Customer Reviews

The Magick of Thelema: A Handbook of the Rituals of Aleister Crowley

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This practical Handbook of Thelemic Rituals is a perfect Introductory guide, or quick-reference guide for Thelemites and other Crowley Enthusiasts. "The Magick of Thelema" --a collection of Aleister Crowley's Rituals, with commentary-- is perfect for the beginning Thelemite, Working Magickian (ritual scripts / instructions), Researchers of various occult schools, and others-especially, those who do not have the time to devote to doing this research on their own, yet....or for people who are just curious about Thelema, and do not have the inclination to spend a lot of money the subject, until they determine if their money would be well-spent (Crowley was a very Prolific writer). Basically, this is a "Thelemic Primer" which explains everything from the concept of "Aeons" to the reason Duquette saves the best Ritual for last: "The Gnostic Mass."

Anyone who has ever read Crowley is painfully aware of his rambling, self-aggrandizing (dare I say, babbling?) style, which is not conducive to the beginning researcher or Thelemite's comprehension of the subjects Crowley attempts to teach. Crowley's style is rather humorous and endearing to those of us who have devoted endless hours to reading his works, and those of us who have ingested "Magick Without Tears," but to the average reader, Crowley is almost incomprehensible (I think he enjoyed "teaching" in this manner).

However, Duquette has the wonderful ability to teach Thelema and Thelemic Ritual with a more rational, easy to comprehend method. Instead of rambling for numerous pages, then saying something of relevance, he cuts to the chase, and gives the reader the goodies, without all the extraneous verbiage (and rarely pats himself on the back, for his good work).

As one reviewer noted, "Magick: Liber Aba: Book 4" is the Ultimate resource book for Thelemites--and, yes, it contains many of the important books Crowley contributed to the field of Magick. However, it is not a good book to recommend to the Beginner and it is not a good reference book to pack-around in the Temple, due to it's size. Yet, Duquette's Handbook is amazingly concise, and portable (unlike the hefty "Big Blue Brick" -which, if dropped on your foot, will probably ruin your ritual with a broken toe!).

I know for a fact that it sometimes takes an essay just to explain to someone the convoluted history of "Magick: Liber Aba: Book 4" (ISBN: 0877289190)--and the book contains hundreds and hundreds of footnotes to explain Crowley's thinking process (not exactly a "Beginner's" introduction to Thelema). "Magick: Liber Aba: Book 4" is the perfect book to purchase after a person decides that they are interested in pursuing Crowley's Magickal teachings-but, personally, I will always recommend Duquette's books as an Introduction to "Thelema," instead of throwing them into the Deep End, with Crowley.

Duquette is one of the greatest personalities to become associated with Thelema and the works of Crowley. I have a lot of respect for Duquette and his writing style--he gets to the point, and doesn't waste my time congratulating himself with endless tangents. His humor is infectious and his Magickal endeavors are renown, without shameless self-promotion and exaggeration (as in Crowley's own writings).

Due to the complicated nature of the study of "Thelema," I recently created a "How to guide" which is a synopsis of a battle plan to tackle Uncle Al's legacy of Magickal Teachings--yet I believe Duquette's works are, truly, the best introduction to the study of Crowley / Thelema, because of Crowley's eccentric writing style. Duquette, thankfully, warns prospective Thelemites of the various pitfalls involved in the study of Thelema and teaches Common Sense approaches to the subject and Rituals.

I would not suggest throwing The Big Blue Brick ("Magick: Liber Aba: Book 4") at a New Student, until the Individual has read Introductory material such as "The Magick of Thelema." Duquette's concise, comprehensive exposition of the subject will save the beginner a lot of trouble and give the reader a great (and Safe) start along the Thelemic Path of Magick.

Would you like to study the works of the most important magician of the 20th Century but don't know where to begin? Are you ashamed to admit that you've tried to read Crowley and found it impossible understand a word he wrote? Then take heart! Lon Milo DuQuette's THE MAGICK OF THELEMA, A Handbook of the Rituals of Aleister Crowley is without question the most unintimidating, amusing and user-friendly guide to the works of Aleister Crowley ever written. Drawing on the insights of a quarter century of magical practice, DuQuette discusses the fundamental theories of Crowley's thought and analyzes the central rituals of his Ceremonial Magick work. DuQuette's Thelemic Magick credentials are impressive; 22 years as an international officer of Crowley's own magical order, Ordo Templi Orientis; creator of TAROT OF CEREMONIAL MAGICK (Deck by U.S. Games, book by Samuel Weiser); and co-author with Christopher S. Hyatt of ENOCHIAN WORLD OF ALEISTER CROWLEY, TABOO, SEX MAGICK, TANTRA AND TAROT, and ALEISTER CROWLEY'S ILLUSTRATED GOETIA. His delirious sense of humor is to be found winking around the corners of words, in the midst of serious, deep, metaphysical considerations. THE MAGICK OF THELEMA is an invaluable introduction to any aspiring magician who could use help getting started in the practice of ritual magick. It also provides a wonderful summary for those of us who have forgotten most of what they know or thought they ever knew

