This is more of a Tarot reference book than an introduction to the Tarot. As a reference work it is sure to be of use to both beginners and experienced users of the Tarot. Riley outlines the major and minor arcana. She provides thumbnail interpretations of each card from various commentators on the Tarot such as Waite, Crowley, Stewart and Wirth. Plus correspondences for each of the 22 major arcana, various interpretation of numbers, and some basic card layouts. MM

Publisher: Weiser
Paperback: 320 pages

Levi was to the 19th-century occult revival what Aleister Crowley was to the revival which persisted into the 20th century. This work is the summit of his literary achievement as a writer and popularizer of the Western Hermetic tradition. It is divided into two sections, one on the doctrine, the other on ritual. The end of the book is appended with a firsthand account of Levi’s evocation of Apollonius of Tyana. Each of the two sections has 22 chapters relating to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, the 22 paths of the Tree of Life, and the 22 cards of the Tarot’s major arcana. The first section outlines such concepts as the microcosm in relation to the macrocosm; number symbolism; the Kabbalah; the Great Work; and so on. He methodically covers much of what most people associate with the occult. The second section is more practical in nature with instructions on the use and consecration of pentagrams and talismans, initiations, thaumaturgy—all with the requisite warnings to the imprudent. Those used to the step-by-step instruction available so easily these days might think that Levi’s examples are not as concrete as they might be. His writing style is rich and descriptive, making this one of the classics in the genre of occult literature. MM

Publisher: Weiser
Paperback: 438 pages

There has been much discussion as to actually what alchemy is. Jung wrote about it as a wonderful allegory for the development of the soul and examined the tradition's psychological factors. Some think the alchemical formula of solve et coagula (divide and rejoin) is a metaphor for the creative process. Others think the idea of transformation stems from the transubstantiation that Catholics believe takes place at Mass. All these things could easily be said while ignoring one simple fact—alchemists really did spend hours tinkering with their alembics while attempting the Great Work. This slim volume is an interesting introduction to the practical aspects of alchemy as it is practiced today. Frater Albertus starts with illustrating the manner in which plant materials can be processed alchemically. Through these practical examples he introduces the three elements of alchemy: salt, mercury and sulfur. Other chapters deal with alchemical symbols and history. This book is sure to give pleasure to both the neophyte and the experienced reader of alchemical lore. MM

Publisher: Weiser
Paperback: 124 pages

Intensely detailed information on adapting practical alchemical techniques for making tinctures, essences and elixirs. These formulas, made according to alchemical processes, are termed by the author “spagyrics,” a combination of the Greek words spao (to divide) and ageiro (to join), or in other words, the classic “solve et coagula” familiar to most with a passing acquaintance with alchemy. The author says that most contemporary medicine only succeeds in the first step and not in the last. He uses his extensive background in Ayurveda, which he learned while growing up in India, to draw parallels between Alchemy and Chinese methods of healing which involve maintaining a body's integral balance. He goes into the principles of Salt, Mercury and Sulfur in great detail and sticks to the seven classical planetary principles of alchemy. The book goes into great detail about how to make herbal medicines. The author says in his forward that the reader should have a “fundamental knowledge of botanical medicine,” but the reader should also have some background knowledge on alchemy too. MM

Publisher: Healing Arts
Paperback: 272 pages
Illustrated

This is Crowley's magnum opus. During his honeymoon in Egypt with his first wife, Rose, she turned to him and said, “They are waiting for you.” Never having shown any ability, let alone interest, in the strange phenomena that would lead to such an outburst, Rose piqued her husband's curiosity. She identified an Egyptian stele as representing the source of her inspiration. Whether she was a new wife seeking to impress her husband, a bit daffy, or truly inspired, her revelation led him to write, or rather receive (as he contends it was not his work) The Book of the Law. Most editions of this work include a copy of the hand-written manuscript too, as he wrote “… the letters? Change them not in style or value!” In a fit of what can only be called irony, he ended the book with the injunction, “The study of this Book is forbidden… Those who discuss the contents of this book are to be shunned by all… ,” thereby ensuring the book to be a hot topic of conversation. MM

