Customer Reviews

Nightside of Eden

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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.

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!

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.

This is actually one of the more useful books by Mr. Grant, who hasn't been an actual member of the O.T.O. since his expulsion by it's Grand Master in 1955. (Of course, opinions vary...)

Mr. Grant's books seem to get more puzzling and obscure as years go by; this one, however, is one of his earlier works, and has many interesting points and observations. I heartily reccomend this one, along with The Magickal Revival, Cults of the Shadow, Aleister Crowley & the Hidden God, and the *currently affordable* 2008 Starfire republication of "Outside The Circles Of Time" (buy it while you still can!). I would strongly reccomend against even an intermediate student spending their time or money on much else of his, save for "Zos Speaks", which is actually Austin Osman Spare, and the brilliant republication of the Hidden Lore: Hermetic Glyphs that came out in 2007. The advanced student can of course do as s/he Will, I personally have some care and concern for people who start to take Mr. Grant's works *too* seriously.

The often obtuse and much maligned Kenneth Grant is probably one of the least understood occultist and writers of the 20th century. Within the shadowy world of the arcane and esoteric the reactions and opinions concerning Grant and his writings are passionate and varied. Some consider him the rightful predescessor of the legendary Aleister Crowley and the "Left Hand Path" while others consider him no more that a madman.

'Nightside of Eden', first published in '77 has taken almost as much negative criticism as the man himself. This is a book shunned by many, even feared by some. Words such as delusional and incoherent are among those used to describe this evocative text. I stand on the other side of the ongoing debate and consider it to be the most insightful and influential work on the qlipothic energies and their function and activity on the Tree of Life ever published. The major fault almost always pointed out by the detractors of this abstract work is the fact that no previous body of esoteric teaching concerning these qlipothic energies exist to support Grant's claims. It's this lack of quasi-historical validation that turns many away from the contents of this book.

Kenneth Grant's books are never an easy read and this one maybe one of the most difficult of all. Highly original and imaginative in content, Grant displays his impressive knowledge of arcane signs and symbols and an innate ability to blend the very personal aspects of thought and imagination with the more impersonal aspects of theory and practice.

The 'Nightside of Eden' can cause a disturbing effect on the reader. Whatever your understanding of the left hand path was before reading this volume subtle, if not profound changes will occur afterwards. For me it is the evocative, at times lurid imagery that produced the biggest effect on my psyche. With the numerous and striking illustrations scattered throughout the text this book is more akin to the emotive stroke from the brush of a accomplished artist than the cold, cognitive syntac of a skilled wordsmith.

One thing seems certain, there will never be a true consensus of opinion on the value, or lack of value of the 'Nightside of Eden.' Thus the debate rages on. Is it a masterpiece or the ranting and raving of an egomanical manic? Maybe the more important question would be, is it Atavastic Breakthrough or Psychotic Breakdown?

My Opinion: Worth the purchase price. One of the great occult minds of the 20th century in one of his seminal works! Buy it!!

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.

Despite many of Grant's detractors (and despite the fact that some of them are right), I found this book to be, in a word, awe-inspiring.

I certainly didn't agree with everything he wrote, and I have different opinions on the things I do agree with. Nevertheless, this book opened paths of thinking that I don't think I even concieved of before! The concepts outlined of the Inverse Tree are the most detailed I've ever seen before (and if you've seen better, please message me and tell me!).

A strong knowledge of the Kabbalah (which I didn't have at the time I read it) will really help you digest the information and decide for yourself how real Grant's wonderful work is. As for me, I found it to be very, very real.