Customer Reviews

The Eye in the Triangle: An Interpretation of Aleister Crowley

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In the introduction to the Book of Lies, Crowley makes a statement to the effect that -to the uninitiated- his work is intended to be infuriating nonsense. Anyone hoping to glean anything from it needs either an incredible amount of free time or an excellent interpreter. I, for one, hate riddles. I would never have taken the time to "figure Crowley out," so I was glad to have Regardie as an interpreter.

Regardie's personal relationship with Crowley and his insight into Crowley's practice make this book truly exceptional. In life, Crowley actively sought to sensationalize himself and biographers have generally followed his lead. Regardie refuses to do so, and this book is perhaps even fairer to Crowley than Crowley deserves.

There are, however, some things for the prospective buyer to be aware of. First, this book is more an apology for Crowley than a comprehensive biography. The author assumes that the reader has some familiarity with the other books on Crowley, and addresses only those points that he believes other biographers (primarily Symonds) have gotten wrong or missed entirely. The author only covers the years 1898-1914 and entire episodes of Crowley's life are missing (e.g. there is no discussion of his life in Sicily).

Similarly, the author presumes a high-level of literacy in the occult, and digresses at-length into its minutiae. He fails to define most of the arcane terms used, so the casual reader (like me) will often be lost and sometimes bored (I found myself skipping pages here and there).

But even without this contextual knowledge, I enjoyed the book immensely. The author clearly understands Crowley's thought, right down to the bedrock, and the portrait of him that emerges from this book is unexpected. As a general matter, I have no interest in ritual magick. But the author brings Crowley's mindbending and unique insights into religion, psychology, philosophy and (especially) yoga into sharp focus. Open-minded readers in each of these disciplines will find this book relevant and rewarding.

To say that Aleister Crowley was a confusing and sometimes contradictary character is an understatement. His biographers have all come away with different pictures of the man, and even his own autobiography does little to clear the air. In "The Eye in the Triangle: An Interpretation of Aleister Crowley", Israel Regardie, a student under the old magician, slices through the perplexities of his character with a shrewd, psychoanalytically based eye.

Regardie does more than address the neurosis and flaws in Crowley's character structure, however- as a student of mysticism, he dives into an investigation of Crowley's system of "Thelemic Magick", it's basis in the esoterica of the Golden Dawn, India, the Ordo Templi Orientis, and the Sacred Magic of Abramelin, and how this influenced his character and development. Regardie discusses philosophy, yoga, several schools of psychoanalytic thought (including that of the controversial Wilhelm Reich), and western ceremonial magic, all with a very readable style. The book is more than an analysis of Crowley- it is an analysis of how Crowley's investigations give us insight into the entire structure of the character of western man and the changes we're experiencing in the postmodern world.

I highly recommend this book- it should be on the bookshelf of every student of Transpersonal psychology.

A great Magus discussing his mentor...Israel Regardie writes authoritatively about Aleister Crowley,the man he knew better than any other.However,this is no simple biographical endeavor:the book is rich in information about the inceptive years of the Golden Dawn and the tremenduous formative influence that this magical order exerted upon Crowley.Practising magicians or the simply curious about the controversial figure of Crowley will not only find their misconceptions shattered,but they will also get an education in High Magic and its relevance for our time.Spicy and humorous at times,Regardie makes a strong case for Crowley as a great mystic,pioneer,and Adeptus of the highest order.Written with a great economy and sense of balance,this is the only work available that correctly contextualizes Aleister Crowley while avoiding the ludicrous tabloid trash that provided so much fodder for mediocre biographers of the past...A great introduction to Crowley and the Magical Path.Light in extension!

This review is only about production quality of this New Falcon edition. Otherwise this is an important text and excellent book, but if you want to read it either get a second hand copy or wait for alternative edition (I have not seen Original Falcon edition).

Over many years I have been enjoying Falcon books which include some of my favourite authors (Robert Anton Wilson, Israel Regardie, ...) I have these in old editions which I read regularly.

My problem is with production quality of the latest printed New Falcon paperbacks. I run reading groups where I propose and present books, which after reading we jointly discuss. To several of my members I have been ordering (here via Amazon.co.uk) several of their titles (ie Quantum Psychology, Prometheus Rising, Eye in the Triangle, ...). In presenting these books to my friends I found myself in difficult situation, as my enthusiasm for the content is dampened by me needing to APOLOGISE for poor physical quality of the book.

