Musings of a Thelemite (Paperback)

~ Frater Da'Neos (Author) "What do the Aeons really signify?..." (more)
Key Phrases: shabby clothing, True Will, Aeon of Osiris, Aeon of Horus (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Although there are a few books on Thelema in print, they are mostly by Crowley himself. Some have said it is time for a contemporary to write on Thelema. To those, Da'Neos has answered. For him, the story did not end in 1947, and he represents the forefront of the new Thelemic movement. Da'Neos is that first brave soul who dares write where others keep silent. He is anything but timid or apologetic. Although he looks at Thelema in light of the 21st century, he stays true to the original ideas of Crowley . Da'Neos writes about how he came to write this book, in spiritual terms. He describes how he came to dedicate himself to a spiritual life, and the various systems of belief that he examined and lived through before coming to Thelema. It is a story of becoming, including the ramifications for holding certain ideas. He is the first Thelemic author to fully write about the Three Aeons, a subject that has been left in pitiful shape for many years. Da'Neos examines the current of spiritual development that has advanced through history, and how this spiritual current has been materialized through exoteric belief systems. Da'Neos describes what "conversation with the Holy Guardian Angel" is truly like. Even Crowley himself only hints at it. He describes, in a gripping narrative, of how he came to find his True Self, and the results of that finding. This is only a small sampling of the many areas Da'Neos covers. He goes on to write in detail on Thelemic ritual, the entire development of the Kabbala, examinations of the true force behind Christianity, and much more.

Product Details

• Paperback: 164 pages
• Publisher: Alchemy Press (March 22, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0977691101
• ISBN-13: 978-0977691104
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #839,846 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Into the Fires of Thelema, April 24, 2007

By	Spacelord "Traditionalist" (Wright City, MO United States) - See all my reviews

Having read all of Crowley's works, I am somewhat reserved about newer books on the topic of Thelema. The reason is that I often find Crowley's message diluted for a more modern public. It is well known that Crowley in his time presented himself in a fashion that was often shocking or offensive to others. He didn't mince words about what the thought and believed, whether on the topic of politics, sex, or any other topic. Yet--without naming any specific authors--I find that many contemporary writers try to smooth the rough edges off of Crowley and Thelema, to the detriment of both. We are talking about a man who cut a goat's throat while it was having sex with his mistress. He is also the man who said, "If you kiss a woman and she protests, choke her until she submits to you. It is what she wants anyway." He took the line, "the only sin is restriction" very seriously. So I find it somewhat offensive the modern attempts to make Crowley into a fluffy New Age guru. He was truly The Great Beast that he professed to be.

Enter Frater Da'Neos. I think that perhaps Da'Neos and Crowley were cut from the same piece of cloth (for better or for worse). If you find Crowley to be shocking or offensive, you will find no reprieve with Da'Neos. Yet at the same time, I find his approach to the topic to be refreshing. He says in his introduction, "I cannot say that I am overly dogmatic about Thelema, or the prophecies of Crowley. I use it principally as a paradigm, as I find it fits my needs much better than any other system I have seen. Any system, including Thelema, is a two-edged sword. It can be used to free your mind, and it can be used to enslave it."

He is certainly not dogmatic about Thelema. Another reason I usually dislike many Thelemic books (the few that exist) is that they generally just regurgitate Crowley in a watered-down form, which seems rather useless to me. If I want to read Crowley, I will simply read Crowley. If a Thelemic author wants to write something, he should say something that Crowley didn't say, or expand upon one of Crowley's ideas. And this is where I think Da'Neos truly shines.

He first chapter is wholly dedicated to the concept of the Three Aeons. It is a topic readily mentioned by Crowley, but to my knowledge he never put together a comprehensive essay on the subject, and what it really meant. Duquette has written briefly about it, but I still found myself desirous of more information on the implications of the passing of Aeons. The lack of information on this is remarkable considering that the advent of the Aeon of Horus is the principal event that defines Thelema. When were the previous Aeons? What were their words of power? How does the nature of things change from one Aeon to the next? All of these questions have gone largely unanswered until Da'Neos' near-exhaustive treatment of the subject.

He spends a great deal of time on the Aeons of Isis and Osiris, because these are the two previous Aeons that we know so little about in terms of magical currents. I really got a feel for the Aeon of Isis from this chapter. For example, Da'Neos describes the Mother figure of the Aeon as "darkly ominous," and that she "appeared sometimes as a singular goddess, but often enough as multiples. She was "the mother of both the living and the dead," and her consort was typically a serpent, but sometimes a dove. Her rites were not bright with "manly athletic games" of the later eras. Her worship was far away from the magnanimous worship of the later male deities, which was accompanied by "humanistic art, social enjoyment, feasting and theater." The mother goddess was dark and primitive; further away from civilization, indeed the force of nature herself, which all too often gets painted while wearing rose-tinted glasses. She was nature in all its heartless cruelty. The lion that tears the gazelle's flesh, the gasping, rotting corpses of diseased bodies: all this is the true earth mother, according to Frater Da'Neos. The remaining analysis of the Aeons are just as descriptive so that one really gets a feel for them. This section alone made the book more than worth its cover price.

