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Summary: The Key to Crowley
Review: After at least a full year of immersing myself into Crowley's magick and occult studies, I continue to find myself coming back to this book. When I first got the book, I tried reading it and to make heads or tails of what I was reading, but to no avail, so I put the book down until a spark of light drew me closer to understanding. I remembered at one point reading in 'The Eye in the Triangle', a biography written by apprentice Israel Regardie, mentioning Crowley's fascination with mystery novels. I am not a big fan of mystery novels, but I decided to take one up (Robert B. Parker's Godwulf Manuscript for the curious), and it struck me at that point that it seemed to make sense that Crowley enjoyed these kinds of books as they are so evident in his own writing. This is the point of view in which I decided to understand Crowley - that is, to understand his work as a mystery waiting to be solved. You are the detective and you must put the pieces together. All the information is in front of you, but you must understand, interpret, infer, and join various bits of information to gain the whole picture. 777 and Other Qabalistic Writings is just that - a string of puzzle pieces that are shaken up in the box, and its up to you to put the work into it to make the connection. Crowley is not one for spoonfeeding information and this book certainly demonstrates this by having to understand numbers, symbolically and mathematically - how they relate to the Hebrew and Greek alephbet, tree of life, Chinese and Indian philosophy, and the universe: micro and macrocosm, and of course algebraic and trigonomic formulations. With this information that is put into a uniform system of systems. A good rule of thumb to keep in mind when studying (vs. reading), is that every sentence counts. Each line, number, column, diagonal, and row all have a correspondence to each other to make a relationship that, as the Gestalts would say, is "greater than the sum of its parts." While this work is not for the beginner, and difficult for any novice, it is certainly a must for anyone who wants to dig a little deeper than love potions and money spells. If you can master the work in this book to the point where it is second nature, then Crowley's other works will illuminate itself freely to the trained mind. Crowley's writing is for those who want to "do the work" and not for the lazy person's guide to enlightenment. 777 stands as Crowley's testimony to his mastery over the subject as well as his versatility with understanding the nature of language and how it can be expressed; i.e. compressed information. I suggest to book cautiously to only those who are willing to take the task and set themselves on a journey into another world.
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Summary: long before Hollywood's pop version...
Review: an inspired and highly unique work that offers keys to some of the corridors of your mind.
For intense originality and Regardie's deft touch, I must give this one high marks.
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Summary: Should be Called "666"
Review: I liked this better than The Kabbalah of the Golden Dawn. I finished this pretty quick as I've done with every Crowley I've read this summer. A by the numbers Aleister Crowley book that is sure to please fans. Half of the book is referances material that doesn't necessarily have to be read. If you're looking for the mysteries of "god" I can tell you going into this "god" doesn't exist and everything's a hoax to scare you into joining the 101 branches of Christianity. But, oh yes, I've studying these ideas for years, oh the memories. Once you realize god doesn't exist you don't live your life in fear. Aleister Crowley had no fear. Don't believe me? He climbed literally the highest mountains on expeditations. His sexuality in a time when it was less known, less talked about. An enjoyable read that deserves to be reread.
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Summary: Create real magick
Review: If you are or ever plan to be a serious magican this is a must have. Not a book to be read, but a book to be absorbed and lived. This is about the qaballah.It is the only qaballistic book you will ever need.Once understood you will be able to write your own rituals to create any kind of magick you so desire. There is no limit. This is a book you will love to study for a life time. Once you think you have learned a great deal about it, you suddenly discover that you have just begin. This book would be worth the price if it cost $93 or $418.
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Summary: A useful addition to your occult library
Review: Let me start this review off with a disclaimer: I'm not a huge fan of Aleister Crowley. Crowley was a colossal egotist who brought disharmony and conflict everywhere that he went, who was despised by nearly everybody who knew him well, and whose reputation was only later rehabilitated by associates who were reaping a financial profit from Crowley's collected writings; Crowley was a drug addict, with all of the chaos and upheavals that this lifestyle brings into a person's life; Crowley took serious and irrevocable oaths to several Occult orders, but never stayed long enough to be fully initiated into any of their higher mysteries; Crowley repeatedly violated these oaths by publishing whatever secrets were entrusted to him; Crowley was a charlatan and a fraud, the kind of person who would seek donors and then fake a mountaineering expedition (as Crowley was once caught doing in Mexico)-- certainly, faking a prophesy about the dawn of a new aeon, one in which Crowley was to be the sole voice of authority, wouldn't be beyond his pale. This is not a man that I would emulate spiritually, certainly not somebody that I would turn to for spiritual advice or guidance, and probably not somebody that I would even want to know or be associated with. In my opinion, Crowley would have been entirely forgotten by now if he hadn't been so good at generating controversy during his own lifetime.