Lon Duquette, once again, provides the practicing Thelemite with solid and insightful commentary on some of those 'particularly thelemic' rituals. His affable manner and sense of humor are refreshing, and a nice change of pace from the usual heavy, almost 'holier-than-thou' perspective I get from some others tackling the phenomena of Crowley. Lon gives you the feeling that he's 'been there, done that', as clearly, he has. His forte, however, is making Crowley's sometimes complex ritual working, understandable. Not only in the practical sense, but also from an intellectual one. Not an easy task. Lon Duquette's books have enriched my Thelemic experience greatly.

Also recommended: Like to tackle Enochian but a little put off by its apparent complexity? Read 'Enochian Sex Magick'. It broke the 'code' for me after several others failed...

I'll be honest...I am not a ceremonialist, and frankly I never hope to be one. But be that as it may, anyone worth their weight in dirt magically (at least who follows any Western tradition) needs to be acquainted with the Banishing Rituals, and some other basics. And this is, in my opinion, the best introduction to them out there. He is actually able to EXPLAIN all those Crowleyisms that may have kept you from dabbling until now.

This is a highly useful book for the new initiates into the Thelemic system of Magick. For some people, it's difficult to grasp all of Crowley's concepts, so this little manual is highly reccommended. Even I, a recent initiate to the Thelemic system, have found it very useful even though I usually understand Crowley's ideas. I'd highly reccommend Magick In Theory and Practice in addition to this book, because that covers everything, and can be used for all other types of magick as well.

I found this helpful in decifering some Crowleyanity...but the serious student would be better off with the big hard back recently published by the same publisher Weiser _Liber ABA Book 4_ Another "+" to this is the greek of star ruby is translated into english with extra details about the signs and names of arch angels or daemons ...

This book is simply the best introduction to Thelema and its Ceremonial practices. The book is suitable for use as an introductory text, while its numerous essays also serve the growing and mature magician because Duquette's exegesis (culled from years of study and practice) is invaluable.

Almost all of the ritual material in this book can be found in the big hardbound 'Magick: Liber ABA' by Crowley. That said, there are occasional gems of commentary and footnotes that help clairfy some things in ways that footnotes and commentary elsewhere do not. This is especially true for the more Thelemic rituals (e.g. Star Ruby), which have not received the same kind of coverage as the LBRP, etc. This makes it useful for a serious Thelemic practitioner, but not very useful for a more general Ceremonialist. It might also appeal to someone who is generally interested in Crowley's ceremonial system and does not want to pay for Liber ABA.

This auther is great. I really love his works. He never adds dribble to his writtings and he knows what he is talking about. This book clears up the silly untrue myths about Aleister Crowley. The myths of Crowley being a Satanists and a baby killer. And how he died. Lon Duquette describes how these myths became circulated in the first place. This book is to the point and easy to understand. He also gives the reasons why Crowley used the averse pentagram and the controversy that started up from him doing so. Duquette is a True Magician and Thelemite and also a Crowley expert.. There is much to learn from this book. He teaches you how to do the Magick of Thelema step by easy step and gives the reasons for the importance of the steps and the rituals themselves. He also teaches you about the pentagrams and hexagrams and how the Unicursal Hexagram was developed. You can find the Star Saphire Ritual, Hexagram Ritual, Star Ruby, Pentagram Rituals, Mass Of The Phoneix, Gnostic Mass, and more. (my comment every Sunday the Gnostic Mass is done in the OTO) Also in this book you can find THE BOOK OF THE LAW, an illustration of the Tree of Life, The paraphrase of the inscriptians upon the overse and the reverse sides of the Stele Of Revealing and a color plate of the Stele of Revealing as well. He gives a short description of the Aeon Of Isis, the Aeon of Osiris and the New Aeon of Horus. Duquette also gives descriptions of the Thelemic orders the OTO and the A^A^ (the A^A^ stands for Argenteum Astrum(Silver Star) founded by Aleister Crowley and George Cecil Jones.) The OTO stands for Ordo Templi Orientis the founding father was Karl Kellner later Crowley was given leadership of the order in the English speaking world in 1912 and pretty much changed things around. The book is forwarded by Hymenaeus Beta X Frater Superior. There is so much more goodies to this book and once I picked it up I just could not put it down. So for thoses who are interested in Aleister Crowley, Thelema, or Ceremonial Magick do not pass this one up. I really love this book and hes one of the best authers on magick in my opinion.

Like Robert Anton Wilson and Phil Hine, Lon Milo DuQuette is undoubtedly one of the most entertaining authors writing today. His THE MAGICK OF THELEMA is arguably the finest introduction to Thelemic magic available.