12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Ultraterrestrials attack!, July 20, 2007
This review is from: Secret Rituals of the Men In Black (Paperback)
When I was sitting at dinner after Mass Sunday night, I mentioned that my copy of Secret Rituals of the Men in Black had arrived in the mail on Friday. A Brother sitting accross the table from me groaned. I asked if he had read the book. He nodded and rolled his eyes.
I just finished reading it last night, and, ya' know, it just doesn't seem all that crazy to me. I mean, yeah, it's unconventional, but God knows we need some creative thought going on in occultism these days. I think that Greenfield's main thesis -- that occultism and UFO phenomenon are part of the same continuum -- is a useful context for understanding both. In some ways, this isn't a new suggestion. Robert Temple, R.A. Wilson, and Kenneth Grant have been writing about these connections since the seventies; and there has been much eye-rolling at them for pursuing this train of thought, my favorite being Marcelo Motta critiquing Grant under the pseudonym of "R.U. Sirius." Nevertheless, the Masonic textual evidence that Greenfield presents is rather compelling, and, after all, Lam does look a little like a Grey, well, alot like a Grey.
On the other hand, I'm still not particularly impressed with New Aeon English Qabalah. While some of the gemetria connections are interesting, much of it seems rather less so. Some of the phrases Greenfield utilizes seem sorta non-sensical, or require alteration of Liber AL to make them work, such as the numerical citation of "for the stars and two," which appears in Liber AL as "OF the stars and two." Greenfield claims he has predicted various UFO related occurances with NAEQ6, but fails to provide evidence to support these claims.
I think the search for the Ascended Masters, the A.'.A.'., the Mahatmas, or whathaveyou is a fascinating part of the modern magickal quest -- perhaps the determinative part. I think, all too often, we let this idea of the Inner Order receed into the background of our occult pursuits. Books like Secret Rituals of the Men in Black challenge us to keep this quest at the forefront of our work and suggests solutions, albeit unconvential ones, to this enigma.
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1 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
NAEQ6 is meaningless, March 30, 2008
This review is from: Secret Rituals of the Men In Black (Paperback)
Once again Allen Greenfield trots out his absurd belief in numerology and links it to the pseudoscience of UFOlogy. Absolutely absurd.
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