduce the amount of attention continually demanded by the body. The lectures thus approach bodily discipline through the conditions of attention. Crowley asks how an arrangement works in experience before building a metaphysical explanation around it.⁸⁾

Part I of Book 4 offers a compact introduction arranged under individual disciplines and states. Eight Lectures is more discursive: objections, digressions and examples become part of the teaching. Meditation in Crowley's system provides an overview of the shared terminology.

The diary John St. John supplies different evidence. Where the lectures organise an argument, the diary records changing conditions, interruptions and interpretations over time. Neither genre replaces the other. Little Essays Toward Truth also discusses trance and understanding, within a more explicitly Qabalistic account of the person.

The accessible electronic text begins with a preface signed by Israel Regardie in 1969. That introduction records a later reader's assessment, not Crowley's voice. Citations should retain lecture and paragraph divisions because pagination changes between editions. A useful first reading follows the two series in order and notes where the text moves from describing an exercise to explaining what its results supposedly mean.

Frater Aletheia introduces Crowley's Eight Lectures on Yoga in this Blazing Star Oasis lecture, recorded on 23 February 2016. The presentation addresses the same book examined above and offers a contemporary teaching perspective to compare with its two lecture series. Read it alongside Crowley's own distinctions between preparation, concentration and union.

Aleister Crowley's Yoga — Blazing Star O.T.O.; 45:39. Watch on YouTube.

• Eight Lectures on Yoga, full electronic text.
• Book 4, Part I: Asana, earlier illustrated discussion.
• Book 4; Meditation; John St. John.