The Star in the West: A Critical Essay Upon the Works of Aleister Crowley is a seminal early work that offers a robust and sympathetic, yet critical, analysis of the poetry and philosophical writings of one of the most controversial occult figures of the 20th century. The author, Captain J. F. C. Fuller, presents Crowley not merely as a decadent poet or a sensationalist magician, but as a profound, if flawed, spiritual thinker whose work points toward a new individualistic and evolutionary religious consciousness—Thelema. The book systematically explores the themes in Crowley's body of work, arguing for its literary merit and its significance as a modern mystical system. It serves as both an intellectual defense and an accessible introduction to Crowley's complex ideas, positioning him as a "star" or a guiding light of a new, rebellious Western esotericism that challenged the religious and moral conventions of its time.