The Magick of Aleister Crowley: A Handbook of the Rituals of Thelema (Paperback)

~ Lon Milo Duquette (Author) "Aleister Crowley is dead..." (more)
Key Phrases: hexagram rituals, love under will, fifth practice, Holy Guardian Angel, Aeon of Horus, Aleister Crowley (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

This is an eye-opener of a book. It is a nice guide to Aleister Crowley. Highly recommended reading. -- Lee Prosser, Ghostvillage.com

Review

This is an eye-opener of a book. It is a nice guide to Aleister Crowley. Highly recommended reading. -- Lee Prosser, Ghostvillage.com

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Weiser Books; illustrated edition edition (November 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578632994
• ISBN-13: 978-1578632992
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #314,990 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Content and Firmly Planted Pages, April 26, 2004

By	P. Stranger (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

First a bit of a note about the physical form of the book:

The earlier edition of this book was called Magick of Thelema, and it had one horrible flaw. The binding was so poor that the act of reading the thing actually made the pages fall out. My copy now sits in a small three-ring binder. Knowing this, I ran up to the local bookstore and worked the spine of the new edition (with apologies to the future owner). Happily all the pages stayed intact. That's almost enough for me to pay for the book all over again.

Now, the contents:

The new chapter is a FAQ on Crowley. It addresses all those lovely topics that usually crop up in an initial conversation with someone (e.g., black magic, sex, drugs). It's far from a biography, and it reads as more than a bit apologetic (do all Thelemites harbor a bit of shame about The Beast?). Regardless, the answers are better than the ones usually dished out on a platter of "you just don't understand" with a side of "shut the hell up."

The rest of the content falls into three categories. First you have the standard reprints, with Crowley's commentary, of the major rituals of Thelema (as well as a few throwbacks from the Golden Dawn era). Second, you have Duquette's comments on the rituals. These are scattered around are only valuable in rare cases. For example, at one point he explains his view of the mysterious "averse" pentagram, but then he later interjects a personal anecdote involving a bit of misfortune with a scalpel. (If you've seen his book on the Goetia, then you'll probably agree that it's a wonder that Lon's managed to live so long.) Finally, you have original text by Duquette. This part is genuinely interesting as it's written at a very down-to-earth level without a trace of condescension.

Flipping through the contents, I think this book works well as an introduction to Thelema as a whole, but it's not at all sufficient on its own. Luckily, it covers a large enough area of the topic that the reader can search the Internet to fill in the gaps. I would hand this to someone with an initial interest in Thelema. If they came back, I'd pass them a copy of Magick in Theory and Practice.

You should probably not buy this if you have a copy of the earlier Magick of Thelema. Otherwise, it's probably the best of the non-Crowley introductions to Thelema that you'll find. Of course, what's really needed is some new (non-biographical) content.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A GREAT BOOK IS NOW BETTER, December 27, 2003

By	Renus Hyena - See all my reviews

Lon Milo Duquette confesses in his opening words that The Magick of Aleister Crowley is a 10th anniversary re-launch of his 1993 classic, The Magick of Thelema, and that everything in the MOT is also found in this new re-named edition. However, he goes on to inform us that this is more than just a face-lift of an old title.

He's added new chapters and updated material including a very useful Frequently-Asked-Questions about Aleister Crowley, and new material on the inner secrets of Crowley's Gnostic Mass, and the Rites of Eleusis.

The old Magick of Thelema was hands down the best introduction to the works of A.C. ever written. The Magick of Aleister Crowley is definitely a case of the "best" getting "better".

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Original and Stunning, December 19, 2003

By	Frater S.P.R.V. (Indiana) - See all my reviews

In the seemingly unending parade of biographies based on
the life - both factual and fanciful - of the "evilest man in the
world", this work stands as a stunningly original book as it
is the only one that invites the reader to draw their own
picture of the master magickian based on his magick alone.
Originally published in 1993 as The Magick of Thelema, this
edition is corrected and expanded, containing both an
Aleister Crowley FAQ - which contains the answers to all
the classic sensationalistic questions - and a sample from
Crowley's Rites of Eleusis, an excellent example that
Thelemic magick a) contains elements of pure magickal
drama meant to bring enlightenment en masse, and b) is not
simply a narcissistic system of self-deification, but in many
ways is a willed methodology of varied and artful
invocation. And Lon DuQuette's intellectual and
experiential proficiency on the subject of ritual magick in
general and Crowley in particular is revealed in the fact that
this is an excellent book for any magickal practitioner who
is looking for either an objective, lucid introduction to
Crowley's rituals or simply a guide to reacquaint themselves
with the nuts and bolts of Thelemic thought.