Neuburg, Victor (Benjamin) (1883-1940)

Poet, editor, and associate of occultist Aleister Crowley. Neuburg was born on May 6, 1883, in London, England. He was educated at the City of London School, southwest London, and at Trinity College, Cambridge. An early Freethinker, his first poems were published in the Agnostic Journal and Freethinker.

Around 1906 at Cambridge, Neuburg came in contact with Crowley, also a poet, who had read some of Neuburg's pieces in the Agnostic Journal. Crowley initiated Neuburg into his secret society, the A∴A∴, giving him the name "Frater Omnia Vincam." He also initiated a homosexual relationship with Neuburg. In 1909 Crowley took Neuburg to Algiers, and they set off into the North African desert, where they performed a series of occult rituals. In the midst of these, Crowley put the ideas of sex and "magick" together and performed his first "sex magick" ritual.

In 1913 Crowley and Neuburg again joined forces in a homosexual ritual magic operation known as "the Paris Working." Neuburg appears to have broken with Crowley some time in 1914, before Crowley left for the United States on a magick tour. Supposedly, Neuburg was ritually cursed by Crowley and suffered a nervous breakdown.

From 1916 to 1919 Neuburg served in the army in World War I. Thereafter, he avoided Crowley and spent most of his time at Vine Cottage, Steyning, Sussex, where he operated a hand printing press. Many of his poems were issued under the imprint "Vine Press." In addition to works published under his own name, he used a number of pseudonyms: Alfricobas, Benjie, M. Broyle, Richard Byrde, Christopher Crayne, Lawrence Edwardes, Arthur French, Paul Pentreath, Nicholas Pyne, Harold Stevens, Shirley Tarn, and Rold White. His books include The Green Garland (1908), The Triumph of Pan (1910), Lillygay, an Anthology of Anonymous Poems (1920), Swift Wings, Songs in Sussex (1921), Songs of the Groves (1921), and Larkspur, a Lyric Garland (1922).

In 1933 Neuburg edited a section called "The Poet's Corner" in the British newspaper the Sunday Referee. This encouraged new talent by awarding weekly prizes. A group of talented young writers and poets grew up around Neuburg. He gave an award to a then-unknown poet named Dylan Thomas. As a result of Neuburg's enthusiasm, the publisher of the Sunday Referee sponsored the first book of poems by Dylan Thomas, titled 18 Poems. The first publication is now a prized collector's item.

Although a minor poet, Neuburg's work has a magical lyric quality. Known affectionately as "Vickybird," he was a generous and warmhearted friend of other writers. Neuburg died May 30, 1940.

Sources:

Calder-Marshall, Arthur. The Magic of My Youth. N.p., 1951.

Crowley, Aleister. "The Book of the High Magick that as Worked by Frater O.S.V. 6-5 and Frater L. T. 2-9: The Paris Working." The Equinox (Nashville, Tenn.) 5, 4 (1981): 171-228.

——. The Confessions. New York: Hill & Wang, 1969. Fuller, Jean Overton. The Magical Dilemma of Victor Neuburg. London: W. H. Allen, 1965.

Neuburg, Victor E. Vickybird: A Memoir by His Son. London: The Polytechnic of North London, 1983.