The Magick of Thelema: A Handbook of the Rituals of Aleister Crowley

Rating:
Summary: A useful introduction to Crowley's rituals
Review: A fairly comprehensive collection of Crowley's basic rituals. There is an important aspect of The Ritual of the Mark of the Beast which is ommitted. The Magick of Thelema is, nonetheless, a useful reference book. (Duquette doesn't seem to be very good with his e-mail replies.) Overall, this book is a good buy with its low price.

Rating:
Summary: 3 1/2 stars to be precise
Review: Have you ever read Aleister Crowley? Did you understand a word he said? For those of us who have experience in Crowley literature, I can say he's not really as difficult as he seems at first...the bane of Crowley's style was an overestimation of the sophistication of his readers. He simply assumed everyone would understand Thelema, him, and Magick with a few amusing and friendly essays.

For those who are new at Crowley, it might be a wise idea to--guardedly--take a gander at this book. I say "guardedly" because there are a number of pitfalls throughout. The most egregious error in the book, although it is a benign one, is DuQuette's attempt at classifying Our pantheon in terms of the Qabalah. While the Qabalah is an invaluable reference for anyone interested in magick of any type, it is a mistake to try to describe to others your own interpretation of Thelemic exegesis, as the Comment and the theory of True Will forbid such things. DuQuette's open warning against taking any of what he says regarding Thelemic theology as definite fact notwithstanding, it is too easy for beginners to be far too influenced by what he says, when the task of this definition should be the goal of the practitioner him or herself, and applicable only to him or herself.

Furthermore, in his commentary regarding the Mass of the Phoenix, DuQuette makes a critical error. The part about drawing one's blood for the Mass, which DuQuette rightfully points out does not mean self-mutilation, also does not mean drawing blood at all! I would suggest beginners read the chapter of Crowley's "Magick in Theory and Practice" (Part III of Liber ABA, Book 4) entitled "Of Our Lady Babalon and the Bloody Sacrifice". This is the infamous book in which Crowley refers in a footnote to his supposed sacrifice of 150 male children every year. And as DuQuette points out in his book, anyone who carefully reads this chapter will immediately realize it is about sex-magick so-called, and this "sacrifice" refers to 150 sessions of sex magick without getting his partner pregnant. My point is, in another footnote, Crowley refers the reader to the Mass of the Phoenix for one such ritual of "blood sacrifice". Therefore it can be reasoned that the "blood" in the Mass is the Blood of Life, semen (this is what is meant by Crowley's Biblical reference in the first part of said chapter: "Blood is the life"). In short: DO NOT CUT YOURSELF.

The principal value of DuQuette's book is his correlation of the major Thelemic rituals, and their bases (i.e., the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram as the basis for the Star Ruby, and the Hexagram Ritual as the basis of the Star Sapphire). One major plus in the book's favour is DuQuette's full inclusion of the beautiful Gnostic Mass. If any Thelemite has the opportunity, I would greatly advise that he or she try as hard as possible to be able to witness the weekly performance of the Mass by the Ecclesiastica Gnostic Catholica, the Gnostic Catholic Church, a wing of the OTO. The second best thing is to read it.

DuQuette's book is invaluable as a reference to Thelemic ritual. His commentaries thereon, however, are not necessarily the best available. He seems, in the beginning, to take "will" to refer to an action freely chosen. Will, however, is not Free, it is True. Free Will exists but it is trumped by True Will. Therefore, when Crowley refers to magick being the "Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will", he is not referring to an act of Free Will as DuQuette's examples suggest, but an act that reconciles the environment with the spiritual imperative of one's life, True Will. Thus an act of Magick is an act which verifies, reinforces, and conforms with, the True Will of the aspirant. It is a method of adapting Self to circumstance, by bringing Will and environment into harmony, equilibriating the Microcosm with the Macrocosm, in other words.

Buy this book for a compendium of Thelemic ritual. Do not buy this book if you are hoping for much useful insight to Thelema (although some gems, such as DuQuette's description of the Precession of the Equinoxes, DO exist) or Crowley.

Rating:
Summary: Don't give up on Crowley until you've read this book!
Review: I don't just read 'The Magick of Thelema', I use it.

This classic of modern magick was first published nearly ten years ago. I have just purchased my third copy. The first one fell apart in my hands in the middle of a ritual. The second is still my working copy, and I bought the third because it has two beautiful color plates of the Stele of Revealing as the inside front and back covers. (plus I had the opportunity to get Mr. Duquette to autograph it when he spoke at DePaul University.)

