The Author

Richard Kaczynski, Ph.D., is a writer, musician, research scientist, teacher, and pumpkin-carver. The Times Literary Supplement called his Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley “the major biography to date” of this seminal figure of modern magick. His other books include:

• Forgotten Templars: The Untold Origins of Ordo Templi Orientis (2012)
• The Weiser Concise Guide to Aleister Crowley (2009)
• Panic in Detroit: The Magician and the Motor City (2006)
• Perdurabo Outtakes (2005)

He has also contributed articles on the history of Western esotericism to recent scholarly anthologies such as

• Tarot in Culture (Valleyhome, 2014)
• Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism (Oxford, 2012)
• Mathematics in Popular Culture (Macfarland, 2012)

He has also co-edited with Hymenaeus Beta The Revival of Magick and Other Essays and performed editorial and layout duties for the National OTO Conference (NOTOCON) proceedings book series, which currently stands at four volumes: Beauty and Strength, Unity Uttermost Showed!, Manifest Thy Glory, and the latest volume Neither East Nor West.

He has appeared in the documentaries Secrets of the Occult and Aleister Crowley: The Beast 666, and has been interviewed for an upcoming documentary on Australian artist Rosaleen Norton, The Witch of Kings Cross.

Dr. Kaczynski earned his Ph.D. in social psychology, with a minor in measurement and statistics, in 1993 with a dissertation on metaphysical beliefs and experiences among occult practitioners in New Religious Movements. He has been a student of the Western hermetic tradition since 1978, and has lectured internationally on these topics since 1990. Over the years, his writing has appeared in various books (e.g., Wandering the Waste, The Golden Dawn Sourcebook, Rebels and Devils) and magazines (e.g., High Times, The Magical Link, Different Worlds).