Although some us have only recently come to see the influence of the occult underlying the Church’s most serious problems, there are others who saw the dangers years ago and tried to alert fellow Catholics to the danger. One of those faithful pioneers was Tim Pemble-Smith. Through his publication, News From the Pews, he and his colleagues set out to expose Freemasonry and other occult forces with the Archdiocese of Brisbane, in Queensland, Australia.

The following is from Issue 24 of News from the Pews, dated 28 April, 2000. It explains the occult meanings behind an art installation which was once placed inside a chapel at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Brisbane. At the time, the chapel was dedicated to “The Human Search for God”, but has since been redesigned and dedicated to St. Mary McKillop.

After much public outcry, and largely due to pressure from Mr. Pemble-Smith and his colleagues, the installation was removed. Strangely, no records of this artwork exist online, neither from the indigenous artist, Fiona Foley nor the Cathedral. For copyright reasons, this article contains no photographs from the shrine.

Article begins:

‘Devil’ Shrine in St. Stephen’s

Over the past two years, this newsletter has exposed many hidden demonic messages contained in The Human Search for God shrine in St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Yet, the shrine has not been closed down and requests for an enquiry have been ignored….The Church admits that the shrine contains “systems of meaning”, but neither the artist nor the Church has explained those meanings. In this issue, we re-examine the artwork and see how it corresponds with the writings of the ‘devil-worshipper’ Aleister Crowley.

Influence of Crowley

Although he died in 1947, Aleister Crowley was the most influential occultist of the twentieth century. He was a self-proclaimed devil worshipper and sex and drug fiend. His book, 777 and Other Qabalist Writings of Aleister Crowley, sets out a system of elaborate codes to disguise the meanings of references to the occult. For example, the use of numbers is prevalent in much the same way as a codebook shows the disguised meaning of a message. Crowley created his own cult to worship the devil and wrote books setting out the way to practice his religion. Today there are many believers who follow his methods.

Artwork in Shrine

To a person unfamiliar with Crowley’s methods, the artwork presents a series of abstract images. There are seven panels of artwork in all, with four, square, central panels. The panels are all dark. You see a blood moon, a dog, a black luminous disc, and dark blue moon, leaves, pipi shells, fish etc. Certain images are repeated. Perhaps the first thing you notice is panel 1.

A Crowley follower who is familiar with Ms Foley’s other art, will recognise the dog in Panel 1 as the one in Ms Foley’s other work, “The Three-legged dog day.” They would also notice the 7 stars in the left corner in the pattern of a crescent. Cycles of the moon are commonly references to witchcraft. It is a classic Crowleyan reference. As Crowley said, “The best blood is of the moon monthly: then the fresh blood of a child…”

Multiple uses of Images and Shapes

A follower of Crowley will also be looking in the shrine for any repeated images or shapes. Multiple uses of images or shapes could point to Crowley’s codes. The Crowley follower would quickly note the central group of 4 square panels arranged into a larger square – panels 3, 4, 5, & 6.

Functions of Four: Alchemy

The Crowley fan knows that any ‘functions of 4’ are likely to point to alchemy, the ‘black art’ of attaining spiritual union with the devil. In the shrine there are many: the 4, square, central panels arranged to form a larger square, the 4 fish swimming, a group of 4 shells, a 4-part skeletal fish image.

The Crowley follower will know that if these panels relate to alchemy, the four central panels should represent the four elements of alchemy – earth, air, fire and water.

It is clear that panel 4 represents the red earth and that panel 5 represents water. The circular, black disk in panel 3 has a distinctive luminescent quality. It does not reflect light as the moon does, it’s black light comes from within. The Crowley fan will recognise this as Crowley’s vision of a ‘black sun’ – a reference to the abyss (hell) and to the dark angel of the abyss, Lucifer – the light bringer. Panel 3 is the fire panel.

Panel 6 presents the blue moon in the night air. This is the air panel. Air and earth panels are thus, as required, located diagonally opposite each other, as are fire and water. So the four square panels represent the four elements of alchemy, in a way, which – via the black sun – can be referenced to Crowley, the ‘abyss’ and to Lucifer.

Further, panels 3 and 6 present the sun and the moon opposite each other, “in balance”: symbolic of alchemy, as Crowley says.

Fish: Alchemy

Ms Foley presents four fish swimming in panel 5. The number 4 here is symbolic of alchemy. In 777 Crowley also links fish to alchemy. The fish are presented swimming in iridescent water. In 777, Crowley connects iridescence of water and alchemy.

Shells & Leaves

In Crowley’s system, the number ‘777’ itself represents his “world of the shells”, “demon-world” or “abode of the evil spirits” which are called the “shells”. Note that there are 17 shells in panel 4 and 4 more (4: alchemy again) in panel 5 – in total, 21 shells. 21 shells is a way of presenting 7, 7, 7 shells – a reference to Crowley’s codebook 777.

Ms Foley also presents five ‘V’ or heart-shaped, yellow brown leaf images, 3 in panel 4 and 2 more immediately above in panel 3. Reading downwards, this is ‘VVVVV’, Crowley’s signature contraction of the Latin used in reference to himself as ‘Master of the Temple.’ In Crowley’s system, the number 5 corresponds with the heart. Five is also Crowley’s number for sulphur, the yellow brown substance said to be used in alchemy. Crowley linked yellow brown with the ‘earth nature’ of his imaginary ‘camel’, which he says is the ‘means of travelling through the wilderness of the abyss’. As to the heart, Crowley states in 777 in reference to the invocation of his ‘Holy Guardian Angel’ (the devil) that “the human heart is the foundation of the work”.

Foley’s combination of 3 leaves and 17 shells in panel 4 (Remember there were exactly 17 shells in panel 4, for yet another reason; it was not simply coincidence) and 2 leaves in panel 3 immediately above is also significant. In 777, Crowley uses the numbers 2, 3 and 17 to derive a reference to the ‘Angel of Venus’, who is Lucifer.

Is it a shrine to the devil?

This otherwise unexplained shrine speaks for itself. The images and codes it contains correspond all too perfectly with Aleister Crowley’s writings. The parallels are too many and detailed to be mere coincidence. So, is it likely that the reluctant-to-comment Foley “Had never even heard of Crowley”?

HutheMeow, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Wikicommons, author unknown: Aleister Crowley in the garments of the Ordo Templi orientis (OTO)