Simon Iff

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Simon Iff is the main protagonist of a series of short detective stories written by occultist Aleister Crowley. He is portrayed as a mystic, a magician and a great detective with a thorough insight into human psychology. It is widely thought that the Simon Iff character is partly an idealised self-portrait by Crowley, as well as partly a reflection of his mystical teacher Allan Bennett.

The stories typically revolve around an apparently unsolvable crime, which is eventually untangled by Iff's magickal and psychological logic. Crowley explained the method of crafting a Simon Iff story in simple terms:

"Think of a situation as inexplicable as possible, then to stop up all the chinks with putty, and having satisfied myself that no explanation was possible, to make a further effort and find one."^[1]

The Simon Iff stories were written during a visit to New Orleans in December 1916, primarily as a means of alieviating Crowley's financial hardships. The mystic was verging on bankruptcy, a result of his hedonistic lifestyle, and extravagant self-publishing, while having never earned a wage. The initial collection of six stories which Crowley penned would be labelled The Scrutinies of Simon Iff. Crowley would later write twelve more stories under the title Simon Iff in America, six stories as Simon Iff Abroad, and two final stories as Simon Iff Psychoanalyst. The Scrutinies of Simon Iff were first published in 1917-1918 in the New York publication The International under the pseudonym Edward Kelly ( presumably a nod to Edward Kelley, the Elizabethan alchemist and enochian magician), yet most of the Simon Iff stories remain unpublished. There is however, an edition of The Scutinies of Simon Iff published by Teitan Press: ISBN 0-933429-02-9. As with most of Crowley's work, the Iff stories are practically unheard of outside of occult circles.

Simon Iff also appears in Crowley's most widely read novel Moonchild (1929).