Aleister Crowley was one of the most controversial and misunderstood spiritual figures of the 20th century. Having a basic understanding of his works is one of the most rewarding and enlightening assets a student of modern religion and philosophy can possess. BUT...his writings are so abstruse as to be nearly incomprehensible to all but a few.

'THE MAGICK OF THELEMA' MAKES CROWLEY UNDERSTANDABLE!

'Magick in Theory and Practice' has got to be on of the most important books that Crowley wrote to explain the basics of Magick. When I first read it I didn't understand a word it said.

'THE MAGICK OF THELEMA' MAKES MAGICK IN THEORY AND PRACTICE UNDERSTANDABLE!

Now I wish Duquette would make The Book of Thoth and the Thoth Tarot cards understandable.

Rating:
Summary: PENETRATING AND LUCID...
Review: Lon Duquette, once again, provides the practicing Thelemite with solid and insightful commentary on some of those 'particularly thelemic' rituals. His affable manner and sense of humor are refreshing, and a nice change of pace from the usual heavy, almost 'holier-than-thou' perspective I get from some others tackling the phenomena of Crowley. Lon gives you the feeling that he's 'been there, done that', as clearly, he has. His forte, however, is making Crowley's sometimes complex ritual working, understandable. Not only in the practical sense, but also from an intellectual one. Not an easy task. Lon Duquette's books have enriched my Thelemic experience greatly.

Also recommended: Like to tackle Enochian but a little put off by its apparent complexity? Read 'Enochian Sex Magick'. It broke the 'code' for me after several others failed...

Rating:
Summary: A sloppy primer for sloppy minds
Review: Mr Crowley's writings on the occult are hardly challenging for persons moderately well read and do not require slovenly exegesis such as this lamentable book. Unfortunately Mr Duquette level of scholarship does not even extend as far as the capability of transliterating the Greek vowel eta correctly which he gives as the consonant h. Vowel? Consonant? What's the difference really when there are ready and willing occultasters parting with their cash for such tripe? Change not the barbarous names of evocation indeed. Several persons of note have lamented the trend of the "McDonaldisation of occulture" of late. In light of this theory this volume is surely a cold and stale Big Mac.

Rating:
Summary: Please...
Review: This auther is great. I really love his works. He never adds dribble to his writtings and he knows what he is talking about. This book clears up the silly untrue myths about Aleister Crowley. The myths of Crowley being a Satanists and a baby killer. And how he died. Lon Duquette describes how these myths became circulated in the first place. This book is to the point and easy to understand. He also gives the reasons why Crowley used the averse pentagram and the controversy that started up from him doing so. Duquette is a True Magician and Thelemite and also a Crowley expert.. There is much to learn from this book. He teaches you how to do the Magick of Thelema step by easy step and gives the reasons for the importance of the steps and the rituals themselves. He also teaches you about the pentagrams and hexagrams and how the Unicursal Hexagram was developed. You can find the Star Saphire Ritual, Hexagram Ritual, Star Ruby, Pentagram Rituals, Mass Of The Phoneix, Gnostic Mass, and more. (my comment every Sunday the Gnostic Mass is done in the OTO) Also in this book you can find THE BOOK OF THE LAW, an illustration of the Tree of Life, The paraphrase of the inscriptians upon the overse and the reverse sides of the Stele Of Revealing and a color plate of the Stele of Revealing as well. He gives a short description of the Aeon Of Isis, the Aeon of Osiris and the New Aeon of Horus. Duquette also gives descriptions of the Thelemic orders the OTO and the A^A^ (the A^A^ stands for Argenteum Astrum(Silver Star) founded by Aleister Crowley and George Cecil Jones.) The OTO stands for Ordo Templi Orientis the founding father was Karl Kellner later Crowley was given leadership of the order in the English speaking world in 1912 and pretty much changed things around. The book is forwarded by Hymenaeus Beta X Frater Superior. There is so much more goodies to this book and once I picked it up I just could not put it down. So for thoses who are interested in Aleister Crowley, Thelema, or Ceremonial Magick do not pass this one up. I really love this book and hes one of the best authers on magick in my opinion.

