This is a novel by Crowley about a magical war between a white lodge ( led by Iff ) and a black lodge ( led by Douglas ) over an unborn child, the "moonchild" of the title, with the action moving between London, Paris and a villa in Naples. It was written in 1917 in New Orleans.
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About the Author
Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), who claimed to be the re-incarnation of Dr. John Dee among others, lived in England from 1875 through 1947. He is the author of several Weiser Books titles, including Book of Thoth, Diary of a Drug Fiend, Magick, Book of Lies, Book of the Law and 777 & Other Qabalistic Writings.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Moonchild is a visionary, metaphysical novel of the highest order. Crowley provides an elegant and mysterious exploration of the realms of magick, love and psychology. Reading Crowley's book is like getting equal doses of poetry, academia and enlightenment.
In the days long before The Celestine Prophecy and others, metaphysical fiction was raw and edgy but also beautiful and wondrously haunting.
Crowley was many men wrapped up into one and certainly a writer of fiction worthy of the highest praise.
Wherever you are you crazy shining diamond, we thank you for this book.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
By Joseph Adams
Format:Paperback
This is a novel of quality. I read this as a student at a technical college. It is a novel by the notorious Aleister Crowley about magick and the struggles between light and darkness. Once you can differentiate between fantasy magick like Dungeons & Dragons and real life magick like Wicca you should be fine. You won't find any fireballs or lightning bolts, but good, real life magickal theory. I warn you, this a novel for adults as it contains disturbing content.
19 of 22 people found the following review helpful
By Alan Draven
Format:Paperback
Crowley was an occultist and a practitioner of Magick (no, the "K" is not a typo) and was often dubbed a Satanist. I think maybe people labeled him as such because it's human nature to fear what we do not comprehend. He was wise and this book proves it; he knew about the "Law of Attraction" which is now gathering a lot of attention with the release of The Secret DVD and book. He himself, wrote a book titled "The Book of the Law" while under trance.
Moonchild is certainly not light reading; it's a bit disjointed and reads more like a handbook on magick, featuring many insights into this fascinating secret world (dare I say secret society?). If I had to classify it, I'd say this book belongs in the Dark Fantasy genre. It chronicles the adventures of a young magician named Cyril Grey and his mentor Simon Iff, along with Lisa La Giuffria. She will be drawn to both the good and dark sides of a magickal war. We follow Grey as he initiates Lisa into the mysterious practices of Magick and we witness Lisa's anguish grow in reaction to the lack of reciprocal feelings from Grey and watch her stand by Douglas's side, the leader of the Black Lodge, Grey and Iff's sworn enemies.
I enjoyed much of the various lessons on Magick and the parody of the higher class, society's rich and self-important folks who think themselves the centre of the universe. I did find it a bit distracting from the overall story; the book's main plot often gets lost in all the characters' discussions and gossiping. Although most of the distractions are surprisingly interesting (this says a lot about Crowely's ability to spin an engaging yarn), I wish he would've stuck closer to the central intrigue. Nonetheless, it makes for an entertaining and educational read.... Read more ›
Moonchild is certainly not light reading; it's a bit disjointed and reads more like a handbook on magick, featuring many insights into this fascinating secret world (dare I say secret society?). If I had to classify it, I'd say this book belongs in the Dark Fantasy genre. It chronicles the adventures of a young magician named Cyril Grey and his mentor Simon Iff, along with Lisa La Giuffria. She will be drawn to both the good and dark sides of a magickal war. We follow Grey as he initiates Lisa into the mysterious practices of Magick and we witness Lisa's anguish grow in reaction to the lack of reciprocal feelings from Grey and watch her stand by Douglas's side, the leader of the Black Lodge, Grey and Iff's sworn enemies.
I enjoyed much of the various lessons on Magick and the parody of the higher class, society's rich and self-important folks who think themselves the centre of the universe. I did find it a bit distracting from the overall story; the book's main plot often gets lost in all the characters' discussions and gossiping. Although most of the distractions are surprisingly interesting (this says a lot about Crowely's ability to spin an engaging yarn), I wish he would've stuck closer to the central intrigue. Nonetheless, it makes for an entertaining and educational read.... Read more ›
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Yes, there's some wisdom in it as well, but I think this novel reads more like an old slapstick movie. Crowley cleverly makes fun of the fad among the rich at that time: fooling around with the occult. The black magicians are hilarious, the Great Beast at its silliest.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I've read this book at least ten times and I've never seen the name George Gamow before. This is an excellent book. If you are unfamiliar to Magick you will still enjoy it. You may enjoy it even more than I did the first time. If you are a novice I feel obligated to tell you the characters are based on real people. Edwin Arthwait is Arthur Edward Waite; you should be able to figure out the rest. Arthwait is my favorite character. His use of the English language is hilarious. This book is extremely well written and like Diary of a Drug Fiend you need not be interested in the subject matter to appreciate Crowley's beautiful writing. There are a few footnotes and some obscure names but these shouldn't ruin your enjoyment of this novel.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By TNH
Format:Paperback
Moonchild is an entertaining book, but structurally it's like a car with a badly wrenched frame. In the early portions, Crowley mostly sticks to his story and develops his plot and characters. Then he hits the stretch just past the midbook where he needs to shape the existing material into a climax and conclusion. That part is harder than it looks. Most people who've read novels but not written them don't realize how difficult it is, because a properly constructed novel will start picking up speed at that point. This tends to keep the readers' attention focused on the story rather than its architectural supports.
