Nightside of Eden [Hardcover]

Kenneth Grant (Author)

Book Description

Series: Nightside of Eden | Publication Date: May 1995

Here for the first time, the head of a genuine Magical Organisation reveals the esoteric doctrines of the 'black' magic of the Left-Hand Path, as well as the practical applications of psychosexual formulae of which very little is generally known.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Kenneth Grant

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Skoob Books Pub Ltd (May 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1871438721
• ISBN-13: 978-1871438727
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,851,859 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Should you spend the money on this?, September 25, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Nightside of Eden (Hardcover)

Grant's books are exspensive - they are also nearly incomprehensible. So if you're thinking of buying this one I'd recommend you do it for pratical reasons. One being: If you would like to study the darker aspects of the tarot, this is where it begins. Practical equals comprehensible. Linda Falorio, Fred Fowler and Mishlen Linden have put out a few books based on Grant's Nightside of Eden that make this possible - The Shadow Tarot and Typhonian Teratomas. I've also found that John Coulthart and Alan Moore's extension of Grant's Nightside Tarot in their book The Haunter of the Dark, plus H. R. Giger's work with Akron alow this subject to come to life. Start here with Grant's book, but if you're going to do, do it right. Piles of books can be found on the tarot, but this is an area that needs to be explored. An understanding of the shadow is essential to a magical unerstanding of the self. I hope this helps. Enjoy this book.

32 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Life-Changer of a Book!, January 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Nightside of Eden (Hardcover)

Back in 1977, when this book first appeared, people thought that Grant was being more than a little paranoid with his dire warnings of what he termed 'Nightside' forces ready to invade the Earth. With the benefit of hindsight however, over the last twenty-odd years we have seen a massive rise in UFO sightings and so-called 'alien abductions'. This is precisely one facet of the phenomena that Grant warns of, and more importantly, he details both the causes and the cures in this incredible, pivotal book. The Stellar Gnosis of Ancient Africa and its permutations provides the grist of the first half of the book, whilst the second half is taken up with an examination of the 22 Cells of the Qlipoth that truly sets the tone for magickal books. Any other magical book about any other system just isn't worth buying. Thelema, and the OTO in particular, has moved on so far since Crowley's day, that it's really not worth reading Crowley anymore: Grant has taken his place as the world's greatest occultist!

30 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Voodoo, Cthulhu, and Bad Gematria, May 30, 2005

By 

M. Demattei "libanus93" (SF Bay Area, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nightside of Eden (Hardcover)

And now for a dissenting view:

Because of this work (and the lack of any other in-depth scholarship on the subject) people have tended over the years to associate Kenneth Grant with the Qliphoth. In fact, when you say "Qliphoth", many people immediately think "Grant" without hesitation. When I started doing my own studies of the World of the Shells in 1994, this was one of the first books I sought out because of its notoriety. I referenced it many times over the last eleven years, and I have to say that every time I did I found it almost completely useless in terms of giving meaningful information on the Qliphoth.

Grant takes HIS interpretations of the VIII*, IX*, and XI* of OTO, and mixes them with Voodoo, H.P Lovecraft, and a good dollop of (sometimes faulty) gematria. This array of symbolism he then pigeon holes into 22 pieces which he calls the "Tunnels of Set". It is my opinion while while this work is very imaginative and creative, it has nothing to do with the Qliphoth. The Qliphoth are actually the waste and rotting dead matter of the spirit that accumulate when the True Will is neglected. It's all too human. Grant doesn't even go there.

In Dion Fortune's _The Mystical Qabalah_ she has a few pages which she devotes to the Qliphoth, and I believe that she has more useful data on them in those few pages than Grant provides in this entire thick, expensive volume.

Unfortunately, There is no one else to recommend at this time as far as the Qliphoth is concerned. Until someone else provides an alternative, Grant is really all that's out there on this subject (at least nominally). He's the only fish currently in the pond, and all anybody sees there is him.

This book is a clear example of a case where simply because somebody sounds like they know what they are talking about, it doesn't really mean that they do. Yes, it's creative, and I like some of the imagery and artwork, but I think that Grant missed the point entirely.