Another chapter that I found to be helpful is "The Development of Kabbala." Here Da'Neos has truly done some good research into the subject. He outlines historically the major documents of Kabbala, including the Sepher ha-Zohar and Sepher Yetzirah, books that many modern Hermetics have perhaps not studied, but which are foundational in Kabbala. He also discusses many of the most important Kabbalistic thinkers, including Isaac Luria and Sabbatai Zvi. Following this he examines the most important ideas concerning Kabbala and the Tree of Life with a philosophical lucidity rarely seen in print. He brings in a number of important thinkers and uses their ideas to show meaning in this system. This is no vapid exposition of pet ideas, but rather a very mature and scholarly consideration of a subject that all too often gets reduced to tired formulas and catch-phrases.

The second part of the book switches into a different mode, with inconsistent quality. He has some revelational poetry and narrative that at times is very thought-provoking, but at other times is just slightly silly. I think here Da'Neos has revealed too much of his hand and perhaps attempted too much. His true forte is the expository essay, which makes up the bulk of the book. In a way, the book is rather reminiscent of the old Equinox, with its mix of essay, philosophy, as well as poetry and narrative. The only difference is that one man wrote the entire thing.

My final opinion is that this book is a must for any Thelemic or occult library. After reading this book you feel you truly have touched another soul who at times is perhaps tragic, but never cheap. Da'Neos strikes one as a man who took the Thelemic ideas and jumped into the fire with them. He does not water down what he has found there for a discerning public. Thus, to read this book is to be dragged into that fire with him. It is not always a pleasant experience, but perhaps to truly learn we must be shocked and offended at times.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How droll. -_0, October 24, 2007

By	EL YOD - See all my reviews

I can't say I'm disgusted, because I wasn't, just mildly amused.

From what I've read so far of this little book, (most contemporary occult books don't tend to be very voluminous, perhaps because the bulk of the 'text' resides in your personal experiences derived from the incorporation of each author's advice into your own life,) but it seems that Frater Da'Neos has crafted an earnest attempt at expanding the realm of Thelemic wisdom. Da'Neos comes off as a truly real person in his writing and I'm sure that most readers of the occult persuasion will find some parts of "Musings of a Thelemite" to be quite reminiscent of experiences they've had in there own lives. On first glance Musings seems to be quite autobiographical in parts, but should the reader inspect other writings not so far from here, one may wonder that with such brazenness perhaps Da'Neos is not incapable of using literary persona to advantage.

The book gives the strong impression that it was primarily written for Da'Neos himself in an attempt to disentangle the mass of wirey thoughts tying together his mind. Indeed, Da'Neos himself states on page 20 that, "If the reader finds himself or herself confused by what is presented here, then they are not alone. I barely know what I am talking about myself. I find it is difficult enough to announce what I think without having to remember why it is I think it." and on the next page it is written "By the time I actually have a published copy of this book I will most likely disagree with some of what I have wrote." Which one of us hasn't held such sentiments at one time or another?

The writings are true to the title and really do have the characteristic of musings . I wouldn't be surprised if I were to find out they were culled from diary entries and then polished somewhat to be organized into book format. I also agree whole-heartedly with the reviewer "Toby R. Beeny" that Frater Da'Neos and Crowley have been cut from the same cloth. They both seem to have the habit of pulling peoples legs at times and even pulling their own legs. It is related in Musings that Da'Neos' mother finds her son to have no common sense, and in this too he is also like Crowley. But Crowley's career is over, and Da'Neos just begun. They may have been cut from the same cloth of the magickal milieu but it is already certain Crowley has quite a lot of scenery in his part of the tapestry, whereas at the moment it is shown that Da'Neos only has a few scraps from the periphery of Crowley's piece.

By reading this piece of work I have become more aware of my own paralysis in lust-for-result and so must thank Da'Neos for providing a book that has allowed me to gain a greater understanding of my current circumstances. For this I give a cautious four stars, and not three as I'm not completely neutral on his writing.

It should also be noted that the first line in this review does not refer at all to the book, "Musings of a Thelemite," by Frater Da'Neos.

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Good Introduction to Crowley, April 24, 2007

By	Katherine Beeny (Santa Fe, NM) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I got this book because I didn't really know much about Thelema. I had read some books on Wicca and Kabbala, but Aleister Crowley's name kept popping up and I wanted to know what this was all about. I looked at some of the books in a bookstore on Thelema, but they were like reading VCR programming instructions. A friend of mine who is a Thelemite lent me a copy of this book. I have to say that it is much easier to understand than the other books on the subject, and much more entertaining too! Da'Neos is a pretty funny guy who likes to poke fun of himself even as he labors to deal with tough topics. I found it to be very readable. It was both entertaining and informative. I ended up buying a copy of my own and reading it again.