Frieda Harris
Encyclopedia
[Marguerite] Frieda Harris (born 1877 London
, England
; died 11 May 1962 Srinagar
, India
) was an artist, an occult
magician, and, after she met him at age 60, an associate and friend of the author and occultist Aleister Crowley
. She is best known for her artistic design of Crowley's Thoth tarot deck
and the resulting philosophical input towards its final form.
in 1901. Percy Harris served as a Liberal Party
MP 1916-18 and 1922–45, and was Chief Whip
for his party. After her husband was created a baronet
in 1932 she was entitled to style herself Lady Harris but preferred to use Lady Frieda Harris.
Frieda and Percy Harris had two sons: Jack (born 1906, later Sir Jack Harris) and Thomas (born 1908).
The surviving letters between Frieda Harris and Crowley show the level of their devotion to each other. On 29 May 1942 Crowley wrote to Pearson, the photoengraver of the Thoth deck:
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 Mason
ic 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:
According to Crowley's unpublished Society of Hidden Masters, on 11 May 1938, Lady Harris became his "disciple" and also became a member of Ordo Templi Orientis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
:
, Piccadilly
. While Harris drew some charcoal sketches, there was a discussion on The Book of Thoth that Crowley was writing. After a lull in the conversation, Crowley disappeared, and returned with his drawing entitled Lam, to the obvious discomfort of Holt. Crowley claimed that Lam was “his guru”.
, magical, spiritual and scientific knowledge to the project.
Harris sent Crowley a regular stipend throughout the project. She also used her society contacts to find financial backers for the exhibition of the paintings, the catalogues, and for the publication of the Tarot deck. The pressure may have taken its toll on Harris, and Crowley was sufficiently concerned to call in the lawyers to protect his 66% investment in the project. Crowley gives Harris praise in the Introduction to the Book of Thoth
:
Throughout the project she insisted on her own anonymity, but she revelled in working for such a notorious man. The Book of Thoth
was then published in a 200 copy limited edition, but neither Crowley or Harris lived to see the deck itself printed.
After Crowley's death she wrote to Frederic Mellinger, an O.T.O. member in Germany, on 7 December 1947:
She also corresponded with Gerald Gardner
and Karl Germer
, Crowley's successor as head of O.T.O., in an attempt to assist with the Order's structure in Europe, which had been thrown into some confusion after Crowley's death.
Frieda Harris and Louis Wilkinson were the executors of Crowley's Will.
and exhibit the original paintings of the Thoth tarot deck in the fall of 1948, but this never materialised.
After her husband's death in 1952, Frieda Harris moved to India. She died in Srinagar
on 11 May 1962. She bequeathed the original paintings of her Tarot cards to fellow Thelemite Gerald Yorke, who in turned placed them with the Warburg Institute
along with much other Crowley material that he had collected over the years. However, Yorke retained several alternative versions of the cards and some preliminary studies, which he later sold through the Cecil Court
bookdealer Harold Mortlake.
Her legacy can be found in a later reprinting of The Book of Thoth:
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
; died 11 May 1962 Srinagar
Srinagar
Srinagar is the summer seasonal capital of Jammu and Kashmir. It is situated in Kashmir Valley and lies on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus. It is one of the largest cities in India not to have a Hindu majority. The city is famous for its gardens, lakes and houseboats...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
) was an artist, an occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
magician, and, after she met him at age 60, an associate and friend of the author and occultist Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...
. She is best known for her artistic design of Crowley's Thoth tarot deck
Thoth tarot deck
The Thoth Tarot is a divinatory tarot deck painted by Lady Frieda Harris according to instructions from Aleister Crowley. Crowley referred to this deck as The Book of Thoth, and also wrote a book of that title intended for use with the deck....
and the resulting philosophical input towards its final form.
Marriage
Frieda Bloxam married Percy HarrisSir Percy Harris, 1st Baronet
Sir Percy Alfred Harris, 1st Baronet PC was a British Liberal Party politician.Born in Kensington, Harris was educated at Harrow and Trinity Hall, Cambridge and was called to the bar...
in 1901. Percy Harris served as a Liberal Party
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
MP 1916-18 and 1922–45, and was Chief Whip
Chief Whip
The Chief Whip is a political office in some legislatures assigned to an elected member whose task is to administer the whipping system that ensures that members of the party attend and vote as the party leadership desires.-The Whips Office:...
for his party. After her husband was created a baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
in 1932 she was entitled to style herself Lady Harris but preferred to use Lady Frieda Harris.
