Leila Ida Nerissa Bathurst Waddell, also known as Laylah, (10 August 1880 – 13 September 1932), born Leila Ida Bathurst Waddell, was a violinist who became a famed Scarlet Woman of

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

, and a powerful historical figure in magick and

Thelema Thelema () is a Western esoteric and occult social or spiritual philosophy and new religious movement founded in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), an English writer, mystic, occultist, and ceremonial magician. The word ' ...

in her own right. While biographer

Toby Creswell Toby Creswell (born 21 May 1955) is an Australian music journalist and pop-culture writer. He was editor of ''Rolling Stone'' (Australia) and a founding editor of '' Juice''. In 1986, he co-wrote, with Martin Fabinyi, his first book, ''Too Mu ...

posited that Leila was part- Maori,. he provides no evidence of this; in fact NSW birth deaths and marriages records show she was the granddaughter of John Crane (Coventry, England) and Janet McKenzie (Fort William, Inverness-shire, Scotland) and John Waddell and Elizabeth McAnally (both of County Monaghan, Ireland).

Musician

Leila Ida Bathurst Waddell was born in

Bathurst, New South Wales Bathurst () is a city in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. Bathurst is about 200 kilometres (120 mi) west-northwest of Sydney and is the seat of the Bathurst Regional Council. Bathurst is the oldest inland settlement in ...

, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David Waddell. She began her professional career as a violin teacher at Presbyterian Ladies College,

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

, and Ascham and

Kambala Kambala (or Kambla/Kambula) is an annual buffalo race held in the southwestern Indian state of Karnataka. Traditionally, it is sponsored by local Tuluva landlords and households in the coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi of Karnat ...

schools. In 1908, Waddell was a member of the gypsy band in ''A Waltz Dream'' at Daly's London Theatre. It was while in London that she met

. They studied the occult and took mescaline together.

Crowley's muse

She was familiarly addressed by Crowley as "Laylah," and was immortalised in his 1912 volume '' The Book of Lies'' and his autobiography ''

The Confessions of Aleister Crowley ''The Confessions of Aleister Crowley: An Autohagiography'' is a partial autobiography by the poet and occultist Aleister Crowley. It covers the early years of his life up until the mid-late 1920s but does not include the latter part of Crowle ...

''. Crowley referred to her, variously, as "Divine Whore", "Mother of Heaven", "Sister Cybele", "Scarlet Woman", and "Whore of Babylon". His ''Book of Lies'' was largely dedicated to Waddell, with poems like "Duck Billed Platypus" and "Waratah Blossoms". A photograph of her in ritual is reproduced in the volume. Waddell herself was an accomplished writer, magician. In October and November 1910, Crowley starred Waddell and other members of his magical order the Argenteum Astrum in his series of dramatic planetary-based magical rites, the

Rites of Eleusis The Rites of Eleusis were a series of seven public invocations or rites written by British occultist Aleister Crowley, each centered on one of the seven classical planets of antiquity. They were dramatically performed by Aleister Crowley, Leila W ...

, at London's Caxton Hall. In 1912, Waddell, and fellow Crowley students Mary Desti and

Mary Butts Mary Francis Butts, (13 December 1890 – 5 March 1937) also Mary Rodker by marriage, was an English modernist writer. Her work found recognition in literary magazines such as '' The Bookman'' and ''The Little Review'', as well as from fellow mo ...

, were given co-authorship credit on Crowley's ''

Magick (Book 4) ''Magick, Liber ABA, Book 4'' is widely considered to be the ''magnum opus'' of 20th-century occultist Aleister Crowley, the founder of Thelema. It is a lengthy treatise on magick, his system of Western occult practice, synthesised from many s ...

'' as they wrote down his words, helped shape them by asking defining questions, and elicited Crowley's commentary on pertinent points. Crowley also starred Waddell, along with other 'fiddlers', in a septette called "The Ragged Ragtime Girls" on the London stage. This vaudeville troupe also toured Europe, the US and Russia, promoted by Crowley. Laylah was probably Aleister Crowley's most powerful

muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

, as she inspired numerous poems in addition to numerous chapters in ''The Book of Lies''. Crowley based two of his short stories on Leila – "The Vixen" and "The Violinist".. In 1915, Crowley stood at the base of the Statue of Liberty and declared an Irish Republic in a long and impassioned speech accompanied by Waddell on the violin. The relationship with Crowley disintegrated as a consequence of his infidelities.

Later life

In 1923, Waddell returned to Sydney to nurse her ailing father. She performed with JC Williamson Ltd Orchestra at Her Majesty's Theatre and the Criterion, and with the Conservatorium and Philharmonic Societies Orchestras. In between times she resumed teaching, this time at the Convent School of the Sacred Heart in Sydney's Elizabeth Bay. She died, unmarried, of cancer at age 52. ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' noted: "Besides possessing an excellent technique, Miss Waddell's style as a violinist was particularly marked by charm and refinement.".

References

External links

"Leila Waddell recognised at Bathurst 200 Celebration"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waddell, Leila 1880 births 1932 deaths 20th-century violinists 20th-century women musicians Australian Thelemites Australian people of Irish descent Muses People educated at Ascham School People from Bathurst, New South Wales Women violinists

Musician

Crowley's muse

Later life

See also

References

External links