Customer Reviews

Outer Gateways (Skoob Esoterica)

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This book reads like a mathematics text book. That being said, it is also an invaluable resource for Chaos magicians, practicioners of High Magick and followers of the left hand path. It delves into the numerology of Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos and it's relationship to Typhonian/Setian currents in history and religion. Grant uses Austin Osman Spare's books as a springboard for his ideas, and his admiration for both Spare and Crowley are obvious throughout. Although very difficult reading, the mind-blowing concepts and fascinating parallells drawn between fantasy and reality, magick and science and the past and the future make this book worth suffeing through for the serious and dedicated occultist.

This is the second review I've written on this book. The first review seems to have been lost in cyberspace for some strange reason, or not. Anyway...a book's value is determined largely by the reader and the knowledge and expectations a reader brings to the reading process... IF you are interested in the history of the OTO and want to get a glance into the mind of Kenneth Grant, former student of Aleister Crowley, head of England's Typhonian O.T.O., and collegue/friend of Austin Spare, this could be a valuable book for you to read. It is NOT a "how to" book. It is a book of musings riffing on a number of themes; the "double current" tradition, aliens/UFOs, cosmic initiation, etc. He's a MAGE for goodness (or otherwise) sakes...it is not a book where you're going to get a reductionist-materialist's view of the way things are...or are going to be.

Grant's imaginal zone has been fed richly by the O.T.O. magickal tradition of course, but he also brings in ideas from advaita vedanta, Madhyamaka (Mahayana) Buddhism, UFOlogy, Wicca, American Indian traditions, alternative history, Western Mystery traditions, the channeled work of his own former lodge (the "Wisdom of S'lba"), and even fiction. His use of fiction is perhaps an example of the early stage of what has now become known as Synchromysticism.

In addition to those who are interested in the book for its magickal musings, others who might find this book of some value are those interested in conspiracy theory, the above mentioned synchromysticism, UFOlogy (he makes some interesting observations about this field that won't make the "nuts and bolts" crowd too happy), poets, artists, mythologyists, cultural historians, those studying NeoGnosticism, etc.

I had heard good things about this author and was very diappointed. Mr. Grant makes many claims in this book and adduces little evidence. His approach to Magick demonstrates a lack of discipline. There is no development of theme. The olther reviewer said this book read like a math text. I must respectfully disagree. Math books develope their arguments rigorously. Mr. Grant is as unrigorous as most guests on Art Bell.