Frieda and Percy Harris had two sons: Jack (born 1906, later Sir Jack Harris) and Thomas (born 1908).
The surviving letters between Frieda Harris and Crowley show the level of their devotion to each other. On 29 May 1942 Crowley wrote to Pearson, the photoengraver of the Thoth deck:
I should like to emphasise that I am absolutely devoted to Lady Harris, and have the evidence of countless acts of kindness on her part, indicating that her feelings toward me are similar.
Introduction to Crowley
Aleister Crowley. who was looking for an artist for the Tarot project, asked playwright and author Clifford BaxClifford Bax
Clifford Bax was a versatile English writer, known particularly as a playwright, a journalist, critic and editor, and a poet, lyricist and hymn writer. He also was a translator, for example of Goldoni...
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 Mason
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
ic links.
As well as reading books by Crowley, Frieda Harris' studies of Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner was an Austrian philosopher, social reformer, architect, and esotericist. He gained initial recognition as a literary critic and cultural philosopher...
's Anthroposophy
Anthroposophy
Anthroposophy, a philosophy founded by Rudolf Steiner, postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world accessible to direct experience through inner development...
were to be a critical aspect in the creation of the Thoth deck. Crowley's friend Greta Valentine, a London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
socialite, also knew Harris and it was at Valentine's house in Hyde Park Crescent
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
, 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
Regent's Park
Regent's Park is one of the Royal Parks of London. It is in the north-western part of central London, partly in the City of Westminster and partly in the London Borough of Camden...
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:
[Crowley] helped her through the portals of the mystical Order of the A.'. A.'. (Argenteum AstrumArgenteum AstrumThe A∴A∴ is a magical order that was created in 1907 by Aleister Crowley and George Cecil Jones after they left the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The acronym, A∴A∴, has been assigned many meanings . The order is a Thelemic magical fraternity, the goals of which are the pursuit of light and...
) She took the name of Tzaba “Hosts”, which adds up to 9393Year 93 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Pompeius and Priscinus...
, the number of the ThelemaThelemaThelema is a religious philosophy that was established, defined and developed by the early 20th century British writer and ceremonial magician, Aleister Crowley. He believed himself to be the prophet of a new age, the Æon of Horus, based upon a religious experience that he had in Egypt in 1904...
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
Ordo Templi Orientis
Ordo Templi Orientis is an international fraternal and religious organization founded at the beginning of the 20th century...
, 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
I Ching
The I Ching or "Yì Jīng" , also known as the Classic of Changes, Book of Changes and Zhouyi, is one of the oldest of the Chinese classic texts...
:
"The YiI ChingThe I Ching or "Yì Jīng" , also known as the Classic of Changes, Book of Changes and Zhouyi, is one of the oldest of the Chinese classic texts...
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, Dec 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)
Harris visits Crowley
The author William Holt in his autobiography describes how he accompanied Harris to Crowley's lodgings at 93 Jermyn StreetJermyn Street
Jermyn Street is a street in the City of Westminster, central London, to the south, parallel and adjacent to Piccadilly.It is well known as a street where the shops are almost exclusively aimed at the Gentleman's market and is famous for its resident shirtmakers Jermyn Street is a street in the...
, Piccadilly
Piccadilly
Piccadilly is a major street in central London, running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is completely within the city of Westminster. The street is part of the A4 road, London's second most important western artery. St...
. While Harris drew some charcoal sketches, there was a discussion on The Book of Thoth that Crowley was writing. After a lull in the conversation, Crowley disappeared, and returned with his drawing entitled Lam, to the obvious discomfort of Holt. Crowley claimed that Lam was “his guru”.
Creating the Tarot
By Crowley's own admission, the deck was originally intended to be traditional, but Harris encouraged Crowley to commit his occultOccult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
, magical, spiritual and scientific knowledge to the project.
Harris sent Crowley a regular stipend throughout the project. She also used her society contacts to find financial backers for the exhibition of the paintings, the catalogues, and for the publication of the Tarot deck. The pressure may have taken its toll on Harris, and Crowley was sufficiently concerned to call in the lawyers to protect his 66% investment in the project. Crowley gives Harris praise in the Introduction to the Book of Thoth
The Book of Thoth (Crowley)
The Book of Thoth : A Short Essay on the Tarot of the Egyptians is the title of The Equinox, volume III, number 5, by English author and occultist Aleister Crowley. The book is recorded in the vernal equinox of 1944 The Book of Thoth : A Short Essay on the Tarot of the Egyptians is the title of The...
