Allan Bennett (1872–1923) was an English occultist and a principal member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. He was regarded by his peers as having exceptional magical skill, and he was an early teacher of Aleister Crowley.
Bennett’s father died when he was young, and he was raised in the Catholic faith by his widowed mother. A severe asthmatic, professionally he trained as an analytical chemist and worked as an electrical engineer. Bennett was attracted to occultism and magic and joined the Golden Dawn, rising to the rank of Adeptus Minor by the age of 23.
Charismatic, he was renowned for his skill in ceremonial magic, notably the evocation of the spirit Taphthartharath to visible form, a ritual that involved used of a pickled snake’s head in a “hell broth” of ingredients.
He possessed a blasting rod, a glass rod taken from a chandelier and consecrated with magical power. The rod was mounted in a wooden handle painted with words of power. Bennett changed the words in accordance with the purpose of his magical operations.
A Theosophist acquaintance once ridiculed the idea of a blasting rod and found himself paralyzed for 14 hours - an apparent lesson from Bennett. Bennett helped Samuel Liddell Macgregor Mathers, one of the founding chiefs, to organize the order’s materials, some of which were published later by Crowley as Liber 777.
In spring 1899, Bennett met Crowley when the latter was brought to a Golden Dawn meeting by C. G. Jones. The friendship with Crowley led to Bennett moving in with Crowley in his London flat on Chancery Lane. While there, Bennett taught Crowley magical skills and shared with him Golden Dawn material — a violation of his initiation oath, for Crowley had not yet reached Adeptus Minor.
Toward the end of 1899, Crowley said that Bennett would die of Asthma unless he moved to a
warmer climate. Crowley had ample funds to pay for such a move, but Bennett declined to do so, believing that magical knowledge should be a gift and not purchased. Instead, Crowley invoked the demon Buer whose powers reputedly included healing “all distempers in man”. Crowley was assisted in the ritual by Jones. Buer made an appearance but was visible only as a helmeted head and a leg.
The ritual failed to aid Bennet’s health so Crowley then persuaded one of his former mistresses to give Bennett the money he needed. Bennett turned to Buddhism and left England for Burma. There he gave up all his possessions and joined a sangha, taking the names of Swami Maitrananda and then Ananda Metlaya.
Years later, he returned to England, founding a Buddhist lodge. Bennett eventually tired of Buddhism and returned to Western occultism. He retired to a small room that was unfurnished save for a table, his blasting rod, a few books, and machinery with which he hoped to establish communication with the astral plane.
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| Bennett as street beggar in Burma following his vow of poverty |
Living again in England proved disastrous to Bennett’s health, and his asthma worsened, aggravated by his austere and poor lifestyle. He traveled to Liverpool and sought passage on a ship bound for a warmer climate, but the captain refused him because of the severity of his poor health. Bennett was sent into a fatal tailspin of asthmatic spasms and convulsions. He died in 1923, leaving the location of his manuscripts and other writings known only to a few close friends and associates.
I believe that Bennett's influence on Crowley cannot be overstated as is evident in A.C.'s respect for the man.
