The Aquarius Key: A Novel of the Occult (Paperback)

~ (Author), Hettie Rowley (Illustrator)
Key Phrases: key bearer, magister templi, alpha system, Keith Rowley, The Aquarius Key, Myra Qadish (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Nothing can prepare Bill and Sue Williams for the assault on sanity set in motion by those who seek the Qabalistic keys to the scripture of the new eon. Beset by nightmares, overwhelmed by acts of betrayal and ritual murder, their lives are changed forever by forces they cannot see or comprehend…

For Aaron Steen, the culmination of his lifelong quest for the Aquarius Key approaches. Manipulating the shadow power of the Qabalah, he sets in motion a sequence of events that will change the world forever, replacing the gods of Christ and Mohammed with a darker power, establishing a priesthood that will dominate humanity for the next two thousand years.

But he has little time. The ceremonies of blood must be completed; the Key Bearer must yield up the Holy Key; the Key Bearer must die. And all the while his enemy approaches, desperately seeking the truth in a world of Magick long discarded and forgotten by modern humanity.

Set in present day London and the stark beauty of North Wales, The Aquarius Key lays bare the history and practice of the ancient magical arts of Qabalistic Magick and the legacy of the West’s greatest magician, Aleister Crowley.

About the Author

Keith Rowley has studied Magick and Qabalah for thirty years. He has deep interests in the limitations of science and mathematics and holds advanced degrees in engineering and business.

An expatriate Welshman, he lives in Centurion, South Africa with his wife Hettie. The Aquarius Key is his first published work.

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (August 24, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059539373X
• ISBN-13: 978-0595393732
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,619,404 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't read late at night, October 30, 2006

By	P. L. Brogan "Dragonfly" (Drakensberg, South) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Upon meeting Keith Rowley, one cannot help being struck by his alertness, articulacy, and alacrity. He is a pragmatic, no-nonsense person, a good engineer, a successful businessman, and probably the last person one would associate with a novel of the occult. He doesn't keep a goat's head in the fridge (at least, I don't think he does), nor does he creep around at night wearing a hood with holes and sucking the blood of virgins. So where does this fascinating, sometimes frightening and shocking, book come from?
Despite the health warnings on the cover (words such as `Novel' and `Fiction'), Rowley admits that The Aquarius Key is `not wholly a work of fiction'. Does that mean that his descriptions of satanic rape, magical mind control, and astral travel are based on personal experience? I should be surprised if that were so, although he quite clearly takes a keen interest in the possibility of such things; if truth be told, so do most of us. However, Aleister Crowley - once described as the wickedest man in the world - was very real, and The Aquarius Key draws on the little that is known of this enigmatic character and his work for its key theme: he was the prophet chosen to usher in the new age of Aquarius, an alternative or successor to Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, or even Joseph Smith.
There is another way in which this book overlaps definitions: the extensive and informative appendices at the back of the book, which address issues such as `Magick' and the limits of science, the life and legacy of Aleister Crowley, `Magickal' theory, elementary cabbala (Rowley spells it with a `Q'), Tarot, and other esotericisms, lend the flavour of an academic paper to an otherwise entertaining yarn. Which is it to be: a story or a lecture? As it is, it is a mishmash of both: a tale that attempts both to educate and to entertain, as well as a thesis that masquerades as science. Not even Dan Brown presumed that he could make The Da Vinci Code into such an improbable creature.
Rowley's best writing is reserved for the appendices. That is not to say that his story is poorly written, but rather that I suspect that the reader is meant to treat it more seriously than he or she would a late-night horror movie. Rowley argues that, since the average person has insufficient education to interpret or understand science, he or she is forced into `believing' science, as they would religion or the paranormal. It's a compelling argument, although I suspect he is mistaken in ignoring the possibility that most people `believe', not in science, but in the rigorousness of the scientific method, which keeps scientists honest in the withering crossfire of peer review and continual, Popperian attempts at falsification.
What should I recommend, then? The story is gripping, drawing on our human susceptibility to irrational fears, the very things that give breath and life to our major religions. Those who find a thrill in the possibility of a conspiracy of secret, mysterious, and powerful world leaders beyond the ken of the ordinary political elite will have much to think about. Appropriately, the dominant colours of this novel are dark - grey, midnight blue, and mahogany - and the feelings it invokes are similarly gloomy. After reading it, I was forced to reconsider my opinion of the occult, as well as wonder whether there really was anything to Rowley's implication that, with sufficient practice, we too could access the long-lost, frightening powers of our deep psyche. I made a nice cup of tea, walked into the sun, had a quiet lie down, and soon felt better.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A work of excellence, August 28, 2007

By	Odyssey Reviews - See all my reviews

Sue and Bill Williams live normal contented lives: Sue is a handsome woman in love with her husband, and Bill, a successful, hard-driving businessman. In the blink of an eye, everything changes. They are thrown into a reality where they come face-to-face with true evil. People they've known and trusted for years suddenly become their greatest peril--and neither of them would have ever guessed that they would play an integral role in bringing evil into their world. Bill not only discovers that an occult group is responsible for this madness, but that his brother Peter is part of it all.