Rating:
Summary: Crowley for beginners
Review: This book, written by veteran magus Lon Milo Duquette, is as near as one can get to being the perfect "Crowley primer". It includes all, or most of all, the rituals laid out in Crowley's writings, progressing from simple pentagram rites to the complex mystical excercises of libra Had and Nu. Each ritual come with a good explaining essay, and together these read as a fine introduction to the Thelemic philosophy and cosmology. Whether or not one is experienced or just beginning to dabble in the occult arts, this book should definetely have a place in one's bookshelf.

Rating:
Summary: A sloppy primer for sloppy minds
Review: This is a highly useful book for the new initiates into the Thelemic system of Magick. For some people, it's difficult to grasp all of Crowley's concepts, so this little manual is highly reccommended. Even I, a recent initiate to the Thelemic system, have found it very useful even though I usually understand Crowley's ideas. I'd highly reccommend Magick In Theory and Practice in addition to this book, because that covers everything, and can be used for all other types of magick as well.

Rating:
Summary: Great Introduction/Handbook of "Thelema" & Thelemic Rituals
Review: This practical Handbook of Thelemic Rituals is a perfect Introductory guide, or quick-reference guide for Thelemites and other Crowley Enthusiasts. "The Magick of Thelema" --a collection of Aleister Crowley's Rituals, with commentary-- is perfect for the beginning Thelemite, Working Magickian (ritual scripts / instructions), Researchers of various occult schools, and others-especially, those who do not have the time to devote to doing this research on their own, yet....or for people who are just curious about Thelema, and do not have the inclination to spend a lot of money the subject, until they determine if their money would be well-spent (Crowley was a very Prolific writer). Basically, this is a "Thelemic Primer" which explains everything from the concept of "Aeons" to the reason Duquette saves the best Ritual for last: "The Gnostic Mass."

Anyone who has ever read Crowley is painfully aware of his rambling, self-aggrandizing (dare I say, babbling?) style, which is not conducive to the beginning researcher or Thelemite's comprehension of the subjects Crowley attempts to teach. Crowley's style is rather humorous and endearing to those of us who have devoted endless hours to reading his works, and those of us who have ingested "Magick Without Tears," but to the average reader, Crowley is almost incomprehensible (I think he enjoyed "teaching" in this manner).

However, Duquette has the wonderful ability to teach Thelema and Thelemic Ritual with a more rational, easy to comprehend method. Instead of rambling for numerous pages, then saying something of relevance, he cuts to the chase, and gives the reader the goodies, without all the extraneous verbiage (and rarely pats himself on the back, for his good work).

As one reviewer noted, "Magick: Liber Aba: Book 4" is the Ultimate resource book for Thelemites--and, yes, it contains many of the important books Crowley contributed to the field of Magick. However, it is not a good book to recommend to the Beginner and it is not a good reference book to pack-around in the Temple, due to it's size. Yet, Duquette's Handbook is amazingly concise, and portable (unlike the hefty "Big Blue Brick" -which, if dropped on your foot, will probably ruin your ritual with a broken toe!).

I know for a fact that it sometimes takes an essay just to explain to someone the convoluted history of "Magick: Liber Aba: Book 4" (ISBN: 0877289190)--and the book contains hundreds and hundreds of footnotes to explain Crowley's thinking process (not exactly a "Beginner's" introduction to Thelema). "Magick: Liber Aba: Book 4" is the perfect book to purchase after a person decides that they are interested in pursuing Crowley's Magickal teachings-but, personally, I will always recommend Duquette's books as an Introduction to "Thelema," instead of throwing them into the Deep End, with Crowley.

Duquette is one of the greatest personalities to become associated with Thelema and the works of Crowley. I have a lot of respect for Duquette and his writing style--he gets to the point, and doesn't waste my time congratulating himself with endless tangents. His humor is infectious and his Magickal endeavors are renown, without shameless self-promotion and exaggeration (as in Crowley's own writings).

Due to the complicated nature of the study of "Thelema," I recently created a "How to guide" which is a synopsis of a battle plan to tackle Uncle Al's legacy of Magickal Teachings--yet I believe Duquette's works are, truly, the best introduction to the study of Crowley / Thelema, because of Crowley's eccentric writing style. Duquette, thankfully, warns prospective Thelemites of the various pitfalls involved in the study of Thelema and teaches Common Sense approaches to the subject and Rituals.

I would not suggest throwing The Big Blue Brick ("Magick: Liber Aba: Book 4") at a New Student, until the Individual has read Introductory material such as "The Magick of Thelema." Duquette's concise, comprehensive exposition of the subject will save the beginner a lot of trouble and give the reader a great (and Safe) start along the Thelemic Path of Magick.