Review: New Aeon Magick, by Gerald del Campo

New Aeon Magick: Thelema Without Tears, by Gerald del Campo
Llewellyn, 1567182135, 1994

As described in the introduction, this book is intended as a primer in the philosophy of Thelema and its use of ceremonial magick and it succeeds beautifully in both these aspects. The language used is simple and easily accessible for the novice magickian. If Crowley seems at first too obscure, this may serve as a good starting point.

Various aspects of Thelemic philosophy and religious belief (quabalah, gemantria, the Will, etc.) as well as various physical and spiritual practices (asanas, pranayama, etc.) are explained in brief chapters, without going into a lot of depth, but enough to get a basic grounding from which to study more serious works as suggested in a few chapters. Various rituals are described as well, such as the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (in Hebrew and Latin), the Star Ruby, and the Liber Resh.

A straight-forward primer for the curious novice or neo-pagan who’d like to learn a bit more about Thelema without going directly through Crowley.

Related:

1. Review: The Heretic’s Guide to Thelema, by Gerald del Campo (2)
2. Review: Initiation in the Aeon of the Child, by J. Daniel Gunther
3. Review: The Weiser Concise Guide to Aleister Crowley, by Richard Kaczynski