DUST DEVILS.

In the Wind of the mind arises the turbulence called I.
It breaks; down shower the barren thoughts.
All life is choked.
This desert is the Abyss wherein is the Universe.
The Stars are but thistles in that waste.
Yet this desert is but one spot accursed in a world of bliss.
Now and again Travellers cross the desert; they come from the Great Sea, and to the Great Sea they go.
And as they go they spill water; one day they will irrigate the desert, till it flower.
See! Five footprints of a Camel! V.V.V.V.V.

--Aleister Crowley.




"Words...words...they're all we have to go on..."

Well, Crowley is (was) a well-known demonologist, and since Richard Stanley has a great culture about esoterism...yeah, I think it might be.

Besides, it's reported he did an "experiment" in an African desert....

Who did?
Stanley?
Details.....?

Crowley did, back in the day. If memory serves me right, he and his (male) associate practiced Crowley's sexual magick to conjure up the demon of the desert.

And sure enough, here's further reading.


edit: After reading the text, I realize my memory did stumble a bit. There were two separate (albeit subsequent) events, with the first one having his protege becoming a manifestation of the pagan god Pan. Not too long after, Crowley managed to invoke Choronzon, a powerful demon.