Aleister's 1909 Encounter with Coronzon

Aleister's 1909 Encounter with Coronzon was an important event in Aleister Crowley's past which occurred in the in 1909.

Performing a summoning experiment with his apprentice, with the aim of crossing the Abyss between the Sephirah, Aleister encountered the Great Demon Coronzon for the first time. This encounter would have a major effect on both Aleister and events on the Magic Side of the world for the next century.

Aleister Crowley
While looking for ways to move between Sephirah, Aleister Crowley had discovered an Abyss between them, one which could not be passed through even when binding Tarot cards with a path. Aleister intended to find another way to pass through this Abyss in order to cross between Sephirah and devised a summoning experiment in order to do so, planning to become one with the abyss so as not to take spiritual damage while passing through it to accomplish his goal. Having found that the approach from a previous experiment at didn't really suit him, Aleister decided to use a magic circle created from the blood of three  which would have an immediate effect.

Coronzon
At some point prior to his death in the downfall of the Golden Dawn following the Battle of Blythe Road, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers secretly summoned Coronzon, the Great Demon of the Abyss, and gave it one command; to pretend to have been summoned by Aleister Crowley and then guide him to ruin.

Summoning
Accompanied by his apprentice, who would act as a breaker in the ritual, Aleister carried out the summoning experiment in the , using the magic circle created from the blood of three doves. It was at this point that Coronzon appeared before Aleister in order to fulfil its contract with Mathers. The contract which was to be formed between the two was for Aleister to invite Coronzon in and gain knowledge found by crossing the Sephiroth's Abyss, however the demon refused to obey.

Not contained within the existing Qliphoth, Coronzon broke through Aleister's attempts to bind it and temporarily hijacked his body as an avatar. Fortunately for Aleister, Neuburg fulfilled his function as a breaker, enabling Aleister to regain control and drive the demon away.

Aftermath
Aleister likely gave up crossing the Abyss after this event, though the spectacular failure apparently got him more fired up, not knowing the truth behind the encounter.

After failing to hijack Aleister's body, Coronzon subsequently hid within a mountain of papyrus and travelled from northern Africa to England. Bound to follow the contract even after Mathers was killed, Coronzon would continue to plot Aleister's ruin and manipulate events under the identity of Lola Stuart (starting from 1909) and acting as the Archbishop of Necessarius. At some point after the encounter, the demon made itself a physical vessel.

Although the summoning experiment was halted, the contract between the two wasn't actually annulled - a fact which would eventually come back to haunt Coronzon.