Aleister Crowley

Writer

Name at birth: Edward Alexander Crowley

Aleister Crowley was raised in a strict Christian family, but discovered the occult while an undergraduate at Cambridge. Combining eastern mysticism with western science, he came up with a religious system called The Law of Thelema. Referring to himself as "The Great Beast" (and allegedly, "the wickedest man alive") earned him a few disciples, but the rumors of drugs, orgies and magic ceremonies didn't make him too popular among the straight set. His many philosophical and occult writings form the backbone of the contemporary movement called "magick."

Others who dabbled in mysticism include the physician Paracelsus, guitarist Jimmy Page, author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the astrologer Nostradamus.