You can see where Crowley got frustrated. He trashed the plot he'd been developing, threw in some colorful but underdeveloped and poorly integrated episodes, and revised his characters on the fly with no regard for their prior logic. Then, instead of bringing the story to a proper end, he suddenly announced that WWI had started: lots of noise, lots of urgency, but very little continuity with the earlier parts of the book. The biggest connection is that the denouement features characters who have the same names as characters who appeared earlier. In the last reel they go rushing off in all directions, and the book ends.
Crowley had a lot of talent, but what Moonchild needed was thematic continuity, a coherent storyline, and a couple of solid rewrites.
The reason I referred to it as fanfic in my title is that the main character is Crowley (or rather Crowley as he'd like to be), and many other characters are identifiable members of the occult community of the day. Crowley spends a lot of time scoring points off occultists with whom he'd quarreled. Those parts are amusing at first, especially if you know who he's talking about, but they're also cheap shots.... Read more ›
You can see where Crowley got frustrated. He trashed the plot he'd been developing, threw in some colorful but underdeveloped and poorly integrated episodes, and revised his characters on the fly with no regard for their prior logic. Then, instead of bringing the story to a proper end, he suddenly announced that WWI had started: lots of noise, lots of urgency, but very little continuity with the earlier parts of the book. The biggest connection is that the denouement features characters who have the same names as characters who appeared earlier. In the last reel they go rushing off in all directions, and the book ends.
Crowley had a lot of talent, but what Moonchild needed was thematic continuity, a coherent storyline, and a couple of solid rewrites.
The reason I referred to it as fanfic in my title is that the main character is Crowley (or rather Crowley as he'd like to be), and many other characters are identifiable members of the occult community of the day. Crowley spends a lot of time scoring points off occultists with whom he'd quarreled. Those parts are amusing at first, especially if you know who he's talking about, but they're also cheap shots.... Read more ›
Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Moon tick of a novel
I read this novel back in 1971. I remembered little about it except that it involved turning a woman into a sort of giant Moon tick. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Harold A. Roth
2.0 out of 5 stars
VERY disappointing edition from Bloodletting Press-- avoid!
Ouch!
When I heard that noted Fantasy/Sci Fi writer and Occultist Don Webb was writing an Afterword for a new hardbound expensive signed limited edition of Aleister... Read more
When I heard that noted Fantasy/Sci Fi writer and Occultist Don Webb was writing an Afterword for a new hardbound expensive signed limited edition of Aleister... Read more
Published on October 29, 2010 by Walter Five
4.0 out of 5 stars
Must read
This is one of my basic must have books. You learn nothing, but you expeience alot. Like Majik in theroy and practice.
Published on August 5, 2010 by AsianEntertainment.org
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting, Not a spellbinding plot
I found this book to be interesting, but eventually the storyline really didn't hold my interest anymore. Read more
Published on November 24, 2007 by MJ.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting - NOT for "light" reading
This was an . . . interesting book. Maybe because I am not a practitioner of High Magick, or because I don't know much about Crowley, I had some trouble following it; the plot... Read more
Published on February 27, 2007 by K. Sozaeva
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent
I have to say this book grabbed and kept my attention. The parady of the rich is a fun addition. Crowley has hid many of his theories and personality in this book. Read more
Published on November 23, 2006 by Agnostic Pagan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Read this along with Maugham's THE MAGICIAN for a real treat
I loved this terrific novel and am writing here to strongly recommend that it be read along with THE MAGICIAN by Somerset Maugham. Read more
Published on August 5, 2006 by D. F. Curran
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very Smart Man
Moonchild is a pretty good book. Crowley is an interesting figure. He uses a lot of big words I don't know the meaning of. Read more
Published on February 11, 2002
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