Aleister Crowley

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Enochian World of Aleister Crowley - Reviewed by Psyche
Tarot Divination - Reviewed by Psyche

Title:	Enochian World of Aleister Crowley
Sub-title:	Enochian Sex Magick
Authors:	Aleister Crowley, Lon Milo DuQuette, Christopher S. Hyatt
Illustrator:	David P. Wilson
Publisher:	New Falcon Publications
ISBN:	1561840297
Pages:	162 pp.
Copyright:	1991, 1993, 1997, 2002
Revision/Edition:	Fourth Printing
Reviewer:	Psyche
Contact Information:	psyche[at]spiralnature[dot]com
Category:	General Magick, Sex Magick
Review:	Hyatt has ‘found the Enochian system to be the safest, cleanest and most logical system of practical magick one can perform. But it is an art and as such requires not only study and practice but also inspiration and the love-hate relationship all artists have with their craft’ (pg 59). He further advises the reader to ‘resign yourself at the outset to take responsibility for your own magical reality. When you have firmly assumed this responsibility you will realize there is no Enochian universe per se. There is only your universe which you can access by the Enochian formulae. There is no Enochian magick per se. There is only your magick, facilitated by the methods of the Enochian system’ (pg 21). It contains Liber LXXXIV vel Chanokh, with detailed notes and further explanations preceding the text itself, providing a lucid and detailed guide to the Enochian system via Crowley, spiced with anecdotes describing the authors’ personal experience with the Enochian system. To further facilitate the ease of understanding the system the authors advise using coloured diagrams, noting that while ‘all this may take a few hours to execute but it will save you months (or as in my case, years) of confusion’ (pg 46) as through colour-coding it becomes more obvious how the tablets relate. However, the section devoted to sex magick is small, only two short and somewhat vague chapters tagged on the end. Hyatt intends this ‘for the reader who is already knowledgeable on these subjects’, noting that he is merely offering ‘a few helpful hints concerning how Enochian can be used in these areas’ (pg 104). While this may be true, it also means that it doesn’t quite warrant the slightly misleading ‘Sex Magick’ subtitle given to it. Toward the rear of the book there is an Enochian dictionary; complete with several pages of Enochian words, their pronunciation and English translation. Also included is the Lesser Ritual of the Hexagram, and in the appendix there are several diagrams of the tablets, the pentagrams and signs, as well as eight ‘sex magick symbols’. Lucid, concise, precise in its language, the Enochian World of Aleister Crowley is excellent as a general introduction to the study Enochian magick through Crowley, if not a practical guide to sex magick.
Review submitted:	18 March 2004

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Title:	Tarot Divination
Authors:	Aleister Crowley
Publisher:	Samuel Weiser, Inc.
ISBN:	0877283478
Pages:	66 pp.
Copyright:	1976, 1988
Reviewer:	Psyche
Contact Information:	psyche[at]spiralnature[dot]com
Category:	Tarot, Divination
Review:	First published as ‘A Description of The Cards of the Tarot’ in The Equinox, Volume 1, Number 8 and reprinted twice, by Weiser. It gives a description of the cards and their attributes, the characteristics of the court cards, the relationship of the minor arcana to the thirty-six decans of the zodiac, quabbalic correspondences and a method of divination. It doesn’t work well as a standalone text, but in addition to his Book of Thoth and other materials regarding his deck, it makes an excellent resource: compact and cheap to boot. Get it while it’s still in print.
Review submitted:	05 November 2004

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