Fernando Pessoa's political mysticism

In this chapter I will examine one of the most mysterious and enigmatic episodes in Crowley's life: his journey to Portugal to meet with Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935). Why is this episode and more generally Crowley's relationship with Pessoa so significant? To begin with, there is the interest that Pessoa's personality holds for anyone investigating connections between politics and esotericism during the first half of the twentieth century. Unfortunately, Pessoa's political and esoteric works are not yet available in English. Most of Pessoa's esoteric writings are fragmentary in nature, and most remained unpublished for a long time after his death.

Fernando Pessoa is considered today as one of the great authors of modern times. He was an author whom critics discovered only little by little, and it is hardly surprising that for many decades, the exceptional quality of his poetic work outshone his other writings, such as those dedicated to political and esoteric matters. Pessoa published only a very small part of his writings during his life, mainly in journals with limited circulation.