Sexuality, Magic, and Perversion (Paperback)

~ Francis King (Author) "The title of this chapter may require some explanation, but I have no doubt that a substantial number of my readers will be aware that..." (more)
Key Phrases: plaintiff submits, immortal seed, sexual magic, Theosophical Society, Sellon's Note, Annie Besant (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Sexuality, Magic, and Perversion surveys such outre subjects as sex magic, left-hand Tantrism, and the initiates of Aleister Crowley’s Order of Oriental Templars. This fascinating and highly readable book also discusses the role of magical fantasy in contemporary pornography. Appendices cover obscurities such as Ralph Chubb’s homoerotic mysticism and the women bishops of the Mariavite Church in Poland.

Product Details

• Paperback: 207 pages
• Publisher: Feral House (April 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0922915741
• ISBN-13: 978-0922915743
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,121,489 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars naughty naughty, February 22, 2004

By	Author Brian Wallace (Mind Transmission, Inc.) (Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Feral House is consistent in releasing highly interesting, esoteric works that dabble (or indulge) in controversial subject matter worth reading.

This one takes the magic-meets-sex motif into unique territory; for instance, revealing intimate details about well-known occultists and intriguing tidbits such as the contention that Crowley was the one who introduced Aldous Huxley to mushrooms. The author leaves no rock unturned within this concentrated study.

At times, the author goes on endlessly with heavy passages quoted from other sources (which proves tedious), but this is balanced by an insightful, judicious study of the subject matter that includes humorously exposing frauds whenever possible. The reader definitely feels compelled to keep turning the page.

I recommend this one...

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A seminal, ground breaking work on human sexuality, May 12, 2002

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Sexuality, Magic & Perversion by Francis King is a controversial, revelatory, highly recommended volume of original research that investigates sexuality in religions and traditions all over the globe, from fertility cults and tantricism to Islamic mysticism and Crowleyan sex magick. A tantalizing study of the mystical aspect of sex, heavily researched and presenting information about the life and work of outspoken yet little-known figures who distinguished themselves, for good or for bad, in the intersecting fields of sex and religion. Sexuality, Magic & Perversion had been out of print and a collector's item for decades. This new Feral House edition will admirably serve to introduce a whole new generation to this seminal, ground breaking work on human sexuality.

12 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sexuality, Magic and Perversion..., April 28, 2003

By	zonaras (Jimbo's House of Pie) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

SEXUALITY, MAGIC AND PERVERSION is a short book giving a rough detail of sex-magic from the 19th century to the early 1970s. I gave this book four stars only because it did not go into enough detail and adequately explain the theology behind occult practices of sex-magic.

Sex-magic forms an esoteric element in Eastern religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism, and is known as Tantra. Tantric texts supplement orthodox Buddhist and Hindu scriptures and form their own cannon of literature. Forms of sex-magic may have been practiced in pre-Christian Europe, and may have continued underground during the rise of the Christianity. The concept figures in primal fertility religions that developed in cultures based on agriculture and the changing of the seasons and the monitoring of the sun, moon and stars to determine the time of the years to plant and harvest crops. This frequently took on sexual imagery, for example spring rains being like the male seed fertilizing the female earth. It is said that the "witches" persecuted by the Church were followers of some such ancient cult. There is some speculation regarding the status of witches during the Middle Ages. Occultists claim that they were practitioners of a pre-Christian universal Goddess religion. Others, such as the noted scholar Rev. Montague Summers, claim that these witches were literally in leage with Satan himself and that the stories of them copulating with [satan] and casting spells to disrupt the Faithful are true. The status of these so-called "witches" is not well understood by either side, pro-, or anti-Christian.

Modern interest in sex-magic originated from the stories brought back to Europe from travelers during the Victorian Era. Various cults sprang up which practiced heterosexual, homosexual and masturbation rites, animal sacrifices, poisons, abortions and black masses. Two of the most well known occult groups from the past 100 years are the Order Templi Orientis (OTO) and the Theosophical society. British occultist Alestier Crowley, rocket scientist Jack Parsons and Madame Blavaksky are among the noted figureheads in those occult groups.