:
She devoted her genius to the Work. With incredible rapidity she picked up the rhythm, and with inexhaustible patience submitted to the correction of the fanatical slave-driver that she had invoked, often painting the same card as many as eight times until it measured up to his VanadiumVanadiumVanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery gray, ductile and malleable transition metal. The formation of an oxide layer stabilizes the metal against oxidation. The element is found only in chemically combined form in nature...
Steel yardstick!
Throughout the project she insisted on her own anonymity, but she revelled in working for such a notorious man. The Book of Thoth
The Book of Thoth (Crowley)
The Book of Thoth : A Short Essay on the Tarot of the Egyptians is the title of The Equinox, volume III, number 5, by English author and occultist Aleister Crowley. The book is recorded in the vernal equinox of 1944 The Book of Thoth : A Short Essay on the Tarot of the Egyptians is the title of The...
was then published in a 200 copy limited edition, but neither Crowley or Harris lived to see the deck itself printed.
Crowley's last days
There is break in the Frieda Harris - Aleister Crowley letters after the exhibition in July 1942, but she was in close contact with him, particularly towards the end of his life, and visited him frequently. A pencil sketch she made of Crowley on his deathbed still survives.After Crowley's death she wrote to Frederic Mellinger, an O.T.O. member in Germany, on 7 December 1947:
He was well taken care of. I made him have a nurse about 3 months ago as he was dirty & neglected & he had Watson who was most devoted & the Symonds were as nice as they knew how to be. At the last Mrs. McAlpine & the boy were there. I saw him the day he died, but he did not recognize me. I think Mrs. McAlpine was with him but she says there was no struggle, just stopped breathing
I shall miss him terribly
An irreplaceable loss
Love is the law, love under will
Yours Sincerely
Frieda Harris
She also corresponded with Gerald Gardner
Gerald Gardner
Gerald Brousseau Gardner , who sometimes used the craft name Scire, was an influential English Wiccan, as well as an amateur anthropologist and archaeologist, writer, weaponry expert and occultist. He was instrumental in bringing the Neopagan religion of Wicca to public attention in Britain and...
and Karl Germer
Karl Germer
Karl Germer was the Outer Head of the Order of Ordo Templi Orientis from 1947 until his death in 1962...
, Crowley's successor as head of O.T.O., in an attempt to assist with the Order's structure in Europe, which had been thrown into some confusion after Crowley's death.
Frieda Harris and Louis Wilkinson were the executors of Crowley's Will.
After Crowley
Frieda Harris had plans to do a lecture tour in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and exhibit the original paintings of the Thoth tarot deck in the fall of 1948, but this never materialised.
After her husband's death in 1952, Frieda Harris moved to India. She died in Srinagar
Srinagar
Srinagar is the summer seasonal capital of Jammu and Kashmir. It is situated in Kashmir Valley and lies on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus. It is one of the largest cities in India not to have a Hindu majority. The city is famous for its gardens, lakes and houseboats...
on 11 May 1962. She bequeathed the original paintings of her Tarot cards to fellow Thelemite Gerald Yorke, who in turned placed them with the Warburg Institute
Warburg Institute
The Warburg Institute is a research institution associated with the University of London in central London, England. A member of the School of Advanced Study, its focus is the study of the influence of classical antiquity on all aspects of European civilisation.-History:The Institute was founded by...
along with much other Crowley material that he had collected over the years. However, Yorke retained several alternative versions of the cards and some preliminary studies, which he later sold through the Cecil Court
Cecil Court
Cecil Court is a pedestrian street with Victorian shop-frontages in London, England linking Charing Cross Road and St. Martin's Lane. Since the 1930s it has been known as the new Booksellers' Row and it is sometimes used as a location by film companies...
bookdealer Harold Mortlake.
Her legacy can be found in a later reprinting of The Book of Thoth:
May the passionate "love under will" which she has stored in this Treasury of Truth and Beauty flow forth from the Splendour and Strength of her work to enlighten the world; may this Tarot serve as a chart for the bold seamen of the New Aeon, to guide them across the Great Sea of Understanding to the City of the Pyramids!