It is clear that the titles are printed digitally and 'on demand'. But digital printing quality has improved a great deal in the last 10 years and some of the technical problems with these books can relatively easy be dealt with.

1. Paper. Text paper use is a digital cartridge paper which for the smaller book sizes like these is rather inflexible. You could go for thinner or standard book paper with finer fibres.

2. Cover. Eye in the Triangle is one of the worst covers by lowest card quality, with low contrast printing and is not even laminated from the outside. (these leads that even new copies I received from amazon have chipped off printing).

3. Binding. As this book is a digital print they are machine glued (not stitched) and this makes them (partly because of paper used) inflexible, stiff and difficult to keep open and read. With over 500 pages, it makes you think how many times this book can be opened before the spine cracks and pages start falling out. In addition, page-setting is obviously done for stitched binding. With only gluing, this leaves book's inside margins extremely tight, which with the general stiffness makes the book difficult to handle and nearly impossible to read.

In conclusion, this publisher should make some effort in improving quality of their books as they have some very important titles in their catalogue.

Finally, I have complained directly to the publishers with few ideas on improvements... they only replied in two words... 'thank you' with no explanation.

....that I am going to re-read every few years. It's that good. If you like fascinating and interesting people and adventure you should check this out.

Israel Regardie who knew Crowley does not, as so many biographers, fall into the two convenient categories: the degenerate 'Black Magus' or misunderstood 'Prophet'. Instead he focus on understanding Crowley using his memories of him, his writing and actions, and looking through the lens of the psychoanalytic world view of Wilhelm Reich (Regardie made a living as a Reichian therapist and chiropractor). Regardie is very open with the reader about his naivety when first coming into contact with Crowley and the nature of their later falling out, and it's a joy to 'listen' as the old man share scenes from his time with Crowley.

Regardie gives his valuable insights into Crowley's psyche with us. However, as a biography, the book is lacking - it covers Crowley's life up to 1914, so I'd suggest reading another before this one (I can recommend Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley by Lawrence Sutin). Besides assuming the reader already knows the major events of Crowley's life, it also assumes a basic knowledge in the western esoteric tradition.

So to sum up: a great book to get to know who Aleister Crowley was, but not for the casual reader, and it's not suitable as the first biography.

I really enjoyed this book. I have read many biographical and auto-biographical books on Crowley. Israel Regardie presents a fresh, clear picture that answered many questions I had about Crowley's meditations and spiritual exercises.

I had to skim a lot of this book because Regardie has used it as a vehicle for his own pet psychological theories that, more often than not, have nothing to with A.C. A large amount of space is also devoted to quotes from Crowley himself; I wasn't really looking to read Crowley though.

It's evident from the get-go that Regardie has a personal beef with John Symonds' "The Great Beast." Toward the end it becomes very tiresome.

But for all of its shortcomings, there are a few nuggets scattered throughout if you're willing to wade through a lot of psychobabble. The most insightful part comes toward the very end where Regardie shares his belief that spiritual attainment in and of itself is a very ineffective weapon against neuroses. This theory makes a lot of sense to me.

The Eye in the Triangle is subtitled, 'An Interpretation of Aleister Crowley' and Regardie explores the inner being on several levels; decomuntary, psychological and magically. he decoments Crowley's life and through his often complex writings decipher the inner meanings relating directly to psychology and magic to reveals Crowley's innner life and create a sincere portrait of a genius. regardie skilfully weaves the strands together to show how Crowley's thought emerged. Although Regardie relies to heavily on psychology to compare mystical experience to. The above review is against thelema has it descends into dogma, created through a mish mash of orientalism.

If you are interested in reading about Crowley's life, then this is certainly an interesting book. But to refer to Crowley as a "great magus" is a sadly mistaken conception. All true spiritual growth is characterised by a growing awareness of the Unity of All Life, and one's Love for that One Life. In this, Crowley was sadly lacking. Sadly, beginners on the Path of Return fail to recognize this, and think that spiritual progress consists largely of waving a "magic wand" around, and chanting "barbarous names".