Introduction To Crowley
Aleister Crowley. who was looking for an artist for the Tarot project, asked playwright and author Clifford Bax to help him find one. On 9 June 1937 Bax had intended to introduce artists Meum Stewart and Leslie Blanche to Crowley, but when they didn't show up for the appointment, he invited Harris instead. Bax may have known Harris through Masonic links.
As well as reading books by Crowley, Frieda Harris' studies of Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophy were to be a critical aspect in the creation of the Thoth deck. Crowley's friend Greta Valentine, a London socialite, also knew Harris and it was at Valentine's house in Hyde Park Crescent, London, that Harris and Crowley did much of their work on the Thoth tarot deck.
In 1937 Frieda Harris began taking lessons in Projective Synthetic Geometry, based upon the ideas of Goethe as reflected in the teachings of Steiner, from Olive Whicher and George Adams. Whicher visited her at her studio near Regent's Park to view designs for the Thoth Tarot. Whicher says Harris had dyed her hair bright red, unusual at that time and, despite her alleged distaste for all things Crowleyan, Whicher actively encouraged Harris in her endeavours.
John Symonds writes:
helped her through the portals of the mystical Order of the A.'. A.'. (Argenteum Astrum) She took the name of Tzaba “Hosts”, which adds up to 93, the number of the Thelema current which she was trying to tap."
According to Crowley's unpublished Society of Hidden Masters, on 11 May 1938, Lady Harris became his "disciple" and also became a member of Ordo Templi Orientis, entering directly to the IV° (Fourth Degree) of that Order due to her previous initiation into Co-Masonry.
Crowley also began to teach her divination - she had a choice of discipline and opted for the I Ching:
"The Yi was your own choice from several. I approved highly, because it is the key to the kind of painting after which you were groping when I met you." (Letter from AC to FH, December 17th. The date is 1936, but should be 1938)
"If you are to make a new mark in art, you need a new mind, a mind enlightened from the Supernal Triangle." (From the same letter as above)
Read more about this topic: Frieda Harris
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