AMOK DISPATCH

Natas

Let me explain in a few words how it came about that I blazoned the word MAGICK upon the Banner that I have borne before me all my life.

Before I touched my teen, I was already aware that I was THE BEAST whose number is 666. I did not understand in the least what that implied; it was a passionately ecstatic sense of identity.

In my third year at Cambridge, I devoted myself consciously to the Great Work, understanding thereby the Work of becoming a Spiritual Being, free from the constraints, accidents and deceptions of material existence.

I found myself at a loss for a name to designate my work, just as H. P. Blavatsky some years earlier. “Theosophy,” “Spiritualism,” “Occultism,” “Mysticism” all involved undesirable connotations.

I chose therefore the name “MAGICK” as essentially the most sublime, and actually the most discredited, of all the available terms.

I swore to rehabilitate MAGICK, to identify it with my own career; and to compel mankind to respect, love and trust that which they scorned, hated and feared. I have kept my word.

But the time is now come for me to carry my banner into the thick of the press of human life.

I must make MAGICK the essential factor in the life of ALL.

In presenting this book to the world, I must then explain and justify my position by formulating a definition of MAGICK and setting forth its main principles in such a way that ALL may understand instantly that their souls, their lives, in every relation with every other human being and every circumstance, depend upon MAGICK and the right comprehension and right application thereof.

DEFINITION. MAGICK is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will.

(Illlustration: It is my Will to inform the World of certain facts within my knowledge. I therefore take “magical weapons,” pen, ink and paper; I write “incantations”—these sentences—in the “magical language” i.e. that which is understood by the people I wish to instruct; I call forth “spirits,” such as printers, publishers, booksellers and so forth, and constrain them to convey my message to those people. The composition and distribution of this book is thus an act of MAGICK by which I cause Changes to take place in conformity with my Will.)

— Aleister Crowley, from Magick in Theory and Practice

Reviews

Enochian World of Aleister Crowley: Enochian Sex Magick

Aleister Crowley, Lon Milo Duquette and Christopher S. Hyatt, Ph.D.

Forget it, weekend warriors, a serious commitment is required before performing the rituals in Enochian Sex Magick. Once dedicated students have a general understanding of Enochian technique, they can apply the sexual rituals in this work to make just about anything happen. There are a number of charts, plus reminders on how to perform the all-important Pentagram Ritual needed to start and complete the ceremonies. This work, originally published in 1912, is designed to be used in conjunction with Chanokh, another Aleister Crowley staple also chock-full of charts and diagrams. Sex Magick includes an 18-page Enochian dictionary and a very short discourse on Crowley's history. The exact specification of sexual positions, specific chants and even the required number of thrusts leave little room for improvisation. GE

Publisher: New Falcon
Paperback: 162 pages

The Eye in the Triangle

Israel Regardie

Regardie discusses the major influences in Crowley's life, elucidates Crowley's attitudes and points out “the magnificent difference which makes him altogether dissimilar to any other of the spiritual, metaphysical or philosophical instructors.”

Publisher: New Falcon
Paperback: 517 pages
Illustrated

Gems From the Equinox: Instructions by Aleister Crowley for His Own Magickal Order

Aleister Crowley

One-volume condensation of the 10-volume Equinox. Contains sections on the history of Crowley's own magickal order, the Law for the New Aeon, yoga, basic rituals, the Mass of the Phoenix and the Gnostic Mass, sex magick and more.

Publisher: New Falcon
Hardback: 1 pages

The Holy Books of Thelema

Aleister Crowley

Collects the holy books which were dictated to Crowley by the “præternatural intelligence” Aiwass following the epochal revelation of The Book of the Law in Cairo in 1904, ushering in the Age of Horus.

Publisher: Weiser
Paperback: 320 pages

The Last Ritual: Aleister Crowley's Funeral Ritual

Aleister Crowley

“According to his wish, these selections from his own works were read as a eulogy at Brighton on December 5, 1948.”

Publisher: Holmes
Paperback

The Law Is for All

Aleister Crowley

One of Crowley's most popular books, The Law Is for All was actually dictated to the infamous magician by a discarnate intelligence in Cairo in 1904. Whether this discarnate intelligence is on the same plane as Ramtha, we do not know, yet this book is considered by some to be as sacrosanct as Holy Writ. As much of the work is of an esoteric nature, this popular edition of Crowley's famous work contains an edifying commentary to assist the neophyte in understanding the deeper significance hidden within the bowels of the text. JB

Publisher: New Falcon
Paperback: 302 pages

The Legacy of the Beast: The Life, Work and Influence of Aleister Crowley

Gerald Suster

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

Liber Aleph Vel CXI: The Book of Wisdom or Folly in the Form of an Epistle of 666 The Great Wild Beast to His Son

Aleister Crowley

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

The Magical Record of the Beast 666

Edited by John Symonds and Kenneth Grant

“Crowley called his diary a Magical Record because it contains accounts of his magical experiments, including the details of his secret sexual magick and of his consumption of a variety of dangerous drugs. It was not written with an eye to publication… Hence the unguarded way in which he recorded his innermost thoughts and performances of secret rites.”

Publisher: Duckworth
Paperback: 326 pages

Magick Without Tears

Aleister Crowley

“Divulges his magickal philosophy, illuminating all that was unapproachable in his early writings.” Eighty letters, Crowley’s commentary on his own magickal training and insight.

Publisher: New Falcon
Paperback: 528 pages