That said, '777' is clearly one of the best works of its kind, and rightly merits a place of honor on every occultist's bookshelf. '777' is really a compilation of three of Crowley's published works, and each deserves some discussion on its own merits:
The first chapter or book in '777' is an early essay on Gematria, the art or science of rendering words into numbers and deriving meaning from the result. To give Crowley his due, the man clearly knew his way around Hebrew and Greek Gematria, and this essay contains several examples of Crowley's best Qabalistic work. Indeed, this essay is noteworthy as an example of Qabalistic association, marred perhaps only by Crowley's tendency to obfuscate his meaning when he wanted to sound mysterious. Unfortunately, this defect is characteristic of Crowley's writing, and '777' is replete with this sort of intriguing mumbo-jumbo.
The next chapter in '777' is really the heart and soul of the entire volume. Originally published by itself as 'Liber 777,' this chapter contains page after page of Qabalistic associations and attributions. Although this sort of stuff filled the hand-scribbled grimoires of magicians and Qabalists in the Middle Ages, there haven't been many reliable works of this sort published anywhere in modern times, making 'Liber 777' a real gem. Most of the attributions given in 'Liber 777' probably came directly from Allan Bennett, Crowley's mentor in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, who was known to have compiled a list of Qabalistic attributions before leaving England for health reasons. Dion Fortune, in "The Mystical Qabalah," confirmed that many of the attributions listed in 'Liber 777' had previously been circulated among initiates of the Golden Dawn, and for this reason it can be assumed that Allan Bennett presented much of this material to Crowley when he joined the Order. Crowley clearly enlarged and expanded upon Bennett's work, but some of his attributions are suspect-- for instance, Crowley assigns various pagan gods and goddesses to the Paths of the Tree of Life, as well as to the individual Sephirah, even though the Paths are states of consciousness which are experienced subjectively, and they simply don't represent the same kind of natural forces that the Sephiroth do. Crowley also contradicts himself at times, attributing something to one Sephira in one column and then attributing the same force to another Sephira elsewhere. It's almost as if Crowley, in his efforts to expand upon materials that were entrusted to him as a member of the Golden Dawn, has muddied the waters with obscure and unneccessary attributions without bothering to source any of his additions. Still, this is probably the best collection of Qabalistic correspondences to be found in printer's ink anywhere, and even with its glaring imperfections it makes no sense to throw the baby out with the bath water!
The final chapter of '777' is a Qabalistic commentary by Allen Bennett which Crowley edited before its original publication. Crowley's high esteem for Bennett is obvious in that he gave Benett full credit for his work, instead of following his usual modus operani and claiming sole authorship for himself! In my opinion, this insightful little tract never really received the attention that it deserved, probably because Crowley was so thoroughly loathed by the time it first appeared in print. The flip side of that coin, however, is that Crowley's notoriety is probably to be credited for keeping Bennett's essay in publication for all of these years.
I know that, in some occult circles, it's almost an act of heresy to criticize Aleister Crowley. I think that Crowley, ever the iconoclastic rabble-rouser, would have been amused with the sort of hallowed iconic reverence that some people hold him in today. In any case, Crowley reached a sort of zenith with '777,' a lovely reference work that makes a useful addition to any occult library. Taken for what it is, '777' is sort of like having Cliff notes for Qabalistic attributions-- just remember to check your sources!
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Summary: Brilliant and essential coorespondences!
Review: One of Crowley's greatest contributions to Magick in general and to the Kabala specifically.777's tables of coorespondence unites in a comprehensive system many of the worlds greatest systems of mysticism through tighly knit association of symbol and meaning. It is truely essential to any magician, particularly those who are looking for symbolism appropriate to customized magickal needs. It is testament to A.C.'s true genious.
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Summary: "the most precious jewel of human thought"
Review: This book is "necessary for the occultist"; but I'm sure he already has it. In fact, if you're browsing this book at all, you're probably just another not-so-harmless raving lunatic of the sort that joins crazy sex cults in San Francisco - or maybe a dosed-up AD&D player doing homework.
