Lady Frieda Harris

Introduction to Crowley

Aleister Crowley had asked playwright Clifford Bax to find an artist for a tarot project. On 9 June 1937, after two other artists failed to appear, Bax invited Frieda Harris, then aged 60. Harris studied Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophy, which became critical to the Thoth deck's creation. She also took lessons in projective synthetic geometry from Olive Whicher and George Adams, based on Goethe's ideas as reflected in Steiner's teachings.

Crowley's friend Greta Valentine, a London socialite, knew Harris, and much work on the deck was done at Valentine's house in Hyde Park Crescent. According to Crowley's unpublished Society of Hidden Masters, on 11 May 1938 Harris became his disciple and entered Ordo Templi Orientis at the IV° due to her prior Co-Masonry initiation. Crowley taught her divination; she chose the I Ching.

Creating the Thoth Tarot

Crowley admitted the deck was originally meant to be traditional, but Harris urged him to incorporate his occult, magical, spiritual, and scientific views. She sent him a regular stipend throughout the project and used her society contacts to find financial backers for exhibitions, catalogues, and publication. The pressure may have affected Harris, and Crowley called in lawyers to protect his 66% investment.

Crowley praised her in the introduction to the Book of Thoth. She insisted on anonymity but enjoyed working for such a notorious man. The Book of Thoth was published in 1944 in a 200-copy limited edition; neither lived to see the deck printed.

Crowley's last days

Surviving letters between Harris and Crowley show their devotion. On 29 May 1942 Crowley wrote to the photoengraver Pearson about the deck. After a break in correspondence following an exhibition in July 1942, she remained in close contact, especially near the end of his life, visiting frequently. A pencil sketch she made of Crowley on his deathbed survives.

After his death, she wrote to O.T.O. member Frederic Mellinger on 7 December 1947. Harris and Louis Wilkinson were executors of Crowley's will. She corresponded with Gerald Gardner and Karl Germer to assist with the Order's structure in Europe after Crowley's death.

Later life

After her husband died in 1952, she settled in India, passing away in Srinagar on November 5, 1962. Her original Tarot paintings went to fellow Thelemite Gerald Yorke, who deposited them with the Warburg Institute alongside other Crowley items. Yorke kept some alternate versions and sketches, later selling them via bookdealer Harold Mortlake. Her work endures in a later edition of The Book of Thoth.