LEAH HIRSIG

Peter, the nestling of the third generation, has always been fascinated by the latest technological achievements. So it's not surprising that the Gletscherblick was one of the first establishments with an internet connection. And, of course, there was some wild googling on the endless web. However, Peter was quite astonished when he entered Leah Hirsig, his great-aunt, into the search function. What he already knew was that Leah Hirsig had emigrated to America with her mother as a child, which was considered very unusual at the time. However, Peter was not aware that Leah Hirsig was closely associated with the occultist Aleister Crowly.

She and her older sister Alma were fascinated by the occult during their studies. This interest prompted them to pay a visit to Aleister Crowley in the spring of 1918, who was living in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan at the time. Crowley and Hirsig felt an immediate and instinctive connection. Leah asked him to paint her as a "dead soul", and indeed Crowley produced several portraits of her. In 1919 she was ordained a Babalon or "Scarlet Woman" and given the name Alostrael , "the Body of God". Later she also helped Crowley to found the Abbey of Thelema in Cefalù, Italy. Peter and the whole family were completely amazed at what a crazy life Leah must have led. Nobody had ever heard a word about her. Leah had returned to Meiringen as an elderly lady and had always been described by everyone as a noble but strict woman. So she never let her previous crazy, wild life show.