Anybody interested in comparative religion, "symbolism," "mysticism" (whether nominally "qabalistic" or not) will be more or less amused by this volume; though if unfamiliar with Crowley or the Golden Dawn synthesis, will probably regard the greater part as so much weird jargon. The essential difficulty with the "literal qabalah" (as with any special vocabulary) is that its terms are meaningless until backed up by experience - viz. "mystical" experience: in other words, all this abuse of the Hebrew alphabet makes no sense unless and until you see IHVH in the burning bush or whatever. Then again, the only way to test the relative merit of having seen IHVH in the burning bush is to subject the vision to qabalistic analysis. Qabalah is presented as the method of communication with angels, demons, gods, etc. This all sounds pretty far out to the average layman/sex cult nut/AD&D dork/OTO Caliph. The Tree of Life is discussed in detail: all phenomena may be referred to that geometric scheme, reduced to correspondences of pure number; so that the entire Universe is (in the end) apprehended as a simple mathematical expression. Another mystic state. Obviously this doesn't happen by just "playing schoolboy games" with Hebrew (or Greek or Arabic) words. "One mustn't confuse the symbols with the things they represent."
There are a few very interesting, highly readable and entertaining essays, in which he sets forth the tenets of synthetic-traditional qabalistic exegesis and then proves them each irrational in turn, only to demonstrate that the Mysteries cannot be comprehended intelletually (!). Then there are pages and pages of tables with strange letters and symbols and god-names and perfumes and drugs and colors and magical weapons and so on, enough to keep any pedant buzzed for months. Finally "Sepher Sephiroth", an index of numbers with salient Hebrew words corresponding; essential to develop and round out the conception of each individual number, to better understand the significance of that symbol when presented with it.
Anyway...anybody really care what I think about it? I have to think people are pretty adamant one way or the other about this book, since the author's reputation still proceeds him. Go ahead and buy it, and conjure up your little planetary spirits, or paint your lead elves in the King Scale. I'll leave you alone.
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Summary: The Encylopedia of all true Magi
Review: This book really deserves far more stars than I can give to it. I use it daily since I first layed hands on it. If you don't have it and call yourself a magickian, then you had better get it before you are called up to answer. I use this book for every magickal ritual that I do. It contains a complete list of all correspondences that one could ever want. Plus Crowley gives a deep explaination for each of the attributations. It also contains a very in depth section on Gematria, which is very usfull. Also in this book is the Sepher Sephiroth, which lists out the values of various Hebrew words, which is essential for proper understanding. I have read through this book more times than I can count, yet I always have something to learn from it. This book is not an option. Any practitoner who is performing without this text is severly limiting himself.
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Summary: Great book for reference
Review: This book was one of best he has done that made sense even thou he took it from ideas of others and did not give them credit for it but some of infomation in this book is useful. I suggest all readers fully read up on crowley life. Only thing that is lacking in the book and why it did not get a 5 star rating is no index in back which is nice when ya need to look up instead of thumbing though it all day Good book for advanced student
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Summary: This is a textbook on Gematria, Kabbala,(Qabalah)!
Review: This is a Textbook on Gematria, (the Spiritual Essence of the Numerical Value of Words, Names, or even General Phrases). This is Not a book for the Dabbler in the Occult Sciences but a Reference Book on Kabbalah,(Qabalah), the Tree of Life and the Magical Alphabet! The many, many Tables of Correspondences listed in this book will give the Seeker of Truth the Truth he or she needs to delve into the Deep, Deep Mysteries of God! Aleisters committment to become the Man of Sin and in essence become the correspondent of the living Christ in the Earth along with his commitment to "persevere to the end" in his Tarot studies certainly pays off in this Extreme Religion known as Qabalah. For just a taste of the many Revelation one may enconter in this book is the Revation of the Number 666. In the Section titled SEPHER SEPHIROTH Aleister lists the Numbers 1-1000 with additions up to 3321 along with Hebrew Words and Spellings. In this Gematria the Numerical Interpretation of 666 in none other than, "Aleister E. Crowley" and, (you guessed it), "The Name of Jesus"! If you don't have this Book in your Magikal Library you owe it to yourself to Buy it!!!
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