Rose Edith Kelly
Rose Edith Kelly (23 July 1874 – 1932) was an English Thelemite and wife of occult writer Aleister Crowley, who she married in 1903. In 1904, she aided him in the Cairo Working that led to the reception of The Book of the Law, on which Crowley based much of his philosophy and religion, Thelema.
Rose Kelly | |
|---|---|
| Born | 23 July 1874 Paddington, England |
| Died | 1932 (aged 57–58) England |
| Spouses | Frederick Thomas Skerrett
(m. 1897; died 1899)
|
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Gerald Kelly (brother) |
Early life
Rose Edith Kelly was born at 78 Cambridge Terrace, Paddington, to Frederic Festus Kelly and Blanche (Bradford) Kelly. Her grandfather, also named Frederic Festus Kelly, was the founder of Kelly's Directories Ltd.
The eldest of three children -- her siblings being Eleanor Constance Mary and Gerald Festus -- the family moved to the Camberwell vicarage in 1880. Her father served as the curate for the Parish of St. Giles for the next 35 years.
In 1895, Kelly escorted her brother Gerald to Cape Town, South Africa, where he convalesced from a liver ailment during the winter of 1895–96.
On 31 August 1897, she married Major Frederick Thomas Skerrett at St Giles' Church, Camberwell. He was a member of the Royal Army Medical Corps and about fifteen years older than she was. He died on 19 August 1899.
In 1901, she joined her brother Gerald in Paris, France, where she stayed for six months.
Marriage to Crowley and The Book of the Law
Kelly and Aleister Crowley eloped on 11 August and married on 12 August 1903, in order to save her from an arranged marriage. Their relationship, however, went beyond a marriage of convenience.[1] The two went on an extended honeymoon that brought them to Cairo, Egypt, in early 1904.[2]
On 16 March 1904, "in an avowedly frivolous attempt to impress his wife", Crowley tried to "shew the Sylphs"[3] to her using the Bornless Ritual. Although she could see nothing, she did seem to enter into a light trance and repeatedly said, "They're waiting for you!"
This synchronicity and others caused him to pay closer attention to what Kelly told him. At her direction, on three successive days beginning 8 April 1904, he entered his room and starting at noon, and for exactly one hour, wrote down what he claimed he heard dictated from a shadowy presence behind him who identified himself as Aiwass. The results over the three days were the three chapters of verse known as The Book of the Law. At one point Crowley failed to hear a sentence, which Kelly later amended to page 19 of the original manuscript 'The Five Pointed Star, with a Circle in the Middle, & the circle is Red.'[4]
Kelly had two daughters with Crowley: Nuit Ma Ahathoor Hecate Sappho Jezebel Lilith (1904–06) and Lola Zaza (1907–90). Kelly and Crowley divorced in 1909. Lola was eventually taken in by her uncle, Gerald. In 1911, Crowley had her committed to an asylum for alcohol dementia.
Kelly married Dr Joseph Andrew Gormley (1849-1925) in 1912 and died in 1932.
References
- Sutin pp. 111-113.
- Sutin pp. 114-116.
- Sutin, p. 120. See following pages for the rest of the story.
- The Equinox of the Gods Chapter 7, section VII.6. Quoted in The Holy Books of Thelema, Preface, x-xi; manuscript image p. 149.
- Bibliography
- Crowley, Aleister. (1979). The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. London;Boston : Routledge & Kegan Paul.
- The Holy Books of Thelema. (1983). York Beach: Samuel Weiser, Inc.
- Hudson, Derek. (1975). For Love of Painting - The Life of Sir Gerald Kelly. London: Peter Davies.
- Martin Booth. (2000). A Magick Life - a biography of Aleister Crowley. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
- Sutin, Lawrence. (2000). Do What Thou Wilt: A life of Aleister Crowley. New York: St. Martin's Griffin 2002.