Publisher: Weiser
Paperback: 128 pages

Crowley wrote reams of wretched poetry, most of which can be found in the three volumes of his collected works. Turgidly Swinburnian in style, his endlessly tiresome verse and the stamina with which he meted it out is truly amazing. Crowley fancied himself a brilliant poet far beyond the ability of fellow Golden Dawn member Yeats. G.K. Chesterton admired Crowley's skill—and for this slim volume of poetry, the praise is well-deserved and justified. Here Crowley truly exercises the genius he was so absolutely sure he alone possessed. The Book of Lies is a collection of concise poems illustrating points of Crowley's own personal philosophy and his idiosyncratic view of “magick.” He employs a wonderful sense of word play and punning in these verses. Each poem is accompanied by an equally entertaining commentary that sheds light on its meaning. Many of these poems refer to Crowley's system of magick, and it is helpful to have some acquaintance with his other works. MM

Publisher: Weiser
Paperback: 200 pages

Alas, poor Aleister Crowley! Rather than an exciting combination of Sir Richard Burton's life, Burton’s translation of The Arabian Nights, Edmund Hillary's conquest of Mount Everest, and dissolute times in a hashish bar in Copenhagen, Aleister Crowley's self-described “autohagiography” seems closer to the world of P.G. Wodehouse gone bad. The fin-de-siècle autumnal Victorian age was the time of his youth, spent with a dogmatic but distant Church of England father and a stupid fundamentalist mother. While aping Burton in Bombay, Crowley fires off a revolver at a group of Indian street thugs attempting to relieve him of his travelers' checks. Adventuring in the Himalayas he regales the reader with his continual failure to climb the mountain K2. Next he describes all of his occult “discoveries” without any elucidation on magic (for that you have to buy Magick in Theory and Practice). Upon entering middle age, Crowley discovers drug addiction and esoteric espionage while working as a British intelligence agent. Mussolini kicked him out of Italy before World War II because he found out that Crowley's Abbey of Thelema, his erstwhile den of sexual debauchery, was a front for MI6. When strapped for cash in the ’20s, Crowley and the man assigned to spy on him shared digs in Berlin. They spent many cheerful hours writing each other's intelligence reports. Crowley is delightfully sarcastic about the times he lived in, and he is an acute judge of society. In many ways, he is still the conventional British gentleman replete with the attendant biases against anyone unfortunate enough to be born outside of England. MM

Publisher: Arkana
Paperback: 984 pages
Illustrated

Regardie is best-known for his series of very competent books on magick and for his study of Aleister Crowley in The Eye in the Triangle. Suster's biography of Regardie is interesting only in the sections where he discusses Regardie's relationship with Crowley, and this he does while lifting a good deal of material from his previous Crowley biography. Regardie's initial interest in magick faded as he pursued psychology and the works of Wilhelm Reich. Only later did he begin to re-evaluate what he learned from Crowley and then wrote The Eye in the Triangle as a rebuttal to Symonds’ biography. Suster presents a sympathetic portrait of Regardie interspersed with much personal first-hand experience and correspondence. Despite that, this book would probably appeal only to those completists who must have every book relating to Crowley, Regardie or the Golden Dawn et al. MM

Publisher: Weiser
Paperback: 192 pages

Suster's sober study of Aleister Crowley does much to deflate the many rumors that surround his life. The book is divided into four sections. The first is a very straightforward biography of Crowley's life. The second addresses many of the scandals and legends surrounding Crowley, unfortunately shattering one of his most interesting tendencies—hyperbole. Section three introduces practices that influenced Crowley, such as magick, yoga, poetry and drugs. The final section provides many examples of Crowley's enduring influence and popularity. Suster provides a selection of photographs that showcase Crowley's protean ability to change his appearance. This is a good introductory book on Crowley for either students of the occult or just the interested observer. The only drawback is that Suster seems so bent on deglamorizing Crowley that he takes one of the most idiosyncratic characters of the first half of the 20th century and renders him dull and ordinary. MM

Publisher: Weiser
Paperback: 224 pages
Illustrated

This book is a collection of small essays on Crowley's very personal system of magick. He wrote them in New York, where he lived penniless at the end of the First World War. Although this collection was never published in his lifetime, he intended for it to be a magickal guide for the son he thought was prophesied in The Book of The Law. The title alone indicates the tone of what the reader can expect. The essays are written in a deliberate and sometimes unreadable archaic fashion and are arranged like the essays of Francis Bacon except that instead of “Of Discourse” there is “On the Black Brothers.” Crowley, however, remains a good deal more succinct than Bacon, even when trying to be hopelessly archaic in his writing style. MM

Publisher: Weiser
Paperback: 254 pages