I never give the 5-medallion rating easily; however every blue moon you come across a book that just knocks your socks off for the quality of writing and the complexity and magnetism of the story. I've stumbled onto one right here. The Aquarius Key is in my opinion, the technical standard to which all self-published authors should aspire. The writing is clean and as sharp as a blade and the story tight and cohesive, with that incredible pull that makes you wish your day would go faster so you can go home and read it some more.

There are some scenes of a violent sexual nature in this book, as well as other themes that are appropriate for adult readers only. This book touches on the darker nature of the occult and esoteric practices that may not be palatable to certain people. I will openly admit that many parts of this book just screeched right over the top of my head; I claim no great knowledge of the esoteric practices, nor do I pretend to understand it all in great depth; however the well-researched glimpses Mr. Rowley paints of the ceremonies and teachings of Kabbalah and magic were vivid and enlightening. He showed with credibility what a fine line it can be between good and evil, using fiction, history, science and fact in a graceful dance of words.

Keith Rowley introduces the reader to the dark history of Aleister Crowley, to the Thelemic texts, and to the darker side of the practices. He follows the spiritual schooling of a young Peter throughout the book, giving his reader a cursory edification into the practices of magic. It was fascinating but the flow of information was a bit overwhelming at times, which is the only criticism I have of this book.

I give The Aquarius Key five medallions. It is an excellent read; and I recommend it to anyone who likes an intelligently presented novel and a thrilling, hair-raising story.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superior and exciting occult thriller, April 23, 2008

By	Malcolm R. Campbell "The Sun Singer" (Northeast Georgia) - See all my reviews

Author Keith Rowley wastes no time playing the first of many Hitchcockian cards in this masterpiece of occult literary fiction. On page one, svelte, blonde, thirty-eight-year-old Sue Williams is window shopping on a beautiful sunny day. On page two, a man with "unfathomable eyes of naked darkness" and a cold smile envelopes her thoughts with his thoughts before maneuvering her into a waiting taxi.

Later, she tells her husband Bill she was mugged. Her blackmailer has pictures of what really happened, threatens to expose her if she talks, and is soon demanding a greater act of betrayal. So here it begins: an everyday couple is thrust into a dangerous and incomprehensible arena of lies, twisted loyalties and occult schemes with world-changing consequences.

Neither Bill nor Sue has ever heard of Aaron Steen, much less his quest for the Aquarius Key which he seeks via the misuse of rituals from the world of ceremonial Magick. (The "k" in the word "Magick" differentiates its rituals from the mere tricks and slight of hand of stage magic.) Neither of them knows that Bill's brother Peter has been deeply involved in Qabalistic theory and rituals for years. And finally, when they first learn of such Magick, they don't believe it's real.

Rowley writes well and moves the plot forward by unfolding the story through the viewpoints of Bill, Sue, Peter, Steen and the other principals. His language has a fine snap, crackle and pop to it and is well suited to the fast-moving sequences of "every day reality," the terrifying descriptions of rituals and to the mind-bending images found on higher planes of existence.

Readers of The Da Vinci Code will remember that author Dan Brown used a fair amount of space in his novel having knowledgeable characters inform others--and simultaneously the reader--about the secrets of the Holy Grail. Keith Rowley uses the same technique: characters who are well-versed in the cosmology of the Tree of Life, the principles of the Hermetic Qabalah, the Thelema philosophy and the associated ways and means of ritual Magick also utilize a lot of similar "instructional time" throughout The Aquarius Key.

The challenge for both Brown and Rowley is that while some (perhaps most) of this information will be over their readers' heads and/or outside their readers' belief systems, the plots of the novels don't make sense without it. The extent to which readers of The Aquarius Key view theories of Magick as exciting material that enhances the plot or as tedious detail that delays the action may well depend of their frames of reference.

Readers who love hair-raising occult thrillers will enjoy The Aquarius Key with only minimal study of the philosophical passages. However, students of astrology, tarot, alchemy, mystical Kabbalah, and related paths will find that Rowley's decision to explain the Magick as the plot unfolds makes the novel a much richer book. To this end, he has also included appendices with additional information about Magick, Qabalah, the Tree of Life and the work of the historical, adept Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), who makes an appearance in the book.

Perhaps, in future editions of the novel, Rowley will expand the appendices to include references to the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), Argenteum Astrum (A.'. A.'.), Cor Lucis and other organizations whose teachings include ritual Magick and the Thelema philosophy. This will help readers find the fragile boundary lines between the inner journeys of real non-confrontational Hermetic practice and the stuff of good occult fiction.

In her book The Mystical Qabalah, adept Dion Fortune wrote that each symbol on the Tree of Life represents a cosmic force and that we establish a union with that force through our concentration upon the symbol, resulting in a "tremendous access of energy to the individual soul."

Aaron Steen and his compatriots know well the pathways and forces hidden away upon the Tree of Life from all the Bills and Sues of the world, and how through personal will and the rituals of Magick to wrest from them sufficient energy to do great and horrible things.

Rowley's highly imaginative plot and exceptional prose have, to the potential delight of Alfred Hitchcock--who surely reads The Aquarius Key from beyond the grave--extracted Bill and Sue Williams from their safe, sunny world and placed them without mercy into a much darker landscape. And as for you, dear reader, your roller coaster ride through the dangerous landscape of the novel will be accompanied by the realization that that you have more in common with the pawns in this cosmic game than with its masters.